461. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 9 December 1799 ⁠* 

My dear Wynn

The journey gave me increased pain, less however than I expected, & I feel no ill effects from it. I have consulted with one Physician before I put myself under Beddoes, in whom I have perfect faith. he was inclined to believe it nervous, the effect of excessive irritability. recommended exercise, as little application as possible to any study – & by no means the leaning posture of writing. my chest he said was by no means of a consumptive make, but he hinted the cow-house as a remedy. [1]  I am myself from weighing the various symptoms led to apprehend an organic affection. the pain is most after eating, when the arterial action is strongest. leaning to the right relieves me, – besides I am sensible of irregular action at the heart. Bedford when he sent me the extract from Maundeville [2]  wrote to me about neglecting the law. what would he have me do?

The passage respecting the crystal alludes to the old opinion of its origin [3]  – that it is water, frozen & by length of time condensed & hardened into a gem. the mass of ice under which it had lain, lookd green like the ocean from its magnitude – exactly as the ocean itself does. I am learned in gems & their virtues. with this key there is no difficulty in this passage.

I shall see Beddoes this morning. he is a man envied for his talents, & disliked as an innovator. xx in diseases where the usual remedies are confessedly useless – as in consumption – & paralytic cases – Beddoes tries experiments. & is he not right? in palsies this beatifying gas [4]  is working miracles. indeed this Pneumatic Institution [5]  promises to be of the greatest importance – I am only sorry it is so little supported, & that the expence falls so heavy on a few men. one of the Wedgewoods gave 500 £ for his second subscription – & without such assistance it could not have been set on foot.

God bless you

yrs affectionately

Robert Southey.

Monday. 9 Dec. 1799.