1248. Robert Southey to [Richard Duppa], fragment [December 1806]
1248. Robert Southey to [Richard Duppa], fragment [December 1806] *
[Enclosure in Letter 1247: Robert Southey to John Rickman, 23 December 1806]
[copied in another hand] Thank you for your last communication. – of which it will not be very long before [Southey’s hand] you see what use I have made. The Printer [1] has in his hands as far as half the second volume, & I shall soon hurry him, having nearly a whole volume ready for the press. [2] Indeed there is but little wanting to compleat the copy – & I must make all possible speed. A very singular book it will be, & in matter of out-of-the-way information a very curious one.
[continued to the end, including the signature, in the first hand] In the spring I think of seeing London at all events, & which is not impossible that occasion may lead me there sooner, tho I hope not. Thus much is certain; that as soon as in me the business is dispatched I must postpone all other work, & bring out that part of my history first, which in other times & under other circumstances would have been last, – this, The History of Brazil [3] Will you when you go to Stockwell [4] &c ... [This part of the letter was given to Dawson Turner [5] as a specimen of Southey’s handwriting.]
all here desire to be remembered to you
God bless you
yours very truly
R Southey
Notes
* Endorsements: Keswick Dec 23. 1806; R: Southey
MS: Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS
Montagu. d. 18. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK
[1] Richard Taylor (1781–1858; DNB), printer and naturalist, who would go on to establish the publishing firm of Taylor and Francis with his son William Francis (1817–1904; DNB) in 1852. BACK
[2] Southey’s Letters from England by Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella. Translated from the Spanish (1807). BACK
[3] The prospective flight of the Portuguese court to Brazil (occurred 29 November 1807) prompted Southey, at his uncle Herbert Hill’s request, to begin a history of Brazil, using papers sent him by Hill and stored by Rickman; see Southey to John Rickman, 23 December 1806, Letter 1247. Southey wished Wynn to use his position as Under Secretary of State in the Home Office to ascertain whether the government might provide him support during the preparation of a work likely to provide it with useful information in the new political situation. BACK
[4] Stockwell Park, Surrey, residence of Thomas Woodruffe Smith. BACK
