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Huntington Library, HM 4873 . Previously published: J. W. Robberds (ed.), A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Taylor of Norwich, 2 vols (London, 1843), II, pp. 82–87.
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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There is that moral mannerism which you have detected.xxxx my mind was
moulded. But are not the characters in Madoc those which the circumstances would form? my Aztecs have not a jot more heroism than the
two Mexicans who grappled with Cortes on the terrace of the palace, to precipitate themselves with him,xxxx find out historical likenesses enough to justify
Coanocotzan & his successor. Tlalala has more of the savage in him, – Ocelopan yet more – Amalahta is all savage.t Domingo.n yielding nature, – governed by her son against her own better judgement, & after
his death resigning the power in confession of her own weakness. What she now is grew up as I wrote. Once my design was to kill
Amalahta by her hand – & this also was altered when I came to the execution – whether for the better or not I am still
doubtful.
In classing Madoc in Wales with the historical plays of Shakespere you bestow the highest praise, & what I feel to
be the most appropriate. It has the historical verisimilitude, & the dramatic truth. the other part – which is sui generis,versifiers <language-masters> both of the first
order – nothing more – & the Messiah – pardon me if I say that of what you admire in that poem at least 9 tenths appears
to me bubble & bladder & tympany, – just what I should produce for a mock-heroic, & could produce with facility. there is
one uniform substitution of bulk for sublimity.
What you say of Erillyabsxxxx first of all I designed
Llaian for his wife – but at last I felt it xxxx xxxx preserved his character xxxx <better> to let the line
of Kings proceed from Malinal & Goervyl.
The language is I hope pure English undefiled – always straight forward to the point. the style certainly my own – as much as is the Bees honey – for I read too little English poetry to catch the manner of any predecessor. it savours more of chronicles & romances Spanish as well as English.
I now think the second part wants similies in all its land battles – & if I continue to think so will pour in
learning enough – & bedeck it with diamonds from Golconda
Longman calls for a third edition of Joan of Arc.xxxx cut out unsparingly. I have not much to add – tho much might be added had I the history of
that period by Godefroy
You say you miss mythology <machinery> which surprises me. I hoped my <the> snake,
mythe ventriloquism, & the priest craft at Patamba, & the earthquake so timed as to appear a judicial visitation
of vengeance – would have had the effect of machinery without the absurdity, which is to me intolerable except in Romance, there it is
of the essence of the fable, & you shall have your fill in Kehama.attract get it notice – than I need a cocked hat to get into company. Next time I will
try a five shilling plan & print for the people.Egbert the Trojan Brutus,
It would be well if I could write tragedy – the true chrysopoeticr
Kemble
The Iris is wanting for Lord Melvilles sake.th Feby – saying he had sent prizes in which would enable him to remit a bill for 1000 £, little thinking that the French
were then among the Islands, & in all probability will sweep away the foundation stones of his fortune! 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. It was customary for naval officers to be allotted a share of the value of ships
and cargo captured in armed conflict, but Southey was concerned that the French Mediterranean Fleet, which had sailed from Toulon to
the West Indies in March 1805 under Vice-Admiral Pierre-Charles Villeneuve (1763–1806), would gain possession of these
vessels.