2031. Robert Southey to
[Wade Browne](people.html#BrowneWade),
6 February
1812
Address: To/ Wade Browne Esqr/ Ludlow
Stamped: KESWICK/
298
MS: British Library, Add MS 47891. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.
[Keswick](places.html#Keswick).
Feby. 6. 1812.
My dear Sir
Perceiving by the Psalms which [Edith](people.html#SoutheyEdithMay) & her cousin [Sara](people.html#FrickerSarah) have received from Mr Wolseley Probably Robert Wolseley (c. 1768–1815), A Poetical Paraphrase, of a select portion of the Book of
Psalms (1811). Wolseley had been at head of school at Westminster at the time Southey went there; see Robert Southey to
Thomas Southey, 3 August 1808, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 3, Letter 1483. that Wade Wade Browne (1796–1851) was the only son of Wade Browne. He became a country gentleman at Monkton
Farleigh in Somerset. is returned to Mr Fawcetts, Possibly James
Fawcett (1751–1831; DNB), a Leeds clergyman who became Norrisian Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge
1795–1815 and Rector of Thursford and Great Snoring in Norfolk 1801–1831. I hope you will allow me to bespeak him as a
companion for [Hartley](people.html#ColeridgeDavidHartley), for as long a time as he can be spared at
Easter.
I thought much earlier to have thanked you for your letter of the 6th December, but waited thus
long in expectation of the arrival of the Grate. The grate arrived later that month; see
Southey to Wade Brown, 27 February 1812, Letter 2050. It has not yet appeared, so that it is either unreasonably delayed by
the way, or perhaps was not sent off so soon as you imagined – which as I have not received any advice xx concerning it from
Mr Bradley Possibly James Bradley (dates unknown), an iron-founder,
based in Southwark. may possibly have been the case.
This evening’s paper brings the not-unexpected news of the fall of Valencia. Blake is a man upon whom all experience
has been thrown away. The Spanish general Joaquin Blake y Joyes (1759–1827). After a series of
defeats, Blake and his forces were trapped in Valencia, where they surrendered on 8 January 1812. – & unhappily the
Spanish Government partakes too much of the same fault. It is absolute madness to shut up an army in a beseiged town, unless there be a
determination, as at Zaragoza, Zaragoza had fallen to the French in 1809 after two
sieges. to sell the place by inches; – the Valencians did not want resolution for this, & had Blake been a man like
Palafox, José Rebolledo de Palafox y Melzi (1780–1847), Spanish general, who commanded the
defending forces at the siege of Zaragoza. The city fell to the French after an outbreak of disease and Palafox was
imprisoned. or a Mariano Alvarez, Mariano Álvarez de Castro (1749–1810), Spanish
general in charge of the garrison at the siege of Gerona 1809. His forces held out against French troops for eight months before
capitulating. Álvarez was imprisoned by the French and died shortly afterwards. the city might indeed have been destroyed,
but Suchets Louis Gabriel Suchet, 1st Duc d’Albufera (1770–1826), Marshal of France and key
figure in the French campaign in the Iberian peninsula. He captured Valencia in January 1812. army would have been destroyed
also, for the French in Spain are not now in a condition to afford such a consumption of men as Zaragoza cost them. The evil sustained
is by no means commensurate to the advantage which might have gained had Suchet been defeated in his attempt – such a defeat would in
its consequences have cleared the whole south of Spain; – his victory only puts Valencia in his power, & as much of the province as
its garrison can command. And his army instead of having an army to contend with, inferior to itself in every thing which constitutes
an army, will have to carry on a harrassing & hopeless warfare with the Guerillas. I shall regard the recovery of Ciudad
Rodrigo The city of Ciudad Rodrigo had been captured from the French on 19 January
1812. (if it has really taken place) as more than compensating the loss of Valencia, because it is a strong hold, & the
invasion of Portugal xx will not be again undertaken on that side till the French have again captured it, an operation which
cost Massena The French Marshal André Massena (1758–1817), one of the commanders of the
invasion of Portugal in 1810. many weeks in 1810.
Blake was the man who prevented the Spanish Government from training their army and British Officers. It is well
therefore that he is out of the way. I wish Mahi General Nicolas de Mahy y Romo (1757–1822)
prevented his troops being trapped inside Valencia after the battle outside the city on 26 December 1811. Despite Southey’s doubts
he ended his career as Governor of Cuba 1821–1822. had been taken too. for there is reason to suspect him. Zayas The Spanish commander José Pascual de Zayas y Chacón (1772–1827), famed for his skill and daring. He
was captured when the Spanish army in Valencia surrendered, and imprisoned in France 1812–1814. is a great loss to the
Spaniards – he was one of their most promising officers. But it is in vain to look for any success from regular armies there, till they
will suffer us to form them, as has been done in Portgual. Till that is done a single individual like Mina Francisco Espoz y Mina (1781–1836), since 1810 commander of the guerrilleros of Navarre against French
troops. or the Empecinado Juan Martin Diez (1775–1825), known as ‘El Empecinado’,
‘the Undaunted’, guerilla leader who by 1811 commanded some 3,000 men and disrupted French communications between Madrid and
Burgos. is of more service than a dozen ill-formed regiments, where the men can have no confidence in themselves because they
have none in those who lead them on.
