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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 48–51; Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), I, p. 204 [in part; undated].
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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At last the date is prefixed. I left J Collins this morning soon after
nine to write to you. returned to my rooms began some verses & from that
hour to this have undergone a perpetual routine of interruptions. Lovell wrote to me Monday last to
say that circumstances oblige him to reside in Bristol — much to his advantage,
& I believe more than to his inclination. tis unlucky on account of our
volume. will you be good enough to convey or cause them to be conveyed to
Bell?
in this country a liberal education precludes the man of no fortune from independance in the humbler lines of life — he may either turn man butcher, or embrace one of three professions in all of which there is too much quackery — Law is of all others the most unpleasant — the lawyer lives by the vices & follies of his neighbours, blows up the coals of discord, & when the fuel is spent is paid for quenching it. a honest well-minded attorney might be of service to mankind, but he must be independent of his profession in order to be honest & well-minded, & must consider it his duty rather to reconcile enemies than to provoke friends. but before Law can become justice — a mighty change must be effected in order to simplify it — the voluminous lumber of tautology must either be burnt or shut up in some sepulchre, a monument of human folly, & the few eternal & immutable laws of justice, with the few that originate from society be collected in one volume that every individual may carry the law of his life in his pocket, & judge for himself.
in all this Bedford I see nothing very visionary, or indeed anyway impossible. the absurd custom of paying attorneys in proportion to the number of words & lines, has introduced that tautology & barbarism so disgustingly perplexing — Law as it is disgraces justice — as it should be & as it may be it becomes simple & useful.
it were easy to point out innumerable objections to divinity, — but there is one sufficiently obstinate at the threshold. the oaths of this you will form a proper estimate, & tell me whether or no with my principles it were just to enter into orders — to undertake teaching morality & virtue & begin my pastoral charge by perjury.
in fact there was no alternative when these ideas had weight. the
army I never thought of. to physic I see no objection. the study itself enlarges
the mind & the practice affords more opportunities of serving society
than any other profession. very soon shall I commence my anatomical &
chemical studies. when well grounded in these, I hope to study under
Cruikshanks
the only circumstance any ways unpleasant is that I shall be
constrained to mix more with this world more
than is agreable to my wishes & perhaps to my natural disposition,
& that I must conform more to its manners. but these imaginary
inconveniences are amply balanced by the various agreable circumstances.
this resolution has relieved me from a weight that hung heavy upon my mind & embittered many hours. I am inclined to think morality & active virtue will do — nor were it difficult to prove this — but the human mind is as yet incapable of the pure speculations of philosophical justice.
now then for Balliol. I have changed my rooms very much for the better. do you
recollect a door in the grove which opened to St Giles? near
the temple of A? my rooms are nearer the new buildings & the study
window looks to Cæsar.
Jer. Collins is with us good humoured as usual & tho laid up with a sore heel, his wit by no means halts. punning is certainly infectious & I am inclined to think that the very air of Oxford gives the disorder for when he & I (we travelled together from Bath) got within ten miles of the place puns began to drop, faster & faster till we arrived at my rooms & found Lightfoot Burnett bread cheese & a bottle. but Balliol has met with an irreparable injury — it has lost the fiddle with one string so oft responsive to the gentle touch of harmony. in its place Burnett has a piano forte,to which I sing discordant. the Pot has not attained that ripe rank perfection of impurity which Summer gave it, & the weather is yet too cold for Lightfoot to sit & stew over its vapours.
Tom Lamb is at Christ Church.
his Majesty well & young
Wynn sports Claret. next
Friday however he drinks port with me & much do I wish that you could
join our party. Elmsley
Wynn
Peckwell
C Collins
Combe & Lamb. Horse Campbell sleeps every night
with a stinking dog which Dr Pegg gave him & which report says he
feeds at the anatomy school. the Doctors room may be smelt at Woodstock whiffing
the accumulated stinks of <the> dead bodies the Dog & the
Doctor himself.
of myself one piece of news — my beard was black I borrowed Lightfoots razor with which I
scraped & scraped without effect & was at last obliged to finish
with the scissors! ten pages of Demosthenes
will Horace
come to Balliol? at Ch Ch they
come to me to know. I wish him here much for both our sakes. tell him I have
begun a letter, which I will finish as soon as possible. now Grosvenor write as soon
as you can & tell me if you can get the papers conveyed to Bell. then I
write to Lovell — & then —
make my appearance as Orson.
I have made a valuable friend at Corpus. his name Horseman. C Collins knows him.