Be noted that as a
rule Bloomfield no sooner attempts to rise to a general view
than he grows flat; and in like manner he usually fails when
he attempts wide prospects and large effects. He is at his
best only when describing scenes and incidents at the farm in
which he himself is a chief actor, as in this part when, after
the sowing of the turnip seed, he is sent out to keep the
small birds from the ripening corn:
There thousands in a flock, for ever gay,
Loud chirping sparrows welcome on the day,
And from the mazes of the leafy thorn
Drop one by one upon the bending corn.
Giles trudging along the borders of the field scares them with
his brushing-pole, until, overcome by fatigue and heat, he
takes a rest by the brakes and lying, half in sun and half in
shade, his attention is attracted to the minute insect life
that swarms about him:
The small dust-coloured beetle climbs with pain
O'er the smooth plantain leaf, a spacious plain!
Then higher still by countless steps conveyed,
He gains the summit of a shivering blade,
And flirts his filmy wings and looks around,
Exulting in his distance from the ground.
