3445. Robert Southey to
[John May](people.html#MayJohn),
22
February 1820Address: To/ John May Esqre/ Richmond/ Surrey
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmarks: E/ 25FE25/ 1820; 10o’Clock/ FE.25/ 1820
F.N.n
Watermark: WD & Co/ 1819
Endorsement: No. 211 1820/
Robert Southey/ Keswick 22d February/ recd. 28th do./ ansd. 15th March
Seal: black wax; arm raising
aloft cross of Lorraine
MS: Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin. ALS;
4pp,
Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert
Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), V, pp. 22–23 [in part]; Charles Ramos (ed.), The Letters of
Robert Southey to John May: 1797–1838 (Austin, Texas, 1976), pp. 184–186.[Keswick](places.html#Keswick).22 Feby. 1820 My
dear friend It seems a long while since I have heard from you, – no doubt you have been expecting to see me,
– & indeed I should about this time have been preparing for my departure, had not two circumstances occurred to
delay it. First the Kings death.George III (1738–1820; King of Great
Britain 1760–1820; DNB) died on 29 January 1820. Taking it for granted that some ex officio compositioni.e. a composition produced by
Southey as Poet Laureate, in this case A Vision of Judgement (1821). would be expected on
this occasion, I shaped something like a plan, & pitched the tune in December when the first alarm was given:
but when that alarm subsided, the thing was laid aside till a more convenient season. A fortnights delay must be
set down to this score, about as much more to a more agreeable employment. The first volume of BrazilSouthey’s History of Brazil (1810–1819). A second edition of the first
volume was published in 1822. is to be reprinted to make up those sets which would otherwise be imperfect,
about 170 in number. Very possibly I may never have another opportunity of sending it into the world, during my
life time, with such improvements as fresh materials enable me to make. So I work at this also. A large insertion
occurs in the first chapter, from an account of Cabrals discovery as given by one of the fleet to King Emanuel. The
original is in the Torre do TomboThe Portuguese National Archive in
Lisbon. & it was first printed at the Rio in 1817.Manoel Aires
de Casal (1754–1821), Corografia Brazilica, ou Relação Historico-Geografica do Reino do Brazil, 2
vols (Rio de Janeiro, 1817), I, pp. 12–34. This book was no. 3252 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.
Pedro Vaz de Caminha (c. 1450–1500) was a member of the fleet led by Pedro Alvares Cabral (c. 1467–c. 1520), which
discovered Brazil in 1500. Caminha’s letter of 1 May 1500 announced the discovery to Manoel I (1469–1521; King of
Portugal 1495–1521). Southey covered this new material in the second edition of the first volume of his
History of Brazil (London, 1822), pp. 8–24.
I shall finish WesleyThe Life of Wesley; and the
Rise and Progress of Methodism (1820). next week: but the printerAndrew Strahan (1749–1831; DNB), MP for various constituencies 1796–1820 and head of
a highly successful printing business. is far behind me. I am not sure whether or not I have told you of a
singular bequest which has been made to me by [a person who shot
himself on New Years day](people.html#HamondElton), – a great box of papers from which to prepare for the public an account of him
& his opinions. You shall see when we meet the very curious anonymous letters which he addressed to me on this
subject about a year ago, leading me to suppose that he was dying of disease. The papers are probably at this time
at [my brother Henry’s](people.html#SoutheyHenryHerbert), to wait my arrival. I apprehend
that there would be little difficulty in selecting from them matter enough for an interesting but a melancholy
work.Southey eventually decided not to publish an edition of Elton
Hamond’s writings. The question is whether it can be done without danger of doing mischief. In the present
diseased state of the public mind frightful examples seem rather to excite imitation than abhorrence.
