823. Robert Southey to John May, 19 August
1803
*
My dear friend
We are in heavy affliction – my poor
child is dying of hydrocephalos, & we have
only to pray to God speedily to remove her. she is quite
insensible & that is our main consolation. Edith is
suffering bitterly. I myself am recovering, perfectly
resigned to the visitation, perfectly satisfied that it is
for the best. perfectly assured that the loss will be but
for a time.
Never man enjoyed purer happiness than I have
for the last twelve months. my plans are now all wrecked.
your letter was matter of some little relief to me. Longmans fears
wish to delay the Bibl. [1]
& I am rejoiced to have no fetter upon me at present. As
soon as it shall please God to remove this little object I
shall with all possible speed set off for Cumberland. Edith will be no
where so well as with her sister Coleridge. she has a little
girl some six months old, & I shall try &
graft her into the wound while it is yet fresh.
God bless you my dear
friend
Robert Southey.
Friday. Aug. 19. 1803
Notes
* Endorsement: No 82.
1803/ Robert Southey/ No place 19th
Aug./ recd 20th do/ ansd 20th do
MS: Beinecke
Library, GEN MSS 298, Series I, Box 1, folder
16
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.),
Selections from the Letters of Robert
Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), I, p.
229. BACK
[1] Longman and Rees had effectively
cancelled their plan to publish Southey’s
‘Bibliotheca Britannica’, a chronological
account of all literature published in Britain. BACK
