2254. Robert Southey to John Murray, 9 May 1813

2254. Robert Southey to John Murray, 9 May 1813 ⁠* 

Keswick. May 9. 1813.

My dear Sir

One of my children has been ill, [1]  – I too anxious for any xxx employment which required collectedness & continued attention. Once I was inclined to write & request that you would fill up the next number without me; – but if it be delayed a fortnight longer I shall have finished. – My cause of uneasiness, thank God, is removed, & the article in fair progress.

I have a letter from Mr Croker this evening, communicating with a very flattering opinion of the Life of Nelson, [2]  some valuable facts for improving it in a second edition, – if it should have the fortune to reach one. [3]  The book will arrive tomorrow, & I shall then have the greatest & last joy of an author, – that of seeing his work in its printed form for the first time as a whole, & in its finished form.

Your news respecting Rokeby is curious. [4]  I had not heard it.

believe me Dear Sir

Yrs very truly

Robert Southey.

Notes

* Address: To/ John Murray Esqr/ Albemarle Street/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E 12 MY 12 1813
Watermark: C WILMOTT/ 1807
Endorsement: 1813 May 9/ R. Southey Esqr
MS: National Library of Scotland, MS 42551. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK

[1] See Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 16 May 1813, Letter 2257. BACK

[2] The Life of Nelson (1813). BACK

[3] The Life went into a second edition in 1814. BACK

[4] Scott’s Rokeby: A Poem (1813), set during the civil war of the seventeenth century. The ‘curious’ news could have been that sales were not as buoyant as with Scott’s previous poems. BACK

Addressee

Murray, John Samuel (1778–1843)

People mentioned

Southey, Isabel (1812–1826) (mentioned 1 time)
Croker, John Wilson (1780–1857) (mentioned 1 time)

Places mentioned

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