3783. Robert Southey to Herbert Hill, 25 January 1822

 

Address: To/ The Reverend Herbert Hill/ Streatham/ Surry
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: 10 o’Clock/ JA 28/ 1822 F Nn
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, WC 213. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 293–295 [in part].

Keswick. 25 Jany. 1822

I know not how much longer the first volume of Brazil

(1)

The second (1822) edition of the first volume of Southey’s History of Brazil was advertised for sale in the Morning Chronicle, 2 February 1822.

is to remain in that Limbo,

(2)

In Catholic theology, the souls of the righteous who had died before Jesus was born were required to wait in Limbo until Jesus liberated them after his crucifixion.

which is the intermediate state of books after printing & before publication. Longman however is instructed to send you two copies as soon as they are to be had. You will find a good deal of curious additional matter, & see that my time was not misemployed in acquiring knowledge <enough> of Dutch to make my way thro their huge, straight-forward, & honest historical works.

(3)

Primarily, Lieuwe van Aitzema (1600–1669), Sakem van Staet en Oorlogh in emde Omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1655–1671), with the continuation by Lambert van den Bos (1610–1698) of 1685–1699, and Aitzema’s Verhael van de Nederlansche Vrede-Handeling (1671), no. 214 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library; and Johannes de Laet (1581–1649), Historie ofte Iaerlijk Verhael van de Verrichtinghen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie (1644), no. 1671 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

Frere has deputed his brother Bartholomew to communicate with me concerning Spanish affairs. This was done just in time; – he will look over the proofs

(4)

Southey was correcting the proofs of the first volume of his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). As John Frere was living in Malta he was unable to help Southey in this process.

to see if I need correction or farther information which it may be in his power to bestow; & he has offered Whittinghams

(5)

Lieutenant General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham (1772–1841; DNB), British soldier who served with Spanish forces in the Peninsular War 1808–1813.

services, who will get me some official papers from Madrid. – The 63d proof is now on my table. – The two first proofs of the Book of the Church

(6)

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

are also before me: this is a work which will unquestionably do good: many young minds will receive from it a right bias; & it will bear with weight upon the Catholic question,

(7)

The question of whether Catholics should be able to hold public office in the United Kingdom.

the more effectually because it is not in a controversial form.

William Westall, for whom I have a great regard, means to engrave a series of views to accompany my Hist: of the War.

(8)

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 pictures could be inserted into the first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

I have sent him two of your sketches which apply to the first volume, – the Puente del Corgul,

(9)

A bridge in Galicia that Southey had crossed in December 1795, ‘a scene of tranquil sublimity’ (Letters Written during a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal (Bristol, 1797), p. 54). In the Edinburgh Annual Register, 1.1 (1808), 452, Southey lamented that failure to destroy the bridge had ruined the best chance that British forces had to halt the French forces that were pursuing them during their retreat to Corunna in 1808–1809. He also referred in a note to ‘a sketch, taken upon the spot’ (452) that he had seen – probably Herbert Hill’s drawing.

– & the Bridge over the Ezla with Benevente between the chalk hills, – the very spot where Buonaparte was in danger of being made prisoner by Lord Castlereaghs brother, & where Lefebvre Desnouettes was taken.

(10)

The bridge over the River Esla at Castro Gonzalo, with the town of Benavente in the distance. It was the scene of a defeat of French cavalry by British forces on 29 December 1808. A brigade of cavalry in this clash was commanded by Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (1778–1854; DNB) and brother of Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769–1822; DNB), Foreign Secretary 1812–1822. The French commander, Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes (1773–1822), was captured; see Southey, History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp, 782–783. Southey stated that ‘It was reported that…

He has got (thro Bedford) some sketches from General Hawker,

(11)

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

– of which Marraõ, Guarda & Cintra will do for the first series.

(12)

The Serra do Marao is a mountain in Portugal; Guarda is the Portuguese town that was burnt and looted by French troops in July 1808; Cintra was the site of the Convention of Cintra, 30 August 1808 (History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp. 496–497, 575–578).

