2765. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 22 April 1816

2765. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 22 April 1816⁠* 

Monday 22 April. 1816

My dear G.

My last letter will have shown you that my mind was in a proper state, & engaged in wholesome activity. [1]  As yet I do not perceive that I have gained strength, but I am certainly losing none. I walk daily as much as is good for me, & not more. And I never was more capable of mental exertion, nor more disposed to it. Be assured that my mind will never be suffered to prey upon itself.

I hope you have given my message to Gifford: he may rely upon having the article in time, – (that is that it shall not delay the number beyond the first week in May) – & I think he will not regret having waited for it. [2] 

Ediths occupations do not withdraw her thoughts from sorrow, like mine. But no woman could behave with more equanimity & fortitude.

God bless you

RS.


Notes

* Address: To/ G. C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer/ Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Endorsement: 22. April 1816/ Recd 25
MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 25. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK

[1] See Southey to Bedford, 20 April 1816, Letter 2763. Southey's son Herbert had died on 17 April. BACK

[2] In his letter of 20 April 1816 (Letter 2763), Southey had requested that Bedford ask Gifford to make space in the next issue of the Quarterly Review for Southey’s review of a series of memoirs of the French Revolutionary wars, including the royalist rising in La Vendée, 1793–1796. The article appeared in the Quarterly Review, 15 (April 1816), 1–69. BACK

People mentioned

Southey, Herbert (1806–1816) (mentioned 1 time)
Gifford, William (1756–1826) (mentioned 1 time)
Fricker, Edith (1774–1837) (mentioned 1 time)