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 rce383 letterEEd.26.374 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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. Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), II, pp. 10–12 [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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374. Robert Southey to John May, 22 January 1799 Address: To/ John May Esqr/ 4. Bedford Square/ London./ Single Postmark: B/JA/24/99 Endorsement: 1799 No 31/ Robert Southey/ No place 22 Jan/ recd: 26 do/ ansd: 24 February MS: Boston Public Library, MS C.1.22.2Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), II, pp. 10–12 [in part]. My dear friend

Your letter gave me much pleasure in all its parts, except where it took away the hope of seeing you here. that Count RumfordThe natural philosopher and philanthropist Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814; DNB). was likely to promote our scheme,Probably either Southey and May’s ‘garden scheme’, a convalescent home to assist the poor after their discharge from hospital (see Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, [25 March] 1798, Letter 298); or a second project to assist the indigent (see Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 3 August 1798, Letter 340). & that you had assisted the young manPresumably the young man who Charles Lamb and Southey had asked May to assist; see Southey to May, [28 December 1798], Letter 363. I was very glad to learn. be good enough to direct the great coat to Cottle – Wine Street. Bristol.

Since my last, my dramatic ideas have been fermenting, & have now perhaps settled. at least among my various thoughts & outlines there is one which pleases me, & with which Wynn seems well satisfied. I am not willing to labour in vain, & before I begin would consult well with him & you, the only friends who know my intention.

The time chosen is the latter part of Queen MarysMary I (1516–1558; reigned 1553–1558; DNB). For Southey’s plan for the play see Common-Place Book, ed. John Wood Warter, 4 series (London, 1849–1850), IV, pp. 190–192. reign. the characters, Sir Walter, a young convert to the reformation, Gilbert the man who has converted him. Stephen the cousin of Sir Walter & his heir in default of issue, a bigotted Catholic. Mary the betrothed of Walter, an amiable Catholic & her Confessor, a pious excellent man. Gilbert is burnt, & Walter by his own enthusiasm & the bigotry & interested hopes of his cousin condemned, but saved by the Queens death. the story thus divides itself. 1. to the discovery of Walters principles to Mary & the Confessor. 2. the danger he incurs by his attentions to the accused Gilbert. 3 Gilberts death. 4. Walters arrest – 5 the death of the Queen.

In Mary & her Confessor I design Catholics of the most enlarged minds. sincere, but tolerating, & earnest to save Walter. even to hastening his marriage, that the union with a woman of such known sentiments might divert suspicion. Gilbert is a sincere – but bigotted man: one of the old reformers ready to suffer death for his opinions, or to inflict it. Stephen so violent in his hate of heresy, as half to be ignorant of his own interested motives in seeking Walters death. but it is from delineating the progress of Walters mind that I expect success.

At first he is restless & unhappy, dreading the sacrifices which his principles require. the danger of his friend & his death excite an increasing enthusiasm. the kindness of the Priest & Marys love overcome him – he consents to temporize – & is arrested. then he settles into the suffering & steady courage of a Xtian. to this I feel equal & long to be about it. I expect a good effect from the evening hymn to be sung by Mary. & from the death of Gilbert. from the great window Mary & the Confessor see the procession to the stake & hear the Te Deum. they turn away when the fire is kindled & kneel together to pray for his soul. the light of the fire appears thro the window – & Walter is describing as performing the last offices of kindness to is martyred friend.

You will perceive that such a story can only excite good feelings. its main tendency will be to occasion charity towards each others opinions. the story has the advantage of novelty. the only martyrdom plays I know are mixed with much nonsense. the best is Corneilles Polyeucte.Pierre Corneille (1606–1684), Polyeucte (1643), centred on the martyrdom of St Polyeuctus (d. AD 259). in English we have the bad ones from Massinger & Dryden. The Virgin Martyr (1622), now attributed to Philip Massinger (1583–1640; DNB) and Thomas Dekker (c. 1572–1632; DNB), deals with the martyrdom of St Dorothea of Caesarea (d. c. 311). It influenced John Dryden (1631–1700; DNB), Tyrannick Love, or The Royal Martyr (1670), which dealt with the martyrdom of St Catherine of Alexandria (d. c. 305).

When I see you I will tell you more – the little thoughts for minuter parts – which are almost two minute to relate formally in a letter. I come to town the week after next again. the thought of [MS torn] journey is more tolerable as I expect relief from the exercise, for very great exercise is necessary. I have <do> not & will not neglect my health tho it requires a very inconvenient attention. my medical guidePossibly Thomas Beddoes, whom Southey is known to have consulted at this time. tells me that with my habit, the disorder must be flung off now, or it will adhere to me thro life.

God bless you. yrs affectionately R Southey.

Tuesday night. Jany. 22. 1799.

<Ediths love, she has been unwell.> I daily expect to send the Letters.The second edition of Southey’s Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal, published in 1799. the PoemsThe expanded, two-volume edition of Southey’s Poems, published in 1799. await some corrections.