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O AWEUNIVERS/a ^mmiics^ Or O c: <: '^/iJ13AIN,13V\V^ ''-% SELECTIONS FROM THE LETTERS OE EGBERT SOUTHEY. VOL. in London : Printed by Spottiswoode & Co. New-8treet-Square. SELECTIONS FKOM THE LETTERS OF ROBERT SOUTHEY, &c. &c. &c. EDITED BY HIS SON-IN-LAW JOHN WOOD WARTER, B,D. CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD; VICAB OF WEST TARRING, SUSSEX. Southey's Letters show his true Character." Walter Savaoe Landor, MS. Letter to Mrs. Southey, April 28. 1843. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. ni. LONDON: LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, LONGMANS, & ROBERTS. 1856. nr.S LETTERS OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. To Miss Barker. London, Nov, 9. 1815. I AM afraid, Senliora, that the letters, which I wrote from Brussels did not reach their destination, for there is no allusion to them in those which we have received from the Venerable * and the juvenile Moon. One was a second letter of wonders, carrying us, if I re- collect rightly, to Ghent. The other was to yourself, and brought our history as far as Brussels. I found it impossible to write anything more than my journal, which occupied every minute I could spare, even on those days when we were stationary. You know how little leisure is to be obtained in a foreign country, when your curiosity is always on the alert, and eyes and ears both upon active service from morning till night. You shall, however, have our whole history in due form when we return. My journal is very full. That portion which relates to the fields of battle I shall extract, and affix either as preface or postscript to my * This was Mrs. Coleridge's household name. VOL. III. B 2 LETTERS OP 1815. projected poem. The rest I may arrange and fill up at leisure to leave among my papers. Here in London I can find time for nothing ; and to make things worse, the devil, who owes me an old grudge, has made me sit to Philipps for a picture for Murray. I have in my time been tormented in this manner so often, and to such little purpose, that I am half tempted to suppose the devil was the inventor of portrait painting. To-day (Thursday) we are to see the Lord Mayor's Show. It is raining, and will continue to rain. We go in about an hour to Rickman's, to see tlie water part of the pageant; then to Josiah Conder's in St. Paul's Church Yard, to see the procession by land. To-morrow for Streatham, between which place and Champion Hill (Mrs. Gonne's) we shall remain till the Saturday of next week : on that day we go to John May's, and return from his house to London on the Monday ; then, after four or, at the most, five days, we set off on our return, for which we are all equally impatient. T am weary of this continual movement and bustle, and long most heartily to be once more at home and at work, — the best kind of rest. I have bought for the Mountain Marshal a cuirassier's pistol from the spoil at Waterloo, and also a piece of kick-man-jiggery from Aix-la-Chapelle, which, being a very out of the way sort of thing, and pretending to be useful, is more fit for the said Marshal than for anybody else. There is as yet no news of any of my books. There are some Dutch volumes among them (" Lives of the Painters "), with heads by Houbracken : some of the very finest of his works. I am writing upon Herbert's desk, and I mend my pen with Herbert's knife ; a knife of queer cut from Namur, containing two blades and corkscrew, and steel for striking fire to light his pipe, and an instrument for picking the pipe : the latter will serve to untie parcels. 1815. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 3 and I have a flint from Waterloo with which he may strike light when we want a fire by the lake side. We have a friar apiece for Kate and Isabel, a friar on horseback for Bertha, and two nuns who are to be dis- posed of I know not how. Betty will be glad to hear that I have been mindful of her commission, and bought four sponges, taking Shedaw for my counsellor in the choice. We are to spend one whole morning in shop- ping before we leave London. Whether I am one of those persons who know how to spend and how to spare, is not for me to determine, but I have been both spending and sparing more than I wished. My gold has fled like chafl" before the wind. You will lend me lOOZ. on my return, to set all straight, as they say in Cumberland, and it will not be very long before I shall be able to set that amount straight also. " Roderick " is doing well, and has given me a good lift ; its work is not done yet, and it may possibly set us fairly afloat in smooth water. My Waterloo poem will get me more credit than money. There is one friend to whom I look for both — that emine7it physician whose house Ireconnoitred at Doncaster* God bless you. Love from all to all, and kisses as many as you please to give to the kissable part of the family. The Doctor, in particular, desires his remembrances. You must not go to London this winter, and perhaps next year I may accompany you to visit the ruins of Paris. I almost expect a massacre of the aUied troops, and the destruc- tion of that city. The first Mina is in London, and I shall see him. My letters need not be sent. Remember me to the General and Mrs. Peachey. The other General (Mrs. Coleridge's friend) I have seen; he is living with a * " His premeditated work, ' Doctor Daniel Dove, of Doncaster' ■which was to have been dedicated to me. " Mart Slade, nee Barker." B 2 4 LETTERS OF 1815. Jewish quack, wlio calls himself an Italian, the most impudent of his fraternity. This fellow's name is on the door, and I believe he lives upon the General, whose credulity in such things amounts to absolute insanity. Once more, God bless you. I long to sing my bravura at home once more. Yours affectionately. Iv. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Streatham, Nov. 17. 1815. My dear Grosvenor, I have written a letter to Gifford, which I shall not be able to despatch till to-morrow, when the proof may accompany it. I hope he will show it you. What effect it may produce Heaven knows. Bring with you the sheets of the article, in their original state, when you come to Queen Anne Street; they are become curious. It is not unlikely that I may offend Croker by the man- ner in which (without alluding to him) I have pointed out the impolicy and injustice of his interpolations. If it be so, so it may be. He may say what he pleases in his own person, and call black white if he likes it, but it is presuming too much to do this in mine. Fools that these people are ! as if there were any living man who is more disposed to render full justice to the Duke of Wellington than I am, or who had equally the will and the power to bestow upon him the highest and most lasting praise. God bless you. li. S. 1815. ROBERT SOUTHEY. To the Rev. Herbert Hill, 8fc. Keswick, "Wednesday, Dec. 6. 1815. We reached home to-day, after a safe journey; the weather loo wet to be cold, so that we suffered little other discomfort than that of fatigue. Edith May grew better as we advanced further from London, and I trust that her usual habits will soon restore her to her usual health.* I had no opportunity, when last we met, to tell you what has passed concerning the " Quarterly Review." In consequence of my letter to Gifford, which you saw, I found that the interpolations came from no less a per- sonage than the Duke himself, who thought proper, through Croker, to make me his tool. I spoke as be- came me upon the occasion ; insisted upon stopping the press, carried my point, struck out the falsehoods which had been inserted, and replaced what had been struck out. Upon seeing the former part of the article (the * The following lines are from the proem to the " Pilgrimage to Waterloo " : — " The young companion of our weary way Found here the end desired of all her ills ; She who in sickness pining many a day, Hunger'd and thirsted for her native hills, Forgetful now of suflerings past, and pain, Rejoiced to see her own dear home again. " Recover'd now, the home-sick mountaineer Sate by the playmate of her infancy, Her twin-like comrade S render'd doubly dear For that long absence ; full of life was she, With voluble discourse and eager mien. Telling of all the wonders she had seen." Mrs. Warter's " twin-like comrade " was poor Sara Coleridge. B .0 6 LETTERS OF 1815. proofs of which had not been sent me), I find a passage interpolated about the Convention of Cintra, which is contrary to my own expressed opinion. This I shall resist, and insist upon it that nothing hereafter be in- serted in any paper of mine without my consent ; other- wise I will withdraw from the work. I had an inter- view at the Admiralty after the business, and it was curious to observe how carefully the subject was avoided, and yet what concessions were made, and civilities shown, in reference to it. I shall be anxious to hear how your leg is going on. My table is covered with letters. I was much pleased with Mina, and shall get from him a sketch of his own history. With Frere also I am likely to have much correspondence. He has been a very ill-used man, and is perfectly aware that I am likely to prove his best friend. Of course he is able to give me much information ; but I was much gratified by finding that, on most points, the opinion which I had previously formed was strengthened and confirmed by what he communicated. My love to my aunt and the bairn. God bless you. R. S. To J. Neville White, Esq. Keswick, Dec. 8. 1815. My dear Neville, You would hear of us from Nottingham, where we met the kindest and warmest reception ; — that after departing from your mother's house we broke down in the streets you probably would not hear, for 1815. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 7 we went to the inn while our luggage was shifted to another chaise, and no hurt was done. On the Tuesday nicrht we reached Wordsworth's about seven o'clock ; it would have been possible to have got home by ten, but to have come in at night when the children were asleep, would have been a cruel disappointment to them and to us ! A return of this kind is a sort of triumph for which daylight is required, and sunshine also, if it could be had upon demand. So we slept at Rydal, and the next morning made our appearance. I need not say that it was a happy house that day. God be thanked we found them all in health, and Edith had improved in health every day after she left London. My table was covered with letters ; and though I fully intended to have told you of our safe arrival by the first post, 1 had not fulfilled my intention when the post hour came. You loaded us with kindness in London, and added largely to the treasures which we brought home for the children, — treasures they may be called ; for things of infinitely greater value would give them less delight in riper years. I shall feel myself your debtor till you have brought your sisters here ; or rather let me say, you owe us this gratification ; and if your excellent mother would be of the party, our gratification would be the greater. James was looking well. I wish I could assist him in his search for a curacy. It will be some days before I can, as it were, find my way, and resume the broken thread of old employments. At this moment I am up to the elbows in letters, these I hasten to clear off, in the hope of this night begin- ning my poem. God bless you. Remember me to the Conders, and believe me, my dear Neville, Yours most affectionately, Robert Southey. B 4 8 LETTERS OF 1815. P. S. All liere, the old and the young, unite in the kindest remembrances. Herbert has gone on faithfully both with his Greek and German during my absence, so as to have lost nothing. It is not possible that any child could be more entirely after his father's own heartr To Captain Southey, M.N., St. Helen's. Keswick, Dec. 20. 1815. My dear Tom, I want your help about the beginning of "Oliver Newman." It must open with a funeral at sea. Do you put shot in the coffin (when there is one), or fasten the weights in any other manner ? And in what manner, when the ceremony was to be performed with some re- spect, would you hoist it over? and from what part of the ship ? Give me all the technicals. My plan is pretty well made out, and I believe my mind is made up upon the choice of metre, which is always a perplexing choice. It will be that of ^'Tha-^ laba." Blank verse might lead me into repetitions, and rhyme will not do for a poem much of which must be essentially dramatic. Longman expects that the quarto " Roderick " will be gone before a small edition can be ready; it is there- fore in the press again. This was to be looked for; but it will not have, and cannot have, a great sale. The passion for novelty is soon satisfied, and the poem is of far too high a cliaracter to become popular, till time has made it so. It is like an acorn upon Latrigg now. The thistles and the fern will shoot up faster, and put it out of sight for a season, but the oak will strike root and grow. 1815. ROBERT SOUTnEY. 9 Will you be glad or sorry to hear that I must write an ode? I verily believed that the performance had been dropped last year, and thought it was an act of over-caution when I wrote last week to ask Croker whether or not it was so. He told me last night that though the custom ought to be abolished, it is not yet, and therefore I must write one : and he holds out a vague sort of prospect of its abolition, upon which very little dependence can be placed. You may be sure I care very little about this. An immediate and public abolition of so idle a custom would reflect credit upon the Prince, but as for me, it may very possibly be more to my credit that it should continue ; for subjects can never be wanting to a man who looks at public events as I do, in their causes and consequences. So instead of pesting the ode (that French word is better than either our synonyme in c or in d), I set about it, formed the plan immediately, and have to-day written thirty- seven lines ; which, considering I had a liead-ache in the morning, and took a humming dose of magnesia at two o'clock to get rid of it, is pretty well We had yesterday the most remarkable storm that Mrs. Wilson or any person in Keswick can remember. The wind was nearly due south, and it took up the water of the lake, literally like dust : we could see it beginning to rise far up under Brandelow, white as smoke or as a morning mist, gathering and growing all the way to the bottom of the lake, and there dispersed as far as the tempest could carry it. Tlie report fi'om the town was that " slates were flying about there like crows"; and in fact the long sort of pent-house above the Queen's Head is nearly unroofed. It still blows a heavy gale. The *' West Indies " you cannot complete without going to London, and working at the public libraries there, and this it will be worth while to do when you 10 LETTERS OF 1815. have done all that can be done from the materials within your reach. We must overhaul them when I come to you. Dec. 22)id. — My odeous job was finished yesterday, thirteen stanzas in the rhymeless measure of the con- gratulatory odes which Milton, after the Greeks, calls Apolelymenon, — a good hard word for loose. I want a name for the ode sadly ; but to call it merely from the metre, Carmen Apolelymenon, would be such " A word upon a title-page " as might well make the reader bless himself. So I suppose it must simply be called an ode. I dismiss the American War by a wish that it may soon be at an end ; and, with a reference to the memory of Washington, then turn to what are the labours which befit this country in peace, launching out upon the two great subjects of general education and colonisation. I will get it franked to you if I can .... Love to Sarah. God bless you. Iv. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, Dec. 25. 1815. My dear Grosvenor, I have been doggedly at work, and will torment my unwilling Minerva no longer. Here are three stanzas which are good enough for the fiddlers, and by the time I shall have finished my poem, I may either be able to complete this, or substitute something better in its place. The " Pilgrimage " goes on to my liking. I am at Brussels now, and another evening will bring me to the Field of Battle; thus far, all is well, and could not be otherwise : it remains to be seen how I 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 11 shall succeed when description is to be exchanged for a moral and severe strain. As for making a poem iq^on the battle, as you advise, it would be just as possible to make a plum-pudding of it, for battles are as unfit for poetry as they are for puddings ; and if you can find a more dissimilar simile, you may substitute it as more to the purpose. I shall put my journal in such order as to make a volume for posthumous publication, by which time it will have greatly increased in value ; that is to say, it will be worth much more as a post-obit than as a bill at sight. My recollections help me now and then to something which had been forgotten in its place ; and I hear others from the two Ediths, in the course of the many conversations upon our journey, which had escaped my observation, or not occurred to it. Besides this, I am reading about the countries which I saw, and am become so curious about them, that my " Col- lectanea Belgica " will amount to something considerable by and by, both in extent and value. I meant to have given you your letters in London, and behold they remained in my trunk ; but I am not sorry for tliis. li. S. P. S. A merry Christmas to you. To John Rickman, Esq. Keswick, Jan. 12. 1816. My dear Rickman, It is Barrow who so perversely persists in dis- crediting cannibalism, for no better reason than that lie thinks his own preconceived opinion of more weight 12 LETTERS OF 1816 than the testimony of anybody else : this is strange and provoking in a man of so much knowledge and so much ability. It is curious, too, for he had expressed this disbelief before in the same channel, and, after the publication of my first volume, seemed to retract it. Murray has a manuscript in his hands concerning the Tongataboo Islands, which contains some pleasant stories upon this subject, and upon savage life in general. I have advised him by all means to publish it. It is one of the most curious books of its kind, drawn up from the account of a certain Mr. Mariner, who was spared from the massacre of a ship's crew, being a lad, and had lived among them several years. Wynn sent me once an extract from an unprinted Welsh Chronicle written in Latin : speaking of an invasion from Ireland, it said that the leader was killed, and being a very fat man, one of the Welsh chieftains had him for his share, and made bacon of him ! I think the Latin words are, " i7i carnem suillam condidit." Now whether for rashers, or for lard, as unguents, the French surgeon in Brazil col- lected human fat from the Tupinambas houcans* I know not, but incline to believe in the rashers. It is a pity that Barrow is not a Welshman, for the pleasure which he would derive from this story. God bless you. Robert Southey. * " Four forked stakes were driven into the ground, sticks were laid across, and on this they rather dried than broiled the flesh. This wooden frame was called the houcan ; food thus smoked and dried was said to be buccaneered ; and hence the origin of the name applied to that extraordinary race of freebooters who were so long the scourge of the Spaniards in South Amei'ica." — History of Brazil, vol. i. p. 207. U16. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 13 To C. W. W. Wynn, Esq., M.P. Keswick, Feb. 21. 1816. My dear Wynn, Since you heard from me last, my " Pilgrimage " has never been off my desk, and I have not reached the end of it, — such a snail's pace have I travelled. With as boyish a heart as ever, I begin to have a grey head, and many symptoms that the noonday of life is gone by. In the year 1798 I once wrote 1200 lines in a week. " Gualberto" made part of them ; the greater number of the rest were in " Madoc." This I could not do now ; and an increased fastidiousness, or sense of imperfection, will not account for all, or even half, the differences ; the inclination for the effort is wanting, which is a strong indication that the power no longer exists. I took the story of " Bless thy eyes" * from Bowdler's book, with a strong suspicion, I confess, that the word *' Bless " was put evangelice for a much more soldierlike expression ; but I had no suspicion that eyes had been substituted for noses, or I should certainly have restored the true reading. In consequence of what was said of the Convention of Cintra in the former number (where my sentiments were suffered to stand), Sir Hew Dal- rymple has sent me a long vindication through Murray, I cannot reply to him as I sliould wish to do for his courtesy, and must therefore take advantage of his letters having come to me as an anonymous person, not to reply to it at all. He is very fearful of what I shall say in my history, and from this fear-it is impossible to relieve him. This is an evil inseparable from the task of writing contemporary history ; there are occasions on which, be as cautious as you may, you must either * I think the expression was, " Bless thy crooked nose." — C.W.W. 14 LETTERS OF 181C. sacrifice truti), or wound the feelings of others. My Spanish honours bring me into a curious dilemma : as a member of their two Academies, I am expected to send copies of whatever I may publish to each ; and to do this with a history which will neither mince the matter respecting the Holy Office nor Ferdinand would be a direct insult. As for Ferdinand and the Liberales, there is as much to be said in justification of one as of the other : their constitution provided for quarrelling with the puppet King at its head, and would soon have ended by getting rid of him. It is not much to be wondered at if he, who has just sense enough to understand this thoroughly, and is, moreover, so thorough a Catholic as to embroider petticoats* for the Virgin, should have very little mercy upon men who really are thorough Jacobinical Atheists, and who de- clare that they would show no mercy if the power were in their hands. This is a matter which I can judge with entire impartiality ; for certainly, had I been born a Spaniard, and bred under such a Government and such a Church, the first wish of my heart would have been to destroy both. In short, it is as fair a war be- tween them, as between shark and sailor. It required all Brougham's effrontery to take up this question. While these men were acting against France, he never spoke of them but with contempt. Dr. Aikin announces " George III.," and I am to review his work — an offer readily accepted on my part : because what I shall then write will serve as the outline of my own intended book. In this forthcoming number I have a short paper upon a French account of Mas- sena's campaign in Portugal ; and another upon Alfieri, * See 2 Kings, xxiii. 7. So like is the superstition of one age to another ! Tas Ka\\idi(ppoi' 'A0a- rai'ar eV KpoK((fi ■iT(ir\(f> K. t. A. — EuR. JJeC, V. 464. 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 15 of little or no value. For the next I must exert myself as my ways and means will require. We have had an avalanche. I do not know whether you saw Applethwaite when you were here, — a gill under Skiddaw. An immense portion of snow came rolling down, and brought with it a proportionate quan- tity of wreck from the mountain, so as to bury the stream for some hundred yards, and the water now works its way under the mingled mass, or rather under an arch of snow which is covered with wreck. This arch has fallen in in many places, and the whole scene is highly curious. You will receive my " Pilgrimage " in the course of a month : I end it with a vision, which enables me to speak of the political aspects, and of the prospects of society, as I would wish to do. How I like it myself, I shall better be able to say when it is completed : the barometer of an author's own feelings is liable to many variations. Bedford will tell you of the prints, which will give the book a certain and per- manent interest. I have made proper mention of Picton, who, I think, may take place of Sir Henry Morgan, as the Worthy of Wales. God bless you. Yours very affectionately, Robert Southey. Messrs, Longman and Co. Keswick, March 8. 1816. My dear Sir, I have two matters of business to propose for your consideration. I believe I mentioned to you, in town, the death of a young Cantabrigian, in whom I had taken much interest. His papers (poems) are in 16 LETTERS OF 1816. my hands, and, in my judgment, a selection from them will do honour to his memory. They will not have the religious interest of Kirke White's ** Remains," neither do they display so much correctness ; but certainly there is as much power and as much promise. In the way of memoir, I do not know that there will be much to say. He was the eldest of a very large family ; the father a half-pay officer, in very straitened circum- stances. Of course, the publication is with his appro- bation ; but it remains to be seen what circumstances of his son's short life he would choose to have stated. Be that as it may, there will be enough of general matter bearing upon the particular subject to make an introduction. He was highly respected in his college, and known enough at Cambridge to have excited some interest there ; with this, and with my name, there can, I think, be little risk in venturing one volume, the size of K. White's ; the title, " The Remains of James Dusautoy, late of Emmanuel College, Cambridge ; with an Introduction, by R. S.," &c. My own judgment of these papers is sanctioned by Wordsworth. Should you be willing to undertake the publication, upon our usual terms, I should wish you to communicate your assent to Captain James Dusautoy, Totness, Devonshire, and account with him for the eventual profits. I may hint to you, that it is desirable the letter should be franked. The second point of business relates to a volume of " Travels in Brazil," by Henry Koster, a friend of mine who resided six years in that country, and went to it with the advantage of speaking Portuguese as his own tongue, being an English-Lisboner by birth. The line of his travels was from Pernambuco to Ceara, besides occasional excursions, and a voyage to Maranham. The manner of his narration is plain and unaffected ; and the picture which it gives of the state of society in that country is highly curious. In quantity, I should suppose 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 17 it would make such a volume as Mawe's ; and he has some four or five drawings of costumes, which would make good coloured prints. In the second sheet of the " Pilgrimage" there are three stanzas* relating to Kostcr and his travels. I did not know that he had any intention of publishing them when those lines were written ; but the quotation might have its use in an- nouncing the book, and I should, of course, notice it as soon as it appeared, in the " Quarterly." Pople is printing the " Pilgrimage" much to my satisfaction. The poem extends considerably beyond my estimate, but will not be the worse for its length. Believe me, yours very truly, Robert Southey. * I transcribe the stanzas, as the reader may not have the " Pilgrimage " at hand : — " A third, who from the Land of Lakes with me Went out upon this pleasant pilgrimage, Had sojourn'd long beyond the Atlantic Sea ; Adventurous was his spirit, as his age ; For he in far Brazil, through wood and waste, Had travell'd many a day, and there his heart was placed, " Wild region ! . . . happy if at night he found The shelter of some rude Tapuya's shed ; Else would he take his lodgment on the ground. Or from the tree suspend his hardy bed ; And sometimes starting at the jaguar's cries, See through the murky night the prowler's eyes. " And sometimes over thirsty deserts drear. And sometimes over flooded plains he went ; A joy it was his fire-side tales to hear, And he a comrade to my heart's content ; For he of what I most desired could tell, And loved the Portugals because he knew them well." Part I. i. 38. VOL. III. 18 LETTERS OF 1816. To John Richman, Esq. Keswick, Jrarch 12. 1816. My dear Rickman, I have been reading Turner's " Tibet," having felt my intellect hungry for it after what you said in its praise. A good book, a strange country, and a stranger people. I do not find any mention of the proportion between the sexes, and this silence may seem to infer that there is no visible disproportion; but on the other hand, women being everywhere less abroad than men, it may exist, without being obvious to a traveller. I can account for the system of Polyandry *, as he calls it, only in one way ; that among the first settlers there was, from whatever cause, a paucity of women, and that it originated in necessity. As, for instance, it might have done at early Rome, if there had been no Sabines within reach. Csesar found a similar system here, — this island being peopled from the continent. There will be always a great majority of men among emigrants and colonists ; but if the system thus began in an actual disproportion, that dis- proportion (in the ordinary course of nature) would continue the same, unless a supply were introduced from without: to restore the natural equilibrium women must be imported, not bred. In Tibet there seems to be no importation. Their Lama, like Apis, who is always the same, has this advantage over other rulers, — rather, there is this advantage in the fraud, that it gives them choice of the subject; and that as an Apis was sure to be a fine ox, * " In PInkerton's abominable collection of voyages is a compi- lation about Tibet, copied from Astley's collection, and here it is stated that the people say their custom of polyandry is necessary because of the scarcity of women." — J. R. 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 19 SO will the Lama be chosen among the finest specimens of the human infant. It is a book that gives one much matter for speculation. Have you read Elphinston's ^'Caubul"? The Affghans are a fine people : of all the Easterlings, the Persians are the worst. Robert Southey. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, March 15. 1816. My dear Grosvenor, I shall attend to your remarks always, and profit by them where I can. As for party, you need not fear that. I have even done some little injustice to some of my own political apprehensions in putting them into the old man's mouth. But you will see that all this is subordinate to the philosophical views developed at the conclusion. It will, perhaps, be convenient to prefix something like an analysis of this part in the way of argument to the poem. The tower upon the sand* is not emblematic of ambition, but of philosophy built upon false prin- ciples. The principles of the revolutionary leaders are broadly stated in this part, as avowed by most of them, and consistently acted upon by Bonaparte ; and in this canto they are contrasted with the principles of duty. In the next canto these arguments are advanced, which would prove that no good has resulted from the con- test, and that our victory has left the world worse than it found it : and with these arguments as relating to * " Its frail foundations upon sand were placed," &c. Part II. " The Tower," § 9 02 20 LETTERS OF 1816. Italy and Spain, and the domestic dangers, the old gentleman takes his departure, leaving me more im- pressed by them than it would have been agreeable to acknowledge to one who, if he had been closely exa- mined, might have been found guilty of a cloven foot and a tail. In the third canto, which is far more visionary, the purport is, that religion must be the foundation of philosophy, which can never judge rightly of human affairs unless the nature and destination of man be felt and understood. The two points upon which I rest are, that imperfection or disease is our nature, which is called original sin (which I am very far from understanding in a Calvinistic sense), and the immortality of the soul. Upon these data, whatever relates to individual man becomes clear and satisfactory; and in the last canto this is applied : I then look at the general course of history, consider the question of na- tional degeneracy, and show that the degradation of Europe, that is, of the only progressive part of the world, would have resulted from Bonaparte's success. Thence the immeasurable importance of this victory. All this ought to be perspicuous, if I have explained myself properly. I then proceed to show what England may be, taking the fair side ; and this is a series of shifting pictures looking on for centuries, far and wide ; and taking care to say that it depends upon herself whether they be realised or not. Then I shall wake, and con- clude with a L'Envoy of rejoicing, in which the bonfire upon old Skiddaw is not to be forgotten. I have got on thirty-two stanzas with the last canto, and heartily glad shall I be to see the end. The plan is now before you ; it is precisely the outline which I formed when my determination of writing upon the subject was first made ; in the execu- tion it has extended farther than I expected, and after all, may very probably not be worth the time which it 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 21 has cost. The subject certainly would never have oc- curred to me as one of choice. However, 1 am not out of humour with it upon the whole, and shall be in great glee when the pictures arrive. What has GifFord done with my article about the Frenchman with half a dozen initials ? He does not mention it in his note : I take it for granted that it stands over for the next number, and as he has chosen that "Algiers" shall stand over too, I shall do less for the number in consequence. If they go wrong about Lord Elgin, it is not my fault : I suspect a design of washing the blackamoor white, and cautioned them against it. Cyril Jackson's good word is worth something if it gets abroad. I am greatly indebted to Cyril Jackson, — to no man more. He refused to admit me at Christ Church, as doubtless you remember, and this was the most fortunate event in my life. Grosvenor, there were more wigs than brains laid together about that poor number of the " Flagellant ! " God bless you, R. S. To John May, Esq. April 17. 1816. My dear Friend, If you have seen Harry of late, you will antici- pate the intelligence which a black seal announces. It has pleased God to visit me with the severest of all afflictions, by removing my son, — my only son, — who was the very flower and crown of all my happiness ; for never was man blest with a child more entirely after his c 3 22 LETTEltS OF 1816. own heart's desire. " The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the Lord." I am very thankful for having had him during ten years. During those years he has been the joy of my life ; and my deepest pleasure hereafter will be in the sure and certain hope that this separation is only for a time. I feel, also, that the removal is for his good ; that he was perfectly fit for a better scene of existence : he had learnt all of good that this world could teach him, — all kind affections, all good feelings, all generous hopes ; and he is gone before the world has sullied his pure spirits, without a spot or stain, never having known a thought of evil, never having felt a single affliction. His life has been past in love, and he has fallen asleep to wake in immortality. In this frame of mind, you will believe that I am as composed and as resigned as becomes a man and a Christian ; but I am fully aware that in this place I shall never be able to overcome the I'ecollections which must everywhere haunt me. My morning walks, my summer excursions on the lake, &c. &c., — all are asso- ciated with him, who was my constant companion. I will therefore, if it be possible, remove from Cumberland. My lease expires in twelve months from this time. I wish to be near London, and, if it may be, near you. Harry will talk to you about this. Edith has supported herself through this long and severe trial with exemplary fortitude. I trust God will support her now. For myself, it is a relief to know that the worst is over. For full five weeks I have never known an hour's peace of mind, perpetually dreading this ; and even when I gave way to the hopes with which others flattered me, it was hoping against belief. His whole demeanour was, like his whole life, almost beyond belief for calmness, collectedness, and obedience. 