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Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin. Previously published: Charles Ramos, The Letters of Robert Southey to John May: 1797–1838 (Austin, Texas, 1976), pp. 66-67.
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.
I thank you for your letter – & for the
offer which it contains – it has given me great pleasure –
& I gladly & thankfully accept it. my Uncle
will be the other godfather. had it been a boy his name
should have been Herbertshould perhaps rather wished one.
but whatever may be the case eighteen years hence – till
that age daughters are the most desireable.
My reasons for fixing in Cumberland seem to
me valid. I am offered part of a house
My little
girl – God bless her! – goes on bravely. I suffer
no food but milk & till the natural milk was ready – had
a contrivance for her to take diluted cows milk by suction.
she has never had the least ailing – nor even sourness at
stomach. our nurseYou can tell how happy
this event has made me – & what a feeling of awe &
adoration it is to see ones own babe for the first time! –
& I had almost ceased to hope – after six years.
Old Mrs Dees
My brother has
been for some weeks with John Southey at
Taunton. you know that Uncle of mine John Southey is a wealthy man who
has only noticed Tom of all his relations. I have been feeling if
the ice would bear – & in my last letter to Tom proposed – if
the old
Gentleman pleased – to pay my respects to him
before I removed the West of England. he deliberately read
the letter, folded it slowly up & returned it – without
a word. This Tom
interprets favourably & desires me to go down. I had
promised to take a fortnights walk with my brother into
South Wales – & this is the best time – when the whole
oeconomy is so turned topsy-turvy. so I shall set off for
Taunton on Wednesday – & risque my reception. – &
thence cross the channel from Minehead or Watchet. I have
never seen this strange man since I was a two-years child, –
I have never of course offended him – he
indeed has not done his duty by me – for he left his
brothers family to struggle in the deep
waters.
My respects to Mrs
May.