314 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“You will have thought me very remiss in not thanking
you sooner for the Vision, if
you did not remember that I had been travelling from Dan to Beersheba, and take
into consideration how little opportunity can be found for the use of pen and
ink in the course of a series of runaway visits, during a journey of nine
hundred miles. It was given me at the Admiralty the very day that it arrived
there. I opened it on the spot, discovered that a letter to Polwhele had been inclosed to me, in time for
Croker to rectify the mistake by
making a fair exchange, and thus saving mine from a journey to the Land’s
End. If, however, I have not written to you about D.
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 315 |
“It is remarkable that three poets should at once have
been employed upon Roderick. I have a tragedy of Landor’s in my desk, of which Count Julian is the hero: it contains some of the
finest touches, both of passion and poetry, that I have ever seen. Roderick is also the pre-eminent personage of my
own Pelayo, as far as it
has yet proceeded. Differing so totally as we do in the complexion and
management of the two poems, I was pleased to find one point of curious
comparison, in which we have both represented Roderick in the act of confession, and both finished the
picture highly. Our representations are so totally different, as to form a
perfect contrast; yet each so fitted to the temper in which the confession is
made, that it might be sworn, if you had chosen my point of time, you could
have written as I have done, and that if I had written of the unrepentant king,
I should have conceived of him
316 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“‘Then Roderick knelt
Before the holy man, and strove to speak:
“Thou see’st,” he cried; “thou
see’st”—but memory
And suffocating thoughts represt the word,
And shudderings, like an ague fit, from head
To foot convulsed him. Till at length subduing
His nature to the effort, he exclaimed,
Spreading his hands, and lifting up his face,
As if resolved in penitence to bear
A human eye upon his shame,—“Thou see’st
Roderick the Goth.” That name would have sufficed
To tell its whole abhorred history.
He not the less pursued—“the ravisher!
The cause of all this ruin!” Having said,
In the same posture motionless he knelt,
Arms straightened down, and hands dispread, and eyes
Rais’d to the monk, like one who from his voice
Expected life or death.’”
|
“I saw but little of Gifford in town, because he was on the point of taking wing for the Isle of Wight when I arrived. The Review seems to have shaken the credit of the Edinburgh, and might shake it still more. The way to attack the enemy with most effect is to take up those very subjects which he has handled the most unfairly, and so to treat them as to force a comparison which must end in our favour. I am about to do this upon the question of Bell and Lancaster—a question on which —— has grossly committed himself.
“You may well suppose that three months’ idleness
has brought upon me a heavy accumulation of business. Meantime good materials
for the third year’s Register have reached me from Cadiz, and I have collected others
respecting Sicily and the Ionian Islands. I saw the last volume on my road, and
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 317 |
“By this time you are settled at Pembroke, know your way to your rooms, the faces of your fellow collegians, and enough I dare say of a college life to find its duties less formidable, and its habits less agreeable than they are supposed to be. Those habits are said to have undergone a great reformation since I was acquainted with them;—in my time they stood grievously in need of it; but even then a man who had any good moral principles might live as he pleased if he dared make the trial; and however much he might be stared at at first for his singularity, was sure ere long to be respected for it.
“Some dangers beset every man when he enters upon so
new a scene of life; that which I apprehend for you is low spirits . . . . .
Walk a stated distance every day; and that you may never want a motive for
walking, make yourself acquainted with the elements of botany during the
winter, that as soon as the flowers come out in the spring you may begin to
herbalize. A quarter of an hour every day will make you master of the elements
in the course of a very few months. I prescribe for you mentally also, and this
is one of the pre-
318 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“One word more and I have done with advice. Do not be solicitous about taking a high degree, or about college honours of any kind. Many a man has killed himself at Cambridge by overworking for mathematical honours; recollect how few the persons are who after they have spent their years in severe study at this branch of science, ever make any use of it afterwards. Your wiser plan should be to look on to that state of life in which you wish and expect to be placed, and to lay in such knowledge as will then turn to account. . . . .
