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National Library of Wales, MS 4811D. Previously published: Adolfo Cabral (ed.), Robert Southey: Journals of a Residence in Portugal 1800–1801 and a Visit to France 1838 (Oxford, 1960), pp. 125–129.
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 Siamese make the happiness of the blessed to consist in
impassibility – in the enjoyment of deep repose, interrupted
by no thought or feeling, – only with the consciousness of existence. the
agitation which the receipt of letters in a far country
occasions has half converted me to the wish of dozing away
eternity with Sommono-Codom in the ever-blessed state of
Nireupan.xx <xxx>
& startles, – & fevers me for the day. You have
given me something to dream of – but my dreams take a wild
course & instead of haranguing Sir Ts Strange
But of India I can talk & think in
England – England – the land of intellect & morality –
my own dear country where I grew up & where I would be
set down – which I should perhaps want heart to quit for a
long absence. & feeling <it [MS
illegible]> everlasting absence – unless with a new Madoc
to a new world – Of Walenstein you say what I should have
said, except that I like Coleridges version of [MS torn] song very much –
& Charles Lambs as little.
One Poet has already tried his fortune in
India. Camõens. he left Portugal with the bitter phrase of
Scipio on his lips Ingrata Terra non possidebis ossa
mea!
You speak of Daunceyrs Dolignon, he & his wife only were
at home. he received me with much courtesy – & when he
accompanied me to the door requested that the distance of my
lodgings (twas when we were at Newington) – might excuse him
from calling on me. his visit I had neither expected nor
wished – but the apology somewhat hurt me. I had been in
that very house – almost a child of the family. – the next
time I passed along the street – the name was gone from the
door & the house to be lett. I had lost all traces –
they knew where I was. but I should not <have>
repeated my visit – the coldness of a stranger never hurts
me – I am sometimes ice myself – & may chill him who
comes in contact – but Mrs Dolignon had been to me almost as a
mother, & at this moment sure I am that neither of her
children can feel for her a deeper affection. – Here is a
letter drawing to its close – & all that it contains
might as well have been written in England. so let it be –
it is pleasant to live for an hour in old recollections,
& forget that all around me is foreign.
Of the concluding books of Thalabath the object of the
new lines was to connect the overthrow of the Domdaniel with
some obvious good, & not let Thalaba work so wholly in
obscurity. The other Books are all corrected, & in some
of them passages of some length are inserted. Should you
wish to see the copy designed for the Press it will be
within your reach. Rickman is my agent with the Booksellers & he
lodges at 33 Southampton Buildings, chancery Lane, where a
note from you may in five minutes reach him.
I wish your brotherxxxxxxx
remainder – would set some of his subjects at work. [MS
obscured] Taliessin,xx xx you Welshmen ought for
the honour of the old country & the [MS obscured] language <tongue> to
rescue your Bards from what may be a very ancient &
mellifluous language, xxx
& what is certainly but
which is too ugly & too difficult ever to tempt a
learner.
Stanier Clarkexxxx xx xxxxx xxx xxxxxxxxxx
xx xxx xxxxxxx xxxxx, xxxxx xx xxxxxxxx xxxx
xxxxxx he wants to know the dates of all the
Editions of Camões. His Prospectus talks too much about
Patronage to please me, – & I almost suspect that a man
capable of making a good scientific work upon such a subject
– would be less anxious to make a puppy-book.
1. The Exterpation.
2. The Education
<Incantation>
3. The Education
4. The Conversation
5. The Expiation
6. The Preservation
7. The Temptation
8. The Peregrination
9. The Salvation
10. The Explanation
11. The Navigation
12. The Consummation