Monday. 27 Jany 99
My dear Wynn
I have sent you the Letters. [1] a second edition is perhaps hardly worth
sending – but it is rid of some of the faults of the first.
Stracheys
Joan of Arc [2] is in the parcel, and
a copy which I shall be obliged to you to send to John May: No 4. Bedford Square.
I shall be in London on Thursday week next.
that it is if I am well enough. for in addition to the
complaints that sticks to me I have a troublesome cough.
this timely taken, will probably be removed, but should it
not I shall be afraid of any way increasing it. I am driven
again to my nightly dose of ether, sorely against my will,
for it is very unpleasant to accustom myself to such a
stimulus. it is a nervous affection that I have, the
consequence of sedentary habits, & more obstinate than I
expected. I have good advice but not good tidings respecting
it, for I am told that without great & daily exercise
there is danger of its troubling thro life.
The Days of Queen Mary [3] still
pleases me better than any other play that has yet occurred.
my only doubt is whether or not the pub an audience would sympathize with the
feelings predominant in the story. the plot of Massingers
Picture was well for his days – but we have outgrown it,
& laugh at the magic portrait. [4] is it
not almost so with the spirit of martyrdom? Where the
distress of any play hinges upon what I have thought a
prejudice or folly, it has but <half> interested me,
& I fear that the majority of any audience would feel
the same at distress produced by the avowal of any
sentiment.
I am surprized you did not understand a
pack-a-back. it is any thing carried on the shoulders – a
nursery & school boy word in this part of the world.
your other alteration are almost all adopted. I expect to
have a decent Eclogue upon witchcraft [5] & another upon murder [6] in the
room of two of those that you saw, [7] for the sake of diversifying their
character.
I do not understand the pro & con of the
Union enough. [8] I have an opinion. do you think it can
be effected? one can never believe the newspaper Irish
accounts. is it possible that the coalition can have taken
place between the Orange Men & United Irishmen? [9]
God bless you
yrs affectionately
R. Southey.
Notes* Address: To/ C W W Wynn Esqr/ 5. Stone Buildings/ Lincolns Inn/
London
Stamped: BRISTOL
Postmarks: FREE/ JA/ 29/
99; B/ JA/ 29/ 99
Endorsements: Jany. 27 99; Mr. Wynn
MS:
National Library of Wales, MS 4811D
Previously
published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections
from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols
(London, 1856), I, pp. 65–66. BACK [1] The second edition of
Southey’s Letters Written During a Short
Residence in Spain and Portugal, published
in 1799. BACK [2] A gift
copy of Southey’s Joan of Arc, probably
the second edition of 1798. BACK [3] Southey’s proposed tragedy,
set during the reign of Mary I (1516–1558; reigned
1553–1558; DNB); see Common-Place
Book, ed. John Wood Warter, 4 series
(London, 1849–1850), IV, pp. 190–192. BACK [4] In Philip Massinger (1583–1640;
DNB), The Picture
(1630), an insecure husband commissions a magical
portrait of his wife that will remain clear as long as
she is faithful, turn yellow if she is tempted to stray
and darken if she succumbs to temptation. BACK [5] ‘The Witch’, published in
Southey’s Poems, 2 vols (Bristol, 1799),
II, pp. 216–225. BACK [6] ‘The Grandmother’s
Tale’, published in Southey’s Poems, 2
vols (Bristol, 1799), II, pp. 194–201. BACK [7] ‘The Wedding’ and ‘The Last of the
Family’, published in Southey’s Annual
Anthology (Bristol, 1800), pp. 119–126 and
Annual Anthology (Bristol, 1799), pp.
165–171. BACK [8] Following the rising by the United Irishmen in 1798,
changes in the government of Ireland were being urgently
discussed. The Prime Minister, William Pitt (1759–1806;
Prime Minister 1783–1801, 1804–1806;
DNB), favoured the abolition of the Irish
Parliament and a formal Union between Ireland and Great
Britain. BACK [9] The United Irishmen
(founded 1791), the organisation behind the 1798 rising
for an independent, democratic Ireland, naturally
opposed plans for a Union between Ireland and Great
Britain. However, so did the Orange Order (founded
1795), which was devoted to upholding Protestant
supremacy in Ireland and had a great deal of support
among Protestants in Ulster. BACK |
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