1667. Robert Southey to
[Herbert Hill](people.html#HillHerbertUncle),
10 August
1809
Address: To/ The Reverend Herbert Hill/ Staunton upon Wye/ Hereford
Stamped:
KESWICK/ 298
MS: Keswick Museum. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.
August 10. 1809.
My views on the Stewardship are at end, – a practical farmer & miner being required. In July 1809, Southey was informed by [Richard Sharp](people.html#SharpRichard) that the
stewardship of the Derwentwater Estates (which were owned by Greenwich Hospital) would soon become vacant on the death of the
incumbent. Southey asked several friends to intercede on his behalf for the position, including [Humphrey Senhouse](people.html#SenhouseHumphrey) and [George
Beaumont](people.html#BeaumontSirGeorge), but in the end it was considered unsuitable for him; see Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 12 August 1809,
Letter 1669. Had it suited me my interest would have carried it, – for [Lord
Lonsdale](people.html#LowtherWilliam) received the application in the handsomest manner & left it to [Sir George Beaumont](people.html#BeaumontSirGeorge) to express his full acquiescence to Lord Mulgrave, The politician Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave (1755–1831; DNB). in whose gift
it is, & with whom [Sir G](people.html#BeaumontSirGeorge) is <so> intimate, that he fully expected
to succeed if the thing were not already promised. I find that it really is as Lord Mulgrave has stated, & that the present
possessor, with a Clerk, is employed 17 or 18 hours out of the four & twenty. – On [Scott’s](people.html#ScottWalter) part there has been nothing but hearty good will towards me, – of that I am well assured. On [Cannings](people.html#CanningGeorge) he assures me it has been the same, – indeed to what purpose should he aim at
cajoling his friends, or me? – The office of precis-writer he would have offered me had it been worth my acceptance, & I rather
think both from [Scotts](people.html#ScottWalter) letter, & from something which my old schoolfellow
Dickenson (the member for Somersetshire) William Dickinson (1771–1837), a pupil at Westminster
School, who later went on to Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1793, MA 1795). He was Civil Lord of the Admiralty 1804–1806. said to
me the other day, that he expected the Secretarys<hip> at Lisbon might have been agreeable to me. As things now are that is out
of the question, – & all I can do is to make interest for the succession to old Dutens, whenever he chuses to vacate the office of
Historiographer, which for what merits Heaven knows was bestowed upon this Frenchman many years ago with a salary of 400£ a year. Louis Dutens (1730–1812; DNB), a French Protestant, held the post of
Historiographer Royal until his death on 23 May 1812. Southey’s campaign for the post proved unsuccessful and it was given to James
Stanier Clarke (c. 1765–1834; DNB). – This desire I have made known to [Scott](people.html#ScottWalter), & this there is good prospect of my obtaining thro [Lord Lonsdale](people.html#LowtherWilliam), – if not by any other channel. His answer to [Senhouse](people.html#SenhouseHumphrey) conveyed an invitation to me. Senhouse is going to visit him on Monday next,
& I shall take that opportunity. The grounds at [Lowther](people.html#LowtherWilliam) are the finest in
England, – I shall see them at leisure & having Humphrey Senhouse in the house shall contrive to pass two days there pleasantly
enough.
Molina is translated by an American & printed in America. Giovanni Ignazio
Molina (1740–1829), Compendio della Storia Geografica, Naturale, e Civile del Regno del Chile (1776). An American
edition appeared as A Geographical, Natural, and Civil History of Chili in 1808.
[Longman](people.html#LongmanThomas) sent it to me to know if it should be reprinted here, – & I added
the two Appendices & a few notes. The English edition of this work was published in London
in 1809, entitled Geographical, Natural and Civil History of Chile: Translated from the Italian. As to Mort
Arthur, they have made me play the dog in the manger towards [Scott](people.html#ScottWalter), who would have
edited it if he had not heard that I was about it, – but I shall soon put an end to all further procrastination & tell [L](people.html#LongmanThomas) & [R](people.html#ReesOwen) that if they do not
chuse to publish it at once, [Ballantyne](people.html#BallantyneJames) & Miller The Edinburgh bookseller Robert Miller (dates untraced), one of several partners with Ballantyne in publications at
this time. will, – for I will not prevent [S.](people.html#ScottWalter) from doing it, unless I do
it myself. Longman published Southey’s edition of Thomas Malory’s (c. 1415–1471;
DNB), The Birth, Lyf, and Actes of Kyng Arthur: Of his Noble Knyghtes of the Rounde Table, they’r
Merveyllous Enquestes and Aduentures ... : and in the end, Le Morte D’Arthur, with the Dolourous Deth and Departyng out of thys
Worlde of them Al, in 1817. – P. Girbals Travels are printed in the Mercurio Peruano Father Narciso Girbal y Barceló explored the Marañon and Ucayali rivers in 1791. His travels are serialised in the
Mercurio Peruano, a journal published in Peru between 1790 and 1795. Southey had access to the twelve-volume
edition Mercurio Peruano, de Historia, Literatura y Noticias Públicas que da á luz la Sociedad Academica de Amantes de
Lima (1791–1795), where Girbal’s travels occupy volumes II, ff. 138–44, 241–44; III, ff. 49–66; V, ff. 89–123; VI, ff.