1816. ROBERT SOUTHET. 23 Pray for us, my dear friend, that we may be sup- ported in our affliction. My heart is strong, and 1 can answer for controlling all outward excess of grief; but I pray that my health may not fail me. I have many ties to life, and am duly mindful of them at this hour. God bless you. Yours most affectionately, Robert Soutiiey. The Rev. Herbert Hill, 8fc. Keswick, April 22. 1816. I OUGHT sooner to have written to you ; but ill news always finds its way, and I was willing to shrink from another repetition of the same tale. The affliction which has befallen me is heavier than any person can conceive, who had not seen the habits of my domestic life ; how closely they were connected with the studies and the amusement of the child whom I have lost, and how he became as naturally my companion as I became his playmate. There is but one source of consolation ; but that source is all-sufficient, and I have drank of it largely. My happiness can never again be what it has been, yet will the difference be rather in kind than in degree ; there will be less of earth about it, less that is insecure and perishable. He was the main object of my hopes ; those hopes have now no fears to alloy them (for this calamity was always before my eyes), and at this moment with a feeling of perfect resignation at his removal, I thank God for having, during so many years, blest me with a son who was, in every quality of dispo- sition and intellect, entirely after my own heart. No mother could possibly have behaved with more admir- c 4 24 LETTERS OF 1816. able fortitude than Edith did during the whole severe trial. We are both as you would wish to see us under such a dispensation, — resigned to the call of God, and grateful for the blessings which we still possess ; bless- ings such as fall to the lot of few. I am very much reduced in body and in strength ; but I am taking all care of myself, and a short time will recruit me. I employ myself incessantly. I find not only relief in mental exertion, but even pleasure. God grant that you may never be visited with a sorrow of this kind. My love to my aunt and the children. I cannot love Edward more than I already loved him ; but, as far as is possible, he will be to me hereafter in the place of my son. God bless you. R. S. To Herbert Southey.* Herbert ! having some spare time, I will write to you in rhyme ; For, though you perhaps suppose That I should write to you in prose, Rhyming Son, methinks, should rather Hear in rhymes from rhyming Father. * In the " Life and Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 16., Southey says in a letter to G. C Bedford, " In his desk there are the few letters which I had written to him in the joy of my heart. I will fold up these and send them to you, that they may be preserved when I am gone, in memory of him and of me." " These letters," my brother-in-law observes in a note, " have not come into my hands," nor have they into mine. The above scrap, written on a bit of waste paper, I found amougbt the MSS. of the late Mrs. Southey, marked " vehy rBECious." 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 25 And if I in verse declare Wliere we've been, and where we are, Such odd names I needs must bring in As will prove my skill in singing ; Skill, my son, which, you may guess, It befits me to possess ; — Me, who, living by the Greta, Am his Majesty's Poeta ! At our outset, as you saw, son. We for driver had James Lawson ; Carefully did young James guide Chaise and horse to Ambleside. Loth we were, the truth to tell, To leave a house we love so well ; Yet we felt our spirits mend all On the second stage to Kendal : Thence we went to Kirkby Lonsdale. (He, son, does not walk in bonds well Who can make a name so ugly Lito couplets come so snugly !) Thence we went to Ligleton When our first day's work was done. Horses well upon their mettle Carried us next day to Settle ; After breakfast then we skipt on Merrily as far as Skipton ; Next a man, whose coat was motley. Drove a pleasant stage to Ottley. Thence a weary way proceeds Up a heavy hill to Leeds. CcBtera desunt. 26 LETTEKS OF 1816. To C. W. Williams Wyiin, Esq., M.P. Keswick, May 17. 1816. My dear Wynn, I am very glad you are satisfied with the " Pil- grimage;" a work of such length can never be completed without many fits of misgiving in the author, and to- wards its close, when uneasy apprehensions from an- other cause began to disquiet me, I more than once wished that it had never been begun. To me the book will ever remain a sad memento of the imcertainty of human enjoyments ; and yet it is a satisfaction that the poem exists, and will exist as long as my name shall be remembered. Emuling* is not my coinage; you will find the word in Spenser. The " Carmen Nuptiale " was half written two years ago, and, by a piece of good luck, which could not have been expected, is only by one word the worse for altering. I had to turn the Belgic lion into a Saxon one ; this male Simorg of ours most obligingly happen- ing to have a lion for his supporter. Tell nobody this, and nobody will perceive how much difierence the one word makes. I myself think this far the best of my minor poems. Nor am I afraid of being misunderstood in the third stanza. The stanza is not Spenser's ; he, I believe, has never used it. It is the simplest form of stanza, and of the most convenient length. A longer stanza, when the same rhyme recurs more frequently, leads almost in- evitably to a diffuser style than is at all times desirable. * The word occurs in " Colin Clout's come home again : " — " Yet, amuling my pipe, he took in hand My pipe, before that (emuled of many, And plaid thereon." — v. 72. 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 27 *' The Lay of the Laureate " is a good English name for the " Carmen Nuptiale :" it is just such a poem as those which were originally called " Lays," and though I have put more of Robert Southey into it than many persons may think proper (and you perhaps among others), yet certainly the subject is one which R. S. would never have chosen, but which the Laureate could not with propriety let pass. Moreover, the two L's alliterate well, and the beauty of the title-page will be improved, because the title renders unnecessary the introduction of the author's name. The Waterloo men have got their medals, I see. You and I and Alexander Davison have contributed to this. This is not the first time that I have been oddly classed with Alexander Davison. Poor WoodrufFe Smith, of Stockwell, left 50/. each to Duppa, Alexander Davison, Sir John Eames, their Lord Mayor, and R. S., as his four particular friends. 1 am afraid Wilson has acted from a very unworthy feeling of personal resentment towards Lord Wellington and his own Government. Wilson has been an ill-used man. If I were called upon to say what particular act, above all others, contributed to the success of our struggle in the Peninsula, I think I should say, Wilson's advance to Ciudad Rodrigo at the time when Sir J. Moore was in full retreat; for that movement (beyond all doubt) prevented the French from advancing upon Lisbon, and the English from evacuating it, as they were ready to do. I daresay Beresford is a better drill sergeant than Wilson, and Wilson a better guerilla chief than regular soldier ; but certainly his merits were never acknow- ledged and rewarded as they might have been. No weaker feeling than that of bitter resentment could ever have made him, of all men, take so strong an interest for Marshal Ney. My own feelings upon this business are these : I would have seized Ney in his 28 LETTERS OF 1816. flight, and delivered him to the executioner; but had Lavalette come to me, I would have used every effort to favour his escape ; I would not have plotted it, but when he was out of prison, I could no more have abstained from assisting him (there being no paramount claims of eternal policy in his case, as there were in Ney's), than I could from saving any human creature from death, if it were in my power. But as for the grounds on which B and H profess to have acted, they and my Lord K ought to be cut for the simples ; and if the operation were extended to some of the opponents of the Alien Act, the sum total of folly in the House of Commons would be reduced. The French seem very lovingly disposed to cut each other's throats, in which meritorious work I hope they may prosper to their hearts' desire. A Bonapartian La Vendee would be a spectacle for men and angels. I mean good angels ; the devils would be too busily engaged in it to have any leisure for looking on. God bless you. li. S. To Wade Brown, Esq., Ludloiv. Keswick, May 26. 1816. My dear Sir, You will easily excuse me for not having myself informed you of our loss. It is the third which we have sustained, but the sorrow is now different in kind as well as in degree. The death of an infant seems re- paired by the birth of another, and you lose in it more of hope than of actual enjoyment ; yet God knows, even then the heart is wounded in its tendcrest part. 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 29 But in our present case, the loss is irreparable. Were there the probability of our having another son, I am not sure that I should desire it; so infinitely unlikely is it that he should resemble Herbert in those moral and intellectual endowments which rendered him all that my heart desired. No father was ever blest with a child more entirely such as he would have prayed for, and therefore it was that I always apprehended the calamity which has befallen me : I could not help feeling that when a creature of this kind came into the world, it was not likely that he should be suffered to remain in it ; he lived in it long enough to know all that was good, — and nothing but what was good ; and he is re- moved before a thought of evil has ever risen in his heart, or a breath of impurity ever tainted his ears. ■ For ourselves, I hope we bear the visitation with true submission to the unerring wisdom which has appointed it. I have lost so many near and dear friends that my thoughts have been long and habitually directed toward the next world, as a point of hope, — as the place where we are to meet again, and where we shall be se- parated no more. Meantime, though the very head and flower of all my earthly hopes and happiness is cut off, I have abundant blessings left : for each and all of these I am truly thankful ; but of all the blessings which God has given me, this child, who is removed, is the one which I slill prize the most. Most thankful I am that I should have been favoured with such a son, and most happy in the certain assurance that this pri- vation is only for a time. But for this faith it is scarcely possible that we should have supported the blow. The illness was of six or eight weeks' continu- ance ; there was hope till the last, — though from the first in my own mind fear predominated. It was found after death to be an accumulation of matter in the peri- cardium. Part of my prayers were granted ; long as the 30 LETTERS OF 1816. decline was, and total as the decay, it was attended with the least possible suffering ; and at the end he fell asleep. One word more, and I will have done with this painful subject : — his whole behaviour was in this, as in all his life, — beautiful. I thank you, my dear Sir, for your very friendly letter. My tears even now are not without some portion of de- light — such is the power of religion. Remember us most kindly to Mrs. Browne and your daugliters, And believe me Very truly and affectionately yours, Robert Southey. To C. TV. Williams Wynn, Esq.^ M.P. Keswick, July 2, 1816. My dear Wynn, Do not imagine that any circumstances would ever render me indifferent to anything which concerned your happiness. My state of mind, as it regards my own loss, is what it should be, and admits of no repining thought or feeling : least, of all occasions, would any such feeling occur upon the present, — ^an event of which I have so truly wislied to hear. I hope to see you here. If I leave home this year, it must be for a longer journey than to Wales. Bedford, I think, must lose his mother ere long. She is not in immediate danger, but she may be so at any moment ; that she should recover, is nearly impossible, and any day the disorder may assume a fatal character. When- ever this event happens, if it be possible for me to get from home, I should wish to go with Grosvenor for five or six weeks to the Continent, — the best thing for him, 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 31 and which would be wholesome for me also. Duvin"- my last trip I kept a minute journal ; and were I to go through the rest of the Netherlands, the knowledge wlu'ch I have acquired from books, and which I have the means of obtaining in that country, would enable me to make a volume that should do me no discredit, and would pay the expense of my journey. As to the mention of the Catholic Question, the cha- racter of the poem rendered it indispensable. The sovereign of this country has no more imperative duty than that of preserving the institutions of the country. That the Roman Catholics will ever succeed in buildino- lip their own church here, I do not believe ; but they may go a great way in assisting to pull our church down, — and a church which is undermined, which is battered in breach, and which has the dry rot to boot, is in a bad way for durability. That you will carry the question I take for granted, — from the total want of activity in your opponents. You would not carry it if most of the men who sit upon the woolsacks, were not as soft as the wool which they sit on. The next demand which the Catholics make is, for a Catholic Establish- ment in Ireland; and upon the quarrel (into which every Paddy Rampant will enter as into a crusade) you will have a civil war ; — and if it be delayed till the Bourbons feel safe upon their throne, you will find far more danger from a Bourbon fomenting a Catholic Re- bellion, than ever you did from a Directory instigating a Republican one. The question will not, however, be easily carried : this business in the South of France has opened the eyes of the Dissenters, and you may probably calculate upon some act of folly in the Irish. GifTord is so connected with Canning that the " Quar- terly " will probably be enlisted on that side ; in that case I shall most likely publish a pamphlet upon the subject. 32 LETTEKS OF 1816. Though I cannot come to you at present (my fellow traveller Nash, who made the drawings for me, is just arrived), at some future time I hope to go over *' Ma- doc's " ground, that I may improve the poem by inter- weaving local descriptions. My race as a poet is nearly run ; if I finish what I have begun, it is little likely that I shall ever begin anything more. " Solve sene- scentem ! " The hours which I might be able to spare for such pursuits in declining life, would be better em- ployed in correcting my former poems than in attempt- ing anything more. I have reviewed " M. Roche Jaquelein " for the next numbers, and written a paper upon bettering the con- dition of the poor. I am about to take Pinckard's shallow book for a text, and write upon the West Indies. My mind is reconciled to remaining here ; and having worn out the first inclination of flying from the spot, in all likelihood I shall never remove from it. I am per- fectly at ease respecting the future circumstances of my family ; were I to be removed immediately, there would be a provision for them ; and if I live some few years, it will be in my power to save money. All things con- sidered, I have been singularly fortunate, nor shall I ever be unmindful how much this has been owing to you. God bless you, my dear Wynn. Present my congra- tulations to your wife, and believe me Most affectionately yours, Robert Southey. 1816. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 33 To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, Awg. 31. 181G. My dear Grosvenor, I begin to wish for solitude and long evenings — winter it were needless to include in the wish, for we have had it almost uninterruptedly since last Christmas. I am weary of visitors, and want leisure. The Beau- monts are here, and Rogers is here, — and the Lord knows who have been here, — and more of the Lord knows whose family are coming. Here is Glover in town ; and the younger Westall and the Secretary of the Bible Society have been here, and the King of Prussia's librarian has been here : and what with one and an- other, I am well nigh walked off my legs, and talked out of my life. Am I the better for all this, you will ask? Everybody will tell you that I am in good spirits; but my spirits are not what they were, nor will they ever again be. Hceret lateri ! I have begun this letter, forgetting that an unfinished one has been lying in my desk ; so as I can frank this, I will cut off the fragment. Gilford is at his old work of castrating my reviews, against which I must resolutely and decidedly remonstrate. He has likewise, without ceremony or any apology whatever, wholly suppressed a short article which I believe you saw, upon a French- man's history of Massena's campaign in Portugal, and which certainly has not been omitted. to make room for better matter. It would be curious if I should be so disgusted as to throw up the ''Review" at a time when it pa3's me more liberally than I have ever before been remunerated for any kind of labour. But I am strongly disposed to suspect foul play with which Gilford is un- acquainted. Judge for yourself: — Murray propounds VOL. III. D 34 LETTERS OF 1816. to me, among other subjects, a paper upon the West Indies ; there is none which 1 am more competent to treat : I accepted it, and intimated an intention of mak- ing it conclude with refei'ence to the " Registry Bilh" ]\Iurray is well pleased, — collects abundant pamphlets, takes it for granted that I must take part with the planters and slave smugglers, because he *'took it for granted that I should think differently from Messrs. Jeffery and Brougham ;" and finding that on this point (which is in effect the question of the Abolition) I agree with them, he writes to solicit me, as a matter in which his personal interest is deeply concerned, that I will write upon any other subject. There are two modes of accounting for this : he may have West Indian pro- perty, or connections, and in that case have formed a fool's opinion upon a mistaken notion of self-interest ; or, he has submitted his Journal to some undue in- fluence. I pretend not to say what money has been lavished in purchasing newspapers, &c., yet he can hardly have been so imprudent as to sell his Review, and damn its character and his own, should the truth be suspected. I, of course, have laid the subject aside ; but as I made no secret of my intention to write through that medium upon the question, I have warned him to beware how he takes the other side. Lord Byron calls him the Grand Murray. I have preserved all his letters ; tlieir hints and their flattery would amuse you much. When next you come to Keswick, we will turn over these papers upon a rainy day, and put them in some order. By accident I have seen a number of the "Exa- miner," containing a parody upon the " Proem to the Lay :" I could not have desired it to be more silly, or more stupid. You are included in it, nommatim^ as my wise friend, in burlesquing the stanza wherein I say, *' The friendship of the wise and good is mine." It is 181G. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 35 hardly worth while to allude to such attacks seriousl}' ; but if you will send me back the chapters of " The Pro- phet Jehephary," * I will alter and adapt them to the present date, and secure their appearance in the " Cou- rier " by sending them to Stuart myself. Recover, if you can, the MSS. of my last two ar- ticles. Remember me to all at home. God bless you. R. S. '^U 23oo!i of t|)c ^ropj^ct ^djcpljnvy. CHAPTER I. 1. In those days, the men of the Party were sorely troubled, for behold, none of those things were fulfilled which had been written of by Jehephary the Proj^het, and Peherri the Chroniclei", and Kawbit of the Black Guards. 2. And the spirit of melancholy possessed Jehephary the Prophet, and he was tempted to destroy himself, for he said : Wherefore should I live to see the triumph of mine enemies ? 3. For the battle hath gone against us, and the Emperor Napoleon hath been sent prisoner to the Lone Island ; and King Joachim hath been shot ; and Marshal Ney, him also have they slain ! 4. And the Prince and his Ministers are honoured, for their counsels have been blest : now, then, let me die, that I may not beliold these things. 5. Then he revolved in his mind by what death he should die : pistols he liked not since the affair of the Moor Thomas, * As the " History of the Propliet Jehephary " lias got abroad in diffei'ent shapes, it seems better to print it at once. There is but one person hving whom it concerns, and he is too gifted and too kindhearted to be hurt at a long-exploded squib. The same objection may possibly be made to this as to the " Ogliam Fi-agment ;" but Southey's reverence for the Bible, and his humble piet}', are unimpeachable. c 2 36 LETTERS OP 1816. and poison might not have agreed with his complection, and to have tried drowning would have been disregarding one of tlie known laws of the constitution of things. So he determined upon a rope. 6. And he sent for Brum the Scribe, whom he thought that it behoved to die with, being his bosom friend and counsellor, and one who was involved in the same dis- grace. 7. Now when Brum the Scribe came into the chamber of Jehephary the Prophet, he found him sitting disconso- lately in a flannel robe, and a white nightcap. 8. Upon the table before him Vt^as the play of Cato, and the last number of the Reekie Review, and a basin of water- gruel, and two ropes coiled curiously. 9. His face was of the colour of brimstone, by reason of the bile which was diffused through his whole frame, and his beard was of a week's growth. 10. And Brum the Scribe accosted him, but Jehephary the Prophet regarded him awhile mournfully and in silence; and when he brake silence he said : Behold, we are become a jest unto the people, and the laughing-stock of our adversaries ! 11. For the spirit whereby I prophecied hath deluded me to mine own destruction. 12. I did prophecy concerning Spain that it should be subdued, and concerning Portugal that it could not be defended, and behold both countries have been delivered. 13. And concerning Russia I did prophecy that the French should possess it : alas ! they left their bones therein ! 14. And I took up my prophecy concerning the Emperor Napoleon, and said that his dominion should endure for ever : but lo ! it hath passed away ! 15. Moreover, I prophecied concerning Bullion that our credit was destroyed, and see, it standeth firmer than before. 16. Worthwordos also, whom I have already reviled, riseth daily in rc))utc ; and so long as his name shall endure with honour, mine will be remembered with it, only to stink in the nostrils of posterity. 1810. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 37 1 7. And Sahouthy the Chief Poet, the man whom I most hate, afflicteth me more than I can bear. I hear his praises, and they are as poison in my ears. 18. He writeth notes which sting even like scorpions ; for he collecteth the words of prophecy which I did utter, and placeth beside each prophecy the event Avhich hath proved it false. 19. He administereth unto me, quarterly, words that be bitterer than wormwood. He setteth my malice at defiance, and holdeth my commendation in scorn, so that I cannot appease him with unction, as I did Lord Harold the Giaour. 20. And the Reekie Review, the child of our bile and of our brain, even thy child and mine, is fallen into con- tempt. It is better to die tlian to endure this shame. 21. Forasmuch as it toucheth thee also, I have provided two halters, one for thee, and one for me, that we may die together. Do thou fasten the noose under my ear, and I will fasten it under thine. 22. But Brum the Scribe made answer and said : Not so, for there is yet hope for us, and to this we can but come at last. [Here endeth the First Chapter of the Book of the Pi'opbet Jchepbary.] CHAP. n. 1. True it is that while the Prince liveth I shall not be Chief Justice, nor ■wilt thou be made Lord Advocate. But the place of Enemy's Orator in the great council hath been vacated by the death of our friend Whiteloaf ; and I have, by means of certain influence, been appointed to fill it, so that I may yet do the state some disservice. 2. Moreover, we have many friends. Are there not PeheiTi the Chronicler, and Lee the Huntsman, and Kaw- bit of the Black Guards, and Philip the Pythagorean, who is called Syrr-itch-hardos, and Cahapel the Astronomer, D 3 38 LETTERS OF 1816. and Love-ill the Statesman, and him wliom the French call ha Perruqiie Independente ? 3. Also wo have Surjami our colleague, and Shidnai the jester. 4. The Lord of the Green-field hath forsaken us, and the Marquis of the Down-lands walketh in his own way. But the Grey Thane is with us, and Lord Harold the Giaour Avhom thou hast anointed. 5. Moreover, Cahapel hath read the stars, and the aspects portend change. On earth also there be comfortable signs. There be those in France who would set the son of Philip Egalite upon the throne. 6. Comfort thyself, therefore : sleep now, and take thy rest ; and when sleep shall have refreshed thee, thou wilt prophecy in his behalf. 7. And Jehcphary the Prophet was comforted ; but he said that sleep had forsaken him, and that he had sought relief from sleeping potions but in vain. 8. Then said Brum the Scribe, do thou lie down, and I will minister unto thee that thou shalt sleep. 9. So Jehephary the Prophet laid him down, and Brum the Scribe took up the Reekie Review, and began to read unto him. The paper which he read was the composi- tion of Surjami : and at the first page thereof Jehephary the Prophet did yawn, and at the second he closed his eyes, and at the third he fell asleep. [Here endeth the Second Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Jehephary.] CHAP. III. 1. And Jehephary the Prophet dreamed a dream. 2. Behold it seemed unto him in his sleep that there was a great uproar, and the men of the party triumphed, and there was a new Government in the land. 3. And a ship was sent to bring the Emperor Napoleon 18 IG. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 39 from the Loue Island, and to carry out prisoners there in his stead. 4. And the Bishops were put down, and the Church Lands were confiscated, and the Tithes were abolished. 5. And high-mass was performed in St. Paul's ; and Duke Goliath was present thereat, and Father Mac Burn'em preached a sermon, and the words of his text were, ' Com- pel them to come in.' 6. And the great church of Westminster was given to the Methodists ; and Duke Hengist was present at their service, and did give out the hymns : the Lord Mayor also attended, and the mace was borne before him. 7. And a law was passed against paper money, and an- other which was entitled. For the better security of the Liberty of the Press ; and by the law it was made felony, without benefit of clergy, to contradict anything that was said in the Reekie Review, or to say anything which might tend to bring the party into disrejDute. 8. Also there was a laAv made for the better encourajie- ment of literature ; and by that law it was decreed that a knowledge of Greek was not necessary for the learned professions : 9. And that the Latin prosody should be reformed ac- cording to the use of the High School at Edinburgh ; and that the examples in the Gradus should be taken from the Electa ex Tentaminibus. 10. And a law was enacted that there should be per- petual peace for evermore ; but the operation of that law was suspended for awhile, and war was declared against the King of Spain, because of his treatment of the Spanisli Protestants ; 11. And against the Prince of Brazil, because he had not abolished the Slave Trade ; and against the King of Franco because he was of the old family ; 12. And against the Emperor of Russia, and the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Prussia, because they had entered into an evangelical compact with each other, to the manifest danger of the Christian Religion, the Turkish Empire, the Balance of Power, and the Man in the Moon. D 4 40 LETTERS OF 1816. 13. Then was there a high court of justice established, and power was given vinto Jehephary the Prophet that he should pass sentence upon his enemies. 14. So there were brought before him Kawp-helsiton the Provost, and Sahouthy the Chief Poet, and Kahannin who had been the King's minister, and Worthwordos, and Giphardos, and Ivrokairos, and the Editor of the Times. 15. Then the heart of Jehephary the Prophet rejoiced within him, and he called for the executioners and said : Take these men, and let them bo hanged by the neck. And he smiled for joy in his sleep. 16. But behold it seemed in his dream that Sahouthy the Chief Poet reached out his arm, and plucked him down from his seat, and setting him in the midst of the court, took him between his two hands, and spun him round and round, like as boys do spin a top : 1 7. And each of the men upon whom he had been sitting in judgment drew forth a whip, and formed a circle round him, and scourged him round and round. And Jehephary the Prophet cried aloud and awoke with the agony thereof. [Here cndeth the Third Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Jehephary.] CHAP. IV. 1. Now when it was seen that Jehephary the Prophet waxed more and more melancholic, the Physicians Avcre sent for, that they might consult concerning him, and see if they could yield him relief. 2. And they enquired of him where the seat of his malady lay: and he said that there was a weak part in his head, and that if a strengthening plaister were applied to it, peradven- ture he might be relieved. .3. Then they desired that Spurzheimer the Professor might be called ; and before he came a barber was sent for, and the head was shaved carefully. 4. No sooner had Spurzheimer looked upon the skull of 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 41 the patient, than he started like a man who was greatly amazed, and he exclaimed: A remarkable headj a remarkable head, indeed : never before have I seen so remarkable a head ! And the countenance of the Professor brightened like that of one who had discovered a treasure. 5. The first part which he remarked was the organ of party: it was on the left side, and of such enormous size that it occupied the whole space where the organ of patriot- ism ought to have been found, and part of the organ of veracity. 6. There Avas no organ of veracity ; there was no room for it, because of the organ of party on one hand, and the organ of malice on the other. 7. And behold as the Professor proceeded in the exami- nation, he lifted up his hands in astonishment, and uttered a German interjection of surprise. 8. And he called upon those who were present, and said, see now behold this organ ! how beautifully it is marked, how strongly it is charactered ! It is the organ of assurance ; in all my observations I have never seen one like unto it for bigness! 9. How decided it is ! how firm it appeareth ! Saying this, he struck it with the nail of his forefinger, and the sound which it gave was hollow, and as though it were of brass. 10. Where the organ of taste should have been there was a depression of the head : and when the Professor touched the depression with his finger, Jehephary the Prophet shrunk and cried out, for it was a sore part. 11. Adjacent thereto was the organ of vanity, which re- sembled a wen more than a projection of the skull : it was so great, and, moreover, pulpy ; and this also was sore to the touch. 12. And Jehephary the Prophet said.that blows had been given him there by Giphardos, and by Kawp-helsiton the Provost, and Sahouthy the Chief Poet. Moreover, there was an old bruise on that part of the head which he had re- ceived from Thelwallus the oi'ator. 13. Then said the Professor, this is the weak part : it is here that the remedy must be applied. 14. And there were many opinions among the physicians ; 42 LETTERS OP 181C. and when his friends saw that they differed among them- selves, they delivered each their council. lo. Shidnai the jester said that the best application would be essence of damages, such as was sold at great price in Westminster Hall. 16. But Brum the Scribe said that peradventure this might not be had ; and that he had a soft part in his own head, which he protected by means of a brazen case. Ah, now, said the Professor, suffer me to examine it ! And when Spurzheimer looked he found that the organ of discretion in the head of Brum the Scribe was in a diseased state. 17. Then Archy the Constable spake, and advised that Jchephary the Prophet should be anointed on the sore part with oil of flattery. The physicians approved thereof. It gave him ease during the application, but immediately after- wards the soi'eness returned as before. 18. But behold while they Avere consulting what farther should be done, an old woman who had been his nurse came into the room, crying, Ah, well a day ! It is all in vain ! I said it would be so ! It is too late for the operation ! 19. And they asked her what operation? What! she made answer. Do ye not know ? It is all because he has never been cut for the simples. [Here endeth the Fourth Chapter of the Book of the Prophet Jehephary.] To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, Sept. 7. 1816. My dear Grosvenor, I would fain give your two letters all the consi- deration they deserve, so you shall have my first fresh thoughts at present, and my maturer opinion when I liave chewed the cud. 181C. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 43 So far as I can render any service towards upholding- the existing Government (by which you will understand I do not mean a mere Ministry, but the old English order of things as by our Fathers established, and by me to be, if possible, transmitted unimpaired), I am ready to exert myself to the utmost, without regard to any personal considerations. But in what manner I could do this more effectually than I have for seven years past been endeavouring to do it in the " Quar- terly Review," and during four years of that time in the " Edinburgh Annual Register," I cannot tell. To the management of a journal (if any such thing be contem- plated) I am not equal. If a full exposition of the state of things, a full dis- play of our danger, and a resolute appeal to the sound part of the community should be thought likely to be beneficial, I am ready to undertake the task, and to perform it with all my heart, and with all my soul, and with all my strength. The possible advantage is, that such an appeal might strengthen the Government, and enable them to do what I advised in 1812, and what must he done if they would escape an attemjDt, at leasts of a Jacobinical revolution, — that is, to curb the licen- tiousness of the Press.