The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to John May, 14 December 1798
“Westbury, Dec. 14. 1798.
“My dear Friend,
“We are enduring something like a Kamtschatkan winter
here. I am obliged to take my daily walk, and, though I go wrapped up in my
great coat, almost like a dancing bear in hirsute appearance, still the wind
pierces me. We are very deficient in having no winter dress for such weather as
this. I am busy upon the Grecian history, or, rather, it is the employment of
all my leisure. The escape of my Pythoness* was in the early ages, and they, I
believe,
* My father had been urged by several friends to try
his hand at dramatic composition; and this refers to one of the
subjects on which he had purposed to write a play. |
![]()
![]()
| Ætat. 23. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 351 |
![]()
will suit me best. I must have the Pythian games
celebrated; for the story, I have only invention to trust to. The costume of
Greece will be new to the English drama, owing to the defects of our theatres;
but I had rather get to some country and some people less known. Among the many
thoughts that have passed over my mind upon this subject, I have had the idea
of grounding stories, upon the oppression exercised at different periods of
time upon particular classes of people; the Helots, for instance, the
Albigenses, or the Jews. The idea of a tragedy upon one of the early martyrs
has for some years been among my crude plans; but it would not suit the stage,
because it would not suit the times. There is something more noble in such a
character than I can conceive in any other; firm to the defiance of death in
avowing the truth, and patient under all oppression, without enthusiasm,
supported by the calm conviction that this is his duty. Among the Helots,
something may be made of the infernal Crypteia; but I am afraid to meddle with
a Spartan; there is neither feeling, thinking nor speaking like one who has
been educated according to the laws of Lycurgus; knowledge of human nature is not knowledge of
Lacedæmonian nature. The state of slavery among our own countrymen at an early
period is better; the grievances of wardship, and the situation of a fief or
villain. Dramatists and novelists have ransacked early history, and we have as
many crusaders on the stage, and in the circulating library, as ever sailed to
Palestine: but they only pay attention ![]()
| 352 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 23. |
![]()
to the chronology,
and not to the manners or mind of the period. . . . .
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey.”
Lycurgus (800 BC c.-730 BC c.)
Legendary Spartan lawgiver.
