latest intelligence

Northamptonshire’s ‘peasant poet’, John Clare, is having a hard time after the success of his rural verse, and visits to London in 1820 and 1822.

Clare, 29, is said to be nearly penniless and has told friends that he must give up alcohol, because his drinking is hurting not only himself but his family. Wife Patty is pregnant and the Clares already have two young daughters.

Itlooks increasingly likely that Britain will get a visit before the end of this year from Gioachino Rossini, who has fast become as big a name in musical circles as Ludwig van Beethoven.

It is anticipated that Rossini and his wife, the prima donna Isabella Colbran, will leave Venice later this month to go to Bologna and nearby Castenaso for what they hope will be a quiet spring and summer. His only public commitment is believed to be writing a cantata in honour of the Three Graces sculptor, Antonio Canova, who died last year, to accompany the unveiling of a bust in Treviso

Born in Helpston, near Peterborough, Clare achieved fame in 1820 with the release of his Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery by John Taylor, John Keats’ publisher One critic has spoken of his poetical genius “in the humble garb of a farm labourer”.

The Italian operatic composer (pictured above) spent much of 1822 in Vienna, where the midyear opera festival was dominated by his work. He left in December for Venice, where he finished his two-act opera, Semiramide, based on a tragedy by Voltaire. It had its premiere at the La Fenice opera house last month.

Word now is that Rossini will go to Paris later this year, probably in November, before spending Christmas and the new year in Britain.

This could be an extended visit, because there is talk of a season of Rossini operas at the о King’s Theatre in Haymarket. Aside from the massive public interest that is likely and the demands on his time to meet leading figures in London society, a lengthy stay is sure to have an extremely positive effect on the Rossini family’s finances. o

The Duke of Wellington may be an unbending conservative member of the Earl of Liverpool’s Tory cabinet. But 200 has news that may surprise both his admirers and radical critics.

Apart from the despatches of the British ambassador, Sir William a Court, ministers in London have another source of news from Madrid, as fears mount of a French invasion.

John Clare secured an aristocratic patron and met Hazlitt, Coleridge and Lamb in London, but his Village Minstrel (1821) proved to be the ‘difficult second collection,’ attracting less attention, though a second edition is due out later in March. o

The duke and Don Miguel Ricardo de Álava became close friends when the Spaniard was his aide-de-camp in the Peninsula War, and with him at Waterloo. Now the general is a left-wing liberal, president of the Cortes, and critic of King Ferdinand. But they keep in touch through the duke’s secretary, FitzRoy Somerset, sent to Madrid to urge the liberals to compromise. o