285. Robert Southey to Joseph
Cottle, [19 January 1798]
*
If there were room here, or if I had time at present, I should
reply somewhat fully to the first part of your letter. I can however sincerely
congratulate you on the intelligence it gave me.
I have never told you how very unhandsome I
think the conduct of Wordsworth & his sister to Charles Lloyd,
respecting the passage which he has omitted, I never heard of so mean &
overbearing an act of vanity. [1]
You say nothing of Rose [2] &
the 2nd Volume. [3] the second half she[MS torn] from
<this> [MS torn] begin the poem. I wish to let the 2nd
Vol. be begun by another printer, if it were only to let Biggs know that I think he has
behaved very ill to us.
I have not received the Hurri[MS torn] [4] because I mean to apply for Lloyds novel, [5] & it is not well to make many of those applica[Ms
torn]
[MS torn] have writt[MS torn] some lines to my Cousin Margaret at Bath, which I
think you would like. in my next volume of poems, a large department will be
under the title of Metrical Letters. [6] & I have planned several which I much wish to
begin. at present the analysing Lope de Vegas most famous, & indeed best,
poem takes up some time. [7] it is in 20 huge books – but I see land. this book is
from the Redcross Library. [8]
The books I have reviewed are The Minister. [9]
xTrifles in Verse & xCritical
Trifles by Stewart. Christs Hospital. First Flights. Vales of Wever. xWilliam & Ellen. Scath of France. Trans. of Catullus.
of the Kisses of Bonefonius. Cheethams Poems. xThe Church.
Trip to Portsmouth. [10] & Britains Genius. [11]
with two selections The Leaser, & the Temple of Apollo. [12] I have x marked those already printed last month. God
bless you.
yrs affectionately
R Southey.
Friday.
Notes* Address: To/ Mr Cottle/ High Street/ Bristol/ Single
Postmark: D.J.A./ 19/
98
Endorsement: (101) 117
MS: Letter is written on corrected proof sheets of
Southey’s Joan of Arc, 2nd edition, 2 vols (Bristol and
London, 1798), I, pp. 57–64. Bristol Reference Library,
B20873
Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of
Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp.
158–159. BACK [1] The meaning
of this passage is obscure. It possibly refers to something in Lloyd’s
novel, Edmund Oliver (1798). BACK [2] The Bristol printer and bookseller John Rose (fl. 1781–1803). BACK [3] Southey was working on the two-volume edition of his Poems
published in 1799. Volume 1 was a third, revised edition of the collection
originally published in 1797; volume 2 was a new addition, and contained
poems written since 1797. BACK [4] William Gilbert, The Hurricane: A Theosophical and
Western Eclogue (1796). BACK [5] Charles Lloyd, Edmund Oliver
(1798). BACK [6]
Poems, 2 vols (Bristol, 1799), II, pp. 85–88 contained
one ‘Metrical Letter, Written from London’. It was addressed to Southey’s
‘Cousin Margaret’. BACK [7] Probably
Jerusalem Conquistada (1609) by Lope Felix de Vega Carpio
(1562–1635). BACK [8] Southey had
been using Dr Williams’s Library, London, established by a bequest from
Daniel Williams (c.1643–1716; DNB). BACK [9] Southey’s review of Johann Christoph Friedrich
von Schiller (1759–1805), The Minister: a Tragedy. In Five Acts.
Translated from the German ... by M. G. Lewis (1797) appeared in
Critical Review, 22 (January 1798), 103–104. BACK [10] Southey’s reviews of
the following appeared in Critical Review, 21 (December
1797): Charles Edward Stewart (c. 1751–1819), A Collection of Trifles
in Verse (1797) and Critical Trifles, in a Familiar
Epistle to John Fisher (1797), 463; Eaglesfield Smith (c.
1770–1838; DNB), William and Ellen, A Tale,
(1796), 463–464; John Sharpe (1769–1859), The Church, A Poem
(1797), 460–463. His reviews of the following were published in
Critical Review, 22 (January 1798): Eaglesfield Smith,
The Scath of France: or, The Death of St. Just and His Son, A
Poem. To Which is Added, Sir Mordac and Balma, &c. (1797),
101; Thomas Skinner Surr (c. 1770–1847; DNB), Christ’s
Hospital, A Poem, (1797), 102; John Gisborne (1770–1851;
DNB), The Vales of Wever, a Loco-Descriptive
Poem (1797), 100–101; A Trip to Portsmouth and the Isle
of Wight from London, in Rambling Verses (1797), 103;
Belinda; or, the Kisses of Joannes Bonefonius of Auvergne
(1797), 103; John Heyrick Jnr (d. 1797), First Flights, containing
Pieces in Verse on Various Occasions (1797), 102–103; The
Poems of Caius Valerius Catullus, in English Verse (1795),
65–67; Robert Farren Cheetham (1777/8–1801), Odes and
Miscellanies (1796), 84–86. BACK [11] Christopher Anstey (1724–1805;
DNB), Britain’s Genius; a Song: to the Tune of
‘Come and Listen to My Ditty.’ – Occasioned by the Late
Mutiny on Board His Majesty’s Ships at The Nore (1797), reviewed
by Southey in Critical Review, 22 (March 1798), 354. BACK [12] Southey’s reviews of the following appeared in
Critical Review, 22 (February 1798): The Leaser,
being a Selection of the Best Poetic Effusions and Translations of that
Immortal Bard, Alexander Pope (1797), 231; William Hodgson
(1745–1851; DNB), The Temple of Apollo: being a
Selection of the Best Poems, from the Most Esteemed Authors
(1797), 231. BACK |
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