690. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 4 July [1802]
690. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 4 July [1802] *
Dear Rickman
I received yours & its contents duly, & consider myself paid off. at last I have found out the riddle [1] – the tutor was to be called private secretary, & then the Treasury paid him. I am dull at these solutions – George Dyers two last poems [2] passed me for pure nonsense. twas all dark to my owl eyes till blind Tobin saw the meaning.
So now if I can get an appointment abroad I shall be thankful – if not – I shall be contented. a light heart & a thin pair of breeches [3] – you know the song & my nankin trousers [4] may be included under the generic name. I have invested John May with full powers to procure me a house about Richmond – not without certain fears that xx what I require will not easily be found. rent & taxes not to exceed £40. a small garden. near a market but not in a town – & not so close to a turnpike as to annoy either me or my cabbages.
My brother Tom is in England – he was to be paid off yesterday – & I expect him here as soon as the coach can bring him. poor fellow the first news he received was his mothers death.
God bless you –
yrs –
R Southey.
Sunday July 4. Kingsdown .
Notes
[1] The answer to the ‘riddle’ of why Isaac Corry had employed Southey as his secretary. Corry had wanted Southey to act as a tutor to his sons, and for the bill to be picked up by the state. BACK
[2] George Dyer’s ‘Funeral Procession of Polly Whitehead’ and ‘A Monody on the Death of Penelope Trotter’, in his Poems and Critical Essays, 2 vols (London, 1802), II, pp. 216-228 and 229-235. BACK
