1130. Robert Southey to Thomas Southey, 7 December 1805 ⁠* 

December 7. 1805.  Keswick

Dear Tom I was preparing last night to write to you, but the newspaper came, & seeing therein that a mail was arrived I waited till this evening for a letter & have not been disappointed. Thank you for the turtle, & thank Heaven it has never reached me; – in bodily fear lest it should I wrote off immediately to give it to Wynn, [1]  & if he had not been in town should have given it to any body who would have been kind enough to have eased me of so inconvenient a visitor. How the Devil Tom could you think of sending me a turtle! When indeed I come to be Lord Mayor it may be a suitable present [2]  – but now! – Its carriage down would have been not less than forty shillings – & we should have been quite as much puzzled with it as the Old Gentleman was. Nobody would have known how to kill it, how to cut it up, or how to dress it – there would have been nobody here to help us to eat it nobody to whom we could have given it. – Whether Wynn has got it I cannot tell, but most likely xxx it has been eaten upon the way. [3] 

You mention the contents of poor Ld Probys [4]  common place books. If you can procure them for his father Ld Carysfort, [5]  both he & Wynn will be exceedingly obliged to you. [6]  I am desired by Wynn to say this, – or indeed if you can send any thing that belongs to him which would be likely to be valued by his friends. If you can get the papers direct them to Wynn – 5. Stone Buildings, Lincolns Inn – London – by the by you asked his direction, & this is it.

Your Extracts are very interesting, but several have miscarried – the Devil seems to be Post-Master General on that station. Go on as you have begun, & you will soon collect more & more valuable materials than you are aware of. Describe a W. Indian tavern – its difference from ours. Go to church one Sunday, to describe church & congregation. Inquire at every town if there be any schools there – any dissenters – how the Methodists get on. collect some Jamaica newspapers, – & if you can the magazine which is printed there. Your Tortola [7] -letter is a very delightful one. Put down all the stories you hear. When you go ashore take notice of the insects that you see – the birds xxx all make parts of the picture. xxx Lose nothing that a Creole, or any man acquainted with the Islands, tells you concerning them. Send me all the stories about Pompey [8]  – he must be a curious character. ask him his history. What sort of churchyards, have they? any epitaphs? where do they bury the Negroes? is there any funeral service for them? [9] 

My last was directed to S^t Kitts, [10]  where it seems I must direct always! – in all my last letters I have advised you to get to Europe if you can. Sir Samuel is made Admiral in the last promotions. [11]  I have heard nothing of his having a command – but certainly he is a man to look to, & one who will not be laid aside upon the shelf. I go to Lisbon next year, most likely not till the Autumn. Whether Edith goes will depend upon the state of politics, for xxx it would be foolish to take her if there should be much danger of being turned out. My Uncle is still there & will stay as long as he can. Edward has left the service a third time – is with his Aunt, & struts about in regimentals – tho he has no commission. he told Danvers three months ago he was to be gazetted the next week as Lieutenant in the Caermarthenshire – now he says it is to be in the regulars at once. Nothing that he says is to be believed. He never tells truth – unless there is any thing to be got by it.

I am happy to hear you have got rid of the Amsterdammers. [12]  the complaint seems to be so common that I think myself fortunate to have lived at this age without ever having experienced it. – You talk of invasion. depend upon it, it never will & never can be attempted while our fleet is what it is, – & poor Nelson [13]  has left its name higher than ever. Good God what a blaze of glory as he departed in! – the Spaniards you will see behaved most honourably to the men who were wrecked & who fell into their hands – & about our wounded, – & the French very ill. Continental Politics are too much in the dark for me to say any thing. it is by no means clear that Prussia will take part against France – tho highly probable, & now highly politic. if she should I think Bonapartes victories may prove his destruction.

