<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>
<title type="main">The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 1: 1791-1797 </title>
<title type="subordinate">A Romantic Circles Electronic Edition</title>
<author>
<name>Southey, Robert, 1774-1843</name>
</author>
<editor>Lynda Pratt</editor>
<sponsor>Romantic Circles</sponsor>
<respStmt>
<resp>General Editor, </resp>
<name>Neil Fraistat</name>
</respStmt>
<respStmt>
<resp>General Editor, </resp>
<name>Steven E. Jones</name>
</respStmt>
<respStmt>
<resp>General Editor, </resp>
<name>Carl Stahmer</name>
</respStmt>
<respStmt>
<resp>Technical Editor</resp>
<name>Laura Mandell</name>
</respStmt>
</titleStmt>
<editionStmt>
<edition>
<date>2009-03-15</date>
</edition>
</editionStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<idno type="nines">rce23</idno>
<idno type="edition">letterEEd.26.23</idno>
<publisher>Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland</publisher>
<pubPlace>College Park, MD</pubPlace>
<date when="2009-02-20">March 15, 2009</date>
<availability status="restricted">
<p>Material from the Romantic Circles Website may not be downloaded, reproduced or disseminated in any
												manner without authorization unless it is for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting,
												teaching, and/or classroom use as provided by the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended.</p>
<p>Unless otherwise noted, all Pages and Resources mounted on Romantic Circles are copyrighted by the
												author/editor and may be shared only in accordance with the Fair Use provisions of U.S. copyright law.
												Except as expressly permitted by this statement, redistribution or republication in any medium
												requires express prior written consent from the author/editors and advance notification of Romantic
												Circles. Any requests for authorization should be forwarded to Romantic Circles:&gt;
												<address>
<addrLine>Romantic Circles</addrLine>
<addrLine>c/o Professor Neil Fraistat</addrLine>
<addrLine>Department of English</addrLine>
<addrLine>University of Maryland</addrLine>
<addrLine>College Park, MD 20742</addrLine>
<addrLine>fraistat@umd.edu</addrLine>
</address>
</p>
<p>By their use of these texts and images, users agree to the following conditions: <list>
<item>These texts and images may not be used for any commercial purpose without prior written
														permission from Romantic Circles.</item>
<item>These texts and images may not be re-distributed in any forms other than their current
														ones.</item>
</list>
</p>
<p>Users are not permitted to download these texts and images in order to mount them on their own servers.
												It is not in our interest or that of our users to have uncontrolled subsets of our holdings available
												elsewhere on the Internet. We make corrections and additions to our edited resources on a continual
												basis, and we want the most current text to be the only one generally available to all Internet users.
												Institutions can, of course, make a link to the copies at Romantic Circles, subject to our conditions
												of use.</p>
</availability>
</publicationStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<p>Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c.
                        27.  Not previously published.</p>
<p>These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
</sourceDesc>
</fileDesc>
<encodingDesc>
<editorialDecl>
<quotation>
<p>All quotation marks and apostrophes have been changed: " for “," for ”, ' for ‘, and ' for ’.</p>
</quotation>
<hyphenation eol="none">
<p>Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed.</p>
<p>Because of web browser variability, all hyphens have been typed on the U.S. keyboard.</p>
<p>Dashes have been rendered as a variable number of hyphens to give a more exact rendering of their
												length.</p>
</hyphenation>
<normalization method="markup">
<p>Southey's spelling has not been regularized.</p>
<p>Writing in other hands appearing on these manuscripts has been indicated as such, the content recorded
												in brackets.</p>
</normalization>
<normalization>
<p>&amp; has been used for the ampersand sign.</p>
<p>£ has been used for £, the pound sign</p>
<p>All other characters, those with accents, non-breaking spaces, etc., have been encoded in HTML entity
												decimals.</p>
</normalization>
</editorialDecl>
<classDecl>
<taxonomy corresp="http://www.performantsoftware.com/nines_wiki/index.php/Submitting_RDF#.3Cnines:genre.3E" xml:id="g">
<bibl>NINES categories for Genre and Material Form at
