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British Library, Add MS 30927. Previously published: Warter, Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey (1856), II, pp. 139–141.Dating note: from internal evidence that John Ballantyne visited Southey ‘yesterday’ as stated in the letter above to John Rickman dated 16 May 1809.
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 was wondering what could be become of you, till the Courier told me Admiral Sotheby was cruising in the
Channel,Dreadnought was the flagship of Rear
Admiral Thomas Sotheby (1759–1831), younger brother of the author, William Sotheby (1757–1833;
Since last I wrote Herbert has had the croup, – & we as you may suppose were in great anxiety. He is now thank God recovering his looks, – for the bleeding left him dismally pale: – the blister is healed, – & very thankful we are that the means of treating a disease which till lately was almost always fatal, are now so well understood.
Ballantyne the bookseller (the Printers brother) sent me a note yesterday,
saying he was arrived at the R Oak, & would be happy to wait on me at whatever hour I might appoint, – so I asked him to
dinner, – a lucky piece of civility on my part, – inasmuch as it appeared afterwards that he was come from Penrith on purpose to
see me, & returned there the same night. Of this I had not the smallest suspicion. The matter was this: I had in a letter to
Scott said that a Review of old books, – that is of any books, except such as were
in the province in the contemporary Criticism, – would answer if it were well conducted. Scott talked this over in London, &
Ballantyne returning from thence came commissioned to treat with me about such
a work. Things will not be finally settled till I have seen Scott who offers to take a
great share in the work, if I will conduct it – I am offered 100 a year as editor, – & ten guineas a sheet. the thing to be in
quarterly five shilling numbers, – & the name which I propose is Rhadamanthus, – he being the Judge of the Dead.m Taylor for material cooperation, & hope for some from Rickman & Turner, possibly from Lamb, not impossibly from Coleridge. There are some things which Lloyd could do well, if I
were not afraid of his flux of writing, – but I shall talk to him. If this plan be carried into effect I
shall need no other lucre-of-gain work, for the quantity of my own contributions will depend upon myself, & I can with ease
write 150 pounds worth in the year. The trouble as Editor is merely that of writing letters, receiving articles, suiting them to
the number, & correcting proof sheets – And as I would not begin till I had the quantity for two numbers ready, – all anxiety
arising from improvidence or want of punctuality in others would be prevented.
Ballantyne speaking of the Quarterly said he hoped they would leave alone
the business of the D of York,
I expect Scott daily, with his wife, on their way to Edinburgh. they stopt one night, – & if they arrive in the course of a week I go on with them. It is likely that my knowledge of Ballantyne may prove profitable, – the Edinburgh publishers are to Longmans, what the Liverpool are to the Bristol merchants. They speculate boldly & find their account on so doing
Kehama will soon be finished. Ereenia has now reached the throne of Seeva
Your navy-papers shall find a place somewhere – the more I think of them the more I feel their importance.