“Since you heard from me last I have been so much shaken that there is little likelihood of my ever being myself again. But it would be ungrateful indeed, in me to complain, who have had a greater share of happiness than falls to the lot of one in ten thousand, and that happiness of a higher degree, and of much longer continuance, with health that had scarcely ever been interrupted, and with a flow of spirits that never ebbed. I cannot be too thankful for these manifold blessings, let the future be what it may.
“Cuthbert comes
home the first week in April, for about a month’s vacation. Can you give
yourself a holiday, and pass with us as much of that month as you can
spare?—I cannot now climb the mountains with you,—not for want of
strength, still less of inclination, but because of an infirmity (I know not
how or when occasioned) but recently discovered,
| 362 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 64. |
“Most persons, I believe, are displeased with any
alterations that they find in a favourite poem; the change, whether for the
better or the worse, baulks them as it were, and it is always unpleasant to be
baulked. In tinkering one’s old verses there is a great chance of making
two flaws where you are mending one. However, to my great joy, I have now done
with tinkering; the last pieces which required correction on the score of
language are in that volume of Ballads (beginning with The Maid of the Inn), which come next in
order of publication. I know not yet how the adventure is likely to turn out. The
number struck off at first was 1500, which the publishers say will just about
cover the expenses, leaving the profit to arise from any farther use of the
stereotype and the engravings. Something may be expected from the occasional
sale of separate portions, for which merely a new title-page will be required;
in that way the long poems may tempt purchasers by their cheapness. But apart
from all other considerations I am very thankful that I was persuaded, against
my inclination and in some degree also against my judgment, to undertake such a
revision of my poetical works. The sort of testamentary feeling with which it
was undertaken may prove to have been an ominous one: certain it is, that if
the task had been deferred but a few months, I should never have had heart to
per-
| Ætat. 64. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 363 |
“And now, my dear Sir, God bless you!