“. . . . . Since our return a larger portion of my time
than is either usual or convenient has been
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 319 |
“You have seen my article upon Bell and the Dragon in the Quarterly. It is decisive as to the point of originality, and would have been the heaviest blow the Edinburgh has ever received if all the shot of my heavy artillery had not been drawn before the guns were fired. I am going to reprint it separately with some enlargement, for the purpose of setting the question at rest, and making the public understand what the new system is, which is very little understood, and doing justice to Dr. Bell, whom I regard as one of the greatest benefactors to his species. . . . . The case is not a matter of opinion, but rests upon recorded and stated facts. I tread, therefore, upon sure ground, and taking advantage of this, I shall not lose the opportunity of repaying some of my numerous obligations to the Edinburgh Review. . . . .
“Probably you have seen the manner in which the Edinburgh Annual Register is twice noticed* in their last number. . . . . When the first year’s volume appeared it was not even suspected who was the historian; and Jeffrey, a day or two after its publication, went for the first time into the publisher’s shop expressly to tell him how much he admired the history, saying that though he differed from the
* It was recommended for government prosecution. |
320 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“The hint which I threw out concerning our English
martyrs in writing upon the evangelical sects is likely to mature into
something of importance. I conceived a plan which Dr. Bell and the Bishop of
Meath took up warmly, and the former has in some degree bound me
to execute it by sending down Fox’s Book of Martyrs as soon as he reached London. The
projected outline is briefly this—Under the title of the Book of the Church, to give what should
be at once the philosophy and the anthology of our church history, so written
as to be addressed to the hearts of the young and the understandings of the
old; for it will be placed on the establishment of the national schools. It
begins with an account of the various false religions of our different
ancestors, British, Roman, and Saxon, with the mischievous temporal
consequences of those superstitions, being the evils from which the country was
delivered by its conversion to Christianity. 2dly, A picture of popery and the
evils from which the Reformation delivered us.
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 321 |
“I am well stored with materials, having all the republished chronicles and Hooker—the only controversial work which it will be at all necessary to consult. The other books which I want I have ordered: they are Burnett and the Church Histories of Fuller, and of the stiff old non-juror, Jeremy Collier. I will send the manuscript to you before it goes to the press, for it will require an inspecting eye. Meantime, if any thing occur to you which would correct or improve the plan, such as you here see it, do not omit to communicate your advice and opinion. I have a strong persuasion that both these works may be made of great, extensive, and permanent usefulness. . . . .
322 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“I have a letter from William Taylor, of a dismal character. After stating the sum of their losses, he says, ‘we cannot subsist upon the interest of what remains. The capital will last our joint lives, but I shall be abandoned to a voluntary interment in the same grave with my parents. O! that nature would realise this most convenient doom!’
“Now, my reason for transcribing this passage to you
is, because it made a deep impression on me, and haunts me when I lie down at
night. You know more of Norwich than I do, and more of William Taylor’s connections. Who is
most in his confidence? is it ——? I thought of writing
directly to him. . . . . But what I would say to the person who may be most
likely to enter into my wishes is, that William
Taylor’s friends should raise such an annuity as would
secure him from penury, and at once relieve his mind from the apprehensions of
it; either raising a sum sufficient to purchase it (the best way, because the
least liable to accidents), or by yearly contributions; Dr. Sayers (or any other the fittest person)
receiving, and regularly paying it; and he never knowing particularly from
whence it comes, but merely that it is his. The former plan is the best,
because, in that case, there would be only to purchase the annuity, and put the
security into his hands; and this might be done without any person appearing in
it, the office transmitting him the necessary documents. This, of course, is a
thing upon which the very wind must not blow. Ten
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 323 |
“You do not say whether you have seen Sharon Turner. That introduction was the best I could give you, because I think it would give you a friend. You could not fail to esteem and love Turner when you knew him. He is the happiest man I have ever known; and that could not be the case if he were not a very wise as well as a very good one.
“God bless you!
It has been already noticed that the Edinburgh Review had recommended the Annual Register for government prosecution, on account of the boldness of its language on the Spanish question, and also, especially, with respect to some remarks on Mr. Whitbread. It appears that there was some likelihood of this “friendly” hint being taken, and to this the following letter refers.
“Concerning Whitbread, I believe, in every instance, the text of his speech
will justify the comment.
