67. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 6–8 November 1793 ⁠* 

Wedn. Nov. 6th. 93. C Green. Brist. one o clock mid-day.

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My NOSE and the BOTT

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A pretty title, is it not?

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Thurs. Nov. 7. 9 o clock at night a most unusual date for me Grosvenor. but my mind is full of indignation & I generally keep a sheet of paper in readiness for your benefit. I had dedicated this evening in idea to a serious versification to conclude this letter when an old woman arrived (or rather old Lady for it is wrong to profane the other name) arrived & spoilt my harmony of sentiment & your letter. scandal religion & loyalty made up the conversation of the evening. the former most ungrounded & illiberal. for loyalty — nothing could equal the crime of keeping the hat on whilst God save the King on <was sung> & to call a man a Democrat was more than synonimous to villain. I had been introduced in the morning at a house where I had long wishd an acquaintance. Mr H [12]  the owner was pronounced a bad man of no principles & no religion. is he a good husband? the best of husbands. is he a good father? it is impossible to be a better. such were the answers I received & yet this man is bad & unprincipled. there <are> a set of females in this world who pique themselves upon going regularly to church & exult in the possession of a certain virtue which has not fallen because it never was attempted. whose whole conversation consists of the politics of a card table & that worst species of licentiousness indiscriminate scandal. these are the people who would exclaim so vehemently against Rousseau — who would bring faggots to an auto da fe & act with all the ferocity of Parisian Poissardes, in a worse cause if possible. with such a one have I wasted three hours — & now sick of the illiberality of virtue I am almost ready to turn champion for vice. society is in a very bad state — the inequalities between the sexes is dreadful. man may plunge in guilt of the most atrocious nature & not only escape uncensurd but in some degree derive estimation from his crimes — but woman, framd perhaps by nature of more delicate materials & exposd to more temptations if once she gives way to a very pardonable weakness is excluded from the pale of society as if infected with some disorder fatal to virtue. you remember a passage in Gillies [13]  upon this subject — very different indeed was the liberal philosophy of Greece from the illuminated Xtianity of Europe. for myself I think that infamy ought to be attached rather to our sex — whilst Man boasts of superior faculties can he claim priviliges for indulging appetites which it is the province of Reason to subdue? My dear friend Man is the most inconsistent of animals — he despises woman when fallen & yet employs every artifice to ruin her. many a villain far more infamous than the Conventionists is respected & courted in this kingdom — whilst there are women worn out with famine & disease the hireling victims of brutal appetites who might have communicated happiness to that small circle in which the truest happiness is to be found. my dear Grosvenor I often reflect that there are women in the streets of London who might have made you & I happy — & I never see the leer of vice upon a beautiful face without feeling the heart ache pitying human nature & damning society.

you will wonder at this kind of rhapsody from me perhaps, but you will perhaps <certainly> agree with me in wishing society better. why is the door to Repentance every avenue to Repentance shut up but that of Infamy? were men what they ought to be — Rousseau would be canonized for a greater saint than any in the calendar. read his Julia & tell me whence may we learn the most instructive lesson from the mistress of St Preux [14]  or the temptation of St Anthony. [15]  my comparison of the Man of Nature with Richardson [16]  would have been branded with the epithets of immoral atheistical & licentious. Clodius accuset moechos! [17]  Xtianity is less understood & less practised in this country than in the desarts of Arabia! let him who is innocent cast the first stone [18]  was the judgement of the most moral of philosophers, to use no superior title.

we will have a paper & so reform the world — till like a bad patient it throws the prescription behind the fire.

good night.

Friday. N. 8.

I have written half an ode this morning. the death of Joshua. [19]  no bad companion to the Death of Odin. [20]  if there were not less faith than truth in the comparison. In fact the two characters are very similar — Odin passed himself for a God & Joshua, tho he had miracles at command was more modest. “down fell Jericho — I may catch some sparks perhaps from that flames of sublimity which blazes in your pindaric upon the Sow & the Κλυςωρ, [21]  but as Cicero [22]  says who lights a stranger lanthern from his own, gives him light without diminishing his own. you shall have Joshua in my next but you must deserve it by a prior communication. our last letters past each other but you have received three & only sent two. when some of our heirs shall see my letters to you they will think I had no time for any other employment, & most probably burn them without reading & keep the more valuable case for their own letters on business or house keeping accounts. perhaps my large desk may be turned into a receptacle for quack medicines conserves &c & the good housewife may tear up my papers to keep the meat from roasting — as far as in me lies, I will prevent this — you shall have copies of them in my life & all at my death. this concern is trifling & I am ashamed of it. Nam si (quod nostræ rationes crede vetant) toti moriuntur homines, nulla est omnino gloria, cum is, cujus ea esse dicitur, non exstet omnino. sin vero sibi mens bene conscia terreno carcere resoluta, cælum libera petit, nonne terrenum omne negotium spernet que cælo fruens terrenis se gaudet exemptam? [23]  yet Boethius inserted this very sentiment in a work which he intended for immortality. would not this subject make a good paper — immortality desired for its own sake is but a splendid failing but to seek it by benefitting others is not only innocent but laudable. our old minstrels had this merit. & tho the Allegory may accuse the classical judgement of Spenser it does honour to his heart.

I have plenty of employment. Jepthahs vow [24]  — Zaleucus the Locrian lawgiver [25]  & the death of Hypatia [26]  strike me as good dramatic subjects — the first & last with a chorus. then comes the Slaves a fine wild subject. transcribing Joan. reading & rat catching — odes & epistles — Madoc [27]  (which by the by I could wish you to undertake & you shall have plenty of materials) Sir Persicles [28]  — cleaning leather breeches — my theatre — & your letters no inconsiderable part of my amusement

yrs most sincerely

RS.

my compliments to Mr & Mrs Deacon &c. tell me how Hyder died “Each dog must have his day”. [29] 

I have run foul of another wasps nest — but escaped unhurt. poor Shad is very ill. so if all goes wrong with you tis not much better here. [30] 

you see I had so filld the sheet that it could not be folded up — so I must een put it in a cover — it will make no difference.

you have neglected to send my comb comb brush boots greatcoat & the great paper for your own letters — what else is left behind I have not discoverd. do my good friend write an invocation to Memory & send me. I am doomd to be pesterd by wasps — the other day I was posting to my case to sit half an hour in the sun & eat blackberries — I had got within five yards & found a thousand devils with stings in their tails flying about me — like a prudent general when it was impossible to advance I retreated — now were not this so far off & were poor Shad well we would sally forth & exterminate the invaders — you will be puzzled to read all this properly as much as I am to fill up these few lines —

I wrote to CC yesterday & again inserted that ever memorable line — altering it however to Pretty Pipe & Pretty Grange — an alteration not for the better — but rhyme more able rhyme!

make my respects to all the good family. Hope the Doctor is well —  [31]