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. Not previously published.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.
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Thank God my dear Tom we did not know you
were wounded till your letter this evening informed us. As
you may suppose we were very uneasy at the first account of
the action.Mars and L’Hercule on 21 April 1798.
I merely write to desire you to draw for money for your journey home – as we now expect you fully.
I cannot tell you all I think & feel on
this occasion. we hear of these things coldly – & it is
not till they come home to us that we are sensible what they
are. I have never contemplated them with indifference –
& yet this it has been
so with me.
My Mother wishes you to write to Lisbon. my Uncle will be anxious, & a full true & particular account will greatly gratify him.
We came here on Saturday last. I go for
London the 18th of May – but long before
that I hope to see you.
Whether or no this reaches you is of little
consequence, if so, well – if not – we shall see you the
sooner – but if you should receive it write immediately
& let us have regular bulletins
respecting your health.
I am commissiond with a cargo of boxes
&c, in the regular course of exchange.We have just
heard from the mother of the Captains Clerk
[section in Margaret Southey's hand begins]
My Dear Child
It is not in my power to tell you what I have felt on this occasion or the thankfullness of heart for your wonderfull preservation – I shall forbare to say any more as I hope soon to see you yet I fear you make less of your wounds than what they are
Adieu God bless you – yours affectionately M Southey