421. Robert Southey to Thomas Southey,
12 July 1799
*
Friday. July 12. 99
My dear Tom
I write to you from Danvers’s –
where we are & have been since we left Westbury. I have
been to Biddlecombes, & surveyed Southey Palace that
is to be. we shall not get possession till Michaelmas [1] – the place will be comfortable – the
garden is large but unstocked – well situated – with a
fish-pond, & a pigeon-house over the pavilion. my Mother is
in the Green – Edith & I are going into Devonshire, first to
the North Coast – Minehead – the Valley of Stones &
Ilfracombe – the wildest part of the county. perhaps we may
cross over to the south – on our way to Burton – I wish to see
Lightfoot at Kingsbridge, & there would then
be a likelihood of seeing you.
My miscellaneous volume which is to be
christened Annual Poems [2] – comes
on rapidly, they are now striking off the eleventh sheet.
Yesterday I finished Madoc, thank God! &
thoroughly to my own satisfaction. but I have resolved on
one great, laborious & radical alteration. it was my
design to identify Madoc with Mango Capac, the legislator of
Peru. [3] in this I have totally failed. therefore
Mango Capac is to be the hero of another poem, [4] & instead of carrying Madoc down the
Marañon, [5] I shall follow the more
probable opinion & land him in Florida. [6] here then instead of the
Peruvians who have no striking manners for my poem, we get
among the wild North American Indians. on their customs
& superstitions facts must be grounded & woven into
the work – spliced so neatly as not to betray the junction.
these alterations I delay. in the mean time it will I think
be laborious for you to copy the poem in its present state –
you shall have the remainder – & as you can read it that
is enough. it will probably be in a state of emendation till
the day of my death. [7]
So much for Madoc. it is a great work done –
& my brain is now ready to receive the Dom Daniel, [8] the next labour in succession. of the
metre of this poem I have thought much & my final
resolution is to write it irregularly, without rhymes. for
this I could you give you reasons in plenty, but as you
cannot lend me your ear, we will defer it till you hear the
poem. this work is intended for immediate publication.
My first poems are going to press for a third
edition. [9] by the time they are
compleated, I shall probably have a second volume of the
Annual Poems [10]
ready – & so I & the printers go merrily on.
Edith is very
unwell. the journey, the change of air frequently, & the
exercise which new scenes must tempt her to take will I hope
with the help of strong tonic medicines relieve her. Edward is well
& soon going to Birmingham – my Mother is
as she always in the Green –
uncomfortable & obstinate in staying there. She will not
go with us, tho we travel in chaises & of course it
would be no additional expence. Eliza Fricker
goes with us, so Edith will not be alone when I am among the rocks
& on the shore.
Oh Tom! such a Gas has Davy discovered!
the Gazeous Oxyd! [11] oh Tom! I have ha[MS torn] some. it made
me laughed & tingled in
every toe & finger tip. Davy has actually
invented a new pleasure for which language has no name. oh
Tom! I am going for more this evening – it makes one strong
& so happy! so gloriously happy! & without any after
debility, but instead of it increased strength &
activity of mind & body – oh excellent air bag. Tom I am
sure the air in heaven must be this wonder working gas of
delight.
Ediths love –
God bless you. my next will be from God knows where.
yrs
Robert Southey.
Notes* Address: To/
Lieutenant Thomas Southey/ Sylph Brig./ Plymouth Dock./
Single
Postmark: JUL 15 99
MS: British Library,
Add MS 30927
Previously published: Charles Cuthbert
Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert
Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), II, pp.
20–22 [in part]. BACK [2] The first volume of the Annual
Anthology, published in 1799. BACK [3] Manco
Capac, in legend the first Inca. The connection between
Madoc and Capac was suggested in John Williams (c.1732–1795; DNB),
The Natural History of the Mineral
Kingdom, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1789), II, pp.
424–425. BACK [4] Southey did not succeed in
his plan of making Manco Capac the hero of a
poem. BACK [5] A river
in South America. In Madoc (1797–1799)
Southey had originally planned for the Welsh settlers to
reach Peru by travelling up the Amazon and then its
tributary, the Maranon. BACK [6] For the idea that Madoc
settled in Florida, see John Williams (1727–1798),
An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition,
Concerning the Discovery of America, by Prince Madog
ab Owen Gwynedd, About the Year, 1170
(London, 1791), p. 48. BACK [7] A heavily revised version of Madoc was
published in 1805. Southey continued to make changes to
it until the last lifetime edition of 1838. BACK [8] The early
working-title for Thalaba the Destroyer
(1801); see Common-Place Book, ed. John
Wood Warter, 4 series (London, 1849–1850), IV, pp.
181–188. BACK [9] The
third edition of Southey’s Poems (1797)
appeared in 1799. BACK [10] The
second, and final, volume of the Annual
Anthology was published in 1800. BACK [11] i.e. nitrous oxide, or ‘laughing gas’. Its effects on
Southey were described in Thomas Beddoes, Notice
of Some Observations Made at the Medical Pneumatic
Institution (Bristol, 1799), p. 11; and
Humphry Davy, Researches, Chemical and
Philosophical, Chiefly Concerning Nitrous Oxide, or
Dephlogisticated Nitrous Air, and Its
Respiration (London, 1800), pp.
507–509. BACK |
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