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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. 111–115 [in part; dated 6 October 1800]; Adolfo Cabral (ed.), Robert Southey: Journals of a Residence in Portugal 1800–1801 and a Visit to France 1838 (Oxford, 1960), pp. 120–122 [in part; dated 6 October 1800].Dating note: Although the start of this letter is dated by Southey ‘October 6’, internal evidence in the previous letter to Tom Southey, 7 October 1800 (Letter 550), and the endorsement ‘8th’ suggests that this second letter was not finished and sent until ‘Nov. 6’, the date given at the end. The editors have therefore placed it after his letter to Tom Southey of 7 October 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 saw Mafra from the sea, a magnificent
objecttown, & its inhabitants strangely
jealous of its title. Some lads lately passing thro enquired
the name of the village; the man
replied angrily it was a town – & as they, not believing
it, laughed at him – he raised an uproar – & they were
actually in danger of being stoned by the offended townsmen.
A bridge has been lately built here over a valley; & a
great work it is, – xx it
happens to be in the Princesxxxxx indicates
fore-sight, & beasts, & savages & Portugueze
never think of the future. a stream runs thro it, which in
the rainy season must be wide & rapid, – this sweeps
down the soil from the mountains & fertilizes the
bottom. a circuitous road round the hill top to avoid a
steep descent leads to Mafra. there is a bye path nearer by
two miles, which I advise none but a pedestrian to take. –
Mafra itself is a small place, the estalagemt Franciscot Francisco & regularly attends his
festival at Mafra. of course the country was assembled there
– food & fruit exposed for sale in the Plaza, & all
the women equipped in all their finery. we went to mass –
the Prince followed the Host as it was carried round the
church – in the evening there was a procession – & the
Prince paraded with it. & thus the Regent of Portugal
passes his time – dangling after saints & assisting at
puppet-shows – & no doubt he laid down last night
thoroughly satisfied that he had done his duty!
The church & convent & Palace are one
vast building – whose front exhibits a strong & trusty
Portugueze mixture of magnificence & meanness. in part
it has never been faced with stone – a mud plaister is in
its place. the windows are not half glazed, red boards
filling up the work-house looking casements. the church is
beautiful – the library the finest book-room I ever saw,
& well-stored – tho poor in English books. the friar who
accompanied us said it would be an excellent room to eat
& drink in & go to play afterwards – “& if we
liked better to play in the dark – we might shut the
windows!” He heard the servant remark to me that there
<were> books enough for me to read there – & asked
if I loved reading – & I said he – love eating &
drinking. honest Franciscan. he told us also that the dress
of their order was a barbarous dress. & that dress did
not change the feelings. I suspect this man wishes he had
professed in France. A Portugueze of some family was a nun
in France: after the dissolution of the monasteries her
brother immediately engaged with some <a> Portugueze abbess to receive her,
& wrote in all haste for the distressed nun – she wrote
in answer that she was <much> obliged to him – but she
had was married.
You have a superb convent here – said I. yes said the Monk, but it is a wretched place in winter. we suffer so from the cold – the rheumatism kills many. we have no fire in our cells – only in the kitchen. – such is Mafra – a library whose books are never used, a palace with a mud wall front – & a royal convent inhabited by wretches who loathe their situation! The Monks often desert, in that case they are hunted like Deserters, & punished if caught with confinement & flogging. I heard of one poor fellow who was apprehended in a garden, where he had for three months earned his living honestly & usefully as a labourer. They take the vows young – at fourteen. those who are most stupidly devout may be satisfied with their life – those who most abandoned in all vice may do well also. but a man with any feeling, any conscience, any brains must be miserable. The old men, whose necks are broken to their yoke, whose feelings are all blunted, & who are by their rank or age exempt from some services, & indulged with some privileges – these men are happy enough. A literary man would be well off – only that literature would open his eyes.
The library was not originally a part of the
foundation. the Franciscan order excludes all arts, all
science. no picture ought to profane their churches. but
when Pombal turned these beggarly vermin out of this Palace,
he removed to it the regular Canons of St Vincent.
My Uncle
conveys this to England. he goes to take a small living in
his own gift.s rulers never be tired of
squandering lives!
In the printed copy – whenever that shall
reach you – you will find Thalaba