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British Library, Add MS 30928. Previously published: Adolfo Cabral (ed.), Robert Southey: Journals of a Residence in Portugal 1800–1801 and a Visit to France 1838 (Oxford, 1960), pp. 108–111.
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.
I write – because ThalabaKing George, which sailed between Falmouth and Lisbon.
I expected – no that is not true – for I never expect where Cottle is concerned – but I hoped to receive Alfredxxx & if his Enemies are as blunt – luckily the loss, if loss there be will fall upon the London
Cormorants – I have no bowels of compassion for them.
Even this mummery – this puppet-show popery – is better than that execrable diabolism of Calvin.x on purpose – is a fine shove towards Paradise. it is a superstition of hope.
A Preacher here at Cintra asserted the other day in the pulpit, that there were
to his knowledge, seven Witches in this town. Nobody doubts the truth of this assertion – to be sure they have
confessed it to him! for you know the secrets of confession are sacred. Benito our man here, told me this – Sir said hex if it was not for the Inquisition, this country & Spain too would be over-run with Witches &
Jews! – The great mischief ascribed to Witches here, is the trick they have of killing infants. this happens very often, & always by night, the children are known to have thus died by the blackness of their faces. Now this must be a lie,
not a superstition, – an invention of some nurse who had over laid her infant – singularly useful as an excuse among this sleepy
people.
Of the wise Ferrol expedition we know nothing more than that it has failed.Epidemic, not contagious. if so we are safe. the Siroc blew for
nine weeks at Cadiz. – if this was the cause the rains will remove it – or the winter – if it contagious Lisbon is in hourly &
imminent danger. an immense contraband trade is carried on thro the bye passes of the mountains. guard the frontier towns however
vigilantly it is impossible to guard the whole line of frontier where Nature has made no boundary. the disease will be smuggled in.
indeed my chief reason for believing it not to be contagious, is that it has not reached us. If it comes we fly – perhaps to England –
perhaps to Porto & the mountains. the last plan will be sufficiently safe & what I shall prefer – but my Uncle will decide.
Thus have we Pestilence knocking at the door, & War in sight. it was a saying of John 5.
I desired John May to send ten pounds to you, which Martha will lay out for her sister.
Thomas wrote me word that he expected [MS torn] Mother & Aunt at Hereford –
so I could not send it to her, & Edith knows no direction to her sisters, who
have wisely omitted to mention it. on this account I sent it to you. direct you when you write to my Uncle only, Chaplain to the British Forces. this will frank the
letter, & you may mark it for mine, by an S by the wafer.
I have scrawled the first part of this letter in the dark – hurrying over it that I may not lose an opportunity of
sending it to Lisbon. Of late I have neither gained nor lost ground. the stimulus of novelty is over, I am unwell at times – but I shall expect something from escaping the severity of your winter, & from the Exercise which the
weather then will allow me to take. About Persian manuscripts I think I spoke formerly. I could as easily catch the Sophy – & might
as well look for the Mogul.
We shall in a few weeks return to Lisbon. not unwillingly. indeed now Thalaba is done I want to be within reach of the Libraries & at work. The Packet brings me no news of Peggy – I look for it with anxiety – not with hope. our love to your mother. it is uncomfortable to ask how she is & recollect the weeks that must elapse before an answer is possible. I wish Sam Reid were coming here. I could make his stay at Lisbon very pleasant, & accompany him every where. remember me to Davy. If he & his Laboratory were at hand I would not run from the Black Vomit. Rickman I apprehend has wholly settled at London. the fit place for him. he will be very useful, & soon acquire reputation. God bless you! in a land flowing with wine & oil, I often remember old Bristol & wish myself there. it is worth while to go abroad for the sake of returning.