The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Grosvenor C. Bedford, 30 March 1828
“Keswick, March 30. 1828.
“There used to be a quicker interchange of letters
between you and me when we were younger, and each, with less to think of, had a
great deal more to say.
“I think you will see me, God willing, about the third
week in May; but my way is not as yet quite clear; nor am I sure what stoppages
it may be expedient to make upon the road. The only sure thing is, that I shall
remain as short a time as possible in and about town, having to make a wide
western circuit on the way home. I should take this circuit with much greater
satisfaction, if you would make a good honest hearty engagement to meet me at
Keswick on my arrival there. The man Grosvenor ought to bear in mind that neither he, nor the man
Southey, have any right to put off
things from year to year, in reliance upon the continuance of life and ability;
that they are both on the high road to threescore, both in that stage of
existence in which all flesh may fitlier be called hay than grass, because the
blossom is over, and the freshness, and the verdure, and the strength are past.
But let us meet while we can. Nothing would do more good both to Miss
Page and you than to pass your autumn here, and nothing would do
me more good than to have you here.
“The paper upon Emigration in this last Quarterly
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| Ætat. 53. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 325 |
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Review is mine, or rather upon the causes which render a
regulated Emigration necessary. Our fabric of society, Grosvenor, is somewhat in the condition that
the Brunswick Theatre was before the crash,—too much weight suspended from the
roof; and to make things worse, we allow all sort of undermining, and are
willing to let every thing be removed that was erected for securing the
building. They talk, I see, of abolishing the Exchequer. I will forgive them if
they do it in time to emancipate you; yet I wish you to have the next step
first, and then, Grosvenor, peradventure, you may be the
last auditor, and I the last Laureate. Well, it will matter little to us when
we are in the Ghost: you will not haunt Palace Yard, and I shall not haunt the
levee.
“God bless you! . . . .
Grosvenor Charles Bedford (1773-1839)
The son of Horace Walpole's correspondent Charles Bedford; he was auditor of the
Exchequer and a friend of Robert Southey who contributed to several of Southey's
publications.
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Poet laureate and man of letters whose contemporary reputation depended upon his prose
works, among them the
Life of Nelson, 2 vols (1813),
History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (1823-32) and
The Doctor, 7 vols (1834-47).
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
