The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part 1: 1791-1797 A Romantic Circles Electronic EditionSouthey, Robert, 1774-1843Lynda PrattRomantic CirclesGeneral Editor, Neil FraistatGeneral Editor, Steven E. JonesGeneral Editor, Carl StahmerTechnical EditorLaura Mandell2009-03-15rce69letterEEd.26.69Romantic Circles, http://www.rc.umd.edu, University of MarylandCollege Park, MDMarch 15, 2009
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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey,
6 vols (London, 1849–1850), I, pp. 191–194 [in part; a section from the 13 November section is misdated 16 November].
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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69. Robert Southey to Horace Walpole Bedford, 13–16 November 1793Address: Horace Walpole Bedford Esqr/ Old Palace Yard/
Westminster/ SingleStamped: BRISTOLPostmark: NO/ 18/ 93Watermarks: Figure of Britannia; G R in a circleSeal: Red
wax [design illegible]Endorsement: Recd. Mond. 13th. Oct./ 1793 [The endorsement is misdated
October.]MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 22. ALS; 4p.Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), I, pp. 191–194 [in part; a section from
the 13 November section is misdated 16 November].College Green.
Wednesday. . Nov 13. 93. Oh Horace oh Woe Bedford woe Oh oh Woe woe Woe woe Oh oh Which you can never know Unless I tell you so — I must to dinner goAnd I shall think it is hardIf I do not dine well tho your letter sticks in my gizzardAy & whats worse I swearTenpennyworth of halfpence sticking there. As I am a sinner I made a good dinner.Then to the post office I walkd again henceTo rid my stomach of this odious ten penceFor of your letter the expence (Tho on the outside as you ought Single you had wrote)Amounted unto fifteen pence!I raved & said & almost then had sworeFive pennys was the price & I would pay no moreSo to the post office with this intentWhen I had eat my midday meal I wentAnd there (for the post men demurred not) The ten pence got. Lift aloud the mirthful cry To tenpence! To I!
———
Time ruthless deity — how swift thy way Thou wing’st when Pleasure fills the short livd hour —And rich Delight would lengthen out the day — And pour the prayer to thee unsparing power —Yet how thy wings their lagging course delay When stern Misfortunes clouds tremendous lower —And baleful Misery lifts her venomd dartAnd Sorrows lethal dews ychill the drooping heartThus oer Silurias fieldsA poetic name for South Wales, derived from the
Silures who had inhabited the area in Roman times. where Vegas courseVega was the
Latin name for the River Wye. Meanders wild & paints the flowery plainWhen Summer drys the earth with arid force The fearful farmer invocates for rainAnon when Winter comes with tempests hoarse The torrent rolls along with force amainSweeps in resistless fury oer the groundFrom Cambrias mountains black & deluges aroundOh I have prayed thee erst to stay thy flight And check the current of the hastening dayWhen passd the blissful hours in full delight And blameless Pleasure held Elysian swayThen have I bannd the moments swift wingd flight And wishd but wishd in vain their course to stayFor soon the sun shot down the western steepAnd I retird alone in darksome woe to weep.And I have prayd thee in the hour of woe, When rankling Sorrow sped her iron dartDeep in this breast, with added speed to go And to my ills some distant hope impart —That as the rapid waves eternal flow Some transient gleam of bliss might chear my <heart>Then Time hast thou despisd my suppliant prayerAnd loaded every hour with lingering deep despair.I invocate no more — my shielded breast Mocks at thy rage & spurns thy ruthless powerBy thee Philosophy in peace possest I fly from Miserys soul afflicting showr — And lull Regrets stern voice at length to rest And give to Apathy the listless hourAnd only wish thy transient reign was oerAnd I was landed safe upon the unknown shore.That unknown shore where husht in endless peace Affliction drops at length her rankling dartAnd Deaths stern sway relaxd to listless ease Chills with oblivious dews the slumbering heartWhere every joy & every grief shall cease Nor Woe shall feel Remembrance poignant smartBut kind Oblivion still her sway shall keepAnd hush the harrowed soul in one eternal sleep.Fill high the lethal bowl. shall Man endure The load of sorrow & the weight of woe?Fill high the lethal bowl — the eternal cure And waft the spirit to the shades belowFill high the lethal bowl — let grief inure The mind to think of Death no more a foeTill stern Despair shall lift the bowl on highAnd Sorrow sink to rest without one fearful sigh.
