The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 3 August 1801
“Bristol, August 3. 1801.
“Following the advice of the Traumatic Poet*, I have been endeavouring to get
money—and to get it
![]()
![]()
| Ætat. 27. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 155 |
![]()
honestly. I wrote to ——, and propounded to him Madoc, to be ready for the press in six
months, at a price equivalent to that of Thalaba, in proportion to its length; and
I asked for fifty pounds now, the rest on publication. —— writes to beat down the
price. . . . . And I have answered, that the difference about terms sets me at
liberty from my proposal.
“And so, how to raise the wind for my long land voyage?
Why, I expect Hamilton’s account
daily (for whom, by the by, I am again at work!), and he owes me I know not
what; it may be fifteen pounds, it may be five-and-twenty: if the latter, off
we go, as soon as we can get an agreeable companion in a post-chaise; if it be
not enough, why I must beg, borrow, or steal. I have once been tempted to sell
my soul to Stuart for three months, for
thirteen guineas in advance; but my soul mutinied at the bargain . . . . .
Madoc has had a
miraculous escape! it went against my stomach and my conscience—but
malesuada fames.
“Your West India plan is a vile one. Italy, Italy. I
shall have enough leisure for a month’s journey, Moses, and the young one with the heathenish
name, will learn Italian as they are
learning English,—an advantage not to be overlooked; society, too, is
something; and Italy has never been without some great mind or other, worthy of
its better ages. When we are well tired of Italy, why, I will get removed to
Portugal, to which I look with longing eyes, as the land of promise. But, in
all sober seriousness, the plan I ![]()
| 156 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 27. |
![]()
propose is very
practicable, very pleasant, and eke also very prudent.
My business will not be an hour in a week, and it will enable me to afford to
be idle—a power which I shall never wish to exert, but which I do long to
possess. . . . . Davy’s removal to
London extends his sphere of utility, and places him in affluence; yet he will
be the worse for it. Chameleon like, we are all coloured by the near objects;
and he is among metaphysical sensualists: he should have remained a few years
longer here, till the wax cooled, which is now passive to any impression. I
wish it was not true, but it unfortunately is, that experimental philosophy
always deadens the feelings; and these men who ‘botanise upon their
mothers’ graves,’ may retort and say, that cherished
feelings deaden our usefulness; and so we are all well in our way.
“. . . . . Do not hurry from the baths for the sake of
meeting me; for when I set out is unpleasantly uncertain; and as I suppose we
must be Lloyd’s guests a few days,
it may as well or better be before your return. My mother is very unwell, perhaps more seriously so than I allow
myself to fully believe. If Peggy*
were—what shall I say?—released is a varnishing phrase; and death
is desirable, when recovery is impossible. I would bring my mother with me for
the sake of total change, if Peggy could be left, but that
is impossible; recover she cannot, yet may, and I believe will, suffer on till
winter. Almost I pre-feel
* His cousin, Margaret
Hill, to whom he was greatly attached, then dying in a
consumption. |
![]()
![]()
| Ætat. 27. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 157 |
![]()
that my mother’s illness will, at the same time,
recall me . . . . . The summer is going off, and I am longing for hot weather,
to bathe in your lake; and yet am I tied by the leg. Howbeit, Hamilton’s few days cannot be stretched
much longer; and when his account comes I shall draw the money, and away. God
bless you!
Derwent Coleridge (1800-1883)
The son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge; educated at St John's College, Cambridge, he was
rector of Helston in Cornwall, principal of St Mark's College (1841), and a writer on
education. He contributed to
Knight's Quarterly Review.
Hartley Coleridge [Old Bachelor] (1796-1849)
The eldest son of the poet; he was educated at Merton College, Oxford, contributed essays
in the
London Magazine and
Blackwood's, and
published
Lives of Distinguished Northerns (1832).
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
English poet and philosopher who projected
Lyrical Ballads (1798)
with William Wordsworth; author of
Biographia Literaria (1817),
On the Constitution of the Church and State (1829) and other
works.
Sir Humphry Davy, baronet (1778-1829)
English chemist and physicist, inventor of the safety lamp; in Bristol he knew Cottle,
Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey; he was president of the Royal Society (1820).
Samuel Hamilton (1841 fl.)
The son of Archibald Hamilton; he was a London printer, active 1799-1841, who succeeded
his father as proprietor of the
Critical Review (1799-1804).
Margaret Hill [Peggy] (d. 1801)
A cousin of Robert Southey who lived with his Aunt Tyler and then with his mother (also a
Margaret Hill) and died of consumption in 1801.
James Jennings (1772-1833)
Bristol chemist and poet who formed an acquaintance with Southey and Coleridge; he
published several volumes and contributed to the
European and
Monthly magazines.
Charles Lloyd (1775-1839)
Quaker poet; a disciple of Coleridge and friend of Charles Lamb, he published
Poetical Essays on the Character of Pope (1821) and other
volumes.
Thomas Norton Longman (1771-1842)
A leading London publisher whose authors included Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and
Moore.
Margaret Southey [née Hill] (1752-1802)
The daughter of Edward Hill, she married the elder Robert Southey in 1772; after the
death of her husband in 1792 she operated a boarding house in Bath.
Daniel Stuart (1766-1846)
Originally its printer, he was proprietor of the
Morning Post from
1795-1803; in about 1800 he became part-proprietor and editor of
The
Courier.
The Annual Anthology. 2 vols (Bristol: T. N. Longman and O. Rees, 1799-1800). A poetical miscellany edited by Robert Southey.
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Madoc. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1805). A verse romance relating the legendary adventures of a Welsh prince in Wales and
pre-Columbian America.
