2316. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [21 October 1813]

2316. Robert Southey to John Rickman, [21 October 1813] ⁠* 

My dear R.

I have looked for you twice without success. My days are indeed numbered in every sense of the word. On Tuesday the 2d. I go with my Uncle & Harry to Woburn, [1]  & return on Thursday. – On that Thursday si placet, [2]  I will come to you, for the few days preceding my departure, which is at present mentally fixed for Tuesday 9th November.

Yesterday, I received official information of my appointment: – & if you go to the next levee, we shall meet in bag & swords! [3] 

God bless you

RS.

Notes

* Endorsement: RS. – / Augt 1813./ Poeta laureatum
MS: Huntington Library, RS 213. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished.
Dating note: dating from content; Southey learned from Croker about his formal appointment as Poet Laureate on 20 October 1813. This letter was written the following day. BACK

[1] Probably to meet John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (1766–1839; DNB), the patron of Herbert Hill’s living at Streatham. BACK

[2] ‘If it pleases’. BACK

[3] Both Rickman and Southey were required to wear the dress appropriate to their offices when they attended Court. BACK

Addressee

Rickman, John (1771–1840)

People mentioned

Hill, Herbert (c. 1749–1828) (mentioned 1 time)
Southey, Henry Herbert (1784–1865) (mentioned 1 time)
The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Four
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