– I wish we could get obtain views of Lisbon & Madrid, the Escurial, Aranguez, Bayonne, Cordoba, Jaen, Zaragoza, V Viçosa, Evora, Beja, Nazareth, & Leiria

(13)

In 1808 these were all important sites during the Peninsular War. El Escorial is a royal palace, north of Madrid and site of a conspiracy against Charles IV (1748–1819; King of Spain 1788–1808) in 1807; Aranjuez is another royal residence near Madrid and scene of a mutiny on 17–19 March 1808, which deposed Charles IV; Bayonne is a town in south-west France, where Charles IV abdicated his rights to Napoleon on 5 May 1808; Cordoba was sacked by French forces on 7 June 1808 and Zaragoza was the site of two famous sieges by French troops in 1808–1809; Jaen is an alternative name for the French def…

<for that volume>. That which you sent me of Madrid, by Hawker, disappeared with many other things, while I was without a resting place. <Have you a copy of it?>

I hear from various quarters that my reply to Lord Byrons blackguardism

(14)

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. Southey had re…

is producing the effect which was intended upon others, however he may take it. I have no desire to pursue the matter farther, but, if need be, I shall have no great reluctance to it; there are plenty of smooth stones in the brook,

(15)

1 Samuel 17: 40, where David chose ‘five smooth stones out of the brook’ to use in his sling against Goliath.

my arm is in good order, & I am sure of my aim. These things in no degree disturb me. I see some strong hand at Oxford has taken up his Cain, ( – which I have not seen.)

(16)

A Remonstrance Addressed to Mr. John Murray, Respecting a Recent Publication (1822), signed ‘Oxoniensis’. The author was Henry John Todd (1763–1845; DNB), Librarian at Lambeth Palace 1807–1820, a Royal Chaplain (1812–1845) and literary editor, most famously of the Poetical Works of Milton (1801).

If he compels me to engage with him again, I will brand him in such a manner as will exclude him from all society in thxxx England, in which character is considered a necessary <to be an to be> as a necessary qualification. The truth is he is desperate. He has (I know) sent over for publication things more atrocious than any which have yet appeared, & such as none but the ames damnés

(17)

‘damned souls’.

of the trade will venture to publish. Murray is upon a bed of thorns, which he has made for himself

(18)

Murray had published Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery (1821). However, he had declined to publish Byron’s play, ‘Heaven and Earth’ with this work. He was also hesitating over whether to publish Byron’s The Vision of Judgment (1822), a parody of Southey’s A Vision of Judgement (1821). Eventually, it was issued by John Hunt (1775–1848; DNB) in The Liberal, 1 (October 1822), 3–39.

I am reviewing a life of Camoens, – his biographers have taken very little brains to their task

(19)

John Adamson, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Luis de Camoens (1820), no. 10 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. Southey reviewed it in Quarterly Review, 27 (April 1822), 1–39, published 4 July 1822.

It is a good while since I have heard either of you, or the Doctor, – him indeed I hardly account among my correspondents. Toms family are in the hooping cough, – communication is of course interdicted, & at distance of four miles, we may hope to scape. We are tolerably well, – & I am in excellent spirits for work.

Love to my Aunt & the children. I hear from a neighbour of Wm Heathcotes success at All Souls,

(20)

After obtaining a First in his B.A. in 1821, William Heathcote had been elected a Fellow of All Souls 1822–1825. It is not clear who had given Southey this information. However, Heathcote lived to be eighty years old.

– but am very sorry to hear that he is thought to be of a xxxx precarious what is called very delicate. If however there is no hereditary disposition to consumption the weak frame often outlasts the robust one.

God bless you
RS.

I shall frank off your Landor tomorrow.

(21)

Landor’s Idyllia Heroica Decem Phaleuciorum Unum Partim jam Primo Partim Iterum atq Tertio Edit Savagius Landor (1820), no. 1598 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

