2887. Robert Southey to [Samuel Rogers], 23 December 1816

2887. Robert Southey to [Samuel Rogers], 23 December 1816⁠* 

Keswick. 23d Dec. 1816

My dear Sir

I thank you most sincerely for your very kind reply to my application in behalf of Herbert Knowles, [1]  – I have written to inform him of his good fortune, There are no prizes in the after lottery of life which will give him equal delight; – it will bring out his hopes into full blossom, – & God bless the fruitage!

Present my warm thanks to Lord Spencer, [2]  – for indeed I feel this as a personal obligation. – The remittances had better be made toward Midsummer, – when the half-yearly bills become due, – & they may be addressed for the ensuing year to the youth himself, at the Revd James Tates, Richmond Yorkshire.

Believe me my dear Sir

yrs with the greatest esteem & respect

Robert Southey.

Notes

* MS: University College, London, Special Collections, Sharpe Papers 208, Album of Letters and Autographs Collected by Sarah Rogers, f. 124
Unpublished. BACK

[1] Southey had written to Rogers on 13 December 1816 (Letter 2879), asking him to contribute a sum to allow the young poet Herbert Knowles to attend St John’s College, Cambridge. Knowles died before he could take advantage of Rogers’s generosity. BACK

[2] George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758–1834; DNB), with whom Samuel Rogers was staying when Southey’s request arrived, also agreed to contribute to Knowles’s expenses at Cambridge. BACK

Addressee

Rogers, Samuel (1763–1855)

People mentioned

Tate, James (1771–1843) (mentioned 1 time)
Knowles, Herbert (1798–1817) (mentioned 1 time)

Places mentioned

Keswick (mentioned 1 time)
The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Five
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