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 rce750 letterEEd.26.741 Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of Maryland College Park, MD August 15, 2011

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Huntington Library, HM 4836 . Previously published: J. W. Robberds (ed.), A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Taylor of Norwich, 2 vols (London, 1843), I, pp. 436-437 [in part].

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
741. Robert Southey to William Taylor, 6 December 1802 Address: To/ Mr Wm Taylor Junr/ Surry Street/ Norwich./ SingleStamped: [illegible] Postmark: [partial] 1802Endorsement: 17 JanMS: Huntington Library, HM 4836 Previously published: J. W. Robberds (ed.), A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Taylor of Norwich, 2 vols (London, 1843), I, pp. 436-437 [in part]. My dear friend

I thank you for your offerTaylor had offered Southey the editorship of the new Norwich newspaper the Iris (Taylor to Southey, 3 December 1802, J.W. Robberds (ed.), A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Taylor of Norwich, 2 vols (London, 1843), I, pp. 435-436). & the wish which occasioned it – & if there were not some thousand & one objections I should heartily like to be your neighbour. if I should not settle at Maes Gwyn as is my hope & design, Hereford would probably become my home – because my Uncle has a house there which is likely to become vacant, & he wishes to have me & all our joint books housed there till he comes over to join us. At any rate I would not remove to an unreachable distance from Herefordshire, where my presence may very probably be necessary sometimes to look into his affairs. this is a sufficient reason. I might add that periodical employment would fetter me to one place, & tho I respect the enjoyments of a vegetable or a zoophyte – I think nothing so wretched as a bird in a cage – the will & the limbs for motion – & yet barrd in!

I do not imagine that my Uncle will approve of Harrys entering at Cambridge – because the expence is certain – the benefit very doubtful – none at all unless he should fix in London. The CollegeThe Royal College of Physicians controlled who could use the title of ‘physician’ in London. Only graduates of Oxford or Cambridge could be Fellows of the Society. Anybody who was not a graduate of these universities and who the College approved to practice in London was termed a Licentiate and had to pay a fee to the College. exact from those who have never graduated at either University an annual fine of 100 £. this Dr Aikin paid – & that old woman Sir W. FarquharSir Walter Farquhar, 1st baronet (1738-1819; DNB), physician to many leading politicians. still pays. My Uncle had lost his best income when the troops left Lisbon, & could not conveniently now enable him to enter keep terms – even if it were desirable.

Longman has applied to me about his ReviewThe Annual Review. – & I shall write for it. they have sent me nothing yet. a little I still do for the Critical – a very little – & am going to be very civil (God forgive me!) to Mrs Opie.Amelia Opie (1769-1853; DNB), novelist and poet. You may remember I talked with you about German reviewing for the Critical. In consequence I spoke to HamiltonSamuel Hamilton (fl. 1790s-1810s) who owned the Critical Review 1799-1804. immediately after, & mentioning no name referred him to certain articles which I knew to be yours. last week only comes a letter to request your name & address – you will of course hear from him. he pays me three guineas a sheet – this is full as much as I deserve – for I do it like job work. you have a fair right to demand as much as the MonthlyTaylor had been a regular, salaried reviewer for the Monthly Review between 1793 and 1799. paid you.

I hear an Edinburgh Review well spoken of. they have been at Thalaba therein. Edinburgh Review, 1 (October 1802), 63-83, carried Francis Jeffrey’s hostile review of Thalaba the Destroyer (1801). pauper Thalaba is in the condition of Baxter’s Xtian, & wants a shove to make him sell. An Effectual Shove to the Heavy-Arse Christian (1768), wrongly attributed to Richard Baxter (1615-1691; DNB); the pamphlet’s author was the Welsh minister William Bunyan (fl. 1760s).

farewell. I send you half a letter rather than delay an answer to an affair of business. yrs truly RS. December 6. 1802.