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 rce718 letterEEd.26.709 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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Huntington Library, RS 25. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 282-284.

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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 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
709. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 24 August [1802] Address: To/ John Rickman Esqr / Christ Church/ Hampshire/ SinglePostmark: [partial] BRISTOL/ AUG 24 180Endorsement: R Southey/ Augt. 24. 1802MS: Huntington Library, RS 25Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 282-284. Dear Rickman

I have been prevented from acknowledging two books – & two newspapers by the company of Duppa who has been my guest, & to whom I have been showing all the seeables of Bristol. they are documents that I am better able to value than to use – howbeit I shall thank you to replace the volumes when they are transferred to Danvers. You expect some pages from me to bind up with them. how can you have been so mistaken in calculation? I have no skill in that kind of alchemy – in extracting essence of numerals – surely you know this & know also that in whatever requires continuous & patient thought I am deficient. that I follow like the greyhound by sight & by speed – not by scent – that I could walk over mines of gold & look <discover> only for the flowers upon the surface – that I am a water-finder – not a well-sinker.

The female-CollegeThe scheme for ‘beguinages’ in which poor single women would live and work together, first proposed by Rickman in a letter to Southey of 4 January 1800, Orlo Williams, Lamb’s Friend the Census-Taker. Life and Letters of John Rickman (Boston and New York, 1912), pp. 23-24. ought to be resumed, as one of the most important establishments that could be devised. I look for many & permanent benefits to this country – that is to the civilized world – from you – if apoplexy or fever do not prevent them. this deserves to be the first. in whatever way you can make me useful you may command me – but do not expect too much. We want communities for men also – convents without vows or religious ceremonies – colleges without the previous apprenticeship to fellowships – where for a moderate rent men of leisure might enjoy a common table & a good library. We want something very different from both these institutions – public stews. if I did not think you xxxx agreed with me I would say why I think they would materially lessen an evil for which cannot be destroyed – there would be a huge hue & cry against them from your rascally vital Xtian members. but reason & humanity & the public good would prevail. were I in the house of commons I should think the subject worth all my efforts.

You will not be pleased to hear that upon calculation instead of domesticating at Richmond I find it right to remove to the mountains of Cumberland. yet you must allow the resolution is a prudent one. Under the same roof with Coleridge I can have as many rooms as I want, well furnished – for twenty guineas a year. the place & the rooms we know, & all the circumstances. now in or near London my rent & taxes would be double that sum – & it would be necessary to furnish the house – an expence <for> which all my ways & means would be difficultly sufficient – even with a resource of which I should be unwilling to avail myself – the hasty publication of some hasty poem. for access to books – I have enough raw materials to occupy a three years labour. if the climate hurt me – patience! it is but removing to Lisbon two years sooner than business would call me there – & Liverpool is a port at an easy distance. the difference of house expences also is nearly as 40 to 100. the Lakes & the Mountains you will not admit as inducements – but have I not determined upon solid & merchant like motives?

I have been working pleasantly & profitably at my Opus Majus,The Latin translates as ‘Greater Work’ – Southey’s unfinished ‘History of Portugal’. what with common (excuse the Cats blotting) which with common success will xxx produce me enough for my wants. for twelvemonths I have not written above two hundred verses – only enough to satisfy me that the power is not past away. perhaps you will like this symptom. the fact is that in compiling history much of the work is mere idleness for one who loves reading – a book & a pencil to mark your way. the mass of volumes which it is necessary to examine is enormous – but that is all easy sauntering pastime. then again so many parts of the process are going on that variety of employment serves instead of rest. there are always three narratives on the stocks at once. one reign in its first rude stage – another in its chrysalis state – a third fairly xx copied upon fair paper. if I am tired of the Kings I go to the Saints – if the Xtians are dull there are the Moors to amuse me. for serious moods there are chapters that require thought & reasoning – & in the quaintness of my heart I conceive notes.

Morton EdenSir Frederick Morton Eden, 2nd Baronet (1766-1809; DNB), who initially stood as a candidate for Bristol in the 1802 General Election, but retired before the poll. He had written The State of the Poor, or, An History of the Labouring Classes in England (1797). lost his Election by the folly of his friends – who chose to command their party instead of asking their consent. I wished him well because he had written a book – & God knows whether the man whom they have electedThe Whig plantation owner Evan Baillie (1741-1835). has ever read one. however he is a respectable man – rich by his own industry – & can say yes & no. As for the Middlesex business I conceive it as a trial whether or not the people of that country approve the system of the Bastille – & heartily rejoiced in its event, which however the scrutiny may turn out has determined that question.Sir Francis Burdett (1770-1844; DNB), a leading radical, was elected for Middlesex in 1802. A key element in his campaign was an attack on the regime at Cold Bath Fields prison in the constituency. However, his election was disputed and declared void in 1804. We had a dinner for Mr PittWilliam Pitt (1759-1806, Prime Minister 1783-1801 and 1804-1806; DNB). yesterday. the Bells were rung from the preceding midnight – the guns fired – the Royal Standard of the British Isles hoisted on the Cathedral. Bravo! Is not this Irish Loyalty?i.e. disloyalty. for why has the KingGeorge III (1738-1820; King of Great Britain and Ireland 1760-1820; DNB). dismissed so able & so popular a Minister? the frenzy fever of party is over here, & it is settling into its old septennial intermittent. A Whig club is forming under a new name – all nonsense – but so far good as it shows that the country is returning to its old feelings & habits – & they are better than its new ones.

I forgive Pitt half the eternity of damnation to which he is doomed for the Union,The Union of Great Britain and Ireland, which came into effect in 1801. & make over the remitted half to BonaparteNapoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821; First Consul 1799-1804, Emperor of the French 1804-1814). – who may enter upon his lease as soon as he pleases. any Jacobine has my leave to put him in immediate possession.

How shall I get over my desk & books from Dublin? you know the books (Bruce)James Bruce (1730-1794; DNB), Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile, in 1768-73 (1790), no. 377 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. are contraband – prohibited indeed as Irish printing.

farewell. I trust this will follow you if it find you not at X Church [MS torn]member me to my friends there.

yrs truly R Southey. Tuesday 24 August.

The next fortnight will probably be an important one in my family.Southey’s first child, Margaret Edith, was born on 31 August 1802. I shall acquaint you with the result – you know it is an official subject.

Did you send me Vincents sermon?William Vincent, A Defence of Public Education (1801), in which Vincent robustly refuted allegations about the lack of religious education in public schools. I think the seal was Mr AbbottsCharles Abbot, 1st Lord Colchester (1757-1829; DNB), Chief Secretary for Ireland 1801-1802, The Speaker 1802-1817. Rickman was Abbot’s Secretary. crest.