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 rceNaN letterEEd.26.670b Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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British Library, Add MS 47891. The French version (original) is to be found in Letter 670a. Previously published John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), I, pp. 189-192 [dated April 1802; in French only].

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.

All quotation marks and apostrophes have been changed: " for “," for ”, ' for ‘, and ' for ’.

Any dashes occurring in line breaks have been removed.

Because of web browser variability, all hyphens have been typed on the U.S. keyboard.

Dashes have been rendered as a variable number of hyphens to give a more exact rendering of their length.

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.

& has been used for the ampersand sign.

£ has been used for £, the pound sign

All other characters, those with accents, non-breaking spaces, etc., have been encoded in HTML entity decimals.

 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
670b. Robert Southey to John King, 15-16 April 1802 [translation]Address: To/ Mr King/ Dowry Square/ Hot Wells/ Bristol./ SinglePostmark: BRISTOL/ APR 19 1802Seal: [illegible]MS: British Library, Add MS 47891. The French version (original) is to be found in Letter 670aPreviously published John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), I, pp. 189-192 [dated April 1802; in French only]. April 15. 1802.

Yesterday my friend I was at the home of M. V_____He could be connected to the J.A. Voullaire (first name and dates unknown), whose French translation of The Vicar of Wakefield was published in 1811. I have forgotten his name. He was not at home, I left him your letter saying that in a few days I will return. at present it would not be possible for me to learn French – I have so much to do every hour that it would not be difficult to find many more things to do that would be enough work for two [people]. – Ah – the particlesIn grammar these are function words, such as pronouns, articles and conjunctions. – the ‘ens’. & the ‘ons’, & the ‘nes’ & the ‘ys’ – there are the little Devils who torment me – Oh well – hereafter with the assistance of your friend I will defeat the Devils – grammar is worth as much as a Breviary in this war – or even the perfect Exorcist. –

I am going to learn Welch. I have thought a lot about whether the knowledge is worth the trouble, as the language is not easy. here are the treasures that it contains – several chronicles, several centuries of very curious TriadsRhetorical forms in Welsh poetry that group objects together in threes. in which are perhaps the most ancient traditions of all the histories of the world. a very large collection of Poems – of which several are from the same century as that of my hero Madoc, & were hymns of victory at his father’s court.The legendary Madoc was said to be the son of Owen Gwynedd (c. 1100-1170; DNB), Prince of Gwynedd 1137-1170. There is another motive for me to learn this language. I believe it is the most ancient of all the European languages – I have a great desire to travel to Biscay, & perhaps knowledge of Welsh will add to my understanding of Basque, which is the foundation, the root, the source of Spanish and Portuguese.Southey was incorrect: Basque is unrelated to Spanish or Portuguese. up till the present all the works of the Bards, & all the Triads [have] existed only in MS.S. But they are being printed [thanks to] a private individual, a patriotic man to whom all the savants should erect a monument. The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales (1801-1807), edited by William Owen Pughe, printed many Welsh medieval manuscripts for the first time. It was funded by Owen Jones (1741-1814), a wealthy, Welsh-born, London furrier. The three volumes cost Jones over £1,000. Two very large volumes have already appeared. he is going to print three or four more. the expense will be very great – he is a pretty rich merchant.

You ask me what I think of M. [MS obscured] William Rough, lawyer and poet. He had been a schoolboy at Westminster with Southey 1786-1792 and was the author of the tragedies Lorenzino de Medici (1797) and The Conspiracy of Gowrie (1800) and Lines on the Death of Sir Ralph Abercromby (1801). The latter referred to Sir Ralph Abercromby (1734-1801; DNB), who was killed commanding the invasion of Egypt in March 1801. I knew him at school. I thought him a boy of genius – but today he has not a single friend of his youth, & I do not believe he has a heart worthy of esteem. He is a man of words – professions – smiles, I hate – I distrust that politeness he shows in every word, in every look. I have read his Tragedies – his poem on General Abercromby. they are worth nothing. they are exactly like himself – words – & nothing else. he writes as he spoke, without feeling. this portrait is not very pleasant. too bad! I feel it is true.

