8. Robert Southey to Thomas Davis
Lamb, [c. 26 April 1792]
*
Dear Lamb
I will be obliged to you to send my portfolio with all my verses
<all its contents> &c &
No 6 of to Hart Street. the
Castles of Athlin & Dunbayne [1] which is in the
deal box or Combes bookcase
& if you will get No 6 [2] from Gingers & send with them
as I have the rest.
Combes breaking up so soon is very
odd. I know Vincent fears a
rebellion for he told Dr Whalesby [3] so. most likely he will make Adderly break up & you &
then he will be secure. I wish I could hear the trial — Mr
Reed will get Garrow [4] to cut up
the Doctor. you seem to be in a pretty situation — when Combe
Adderly & you are gone Dodd will plug the house about without opposition — his Majesty would not have broke up so
soon unless by Vincents
particular desire — I expect you will be at home next — however you have one
Ignoramus at the head of the underschool & in all human probability will
have another in Dr V. I am obliged to discontinue the
Flagellant. No 10 concludes it [5] — but
we shall not waste our papers. we mean to write on & some months hence
publish a volume compleat. I plan a paper upon wigs & if you like a
curious sketch take the following.
Wigs emblematic of hypocrisy — hypocrisy springs from the Devil
Ergo the Devil the inventor of wigs.
NB. as reflection upon your old wig.
a few quotations from Milton Spencer — the testament the Koran
the Edda [6] Hugo Grotius, [7]
Juvenal [8] &c &c &c
&c &c &c &c &c &c — derivation
of the word hypocrisy UπΟ
κριτςς [9] the mask which the old actors
wore. therefore the wig a mask for ignorance & hypocrisy.
the monks shave their head. all extremes bad
Medio tutissismus ibis
Ergo [10]
Doctors should wear their own hair.
wigs came in fashion as wisdom declined — old custom no good authority. quotation
from Tom Paine [11]
concerning precedent. the primitive fathers did not wear wigs. bishops do
& therefore the bishops are not orthodox.
ass in a lions skin
like
Mr Wingfield in a wig —
———
but all this will not do yet — I must lay by for some time — meanwhile I will lay
in a good store of doses for the Doctor the Devil & Dodd.
if we go to France we will send Combe a letter every day — double or
treble first a French one & then a translation for fear he should be
puzzled — & now as I have nothing to say I conclude.
yours sincerely
R Southey
Notes
* Address: Mr Davies Lamb/ Mrs Cloughs/ Deans Yard/ Westminster
Stamped:
WALTHAM CROSS
Postmark: AP/ 26/ 92
MS: Houghton Library, bMS Eng
265.1 (32)
Unpublished. BACK
[1] Ann
Radcliffe (1764–1823; DNB), The
Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne (1789). BACK
[2] Southey is
referring to the sixth issue of The Flagellant,
which appeared on 5 April 1792. BACK
[4] The barrister
William Garrow (1760–1840; DNB). BACK
[5] Southey was mistaken; the ninth, and final, issue of The Flagellant appeared on 26 April 1792. BACK
[6] A collection of poems dealing
with Norse mythology. In 1797 Southey encouraged Amos Simon Cottle to
translate the Latin text of the Edda into
English. BACK
[7] Hugo
Grotius (1583–1645), Dutch statesman and writer on international law. BACK
[8] Decimus Junius Juvenalis (fl.
AD late C1 and early C2), satirist. BACK
[9] The Greek translates properly as ‘actor’, but
its meaning in NT Greek is ‘hypocrite’. BACK
[10] The Latin translates
roughly as ‘Moderation in all things/ Therefore’. BACK
[11] Southey is paraphrasing
ideas found in Thomas Paine (1737–1809; DNB),
The Rights of Man (1791–1792). BACK
