“Madoc has not made my fortune. By the state of my account in May last,—that is, twelve months after its publication,—there was a balance due to me (on the plan of dividing the profits) of 3l. 19s 1d. About 180 then remained to be sold, each of which will give me 5s.; but the sale will be rather slower than distillation through a filtering stone. We mean to print a small edition in two vols, without delay, and without alterations, that the quarto may not lose its value.
“Of the many reviewings of this
poem I have only seen the Edinburgh, Monthly, and Annual. I sent a copy to Mr.
Fox, and Lady Holland told
me it was the rule at St. Ann’s Hill to read aloud till eleven, and then
retire; but that when they were reading Madoc they often read till the clock struck
twelve. In short, I have had as much praise as heart could desire, but not
quite so much of the more solid kind of remuneration. . . . . I am preparing
for the press the Chronicle of the
| 52 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 32. |
“You suggest to me three Epic subjects, all of them striking, but each liable to the same objection,—that no entire and worthy interest can be attached to the conquering party in either. 1st. William of Normandy is less a hero than Harold. The true light in which that part of our history should be regarded was shown me by William Taylor. The country was not thoroughly converted. Harold favoured the Pagans, and the Normans were helped by the priests. 2dly. Alaric is the chief personage of a French poem by Scudery, which is notoriously worthless. The capture of Rome is in itself an event so striking that it almost palsies one’s feelings; yet nothing resulted which could give a worthy purport to the poem. In this point Theodoric is a better hero: the indispensable requisite, however, in a subject for me is, that the end—the ultimate end—must be worthy of the means. 3dly. The expulsion of the Moriscoes. This is a dreadful history, which I will never torture myself by reading a second time. Besides I am convinced, in opposition to the common opinion, that the Spaniards did wisely in the act of expelling them; tho’ most wickedly in the way of expelling them. One word more about literature, and then to other matters. How goes on the Fall of Cambria, and what are you about?
“My little girl
is now two years and a quarter old—a delightful playfellow, of whom I am
somewhat
| Ætat. 32. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 53 |
“. . . . . In spite of the slow sale of Madoc, I cannot but think that it may answer as well for the year’s ways and means to finish the ‘Curse of Kehama,’ and sell the first edition, as to spend the time in criticising other people’s books. . . . .
“God bless you!
