3455. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 24 March [1820]

3455. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 24 March [1820] ⁠* 

My dear R.

I trouble you with the conclusion of my Wesleyan labours, [1]  – the packets of notes is a very ugly one, – but it contains some curious-things, which will amuse you when you see them fairly in print.

I suffer by Mr Strahan’s secession from the H of C. [2]  His stupid people have taken it in their heads to send proof sheets in parcels to me, & have thus made me pay 16 shillings this week for eleven proofs, in three detachments.

Tomorrow I shall send up a quarter of a pound of the H. of Brazil. [3] 

My house is full of sickness, – an influenza, – the worst of its kind that Mr Edmondson has seen in seven & thirty years practise. We hope it is passing off, & if this should be the case the children will have had it lightly, but Mrs C. has suffered much, & Mrs L. is suffering more. I have entirely escaped.

If the Spanish Government gathers any strength by this semi-revolution, [4]  I guess that one of its first measures will be to send troops to S. America. The Liberales of Europe will have no mercy on the Liberaliores [5]  of America

God bless you

RS

24 March

Notes

* Endorsement: Fr RS./ March 1820
MS: Huntington Library, RS 393. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished.
Dating note: Year from endorsement. BACK

[1] Southey’s The Life of Wesley; and the Rise and Progress of Methodism (1820). BACK

[2] Andrew Strahan (1749–1831; DNB), MP for various constituencies 1796–1820 and head of a highly successful printing business, was the printer of the Life of Wesley. He had retired from the House of Commons at the general election of 1820, and so lost the privilege of sending his mail free of charge. BACK

[3] The second edition of the first volume only of the History of Brazil (1810–1819) was published in 1822. BACK

[4] Ferdinand VII (1784–1833; King of Spain 1808, 1813–1833) had restored royal absolutism in 1814. A mutiny at Cadiz on 1 January 1820 among troops who were to be sent to fight the revolutionaries in South America eventually led to Ferdinand VII agreeing, on 10 March 1820, to restore the liberal Constitution of 1812. BACK

[5] ‘more liberals’. BACK

Addressee

Rickman, John (1771–1840)

People mentioned

Edmondson, John (d. 1823) (mentioned 1 time)
Fricker, Sarah (1770–1845) (mentioned 1 time)
Fricker, Mary (1771–1862) (mentioned 1 time)
The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Six
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