<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0">
<teiHeader>
<fileDesc>
<titleStmt>
<title type="main">The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 2: 1798-1803 </title>
<title type="subordinate">A Romantic Circles Electronic Edition</title>
<author>
<name>Southey, Robert, 1774-1843</name>
</author>
<editor>Lynda Pratt</editor>
<sponsor>Romantic Circles</sponsor>
<respStmt>
<resp>General Editor, </resp>
<name>Neil Fraistat</name>
</respStmt>
<respStmt>
<resp>General Editor, </resp>
<name>Steven E. Jones</name>
</respStmt>
<respStmt>
<resp>Technical Editor</resp>
<name>Laura Mandell</name>
</respStmt>
</titleStmt>
<editionStmt>
<edition>
<date>2011-08-15</date>
</edition>
</editionStmt>
<publicationStmt>
<idno type="nines">rce455</idno>
<idno type="edition">letterEEd.26.446</idno>
<publisher>Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland</publisher>
<pubPlace>College Park, MD</pubPlace>
<date when="2011-08-15">August 15, 2011</date>
<availability status="restricted">
<p>Material from the Romantic Circles Website may not be downloaded, reproduced or disseminated in any
												manner without authorization unless it is for purposes of criticism, comment, news reporting,
												teaching, and/or classroom use as provided by the Copyright Act of 1976, as amended.</p>
<p>Unless otherwise noted, all Pages and Resources mounted on Romantic Circles are copyrighted by the
												author/editor and may be shared only in accordance with the Fair Use provisions of U.S. copyright law.
												Except as expressly permitted by this statement, redistribution or republication in any medium
												requires express prior written consent from the author/editors and advance notification of Romantic
												Circles. Any requests for authorization should be forwarded to Romantic Circles:&gt;
												<address>
<addrLine>Romantic Circles</addrLine>
<addrLine>c/o Professor Neil Fraistat</addrLine>
<addrLine>Department of English</addrLine>
<addrLine>University of Maryland</addrLine>
<addrLine>College Park, MD 20742</addrLine>
<addrLine>fraistat@umd.edu</addrLine>
</address>
</p>
<p>By their use of these texts and images, users agree to the following conditions: <list>
<item>These texts and images may not be used for any commercial purpose without prior written
														permission from Romantic Circles.</item>
<item>These texts and images may not be re-distributed in any forms other than their current
														ones.</item>
</list>
</p>
<p>Users are not permitted to download these texts and images in order to mount them on their own servers.
												It is not in our interest or that of our users to have uncontrolled subsets of our holdings available
												elsewhere on the Internet. We make corrections and additions to our edited resources on a continual
												basis, and we want the most current text to be the only one generally available to all Internet users.
												Institutions can, of course, make a link to the copies at Romantic Circles, subject to our conditions
												of use.</p>
</availability>
</publicationStmt>
<sourceDesc>
<p>National Library of Wales, MS
                        4819E.  Not previously published.</p>
<p>These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
</sourceDesc>
</fileDesc>
<encodingDesc>
<editorialDecl>
<quotation>
<p>All quotation marks and apostrophes have been changed: " for “," for ”, ' for ‘, and ' for ’.</p>
</quotation>
<hyphenation eol="none">
<p>Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed.</p>
<p>Because of web browser variability, all hyphens have been typed on the U.S. keyboard.</p>
<p>Dashes have been rendered as a variable number of hyphens to give a more exact rendering of their
												length.</p>
</hyphenation>
<normalization method="markup">
<p>Southey's spelling has not been regularized.</p>
<p>Writing in other hands appearing on these manuscripts has been indicated as such, the content recorded
												in brackets.</p>
</normalization>
<normalization>
<p>&amp; has been used for the ampersand sign.</p>
<p>£ has been used for £, the pound sign</p>
<p>All other characters, those with accents, non-breaking spaces, etc., have been encoded in HTML entity
												decimals.</p>
</normalization>
</editorialDecl>
<classDecl>
<taxonomy corresp="http://www.performantsoftware.com/nines_wiki/index.php/Submitting_RDF#.3Cnines:genre.3E" xml:id="g">
<bibl>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</bibl>
<category xml:id="g1">
<catDesc>Architecture</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g2">
<catDesc>Artifacts</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g3">
<catDesc>Bibliography</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g4">
<catDesc>Collection</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g5">
<catDesc>Criticism</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g7">
<catDesc>Letters</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g6">
<catDesc>Drama</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g8">
<catDesc>Life Writing</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g9">
<catDesc>Politics</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g10">
<catDesc>Folklore</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g11">
<catDesc>Ephemera</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g12">
<catDesc>Fiction</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g13">
<catDesc>History</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g14">
<catDesc>Leisure</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g15">
<catDesc>Manuscript</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g16">
<catDesc>Reference Works</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g17">
<catDesc>Humor</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g18">
<catDesc>Education</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g19">
<catDesc>Music</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g20">
<catDesc>nonfiction</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g21">
<catDesc>Paratext</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g22">
<catDesc>Perodical</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g23">
