3408. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 22 December 1819 ⁠* 

My dear G.

This note of Shields [1]  is a curiosity in its kinds, – it is so choicely phrased. – But he is very civil, & I would willingly task myself rather than decline doing what he wishes me to do. If however by a general chorus he means one which is to recur at the end of every stanza, an Ode [2]  must be framed with reference to such a burthen, or else it would be a burthen indeed, – & indeed it would be impossible to fit one to stanzas of such opposite different import as these. If on the other hand, a concluding stanza is meant, more adapted for a “flourish of trumpets &c”, [3]  – I am afraid I cannot find one, – but I will try. – The poem as it now stands is xx xx not a discreditable one; – so far from it indeed, that if I execute the scheme of my visionary dialogue [4]  (upon which my mind runs x) I should introduce them it, – that upon the Princess’s death, [5]  & xxx a few pieces more to be written for the occasion, – which would come in like the poems in Boethius. [6] 

I thought I had explained to you my intentions about my journey. Being sufficiently master of my time, whether I set out a month sooner or later may be regulated solely by my own convenience, so that I xxxxx return with the summer. I have to finish Wesley, [7]  – which will be done in five weeks, taking it coolly & quietly. I have to finish the review of Marlborough, [8]  which will require three weeks, – one of these is my mornings, the other my evenings work. And if I am satisfied about the payment for my last paper, [9]  I shall recast the article upon the New Churches, [10]  & perhaps prepare one other also, in order to be before hands with my Ways & Means for the spring & summer. But if there be any unhandsome treatment, I will not submit to it, – but strike work as bravely as a Radical Weaver, – xxxxxx xxxxx In that case the time which would have been sold to the Maximus Homo of Albemarle Street, will be far more worthily employed in finishing the Tale of Paraguay, [11]  – which has proceeded more slowly than tortoise or sloth or snail, but which as far as it has gone, is good. Indeed I must finish it for publication in the ensuing year, or I shall not be able to keep my head above water. The sum of all this is, that I intend to work closely at home till the end of February, – to pass a few days at Ludlow on my way to town, arrive in London about the second week of March, – pass five or six weeks partly at Streatham, partly in town, – go to Sir H. Bunburys for a few days, & perhaps stretch on into Norfolk for another week, or ten days, – & find my way back to Keswick by the end of May.

A merry Christmas to you. Remember me to Henry & Miss Page. God bless you

RS.

Keswick 22 Dec. 1819.