												http://www.performantsoftware.com/nines_wiki/index.php/Submitting_RDF#.3Cnines:genre.3E on
												2009-02-26</bibl>
<category xml:id="g1">
<catDesc>Architecture</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g2">
<catDesc>Artifacts</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g3">
<catDesc>Bibliography</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g4">
<catDesc>Collection</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g5">
<catDesc>Criticism</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g7">
<catDesc>Letters</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g6">
<catDesc>Drama</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g8">
<catDesc>Life Writing</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g9">
<catDesc>Politics</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g10">
<catDesc>Folklore</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g11">
<catDesc>Ephemera</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g12">
<catDesc>Fiction</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g13">
<catDesc>History</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g14">
<catDesc>Leisure</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g15">
<catDesc>Manuscript</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g16">
<catDesc>Reference Works</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g17">
<catDesc>Humor</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g18">
<catDesc>Education</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g19">
<catDesc>Music</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g20">
<catDesc>nonfiction</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g21">
<catDesc>Paratext</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g22">
<catDesc>Perodical</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g23">
<catDesc>Philosphy</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g24">
<catDesc>Photograph</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g25">
<catDesc>Citation</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g26">
<catDesc>Family Life</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g27">
<catDesc>Poetry</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g28">
<catDesc>Religion</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g29">
<catDesc>Review</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g30">
<catDesc>Visual Art</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g31">
<catDesc>Translation</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g32">
<catDesc>Travel</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g33">
<catDesc>Book History</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g34">
<catDesc>Law</catDesc>
</category>
</taxonomy>
<taxonomy corresp="http://www.rc.umd.edu/southey_letters/people.xml">
<category xml:id="people">
<catDesc>Southey Letters: Biographies</catDesc>
</category>
</taxonomy>
<taxonomy corresp="http://www.rc.umd.edu/southey_letters/places.xml">
<category xml:id="places">
<catDesc>Southey Letters: Places</catDesc>
</category>
</taxonomy>
</classDecl>
</encodingDesc>
<profileDesc>
<textClass>
<catRef scheme="#genre" target="#g7 #g27"/>
<catRef scheme="#people" target="#EEd.26.1.names"/>
<catRef scheme="#places" target="#EEd.26.1.places"/>
</textClass>
</profileDesc>
<revisionDesc>
<change who="#LM" when="2009-03-10" n="4">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name>Laura Mandell</name>
<list>
<item>XSLT Transforming</item>
</list>
</change>
<change who="#AB" when="2009-03-02" n="3">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name>Averill Buchanan</name>
<list>
<item>corrections from proofing</item>
</list>
</change>
<change who="#LM" when="2009-02-20" n="2">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name xml:id="LM">Laura Mandell</name>
<list>
<item>XSLT Transforming</item>
</list>
</change>
<change who="#AB" when="2009-02-20" n="1">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name xml:id="AB">Averill Buchanan</name>
<list>
<item>TEI Encoding</item>
</list>
</change>
</revisionDesc>
</teiHeader>
<text>
<body>
<div n="23" type="letter">
<head>23. Robert Southey to <ref target="people.html#BedfordGrosvenorCharles">Grosvenor Charles Bedford</ref>, <date when="1792-09-30">[c. September
                        1792]</date>
<note place="foot" resp="editors" type="headnote">Address: Grosvenor Charles
                        Bedford Esq<hi rend="sup">r</hi>/ Old Palace Yard/ Westminster/ Single
                        Sheet<lb/>Stamped: BATH<lb/>MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c.
