Clare "had attended [John] Taylor's soirées, met Coleridge, Hazlitt, Cunningham, Lamb, Cary, and other important literary figures. He had become the drinking companion of E. V. Rippingille, the painter, and had visited several of the great artists of the day. He corresponded with George Darley, Thomas Pringle, James Montgomery, Sir Charles Elton, and others." (ODNB)
