The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Thomas Southey, 22 November 1808
“I am not quite sure which deserves the severest
cart’s tailing, you or your admiral; you for what you say of Frere’s translation, he for what he says of mine. A
translation is good precisely in proportion as it faithfully represents the
matter, manner, and
* The title of a Chinese novel. |
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| Ætat. 34. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 193 |
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spirit of its original: this is equally well done in his
verse and my prose, and I will venture to say never has been, and never will
be, better done elsewhere. You do not like it at all! With what notion have you
been reading it? Not, I am sure, with the recollection that it is part of the
oldest poem extant in any modern language, being of the time of our William the Conqueror, the manner and the metre
of which have been represented as accurately as possible. In fact, his
translation had long been the admiration of all who had seen it, and I had
heard wonders of it from Walter Scott,
Harry, Heber, and the Hollands,
before I saw it. Your phrase of ‘eking out’ is
cart’s-tailable without benefit of clergy. Instead of wanting materials,
I suppressed half a drawer full of notes, besides my own King
Ramiro and Garci
Ferrandez.
“Now to the Admiral’s criticism. He seems to
suppose that a book ought always to be rendered into English of the newest
fashion; and, if not, that it then should be given in the English of its own
age,—a book of the fifteenth century (sixteenth he means) in that of the
fifteenth. He did not recollect that in the thirteenth century there was no
such thing as English, which is, I think, answer enough. But the fact is, that
both in this Chronicle and in
Amadis, I have not
formed a style, but followed one. The original, when represented as literally
as possible, ran into that phraseology, and all I had to do was to avoid words,
and forms of words, of modern creation, and also such as were unintelligibly
obsolete. There is, as you must have heard Wordsworth point out, a lan-![]()
| 194 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 34. |
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guage of pure
intelligible English, which was spoken in Chaucer’s time, and is spoken in ours; equally understood
then and now; and of which the Bible is the written and permanent standard, as
it has undoubtedly been the great means of preserving it. To that beautiful
manner of narration which characterises the best Chronicles this language is
peculiarly adapted; and, in fact, it is appropriated to
such narration by our books of chivalry, and, I might almost say, consecrated to it by the historical parts of Scripture.
It so happens that, of all the things which I have ever done, the only one for
which all the Reviews with one accord commended me, was for the manner In which
I had rendered Amadis. I wish he may steer as clear
of all mischief as I shall of them upon this occasion. The fault which he finds
is, that I have translated the Chronicle
of the Cid instead of writing his History.
“The new Review is to appear in April. Among the persons who are calculated
upon to write in it there are Frere;
G. Ellis; your admiral’s brother, a man of more than
common talents, and well to be liked; Heber; Coplestone, the
Oxford Poetry Professor (a great admirer of Madoc); Miss
Baillie; Sharon Turner;
and Captain Burney. A good many of these
persons I know have the same thorough conviction of the destructive folly it
would be to make peace that I and Walter
Scott have; for, to do Scott justice, all
his best and bravest feelings are alike upon that subject. I think we shall do
good, and will do my part with a hearty good-will. What I said to Bedford was, that as long as this govern-![]()
| Ætat. 34. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 195 |
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ment caravan was travelling my road I was content to
travel with it; and that, though all my opinions hang together, all the hanging
which they imply does not immediately appear. One good thing is, that I shall
be pretty sure of civil treatment here, and the Review will carry great weight
with it.
“—— has not written to me. There
will be such a tremendous campaign that the chances are much against any
individual, especially one who will seek the hottest service, as he will do. In
the field he is but one, and as obnoxious to a ball as the merest machine of a
soldier; but, should he be in a besieged town, such a man is worth a whole
regiment there.
“God protect him, wherever he be!
“God bless you!
Joanna Baillie (1762-1851)
Scottish poet and dramatist whose
Plays on the Passions
(1798-1812) were much admired, especially the gothic
De Montfort,
produced at Drury Lane in 1800.
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.
James Burney (1750-1821)
The brother of Fanny Burney; he sailed with Captain Cook and wrote about his voyages, and
in later life was a friend of Charles Lamb and other literary people.
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 c.-1400)
English Poet, the author of
The Canterbury Tales (1390 c.).
Edward Copleston, bishop of Llandaff (1776-1849)
Educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, he was a fellow of Oriel, Oxford Professor of
Poetry (1802-12), dean of St. Paul's (1827-1849), and bishop of Llandaff (1827-49); he
published
Three Replies to the Calumnies of the Edinburgh Review
(1810-11).
George Ellis (1753-1815)
English antiquary and critic, editor of
Specimens of Early English
Poets (1790), friend of Walter Scott.
Henry Richard Fox, third baron Holland (1773-1840)
Whig politician and literary patron; Holland House was for many years the meeting place
for reform-minded politicians and writers. He also published translations from the Spanish
and Italian;
Memoirs of the Whig Party was published in 1852.
John Hookham Frere (1769-1846)
English diplomat and poet; educated at Eton and Cambridge, he was envoy to Lisbon
(1800-02) and Madrid (1802-04, 1808-09); with Canning conducted the
The
Anti-Jacobin (1797-98); author of
Prospectus and Specimen of an
intended National Work, by William and Robert Whistlecraft (1817, 1818).
Richard Heber (1774-1833)
English book collector, he was the elder half-brother of the poet Reginald Heber and the
friend of Walter Scott: member of the Roxburghe Club and MP for Oxford 1821-1826.
Thomas Sotheby (1759-1831)
Naval officer, the younger brother of the poet William Sotheby; he was made rear-admiral
in 1805 and served in the Channel fleet. His first wife Sarah (d. 1802) was the youngest
daughter of the poet Christopher Anstey.
William Sotheby (1757-1833)
English man of letters; after Harrow he joined the dragoons, married well, and published
Poems (1790) and became a prolific poet and translator,
prominent in literary society.
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).
Sharon Turner (1768-1847)
Attorney, historian, and writer for the
Quarterly Review; he wrote
History of the Anglo-Saxons, 4 vols (1799-1805).
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
With Coleridge, author of
Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth
survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.
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.
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.
