The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 1: 1791-1797 A Romantic Circles Electronic EditionSouthey, Robert, 1774-1843Lynda PrattRomantic CirclesGeneral Editor, Neil FraistatGeneral Editor, Steven E. JonesGeneral Editor, Carl StahmerTechnical EditorLaura Mandell2009-03-15rce34letterEEd.26.34Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of MarylandCollege Park, MDMarch 15, 2009
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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. Not previously published.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript
Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden
Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University
Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the
Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library,
Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts
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the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of
Nottingham Trent University.
Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed.
Because of web browser variability, all hyphens have been typed on the U.S. keyboard.
Dashes have been rendered as a variable number of hyphens to give a more exact rendering of their length.
Southey’s spelling has not been regularized.
Writing in other hands appearing on these manuscripts has been indicated as such, the content recorded in brackets.
& has been used for the ampersand sign.
£ has been used for £, the pound sign
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34. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 6 December 1792Address: Grosvenor Charles Bedford Esqr./ Old Palace Yard/
Westminster./ Single Sheet Stamped: BRISTOLPostmark: CDE/ 8/ 92Watermark: G R in a circle and figure of
BritanniaEndorsement: 6 Decr 1792MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. ALS; 4p.Unpublished.College Green.Dec. 6. 1792.
The heat of temper occasioned by political madness must plead in excuse of my last letter — never will I venture in
writing upon the subject again. vox audita perit litera scripta manetA commonplace saying,
which translates as, ‘The spoken word perishes, but the written word remains’. — & so if you will burn my paper upon
suicide you will destroy the only monument of your friends sophistical impiety. tomorrow sees the rough copy demolished — I should be
glad the one you have were to meet the same fate but perhaps you may like to keep it as a memento of my boyish faults & a check
upon future vanity — when some over officious friends put a Doctor of DivinityUnidentified. to argue me into quitting the Flagellant — after I had answered all he could say his last resource was to
mention the uneasiness my relations would feel at the continuance. I instantly yielded though not without observing that no self-motive
should ever have prevailed — the Reverend Doctor sneered at the romantic affectation of a boy. till that moment I had only felt the
character with pleasure — I then owned it with pride.
the same boyish sentiments made me forget Strachey & myself
when I last wrote —. there was a time when I loved Strachey as if he had been
my brother but it was when the natural purity & sensibility of <his> character were neither obscured by vanity nor hardened
by his wish for the applause of those whom he despised. at that period he entertained the same sentiments for me. but when G S was willing to do every idle blockheads exercise & contented himself with
doing good exercises & neglecting every other study, the applause of the Doctor & the Dunces made him above that friend who was always friendly enough to tell him of his faults. Grif LloydGriffith Lloyd (d. 1843), educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford (BA
1797). thought him the cleverest fellow in school — Jack ShepherdRichard John Stracey
Shepherd (dates unknown), educated at Westminster School (admitted 1785) and Trinity College, Cambridge (adm. 1792). lookd up
to him as an oracle & the Kings Scholars with the virtuous Hook made him their
confident — (by the by I have a story of Hook presently.) the only notice he had for some time taken of me was his contemptuous jests
till the commencement of the Flagellant.A schoolboy magazine devised by Southey and his
friends, it was forced to cease publication after nine issues. his behaviour then is well know to you your brotherCollinsCombeLamb & Rough. what a
character Stracheys would make for a number said I to Lamb one night — talking to him the next day upon <the subject> L repeated what I had said. S
immediately comes to me glowing with anger. (it was in school) I understand said he you intend drawing my character for the Flagellant
— if you do I only say that I will immediately send your name to the <news>paper & act up the work. I was hurt & could
not help telling him that if he had been as much my friend as formerly he never could have believed my intentions were such. “but Strachey do not think I am intimidated by your threats. whatever you can do in
injury of the Fl. I can despise.” I felt afterwards angry with myself & was more than once upon the point of apologizing — but it
would have looked like fear. after my retreat from Westminster his significant smiles & shrugs might have intimated the real cause
to anyone — that however was of no object to me the expulsion was a thing I could only glory in. after this I did wrong ever to write
to Strachey — still however if you think my letter wrong I will apologize for
it — I will own myself to blame but never never desire his correspondence. I have not answerd his letter — the destined answer lies in
my portfolio to prove perhaps one day that it was not conscious faultiness that held me silent. if the same fortune hitherto attendant
upon me & mine, should every bring this head to the block, some hireling scribbler in ripping up my faults & follies will not
pass over this.
