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British Library, Add MS 30927. Not previously published.
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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Southey's spelling has not been regularized.
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I have been day by day delaying to write,
that I might tell you by what waggons Hallsxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxxx
xxxxx perhaps he was in a fair <way> of
losing <them> if you had not written. they are gone by
Lyes waggon.
Your damned Dutchmen!
You may guess my history since your
departure. house at Stoke let, too small, & too dear.
House in Church Lane uninhabitably bad. no house in view –
but some in hearsay. Capt AdamsonJenny involved voyages to
California, Nootka Sound and China.t Georges that is a
village between Pill & Posset, where I conceive it would
not be safe to bathe for fear of sharks. I sent off all the
English books to Hamiltonr – that Esqr looks as if Robert Southey, in his
publishers opinion, were getting up in the world.
That story of Victor
Your friend Cupid
Have you heard of the Duke of Kentsxxxx –
how the devil do you spell q–s? boots & stocks but
seeing two fellows with fine hair & plenty of beard, had
them cut dressed &
shaved under his eye as patterns for all the rest of the
army. It is has been
absolutely necessary to recall him. he was as offensive to
the officers as to the men. the man actually drilled old
Officers – of threescore.
I begin to think there will be no war, because there is so much preparation, they are as long about it as if they were making peace. now war is usually made in a hurry. if the business be settled what you say of the want of hands makes it likely that you will be paid off again, tis an even chance that you are back in time for the first gooseberry pudding.
I saw King last night who strongly advises you to have the Dutchmen tied up. troublesome as that could be it may prevent a worse operation, which might possibly else be one day necessary.
Another house in view – the Cherry Orchard. away went Charles & I early this morning – the answer as usual – let last week.
To day I dine with Rowe,rs
L & R whose answer must
be Pay to Robert Southey Esqr – or order
– huzza! there is a pleasure in finishing a long job. My
next will tell you how the Italians are knocked on the head
too & then I go on gaily.
All well – remembrances in course – & particularly from Danvers. Oh – I had nearly forgot – Cupid caught a hen yesterday & amused himself by picking her tail & throwing the feathers over his head. The Reprobate was detected in this sabbath breaking time enough to [MS torn]ve the hen –