The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Grosvenor C. Bedford, 4 January 1817
“The Courier of to-night tells me I am elected member of the Royal
Institute of Amsterdam; now I put it to your feelings, Mr. Bedford, whether it be fitting that a man
upon whom honour is thus thrust, should be without a decent pair of pantaloons
to receive it in; such, however, is my condition; and unless you can prevail
upon the Grand Hyde to send me some new clothes without
delay, I shall very shortly become a sans
culottes, however unwilling Minerva may be. Moreover, I have promised to pay a visit at
Netherhall* toward the end of this month, and I must therefore supplicate for
the said clothes in formâ pauperis.
“The packet wherein this will be enclosed carries up
the conclusion of a rousing paper for Gifford, which, with some omissions and some insertions, will
be shaped into the two first chapters of my book. It will not surprise me if in
some parts it should
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| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 233 |
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startle Gifford. Are the Government
besotted in security? or are they rendered absolutely helpless by fear, like a
fascinated bird, that they suffer things to go on? Are they so stupid as not to
know that their throats as well as their places are at stake? As for
accelerating my movements for the sake of holding a conversation which would
end in nothing, though I have little prudence to ballast my sails, I have
enough to prevent me from that. All that I possibly can do I am doing, under a
secret apprehension that it is more likely to bring personal danger upon myself
than to rouse them to exertion; but for that no matter: it is proper that the
attempt should be made; the country will stand by them if they will stand by
the country.
“Were I to see one of these personages, and he were to
propose anything specific, it would probably be some scheme of conducting a
journal à la mode the Anti-Jacobin. This is no work for
me. They may find men who will like it, and are fitter for it.
“I think of being in town in April, si possum. My book, peradventure, may be
ready by that time; but there is a large field before me, and many weighty
subjects. Meantime, though I want nothing for myself, and certainly would not
at this time accept of anything, I should nevertheless be very glad if they
would remember that I have a brother in the navy. God bless you!
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.
William Gifford (1756-1826)
Poet, scholar, and editor who began as a shoemaker's apprentice; after Oxford he
published
The Baviad (1794),
The Maeviad
(1795), and
The Satires of Juvenal translated (1802) before becoming
the founding editor of the
Quarterly Review (1809-24).
Humphrey Senhouse (1773-1842)
Of Netherhall in Cumberland, the son of Humphrey Senhouse (d. 1814); in 1803 he married
Elizabeth Greaves and in 1826 was high sheriff of Cumberland. He was an antiquary and
friend of Robert Southey.
The Anti-Jacobin. (1797-1798). A weekly magazine edited by William Gifford with contributions by George Canning, John
Hookham Frere, and George Ellis. It was the model for many later satirical
periodicals.
The Courier. (1792-1842). A London evening newspaper; the original proprietor was James Perry; Daniel Stuart, Peter
Street, and William Mudford were editors; among the contributors were Samuel Taylor
Coleridge and John Galt.
