ABSTRACT
All the existing biographies are out of print and all are in different ways dated. There is an audience hungry for new writing about John Clare, and a much bigger potential audience who would be compelled by his life and work if only they knew about it. From the point of view of the reading public, Clare's posthumous life began with his admission to Matthew Allen's private lunatic asylum at High Beech in 1837. The first article of substance in the first number of The London was Octavius Gilchrist's 'Some Account of Clare, An Agricultural Labourer and Poet'. Clare brightened for a while until he realized that it was one more mouth to feed and one more body to find room for in the cottage. On 8 May 1824 Clare mentioned to Taylor that Dr Skrimshire had visited four or five times; on one occasion he arrived when apothecary Walker was also present, causing the latter some embarrassment.
