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Unpublished.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

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Keswick (mentioned 1 time)