I have been reading Eheu fugacesHorace (65–8 BC), Odes, Book 2, no. 14, line 1. The Latin translates as ‘Alas [the years slide by] so fleetingly’. & your
translation this moment together. the three last stanzas are certainly best but altogether it is in my opinion very good — tho
‘th’unpardoning God’ I do not like the epithet is rather prosaic — (you see I will point out what appears to me as faulty) a better may
easily be found. & now as I have picked your bone take mine to pick cum notis Sancti Basilii.The Latin translates as ‘with notes by St Basil’. St Basil (c. 330–379), founder of eastern monasticism. Basil was a
pseudonym used by Southey, particularly in his writing for The Flagellant (1792).
Ille & nefasti te posuit die &cHorace, Odes,
Book 2, no. 13, line 1. The Latin translates as ‘He planted you on an evil day’.
———
Unlucky was I ween that doltOld GraySouthey adds note in right hand column: ‘1 a Gray
horse of Mr Lambs.’ who reard thee from a colt —Oft by thy dam unlucky jadeHe in the mire & dirt was laidNor he alone — for one & allWho rode have met with many a fall —Unlucky too the grooms who deckThe horse to break the riders neckFor Memory pictures in my mindThat hour when I got up behind.Southey adds note in right hand column: ‘2 once upon a time the author in mounting was by a sudden jerk thrown upon this grays rump. this said gray had
been taught to rear whenever the rump was touchd so Gray pranced — Poet leaped forward & Fortune jumpd him into the saddle.
every Bard cannot ride the great horse at Hughes’s as well as Pegasus.’Some evil Dæmons envious powerPresided at thy natal hourSome evil Dæmon sure thee spedTo pitch thy master on his headSouthey adds note in right hand column: ‘3 alluding to a very dangerous fall of Mr Lambs.’And turnd thy wandring eyes aboutTo fall & fling poor Tom Lamb out.Southey adds note in right hand column: ‘4 Tom was driving this horse in a gig
when owing to his stumbling he was thrown out & much bruised.’Your BesseySouthey adds note in right hand column: ‘5
Mr Ls eldest daughter. very ill in a sea party.’ still will dread that dayThat saw her midst old Oceans swayResolvd to tempt his rage no moreShe fears but for her friends on shore.The German hireling Hesse Cassel, a German state notorious for hiring out
its troops as mercenaries, and an ally of Prussia and Austria during their invasion of France in 1792. fears to fightExposd to France & Freedoms mightProud Prussias disciplind hussarTrembles again to meet the warFrance only dreads the despots chainAnd chuses Deaths or Freedoms reign.Death unprovokd & unforeseenStalks sternly oer the smiling sceneHe grasps his unsuspecting preyAnd sweeps whole nations in his sway. WellSouthey adds note in right hand column: ‘6 after
his fall from the gig T D Lamb was put in damp sheets at an inn.’ nigh my friend in Plutos reignPluto, Roman god of the underworld. Hadst thou beheld the dark domainWell nigh hadst seen in sable rowThe well wiggd Counsellors belowAnd stalking thro the realms of nightHadst seen poor GualbertusJohn Gualbert (c. 995–1073), founder of the
Vallombrosian order. The pseudonym ‘Gualbertus’ was used by Southey for his controversial attack on flogging as an invention of
the devil in the fifth issue of The Flagellant (29 March 1792). spriteWhere fearless he complains to JoveJupiter, the king of the Roman
gods.How stupid boys are floggd aboveThere Milton might he hear thy lyrePour forth the flow of godlike fireAnd rear thy CromwellsProbably John Milton (1608–1674; DNB), Sonnet XVI, ‘To the Lord General Cromwell’ (1652). praise & singHow falln how mean a tyrant KingWhilst listning crowds in silence hearAnd Truths unheard before appear.But chief to hear thy patriot songHampden & SidneyJohn Hampden (1594–1643; DNB),
parliamentarian and opponent of Charles I (1600–1649; reigned 1625–1649; DNB). He died in a skirmish at
Chalgrove Field. Algernon Sidney (1622–1683; DNB), politician and republican, executed for his alleged
involvement in the Rye House plot. move alongAnd BrutusEither Lucius Junius Brutus, the man credited with expelling the
last king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus, in 510 BC; or Marcus Junius Brutus (85–42 BC), the assassin of Julius Caesar (100/102–44
BC). bends thy soul to knowAnd Nature listens in ROUSSEAU.What wonder? when the Cherub quireFrom their celestial song respireAnd bend their frenzied heads to hearAnd more exalted strains revereThe very Ghosts forget their woeSo grand thy godlike numbers flow.Een I oer whose ill fated headHer deepest viel has Sorrow spreadAmid dark Fortunes sharpest showerForget that Fortune for an hourAnd lost amid the blaze of dayForget my very woes away.Unlucky … away: Written in double columns, with the
verse in the left hand column and Southey’s notes in the right.
