The Letters of Robert Bloomfield and His CircleA Romantic Circles Electronic EditionRobert Bloomfield (1766–1823)Tim FulfordRomantic CirclesGeneral Editor, Neil FraistatGeneral Editor, Steven E. JonesGeneral Editor, Carl StahmerTechnical EditorLaura MandellchronoRomantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of MarylandCollege Park, MDJuly 9, 2009

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Tim FulfordChronologyThe Letters of Robert Bloomfield and His CircleA Romantic Circles Electronic EditionRobert Bloomfield (1766–1823)Tim FulfordRomantic CirclesUniversity of Maryland

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A Bloomfield Chronology1766:(3 December). Robert Bloomfield born in Honington, Suffolk. His father George was a tailor, his mother Elizabeth a village schoolteacher. Repeal of the Stamp Act.Oliver Goldsmith, The Vicar of Wakefield: a Tale.Thomas Pennant, British Zoology.Tobias Smollett, Travels through France and Italy.1767:Bloomfield's father dies of smallpox. William Duff, Essay on Original Genius.Richard Farmer, Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare. Richard Jago, Edge-Hill. A Poem. In Four Books. Joseph Priestley, The History and Present State of Electricity.1768:James Cook embarks on the first of three voyages to the Pacific.Royal Academy of Arts founded.St. George's Field Massacre.Stuart Gilbert, An Historical Dissertation concerning the Antiquity of the English Constitution.Thomas Gray, Poems.Richard Jago, Labour and Genius, a Fable. Laurence Sterne, A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, by Mr. Yorick.Arthur Young, A Six Weeks Tour through the Southern Counties of England. (Completed 1770. Published following some of the worst harvests of the century. Considers the waste of unenclosed land that might be ploughed into profit).1769:Shakespeare Jubilee takes place at Stratford-upon-Avon. Thomas Chatterton, 'Elinoure and Juga'. (Rowley poem in Town and Country Magazine).Richard Cumberland, The Brothers.'Junius', Letters from Junius to D[uke] of G[rafton].1770:Patenting of the spinning jenny, which enabled one spinning wheel to drive eight spindles.Death of Thomas Chatterton.Printers and publishers of the elusive 'Junius' are tried for seditious libel.James Beattie, An Essay on the Nature and Immutability of Truth.Edmund Burke, Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents.William Duff, Critical Observations on the Writings of the Most Celebrated Geniuses in Poetry.Oliver Goldsmith, The Deserted Village. Samuel Johnson, The False Alarm.1771:Arkwright's spinning mill introduced.James Cook returns from the Pacific.Deaths of Thomas Gray, Christopher Smart, and Tobias Smollett.James Beattie, The Minstrel.Oliver Goldsmith, History of England.Henry Mackenzie, The Man of Feeling.Tobias Smollett, The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker.1772:Bloomfield sent to Mr Rodwell's school at Ixworth to be 'improved in writing', where he stays for three months.Food Riots.James Cook embarks on the second of his voyages.Thomas Chatterton, 'Bristowe Tragedy'. (Rowley poem in Town and Country Magazine).1773:Bloomfield's mother marries John Glover.The House of Commons debated settlement acts, with Mr. Graves introducing a bill prohibiting the needless removal of the poor from parishes other than those of their homes.Boston Tea Party.Robert Fergusson, Poems.Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer.John Hawkesworth, Account of the Voyages Undertaken in the Southern Hemisphere.Lord James Burnett Monboddo, On the Origin and Progress of Language.1774:Copyright Law settled by the House of Lords.Deaths of Oliver Goldsmith and Louis XV of France.4th Earl of Chesterfield (P.D. Stanhope), Letters to his Son.John Langhorne, The Country Justice.Thomas Warton, History of English Poetry.1775:Proclamation of Rebellion issued by the British, leading to the outbreak of the War of American Independence. James Watt's steam engine perfected.James Cook returns from his second voyage.Samuel Johnson, Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland.Samuel Jackson Pratt, Liberal Opinions, or the History of Benignus.Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Rivals.1776:United States Declaration of Independence.James Cooks begins his third voyage to the Pacific.Charles Burney, A General History of Music, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Period.Edward Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume one (completed in 1787).Thomas Paine, Common Sense.Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.1777:Bloomfield sent to the nearby Sapiston farm of his Uncle, William Austin.Thomas Chatterton, Poems, supposed to have been written at Bristol by Thomas Rowley, and others, in the Fifteenth Century.Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal.Thomas Warton, Poems.1778:Catholic Relief Act.Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Lessons for Children.Frances Burney, Evelina.Vicesimus Knox, Essays, Moral and Literary.Percival Stockdale, An Inquiry into the Nature and Genuine Laws of Poetry.1779:Dissenters Relief Act.Invention of the spinning mule by Samuel Crompton.William Cowper and John Newton, Olney Hymns.David Hume, Dialogues concerning Natural Religion.Samuel Johnson, Prefaces, Biographical and Critical, to the Works of the English Poets, 10 vols, 1779-81.Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The Critic: or a Tragedy Rehearsed.1780:Gordon Riots directed against Catholics and Dissenters.Sunday Schools begin.James Cook returns from his third voyage.John Nichol, Anecdotes of Mr Hogarth.1781:Bloomfield joins his brothers George (a shoemaker) and Nathaniel (a tailor) in London, running errands and learning his trade.Discovery of Uranus.Vicesimus Knox, Liberal Education.1782:Gilbert's Act instituted. (Commands the physically able poor to obtain outside work and become self-sufficient while being housed. The act initiated the major reform of poor laws that would extend into the nineteenth-century).Ireland granted legislative independence.William Cowper, Poems.William Gilpin, Observations on the River Wye.Joseph Priestley, History of the Corruptions of Christianity.Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Confessions.Joseph Warton, An Essay on the Genius and Writings of Pope, volume 2. The first volume had appeared in 1756.Thomas Warton, An Enquiry into the Authenticity of the Poems attributed to Thomas Rowley.1783:Treaty of Versailles ends the American War.Food riots.Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres.George Crabbe, The Village.Joseph Ritson, A Select Collection of English Songs.1784:Trade dispute over apprenticeships among the shoemakers. Bloomfield returns to the country, where he first conceives The Farmer's Boy. Bloomfield stays with William Austin for two months, before going back to London as an apprentice. India Act.Death of Samuel Johnson.Charlotte Smith, Elegiac Sonnets and other Essays.1785:Thomas Warton named Poet Laureate.William Cowper, The Task.Ann Yearsley, Poems, on Several Occasions.1786:(24 May). 'A Village Girl' printed in Say's Gazetteer. Bloomfield sets up on his own as a shoemaker.Coal-gas first used for lighting.Warrington Academy closed.Robert Burns, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect.William Beckford, Vathek.William Gilpin, Observations on the Mountains and Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland.1787:Founding of the Association for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.U.S. Constitution adopted.Mary Wollstonecraft, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters.Ann Yearsley, Poems, on Various Subjects.1788:First anti-slavery petition presented to Parliament.Act passed barring the employment of children under 8 and sending them up a lit chimney; it was hardly enforced.Hannah More, Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great.Hannah More, Slavery, A Poem.Thomas Reid, Essay on the Active Powers of Man.Ann Yearsley, Poems on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade.1789:French Revolution; the Bastille falls; Declaration of the Rights of Man.William Blake, Songs of Innocence.Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano.Gilbert White, Natural History of Selborne.1790:(12 December). Bloomfield marries Mary Ann Church.Death of Thomas Warton. Henry James Pye succeeds him as Poet Laureate.Thomas Bewick, A General History of Quadrupeds. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France.Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Men.1791:(25 October). Birth of Hannah (Bloomfield's first child).Annual Register records the execution of two boys, 14 and 15, for stealing at Newport. Children were committed to Houses of Correction in their hundreds in several districts.Haitian Revolution.Death of John Wesley.James Boswell, The Life of Johnson.Erasums Darwin, The Botanic Garden.Thomas Paine, Rights of Man, part one.1792:London Corresponding Society founded.Proclamation against seditious publications.Death of Sir Joshua Reynolds.Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Poems.Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Woman.1793:(July). Birth of Mary (Bloomfield's second daughter).(January). Execution of King Louis XVI.France declares war on England and Holland.William Godwin, Enquiry Concerning Political Justice.William Wordsworth, Descriptive Sketches.1794:William Pitt introduced bills that made meetings of over 50 people illegal and expanded the scope of sedition to include any endorsement of amendments to the government, other than through acts of parliament.Thomas Hardy, John Thelwall, John Horne Tooke and 11 other members of the London Corresponding Society were arrested and denied the right of habeas corpus. By late in the year, two thousand people were being held without due process. A mass meeting at Chalk Farm declared that Britain had 'lost its liberties'.William Blake, Songs of Experience.William Godwin, Caleb Williams.Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason.Anne Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho.1795:Speenhamland system introduced. (A new form of poor relief of near national coverage, fixing poverty into capitalist social relations on the employer's terms).Food riots and anti-war protests.Death of James Boswell.1796:(May). Bloomfield begins composing The Farmer's Boy.Edward Jenner's famous experiment to prove that contracting cowpox provided immunity against smallpox.(21 July). Death of Robert Burns.Matthew Lewis, The Monk.Robert Southey, Joan of Arc.1797:Bank crisis.Mutiny in the Royal Navy at Spithead (April-May) and the Nore (May-June).Deaths of Edmund Burke, Horace Walpole, and Mary Wollstonecraft.1798:(22 April). Bloomfield finishes The Farmer's Boy.(June). Bloomfield sends a version of The Farmer's Boy to several London booksellers in the hope that they will print the poem. They turn it down.(15 September). Birth of Charles Bloomfield (Bloomfield's first boy).(16 September). Bloomfield sends the manuscript of The Farmer's Boy as a present for his mother. En route it is read by his brother George, who approaches the classical scholar, poet and political activist Capel Lofft in hopes of obtaining patronage. Results of Edward Jenner's experiments on smallpox published. He coins the word 'vaccine'.At least 30,000 Irish slaughtered as United Irish uprising quelled.(1 August). Nelson defeats the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principles of Population.William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads.1799:Bloomfield writes to his brother George about his expectations for the poem and the debts incurred by his growing family.Combination Act.Income tax levied for the first time in order to help fund the war against France.Thomas Campbell, The Pleasures of Hope.1800:(1 March). The Farmer's Boy: A Rural Poem published by Vernor and Hood, introduced by Bloomfield's patron, Capel Lofft, with woodcuts by Thomas Bewick's workshop.(4 March). Bloomfield receives copies of The Farmer's Boy, describing it as 'larger and more beautifull than I had conceived'.Bloomfield quickly becomes a public curiosity.(12 September). Third edition of The Farmer's Boy published.Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland.Second Combination Act.Extensive food riots in London and the countryside. Death of William Cowper.2nd edition of Lyrical Ballads.1801:Birth of Charlotte Bloomfield (familiarly known as 'Shot').(February). Bloomfield learns that Dr William Clubbe has translated the first quarter of The Farmer's Boy into Latin.(October). Bloomfield and Lofft quarrel over notes intended for Bloomfield's next publication and editorial matter introduced into editions of The Farmer's Boy.Resignation of William Pitt.Continued food riots.Nelson destroys the French fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen. Samuel Jackson Pratt, Bread; or the Poor, a Poem.George Dyer, Poems.1802:(24 May). William Windham refers to Bloomfield during a Parliamentary debate on bull-baiting.(January). Rural Tales, Ballads and Songs published. Bloomfield is befriended by Edward Jenner.(March). Peace of Amiens briefly halts the war between Britain and France.(October). French troops invade Switzerland.Establishment of the Edinburgh Review and Cobbett's Political Register.William Holloway, The Peasant's Fate: a Rural Poem. With Miscellaneous Poems.Sir Walter Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.1803:The Duke of Grafton secures Bloomfield a clerical post in the Stamp Office, but ill health and frustration with the job force his resignation after just a few months. Reports in the press suggest that his appointment to this 'handsome situation' prove 'he has not courted the Muses unsuccessfully'.