Notes

1. The second (1822) edition of the first volume of Southey’s History of Brazil was advertised for sale in the Morning Chronicle, 2 February 1822. [back]
2. In Catholic theology, the souls of the righteous who had died before Jesus was born were required to wait in Limbo until Jesus liberated them after his crucifixion. [back]
3. Primarily, Lieuwe van Aitzema (1600–1669), Sakem van Staet en Oorlogh in emde Omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1655–1671), with the continuation by Lambert van den Bos (1610–1698) of 1685–1699, and Aitzema’s Verhael van de Nederlansche Vrede-Handeling (1671), no. 214 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library; and Johannes de Laet (1581–1649), Historie ofte Iaerlijk Verhael van de Verrichtinghen der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie (1644), no. 1671 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. [back]
4. Southey was correcting the proofs of the first volume of his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). As John Frere was living in Malta he was unable to help Southey in this process. [back]
5. Lieutenant General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham (1772–1841; DNB), British soldier who served with Spanish forces in the Peninsular War 1808–1813. [back]
6. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824). [back]
7. The question of whether Catholics should be able to hold public office in the United Kingdom. [back]
8. 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 pictures could be inserted into the first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). [back]
9. A bridge in Galicia that Southey had crossed in December 1795, ‘a scene of tranquil sublimity’ (Letters Written during a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal (Bristol, 1797), p. 54). In the Edinburgh Annual Register, 1.1 (1808), 452, Southey lamented that failure to destroy the bridge had ruined the best chance that British forces had to halt the French forces that were pursuing them during their retreat to Corunna in 1808–1809. He also referred in a note to ‘a sketch, taken upon the spot’ (452) that he had seen – probably Herbert Hill’s drawing. [back]
10. The bridge over the River Esla at Castro Gonzalo, with the town of Benavente in the distance. It was the scene of a defeat of French cavalry by British forces on 29 December 1808. A brigade of cavalry in this clash was commanded by Charles Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry (1778–1854; DNB) and brother of Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (1769–1822; DNB), Foreign Secretary 1812–1822. The French commander, Charles Lefebvre-Desnouettes (1773–1822), was captured; see Southey, History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp, 782–783. Southey stated that ‘It was reported that Bonaparte was on the heights during this action’ (783), a rather less definite statement than that Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821; Emperor of the French 1804–1814, 1815) was in danger of capture. [back]
11. 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]
12. The Serra do Marao is a mountain in Portugal; Guarda is the Portuguese town that was burnt and looted by French troops in July 1808; Cintra was the site of the Convention of Cintra, 30 August 1808 (History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp. 496–497, 575–578). [back]
13. In 1808 these were all important sites during the Peninsular War. El Escorial is a royal palace, north of Madrid and site of a conspiracy against Charles IV (1748–1819; King of Spain 1788–1808) in 1807; Aranjuez is another royal residence near Madrid and scene of a mutiny on 17–19 March 1808, which deposed Charles IV; Bayonne is a town in south-west France, where Charles IV abdicated his rights to Napoleon on 5 May 1808; Cordoba was sacked by French forces on 7 June 1808 and Zaragoza was the site of two famous sieges by French troops in 1808–1809; Jaen is an alternative name for the French defeat at Bailen on 16–19 July 1808. The other sites are in Portugal: at Vila Vicosa on 22 June 1808 French forces relieved a besieged French army and plundered the town; the Battle of Evora on 29 July 1808 was a French victory over a Portuguese-Spanish force, followed by a massacre; at Beja on 26 June 1808 a French army defeated local forces and looted the town; Nazareth was a small coastal fort captured by Portuguese insurgents on 5 July 1808; the same day a French army defeated the Portuguese at Leiria and sacked the town. [back]
14. 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. Southey had responded with a letter to the Editor of the Courier, 5 January 1822, Letter 3776, published there on 11 January 1822. [back]
15. 1 Samuel 17: 40, where David chose ‘five smooth stones out of the brook’ to use in his sling against Goliath. [back]
16. A Remonstrance Addressed to Mr. John Murray, Respecting a Recent Publication (1822), signed ‘Oxoniensis’. The author was Henry John Todd (1763–1845; DNB), Librarian at Lambeth Palace 1807–1820, a Royal Chaplain (1812–1845) and literary editor, most famously of the Poetical Works of Milton (1801). [back]
17. ‘damned souls’. [back]
18. Murray had published Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery (1821). However, he had declined to publish Byron’s play, ‘Heaven and Earth’ with this work. He was also hesitating over whether to publish Byron’s The Vision of Judgment (1822), a parody of Southey’s A Vision of Judgement (1821). Eventually, it was issued by John Hunt (1775–1848; DNB) in The Liberal, 1 (October 1822), 3–39. [back]
19. John Adamson, Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Luis de Camoens (1820), no. 10 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. Southey reviewed it in Quarterly Review, 27 (April 1822), 1–39, published 4 July 1822. [back]
20. After obtaining a First in his B.A. in 1821, William Heathcote had been elected a Fellow of All Souls 1822–1825. It is not clear who had given Southey this information. However, Heathcote lived to be eighty years old. [back]
21. Landor’s Idyllia Heroica Decem Phaleuciorum Unum Partim jam Primo Partim Iterum atq Tertio Edit Savagius Landor (1820), no. 1598 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. [back]
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