A 1676

Halbf. nach hr. vor Bauernhaus u. Landschaft. Unten „ROBERT BLOOMFIELD“ und 9zeil. engl. biograph. Text: „Was born Dec. 3rd 1766, in the county of Suffolk, and is celebrated for his poetical | talents. At the age of eleven he was obliged to accept the office of a farmer’s boy, to | attend the workmen in the fields. In the intervals of his labours that native | genius, which sooner or later bursts the bonds of slavery, led him to peruse such | books as came within his reach, and whatever newspapers he could obtain, even at that early age, he wrote a small poem, and had the pleasure of seeing it in | print. His ’Farmer’s Boy’ possesses original genius, and fully established the claim | of the author to the title of poet. He expired, 1823, at Shefford in the 56th year of | his age.“