3593. Robert Southey to Wade Browne, 28 December 1820⁠* 

Keswick. 28 Dec. 1820

My dear Sir

The watch, [1]  for which I have to return my daughter Edith’s best thanks, has been safely delivered by M^r Senhouse; & is now awaiting Ediths return from M^r Wordsworths, where she has been upon a long visit, & whither I am going early in the next week, for the purpose of bringing her home. Thank you also for the liberal supply of Quassey seeds, [2]  – for which I must not forget that M^r Ponsonby [3]  desires me to return his acknowledgements. I have given some to Calvert, M^rs Crothers & Wordsworth, so that you have stocked the country. This reminds me of your garden & by an easy connection, of a question which I found lately in one of S^t Pierre’s works, which & which your friend M^r Andrew Knight [4]  is more likely to explain than any other person: – how is the common fact to be accounted for, that a peach-stone is frequently found broken to pieces in the fruit, the fruit itself having received no injury? S^t Pierre asks if it is caused by “electricity, vegetable or animal,” – with reference I suppose to some of his fanciful theories. [5]  The fact is common enough, & I wonder at not having wondered at it & asked myself the question before. The possible solution which occurs to me is that the kernel may have grown too large for its shell & burst it: – there must be some reason why the stone instead of being smooth like that of other fruit is fretted with hollow-work; – it would give way, I think, more easily because of that formation, to an internal force.

My radical neighbours here behaved well in their triumph for the Queens escape from justice: they illuminated their own houses but did not molest the half-dozen persons in the town who put up no light on the occasion. [6]  I was glad when the night was over, having hardly expected to escape without a few stones. At all times I would face a mob, & should do it by day-light with as much confidence as Wesley [7]  himself; – but the chance of making any impression upon them would be very much lessened by darkness. The eye has as much power as the voice, perhaps more; – & besides you see to whom you <to> address yourself. – This mention of Wesley brings to my mind a communication which I have recently received concerning him from the Dean of Worcester, [8]  affecting his character seriously very seriously. It is the copy of one of those letters which M^rs Wesley carried off when she finally separated from him. [9]  The Dean vouches for its authenticity, & has given me references by which to authenticate it. The letter is from one of his female disciples, [10]  & bears strong marks of authenticity, – I am sorry to say. She was a virtuous <young> woman over whose mind he had obtained the most unbounded influence, & with whose person he, at the age of sixty five, had taken the most unwarrantable liberties, – such as both to shock & alarm her, while she yet remonstrates in the strongest language of reverence as well as affection: – I put it in a green bag [11]  before I laid it upon the Ladies table below stairs for their perusal & judgement. Should it prove authentic (which I fear it will do) I cannot avoid making the fact public, & a very great stir it will inevitably excite. [12] 

At present I am enjoying the proof sheets of my History of the War, [13]  having received the first four on Christmas day. This is a great pleasure. I have also sent to the press the poem in hexameters [14]  of which you saw the commencement: they who bear me no good will, will abuse both the metre & the matter; – which they may do till their hearts ache without in the slightest degree affecting my tranquillity. The first proof has not reached me yet, & I am curious to see how such long lines will look in print. As I have something to say concerning the metre in a preface, [15]  the book will be thick enough to make something more than a pamphlett, & therefore to be put in boards & take an upright place upon the shelf. I trust you will receive it in the course of four or five weeks.

M^rs S. & her sisters [16]  desire their kindest remembrances. They & the children [17]  are at present, thank God, tolerably well. Winter is only now setting in, with keen, high winds, which visit me far too roughly by the fire side. I hope you have good accounts from Wade. [18]  We shall begin soon to think of Turkey as a good settled government. – The great Powers have a difficult task at this time – My advice would be to let Naples, as well as Spain alone, – & the condition of both countries would soon serve as an aweful warning. [19]  Remember me most kindly to M^rs Browne & your daughters, [20]  – not forgetting Mary, [21]  & believe me

my dear Sir, yours very truly Robert Southey.