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 rce432 letterEEd.26.423 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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. Previously published: Charles Ramos, The Letters of Robert Southey to John May: 1797–1838 (Austin, Texas, 1976), pp. 45–47.

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
423. Robert Southey to John May, 19–22 July 1799 Address: To/ John May Esqr/ 4. Tavistock Street/ Bedford Square/ LondonPostmark: B/ JUL 23/ 99Watermark: 1796Endorsement: No. 38. 1799 No 38/ Robert Southey/ No place 19-22 July/ recd: 23 do/ ansd: 3 AugustMS: Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, AustinPreviously published: Charles Ramos, The Letters of Robert Southey to John May: 1797–1838 (Austin, Texas, 1976), pp. 45–47. Friday evening. July 19. 99. My dear friend

Since my last I have visited Burton. I went on foot, sleeping at Shaftsbury. BowlesWilliam Lisle Bowles (1762–1850; DNB). lives within a few miles of that town, & if his character had been as interesting as his poetry I would not have passed without seeing a man to whom I am indebted for many hours of pleasure, & many interesting & I may add good & meliorating feelings. to have seen Bowles, the careless fine gentleman, would have destroyed the charm of his productions, which have already half lost their effect from my knowledge that they did not proceed, that they could not proceed, from the habitual character of the man.

We do not get possession of our cottage till Michaelmas.29 September 1799. the place is at present habitable, we must be there to make it comfortable, by the help of papering white-limed walls, & furnishing them with books & the paraphernalia of leisure & literature. our rent will not exceed, if it come up to, eight pounds – Biddlecombe takes the premises & keeps to himself a field belonging to them. there is a garden, which we shall find unstock’d, but which stands well – it is sufficiently large to hold gooseberry & currant bushes for a great devourer of fruit-pies, to raise cabbages & potatoes enough for our consumption & allow room for a few flowers next the house, for I would not have my eyes & nose starved in the country. there is a fishpond, supplied by a spring that rises very near the house. before the door is room enough for a few flowers & shrubs between the house & road – at present the xxxx space is open & stoned. I look forward to many pleasant summers there, as much as a man can look forward who has experienced something of the uncertainty of future prospects.

In the interval till Michaelmas Edith, her younger sister & I go into Devonshire, to the Northern Coast. Ilfracombe is the place we look to for our longest residence. I am told the scenery is wild & impressive – there I expect to finish my play, which from the moment I quit this place, & our departure is fixd for Tuesday or Wednesday, will become the great object of my thoughts.

Madoc is finished; even in its uncorrected state, this is a matter of much pleasure to me, & I will lose as little time as I can in correcting & fitting it for publication. if I live it is my determination not to publish it for many years – I would build upon it my after reputation, & correct in the maturity of life what was produced in the warmth of younger years: but I am anxious to have it ready because in case of my death this work might be made of important value to my family; & to neglect it would be like neglecting to make a will where the property would otherwise be improperly disposed of.A heavily revised version of Madoc was eventually published in 1805. you will I think see this in the same point of view.

At present it extends to fifteen books. but in one part of my plan I have failed, & so compleatly that it will not require the sacrifice of more than three hundred lines to alter it: this was the attempt to identify Madoc with Mango Capac.Manco Capac, in legend the first Inca. The connection between Madoc and Capac was suggested in John Williams (c.1732–1795; DNB), The Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1789), II, pp. 424–425. therefore I mean to change the scene from South to North America, to Florida whither probably Madoc went.For the idea that Madoc settled in Florida, see John Williams (1727–1798), An Enquiry into the Truth of the Tradition, Concerning the Discovery of America, by Prince Madog ab Owen Gwynedd, About the Year, 1170 (London, 1791), p. 48. I have to graft the story on the N. American manners – in themselves very striking, but I have but a very dim sort of second sight into the how this is to be done, & as usual find the want of books. Mango Capac will serve me for the subject of a seperate poem hereafter, & now amuses me with vaguer outlines & views of the future.Southey failed in his ambition to write a poem about Manco Capac.

The hours which I gain by early rising are appropriated to a poem which I write with a view to publication & immediate emolument – you have I believe heard me mention it – The Destruction of the Dom Daniel.The early, working-title for Thalaba the Destroyer (1801); see Common-Place Book, ed. John Wood Warter, 4 series (London, 1849–1850), IV, pp. 181–188. it is an Arabian Romance –

My brother Edward is well recovered. he goes to Birmingham to the ClergymanUnidentified. whom I mentioned before, as soon as the bone is firmly knit enough for him to venture among school boys.

I received on Saturday Harrys half-years account from Mr Maurice, it amounts to £17.16.8. it is of no importance that the payment should pass thro my hands – & at the distance I shall be from you it would only be inconvenient. Maurices address is Normanstone near Lowestoff. Norfolk or Suffolk – I know not which is proper for Normanstone is in Suffolk & Lowestoff in Norfolk.

My miscellaneous volume of poemsThe Annual Anthology (1799). is nearly finished. Cottle will have directions to send one to you. you will find them of various merit, but on the whole a valuable collection in my judgement, & not the less likely to sell extensively from a number of light pieces. – We depart on Wednesday, & purpose staying a week at Minehead on our way to see the country in its neighbourhood which is said to be very beautiful. I will write to you as soon as I have a direction to send. I expect much from this journey, as to health & enjoyment – & also expect to do a great deal. Edith has been exceedingly unwell, she is to bathe. she desires to be remembered.

God bless you yrs truly R Southey.

Monday 22 July 99.

<If you could meet with a set of Niebuhrs Travels in French for me I should be much obliged to you. I want the book for my Dom-Daniel – & the translation is miserably mutilated.> French editions included Carsten Niebuhr (1733–1815), Description de l’Arabie, trans. E. L. Mourier (1774) and Voyage en Arabie & en d’Autres Pays Circonvoisins, trans. E. L. Mourier (1776–1780). The English version was Travels Through Arabia, trans. Robert Heron (1792), but this was abridged, much to Southey’s disappointment.