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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 65–66.
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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my sonnet Horace speaks my resolution. blame it or applaud it as you will, but show it only to Grosvenor. we go a good party. not less than six, some of whom you know; very probably more. it will be hardly possible to go before next summer, by that time I hope matters will be sufficiently arranged. when we meet you shall know our plan — & you may perhaps think it too good to be practicable.
Joan of Arc as you may suppose, occupies much of my time. Duppa will execute a vignette & frontispiece for me. from what particular passage is not yet determined, but when this storm of rain is over, I shall visit Lovell & settle that point. the poem goes to the press when fifty copies are subscribed for. I have already fourteen in my pocket book.
You will prefer Cambridge to Oxford. the Cantabs think more & better than the finishd gentlemen of Rhedycina. in
our gayer moments we please ourselves with the idea of seeing all our aristocratic friends come flying over for shelter to America.
then will we kill the fatted calf & make merry, for “they that were lost are found”.
Grosvenor will pity me & cry plague on this democracy. but at present things look well. & if they turn out as I expect my state will be to be envied. I have fully convinced Lovell of the propriety. & what he thinks right he will perform.
In six weeks you may expect Poems containing the Retrospect — Odes Elegies & Sonnets by Bion & Moschus. in the
interim if you can hit upon a good motto send it me. I go to Bath tomorrow to correct the first sheet. they will be printed with all
dispatch, but not publishd till the end of October. Debrett
Joan of Arc shall make a very handsome appearance. wove paper — hot pressd. frontispiece — vignette. dedication perhaps
in sonnet. preface & notes. the poem will be very correct. I have taken infinite trouble, & it undergoes several revisions
afterwards with Lovell. I am about to hymn the tale of Eustace St Pierre at Charless court in the sixth book.
Why is Grosvenor silent? tell him to write often while we have only the turnpike road between us. — spare remonstrances Horace. my resolution is taken. some of my dearest friends accompany me. I shall regret those I leave but you must all come when the fire & brimstone descends. away runs Lot. come to us in Kentucky there you are always sure of an asylum when the storms breaks.
the best apology for former neglect is to sin no more.