725. Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle,
6 October 1802
*
I have got the proof [1] from Estlin. where
the reading in your writing is best a pen is drawn thro the
text & vice versa. one word I have marked submissa [2] because neither he nor I understand it – I
have this moment found it out – a note of admiration is
wanting.
You will see that in my advertisement [3] I take no
notice of Sir Herbert
Croft. why make my fingers stink by cracking a
bug? if you find that any thing is omitted which ought to
have been said – you may say it in a preface of your own. of
course the new pieces are noted in the Contents. [4] I
recollect no other contribution to mention. cram them in if
you do. we should not be sparing of such praise. I think I
have made Haslewood happy.
The inclosed letter to Dyer contains a
guinea for two copies of his poems. This is the safest mode
of sending it.
I suppose you will let Sheppard [5]
manage the copies here. I shall pay for two – for my Uncle
& brother. my
own I am fairly entitled to – to balance the expence of
postage for half a thousand letters.
Charles Fox [6] is in London. I wish he may
find encouragement for his book – which is a curious one,
& he says, is very faithfully rendered.
King is very
desirous to see the proof of his drawing [7] –
God bless you –
Edith’s remembrance – yours
affectionately
RS.
October 6. 1802.
N.B. A Mr Lomax [8] of Liverpool has paid £2-0-0- for his
copy. this must be remembered when the copies are sent
off. Mrs Newton has had the
money. [9]
Notes
* Address:
Mr Cottle
Watermark: crown
on shield, K.G. below
Endorsement: 163 65
MS:
Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and
Preservation, River Campus Libraries, University of
Rochester, Robert Southey Papers
A.S727
Unpublished. BACK
[1] The proof of Cottle’s and Southey’s
The Works of Thomas Chatterton
(1803). BACK
[3] Almost certainly an
advertisement for the Chatterton edition drafted by
Southey and intended to be incorporated into Longman and
Rees’s announcements of forthcoming and recent
publications. The text of the published advertisement
can be found in The Annual Review for
1802, 1 (1803), p. 975. BACK
[4] All the newly published
pieces in The Works of Thomas Chatterton
(1803) were marked with an asterisk against their title
in the contents pages of the three volumes. BACK
[5] The Bristol-based bookseller
and stationer William Sheppard (fl. 1790s-1820s). BACK
[6] Charles Fox (c. 1740-1809;
DNB), poet and orientalist. His book,
a two-volume set of translations of Persian verse, did
not find a publisher. BACK
[7] John King’s sketch,
‘Interior of the Room in Redcliff Church where Rowleys
Manuscripts were said to have been deposited’, appeared
as the frontispiece in The Works of Thomas
Chatterton, 3 vols (London, 1803), II,
unpaginated. BACK
[8] Mr
Lomax (dates unknown) had sent Southey £2 for a copy
of The Works of Thomas Chatterton
(1803), edited by Southey and Joseph Cottle. In the
list of subscribers at the beginning of volume 1 he
was described as ‘Mr. J. Lomax, one Copy, 2l.’ He might have been either
the merchant James Lomax or John Lomax, both of whom
lived in Bold St, off Hanover St, Liverpool in
1800. BACK
[9] N.B.
... money: Written at the top of fol. 1r. Mary
Newton (1749-1804) was the sister of Thomas
Chatterton (1752-1770;
DNB). BACK