(February). Bloomfield's son, George, develops 'an unusual swelling' on his right knee, which eventually leads to his becoming lame.(17 May). Sings a song composed for the occasion to honour Edward Jenner's birthday.(May). Renewal of hostilities between Britain and France.Peter Gedge publishes Nathaniel Bloomfield's An Essay on War, in Blank Verse; Honington Green, a Ballad; The Culprit, an Elegy; and other Poems, with an introduction by Lofft.Report published in which radical pamphleteer William Cobbett states that there are around 1 million paupers in England and Wales. One in four receiving poor law relief in Sussex.Anne Grant, Poems on Various Subjects.William Hayley, The Life and Posthumous Writings [chiefly Letters] of W. Cowper.1804:(21 January). Birth of Robert Bloomfield (Bloomfield's second son), who died the same year (27 September).Death of Bloomfield's mother (27 November).(November). William Clubbe writes to Bloomfield about a proposed English and Latin edition of The Farmer's Boy.(May). Napoleon declared Emperor of France.Vernor and Hood pay Bloomfield upwards of £4000 for his 2 volumes The Farmer's Boy and Rural Tales. Good Tidings, or News from the Farm: a Poem, his poem on small-pox vaccination, published (December).Thomas Bachelor, Village Scenes, the Progress of Agriculture, and other Poems.Thomas Bewick, History of British Birds. 1805:Bloomfield's wife, Mary, takes their son Charles to Worthing for the summer in the hope that his leg can be treated there.(October). Nelson's victory over Napoleon at Trafalgar. Death of Nelson.Sir Walter Scott, Lay of the Last Minstrel.Robert Southey, Madoc.1806:Wild Flowers; or, Pastoral and Local Poetry published. Bloomfield takes up 'a new and most agreeable trade, that of constructing Eolian harps'.(May). Bloomfield quarrels with his brother George over George's support for Capel Lofft.Publication of Views in Suffolk, Norfolk, and Northamptonshire; Illustrative of the Works of Robert Bloomfield; Accompanied with Descriptions: To which is Annexed, A Memoir of the Poet's Life, by Edward Wedlake Brayley, edited by James Storer and John Grieg.9th edition of The Farmer's Boy.(November). After prefatory material he had wished to be included in the latest edition of The Farmer's Boy is ignored, Capel Lofft declares: 'As to the Farmers Boy & all future works of Mr Bloomfield I have done with them'. (January). Nelson's funeral.(September). Death of Charles James Fox.(October). Death of Henry Kirke White.Death of Ann Yearsley.Joseph Holland, An Appendix to the Season of Spring, in the Rural Poem "The Farmer's Boy". With other Poems.James Montgomery, The Wanderer of Switzerland, and other Poems.William Roscoe, The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast.1807:(23 March). Birth of Robert Henry Bloomfield (Bloomfield's third son).(August). Bloomfield tours the Wye Valley and the Welsh border country, with Mr and Mrs T. J. Lloyd Baker and their friends.Publication by subscription of Isaac Bloomfield's Six Anthems: for the use of Choirs where there is no Organ.(25 March). Slave Trade Act, abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire.George Crabbe, The Parish Register.Anne Grant, The Highlanders: and other Poems.Henry Kirke White, The Remains of Henry Kirke White … with an Account of his Life by Robert Southey.Wordsworth, Poems in Two Volumes.1808:Nature's Music: Consisting of Extracts from Several Authors, with Practical Observations and Poetical Testimonies, in Honour of the Harp of Aeolus published, assembled and edited by Bloomfield.British Expeditionary force sent to Portugal.Leigh Hunt begins The Examiner.William Holloway, The Minor Minstrel; or Poetical Pieces, Chiefly Familiar and Descriptive.Thomas Moore, A Selection of Irish Melodies. The first two parts.Sir Walter Scott, Marmion: a Tale of Flodden Field.1809:Publication of the 2 volume stereotype edition of Bloomfield's Poems, containing new prefaces and revised texts of some of his work.Bloomfield brothers satirised in Byron's English Bards and Scotch Reviewers.(October). Spencer Perceval, a Tory, becomes Prime Minister.Death of Thomas Paine.Quarterly Review established.Joseph Blacket, Specimens of the Poetry of Joseph Blacket, with an Account of his Life, and some Introductory Observations by Mr. PrattSamuel Taylor Coleridge, The Friend.James Montgomery, The West Indies.1810:Burdett Riots, following the imprisonment of Sir Frances Burdett, who had called for reform of the House of Commons.