“I shall send three sections of Kehama to meet you in London; three more
will complete it, and would have so done before this time had all things been
going on well with me. I had a daughter
born on the 27th last month; a few days after the birth her mother was taken
ill, and for some time there was cause of serious alarm. This, God be thanked,
is over. The night before last we had another alarm of the worst kind, though
happily this also is passing away. My little boy went to bed with some slight indications of a trifling
cold. His mother went up as usual to look at him before supper; she thought he
coughed in a strange manner, called me, and I instantly recognised the sound of
the croup. We have a good apothecary within three minutes’ walk, and
luckily he was at home. He immediately confirmed our fears. The child was taken
out of bed and bled in the jugular vein, a blister placed on the throat next
morning, and by these vigorous and timely remedies we hope and trust the
disease is subdued. But what a twelve hours did we pass, knowing the nature of
the disease, and only hoping
| Ætat. 35. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 229 |
“Landor, I am not a stoic at home: I feel as you do about the fall of an old tree; but, O Christ! what a pang it is to look upon the young shoot and think it will be cut down. And this is the thought which almost at all times haunts me; it comes upon me In moments when I know not whether the tears that start are of love or of bitterness. There is an evil, too. In seeing all things like a poet; circumstances which would glide over a healthier mind sink into mine; every thing comes to me with its whole force,—the full meaning of a look, a gesture, a child’s imperfect speech, I can perceive, and cannot help perceiving; and thus am I made to remember what I would give the world to forget.
“Enough, and too much of this. The leaven of anxiety is working in my whole system; I will try to quiet it by forcing myself to some other subject.
“What prevented Gebir from being read by the foolish? I
believe the main reason was, that it is too hard for them; more than that, it
was too good. That they should understand its merits was not to be expected;
but they did not find meaning enough upon the surface to make them fancy they
understood it. Why should you not write a poem as good, and more intelligible,
and display the same powers upon a happier subject? Yet certain it is, that
Gebir excited far more attention than you seem to
be aware of. Two manifest imitations have appeared—
| 230 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 35. |
“I once passed an evening with Professor Young at Davy’s. The conversation was wholly scientific, and of
course I was a listener. But I have heard the history of Thomas
Young, as he is still called by those who knew him when he was a
Quaker; and
| Ætat. 35. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 231 |
“God bless you!