324 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“Phillidor has made his appearance, and shall be
returned in the first parcel, with the reviewal of Azara. Out of pure conscience, I have promised Gifford to take all these South American
travellers myself, because I cannot bear that the Edinburgh should gain credit upon this subject,
when I am so much better versed in it than any other man in
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 325 |
“Here is a man at Keswick, who acts upon me as my own
ghost would do. He is just what I was in 1794. His name is Shelley, son to the member for Shoreham; with
6000l. a year entailed upon him, and as much more in
his father’s power to cut off. Beginning with romances of ghosts and
murder, and with poetry at Eton, he passed, at Oxford, into metaphysics;
printed half-a-dozen pages, which he entitled ‘The Necessity of Atheism;’ sent
one anonymously to Coplestone, in
expectation, I suppose, of converting him; was expelled in consequence; married
a girl of seventeen, after being turned
out of doors by his father; and here they both are, in lodgings, living upon
200l. a year, which her father allows them. He is
come to the fittest physician in the world. At present he has got to the
Pantheistic stage of philosophy, and, in the course of a week, I expect he will
be a Berkleyan, for I have put him
326 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“My household is affected with a complaint which I take
at this time to be epidemic,—the fear of ugly fellows. In Mrs. Coleridge, perhaps, this may have
originated in her dislike to you, but the newspapers have increased it. Every
day brings bloody news from Carlisle, Cockermouth, &c.; last night half the
people in Keswick sat up, alarmed by two strangers, who, according to all
accounts, were certainly ‘no beauties,’ and I was obliged to take
down a rusty gun and manfully load it for the satisfaction of the family. The
gun has been properly cleaned to-day, and woe betide him who may be destined to
receive its contents. But, in sober
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 327 |
A Watchman’s Rattle! |
“I was glad to hear from Neville that you were comfortably settled, and growing attached to college; and glad to hear afterwards from yourself that you
* These musical anticipations were fully realised, and the performance of them was one of the amusements of my childhood. |
328 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“I see your name to the Bible Society, concerning which
I have read Herbert
Marsh’s—pamphlet
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 329 |
330 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“Do you attend the Divinity Lectures? Herbert Marsh is likely to be a good lecturer, being a thorough master of his subject, and a reasoner of the old school.
“Give me a letter when you feel inclined; and believe me,
“What a number of recollections crowd upon me when I
think of ——! Of all our school companions, how very few of
them are there whose lots in life have proved to be what might have been
expected for them. You and Bedford have
gone on each in your natural courses, and are to be found just where and what I
should have looked to find, if I had waked after a Nourjahad sleep of twenty years. The same thing might be said
of me, if my local habitation were not here at the end of the map. I am
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 331 |
332 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“One thing which I will do whenever I can afford leisure for the task, will be, to write and leave behind me my own Memoirs: they will contain so much of the literary history of the times, as to have a permanent value on that account. This would prove a good post obit, for there can be no doubt I shall be sufficiently talked of when I am gone.
“Such are my ways and means for the future; but if I should not live to provide more than the very little which is already done, then, indeed, the exertion of some friends would be required. An arrangement might be made with Longman to allow of a subscription edition of my works: this would be productive in proportion to the efforts that were used. I should hope, also, in such a case, that the continuance of my pension might be looked for from either of the present parties in the state, through Perceval, or Canning, or yourself.
“This is a sort of testamentary letter. It is fit there
should be one; and to whom, my dear Wynn,
could it so properly be addressed? By God’s blessing, I may yet live to
make all necessary provision myself. My means are now improving every year. I
am up the hill of difficulty, and shall very soon get rid of the burthen which
has impeded me In the ascent. I have some arrangements with Murray, which are likely to prove more
profitable than any former speculations; and should I succeed In obtaining the
office which the old Frenchman fills at
present
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 333 |
“Hitherto I have been highly favoured. A healthy body, an active mind, and a cheerful heart are the three best boons nature can bestow; and, God be praised, no man ever enjoyed them more perfectly. My skin and bones scarcely know what an ailment is, my mind is ever on the alert, and yet, when its work is done, becomes as tranquil as a baby; and my spirits invincibly good. Would they have been so, or could I have been what I am, if you had not been ‘for so many years my stay and support? I believe not; yet you had been so long my familiar friend, that I felt no more sense of dependence in receiving my main, and at one time sole, subsistence from you, than if you had been my brother: it was being done to as I would have done.