* My remedy is to make trans- portation the punishment for sedition, and thus to rid the country of those who would set it on fire. I could produce such a pamphlet as should startle the nation, if exertion were made to circulate it : without such exer- tion it would fail to do this. Burke's name was such as to make thousands read his " Reflections " who were incapable of understanding him. My name carries with it no such charm, but all who read shall understand me. It does not appear to me (at present) that it would * Southey's opinion on this bead must always be rightly under- stood. He did not wish to curb the Press, but its licentiousness. 44 LETTERS OF 1816, be of any use to see Lord S or any of the persons in power. I believe that an interview would tend to abate their favourable opinion of my practical talents, in whatever manner they might estimate me in other respects. I am not a man of business, — I am not a man of the world. They might be displeased ; 1 am certain they would be disappointed. In the open field of con- versation, there are five hundred men who might excel me, or baffle me ; but at my post I defy the world. The sum of this is, that if it be desired I will write upon the state of the nation : taking it in all points of view, looking the danger fairly in the face, and calling upon the Government to act vigorously. I am interrupted ; this, however, may suffice for to- night. R. S. To John Rickman, Esq. Keswick, Sept. 14. 1816. My dear Rickman, It would be inconvenient for me to leave home, and very reluctant should I be to do it, yet it is most likely that you will see me ere long : for I suppose Lord L.'s desire of seeing me will be repeated. I have stated the danger broadly, and as broadly affirmed, that unless the licentiousness of the press be checked, nothing (as far as my judgment can foresee) can preserve us from revolution, and that in its most fearful shape. There are ten pages in No. XVI. of the "Quarterly lleview," which might have alarmed the Government at that time, and perhaps would have done so, if they had leisure to think of anything besides the war. I must 1816. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 45 say the same things again in a difFerent form, and go through the whole causes which are hurrying us on to anarchy. You must aid me with hints and corrections ; you know I am ever willing to learn, and upon many points properly distrustful of myself. But when I have the facts and the knowledge, no man knows better how to bring them out. As to Owen, he is far gone in metaphysics, but neither rogue nor madman. We must see Lanark before we can fairly appreciate what he has done. In his views of society he is an enthusiast, and most im- prudently blurts them out, when they can answer no possible purpose but that of raising an outcry against him, and injuring him in every way. I myself have a much stronger inclination to believe him right in the opinion, that to a community of lands we must come at last, than I should choose to avow ; but in my view of things, it can only be arrived at as the result of the greatest possible improvements in society : it is a little in favour of this system that it is the point upon which most Utopia-framers have agreed; and that it does not necessarily debilitate the character is proved by Sparta, the men of which were not men-children, but men indeed. Let us leave this where it ought to be left, — among good hopes and harmless speculations. Manufactures are overdone, if a greater quantity of goods are produced than can be consumed, — in other words, if the supply exceeds the demand. This error, I grant, corrects itself; but, in the meantime, it pro- duces the evil under which we are now suffering: when every nation manufactures for itself all that it is capable of manufacturing, no danger of this kind will exist. But it is obvious, that as we improve in machinery (observe, I fully admit that it is an improveme7}t, — the greatest of all improvements in society, to make brute matter do the work of intellect), fewer hands are re- 46 LETTERS OF 1816. quired, and that the market being already stocked, every improvement which facilitates the production of goods lessens the employment for workmen. Over such things Government can have no control, but (as at Lanark) the condition of the workmen may be bettered, and when men are contented, they are good subjects. Men like H., with an abstract love of evil, quoad evil, are monsters. You will not rank me among the Basil Montagues and mock humanit}' mongers, but, in ni}' judgment, the best way to keep the poor in obedience is to better their condition. We will talk over our heresies, perfectly sure of agreeing upon what ought to be tolerated, and the nonsense which is talked about toleration. God bless you. Robert Southey. To John May, Esq. Keswick, Oct. 18. 1816. My dear Friend, Herewith I send you a draft upon Longman for 100/. at three days* siglit. The last twelve months have proved highly advantageous to my raonied concerns, and for the first time have made the balance of his accounts in my favour. There is good reason for hoping that it will continue so, and that it will not be long before I shall be able to clear off my debt with you. "Roderick" has produced for me above 500/. by three editions, and the fourth will by this time have paid its expenses. Oi the "Pilgrimage" 2000 were printed: they were all sold in the course of two months, leaving me a profit of 1816. ROBEllT SOUTUEY, 47 215/. My account only comes up to midsummer, and therefore does not include the " Carmen Nuptiale," of the fate of which I know nothing ; — not, indeed, what number was printed. The prospect before me is very good. The produce of my cun-ent publications may be reckoned at 200/. a year certainly, not improbably at twice the sum ; and Murray pays me so well for the " Quarterly," that I hope there will be no occasion to trench much upon the other fund for my household expenses. For some sub- jects he offers me 100/. per article : such was that upon the poor in the last number, and one upon foreign tra- vellers in England which is designed for this, and which I am busy in completing. I have no debt but the one to you, and this I have great hopes of liquidating in the course of another year ; for the next year is likely to be a productive one. The preface to " Morte Darthur " (for which I am reading much black letter, at some cost of eyesight and no little expense of time) will give me 200/., and the second volume of " Brazil " about half as much, a preposterous instance of the caprice upon which a man of letters depends for his remuneration ! Perhaps the average may be fair at last, but it is injurious as well as ridiculous that I should derive my main support from what other persons might do as well, and what might as well not be done at all ; while for works of permanent value and great labour, for which peculiar knowledge, peculiar talents, and peculiar industry are required, the profit which I obtain would scarcely exceed, and perhaps not amount to, the expenses of the documents. This volume will certainly be published at Christmas, and though it will be less interesting than the concluding volume, 1 think you will not be disappointed in its con- tents. There will be no delay with the conclusion ; I shall never lay it aside till it is completed, and the printing will be pursued without interruption. 48 LETTEKS OF 1816. I have written no verses till this week, when I re- sumed the " Tale of Paraguay," which I may perhaps finish for publication in the spring. There is another subject nearer my heart, but I must refi'ain from it a while longer. It has pleased God to support us merci- fully under the severest of all privations, and it would be sinful as well as in the last degree unwise, were I by any means to foster feelings which it is my dut}', as far as possible, to overcome. The summer (if summer it may be called) has brought with it more interruptions than usual, and unavoidably robbed me of precious time which I could ill afford. I am in consequence behindhand with many things, of which my long silence towards you is one proof. Mr. Walpole's memoir I shall resume upon the first inter- val ; it is upon my conscience as the heaviest of all my sins of omission. The " History of the War" would go to press if the introductory chapter were finished: yet for this, which is less than an article for the *' Review," I have not found time. When I have reviewed Koster's book, I will abstain from minor articles, and dispose of the time then gained to better purposes. Here is a letter full of my own concerns ; but I will not apologise to you. I can enter fully into the feelings which your present awful situation must excite. Wholesome they are, — however painful. We must not envy those who are on the threshold of our Father's house, but we may be thankful that every day brings us nearer to it ourselves. Meantime I labour diligently to acquire knowledge which I may leave behind, and to treasure up affections which I may bear with me. Nash has made beautiful drawings of my four girls. Your god-daughter is well, and comes on in all things as I could wish her ; the others, thank God, and their mother, are well also ; and my own health perhaps is 1816. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 49 better for the exercise which I have taken with my various visitors. We have gloomy prospects, of which it is easier to see the causes than the consequences. I very much fear that the efforts which are making to inflame the discon- tents of a distressed people, will produce dreadful effects. This is a wide subject, and I have no room to enter upon it. Whatever I shall see during the dark season is what I cannot tell. Possibly I may be called to town, but it will be with much unwillingness on my part. The winter is my working time ; in the summer I follow the example of the grasshopper more than of the ant. Remember me most kindly to Mrs. May and your daughters. Remember me also to John Coleridge, whom I should be truly glad to see at Keswick. God bless you. R. S. Messrs. Longman and Co. Keswick, Dec. 14. 1816. Dear Sir, I have sent off the " S. Greaal" this day by coach, carefully packed in a box, and with it the Italian « Trystans," * the « Life of "Merlin," and the " British Bibliographers," vol. i. I shall now be much obliged to Mr. Laing for the " Perceval," which I will not detain so long, but go through it without delay. The " Morte Darthur" draws more largely from the " S. Greaal" than from any other source that I have * " According to the Cymric orthography of the name." — Pre- face to " MoRTE Darthur," p. xv. VOL. III. E 50 LETTERS OF 1816. yet traced ; but upon this subject I purpose writing to Mr. Douce, and will enclose the letter to you, as I know not where to address him. He has great informa- tion upon these subjects, and is liberal in communi- cating it. There is a book by Davies, the Welch anti- quarian, which I believe contains some speculations about Arthur ; not his " Celtic Researches," but a volume which he published afterwards. Pray let me see it. The set of the " Acta Sanctorum " has been com- pleted for me, and Verbeest *, of Brussels, will draw upon you for the payment — 500 francs. I do not know in what condition the binding is ; but if it should stand in need of repairs or lettering, have the goodness to get them put in order. Mr. Vardon will give them a passage to Newcastle. This is a work without which no historical library can be complete ; I shall find it of great importance in completing my " History of Por- tugal." .... Yours, &c. R. S. * Southey took very much to Verbeest. In his journal, before referred to, I find the following notice of him : — " Verbeest, the bookseller — a very singular and striking man. A more thorough sloven I never saw, and seldom or never a man with a better and finer countenance. Frequent as my visits to him were, I never happened to see him entirely dressed ; sometimes he was without neckcloth, sometimes without stockings Ver- beest is no ordinary bookseller. lie has a thorough love of books, and he told me he would not exchange the pleasure which he found in reading for any advantage of wealth or station," &c., &c., &C. — Tour in the Netherlands^ MSS. Journal, pp. 46, 47. 1817. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 51 To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, Jan. 20. 1817. My dear Grosvenor, The pantaloons {uglyisimi colons) arrived tins day, with the paper and the verses of my brother poet, the bellman ; but the Almanacks and the Lioness were not forthcoming, to the great disappointment of the eager expectants, who were looking on. The Almanacks may come in Murray's next parcel, and the Lioness, unless she weighs above two ounces (which I suppose she will not), under one of Rickman's franks. It is very strenuously inquired for. I have made large additions to this article in the " Quarterly," which I think may be called my papel forte (a title, by the by, which you will not understand till you have read my forthcoming volume of " Brazil").* The new matter relates to the Spencean philanthropists, Murray, at my desire, having got their publication for me ; and to Cobbett, a chance paper or two of his having fallen into my hands. You will see that I have spoken very plainly upon many subjects, though not upon all. Will GifFord, think you, let my proposal stand for putting up boroughs to auction ? Windham would have agreed with me in every single point. What will they do with these rioters, if they are found guilty ? I would not hang them, especially ; it will make him an object of compassion ; and nothing is so impolitic as to excite that feeling in behalf of the enemies of Government. If he be found guilty (which I am inclined to doubt from the nature of his defence and the humour of the day), the offence is * Papel forte, or strong memorial of Vieyra to Joam IV. — His- tory of Brazil, vol. ii. p. •222. E 2 52 LETTERS OF 1817. capital ; but I would, as soon as possible, make it known that the punishment should be commuted into transportation for life, not waiting for popular feeling to be expressed upon the subject. The man has been made desperate by misery. I would treat him humanely, save only that his going sliould be compulsory, and for life ; he should go as a settler, be treated as such, and encouraged to take his family with him. Governments are never aware how much they may gain by affecting this kind of generosity. Young W. should be hung, without mercy, for shooting Piatt, unless a fair plea of insanity could be made out. Murray will send me down the article as soon as it is printed ; the first part, showing the war to have been popular, will, with certain additions, make the first chapter of the book. The personal matter, which in the " Review" is properly placed as well-timed, may be discarded, and left to perish there. The paper will be talked of, extracted into some of the newspapers, and well railed at in others. Meantime Longman calls for the preface to " Morte Darthur," and I am deep in the " History of the Round Table." This head of mine is Curiously furnished with separate assortments of matter. T have just finished the second volume of " Brazil." I am busy upon Sydenham's " Peninsular Papers," and have other occupation, all as remote from each other as the dead Arthur and the living one. The living Arthur's connections are very civil to me, and look anxiously for my book. I have a note to-night from Richard Wellesley, who has sent me books, and offers personal communication. I mean to say that he in- vites me to ask iiim any questions respecting persons or things within his knowledge. The papers which Sy- denham has sent me are, some of them, in the strictest sense of the term, confidential. They are in the highest degree interesting. 1817. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 53 Nasli is returned to London. He is to send me a frame for a prodigiously fine drawing of W. Westall's, and your honour will pay him for it. Remember also your own face, as soon as the proboscis shall have re- turned to its natural dimensions, which I trust it has by this time. When I go to town, I shall not seek any interview with the Noddles, because it would be perfectly useless. Harry Inglis has made a sort of engagement for me to meet Lord Sidmouth, at his house, with Wilberforce (who has fiillen in friendship with me) of the party. Wilberforce, I should tell you, is one of my curmud- geons. Vide Ash's " Dictionary." This will end in a good dinner ; but I would have the Noddles reminded, whenever they speak well of my deserts, that I have a brother in the navy, and desire nothing so much as pro- motion for him. Remember me to all at home. God bless you. R. S. To John Hickman, Esq. Keswick, Jan. 21. 1817. My dear Rickman, The contents wait for the arrival of one more proof. Have you read Mariner's book, which so delights the Capitaneus ? I saw it in manuscript, and only wish Mariner had written it himself. It is absurd to suppose that any people should, within the memory of man, have begun to make war for the first time since they were a people, in imitation of their neighbours. I suspect also the poem, vol. i. p. o07. But in the main, E 3 54 LETTERS OF 1817. the book is and must be true, and an admirable picture of savage man, — the animal being of a fine sort. Did I tell you that I have a large cargo of papers from Mr. Sydenham (Marquis Wellesley's friend) ? || Among other highly curious facts, I learn from them that we sent arms and stores to Prussia as early as the autumn of 1811 ; and I have Blucher's word for it, that if the Walcheren army had landed in the north of Germany, the whole Prussian force in disobedience of their Government would have joined it. I am now fairly behind the curtain with Lord Wel- lington in all his operations, as far as to the end of 1812. God bless you. Robert Southey. To C. W. Williams Wynn, Esq., M. P. Keswick, Jan. 27. 1817. My dear Wynn, If you were but in the Administration, instead of out of it, there is but one question upon which there would be a shade of difference between us. Just after receiving your letter, I cut out the enclosed extract from the ** Times." In discharging men from the army and navy, it is possible that much private good might be effected by a very easy arrangement in paying off a regiment ; for instance, allowing those men who would prefer remaining in the service to exchange with others in a retained regiment who desire their discharge ; and 80 with ships. As for the newspaper story, the Lord Mayor's language is very reprehensible, like the rest 1817. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 55 of his conduct ; but I am afraid there is some cause for it. It is inserted in the " Times" for the sake of doing mischief. Walter, the proprietor of that news- paper, believes that neither the Ministry, nor the Oppo- sition can stand, and that Hunt is about to be Lord of the Ascendant ; he has therefore dismissed Stoddart, who was for many years the editor, and the paper is be- coming Jacobinical as fast as possible, in order to swim with the stream. This turmoil may easily be allayed, if Ministers have courage to act as they ought : and on this your party would go with them. But I doubt their courage, and I doubt their wisdom ; and if things are suffered to go on, a bold push will certainly be made for revolution. You will receive my second volume of " Brazil " in two or three weeks : a book necessarily unlike other histories in many respects. Some parts will interest you much ; I am busy upon the third volume, fully purposing (if I have health as well as life) to bring it out in twelve months from this time, and thus complete a work of extraordinary labour, the value of which will not be appreciated by many readers in this country. I could get more money by one month's employment for the " Quarterly Review," than this volume will produce me ; but on the other hand this is for myself and for posterity.* Have you read " Mariner's Tonga Islands " ? I had the manuscript here : a singularly curious book. I have been very much interested with the letters of Sydenham who died lately — (I believe he married poor * The Bishop of Guiana, who had returned to England to re- cruit his wasted strength, happening to be in Worthing for the winter, requested me to lend him the " History of the Brazils." He read it over and over again (as I was informed ), and on returning it, told me that he had never read so valuable and correct a work in all its particulars and details. From one who had resided in Guiana many years, this was a most valuable testimony. It must always be the work of standard authority. £ 4 56 LETTERS OF 1817. Bunbury's widow) — written from Spain during the war. They are among the papers which his brother has sent me, through my brother Harry, who got acquainted with him in attending Marquis Wellesley at Ramsgate. I saw also many papers of Marquis Wellesley, Lord Welling- ton, and Sir C. Stuart : all greatly to the credit of the writers. This history of mine ought to be a good one, the subject being so fine, and my materials so copious and of such authenticity. I shall bring up about half a volume to the press in April. The " Morte Darthur " will be published soon. I have collected a good many notes, and am now busy upon the preface. I look with more anxiety than usual for the meeting of Parliament. Put a stop to the incendiary journals, and all other evils will cure themselves ; but if you let them go on unchecked, in no long time we must inevi- tably come to mob law, or bayonet law. I have heard no hint as to the intentions of Ministers, but I know they are frightened : the less likely, therefore, are they to act as they should do. God bless you. Yours most affectionately, XV. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Jan. 29. 1817. My dear Grosvenor, I am neither surprised nor sorry at what you tell me of the Prose-gelder's intentions. The more he cuts out from the " Review," the more he leaves fresh for the book ; and it is better that the strongest things 1817. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 57 should appear where they will be accompanied with free language respecting the Anti-Jacobins and the Noddles, and the great sinecures, than where these are forbidden topics, and I seem rather to the reader as a partisan, than as in truth I am and ought to appear. 1 have desii'ed Murray to send me the paper as soon as it is printed ; but for fear he should not send it in Its genuine state, do you secure for me the manuscript. We may be quite sure that the boldest and best parts are those which will be omitted. My letters to you are such pure Meipseads that I have seldom room or leisure for any but personal con- cerns, and therefore it is that you have heard nothing from me of Chauncey Townsend, who is, however, as far as it is possible to judge by his verses and his letters, a highly interesting youth. His poetry is of uncommon promise ; and it is a great pleasure to me to hear from him, though I can ill afford time for my part of the correspondence ; being indeed too old, as well as too busy, for the epistolary mood. I knew you would be delighted with the drawing of the two girls : yet there is one here of Edith *, sitting on a mountain side, which I think is more beautiful, and is, indeed, according to my perception, the perfect ideal of innocence ; and the three younger ones over my chimney are so delightfully grouped, that it is worth while to come to Keswick for the sake of seeing the picture. My blank verse poem will probably not be printed while I live ; these drawings should one day be engraved to accompany it, and that view which Nash has made of the church may come in for the frontispiece with my tombstone in the foreground. We were very much attached to Nash. The children's ' ♦ This hangs now before me as I correct the proof in the draw- ing-room at West Tarring. 58 LETTERS OP 1817 eyes sparkle with delight when they talk of him. I want him to take a six weeks' run on the Continent with me when I come to town, and then return with me to Kes- wick. The " Torso " is an excellent thing: by the by, this rich book is in such forwardness that, if you will only come down this summer and spur me on, we will have it ready for publication by Christmas. Poor Nash is no caprice of Nature's : his deformity is the effect of an accident when he was twelve years old. One of his portraits of me is more like the Doctor. When I come to town, I must contrive to have you meet Westall (the younger), a man much to my liking, who, I hope, will take up his abode at Keswick. My book sleeps till the *' Review " arrives ; mean- time I am busy upon the " Morte Darthur " (which brought sweet remuneration), and upon the third volume of "Brazil," which bringeth something sweeter still, in the great pleasure which I take in it. On Tuesday next I go with Edith, and Shedaw, and Bertha to Netherhall for a week. When I return, it will be with fresh appetite for Liber the Book, which may pro- perly be called Liber, for free it shall be, as sure as I'm a Dutchman. My brother Mynheers have sent me no notification of the undeserved honour ; and of course it appeareth not in my title-page, but such notification shall be duly recorded. 1 have written a chapter concerning the pantaloons.* And now God bless you. R. S. * See " The Doctor," &c., Intercliapter xx. p. 489., one vol. edit. 1817. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 59 To Grosvenor C. Bedfordy Esq. Feb. 22. 1817. My dear Grosvenor, I must go twelve miles to make this affidavit, and of course cannot do so till Monday. The delay is unlucky, but inevitable. I think this is the best mode of proceeding. At any other time I could have let the thing pass, and smiled at it. Oh, with what glee I wrote it ; it was only a few days' work, three or four at the utmost, as John Bunyan says, — " It came from mine own heart, then to my head, And thence into my fingers trickeled ; Thence to my pen, from whence immediately On paper I did dripple it daintily." And this is an exact history of ray "Wat Tyler," whom I used in those days to call my uncle Wat. I could 6nd in my heart to compose a drama upon the same subject now, in my wiser mind, as a sort of penance, had I but time. It is a rich subject : a little encourage- ment would eg^ me on, and the inclination will perhaps keep me sleepless in bed for some hours, turning and tossing the materials in my mind. Would not this make a curious finish to the story, if I were to follow the impulse, and actually produce such an historical drama as might stand beside " Roderick " ? Give that poor fellow a farther two pounds for me some little time hence, if you cannot help him in any other way. But I must have done, for the spirit moves me, and I cannot rest till I have looked over the reign of Richard II., and called thoughts to counsel upon the 60 LETTERS OF 18ir. new scheme. If I had my old flux of the muse, it might soon be done. God bless you. U.S. To C. W. Williams Wynn, Esq., M.P. Keswick, Feb. 23, 1817. My dear Wynn, The affidavit arrived on Saturday, and I must go to Cockermouth to swear to it, so that it cannot be returned till to-morrow's post. The enclosed will tell you my brother's opinion ; he has more knowledge of the world than most men, and I should willingly assent to his advice, were it not highly probable that the pub- lishers will force me to come forward at last, by putting my name in the advertisement, as they did in a para- graph in the " Morning Chronicle." Therefore, I think it is better to act at once ; and, indeed, in all cases, the manliest course is the best. But it rather staggers me that both Turner and Rickman incline to Harry's way of thinking. If you should alter yours, desire Turner, by a note, not to proceed. I think you will remain in the same mind, and in that belief shall send up the affidavit. How much could I say to you upon the subject of your letter ? Muir's and Palmer's cases did harm, because both parties were hardly used. They had not deserved the punishment, especially Palmer, whose case was a flagrant act of injustice. M. was justly sentenced, but there was an appearance of wrong in not allowing some of his challenges. Gilbert Wakefield's book was not addressed to the mob. I think there is 1817. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 61 more clanger, if transportation were made the punish- ment, that it would prevent convictions, than that the power would be abused. But what else will stop the evil? And if the evil be not stopped, ii jacquerie is inevitable. Give the press full play, and. nothing can prevent the Agrarians from raising the mob upon us. They will swallow up all the feebler vermin, as the committee tells us they are doing ; and as for stopping them by force of reason, you might as well reason against a steam-engine, or one of our mountain floods. I groan over the cowardice of the Ministry. Every concession will only provoke insult, contempt, and farther demands. But they must be supported : the choice is between them and Revolution ; and therefore I was sorry that you had refused to be on the Finance Committee. Indeed, this is no time for doing anything which may increase their discredit. If I were not too closely occupied, I would, by way of penance, gird up my loins and take the subject of " Wat Tyler " for an historical play, in which to put forth all the powers I could bring to bear upon the stoi'y. Plot is excused in such dramas, if interest can be excited without one by the mere march of events. I meant to have done this in 1797, but it was laid aside. I have bought the first volume of the " Rerum Hiberni- carum Scriptores," and have taken a great fancy to O'Connor, notwithstanding the great O in his name. Some of the parts which relate to your uncle, and to his own situation at Stowe, are exceedingly fine. I hope the work will proceed ; it is, indeed, a munificent ex- ample of wisely directed patronage. The second volume of " Brazil " is finished, and you will receive it in a few days. I am busy upon the third ; and such is the course of my life at present, that this employment seems like playing truant from closer calls. Murray offers me 150/. for two articles in each number. I 62 LETTERS OP 1817. want tliis money from the next, and shall earn it in the course of six weeks : the subjects are, ** Mariner's Tonga Islands" (pray read the book) and the Reports of the Committee. I must write the latter part of this first, and leave the beginning till I see what is to be done. The main part will be a sketch of the growth and progress of political discontent in this country, and the means of abating it. I shall aim at a conciliative and persuasive tone, and avoid all personalities, while I endeavour, totis virihus, to attack that spirit of party which is the curse and the oppi'obrium of England. God bless you, my dear Wynn. li. S. To John Hickman, Esq. Keswick, March 2. 1817. My dear Rickman, It is quite impossible that I can find time for any additional engagements, at any price whatever which might be held out. The sins of my youth are risen against me. Some rascal has just published a piece of sedition written in 1794, and peppered like a turkey's gizzard. I have written to Wynn to know whether it be better to obtain an injunction, or let the brimstone burn out ; if he advises the former, Sharon Turner will take the necessary steps. The MS. was put into Ridgeway's hands twenty-three years ago. My " Papcl Forte " has been converted by the hand of GifFord into a Papel Fraco {fiaccus fiaccidus). He has, with more than his wonted skill, pruned out every- thing of practical application, everything original, and 1817. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 63 everything that was most forcibly expressed ; in pity^ as he says, to the terrors of Ministers !! ! I shall see you in April, and mean, God willing, to see Switzerland and the Rhine in May and June, and be home the first week in July, and ready for you in August. Remember me to Mrs. R. God bless you. Robert Southey. To a W. W. WTjnn, Esq. Keswick, March 10, 1817. My dear Wynn, I am sorry your bill was lost, and a little vexed, because with a little zeal on the part of those who ap- proved it, it might have been carried. This, however, is one of those reforms which is sure to be effected if you persevere in bringing it forward. Our neighbours in Westmoreland are already enjoying in rehearsal the blessings of a contested election. One of the best men in the county has been nearly killed by the Brougham mob, and spits blood in consequence of the injury which he received. Brougham's probability of success arises from a cause which has been widely operating over the whole of the kingdom, — the great multiplication of freeholders by the enclosures, forty shilling voters, good part of whom are in that hopeful state that they would vote for Hone or Cobbett against Brougham, for the same reason which will make them vote for Brougham against Lowther. I am out of the circle of these petty politics, and should regard them with perfect indiffer- ence, if every symptom of the times did not indicate the 64 LETTERS OF 1817. same disease. Nevertheless, I think the aspects on the whole are improving. Is the publication of the " Irish Historians" to be con- tinued ? If it be not, I shall look upon the death of the Marquis of Buckingham as the greatest loss that has been sustained in our times. If it were completed as it is begun, it would vie with any undertaking of the kind. Ill as I can spare the time, and unfit as I am in many respects for the task, I am strongly inclined to give some account of it in the " Quarterly Review," merely for the sake of calling the public attention to a work of such importance, and which is sure to be neglected without some such help : for this is the state of litera- ture among us, and a vile state it is. If you were Minister I should be laying plans before you for national collections of this kind, and other works, which never can be performed without public assistance. In these things we are behindhand even with the Spaniards and Portuguese. You would be amused to see my table overlaid with Methodism and Moravianism. I am going through the whole set of the " Arminian Magazine." Tliis life of Wesley is a more operose business than one who is not acquainted with my habits would suppose. I am given to works of supererogation, and could do nothing to my own satisfaction if I did not take twice as much labour as any other person would bestow upon it. In this case it will be well bestowed. 1 am treating of a curious part of history just at the right time, and in as fair a temper as it could be possible to bring to such a sub- ject. The materials are very copious, and very curious, and the plan so arranged as to relieve that monotony which you might perhaps apprehend. I had a letter lately from Sir H. Bunbury, inviting me to Suffolk to look over his papers about the war. This invitation I must accept, not as a matter of incli- 1817. IIOBEIIT SOUTIIEY. 65 nation, but of duty in my vocation ; so most probably if he can receive me at the fall of the leaf, I shall then move from home. His materials will relate to the latter years of the war. I wait for a French book, which contains the details and official papers concerning the imperial system of education. When this comes I shall finish the introductory chapter, and go to press. The introduction describes the moral and political state of the Peninsula, France, and England. I see no person during the winter except my own family, and for weeks together do not stir beyond my own garden ; the kitchen clock is not more regular in its movements than my life, and scarcely more monoto- nous, yet time never appeared to glide so swiftly. I have often said that, live as long as we may, the first twenty years of life are the longest half. There are in- dications enough that I am on the downhill road; an unwillingness to exertion of any kind is one, I fear that a decay of sight is another ; as yet, however, it only re- gards distant objects ; what is near I see as distinctly as ever. God bless you, my dear Wynn. lii. S. To C. W. Williams Wynn, Esq., M.P. Keswick, March 22. 