3775. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 2 January 1822

 

Address: To/ G.C. Bedford Esqre/ 9 Stafford Row
Endorsements: 2 Jan.ry 1822./ Ld Byron – Dobrizhoffer; 2 Janry. 1822
MS: Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 26. ALS; 3p.
Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), II, pp. 233–234.

My dear Grosvenor

Gifford has told me of Mr Fishers death,

(1)

James Fisher (c. 1758–1821), Chief Clerk in the Auditor’s Office, had died on 15 December 1821. Bedford duly succeeded Fisher as Chief Clerk 1822–1834, relinquishing his post of Clerk of Registers and Issues, which he had held since 1806.

& I am anxious to know whether you are to ascend in the old & proper course of things or to suffer in consequence of any new order, upon the present system of rascally retrenchment. This is a point which interests me much more than any possible change of ministry could do

I suppose you have seen Lord Byrons note concerning me.

(2)

In the ‘Appendix’ to ‘The Two Foscari’, Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery (London, 1821), p. 328, Byron had cautioned: ‘I am not ignorant of Mr. Southey’s calumnies on a different occasion, knowing them to be such, which he scattered abroad on his return from Switzerland against me and others.’ Southey had visited Switzerland in his continental tour of May–August 1817. The ‘calumnies’ Byron believed Southey to have later spread were rumours that Byron and Shelley had engaged in a ‘League of Incest’ during their residence in Switzerland in 1816.

I heard of it a week ago from Wordsworth, & began a newspaper reply, that I might be sure of the advantage of writing while I was cool. Today I have seen the passage in a newspaper:

(3)

Westmorland Advertiser and Kendal Chronicle, 29 December 1821.

a little of my reply must be struck out as irrelevant (that is to say not called for) – & a concluding paragraph must be added. When that is done, & Wordsworth has seen it, I shall send it to you, on its way to the Courier.

(4)

Southey to the Editor of the Courier, 5 January 1822, Letter 3776. The letter appeared in the Courier on 11 January 1822.

– If I had been in danger of lowering & exposing myself by losing my temper, his Lordships example would have saved me: but I am too sensible of my strength to fall into his error. His affectation of contempt comes to my hands curiously, just after I have received from Murray an account of the manner in which he extolled Roderick upon its first appearance.

(5)

Byron greatly admired Southey’s Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814); see Southey to John Murray, 4 December 1814, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Four, Letter 2510.

But this inconsistency, which must be known to all his friends, is beneath my notice. I have nothing to do but to repel the charge of calumny & lay on the scourge a second time upon the author of Don Juan.

(6)

A Vision of Judgement (London, 1821), ‘Preface’, pp. xvii–xxii, where Southey denounced ‘the Satanic School’ of modern poetry without naming any one poet. However, this was clearly a riposte to Byron’s Don Juan (1819), whose suppressed ‘Dedication’, mocking Southey, had circulated widely.

Get from G. a set of proofs of Dobrizhoffer, – for I am always in fear of his curtailments.

(7)

Southey reviewed Sara Coleridge’s An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay (1822) in Quarterly Review, 26 (January 1822), 277–323, published 30 March 1822. The book was a translation of Martin Dobrizhoffer (1717–1791), Historia de Abiponibus Equestri, Bellicosaque Paraquariae Natione (1784), no. 843 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

I hope you have done with this with Huntington the S.S.

(8)

The preacher and religious writer William Huntington (1745–1813; DNB), who added ‘S. S.’ – ‘Sinner Saved’ – to his name, to indicate his spiritual state. Southey’s review of The Works of the Reverend William Huntington, S. S. Minister of the Gospel, at Providence Chapel, Gray’s Inn Lane, Completed to the Close of the Year 1806 (1811), appeared in Quarterly Review, 24 (January 1821), 462–510, published 6 April 1821.

– You will be pleased to hear that Gifford has sent me a copy of his Massenger,

(9)

William Gifford, The Plays of Philip Massinger, in Four Volumes. With Notes Critical and Explanatory (1805), an edition of the works of Philip Massinger (1583–1640; DNB). Southey acquired an edition of 1813, no. 1821 in the sale catalogue of his library.

– I am very much obliged to him for it.

The Ode

(10)

Southey’s New Year’s Ode for 1822 as Poet Laureate: ‘Ireland’, published in Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829), I, pp. [295]–302. Southey sent the poem to Grosvenor Charles Bedford on 18 December 1821, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3765.

which I sent you bears looking back upon better than might have been expected of a composition to which I went so doggedly. – On Friday I shall send Murray le magne the first commencement of the Book of the Church.

