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 rce63 letterEEd.26.63 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD March 15, 2009

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.

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:>

Romantic Circles c/o Professor Neil Fraistat Department of English University of Maryland College Park, MD 20742 fraistat@umd.edu

By their use of these texts and images, users agree to the following conditions: These texts and images may not be used for any commercial purpose without prior written permission from Romantic Circles. These texts and images may not be re-distributed in any forms other than their current ones.

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.

. Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), I, p. 188 [in part; 1 paragraph].

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.

All quotation marks and apostrophes have been changed: " for “," for ”, ' for ‘, and ' for ’.

Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed.

Because of web browser variability, all hyphens have been typed on the U.S. keyboard.

Dashes have been rendered as a variable number of hyphens to give a more exact rendering of their length.

Southey's spelling has not been regularized.

Writing in other hands appearing on these manuscripts has been indicated as such, the content recorded in brackets.

& has been used for the ampersand sign.

£ has been used for £, the pound sign

All other characters, those with accents, non-breaking spaces, etc., have been encoded in HTML entity decimals.

 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 Architecture Artifacts Bibliography Collection Criticism Letters Drama Life Writing Politics Folklore Ephemera Fiction History Leisure Manuscript Reference Works Humor Education Music nonfiction Paratext Perodical Philosphy Photograph Citation Family Life Poetry Religion Review Visual Art Translation Travel Book History Law Southey Letters: Biographies Southey Letters: Places Laura Mandell XSLT Transforming Averill Buchanan corrections from proofing Laura Mandell XSLT Transforming Averill Buchanan TEI Encoding
63. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 29 [–30] October 1793 Address: [not in Southey’s hand] James Deacon Esqr/ Long Room/ Custom House/ LondonStamped: BRISTOLPostmark: OC/ 31/ 93Watermark: Figure of Britannia; G R in a circleSeal: Red wax [design illegible]Endorsement: 29. Octor 1793MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), I, p. 188 [in part; 1 paragraph]. Tuesday. Oct. 29. 1793.
College Green.

Whenever I sit down to write to you a thousand different subjects are so jumbled in my strange brain — that the one confuses the other & I wander from all. your letter arrived to day & relieved me from a great weight — the apprehension that my baggage was lost — tho I jested upon the subject made me very uneasy — when my Aunt seemd anxious I laughd but my laugh (as it often is) was artificial — the rogue who would wear my cloaths would do, what the erudite abomination of Israel never did, with my papers — & I far advanced as I am in the science of Apathy — that would severely have afflicted me.

For once in my life I rejoiced that Grosvenor Bedfords paper was small & his letter at the end — to suppose I felt otherwise than grieved & indignant at the fate of the unfortunate Queen of FranceMarie Antoinette was executed on 16 October 1793. — was supposing me a brute & to request an avowal of what I felt, implied a suspicion that I did not feel. you seemd glad when arguments against the system of Republicanism had faild — to grasp at the crimes of wretches who call themselves Republicans & stir up my feelings against my judgment. it is as just as if you should urge the existence of the Inquisition as an argument against Xtianity. for your feelings I make every allowance — but tho you may indulge them in conversation you might be more cool when you take up the pen. the infamous accusation hurt me certainly as much as it did you — perhaps (from obvious reasons) more — but I have been too long accustomed to brood over painful reflections in silence, ever to give vent to passion. at this moment Edward is crying for poor Antoinette — I could have done the same but tears lie as near the eyes as curses do to the tongue & there is as much reason in indulging the one as the other. you have mentioned HollefearProbably William Mainwaring Hollefear, educated at Hertford College, Oxford, BA 1774, later Vicar of Wolvey. in a manner mysteriously disrespectful — why I know not but I perceive that without knowing him I am following his example & (perhaps from the xxxxxxxxxx) sinking into the same eccentric philosophical & miserable being. excuse me if I have said too much relative to the Queen — I felt hurt at the supposition implied in your letter — & it seemed hard that you <should> apply to me to execrate her death — when I heard the murder of the Mayor of ToulonUnidentified. in silence. you will accuse me of an undue partiality — act impartially & you must acquit me. I can condemn the crimes of the French & yet be a Republican nor am I as you have often stiled me merely a theoretical one.

Present my compliments to your brother & tell him if I tal regulate thy intervals of my writing by his — we shall be excellent correspondents — thank him for his punctuality but he I suppose has begun a new language & in the course of another week when he is tired of it — he may vouchsafe a line to me.

