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 rce84 letterEEd.26.84 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

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84. Robert Southey to Horace Walpole Bedford, 4 April 1794 Address: Horace Walpole Bedford Esqr/ New Palace Yard/ Westminster Stamped: OXFORDPostmark: SAP/ 5/ 94Watermark: Crown [rest obscured by binding]Endorsement: Recd. April 4th. 1794MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22Unpublished.
Balliol.
Thursday April 4th. 1794. My dear Horace

Tho your petrifying silence be enough to freeze the pen in my inkstand — yet as I have no right to accuse on this head whilst at Oxford, I send this to say I am alive & enquire whether or no you are in the same predicament. & as a small sheet of paper is better than none, & as mine was Hobsons choice you must be content with this quarto & thank me for it. I go to Bristol next week & there shall expect to hear from you.

now this is this abominable chapel bell reminding me of morning prayers. seven o clock & I have breakfasted & written half an ode & seven lines & 3 quarters of a letter beside date & exordium already. by the by suppose I try a pindaric to this said chapel bell?

Horrida Bella!Virgil (70–19 BC), Aeneid, Book 6, line 86. The Latin translates as ‘wars are horrendous’.

tis an old pun

Lo I the man whose Muse of late her maskd As Time her taught in rustic shepherd weeds Am now enforced a far unfitter tasks For cap & gown to change my Doric weeds And sit in chapel whilst the snaffling Ginger reads Ginger of snaggling snoffling sniveling nose Ginger whose stream of elocution flows Foul as the channel thro the which it goes. AMEN. The bell warns me. — And Imposition threatens oer my head Five times already have I truant playd From chapel — & five time the scholars pin Has prickd the accusing paper thro & thro Ah ruthless scholar & ah ruthless pin To prick the accusing paper thro & thro When every hole wounds my fair character And adds irregular to Southeys name! So witches stab the enchanted form of wax And every stab some wretched victim feels. I must go & I must run — Swifter than the setting sun. & the morning is wet — & I am engaged out to breakfast at nine — & my pindaric to the chapel bell not yet finishd — finishd said I? not yet begun! Oh Horace Horace Oh Grosvenor Bedford Oh Ginger Barnes Oh ROBERT SOUTHEY

———out to breakfast ... : Written in the margin of fol. 1 r.

Tis half past eight. My ode is finished & I must go to breakfast.

Dr Southey presents his compliments to Dr Bedford & <hopes> his brothers purge worked well.

Doctores vim promovent instutamHorace (65–8 BC), Odes, Book 4, no. 4, line 33. The Latin can be translated as ‘training develops innate powers’.

—————

To the Chapel Bell.A revised version was published in Southey’s Poems (1797).

————

Lo I — the man whose Muse whylome did maske As time her taught in outcast felons weeds — Am now enforst a far unfitter taske For cap & gown to chaunge mine oaten reeds For yon dull sound long lingering on the air Bids me lay by the lyre & go to morning prayer. Dull dismal sound devout I hate thy knell That tolls a requiem to the studious hour For loth am I at Superstitions bell To quit the lovely Muses laurelld bower Where chastend Pleasure holds elysian reign To hear still mumbled oer the same eternal strain. For hast thou ever summoned by thy sound One being with religious awe imprest? Wakd ever in thy never-varying round The fire of full Devotion in his breast? Or rather do not all reluctant creep To linger out the hour in listlessness or sleep? I love the bell that on the sabbath day Chimes from the village church its chearful sound When the sun smiles on Labors holyday And all the village train are gathered round Each deftly deckd & dizend in his best The honest index these of true religious breast. I love to see the aged spirit soar The narrow confines of the world above I love to see the honest youth adore Thank in respect & magnify in love To know the priest of forty pounds a year His lowly life to see — his simple truths to hear. Or when inumbring oer the face of day Slow rise the mists of evening all around As thro the forest glade I wend my way I love the distant curfews hollow sound I love to pause its pensive toll to hear As made by distance soft it strikes the listening ear. Or sadder still — I love the nightly knell That tells the exit of some vital breath — Slow on my sense the sounds tremendous dwell And make Mortality remember Death. For Virtue loves in native vigor brave To list the friendly toll & ponder oer the grave. But thou memorial of monastic zeal, What lovd remembrance bringst thou to the mind? What does thy oft-repeated sound reveal? Devotion dull & Superstition blind The sniffling snaffling chaplains nasal note — And eke the Scarlet Dame by her red petticoat.Lo ... petticoat: Verse in double columns.

————

I want. a letter. my boots my great coat my books

———

you want A HORSE-WHIP for your silence.

———

& tho I have as great a regard for thee as Sancho had for DappleIn Cervantes Saavedra (1547–1616), Don Quixote (1605–1615), Sancho is the servant and companion of Don Quixote, and Dapple is his ass. I could xxxx lay it on with a hearty good will.

————

Clodius accuset mœchos.Juvenal (fl. AD late C1 and early C2), Satire 2, line 27. The Latin translates as ‘Clodius accused adulterers’. so take this meekly.

Now I have punishd your silence by this letter write directly to

your sincere friend

And dignified brother

Doctor Southey that is to be.

make my best respects to your father & mother. how is Mr Bs gout? remember me to Mrs Deacon &c in some pretty phrase that means much.

Do not let

Doctors differ.

nor

Doctor defer

to answer my letter with due deference. for in punctuality there is no difference between us.Do not let ... between us: Written in the margin of fol. 2 r.