1479. Robert Southey to William Taylor, 11 July 1808 ⁠* 

Keswick July 11. 1808

Dear W^m Taylor

Whether you or I be most to blame for a long chasm in a never-very close correspondence, is more than my memory can at present reach to decide, – but I suspect myself to be in fault.

I have received D^r Sayers’s Disquisitions, [1]  & placed the copy which he xxxx addrest to Coleridge among his books, where with D^r S.s poems [2]  it lies awaiting his return; which is rather more difficult to calculate than that of a comet. He is at present with Mrs Clarkson at Bury. Make my acknowledgements for the book. I was pleased to see it had grown bulkier in its new edition. – Had Middleton [3]  been now at Norwich it is possible that you might have seen Coleridge there, – for M. called upon him in London. it has been his humour for time past to think, or rather to call, the Trinity a philosophical & most important truth, & he is very much delighted with Middletons work upon the subject. D^r Sayers would not find him now the warm Hartleian that he has been. Hartley [4]  was ousted by Berkeley. [5]  Berkeley by Spinoza, [6]  & Spinoza by Plato. When last I saw him Jacob Behmen [7]  had some chance of coming in. The truth is that he plays with systems, & any nonsense will serve him for a text from which he can deduce something new & surprizing.

M^rs Martin [8]  has told me some ill news from Norwich, & I suppose by you have ere this lost a good man, who will long be regretted.

Of late I have I had some interruptions in my ordinary goings on, first by from a sickness among the children, & latterly by one of my obstinate catarrhs which effected a lodgement three weeks ago in my nose & eyes, & has not yet quitted its quarters, – tho it seems upon the move. You will receive the Cid [9]  in the course of a month. How nobly have his country men justified the opinion of them which I have so often expressed, & so generally to the astonishment of those who heard me! Spain will now be free. Buonaparte has but one favour more to confer upon them, – if he makes away with the royal family, his crimes, & their deliverance will then be compleat. It may perhaps be possible to prune down the rotten tree of their monarchy, & make it bear good fruit, – but I had rather, now that the Dynasty is, felo-de-se, see them bury the crown & sceptre where four roads meet, – & form themselves into a federal Republick, to which Portugal might accede, with no sa without any sacrifice of national pride, on equal terms.

I am planning a poem upon Pelayo, the Restorer of Spain, [10]  – a subject which has long been in contemplation. My poetical schemes indeed were never so extensive as they are at this time, when I literally cannot afford to write a verse at any time but what is fairly won for the purpose; by rising before my former time hour. The cause of this has been a conversation at Bristol with Walter Savage Landor, – the Gebir: [11]  a marvellous man. it made me feel somewhat ashamed that I should not as a poet do all which I am capable of doing. The plain reason I cannot afford to write poetry has a mercenary sound with it; unless it be explained that it is not the love of money but the necessity of subsisting which is implied: & tho I cannot prevent unjust criticisms from impeding the sale of my books, yet if they prevent me from writing altogether, & <so> cut off the palm-head of my future fame, that is my own fault. I will therefore go on strenuously. When a poem is compleated, if I can get a fair price for it, according to the ordinary trade-price of labour, well & good. If not, the MS. shall lie by & be left for my children, & I will accumulate something for them in this shape, which will produce its value when after my death. And while the present unjust laws of copy-right exist, I believe this will be the wisest plan which a man, who xxxx does not xxxx level himself down to the fashion of the times, can possibly pursue. I am now proceeding in these morning hours with Kehama, [12]  – rhyming it: & introducing modes of rhyme which give a new power in versification. This poem will be in all its parts original, – the offence of all others which the present generation are least willing to pardon.

My last accounts from Harry are of xxxx an old date, – but he was picking up a few fees, & his prospects seem good. My answer contained reasons why it was better to marry next year than this, – advice which would not be very welcome. The Annual [13]  has not yet reached me: I see however his articles in the new Medical Review, [14]  & they manifest considerable improvements & promise. By the by I was exceedingly pleased with Robert Gooch, of whom I saw much in a few meetings. – I have sent Harry some Portugueze to translate & abridge for Pinkertons collection. [15] 

What is become of your translations from Tressan? [16]  – a more important question is why do you not put together, systematize, & embody your speculations upon political economy? Of all things this is what I most wish to see from you.

Lady Bedingfield, [17]  of whom you probably know something, is painting a picture from one of my poems, which is designed for me. It will come thro Miss Betham, – the painter & poetess, who is the largest damsel I have ever seen that is not out of the race of the Giants, – but a clever & interesting woman, & likely to be the best Poetess of her age.

God bless you

R Southey.