664. Robert Southey to Charles
Danvers, 23 March 1802
*
My dear Danvers
For three reasons I have delayed writing so long – because now
Rickman is arrived I wanted to
tell you what he said about your brother, [1] but Rickman is so busy that there is no seeing him, and as he sleeps at a
Coffee house – no finding him. I am fearful he has no interest in the military
line – & still more so that the Aid de Camps are generally friends of the
General. secondly – because I wanted the said Rickman to get a frank for you &
King to whom I have written some
days since, & still keep his letter in durance – & thirdly in
expectation of receiving money from Thomas & forwarding
it.
Your letter came last night. this morning I went to Bish [2] – but they can do no
business till after three. I shall purchase these in time
for tomorrows twenty thousand. Tomorrow or next day I will enquire concerning
the sermons. [3] I have a heavy job
upon my hands. To day the Museum [4] doors were opened to me
& alack &-a-well-a-day I find not less than 1500 unpublished lines of
Chatterton to transcribe from manuscripts not always the most legible. however
this will give the book a value. [5] tho
between you & I, neither you or I are likely to be delighted with poetry
upon temporary or local subjects – wit & genius wasted. tis a toil to read
Churchill. [6] A bookseller offered me
fifty pounds worth of books last week to edit the works of Sir Charles Hanbury
Williams. [7] lead us not into temptation! – I looked over the papers – I
liked his wit – I did not like his dullness – but fifty pounds of books would
have gilt that pill – but my gentleman was not quite so decent as he should be –
& so I lost my books. my name was not required for the work.
He’s exceedingly well
And another poemm he has writed,
About John the Baptizer, [8]
Twill not make you wiser
Nor will you be over-delighted.
It was you may guess
The first fruits of his press –
To me he presented a copy –
Some Bards ere they sing
Quaff from Castaly spring, [9]
I see much of Losh who
desires to be remembered to you. it is not unlikely that you may see him soon,
as he talks of going to Bath before his return to Newcastle. Dr Skey [11] called
here yesterday, he also desired to be mentioned when in my next letter. George Burnett still abideth with the Earl, [12] he eateth with him, drinketh with him, &
seditionizeth – for which he is well qualified, coming from a good school. Of
Coleridge no tidings
have yet been received. Edith is
still in the same poor & pitiable & pill-taking way. we are soon going
for two or three days to Cheshunt – to visit two old Ladies, who were so
exceedingly kind to me when a school boy that I have never felt any thing like
resentment for <at> the way in which they
avoided me for some years [13] – I was a
good deal affected at the manner in which one of this family made the amende
honorable [14] – for it lay
upon their conscience – . This change will do Edith good – & you will think me
right in resolving to plead her health as a cause, God knows, a valid one, for
an early removal to Bristol. I will come if possible before the end of the next
month.
William Taylor is still waiting
for his passport or rather for the Definitive Treaty which assuredly will soon
be here. [15] he dines with me to
day, & we go to hear Davy
lecture upon Galvinism in the evening. [16]
Joseph Lovell [17] has at last extorted from his rascally father a
promise of twenty pounds for Roberts expence till the next year. upon this he must board with his
grandmother, & go merely for instruction to Estlin. when we come to Bristol I
suppose Mary will live with him as
before at my expence – for in lodgings he cannot be with me, nor indeed should I
like it in a house. he would disturb me, or I must restrain him. & moreover
without some particular cause for affection I am not fond of children. – What do
you mean about Dr Fox? [18]
My History [19] would wholly employ me but for the
Chatterton business [20] which takes up
more time than is agreable. next week that will be in the press. I shall send
the old poems first that the spelling & management of the page may be under
my own eye.
Every review of a book, every notice of a work published, in the
Monthly Magazine, or at the end of a Volume – is to be taxed as an
advertisement. [21] this will operate as a tax upon
literature fully equal to the duty on paper should that be repealed. [22]
Our love to Mrs Danvers.
