do, and was thus prevented from poring over foolscap. Little by little he reduced his debts; his body throve in the sunshine of content; and he was able to comfort himself with the belief that, after all, he would escape the degradation of becoming a pauper. Unfortunately a hard winter followed the summer and autumn during which he had been so happy, and illness once more caused him to renew acquaintance with those bitter familiars of his--want and despair. About this time he chanced to have a conversation with Earl Fitzwilliam, with the result that his patron promised to build him a cottage somewhere near Helpstone. The exact place decided upon by his lordship was Northborough, a hamlet three miles distant from Helpstone. This situation was chosen in a spirit of kindness, the earl believing that the many natural beauties to be found almost at the door of the cottage would please the eye as well as stimulate the genius of the poet. But the prospect of being severed from the bleak surroundings of his native place filled CLARE with sensations of terror acute enough to make a severe effect upon his mind. For days before the final wrench came he strode about the lanes and fields, outwardly exhibiting symptoms of a deranged intellect; but when the hour for departure struck he allowed himself to be led to his new home as placidly as a tired horse to the pasture. So far from proving a blessing to CLARE, the cottage at Northborough was the immediate cause of fresh perplexities. Expenditure was necessary to furnish it and to keep it in repair; debts were quickly piled one upon the other; among strangers it was harder to obtain employment than it had been at Helpstone; and in the January of 1833 Patty bore her seventh child. At the thought that he could scarcely provide his dear ones with bread enough to keep body and soul together, CLARE, shortly after hearing the news of his boy’s birth, rushed out into the fields to give his sorrow vent. Late in the evening his eldest daughter found him lying insensible on an embankment. A month of bed followed this collapse. In the spring, although his vital forces were now sufficient to carry him in search of the early flowers, he showed no inclination to leave the little room where he kept his books and papers. The irresistible magnets of former years--blossoms, birds, greenery and sunshine--had all lost their pulling power. CLARE himself perceived that he was in danger of ceasing to be his own master, and accordingly wrote to Mr. Taylor begging him to secure Dr. Darling’s help. In reply, his old publisher invited him to London. But the poet neither had money in his purse nor a single chance of raising the amount necessary to defray the costs of the journey. Messrs. Whittaker & Co., who were responsible for the appearance of the “Rural Muse,” declined to send him even a small sum on account, so that he was tied fast to Northborough, where his mental malady had everything in its favour. Had