3707. Robert Southey to
[Wade Browne](people.html#BrowneWade),
1 August
1821Address: To/ Wade Browne Esqre/ Ludlow
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
MS: British Library, Add MS 47891. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.[Keswick](places.html#Keswick).1 Aug. 1821 My dear Sir I ought ere this to have thanked you for the perry, which arrived safe, & in such high-flying condition, that if
hot weather had overtaken it on the way, & the demolition of bottles had occurred in the hampers, which has taken place since, the
carrier would have been suspected of careless usage.
When your last letter arrived I was in hopes that the disturbances in the Turkish empire would soon have been
appeased.See Southey to Wade Browne, 28 December 1820, Letter 3593, where he stated: ‘We
shall soon begin to think of Turkey as a good settled government.’ Following the conclusion of peace with Russia in 1812, the
Ottoman Empire had gradually re-established much of its severely shaken authority in Anatolia and Syria. However, the Empire then
had to face a war with Persia (1821–1823) and an, ultimately successful, revolt in Greece, which began in 1821. Have you
heard from Wade?Wade Browne (1796–1851), only son of Wade Browne and later a country gentleman
at Monkton Farleigh in Somerset. He had graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1819 and was travelling in the Near
East. The news of the insurrection must have reached Egypt sooner than it did England; I think therefore that he must have
heard it either before he left Egypt, or in Syria; & in either of those countries he would be safe, where there is no Turkish
feeling among the people, & Europeans are regarded with respect, since their power was shown there.Egypt was occupied by France 1798–1801, and French forces had invaded Palestine in 1799. They were ultimately
defeated by a British expedition in 1801. – Pray let me know if you have received tidings of him. What I hope is that he will
have embarked at Alexandria in some English or French vessel.
Much as the funds are affected by the prospect of a war between Russia & the Turks, that quarrel would
<need> never in its remotest consequences involve this country.It was widely believed that
Russia would intervene to support the Greek revolt, both in order to help fellow Orthodox Christians and to expand the Russian
Empire in the Balkans. Britain, France and Russia eventually did intervene and forced the Ottoman Empire to recognise Greek
independence in 1832. The Greeks may free themselves, & pass into a state of anarchy & intestine wars, worse, if
worse be possible, than the barbarous yoke which they are endeavouring to shake; but there is no danger of their becoming part of the
Russian empire. The Russians may defeat the Turkish armies, & lay open the way to Constantinople, but they cannot maintain their
conquests in Turkey; & Constantinople would sustain a siege like Zaragoza, or prove as fatal to those who took possession of it, as
Moscow did to the French.The city of Zaragoza was besieged by French forces in June–August 1808
and December 1808–February 1809, during the Peninsular War of 1808–1813; Spanish forces successfully defeated the French in the
first siege. French forces had occupied Moscow in September 1812, but little more than a month later they began to withdraw. Over
400,000 French troops and their allies died in the long retreat from Russia. There need be no apprehensions from the
aggrandizement of the Russian empire in that direction.There was a brief Russo-Turkish War in
1828–1829, which led to substantial Russian territorial gains on the west shore of the Black Sea and in Armenia. Our danger
is from an explosion in the Prussian states;Southey feared that the areas of the Rhineland
incorporated into Prussia in 1815 might rebel against Prussian rule. The Rhenish elites were at this time fighting a long battle
with the government in Berlin to defend their local government system and legal code. But there was no revolutionary outbreak until
1848. which might either produce a shock in xx France that would shake the Bourbons from the throne, – or induce
them to fall in with the national feeling, & take advantage of that opportunity for recovering their lost conquests on the side of
Belgium.The Bourbon dynasty had been restored to the French throne by the Allies in 1814,
but lacked legitimacy in the eyes of many French people. Southey feared that any disturbances in the Rhineland would lead to the
overthrow of the Bourbons or force them to attempt to recover Belgium, which the French revolutionaries had annexed in 1795.
– “Give peace in our time, O Lord!”From the Anglican service of evening prayer; see The
Book of Common Prayer (1662).
