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 rce710 letterEEd.26.701 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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MS untraced; text is taken from Joseph Cottle, Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey (London, 1847). Previously published: Joseph Cottle, Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey (London, 1847), pp. 225-227.Dating note: Content suggests a date in summer 1802; dating is taken from Cottle.

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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701. Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, August 1802 MS: MS untraced; text is taken from Joseph Cottle, Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey (London, 1847)Previously published: Joseph Cottle, Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey (London, 1847), pp. 225-227.Dating note: Content suggests a date in summer 1802; dating is taken from Cottle.

Bristol,  Aug. 1802.

Dear Cottle,

Well done good and faithful editor. I suspect that it is fortunate for the edition of Chatterton, that its care has devolved upon you.

The note with which you preface ‘Burgum’s Pedigree’Southey and Joseph Cottle, The Works of Thomas Chatterton, 3 vols (London, 1803), II, pp. 455-462. The manuscript of this fake pedigree drawn up by Chatterton belonged to Cottle. His initials, ‘J.C.’, were added to the end of his prefatory note on the work. Southey made it clear in the unpaginated ‘Preface’ to vol. 1 that he and Cottle were joint editors of the edition. need not come to me, as the M.S. is yours, whatever inferences may be drawn from it, will be by you. Add your name at the end to give it the proper authority. I shall know how to say enough, in the preface, about all other aiders and abetters, but it will not be easy to mention such a ringleader as yourself in words of adequate acknowledgment.

What you have detected in the ‘Tournament’ Southey and Joseph Cottle, The Works of Thomas Chatterton, 3 vols (London, 1803), II, pp. [57]-82. Pages [59]-[60] reprint the passage about the medieval foundation of St Mary Redcliff, Bristol, that are omitted from the main text of ‘The Tournament’. Cottle stated of this passage, ‘The following account is transcribed from one of the parchment manuscripts produced by Chatterton’ (I, p. [59]). I have also observed in Barrett,William Barrett (c. 1727-1789; DNB), History and Antiquities of the City Bristol (Bristol, 1789), p. 568. in the omission of a passage of bombast connected with one of the accounts of the Bristol churches. Your copy of the ‘Tournament’ being in Chatterton’s own hand-writing is surely the best authority. We are now of one opinion, that Chatterton and Rowley are one.

I am glad to hear that you have discovered anything worth printing in the British Museum. Doubtless, if you think it worth printing, others will do the same, and it is not our fault, if it be dull or an imperfect work. I transcribed page after page of what would have been worth little if genuine, and not being genuine, is worth nothing. This refers only to the local antiquities, and false deeds of gift, &c. I made a catalogue, and left it with you. Why say, ‘I hope you will not take it amiss.’ I am as ready to thank you for supplying any negligence of mine, as any one else can be. I should have wished for more engravings, but we have gone to the bounds of expense and trouble, in this gratuitous, but pleasant effort to benefit the family of Bristol’s most illustrious bard. Why did you not sign your notes? I can now only say, that much, indeed most of the trouble has devolved on you. J. C. at the end of each note, would have showed how much.Most of Cottle’s editorial notes were not signed. For the exception, see Southey and Joseph Cottle, The Works of Thomas Chatterton, 3 vols (London, 1803), II, pp. 455-462.

I have seen Catcott.George Symes Catcott (1729-1802), pewterer and patron of Chatterton. Chatterton had written to ClayfieldMichael Clayfield (dates unknown), a Bristol distiller and friend of Chatterton. that he meant to destroy himself. Clayfield called on Barrett to communicate his uneasiness about the young lad. ‘Stay,’ said Barrett, ‘and hear what he will say to me.’ Chatterton was sent for. Barrett talked to him on the guilt and folly of suicide. Chatterton denied any intention of the kind, or any conversation to that import. Clayfield came from the closet with the letter in his hand, and asked, ‘Is not this your hand-writing?’ Chatterton then, in a state of confusion, fell upon his knees, and heard in sullen silence, the suitable remarks on his conduct.William Barrett (c. 1727-1789; DNB), History and Antiquities of the City Bristol (Bristol, 1789), p. 646 also relates this story. God bless you.

Yours affectionately, Robert Southey.