—————
Ah Time how slow thy moments flyWhen Sorrow heaves the loaded sigh And glooms the darkling day —How often have I pourd the prayerHow often filld with deep despair Ybannd thy dull delay.Now when Philosophys kind artHas fenced from every ill my heart — Roll on thy stream in peace —And I no more to thee will prayOr urge thy flight or ask thy stay For Apathy is easeBe mine to read the classic pageRetrace each old heroic age And live in long past daysWith HectorIn the Iliad, the son of Priam, King of
Troy. dare the patriot warMourn oer AchillesA Greek hero, whose exploits are described in the Iliad. He killed Hector and dragged his body round the walls of Troy behind his chariot. murderous
car And curse the heroes bays.Be mine oer many a realm to roamWith him exild from long lovd home The much enduring chiefBe mine to heave the heartfelt sighWhen Fancy sees old ArgusIn the Odyssey, Book 17,
Odysseus’ dog, who recognises his master on his return home after twenty years and then dies. die — And seek from tears reliefOer MarathonsThe Greek victory over the Persians at the battle of Marathon
490 BC. embattled plainOr oer JamappeThe battle of Jemappes, 6 November 1792, saw the defeat of the
Austrians and their allies by the French General Charles-Francois du Perier Dumouriez (1739–1823). Both sides sustained heavy
casualties. stern Slaughters reign Be mine the exulting glow —Or wrapt in Sorrows darksome gloomOer Socrates or BrissotsJacques Pierre Brissot (1754–1793), a leading
Girondist, was executed in October 1793. tomb To drop the tear of woe.And let me high in hope attendThe welcome letter from my friend And break in haste the sealThen rush the friendly lines to readOer every word ten times proceed And still fresh pleasure feel.Oh Horace ... feel: Verse written in double
columns.
——————
Saturday Nov 16.
I lay down LeonidasRichard Glover (1712–1785; DNB),
Leonidas, A Poem (1737). to go on with your letter. it has ever been a favorite poem with me — I
have read it perhaps <more> frequently than any other composition & always with renewd pleasure. it possesses not the
“thoughts that breathe & words that burn”Thomas Gray (1716–1771; DNB), ‘The Progress of Poesy. A Pindaric Ode’ (1757), III. 3, line 4. but there is a something very different
from those strong efforts of imagination that pleases the judgment & feed the fancy without moving
the heart. the interest I feel in the poem is perhaps chiefly owing to the subject — certainly the noblest ever undertaken. it needs no
argument to prove this assertion. Miltons is above comparison & stands alone as much from the singularity of the subject as the
excellence of the diction. there remains Homer Virgil Lucan Statius S Italicus & V FlaccusThe epic poets Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (AD 39–65), author of the Pharsalia; Publius Papinius Statius (c. AD 45–96), author of Thebaid; Tiberius Catius Silius
Italicus (c. AD 25–101), author of Punica; Gaius Valerius Flaccus (died c. AD 90), author of Argonautica. among the antients. I recollect no others — & amongst these subjects you will find none
so interesting as the the self devoted Leonidas
among the moderns we know Ariosto Tasso CamoensThe poets Lodovico Ariosto
(1474–1533); Torquato Tasso (1544–1595); Luis Vaz de Camões (1524–1580). Voltaire — & our own immortal Spenser. the
other Italian authors in this line & the Spanish ones I know not.
indeed that period of history upon which both Glovers epicsRichard Glover,
Leonidas, A Poem (1737) and The Athenaid, published posthumously in
1787. are founded is the grandest ever yet displayd. a constellation of such men never honord mankind at any other time or at
least never were calld into the energy of action. Leonidas & his immortal band Æschylus Themistocles & Aristides the perfect
republican.Leonidas, King of Sparta (reigned 487–480 BC), killed at the battle of
Thermopylae; Æschylus (525–456 BC), writer of tragedy, who fought at the battles of Salamis and Platæa; Themistocles (c. 528–462
BC), Athenian statesman and general, victor at the naval battle of Salamis; Aristides (c. 530–468 BC), Athenian statesman and
general. even the satellites of XerxesKing of Persia (reigned 486–465 BC), who
invaded Greece and was defeated at the battles of Salamis and Platæa. were dignified by ArtemisiaArtemisia I of Caria, ruler of Halicarnassus, fought bravely on the side of Xerxes in the Battle of Salamis, 480 BC.
