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Huntington Library, RS 29. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 300-302; Orlo Williams, Lamb’s Friend the Census-Taker. Life and Letters of John Rickman (Boston and New York, 1912), pp. 84-85 [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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George the
Second has quarrelled with me in the oddest of all
possible ways. he says I treated him with neglect &
contempt in London. & that another person saw it as well
as himself. there is reason to believe he means Lamb, & if it
be so Burnett
has been making some mistake about him as well as me, taking
jest perhaps for sober earnest. this however is the least
part of my offence. I & Coleridge he says have been the cause of all his
unhappiness & what he justly calls idiotism. we never
treated him properly. now treated is here used in the Dispensary
sense of the word. “Every human being can influence the mind
of another human being if placed near him, & upon this
great truth all the principles of education depend”. xxxxx the Second George
laid down this proposition in Bristol streets at noon day,
xxx speaking so loud
that every body might hear him, & rolling his eyes to
see who listened. well – now for the xxxxxx minor. but you &
Coleridge did not properly influence my mind.
& so the syllogism was to end in a quarrel. that is he
gravely desired never to see me while he was in Bristol. his
mind was not healthy enough to form a sound result (tho he
was sure he was right) – & if on his recovery from a
stomach complaint he found out that he had been mistaken in
thinking thus harshly of me – why he would let me know. All
this is truly absurd – but certain old habits of affection
make me sorry for it. damn his fools head – he has been
feeding upon Scotch metaphysics & now brings up a crude
mouthful at every eructation. he xxxxxx walks tiptoe & talks of his “high
moral views of things & principles of action above those
of common men.” common men! by God he is an uncommon one.
mad as ever was Don Quixote
Since your last I have been uncomfortably & unsuccessfully employed in seeking a habitation. of the Welsh house I have been disappointed – & shall therefore turn in to the first suitable place that can be found in this neighbourhood. I want a house for my wife, & you a wife for your house: take one! she will double your comforts & not lessen your utility – that is such a one will as you will chuse.
As for my utility God help it! it is often
enough put out of its way, not to mention sometimes rambling
astray. sore eyes have played the Devil with me this winter.
I have no choice at candlelight but idleness – or what can
be done with no exertion of sight – that is – poetry. so
Madocr – the credit of the work – & so you see the
mistake was easy. but if you are interrogated about it
before Southwell claims it – say deny me for the author & suspect
Sotheby.
I am ready for another box of books before
the whole cargo will have a house to receive them. the four
blue-paper bound <small> volumes of Lucenas Vida de S.
Francisco Xavier.x – a very great man he was.
Herreras four folios.
Margaret grows apace – a grey-eyed, flat nosed
girl, all life & spirits & good humour. strong as a
young savage. milk has been her only food, & that almost
wholly her mothers. I now wish Edith to wean
her – for she herself is unwell. My way of thinking has so
much of optimism in it that I have found xxxxxxxx out all the reasons
why girls are more desirable than boys. if there be any
brains in her skull she shall have the full use of them.
I have made the discovery that Robertsona very amusing volumes with the title Works of
Supererogation.
Remember me to Mary Lamb &
her brother.
so soon as I have a house I shall write to tell them that
their first summer journey must be to us. – Chattertonat
which <xx>
<wherewith> I shall make mirth for you when we meet.
Tom &
Ediths
remembrance, & Danvers’s. he & his dog Cupid, so christened
by me for his huge ugliness, are my chief companions here.