The appointment of Historiographer, to which my father refers in the letter, appears to have fallen vacant almost immediately. Application was at once made for it in his behalf in several influential quarters; but it seems to have been filled up with extraordinary haste, having been bestowed upon Dr. Stanier Clarke, Librarian to the Prince Regent. It turned out ultimately that there was no salary attached to the office, the appointment being merely honorary.
The next letter was written immediately on hearing of the murder of Mr. Perceval.
334 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“In spite of myself I have been weeping; this has relieved the throbbings of my head; but my mind is overcharged and must pour itself out. I am going to write something upon the state of popular feeling, which will probably appear in the Courier, where it will obtain the readiest and widest circulation. Enough to alarm the people I shall be able to say; but I would fain alarm the Government, and if this were done in public they would think it imprudent, and, indeed, it would be so.
“I shall probably begin with what you say of the sensation occasioned by this most fatal event, and then give the reverse of your account as I have received it from Coleridge; what he heard in a pothouse into which he went on the night of the murder, not more to quench his thirst than for the purpose of hearing what the populace would say. Did I not speak to you with ominous truth upon this subject in one of my last hasty letters? This country is upon the brink of the most dreadful of all conceivable states—an insurrection of the poor against the rich; and if by some providential infatuation, the Burdettites had not continued to insult the soldiers, the existing government would not be worth a week’s purchase, nor any throat which could be supposed to be worth cutting, safe for a month longer.
“You know, Grosvenor, I am no aguish politician, nor is this a sudden
apprehension which has seized me. Look to what I have said of the effect of
Mrs. Clarke’s
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 335 |
“The first step should be the immediate renewal of associations for the protection of our lives and properties, and of the British constitution; with the re-establishment to the utmost possible extent of the volunteers,—as effective a force against a mob of united Englishmen as they would be inefficient in the first shock of an invasion. This may be safely said and pressed upon the Government and the people; what I dare not say publicly, is that there is yet danger from the army,—that horrid flogging, for the abolition of which Burdett has been suffered to appear as the advocate! Oh that Perceval had prevented this popularity, by coming forward himself as the soldier’s friend! He has good works enough for his good name, as well as for his soul’s rest; but this would have remained for his colleagues and for the country.
336 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“This of course cannot be touched upon immediately, for it would be too obviously an act of fear; but if I knew the ministers, I would urgently press upon them the wisdom of granting some boon to the soldiers,—something which, at little cost to the nation, would yet come home to the feelings of every individual in the army. The mere institution of honorary rewards would do this,—fifty pounds in copper medals would go farther than as many thousands in bounties towards recruiting it hereafter. But I would couple it with something more; for instance, ten or twenty of the oldest men, or oldest soldiers, in every regiment which distinguished itself in the two late assaults, should have their discharge, with full pay for life, or an increase of pay if they chose to serve on. Do not think that these things are inefficacious or beneath the notice of statesmen. Why is it that poets move the heart of men, but because they understand the feelings of men, and it is by their feelings that they may be best governed. Look at the agitators; they address themselves to the passions of the mob, and who does not perceive with what tremendous effect!
“I wish you would read this to Gifford or to Herries, because I am sure that these cheap and easy measures
would go far toward winning the affections of the soldiers at these perilous
times. Other topics I shall speak of elsewhere—the establishment of a
system of parochial education, and the necessity of colonial schemes as opening
an issue in the distempered body politic. This will be for the Quarterly. Vigorous measures, I
trust in God, will be taken while the feelings of the sound class are in a
state
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 337 |
“I thought of poor Herries as soon as I could think of any thing. The loss which the country has sustained I can scarcely dare to contemplate. There seems nothing to look to but the Wellesleys, with Canning, Huskisson for Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in all likelihood Sir James Mackintosh, who is sure to take the strongest side, and his talents will make him a powerful support to any party. Yet in this train there seems to follow a long catalogue of dangers: Catholic concessions, and next, by aid of all the admitted enemies of the Church, the sale of tithes to supply the necessities of the Government; a measure which will be as certainly popular as it will be ultimately ruinous to the Church and most fatal to the country. There will be a glorious war to console us; but under such circumstances I shall look to that war with the painful thought that we may be repaid for our services to the Spaniards by finding an asylum in Spain when England will have lost all that our fathers purchased for us so dearly!