<catDesc>Philosphy</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g24">
<catDesc>Photograph</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g25">
<catDesc>Citation</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g26">
<catDesc>Family Life</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g27">
<catDesc>Poetry</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g28">
<catDesc>Religion</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g29">
<catDesc>Review</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g30">
<catDesc>Visual Art</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g31">
<catDesc>Translation</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g32">
<catDesc>Travel</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g33">
<catDesc>Book History</catDesc>
</category>
<category xml:id="g34">
<catDesc>Law</catDesc>
</category>
</taxonomy>
<taxonomy corresp="http://www.rc.umd.edu/southey_letters/people.xml">
<category xml:id="people">
<catDesc>Southey Letters: Biographies</catDesc>
</category>
</taxonomy>
<taxonomy corresp="http://www.rc.umd.edu/southey_letters/places.xml">
<category xml:id="places">
<catDesc>Southey Letters: Places</catDesc>
</category>
</taxonomy>
</classDecl>
</encodingDesc>
<profileDesc>
<textClass>
<catRef scheme="#genre" target="#g7 #g27"/>
<catRef scheme="#people" target="./people.html"/>
<catRef scheme="#places" target="./places.html"/>
</textClass>
</profileDesc>
<revisionDesc>
<change who="#LM" when="2011-08-15" n="4">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name>Laura Mandell</name>
<list>
<item>XSLT Transforming after latest corrections</item>
</list>
</change>
<change who="#LM" when="2011-07-06" n="3">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name xml:id="LM">Laura Mandell</name>
<list>
<item>XSLT Transforming</item>
</list>
</change>
<change who="#AB" when="2011-03-20" n="2">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name>Averill Buchanan</name>
<list>
<item>corrections from proofing</item>
</list>
</change>
<change who="#AB" when="2011-02-21" n="1">
<label>Changed by</label>
<name xml:id="AB">Averill Buchanan</name>
<list>
<item>Part II added</item>
</list>
</change>
</revisionDesc>
</teiHeader>
<text>
<body>
<div n="446" type="letter">
<head>446. Robert Southey to <ref target="people.html#WynnCharlesWW">Charles Watkin
                        Williams Wynn</ref>, <date when="1799-10-14">14 October [1799]</date>
<note place="foot" resp="editors" type="headnote">Address: [deletions and readdress in another
                        hand] To/ C W Williams Wynn Esq<hi rend="sup">r</hi>/ <del rend="strikethrough">Wynnstay</del>/ <del rend="strikethrough">Wrexham</del> &lt;Holywell&gt;/ <del rend="strikethrough">Denbighshire</del> &lt;Flintshire&gt; <lb/>Stamped: RINGWOOD;
                        WREXHAM<lb/>Postmark: [illegible]<lb/>MS: National Library of Wales, MS
                        4819E<lb/>Unpublished.</note>
</head>
<p rend="indent4"> The Hags Disaster<note n="1" place="foot" resp="editors">‘The
                        Hags Disaster’ is by Grosvenor Bedford. Southey considered including it in
                            <title>Annual Anthology</title> (1799); see Robert Southey to Grosvenor
                        Charles Bedford, 2–3 August 1799, Letter 425.</note>
</p>
<p rend="indent5"> ___</p>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Oh I have lost my good Night Mare</l>
<l rend="indent4"> That carried me safe &amp; sound!</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Oh I have lost my good Night Mare</l>
<l rend="indent4"> That galloped the Welkin<note n="2" place="foot" resp="editors">An archaic term for the sky.</note> round!</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> For Sunday was a parish feast</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And all the Church wardens were there,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And the Overseers upon the Poors Rates</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Did make most glorious fare.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And there was turtle &amp; venison too</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And there was fowl &amp; fish,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And pudding apoplectical </l>
<l rend="indent4"> And gout in every dish.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> How their chins did wag as they sat at meat</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Was a merry sight to see,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> But an Alderman he ate the most</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Of all the company.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> I watchd him as they carried him home</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And laid him in his bed,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Ten Porters groand beneath his weight</l>
<l rend="indent4"> As he were made of lead.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Oh I have lost my good night mare</l>
<l rend="indent4"> That carried me safe &amp; sound,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> For the Alderman sleeps &amp; she presses upon</l>
<l rend="indent4"> His bellys monstrous round.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> While on his back like a sow in a sack</l>
<l rend="indent4"> The grunts but ill at ease,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> In jolly &amp; custard &amp; codlin tart</l>
<l rend="indent4"> The Mare is up to her knees.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> The days &amp; nights he yet has lain,</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And no word utters he,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And a third shall come ere he can speak</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Or the Mare again be free.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And thus the Hag that rides by night</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Bewaild her cause of grief,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And her sister heard her piteous plaint</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And hastened to her relief.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> The Moon was bright &amp; clear the night</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And a stable door she shewd,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Where Robin Carriers favorite steed</l>
