The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 2: 1798-1803 A Romantic Circles Electronic Edition Southey, Robert, 1774-1843 Lynda Pratt Romantic Circles General Editor, Neil Fraistat General Editor, Steven E. Jones Technical Editor Laura Mandell 2011-08-15 rce646 letterEEd.26.637 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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National Library of Wales, MS 4811D . Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 263-264.

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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Southey's spelling has not been regularized.

Writing in other hands appearing on these manuscripts has been indicated as such, the content recorded in brackets.

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 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 Architecture Artifacts Bibliography Collection Criticism Letters Drama Life Writing Politics Folklore Ephemera Fiction History Leisure Manuscript Reference Works Humor Education Music nonfiction Paratext Perodical Philosphy Photograph Citation Family Life Poetry Religion Review Visual Art Translation Travel Book History Law Southey Letters: Biographies Southey Letters: Places Laura Mandell XSLT Transforming after latest corrections Laura Mandell XSLT Transforming Averill Buchanan corrections from proofing Averill Buchanan Part II added
637. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 9 December [1801] Address: To/C W Williams Wynn Esqr. M. P./Wynnstay/WrexhamPostmark: FREE/ DEC/ 10/ 1801Endorsement: Dec. 9. 1801 MS: National Library of Wales, MS 4811D Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 263-264. My dear Wynn

Since you left London I have hardly had leisure to miss you not from the pressure of official business – going with Corry & his sonWilliam Corry (c. 1786-1853). to Walkers LecturesProbably given by Adam Walker (1730/1-1821; DNB), famed for his lectures, especially on astronomy. is all I do in my secretaryship – My Mother arrived on the Monday – in far worse health than I had expected. indeed she appears far gone in consumption. some symptoms which usually attend that cursed disease do not appear – & this is some little ground of hope. but consumption has not always those symptoms. Of course much time & all attention is taken up –. these evils must come. – My connections in life are dropping off as I advance, & no young ties supply their places. – I will tell you what shape my plans – or my ideas of plans according to Platonic philosophyPlato (427/8-348/7 BC), Greek philosopher who believed physical objects were mere ‘shadows’ of their ideal or perfect forms. – have lately been assuming. this foolish place under Corry cannot subsist a second year. from no fault on my part nor any unwillingness. but he does not want me – I am utterly useless to him – he is a weak man & therefore an unsteady one. plan about me he can have had none – what he says today is merely for the sake of saying something – he did not think of it yesterday – & he will not remember it tomorrow. I know I am right in thus judging – varnish the portrait with all gentlemanlike-courtesy as you will – still this is the likeness. Whether or not he will give me any situation in his own dear country – who can tell? – all I can say is, that as most assuredly I have no claim – so surely it is wisest to have no expectation. If then at the years end – I am as I was at the beginning, my wish is to return to Cumberland, & sit quietly down. if any new changes should make an administration with whom I have any interest – of course a situation in the South of Europe would be very acceptable. if not – I can live in that country to the extent of my wishes upon a very small income. I can be luxuriously lodged for 25 £ a year – & unless I greatly miscalculate can live more comfortably for three pounds a week (including every expence) than I do at this time for more than double that sum. I know not xxxx – if only inclination were consulted – how I could be more happily settled than in that leisure & that most lovely country.

As Corry only ties me by the leg – I am at full liberty to amuse myself within the length of the tethering string. for any serious employment I have not quiet enough, the correction of Madoc Southey had finished a version of Madoc in 1797-1799. He was revising it for publication, but it did not appear until 1805. excepted – that, tho more slow & laborious than any other work, is yet a thing that can be done amid all interruptions, which any thing requiring continuous feeling could not. I am also about to write verses once more for the Morning Post – an employment not very irksome – unobjectionable because obscure & exceedingly convenient – inasmuch as it will bring in a guinea a week. I shall in this have a reference to after use – so you will see the Spanish ballads one by one. Southey had ‘engaged’ to write poems for the Morning Post, owned by Daniel Stuart, as he had done in 1798-1799. But only three of his poems appeared in September-December 1801, and only two were Spanish ballads: ‘O Thou Moor of Moreria’ (Morning Post, 18 September 1801), and‘Ballad. From The Spanish’ (Morning Post, 23 December 1801). Southey did not publish anything further in the Morning Post until 4 February 1803.

I shall miss Elmsley when he migrates to Edinburgh – far more than any other xxxxxxxx I should any other person, for I see him more frequently xx with & that always with pleasure.

Grosvenor is better – he has been very ill.

The two first books of Madoc will be ready for you when you return. do not fail – if you can – to borrow for you <me> the chronicle of CaradocThe Brut y Tywysogion, a chronicle of Welsh history, 682-1332. It was believed that the author was Caradoc of Llancarfan (fl. 12th century), though he is not mentioned in any of the surviving manuscripts. – I think that is its name –

God bless you yrs affectionately Robert Southey

Dec. 9. 25 Bridge Street