1596. Robert Southey to
[Herbert Hill](people.html#HillHerbertUncle),
8 March
1809
Address: To/ The Reverend Herbert Hill/ Staunton upon Wye/ Hereford
Stamped:
KESWICK/ 298
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.
The parcel which is on its way to you will contain [Wordsworths](people.html#WordsworthWilliam) Lyrical Ballads & Poems
Lyrical Ballads and Other Poems, 2 vols (1800), Poems in Two Volumes (1807). for [Mrs H.](people.html#HillCatherine) concerning which I will only observe that good poems are not the worse for having
good-for-nothing ones in company with them. Southey had previously enquired whether [Catherine Hill](people.html#HillCatherine) was interested in poetry; see Southey to Herbert Hill, 31
December 1808, Letter 1560. It will not contain three Metrical Tales ‘Garci Ferrandez’, published in the Edinburgh Annual Register, for 1809 (1811), in Minor
Poems (1815 and 1823) and Poetical Works (1837–1838); ‘A True Ballad of St. Antidius, the Pope and the
Devil’, published in the Morning Post, 4 February 1803, in Minor Poems (1815 and 1823) and
Poetical Works (1837–1838): these poems derived from Florian de Ocampo (1499?–1555?), Coronica General de
Espana (1541). The third ‘metrical tale’ referred to is ‘King Ramiro’, published in September 1803 in the Morning
Post and on 12 May 1804 in the Iris (edited by [Taylor](people.html#TaylorWilliam)) and then, revised, in the Edinburgh Annual Register, for 1808, Minor Poems (1815 and
1823) and with revisions in Poetical Works (1837–1838): this poem derived from Nobiliario de D. Pedro Conde de
Bracelos Hijo del Rey D. Dionis de Portugal (1640) by Afonso Pedro, Count of Barcelos (1287–1354) and Juan Bautista
Labaña (1555–1624), no. 3571 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. See Robert Southey: Poetical Works
1793–1810, gen. ed. Lynda Pratt, 5 vols (London, 2004), V, pp. xxiv and 517; 406–413. of which the stories are taken
from the Chronica General, & the Nobiliario of the C. D. Pedro: – but these will reach her in a frank thro the [Imperial Abbot](people.html#AbbotCharles), nearly as soon, or perhaps sooner. – I put in partly to secure your
Musaeus, Musaeus Grammaticus (fl. C. early 6th century), Hero and Leander, of
which [Grosvenor Charles Bedford](people.html#BedfordGrosvenorCharles) had published a translation,
The Loves of Hero and Leander in 1797. & partly as a thing in itself curious & very rare, a poem
written by poor [Beddoes](people.html#BeddoesThomas), Untraced. In
the Annual Anthology, I (1799), 289 Southey included passages from Beddoes’ ‘Verses on Alexander’s
Expedition’. – a man for whom I had little liking, but great respect, & whose death I regard as a greater loss to mankind
than that of any other individual would have been, except perhaps [Davy](people.html#DavyHumphry). – In the
portion of history, From Southey’s first volume of the History of Brazil
(1810). make any verbal alteration you <may> think needful, – & send me any remarks in a letter, – for thus we
shall save the MSS the risk & delay of travelling six hundred miles: when you have examined it return it to [Longman](people.html#LongmanThomas), with directions to have it delivered to the [Printer](people.html#PopleWilliam). This did not go to plan; see Southey to the
Herbert Hill, [early April 1809], Letter 1612. – [Edith](people.html#FrickerEdith) has had a severe
& rather an alarming illness, – or this would have been sent off sooner. You will perceive that the mosaic work of the eighth
chapter has been very laborious. I have much curious matter for the supplementary notes, & shall certainly bring together in this
& the concluding volume more valuable facts concerning savage life, in its various stages, than have ever yet been brought within
the compass of a single work. The series of the remaining chapters is thus 12. transactions in Paraguay till the final establishment of
B Ayres. 13. Brazil from 1583 to the commencement of the succeeding century – including our first transactions there mercantile &
predatory. 14. Expulsion of the French from I. Maranham. An island in the mouth of the river
Maranham. 15. Dutch at Bahia – 16–17–18. Dutch War, & Taxeiras voyage. Pedro
Teixeira (d. 1641) was a Portuguese explorer who became, in 1637, the first European to travel up the entire length of the Amazon,
an expedition which helped extend Portuguese colonial possessions there at the expense of Spain. Cristóbal de Acuña (1597–1676?), a
member of Texeira’s expedition, published Nuevo Descubrimiento del Gran Río de las Amazonas (1641). All these
except the 13th have long since been ready for transcription, – xx <in> that I have got something
to fill up. – You will see that I have found good proof in confirmation of the assertion of the Noticias Southey several times refers in his History of Brazil to the Noticias do Brazil
manuscript, which he borrowed from [Hill](people.html#HillHerbertUncle). It is not listed in the sale
catalogue of his library. that tea is indigenous in America.
[Rickman](people.html#RickmanJohn) tells me he has sent you the Report of the Court of Inquiry, The ‘Report of the Board of Inquiry’ into the events leading to the Convention of Cintra came out on 27
December 1808. – as he did me. – Mrs Clarke Mary Anne Clarke (c.