So far in reply to part of your long expected & his still expected letter. it is a lamentable knowledge my dear friend, that the guilt must entail misery — innocence does not insure happiness — MaratJean Paul Marat (1743–1793), Swiss-born French revolutionary, stabbed to death in his bath on 13 July 1793. could not have been happy but Louis 16thLouis XVI (1754–1793; reigned 1774–1792).was far from happiness — CordèCharlotte Corday (1768–1793) who, on 13 July 1793, stabbed Jean Paul Marat to death in his bath. She was guillotined four days later. according to my estimate attained the summit of sublunary bliss but this you will call romantic & Edmund Seward would pronounce wrong — yet SolonSolon (c. 640–558 BC), statesman and poet, whose reforms earned him the title ‘father of Athenian democracy’. entertained much the same idea of happiness when he abashed the pride of Crœsus.Crœsus, King of Lydia (c. 560–546 BC). Southey is citing a story, originally from Herodotus, that Solon reminded Croesus that no man could be described as happy until he had died. Croesus’ subsequent fall from power demonstrated the truth of this. I well remember the conversation you allude to — & should have been surprized at it — but for my knowledge of Judas Iscariot — I wish the French would come over & carry him off — he acts upon me with an electric power — to his arguments you ought not to bestow a moments attention — it were as rational to expect any thing good from him as it would be to to expect apples from a yeugh tree — or milk butter & cheese from Hyder.A dog owned by the Bedford family.

I have laid down GilliesJohn Gillies (1712–1796; DNB), The History of Ancient Greece (1796). Southey borrowed the second volume of Gillies’s History from the Bristol Library Society between 28 October and 4 November 1793. to write to you the third letter in one fortnight. thank yourself for the intrusion — had my casette arrived I should have been otherwise employed, so to your negligence my industry must be attributed — I can laugh as loud as you at the suspension of my cloaths & add He he to ha ha — but when I think of Joan — ‘let me not think’. knowledge of history is surely above the class of accomplishments — it is something more — it expands the human mind — presents before it every age of the world & teaches by the most powerful instructor — example. perhaps the history of Greece is the most interesting in the annals of mankind — can there be a stronger argument against the most absurd assertion that liberty is constitutional & attachd to climate, than that Greece is now enslaved — in a fool such prejudices deserve only contempt — but when I have heard you defend them — I have felt for the inconsistency of human reason when blinded by the mists of prejudice. depend upon it the mind of man is formed with the the <same> capabilities in Africa & in Europe — much more in two countries so nearly situated — but I say too much on a subect which could only be advanced when Indignation had triumphed over Impartiality

my Bott is going but the beast leaves a numerous offspring behind him — perhaps he may be dignified with an ode — & if Alexanders wry neck distorted MacedonAlexander the Great (356–323 BC; reigned 336–323 BC), King of Macedon. It was believed that he had a crooked neck and that sycophants copied his posture. — & Georges — sore one — poulticed (not only) all the fools in EnglandPossibly a reference to the treatment received by George III (1738–1820; reigned 1760–1820; DNB) during his illness of 1788–1789. — why should not my Bott be celebrated in a more rational way? my eyes most vehemently denounce this employment — so bonsoir — & you will it make bon jour before you quit the bed