(11)

Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).

Westall thinks of engraving some views to accompany my History of the War,

(12)

A Series of Views of Spain and Portugal, to Illustrate Mr. Southey’s History of the Peninsular War; Drawn on Stone by W. Westall, A.R.A., from Sketches by General Hawker, Mr. Locker, Mr. Heaphy, &c. Part I, containing Eight Views, illustrating Vol. I (1823). These could be inserted into the first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

– if he can obtain sketches. I have some notion of having heard that your friend Hawker

(13)

Major-General Samuel Hawker (1763–1838), who had served in the Peninsular War between 1808 and 1811 as commander of the 14th Light Dragoons.

was a sketcher, – is it so?

The girls

(14)

Southey’s daughters, Edith May, Bertha, Isabel and Kate.

thank you for their Almanachs. – Your Godson asked a question lately which is worthy of remembrance, – Why did we let Christmas Day go away? – Poor Cupn thought we might make it Christmas Day all the year round. He is quite well thank God – & I wish you could see him -

God bless you

RS.

Keswick. 2 Jany. 1822.

Notes

1. James Fisher (c. 1758–1821), Chief Clerk in the Auditor’s Office, had died on 15 December 1821. Bedford duly succeeded Fisher as Chief Clerk 1822–1834, relinquishing his post of Clerk of Registers and Issues, which he had held since 1806. [back]
2. In the ‘Appendix’ to ‘The Two Foscari’, Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery (London, 1821), p. 328, Byron had cautioned: ‘I am not ignorant of Mr. Southey’s calumnies on a different occasion, knowing them to be such, which he scattered abroad on his return from Switzerland against me and others.’ Southey had visited Switzerland in his continental tour of May–August 1817. The ‘calumnies’ Byron believed Southey to have later spread were rumours that Byron and Shelley had engaged in a ‘League of Incest’ during their residence in Switzerland in 1816. [back]
3. Westmorland Advertiser and Kendal Chronicle, 29 December 1821. [back]
4. Southey to the Editor of the Courier, 5 January 1822, Letter 3776. The letter appeared in the Courier on 11 January 1822. [back]
5. Byron greatly admired Southey’s Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814); see Southey to John Murray, 4 December 1814, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Four, Letter 2510. [back]
6. A Vision of Judgement (London, 1821), ‘Preface’, pp. xvii–xxii, where Southey denounced ‘the Satanic School’ of modern poetry without naming any one poet. However, this was clearly a riposte to Byron’s Don Juan (1819), whose suppressed ‘Dedication’, mocking Southey, had circulated widely. [back]
7. Southey reviewed Sara Coleridge’s An Account of the Abipones, an Equestrian People of Paraguay (1822) in Quarterly Review, 26 (January 1822), 277–323, published 30 March 1822. The book was a translation of Martin Dobrizhoffer (1717–1791), Historia de Abiponibus Equestri, Bellicosaque Paraquariae Natione (1784), no. 843 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. [back]
8. The preacher and religious writer William Huntington (1745–1813; DNB), who added ‘S. S.’ – ‘Sinner Saved’ – to his name, to indicate his spiritual state. Southey’s review of The Works of the Reverend William Huntington, S. S. Minister of the Gospel, at Providence Chapel, Gray’s Inn Lane, Completed to the Close of the Year 1806 (1811), appeared in Quarterly Review, 24 (January 1821), 462–510, published 6 April 1821. [back]
9. William Gifford, The Plays of Philip Massinger, in Four Volumes. With Notes Critical and Explanatory (1805), an edition of the works of Philip Massinger (1583–1640; DNB). Southey acquired an edition of 1813, no. 1821 in the sale catalogue of his library. [back]
10. Southey’s New Year’s Ode for 1822 as Poet Laureate: ‘Ireland’, published in Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829), I, pp. [295]–302. Southey sent the poem to Grosvenor Charles Bedford on 18 December 1821, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3765. [back]
11. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824). [back]
12. A Series of Views of Spain and Portugal, to Illustrate Mr. Southey’s History of the Peninsular War; Drawn on Stone by W. Westall, A.R.A., from Sketches by General Hawker, Mr. Locker, Mr. Heaphy, &c. Part I, containing Eight Views, illustrating Vol. I (1823). These could be inserted into the first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). [back]
13. Major-General Samuel Hawker (1763–1838), who had served in the Peninsular War between 1808 and 1811 as commander of the 14th Light Dragoons. [back]
14. Southey’s daughters, Edith May, Bertha, Isabel and Kate. [back]
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