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Tulane University Libraries, Manuscripts Collection M 1104. Previously published: Andy P. Antippas, ‘Four New Southey Letters’, The Wordsworth Circle, 5 (1974), 93.Dating note: In his letter to Danvers of Tuesday, 20 August 1799 (Letter 428), Southey asked Cottle to immediately forward three copies of the recently-published Annual Anthology (1799). This letter is dated by Southey as ‘Sunday’ and thanks Cottle for the books, making its most likely date to be Sunday, 25 August 1799.
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.
All quotation marks and apostrophes have been changed: " for “," for ”, ' for ‘, and ' for ’.
Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed.
Because of web browser variability, all hyphens have been typed on the U.S. keyboard.
Dashes have been rendered as a variable number of hyphens to give a more exact rendering of their length.
Southey's spelling has not been regularized.
Writing in other hands appearing on these manuscripts has been indicated as such, the content recorded in brackets.
& has been used for the ampersand sign.
£ has been used for £, the pound sign
All other characters, those with accents, non-breaking spaces, etc., have been encoded in HTML entity decimals.
The books arrived safely. I was vexed to see
the paragraph you had added to the PrefaceBristol, for the Editor of the
Annual Anthology. It is requested that the Writer will
enclose his address, that the piece may be returned, if
found inconvenient to insert.’it
desiring an opportunity of telling contributors their verses
are bad. people who wished their peices returned would have
said so without being asked. the sentence can only operate
to prevent post men of
diffidence from sending me anything. I cannot conceive why
you added it – to say the best of it it is perfectly useless
– & I am afraid it will be mischievous. if it were
possible the leaf should be cancelled.
About Beddoes & his soi-disant lampoon.indelicate. & the arrogance & impertinence
of the man have irritated me. I desire that no future
application be made to him for contributions. if he sends
them he may but I will not be dictated to. nor treated with
impertinence by any man. Beddoes has my
respect & respectful voice – I look up to him as a
useful & benevolent man, the agent of much good – but in
this instance he has behaved with an indelicacy of which I
could have suspected no one.
The volume is very good. or more xxxxxx it may be xxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxx it with my xxxxx xxxxxx – xxx xx xxxx xxxxxx
xxx xxxxx xxxxxx Robert Southey xxx xxxxxxx xxx
xxxxxxxxxx xxx xxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx.
In the Volume few & trifling alterations
only are made. it is always to build a new house than repair
one originally ill-plannd. it will be better perhaps at the
end to advertise only my books.
The frank I spoke of you enclosed
to M – & a frank it was. now I am always glad
to hear from y[MS torn] but your enclosure only contained
r Southey
herenotice that you had enclo[MS torn]
it, I only mention this to put you
in mind that a little thought upon common occasions is very
useful. so you must receive it with the same levity that it
is written with.
I hope to have the second Anthology out in January – so do you beat up. it will be a better volume than the first. we must if possible go to press at the beginning of November.
If any letters or parcel reach you before you
get my direction send them to Coleridge at his brothers
at Ottery St Marys – Devonshire – for
me. we go to Sidmouth, five miles beyond [half a sheet of MS
missing]
examine them. your best poem in the Anthology
is Ellenxx our next
volume will have less dross. but this will do. it must be
popular – or my judgement is lamentably erroneous.
kind remembrances from Coleridge. he begs you will not forget the
Tragedy
Edith desires her love to your sister[MS torn]