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. Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), I, pp. 220-222.
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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The more I talk or think of the house at Richmond the more I am disposed to have the bargain concluded, that is, if the inside be tolerably convenient, which there should seem little reason to doubt. the taxes indeed are very high, but they must bear nearly the same proportion to rent every where in the neighbourhood of London. if you can get sight of the premises & find them comfortably habitable, as doubtless they must be, I shall be very glad to take it for a term & have every thing settled the sooner the better. then if any unforeseen circumstance prevents us from getting this we may lose no time in looking out for another.
I was heartily glad to reach home after the labour of
perambulating London every day for a fortnight. that fortnight seems longer than
the twelve months which preceded it, & I relapse right gladly to my regular
every day uniformity of scene, society & action. but this is lazy weather,
too hot to go abroad & almost to do any thing at home. – I feel very much
like a Portugueze & could make a siesta of all day long. it would be an
improvement to live like the Owls by night at this season. All Bristol is up in
arms & volunteering – cool sport for the dog days! the Duke of
Cumberland
The letter you sent me contained little more than a message &
a note of introduction to the Duke of Bedford,
On my return I had a formidable campaign of letter-writing to
commence – chiefly de Bibliothecâ.
Your goddaughter had cut three teeth during my absence at the expence of some indisposition. I wish she slept more & dreamt less. her little brain is never at rest. all day she is full of life & good humour – but at night the least sound wakens her. Edith is very well – tho she grumbles at the hot weather, which seems to agree with none but me & the Salamanders. – You will be soon setting out for Wiltshire & the sea – I shall envy you the bathing.