1817. My dear Wynn, The matter has been carried against me by direct perjury. Winterbottom I saw with Ridgeway and Symonds, but never dreamt of him (a dissenting minister *) as a publisher, farther than as he was con- * "A dissenting minister of Pljmoutli." — MS. letter to Dr. II. II. Soidhei/, 25th March, 1817. VOL. III. r 66 LETTERS OF 1817. nectecl with Symonds in his own hook ahout America. Daniel Izaac Eaton I never saw in my hfe, — if I had it is not possihle that I should have forgotten so notorious a person. It runs strongly in my head that I have seen an account of Winterhottom's death in the magazines; and indeed it would surprise me less to find that some villain should be found to personate him, than that he should thus swear to what he knows to be false. How- ever, there is no remedy. I have great reason to complain of my counsel, ac- cording to the newspaper's report, for humiliating me. I acknowledge no toickedness in *' Wat Tyler," and feel no shame for it, for it was written in the sincerity of my heart * ; and if this were not expressed in one of those letters to William Smith, certainly I should feel it necessary to say it in some other form equally public. The wickedness is in the present publication ; and the Chancellor ought to have seen, if he chose to believe the story of the gift (which is absolutely false), that there was a condition on the receiver's part to publish it, and that if anything could call for relief in a Court of Equity, it was the publication of such a work after an interval of three-and-twenty years, for the avowed pur- poses of insulting and injuring the author. But the Chancellor has believed the statement of their counsel, and chooses totally to disregard the statement to which 1 have sworn. Ridgeway and Symonds 7iever rejected the book. It was left with them by Lovcll, and when I saw them they said, " We will publish it." My re- collection is distinct. But it is time to have done with the subject. I am only anxious now to see my second letter to William Smith in the pajDcrs, because it will * See the preface to it in the collected edition of his Poetical Works, and " Life and Correspondence," vol. iv. p. 236. 1817. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 67 acquit me of the miserable folly imputed to me in Shadwell's speech. I have received a very kind letter from Wilberforce on the occasion. There was an article in Tuesday's " Courier," by Coleridge, upon the subject. God bless you. R. S. To C. W. TV. Wtjnn, Esq., M.P. Keswick, March 26. 1817. My dear Wynn, I do not by any means regret the application to Chancery : it was the straightforward course ; and the question could not have been referred to a Court of Law (being so plain a case) if a false defence had not been set up, and supported by perjury. There is a strong impression upon my mind that Winterbottom is dead ; and it is much less improbable to me that a fellow should have been found to swear falsely in his name, than that he, — a dissenting minister, — a man who was said to have undergone the same change in his opinions as I have done, should in the first place be guilty of so base an act as to publish the book, and then to defend the act by a direct perjury. My magazines, in which it appears to me that I have read of his death, are unluckily forty miles off at the binder's. But I have taken measures for ascertaining this matter ; and if it should prove that my suspicions are well founded, the transaction will assume a very different aspect from what it now wears. Luckily, I have the rough draft of my first letter, and shall therefore throw them both into F 2 68 LETTERS OF 1817. one : but this I will delay till I have satisfied myself about Winterbottom. A word or two about my intolerance. I recollect but two persons of whom I have spoken with acrimony in the true sense of the word. Whitbread in the "Regis- ter," and Joseph Lancaster. In the first case, I was treating of a leading politician, whose opinions would have laid this country at Bonaparte's mercy. As for my allusions to the *' Edinburgh Review," it would surprise me much if I were censured for speaking as I think upon that subject, abstaining, as I have uniformly done, from anything in the way of personal defence during fifteen years of continual attack on their part. In the article which William Smith pulled out of his pocket, I have called Hunt an incendiary for one of the wickedest paragraphs that ever was written ; and I have bestowed the same appellation upon Cobbett. Can any man in his senses think these misapplied? And for the passage which William Smith read (p. 227.), it neither names any individual, nor alludes to any, but deals in generals, relating to those metaphysicians who begin hy denying the difference between right and wrong. Of such men as myself there is plain mention (p. 2S7.), and so far have I been from having ever sought to put my former opinions in the shade, that they are placed in broad daylight in the " Pilgrimage to Waterloo ; " nor have I ever cancelled a line in my early poems on this account. Tliey who blame me for intolerance should remember the abuse which has been incessantly poured upon me. Wilberforce wrote me a very handsome letter upon William Smith's conduct, saying that he felt as if he liad to clear his own character from a stain, till he assured me that he was not in the house at the time. It will be unfortunate if I shall miss you on my transit. I shall be in London (God willing) on the 1817. ROBERT SOUTUEY. 69 17th, pass a week with my uncle in Ilampsliirc, and leave London for the Continent, if possible, on the 1st of May. God bless you. R. S. To C. W. Williams Wynn, Esq., M. P. Easter-Sunday, April 6. 1817. Where, my dear Wynn, are the proofs of this in- tolerance of which you speak? I know not towards whom I have been intolerant, except it be Bonaparte ; and I believe he does not come within the field of your tole- ration. The language of the " Edinburgh Register," while it was in my hands, is that of a man who felt strongly and spoke plainly, but who made no difference between Trojan and Tyrian. In the " Quarterly ' I have rarely had anything to do with politics, except in the two last numbers ; and the man who censures the last paper must stand up for Hunt and Cobbett. You probably know, better than I do myself, the manner in which I have been assailed ever since I was made Laureate. Has the intolerance been on my side ? This affair would not have affected me more than the blowing of the wind, if it had not made my wife seriously ill ; and thus it has vexed me so much, that I could certainly have challenged William Smith, if a sense of duty did not withhold me. I have been greatly harassed and interrupted about the house which I inhabit ; a writ is issued against the estate, and it will be sold in the course of the summer. I would fain have put off my journey in consequence, but I did not like to disappoint my companions ; and, moreover, change of air, scenes, and circumstances is i- 3 70 LETTERS OP 1817. almost necessary for me. I have not recovered, and never shall recover, last year's affliction ; and my worldly IH'ospects are improving when I have no longer a heart to enjoy them. Were it not for these children, I should wish to be in yonder churchyard ; this world has nothing to give me, and my heart, as well as my hopes, are in the next. God bless you, my dear Wynn. R. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. April 17. 1817. My dear G., In the course of this business I have very often had occasion to remember the apologue of the old man, his son, and the ass : for by listening to everybody, I am likely to please nobody, and myself least of all. Wynn exhorts me most earnestly not to write arro- gantly. Turner, I think, would not have me write at all ; and perhaps this may be Rickman's opinion ; you and the Doxter * say write, and Wordsworth and Sen- house here think that I cannot express myself too strongly. You have the whole now ; and if you and your chancellors, by which I mean Harry and Turner (and Rickman, if you please) think it better that the whole should be suppressed, so let it be. My anger has spent itself, and I care not the turn of a straw. If on the other hand you wish it to appear, I will in the proof expunge certain passages that offend Wynn's sensitive- * A familiar expression in these letters, applied to Dr. H. H. Sou they. 1817. ROBERT SOUTKEY. 71 ness. I will smooth clown others so as to lessen their asperity, but leave the whole edge ; and I will insert a passage about public expenditure from their papers which you have sent me. But I must tell you that with this letter I close the business on my part. What- ever reply may be attempted to it, I shall say nothing more. I will waste no more time upon an affair which did not from the beginning deserve from me the sacrifice of a single hour. The best answer which could have been made to him, would have been to have reprinted certain of my papers from the " Quarterly Review," together with certain excerpts from the " Register : "or, better still, if I had made a book, as was my first intention, instead of yield- ing to Murray's suggestion, and frittering my materials down to suit the purposes of his journal. After all, it is of little consequence: as regards myself of none, and as regards the country, things will take their course ; the present ulcers will heal : the disease will continue in the system. We shall go on upon a system of expedients, living, as it were, from hand to mouth ; to-day with the bug-bear of ruin before our eyes, to-morrow in a hey-day of prosperity ; the evil may be indefinitely delayed, but sooner or later come it must, unless adequate remedies be applied, and for these the present race of statesmen want either the courage or the power, or both. After Saturday next direct to Warcop Hall, near Brough, whither I go on Monday (this day week). Harry will perhaps have told you that I have been disturbed about this house, and am under the strange temptation of buying the estate, without having a shilling to pay for it. All this when w^e meet, which I trust will be on the 24th. I hope the journey will do me good, for I stand in need of change of air, place, and circumstance. May I be allowed a drab to travel in? And if not, F 4 r2 LETTERS OF 1817. what kind of lic/ht coat will Hyde* permit me to wear? This is one of the first points to be determined on my arrival. God bless you, R. S. To JVade Browne, Esq., Ludlow. Keswick, Nov. 4. 1817. My dear Sir, After a long jojj,rney, and a succession of com- pany since my return, I am at last quietly settled to my winter's work, with the probability of as few interrup- tions from without, as Bruin has when he rolls himself up in his cave, and trusts to his paws till the spring. You probably heard of my travels. My companions were Mr. Senhouse of Netherhall (near Maryport), and Mr. Nash, the artist who was with me at Waterloo. Switzerland and the Alps were our object. We staid five days at Paris, and then proceeded by way of Dijon and Besan^on to Neufchatel, meaning to have crossed Mount St. Gothard, and to have returned into Switzer- land by the Simplon ; but finding that this pass was not practicable for a carriage without taking it to pieces, which involves a heavy expense, and, moreover, that it was by no means advisable to enter upon it so early in the year as the beginning of June, when the season also happened to be remarkably backward, we changed our route, and, visiting the Grande Chartreuse on the way, entered Italy by way of Mount Cenis. This deviation from our first purposed course, I regard as very fortu- * This is that same Hyde the tailor from whom Horace Bedford never could get a drah. " He could not carry it off," he said. 1817. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 73 nate : for we saw notliinti; finer than the Chartreuse : indeed, in its kind it cannot be surpassed: and the Mount Ccnis road, of" which it has not been the fasliion to say anything, is much more strange and impressive than the Simplon. As you advance up the valley of the Maurienne, the Alps around are crumbling to pieces : the Arc, which rushes down the valley with a force and fury beyond anything which I had ever witnessed, carries with it nearly as much earth, or rather decomposed stone, as water; and the towns and villages on the way are as ragged as the scenery about them. On the sum- mit of Mount Cenis, where we breakfasted, I could have fancied myself in Cumberland, had not richer flowers been under my feet than our climate will produce. There is a turn opposite the inn, with all the features of our own mountain scenery. The first part of the descent is more ruinous than anything on the Savoy side. Indeed, the mountains are 'in so crumbling a state, that it has been found necessary to abandon the new line of road (only a year or two since it was made at enormous expense), and follow the old line, and this line leads you four times over the same waterfall ; one turn is as closely under another as it can possibly be made. But when you get beyond this desolation, where you have nothing but masses of loose earth and perish- ing stone on every side, the descent into Piedmont is beyond description delightful. We went no farther than Milan ; from thence to the Lakes of Como and Lugano, then across the Lago Maggiore, and back by the Simplon into Switzerland, turning aside on the way for three days to visit the vale of Chamounix, and the Mer de Glace. My uncle's brother-in-law happened to be residing with his family not far from Lausanne : this was a very agreeable circumstance, and we halted with him two nights on our way out, and four on our return. Having 74 LETTERS OF 1817. reached Bern, we sent the carriage on to Zurich, and struck into what is called the Oberland, making our way as we could, sometimes by land, and sometimes by water, on horseback or on foot. Thus we spent the most ad- venturous ten days of our journey, and the most delight- ful. From Zurich our way was to Schaff hausen and Do- naueschingen, where the Danube rises : thence through the Black Forest to Friburg in the Bi'isgau. We crossed the Rhine to look at Strasburg, and returned the same night into Germany ; and so by way of Heidelberg, Manheim, and Frankfort, to Mentz ; then down the left bank to Cologne, and so to Brussels, Lisle, and Calais. The whole journey was the work of thirteen weeks, about three of which we were stationary at different places. I made a copious journal *, which was no slight exertion, and my companions were very diligent with the pencil ; so that few persons could have brought back more. I returned of a rich sun colour, and, according to all my friends, with more flesh upon my bones than I took out ; though I am sure that such a journey performed in such a manner, would be an excellent recipe for one who had some to spare. Certain it is that the continual exercise, change of air, and excitement agreed ad- mirably with me, to say nothing of the wine, which everywhere about the Rhine is the true Amreeta, and deserves to be called the "Liquor of Life," Believe me, my dear Sir, Yours very sincerely, Robert Southey. * This journal is also before me ; and, as I hinted in vol. ii. p. 429., I should advise its being published as a Supplement to the " Common Place Books." 1817. EGBERT SOUTIIEY. 75 To John Kenyon, Esq. Keswick, Nov. 17. 1817. My dear Sir, I am truly obliged to you for the trouble you have taken in procuring for me my old friend, Martin DobrizhofTer, of whom I have been ten years vainly in search. It will come in excellent time, just when I shall be composing a chapter upon the " Equestrian Tribes," the chief materials for which are taken from this Jesuit, the most entertaining and most interesting of all the missionary writers. The last volume of my history is now in the press, and from this time forward, it will form part of every day's business, till I shall have completed this laborious work. Our journey was prosperous in all points, without any accident of any kind, or any apparent delay. In the Val de Triens, I found your name written in pencil on the wainscot of the little cabin in which travellers are entertained ; im- mediately under it I pencilled my own and those of my companions : and if any person finds as much pleasure in seeing this memorial, as I did in seeing yours, it may be reckoned among my successful wri- tings. We entered Switzerland by Pontarlier and Neufchatel, from thence to Lausanne, finding it too early to cross St. Gothard ; then to Geneva, and turn- ing aside from Chamberry to visit the Chartreuse (one of the finest objects in our route), proceeded by Mount Cenis to Turin and Milan. This was our far- thest point. We were three days at Como, but went no higher than the fork of the lake at Bellaggio, which must certainly be the finest of all lake stations. Yet as a lake, Lugano may perhaps be preferred to Como; and the Maggiore, where we crossed from Laveno, is equal to either. We returned to Switzerland by the 76 LETTERS OF 1817: Simplon : magnificent as it is, it impressed me on the whole not so much as the pass of Mount Cenis, which nobody speaks of. Chamounix we took from Martigny, going and returning by the Tete Noir. The Col de Balm was not passable, and we returned to Martigny because we were bound to Echichens, near Merges, where I had some- friends to visit. We halted with them three days — a very pleasant resting-place, — then made for Berne, and, sending our carriage from that city to Zurich, struck into the Oberland, where, at Unterseen, Hans Roth was added to our company. On our way home, we went a step out of the road to see the Danube at Donaueschingen, then through the Black Forest to Friburg ; looked at Strasburg, and returned the same day to Kohl ; went into the dungeons of the Secret Tribunal at Baden-Baden, and shuddered at seeing the doors of solid stone a foot in thickness ; Rastadt, Carlsruhe, Heidelberg, Manheim, Frankfort, Mentz, Cologne, and so by Brussels and Lisle to Calais. In Hans' book, wherein my doggerel* was written, were * "A guide offered himself, and produced his book of recom- mendations, — Jean Roth his name, and Blomfield among his re- commenders." — MS. Journal. The doggerel is not inserted in the Journal. I copy it from Mrs. Warter's Album : — " Written for Hans Roth, an Unterseen Guide, who conducted Mr. Southey and his Companions on a Ten Days' Expedition. " Hans Roth, by my troth, Is an excellent guide ; A joker, a smoker, A 6f;avan beside ; A geologician, A metaphysician, To search out how causes proceed. A system inventor, And an experlmentor. Who raises i)otatoes from seed. 1817. ROBERT SOUTUEY. 77 some Latin verses which deserved to be copied. Very probably they came from Blomfiekl, whose name was among his testimonials, and though not written in the same hand, certainly they are of English growtli, as you will perceive : — HANS LOQUITUR. " Sum Rothius, parvai dux optimus Untersenae, Quaque lacus inter surgunt mapalia bines : Seu te findentem scopuloso vertice nubes Gotthardum peragrare placet, seu florea mavis Regna Rigi, aut fractum pileato culmine monlem Omnia lustrabis Grail cognominis Alpcs Auspicio ductuque meo : fert sive dolores Dira Siappoia, aut fessis vko ivocral ■^(^tfiErXa, Non ignarus ero, novi quge rupibus altis Quajque in secretis crescunt convallibus herboe " &c, &c. &c. Present my compliments to your friend Mr. Ritchie, for the letter which he forwarded to Geneva for me. The ladies below stairs have desired me not to forfjet their remembrances. Here is Ormathwaite to be let, and Barrow, and the house which in your time was called Mr. Marshall's : I will risk the one which you may like He knoweth right well, The forest and fell, The Chalet and dwellers therein ; The mountains, tlie fountains, The ices, the prices, Every town, every village and inn. Take him for your guide, He has often been tried, And will always be useful when needed ; You'll be merry together, Tn foul or fair weather, And shake hands at parting, as we did. " Robert Soutijex." 78 LETTERS OP 1817. best to remain vacant till you have finished your travels. Let me hear from you sometimes, and fail not to say \vhere a letter may find you upon your road. The Ge- neral is on the Island, enjoying all the advantages of solitude and retirement, and I daresay just now heartily disposed to join in the complaint of the lover against space and time, in reference to the limits of his island, and the length of the day. God bless you. Yours most truly, Robert Southey. P. S. I am sorry it should be reported (though no person who knows either me or my manner of writing, can believe the report) that I am the reviewer of Lady Morgan's book. Her opinions are bad enough, but I would rather have cut off my right hand than have written anything so unmanly and disgraceful as that criticism. To C. W. Williams Wynn, Esq., M. P. Keswick, Nov. 20. 1817. My dear Wynn, Since Bedford left me, after his fraction of a visit, I have, with very little interruption, kejit close to my desk ; having, Heaven knows, heavy arrears of business upon my hands. I have composed a paper for the " Quarterly," upon Lopez de Vega, with some trans- lations, and a good deal of curious matter, though perhaps it may have cost me more time than it is worth. This, however, goes to Mammon's account. There is nothing else of mine in tlie number. I am thoroughly disgusted, as I darcsav vou arc also, with the review of 1817. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 79 Lady Morgan's book : I would rather have cut off my right liand than have written anything so unmanly and so disgraceful ; and yet there are people who impute it to me, perhaps as much from stupidity as malice. This is the end of reviewing, hut the evil must be taken with the good, in this, as in all things. I am preparing to write upon the Report of the Poor Committee, and have prepared myself for it by good counsel. The Report is exceedingly able, so also is Davison's pamphlet, though the scheme with which it concludes is very objectionable. He would abolish the poor rates at the end of ten years, giving notice now, and making the abolition all at once. There is, I think, great reason to apprehend that whatever is done for getting rid of this cancer, will be made a handle by the Cobbetts, Hunts, &c., and perhaps it will not be done without some partial riots ; but to do it at once, would ensure a general insurrection. A better plan is to limit the assessment and lessen it gradually, eveiy year a tenth less than the last for ten years ; this would leave, at the end of that time, about one third of the present assessment; and then the fitness of a farther reduction might be considered. But I have a good deal to say upon this subject, and, I hope, to good effect. What a triumph it will be if the country can be eased of this burthen, which otherwise must crush it. We were, like everybody else, much shocked at the death of the Princess, and the more so, because of the temper in which we were found by the intelligence. It so happened that our newspaper did not arrive that day. When I went down to tea, young Edith, in the gaiety of her heart, was expressing her impatience to know the event, in the most playful and fantastic way, and indulging; in this the more because of the quiet and thoughtful mood in which I came from my books. While I was smiling at her extravagance, and 80 LETTERS OF 1817. the rest of the family were laughing, Dr. Bell came in, who was then lodging in the town. He asked if we had heard the news, and began to relate it in a lower tone and more deliberate manner than usual : we did not, however, apprehend the worst ; his voice faltered in a slight degree when he came to it, and poor Edith was instantly in tears. There is a great deal of dis- gusting stuff in the " Courier " upon the occasion. It will not surprise me if we should hear ere long of a divorce, in which case obsolete laws will be more talked of than they are in the abominable case of Thornton's. In thinking over this unlucky event with a view to writing anything upon the subject, I have almost re- solved upon writing something of which the notion is taken from Boethius. Instead of his Philosophia, I shall bring in Sir Thomas More, and make the occa- sion serve to introduce a view of the present circum- stances of society with the impending changes, as com- pared with the time of the Reformation. If I do this, I shall noi do it heartily ; but I am disposed to like the plan, as one in which some points of weighty consider- ation might be brought forward with much propriety. God bless you, my dear Wynn. R. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Nov. 26. 1817. My dear Grosvenor, It is so long since I have written to you, that you will, I dare say, give me credit for having been very busy the while ; and so, in truth, I have been, though 1817. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 81 not in the way Murraymagne would wish, or that you, perhaps, expect ; for I have not been at work for the next " Q, R.," nor have I yet attempted lo write ex officio upon the dismal occasion which has put us all in mourning ; — the only occasion, perhaps, in which a public mourning ever carried with it so real a sense of sorrow. As soon as you left us, I finished the paper upon Lopez de Vega, of which merely the beginning was written before. Then I set steadily to work upon the " Brazil," and have been sedulously employed upon it every morning from that time, with the full intention (unless any unforeseen evil should prevent) of doing something to it (however little) every day, till it is completed. I have corrected four sheets, and hope to keep the press going without intermission; the better to effect this, I rise as soon as it is light, and transcribe before breakfast. In the evenings I have paid off a heavy score of epistolary debts ; and, with a truant disposition, as if I had nothing to consult but the inclination of the hour, have taken a good serious spell at the " Life of Wesley," which bids very fair to be a singularly curious book. I would very, very fain be excused from any threno- dial service, farther than what must needs be prepared for the " Mus. Doc." But I see, from one or two pri- vate letters, that it is looked for , and it is no use to grumble at a task which I must not shrink from. In thinking over the matter, which you may be sure I have been doing (even in fact at the time when I would willingly have persuaded myself that it was not a matter of necessity to undertake the task), a notion laid strong hold upon me, of producing something in distant imi- tation of Boethius. In which, instead of his Philoso- phia, I shoukl introduce Sir Thomas More ; and pass from the ostensible occasion of the book, by an easy transition, to a view of the prospect before us, compared VOL. 111. G 82 LETTERS 01/ 1817. with tliG State of things at the Reformation. An ob- vious objection to this is, that I make use of an event which ought to be my subject, merely as an introduc- tion to something else. Perhaps this may be hand- somely obviated by frequently recurring to it, and bringing it again prominently forward at the end. You will, perhaps, hardly comprehend my scheme, unless I open it a little more fully. There would be a mixture of verse as in Boethius ; but the bulk of the composi- tion in prose, and in colloquy, between Sir T. More and Meipsum. How he, of all persons, should think of paying Meipsum a visit you must trust to me to explain ; but you will at once perceive that no fitter personage could be introduced, he having taken pretty much the same view of afflxirs in his age as I do in mine. The tone would, of course, be funereal, relieved by such imaginative parts as the introduction of one from an- other world would produce ; and the main object is to show that we are rapidly approaching a crisis in society (if, indeed, we have not actually reached it), as critical as that which the restoration of letters and the dis- covery of printing brought with them in the days of Sir Thomas More : the extent about as much as a long paper in the " Review," — a little volume from 150 to 200 pages. These digressions are not very con- venient for one who has so many huge undertakings in hand, and has to provide for Muiraymagne also. I hojje you like his new title. Oh, my books ! my books ! Pray ask Colnaghi if he has heard anything from Discacciati about them ; that if not, I may get Landor to inquire ; and if the larger consignment from Brussels be not arrived, I must write about them also. Your pencils shall be looked after. The Grand Dormouse returned on Monday from Senhouse's. Wordsworth is gone to London on business. I have 1817. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 83 not heard from Sirius, Heaven knows when ; he might as well be in his own star for anything I know of him. Pulcheria is in great favour, and sends a purr to Narses, her countryman. I liave put on my leathern jerkin for tlie first time to day ; and yesterday I dined at the Island, which, as I certainly shall not have another in- vitation these six months, may perhaps (and how pos- sibly ! ) be the last time I shall ever dine out. And the wind is blowing; on the fells it is snowing; and the torrents are flowing ; and the women are sewing ; and the general is going; and the oats are still growing, (tliey have got them so slow-in) ; and my nose wants blowing; — so farewell, Mr. Bedford. R. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, Dec. 17. 1817. My dear G., Your letter falls in, even as I should wish it to do, with my own inclinations. Public events, as you well know, are things upon which, ex proprio motu, I should never write a single verse, having a proper dislike to such subjects. You have now the exercise-verses for the " Mus. Doc. " : and so, till the next year's pepper-corn rent becomes due, if I live so long, that score is dis- charged. The more I consider the matter about emancipating myself from any engagement which subjects me to the control of an editor, the more I perceive and feel the fitness of so doing ; and, regarding it as I ought to do, without any feeling of anger, I shall consult my own perfect convenience in the matter, and leave the Mur- G ?. 84 LETTERS OF 1817. raymaLjne to discover that I find other modes of com- position more agreeable, if not more profitable. Tant mieux, for certain works which have been too long shoved aside, by his egregious "Journal." I have done a little of late to the *' Tale of Paraguay," and will complete it forthwith for publication in the course of the season ; and when this is done, the time which would have been otherwise allotted to Reviews, will suffice, in the course of twelve months, to carry me through " Oliver Newman." I can calculate upon my- self for these things. Certain, indeed, it is, that re- viewing costs me full thrice the time that any other species of composition does. As for political affairs, I have nothing to do with them now. The battle has been won. That indeed was a cause for which, had it been needful, I would have spent something more precious than ink. At home there is an appearance of security for some time to come, and, when I touch upon political topics, it will be with a wider range and a larger view than belongs to any temporary topics. I have abundant ma- terials marked out for " Espriella's Second Travels ; " and this, I have no doubt, will pay me to the full as well in money as the " Review " of Albemarle Street could do, and far better in reputation. This is the only vehicle in which I could write with perfect freedom : such is the advantage afforded by speaking sometimes in an assumed character, sometimes through it, and leaving it to the reader's sagacity to discover the one if he can. God bless you. R. S. 1818. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 85 To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, Jan. 6. 1818. My dear G., I have two things to say to you, which would be reason enough for beguming a letter, even if I were not rather disposed at this time to pen-gossip with your worship, than to go on working. First, then, an accident (which, though it would not require much time to tell it, would yet take up rather too much to be told just now) induces me to resume my *' Inscriptions." You, I believe, did not much like what you saw of them ; but I am persuaded that, as pieces of composition, they will more completely exhi- bit my skill as an artist, than any other of ray poems. Charles Taylor, whom I remember at Westminster, was killed at Vimeiro. I knew nothing of him, and never exchanged a word with him ; but he is the only Westminster man who comes in my way, and for that reason has a sort of double claim to a place in the series. He was a Reading man, — -you have friends at Reading, — can you by their means learn what his ser- vices had been ? The sepulchral inscriptions are, of course, epitaphs ; and the epitaph should be a brief notice of all in a man's life which is worth noticing on his monument. My intention is not to be in any hurry with these poems, but to correct them at leisure, as severely as possible, and print them after the " History" is published, as an accompaniment, in the same form. Secondly, I learn from Westall, that his brother has a great desire to make drawings from my operas, — more especially from my " Thalaba." However much I might like this, my liking can be of no avail, and the matter, of course, must rest between him and the Longi Homines, who, I suspect, w ill be like deaf adders. They u 3 86 LETTERS OF 1818. will object that the poems are not new, and have no gi'eat sale ; and, perhaps, tlie size in which they are printed would be a serious objection to the artist. What tlio Longi Homines should do, if they listened to him, should be to print an edition of my poetical works col- lectively in octavo, with the prints, ad libitum ; and to have, in future, the separate edition of each in a smaller size, and without notes, so as to get into circulation among cheap books which are found in every country shop, — a four-shilling " Roderick," for instance. This would never interfere with the sale of the costlier form, and would get into circulation when even the current editions cannot. But the Longi Homines do not under- stand their own trade : the Grand Murray does. Ne- vertheless, I like the long man better than the great man. Yet, between ourselves, I cannot help suspecting something very like a trick about the sale of Moore's poem ; and the suspicion is not a comfortable one. A sixth edition of *' Lalla Rookh " is advertised in the course of eight months. " Roderick," in three years, is only in the fourth. Now, I am perfectly certain it is no feeling of vanity (and you know how I feel upon such subjects well enough to believe me) which makes me think there cannot, possibly, have been this differ- ence in the sale. How, then, do I explain the fact ? By an apprehension tliat there is a ruse de guerre in it, — a stratagem of that war which one bookseller carries on against another : that if I were to ask as large a sum for a poem as Moore has obtained, they might reply to me, " There is not the same sale to be ex- pected." And this they would support by title-pages, putting, probably, the name of a new edition to every 500, or possibly a smaller number (for *' Lulla Rookh" cannot by possibility have had such a sale as is pre- tended), while the first edition of " Roderick" was 500 1818. ROBERT SOUTnEY. 