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British Library, Add MS 47888. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 186–189.
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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Edith I begin to be uneasy at not hearing from you. you know I always scold when you hurt yourself, & now I am angry because I am anxious. you have often told me Edith, that when I am away from you, you fancy all possible accidents & alarm yourself; dear dear Edith if I could but look at you now you should not <think> I felt the least harshness – but indeed disappointment makes me uneasy. perhaps tomorrow will bring me a letter.
You know Carlisle is
coming to Bristol. now our arrangements are thus. he will be
fishing at Hungerford, for you know he likes to be at one
end of the stick & string with a maggot at the other. I
shall come down by the day coach, pick him up there, &
be with him at Westbury on Monday night 27th
of this month. I do not suppose he will stay more than three
days & will not perhaps sleep at Westbury all the
time. the inconveniences of this are – coming home so late,
& bringing him with me when I had rather be alone, but
then I shall be home on Monday night instead of Tuesday
noon. tell Burnett
Carlisle is
coming down. while Carlisle is with me he can bed at his sisters I
suppose – or perhaps Danvers can
lodge him. he will be glad to see Carlisle,
& may talk to him with advantage of his physical views.
Edith I count the days like a school-boy. it is Monday week
– & now the uncomfortable thought comes across me that
you have been so long silent – that perhaps you are ill – or
have met with some accident. write – if but a line that I
may think of you with pleasure, for think of you I must.
I called on Hamilton£ for which I
drew on him. he was not at home when it was presented for
payment, & it was sent back to Bristol. Cottle had it
immediately returned to town, wrote to me, & Hamilton
promised it should be taken up immediately. it seems he has
now the whole review, having seperated from his brother. I
dine there on Tuesday to meet Carlisle
& Friend. I called on Mary Hays. she appeared glad to see me, & the
conversation of course turned upon Lloyd. she told
me Lloyd had
behaved very ill to her. The circumstances were these. One
evening when her spirits were very much oppressed by some
grief, she went on a visit somewhere with Lloyd &
Stephen Weever Browne:m you know talks most
mightily. from the effort which persons often make when they
are depressed, she had talked with a degree of gaiety, so as
to exhaust herself. they went home with her, Stephen Brownes
talking fatigued her still more, he left her first - &
when she came into her lodgings & sat down she burst
into tears. Lloyd was full of expressions <of friendship
–> – had she anything on her mind? &c. &c. &
the following day wrote her a letter full of professions
& sentiment & feelings. But Lloyd tells this
story in company with these alterations – that Mary Hays was in
love with him – that she contrived to send away St. Browne
that she might be left alone with Lloyd, &
burst into tears because Lloyd would not
understand her. this was repeated to her, & she wrote to
Lloyd,
rather rallying him for his ridiculous vanity than
reproaching him, because it was so contemptible &
because she did not fully understand the whole abuse till
his reply. he answered by confessing that he had traduced
her character – & apologizing most humbly for it,
alledging that her principles were so very bad that he had
suspected her conduct – yet saying that no one who knew her
could doubt her excellence unless he were a fool or a
villain. of course she thinks him either the one or the
other, nor was it possible for me to justify him – as he
evidently has said that she would have prostituted herself
to him if he had pleased – & now comes out with a
canting repentance. it has sadly sunk him in my opinion. She
told me these circumstances because she thought I might hear
something of them from him. she spoke with temper &
great good sense. you know I like Mary Hays. About his
marriage she blamed him for telling every body that he had
no affection for Sophia.
I shall only tell Lloyd that I
have seen Mary Hays
& heard that they have disagreed. it is not my wish to
enter upon the subject. the intercourse between us, he will probably drop if he takes
orders – & I xxxxxx xxxxxx
that suspect that will be the end – in that case
my consistency will estrange him, & his inconsistency,
to use a gentle word, must preclude all esteem on my
part.
On Saturday I am going with Mary Hays to see
Barrys Picturesmake
money <fill his pocket>. however as this
must be one must make the best of it, & as there is
something to be got by me it had better be got by a friend,
so the job will be Amos
Cottle’s, & then there will be no lies, &
I can object to any thing objectionable.
Perhaps you will be amused to hear that there
is a man in Bond Street
If I do not get a letter tomorrow Edith – but my dear dear Edith write to me when you receive this & tell me if you will be at home on the Monday? I shall get over the down by ten o clock I suppose. it is almost supper time – the pleasantest part of the day because the day is nearly over. God bless you. yr Robert Southey.
Remember me to your sister. I think of Moses, & shall probably remember him when he has forgotten me. perhaps one of these days. God bless you Edith – if I was not as happy at home as any man can hope to be, I should not <look> forward with such eagerness to my return.