The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 2: 1798-1803 A Romantic Circles Electronic Edition Southey, Robert, 1774-1843 Lynda Pratt Romantic Circles General Editor, Neil Fraistat General Editor, Steven E. Jones Technical Editor Laura Mandell 2011-08-15 rce382 letterEEd.26.373 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 23. Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), II, pp. 8–9 [in part].

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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 NINES categories for Genre and Material Form at http://www.performantsoftware.com/nines_wiki/index.php/Submitting_RDF#.3Cnines:genre.3E on 2009-02-26 Architecture Artifacts Bibliography Collection Criticism Letters Drama Life Writing Politics Folklore Ephemera Fiction History Leisure Manuscript Reference Works Humor Education Music nonfiction Paratext Perodical Philosphy Photograph Citation Family Life Poetry Religion Review Visual Art Translation Travel Book History Law Southey Letters: Biographies Southey Letters: Places Laura Mandell XSLT Transforming after latest corrections Laura Mandell XSLT Transforming Averill Buchanan corrections from proofing Averill Buchanan Part II added
373. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 21 January 1799 Address: To/ G C Bedford Esqr/ Exchequer/ London/ SinglePostmark: [partial] B/ JA/ 99 Endorsement: 21 Janry 1799MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 23Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), II, pp. 8–9 [in part]. My dear Grosvenor

You ask me why the Devil rides on horseback – “The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman. & that would be reason enough. but moreover the history doth aver that he came on horseback for the Old Woman,‘A Ballad Shewing how an Old Woman Rode Double and Who Rode Before Her’ and an accompanying engraving published in Poems, 2 vols (Bristol, 1799), II, pp. [143]-160. & rode before her, & that the colour of the horse was black. should I falsify the history & make Apollyon a pedestrian? besides Grosvenor, Apollyon is cloven footed, & I humbly conceive that a biped – & I never I understood his damnable majesty to be otherwise – that a biped I say would walk clumsily upon cloven feet. neither hath Apollyon wings according to the best representations & indeed how should he? for were they of feathers like the Angels – they would be burnt in the everlasting fire. & were they of leather like a bats they would be shrivelled. I conclude therefore that wings he hath not. yet do we find from sundry reputable authors & divers histories that he transporteth himself from place to place with exceeding rapidity. now as he cannot walk fast or fly, he must have some conveyance stage coaches to hell there are none tho the road be much frequented. balloons would burst at setting out, the air would be so xxx rarified by the heat. but horses x he may have & of a particular breed.

I am learned in Dæmonology & could say more but this sufficeth. I should advise you not to copy the ballad because the volume will soon be finished. I expect to bring it with me on Ash Wednesday 6 February 1799. to town. Wynn furnished me with the subject of an excellent parody.‘The Surgeon’s Warning’, published in Southey’s Poems, 2 vols (Bristol, 1799), II, pp. [161]–173.

I know not whether I should say any thing or not upon the first part of your letter. it was never my intention to give you pain. I saw you was offended by the note that accompanied Berchtold’s bookLeopold, Graf von Berchtold (1759–1809), Nachtrict von dem im St Antons-Spitale in Smirna mit dem allerbesten Erfolg gebrauchten einfachen Mittel (1797). Southey had presumably returned the copy he had requested Bedford to send him on 26 August 1798 (Letter 343) with a note that offended his friend. The note has not survived. but noticed it not, thinking it would pass away. forget it.

I am better – but they tell me that constant exercise is indispensable – & that at my age & with my constitution I must either shake off the complaint now, or it will stick to me for ever. Ediths health requires care, our medical friend dreads the effect of London upon both. when my time is out in our present house (at Midsummer) we must go to the sea awhile. I thought I was like a Scotch fir – could grow anywhere – but I am sadly altered & my nerves in a vile state. I am almost ashamed of my own feelings – but they depend not upon volition. these things throw such a joy over the prospect of life! I cannot see my way – it is time to be in an office – but the confinement would be ruinous. you know not the alteration I feel. I could once have slept with the seven sleepersThe seven sleepers of Ephesus, who, according to Christian legend, slept for over a century. without a miracle – now – the least sounds wakes me & with alarm. however I am better.

I should like to pass a day with you when I come to town. Thursday Fr. & Sat. I dine at the inn. if you are in town Saturday I will walk over with you after dinner – & return with you Monday & to Bristol that night. otherwise I will leave town by Saturdays mail. let me know where you shall be then. is Duppa in town? –

Ediths remembrance. God bless you yrs affectionately R Southey.

I had almost forgot. do you know anything of [MS torn] Alfred?Joseph Cottle’s Alfred, An Epic Poem, in Twenty Four Books (1800); an example, like Southey’s Joan of Arc (1796), of a Bristolian-produced epic. what progress he has made in it? & what metre? perhaps Miss MilesUnidentified; probably a friend of the Bedford family. knows. I am curious – because I think, in spite of the sack & the laurelThe laurel wreath and a butt (108 gallons) of sack per annum were rewards associated with the Poet Laureate; at this time the ex-politician Henry James Pye (1745–1813; DNB). – that our Bristol poem will be the best. this I know, that it will be the better for competition.Cottle’s epic had competition in the form of Henry James Pye’s Alfred, an Epic Poem in Six Books (1801). the NaucratiaHenry James Pye, Naucratia; or, Naval Dominion (1798). is very heavy, & Pye too old to improve.

Monday 21 Jany 1799.