87 only at a time ; but the second, 1500 ; the third, 2000 ; and the fourth, 2000. You will do me a service if you will get from tlio review-gelder as many more of my old manuscripts as you can, and in future secure from him a set of proof- sheets in their first state ; because the paper is always printed before he sets about the work of emasculating it. It is very easy for him to have an additional proof struck off in that state; and then what I have taken the trouble to write, and he is obliging enough to strike out afterwards, will be preserved for use hereafter. I make as large allowances as can be required for the manage- ment to which editor and publisher may feel or fancy themselves bound, but the striking out a sentence, or a paragraph, because Mr. Gifford does not like it, and the putting in one of his words or phrases when he happens not to like one of mine, has the effect of putting my forbearance to the proof. Once or twice I have written to him pretty strongly in remonstrance ; then he flatters and promises, and next time goes to work again like a butcherly review-gelder, as he is. If you happen to see Murray, I wish you would say to him he sent me in liis last parcel, '• Le Getiie de la Revolution, consideree dans V Education^ in two volumes. It promises a third, which was to include all that related to Bonaparte's reign, and was to be published in No- vember last. This third volume is precisely the thing I want for filling up the picture of France in the intro- ductory chapter of the Peninsular War, and the sooner I can have it for that purpose the better, for I really long to be in the press. You can tell him this when you chance to see him, which will be better than my writing just now, when I am not in good humour with him — feeling myself scurvily treated about the last number, in more respects than one. But I do not mean to give the slightest intimation of this displeasure, G 4 88 LETTERS OF 1818. either to him or the gelder ; for however much they may look upon me as their tool, I shall make use of them as mine. God bless you. I am in excellent condition for work. ; R. S. To John RicJcmariy Esq. March 27. 1818. My dear Rickman, I have said something upon rogues and roguery in a paper which is now in Gifford's hands, — upon the fitness of mending the nets of the law, so that they may not escape through the meshes as they now do ; and the general question I have left for further discussion, being fully aware of the whole combination against existing institutions. The next paper which I write will be upon the state of the middle class, — the excess in the educated classes rendering emigration as necessary as bleeding when the habit indicates apoplexy ; the condition of women ; and lastly and mainly, the abuse of the press, arising in a great measure from this overflow of educated or rather half educated men. Brougham is speechifying through the villages of Westmoreland ! ! Westall sees a great deal of talent in the sketches from ** Thalaba." Wynn has taken them to Murray, and he, I understand, likes them so well that he has written to the artist concerning them. I have a rich arrival of my books from Milan, and am in a happy confusion with them. 1818. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 89 The Capitf .as has a book of mine concerning the Isles of Chiloe. Beg him to send it to Murray for me. Is there no existing law by which these Palace Yard meetings can be prevented. Why are not the orators brought to trial for sedition ? or rather, why is not Fox's absurd bill repealed, and the law of libel placed upon its proper grounds ? Oh, for more courage where it is most wanting ! R. S. To John Richnan, Esq. Keswick, May 9. 1818. My dear Rickman, Thank you for your note upon the Ava* leprosy. Kava this liquor is also called, and it is not a little re- markable that the same preparation with the same name should be found in Chili and in Brazil also, — though not, I believe, made from the same root. What, therefore, (the thought this instant occurs to me) if the saliva should be the cause of the disease ? the secretion of one human body taken into the system of another ? as the transfusion of healthy blood, and the transplanting of a sound tooth, have been known to prove fatal. There is indeed in the Kava case a fermentation which must be taken into the account. I have heard to-day of a custom remembered in Kes- * " The name of Ava is given to the root of the intoxicating long pepper {Maa-opiper methysticum) which is chewed either in the fresh or in the dried state, as the Indian chews his maize." — Johnson's Chemistry of Common Life, vol. i. p. 310. See History of Brazil, vol. iii. p. 890. notes. 90 LETTERS OP 1818. wick, and still practised in Borrodale. A married cou- ple, who have had no children, after a certain number of years, are cowpclled by their neighbours to give what we call a Fumbler's Feast, and entertain them with sweet butter, caudle, and other such regalements as are produced at lying-in visits, after the fashion of the country. This they do sorely against the grain, the company entertaining themselves at their expense in every sense of the phrase. Such a feast was exacted from (or inflicted upon) the couple who live opposite Miss Barker's house last week. R. S. To a W. Willianis Wymi, Esq., M.P. Keswick, June 7. 1818. My dear Wynn, 1 thank you for Dr. O'Connor's letter, and am very glad he can derive any pleasure from the expres- sion of the high value which I set upon his labours, — such labours having very little to remunerate them, except the gratification which the employment itself affords. Thank you also for the reports of the Copy- right Committee. The part of this business which most concerns me is, the term of years which the booksellers seem willing to give up. Now in my case a prolongation of the term is of much more consequence than the eleven copies, for my books make their way slowly ; they have a steady sale, and there will be a greater demand for them in the first three or four years after my death than there ever has been, or will be, in the same length of time during my life. But the greater number of them will then have become common property ; and the only 1818. ROBEUT SOUTIIEY. 91 means I can perceive of securing any advantage from them to my children, is, by never publishing a single improvement in any of them as long as I live, but re- serving all corrections, alterations, and additions for a posthumous edition. I read Lamb's death in the newspaper, and thought more of him, poor fellow, in consequence, than I had done for the last four-and-twenty years. Do you re- member Bean, who was in the remove with me ? He had a good strong head, and an excellent heart. Two or three years ago I called at his brother's to inquire for him, and learnt that he was soon expected home from India, to settle in England upon the money wdiich he had saved as an army surgeon, and the half pay to which from length of service he was entitled. Just about that time he was murdered by some Malay boat- men, for the regimental money which he was carrying to one of the East Indian islands.* 'Tis a melancholy thing when we have got more than halfway over Mirza's bridge to look about us, and see how many of those who set out with us on the passage have fallen short by the way. I should have had real pleasure in meeting again with Bean ; all that was good in him was of the perma- nent kind. He had travelled widely, and would have come home with an extensive knowledge of men and things. Poor Lamb, on the contrary, had become a mere idle heir of fortune, and not having his estates to manage while his father lived, had not even that occupation to keep him from frivolities. He was an old man at thirty, and that too being of a family in which it is degeneracy to die at an age short of fourscore. • Scarcely a week passes in which I do not dream of Westminster, so strong a hold have those years upon the mind. You franked me a letter some time ago from General * See Autobiography in " Life and Correspondence," vol. i. p. 156. 92 LETTERS OF 1818. Crauford, which has led to a correspondence with liim. He has sent me some observations upon the Spanisli war, and among my "Inscriptions" which I have finished was an epitapii for his brother, which I was glad to communicate to him. I have written no poetry for many months, nor shall I have leisure for any this year, unless a much stronger inclination should arise for it than I ever expect to feel. Before I set out for London in November I must bring forth the last volume of "Brazil," and the "Life of Wesley." Of the former about a third is printed, of Wesley the sixth sheet (in octavo) is lying on my table. I may tell you that the office of librarian to the Ad- vocate Library, at Edinburgh, was offered me the other day, — 400/. a year, with the prospect of an increase, and the labour of forming a catalogue. Few persons would dislike such labour less, but I am better em- ployed ; I do not love great cities ; I will not remove farther from my friends (being already too far from them), and having, God be thanked, no pecuniary anx- ieties, I am contented where lam, and as I am; wanting nothing, and wishing nothing. God bless you, my dear Wynn. R. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford^ Esq. June 19. 1818. My dkar G., Thank you for having delivered the Saints out of Purgatory. I now look daily to hear from the Grand Dormouse that he has seen the beatified contents of these ponderous cases, after which they will soon be on their way to Keswick. ]818. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 93 The offer respeccting the Advocates' Library did not require mucli consideration, coupled as it was with tlie condition of making a catalogue, — an immense labour for such a library, if it were performed as it ought to be. If it had come without any such condition, it would have unsettled me, as the emolument would have emanci- pated me from all task-work for the rest of my life. I have half a mind to enclose you my last letter from the greatest of BibliopoleSj that you may form by it some estimation of his conceit, which is as unmeasurable as the heighth and depth of Seeva, in the Hindoo fable. If you were to see the manner in which he exhorts me *' to put my whole soul" into an article for his six shil- ling " Review," you would breathe out a pious male- diction upon his head, and cast his letter behind the fire. Whosoever may compile from my papers, when the booksellers have the pickings of my bones, will find rare morsels in the correspondence of this great man ! My cold is in its seventh or eighth week, and makes it painful to read aloud, — a great discomfort, for it is my custom regularly to read a proof-sheet in this man- ner tivice ; and this last polish is of material conse- quence, and can be given in no other way. The eye can do little without the ear. Mrs. Peachey has sent me a new fashioned lamp for my study, with a ground-glass hemisphere — a hand- some affair, but I suspect less convenient than my soli- tary mould candle, which can be carried about, is at hand to seal letters, and, moreover, supplies a lip-salve, as useful and much less offensive than any which comes from the shop. I cannot, however, try this present till we have darkness again. Our daylight here is con- siderably longer than yours in London at this season. Elmsley, I hear, means to go abroad again ; and, on his return, to take a house at Oxford. In the reviewal of " Evelyn's Memoirs " (part of 94 LETTERS OF 1818. which goes to the grand castrator with this letter), I have given Sir Richard Phillips a wipe which will amuse you, if it be suffered to stand. God bless you. R. S. To John Richnan, Esq. Keswick, July, 1818. My dear Rickman, I have been cheAving the cud upon your letter. The variety of my employments is such that it enables me, at any time, to throw aside any train of uncomfort- able thoughts arising from the ra ov/c icfi y/xlv. And in the case of the Appleby orator, I should not have thought of noticing him, had it not appeared a fair op- portunity of doing local good by mauling him heartily. I dare say you may, long ere this, have perceived in me a promptness to act with decision, which sometimes amounts to temerity, and often to imprudence; and, on the other hand, a good portion of docility in submitting to the advice of those whom I esteem and love. I may probably send up another portion of the intended let- ter, but very likely it will not go beyond your hands and Bedford's. On the other hand, if I thought that any real good were to be done by a full representation of the state of tilings, I would gird up my loins to the task. How may this best be done ? In an anonymous volume, the secret of which shall rest between you and me, to the exclusion of all other persons, or in the character of "Espriclla"? which has a greater advantage even than tliat of concealment, because no one can draw the line 1818. IIOBEIIT SOUTHEY. 95 between what is said in tlie personated character, and what is said through it. At present, talis ornibus, I will work on through the oj)us majus. I send now a portion of" very curious mat- ter, — some of it collected from the papers which I obtained from Coxe. My great consignment of the Saints, &;c., is arrived, and I am delightfully busy in arranging the shelves. God bless you. R. S. To John Riclcman, Esq., S^-c. Sept. 1. 1818. My dear R,, I have just read through *' Clarendon's History of the Rebellion," and the result has been rather to strengthen my hope in the conservative principles of society. If anything could induce me to wish the Whigs in power, it would be their certain interference with the press, and the probability of their undoing the mischief which Fox did by making the jury in cases of libel judges of the law, as well as of the fact. Yet there has been as much fault in the manner of enforcing the law, as in the law itself. So much time has been suf- fered to elapse between the commission of the offence and the trial (as in Hone's case) that the culprit has had full leisure to get up a theatrical defence, and the public feeling of indignation has been worn out, and subsided into indifference. Thank you for your note about the Jerboa. I had made the same guess, but suppressed it because of the difficulty of explaining how the Jerboa should get 'J6 LETTERS OF 1818. there; being neither known in Europe nor in America, nor in those parts of Africa from whence any ship at any time had ever touched upon the Island. However, as your first thouj^ht coincided with mine, I have men- tioned the likehhood and the difRculty. You see, I am getting on well, and with matter which will be almost as new to the Portuguese themselves as to the English. This chapter will be a very curious one ; and the fol- lowing one relates to the equestrian tribes. It is a great pleasure to perceive the end of so long a work fairly in view. Can you send me the third Police, the Prison, and the Endowed School Reports. I am about to write upon the copyright question in the next "Quar- terly ;" and also (taking the new churches for a text), to put together my collectanea concerning the disposal of the dead. God bless you. R. S. P. S. My brother Tom is coming at Lady-day to re- side within an hour's walk of me, in the Vale of New- lands, a very sweet place, where he has taken thirty acres of land. This removal is in all respects desirable for him and for me, and will at least double the quan- tum of my yearly exercise. To John Hickman, Esq., ^'C. Sept. 7. 1818. My dear R., I send the enclosed packet unsealed, that if you have any curiosity for such things, you may see some of John Wesley's epistles. They are perfectly worthless, 1818. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 97 except the last, and this is of some value, because it touches upon a point of doctrine whicli he preached very rashly during many years of his life, and this letter was written only a few weeks before his death, when his hand sliook so that he could scarcely write intelligibly. The others are not the less characteristic for being so entirely empty. By such missives and such hrothering and sistering he kept up his influence among his people. My Life of this extraordinary man will be a very curious book. We have entirely escaped the drought which you seem to be suffering from in the South. Our fields are beautifully green, and the gardens were never more productive. To-day you have had your Palace Yard meeting: bad as juries are, I cannot think there could be any difficulty in convicting Hunt of sedition, because the jury in all likelihood would be Burdettites, and therefore disposed to do him justice. Wilberforce is in this countrv, and will soon be at Keswick. God bless you. R. S. To the Rev. Herbert Hill, %c. Keswick, Sept. 18. 1818, I HAVE just turned over the leaves of the " Acta Sanctorum:" the five or six first volumes I obtained many years ago from a public library, and made good uso of them. All the rest are new to me. The worthy editors seem, a little like myself, never to have been content with the enormous work which they had undertaken to perform, but upon every possible opportunity to have VOL. III. U 98 LETTERS OF 1818. enlarged it by some gratuitous labour. Among these supererogatory works is a very curious code of Majorca laws, with a series of as curious engravings, from the MS., exhibiting the whole household of the King of Majorca in their costume and employments. It is in- deed a singularly valuable body of historical and anti- quarian research, certainly the most laborious work that has ever yet been produced by any body of men. My copy is a very fine one. The bookseller at Brussels said it was the finest he had ever obtained. It belonged to the Franciscan Recollets at Ghent. I shall make great use of it in due time. " Kehama" and "Roderick" are both at this time in the press. The latter has done great things for me, — that is to say, it has set me on the right side of Long- man's books. Upon the whole, it has brought me not less than 700^. It will take probably a full year's sale before the new edition clears its expenses, but my " Life of Wesley" will be out for the spring sale, and I hope that will supply the deficiency ; and whenever I can finish my tale of " Paraguay," I may calculate upon im- mediately selling an edition of 2000. But in truth I would willingly have done with poetry, and confine my- self to those subjects for which I possess advantages that are not likely soon to meet in any one person. Wilberforce is expected in Keswick to-day, with his wife and his sons and his daughters, and his sons' friends, and his daughters' friends, and his men servants, and his maid servants. Sir George and Lady Beaumont are here. lie knew the country before I was born, and passed a summer in it soon after his marriage, three-and- forty years ago : and both he and Lady Beaumont enjoy it as much now as ever they did. I expect a guest next week, whom perhaps you may have heard the Doctor niention ; his name is Chauncey Townsend, a youth with every imaginable advantage that nature and fortune can 1818. ROBERT SOUTUEY 99 bestow. Old Townsend, the traveller, was his great uncle ; from him he has acquired a taste for mineralogy, and that taste will take me some tough walks among the mountains. We have had no drought in the North ; nothing could, indeed, be more favourable than our weather, or finer than our harvest. But I fear you will suffer dreadfully in the spring. What is hecome of Blackstone, that he has not yet made his appearance ? General Peachey is looking out for him also, so that he will have a bed if he should arrive at the same time with Chauncey Townsend. Lord Lowther drank tea with us last week, bringing over Wordsworth to introduce him, for I had never seen him before. The only other great person whom I have seen was the Grand Murray himself, on his way to Edinburgh. He, I believe, is the very grandest person- age among mankind, now that there is no longer a Grand Mo To the Rev. Neville White, ^c. Keswick, Feb. 2G. 1823. My dear Neville, The corrections, &c., will be in Longman's hands before this reaches you. I have incorporated part of the preface to the third volume, added the rest of it after the "Life," and inserted in the "Life" some things noted from the letters which were last in my possession. The proofs are to be sent me, that I may carefully revise the whole. One gap is left for you to fill up with the name of the college at which Almond was entered. I am heartily glad that the sup- plementary volume has done its work so well. The " Remains" have yet one stage to reach ; they must one day be printed in a smaller form for the pocket, and for popular sale. You ask me concerning the affairs of Spain. Three years ago, I dined at Mr. Butler's (the Catholic), when his son-in-law. Colonel Stonor, who is a Spaniard, had just received the first packet of pamphlets, proclama- tions, and newspapers, after the Revolution had been effected by the army. They called upon me to rejoice with them, but 1 could not join in their exultation ; — a bad government, indeed, had been overthrown, but a better had not been substituted for it. The Constitu- tion whicli the Cortes had formed, tended decidedly (and designedly, also, no doubt) to bring about a de- 380 LETTERS OF 1823. mocracy. I had always seen this tendency, and my disapprobation was by no means diminished when I saw it restored through the instrumentality of soldiers who thought it better to stay at home and subvert the Government, than obey its order by embarking for America. The Spanish Revolution has been occasioned not by any desire of change on the part of the people, but by the inability of the Government to pay its civil and mi- litary establishments. Ferdinand returned to a ruined kingdom, that is, ruined as to its finances : the colonies from whence the main revenues had formerly been de- rived were lost, and the mother-country in no condition to support taxes, everything having been subverted. The same cause would have overthrown the present Government two years ago, if it had not been supported by the loans which it raised in England, and which, in all likelihood, will ruin all who have engaged in them. Meantime, the manner in which they have robbed the nobility and the Church of their property has offended both these bodies : the kingdom is overrun with ban- ditti ; the rabble in the large towns are become radicals, made so by the Government itself; the great majority of the nation detest the new order of things, but would be passive under any order if they could; and the braver spirits have taken arms against it. The course which the Revolutionists have taken re- sembles that of their French exemplars so closely that no doubt can be entertained of" their going through the same stages of regicide and massacre if left to themselves, un- less the Royalists were strong enough to recover the ascendency. And here a difficult question arises. Is it expedient for France to interfere ? To question the right of interference is absurd. If my next-door neigh- bours were fighting, endeavouring to kill one another, and likely, moreover, in their quarrel, to set fire to the 1823. ROBERT SOUTUEY. 381 house, it would be madness in me not to interfere, if I could do it to any good purpose. Therefore, if France were a power which could he trusted, and would interfere as honourably as we did when we rescued Spain from Buonaparte, I should ap- prove its interference, and heartily wish it success. But the French are a faithless nation : they have ever been so, and, upon the first favourable opportunity, they would gladly revive the wildest schemes of Louis XIV. or Buonaparte. Even could we trust tliem, and their conduct were to be as unexceptionable as I verily think the grounds of their interference are, the question of expediency is a very difficult one. When they get to Madrid (which may be done without difficulty), the work is far from being over. They may make a new government, or restore the old despotism, but how is it to be supported ? The old difficulty of the finances re- curs ; and thus government will require, not our auxi- liary troops to keep the country quiet, but loans to maintain it, till credit and prosperity are restored. France may have some reason to apprehend discontent at home, and the explosion of her own combustibles, if the struggle be prolonged ; or, to prevent this, it is not improbable that she may be willing to provoke a war with England, for which the Portuguese seem disposed to give her a pretext. If they assist the Spaniards, and the French, in consequence, invade Portugal, we can no longer remain neutral. Here, then, are two evils in prospect ; that France may acquire such ascendency over Spain as Louis XIV. aimed at, and that we may be drawn into a war, in support of those very revolutionary opinions against which we have struggled so long. And this is what the Whigs desire. The very persons who would have had us desert Spain and the Portuguese when they resisted Buonaparte, arc now endeavouring to force us into a 382 LETTERS OF 1823. war in tlieir behalf. Undoubtedly they hope that it would end in a revolution at home by the embarrass- ments which it would produce. In this they are greatly deceived, for it would restore agricultural prosperity, and give a new spur to our manufactures. But this would be dearly purchased. Our policy is to preserve peace and order wherever our influence extends. I have written hastily, and may very possibly have failed to make myself understood. The upshot is this ; it is a struggle in Spain between two extremes which are both so bad that one can hardly form a wish on either side ; and that the one thing to be desired is, that order should be restored there. If France were an upright power, her interference would be desirable; — being what she is, it is to be wished that the Peninsula were left to itself. It will be some eight or ten weeks before I see you. All here are well, and all join in kind remem- brances to your fireside and circle. God bless you. Yours affectionately, R. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, March 22. 1823. My dear Grosvenor, Suppose you were a young lady in the nineteenth year of your age, very busy in preparing certain remem- brances to be transmitted by a safe opportunity to her distant friends, and that some of these remembrances could not be finished for want of ultramarine, and that one of your father's oldest and dearest friends, liolding a high situation in his Majesty's Exchequer, had promised to send you a cake of this indispensable 1823. KOBEllT SOUTHEY. 383 colour, under cover of an official frank, should not you think that the whole business of the Exchequer, and all things connected therewith, might be suspended, while the said ultramarine was procured ? Will you send me some vegetable marrow seeds under the same cover ? and I will promise you that their pro- duce shall be excellently cooked, when you come and help me to drink Lightfoot's cider which is now upon the road. The Royal Irish Academy sent me the other day an- other tail to my name, for the benefit of my next title- page ; I am glad this was done after my Irish ode was written, and before it has appeared in the world. I have to-day received the proofs of my paper upon the Theophilanthropists in France and the Rise and Progress of Infidelity, and, of course, seen it for the first time as a whole. What opinion may be formed of it, I cannot foresee; but that with regard to individuals it will do some of the good which was intended, I do not doubt ; and, upon this first consecutive perusal, I am glad that I have written it. Gifford has not written to me since his recovery. It is possible that he may not be in good humour with me for endeavouring to procure a successor for him, though it was in consequence of his expressing to me the neces- sity of looking out for one. I certainly wish the journal were in John Coleridge's hands, both for personal and public considerations. The good which it might do is grievously counteracted by the grass inconsistencies which are now to be found in it, — its cruel and unmanly injustice on some occasions, and its wretched cowardice on others. I shall ask him if he will have an article upon Spain and Portugal, — a question upon which lam quite willing to take the field against all the Whigs in the world. Oh, how I could trample upon them ! I mean to ask Murray to print a selection of my 384 LETTERS OF 1823. papers, with restorations and revisions, in some such arrangement as Essays, moral and poHtical, which would fill two volumes ; there are many more of Essays, histo- rical and ecclesiastical, and lastly critical and miscella- neous, keeping each collection distinct, not to alarm the public with too much at once. In this manner he might put some money in my pocket and in his own. I should include some papers from the " Annual Review," and make up some from the "Edinburgh Annual Register." God bless you, R. S. To John Rickman, Esq,, ^-c. Keswick, March 25. 1823. My dear Rickman, I am trying my hand at some Inscriptions, more vieo, in blank verse, one in honour of the Caledonian Canal, and another of the Engineer. I shall try at a third about the Highland Roads, though not in rivalry of General Wade's ! You shall soon have them. To-day I have heard of a remedy for the hooping cough, practised at this time in this town : it is to pass the child three times under the belly of an ass ! Can you send me the Agricultural and Commercial Reports of last year? Gilford would have had me write upon these subjects, but I did not think myself compe- tent to it. The present distress is, I suppose, like other cries of the same kind : one set of men are losing while others gain in a like proportion ; and the loss happens now to fall upon the most querulous and most powerful part of the community ; more selfish than the commer- cial interest they are not, but certainly nothing could exceed the selfishness which they manifested in more instances than one during the war. 1823. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 385 I have not heard from Wynn since he has been on his bed of roses ; but I dare say he thinks not quite so favourably of Grey Bennct's intentions and disposition as he used to do. The French Government, 1 hear, thinks itself strengthened by these eruptions of disaffection. I should think so too, if the adjoining states were tranquil and contented. It is, however, a great point to have a Ministry in France who are decidedly Royalists. Do you remember the little man of the Irish Com- missariat, who called upon me on behalf of certain cast- off cavalry horses ? He dined with me last week, having been turned off after six-and-twenty years' service. We have had many humbugs in our days, but none so cruel in its operation as this humbug of economy. God bless you, R. S. P.S. If Mrs. R. has not seen a little volume of poems called the ** Widow's Tale," I recomm.end it to her. It comes from the New Forest ; the authoress is a Miss Bowles, of Buckland, near Lymington. To the Rev. Neville White, ^-c. Keswick, April 18. 1823. My dear Neville, I did hope that I should have been on my travels at this time ; but it is with me in most of my writings as with one who builds a house, and finds when he is in the middle of it that the cost thereof will exceed the estimate twofold. My work grows under my hands ; and whether it be the natural effect of increasing years, or arises from any cause to which it might be more agreeable to impute it, certain it is that I compose VOL. III. C C 386 LETTERS OP 1823. inuch more slowly than I was wont to when younger. I shall not be able to leave home in less than a month from this time ; and if it be equally convenient to you, it will, I think, be rather more so to me, if I take Norwich on my way home, in the middle of July. This has been a severe season, and you are in the coldest part of England. Next winter let me recom- mend to you what I have used myself for many years — a sleeved waistcoat of washing-leather. I believe no other mode of clothing will protect the chest so well. As soon as the cold weather sets in I take to it; and I laid it aside for this year only last week. My brother, the Captain, is on his way to Canada, to form a judgment upon the spot, upon the expediency of transplanting his family thither, in the spring of next year, to a grant of lands. He departed on Wednesday last. This business has occupied much of my time, and will long continue to occupy too much of my thoughts. Our climate is, in some respects, better than yours. We have had three weeks of delightful weather, though with easterly winds. The last two days there have been slight rains, and to-day there is snow on the mountains. From London I hear complaints of the cold, and the want of sunshine. You will see a paper of mine upon the Rise and Progress of Infidelity, in the next " Q,. R." When the new edition of " Baxter " is completed, I mean to take that opportunity of drawing up an account of his life. At present I am busy with "Cranmer" and his fellow worthies. The Roman Catholics will not like my book ; nor will it be more agreeable to the Dis- senters. The chapter which is likely to produce most impression will be that relating to the destruction of the Church establishment during the great rebellion. God bless you, my dear Neville, Yours affectionately, Robert Southey. 1823. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 387 To the Rev. Herbert Hill, ^c. Keswick, April 27. 1823. The principle of emulation is carried much too far in modern education. Many men are absolutely killed by it at the Universities ; and many more injure their con- stitutions irreparably. No one with whom I have any influence shall ever suffer from that cause. The habit to be encouraged is that of placid diligence. What is thus healthily acquired is retained, whereas the cram- ming system hurts the digestion. My chief reason for wishing that Edward may be elected to Oxford, is be- cause they cram there less than at Cambridge. I am not surprised at my aunt's determination con- cerning Errol. Indeed, I rather expected it ; and yet, as the thing would (I have no doubt) have been in my power, it seemed proper to mention it. It is well for us that in youth we do not see the objections which exist to every profession in life ; if we did, life might be at an end before we could venture to make the choice. Edward's, I hope, will be made for the Church. He will take a little Hebrew with him from Westminster ; little enough, but still a foundation. I shall advise him before he leaves school to master the German grammai', which ten minutes a day would en- able him to do. No person knows better than I do what small gains amount to, in accumulations of this kind. This language is of main importance in most literary researches. You will not wonder (knowing how prone, in Persian phrase, my *' peri of the steed is to expatiate on the plain of prolixity"*) that the Book of the Church is swelling * The expression is from the " Bahar Daiiush, or Garden of Knowledge," vol. i. p. 88. " Had exercised the steed of narriftion c c 2 388 LETTERS OP 1823. into two ordinary sized octavos. The fact is, that I intended to deal in generals, but found as I went on that it was the particulars which must give life and effect to the composition. As far as it has gone I am well satisfied with it. A view of the Papal system is just printed, which is likely to produce a proper effect. I do not quite see my way in the last chapter, but it will open before me when I arrive at it. I think of dedicating it to the Bishop of London. God bless you. R. S. To Walter Savage Landor, Esq. Keswick, May 8. 