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British Library, Add MS 30927. Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), II, pp. 77–83 [in part]; Adolfo Cabral (ed.), Robert Southey: Journals of a Residence in Portugal 1800–1801 and a Visit to France 1838 (Oxford, 1960), pp. 91–93 [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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The country immediately adjoining Buenos
Ayres,x hair fine & curled, its blossom growing
tall & to be seen at some
distan, a fine yellow flower distinguishable at a
considerable distance from its size. & the acanthus, the
plant that gave a man of genius the idea of the Corinthian
capital which he in consequence invented. bl[MS obscured]
these with wild roses, & woodbines – more profusely
beautiful than I ever saw them elsewhere & you have the
idea of these bank-fences. our way was up & down steep
hills, whence we looked over the valley, its scattered
houses, & here & there a convent – always a
beautiful object, & sometimes the river, & its far
shore like a low cloud. It was dusk before we returned &
the fireflies were awake – flashing about the banks, &
then putting out their candles, & again in light – like
faery fire-works. my Uncle when first in this country had lost
himself in a lane at Cintra – it was evening – he had heard nothing of
these fireflies – & some hundred rose at once before
him. he says he thought there was a volcano beginning under
his feet.
The warm weather is come. we shut our windows
to exclude the heated air, & our shutters to darken the
room. – if half the money expended upon the Souls in
Purgatory were employed in watering the streets, we should
be relieved from the torment of burning – yet is the heat
more endurable than the intense light. this is insufferably
painful – the houses are white – the stones in the street
white – the very dust bleached – & all reflect back upon
us the scorching sun. the light is like the white quivering
of a furnace fire: it dazzles & makes the eyes ache –
& blindness is very common. At evening the sea breeze
rises – a sudden change! tremendous for an invalid – but it
purifies the town, & then owl-like we come out of our
nests. – At Cintra we
shall be cool. we wait only for the Processions of the Body
of God, & St Antony the 12 &
13th of June – & the Heart of
Jesus on the 20th & the first
Bull-fight which will be about that time.
The Butchers annually pay a certain sum to
Government – like tax or turnpike men in England. veal is
prohibited – there are however smugglers who carry on a
contraband trade in veal, & better mutton than is to be
procured in the legal way. one of these was taken up near
our door a few days since, a public calamity I assure you.
The Portugueze servants do not like mutton, &
<they> mutinied in an English family the other day on
this account. a tax of one rea per pound on all meat sold in
Lisbon, raises the fund for the Aqueduct. a light tax (about
the fifth of a halfpenny) for so great a benefit. the water
is indeed purchased from the Gallegosthe <a> name expressive
of this they call it the free waters. The number of Gallegos
employed here is disgraceful both to Spain & Portugal.
to their own country that these industrious people cannot
find employment at home: to this, that the Portugueze are
lazy enough to let foreigners do their work, who annually
drain Lisbon of its species. The Mules & Goats have a
most ugly cup-shaped bell from 6 to 12 inches long xxxxxx <hanging from>
their neck – with a clapper as rude as the rude cup in which
it clinks. Manuelxx worse
people than himself, adopts this system of coercion when
conciliation has been advised, & the ill effects of
force experienced. you should coax the mule said my Uncle –
& never go near her without carrying her something in
your hand. No Senhor – said Mambrino. that is the way with
horned cattle I know – but not with
beasts like mules or horses. nothing but beating will do.
One day there was a hallaballoo (I never saw that word in a
dictionary, so pardon the spelling if it be wrong) in the
stables which alarmed my Uncle –
out he went – & there was Manuel, discomfited by the
Mule & crawled up under the manger, in bodily fear.
cou influenza of the country. the stone cutter
will lay his head upon the stone at which he has worked,
& sleep, tho it be hot enough to boil a beef[MS
obscured] very days are lazy. it was but yesterday I saw a
great son of a bitch, (literally,) let a mule step upon him
from sheer laziness, & then he rose howling & walked away. the fellows lie sleeping
every where in the streets – they seem to possess the power
of sleeping where they will. Everlasting noise is another
characteristic of Lisbon. their noon-fireworks – their
cannonading on every fool pretext – their bells to every
goat in a flock & every mule in a drove prove this –
above all their everlasting bell ding-donging – for bell ringing would convey the English idea
of music, & here it is only noise. A merchant not far
from my
Uncles has a private chapel from whence his bells
annoy the whole neighbourhood. The English Hotel till lately
was near him, & the Invalids were disturbed & of
course injured by the noise. they sent to requ state this & request
that he would have the goodness to dispense with the
bellringing. he returned for answer that the Prince
We had often heard a noise below which puzzled us. it was like ranting linen – but so often that all the linen in Lisbon could not have supplied the sound. at last when Maria was cleaning the adjoining room we heard it. she was laying the dust & in the same way as she damps the cloaths in ironing – by taking a great mouthfull of water & then squirting it out, – this is the Portugueze way – & the mouth makes a very good watering-pot.
I have heard a good anecdote to illustrate
the <personal> insecurity in this Kingdom. did you
<ever> see old Harris who lodged with my mother
once?
My Uncle
has purchased Charts of all the coasts & ports of Spain
& its islands – with the intention of giving them to
you. should you ever get on this station they will be
eminently useful. Lord St Vincent has a copy –
but the copies are so rare & so expensive that there can
be very few in the navy. Omit not to write often your
letters cost very little – not more than at Bristol. God
bless you. Rundell
It was Rundell made the enquiry near Helstone. you have
had the Anthology