The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Thomas Southey, 30 July 1804
“Greta Hall, July 30. 1804.
“Your three letters have arrived all together this
evening, and have relieved me from very considerable anxiety. Mine I find are
consigned to the Atlantic without bottles; and three books of Madoc, ![]()
| 300 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 30. |
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which Edith copied in them, gone to
edify the sharks—gentlemen who will digest them far more easily than the
critics. However, there must be yet some other letters on the way, and I trust
you will have learnt before this can reach you that I have two
Ediths in the family,—the Edithling (who was born on the last of April)
continuing to do well, only that I am myself somewhat alarmed at that premature
activity of eye and spirits, and those sudden startings, which were in her poor
sister the symptoms of a dreadful and deadly disease. However, I am on my
guard. . . . . I did not mean to trust my affections again on so frail a
foundation,—and yet the young one takes me from my desk and makes me talk
nonsense as fluently as you perhaps can imagine.
“Both Edith and
I are well; indeed, I have weathered a rude winter, and a ruder spring,
bravely. Harry is here, and has been
here about three weeks, and will remain till the end of October. He is a very
excellent companion, and tempts me out into the air and the water when I should
else be sitting at home. We have made our way well in the world, Tom, thus far, and by God’s help we
shall yet get on better. Make your fortune, and Joe
may yet live to share its comforts, as he stands upon his Majesty’s books
in my name, though degraded by the appellation of mongrel. Madoc is in a Scotch press,—Ballantyne’s, who printed the Minstrelsy of the Scottish
Borders,—a book which you may remember I bought at Bristol.
“You ask of Amadis: it has been well reviewed, ![]()
| Ætat. 30. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 301 |
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both in
the Annual and Edinburgh, by Walter
Scott, who in both has been very civil to me. Of all my later
publications, this has been the most successful,—more than 500 of the
1000 having sold within the year, so that there is a fair chance of the 50l. (dependent upon the sale of the whole. Thalaba has been very
admirably reviewed in the
Critical, by William Taylor; but it does not sell, and will
not for some years reach a second edition. Reviewing is coming round again! one
parcel arrived! another on the road! a third ready to start! I grudge the time
thus to be sold, sorely; but patience! it is, after all, better than pleading
in a stinking court of law,—or being called up at midnight to a patient;
it is better than being a soldier or a sailor; better than calculating profits
and loss on a counter; better, in, short than anything but independence. . . .
.
“July is, indeed, a lovely month at the Lakes, and so
the Lakers seem to think, for they swarm here. We have been much interrupted by
visiters; among others, young Roscoe; and more are yet to
come. These are not the only interruptions; we have been, or rather are,
manufacturing black currant jam for my uncle, and black currant wine for ourselves,—Harry and I chief workmen,—pounding them
in a wooden bowl with a great stone, as the acid acts upon a metal mortar. We
have completed a great work in bridging the river Greta at the bottom of the
orchard, by piling heaps of stones so as to step from one to
another,—many a hard hour’s sport, half knee-deep in the water.
Davy has been here—stark mad
for angling. This is our history; ![]()
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—yours has been
busier. As for news, the packet which conveys this will convey later
intelligence than it is in my power to communicate. Sir Francis may, and probably will, lose his election; but it
is evident he has not lost his popularity. Pitt will go blundering on till every body, by miserable
experience, think him what I always did. . . . . Whensoever the great change of
ministry, to which we all look on with hope, takes place, I shall have friends
in power able to serve me, and shall, in fact, without scruple apply to
Fox through one or two good channels:
this may be very remote, and yet may be very near. When Madoc is published, I mean to send
Fox a copy, with such a note as may be proper for me
to address to such a man. . . . .
“God bless you, Tom! it grows late, and I have two proofs to correct for
to-night’s post. Once more, God bless you!
James Ballantyne (1772-1833)
Edinburgh printer in partnership with his younger brother John; the company failed in the
financial collapse of 1826.
Sir Francis Burdett, fifth baronet (1770-1844)
Whig MP for Westminster (1807-1837) who was imprisoned on political charges in 1810 and
again in 1820; in the 1830s he voted with the Conservatives.
Sir Humphry Davy, baronet (1778-1829)
English chemist and physicist, inventor of the safety lamp; in Bristol he knew Cottle,
Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey; he was president of the Royal Society (1820).
Charles James Fox (1749-1806)
Whig statesman and the leader of the Whig opposition in Parliament after his falling-out
with Edmund Burke.
Herbert Hill (1750-1828)
Educated at St. Mary Hall, and Christ Church, Oxford; he was Chancellor of the Choir of
Hereford Cathedral, chaplain to the English factory at Lisbon (1792-1807) and rector of
Streatham (1810-28). He was Robert Southey's uncle.
William Pitt the younger (1759-1806)
The second son of William Pitt, earl of Chatham (1708-1778); he was Tory prime minister
1783-1801.
Edith Southey [née Fricker] (1774-1837)
The daughter of Stephen Fricker, she was the first wife of Robert Southey and the mother
of his children; they married in secret in 1795.
Henry Herbert Southey (1783-1865)
The younger brother of Robert Southey; educated at Edinburgh University, he was physician
to George IV, Gresham Professor of Medicine, and friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Thomas Southey (1777-1838)
The younger brother of Robert Southey; he was a naval captain (1811) and afterwards a
Customs officer. He published
A Chronological History of the West
Indies (1828).
William Taylor of Norwich (1765-1836)
Translator, poet, and essayist; he was a pupil of Anna Letitia Barbauld and correspondent
of Robert Southey who contributed to the
Monthly Magazine, the
Monthly Review, the
Critical Review, and
other periodicals.
The Critical Review, or, Annals of Literature. (1756-1817). Originally conducted by Tobias Smollett, the
Critical Review began
as a rival to the
Monthly Review, begun in 1749. It survived for 144
volumes before falling prey to the more fashionable quarterlies of the nineteenth
century.
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Madoc. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1805). A verse romance relating the legendary adventures of a Welsh prince in Wales and
pre-Columbian America.
