“Oh that you could bring Bristol to the sea! For as for
bringing the sea to Bristol, that could not be done, as Trim says, ‘unless it pleased
God;’ and, as Toby says, how the
devil should it? I must not ask you to come to me, and I cannot come to you. .
. . . For your club, I grant you a few hours once a fortnight will not make me
worse; but will they make me better? and if they will not, why
| Ætat. 22. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 287 |
“Lenora is partly borrowed from an old English ballad—
“Is there any room at your head,
William? Is there any room at your feet? Is there any room at your side, William, Wherein I may creep? |
“There’s no room at my head,
Margerett, There’s no room at my feet; There’s no room at my side, Margerett, My coffin is made so meet!” |
“Have you read Cabal and Love? In spite of a translation for which the translator deserves hanging, the fifth act is dreadfully affecting. I want to write my tragedies of the Banditti—
“Of Sebastian,
“Of Inez de Castro,
“Of the Revenge of Pedro.
“My epic poem, in twenty books, of Madoc.
“My novel, in three volumes, of Edmund Oliver.
“My romance of ancient history of Alcas.
“My Norwegian tale of —— Harfagne.
| 288 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 22. |
“My Oriental poem of The Destruction of the Dom Daniel.
‘And in case I adopt Rousseau’s system—
“My Pains of Imagination.
“There, Grosvenor, all these I want to write!
“A comical Cornish curate, who saw me once or twice, has written me a quaint letter, and sent me a specimen of his Paradise Found!!!!
“Wynn wishes me
to live near Lincoln’s Inn, because, in a year’s time, it will be
necessary for me to be with a special pleader; but I wish to live on the other
side of Westminster Bridge, because it will be much more necessary to be within
an evening’s walk of Brixton. To all serious studies I bid adieu when I
enter upon my London lodgings. The law will neither amuse me, nor ameliorate
me, nor instruct me; but the moment it gives me a comfortable
independence—and I have but few wants,—then farewell to London. I
will get me some little house near the sea, and near a country town, for the
sake of the post and the bookseller; and you shall pass as much of the summer
with me as you can, and I will see you in the winter,—that is, if you do
not come and live by me; and then we will keep mastiffs like Carlisle, and make the prettiest theories, and
invent the best systems for mankind; aye, and become great philanthropists,
when we associate only among ourselves and the fraternity of dogs, cats, and
cabbages; for as for poultry, I do not like eating what I have fed, and as for
pigs, they are too like the multitude. There, in the cultivation of poetry and
potatoes I will be inno-
| Ætat. 22. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 289 |
“I hope to get out my Letters by Michaelmas-day, and the Poems will be ready in six weeks after that time. That done, farewell to Bristol, my native place, my home for two and twenty years, where from many causes I have endured much misery, but where I have been very happy. . . . .
“No man ever retained a more perfect knowledge of the history of his own mind than I have done. I can trace the development of my character from infancy,—for developed it has been, not changed. I look forward to the writing of this history as the most pleasing and most useful employment I shall ever undertake. This removal is not, however, like quitting home, I am never domesticated in lodgings; the hearth is unhallowed, and the Penates do not abide there. Now, Grosvenor, to let you into a secret; though I cannot afford to buy a house, or hire one, I have lately built a very pretty castle, which is, being interpreted, if I can get my play of the ‘Banditti’ brought on the stage, and if it succeed—hang all those little conjunctions—well, these ‘ifs’ granted,—I shall get money enough to furnish me a house
