employ'd itself in composing _the Farmer's Boy_."

"In my correspondence I have seen several _poetical_ effusions of his; all
of them of a good moral tendency; but which he very likely would think do
him little credit: on that account I have not preserv'd them."

"ROBERT is a _Ladies Shoemaker_, and works for DAVIES, _Lombard-street_.
He is of a slender make; of about 5 F. 4 I. high; very _dark_
complexion.... His MOTHER, who is a very religions member of the _Church
of England_, took all the pains she could in his infancy to make him
pious: and as his Reason expanded, his love of God and Man increas'd with
it. I never knew his fellow for mildness of temper and Goodness of
Disposition. And since I left him, universally is he prais'd by those who
know him best, for the best of Husbands, an indulgent Father, and quiet
Neighbour. He is between thirty-three and four years old,[Footnote:
Corrected from the above Date, p. vi, to his present Age, May 1800. C. L.]
and has three Children;" two Daughters and a Son.[Footnote: Added from the
information of Mr. R. BLOOMFIELD. _Hannah_, born 25 _Oct_. 1791. _Mary
Anne_, 6 _Sept_. 1793. _Charles_, 15 _Sept_. 1798.]

Mr. GEORGE BLOOMFIELD concludes this clear, affectionate, and interesting
Narrative, by a very kind Address to the Writer of this Preface. But,
pleas'd as I am with the good opinion of a Man like him, I must not take
praise to myself for not having neglected or suppress'd such a Work when
it came into my hands. And I have no farther merit than that of seeing
what it was impossible for an unprejudiced Mind not to see, and of doing
what it was impossible not to do.

But I join with him cordially in his prayer, "that GOD, _the Giver of
thought_, may, as mental light spreads, raise up many who will turn a