                        27<lb/>Unpublished.<lb/>Dating note: The letter is dated from internal
                        evidence, in particular references to Southey’s imminent return to Bristol,
                        which had taken place by 26 September 1792.</note>
</head>
<p rend="indent3"> Patience &amp; Toasted Cheese</p>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Ah who can tell what varying Fate</l>
<l rend="indent2">Attends on mans inconstant state</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And marks the coming hour —</l>
<l rend="indent2">Ah who can tell or sage or wise</l>
<l rend="indent2">The next event that brooding lies</l>
<l rend="indent3"> In Fortunes froward power!</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg>
<l rend="indent2">For who would think when all around</l>
<l rend="indent2">Reechoed loud the applauding sound</l>
<l rend="indent3"> On Georges natal day.<note n="1" place="foot" resp="editors">Possibly a reference to public celebrations on 4 June, the birthday of
                            George III (1738–1820; reigned 1760–1820; <title level="m">DNB</title>).</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">The pastimes done, the shouts no more</l>
<l rend="indent2">Poor I was left to sadden oer</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Misfortunes hapless prey?</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Yet so it was for when on high</l>
<l rend="indent2">The rockets brightend in the sky</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And reard the wondering shout,</l>
<l rend="indent2">To claim their reign in darkest night</l>
<l rend="indent2">The Salamanders took their flight</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And let my fire go out.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Why did &lt;not&gt; one at least remain?</l>
<l rend="indent2">So many there must sure be vain</l>
<l rend="indent3"> But there indeed they went!</l>
<l rend="indent2">The Gnome Cinerus<note n="2" place="foot" resp="editors">A
                            type of Salamander and so in mythology able to live in fire; therefore,
                            an appropriate poetic name for Southey’s gnome.</note> watchd the
                        fire</l>
<l rend="indent2">He saw it dwindle &amp; expire</l>
<l rend="indent3"> To dust &amp; ashes spent.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">He saw with joy his destind prey</l>
<l rend="indent2">He saw it own his hateful sway</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Regardless of my ease — </l>
<l rend="indent2">The fireworks done! alas poor me!</l>
<l rend="indent2">Down stairs in haste I came to see</l>
<l rend="indent3"> About my toasted cheese.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">You who have heard Achilles rage</l>
<l rend="indent2">In minstrel Grecians hallowd page</l>
<l rend="indent3"> When Venus rushd below</l>
<l rend="indent2">And spread between the misty cloud</l>
<l rend="indent2">Her pious-scoundrel son to shroud</l>
<l rend="indent3"> From too resistless foe.<note n="3" place="foot" resp="editors">The reference is to an incident in Homer’s <title level="m">Iliad</title>, Book 20, when a fight between the Greek
                            hero Achilles and the Trojan warrior Aeneas (son of the goddess Venus)
                            is stopped by divine intervention.</note>
</l>
</lg>
<p rend="indent4"> ————— </p>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Tho I have time</l>
<l rend="indent2">To make it rhyme</l>
<l rend="indent3"> As you may see my friend</l>
<l rend="indent2">The sole pretence</l>
<l rend="indent2">This has to sense</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Is to match the other end</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">You who have seen deep anger rise</l>
<l rend="indent2">And flame in Mr Smedleys<note n="4" place="foot" resp="editors">Edward Smedley (1750–1825), an Usher at Westminster
                            School 1774–1820.</note> eyes</l>
<l rend="indent3"> When some unlucky wight</l>
<l rend="indent2">(As I once did) to fume &amp; smoke</l>
<l rend="indent2">Converts the fiery-coming joke</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And he miscarries quite.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">You who have seen when <ref target="people.html#DoddJamesWilliam">Dodds</ref> pale cheek</l>
<l rend="indent2">Expressd his rage to hear me speak —</l>
<l rend="indent3"> May fancy if you please,</l>
<l rend="indent2">To what a pitch my sorrow grew</l>
<l rend="indent2">In what a dreadful rage I flew</l>
<l rend="indent3"> About my toasted cheese.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">I seizd the poker &amp; the slice<note n="5" place="foot" resp="editors">Southey inserts note in margin: ‘Somersetice pro shovel’;
                            i.e. ‘Somersetshire for shovel’.</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">In hopes to mend it in a trice</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And furiously did poke</l>
<l rend="indent2">I pokd &amp; pokd, &amp; laughd &amp; said</l>
<l rend="indent2">Till I had suppd I’d not to bed</l>
<l rend="indent3"> In truth &amp; not in joke</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Still did Cinerus keep his seat</l>
