“If you had been within reach of me a week ago, when I wrote Laus Deo at the end of the Peninsular War, I should have taken my hat and my walking-stick, and set out for the satisfaction of singing ‘O be joyful’ in your presence, and with your aid. The volume since I wrote to you in December has outgrown my expectations by more than a hundred pages, so much more detail have I been led into by my materials than at first sight had been anticipated. . . . .
“From this you will conclude that I am in good health, and in good spirits, notwithstanding the dismal prospect of public affairs. On private scores, however, I have uneasiness enough; of which it were useless to speak where no good can be obtained. . . . .
“As for the likings or dislikings, Grosvenor, which are formed at first sight, or
upon casual acquaintance, no one who has lived long in the world will attach
more importance to them than they deserve. Complicated as every human character
must be, we like
| Ætat. 58. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 187 |
“This I think is the greatest disadvantage that notorious authorship brings with it. It places one in an unfair position among strangers: they watch for what you say, and set upon you to draw you out, and whenever that is the case, in I go like a tortoise or hodmandod into my shell. . . . .
“God bless you, my dear G.!
