ABSTRACT
Clare’s lengthy attempt at satire forms a companion piece to The Shepherd’s Calendar. It was not published in Clare’s lifetime, although at one stage plans were afoot (Eg. 2247, fol. 102). Clare told Taylor on 12 May 1826 that it was ‘the best thing in my own mind that I have ever written’ (LJC, p. 192). The fullest version available of the poem is in Selected Poems, ed. Elaine Feinstein, 1968.
