3939. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 21 December 1822
Address: To/ Dr Southey/ 15. Queen Anne Street/ Cavendish Square/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: [partial] E/ DE/ 1822
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, 1996.5.127. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.
Yesterday I received an official letter from Sir Wm K.
couched in the handsomest terms, – & to which, – xxx I dare say he will have told you, the King himself had added “entirely approved – GR” – What can I say to this, but in the words which John Kemble
was instructed to use, – “Your M. is too gracious!” – It is however a mark of special mark <grace>, – & worth quite as much, in its way, as the thanks of Parliament to an officer. If Aunt Mary had been here it would have made her happy for the day. As it is Edith, & E May are the only persons who will know any thing about it; for were it to come to Toms knowledge, he would be taking some provoking step or other upon the presumption of my favour at court, such as writing to Knighton, & God knows who beside. He has played tricks of this kind which must make me much more upon my guard against him than I shall ever be against an enemy.
Of course there can be no occasion for me to write a formal letter of acknowledgement. In all matters of form I follow the maxim which as you may remember, is the first lesson instilled into my young ones – that “the least which is said, is the soonest mended,” & you can say to Sir Wm how much I am gratified &c –
I have persevered very dutifully in taking regular exercise, – twice a day to the Crag
being my shortest allowance, except in what may be called impossible weather. Certainly I perceive the good effect in increased appetite & muscular tone, – being free from my old complaint,
– & altogether in fine condition.
The regular course of my days at present is this, – a walk to the Crag before breakfast, – when if it be not too cold for holding the hands up, I take a book with me. After breakfast – a lesson in Ovid
with Bertha & Kate, in Phaedrus & the Grammar
with Bel, – in Tacitus
with E. May, & in the Orlando Innamorato
with her, or in a Spanish Chronicle with her & Bertha, – these latter lessons alternating. Then I settle to my own work, be that what it may, till it is time for a second walk. – After dinner, E May comes up & I sit down with grammar & dictionary, like a schoolboy, doggedly to a lesson in Danish, for about three quarters of an hour – then take a nap on the sofa till tea. After tea comes letter writing (far too often) & steady work till supper; – & then with my punch, – or black-currant rum I take a portion of Dutch tragedy to conclude all. – Other reading comes in the odds & ends of time, – which are worth a great deal, when they are regularly carried to account. And thus the days pass on, – nulla dies sine lineâ,
– & none without some addition, or reparation of knowledge.
Your eldest niece is quite as industrious in her way as I am. Her fingers are never idle, – she is either at her music, her drawing, or her work, whenever she is not teaching the juniors something. And no part of the year seems to pass so rapidly with us, as the winter & spring when we see nobody, & one day is like another.
My friends of the Cymmrodorion have sent me the first Vol. of their Transactions.
I shall probably write a paper upon Welsh antiquities ere long for the QR. & very likely, in compliance to a request made from the Brecon Branch, thro Wynn, manufacture an Ode for them in which I may touch upon every thing relating to Wales, except toasted cheese, & sheep-stealing.
Love to Louisa & Mrs G. My cattle are all well thank God
God bless you
RS.
