3528. Robert Southey to John Kenyon [fragment], 19 August 1820⁠* 

Keswick. 19 Aug. 1820

My dear Kenyon

I have been very remiss in not having ere this thanked you in the names of Edith & Sara, & the three little girls, [1]  for the presents with which you have loaded them. I owe you thanks also on my own account for some of the pleasantest hours which I past in London. – You will readily suppose that I have been both very busy & very idle since my return; busy in the regular course of things, & idle by inclination, temptation, & course of season. The very pleasure <sense> of being at rest, after eleven weeks of perpetual excitement & continual change of place, & society, was in itself a pleasure of high degree: & then the comfort of breathing fresh air, without either dust or smoke; – of knowing that I had nowhere to go, & nothing to do except what I chose to be doing, – no trouble for to day, & no engagement for tomorrow, – Christian in the Pilgrims Progress, when the burthen drops off his back, is but a type of such a deliverance. [2] 

I found all well on my return, & God be thanked, all has continued so. Cuthbert runs about the room & the garden, & the greatest noise which I hear now is of my own making when I am exhibiting for his edification the Cries of London, in a book bought for that special purpose, [3]  & amusing his ears as much as his eyes, – or turning over the leaves of Bewick, [4]  & making more sounds & stranger than were heard in Noahs Ark, [5]  every day before the beasts were fed, – another of my domestic beatitudes.

The other day I received a short note from Everett, with two numbers of a review whereof he is the Editor. [6]  To my great surprize the review is violently Anti-Anglican, which I think must proceed more from his coadjutors than himself. He says I shall not think an apology for this necessary when I call to mind the language of certain English journals respecting America. I shall tell him in reply that none was needed, but that certainly if I had the direction of a Journal, nothing should appear in it concerning America but what was conciliatory in its spirit & tendency. The Yankees suppose that they are of as much importance in our eyes, as we are in theirs, & it is strange that Everett after being in England should continue in this error. We have more important things to think of, & they have not.

Poor Hartley seems to make out that he has been rigorously dealt with at Oriel, & it is very desirable that his friends should be so persuaded. [7]  It is very likely that his peculiar manners, his love of paradox, & his uncomfortable propensity to disputation may have prejudiced the fellows against him more than they are willing to acknowledge, & perhaps more than they are conscious of themselves. If it teaches him self-command, & that degree of conformity with the manners & usages of the world which is necessary for ones comfort as well as for that of others, he will have made a good purchase, tho at a high price. [Remainder of MS missing]