disease, and on a visit to Mrs. Marsh a decided fit of insanity showed itself during a performance of the ‘Merchant of Venice’ at the theatre. In July 1837 he was removed to a private asylum at Fairmead House in Epping Forest, where Dr. Allen, the proprietor, received him for a nominal sum. He still wrote verses, and was kindly treated and allowed to ramble in the forest. Cyrus Redding saw him, and found him calm and apparently sane. His early passion for Mary Joyce revived, and he became possessed with the desire to see her again. On 20July 1841 he rambled off under this impression and found his way back to Northborough, which he reached in a state of utter exhaustion (23 July). He wrote a curious account of his adventure, published by Martin (pp. 282-9). He was now sent to the county lunatic asylum at Northampton. He was quiet and harmless, and used to sit under the portico of All Saints’ Church. He gradually became infirm, and died quietly, 20 May 1864. He was buried at Helpstone 25 May, the expenses of the funeral being paid by the Hon. G. W. Fitzwilliam (see Cherry, 128 n.) His wife died 5 Feb. 1871.
A memorial was placed over his grave, and another (in 1869) in the village of Helpstone.
Clare’s portrait was painted by W. Hilton for Mr. Taylor. It was engraved for the ‘Village Minstrel’ (1821). A bust by H. Behnes [q. v.] was taken in 1828, also for Taylor. Both were bought in 1865 by Mr. Cherry.
Between Clare and Burns there is the difference (besides that of intrinsic power) between the most depressed English labourer and the independent Scottish farmer. Clare’s poetry is modelled upon that of the cultivated classes, instead of expressing the sentiments of his own class. Lamb advised him to avoid his rustic ‘slang,’ and recommended Shenstone's ‘Schoolmistress ’ in reference to ‘Goody’s own language.’ Clare becomes less vernacular in his later poems, and the advice may have suited the man. The result is, however, that the want of culture is not compensated by vigour of local colouring. Though Clare shows fine natural taste, and has many exquisite descriptive touches, his poetry does not rise to a really high level; and, though extraordinary under the circumstances, requires for its appreciation that the circumstances should be remembered.
[Life of John Clare, by Frederick Martin, 1865, ‘founded on a vast mass of letters and other original documents, including some very curious autobiographical memoirs; 'Life and Remains of John Clare,' by J. L. Cherry, 1873, founded partly on the foregoing and also upon manuscripts belonging to Mr. Taylor of Northampton, including many poems written at the asylum; Introductions to Poems on Rural Life, &c., and the Village Minstrel; Quarterly Review, May 1820, 166-75; London Mag. i. 5-ll, 323-329, iv. 540-8; Cyrus Redding’s Fifty Years' Recollections, iii. 211; Holland’s James Montgomery, iv. 96. 175; information kindly supplied by Mr. Edmund Wrigglesworth of Hull.]
CLAIRE, OSBERT de (fl. 1136), prior of Westminster, was born, as he himself states (ep. x.) at a place called Clare, no doubt the town of that name in Suffolk. The expression ‘Stockæ Claranæ alumnus,’ by which Leland designates Osbert, seems to mean that he entered the monastic life as an inmate of the priory of Stoke, near Clare. This cannot be strictly correct, as Osbert was already a monk of Westminster before the priory was removed from Clare to Stoke; but he may probably have belonged to this house before its removal. He enjoyed the friendship of Anselm, of whose abbey of Bee the priory of Clare was an offshoot, and a letter (ep. xiii.) is extant in which Osbert congratulates the archbishop on his anticipated return from exile. Axer entering the Benedictine monastery of St. Peter at Westminster, Osbert, for some reason not fully explained, incurred the displeasure of the abbot Herebert (ep. xii.) and his brother monks. In a letter addressed evidently to some person of high ecclesiastical rank (ep. viii.); by a scribal error the name of Anselm appears in the superscription) Osbert represents that the charges made against him were prompted by the odium which he had excited by his zeal on behalf of the new festival of the Immaculate Conception. This festival had recently begun to be observed, chiefly in England, but met with great opposition, and was eventually suppressed, a result which was principally due to the authority of St. Bernard, who was a determined adversary of the doctrine which the feast was intended to celebrate. The dignitary to whom Osbert wrote the letter just referred to had himself been active in promoting the establishment of the new feast. Osbert requests him, when he comes to judge his case, to consult Gilbert, bishop of London, and Hugh, abbot of Reading. The mention of these names taken in connection with other circumstances refers this letter to the period from 1128 to 1130.
It appears that for a few years after this Osbert was banished from his monastery. In several letters he refers to himself as an ‘exile,’ and as one of these letters was addressed to Æthe1wold, bishop of Carlisle, by Mr. Edmund Wrigglesworth of Hull.
