661. Robert Southey to William
Taylor, 26 February 1802
*
My dear friend
Last night John May
transmitted to me your letter. as it is now on its way back I infer that an
answer from me will reach you one day sooner than it could from him, – &
hope delayed I know by experience to be among the damnabilia – the
Ahriman-works [1] of this world. So Harry gets his first
passport [2] – & I wish him well thro the next
stages <xxxxxxxx> of Mr Martineau [3] & the Secretary of State.
Moreover the quarterage shall not embarrass him. he shall have another when I
receive mine. this is not due till Midsummer – but will perhaps be paid at
Ladyday in advance, as heretofore. in either case he not in time for his going. there will be no harm in this – &
you hint at the utility of empty pockets in Paris. just at his age I had planned
a weeks amusement in France, & actually embarked twice from Rye. the wind
prevented my voyage – & this is one of the very <few> circumstances in
my life which I remember with regret. [4]
xxxxx xxxx
I long to show you the λεωυες
μεγιοτοι [5] of my
catalogue – Davy & Coleridge & Rickman, whom we expect in town.
Thank you for helping a lame dog over a stile in the Monthly Magazine. [6]
x & thank you William Taylor for your kindness to
Harry – as warmly &
truly & affectionately as he himself can do it –
God bless you.
Robert Southey.
26 Feb
y. 1802.
35. Strand.
N.B. cigars in the cupboard, whatever I may deserve on this head – exit in
fumum [7] will be the end of it I hope.
Notes
* Address: To/ Mr Wm Taylor Junr/ Surry
Street/ Norwich./ Single
Stamped: 449 STRAND
Postmark: AFE/ 17/
1802
MS: Huntington Library, HM 4834
Previously published: J. W.
Robberds (ed.), A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William
Taylor of Norwich, 2 vols (London, 1843), I, pp.
399-400. BACK
[1] In Zoroastrianism, the
destructive spirit. BACK
[2] Henry Herbert Southey
accompanied William Taylor on a visit to France in the summer of
1802. BACK
[3] Henry
Herbert Southey was studying medicine under the tutelage of the
distinguished surgeon Philip Meadows Martineau (1752-1829), a member of a
family of prominent Norwich Unitarians. BACK
[4] This adventure occurred when Southey was visiting the Lamb family at Rye in
c. June 1792. BACK
[5] The Greek translates as ‘biggest lions’. BACK
[6] Taylor’s review of Thalaba the
Destroyer (1801) had appeared in Monthly
Magazine, 12 (Supplement, 1801), 581-583. BACK
[7] The Latin translates as
‘goes up in smoke’. BACK
