817. Robert Southey to Thomas Southey,
5 August [1803]
*
Dear Tom
I think you should send Edward on board
the first ship that will take him. but if you have the
choice of two – why perhaps the brig is best on account of
prize money. yet a midshipmans prize money can be but
trifling & as you say there is a risqué in sickening
him. Rickman has
applied for a frigate in the North Seas – the Immortalité
Capt Owen. [1] the
success of this application is very uncertain – & he
must take the first appointment. On the whole I should wish
him with Grove. [2] you however must be the best
judge.
I write thus briefly because you desire an
immediate answer & there should be no delay. when next
you write tell me how many you are yet short of complement.
a haul of twelve in one day was a fine chance. I am as vexed
at your delay as you – yet the war will be long enough &
you will make a fortune yet.
Margery is but poorly. teething. I told you in my
last that I had written about Amadis [3] – probably you may have
heard of it by this time –
God bless you
R S.
Friday Aug. 5.
Notes
* MS: British
Library, Add MS 47890
Unpublished. BACK
[1] Edward Campbell Rich Owen (1771-1849;
DNB), Captain of the frigate Immortalite. Later knighted, he was
an Admiral, and MP for Sandwich 1826-1829. BACK
[2] Samuel Grove (d. 1817), naval officer and colleague of
Tom Southey’s. BACK
[3] Southey’s translation of Amadis of
Gaul (1803). BACK
