tract, entitled ‘Bloomefield's Blossoms, or the Campe of Philosophy.'—Afterwards turning Protestant, he did not renounce his chemistry with his religion; for he appears to have dedicated to Queen Elizabeth another system of occult sciences, entitled ‘The Rule of Life, or the Fifth Essence.' "—Ritson, in his Bibliographia Poetica, styles him Sir[1] William Bloomfield, and says, he wrote "The Compendiary of the Noble Science of Alkemy:" and Bishop Tanner, in his Bibliotheca, informs us, that after his recantation from Popery, he was made 'Vicar of St. Simon and St. Jude, in Norwich, 'whence he was afterwards ejected by the Papists.'
Now, from the birthplace of this Bloomfield being at Bury, it is not improbable but that if the descent could be distinctly traced, he would be found named in the pedigree of the Poet; and it is possible also, that Blomefield, the Historian of Norfolk, might be descended from a branch of the same stock. — Whether, however, these things are so or not, the author of The Farmers Boy requires no adventitious lustre to be reflected upon his name from a connexion with literary ancestors. Modest and unas-
- ↑ This title, it should be observed, was given to priests in the Catholic times, as may be evinced by many ancient sepulchral inscriptions.
