3627. Robert Southey to Messrs Longman and Co., 7 February 1821
3627. Robert Southey to Messrs Longman and Co., 7 February 1821*
Feb. 7. 1821.
Dear Sir,
I get no proof of the notes and preface to the “Vision,” [1] and it is time to ask what is become of them.
There is an entertaining account of my “Wesley” in the last “Evangelical Magazine,” in all respects worthy of that enlightened journal. They set me down for a book-maker, treat me with great contempt for my ignorance of theology and ecclesiastical history, and hint, at the close, that what I must expect for such a book is – damnation. [2]
Yours very truly,
R. SOUTHEY.
Notes
* MS: MS untraced; text is taken from John Wood Warter
(ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856)
Previously published: John
Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, p.
234. BACK
[2] Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle, 29 (February 1821), 65–68. It accused Southey of conducting ‘the work in the true style of a book maker, and apparently without any fixed religious principles for his guidance’ (66). It attacked his ignorance (67) and concluded: ‘Mr. Southey … writes like “a man of the world,” to please the world: and he will have his reward – “the world will love its own.” But the great question is – Will God be pleased? Will the writer receive the plaudit of the great Judge at the last day? Will he say to the author of this work – “Well done! good and faithful servant?” The conscience of the writer and the judgment of the reader will answer the question’ (68). BACK