1823. My dear Landor, Your letter arrived this day, and yesterday I received and answered one from Julius Harej-, concern- ing your " Dialogues." The purport of his was to say that Taylor (a man, I believe, very superior to most of his trade,) demurred upon grounds of principle to cer- tain passages, and had, after some previous correspond- ence with him, proposed that I or Wordsworth should see the proofs, and if we approved of what he con- demned, he would be bound by our decision. Words- worth is gone to the Netherlands, and I replied without hesitation that I would most willingly take upon myself this responsibility, and act for you in this matter as you on the course of prolixity;" and p. 109.: "Further, the light- footed steed of the peri has not found permission to proceed on the plain of prolixity." I I wrote to Archdeacon Hare after his last attack to ask if he had any letters of Southey's. He was too weak to write, but Mrs. Hare wrote for him, and said there were none. The letter alluded to above is in my hands. 1823. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 389 would act by me ; taking care that wherever there was an omission the place should be marked. Longman was desired in December to send you my own and Wordsworth's books, and " Humboldt's Tra- vels." He has never told me by what vessel they were sent, which he ought to have done, but they should have reached you long ere this. I long to see these " Dialogues." Upon the question of Catholicism we shall entirely agree. There is a chapter upon the subject in my forthcoming " Review of our Ecclesiastical History ;" and whatever effect we may produce upon those who are more than moderately inclined to this base and grovelling superstition (as you say Mr. Hare is), 1 think we shcill produce some upon those who at present are less than moderately acquainted with its real character. Yet I regret some of its parts. Your specimen is delightful. Julius Hare, indeed, speaks of the whole just in such terms as I should ex- pect it to deserve. Upon one great question, that of the improvement of nations through their governments, I think that were I in Italy I should approach nearer to you, and were you in England, or in America, you would draw nearer to me. The struggle at present is between two extremes, both so bad, that if a wish of mine could incline the beam, I should not know in which scale to cast it. My first volume is wormwood to the Foxites, and not more palatable to the worshippers of Mr. Pitt. I think there is not one feeling expressed in it with whicli you will not concur. The single opinion in which you are likely to dissent from me is one which is derived from observation, — in opposition to my wishes, — that old despotisms can better be modified by a single will than by a popular assembly ; and that in such countries as Spain and Portugal, a despotic minister (like Pombal), acting in conformity with the spirit of the age, is the c c 3 390 LETTERS OF 1823. reformer to be wished for. I would have governments reformed, as Cranmer would in all points, and did in most, reform the Church of England. But, let indi- viduals and communities err as they may, it is apparent that upon the great scale mankind are improving. But this, too, may appear differently in Italy from what it does in England. I am glad to hear of your children. Till we become parents we know not the treasures of our own nature, and what we then discover may make us believe that there are yet latent affections and faculties which another state of existence may develop. My boy is now be- ginning his fifth year, and is, thank God, flourishing and promising as I could wish. My eldest daughter is a young woman, taller than her mother. Time has set his mark upon me, but lays his hand gently ; as yet he has taken nothing from me but the inclination for writing poetry, and threatens nothing at present but my grind- ers, which he is attacking by regular approach, sapping and mining. Last summer I was severely shaken by an annual catarrh, which for many years has taken up its quarters with me for the whole summer, and last year effected a lodgement in my chest. Since it departed I have used more exercise and a more generous diet, and have kept in better condition during the winter than for the last seven years. My " Colloquies" have long been stationary. Yours will give them a fillip. As far as they have proceeded I am well pleased with them. My " Book of the Church " will be published in about ten weeks, — perhaps in time to be forwarded to you with your own book. God bless you. ii. S. 1823. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 391 To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, May 11. 1823. My dear Grosvenor, I have been so eagerly at work since the seeds arrived, that I did not even allow myself time to thank you for them, though the act of writing to you is always a sort of relaxation and refreshment. With re- gard to these said quasheys (which, I believe, is their name, — first cousins to the squash pumpkin), the best way of dressing them is to stew them in cream. Young cucumbers might be as good, but cucumbers are not so easily raised. This gourd is raised with less trouble, and produces much more abundantly than any other culinary plant. One plant which we raised from your last year's seeds produced a gourd which exceeded in bitterness anything I ever tasted ; insomuch that I con- cluded it at once to be the very identical fruit of Zaccoum's bitter tree*, to eat of which, according to the Mohammedans, is part of the punishment of the damned. It is frightful to think of what I have to do before I can start for London ! But I am in deep water, and must swim for it. My *' Book of the Church" was in- tended to be one duodecimo volume, — it will be two octavos. I send off by this post the third sheet of the second volume, and am 50 pages a-head of the printer, six of my pages making one printed sheet. But I have yet 100 pages to write — vce mihi! I should tliink nothing of this, if I did not wish to be in town at this * See Note from the " Koran" on the lines of Thalaba . — " Belike he shall exchange to day Ilis dainty Paradise, For other dwelling, and its cups of joy For the unallayable bitterness Of Zaccoum's fruit accurst." Book vii. 16., One Vol. Edit. p. 271. c c 4 392 LETTERS OF 1823. time, and were not in danger of wanting the produce before it arises. The book, nevertheless, is a good ticket in the wheel, — much more likely, I think, to produce permanent profit than any which I have yet sent into the world. If I were a clergyman, most certainly it would make my fortune. What do you think my daughter says? — that she will wear in a brooch that relic of poor Snivel which I have religiously preserved (now thirty years * ) ! — if you or I will give her a very handsome one to wear it in ; and she consents that on the inner side of the brooch, locket, or shrine there be this inscription — Oh RARE Snivel ! I have a lock of your hair which is of the same date. I have two barrels of cider in my cellar, and one of strong beer, — thanks to Lightfoot and John May. God bless you. R. S. To the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynn, M.P. Keswick, June 1. 1823. My dear Wynn, I thought to have seen you ere this, and now begin to fear that when I reach London you may have taken wing for Wales, if Mrs. Company can spare her husband. The turn of affairs in Spain would have pleased me better had it been under a better man than O'Donnell. If, however, it gives the French an excuse for marching back again, Europe will have reason to be thankful. As for the restoration of order in Spain, I see no pros- * As I write this, poor Snivel's hair is before mejVrapped up in the same identical piece of paper! 1823. ROBERT SOUTnEY. 393 pect of it. The habits of obedience and industry are destroyed. Tliere must be a strong and settled govern- ment before they can be restored ; and where is that government to find revenues for its support? The French invasion has done some good by giving the opposition so happy an opportunity of exposing them- selves. I have got the nevi^ edition of Burnet, at your'sugges- tion. The book pleases me less than it did when 1 first read it some ten or twelve years ago. I know not whether it has been noticed that when Queen Mai'y was thought to be pregnant, there was just the same readiness and disposition to believe that a suppositious child would be palmed upon the nation, as prevailed at the birth of James's unhappy son. It struck me forcibly in reading old John Fox (with whom I have been busy of late), and I think something to the same purport is in Holinshed also. If a new museum is to be built, or a building for the King's library, pray use your influence that it may be made fireproof. A very trifling additional expense will effect this. I am sorry Reginald Heber accepted your bishop- ric. So I dare say are all his friends ; and probably he was in some degree influenced by feeling that he made a sacrifice of his inclinations in so doing. I think he is one of those men who, though altogether fit for the situation, might yet have been more usefully employed at home. There is an account of the first transactions of the Portuguese in India, in one of the native lan- guages, which I wish he could persuade somebody to translate, in the "Asiatic Researches." The MSS., if I remember rightly, are in possession of the missionaries at Serampore. God bless you. R. S. P.S. Your godson, thank God, goes on well. I am 394 LETTERS OF 1823. fighting against my annual catarrh, according to my brother Henry's prescriptions. But the Doctor is too far from his patient. To the Right Hon. C. W. W. Wynn, M. P. Keswick, June 17. 1823, My dear Wynn, ******** It was of " Burnet's Own Times " that I spoke. A most entertaining book it is, and undoubtedly a very valuable one; but its value consists altogether in the materials, which are sometimes somewhat the worse for the workmanship. Have you seen Sharon Turner's third volume ? The York and Lancaster period is given better than by any other author, — very much so. But he has hurried over Henry the Seventh's reign. I find in Strada that Leicester engaged to turn Catholic, and bring over the kingdom if the Spanish Court would further his design of marrying Elizabeth. The letters of the Spanish ambassador, communicating this to his government, were in Strada's hands. The wisest thing which the Royalist Government in Spain could do would be, to restore the Cortes accord- ing to its ancient form. With this shadow of liberty appearances might be saved, and an able ministry might prepare the nation for substantial freedom, of which they arc at this time incapable. In Portugal I know it was not the absolute government which disgusted the better order of men, and made their hearts revolt, but the odious and scandalous perversion of justice, which made every petty magistrate a tyrant. The fair adminis- tration of the Iciws (which in the main were good) and 1823. ROBEllT SOUTHEY. 395 a Habeas Corjms Act would have remedied half the evils in Portugal. Concerning Spain I cannot speak with the same knowledge, but I believe that in this re- spect what is true of the one country will for the most part apply to the other. But supposing that wise admi- nistrations could be formed in both countries (and what a hopeless expectation is this !) where are they to find revenues ? and how to be supported till national tran- quillity, and with it industry and prosperity, can be restored ? God bless you. R. S. To John Hickman, Esq., §'c. Keswick, June 29. 1823. My dear R., I am very much gratified at finding that the inscriptions have pleased you, and am not a little sur- prised, as well as pleased, by your intention of com- mitting them to the lapidary. My error was not in supposing Telford to have been a Highlander (for I knew he was a townsman of Mickle's, and of Sir J. Malcolm, as well as Pasley ; I did not know that Herries was a Scotchman), but in applying to Scotland in general the application (which has often been given it) of the land of hills, when in that situation the words should seem to denote the Highlands, I have altered it thus: — " Thus bylier son Ennobled and enriched, in grateful pride Scotland enrolls among her heritors Of earthly immortality his name."* The additional matter which you have suggested * This was altered afterwards. See " Inscriptions for the Cale- donian Canal," Poems, p. 181., One Vol. Edit. 396 LETTEliS OF 1823. cannot be embodied in the other inscription, because every sentence grows out of that which preceded it, and there is no place where I could fit it in without a solu- tion of continuity. This is my present opinion, after having taken counsel with my pillow, and looked wist- fully at the subject since. If it appears in the same light to me to-morrow, I will j)lant what I cannot suc- ceed in inserting as a graft, and make a third inscrip- tion, noticing the principal features of the work, the time and cost therein employed (if I can manage the subject), and the civilising tendency of the labour as contrasted with similar works in ancient times when performed by slaves or prisoners. The position may very fitly be designated by help of Glengarry, as you suggest, and the two inscriptions be placed on the same monument vis-a-vis, after the Irish fashion ; or the former be transferred to Clachnacharry, as the mouth of the glen on that side. God bless you. To John Richnan,Esq., ^c. Keswick, July 5. 1823. My dear R., The inclosed inscription is but too long without noticing any localities ; nor are they needful, as its place on the summit level is sufiiciently designated. I have mentioned the number of locks, the aqueducts, culverts, inlets, and overfalls; the deepening of Loch Orch, the ejectment served upon the rivers, and the great difficulty at the eastern sea lock; these, I think, are all the principal features and works, except the raising the level of Loch Lochy. Inlet is the word I have used, because I observe it in the reports ; other- 182.'5. ROBERT SOUTHET. 397 wise I think intake rather to be preferred, as more peculiar, and bearing-, in its honest Dutch form of com- position, a good ftimily reference to overfall. But do you point out anything either for alteration, omission, or insertion, and I will spare no pains in the correction. I perceive that the words "mighty work" have found their way into all three inscriptions. In the Banavie one, therefore, it is altered to great attempt ; and because of that alteration, in the line but one above, instead of the name of the great Architect, I have sub- stituted " The Architect's immortal name." But find you fault wherever you can, and I also will very watch- fully examine and amend. If you stumble at the word "gyre" it is an autho- rised word, and a Scotchman has no right to know that it is not in common use in England. The main reason for preferring it to " sweep," wliich would express the meaning sufficiently well (though not so peculiarly), is, that the word preceding ends with s, and would occasion too marked a sihilance to be admitted without neces- sity. The application of poetry to such subjects as this, recognised, you know, in the " Triads," is one of its three utilities. I begun, long since, a series upon the events of the "Peninsular War" (that is, those in which our army was concerned), and the British officers of distinction who fell in them. About half the series is written, and I shall publish them when the " His- tory" is completed. I send you also an *' Ode to the Praise and Glory of Scotland," for the sake of the sixth stanza. It needs some further amendment before it sees the light. There is a companion to it concerning Ireland, which contains some wholesome truth ; but it ends lamely, because a just foresight prevented me from winding it up with any vaticination in praise of Marquis Wellesley. 398 LETTERS OF 1823, My brother Henry's appointment is owing to Sir William Knighton. They were intimate at Edinburgh. He is now in the fair w^ay to fortune. Does Peel know what he is doing in admitting the Catholics to vote ? That whenever the scale is doubtful here in the North, they will turn it in favour of the oppo ? That in England they have increased sevenfold in the last thirty years, being at this time more nume- rous than the Methodists ? and that in the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland, their rapid increase in the Highlands has been represented as the most im- minent evil ? God bless you. R. S. To the Rev. Herbert Hill, Sfc. Keswick, Aug. 19. 1823. By this night's post I send Murray the first part of an article upon Charles the Second's reign, for which the new edition of Burnet gives occasion. The Portuguese ambassador's relation supplies me with some curious facts; and without entering into any detail, but treating merely upon the changes in society which were going on during that reign, the subject would afford matter for three or four papers. You have added a drawing to a strange account of an aerostatic machine in one of the volumes of the " Papeis Politicos." I have found an earlier account of the same kind, equally strange, in Sylvius's continuation of Aitzema's " History." both which I shall here bring forward. It is curious to ob- serve how long men play with discoveries before they perceive how to apply them ! In a fortnight I sliall have finished this Paper, and a month more will finish my Ecclesiastical Subject ; 1823. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 399 my ways and means will then, I trust, be pretty well provided for for some time to come, and I shall set forth for London, bringing Edith May with me. She has often been ailing this season, and is, I think, just in that state of health in which good medical advice is likely to be useful. Landor tells me he has sent me a box of books, about seventy volumes of all sorts, mostly very old ones. I have desired Longman to look out for them at the Cus- tom Plouse. The collection is a very curious one, and heartily glad shall I be to see it arrive. He is living at Florence, and urges me to visit him there, which I will gladly do whenever I can afford time and means for passing a winter in Italy. And this, I dare say, I shall one day be able to accomplish. I must endeavour to see if some of the Doctor's Por- tuguese friends can procure the sermons of Padre Anto- nio das Chagas. He was a man of extraordinary character as well as great abilities, and I am sure that much will be found there relating to the manners of his age. When may we expect news of the Catalan history ? I should be very impatient for it, and not a little provoked with Murray, if I had not plenty of employment during the delay. Little by little I am getting an insight into the Teu- tonic language, chiefly for the purpose of reading the old German romances, and the poems of the Minne- singers, and tracing their connection with the early poetry of this country. I therefore take half an hour of the " Saxon Chronicle " every night. Li all studies of this kind a pupil or fellow student is the best teacher. However, I find that I can get on alone, though neither so fast nor so pleasantly. Edward should help me if he was near enough. When he can command his hours of leisure, I shall earnestly wish him to take up the German grammar, and ground himself in that language. 400 LETTERS OP 1823. after which the acquirement of any other will be mere amusement to him. Nothing could be so gratifying to me as to think that he would profit as much by my collections as I have done, and am doing, by yours. Love to my aunt and the children. God bless you. R. S. To John Rickman, Esq., Sfc, Keswick, Sept 9. 1821. My dear R., Among the many reasons which concurred in delaying my reply to your last, the most important was, that I had an opportunity of showing Wordsworth the inscriptions. You will see that I have made all the alterations which you suggested. Menai certainly sounds better than Menai. What the Welch pronunciation is I know not. Gowalchmai * is strongly aspirated upon the X. The inscription is improved by curtaihng it. The same good effect is produced in the first by striking out the lines to which you object concerning *' The Parent's glad Return." With regard to the cry against expenditure, I more than doubted whether the lines were properly introduced there, and have therefore altered the passage. It will be time enough, however, to send you the two others in their corrected form hereafter. Glede is in common use with us, and certainly a preferable word to kite. Ger-falcon I take to be derived from the Arabic, through the Spanish and Portuguese Glrafalte. I am reading the '•' Saxon Chronicle." The poems incorporated in it are much more difficult than the prose ; but I must have more insight into the language * " The old Gowalchmai's not degenerate child." Mai>oc in Wales, &c., The Gorsedd. One Vol. Ed. p. 341. 1823. ROBERT SOUTUEY. 401 before I can explain the cause. When I shall have finished this, I mean to begin upon the " Gothic Gos- pels," and then to the " Edda." I shall then be able to see what there is in the Minnesingers and the old German metrical romances; and then I shall need no further preparation for beginning the *' History of English Manners and Literature," subjects which, I think, may well be combined, because it is chiefly in the latter that the former are preserved. There is a rumour that Mr. Telford will be in this part to plan the road across Alston Moor. If you have an opportunity, pray tell him that I shall certainly not be absent a single night from home till the beginning of November. Last year I missed him, by accepting an invitation to meet Mr. Canning ; and the vexation which this gave me made me, I believe, less unwilling to decline a similar invitation last week. God bless you. R. S. To the Rev. Neville White, ^»c. Keswick, Sept, 11. 1823. My dear Neville, I am very glad that the desire of introducing a young officer to you puts an end to all reasons for longer delaying a letter. Mr. Charles Malet, by whom this will be delivered to you, is brother to Sir Alex- ander Malet. His father, the late Sir Charles Malet, was many years resident at Poonah, the Mahratta court, at a time when the Mahrattas were the most formidable power in Lidia. He was also uncle to General Peachey's first wife, a woman for whom I had the highest esteem and regard.* Her two sisters (old friends of mine) are * " I thought of her whom I had so often seen plying her little skiff upon that glassy water — the Lady of the Lake. It was like VOL. III. D D 402 LETTERS OF 1823. now inhabiting the Island with Lady Malet, the General having lent it them for this season. And the young officer (I have neglected to ask whether he be ensign or lieutenant) having been removed from Ipswich to Norwich, Lady Malet, who is a most estimable person, is very thankful for so good an introduction as this which I have offered for her son. Now for my movements. Instead of seeing you in the spring or summer, it will be in mid- winter. I set out at the end of October with my daughter, Edith ; and my intention is to make my western visits first, and then escort her to your hospitable roof; making some two days' halt at Cambridge on the way, and with Clarkson (near Ipswich) on the way back. This will hardly be before January has begun, at the latter end of your Christmas festivities. My book of the Church will precede me. I am now set-to to complete it, hav- ing laid it aside for some time in order to be ready with a paper for the next " Review." You would recognise me in the last number, on the growth of Infidelity, where, as usual, I have to com- plain of injurious curtailments. When I see Murray, I mean to make some arrangements with him for pub- lishing a selection of my papers in a separate form ; and then I shall restore what has been struck out (where it can be recovered), and in other respects improve them. The paper which I have just finished is on the reign of Charles II., — the new edition of " Burnet's own Times " giving occasion for it. A singular and interesting person called on me about a poet's dream, or a vision of romance to behold her, .... and like a vision or a dream she has departed ! " O gentle Emma, o'er a lovelier form Than thine, earth never closed ; nor e'er did Heaven Receive a purer spirit from the world !" Progress and Prospects of Society^ vol. i. p. 239. 1823. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 403 ten days ago, and told me that he had had some ac- quaintance with you in the way of business formerly, — Mr. Morrison of Fore Street.* He was bound to New Lanark, with the intention of vesting 5000/. in the pro- posed experiment of an Owenite Quadrangle, if what he sees at Owen's own establishment should confirm him in his present opinion of the scheme. I was ex- ceedingly pleased with him. He talked to me about the Free-thinking Christians, with whom Cokes, Thomp- son, and Fearon are the chiefs of the synagogue. With these persons he appeared to be intimate, and very much to admire the society, on account of the strict discipline which they observe, and the strict regularity of conduct which they require from their members. A clerk (Dillon by name) in whom he has great con- fidence, is one of their preachers, or lecturers, and the principal defender of their faith in their magazine. I found, however, that Morrison was far from being satis- fied with their creed. We had a good deal of conver- sation on the subject ; and he took down from me the title of some books which may assist the better ten- dency of his own mind at this time. His place of residence is Balham Hill, where I shall nrobably see him, being within an easy walk of my uncle's house at Streatham. Hughes the traveller was here with his bride, early in the season ; and Professor Sedgewick is now ham- mering away in the heart of Skiddaw. We are now enjoying fine weather, which is the. more delightful after the long reign of St. Swithin. On Monday last we had a grand party upon Causey Pike, the ascent of which you will remember. We were thirteen persons on the summit, and we dined by the side of the stream below, where Mrs. Southey with Mrs. Coleridge and two * Query. — Is tills the Mr. Morrison referred to in Raikes's Journal ? vol. i. p. 11. D D 2 404 LETTERS OF 1823. Other ladies, who were not equal to the task of climbing the mountain, waited for us. Cuthbert remained below with his mother ; the other young ones scaled the height like goats. To-day we have a lake party, and my daughter, Edith, has cut out more expeditions for me, against which I must not rebel, for if they impede my pursuits they are conducive to my health. There is a lady of our party to-day who has published two volumes of poetry, which, if Mrs. White and your sisters have not read, I would recommend to their perusal. " Ellen Fitzarthur " is the title of one, " The Widow's Tale " of the other. There is nothing in them but what is good and beautiful. Miss Bowles has not put her name to either. She is in very delicate health, but, I hope, is deriving benefit from this wholesome air. Remember us most kindly to all your circle, and tell me how transplantation agrees with your excellent mother. Your young ones, I hope, continue to thrive ; I shall have great pleasure in seeing them. My little Cuthbert is as happy as health, fine weather, and the thoughts of making a fire for dinner by the side of the lake can make him. God bless you, my dear Neville. Yours affectionately, R. S. To the Rev. Herbert Hill, ^c, Keswick, Sept. 30, 1823. A Hampshire acquaintance of yours is here, Mr. Portal, with his wife and daughter. The young lady, with her father, joined us yesterday in a caravan excur- sion of one-and-twenty miles ; a caravan it may be called, for the party consisted of nineteen persons, besides three attendants, three carts, and five saddle-horses. We dined on the pass between Buttermere and Borro- dale, by one of our beautiful mountain-streams. The 1823. KOBEUT SOUTUEY. 405 pass itself always reminds me of a place between Ousera and Thorn ar, where a large tabular fragment of rock is shown as the " Mesa dos ladroens,^' onl}' that the moun- tains here are considerably higher. Murray sent me the " Q.. R." in a frank on Satur- day. The reviewal of my first volume has all the out- ward and visible marks of personal civility with regard to the criticism at the end. I have not inserted the whole of any state paper, but have given as much of tliem as seemed necessary in their own words. The legends, &c., to which the writer objects, as interrupt- ing the narration, are introduced always to relieve it, and as elucidating the character and feeling of the peo- ple. And as for the arrangement of the Portuguese insurrection, it only appears defective to him because he is accustomed to consider Portugal in the lump, and not to regard its separate provinces as he would do those of Spain. I do not know who wrote the paper. The last article is Blanco's ; a very good one it is. Indeed, the number has none of the usual faults of the •* Review," except that there is a worthless article upon the worthless subject of Political Economy. I am quite in the dark concerning the management of the •' Review," having heard nothing from Gilford since the commencement of his illness, except a complimentary message upon the first part of my reviewal of Burnet, which came with the proof sheets. I must get another paper ready before I leave home, for the most cogent of all reasons, and in fact I have this day made a large stride in it. Dr. Dwight (poor Humphrey's friend) aflTords me a good subject, and good materials in his " Travels." The miscellaneous facts supply matter for the first part of the paper, and his political opinion and speculation text enough for the remainder, in which 1 shall at the same time change the tone of tlie " Review '" concerning America, and intro- IJ D 3 406 LETTERS OF 1823. duce some wholesome truths which it behoves both countries to understand. As this requires no additional reading, I shall not be long about it ; possibly I may improve it in the proofs when I reach Streatham, where I know you have the " Federalist." I shall probably write the last chapter of the " Book of the Church" with you, possibly the two last, as there is a strong motive for not delaying my departure longer than the first week in next month. Our friends on the Islands, four in number, will then be journeying to London, and if Edith May and I join them we shall fill two chaises, which will be to the convenience of both parties. In this case we shall travel leisurely, and see sights on our way, both in the West Riding and in Derbyshire. At Derby we must part, as, if Sir George Beaumont is at Coleorton, I must pass a few days with him. The Beaumonts are now old acquaintances of mine, and they have known Edith from her earliest childhood. Sir George has promised me a picture. Oct. 10. At length GifFord has written to me. He tells me that he has promised to conduct the " Review," if he can, to the 60th number, and then he will have done with it, if he has life and strength to carry it so far. A curious person spent an evening lately with me. J He is a Somersetshire man, who, getting engaged as a I shopman in a retail haberdasher's shop a few years ago, " struck out a new plan of doing business, by which he made the annual returns of the concern above a million, and the profits from 30,000Z. to 40,000/., half ruining thereby all the old-established houses in that line, com- pelling them to act upon the same plan. He married his master's daughter, and, at an age certainly not ex- ceeding four or five-and-thirty, is at this moment worth not less than 1 50,000/. The strangest part of the story is, that he seems to have no love either for business or 1823. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 407 money. He was bred up as a Dissenter, and so became of course a Radical, and in natural process an unbe- liever. The success in life has cured him of Radicalism, and a very inquiring mind has not allowed him to rest in unbelief, and he is now on his " Pilgrim's Progress," having just got free from the Free-thinking Christians, and in a mood which made him very willing to receive a few hints from me concerning his journey. When I have added that he was on his way to Owen, at Lanark, to look at that establishment, and if he found it such as Owen reports it, to vest 5,000^. in the projected ex- periment of the Owenites' community, you will know as much of this singular man as I do. God bless you. R. S. To the Right Hon. C. W, W. TFynn, M.P. Keswick, Oct. 31. 1823. My dear Wynn, The Portuguese Cortes met in one chamber. The nobles, the higher clergy, secular and regular, the judges, certain ministers, the governors of cities and towns, and such iidalgos as had full power in their own domains, had seats there. The commons consisted of two deputies from every corporate town, and were some- thing fewer than 200. How they were originally chosen I do not know, whether by the municipal authorities, or nominated by the immediate lord, as they were latterly by the government; but certainly there was nothing like a popular election. The principle of the Portu- guese constitution is the very reverse of ours. The power of making laws and imposing taxes is vested in the King, but the consent of the Cortes is required. The King is to advise with his counsellors, and the Cortes to give a popular and legal sanction to the mea- D D 4 408 LETTERS OF 1823. sures of government. They have been disused since the reign of Pedro II. I have a MS. of the proceed- ings of that which was held in 1698, which was perhaps the last ; but as yet I have neither had occasion to ascer- tain this, nor to peruse it. A minister of Pombal's capacity and courage would find no other difficulty in setting Portugal to rights than what the deficiency of revenue must occasion. Nothing is required but to restore the ancient forms, and give effect to good laws. The corruption of justice was the crying evil in that kingdom. If this were remedied, and the laws regularly enforced, Portugal would have nothing to apprehend from the revolutionary party. It was not against the principle of the government that they revolted, but against the stagnation and putridity; indeed, no words can be too strong to characterise its abuses. The one thing which they should borrow from us is the Habeas Corpus. I know nothing which would be of so much importance to them. There is neither public feeling nor sense of private honour to prevent interference with the course of law. I rather wish than hope there may be a minister who feels as he ought upon this subject, and who will endeavour to supply their place by the fear of punishment. My opinion of the Portuguese is, that in their civil and their military character they would be found of all people the most easy to regenerate ; but there is as much to be done in every department of the state as there was in the army. I leave home on Monday next, and if the weather (contrary to its present appearance) should allow us to linger on the way, we shall not reach Sir G. Beaumont's before that day week. With him we shall stay two or three days, and then make the best of our way to town. Most probably I shall arrive in Queen Anne Street on the 15th. Doyle has written to offer me papers which will be 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 409 very useful. My best information concerning the pro- ceedings in Catalonia and Avagon, in the early part of 1809, have been derived from his correspondence with Frere. I shall be glad if an opportunity offers of seeing the Duke of Wellington partly for this reason, that the want of any direct communication from him has been on one occasion a disadvantage to me. Lord Frederick Ben- tinck volunteered to procure papers for me from Lord Hill, and Lord Hill refused upon the ground that he had not the example of the Duke to make him feel warranted in imparting them. God bless you. R. S. P.S. The Bishop of Limerick has invited me to visit him. I shall wait till the next rebellion is over. To the Rev. Neville White, Sfc. Keswick, Feb. 19. 