To John Clare Comments

Written by Clare during his years in Northampton Asylum this strongly evokes Clare's love for his Helpston home. The bookman he refers to is almost certainly one of the itinerant chapbook sellers who would regularly have called to the village. They probably also brought with them copies of the Northampton Mercury newspaper. This was published by the Dicey family who were also prodigious pubishers of balladsheets and chapbooks. See John Clare and the Folk Tradition passim.