3918. Robert Southey to [Joanna Baillie], 16 November 1822
MS: Royal College of Surgeons of England Archives, MS0014/7, Hunter–Baillie Letters Volume 4.2, no. 165. ALS; 6p.
Previously published: The letter text is previously unpublished; the text of the poem appeared in Joanna Baillie (ed.), A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript, And From Living Authors (London, 1823), pp. 280–283.
As you are well supplied with graver & better matter for your benevolent volume,
I send you something which is sure to be unlike any other of its contents. You will at once perceive that it was at first produced in sport, & afterwards amplified as a whimsical exhibition of the richness of our language. – As such it is likely to be copied into newspapers, & “Guides to the Lakes.”
I am much gratified that the Lines upon Lowther Castle
should have pleased you. The stanza is good, & I could have wished the verses better. But the truth is that I have almost ceased to be a poet; that I am so, has for many years been rather a matter of remembrance than of feeling; time has produced this sensible change, & has kindly withdrawn from me the inclination before it bereaves me of the power. When I shall have compleated two poems, each of some length, which were begun long ago, I shall write no more in verse.
Should you be in town in the spring, I may perhaps have the pleasure of meeting you there. It would be a great pleasure.
Mrs Southey joins with me in respects to your sister
& yourself. The evening which you did us the favour of passing here is fresh in our remembrance.
Believe me Dear Madam
with sincere respect & regard
yr obedient servant
Robert Southey.
The Cataract of Lodore
described in rhymes for the Nursery
by
One of the Lake Poets
————
How does the Water come down at Lodore?
Here it comes sparkling,
And there it lies darkling;
Here smoking & frothing
Its tumult & wrath in,
It hastens along, conflicting strong;
Now striking & raging
As if a war waging
Its caverns & rocks among:
Rising & leaping,
Sinking & creeping,
Swelling & flinging,
Showering & springing,
Eddying & whisking,
Spouting & frisking,
Turning & twisting
Around & around;
Collecting, disjecting,
With endless rebound;
Smiting & fighting,
A sight to delight in,
Confounding, astounding,
Dizzying & deafening the ear with its sound.
Receding & speeding,
And shocking & rocking,
And darting & parting.
And threading & spreading,
And whizzing & hissing,
And dripping & skipping,
And whitening & brightening,
And quivering & shivering,
And hitting & splitting,
And shining & twining,
And rattling & battling,
And shaking & quaking,
And pouring & roaring,
And waving & raving,
And tossing & crossing,
And flowing & going,
And running & stunning,
And hurrying & skurrying,
And glittering & frittering,
And gathering & feathering,
And dinning & spinning,
And foaming & roaming,
And dropping & hopping,
And working & jerking,
And guggling & struggling,
And heaving & cleaving,
And thundering & floundering,
And falling & brawling & sprawling,
And driving & riving & striving,
And sprinkling & twinkling & wrinkling,
And sounding & bounding & rounding,
And bubbling & troubling & doubling,
Dividing & gliding & sliding,
And grumbling & rumbling & tumbling,
And clattering & battering & shattering,
And gleaming & streaming, & steaming & beaming,
And rushing & flushing & brushing & gushing,
And flapping & rapping & clapping & slapping,
And curling & whirling & purling & twirling,
Retreating & beating & meeting & sheeting,
Delaying & straying, & playing & spraying,
Advancing & prancing & glancing & dancing,
Recoiling, turmoiling & toiling & boiling,
And thumping & flumping & bumping & jumping,
And dashing & flashing & splashing & clashing:
And so never ending, but alway descending,
Sounds & motions for ever & ever are blending,
All at once & all oer, with a mighty uproar,
And this way the Water comes down at Lodore.
————
