33. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 4 December 1792 ⁠* 

Bristol College Green. Tuesday. December 4^th 1791*

is that date explicit?

*meant for. December 4^th. 1792  [1] 

When a Raven shall build In a stone Lion’s mouth, on the top of Vale Royal house, there shall an heir be born there, who shall live to see great troubles in England.

so said the Cheshire fool or prophet, which you will 400 years ago. [2]  & the <present> heir of Vale royal house was born when the stone Lions mouth served for the Ravens nest at this Bedford would not every old woman tremble? I can despise the waking dreams of madmen when old Doyley & Dickinson [3]  thought to terrify me by this very prophecy & that of the 3 thumbed miller (now living on Salisbury Plain whom the fates have destined to hold three Kings horses up to his knees in blood) [4]  I laughed in my sleeve & absolutely frightened them.

last night I went to see that compilation of turgidity & bombast the Grecian Daughter [5]  if you recollect there are many passages about loyalty royalty & freedom party ran high God save the King was sung — Philosophy like Justice was swept silently down the stream — one man (that word is better than with the gentle prefixd) stood firm to his principles — when the hat was taken off his went last & unwillingly & the cowardly insults of a surrounding loyal mob he treated with contempt — when the riotous paroxysm produced by this last proclamatory dose (it will be a working one I believe) was past Citizen Bailey [6]  as they called him in contempt was without a companion. I quitted my seat — we entered into conversation out of which no Judge can extract treason — & the vile mob at the conclusion that seperated us prevented me from drinking a bottle with him this day which I won by a wager. he has only been in Bristol three months & where to find him I know not. now Bedford the agitation of last night brought these old Ravens Lions Millers &c into my head this morning — your apology is indeed too much. the gentle reprimand you gave I deserved for beginning the subject suffer me to say a few words & drop that subject by letter for ever. these are perilous times give me three lines of any mans writing said Richelieu & I will extract treason from them. [7]  every boy is a patriot — you say so & I will grant with pleasure that every boy unbiassed by interest is so for this evident reason the mind yet unblackened by guilt hypocrisy & a court is good by nature — they love their country & its liberty better than themselves — Fortune links them in the long chain of dependance which surrounds every public office (I need not say Bedford I hope, that as for these motives they have nothing to do with you) & it becomes their interest to continue the deception. — opposition is but a farce — a fight like Bagshot battles [8]  where all seek to obey one leader reform is talked of. but a tree rotten at the core must be ——. a standing army is a very dreadful thing, said some old senator of England. oh I could prophecy but that the hand — not of Death Bedford. if I come to London it will be before Xmas day & we will talk of these thing if you wish it — for my part as I will never more seek the subject so will I never avoid it — Justum & tenacem &c. [9] 

you talk of reading Juvenal — read the 8^th satire [10]  & you shall one day see my imitation which I finished in two days some parts you will not like — Collins has often wishd me to attempt this nervous Satirist — I have at length & I was hardly so well satisfied with myself even when I wrote that devilish good N^o 5. [11]  that we shall be of the same opinion I hope most sincerely — should the flames of civil war burst forth seas of blood must quench them. est hic est animus lucis contemptor & qui vita bene credat emi — honorem. [12]  never may the fates of Falkland & of Hampden [13]  be exemplified in you & me Nature never intended me for a soldier — when I am agitated every nerve trembles but at those moments when a bystander would think me palsied with some fear I could leap to pluck bright honor from the pale faced moon. [14]  I could write an ode & stand to be shot at.

I have already said too much. I have an old poem of the heroic class before me. Pharonnida — one of the Cantos was finishd on the morning of the second battle of Newberry. [15]  take his concluding lines

This man would have written blank verse wonderfully well. he mistook his bent & in spite of an interesting story & a bold imagination Pharonnida is forgotten. you see he was a royalist — why is Cæsar writing his commentaries in Alexandria [18]  or Brutus reading Plato in his tent [19]  more renowned than Chamberlain finishing the canto in a manner which certainly is grand at the moment when Death was hovering around? you know Shakespear better than I do — look at Bellarius’ speech & take that as an answer to the question. [20] 

Now Bedford your friend though no citizen, who has no vote nor is likely to have any upon any occasion, who whether he consents or not must pay for Gods daylight since so commanded by representatives when he had rather represent himself is writing to you a long letter though at this time under the impulse of two contrary power intolerable Indolence & impatient Curiosity — what I am curious for no human being can divine — I have Merlins prophecies [21]  in my desk & let them lie unconsulted to write to you.

an ugly time to conclude but this cannot go to day unless this minute

yours

I have not received the letter Collins mentioned. remember me to him.

if any one passage here strike you as offensive you have my request to scratch it out — it is a horrid subject — like a current you no sooner touch it than it carries you away.