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Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas, Austin. Previously published: Charles Ramos, The Letters of Robert Southey to John May: 1797–1838 (Austin, Texas, 1976), pp. 43–44.
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.
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.
My brother will send off his books to you immediately. they are only to be left
with Mr Dash at the Navy Office.
Respecting Edward there is this to be ascertained. are the
holydays at St Pauls at Whitsuntide or not? if they are, & it is the case at the great public schools this is
holyday time. if you will be good enough to call on Dr Robertsr, & introduce him as the boy of whom Mr Maber had apprized him. this was in 1796 – but in the last autumn he told me nothing
more than <was> necessary. I wish to know where the boys are boarded & the expence. my Uncle seemed to think there were boarding houses as at Westminster,
The character <conduct> of Judas Iscariot affords an argument against Xtianity
because he must have seen the moral excellence & the miraculous powers of Jesus, & in that case must have knowingly acted to
his own damnation; a madness seemingly impossible. to this the answer may be that like his countrymen he might impute miracles to
magic. Judas was evidently predestined to his guilt; the doctrine of universal restitution enables us to reconcile this to the Goodness
& Justice of Deity – yet is it still a difficulty.
Another objection to Xtianity is the prophecy of Jesus which is explained to relate to the destruction of Jerusalem tho
its obvious meaning is the end of the world.
The only other objection which has any weight relates to the Jewish dispensation. the extermination of the Canaanites
& the human sacrifice of Agag.
We will talk of these subjects, & as you have the advantage of Dr Heys
I shall be in town Apr. 30.
Tuesday.