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Bodleian Library, Eng. Lett. c. 24. 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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You were perfectly right in all you said respecting the Stewardship, & I only wish your information had arrived a
little sooner. Set on by Sharp, & encouraged by W Scott & by Wynn – who thought it
the most desirable thing could be devised for me, I proceeded so far in quest of it, – that had I been fit for the situation, there is
very little doubt that <but> it must have been minebêtes noires, James Stanier Clarke (c. 1765–1834;
I have just undertaken, & that too upon miserably short notice, to write the history of Spanish affairs during the
last year, for the Edinburgh Annual Register, which the Ballantynes are
starting. They calculated its fit length at fifteen sheets & want it by the middle of October – I do not think the narrative will
extend to more than ten, & it will be hard work to furnish that; – but if it take up more so much the better. This is a thing which
I shall do with great good will, – if it be possible to procure a good series of documents. From the two accounts by Neale & the
Officer of Sir John Moores extract,flight upon record.
Tell me, that is explain to me so as I may be able to explain, why the subscription for the Spaniards produced so
little, – & give me any other hints & information that may be of use.
The Mss herewith is for my Uncle – Revd – Herbert Hill, Staunton upon Wye, Hereford. – in the absence of the Grand
Parleur.
I am glad Mr Bedford that you have remained so long at Southampton, because it shows me that on an
occasion you can be absent for some time from the Exchequer, & I call you upon you to show cause why coming to Keswick should not be held a lawful occasion next summer.
Now Grosvenor I must trouble xxx you with a commission which will not be very troublesome, – for which you
will be the most convenient pay master, as you can deduct the amount from my next payment. I want four frames for miniatures the exact
size of the pattern below;enamel, but the
gold on the glasses broad & plain next the picture. Back boards & every thing ready
so as there may be no difficulty in putting in the pictures when they arrive here. Myers in Strandlittle likely to be in your way as any one,
– but go wherever is most convenient, the glasses must be convex.
I want also another frame <for a picture> two foot wanting a quarter of an inch long, & one foot xxxx
wide. four inches wide. The frame tho perhaps it must be of different materials (that is to say of common
black wood) to the same pattern as the others, flat like the others, & 3 ½ inches wide, – no
interior rim. the glass black & gold & in gold black-letters (for which you know my partiality) on the glass, the words Mars
& L’Hercule.Mars (a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line) against the French seventy-four gun Hercule.
After a bloody battle, Hercule surrendered, having lost over three hundred men. On Mars 31
men were killed and 60 wounded, including the captain. Southey’s brother Thomas
was a participant in the battle.
These must be carefully packed, & sent to me by the waggon which goes from the Bull & Mouth. The Mars print explains its own story. for the others I will gratify your curiosity. We have in this house a visitor by name Miss Betham, who is a miniature painter, – & who has drawn me two of the best likenesses & best pictures that ever were seen, – one of Edith & the other of Herbert. – I & young Edith are also under her hands –
12
th 1809
I am 35. this day.