3871. Robert Southey to Peter Elmsley, 17 July 1822

Address: To/ The Rev^d Peter Elmsley/ Christ Church/ Oxford
MS: Gen MSS [Misc], Princeton University Library. ALS; 2p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, p. 321.

My dear Elmsley

I recommend to your kind offices one who comes recommended to me in the highest terms by Ticknor, – whom I think you are acquainted with. D^r Channing

⁽¹⁾

William Ellery Channing (1780–1842), Minister of the Federal Street Church in Boston 1803–1842, and foremost spokesman for Unitarian opinion in the United States.

is said to be the most distinguished preacher in America. His opin creed is Arian.

⁽²⁾

The theology that claimed Christ was a being created by and subordinate to God.

His fortune large, – but he has devoted his life to ministerial duties, & almost spent himself in them. More than this I need not say, for his conversation if he is fortunate enough to find you at Oxford, will sufficiently recommend him.

Farewell & believe me
yours affectionately
Robert Southey.

Keswick. 17 July. 1822

Notes

1. William Ellery Channing (1780–1842), Minister of the Federal Street Church in Boston 1803–1842, and foremost spokesman for Unitarian opinion in the United States.[back]

Notes

The Collected Letters of Robert Southey: Part Seven

Lynda Pratt, Ian Packer