<l rend="indent2">Nor could I force from his retreat</l>
<l rend="indent3"> No Salamander there —</l>
<l rend="indent2">And here sat Tom<note n="6" place="foot" resp="editors">Southey inserts note in margin: ‘my brother’. He is referring to <ref target="people.html#SoutheyTom">Thomas Southey</ref>.</note>
                        &amp; there sat Shad<note n="7" place="foot" resp="editors">Southey
                            inserts note in margin: ‘the servant’. He is referring to <ref target="people.html#WeeksShadrach">Shadrach Weeks</ref>, who worked
                            for Southey’s aunt, Elizabeth Tyler.</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">They laughd — I laughd &amp; all were mad</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And so — I took a chair.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">But <ref target="people.html#WeeksShadrach">Shad</ref> more
                        versd in magic lore</l>
<l rend="indent2">A talisman of wonderous power</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Took fearless in his hand —</l>
<l rend="indent2">A talisman whose potent sway</l>
<l rend="indent2">Each Salamander must obey</l>
<l rend="indent3"> To those who understand</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">A metal box this charm containd —</l>
<l rend="indent2">With what from calcind flax remaind</l>
<l rend="indent3"> A stone of dappled hue</l>
<l rend="indent2">Deep dug from mine — with nicest care</l>
<l rend="indent2">Refind by flames increasd by air</l>
<l rend="indent3"> In shape &amp; nature new.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">With nicest stroke on anvil strong</l>
<l rend="indent2">Beat hard &amp; fierce the flames among</l>
<l rend="indent3"> In shape for service meet</l>
<l rend="indent2">A handle there appeard in view</l>
<l rend="indent2">To put the fingers safely thro</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And then undaunted beat</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">A tinder box tis calld below</l>
<l rend="indent2">What hight above I do not know,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And sooth to say don’t care</l>
<l rend="indent2">Shad graspt this in his skilful hand</l>
<l rend="indent2">Then watchful took his curious stand</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And there began <del rend="strikethrough">to beat</del>
                        prepare.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Aw’d by the wonderous powerful sound</l>
<l rend="indent2">The Salamanders gather round</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Obedient to his call</l>
<l rend="indent2">In sparks of fire they hover there</l>
<l rend="indent2">Now from the stoney womb appear</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And in the store-house fall.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Tis done. the taper blazes bright</l>
<l rend="indent2">We gladden at the chearful sight</l>
<l rend="indent3"> It gave my woes some ease —</l>
<l rend="indent2">For soon I sure may go to bed</l>
<l rend="indent2">(Thus sleepy to myself I said</l>
<l rend="indent3"> When I have had my cheese.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Call then (said Prudence) to your aid</l>
<l rend="indent2">The Sylph in yon machine there laid</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And blow the kindling fire — </l>
<l rend="indent2">Let Sylphs &amp; Salamanders join</l>
<l rend="indent2">Against the Gnome their power combine</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And bid the flames aspire.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg>
<l rend="indent2">To all indeed the advice seemd good</l>
<l rend="indent2">I took the Sylph inclosd in wood</l>
<l rend="indent3"> I placed it on my knees.</l>
<l rend="indent2">The fire increasd — the flames they grew</l>
<l rend="indent2">Out with the dust Cinerus flew</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And Sally<note n="8" place="foot" resp="editors">A servant
                            who worked for Southey’s aunt, Elizabeth Tyler.</note> cut my
                        cheese.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Plague take that Gnome. may magic power</l>
<l rend="indent2">Embitter every future hour</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Close him in earthquakes shock</l>
<l rend="indent2">Or whelm him in a coal pit low</l>
<l rend="indent2">Or down Volcanos bid him go</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Or rive in rough ribbd rock.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">For now the fire began to glare</l>
<l rend="indent2">The cheese was cut &amp; pard with care</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And in the toaster laid</l>
<l rend="indent2">Says I, all toils &amp; perils past</l>
<l rend="indent2">Sure I shall have my cheese at last</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And so I am not afraid</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">“Ah luckless word &amp; bootless boast”<note n="9" place="foot" resp="editors">A paraphrase of William Cowper (1731–1800;
                                <title level="m">DNB</title>), ‘The Diverting History of John
