Such was
the impression made, that a young clergyman, himself a man of
ability, trembled and became confused when he saw Robert
enter the church in which he was to preach. It is not
surprising that the poet determined to publish: he had now
stood the test of some publicity, and under this hopeful
impulse he composed in six winter months the bulk of his more
important poems. Here was a young man who, from a very
humble place, was mounting rapidly; from the cynosure of a
parish, he had become the talk of a county; once the bard of
rural courtships, he was now about to appear as a bound and
printed poet in the world's bookshops.
A few more intimate strokes are necessary to complete the
sketch. This strong young plough-man, who feared no
competitor with the flail, suffered like a fine lady from
sleeplessness and vapours; he would fall into the blackest
melancholies, and be filled with remorse for the past and
terror for the future. He was still not perhaps devoted to
religion, but haunted by it; and at a touch of sickness
prostrated himself before God in what I can only call unmanly
penitence. As he had aspirations beyond his place in the
world, so he had tastes, thoughts, and weaknesses to match.
He loved to walk under a wood to the sound of a winter
tempest; he had a singular tenderness for animals; he carried
a book with him in his pocket when he went abroad, and wore
out in this service two copies of the MAN OF FEELING.
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