The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Henry Taylor, 28 March 1825
“Keswick, March 28. 1825.
“My dear Sir,
“Now then for my summer movements. Do not think me
actuated by mere fickleness, if I propose crossing the Channel instead of the
Severn, and drinking Rhenish wine instead of Welsh ale. I want to see Holland,
which is a place of man’s making,
“You will do me the justice of
believing that I do not presume to interfere in any way
with your work. That you are preparing a proper punishment
for his offence against you, I cannot doubt, nor would I
weaken the effect of that punishment from the most powerful
of modern writers by any interference of mine. I strictly
confine myself to the mere theological matters. “Allow me to offer you my
heartiest thanks for your very admirable book. Yours, my dear sir,
Most sincerely, |
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| Ætat. 50. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 209 |
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country as well as towns. I want monastic books, which it
is hopeless to look for in England, and which there is every probability of
finding at Brussels, Antwerp, or Leyden. In the course of three or four weeks,
going sometimes by trekschuits and sometimes upon wheels, we might see the
principal places in the Dutch Netherlands, visit the spot where Sir Philip Sidney fell, talk of the Dousas and Scaliger at Leyden, and obtain such a general notion of the
land as would enable us better to understand the history of the Low Country
wars. Neville White would perhaps join
us; and always in travelling three persons are better than two, especially as
neither you nor I (I suspect) are such good men of business as not to be glad
if a better could be found to officiate as paymaster. Tell me if you like this
scheme. If you do I will write to Neville without delay,
and be ready to start from London by the 1st of June.
“I had heard of . . . as an
American by birth, a man of great talents and unhappy opinions, which, from
him, had spread widely among his contemporaries at Cambridge. Jeremy Bentham is now to such young men what
Godwin was two or three and thirty
years ago; for those who pride themselves most upon thinking for themselves,
are just as prone as others jurare in verba
magistri, only it must be a magister of their own choosing.
“I never made a speech since I was a schoolboy, and am
very certain that I never had any talent for speaking. Had I gone to the bar,
my intent was to ![]()
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have spoken always as briefly and
perspicuously as possible, and have endeavoured to win a jury rather by
appealing to their good sense, than by mistifying their understanding.
Burke’s speeches, which will
always be read, were never listened to; many members used to walk out of the
House when he stood up. I believe that I derived great advantage from the
practice sometimes of translating, sometimes of abridging, the historical books
which are read in certain forms at Westminster. And, in like manner, I am
inclined to think a habit of speaking upon business might be acquired by giving
orally the substance of what one has just read. I have none of that readiness
which is required for public life, or even which is looked for among diners
out. When I am reading I have it; few things then escape me in any of their
bearings. My mind is never so prompt as it is then. In writing it is sometimes
too fast, sometimes too slow.
“So you do not like Hayley. I was born during his reign, and owe him something for
having first made me acquainted by name with those Spanish writers of whom I
afterwards knew much more than he did. Compare him with ordinary country
gentlemen, and see what he gains by his love of literary pursuits. Compare him
with the general run of literary men, and see to what advantage his unenvious
and liberal spirit appears.
“My Vindication is in the press. It contains a fuller account of
Bede than can be found elsewhere; and I
shall introduce in it lives of St.
Francis and of good John
Fox, whom the Papists hate worse than ![]()
| Ætat. 50. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 211 |
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they
do the Devil, and belle as virulently and as impudently as they do your friend,
Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832)
The founder of Utilitarianism; author of
Principles of Morals and
Legislation (1789).
Edmund Burke (1729-1797)
Irish politician and opposition leader in Parliament, author of
On the
Sublime and Beautiful (1757) and
Reflections on the Revolution
in France (1790).
Johan van der Does [Janus Dousa] (1545-1604)
Dutch poet and historian who traveled to England to seek the aid of Queen Elizabeth
against the Spanish. His son Janus Dousa (d. 1596) was also a scholar.
John Foxe (1516-1587)
English martyrologist, the author of the oft-reprinted
Actes and
Monuments (1563).
William Godwin (1756-1836)
English novelist and political philosopher; author of
An Inquiry
concerning the Principles of Political Justice (1793) and
Caleb
Williams (1794); in 1797 he married Mary Wollstonecraft.
William Hayley (1745-1820)
English poet, patron of George Romney, William Cowper, and William Blake. His best-known
poem,
Triumphs of Temper (1781) was several times reprinted. Robert
Southey said of him, “everything about that man is good except his poetry.”
Henry Phillpotts, bishop of Exeter (1778-1869)
High-church Tory clergyman and controversialist opposed to Catholic emancipation; he was
dean of Chester (1828) and bishop of Exeter (1830).
Joseph-Juste Scaliger (1540-1609)
The son of Giulio Cesare Scaliger; he was a historian and humanist who taught at the
University of Leiden.
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
English poet, courtier, and soldier, author of the
Arcadia (1590),
Astrophel and Stella (1591) and
Apology for
Poetry (1595).
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Poet laureate and man of letters whose contemporary reputation depended upon his prose
works, among them the
Life of Nelson, 2 vols (1813),
History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (1823-32) and
The Doctor, 7 vols (1834-47).
John Neville White (1785 c.-1845)
The elder brother of Henry Kirke White; after working in medicine he was educated at
Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and was rector of Rushall (1828) and Tivetshall in Norfolk
(1832-45). The rumor that he died a suicide was denied in the
Gentleman's
Magazine.