170–87; IX, ff. 2–18; XI, ff. 276–91. which I gutted when last in town, – I believe all the travels which were contained in
this work are given in the appendix to a book made up from it under the catchpenny title of the Present State of Peru. Joseph Skinner (dates unknown), Present State of Peru: Comprising its Geography, Topography,
Natural History, Mineralogy, Commerce, the Customs and Manners of its Inhabitants, the State of Literature, Philosophy, and the
Arts, the Modern Travels of the Missionaries in the Heretofore Unexplored Mountainous Territories (1805). Girbal y
Barceló’s travels feature on p. 440. The copy of the Mercurio which John Allen John
Allen (1771–1843; DNB), a political and historical writer, expert on Spanish affairs, who was part of the Holland
House set around [Lord Holland](people.html#FoxHenryRichard). obtained for me had Sobrevielas map
of the Ucayali Solreviela y Girba (dates unknown), responsible for the map published in the
Mercurio Peruano of the Ucayali River in Peru, the main headwater for the Amazon River. & I took it to
[Arrowsmith](people.html#ArrowsmithAaron) to copy. The second volume of Southey’s History of Brazil
(1817) contained Arrowsmith’s Map of Brazil and Paraguay with the Adjoining Countries. It had long been a
desideration with him
The chest with the large folios came here. Unluckily neither Bayle Pierre
Bayle (1647–1706), Dictionnaire Historique et Critique, the first edition of which was published 1695–1697.
nor Moreri Louis Moréri (1643–1680), Le Grand Dictionnaire Historique (1732).
No. 1917 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. are the best edition, & I sought in vain in the former for some
account of Villegagnon Nicolas Durand, Sieur de Villegagnon (1510–1571) a Commander of the
Knights of Malta and later a French naval officer. to which I wished to have referred. I do not wonder that Pinkertons book
surprized you. It is patched up with such utter carelessness that he gravely tells you Chili tho so written, is to be pronounced Cili,
translating from Molina, & forgetting that the Italian Pronunciation is not the same as the English. John Pinkerton (1758–1826; DNB), editor of A General Collection of the Best and Most
Interesting Voyages and Travels in all Parts of the World (1808–1814), a New Modern Atlas (1808–1809).
Pinkerton cites Molina (for whom see note 6 above) on Chile throughout the chapter on Spanish possession in South America in
Modern Geography (1803 and 1807). I have heard that a good work of the same kind by a Dr Playfair has appeared. James Playfair (1738–1819; DNB),
System of Geography, Ancient and Modern (1808–1814).
The name of Faccius Bartholomew Facius (before 1410–1457), author of
biographies of writers, painter and statesmen. is new to me, – I will look in Tiraboschi The thirteen volume history of Italian literature by Giraloma Tiraboschi (1731–1794), Storia della
Letteratura Italiana (1777–1786), no. 2859 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. for some information about
him. Jacobus de Voragini is an old acquaintance of mine, if as I believe, he be the author of the Aurea Legenda. Jacobus de Voragine (in Italian: Giacomo da Varazze or Jacopo da Varazze; c. 1230–1298) was the
Archbishop of Genoa and chronicler of the Legenda Aurea (or Golden Legend), a collection of the lives of the saints
of the medieval church. Many manuscript copies were made of this work and after the invention of printing in 1450 many editions were
published in Latin as well as every major European language. Your extract from him is curious. The Sangreal occurs in Mort
Arthur, Another name for the Holy Grail, from the Old French ‘Saint Graal’. It makes its
appearance in Arthurian legend between the late-twelfth century and mid-thirteenth century, and features in Thomas Malory’s (c.
