ABSTRACT
Robert Bloomfield remained a client of patronage until the end of his life, but it did not affect the presentation and publication of his work to the same extent after the appearance of Wild Flowers in 1806. Bloomfield repeatedly engages with the question of patronage in poetry and prose, but his writings reveal a degree of uncertainty both about its value, and how it should work in practical terms. Writers had to negotiate with both patrons and increasingly powerful independent publishers. The dispute over the presentation of The Farmer’s Boy is illustrative of the changing dynamics of literary production, and reveals a shift in power from patrons to increasingly influential publishers like Thomas Vernor and Thomas Hood. Capel Lofft presents The Farmer’s Boy to its first readers in a way that reflects his belief that it was necessary to ‘expand the gates and enlarge the avenues to the Temple of Honour’.