“God bless you!
“Tell Gifford I shall be ready for him with the French Biography, which
will be a sketch of the Revolution, introducing an examination of our own
state
338 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“I have myself so strong a sense of Mr. Perceval’s public merits, that I cannot help writing to you to say how much I wish that a statue might be erected to him. This could only be done by subscription; but surely such a subscription might soon be filled, if his friends think it advisable. Suggest this to Herries; and if the thing should be begun, when the list has the proper names to begin with, put mine down for five guineas, which could not at this time be better employed.
“The fit place for this statue would be the spot where he fell. Permission to place it there would no doubt be obtained, and the opposition made to it would only recoil upon his political enemies.
“I have often been grieved by public events, but never
so depressed by any as by this. It is not the shock which has produced this;
nor the extent of private misery which this wretched madman has occasioned,
though I can scarcely refrain from tears while I write. It is my deep and
ominous sense of danger to the country, from the Burdettites on one hand, and
from Catholic concessions on the other. You know I am no high-church bigot; it
would be impossible for me to subscribe to the Church Ar-
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 339 |
“As for conciliating the wild Irish by such concessions, the notion is so preposterous, that when I know a man of understanding can maintain such an opinion, it makes me sick at heart to think upon what sandy foundations every political fabric seems to rest!
“I have strayed on unintentionally. Go to Herries, and if he will enter into my feelings about the statue, let no time be lost. God bless you!
“I received a note from Lord
Lonsdale on Saturday, enclosing a reply from Lord Hertford to his
340 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“This evening I have a letter from Canning, couched in the most handsome and friendly terms. He does not know that the office is disposed of, but hints at difficulties in the way of his obtaining it (even supposing he were in power), which Gifford has explained. He concludes with expressions and professions of good will, which I doubt not are sincere. But there is nothing to which I can look forward.
“Say to Gifford
that I must beg him to end with my article instead of beginning with it. I am close pressed with the
Register, which this week will
bring,
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 341 |
“I wish you were here to see the country in full beauty. Your godson has just learnt to read Greek, and I expect in my next parcel a grammar and vocabulary for him. He promises well, if it please God that he should live. God bless you!
“The fate of poor Perceval has made me quite unhappy ever since I heard of it,
not merely from the shock and the private misery which it is quite impossible
to put out of mind, but from the whole train of evils to which this is but the
beginning. I would fain have believed the report that Mr. Abbott was to take his place in the House of Commons,
because, if he could have found tongue, I knew where whatever else might have
been wanting was to be found. But it was not likely that he should quit a
better situation for one of so much anxiety and labour.
W—— and C——, I doubt not, ratted
upon the Catholic question because they expected the Prince upon that ground
would eject Perceval, and then they should have a better
chance than the Early Friends. If they come in, as I
fear they will, we may have the war carried on, but we shall have Catholic
concessions, after which the Church property is not worth seven years’
purchase; they will sell
342 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
* “What shall I say of the unhappy event which has happened here? I expected Mr. Perceval to be murdered; but I had expected it from the Burdettites and others rendered infuriate by the poison they imbibe from sixteen newspapers, emulous in violence and mischief. In reading your little book about Lancaster, I do not find that you discuss the main question, whether the mob can be conveniently taught reading while the liberty of the press exists as at present. Every one who reads at all reads a Sunday newspaper, not the |
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 343 |
“This is a melancholy strain. We must, however, work the ship till it sinks; and a vigorous minister might take advantage of the feelings of the sound part of the country at the moment, and the avowal which the Burdettites have made for strong measures of prevention. . . . . I would give the poor gratuitous education in parochial schools,—a boon which all among them who care for their children would rightly estimate; and if the work of coercion kept pace with that of conciliation, we
Bible; and if any man before doubted the efficacy of that prescription, the behaviour of the mob upon Mr. P.’s death may teach them better knowledge.”—J. R. to R. S., May 16. 1812. |
344 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“I am going to write upon the French Revolution for the Quarterly Review,—a well-timed subject: the evil is, that it is writing to those readers who are in the main of the same way of thinking. Our contemporaries read, not in the hope of being instructed, but to have their own opinions flattered.
