706. Robert Southey to Thomas Southey,
[14 August 1802]
*
Dear Tom
Your Agent has written to this effect. that
he will honour your draft – that he will pay for the Charts
when x called upon – &
inform you when your journal is past. Moreover that your
Copenhagen Prize Money is received. [1] £16-0-6. which is just £8-0-3d a blow up, on your part not so bad a
bargain if you recollect what it must have cost the
Ordinance Office in cannon – without reckoning the expence
of powder & shot. – Another letter which came the day of
your departure I forwarded. here is also a note for you –
from some gentleman at the Bush. [2] perhaps I should have done well to open
it – that if it were from Grove [3] whom I now remember
you expected here – I might have called upon him & shown
him what civility lay in my power.
I have got your Spanish Grammar. you talked
of sending it with some linen – but you have laid aside
none. What will you have sent? let me know & it shall be
shipped with the Grammar by the first Coach. that I may
compleat the matter of business there only remains to
mention Joe. [4] Jaw as Bella [5] calls him is out of spirits &
wants his master sadly. What with this & his scurvy his
appetite is very bad – we gave him milk this morning &
he made a tolerable breakfast. King says his gums
should be scarified – the operation I should as little like
to perform as Jaw would to endure. Miss Phillott [6] is gone to our loss – we found out the
trees before she went. the rest of our acquaintance,
including Smut, [7] are as you left them.
Wynn is
drawing near me upon the Circuit & we shall probably
meet somewhere – he wants the Mountain to go to Mahomet, but
I wish Mahomet to come to the Mountain. [8]
In overhauling a cargo of old letters the two
which I received from your Uncle are come to light – one upon my
fathers death civil & short – the other in reply to what
I had written at Taunton – to borrow money. In this he seems
offended that I had never deigned to notice him before. odd
enough. & he enters into a statement of his
brothers [9] conduct
to him – in which they do not seem to have used him well.
but that was not our fault. tis a hard hearted letter – yet
rather produced by feelings that were hurt than indicating a
want of feeling.
If you take a journey in the West go this
route – over Quantock to Stowey – thence to Minehead 6 – Porlock 12 &
Lymouth where is the Valley of Stones. I cannot direct you
back – but there is a way thro Dulverton or Wivelscombe
which is said to be beautiful. if Satanella the
crooked-backed Mule were here I should like to meet you for
that is a lovely country. Even the Lakes do not exceed
Porlock. in going thence to Lymouth keep the road by the
channel side instead of crossing Exmoor. you must have a
guide. my stupid one took me over the Moor – & so I lost
the finest part. [10]
farewell. I am going to Kehama [11] – in which if the
fit holds I shall soon make good progress. – tell me your
goings on – & write soon that we may know what to send
you. – King is
going to analize the Boiling Well – & catch the air
bubbles there. [12] If I had a manufactory of
such air as he has would I look after any other! –
God bless you –
RS.
Saturday.
Notes* Address: To/
Thomas Southey Esqr / with John
Southey Esqr / Cottage / Taunton
Postmark: 122/ BRISTOL/ AUG 1[illegible]
802
Endorsements: Bridens, Charing Cross –;
Prittock. Lord Kings to Lymouth. Culbone –; Remember
your promise; 787 – Mrs Nollski, Rijse journey/ 426 –
Kotzebue journey to Paris/ Count Rumford, Philistines/
Essays 672; 53/ 31.800/100/ 293/ 2500 [Editors note: A
list of books, possibly items from a catalogue. Mrs
Nollski, Rijse and Philistines are unidentified; August
von Kotzebue (1761-1819), probably an account of his
journey to Paris in 1790; Benjamin Thompson, Count
Rumford (1753–1814; DNB),
Experimental Essays, Political, Economical,
and Philosophical, possibly the new edition
of 1802.]
MS: British Library, Add MS
30927
Unpublished.
Dating note: Content
indicates this letter was written on a Saturday in mid
August 1802. BACK [1] Tom Southey had taken part in the Battle
of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801, as a Lieutenant on HMS
Bellona. He was slightly
wounded. BACK [2] The Bush Tavern in Corn St,
Bristol. BACK [3] Samuel Grove (d. 1817), naval officer and
colleague of Tom Southey’s. BACK [5] The Southeys’ servant, she
died in 1804. BACK [6] A friend of Southey and his
brother’s, she was probably a member of a prominent
family of professionals and tradesmen centred on Bath.
She later became a Methodist; see Southey to Tom
Southey, 1-5 January 1806, British Library, Add MS
47890. BACK [7] A dog
that belonged to Danvers. BACK [8] A phrase first used by
Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans (1561-1626;
DNB), in ‘On Boldness’,
Essays (1625). Southey noted the idea
in Common-Place Book, ed. John Wood
Warter, 4 series (London, 1849–1850), IV, p. 20, and
intended to use it in the epic on Muhammad (570-632),
Prophet of Islam, that he planned to write with
Coleridge. BACK [9] Southey’s father Robert, and his uncle Thomas. The ill feeling may have been generated
by the failure of their drapery business. BACK [10] Southey had walked a similar route in August 1799; see
Common-Place Book, ed. John Wood
Warter, 4 series (London, 1849–1850), IV, pp,
520-522. BACK [11]
The Curse of
Kehama, published in 1810. Southey had begun
drafting Book 2 on 4 June 1802. BACK |
|
