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Bodleian Library, Eng. Lett. c. 23. Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849-1850), II, pp. 161-163 [in part].Dating note: The first two sentences of the letter were written on 19 August; the rest on 6 September, by which time Southey was staying at Greta Hall, Keswick.
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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Grosvenor Care
& not to understand it as if I called you Mr Carey, which would be calling you out of your
name. Wednesday 19 Aug. 1801.
Imprimis – I am going to send you the first book of the Curse poem
2dly De Anthologiâ – which is of or concerning the Anthology.
& 3dly did not you write a ballad of the Lady her Dog & her Dollybell which it contained it rests upon your
shoulders.
You ask me questions about my foreign plans which I cannot readily answer. only that if I get a decent salary abroad, even should my health take a fancy to this queer climate, I have no estate to retire to at home – & so shall have a good prudential reason for remaining there. my dreams incline to Lisbon as a resting place – I am really attached to the country – & odd as it may seem, to the people. in Lisbon they are like all metropolitanians – rogueish enough – but in the country I have found them hospitable even to kindness, when I was a stranger & in want. the Consulship at Lisbon would of all possible situations best delight me – better than a grand Consulship. tis a good thousand a year – but when one is dreaming you know Grosvenor –
These Lakes are like Rivers – but oh for the Mondego & the Tagus. & these mountains – beautifully indeed are
they shaped & grouped – but oh for the great Monchique – & for Cintra my Paradise – this
Heaven on Earth of my hopes. & if ever I should have a house at Cintra – as in honest
sincerity I do hope I shall – will not you give me one twelvemonth, & eat grapes & ride donkeys & be very happy? – in truth
Grosvenor I have lived abroad too long to be contented in England – I miss southern luxuries – the fruits – the wines – I miss the sun
in heaven – having been upon a short allowance of sunbeams these last ten days. & if the nervous fluid be the galvanic fluid, &
the galvanic fluid the electric fluid, & the electric fluid condensed light
God bless you. I am going in a few days to meet Wynn at Liverpool – & then to see the Welsh Lions. so if you know his direction write to me under cover for the love of the frank. & fail not to send the annotations in Thalabam.
Whenever I get my books together I will draw out the long delayed account of Leandrian
Grosvenor Bedford I wish you would write a history – for take my word for it no employment else is one thousandth part so interesting. I wish you would try it. we want a Venetian history – I would hunt Italy for your materials – & help you in any imaginable way – think about it & tell me your thoughts.
t. 6. 1801.