The only recreation my father permitted himself during this summer consisted of an excursion into the neighbouring county of Durham, where he had now two brothers residing; and a pedestrian tour from thence home through part of Yorkshire. His account of a visit to Rokeby will be read with interest.
“We left St. Helen’s after an early breakfast on
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 345 |
346 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“Mr. Morritt’s father bought the house of Sir Thomas Robinson, well known in his day by the names of Long Robinson and Long Sir Thomas. You may recollect a good epigram upon this man:—
“‘Unlike to Robinson shall be my song, It shall be witty,—and it sha’nt be long.’ |
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 347 |
“I am sorry, too, that I forgot to ask if this was the lady whose needle-work is in the house. Mr. M. had an aunt who taught Miss Linwood. Wordsworth thought her pictures quite as good. In one respect they may be better, for she made her stitches athwart and across, exactly as the strokes of the original pictures. Miss L. (Mr. M. says) makes her stitches all in one way. This lady had great difficulty about her worsted, and could only suit herself by buying damaged quantities, thus obtaining shades
* The largest of the fern tribe, growing to the height of five and six feet—a rare plant even in its own districts. The finest specimens are on the river Rotha. |
348 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“Let me trouble you with a commission which, if it be successful, will essentially enrich my store of historical documents. I have just learnt, by accident, that there is in High Holborn a set of Muratori’s great collection of the Italian historians, which, wanting one volume, is on that account offered for sale at a very low price—some five or six pounds, for a collection which I should joyfully purchase at the price of five-and-twenty, were it entire. . . . The three great works which I want are the Acta Sanctorum, the Byzantine Historians, and Muratori; and it would be folly not to purchase this set, notwithstanding it is imperfect, when the loss of one volume so materially diminishes the price, without lessening the utility of the other volumes. I should think it, at half a guinea a volume, a cheap purchase.
“My article
upon the French Revolutionists in the—last Quarterly is a good deal the worse for the
muti-
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 349 |
“I had yesterday the pleasure of cutting open the last
volume of the Register,—a
greater delight to me than it will be to any other person, I dare be sworn.
This is the last and greatest of an author’s pleasures. The London
proprietors urge an alteration in the plan, and want it to be brought out in a
single volume, like the London Annual
Register; the Edinburgh proprietors very wisely negative this
proposal, and determine to carry it on upon the present plan, even if they are
left to themselves. The change, I think, would have been fatal to the work;
whether perseverance may preserve it, is very doubtful. I go to work, however,
upon the year 1811, with great good will. You will find, in the second part of
this new volume, a life of
Lope de Aguirre, written as a
chapter for the history of Brazil, but cut out as an excrescence, for which
room could not be afforded. The narrative is an extraordinary piece of history,
whole and entire of itself, and so little connected with that of any other
country, that it would appear equally as an excrescence in the history of Peru,
or of Venezuela as in that of Brazil; so it is as well where it is as it could
be anywhere else.
350 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
The “sketch” referred to in the following letter was a very curious production. It consisted of a series of parallelisms between the events and characters in Thalaba and certain portions of the Scriptures, drawn out with great ingenuity, and at considerable length. The view taken was as if the poem had been intended as an allegorical representation of the power and virtues of Faith.
“I am truly sensible. Sir, of the honour you have
conferred upon me by your letter of October 29th,
Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 351 |
352 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 38. |
“Whether the design may ever be accomplished, is now doubtful. The inclination and the power remain, but the time has passed away. My literary engagements are numerous and weighty, beyond those of any other individual; and though, by God’s blessing, I enjoy good health, never-failing cheerfulness, and unwearied perseverance, there seems to be more before me than I shall ever live to get through. . . . .
“My next mythological poem, should I ever write another, would be founded upon the system of Zoroaster. I should represent the chief personage as persecuted by the evil powers, and make every calamity they brought upon him the means of evolving some virtue, which would never else have been called into action. In the hope that the fables of false religion may be made subservient to the true, by exalting and strengthening Christian feelings.”
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