Wednesday. & breakfast over. upon the rational supposition that my cloaths left London by Saturdays waggon are to arrive in Bath to day & to be delivered tomorrow I have composed my mind to expect them here by next Saturday noon & even so far does this saint-like resignation extend that were I quite certain all was safe I could wish it delayd longer for — horrible to say — when my cloaths arrive I must bedeck myself & call pay my ceremonious visits. to night I sit snug in the pit instead of being stuck up in the boxes, where in all probability I shall meet more agreable company & certainly feel more at my ease. is not this real philosophy to extract comfort from calamity as gardeners raise cucumbers from something which CC would express openly — a true philosopher like the bee will extract honey from weeds equally pure with what gives fragrance to the rose — (hæ nugæ (IE my baggage) (parenthesis within parenthesis) seria ducuntA paraphrase of Horace (65–8 BC), Ars Poetica, line 451. The Latin translates as: ‘These trifles will bring that friend into serious trouble’.) most of those characters which History holds up to example rather derive celebrity from the fortitude with which they sustaind adversity — danger & even death than from any tinsel of prosperity — oftener glittering upon a fool than a philosopher. the AntoninesA dynasty of Roman emperors, who ruled AD 96–192. — JulianFlavius Claudius Julianus, the Apostate (331–363; reigned 361–363), Roman emperor. & our AlfredAlfred the Great (848/9–899; reigned 871–899; DNB). knew how to add honour to their rank — & [MS torn] would be difficult to name four others who did not rather sully it. I have been blubbering yesterday over the death of SocratesSocrates (c. 470–399 BC), Athenian philosopher. After being found guilty of impiety and corruption of youth, he was sentenced to death. He committed suicide by drinking hemlock. — a scene the most interesting & most affecting in history — yet had the philosopher perished by the course of Nature he had lost much fame & posterity much instruction. I should not be surprized if the French amongst their inconsistent eccentricities were to revive the Grecian philosophy as they have in part the Grecian education. I should make an excellent founder of a sect, partly eclectic but more original — you remember what Shakspere says of adversity — it calls forth all the latent powers of man, many of which if not entirely destroyed are certainly obscured by the tinsel of Fortune As You Like It, Act 2, scene 1, lines 12–16. — the prison of Socrates — the last actions of CatoThe Roman politician Marcus Porcius Cato Uticensis (95–46 BC), who committed suicide rather than submit to Julius Caesar (100/102– 44 BC). & the tent of JulianEdward Gibbon (1737–1794; DNB), The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, 12 vols (London, 1788), II, p. 457, compared the dying Emperor Julian’s dispensing of wisdom to the behaviour of Socrates when he was about to commit suicide. —very different as they are — demonstrate most forcibly the power of ancient philosophy — I doubt whether so much can be learnt from many volunteers in the army of Martyrs. LatimerHugh Latimer (c. 1485–1555; DNB), Bishop of Worcester, preacher, and protestant martyr. preachd patience to Friar ForestJohn Forest (c. 1470–1538; DNB), Franciscan, burned for heresy. Hugh Latimer presided at his execution. when the poor Catholic was agonizing by a slow fire — & CranmerThomas Cranmer (1489–1556; DNB) who, as Archbishop of Canterbury, oversaw the trial and execution of numerous Catholics. Convicted of heresy, he recanted and then repudiated his recantation before being burned at the stake in Oxford. — much as he disliked roas being roasted for a protestant had no objection to cooking the Papists.

The toleration of Polytheism was its best quality — is it wrong to suppose that they persecuted the Xtians for their intolerant principles? Lightfoot & I have often disputed upon the comparative demerits of Impiety & Superstition — I maintaind the latter to be most pernicious & am actually engaged in an essay upon the subject. give me your opinions how very little have the doctrines of Xst been understood! we find neither bishops of 10,000 a year — jugged Jews or roasted heretics — or church & state — or test act in the whole gospel. compel them to enter said our Saviour as the book says Luke 14: 23. — but does the testament bear false witness — or the Son of God act in contradiction to his life & doctrines — those damned monks who smuggled & monopolized the scriptures for so many years — pieced them & patched them from the Alexandrian PlatonistsA school of philosophy developed by Plotinus (AD 205–270) and his successors. It merged Greek philosophy with mysticism and was influential in the thought of early Church Fathers, especially St Augustine (AD 354–430). — the Oriental fictions & Jewish Cabbala — till we read of persecution metaphysics — scarlet whore & eating books Revelation 17 and 10: 9. — in the book of life of benevolence & simple truth.

I can say all this to you — but Edmund Seward would shake his head & lament the arrogance of Reason. I wrote to him last week & exposed the folly of his almost criminal diffidence — he talks of his total inability for the task he is about to undertake — & I am very confident would rather be acquainted with all the Fathers than all the historians philosophers & poets. you have more than once accused me of paying too much deference to his opinions — but I deserve not the accusation — Nullius addictusA paraphrase of Horace (65–8 BC), Epistles, Book 1, no. 1, line 14. The Latin translates as ‘I am not bound over’. &c I can see where he goes beyond the right line & where others stop short — yet frankly confess that in the few months of my acquaintance with him I <have> learnt more than in the other nineteen years of my life — an old PhilosopherZeno of Citium (c. 334–262 BC), founder of the Stoic school of philosophy. compared himself to a narrow mouthed bottle — slowly admitting but long retaining — his bottle is better than the sieve of the Danaides.In Greek mythology, the daughters of Danaos, King of Argos. As a punishment for murdering their husbands on their wedding-night, they were condemned in Hades to draw water from a well in a sieve.

yrs RS

make my respects to all your good family.

my compliments to Mr & Mrs Deacon &c. I must write to her but the very idea affrights me.

I am now sitting down to CC.you bid me write soon & I gladly obeyd you.

will you do the same?my compliments ... the same: Written above the address on fol. 2 v.