Did you remember to take the Letter to the man in Martins
Lane? [1]
Sunday 10 June. 98.
My dear Grosvenor
That I should run thro London without seeing
you is unpleasant to me; & will seem strange to you. but
will you not allow their due weight to unavoidables? there were two impediments to
prevent me – Time & Space. these Grosvenor I could not
over come.
It was more than middle day yesterday before
I had cleansed myself from my night journey, breakfasted –
& was ready to go out. I had then business which could
not be delayed – nor was it over till too late an hour to
get to Westminster. I had promised to write home by
Saturdays mail & that was a business that could not be
omitted. this morning – Brixton is far away – & I am very weary &
am to pass this night in the mail coach. Term can be kept to
day – as eating is doing no manner of work. I called at
Lincolns Inn this morning unsuccessfully. yesterday I could
not.
Write to me Grosvenor. I shall be at Bath.
my
mother leaves her present house at Midsummer &
has not yet found another. my presence is indispensable. I
send the inclosed as written for the post – & your own.
God bless you. I am anxious to hear how you proceed.
yrs as ever
Robert Southey.
Notes
* Address:
To/ G C Bedford Esqr /
Exchequer
Postmark: 12 oClock / 11 JU/ 98
NOON
Endorsement: 10 June 1798
MS: Bodleian
Library, MS Eng. Lett. c.
23
Unpublished. BACK
[1] St
Martin’s Lane, a street in central London, near to
Charing Cross. The reference is obscure; it is
possibly connected to the maker of patent coffins
‘who lives by St. Martin’s lane’, cited in Southey’s
‘The Surgeon’s Warning’, Poems, 2
vols (Bristol, 1799), II, p. 166. BACK