The reviewTaylor’s review of Thalaba the Destroyer (1801) had appeared in Monthly Magazine, 12 (Supplement, 1801), 581-583. by my friend William Taylor. – it is an extraordinarily good piece of work. I do not know a man with a more brilliant genius or a more amiable heart. In all his work we see the same spark – the same scintillation – what is the word that is needed? – the same play of imagination – the same depth of knowledge – the same intellectual jewellery. but he has no taste in his work [of poetry]. <although,> I think (he has always praised me strongly & set me right nicely) for the works of others his judgement is almost Papal. Everything is flowers, and gold & precious stones – for me it’s a banquet – but for ordinary people, the puppies of critics, they cannot pass in the same sentence with him from England to China – from this world to the other – from clouds with the<a>Hippogrif or the Simorg to <the> caves of Dom Daniel.The hippogryph was a legendary flying creature, the offspring of a griffin and a mare; the simorg was a bird in Persian mythology and guided the hero in Thalaba the Destroyer (1801), Book 11. In Book 12 Thalaba destroyed the caverns of the Dom Daniel. his associations are too lively, too rapid for most readers, & often there is something bizarre mixed in with [his] noble thoughts. You have described his review well. but why have you asked pardon for your praise of Wieland?Christoph Martin Wieland (1733-1813), German poet and author of the epic Oberon (1780). I have never said nor imagined that the author is not a man of genius. I only say that his Oberon is not a poem to my taste. I see there a man of intellect, of imagination, and, believe that judgement to be general. the perfect master of poetical language. but he does not have that nobility that power of soul with which it is absolutely necessary to sympathize – softness – sensual pleasure – that is what he loves. His genius is Greek I swear – but he could not have been born in the beautiful age of Greece, neither Athens nor Lacedamenon could have been the place of his birth, nor Minerva nor DianaGreek goddesses of wisdom and hunting, respectively. the Goddess of his vows. He must be <would be> Cypriot, the priest of the most beautiful, but not the best of the Goddesses.Aphrodite, goddess of love, who was particularly associated with Cyprus.

The fate of Thalaba is very similar to that of his author, his reputation is made – but for his fortune – alas! – no matter! one does not feel, the other does not care, & both will live.

This morning, for the first time, an invitation from M. EdgeworthRichard Lovell Edgeworth (1744-1817; DNB), educational writer and engineer, who lived on his family estate at Edgeworthstown, County Longford. to his château has reached me, that is verbally, by a young IrishmanUnidentified. a man of wit & what is better, a good democrat. I beg you to give my thanks to Madame BeddoesAnna Beddoes (1773-1824), daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth and wife of Thomas Beddoes. for her father. I feel myself truly obliged, & I hope to benefit from his courtesy in the future. perhaps my friend we will travel together in Ireland – the mountains, the rocks, the wild people – could there be more to make it A Picturesque Journey – better than that of your friend M. BourritMarc Theodore Bourrit (1739-1819), Swiss travel writer, especially about the Alps. who has written about your country.

John Rickman is not returning to Ireland. Here he does not have so good a salary, but it is worth more than a few 100 £ to live among civilised people. His houseAs Secretary to The Speaker, Rickman had an official residence in the corner of Palace Yard, Westminster, and adjoining The Speaker’s own house. is charming – the garden is on the banks of the Thames – there is not a more pleasant dwelling-place in that great city. Davy was at my house last night. he is very well – this evening James Tobin is coming to supper here, he wishes to see the great Pagan Thomas Taylor,Thomas Taylor (1758-1835; DNB), philosopher and translator. He published the first English translation of the complete works of Plato in 1804. & I think we will have a very edifying discussion between a man who believes in a thousand gods & a man who does not believe in one. the great Pagan has translated all the works of Plato – the Duke of NorfolkCharles Howard, 11th Duke of Norfolk (1746-1815; DNB), Whig politician. is paying for the printing – the Duke, says his protege, ‘puts me in mind of a fine saying of Plato – in men of vice there is a respect for virtue by which they sometimes do virtuous things – that is an honest Pagan.’

I have begun preliminary Dealings with my BooksellersLongman and Rees. They wished Southey to put his name to his proposed translation of Amadis of Gaul (1803). the MaecenèsGaius Cilnius Maecenas (70-8 BC), a famous patron of the arts. of English literature. I do not know if we will agree on the Terms. If they want me to sign my Name I will let you know, & perhaps beg – for your assistance. The disagreement is over <my> name that I do not want to give, because it may harm me like a statesman. But for the first <time> I have learnt that Robert Southey is worth 40 £.

I cannot make my compliments in this language – but I beg you to say for me English words of the greatest and truest affection & esteem to your friend Danvers and his good mother – he & she [are] the best & the most dear of all my friends. & believe me, notwithstanding your terrible name. M. the King I am truly in bad grammar your friend

R Southey. April 16. 1802