PARLIAMENT PASSES THE INCLOSING LANDS ACT, 1809

The open-field system would end. Every acre was enumerated
in a way John Clare could not comprehend. Why should footpaths
have fences, streams be made straight, why fell trees, wall a field
and lock it with a gate? No longer could he drink from Eastwell
    spring;
the bubbling water was penned by scaffolding. No Trespassing

at every turn, posted over scurvy-grass, loosestrife, vetch,
clover, and fern. Clare doffed his cap and wept for his right to
    roam;
in chicory, thistle, briony and buttercup, he'd always been at
    home.
Or coming upon a gypsy camp (fires and tambourines!) he'd
    share
his fleabane, borage, parsley, some beans. Once again the
    labouring-class


had lost to the well-to-do, those new proprietors of blackberry,
    hemp-
nettle, toadflax, and meadow rue. Clare questioned his sanity,
    fearing
a familiar hell, but tramped on to say his farewell to mallow,
    teasel,
oxlip, and pimpernel. He knew this ramble was one of his last;
    every
field, farm, and forest would be enclosed. The open world was
    past.