You know what a rose-coloured politician I was during the worst years of the war. My nature
inclines me to hope & to exertion. And in spite of the evil aspects on every side, & the indications which
are blackening wherever we look, I think that if we do not avert the impending dangers, we shall get thro them
victoriously, let them come thick & threatening as they may. But it will not be without a heavy p
cost. – The murder of the Duc de BerriCharles Ferdinand d’Artoise, Duc de
Berri (1778–1820), a nephew of Louis XVIII (1755–1824; King of France 1814–1824), had been mortally wounded at the
Paris Opera on 13 February 1820 by Louis Pierre Louvel (1783–1820), a Bonapartist. surprized me more than a
like tragedy would have done at home, where such crimes have perseveringly been recommended in those infamous
journals, most of which have been suppressed by the late wholesome acts,A
reference to the government’s ‘Six Acts’ of 1819, which included a new Criminal Libel Act (1819) and which
extended stamp duty to those publications like Cobbett’s Political Register (1802–1836) that had
hitherto avoided it by only publishing opinion rather than news, so allowing them to sell for only 2d. per issue. The government had also made a determined effort to prosecute radical
newspapers. – to say nothing of John Cam Hobhouse, & Co.John
Cam Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton (1786–1869; DNB), radical and friend of Byron. He was radical and
then Whig MP for Westminster 1820–1833, Nottingham 1834–1847, Harwich 1848–1851. Hobhouse had been arrested on 14
December 1819 and imprisoned in Newgate for his pamphlet A Trifling Mistake in Lord Erskine’s
Preface (1819), which was deemed a breach of privilege by the House of Commons. He was not released until
28 February 1820. The effect of such things, (as it is the end also of all revolutions) must be to
strengthen the executive power. As no man can abuse his fortune without injuring it, so no people can abuse their
liberty, without being punished by the loss of it, in whole, or in part. The time will come in this country when a
suspension of the H. Corpus will be as regularly past as a Mutiny Bill,Habeas corpus was the legal principle that prevented detention without trial; it was suspended for one year from
March 1817. The Mutiny Act had been passed annually since 1689. It provided the legal framework to maintain
discipline in the army and had to be renewed each year as an army could only be maintained in peacetime with
parliament’s consent. & when Journals of every kind will pass under the eyes of a Censor, as dramatic
compositions do at this day, before they can be brought on the stage.The
Licensing Act (1737) provided that the scripts of all plays had to be submitted to the Lord Chamberlain for
approval before they could be performed. My speculations lead xx me to look on to strong
governments, & to a police as inquisitorial as that of our Saxon forefathers in the days of Alfred,Alfred the Great (849–899; King of Wessex 871–899; DNB). During his
reign, groups of ten households were formed into ‘tythings’ to protect their property and deliver criminals to
justice. In effect, members were responsible for each other’s actions and the community could be fined for
individuals’ wrongdoing. or of Japan.In Japan under the Tokugawa
regime (1603–1867), appointed town magistrates combined the functions of police, prosecutors and judges, assisted
by a professional police force. Commoners were organised into ‘five family associations’, collectively responsible
for the actions of all their members. Southey noted Japan’s police system in his review of Benjamin Haydon,
New Churches, Considered with Respect to the Opportunities they Offer for the Encouragement of
Painting (1818), Quarterly Review, 23 (July 1820), 549–591 (579). We shall be
driven to it, as a defence against Jacobinism, – or Jacobinism itself will still more certainly end in it. Come to
it, I think we inevitably must. Is it within the xxx bounds of a reasonable hope that the
<an> improved state of public opinion & an extended influence of religion may prevent what would the
degradation which in the common course of things would ensue, after one or two halcyon generations? – How justly
did the Romans congratulate themselves upon the security which they enjoyed under Augustus,Augustus (63 BC–AD 14; Emperor of Rome 27 BC–AD 14). – but how sure was the
tyranny & corruption & ruin which ensued! Our chance of escaping from the same process of decay depends
upon the question whether religion or infidelity are gaining ground. And if I am asked this question I must comfort
myself by the wise & good old saying – Well Masters, God’s above.
You have heard no doubt of the discovery of Cicero de Republicâ.Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 BC), De Re Publica. Only part of the text survives.
The largest part of this was uncovered in 1819 by the Cardinal and philologist Angelo Mai (1782–1852) as a
palimpsest in the Vatican Library. This was brought to my mind at this moment, by a thought whether we
might not be verging towards another a state of things in which a general wreck of literature, &
destruction of libraries would make part of the plans of Reform. – The proposal of a new alphabet has been made by
a German reformer & approved by an English oneIt is not clear who the
German reformer of the alphabet was; the Englishman was probably Thomas Spence (1750–1814; DNB),
The Grand Repository of the English Language (1775). because one of its effects would be to
render all existing books useless! – It was said of old that there was nothing so foolish but some philosopher had
said it.Marcus Tullius Cicero, De Divinatione (44 BC), Book
2, chapter 58, section 119: ‘Nihil tam absurde dici potest, quod non dicatur ab aliquo philosophorum’. Alas
there is nothing so mischievous or so atrocious, but that men are found in these days xxxxxxxxxx mad
enough & malignant enough to recommend & to defend it.
We have had an influenza thro the house here, being the second since the beginning of the year. I
am the only person who have escaped it. [Your god daughter](people.html#SoutheyEdithMay)
is gone for a few days to [her Uncle Toms](people.html#SoutheyTom). [Cuthbert](people.html#SoutheyCharlesCuthbert) who will be a year old on Thursday, continues to
thrive. It would delight you to see the happiness of that little creature when he is sitting on my knee while I
show him some prints of birds & beasts. – One thing more let me add, because you will be glad to hear it. My
infirmity has somewhat strangely left me during the winter, without any means whatever having been used to remove
it: & while my habits have been perhaps more sedentary than they ever were before.Southey was suffering from a rectal prolapse; see Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 3 October 1819,
Letter 3356. God bless you. Remember me to [M](people.html#MaySusannah)rs May & my friends Susan & Mary.Two of May’s three
daughters: Mary Charlotte (b. 1804) and Susanna Louisa (1805–1885). I hope I shall see JohnMay’s son John (1802–1879). when I see you in April. – Remember me also to [John Coleridge](people.html#ColeridgeJohnTaylor).
Yrs very affectionately Robert
Southey.