1415–1471; DNB) Le Morte D’Arthur (1485) published by William Caxton (c. 1415–1492). but there
is a distinct Romance of that title, which I have never seen. Probably the work of the
twelfth-century author, Chrétien de Troyes, who wrote a series of Arthurian romances, including Le Conte del Graal
(or ‘The History of the Grail’). I have read some of the Round Table Romances lately, with the specific purpose of
illustrating Mort Arthur, & somewhat more for my own amusement. Southey’s edition of
Malory’s The Birth, Lyf, and Actes of Kyng Arthur: Of his Noble Knyghtes of the Rounde Table, they’r Merveyllous Enquestes
and Aduentures ... and in the end, Le Morte D’Arthur, with the Dolourous Deth and Departyng out of thys Worlde of them Al
was published by Longman in 1817. They are very inferior to the Spanish books of chivalry, I have however gleaned from them a
few extracts which throw some light upon the manners of their age.
Hardcastle was here yesterday. The Treasurer of the Missionary Society & one of its main supports &
Directors. Joseph Hardcastle (1752–1819; DNB), merchant and evangelical, who
held the position of Treasurer for the Missionary Society (renamed the London Missionary Society in 1818) for twenty years from its
inception in 1795, and wrote many of the society’s documents as well as frequently chairing meetings of its Board of Directors
(DNB). He tells me they meditate a mission to Madagascar. The
London Missionary Society sent one of their members, William Ellis (1794–1872; DNB) to Madagascar in 1853, but entry
was refused him several times, until 1861, when, despite its troubled political situation, his four year visit laid the foundations
for Christianity in the island. Flacourts account of that Island which you bought in London turns out to be an excellent
book; Étienne de Flacourt (1607–1660), a French governor of Madagascar whose
Histoire de la Grande Isle Madagascar was published in 1661. Southey’s copy was no. 938 in the sale catalogue of
his library. – I want a work which you read in Lisbon & which I have sought for in vain to connect Flacourts Hist. of the
French Colony there with the account in Dellons Travels, The French doctor, traveller and
writer Charles Dellon (1650–1710) published Relation d’un Voyages des Indes Orientales (1685) and Nouvelle
Relation d’un Voyages fair aux Indes Orientales (1699); Southey owned a three-volume edition of 1709, no. 814 in the sale
catalogue of his library. – It is called Relations de Bresil – Madagascar &c No.
2363 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library was Claude-Barthélemy Morisot (1592–1662), Relations Veritables et Curieuses
de l’Isle de Madagascar et du Bresil, et Histoire des Derniers Troubles du Bresil (1651). – I particularly want it
because by your memoranda it appears that some detail of the Dutch improvements in Pernambuco was given there. – At any rate I shall
find it at Edinburgh, for there is a copy in the Advocates Library, tho I could not make [Scott](people.html#ScottWalter) find it for me. – I have sent a list of books to a young man who is going to Cadiz, & who I believe will take some
pains to procure them for me. Seville I should suppose to be a good storehouse for them. Sealy I am afraid is not likely to care much
about executing such a commission at Lisbon, one list should be put into [John Bells](people.html#BellJohn)
hands. Southey was hoping that books he required from Lisbon could be supplied either by
John Bell, or Richard Sealy (c. 1752–1821) a wealthy Lisbon merchant, the father-in-law of [Henry Herbert Southey](people.html#SoutheyHenryHerbert).
[Edward](people.html#SoutheyEdward) got over to Lisbon as a private in the ranks, – how he got out of the
Militia is best known to himself. A Major Chamberlin Possibly Thomas Chamberlain (d. 1828),
Major in the 24th Foot Regiment. whom I never before heard of wrote to tell me this, & that he hoped to get him a
commission in a Port. regiment which he was raising, & that Lord John Fitzroy Lord John
Fitzroy (1785–1857), attaché at the British Embassy in Lisbon and son of Augustus, 3rd Duke of Grafton (1735–1811;
DNB) Prime Minister 1768–1770. would equip him. Presently came a letter from this xxxx
<unlucky> lad himself dated Abrantes, saying he was Lieutenant & Adjutant in the Portugueze regiment of Olivara & that if
I asked him to what he was indebted for his promotion, he must answer to his own good conduct. Not a word of Chamberlin nor of Lord
Fitzroy! – Of course I answered Chamberlins letter, This letter does not appear to have
survived. – but I had no heart to reply to his.
Booza Felipe Bauzá y Cañas (1764–1834), hydrographer to the Spanish navy and a
friend of Arrowsmith. may throw light upon Paraguay, & the course of the Spanish Moors.
RS.