(23 August). Death of Joseph Blacket.George Crabbe, The Borough.Sir Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake.Robert Southey, The Curse of Kehama.1811:The Banks of Wye: a Poem, based on Bloomfield's tour of Wales, published.(14 March). Death of Bloomfield's patron, Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton.(August). Death of the bookseller Thomas Hood.Death of Isaac Bloomfield.Prince of Wales becomes Regent, as a consequence of George III's madness.Luddite machine-breaking commences in Nottingham.Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility.Joseph Blacket, The Remains of Joseph Blacket.Sir Walter Scott, The Vision of Don Roderick.Mary Tighe, Psyche, with other Poems.1812:(April). Bloomfield leaves London and moves to Shefford, Bedfordshire, for cheaper lodgings and country air.Death of Mary Lloyd Baker.Economic crisis in the country, accompanied by food riots. Luddism gathers support.(May). Prime Minister Spencer Percival is assassinated.(24 June). Napoleon invades Russia.(14 September). Following their victory at the Battle of Borodino, Napoleon's troops enter Moscow, much of which is destroyed by fire.(October). The French retreat from Russia during one of the coldest winters in European history.Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Eighteen Hundred and Eleven.Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, parts I and II.George Crabbe, Tales.James Montgomery, The World Before the Flood.Samuel Rogers, Poems.Horace and James Smith, Rejected Addresses, or, The New Theatrum Poetarum.1813:17 Luddites executed in York, hastening the demise of the movement.Death of Henry James Pye. Robert Southey appointed Poet Laureate.Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice.Lord Byron, The Giaour and The Bride of Abydos.Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab.Robert Southey, The Life of Nelson (1813).1814:(June). Travels to Dover with Joseph Weston, where he witnesses the landing of Tsar Alexander, ruler of Russia, and other leaders after the defeat of Napoleon.Death of Mary (Bloomfield's daughter).(October). Bloomfield informs T. J. Lloyd-Baker that his wife has become a disciple of Joanna Southcott.(January). The Allies begin an invasion of France.(31 March). The Allies capture Paris.(April). Napoleon is deposed and then abdicates. He is exiled to Elba.Sir Walter Scott, Waverley.Robert Southey, Roderick, the Last of the Goths.William Wordsworth, The Excursion.1815:The History of Little Davy's New Hat, a prose-work for children, published.Bloomfield begins to suffer problems with his eyesight. Although temporarily corrected through the use of spectacles, his sight continues to deteriorate until the end of his life.(February-March). Napoleon returns to rule France.(18 June). Napoleon defeated at Waterloo by Wellington and his Prussian allies.Coinciding with the appearance of Cobbett's two-penny Political Register, there emerged a wave of protest songs within the farming and labouring class.Death of Samuel Whitbread.Lord Byron, Hebrew Melodies. Sir Walter Scott, Guy Mannering.1816:(September). Sir Egerton Brydges issues an appeal for a public subscription to aid Bloomfield who finds himself in financial distress, owing largely to 'the failure of his former booksellers'. This proves less successful than planned, and in November Bloomfield writes to his daughter, Hannah: 'I am afraid that my friends have been too sanguine in their hopes of the subscription'. Bread or Blood riots occur in Suffolk, Norfolk, Huntingdon, and Cambridgeshire. (2 December). Spa Fields Riot.Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, part three, and The Prisoner of Chillon and other Poems.Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel and other Poems.Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alastor; or, the Spirit of Solitude.1817:(20 January). William Wordsworth writes to Benjamin Haydon about the 'considerable distress' Bloomfield finds himself in, and laments the current state of patronage.(February). Robert Southey involves himself in raising funds to aid Bloomfield and his family.(4 March). Habeas Corpus suspended. (6 December). Grief pervades the country as Princess Charlotte Augusta dies in childbirth.Death of Jane Austen.Lord Byron, Manfred.Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Biographia Literaria.John Keats, Poems.1818:(April). Bloomfield spends a short time in London with his son Charles who has been appointed as a teacher at the National School in Putney.Cobbett's Political Register incorrectly reports that Bloomfield has been 'taken in tow' by the government and 'pensioned for fear he should write for the people'.