3197. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [c. 21 September 1818]
3197. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [c. 21 September 1818] *
My dear R.
Thank you for the Education Report. [1] Broughams letter upon the subject is very Broughamish. [2] – I wish the business had been taken up in a better spirit by a better man. But he will be himself by meddling with the Public Schools he will do himself no good & them no harm. –
– I have very much at heart your old scheme of female colleges – the necessity for such institutions is so great, that the subject could scarcely fail to excite attention, if it were brought fairly forward. Fosbrookes British Monachism would supply a good text for it. [3]
RS.
Notes
* Address: To/ John Rickman Esqre/ St Stephens Court/ New Palace Yard/
Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: FREE/ 24 SE 24/ 1818
Seal: red wax; arm raising aloft cross of Lorraine
Endorsement: 21 Septr. 1818
MS: Huntington Library, RS 354. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished.
Dating note: Dating from endorsement. BACK
[1] The Select Committee on the Education of the Lower Orders in the Metropolis reported first in 1816 and second in 1817. Constituted as a Select Committee on the Education of the Lower Orders, it reported five times in 1818. BACK
[2] A Letter to Sir Samuel Romilly, M.P. from Henry Brougham, Esq. M.P., F.R.S. upon the Abuse of Charities (1818). BACK
[3] Southey reviewed Thomas Dudley Fosbrooke (1770–1842; DNB), British Monachism; or, Manners and Customs of the Monks and Nuns of England (1817) in Quarterly Review, 22 (July 1819), 59–102. He dealt with the need for communities to provide support for single women at 90–102. This was a subject in which Rickman and Southey had a long-standing interest. BACK
