ABSTRACT
In December 1824, Clare describes a visit to Milton Hall, the seat of Lord Milton, during which he looked over a book by Linnaeus and found his friend Edmund Tyrell Artis, Lord Milton's steward, busy over his 'fossil plants' and 'Roman Antiquitys'. Anne Elizabeth Baker commissioned one of Clare's poems on May Day for the appendix to her Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases and drew on his knowledge extensively. Baker integrates the poem into her discussion of May Day customs, picking up on Clare's use of important local words, and suggesting other Northamptonshire variants on the customs described. Clare's experiences of May Day are rsthand and accord with other folkloric records. The Village Minstrel is one of Clare's major poems on peasant culture, and it is clearly in uenced by both literary and local versions of the May Day festival.