Still busy reviewing – the 2^d & 3^d Annuals should be at Barbadoes by this time. You have somewhere an account of my articles in the 2^d. In the third look at these articles as mine – Chap.1. Numbers. 5. 6. 9. 11. Chap 3 – N^os 8. 9. 17. Ch. 5 – N^o 11. Ch. 8. – 9. 10. 11. 16. 17. Ch. 10 – 1. 3. 5. 6. 7. 9. 10. 11. 13. 14. 17. 18. 19. 21. 22. 23. 27. 30. 31. Ch. 12. – 2. 3. 4. 7. 8. Ch. 21. – 8. – All these good bad & indifferent are mine. [14]  Wm Taylors you can always discover, & – except in the scientific part, there is little or nothing good in the work but what comes from him or from me. His chief department is in the historical & political part, – & whatever he touches he fertilizes. In the next volume he reviews Madoc, [15]  who has been abused beyond all bounds in the Monthly [16]  xxx such clumsy malice as fairly to defeat itself. the passages quoted to be abused there & in the Edinburgh [17]  struck Windham, [18]  so much that he expressed great admiration to Wynn – & sent for the book. Surely you have it from Barbadoes by this time. – The Spaniard [19]  goes on well – about half done. I give to it all the intervals of reviewing & shall have it published in the spring, when I must go to London, to get the Specimens [20]  concluded over which Bedford <will then> have been dawdling eigh two compleat years!! – I mean to publish the history of the Cid in a little volume [21]  – with learned notes, full of Spanish erudition. All this will fill up my winter & spring After this year I review no more. – It will be very hard if better employments should not pay me better. I do not regret the time thus far bestowed upon it, – by no other means could I have acquired such facility of stile – it has been a useful apprenticeship, & has had also the advantage of making me acquire much information, & looking into my own opinions upon many subjects on which I should not else have thought. – No farther news of the sale of Madoc. the reviews will probably hurt it for a time – that is in their power & that is all they can do. Unquestionably the Poem will stand & flourish. I am perfectly satisfied with the execution, – now eight months after its publication, in my cool & self-distxxxting judgement. Wm Taylor has said it is the best English poem that has left the Press since the Paradise Lost. indeed this is not exaggerated praise – for unfortunately there is no competition.

I want you grievously to tell Espriella stories about the navy, & give him a good idea of the present state, [22]  which of course I cannot venture to do except very slightly & very cautiously, fully aware of my own incompetence. Some of your own stories you will recognize. the book will be very amusing, & promises more profit than any of my former works. Most praise I have had for Amadis, [23]  for the obvious reason that it excited no envy, – they who were aiming at distinction as poets &c without success had no objection to allow that I could translate from the Spanish. But praise & fame are two very distinct things. Nobody thinks the higher of me for that translation, or feels a wish to see me xxx xxx for it, as they do for Joan of Arc & Thalaba. [24]  Poor Thalaba got abused in every review except the Critical [25]  – & yet there has not any poem of the age excited half the attention, or won half the admiration that that has. I am fairly up the hill.

Little Edith looks at the picture of the Ships in the Cyclopædia [26]  & listens to the story how she has a poor Uncle who lives in a ship, & loves her dearly & sends her a kiss in a letter. She is a plain child – but you would love her very dearly – I never saw a more promising intellect. – the profile came safe & highly do I value it. – Rickman has taken himself a Rickwoman. I have not yet seen her, but expect to be her guest in March or April. – Harry at Edinburgh, fagging Law for his degree in July. – Coleridge daily expected in England, & his return notwithstanding as uncertain as ever. [27]  Charles of Antwerp well – do you write to him? he has sent you a set of Couriers with the Annual Review. Poor Cupid [28]  has been hung at last for robbing a hen roost! Your three half-crown sticks you see were bestowed upon him in vain. He is the first of all my friends who ever came to the gallows – & Heaven send that one of our relations may not one day or other follow him! – I am very sorry for him, – poor fellow – I was his godfather. – Of Joe [29]  the last accounts were good. Thus have I turned my memory inside out to rummage out all the news for you & little enough it is. We live here in the winter as much out of the way of all society as if we were cruising at sea. From November till June not a soul do we see – except perhaps Wordsworth once or twice during the time. Of course it is my working season, & I get thro a great deal. – Ediths love – God bless you Tom –

RS.