The Coronation did not draw me to London.The Prince Regent was crowned as
George IV on 19 July 1821. Southey did not attend and also did not write an official poem for the occasion.[My brother Henry](people.html#SoutheyHenryHerbert) was there as one of Lord HowardsKenneth Howard, 11th Baron Howard of Effingham (1767–1845; DNB), leading commander in the Peninsular
War; as Deputy Earl Marshal he was responsible for organising the coronation. Henry Herbert Southey acted as one of the Deputy
Earl Marshal’s Officers at the ceremony – in effect he was an usher. His role was signified by the possession of a gold stick (as
well as a blue and gold lace uniform, and a black hat with feathers). He had probably obtained this job through the influence of his
friend, Sir William Knighton. attendants, in blue & gold, with a ruff, & a gold stick in his hand.
I am printing the History of the Peninsular War, & about half way thro the first volume:Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). so that I am now every day employed upon
those great events, which we used to talk of with so much interest when they occurred twelve & thirteen years ago. Would that the
prospect for those poor countries were as hopeful now, as it was then! We have seen the end of Buonaparte,Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821; Emperor of the French 1804–1814, 1815) had died on 5 May 1821. However, Spain and
Portugal had both witnessed revolutions in 1820 and their political future was in doubt. but we shall not live to see the end
of the evils which he produced.
Our new VicarJames Lynn (1776–1855), Perpetual Curate of Strood 1805–1814,
Rector of Caldbeck 1814–1820, Vicar of Crosthwaite, Keswick 1820–1855; he had married Charlotte Alicia Goodenough (1782–1822) in
1805. Her father, Samuel Goodenough (1743–1827; DNB), was Bishop of Carlisle 1808–1827, which may well explain Lynn’s
appointment to Crosthwaite. has almost rebuilt the vicarage, & in the course of his improvements has unluckily demolished
the old horse-block, which ought to have stood for ever as Gray’s station.When Thomas Gray
(1716–1771; DNB) visited the garden of Crosthwaite vicarage on 4 October 1769, he described the view as seen through
his glass when he stood next to the horsing-block: ‘From hence I got to the parsonage a little before sun-set, and saw in my glass a
picture, that if I could transmit it to you, and fix it in all the softness of its living colours, would fairly sell for a thousand
pounds. This is the sweetest scene I can yet discover in point of pastoral beauty; the rest are in a sublimer stile’, reported in
Thomas West (1720?–1779; DNB), A Guide to the Lakes: Dedicated to the Lovers of Landscape Studies, and to All
who have Visited, or Intend to Visit the Lakes in Cumberland (London, 1778), p. 113. An edition of 1799 was no. 3024 in
the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. This was Station VIII in the viewing points in Keswick and its environs singled out by
West. By demolishing the horsing-block, Lynn had unwittingly deprived the tourist of an important marker. He did not know
what he was doing; – a word would have prevented it if I had been aware of his intention. – I had a pike lately from this lake of 24
pounds; had it been caught a few days sooner I would have sent it up, as worthy of a place at the Coronation Dinner. – The new Vicar
reads & preaches well, & fills the Church, so much so that a gallery is talked of, & an organ.An organ was not installed in Crosthwaite church until 1837. The parishioners have created a monument to his
predecessor,Isaac Denton (c. 1758–1820), Vicar of Crosthwaite, Keswick 1786–1820, whom
Southey called ‘Reverend Porpoise’. The firm of Francis Webster and Sons of Kendal created the wall tablet enumerating his
virtues. praising him for his duties, – to the non-performance of which this popularity must be ascribed.
We are going on Monday next for ten days, or a fortnight, to see my fellow-traveller [Senhouse](people.html#SenhouseHumphrey), at [Netherhall](places.html#Netherhall), – [M](people.html#FrickerEdith)rs S. [Edith](people.html#SoutheyEdithMay), & [Cuthbert](people.html#SoutheyCharlesCuthbert), who will be improved we hope by
saltwater bathing: he is in high health, but has a roughness on the skin, which has lasted several months. Just now he is at his most
entertaining age, attempting to say every thing in a language of his own. At present, thank God, we are all in tolerable health. –
Remember us most kindly to [M](people.html#BrowneMrs)rs Browne & your daughters,Browne’s three daughters by his first marriage: Lydia (c. 1789–1864); [Elizabeth](people.html#BrowneElizabethdau); and [Sarah](people.html#BrowneSarah).
not forgetting little Mary,Mary (dates unknown), Browne’s daughter by his first
marriage. – & believe me
My dear Sir Yrs very trulyRobert
Southey.