As Crabbe thus recalled the scene of his own resolve, it may have struck him as a touching coincidence that it was by the Leech-pool on "the lonely moor"-- though there was no "Leech-gatherer" at hand to lend him fortitude--that he resolved to encounter "Solitude, pain of heart, distress, and poverty." He was, indeed, little better equipped than Chatterton had been for the enterprise.

His father was unable to assist him financially, and was disposed to reproach him for forsaking a profession, in the cause of which the family had already made sacrifices.

The Crabbes and all their connections were poor, and George scarcely knew any one whom he might appeal to for even a loan.

At length Mr.Dudley North, of Little Glemham Hall, near Parham, whose brother had stood for Aldeburgh, was approached, and sent the sum asked for--five pounds.

George Crabbe, after paying his debts, set sail for London on board a sloop at Slaughden Quay--"master of a box of clothes, a small case of surgical instruments, and three pounds in money." This was in April 1780..