3785. Robert Southey to John Murray, 26 January [1822]

 

Address: To/ John Murray Esqre. 
MS: National Library of Scotland, MS 42552. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

My dear Sir

These proofs look exceedingly well.

(1)

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

I return the MSS with them, according to your desire. The first leaf is wanting, & was not sent from the Printers.

(2)

Charles Roworth (c. 1765–1851), printer based at Bell-yard, Temple Bar, London.

The last proof of the History

(3)

The first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

was put into the post, instead of being sent to Mr Freeling, & came to me with a charge of 4 shillings postage.

(4)

Southey had been required to pay the postage on the proofs as they were sent directly to him. If they had been sent to Freeling, Secretary of the General Post Office, use could have been made of the franking privileges possessed by many of Murray’s or Southey’s friends in London.

I hope the blunder will not be repeated.

I wish to consult Kennetts Parochial Antiquities

(5)

White Kennett (1660–1728; DNB), Parochial Antiquities Attempted in the History of Ambrosden, Burcester and Other Adjacent Parts in the Counties of Oxford and Bucks, with a Glossary of Obsolete Terms (1695).

before I send the next copy of the B. of the Church. Dodd

(6)

Charles Dodd (1672–1743; DNB), Church History of England: from the Commencement of the Sixteenth Century to the Revolution in 1688 (1737–1742).

I shall soon return.

I have sent the first part of Camoens

(7)

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.

to Mr Gifford, & have no other subject before me – except Brazil, which I must delay till the reviewal of my own third volume has appeard,

(8)

The third volume of Southey’s History of Brazil (1810–1819). It was not reviewed in the Quarterly Review.

that I may not clash with it in point of honour nor anticipate any thing that may there be said. You mentioned Lucy Aikins book

(9)

Lucy Aikin (1781–1864; DNB), Memoirs of the Court of James I (1822).

– Suppose I were to begin a series of papers of that class –? Or have you any biographical subject?

What a blockhead is that Editor of the Literary Gazette!

(10)

William Jerdan (1782–1869; DNB), editor of the Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c 1817–1851.

He had no other imaginable reason for attributing Haygarths poem

(11)

The review of the anonymous Italy. A Poem. Part the First (1822) in the Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c, 261 (19 January 1822), 33–34, asserted ‘there can be little hesitation in ascribing it to Southey’ (33). The poem was actually by Samuel Rogers, not William Haygarth (1784–1825) as Southey suggests here.

to me, than because I had crosst the Alps! – In what he says of Lord B & myself,

(12)

‘Southey and Byron’, Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c, 261 (19 January 1822), 41–44.

the fellow gravely asserts a lie of me, & then says in a note, that if he is mistaken, I may set him right.

(13)

The article’s main text had stated ‘we are credibly assured, that so zealous was the present Laureate at that time in the cause of Jacobinism, he absolutely went to Newgate with one of his celebrated poetical friends, habited as pilgrims about to abandon this infamous country, and, as money was a scarce commodity, gave to a convicted traitor the Manuscript of Wat Tyler, as the only valuable gift in his power to bestow on this Martyr to Liberty.’ The note at the bottom of the page had then observed, ‘If this is not correctly stated, we are open to Mr. Southey’s contradiction’ (‘Southey and Byro…

A pleasant & profitable way it would be of spending my time, if I were to set every fool right who gossips about me.

Lord B. I dare say, will return to the charge.

(14)

See Southey to Editor of the Courier, 5 January 1822, Letter 3776. Unfortunately for Southey, Byron’s response was The Vision of Judgment (1822).

He had better not. I detest controversy as much as he delights it in it; – but if he persists in the contest, he shall feel that mine is the stronger hand as well as the better cause. Me he can neither injure nor irritate

I hope to follow this B of the Church with the B of the Constitution.

(15)

This book was not written.

– You will be g[MS missing] to hear that Wordsworth is about to publ[MS missing] series of sonnets (some of the grandest compositions that ever man produced) so connected with my book subject, that my book might seem to be a running commentary upon them, – or his a poetical illustration of mine.

(16)

William Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical Sketches (1822).

I hope & believe that they will assist each other, & keep company to the latest generation.

farewell my dear Sir & believe me Yrs very truly

RS.

Keswick 26 Jany.

Notes

1. Proofs of Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824). [back]
2. Charles Roworth (c. 1765–1851), printer based at Bell-yard, Temple Bar, London. [back]
3. The first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). [back]
4. Southey had been required to pay the postage on the proofs as they were sent directly to him. If they had been sent to Freeling, Secretary of the General Post Office, use could have been made of the franking privileges possessed by many of Murray’s or Southey’s friends in London. [back]
5. White Kennett (1660–1728; DNB), Parochial Antiquities Attempted in the History of Ambrosden, Burcester and Other Adjacent Parts in the Counties of Oxford and Bucks, with a Glossary of Obsolete Terms (1695). [back]
6. Charles Dodd (1672–1743; DNB), Church History of England: from the Commencement of the Sixteenth Century to the Revolution in 1688 (1737–1742). [back]
7. 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]
8. The third volume of Southey’s History of Brazil (1810–1819). It was not reviewed in the Quarterly Review. [back]
9. Lucy Aikin (1781–1864; DNB), Memoirs of the Court of James I (1822). [back]
10. William Jerdan (1782–1869; DNB), editor of the Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c 1817–1851. [back]
11. The review of the anonymous Italy. A Poem. Part the First (1822) in the Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c, 261 (19 January 1822), 33–34, asserted ‘there can be little hesitation in ascribing it to Southey’ (33). The poem was actually by Samuel Rogers, not William Haygarth (1784–1825) as Southey suggests here. [back]
12. ‘Southey and Byron’, Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c, 261 (19 January 1822), 41–44. [back]
13. The article’s main text had stated ‘we are credibly assured, that so zealous was the present Laureate at that time in the cause of Jacobinism, he absolutely went to Newgate with one of his celebrated poetical friends, habited as pilgrims about to abandon this infamous country, and, as money was a scarce commodity, gave to a convicted traitor the Manuscript of Wat Tyler, as the only valuable gift in his power to bestow on this Martyr to Liberty.’ The note at the bottom of the page had then observed, ‘If this is not correctly stated, we are open to Mr. Southey’s contradiction’ (‘Southey and Byron’, Literary Gazette and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c, 261 (19 January 1822), 43). [back]
14. See Southey to Editor of the Courier, 5 January 1822, Letter 3776. Unfortunately for Southey, Byron’s response was The Vision of Judgment (1822). [back]
15. This book was not written. [back]
16. William Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical Sketches (1822). [back]
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