                            Gilpin, Shewing How He Went Farther Than He Intended and Came Safe Home
                            Again’, in his <title level="m">The Task, a Poem, in Six Books ... to
                                Which are Added ... an Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq. Tirconium, of a
                                Review of Schools, and the History of John Gilpin</title> (London,
                            1785), p. 356.</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">Indeed I found it to my cost</l>
<l rend="indent3"> As I prepare to tell —</l>
<l rend="indent2">Cinerus in a cinder lay</l>
<l rend="indent2">Resolvd to make the cheese his prey</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And down the trippet fell</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">I laughd — I rag’d now almost mad —</l>
<l rend="indent2">And so was <ref target="people.html#SoutheyTom">Tom</ref>
                        &amp; so was <ref target="people.html#WeeksShadrach">Shad</ref>
</l>
<l rend="indent3"> I thought I should have swore</l>
<l rend="indent2">Out would have come a swelling oath</l>
<l rend="indent2">But I considerd in my wrath</l>
<l rend="indent3"> That I could have some more.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">And Fancy popt into my head</l>
<l rend="indent2">In all her lovely charms &amp; said</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Come Southey be at ease</l>
<l rend="indent2">List to my counsel &amp; attend</l>
<l rend="indent2">Do send the story to your friend</l>
<l rend="indent3"> For he loves toasted cheese.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">And when your life from toil has restd</l>
<l rend="indent2">When you &amp; cheese are both digested</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Perhaps this tale shall please</l>
<l rend="indent2">And future nations in your page</l>
<l rend="indent2">Shall read &amp; ridicule your rage</l>
<l rend="indent3"> About the toasted cheese</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">I have sent what I hope my dear <ref target="people.html#BedfordGrosvenorCharles">Bedford</ref> will
                        please</l>
<l rend="indent2">Some Patience &amp; with it the tale of my cheese</l>
<l rend="indent2">Of that quite enough. you know Charles’s old rule</l>
<l rend="indent2">“Who talks of past sorrows is surely a fool.<note n="10" place="foot" resp="editors">Southey is probably quoting a
                            commonplace.</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">My heart not over easy — a pain in my head</l>
<l rend="indent2">Tis now full six hours eer I can go to bed.</l>
<l rend="indent2">And in the mean time as I something must do</l>
<l rend="indent2">I’ll devote one half hour to rhyme reason &amp; you.</l>
<l rend="indent2">I grant very seldom in this present time</l>
<l rend="indent2">You will find any reason will meddle with rhyme,</l>
<l rend="indent2">When gossamer tears mantle over the eye</l>
<l rend="indent2">When verses are hung on a cobweb to dry</l>
<l rend="indent2">And witty Mit Yenda<note n="11" place="foot" resp="editors">Satirical name given to the Della Cruscan poet, Thomas Adney (dates
                            unknown), in William Gifford (1756–1826; <title level="m">DNB</title>),
                                <title level="m">The Baviad: a Paraphrastic Imitation of the First
                                Satire of Persius</title> (London, 1791), p. 29.</note> beseeches
                        his muse</l>
<l rend="indent2">With harmonious does’s &amp; did’s dost’s &amp;
                        do’s</l>
<l rend="indent2">When at Bath Thomas Cross of Kingsmead Street Esquire<note n="12" place="foot" resp="editors">Unidentified; presumably a Bath
                            tradesman.</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">Write letters &amp; sonnets &amp; whines by the
                        quire</l>
<l rend="indent2">Tho rhyme my dear friend shall like mushrooms in season</l>
<l rend="indent2">Amongst the whole mass you will seldom find reason</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">Last night how d’ye think I got off with the time?</l>
<l rend="indent2">{This verse has no reason tis only for rhyme}</l>
<l rend="indent2">Read by candle I durst not — thus sorely perplext</l>
<l rend="indent2">{For the sense my dear <ref target="people.html#BedfordGrosvenorCharles">Bedford</ref> go on with
                        the next}</l>
<l rend="indent2">I opened my box where in sad dismal show</l>
<l rend="indent2">[MS torn] the Flagellants<note n="13" place="foot" resp="editors">A schoolboy magazine devised by Southey and his friends,
                            it was forced to cease publication after nine issues.</note> lay packt
                        up neat in a row </l>
<l rend="indent2">[MS torn] Satire — not able by candle to write</l>
<l rend="indent2">[MS torn] all rest for the rest of the night —</l>
<l rend="indent2">[MS torn]od bye to both Luther &amp; Calvin &amp;
                            Knox<note n="14" place="foot" resp="editors">The Protestant reformers
                            Martin Luther (1483–1546), John Calvin (1509–1564) and John Knox (c.
