583. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 23 May 1801 ⁠* 

Dear Wynn

I am about to return, for some half dozen cogent reasons. it is better get off leisurely than wait the hurry of expulsion which cannot be far distant. summer is near – to remove for a short time to Cintra would be troublesome & disjoint all my studies – to remain x here would be taking a spell of Purgatory. if a decent ship offers for Bristol of course it is preferable. if not I must perforce take the Packet – it is enormously dear – now 20 guineas each person. it cost sixty pounds to bring us here from Bristol. – to clear myself here I drew a few days since for 40 £. the most irksome expence is what my books will cost at the English custom houses, a heavy & disgraceful duty which ought to be abolished. – When I shall have been six or eight months in England some of my crops will be in such a state of forwardness that I can subsist upon them till all arrears are cleared. Wherever I may land you will suffer me to draw on you for the passage & journey. I have spent largely in books – yet often spared when I would willingly have spent. my collection however will supply long labour & repay it. when I have gone thro it will be time enough to collate & compare & correct with other authors. It is of all toil the pleasantest – my notes will be essential otter [1]  of folios. the dish of giblets from the great goose of the text. – they will be the cod & oyster sauce – the pig & purtenancies. – I have got thro the earlier reigns & reached the first important period – the quantity that has been read to form these pages affords a fine exemplification of the infinite compressibility of matter.

At last I have got the Wars of Granada for you. [2]  your wine (two hogsheads) will be shippd according to direction, in this convoy which next sails & in which I hope to embark. if you begin it immediately it will be little or no better than what you get in town – give it age & it will be excellent. – I now quite long to be in England – while the prospect of departure was distant I was quite happy & did not wish it nearer – but now the unsettling is begun – & it is only in England that I can rest. my thoughts & expectations & wishes are made up of green fields, & gooseberry pie, & newspapers, & proofsheets & old friends.

I do not think the Days of Queen Mary can be in danger from the Catholic question. [3]  you know one act is to conclude with the light of a martyr-pile seen thro the window – & the Te Deum at his burning. I think you will partake my hatred of Popery when you see what a systematic plan of roguery it has been. I have to biographize the three great saints Francisco, Domingo, & Ignacio Loyola. [4]  the life of Francisco is sketched already & I know not whether it provoked me most frequently to curse him for a knave, laugh at him for an idiot, or pity him for a madman, for he was a pretty mixture of all three. There is a Disciple of this precious Saint whose character is fully dramatic. You perhaps know that the Catholics parallel Francisco & the Redeemer – from the birth in the manger – to the five wounds of crucifixion, with an impudence of blasphemy that is indeed shocking. This Giovanni [5]  they call the Judas Iscariot of the Franciscan apostles. because he embraced their mad mode of life with all fervour & sincerity – grew sick of his brethren – said they were fools or hypocrites – & finally hung himself. there is a fine canvass. paint him as one whose strong talents are subdued by stronger feelings – create a nun of Saint Claras [6]  school – & there is ample scope for passion.

Loyola was the perfect Don Quixote of popery. he literally read Saint-books till he became as made in Saint-errantry as the dear La Manchan. [7] 

—

Our packets are now hurried off faster than is convenient for private letter-writing, we have the Spaniards in Portugal [8]  – & S^t Cyr [9]  at their head. wars & rumours of wars – & nothing certain except that the Spaniards have refused to fill up a carte-blanche which Pinto [10]  went to present. Now should I hugely like to see de fun, if there is to be any. One peep at the Inquisition by day light! One scrap of Dagon [11]  when he falls down & is broken! – one rag of the red petticoat when Duessas filthiness [12]  is uncovered! but this is not the time. It is not France that will regenerate Spain & Portugal. France dares not unite & strengthen this peninsula – which is the policy of England, & ought to be her aim. melt them in the burning fiery furnace – there will be some scum & scoria – but the liquid metals will then & then only amalgamate. it is the only possible union. Ireland was not laid cooly on the anvil.

– Pray keep for me the law about the Clergys privilege for robbery & rape. I have found out how an English Bishop beat a Spanish Bp at Rome – & how they fought at the Basle [13]  council for the seat of honour. – an edict was issued forbidding all arms to be carried – & the English said they would fight them with sticks. Twould have been a fine precedent – a case in point for the Bishop of Bangor. [14] 

God bless you – I shall write again whenever my departure is fixed.

yrs truly

Robert Southey

Lisbon. 23 May. 1801.

Why did you vote for so abominable a foreign postage? every remittance from hence now costs a Merchant eleven shillings! – 2 draughts at 4^s – 4^d each – & 2^s, 2^d the letter that acknowledges one. & the still more abominable tax upon paper! – Will the day ever arrive when all taxes shall be commuted for a fair tax upon income?