2639. Robert Southey to John Murray [fragment], 23 July 1815
2639. Robert Southey to John Murray [fragment], 23 July 1815 *
Keswick. 23 July 1815.
My dear Sir
I thought to have begun the great article with an account of the French Memoirs written to prove that Lord Wellington is no General, – but the tone will not harmonize; & as the book is a masterpiece of its kind it may have a few pages to itself, which I shall most likely send off tomorrow. [1]
The turn which affairs have taken in Paris is very curious, & gives me the best of all topics for winding up with, – the necessity of weakening [MS missing] the state in which Louis 14 [2] found her. [MS missing] oks – I shall be glad of Mig [MS missing] or is a book xx or pamphlett of Mr Bowdle [3] [MS missing] French Memoirs of the Revolution by Prudhomme, a bookseller, who was once one of the most ferocious of the Jacobines. [4]
I sent off a parcel some time ago in which among other things the number of the Military Chronicle were returned, because I have the whole series. [5] The Military Panorama from Jany. 1814 was what I wanted – if that work be continued. [6] Some of the other books were duplicates, – & I inclosed the duplicate 7th vol. of Chardin to be exchanged for the 6th. [7] – this will be indispensible in reviewing Sir J Malcolms books history, [8] – for which I shall be well prepared.
I collect materials for the great article from many quarters, & expect much from xxxxx the best sources. [9]
You have sent me the 5th No. of the Museum Criticum, – but not the 3d & 4th. [10] – By the bye connected as you are with the Universities it might be worth your while to think of xxx making a complete collection of the Latin poems of British authors, in a neat form, <publishd> volume by volume, – the more compleat the better.
Notes
* Watermark: [partial] J D[MS cut]KINSON & Co/ 1811
Endorsement: 23 July 1815/
R. Southey Esq
MS: National Library of Scotland, MS 42551. AL; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK
[1] Eustache-Auguste Carel (1788–1836), Précis Historique de la Guerre d’Espagne et de Portugal, de 1808 à 1814 (1815). It was incorporated into Southey’s article on books relating to Wellington and the Waterloo campaign in the Quarterly Review, 13 (July 1815), 448–526. BACK
[4] The bookseller and journalist Louis-Marie Prudhomme (1752–1830). An opponent of Bonaparte’s, Prudhomme welcomed the Bourbon restoration. The book is possibly his L’Histoire Générale et Impartiale des Erreurs, des Fautes et des Crimes commis pendant la Révolution Française (1797); Southey’s copy was no. 2300 in the sale catalogue of his library. BACK
[5] The Royal Military Chronicle, or, The British Officer’s Monthly Register, Chronicle, and Military Mentor (1811–1817). BACK
[6] The Military Panorama (1812–1817), nos. 1847–1848 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. BACK
[7] Sir John Chardin (1643–1713; DNB), Protestant French jeweller and traveller who settled in England and published Voyages en Perse et autres lieux de l’Orient (1711). Southey had been sent by Murray the ten-volume edition published in Paris in 1811 (no. 573 in the sale catalogue of his library); see Southey to John Murray [c. 30 December 1811] (Letter 2009) and 1 July 1815 (Letter 2628). BACK
[8] Sir John Malcolm (1769–1833; DNB), The History of Persia (1815); no. 1661 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. The review of Malcolm in the Quarterly Review, 15 (April 1816), 236–292, was by Reginald Heber, not Southey. BACK
