199. Robert Southey to Edith Southey [fragment], [7 February 1797]
199. Robert Southey to Edith Southey [fragment], [7 February 1797] *
Now, my dear Edith, ... am I of Gray’s Inn; where I this day paid twelve pounds fifteen shillings for admission. ... Edith, you must come to me. I am not merely uncomfortable, I am unhappy without you. I rise in the morning without expecting pleasure from the day, and I lie down at night without one wish for the morning. This town presents to me only a wilderness. ... I am just returned from ——— ; they can receive us for 40l. a year: — two rooms, they are not large, but they are handsomely furnished, and there is a good book-case, and every thing looks clean. ... Direct to me at Mr. Peacocks, No. 20, Prospect Place, Newington Butts, near London; but, my dear Edith, there is ‘no prospect’ in this vile neighbourhood.
Notes
* MS: MS untraced; text is taken from Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850).
Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), I, pp. 301–302 [in part, with indications that only a portion of the letter is reproduced].
Dating note: Dating is from a stamp duty receipt in the Gray’s Inn Library, confirming that Southey paid his fee for admission at Gray’s Inn on 7 February 1797, the day this letter was written. BACK