1824. My dear Neville, Here I am, once more at my desk, by my own fire-side. My movements were all punctually performed, as they had been pre-planned. I reached home on Sun- day morning, without impediment or mishap of any kind, and, thank God, found all well. Some little time is required before I can fairly get into joint again, after so complete a dislocation ; and I bring buck with me a formidable accumulation of letters, which followed and found me withersoever I went, and which it was not possible for me to answer during so hurried a mode of life. I spoke about the piracy to Longman and Rees. They argued the point like two lawyers; the former taking my view of the question, the latter holding an opinion that the rascals may shelter themselves under 410 LETTERS OF 1824. the letter of the law. They promised to consult Tur- nei", and do everything which could be done. I saw Turner also, and told him in what manner I considered the case. The matter will now be properly investi- gated, — whether justly determined is another thing. It sets upon the wording of the act ; and if words in law will bear an acceptation by which villany can be covered, and rogues escape punishment, that interpretation is the one which the craft will give it, as if one of the main uses of the law were to defeat justice. They would have Doctored me at Cambridge if I would have waited another day for it; but my engage- ments were made in London, and feathers of this kind are not worth having when fees are to be paid for them ; a civil letter of thanks is price enough for them. We had fine weather there, so that Edith saw the place to advantage, and delighted with it she was ; though I must tell you that when we drove into the town she took St. John's for a prison. On the Thursday we breakfasted with Tillbrook, and the coach took us up at Peter House Gate. Charlesworth came to the coach door at Ipswich as I was stepping into it. I was pleased with the country about that place, and with Bury also. By the hasty view I had of it it appeared to be one of the prettiest country towns in England. It was a disappointment to me not to see Mr. Sewell in town, and thank him for his hospitality and kindness. I wish there was a prospect of my being able to return them here. You, however, I hope and trust, will re- member that you have more than half promised to take a course of mountain exercise and mountain air with me early in the season, as the likeliest and best means of recruiting your health, and fairly re-establishing it. Mrs. Neville has given you leave of absence, and all you have to do is to provide in time for your churches ; set about that business without delay, and set off for 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 411 Keswick as soon as possible after the leaves begin to open. You cannot fix a better time for your departure than May-day. I am very confident that the air here, and the continuous exercise, will be of more service to you than any regimen or any remedies which could be prescribed. And now I must thank you and Mrs. Neville, and Mr. and Mrs. Sewell, and your excellent mother and sisters also, for the truly kind and gratifying reception which you gave us at Norwich. Short and seldom as such meetings are, they are nevertheless sunny spots in life ; and henceforth, when I make one of my expedi- tions to the south, I shall look upon it as part of my business to strike eastward on the way. You are, and you have deserved to be, a happy man, Neville. Only attend to your health, to which nothing can be so injurious as sitting and studying too much. You must resume, as far as possible, those active habits to which you were accustomed, or supply their place as you can by some gymnastic exercises within doors, when it is not con- venient to ride or walk. Come to me, and I will en- deavour to put you in good condition. My book appeared to be going ow, that is to say, going off, well when I left town. I take my chance for the profits, which appears to me more advisable than it would have been to accept Murray's offer of 700 guineas for the copyright ; for if the work should obtain a regular sale as a portion of English history, containing what is nowhere else to. be found in one succinct and continuous view, it may become a valuable property. I proceed now with the " Peninsular War," and with the " Tale of Paraguay." The latter will now be my main object till it is completed. Remember me most kindly to all your circle, not forgetting Miss Lingani, whose gentle and winning countenance I remember with much pleasure, and my 412 LETTEKS OF 1824. country woman, Miss Edmunds, herself a fair proof that good things come from Somersetshire. I may send Cuthbert's love to Mary- Anne, if she will not accept my own, though, perhaps, she likes me better now I am at a distance. Let me hear of you and yours. My god- son, 1 hope, continues to go on well. 1 liad almost forgotten to tell you that Tillbrook will secure a sizarship for Ebenezer Elliott at Peter House, and do for him whatever else may be in his power. The father is apprised of this, and I expect daily to hear from him respecting the plan to be adopted till the youth is qualified for college. God bless you, my dear Neville. Yours most affectionately, Robert Southey. To Edith May Southey, Keswick, March 12. 1824. My Dear E. May, / avi to give notice, That the packages arrived on Tuesday last, and that the tunic and trowsers produced a most extraordinary meta- morphosis in Cuthbert. He declared that he must now leave off all his childish ways. He kept his hands in his pockets, as if that were the main purpose for which hands were intended ; and having, unawares, given me a kiss after tea, lie recollected himself, reddened to think of the impropriety into which he had been betrayed, and exclaimed, in a quick tone, half anger, half mortifi- cation, " Oh, but I've left off kissing ! " For your com- fort, however, I may assure you that the tunic and trowsers are quietly put away for high days and holy- days, and that he no longer insists upon the decorum belonging to the degree which he has taken in apparel. 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 413 Montgomery's two volumes of " Prose, hy a Poet," were left behind. They had been lent to somebody, I suppose. When they turn up, let them be sent to Murray's, to come in one of his parcels. I have suc- ceeded in stowing away the whole of this recent cargo, and the books from Italy, without having any new shelves, by converting four duodecimo shelves in the or- gan-room into three octavo ones, and removing the duo- decimo books into the passage, where some of the shelves have been pieced, to make them hold a double row,^ octavos behind, sliorticums in front. Another change has been, to fill the book-case on the lower landing- place with bound books, which has very greatly im- proved its appearance. I wrote an account of the effect produced upon Mrs. C. by the unpacking of the horn, in a letter to Bedford, which you ought to see. You will let us know when you are low in purse, and I will desire him to supply you. I will supply you, also, with another pack of autographs. By the by, if you were to get yourself a little book, and transcribe into it these brief extracts, from time to time, as they pass through your hands, you would find yourself possessed, one of these days, of a choice collection of sentences and maxims, and I should have an additional reason for supplying you. * Your drawing-books are likely to prove as useful as you wished them to be. All three girls are getting on well, and Bertha has made a hopeful attempt at co- louring a butterfly. What shall I do for my wine- * The advice was not followed, as will appear from the following words written on the fly-leaf: — "This little book, begun by Edith May Southey, remained much as it was till May, 1850. It then, on my wife's birthday, the 1st of May, occurred to me to fill it up ; and I have done so from my occasional and diversified reading in difierent languages.'' One of these days it will make good reading for the rail, in large type. 414 LETTERS OF 1824. brewer this year ? I am, at this time, drinking your currant wine, and I assure you, that some bottles, marked with the ignominious name of puddle, might have very well passed muster for Champagne. One- third of the bottle was puddle, but the clear part was as good as any Champagne I ever tasted ; the main dif- ference, almost the only distinction, being, that it left no unpleasant tang behind it. Your mother, I suppose, has told you all the business and news of the family. Sara is secretary for triangular* affairs. The department of nonsense is all that is left for me, and in that you shall hear from me officially sometimes. My love to Mrs. Gonne and your aunt, and my kind remembrances to Lady Malet, Miss C, and Dame Elizabeth. God bless you, my dear child, It. S. To Dr. H. H. Southey. Keswick, April 26. 1824. My dear Harry, If Westall should deposit at your house a set of the engravings for " Roderick," which I wish to send to my Dutch translatress, will you have the goodness to transmit them to Murray, whom I have intrusted to pack them up with a copy of the " Book of the Church," and despatch the parcel. I had a note from him, the other day, saying he had put a second edition of that book to the press. Whether the engravings are pub- lished 1 do not know. I am profiting by the communication with Holland. * This means the Doctor, &c., as may be seen by the diagram on the front. 1824. ROBEIiT SOUTHEY. 415 A veiy well-informed Mr. Willem de Clercy shows a great disposition to correspond with me, and answer my enquiries de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis. Oh, that I had such a correspondent at Lisbon, or at Madrid ! 1 find him, however, very useful, and shall request Murray forthwith to procure for me some German works upon the Peninsular War, which he has pointed out. You would be amused at his letters, which are written in very odd English ; but I wish 1 could read Dutch as well. Bertha is to return to Palace Yard this day ; we have just heard from her. She has been so unwell in Sussex as to lie in bed one whole day and great part of the next, — the effect, I suppose, of too much travelling and excitement. In reply to a question, how she liked the South Downs ? her answer is, *' To tell the truth, I quite de- spise them, they are just like little molehills." What airs these young mountaineers give themselves ! When she is a little older, she will understand that downs are not to be compared with mountains, and learn to enjoy any scenery that is really enjoyable, — and there is very little natural scenery which is not so.* Having given up all hope of getting Oiivares's " His- tory of the War in Catalonia," I have to-day set upon that part of my subject from such materials as I possess, and the second volume, accordingly, will go to press in a few days. What will become of Portugal with such a creature as D. Miguel for heir-apparent ! He seems very much to resemble Affonso VI., if there be any truth in such * It is just as her father predicted I This day, 7th Sept., 1 855, on leaving West Tarring, as she looked from the Railway Station on the chequered light and shade on Cissbury, she exclaimed, " How beautiful are those Downs ! " 416 LETTERS OP 1824. accounts as get into the newspapers. And his brother in Brazil is of the same stamp. Did I tell you that one of this Emperor's amusements is to ride negroes with spurs? With regard both to the Braganzas and the Spanish Bourbons, I fear Jupiter has determined to de- stroy them ; for he has certainly taken away their senses ! A little encouragement would make me think se- riously of a Book of the State, — tracing the course of political events with the view of showing their effect upon the condition and progress of society. How is Louisa ? how are the children ? My love to them. I wish you were all here to enjoy this delicious weather. God bless you. K/. S. To the Right Hon, C. W. W. Wynn, M. P. Keswick, May 8. 1824. My dear Wynn, I think you and Reginald Heber saw such of my Inscriptions as were then written when I was at Llangedwin. I send you one now which was finished a few days ago, if finished that may be called which will probably receive many corrections before it goes abroad. The subject was Sir Harry Burrard's eldest son, one of Sir J. Moore's aides-de-camp, whose horse was killed under him by the General's side when he fell ; and who, a few minutes afterwards, received his mortal wound upon the same spot. What I ha%'e said of his character is, from accounts written of him before his death, by one of the chaplains (Owen, I think, his name) to his mother. There will be from thirty to forty of these Inscrip- tions, and they will most likely make their appearance when the " History of the War " is completed, in a 1824. ROBERT SOUTUEY. 417 quarto form to accompany it, for those who may like to purchase verse as well as prose. I think you will like the temper in which I have spoken of America in the last " Q. R." GifFord could not let it pass without making one offensive alteration. I had spoken of the state of literature and science as existing in New England, and he altered the sentence so as to imply a suspicion that there was none there. However, it must have gone very much against the grain with him to insert the paper. The truth is, that he thinks me too liberal, and Murray thinks me too bigoted. The middle way, whatever it might have been for Phae- ton, is not only the most difficult to keep on earth, but the most dangerous, for you have enemies on both sides. I am reviewing " Hayley's Life," to pay my midsum- mer bills. I have written some forty stanzas in the " Tale of Paraguay," and have brought myself more into the run of verse than 1 have been for many years. My inclination would lead me strongly to think about a view of our civil history down to the accession of the House of Hanover, upon such a scale as the *' Book of the Church," and to follow it with the " Age of George III.," connecting them by an introductory sketch of the two intermediate reigns. Had I been made historiographer, with a becoming salary, I should have earned my pay. God bless you. R. S. To Edith May Southey. Keswick, May 17. 1824. My dear E. May, I have found one ! I have found one ! I did not think there had been such a thing in the world, but I have actually found one. Incredible as it may appear, VOL. III. E E 418 LETTERS OF 1824. what I am saying is literally and strictly true. You should have been here to have seen and enjoyed the discovery. J. wish you had ! and so we all wished — Kate, and Isabel, and your cousin Sara. And we wished for Bertha too, for Bertha would have enjoyed it. She has often heard of it, but how it would have surprised her to have seen it ! You are by this time dying with impatience to know all about it: lohat it was? where \t wixs'i when it \\2Lst how it was? — and you shall hear all. But we must proceed methodically, lest your pleasure should be spoilt by an abrupt and hurried disclosure. To do this pro- perly, that is to say, with judgment, requires some con- sideration ; and whether to begin with the What, or the Where, or the When, or the Hoiv, is a matter of critical difficulty, upon which more depends than any person can well understand, who has never composed a book. It has been a received maxim, since the days of Horace, that an Epic poem should begin in the middle ; though I deny the maxim, and have not observed it, believing that the propriety of that rule, like most others, depends very much upon circumstances. How to begin, indeed, is the great difficulty in many cases. In the present, I am inclined to think that postponing the Quid-&\\\\y, and letting the Qvmnodo-shi^ follow the C76i-ship (as it naturally would), the matter may best be introduced by letting that good ship the Quando lead the way. When was it, then ? Quando ? This day, I answer, being Monday, May the 17th, 1824, at ten o'clock in the forenoon. Now for the whereness. Ubi ? Where was it ? A simple answer will not suffice here, for this Ubi hath a double relation. And when, in reply to its first and more general mean- ing, I tell you it was in the study, the question still remains to be answered in its second and special bearing. 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 419 1 then say it was in the first volume of the " Monu- menta Boica." My dear daughter, you know that book, and yet you do not know it. I must, therefore, put you in the way of recollecting it ; for it is necessary to the full enjoy- ment of any story that you should understand it per- fectly as you go on ; and I dare say you have felt this at the opera. You have had the ** Monumenta Boica " in 3'our hand, and made use of some of the volume ; but I doubt whether you ever looked at the title-page, to see what the work was. You may call it to mind, perhaps, when I tell you where it stands in the library : in the book-case which is between the windows, on the top shelf, fourteen volumes of the foreign small quarto size, — seven standing on one side of the middle division, and seven on the other. You collected a few minor monsters from it for the tea-caddy. It would be an instructive story, were I to tell you how I saw this book at Verbeyst's, on my first visit to Brussels, and did not buy it, and repented that 1 had not bouglit it for two years, till I went to Brussels again, and did what can very seldom indeed be done, — repaid a fault of omission by buying it. And I might also explain to you what the book is, and wherein its value consists, and why I find it singularly useful, and how many curious things I have found in it, and am finding. But interesting as this would be in itself, it would be improper to intro- duce it here, because you are becoming impatient to know what it was that I found in this book this morn- ing; and I know how impertinent anything appears in a story which is not essential to its progress or deve- lopment, when curiosity is all agog and a magog, as yours is at this time. So we will proceed to the How it was, without any delay, let, liinderancc, impediment, ambagiosity, circumlocution, or needless, superfluous and unnecessary roundabout forms of speech; but & \i 'A 420 LETTERS OF 1824. plainly and briefly replying to the question, Quo- mo do ? As thus : I was showing Cuthbert the pictures in the first volume, upon which I had been employed before breakfast, and there I found it. And now, in due order, comes the quiddity, the cream, the kernel, the essence or quintessence. What was it? Q^uid ? Quid Diaholus ? I defy Diabolus himself to guess. Something it was of which you have heard your aunt Coleridge speak ; but which, till this day, I verily thought had not existed either in Heaven above, nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters which are under the earth. It was not Moko. It was not Jilkikker. It was not Goarum. It was not a detested Hinder. But it was, — my dear Edith, guess what it was? I have not defied you to guess, though I have defied Diabolus. " Here it is ! " I exclaimed, and, rising from my chair with delight, carried it to your mother, who was at the other end of the room. " Here it is," I cried, "look at it ! " She did look at it ; she smiled, and she said, " There it is, indeed! It really is one! Who would have thought of seeing it ! " «' Where is Mrs. Coleridge," I exclaimed, " where is Mrs, Coleridge?" And Cuthbert, seeing how I was pleased, clapped his little hands for joy. I opened the door, went into the passage, and said, " Mrs. Coleridge ? Where is Mrs. Coleridge? " She was in her own room, and answered hastily, «* Here I am ! What do you want ? " I had spoken in a loud voice, that it might be heard down stairs, or in the saints'* room, if in either place * One of the down-stairs parlours at Greta Hall was called 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 421 she had happened to be ; but certainly not in a tone of alarm. Alarmed, nevertheless, she was ; and I, innocent as I waSj^yea, in this case more than innocent, — de- serving far other treatment, my whole and sole intent having been to give pleasure, — I, poor I, innocent, meritorious, well-meaning I, received a severe repri- mand for frightening her, and disturbing her nerves. But I bore it meekly as Job, and more cheerfully. That I was more cheerful than the man of Uz was natural ; for he was in a sorrowful condition. But that I should have been equally meek should be accounted to my honour. And when you teach your children (should you have any) that string of scriptural ques- tions in which it is asked who was the most patient man ? I think you ought to put that question in the plural, or rather in the dual form, and teach the little ones to reply. Job and their grandfather Southey. Let me, if I can, describe the various expressions which passed on this memorable occasion over your aunt's countenance in rapid succession ; so rapid, indeed, that one came on before the other had departed, and so they mingled with and modified each other in a man- ner, unutterable by words (I fear) and unconceivable to any but those who are well acquainted with the person- age in question. First, then, it was an expression of dolorous alarm, such as Le Brun ought to have painted : but such as Manning never could have equalled, when, while Mrs. Lloyd was keeping her room in child-bed, he and Charles Lamb sate drinking punch in the room below till three in the morning, — iManning acting Le Brun's passions (punchified at the time), and Charles Lamb (punchified also) roaring aloud and swearing, while the tears ran down his cheeks, that it required more genius " Paul,"— Peter (above) havuig been robbed to fill the book- shelves. E E 3 422 LETTERS OF 1824. than even Shakspeare possessed to personate them so well ; Charles Llojd the while (not punchified) praying and entreating them to go to bed, and not disturb his wife by the uproar they were making. But when she perceived by my countenance and man- ner that no misfortune had befallen, and that her alarm was altogether groundless and unwarrantable, alarm was succeeded by a yet more unwarrantable and groundless anger, and then the expression became that of indig- nation. Then it was that the eyes lightened and the tongue thundered, and the cataracts of wrath were opened upon my devoted head, and I — if I had not been " Integer vitae scelei'isque purus — " how could I have endured the storm ? Strong in my innocence, I endured it. Under the protection of con- scious virtue, as of an umbrella, I bore the pelting of that pitiless storm. And when the first gleam of better weather appeared in a corner of the countenance, I held forth the book, and said, *' I have found one ! Here it is ! Look at it!" The cloud was still hanging on her brow ; there was yet a lowering and lurid asjoect there, from which an- other peal of thunder might have proceeded. But im- patience was now passing into curiosity (an emotion nearly allied to it), and the corners of the mouth, vvhicli had been curved downward, gradually drew up into their proper line. " What is it ? What is it ? " she said. " Let me see ! " Perhaps that let ought here to be spelt with a double t, thus — lett, that the emphasis with which it was uttered might be made visible. Lett me see ! There was an angry as well as a curious impatience in the quick and hurried pronunciation. But, — " Last came joy's ecstatic trial." 1324. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 423 AVhcn I told her what it was, the face brightened into an expression of scornful incredulity, and the corners of the mouth curved up into an incipient smile, which ripened into a short, loud, and honest ha-ha laugh, as I displayed the book, and slie saw that it really was what I said was there, what she had so often spoken of, and what she had never expected to see, nor even dreamt of seeing. Blessed be the herald that emblazoned it ! Blessed be the Counts of Rot in Bavaria who bore it so many centuries ago ! Little did that herald, little did those counts think what delight it would one day occasion at Greta Hall, in the town of Keswick, parish of Crossthwaite, ward of Allerdale, below Derwent, county of Cumberland, kingdom of England, and island of Great Britain. Little did the humble engraver who engraved the plate, and in his humility did not mark it with his modest name, — (a name which otherwise should be recorded here) — little, I say, did he, — little did the Academy of Sciences at Munich, who published the book, little did they think that on Monday, the 17th day of May, 1824, we should here, in this distant part of the world, discover in it what till then we had always deemed indiscoverable, — a thing existing only in Mrs. Coleridge's creative imagination ; and that a young lady at No. 16. York Place, Baker Street, Portman Square, London, would be kept on the rack of impatience while slie read through two whole sheets of letter-paper, in no easy hand-writing, dying the while with curiosity to know what it was. It was then, — it was, yes it was a L . But it is a discovery which ought to enter at the eyes as well as the ears, and therefore you shall see as well as read what it was, in the enclosed paper, the seal of which must not be broken, on pain of excommunication (as E E 4 424 LETTERS OF 1824. thereon indited), till the letter has been fairly read to this point. There you will find a L . And so farewell, From your dutiful father, R. S. To Grosvenor C. Bedford, Esq. Keswick, May 24. 1824. My dear Grosvenor, What should I do without the exchequer, or rather, without the auditor thereof, who, of all per- sonages, whether in rus or in urhe, is the one to whom I most naturally write nonsense, talk nonsense, and look for friendly offices ? I pray you, send Edith some money. She has consignments to send home, and some outlay to make for Bertha, besides her own expenses, which (excellent manager and economist as she is) are of necessity much greater than they would be here. At present she seems to be heartily enjoying London, which is made as agreeable to her as midnight parties and dancing can make it. A little of this is very well ; but I shall not be sorry when she takes leave of it, and sets off for the Devonshire coast, to enjoy better air, 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 425 keep better hours, and employ herself in quieter and wholesomer pleasures. I wish she were coming home, instead of travelling westward, for she is very much missed here at all times, and will be still more so when the marooning season begins — as it would do now, were she with us. But it is better that she should take this opportunity of going wherever inclination and oc- casion lead her, when she is already so far on the way. I wrote her a letter, the other day, concerning a fa- vourite simile of Mrs. Coleridge's, which would amuse you who know the parties. It led me heartily to wish that you and I could spend a few weeks in absolute idleness together, that we might write the " Butler's Travels." What a noble chapter might be made con- cerning the country in which all the creations of heraldry are found ! Alas ! I am at this time brim full of good, genuine, glorious nonsense, worth all the stupid sense in the world, and worthy of living for ever ; and behold, the dull employment with which I must drudg- ingly and doggedly go on is, a reviewal of the " Life of Hayley ; " in which, however, I have the satisfaction of treating a gentleman, a scholar, and a generous-hearted man as he ought to be treated. God bless you. H. S. To the Rev. Neville White. Keswick, May 27. 1824. My dear Neville, I had heard from Edith of my little godson's perilous state, and did not hke to write to you under the uncertainty concerning him. Precarious as human life always is, it is peculiarly so in infancy ; but, on the other hand, recovery from the very brink of the grave is much more frequent than it is in any other stage of existence. To hope the best, and to be ready for the worst, is our duty in this, as, indeed, in all other cases; 426 LETTERS OF 1824. and it is a duty which you, I am sure, practise as well as preach. I will hope for good tidings, and shall be anxious to receive them. Now to the business part of your letter. But first, let me thank you for your good-will and exertions in my brother's behalf, and say that any names which you may j^rocure may be sent to me. I should very well like to edit Sir T. Browne's works, write a biographical introduction, and add such Omniana notes as my stores may enable me to furnish. That the speculation will answer to the publishers I am not so sure as Hudson Gurney seems to be ; and this you should say to Mr. Wilkin. But the London book- sellers must be the best judges upon a question of re- publication. I should be very far from allowing tliis concerning a new work. As to terms, I had two hun- dred guineas for editing the *' Morte Arthur," which was what Longman offered, being the sum they were to have given a certain person who was originally an- nounced as editor, but left the book and the booksellers in the lurch, for the sake of decamping with another man's wife. So it is plain that in that sum nothing was allowed for a good name, if mine was not estimated at a better price than his. With that sum, however, I should be content, because I do not think the specula- tion could afford more ; though, if the risk rested with London publishers, I woidd take all I could get, being richly entitled so to do from them. When I add, that I possess the folio edition of 1686 of Sir T.'s works, and no other, and nothing else of his writings, I shall have said all which, in this step of the business, it can be necessary to say. There is reasonable ground for hoping that a good deal may be recovered. Tenison speaks of other brief discourses, and of memorials which had been collected for writing his life. One thing, however, must be taken into account in 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 427 the terms. I had nothing to do vvitli correcting the proofs of the " Morte Arthur; " and this is a matter of more importance with Sir Thomas Browne, owing to the peculiarity of his Language, than with any other prose wiiter. Supposing that Wilkin means to print the Avork himself, he must get some person who is a scholar (and an ordinary one will not do) to revise the sheets. The time which that task would require I can- not afTord. Should this lead to any transmission of materials, the Quaker volume may come and be re- turned with them ; otherwise it may wait till I see Norwich once more. Express, I pray you, my thanks to its owner for this civility. It was a gi'eat disappointment to us not to see you. I had fully expected you, and wish very, very much you could still come, persuaded as I am that it would be greatly to your good. My paper in the last '^ Q. R." was upon Dr. Dvvight's *' Travels." There was nothing of mine in the preceding- number. I am now reviewing " Hayley's Memoirs : " a poor, insipid book ; but it has made me like the man, and he deserves to be treated with respect and kindness. God bless you, my dear Neville, Yours affectionately, Robert Southey. To the Rev. Neville Wliite. ■ Keswick, June 24. 1824. My dear Neville, You see I judged rightly concerning the en- couragement which Mr. Wilkin was likely to find from the London booksellers. This is a subject on which they are necessarily the best judges. A second edition is not to be hoped for in a case like this, nor do I think there is any reasonable expectation that so large an edition as 1000 will sell. I advise him not to print 428 LETTERS Oi!' 1824. more than 750, and tell Inm, further, tliat highly de- sirable as such a collection is of this author's works, it would be prudent not to venture more than 500. The best service I can render him will be to review the book, which of course is incompatible with editing it. Edit it I ought not to do, unless I could allow to the time and care necessary for doing it in a manner creditable to myself. This I cannot give, and the speculation cannot afford to purchase. Mr. Wilkin had better take " Johnson's Life," to which Kippis's account (if it contains much additional information) may be an- nexed. Let him then arrange the works chronolo- gically, with a brief notice affixed to each, when it was first published, through how many editions it has passed, and what edition has been follovv^ed in the reprint. And if he is desirous of reducing the bulk of the work, throw away all the annotations of other writers, except Sir Kenelm Digby's remarks. All that remains will be to take especial care that it be correctly printed, and state, in a brief and modest preface, the motive for forming the collection, the pains which have been taken in obtaining unpublished papers, and the success with which that search has been attended. The correspondence should follow the life, if it be at all of a domestic and familiar character ; but if it relates wholly (as is more likely) to discursive subjects, such as were the object of his studies, it had better then be placed at the end of the collection. A review in the " Quarterly " will be of much greater advantage to Mr. Wilkin than my name as editor could be. What I should have written as a life, preface, or introduction, may just as well be cast into that form. I lose no time in replying to your letter, that he may lose none in making his arrangements and beginning the print. God bless you my dear friend. Yours affectionately, R. S. 1824. ROBERT SOUTUEY. 429 To John May, Esq. Keswick, June 27. 1824. My dear Friend, I had nearly forgotten to answer your question concerning the hooks which elucidate our Ecclesiastical History. The two works which profess to embrace that subject exclusively are Fuller's and Jeremy Col- lier's. The first will, I hope, be reprinted at the Clarendon press * ; for, with all its manifold imperfec- tions, it contains much matter for which no other autho- rity can now be found, — the records of the Convocation having been destroyed ; and it has, moreover, all the inimitable charm of Fuller's manner. Collier is coarse and clumsy, a bigot on the right side. It was necessary that I should have both at hand, but you would find upon investigation that I have drawn my materials from other sources. Collier's lay open before me, and Fuller's, 1 believe, only in the reign of James. For facts relating to the History of the Church the most curious books are Kennet's " Parochial Antiqui- ties," and his " Case of Impropriations," H. Wharton's *' Defence of Pluralities," and Stavely's " History of Churches. " Bede " and the " Acta Sanctorum " were my resources for the early history, with " William of Malmsbury." To my sorrow I had no original authorities for th life of Becket, except such as are in the Appendix to Lord Littleton's *' History." Berrington is the best his- torian of those times ; indeed, much the fairest of all the English Romanists in his writings. We come now to Lewis's " Lives of Wickliffe and of * It was reprinted at the Clarendon in 1845, in six vols. 8vo., and the Rev. J. S. Brewer states, in his preface, that " a careful exa- mination of Fuller's authorities with the statements made in his narrative has ended in a result favourable to his industry, judg- ment, and accuracy." — p. iv. 430 LETTERS OF 1824. Bishop Pecock." I had also Baber's " Life of WickliflTe," prefixed to his "New Testament," and Fox's " Martyrs." Then came the whole series of Strype's laborious compilations, in which, I believe, nothing has escaped me ; though in this work I have not made use of the fiftieth part of my references to them, — Fox, Burnett, and Dr. Wordsworth's " Ecclesiastical Biography ; " Rushworth and Nalson (the former, I must observe, is not known as he deserves to be for a great rogue ; but he has perfectly convinced me that a writer may deserve to be punished as severely for his sins of omission as for direct falsehood); all the Lives of " Laud," Racket's " Life of Archbishop WilHams," — a much more import- ant book (in spite of its odd but very amusing style) than it is generally known to be. A great deal has been drawn from tracts published during the Civil Wars, of which I found a rich collection at Lowther; in short, from all Histories, Memoirs, &c. of all parties on which I could lay hands. And I need not tell you that any previous knowledge of monastic history was of great use. Everybody has cried out for references. I will give them, as I find leisure for doing it, in some future edition ; and I will do so for this reason, that when the references are given, the reader who is diligent enough to refer to them may see how faithfully I have repre- sented the facts, and how completely the composition is my own. God bless you. Robert Southey. To Mrs. Hughes. Keswick, July 4. 