Dear Wynn
My last letter was travelling after you when
yours arrived. you will have known by that which it enclosed
to Elmsley my
whole history as far as I then knew it. since that Rickman has
transmitted to me the remainder of my salary – & now
that the connection has ended [1] I have at last discovered
why it began. I have found it out – as Vincent says. [2] I was
to be tutor to the son. but to be called Secretary to the
Father in order that the tutor might be paid by the
Treasury. a good specimen of ways & means. [3]
I am curious to know what effect this will
produce upon many persons who have been officious in
civility wholly & solely with reference to that
situation & the prospects they thought it opened, –
& who by that civility made me understand their former
neglect. the strangest mixture of feelings I perhaps ever
experienced was when Daunceys wife [4] apologized
to me & gave me her hand & burst into tears while
the neglect existed I thought nothing of it. my temper does
not lead me to unpleasant thoughts – like a fellow with a
stinking breath I did not know why my <old>
acquaintance kept at a distance. Is the secretarian
character indelible? or am I unregenerated –
Your Cid is half done. [5] I regret the want of some Spanish
poems about him which I know not when I shall get. but one
of these is among the oldest poems in the language [6]
& whenever I do get it must be of great authority as to
manners – my documents now use the Chronicle of the
Cid, [7] – the General
Chronicle [8] which
differs very little from it. the Ballads [9] – & Sandovals
Chronicle the Kings Fernando, Sancho & Alonzo, [10] an excellent book that scrutinizes
every fact & brings deeds & inscriptions to refute
or confirm.
I think of fixing my residence near Richmond
– xx if to remain unsettled
in expectation of getting abroad is but a bad policy. a
library xx should xxxx be a fixture. besides I
have materials enough in England to work upon for three
years. it is an unpleasant thing to have no local attachment
– no motive for choice – the neighbourhood of London suits
me best for the convenience of getting books – & of
seeing the friends whom I wish to see while at the same time
I am out of the way of idle acquaintance. these are solid
reasons – but if John
May should not be able to find such a house as
would suit me I shall have as good a reason for pitching my
tent farther from London in the disproportion of expence. if
you were domesticated at Llangedwin I should wish for a
Welsh cottage in sight of the grove that grows over the
house – where I might learn Welsh from the servant & the
xxxxx church service!
but the constant neighbourhood of one friend is among the
necessaries of life.
St Athendius [11] does not
come because I am not quite certain whether the M.P. ought
to be yet annexed to your name. [12] When you do
you approach Bristol? if my brother should
be with me when you reach Monmouth I will contrive to meet
you there & show him the Wye at the same time.
God bless you
yrs affectionately
R S.
July 13. 1802.
Kingsdown
.
Notes
* Address: To/ Charles Watkin Williams
Wynn Esqr M.P./ Wynnstay/
Wrexham
Stamped: [illegible]
Postmark: BRISTOL/
JUL 13 1802
Endorsement: July 13 1802
MS:
National Library of Wales, MS 4811D
Previously
published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of
Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York,
1965), I, pp. 277-279. BACK
[2] Presumably a
catch-phrase of Southey’s old headmaster William
Vincent. It was possibly one he had deployed
to devastating effect when he discovered Southey’s
authorship in the fifth issue of the schoolboy magazine,
The Flagellant, 29 March 1792, of an
essay which claimed flogging was an invention of the
devil and parodied the Athanasian creed. The incident
had led to Southey’s expulsion from school. BACK
[3] The Committee of Ways and
Means was the House of Commons committee responsible for
examining the budget. BACK
[4] Mrs Dauncey was the daughter of Southey’s
childhood friend, Mrs Dolignon. She was married to
Philip Dauncey (d. 1819), a barrister who became a Kings
Counsel and Treasurer of Gray’s Inn. BACK
[5] Southey was transcribing
material relating to Rodrigo Diaz de Bivar (c.
1040-1099), a Castilian aristocrat and military
commander, whose exploits were the subject of numerous
poems and tales. Southey’s English translation and
compilation of three of these was published in 1808 as
The Chronicle of the Cid; see Southey
to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, [c. 21 June 1802],
Letter 683. BACK
[6] The 13th or
14th-century El Poema De Mio Cid. BACK
[7]
Chronica Del Famoso Cavallero Cid Ruydiez
Cameador (1593), no. 3344 in the sale
catalogue of Southey’s library. BACK
[8]
Chronica de Espana (1541), no. 3338
in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. BACK
[9]
Historia del Muy
Valeroso Cavallero el Cid Ruy Diaz de Bivar, en
Romances en Lenguage Antiguo, recopilados por Juan
de Escobar (1632), no. 3449 in the sale
catalogue of Southey’s library. BACK
[10] Southey is probably
referring to Chronica del Rey Don Alonso el
Sabio, Don Sancho el Bravo, e Don Fernando
Quarto (1554), no. 3337 in the sale
catalogue of his library. However, this work was not by
the Spanish bishop Prudencio de Sandoval
(1553-1620). BACK
[11] ‘A True Ballad of a Pope’,
Morning Post, 4 February 1803.
Southey derived this story from the Chronica de
Espana (1541), so he may well have written
the poem at this time, when he was copying from the
Chronica for Wynn. BACK
[12] A general election was in progress
between 5 July and 28 August 1802. BACK
