493. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 23 February 1800

493. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 23 February 1800 ⁠* 

Kingsdown. Feby 23. 1800.

My dear Wynn

I did not design writing till you should have reachd Gloucester – but for an unpleasant cause. my income scroll [1]  was given in at Westbury– & as in moving about I have paid no installment the whole are now due there. this is a heavier demand than I can answer. with the Morning Post [2]  I have done – & have drawn too lately upon the Review [3]  for the sake of supplying one of my brothers – to be able to apply there. the booksellers offer about a school-book [4]  I, as I told you, rejected – & am by no means willing to retract my refusal: I think it better to apply to you. allow me in justification – for I ought to justify myself – to add that tho illness has increased my expences & lessened my means – still but for this debt – which certainly was not contracted by my own act or will – I should not have felt embarrasment.

God bless you.

yrs affectionately

R. Southey.

When is the proper season to write to Strachey?


Notes

* Address: To/ C W Williams Wynn Esqr/ 5. Stone Buildings/ Lincolns Inn/ London
Postmarks: BRISTOL/ FEB 24 1800; FREE/ FEB 25 1800; B/ FEB 25/1800
Endorsement: Feb 23 1800
MS: National Library of Wales, MS 4811D. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK

[1] Presumably, Southey’s return for the new income tax. BACK

[2] Southey had stopped writing poetry regularly for the Morning Post in December 1799. BACK

[3] Critical Review, for which Southey had been reviewing books. BACK

[4] For Richard Phillips’s (1767–1840; DNB) offer; see Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 20 February 1800, Letter 492. BACK

People mentioned

Places mentioned

Kingsdown Parade, Bristol (mentioned 1 time)
Westbury (mentioned 1 time)