1824. My dear Madam, Your letter brought me the first and only intel- ligence that I have received of Elmsley's death. His place will not easily be filled at Oxford, and that walk of letters which he had chosen ; but to his fi'iends it 1824. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 431 never can be supplied. For myself it is a loss which will be perceived, whether I look backward or forward. Many recollections which used to be cheerful ones, must now change their character ; and I feel myself left with one friend less in the world, at an age when we rarely form new friendships, even if a new friend could ever supply the place of an old one. I have been very much confined to the house since your departure, by that annual visitation of catarrh, which was then upon me. It has now taken the form of cough, which is usually its last stage ; but this year the cough seems to be deeper, and take stronger hold than it was wont. Next year, if it be possible for me to break away from my employment, I will leave home at the end of April, and try, as the only probable means of escaping it, to make a journey of six or eight weeks into Holland and the North of Germany, if I can find a companion. You were fortunate, while you were here, in the weather ; but had you been a month later you would have seen our wonder of wonders, which, though there is nothing beautiful in it, is still very well worth seeing, for I believe nothing of the kind has ever been observed elsewhere.* What is called the Floating Island here, made its appearance. By good fortune Sedgewick, the Cambridge Professor of Geology, is here. I went with him to reconnoitre it on Monday last, and yesterday he investigated it thoroughly. The bottom of the lake in that part (near Lodore) is covered with aquatic plants, growing in a soft vegetable mould, which is hardly a foot thick, and lies upon a bed of peat; that bed is six feet in thickness, and rests upon a stratum of fine white clay. From time to time a quantity of gas is generated (whether in the peat, or below it, remains to be discovered) which fills this peat, * Perhaps Pliny the Younger alludes to a like island, lib. viii. epist. XX. 432 LETTERS OF 1824. till it becomes so buoyant that it is separated from the clay, and then that part of the bottom of the lake floats and rises to the surface. But so great was the accumu- lation when this took place that it has made a rent in the bottom some fifty yards long, and some six feet deep. Upon probing, the gas came out freely, but not so plentifully on the sides of this chasm as in anotlier portion at some little distance ; where, instead of forcing for itself a vent, the gas has puffed up the bottom in a convex form. Then, when a pole is thrust down, the air rushes out like a jet. We had rain enough in the course of the week to raise the lake full four feet. The convex part is there- fore now under water ; and probably the two other pieces, or the sides of the chasm, will soon subside.* My young ones, thank God, are well, and Isabel's face, which had been frightfully swoln, from an inflam- mation of the ear, is recovering its usual dimensions. Sara Coleridge is still complaining of her eyes, and talk- ing of going to the South to have them cured ; but in this family everything is talked of a long while before it is done. My eldest daughter has deferred all account of her visit to St. Paul's till she returns, as, having so much to say, she dared not begin to write it. She is now on her way to Devonshire. Last week she met Mrs. Wynn at the Caledonian Ball, and thought her looking very ill. She gives a good account of Bertha, who spent the last week with her, and Bertha gives good account of herself. And now, my dear Madam, present our united re- gards to Dr. Hughes, not forgetting mine to your son, and believe me, Yours very truly, Robert Southey. * An account of this Floating Island was drawn up for a second series of the " Colloquies." The only printed copy is in my pos- session — as far as I know. It was deposited with ine, to produce in case of need. 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 433 To Mrs. Hughes. Keswick, Aug. 12. 1824. My dear Madam, I am indebted to your report of Elmsley's death for the pleasure which I felt, after speaking and think- ing, and dreaming of him as dead, in hearing that he was likely to recover ; a pleasure worth all the previous pain, and of that kind indeed that I know nothing which can be compared to it. When I was within reach of Elmsley we saw a great deal of each other, and he is one of those friends from whose society I have derived not merely temporary enjoyment, but permanent benefit. The chances of life have separated us for many years, without in any degree weakening our mutual regard ; and upon hearing of his death I felt that I had lost what in declining years we can ill afford to part with, an object of esteem and affection, — one of the friends of my youth. Certainly I never received so much delight from any letter, as from that which told me he was alive and recovering. He is well enough to have left Oxford for the house of his sister-in-law, near Croydon, where Wynn and Bedford visited him about a fortnight ago, and found him so confident of his own strength as to talk of seeing Keswick this year as a possible thing. Had I been less occupied I should have thanked you for a prescription which looks as if it would have been efficacious, — if I could have taken it. But in one re- spect my constitution is an unlucky one (we talk about constitutions you know, in politics and in medicine, without knowing much about them) ; the smallest quan- tity of laudanum deranges the action of the liver, and totally suspends the course of the bile, and this of course cannot be done with impunity. Therefore I cannot venture upon any prescription which contains VOL. III. F F 434 LETTERS OF 1824. laudanum, though that medicine, and that alone, I believe, would cut short this obstinate catarrhal afflic- tion on its annual appearances. I am tolerably well recovered now, though still with some remains of cough, but it is uo longer attended with a feverish pulse ; and as a proof that my strength has pretty well returned,! took a six hours' walk this morning, and crossed Skiddaw, on my return, at about three parts of its elevation. You will not be displeased to hear that my second volume is making good progress in the press, so that I am once more in the receipt of proof sheets, which I am lucky enough to regard as one of the pleasures of life. As to a " Book of the State," there are some weighty objections opposed to a very strong inclination. In the first place, I have many works in hand (you would think me a most rash and audacious man did you know how many), and am this day fifty years old : it is time, therefore, seriously to ask myself what upon the common calculations of life I could possibly have time to perform ; and secondly, were I to undertake such a view of our civil histor)?, the Inconvenience of having no great library within reach could only be obviated by an outlay in books, which it would be very inconvenient for me to aflTord ; for it has so happened that no man's gains in this generation have been so little in proportion to his reputation and his labour as mine. I must not conclude without thanking you for setting Sir Walter's pen in motion. He wrote me a very friendly letter, to which I returned an immediate answer. All below unite in kind regards. The girls are in expectation of the arrival of a Welsh uncle to-morrow (a boy of fifteen from Westminster), whom they have never seen. He is coming to pass his holiday with me, and is at this time in the mail coach somewhere about 1824. ROP.KRT SOUTH EV. 435 Leming Lane. I have seldom seen a boy more after my own heart. Yours very truly, Robert Southey. To Edith May Southey. Keswick, July 24. 1824. My elegant Cygnet*, By this time your Elegancy will be looking for some news of the Swan and the Swan's nest. The Swan has for a long time been in bad feather ; he is now at last looking up and pluming himself once more; and if your companions would but possess themselves of some Veils, like those in the German story, and appoint a meeting, he would be ready to take wing with them for a flight among the mountains. You are now in a good land, — a land flowing with clouted cream and laver, which are better things than milk and honey; a land of fish and of cyder, and where, moreover, the strong beer is good ; a land also of squab * The allusion is to some lines of Amelia Opie's, written by her in Mrs. AVarter's Album on Southey's leaving Norwick, 30th Jan. 1824. Too short was thy stay here, 'twas transient and sweet ! It was Hail ! and Farewell ! — yet 'twas pleasant to meet, And see thee, fam'd Swan of the Derwent's fair tide With that elegant cygnet that floats by thy side ; Alas ! that thy visit, that long promis'd boon Should be brief as the splendour of winter's chill noon ! But in one little week, quite exhausted and dry, Is that cup of delight which thy presence filled high ! Yet still we with grateful emotion can say, Though the draught was but shalloio, the wine was Tohmj ! Amelia Oni:. F F 2 436 LETTERS OF 1824. pie; a plentiful land, a good land, only not so good as the neighbouring land of Somersetshire. I should not like you to be settled in London by marriage, nor in Ireland, nor in Scotland, nor in the fens of Lincoln- shire, which, suitable as they are for water-fowl, are not suitable for my cygnet. Devonshire or Somersetshire would do better; or Gloucestershire, though inferior, might do, — or Cornwall; but not the ugly middle of England, nor the eastern counties. Love may be will- ing enough to take up with spare diet, a meagre county, and a raw air ; but plenty and a mild climate, and a beautiful and good country, agree better with him ; and you may depend upon it that there is no better diet for love than what Devonshire affords. Miss Wood's grand- mother, you know, gained a husband by a bowl of cream. I remind you of it as a caution ; you are in a land of cream, and wives, peradventure, may be won by it as well as husbands; but if it should be so, I shall not object to the country, — nay, I should prefer it to most others, for I have still an inkling for the west. Moreover, it is a good country for geese, and if for geese it must be good for swans also, and therefore a good country for a cygnet to settle in. Take care of swan- hoppers. Rumpelstilzchenen has been very poorly, but is now in tolerable health, llurlyburlybuss has not been seen for some days. I have put on some new striped trowsers to-day ; also I have a drab jacket, and drab trowsers, not to mention the blue Pascoe which I brought down. Think of the richness of my wardrobe. Once more beware of swan-hoppers. Your affectionate father, The Swan. P.S. Are you learning to swim ? 1824. ROBERT SOUTHET. 437 To Walter Savage Landor, Esq. Keswick, Aug. 14. 1824. My dear Landor, I am so completely removed from what is called literary society (which is at this time about the worst society in the world) that not a breath of opinion con- cerning your book has reached me, nor have I seen anything which has been written concerning it, except Julius Hare's paper in the " London Magazine." A more striking book never issued from the press in these kingdoms, nor one more certain of surviving the wreck of its generation, and this not from the adventitious importance of the subject, but from the excellence of the workmanship ; for your prose is always, what the most felicitous passages of your poetry are, as excellent in the expression as in the conception. My own " Colloquies " are now so far advanced, that it will soon become my primary object to complete them. They will contain a connected and extensive view of our existing states of society, with all its erro- neous evils ; and I hope the statement will be startling enough to make some of our political men (I will not call them statesmen) rub their eyes. You will feel in the perusal, as I do, that where there is most difference in our views, it is to be explained by the difference of latitude between Tuscany and Cumberland. I should agree more nearly with you in Florence, and at Keswick you would find yourself more in sympathy with me. By way of relieving the " Dialogues," I introduce some of them, with descriptions of the scenery which lies within the circuit of my usual walks ; half a dozen views of it, admirably drawn by William Westall, are now in the engraver's hands. The book will command notice, and provoke hostility. One edition will sell; some of the rising generation will be leavened by it, and iti the F r .". 438 LETTERS OF 1824. third and fourth generations its foresight will be proved, and perhaps some of its effects may be seen. The books you sent me were lucky enough to escape all inquiry. I have been reading " Casaubon's Letters." If my " Book of the Church " has reached you (as I trust it has, with its companions), you will see that I ought to have read these letters before ; you will per- ceive also that the view which they have led you to take of James's character very much accords with the opinion that I have expressed concerning him. My family, thank God, is going on well. The two eldest girls are in the South, and greatly do I miss them. My little boy is old enough to have begun upon Latin grammar, and a happier creature does not at this time exist upon tliis wide earth. It is in our power to make children happy while they are children ; and yet how generally is their happiness curtailed, and, as far as nature will permit, destroyed by unwise restrictions and the miserable discipline of our great schools in which boys are bred up to the abuse of power. If Cuthbert lives, and I have to instruct him, he will escape these evils ; but how uncertain this must needs be I am fully sensible. Last Thursday I completed the fiftieth year of my age. My little boy is only in his sixth. I may put him in the way which he should go, and direct him ill it when I can accompany him no farther, but it is not likely that 1 should see much of his progress. Here in England we are in an extraordinary state of quiescence, not a grievance is afloat, and few persons ask themselves what is to become of the rising genera- tion of educated men who can find no room in the three professions, and for whose lives there is no demand, nor what are to be the consequences of an unlimited and il- limitable increase of capital, which even the bubble of fo- reign loans does not appear to check, nor when the manu- facturing system is to end, which breeds yahoos as fast as 1824. IIOBERT SOUTHEY. 439 they can be bred, and invents machinery to throw them out of employ. One remarkable fact of general educa- tion is beginning to show itself. Above fifty Weekly Miscellanies are published in London at two pence and three pence each, and it is much the smaller portion that deal either in irreligion or in discontent ; the rest are useful and amusing, and the sale is prodigious. This is a good symptom among many evil ones, I have been getting on with my *' Tale of Paraguay," and when I have once escaped from that most difficult of all stanzas, I shall feel like a racer let loose. God bless you, R. S. To John JiickmarL, Esq. Keswick, Sept. 12. 1824. My dear R., You have heard that I am engaged in an incre- dible number of works. The booksellers are to blame for something, announcing as an intention what has merely been mentioned as a project for consideration ; but the truth is twofold, to wit : first, that I have (and am aware of having) a propensity for planning works " of great pith and moment," which leads me to dream of more than can ever by possibility be fulfilled ; and, secondly, that in pursuing any one of my determined engagements I am continually meeting with something applicable to other schemes not yet in course of execu- tion ; and in this way, while rearing one edifice, I collect materials for others. It is not with me as it would be if I had nothing to consider but how to employ my time, either most worthily or most agreeably to my own desires. While 1 have something before me to be F F 4 440 LETTERS OF 1824. pursued for its own sake, I must, of necessity, have something in hand for the ways and means of the year — something on the present sale of which I can rely. If I have many irons in the fire, one reason, therefore, is that tliere is a large pot to boil. Now, I have grounds for believing that the part of my time which must be devoted to this essential object could in no way be so profitably employed as in sketching our Civil History, with a view of showing the growth and progress of our constitution, and treating those portions fairly and fear- lessly concerning which the greatest prejudices prevail. Three octavos would suffice for this, down to the death of Anne ; and then I should think of following it up with the age of George III., introduced by a brief view of the two intermediate reigns. The objection is what you point out, — the wide course of reading wherein I should be tempted to dis- course ; of that, however, I should not have much ap- prehension, if I were provided with the books. At present I am getting on well with my second volume, and with certain minora^ the " Dialogues " being one. God bless you. R. S. To Messrs. Longman §• Co, Keswick, Sept. 25. 1824. Dear Sir, It is a long while since I have written to you, and the reason has been that I have been otherwise employed than in finishing the " Tale of Paraguay." I am, however, far advanced in the third canto (four being its extent), and il will be ready for the next season. 1824. liOliEUT SOUTUEY. 441 The purport of my writinj^ now is to propose a re- publication of Montluc's •' Commentaries," the book wliich Henri said ought to be the soldier's Bible. There is an old translation by Charles Cotton, the angler and poet. Coming from such a man, it is likely to be in a vein of genuine English. I would, however, correct it where needful ; accompanying it with a pre- face and notes, and take care of it afterwards in the " Quarterly Review." It is the very best book of its kind, and perhaps unequalled for the liveliness and jia'ivete of its manner. Thank you for " Spix " and " Martins"* — pupils of Humboldt's school, but without his genius. Never- theless, it is an interesting book, and to me pecu- liarly so. Pray be kind enough to pay G. Dyer my subscription for his " Privileges of Cambridge," and to send in your next parcel the second volume of *' May you like it," the Oxford edition of " Strype's Annals" (if it be published), and Sir John Malcolm's " Central India." Yours very truly, Robert Southey. P.S. As you sometimes reprint American books, I xecommend Buckminster's "Sermons" to your con- sideration. They are so striking and so good that they could not fail of success. He was an Unitarian, but his sermons must please all denominations. I lent them two or three years ago to Richard Sharpe, and he liked them so much tiiat he said he should get over a dozen copies for his friends. I lent them to a clergyman, and he preached one of them. R. S. * These Travels_ in' Brazil in the years 1817 toM 820 were published this year in two vols. 8vo. 442 LETTERS OF 1824. To the Rev. Neville White. Keswick, Oct. 13. 1824. My dear Neville, First, let me thank you for offering to join me in an expedition to Holland, when I may find it possible to undertake one. Most truly shall I rejoice to have such a companion. I am, however, under something like a promise of going to Ireland, when I take flight next May, in the hope of escaping from my annual visitation, to visit the Bishop of Limerick, who came hither about seven weeks ago with the hope of taking me home with him. At that time I was not sufficiently recovered to have ventured from home, even if it had suited me on other accounts to have absented myself from my desk. I am now, thank God, once more in good health, and take a good deal of pains in the way of exercise to keep myself so. The want of a com- panion in these walks is supplied by a book, so that the time is not wholly lost ; this habit is with me full five- and-twenty years old, and I can read as well when walking as at the fire-side. Your newspaper amused me, though I was sorry to see how eagerly an ill feeling seizes upon every oppor- tunity of showing itself. The festival must have made Norwich all alive, and will, I hope, be renewed as often as is prudent. Perhaps there is no other mode of bringing so many people together for the purpose of enjoyment which is so entirely unexceptionable, even if the charitable application of the money were not con- sidered ; and this is a very disinterested opinion, from one who has no faculty, and consequently no taste, for music. Mr. Amyott is an acquaintance of mine, and a very obliging person he is. I am indebted to him for pro- curing me some Peninsular information some years ago. 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 443 I am glad to hear Mr. Wilkin lias commenced printing, and am very sure that I shall do him more service than I could have done by becoming his editor. The matter of my reviewing the work is settled. You ask me concerning the " Methodist," I sent a copy of the letter to the Bishop of London ; he thanked me for it, and in a sensible reply observed upon the difficulty of doing anything in the way of a formal ne- gotiation. Meantime individual discretion might do something, and he thought the Methodists might very usefully be encouraged in the colonies, and perhaps in Ireland also. I had a second communication from Mark Robinson, who is a local preacher at Beverley. You will, of course, understand that he knows nothing of my laying the business before the Bishop. The second letter related to the probability of the church Method- ists separating from the Conference, and showed a great tendency among them to split into parties. I am in- clined to think that Methodism has in this country reached the point in which the main body will not be progressive in numbers, rather maintaining its popula- tion than increasing it, and losing as many by defection and schism as it acquires by proselytism and birth. But this rather alters the nature of the danger to the Establishment than diminishes it ; for every new sect that branches off has a fresh principle of increase. I asked Mark Robinson to direct me to information con- cerning some of these sects, — the Ranters, &c., which he has not yet done. If I could obtain sufficient docu- ments, it is most likely that I should prepare a paper on the subject. God bless you, my dear Neville. Yours affectionately, R. S. 444 LETTERS OF 1824. To Mrs. Hughes. Keswick, Oct. 15. 1824. My dear Madam, My employments, thank Heaven, are such that they allow me to be always at leisure, and this is a blessing which would compensate for more untoward circumstances than have fallen to my lot ; so great a one, indeed, that if I had sold my time for any official situation, I verily believe I should have been as uncom- fortable as poor Peter Schlemil when he had parted with his shadow. But if I were busier than I am, or ever shall be, it would always give me pleasure to re- ceive a letter from you. I believe we can all of us find time for what we like. Dr. Hughes's kind present (for which I thank him truly) will probably find a speedy conveyance from your neighbours in the Row. The book will not be the less welcome for Cuthbert's sake, who having some three years ago, when Dr. Bell asked him whether he would choose to be an archbishop or a carpenter, preferred the archbishopric, verily looked upon Canterbury afterwards as his allotted portion in this world, and used to talk with great complacency of what he should do when he came to live at Lambeth, when he was to liave more books than his father. He was ill enough to make us very anxious about a fortnight ago, with a bilious fever ; but, thank God, he has perfectly recovered from it, and at present we are all well. I have been somewhat seri- ously an invalid during the summer ; the cough, how- ever, has fairly departed ; and being once more in tolerable condition, I am taking all dutiful pains to keep myself so. I had neither seen nor heard of the foolish apology for Mrs. , which is enough to shame her out of Quakerism. Without the aid of Cupid (who, however. 1824. ROBERT SOUTIIEY. 445 has worked many conversions in both sexes) I can account very satisfactorily for her becoming a Quaker. She was bred nominally in Unitarianisni, and that, too, of the laxest kind ; and it was but nominally, for her father belonged to that sect only, because it was neces- sary that a man in his profession should seem to be of some religion. She grew up when revolutionary opinions were taking their freest course, and in a city where, I believe, they prevailed more than in any other part of England. Some of her warmest admirers (and no woman had more) were far gone in unbelief; they were men of splendid talents, and, in other respects, of great real worth. In fact, she lias always lived among persons whose speculations were under no restraint, and who, however much they differed among themselves, agreed in that rooted dislike to the Establishment, which is a bond of union between the darkest bigots of Popery, the wildest fanatics, and the most thorough in- fidels. In the state of mind which such circumstances could hardly fail of producing upon a woman who had always been flattered for her talents, but with a lively fancy and a good heart, Mrs. , from a hfe of gaiety in London, went, at the age of about forty-five, to nurse her father, whom, in his old age, severe bodily infirmity had awakened to some sense of \\\e projligacy of his past life- The only persons, in her circle at Norwich, who had any warmth of religious feeling, were Quakers; and were you to know her " Quaker Abelard," you would see that few " Eloisas " were to be trusted with him ; but vviiatever her feelings towards him may be, she wanted something more for her imagination and her heart than the cold form and colder creed of Unita- rianism can supply, and Quakerism has a great deal for both : I believe she is sincere, and I like her well enough even to excuse the verses which she has written in Edith's " i\lbum." P>dith will tell you (for she must 446 LETTERS OF 1824. not write) the ungracious return which they called forth. The " Peninsular War " is going on well in the press, and I am prosing and versing in as good heart and with as much good will as if all the world liked my verse and prose as well as you are pleased to do. I would fain do the " State some service ; " but I am beginning to act upon the resolution of finishing what I have begun/ and working up the materials — which so large a part of my life has been spent in accumulating — before I open any new foundations. Now that I am half a hundred years old, it is time to wind up my ac- counts. Our kindest remembrances to Dr. Hughes, mine also to Mr. H., and Believe me, dear Madam, Yours very sincerely, Robert Southey. Tu the Rev. Neville WJiite. Keswick, Oct. 21. 1824 My dear Neville, I received yesterday the frank containing your letter and the first sheet of " Sir T. Browne." It can- not be worth while to send that sheet back, as I have no remarks to make upon it, further than to say that it is in every respect what could be wished. Mr. Wilkin seems to have taken infinite pains in collecting editions and MSS., and nothing can be better than the printing. It might be worth while to try whether or not the ap- pearance would be improved by printing the notes in columns.* I am inclined to think it would be pleasanter for the eye where the type is so small, and also as dis- * This hint was followed, and the notes are printed in double columns. 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY, 447 tinguishirig them in a more marked manner from the text. This might be tried upon a single page. I am quite certain that in a folio the eye is less fatigued when the page is divided into columns, than when it has to move to and fro along a long line ; and the effect must be the same in small printing upon an octavo page. A man thinks of these things as he approaches the age at which it becomes necessary for him to economise his sight. Having written so recently, I have nothing to add, ex- cept to request tliat you will present my compliments to Mr. Wilkin, and tell him I am very glad he has taken the edition into his own hands, for I verily believe he will bestow upon it more diligence than any other per- son would or could have done. I have no memoranda upon the subject which could be of any use to him, but I will be of all the use I can when the work is pub- lished, and with the least possible delay. I hope there will be a portrait, and the name given in an autograph. Our best remembrances to your fire-side and domestic circle. God bless you, my dear Neville, Yours affectionately, Robert Southey. To the Rev. Neville White. Keswick, Oct. 28. 1824. My dear Neville, This case of the " Remains " is a flagi-ant instance of what men will do who have no other prin- ciple than the principle of trade, when the laws leave, or offer them a loop-hole. The fellows who pirate that work would rob you in the streets, or break open your house, if they dared do it ; they have no sense of honour, or of right and wrong to restrain them. 448 LETTERS OF 1824. I would advise that your cheap edition be ir.'iie better than the pirated ones, though it should sell for six or seven shillings instead of four ; the type not be- ing quite so small, nor the page quite so crowded. Johnson published a small edition of Cowper in 1799, in two volumes, which might be a good model ; and I do not see why there should be any unwillingness to say at once in the advertisement that the property of the family having been invaded, it is necessary to state that this is the only complete edition. In a court of equity, conducted upon principles of equity, I have no doubt that your cause would have been good ; but the Court of Chancery has ceased to be a Court of Equity, and pays as much deference to the quirks and quibbles of law as the most profligate advocate could desire. The " Life " is yours till it shall have been pub- lished twenty-eight years, and as much longer as I may happen to live. In the course of nature, my dear Neville, you are more likely to be called on for friendly counsel in the arrangement of my affairs, after my de- parture, than 1 am to perform the duties of guardian to your son. Provide only against my incapacity for busi- ness, and count upon me, as I do upon you, for the full performance of all your wishes, to the best of my ability. My mind is in no danger, Neville, from tension. It never pursues any one object long enough to be fatigued with it. When I read upon my walks, it is not anything that requires deep attention ; it is some- thing that amuses the intellect rather than exerts it, and keeps it, perhaps, in a more quiescent state than it might be if left to its own operations. The book is as a companion with whom I can converse when I like ; and as it is always some volume which is never taken up at any other time, there is the wholesome recreation which change; produces. Were you in the house with me for 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 449 a month, you would be convinced that I am anythintj rather than a hard student. Have you seen NichoU's " Arminianism and Cal- vinism Compared ? " It is put together in a most un- happy way, but is the most valuable contribution to our ecclesiastical history that has ever fallen into my hands. I hope soon to have my " Colloquies " in the press. They will set many persons talking, and some few thinking. They will draw upon me a good load of misrepresentation, calumny, and abuse, which you know how much I regard; and if they do not succeed in pointing out in what manner impending evils may be averted, they will show, at least to future ages, that they were not unforeseen. Our best wishes to all your circle. God bless you, my dear friend. Yours most affectionately, R. SoUTHEY. To Edith May Southey. Keswick, Dec. 5. 1824. My dear E. May, I write rather because there is a frank goino- off this evening, than for a better reason. However, I have two things to say : one is, that I wish the doctor would order for me two pair of strong shoes, which may come in your box. (N. B. Take care this box be a little better corded than the last, the corder whereof ought to have been sent to the treading-mill.) Secondly, I advise you, and everybody else who can do it, to hear Mr. Benson preach at St. Giles's. He is so far the best preacher I ever heard, as to admit of no comparison with any other. VOL. III. G G 450 LETTERS OF 1824. Wordsworth is coming over to-morrow. I have not seen him since my own return from the South. You will probably, in the course of the week, see a siveet billet of mine in the newspapers noticing a few lies of Lord Byron, as published by his blunderbuss, Cap- tain Medwin. I shall just say what is needful, and no more. I have accepted a letter of Pope's, for the sake of transferring it to you. The handwriting is so like Miss Tyler's, that I could have taken it for hers. The third canto of the " Tale of Paraguay " is finished ; and as I never so heartily desired to be at the end of any other composition, whether in prose or in verse, I shall not be long in getting through the remaining one. Yesterday I received Dr. Wordsworth's book *, which has for ever put the question to rest. It is impossible for any investigation to be more complete, or more conclusive. I have written in it, as a motto, Latimer's saying, " Well, there is nothing hid but it shall be opened." And now, when I have told you that it is snorting weather, and that I am about to write a paper, for the *' Quarterly Review," upon the Church Missionary So- ciety, I have no more to say farther than to send as much love and as many kind remembrances as can be inclosed in a frank, to be distributed at your discretion, and to assure you that I remain, Dear Madam, With the profoundest respect, Your most obedient humble servant, Robert Southey. P. S. Your mother, my governess, means to write shortly about chains and I know not what. * Who wrote EikCjv BairiXiKri ? 1824. ROBERT SOUTHEY. 451 To the Rev. Herbert Hill^ S^c. Keswick, Dec. 6. 1824. 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