69. Robert Southey to Horace Walpole Bedford, 13-16 November 1793
69. Robert Southey to Horace Walpole Bedford, 13–16 November 1793 *
College Green. Wednesday. 1/2 past six evening . Nov 13. 93.
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Saturday Nov 16.
I lay down Leonidas [10] to go on with your letter. it has ever been a favorite poem with me — I have read it perhaps <more> frequently than any other composition & always with renewd pleasure. it possesses not the “thoughts that breathe & words that burn” [11] but there is a something very different from those strong efforts of imagination that pleases the judgment & feed the fancy without moving the heart. the interest I feel in the poem is perhaps chiefly owing to the subject — certainly the noblest ever undertaken. it needs no argument to prove this assertion. Miltons is above comparison & stands alone as much from the singularity of the subject as the excellence of the diction. there remains Homer Virgil Lucan Statius S Italicus & V Flaccus [12] among the antients. I recollect no others — & amongst these subjects you will find none so interesting as the the self devoted Leonidas
among the moderns we know Ariosto Tasso Camoens [13] Voltaire — & our own immortal Spenser. the other Italian authors in this line & the Spanish ones I know not.
indeed that period of history upon which both Glovers epics [14] are founded is the grandest ever yet displayd. a constellation of such men never honord mankind at any other time or at least never were calld into the energy of action. Leonidas & his immortal band Æschylus Themistocles & Aristides the perfect republican. [15] even the satellites of Xerxes [16] were dignified by Artemisia [17] & the injurd Spartan Demaratus. [18] to look back into the page of history — to be present at Thermopylæ — at Salamis & Platæa [19] to hear the song of Æschylus & the lessons of Aristides & then — behold what Greece is — how fallen even below contempt — is one of the most miserable reflections the classic mind can endure. what a republic! what a province!
If this world did but contain ten thousand people of both sexes visionary as myself how delightfully would we repeople Greece & turn out the Moslem. I would turn crusader & make a pilgrimage to Parnassus [20] at the head of my republicans (NB — only lawful head) & there reinstate the muses in their original splendour. we would build a temple to Eleutherian Jove [21] from the quarries of Paphos. [22] replant the groves of Academus. [23] aye & the garden of Epicurus [24] where your brother & I would commence teachers — yes your brother — for if he would not comb out the powder & fling away the poultices to embark in such an expedition he deserves to be made a German Elector or a West Indian Planter. Charles Collins should occupy the chair of Plato (pretty Plato) & hold forth to the Societas scientium literariorum studiosorum (not unaptly stiled the society of knowing ones) & we would actually send for Sawkins [25] to represent Euclid. [26] now could I lay down the whole plan — build my house in the prettiest Doric stile — plant out the garden like Wolmars [27] & imagine just such a family to walk in it — when here comes a rascal by crying Hare skins & rabbit skins — & my poor house which was built in the air falls to pieces & leaves me like most such visionary projectors staring at disappointment.
with a friend you say you would have no reserve. for the future have none with me. surely reserve in trifles would be unworthy of both. make your requests known & you know my will, ability I cannot so certainly promise. when we meet at Oxford which I hope we shall in January there are a hundred things better communicated in conversation than by correspondence. I have no object of pursuit in life — but to fill the passing hour & fit myself for death: beyond these views I have nothing — to be of service to my friends would be serving myself most essentially — & there are few enterprizes however hazardous & however romantic in which I would not most willingly engage.
it was the favorite intention of Cowley [28] to retire with his books to a cottage in America & seek that happiness in solitude which he could not find in society. my asylum there would be sought for different reasons (& no prospect in life gives me half the pleasure this visionary one affords.) I should be pleased to reside in country where mere abilities would ensure respect. where society was upon a proper footing & Man was considered as more valuable than money & where I could till the earth & provide by honest industry the meal which my wife would dress with pleasing care. redeunt spectacula mane [29] reason comes with the end of the paper
yrs most sincerely
R Southey.
remember me respectfully to all friends.
beg Grosvenor to send the rest of my baggage as soon as convenient. I want bear & boots. you have read of puss in boots? why not not bear likewise?
write soon. [30]
Notes
* Address: Horace Walpole Bedford Esqr/ Old Palace Yard/
Westminster/ Single
Stamped: BRISTOL
Postmark: NO/ 18/ 93
Watermarks: Figure of Britannia; G R in a circle
Seal: Red
wax [design illegible]
Endorsement: Recd. Mond. 13th. Oct./ 1793 [The endorsement is misdated
October.]
MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), I, pp. 191–194 [in part; a section from
the 13 November section is misdated 16 November]. BACK
[1] A poetic name for South Wales, derived from the Silures who had inhabited the area in Roman times. BACK
[4] A Greek hero, whose exploits are described in the Iliad. He killed Hector and dragged his body round the walls of Troy behind his chariot. BACK
[5] In the Odyssey, Book 17, Odysseus’ dog, who recognises his master on his return home after twenty years and then dies. BACK
[7] The battle of Jemappes, 6 November 1792, saw the defeat of the Austrians and their allies by the French General Charles-Francois du Perier Dumouriez (1739–1823). Both sides sustained heavy casualties. BACK
[11] Thomas Gray (1716–1771; DNB), ‘The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode’ (1757), III. 3, line 4. BACK
[12] The epic poets Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (AD 39–65), author of the Pharsalia; Publius Papinius Statius (c. AD 45–96), author of Thebaid; Tiberius Catius Silius Italicus (c. AD 25–101), author of Punica; Gaius Valerius Flaccus (died c. AD 90), author of Argonautica. BACK
[13] The poets Lodovico Ariosto (1474–1533); Torquato Tasso (1544–1595); Luis Vaz de Camões (1524–1580). BACK
[15] Leonidas, King of Sparta (reigned 487–480 BC), killed at the battle of Thermopylae; Æschylus (525–456 BC), writer of tragedy, who fought at the battles of Salamis and Platæa; Themistocles (c. 528–462 BC), Athenian statesman and general, victor at the naval battle of Salamis; Aristides (c. 530–468 BC), Athenian statesman and general. BACK
[16] King of Persia (reigned 486–465 BC), who invaded Greece and was defeated at the battles of Salamis and Platæa. BACK
[17] Artemisia I of Caria, ruler of Halicarnassus, fought bravely on the side of Xerxes in the Battle of Salamis, 480 BC. See Richard Glover, Leonidas, A Poem (London, 1737), p. 307, for ‘the martial queen of Caria’. BACK
[18] Demaratus, King of Sparta 519–491 BC. Deposed, he fled to Persia and accompanied Xerxes in his invasion of Greece. See Richard Glover, Leonidas, A Poem (London, 1737), p. ii. BACK
[19] Three battles fought by Greeks against Persian invaders: Thermopylae and Salamis (both 480 BC) and Platæa (479 BC). BACK
[21] The festival celebrated at Platæa in honour of Jupiter Eleutherius as the asserter of liberty. It was instituted after the Greek victory over the Persians in 479 BC. BACK
[23] A place near Athens dedicated to the hero Academus, and the site of Plato’s school of philosophy, the Academia. BACK
[24] Epicurus (341–270 BC), philosopher, founder of Epicureanism, who reputedly taught in his garden in Athens. His school was therefore known as ‘the Garden’. BACK
[25] Possibly Charles Sawkins (d. 1818), educated at Christ Church, Oxford, BA 1778, and from 1797, Perpetual Curate of Binsey, Oxfordshire. BACK