<l rend="indent4"> In his stall well-littered stood.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And thus she bespoke the midnight hag,</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Oh cease your lamentation!</l>
<l rend="indent3"> For here is a horse that is big enough</l>
<l rend="indent4"> To ride the whole corporation.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And you shall ride before, sister,</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And I will ride behind,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And thro the welkin wide we’ll go</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And we’ll outstrip the wind.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And I shall see my darling fiend</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Who dwells beyond the sea,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> His eyes of fire drop scalding tears</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Of molten iron for me.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And I shall see my black cats ghost</l>
<l rend="indent4"> That was wont to range the heath,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> He died, poor thing! for very lack</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Of paltry infants breath.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Now up they mount – the one before</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And the other close behind,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And thro the welkin wide they go</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And they outstrip the wind.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> No mortal eye could follow them,</l>
<l rend="indent4"> No tongue could tell their track,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And before the Sun had his course begun</l>
<l rend="indent4"> The Hags &amp; the Horse came back.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Loud crows the cock &amp; Robin is up</l>
<l rend="indent4"> For a thrifty lad is he,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And into the stable Robin is gone</l>
<l rend="indent4"> His favourite steed to see.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> His favourite steed he sees indeed</l>
<l rend="indent4"> But ah! in piteous plight,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> His flanks were beating too &amp; fro</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And his sides with foam were white.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Ah sure, some Witch has ridden thee,</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Quoth Robin to his horse,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And over the mountains &amp; over the sea</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Has held her cursed course.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Ah I forgot to make thy stall</l>
<l rend="indent4"> With magic charm secure,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Forgot to nail the rusty shoe</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Against the stable door.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Would I could see Mother Jenkins now</l>
<l rend="indent4"> For she has playd me this trick,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> My vengeance the hideous hag should feel</l>
<l rend="indent4"> At the end of this oaken stick!</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Scarce had he spoke when on the ground</l>
<l rend="indent4"> He saw two straws that lay,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> They tumbled over &amp; over again</l>
<l rend="indent4"> As tho they had been at play.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And Robin took up in idle mood</l>
<l rend="indent4"> The longest straw to bend,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And doubled it round like the link of a chain,</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And fastened it end to end.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> When straight he heard a voice without</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Cry ‘Sister come away –</l>
<l rend="indent3"> Ill luck &amp; pain await thee here –</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Ah Sister, do not stay!</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> And Robin stard like a stuck pig</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Beneath the butchers knife,</l>
<l rend="indent3"> And let the bended straw fall down,</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And trembled for his life.</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> For the bended straw which Robin held –</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Ah! wonderous tale to tell!</l>
<l rend="indent3"> In accents to the voice replied</l>
<l rend="indent4"> That spake distinct &amp; well –</l>
</lg>
<lb/>
<lg type="stanza">
<l rend="indent3"> Sister I cannot follow thee –</l>
<l rend="indent4"> Sister I cannot come –</l>
<l rend="indent3"> For I am fast bound &amp; my back is made round</l>
<l rend="indent4"> And my nose * * * *<note n="3" place="foot" resp="editors">Oh
                            I have lost ... ****: Verse written in double columns.</note>
</l>
</lg>
<p rend="indent8"> G. C. B.</p>
<p>hiatus valde lacrymabilis!<note n="4" place="foot" resp="editors">The Latin
                        translates as ‘a truly lamentable gap’.</note>
</p>
<p>
<address>
<placeName>Christ Church</placeName>
</address>
<date when="1799-10-14">Monday Oct. 14.</date> My dear Wynn Yours of the 8<hi rend="sup">th</hi> I have this morning received. with a few trifling
                    alterations this would make an excellent ballad. it tickles me hugely.</p>
<closer>
<salute rend="indent1"> God bless you.</salute>
<salute rend="indent2"> yrs truly</salute>
<signed rend="indent3"> R Southey.</signed>
</closer>
</div>
</body>
</text>
</TEI>
