Bit Clifford W. Holgate, M.A. 



5 



the remaining copyright of all his previous poems, Murray paid 

 him the sum of £3000. A letter from Thomas Moore, the poet, 

 to Murray j dated January 1st, 1834, is quoted in Crabbe's Life, 

 giving an account of the transaction, which ended as follows : — 



" When he received the bills for 3000^. we earnestly advised that he should, 

 without dela} r , deposit them in some safe hands; but no — he must 'take them 

 with him to Trowbridge, and show them to his son John. They would hardly 

 believe in his good luck, at home, if they did not see the bills.' On his way 

 down to Trowbridge, a friend at Salisbury, at whose house he rested (Mr. 

 Everett, the banker), seeing that he carried these bills loosely in his waistcoat 

 pocket, requested to be allowed to take charge of them for him, but with equal 

 ill-success. ' There was no fear,' he said, ' of his losing them, and he must show 

 them to his son John.' " 



Sermons, perhaps, hardly count as literary work, though those 

 which relate to events in the county will have to be reckoned with 

 when the bibliography of Wilts is undertaken. Mention, however, 

 may be made of a sermon on I. Cor., x., 6, " The Variation of 

 Public Opinion and Feelings, considered as it respects Religion," 

 preached before Bishop Fisher, and the Clergy of the Deanery of 

 Potterne, on February 9th, 1817, at the Bishop's Visitation, and 

 published by their desire. 



Also, a volume of "Posthumous Sermons" of Crabbe's was 

 published in 1850, edited by the then Rector of Trowbridge, the 

 Rev. John David Hastings, which in all probability were all 

 (twenty-one) preached in Trowbridge. From the preface to this 

 collection it appears that the money for the restoration of the 

 Church in 1847 being deficient, a suggestion was made that the 

 publication of a collection of Crabbe's sermons would probably 

 excite interest, and the profits of sale should be given to the 

 Restoration Fund. The poet's son was appealed to, who said that 

 his father's sermons were in a rough state, and were evidently never 

 intended to be published. However, though he declined to edit 

 them, he eventually consented to their being published. What 

 profits accrued from the sale of them I am unable to state. 



So much then, by the way, as to Crabbe's literary work .in 

 connection with the county. 



After the poet's death his body was buried in a vault on the 