1776–1852; DNB), the former mistress of Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763–1827; DNB),
Commander in Chief of the army. He held the post from 1798–1809, but was forced to resign in the wake of allegations that he had
profited by allowing Clarke to accept money from army officers, in return for which promotion was arranged. has made a more
effectual diversion in favour of Bonaparte than Sir John Moore did for the Spaniards,Sir John
Moore (1761–1809; DNB), Scottish General with a long and varied military career. He was also MP for Lanark Burghs
1784–1790. After the controversial Convention of Cintra (1808), Moore was given the command of the British troops in the Iberian
peninsula. He was fatally wounded at the Battle of Corunna on 16 January 1809. & I am afraid our precious Ministers will
be so busy in protecting the Duke that they will let the opportunity go by of crushing the French in that country, before the final
conquest of Austria, Napoleon did indeed force Austria to sue for peace after several bloody
battles in 1809. – an event which I consider as certain, & no otherwise to be deplored than for the triumph which the
Devil feels while he is blindly performing the work which God has appointed to him to do. In other words it is fit that the house of
Austria should be destroyed tho we must regret & suffer from the immediate consequence of its destruction in the aggrandizement of
France.
My defence of the Baptist Mission in the Quarterly has been good deal emasculated. Southey reviewed the Periodical Accounts Relative to the Baptist Missionary Society (published from
1794); [John Scott-Waring (1747–1819; DNB)], Vindication of the Hindoos from the Aspersions of the Reverend
Claudius Buchanan, M.A. With a Refutation of the Arguments Exhibited in his Memoir, on the Expediency of an Ecclesiastical
Establishment for British India, and the Ultimate Civilization of the Natives, by their Conversion to Christianity… By a Bengal
Officer (1808); Thomas Twining (1776–1861; DNB), A Letter to the Chairman of the East India Company,
on the Danger of Interfering in the Religious Opinions of the Natives of India; and on the Views of the British and Foreign Bible
Society, as Directed to India (1807), in the Quarterly Review, 1 (February 1809), 193–226.
[Gifford](people.html#GiffordWilliam) has performed this work skillfully enough: – but I think it was
injudicious to suppress passages which could have not have given offence to Bishop Horsely Samuel Horsley (1733–1806; DNB), bishop of St Asaph, anti-jacobin, moralist, supporter of
proselytism. himself, & which would have manifested xxxx <that> full freedom of opinion was allowed in
the Review. – Cut down however as it is I am told that it has excited notice & made considerable impression. I follow it by essays
upon the South Sea & S African Missions, Southey reviewed the Transactions of the
Missionary Society in the South Sea Islands in the Quarterly Review, 2 (August 1809), 24–61, but there are
no reviews by him on the South African missions. – & may perhaps enlarge & publish the whole collectively. – The
Review is not what it should be – the spirit is as bad as that of the Edinburgh, The
Edinburgh Review. – the taste not a whit better. I am fallen into company with whom I have no common
opinions except about Spain, & the necessity of war ad interaeternam ‘Perpetual
war’. with Bonaparte: [Walter Scott](people.html#ScottWalter) has written ignorantly about the
Cid Southey’s The Chronicle of the Cid (1808) was reviewed by Scott in the
Quarterly Review, 1 (February 1809), 117–134. – the conquest of Valencia Valencia was conquered in 1094 after a long siege. The events are described in Southey’s Chronicle of the
Cid (London, 1808), p. 203. is as certain as any fact whatever in history – I suspect it will be better done in
the Annual by [Sharon Turner](people.html#TurnerSharon). Sharon
Turner reviewed Southey’s Chronicle of the Cid (1808) in the Annual Review for 1808, 7 (1809),
91–99. Turners Article upon the Sanscret language is the best in the number. Sharon
Turner [with John Shore, 1st Baron Teignmouth (1751–1834; DNB)] reviewed Charles Wilkins (bap. 1749–1836;
DNB), A Grammar of the Sanskrîta Language (1808); William Carey (1761–1834; DNB), A Grammar
of the Sungskrit Language, Composed from the Works of the Most Esteemed Grammarians; to Which are Added Examples for the Exercise
of the Student, and a Complete List of the Dhatoos or Roots (1804); and Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765–1837),
Grammar of the Sanskrit Language (1805), in the Quarterly Review, 1 (February 1809), 53–69.
Ld Valencias Travels are to be sent me for this Review. George Annesley, Viscount Valentia
(1770–1844), Voyages and Travels to India, Ceylon, and the Red Sea, Abyssinia and Egypt in the Years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805,
and 1806 (1809), in Quarterly Review, 2 (August 1809), 88–126. Southey’s article underwent major revisions
by Gifford before publication. – I get well-administered praise from [Gifford](people.html#GiffordWilliam), – flattery from [the Bookseller](people.html#MurrayJohn) & sweet remuneration for the
article in the shape of 21£ -13 – better pay than I ever yet received for any former occupation.
What an age of conflagration! – As for the theatres the Devil is welcome to all he could find there, The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden had burnt down in 1808, and a fire at the Theatre Royal in Drury
Lane destroyed the building on 24 February 1809. – & at St James’s too. On 21 January 1809 a fire destroyed part of St James’s Palace, including the monarch’s private apartments in the
south east corner. But I grudge him the Hafod library On 13 March 1807 a fire broke
out that destroyed the mansion of Thomas Johnes (1748–1816; DNB) on his Hafoduchtryd estate in Cardiganshire,
including its valuable library which contained rare collections of Welsh manuscripts. & the Quadrangle at Ch.
Church. In 1809 a fire seriously damaged the south west corner of the Great Quadrangle in
Christ Church College, Oxford.
RS.
[Landor](people.html#LandorWalterSavage) desires me to present his respects to you. Next year he expects
to have part of [Llanthony](places.html#Llanthony) habitable. Landor had
recently bought an estate surrounding the ruins of Llanthony Priory in the Black Mountains, South Wales, which he intended to
restore.
March 8. 1809.