Значение слова BLOOMFIELD в Литературной энциклопедии

ROBERT (1766-1823).-Poet, _b._ at Honington in Suffolk, lost his _f._ when he was a year old, and received the rudiments of education from his mother, who kept the village school. While still a boy he went to London, and worked as a shoemaker under an elder brother, enduring extreme poverty. His first and chief poem, _The Farmer's Boy_, was composed in a room where half a dozen other men were at work, and the finished lines he carried in his head until there was time to write them down. The manuscript, after passing through various hands, fell into those of Capel Lofft, a Suffolk squire of literary tastes, by whose exertions it was _pub._ with illustrations by Bewick in 1800. It had a signal success, 26,000 copies having been sold in three years. The Duke of Grafton obtained for him an appointment in the Seal Office, and when, through ill-health, he was obliged to resign this, allowed him a pension of 1s. a day. Other works were _Rural Tales_ (1804), _Wild Flowers_ (1806), _The Banks of the Wye_ (1811), and _May Day with the Muses_ (1817). An attempt to carry on business as a bookseller failed, his health gave way, his reason was threatened, and he _d._ in great poverty at Shefford in 1823. B.'s poetry is smooth, correct, and characterised by taste and good feeling, but lacks fire and energy. Of amiable and simple character, he was lacking in self-reliance.