3793. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 3 February 1822

 

Address: To/ G.C. Bedford Esqr/ Exchequer/ Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ [illegible]
Endorsement: 3 Febry. 1822.
MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 26. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.


My dear G.

There is a very satisfactory way of arranging your domestic affairs with reference to a northern expedition. Bring the Magister Rotulorum with you: he & you may lodge in the town, because I have not quarters to offer you, – & here will be the wing room for Miss Page. I will lay down your journey for you. Take the Mail to Leeds, in order to save time & trouble. And then proceed in chaises, seeing (which is easily done) Bolton Abbey, – Gordal Scar with Malham Cove, – Yordas & Wathercote Caves

(1)

A series of popular tourist attractions in the early nineteenth century: Bolton Abbey, a ruined twelfth-century Augustinian monastery in the Yorkshire Dales; Gordale Scar, a limestone ravine in North Yorkshire; Malham Cove, a nearby natural amphitheatre made of limestone; and Yordas and Weathercote caves, also in North Yorkshire.

on the way to Kendal. This you may do with ease & reach us on the third day (from Leeds) to dinner.

Your brother has been ill used, – & the use of establishing promotion by merit, can only be to afford pretext & cover for such usage. This is one instance of that rascally abuse of words by which the people of this country are fooled. I can very well understand his feelings & yours, & entirely enter into feel as you do at such injustice. But it does not appear to me (& I shall be surprized if upon this subject Elmsleys opinion should not coincide with mine) that you judge rightly in wishing to remove him from the Admiralty.

(2)

Henry Bedford had been a Clerk in the Admiralty since 1804. He was a Second Class Clerk 1816–1826, rising to First Class Clerk 1826–1844.

This would be the greatest gratification to those who have injured him. It would remove him out of their sight (& no man likes to look upon one whom he has injured) – & it would make a vacancy for them, which is giving them patronage, – & what is more, enable them to promote another favourite without injustice, & without delay.

Nor do I think it would be in Wynns power, however kindly he were disposed, to obtain for Henry a situation any way adequate to what he would leave. It is one thing to place a young man in a public office, who has life & hope before him, & can afford to expect promotion: & another to provide a fit & adequate station for a man of your brothers standing & deserts. Were he twenty years younger you might ask & obtain a cadetship or a writership for him,

(3)

Wynn had become President of the Board of Control in January 1822, with ultimate authority over the East India Company. This gave him the right to nominate young men to train as ‘writers’ (administrators) for the Company, or serve as cadets in its army.

(these are what W. has in his immediate disposal) – but as things are I do not see how he could be served (supposing the wish to exist in as great a degree as you & I could desire) in any other way, than by protecting him against farther wrong in his own office

W. I believe – & as you know, know in my own case,

(4)

In 1807, Wynn had obtained a government pension of £200 p.a. for Southey.

would do much to serve those whom he loves, – any thing I believe which depended on himself. But I am <not> so sure that he would exert himself with others to serve them. Indeed the warmer a mans feelings are, the less does he like to have cold water thrown upon them. If he could, most certainly he would have obtained some preferment for Elmsley,

(5)

Wynn had made it a condition of accepting office that Elmsley should receive preferment. Wynn offered him the Bishopric of Calcutta in 1822, which Elmsley refused. In 1823 Elmsley became Camden Professor of Ancient History and Principal of St Alban Hall, Oxford.

– but where did his influence lie? With his brother, whose good nature is of a kind that costs him nothing, – & with Lord G. of whom to ask any thing for a kind, or generous motive, would be like going to gather grapes from bram the bramble & figs from thistles.

(6)

Matthew 7: 16: ‘Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?’

I happen to have seen some of his official correspondence, & never was any thing more thoroughly unfeeling & unjust.

Wynns Grenville blood affects nothing but his manners, – it makes them cold towards strangers, repulsive & unpopular, but its influence extends no farther. Do not let any feeling of alienation arise on your part, & I am sure none will arise on his. And let you & I thank God that we are not men in power & Right-Honbles, as Cramboojer

(7)

Unidentified.

used to call it, We have no interests to look to, – no dependents, no hangers on, to satisfy & as King, I forget who said in old times to make by every promotion one ingrate & ten to offend ten persons, & make one ingrate.

(8)

Francois-Marie Arouet [Voltaire] (1694–1778) ascribed this saying to Louis XIV (1638–1715; King of France 1643–1715) in Le Siecle de Louis XIV, 2 vols (Berlin, 1751), II, p. 44: ‘Toutes les fois que je donne une place vacante, je fais cent mécontents et un ingrat’ – ‘Every time I give away a place, I make an hundred discontented, and one ungrateful’.

God bless you my dear Grosvenor

RS.

I have made three more conundrums.

Why is a man when he has been reading too long in a book of small print like one of the Patriarchs?

Because his eyes ache.

(9)

Isaac, biblical patriarch and son of Abraham. The answer to the riddle is written upside down.

Which of the Roman Emperors is most like the beginning of an Ode!

Otho

(10)

Marcus Salvius Otho (AD 32–69; Roman Emperor January–April AD 69). The answer to the riddle is written upside down.

Why may the letter P remind us of one of the worst of men?

Because it may be said to be near O.

(11)

Nero (AD 37–68; Roman Emperor AD 54–68), notorious for tyranny and debauchery. The answer to the riddle is written upside down.

I pray you admire the manner in which I have placed the solution, so that you need not read it unless you wish.

Notes

1. A series of popular tourist attractions in the early nineteenth century: Bolton Abbey, a ruined twelfth-century Augustinian monastery in the Yorkshire Dales; Gordale Scar, a limestone ravine in North Yorkshire; Malham Cove, a nearby natural amphitheatre made of limestone; and Yordas and Weathercote caves, also in North Yorkshire. [back]
2. Henry Bedford had been a Clerk in the Admiralty since 1804. He was a Second Class Clerk 1816–1826, rising to First Class Clerk 1826–1844. [back]
3. Wynn had become President of the Board of Control in January 1822, with ultimate authority over the East India Company. This gave him the right to nominate young men to train as ‘writers’ (administrators) for the Company, or serve as cadets in its army. [back]
4. In 1807, Wynn had obtained a government pension of £200 p.a. for Southey. [back]
5. Wynn had made it a condition of accepting office that Elmsley should receive preferment. Wynn offered him the Bishopric of Calcutta in 1822, which Elmsley refused. In 1823 Elmsley became Camden Professor of Ancient History and Principal of St Alban Hall, Oxford. [back]
6. Matthew 7: 16: ‘Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?’ [back]
7. Unidentified. [back]
8. Francois-Marie Arouet [Voltaire] (1694–1778) ascribed this saying to Louis XIV (1638–1715; King of France 1643–1715) in Le Siecle de Louis XIV, 2 vols (Berlin, 1751), II, p. 44: ‘Toutes les fois que je donne une place vacante, je fais cent mécontents et un ingrat’ – ‘Every time I give away a place, I make an hundred discontented, and one ungrateful’. [back]
9. Isaac, biblical patriarch and son of Abraham. The answer to the riddle is written upside down. [back]
10. Marcus Salvius Otho (AD 32–69; Roman Emperor January–April AD 69). The answer to the riddle is written upside down. [back]
11. Nero (AD 37–68; Roman Emperor AD 54–68), notorious for tyranny and debauchery. The answer to the riddle is written upside down. [back]
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