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British Library, Add MS 30928. Not previously published.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.
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Southey’s spelling has not been regularized.
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We continue to go on well. nothing ails the child at
present.
You have among the loose folios the English black letter Romance of Mort Arthur,
No news of my wine at which I begin to wonder.r Cromptonsr Jardine.
If Portugal be forced into a war with us, which by the public accounts seems exceedingly probable, what will you do? if
people leave off Port wine, because they can get none, there is a chance that they will not take any other foreign wine, for indeed
what can be got in its place? – I cannot but think that it would be a very promising speculation to manufacture wines for sale, as good
as are sometimes made for home consumption. Ten pounds sacrificed in experiments would enable one to produce many different flavours,
& if they were really made good, as they certainly can be – it does not appear improbable to me that the persons who
starts upon the plan would find it a very profitable one at present, – still more so if the regular wine trade should be so dislocated
as it would be by a Portugueze war. Almost every foreign wine may be well imitated. xxx xxx black currants will make
something essentially like port, that word is used when with chemical accuracy as I am convinced that
the colouring matter is the same. Enough use is not made of flowers in this way. why only cowslips? – This is
worth thinking of, & talking of with King. many old beverages may be revived,
many new ones by the help of chemistry invented, & you would find the pursuit interesting. I could throw out many hints upon the
subject – but this is enough just now. A common brewing apparatus is all that is necessary.
Instead of sending you news of Madoc now, I must look for xxx news from you. One is going to John Southey, an experiment which may take heaven knows how. If he lived more in the world
there would be no doubt about it, – but he has probably no notion of the rank which literature gives in society, & the advantages
resulting from it. However the sight of so handsome a book may perhaps please him, – & at any rate it is best to try. –
I am tooth & nail at the history,Amelia, of which
Thomas Southey was a lieutenant, captured the Spanish brig Isabella and the ship Conception, both laden with wine and brandy, and the ship Commerce, laden with cotton.
As soon as the trees get into full leaf I would not have you delay your journey. a thousand accidents may be in the
way, & you & I need not now be told to take time by the forelock. I have no intention of remaining another winter here, if it
be possible to remove. The situation is too inconvenient, & tho I can well forego the luxuries of society I cannot without the
necessaries. Nothing but the coarsest & commonest wares are to be supplied here, – & above all I want my Books. – remember me
to your brother