SIR,
A correspondent in your last Number enquires why the
publication of Chatterton’s works, [1] for the benefit of his sister, has
been delayed. [2] A bookseller had informed him that the
subscription was ample. [3] I
am sorry to state that this is not the case, the number of
copies subscribed for is barely sufficient to defray the
expence of publication. The motive for which the work was
undertaken explains why it has been delayed. [4]
I have therefore to request the assistance of
your Correspondent and the other admirers of Chatterton. The
merit of his works is now sufficiently known: hitherto they
have been published only for the advantage of strangers and
pilferers; they are now collected with the hope of rendering
the age of his sister comfortable. I am unwilling to begin
printing till five hundred copies are engaged: if the
well-wishers to the undertaking will exert themselves once
more, that number will soon be filled, the work shall then
immediately be sent to press.
Robert Southey.
Notes* MS: MS untraced; text is
taken from Monthly Magazine, 13 (March
1802)
Previously published: Monthly
Magazine, 13 (March 1802),
129. BACK [1]
The Works of Thomas
Chatterton (1803), edited by Southey and
Joseph Cottle. BACK [2]
Monthly Magazine, 13 (February
1802), 29. BACK [3] According to the pseudonymous author of
the letter, the bookseller had also informed him that
‘the delay lay with Mr. Southey’, Monthly
Magazine, 13 (February 1802), 29. BACK [4] The edition had been
undertaken to raise funds for Chatterton’s impoverished
sister Mary Newton (1749-1804; DNB), and
her daughter. BACK |
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