854. Robert Southey to Charles
Danvers, 19 November
1803
*
Saturday night. Novr 19. 1803.
Dear Charles
In the hurry of Clarksons
sudden summons I have leisure to do little more than give
him his passport. Who he is you & all the friends of the
abolition know. he was a Clergyman, but
in his opinion is now Quakerish. [1]
The wine has not yet made its appearance. I
pray for it every day – or do something equivalent to
praying – that is – abstain from swearing at what I drink
instead, making hope teach patience to provocation. You
shall be paid by a draft on Longman for my
work now in hand which will be done in February.
Thelwall [2] is in this neighbourhood & we
shall probably see him soon. he is thriving upon Lectures on
Elocution. actually thriving. we live in an odd world. they
were going to hang & murder him for very intelligible
Jacobinism & now when he rigmarolls them with a farrago
of what he does not understand himself it is Oh Rare John
Thelwall – and they give him three & sixpence apiece.
but he is an honest fellow x
I have a great respect for him, & never yet suffered an
Aristocrat to wag his tongue against him in my presence
giving him a set down.
I will make time to tell you a most excellent
story of my friend Solomon. [3] you know the Custom House Laws. If goods
for exportation be rated under their value to defraud the
revenue, the officers may seize them paying the price
whereat they were rated. Dr Solomon
enters a large cargo of Balm of Gilead for Lisbon, at 7s-6
per bottle. the selling price is half a guinea. The Custom
House Officer told him he was under-rating it, & he
should seize it in consequence unless he amended the error.
do as you please Sir said the Doctor. I shall rate it at
7-6. The fellow bit – seized the whole, paid three
half-crowns a bottle – & remained with a stock in hand
of Balm of Gilead. Solomon tried the trick again, but it
would not answer.
Ediths
remembrance.
God bless you.
yrs very affectionately
R Southey.
Remember me to Betty. [4]
Have you seen Joe lately? & my poor
Cupid! [5] poor fellow I
believe he loved me as well as if I had been his own
brother.
Notes
* Address: To/ Mr Danvers/ 4. Orchard
Street/ Bristol/ by favour of/ Mr
Clarkson.
MS: British Library, Add MS
30928
Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.),
New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols
(London and New York, 1965), I, pp.
335-336. BACK
[1] Though ordained as a deacon, Clarkson
renounced his orders in 1795 and was sympathetic to
Quakerism. BACK
[2] John Thelwall (1764-1834;
DNB), radical orator, writer and
elocutionist. BACK
[3] Samuel Solomon (1768/9-1819;
DNB), manufacturer and promoter of
the best-selling quack medicine ‘Cordial Balm of
Gilead’. Southey met him on the boat to Dublin in
1802. BACK
[4] Danvers’ servant; her
first name and dates are unknown. BACK
[5] Joe
had been Tom Southey’s dog; and Cupid was a dog
belonging to Charles Danvers. BACK