________________
I have neither <heard> of or from Lamb since & am much alarmed at a
silence so very uncommon.I have ... uncommon: Inserted in the right hand column.
_____________
the classics will soon by published LucanMarcus Annaeus Lucanus (AD 39–65),
author of the Pharsalia, forced to commit suicide when his involvement in the Pisonian conspiracy against
the Emperor Nero was discovered. particularly I suppose in usum republicæ.The Latin
translates as ‘advantage of the republic’.
Hook has been standing candidate for the gallows at Oxford — he attempted a rape
upon a servant girl at a time when he owns himself clapped. her master heard her cries & rescued her but for two days she remained
dangerously ill. Hook gave her a new gown by way of recompense when had they acted justly it would have given him a chance for a
halter. I always disliked him for his impudence this brazen faced endowment however carries him thro every thing.
— I have read 12 Satires of JuvenalDecimus Junius Juvenalis (fl. AD late C1
and early C2), satirist. with a vast deal of pleasure — the 8th is the only one which my head (desirous
of levelling all to my system) has imitated — but as I have no wish to fall under the inquisitorial jurisdiction of our new Star
chamber — to lose my hand nose & ears like LilburneJohn Lilburne (1615?–1657; DNB), Leveller and Republican. In 1638 he was brought before the Court of the Star Chamber for distributing
unlicensed literature, whipped and put in the pillory. or the Englishman whom Elizabeth punishd for writing against her
intended marriage with AnjouIn 1579, negotiations were under way for Elizabeth I (1533–1603;
reigned 1558–1603; DNB) to marry Francois, Duke of Anjou (1555–1584), heir-presumptive to the French
throne. The proposed marriage was deeply unpopular and John Stubbe (c.1541–1590; DNB)
denounced it in The Discoverie of a Gaping Gulf whereinto England is Like to be Swallowed by Another French
Marriage (1579). As a punishment, his right hand was cut off. — or to run away like RidgewayJames Ridgeway (1755–1838), well-known publisher of pamphlets, with a shop in York Street, St James’s
Square. In 1793, he was fined £200 and imprisoned for publishing the works of Thomas Paine (1737–1809; DNB). In 1794, he agreed to publish Southey’s Wat Tyler. In fact, the play was not published until
1817, when it appeared without Southey’s consent. — my poor imitation must lie in my desk. however this hand may dabble in
politics for my own private satisfaction it shall fill no more letters with it & if you see any production of mine upon the subject
it will only be an ode to the shade of Milton which I have in embryo. Juvenal is a grand nervous Satirist — your refined criticks
prefer the sneering strokes of HoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 BC). — for me I
think otherwise — Johnsons London & Vanity of Human WishesSamuel Johnson’s (1709–1784;
DNB) ‘London’ (1738) was a version of Juvenal (fl. AD late C1 and early C2), Satire 3, and ‘The Vanity of Human Wishes’ of Juvenal, Satire 10. are two of the noblest
compositions in our language — the satire of the first is already become obsolete & some centuries hence posterity will believe the
supple French Fop only a creation of some drunken Englishmans brain. the last will retain its original beauty even if 1600 years hence
some future Bard should imitate Johnson in some future language.
You say there is some grief & some anger in Stracheys
letter — the grief has escaped my search though I read it more than once — to use your own expression I must look upon him as a faded
flower & regret most the loss of its worth.
I much fear my intended journey to Rye will be very unpleasantly set
aside — my fathers health is very precarious & in spite of the hopes with
which I have long imposed upon myself I cannot help seeing that he declines rapidly. whether it be apathy or philosophy I know not, but
some such passion it must be that enables me to turn from domestic distress & look on to happiness as well private as public.
Reflection however will intrude sometimes