Our own movements in the peninsula indicate a growing spirit of enterprize, tending to give both the men & officers
a feeling of their own superiority to the enemy. If our counsels are not stricken with the dead palsy of husbanding politicians I look
confidently forward to a career of glory for the British arms, not inferior to that of Marlborough John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650–1722; DNB), British general who had achieved a series
of vital military victories during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714). His most famous victory, Blenheim (1704), provided
a backdrop to Southey’s anti-war poem ‘The Battle of Blenheim’ (1798). in its splendour, or far transcending it in the
importance of its consequences. It has been proved that we can baffle in Portugal the largest force which Buonaparte could assemble
against us, – should we ever beat such a force in fair battle, – which is the same thing as saying, should we ever chuse to oppose him
with an equal force, his sun would set for ever.
You will be surprized to hear that I have not seen Trotters book, John Bernard
Trotter (1775–1818; DNB), Memoirs of the Latter Years of Charles James Fox (1811). It went into three
editions within the year of publication, but was criticised for misrepresentation of Fox’s religious views and for insinuations
against his family. – tho if you saw me up to the eyes as I am in books of all kinds which my various occupations require,
you would not wonder that I have not found time even to wish for it. I am closely engaged upon the Register for 1810,
Edinburgh Annual Register, for 1810 (1812). – yet not so closely but that my evenings are reserved for other
pursuits. You would trace me in this last number of the Quarterly upon the Inquisition,
The History of the Inquisitions; including the Secret Transactions of those Horrific Tribunals (1810); Letter
upon the Mischievous Influence of the Spanish Inquisition as it actually exists in the Provinces under the Spanish Government.
Translated from El Español, a periodical Spanish Journal published in London (1811); Narrativa da Perseguição de
Hippolyto Joseph Da Costa Pereira Furtado de Mendonça, Natural da Colonia do Sacramento, no Rio-da-Prata, prezo e Processado em
Lisboa pelo pretenso Crime de Fra-Maçon, ou Pedreiro Livre (1811), Quarterly Review, 6 (December 1811),
313–357. & upon [Montgomerys](people.html#MontgomeryJames) Poems: James Montgomery, The West Indies, and other Poems (1810) and The Wanderer in Switzerland, and
other Poems (1811), Quarterly Review, 6 (December 1811), 405–419. for the next I am busy upon the
travels in Iceland of Sir G Mackenzie & Hooker, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie (1780–1848;
DNB), Travels in the Island of Iceland, in the Summer of the Year 1810 (1811) and Sir William
Jackson Hooker (1785–1865; DNB), Journal of a Tour in Iceland, in the Summer of 1809 (1811),
Quarterly Review, 7 (March 1812), 48–92. both good books. & if there should be time I propose to
preface an article upon the modern French Biography,
Biographie Moderne: Lives of Remarkable Characters who have Distinguished themselves from the Commencement of the French
Revolution to the Present Time (1811), Quarterly Review, 7 (June 1812), 412–438. – that is in other
words upon the French Revolution. In the course of a few weeks I propose to send you the reviewal of the [Bell](people.html#BellAndrew) & [Lancaster](people.html#LancasterJoseph) controversy in a
separate form, somewhat altered, enlarged, & I believe materially improved, so as to contain a full, clear & I am sure a very
faithful view of the whole subject. Southey’s defence of Bell’s system over Lancaster’s had
originally appeared in the Quarterly Review, 6 (August 1811), 264–304. This formed the basis of his The
Origin, Nature, and Object, of the New System of Education (1812).
Mr Wolseleys Psalms are better than most attempts of that kind: yet I confess it swept oer me that
persons who feel the sublimity of the Psalms strongly should not perceive how that the com version in the
Psalter The psalms in the Church of England’s Book of Common Prayer
(1662). is & must be superior to any versification of xxxxxxx <it> because it adheres more closely to
the original. The use of these versions is gone by. They were employed at the Reformation as weapons against Popery, & put into
rhyme as Fuller says that they might be ‘more portable in peoples memories.’ Thomas Fuller
(1607/8–1661; DNB), The Church History of Britain (London, 1655), p. 406. Hymns must now serve
all purposes of devotion as well.
No better reason can be essayed for poor Tommys Unidentified. fate than
that his brother did so before him forty years ago, – an odd thing to run in a family. It seems to have been a sudden fit of insanity –
precisely what the common people mean when they say the Devil put such a thing into his head. Yet one might think that when there was
such a person as Buonaparte in the world, the Devil might have let poor Tommy alone.
[Mrs Southey](people.html#FrickerEdith) & her sisters
[Sarah Coleridge](people.html#FrickerSarah) and [Mary
Lovell](people.html#FrickerMary). beg to be remembered & join me in remembrances to Mr and Miss Brownes. Probably a reference to Wade Browne’s daughters by his first marriage, Lydia (c. 1789–1864), Elizabeth
(dates unknown) and Sarah (c. 1793/1794–1860s). Little Mary Mary Browne (dates
unknown), Wade Browne’s only child by his second marriage. I suppose is again grown out of our knowledge. Our young ones
would delight in seeing her.
Believe me my dear Sir
Yrs most truly & respectfully
Robert Southey. let poor … Robert Southey: Written at top of fol.
1.