2891. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [December 1816]

2891. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [December 1816] ⁠* 

My dear R.

I have written only two papers de pauperibus, [1]  that in No 23 is not mine

The moral part of the question I think I understand clearly, – but on other points I know how insufficient my knowledge is, – & therefore am surprized that these papers should so far have satisfied you, & very sorry I shall be if you <they> prevent you from handling those parts of the subject, which I verily believe no person but you can handle properly [2] 

I have made a fair beginning. – Another week I trust will finish the Brazilian volume. [3] 

Remember us to Mrs R.

God bless you

RS.

Notes

* Endorsement: Decr. 1816
MS: Huntington Library, RS 302. ALS; 1p.
Unpublished.
Dating note: Dating from endorsement. BACK

[1] ‘Inquiry into the Poor Laws’, Quarterly Review, 8 (December 1812), 319–356, and ‘On the Poor’ in Quarterly Review, 15 (April 1816), 187–235. The article ‘On Improving the Condition of the Poor’, Quarterly Review, 12 (October 1814), 146–59, has been attributed to George Canning. BACK

[2] Rickman did have his say, albeit anonymously and jointly with Southey, in the article ‘On the Poor Laws’, Quarterly Review, 18 (January 1818), 259–308. BACK

[3] Southey had made a beginning on his unfinished book on the ‘State of the Nation’ and hoped soon to finish the second volume of his History of Brazil (1810–1819). BACK

Addressee

Rickman, John (1771–1840)

People mentioned

Rickman, Susannah (née Postlethwaite; d. 1836) (mentioned 1 time)
The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Five
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