1544. Robert Southey to Samuel Reid, 28 November 1808
1544. Robert Southey to Samuel Reid, 28 November 1808 *
Keswick. Nov 28. 1808
Dear Reid
I am going to give you a little trouble, & not to apologize for so doing. Danvers sent off a box by sea so long ago, that I am half apprehensive it has gone to the bottom. – he told me he had written to Dr Jardine [1] & requested him to look after it at Liverpool, & ship it on. Will you have the goodness to make enquiry concerning it.
We shall hear of a recoronation at Madrid & of the recapture of Lisboa, probably also of the destruction of Zaragoza [2] & the loss of our own troops. I was confident of the <final> success of the Spaniards before any other person began to hope. My faith in that noblest of all nations, in God & a good cause remains unshaken. They & their language must be rooted out before they can be subdued.
Remember me to your mother. – will you not one day let me have for my guest among these mountains one of the men in the world whom I most heartily & entirely respect? –
God bless you
Robert Southey
Notes
* Address: To/ Mr Samuel Reid/ Clayton Square/ Liverpool
Stamped: KESWICK
298
Postmark: [obscured]
Endorsement: 1808 Rt Southey Keswick 28/30 Nov./ abt. His
[MS obscured]/ ansd. – Decr. 6
MS: Princeton University Library. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK
[1] Probably William Jardine (1784–1843; DNB), physician and merchant, later the founder of the shipping and banking firm Jardine Matheson. BACK
[2] Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte (1768–1844), the elder brother of Napoleon, was made King of Naples and Sicily (1806–1808), and, in August 1808, King Joseph I of Spain (1808–1813). Joseph was forced by a revolt to abandon Madrid and did not return until January 1809, after French reinforcements retook the city. From December the town of Zaragoza was besieged (for the second time that year) by the French. The siege involved ferocious street fighting, in which the Spanish civilians took full part. When the French finally succeeded in February, 54000 people had died. BACK
