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Houghton Library, bMS Eng 265.1 (28). Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.) Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), II, pp. 99–103 [in part; misdated 21 August 1800].
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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You will have known before this can arrive,
that your Bristol dispatches reached me. That I have not
written sooner is the fault of the wind – we have been three
weeks without a packet – & now we have one, my letters
may probably be detained for want of a conveyance to Lisbon.
– You must write to my Uncle.
upon family affairs he never utters a
syllable, & whenever I have begun upon the subject here he has made no reply
whatever. It is not therefore possible to speak to him. –
About the cheese you mistook – I designed to pay for it,
thro Cottle.
however we want certain articles from Bristol (a gown for
Maria Rosasettled cases, the fox-glove
always retards the progress of the malady – but never cures.
at an early stage, it prevents. however other diseases there
are undistinguishably similar in their symptoms, which are
sometimes mistaken for this – & the patient is said to
have recovered from a consumption, when his lungs have been
sound all the while.
We have been here about two months, living
alone & riding jack-asses. My Uncle is
sadly confined in Lisbon. the Soldiers children die as fast
as they are born from inattention or bad management – one of
the million war-evils! – & he must bury them. We have
acquaintance out of number, but no friends. of course I go
among these people no oftener than absolute decorum
requires. Patty Collins’sxxx three farthings a pound:
& grapes – oh what grapes! our desserts are magnificent.
We have three servants here – a man, a maid, & a boy.
all good servants for the country, but not a little swine. I long sometimes to rub their
noses in their filth as they serve the dog & the cat.
can you guess how they damp clothes for ironing? Maria takes
a mouthful of water & squirts it out over the linen. The
Roman Catholics have contrived to rank nastiness among
Christian virtues, & they practise no other so
universally. The poor Moriscoes in Spain were forbidden to
use their baths – because it was a Turkish custom. Certain
of the austerer monks would think it wicked to kill any of
their vermin. others wear no linen, & sleep in their
woollen dress from one year to another, fine, fat, frying,
friars, looking as oily as Aarons beard in the sun. I should
like to catch a Quaker & bring here among filth &
finery. – Of Capt Hawker
Since we left Lisbon I have written scarcely
any letters, & have a weeks work to settle my accounts
with Tom. tell
him that Thalaba has monopolized me. that by the King
Georgewriting letters! except to Bristol & to Tom I have
neglected all my other correspondents. actually I have not
time. I must ride, I am visited – &
the correcting Thalaba & transcribing it is a very
serious job.
The French. you are probably alarmed for us,
& perhaps not without cause – but we are in the dark,
& only know that the situation of the country is very
critical. We are quite easy about the matter. The house is
on fire! Ach! & is xxxx
that all? said the Paddy – now why did you disturb me? I am
but a lodger. – In my own opinion no attempt will be made on
Portugal. it is not worth the trouble. Why make a dust by
pulling down a house that must fall? We shall have peace!
thank God, & Somebody. –
By the next packet I shall write, & send
to Biddlecombe his years rent. when we return I
shall immediately take a house in London, or near it. for a
summer or two Burton
may do – but if Rickman leaves Xt Church I must
look for a situation where there is better society. I wish I
could settle here; the climate suits me so well, that I
could give up society, & live like a Bear by sucking my
own paws. You like the Catholics. shall I give you an
account of one of their Lent plays upon Transubstantiation
which is lying on the table? It begins by the Father turning
Adam out of doors – “Get out xxx of my house, you Rascal” Adam goes a begging,
& bitterly does he complain that he can find no house,
no village, nobody to beg of. At last he meets – The Four
Seasons, & they give him a spade & a plough &c.
– but nothing to eat. At
last Then comes Reason, & tells him to go to
law with his Father, who is obliged to find him in victuals.
Adam goes to law, an Angel is his counsel, & the Devil
pleads against him. He wins his cause, & the Father
settles upon him Oil – for extreme unction. Lamb. & Bread & Wine. up comes the
Sacrament – & there is an end of the Play. This is
written by a Priest – one of the best Spanish writersInfantry were all cut off.
that he went as a spy among the Enemies, & even got into
their temple. that he stood a siege of forty days, &
would not capitulate, tho without provisions. & after
three assaults put the Enemy to flight. that he succoured
Castle-Magdalen when the enemy had got possession. that he
supplied a camp consisting of more than 5000 persons with
food, who would all have been starved. that he did good
service at sea in a storm. therefore for him & his
twelve followers he asked his reward. I could fill sheet
after sheet with these Bunyanisms,
But you are crying out already, & are satisfied with the specimen. – farewell. we are going on well – only Ediths Burro fell with her & threw her over head down hill, & she is now lame with a bruised knee. she excells in ass-woman-ship – & I am hugely pleased with riding sideways, & having a Boy to beat the John & guide him.
By the King George I expect Alfredrs D. & to Cottle &
Davy if you
see him. poor Patty Cottle!rs Wilson!
My love to Killcrop when you write. how does his Latin go on? Harry must forgive me. I do not forget him – & will write very soon. but the interruption it occasions & the time it takes up make letter-writing a serious evil.
By the Monthly Magazine