                            1514–1572; <title level="m">DNB</title>).</note>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">I heated the clamps &amp; prepared the box —</l>
<l rend="indent2">And whilst our productions around did environ</l>
<l rend="indent2">(Tis a good rhyme of Butlers<note n="15" place="foot" resp="editors">Samuel Butler (1612–1680; <title level="m">DNB</title>),
                            English poet. The rhyme is from <title level="m">Hudibras</title>
                            (1662), Part 1, book 3, lines 1–2.</note>) I sat down to iron.</l>
<l rend="indent2">Why should I be ashamed? I remember at <ref target="places.html#Brixton">Brixton</ref>
</l>
<l rend="indent2">(Oh how shall I make this next verse here to fix on!)</l>
<l rend="indent2">In short <ref target="people.html#BedfordGrosvenorCharles">Bedford</ref> you see that I only can rhyme</l>
<l rend="indent2">In content [MS obscured] have reason perhaps the next
                        time.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg>
<l rend="indent2">What a train of reflections recurrd to his mind</l>
<l rend="indent2">When a fine periwinkle Rousseau<note n="16" place="foot" resp="editors">In the sixth book of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s (1712–1778)
                                <title level="m">Confessions</title> (1782), the sight of a
                            periwinkle brings to mind an incident involving his friend Madame de
                            Warrens nearly thirty years earlier.</note> chanct to find!</l>
<l rend="indent2">Indeed my dear <ref target="people.html#BedfordGrosvenorCharles">Bedford</ref> reflections
                        like these</l>
<l rend="indent2">Never fail whilst they torture the bosom to please — </l>
<l rend="indent2">When bleeding Remembrance fresh opens her viens</l>
<l rend="indent2">Does not Sorrow herself more than pay for her pains?</l>
<l rend="indent2">Does her pleasure admit of the smallest alloy? no</l>
<l rend="indent2">Recollect Homers
                        τεταρπομεδα
                            γαοιο<note n="17" place="foot" resp="editors">The Greek can be translated as ‘let
                            us have the pleasure of tears’, a phrase found frequently in
                            Homer.</note>
</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">L’Homme de la Nature!<note n="18" place="foot" resp="editors">Jean-Jacques Rousseau.</note> ah could I but know</l>
<l rend="indent2">That my name might one day resemble Rousseau,</l>
<l rend="indent2">As like his periwinkle I feel every hour</l>
<l rend="indent2">The days that are past come in soul-rending power</l>
<l rend="indent2">Days lovd &amp; lamented — when blithe as the day</l>
<l rend="indent2">That calld me to pleasure I rose but to play</l>
<l rend="indent2">When Learning held forth her inviting bright arms</l>
<l rend="indent2">And Study deprivd of constraint had but charms!</l>
<l rend="indent2">When days weeks &amp; months with rapi&lt;di&gt;ty
                        flew</l>
<l rend="indent2">And I wept for the sorrows I then never knew.</l>
<l rend="indent2">Those sources exhausted cold Apathy steels</l>
<l rend="indent2">And this selfish breast for itself only feels</l>
<l rend="indent2">Ah no! for I write what I wish to believe</l>
<l rend="indent2">But whilst I have eyes left — those eyes sure will grieve — </l>
<l rend="indent2">Een now down my cheek the too pleasing tears flow</l>
<l rend="indent2">Sensibility shed oer the page of Rousseau</l>
<l rend="indent2">For show me the wretch that unmovd can read here</l>
<l rend="indent2">That can run oer the page without shedding no tear</l>
<l rend="indent2">If he has a soul which I dare not declare</l>
<l rend="indent2">It is not the soul of a man but a bear.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent2">But here will or nill I must finish my friend</l>
<l rend="indent2">For as you may see my whole sheets’ at an end —</l>
</lg>
<p>One little corner remains for a little prose — on Wednesday next morning I go to
                    Bristol — where in all human probability I shall remain till my departure to
                    Oxford. a period I look forward to without pleasure &amp; expect without
                    pain — the university life is that horrid negative state to me far worse than
                    actual suffering — I came in a hot day into the world &amp; know no medium
                    in my temper — but my corner is almost full. direct to me at <ref target="people.html#TylerElizabeth">Miss Tylers</ref>
<ref target="places.html#CollegeGreenBristol">Bristol</ref> — there I go to my
                    huge desk full of scraps now almost unintelligible to myself which are gradually
                    giving way to fairer copies — I ought to be studying Euclid <note n="19" place="foot" resp="editors">Euclid of Alexandria (dates uncertain, between
                        325 and 250 BC), mathematician. His work includes the <title level="m">Elements</title>.</note> — (the Devil take that wretch &amp; make
                    draw triangles below) but Rousseau being more calculated for me the geometrician
                    lies as stupid as he would make me. remember me to your <ref target="people.html#BedfordHoraceWalpole">brother</ref> &amp; send <ref target="people.html#CollinsCharles">Collins</ref> direction</p>
</div>
</body>
</text>
</TEI>
