The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 1: 1791-1797 A Romantic Circles Electronic Edition Southey, Robert, 1774-1843 Lynda Pratt Romantic Circles General Editor, Neil Fraistat General Editor, Steven E. Jones General Editor, Carl Stahmer Technical Editor Laura Mandell 2009-03-15 rce17 letterEEd.26.17 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD March 15, 2009

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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. Not previously published.

These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer

For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.

A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.

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17. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, [c. 9 July 1792] Address: G C Bedford Esqr/ Old Palace Yard/ WestminsterStamped: BATHPostmark: BJY/ 9/ 92 Watermark: [Obscured by MS binding; possibly W S]MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22Unpublished. Oh tell it in Askalon tell it in Gath2 Samuel 1: 20. And send a description & drawing to Bath Oer Europes wide realm let the tidings prevail That the great Doctor Johnson has got a pig tail!!! Let Echo repeat & divulge thro the air That the great Doctor Johnson has turnd up his hair! Let BunburyThe artist and caricaturist Henry William Bunbury (1750–1811; DNB), father of Southey’s school friend Charles John Bunbury. paint & engrave a vast store Let the world see a sight it has neer seen before The Hibernian giantCharles Byrne (known as O’Brien) (1761–1783; DNB) was 8 feet and 4 inches tall. must now the day yield The monstrous Craws quit to the Doctor the field Not one person shall go to see Count Borowlask’Joseph Boruwlaski (styled Count Boruwlaski) (1739–1837; DNB), travelling performer and memoirist. He was 3 feet 3 inches tall. To see Ouran Outangs no stranger will ask — All the beasts in the strand may be put up to saleExeter Change in the Strand, London, where the public could pay to see a menagerie. For the great Doctor Johnson has got a pig tail! Oh tell it in Askalon — tell it in Gath And send a description & drawing to Bath. Not such was the wonder America found When first men & horses disbarkd on their ground Not such when Æneas that pious old sinner Saw the harpies fly off with his ready dressd dinnerVirgil (70–19 BC), Aeneid, Book 3, lines 219–258. Nor when Nebuchadnezzar was turnd out to grass Daniel 4: 32 relates how Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon 605–562 BC, received the prophecy that his kingdom would fall and he would ‘eat grass as oxen’. When the Barber found Midas had ears of an assIn legend, King Midas was given the ears of an ass after offending the god Apollo. Not such when old Bunbury went sober to bed Or young Wynn washd his hands or combd out his pigs head Not such when by chance Truth was spoken by Dodd Not such when the Flagellant cut up the rod — Southey’s authorship of the fifth issue of The Flagellant (29 March 1792), which claimed flogging was an invention of the devil and parodied the Athanasian creed, caused a scandal and led ultimately to his expulsion from Westminster School. When three armaments rose at one ministers call When three armaments ended in nothing at all When the old pair of breeches were smelt — or who’d think That a parliament breeches should happen to stink — When first in balloon durst a lunatic sail As now that the Doctor has got a pigtail! Let the newspapers now no more talk of TippooTippu Sultan (1750–1799), Sultan of Mysore 1782–1799, defeated by the East India Company and killed at the battle of Seringapatam, 1799. Of the fine fighting Christian or pugilist Jew.Daniel Mendoza (1763–1836; DNB), famous English boxer. Let them publish no more Jemmy BoswellsJames Boswell (1740–1795; DNB), biographer of Samuel Johnson (1709–1784; DNB). Scotch wit Or the faith of Dundas or the wisdom of PittHenry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742–1811; DNB), Home Secretary 1791–1794, and political ally of the Prime Minister, William Pitt, the Younger (1759–1806; DNB). Or MerrysRobert Merry (1755–1798; DNB), poet whose work had been parodied by Southey in a letter to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, [c. 31 May 1792] (see Letter 11). bright verse like a bubble of air Search for substance alas & no substance is there — No more let Religion most mildly desire To see Priestly as well as his house in the fireThe house, laboratory and library of the scientist and philosopher Joseph Priestley (1733–1804; DNB) were destroyed during the Birmingham riots, July 1791. No more Common SenseThomas Paine (1737–1809; DNB), Common Sense (1776), a key tract in support of the American Revolution. with astonishment look At the see given Horsely for Badcocks bought book — In 1788, Samuel Horsley (1733–1806; DNB) was appointed Bishop of St David’s. The theologian Samuel Badcock (1747–1788; DNB) had not been paid to write for Horsley, but was reputed to have accepted £500 from Joseph White (c. 1746–1814; DNB) for writing White’s Bampton lectures on Christianity and Islam. No more let Servility fancy he can Suppress by a bull like the Pope rights of man.Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man (1791–1792), had been suppressed by the government earlier in 1792. No more Common Sense puzzle over that work The romantic reflections of Knight erring Burke — Edmund Burke (1729/30–1797; DNB), politician and author of Reflections Upon the Revolution in France (1790) which had lamented the passing of the age of chivalry. No more Freedom wonder at votes held for sale For — the great Dr Johnson has got a pig tail. Oh had Gray now been living — no more his Bards hairThomas Gray (1716–1771; DNB), ‘The Bard’ (1757). Like a meteor had streamd to the wild streaming <troubled> air The Doctors example would surely prevail And Gray draw his Bard with a streaming pig tail!! Take your pencil dear Bedford I beg & I pray Draw the Doctor & send without any delay Draw this Doctor AdonisIn Greek mythology, a handsome young god. & paint if you can The bloom of the youth with the firmness of man Or on horseback or foot or with fine bow & arrow Equippd like ApolloIn Greek mythology, Apollo was, amongst many things, the god of archery. to shoot at a sparrow Oh tell it in Akalon tell it in Gath And s[MS obscured] scription & drawing to BathThese two lines written up the right hand margin of fol. 2 r.

so much my dear Bedford for the Drs tail. & now in plain sober prose I am much obliged to you for your ode which I like very much. but why will you translate? it is a servile employment & not worthy of you. you want a metre you say for your next. you know Parnells Fairy tale?Thomas Parnell (1679–1718; DNB), ‘A Fairy Tale, in the Ancient English Style’ (1722). It is written in sestets of iambic tetrameter and trimeter. but I am the worst person to apply to as all my odes are irregular except IgnoranceSouthey’s ode ‘To Ignorance’ was sent to Charles Collins, 16 April 1792 (see Letter 6). which you have. Grays Spring & drownd catThomas Gray (1716–1771; DNB), ‘Ode on the Spring’ (1748) and ‘Ode on the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes’ (1748). are pretty I think — but I am not regular myself & detest regularity.

I hope all your friends are well. make my compliments & thank Mr Reed.Isaac Reed (1742–1807; DNB), literary scholar and editor of Shakespeare, tried — and failed — to prevent Egerton, the printer of The Flagellant, from revealing Southey’s name to the Westminster School authorities. remember <me> to little Joseph. I wrote him a serious epistle the other day & desir’d an English answer — do make him write — I fear after all he will sink into an editor like BrunckRichard François Philippe Brunck (1729–1803), a French classical scholar notorious for cavalier handling of the texts he edited. unless you can find some means to rowse him — is it not horrible that such a Genius should do nothing but write Latin? if you see Lamb remember me to him & his Majesty I shall write them soon. but my time is much taken up. since ten this morning I have never laid the pen down & it is now past one. this is not idle — but Vincent would say so as all my writings are English. write soon.