Then, too, as another fruit of the rector's long absence, strange stories of his political opinions had become current.
Owing, doubtless, to his renewed acquaintance with Dudley North at Glemham, and occasional association with the Whig leaders at his house, he had exposed himself to the terrible charge that he was a Jacobin! Altogether Crabbe's clerical position in Leicestershire, during the next nine years, could not have been very comfortable.

But he was evidently still, as always, the devout and kindly pastor of his flock, and happily for himself, he was now to receive new and unexpected tributes to his popularity in other fields.

His younger son, John, now eighteen years of age, was shortly to go up to Cambridge, and this fresh expense had to be provided for.

To this end, a volume of poems, partly old and partly new, had been for some time in preparation, and in September 1807, it appeared from the publishing house of John Hatchard in Piccadilly.

In it were included _The Library_, _The Newspaper_, and _The Village_.