The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Walter Scott, 2 October 1809
“Keswick, Oct. 2. 1809.
“My dear Scott,
“Before I had leisure to thank you for your own letter
and for Ellis’s, and for all that
there is therein, a new game of puss-catch-corner has been commenced at
Westminster, and Canning has done the
most foolish thing he ever did in his life. He should have remembered that
Lord Castlereagh was an Irishman, and
that, as the Union abolished the Irish parliament, so ought the ill customs of
that parliament—duelling ![]()
| 254 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 35. |
![]()
being one—to have
been abolished with it; that, holding his rank and station in the country, it
was as much a breach of decency in him to accept a challenge as it would have
been in an archbishop; and that he might have done more by his example towards
checking a mischievous and absurd practice than has ever been done yet. He got
much credit by replying to the Russian manifesto, and he would have got more by
a proper reply to Castlereagh. A single combat had some
sense in it; there you relied upon your own heart and hand: there was Bsme
pleasure in hewing and thrusting, and the bravest came off best; but as for our
duels, all that has been said against villanous gunpowder holds true against
them.
“I wish to see Marquis
Wellesley in power, because we want an enterprising
Minister,—one who would make the enemy feel the mighty power of Great
Britain, and not waste our force so pitifully as it has always hitherto been
wasted. I wish to see him in power, because he has not been tried, and all the
other performers upon the Westminster stage have. But I confess there is but
little hope in my wishes. It appears to me that the very constitution of our
cabinet necessarily produces indecision, half-measures, and imbecility; it
seems to me that a government so constituted is just like an army, all whose
operations are guided by a council of war instead of a general. I am for
ministerial dictatorships.
“Your views about the Morte d’ Arthur are wiser ones than
mine. I do most formally and willingly ![]()
| Ætat. 35. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 255 |
![]()
resign it into
your hands. My intent was, that the book should be read; but people are not
disposed to read such things generally, or the Cid would not hang upon hand. Now a very
limited edition is sure to find purchasers, and nothing need be sacrificed to
ensure success. I was not, by-the-by, aware that he book had been reformed by
the godly critics whose worthy descendants have lately set forth a Family Shakspeare, and will,
it is to be hoped, in due time present us with an Edition Expurgate of the
Bible, upon the plan by Matthew Lewis. I
have a bill of indictment against those Eclectics and
Vice-Society men, whenever Murray will
send me the needful documents; for, be it known unto you, that, in one of the
Eclectic Reviews, there is a
grand passage, describing the soul
of Shakspeare in hell. If I do not
put some of those Pharisees into purgatory for this, for the edification of our Quarterly readers, then may my right hand forget
its cunning.
“I have not seen the last Review, which makes me
suppose that Murray is still on his
journey. These Quarterly Reviews
lose much by giving up all those minor publications, which served to play
shuttlecock with, and were put to death with a pun, or served up in the sauce
of their own humorous absurdity. Hence, too, they are less valuable as
materials for the history of literature. The old Annual’s was the best plan, if it had not been
starved by scanty pay, and, moreover, choked with divinity.
“My next Missionary Article, when I have time to write
it, will be singularly curious: it will relate ![]()
| 256 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 35. |
![]()
to South
Africa; and I shall obtain from my uncle
a manuscript of D’Anville’s
concerning the Portuguese possessions there, and his plan for establishing a
communication by land between them.
“I want to hear that you have planned another poem,
and commenced it. For myself, I shall begin with Pelayo, the Spaniard, as soon as I can make up my mind in what
metre to write it. That of Kehama, though in rhyme, is almost as much my own as Thalaba, and will, I dare
say, excite as much censure.
Yours very truly,
R. Southey.”
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
George Ellis (1753-1815)
English antiquary and critic, editor of
Specimens of Early English
Poets (1790), friend of Walter Scott.
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.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Richard Wellesley, first marquess Wellesley (1760-1842)
The son of Garret Wesley (1735-1781) and elder brother of the Duke of Wellington; he was
Whig MP, Governor-general of Bengal (1797-1805), Foreign Secretary (1809-12), and
Lord-lieutenant of Ireland (1821-28); he was created Marquess Wellesley in 1799.
The Eclectic Review. (1805-1868). Successively edited by Samuel Greatheed, Daniel Parken, and Theophilus Williams
(1814-36), and the poet Josiah Conder (1837-50). It was friendly to evangelical
publications.
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.
