3737. Robert Southey to [James Hogg], 19 October 1821

3737. Robert Southey to [James Hogg], 19 October 1821⁠* 

Dear Shepherd

Feldborg tells me he shall see you on his way to Edinburgh. I take the opportunity which this offers to tell you that I am glad you are married glad to hear that you have a child, [1]  & that I heartily wish you long life, & continued happiness.

A writer in Blackwoods Magazine says the Lake Poets sneer at every body. [2]  He lies. – I sneer at no one – except Mr Jeffrey. What I say of any man, I would just as readily say to him. And what I say of the Ettrick Shepherd ever since I have known him & his writings, is that I admire & esteem & like him.

If I ever come to your Lake, or you to mine, [3]  – or wherever else we may meet again (as I hope we shall do) it will give me great pleasure to shake you by the hand.

God bless you & yours.

Robert Southey.

Keswick. 19 Oct. 1821.


Notes

* Address: To/ The Ettrick Shepherd
MS: National Library of Scotland, MS 2245. ALS; 2p.
Previously published: Mary Garden, Memorials of James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd (Paisley, 1844), pp. 194–195. BACK

[1] Hogg had married Margaret Phillips (c. 1799–1870) on 28 April 1820; their first child, James Robert Hogg (1821–1894), was born on 18 March 1821. BACK

[2] Southey is quoting the essay ‘Why are Poets indifferent Critics’, signed ‘T.D.’; it had appeared in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, 10 (September 1821), 184. BACK

[3] Hogg lived at a farmhouse on Altrive Lake, Selkirkshire; Southey lived at Keswick, near the shore of Derwentwater. BACK

People mentioned

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Keswick (mentioned 1 time)