(November). An application on Bloomfield's behalf is made to the Royal Literary Fund. The Fund awards him £40.Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey, Persuasion.Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage: Canto the Fourth.William Hazlitt, Lectures on the English Poets.John Keats, Endymion: a Poetic Romance.Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Midlothian.Mary Shelley, Frankenstein.Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Revolt of Islam.1819:(8 March). Bloomfield writes to Samuel Rogers, informing him that he has 'composed nearly a thousand lines of a new work'.(July). Despite his failing eyesight, Bloomfield finishes writing a new work, a play. This was finally published in 1823.(September). Bloomfield travels to London to search for lodgings for his family and to find a publisher for his latest work. (16 August). Peterloo Massacre.Fearing revolution, Parliament passes the Six Acts to suppress dissent. A new stamp duty of six pence made most popular publications unaffordable for literate working class men and women.Lord Byron, Don Juan. (Cantos I and II).George Crabbe, Tales of the Hall.James Montgomery, Greenland.William Wordsworth, Peter Bell.1820:(July). John Clare receives a letter from Bloomfield addressing him as 'Brother Bard, and fellow labourer'. 'Nothing upon the great theatre of what is called the world (our English world)', wrote Bloomfield, 'can give me half the pleasure I feel at seeing a man start up from the humble walks of life and show himself to be what I think you are.'George Bloomfield anonymously publishes Thetford Chalybeate Spa. A Poem by a Parishioner of St. Peters.(29 January). Death of George III and Accession of George IV.(23 February). Arrest of the Cato Street conspirators. (1 May). Leaders of the Cato Street Conspiracy executed.(July). Caroline of Brunswick, the estranged wife of George IV, returns to England.(August-November). Trial of Queen Caroline, who enjoyed strong popular support. John Clare, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery.John Keats, Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St Agnes, and other Poems.Percy Shelley, Prometheus Unbound.1821:(May-June). Bloomfield is forced to defend himself to T. J. Lloyd-Baker over rumours of his radical sympathies and lack of religious attendance.(23 February). Death of John Keats.(7 August). Death of Queen Caroline.Lord Byron, Don Juan (Cantos III-V) and Sardanapalus, a Tragedy; The Two Foscari, a Tragedy; Cain, a Mystery. John Clare, The Village Minstrel, and other Poems.Thomas De Quincey, The Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.Robert Southey, A Vision of Judgment.1822:May Day with the Muses, Bloomfield's final volume of poetry, published.(February). Bloomfield writes to his brother Nathaniel to inform him that the 'old house at Honington is going, or gone to the hammer'. In fact, the sale did not go smoothly and added to Bloomfield's worries during his last years alive. (October). Bloomfield tells George: 'I have lost both my sons from my fireside, and though they are not buried I miss them sorely, and feel as if I had killd them both, and I cannot yet get over it!' The Society for the Suppression of Vice, which enjoyed Evangelical support, had Richard Carlile thrown in prison for selling Queen Mab.Richard Martin's Act to Prevent the Cruel and Improper Treatment of Cattle is passed by Parliament, representing the first parliamentary legislation for animal welfare in the world.(July). Death of Percy Bysshe Shelley. Lord Byron, The Vision of Judgment, by a Noble Author.Sir Walter Scott, The Fortunes of Nigel and Peveril of the Peak.William Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical Sonnets.1823:Hazelwood-Hall, a Village Drama, in Three Acts published.(19 August). Bloomfield dies.(September). Bloomfield's literary reputation is attacked in the Monthly Magazine.Lord Byron, Don Juan. (Cantos VI-XIV).Percy Bysshe Shelley, Poetical Pieces by the Late Percy Bysshe Shelley.1824:(28-29 May). Bloomfield's family are forced to sell their possessions, including manuscripts and books belonging to Bloomfield, in order to pay off their debts. The family leave Shefford for London.Bloomfield's friend Joseph Weston edits the Remains of Robert Bloomfield for the benefit of the Bloomfield family, though sales are poor.(19 April). Death of Lord Byron.(26 May). Death of Capel Lofft.Lord Byron, Don Juan. (Cantos XV-XVI).James Hogg, Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner.