286. Robert Southey to Thomas
Southey, 24[-26] January 1798
*
Wednesday Jany. 24. 98
12. Lambs Conduit Street.
My dear Tom
Some few days since I learnt from Bath that Mrs Cookman [1] was coming to town on business for a day – & we
were desired to get her a bed in, or near the house of our abode. this morning
she arrived – & with her – my
mother – who has taken this trip to please herself – & us as you
may well imagine. It is some time since I have been astonished, & I believe
nothing less than the skies falling could astonish me – but after travelling all
night – & being seasick on the way, she arrived here in good spirits, health
as good as when you left her – & so we are all going to the play to night to
see Blue beard [2] –
& now Tom if a
hurricane would drive you up to London bridge I should have nobody to wish for.
She has brought me two likenesses of herself taken by Robert
Hancock [3] – but they are not like my mother. I have my choice of
them – I growl at it – & yet am glad it is here.
Harry wrote to me – this
morning, from Norwich, where he has been for a few days. he writes in high
spirits, & well he may, for I cannot wish him a better situation. on his way
to Norwich, a Lady in the Coach asked him if he had ever read my poems – &
added there was a Mr Southey in Yarmouth, brother, she believed, to me, whom she very much wished to
see.
Peggy made you understand more than
was strictly the case, when she said there was a coolness between Lloyd & me. Our living together
was unpleasant, & we seperated at his proposal. true it is that I do not
find in Charles Lloyd, what a man
must have before I can think him my friend, a steady & consistent character;
in whatever is of importance, he will, I believe, always be <the> same,
& I should be much surprized at any wrong – or immoral action in him – but
for little contemp<t>ible frivolities, for those ficklenesses that I
despize – he is full of them. I do not respect him, & I cannot love, where I
cannot respect. but if any exertion of mine could serve him, if a leg or an arm
would be of use – I should be ready always to proffer myself to assist him. My
dear Tom I have long since ceased to
estimate men according to their genius. I want men who will act with me, not
talk with me.
Friday. These good visitors of mine came in & interrupted my
letter. I escorted them to the play; yesterday they gadded about all day, &
to night I go to Covent Garden with them.
You are to have one of the drawings of my mother. this have I insisted
upon – for Mrs Hancock [4]
put in her claim.
They leave me tomorrow I believe.
I was surprized this morning in looking at the large play bills,
to see a grand ballet announced as in preparation called Joan of Arc – or the
Maid of Orleans. [5] methinks they should send me a ticket of admittance. be this
said ballet good, bad, or indifferent, it will be an excellent advertisement for
my book. [6] but when that book
will be out, as I have no telescope view of futurity, it is not possible for me
to guess.
You naval men may amuse yourselves in speculating upon
<guns-> gun-boats – rafts, & all the curious inventions that keep
London in alarm. [7]
Lloyd goes to Birmingham tomorrow I
fear his brother [8] is in a very dangerous state, or the old father would
not have called him home. I do not like that old man. he is too civil – too
fawning – too oily. [9]
God bless you.
yrs affectionately
R Southey
Notes
* Address: To/ Mr Southey/ H.M.S. Mars/ Plymouth./
Torbay/ Single
Stamped: PLYMOUTH / DOCK
Postmark: BJA/ 27/
98
MS: British Library, Add MS 47890
Previously published: Kenneth
Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London
and New York, 1965), I, pp. 159–160. BACK
[2] George Colman, the Younger
(1762–1836; DNB), Bluebeard (1798) was playing
at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. BACK
[3] The engraver Robert Hancock
(c. 1731–1817; DNB). Between 1796–1798 he produced pencil and
chalk drawings of Southey and other members of his circle, including his
mother, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Charles Lamb and William Wordsworth.
Commissioned by Joseph Cottle, the portraits are now in the National
Portrait Gallery, London. BACK
[4] Probably Robert Hancock’s wife, Martha (1744–c.1829). BACK
[5] ‘An Entire New Grand
Historical Ballet of Action, called Joan of Arc, or the Maid of Orleans’,
was announced widely in the London Press at this time (e.g. in The
Oracle, Star, True Briton, 26
January 1798). It was first performed at Covent Garden on 12 February
1798. BACK
[6] The second edition of
Joan of Arc, published in 1798. BACK
[7] In early 1798 the
build-up of French troops in the Channel ports led to widespread invasion
scares. One of the more bizarre manifestations of these fears was the rumour
that the French had constructed a giant raft that could transport 60,000
troops across the Channel. BACK
[8] James Lloyd I
(1776–1853). BACK
[9] Charles Lloyd Senior
(1748–1828; DNB), a Birmingham-based banker and amateur
translator of classical literature. He had visited Southey in 1797. BACK