God bless you
Robert Southey.
Tuesday. March 23. 1802.
Quarter – 41,920
Eighth – 9,654
–
for which I have paid 1-10-6. balance the prizes were 6-10-6
the new tickets – 8-1-
& so good luck t’ye! [23]
Notes* Address: To/ Mr Danvers/ Kingsdown/ Bristol
Stamped:
[illegible]
Postmark: CMR/ 23/ 802
Endorsements: 1-9-6; 4-7- /
1-10-6 / 2-16-6 / 4-7-.
MS: British Library, Add MS 30928
Previously
published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert
Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp.
272-275. BACK [1] Probably the surgeon and apothecary, John Danvers (d. 1812), then of
Woolwich, London, declared bankrupt in The National Register
(3 July 1808), 426. BACK [2] Thomas Bish (fl. 1790-1826), a well-known
lottery office-keeper at 4 Cornhill, London. BACK [3]
Sermons, By the Late
Rev. David Jardine, of Bath. Published from the Original Manuscripts, by
the Rev. John Prior Estlin (1798). BACK [4] The
British Museum, London, founded in 1759. BACK [5] Southey
and Joseph Cottle’s planned subscription edition of The Works of
Thomas Chatterton, eventually published in 1803. BACK [6] The satirical poet Charles
Churchill (1732-1764; DNB). BACK [7] Charles Hanbury Williams
(1708-1759; DNB), diplomat and writer. Southey’s refusal of
the commission, even though his own name would not have appeared in the
published edition, was undoubtedly connected to Williams’s reputation for
obscenity. It is fascinating to speculate how Southey would have dealt with
verses such as these from Williams’s an ‘Ode to Horatio Townshend’ (1740):
‘Come to my Breast, my Lovely Boy!/ Thou Source of Greek & Roman Joy!/
And let my Arms entwine’ ye;/ Behold my strong erected Tarse,/ Display your
plump, & milk-white arse,/ Young, blooming, Ligurine!’ The editors are
extremely grateful to Dr Richard Butterwick for supplying this
example. BACK [8] Joseph Cottle’s ‘John the Baptist’ had first appeared in
his Poems (1795). In 1802 he published a new version,
John the Baptist: A Poem. BACK [9] The Castalian Spring at Delphi, the well of poetic
inspiration, as it was the centre of a cult of Apollo, Greek god of
poetry. BACK [11] Dr Skey (dates
unknown). Probably a physician practising in or near Bristol. BACK [12] Burnett’s then employer, the controversial politician and
inventor Charles (‘Citizen’) Stanhope, 3rd Earl Stanhope (1753-1816;
DNB). BACK [13] They would
have avoided Southey because of the controversy surrounding his expulsion
from Westminster School in 1792 over the authorship of a blasphemous essay
in the schoolboy magazine The Flagellant. BACK [14] i.e. a satisfactory
apology. The apology was made by Mrs Dolignon’s daughter, Mrs Dauncey, who
was married to Philip Dauncey (d. 1819), a barrister. BACK [15] The Treaty of Amiens, between
Britain and France, was signed on 25 March 1802. BACK [16] Davy was lecturing at the Royal Institution. Luigi Galvani (1737-1798),
Italian doctor and physicist, had conducted experiments on frogs and shown
the link between electricity and muscular activity. BACK [18] Edward Long Fox (1761-1835), proprietor of a lunatic asylum
at Brislington, near Bristol. BACK [19] Southey’s
projected ‘History of Portugal’. BACK [20] Southey and Joseph
Cottle’s planned subscription edition of The Works of Thomas
Chatterton, eventually published in 1803. BACK [21] The extension of the
advertisement tax in 1802 was part of a package of fund-raising measures. It
was not repealed until 1853. BACK [22] An excise duty on paper had been charged since
1712. It was not repealed until 1861. BACK [23] Quarter...t’ye: Written upside down at the end of the
letter. The numbers refer to lottery tickets. BACK |
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