See Richard Glover, Leonidas, A Poem (London, 1737), p. 307, for ‘the martial queen of Caria’. &
the injurd Spartan Demaratus.Demaratus, King of Sparta 519–491 BC. Deposed, he fled to Persia
and accompanied Xerxes in his invasion of Greece. See Richard Glover, Leonidas, A Poem (London, 1737), p.
ii. to look back into the page of history — to be present at Thermopylæ — at Salamis & PlatæaThree battles fought by Greeks against Persian invaders: Thermopylae and Salamis (both 480 BC) and Platæa (479
BC). to hear the song of Æschylus & the lessons of Aristides & then — behold what Greece is — how fallen even below
contempt — is one of the most miserable reflections the classic mind can endure. what a republic! what a province!
If this world did but contain ten thousand people of both sexes visionary as myself how delightfully would we repeople
Greece & turn out the Moslem. I would turn crusader & make a pilgrimage to ParnassusIn
Greek mythology, Mount Parnassus was the home of the Muses. at the head of my republicans (NB — only lawful head) & there
reinstate the muses in their original splendour. we would build a temple to Eleutherian JoveThe festival celebrated at Platæa in honour of Jupiter Eleutherius as the asserter of liberty. It was instituted after the Greek
victory over the Persians in 479 BC. from the quarries of Paphos.A town in Cyprus,
centre of the cult of Aphrodite. replant the groves of Academus.A place near Athens
dedicated to the hero Academus, and the site of Plato’s school of philosophy, the Academia. aye & the garden of
EpicurusEpicurus (341–270 BC), philosopher, founder of Epicureanism, who reputedly taught
in his garden in Athens. His school was therefore known as ‘the Garden’. where your brother & I would commence teachers — yes your brother — for if he would
not comb out the powder & fling away the poultices to embark in such an expedition he deserves to be made a German Elector or a
West Indian Planter. Charles Collins should occupy the chair of Plato (pretty Plato) & hold forth to the Societas scientium literariorum studiosorum
(not unaptly stiled the society of knowing ones) & we would actually send for SawkinsPossibly Charles Sawkins (d. 1818), educated at Christ Church, Oxford, BA 1778, and from 1797, Perpetual Curate of Binsey,
Oxfordshire. to represent Euclid.Euclid of Alexandria (dates uncertain, between 325
and 250 BC), mathematician. now could I lay down the whole plan — build my house in the prettiest Doric stile — plant out the
garden like WolmarsIn Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s (1712–1778) Julie, ou la
Nouvelle Héloïse (1761), the tutor Saint-Preux, his lover Julie and her husband Baron Wolmar create an ideal virtuous
life on the Wolmars’s estate at Clarens by Lake Geneva. & imagine just such a family to walk in it — when here comes a
rascal by crying Hare skins & rabbit skins — & my poor house which was built in the air falls to pieces & leaves me like
most such visionary projectors staring at disappointment.
with a friend you say you would have no reserve. for the future have none with me. surely reserve in trifles would be
unworthy of both. make your requests known & you know my will, ability I cannot so certainly promise. when we meet at Oxford which
I hope we shall in January there are a hundred things better communicated in conversation than by correspondence. I have no object of
pursuit in life — but to fill the passing hour & fit myself for death: beyond these views I have nothing — to be of service to my
friends would be serving myself most essentially — & there are few enterprizes however hazardous & however romantic in which I
would not most willingly engage.
it was the favorite intention of CowleyAbraham Cowley (1618–1667; DNB), royalist poet. to retire with his books to a cottage in America & seek that happiness in
solitude which he could not find in society. my asylum there would be sought for different reasons (& no prospect in life gives me
half the pleasure this visionary one affords.) I should be pleased to reside in country where mere abilities would ensure respect.
where society was upon a proper footing & Man was considered as more valuable than money & where I could till the earth &
provide by honest industry the meal which my wife would dress with pleasing care. redeunt spectacula maneA commonplace saying, which can be translated as ‘spectacles return by morning’. reason comes with the end of
the paper
yrs most sincerelyR Southey.
remember me respectfully to all friends.
beg Grosvenor to send the rest of my baggage as
soon as convenient. I want bear & boots. you have read of puss in boots? why not not bear likewise?
write soon.beg ... soon: Written on the address section.