3813. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 10 March 1822

 

Address: To/ G.C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer/ Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 13 MR 13 1822
Endorsement: 10 March 1822
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

10 March. 1822.
My dear G.

I can tell you now thank God that your godson appears to be perfectly recovered, – which till to day I could not have said. He had a bilious remittent fever upon him for about ten days; & tho at no time in what is called danger, you very well know, how soon such a disease might have taken an alarming form, – especially when typhus is prevalent, as it is in these parts. I am not the better for this anxiety. This corporal tenement of mine is not in the best condition; it has begun to feel the effect of time in more ways than one. – I am going to Rydal for two or three days, for the sake of change. I should be glad now if I kept a carriage, but that I shall never do. A long walk I dare not venture on, – not for want of strength, or inclination, but because of an infirmity which makes a short one inconvenient, & must end in disabling me from xxx exercise.

(1)

Southey was suffering from a rectal prolapse.

Happily there are not many persons better able both in mind & body to bear with such a privation. – When you come here (for come you must,) I must ride with you.

His Right Honour was, very often, his Wrong Honour when he was in opposition, but his xxxx opposition was always fair & honourable, – there was none of that low, dirty malice about it, which is now displayed towards him, by Grey Bennet,

(2)

Henry Grey Bennet (1777–1836), Whig MP for Shrewsbury 1806–1807 and 1811–1826. He had become involved in a long-running dispute with Wynn over the conditions of imprisonment of the radical Henry Hunt (1773–1835; DNB) in Ilchester Gaol 1820–1822.

a man of whom I have heard him speak much more favourably with ill-requited liberality. I have a great dislike to that man, who seems to xx me to have no sense of charity or humanity for any but those who either suffer or deserve punishment. Your regular professor of philanthropy is the most hard-hearted hearted of all hypocrites. This is one of your precious reformers who would consult the comforts of thieves in prison, & cut down the salaries of Clerks in office, or turn them upon the world. I am very proud of being an Englishman when I think what this country has done, what hearts & intellects it has produced, & still contains, – but indeed Grosvenor, sometimes I am almost as much ashamed of it when I see a nation gulled by such fellows as Hume,

(3)

Joseph Hume (1777–1855; DNB), Scottish radical MP, much disliked by Southey for his campaigns against government expenditure.

Bennett &c, & a government truckling to them, & discarding its servants, or curtailing them of their pay in deference to a cry for retrenchment which they know to be as absurd as it is rascally.

I am sorry you have not read the clean sheets

(4)

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

I should have liked to have known how you liked them. – Pray tell your friend Hawker

(5)

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

how much I am obliged to him. Westall

(6)

Westall wished to use Hawker’s sketches for 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).

is a man for whom I have a great regard. He has got some sketches from Heaphy,

(7)

Thomas Heaphy (1775–1835; DNB), a watercolour artist who had gone out to Spain in 1812 and produced portraits of many leading British officers.

but they relate only to the last campaign. – I have had some very interesting communications from Gen. Whittingham,

(8)

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

& from Bart. Frere. And, the most important which have yet come into my hands, from Sir Hew Dalrymple, – which will compel me to rewrite part of the 8th chapter.

(9)

History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp. 382–286, had dealt with the Battle of Bailén, 16–19 July 1808, the first major defeat for French forces in Spain. Dalyrymple’s information (pp. 389–390) concerned the attempts by Spanish commanders to overturn aspects of the agreement by which French forces had surrendered.

But you know I never grudge at labour of this kind.

God bless you
RS.

So poor Boswell

(10)

The barrister and literary scholar James Boswell (1778–1822; DNB) had died on 24 February 1822. He had been a fellow pupil with Southey at Westminster School.

is dead! – a victim no doubt to the same weakness as his father.

(11)

James Boswell (1740–1795; DNB), the Scottish biographer and diarist. Both he and his son and namesake were heavy drinkers.

There is one good natured man the less in the world, & I have lost in him an old acquaintance who used to meet me with a chearful countenance, & a hearty shake by the hand.

Notes

1. Southey was suffering from a rectal prolapse.[back]
2. Henry Grey Bennet (1777–1836), Whig MP for Shrewsbury 1806–1807 and 1811–1826. He had become involved in a long-running dispute with Wynn over the conditions of imprisonment of the radical Henry Hunt (1773–1835; DNB) in Ilchester Gaol 1820–1822.[back]
3. Joseph Hume (1777–1855; DNB), Scottish radical MP, much disliked by Southey for his campaigns against government expenditure.[back]
4. Proofs of the first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
5. Major-General Samuel Hawker (1763–1838), who had served in the Peninsular War between 1808 and 1811 as commander of the 14th Light Dragoons and made a number of sketches in Spain.[back]
6. Westall wished to use Hawker’s sketches for 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]
7. Thomas Heaphy (1775–1835; DNB), a watercolour artist who had gone out to Spain in 1812 and produced portraits of many leading British officers.[back]
8. Lieutenant General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham (1772–1841; DNB), a British soldier who served with Spanish forces in the Peninsular War 1808–1813.[back]
9. History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp. 382–286, had dealt with the Battle of Bailén, 16–19 July 1808, the first major defeat for French forces in Spain. Dalyrymple’s information (pp. 389–390) concerned the attempts by Spanish commanders to overturn aspects of the agreement by which French forces had surrendered.[back]
10. The barrister and literary scholar James Boswell (1778–1822; DNB) had died on 24 February 1822. He had been a fellow pupil with Southey at Westminster School.[back]
11. James Boswell (1740–1795; DNB), the Scottish biographer and diarist. Both he and his son and namesake were heavy drinkers.[back]
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