3814. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 19 March 1822

 

Address: To/ Dr Southey/ 15. Queen Anne Street/ Cavendish Square/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 22 MR 22/ 1822
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, 1996.5.122. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

Keswick. 19 March. 1822
My dear Harry

I have to trouble you with a commission which will cost you a walk to Upper Norton Street.

(1)

A bust of Southey had been sculpted in 1813 by James Smith (1775–1815). Smith’s business was continued by his sons, Charles Raymond Smith (c. 1798–1888) and Thomas Smith (b. 1800), at 57 Upper Norton Street.

Wordsworth & I having agreed to make an exchange of loggerheads,

(2)

Literally a stupid, thick-headed person, but here used in a joking way to describe a sculpted bust.

I must beg you to order one of mine from poor Smiths, which they will send by waggon, directed to him, Rydal Mount, Ambleside, near Kendal, – pay the carriage thereof, & come to you for payment of bust packing-case & carriage. For this, for the frames &c Bedford will reimburse you whenever you please. – Chantrey

(3)

Sir Francis Chantrey had completed a bust of Wordsworth in 1820. It is now in the Wordsworth Room, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.

has made a very fine bust of Wordsworth: the likeness is not striking at first, but the more it is looked at, the more the resemblance appears, & the art of the sculptor.

I have been spending two or three days at Rydal, for the sake of shaking myself up a little, & changing the air. Edith May I hope will go early in the spring to Harrowgate with Miss Hutchinson; & in that case, I shall go to bring them home, & spend a week or so in that part of the country seeing the sights: – the only excursion for which I am likely to afford time & money this year.

My first volume

(4)

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

is far advanced in the press, – 568 pages. I have obtained some very interesting communications from Whittingham

(5)

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

by means of Bart. Frere; their recollections have given me a great deal of that information which is not to be found in official papers. I have also received some most important papers from Sir Hew Dalrymple. The French will not be pleased with this volume, nor any of the admirers of Buonaparte:

(6)

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821; Emperor of the French 1804–1814, 1815).

& my friends the Whigs will not find much to gratify them in the introductory chapter.

(7)

History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp. 3–61, which contained a great deal of criticism of the Whigs for opposing war with France, especially at pp. 55–58.

In the rest of the work I shall have little occasion to comment upon their conduct; the worst punishment which it is possible to inflict upon them will be is by carefully recording their the series of their predictions.

I am sorry to see the rumours which are thrown out of the Kings intended marriage,

(8)

George IV’s mistress from 1819 was Elizabeth Conygham, Marchioness Conygham (1769–1861; DNB). Her demand that the government provide employment for her relatives and friends was causing some strain between the King and his Cabinet.

– a measure, to use the lightest expression, imprudent in every point of view, – unless it be promoted by ministers for the purpose of destroying an influence which is always mischievously directed. But the remedy may prove worse than the disease. At any rate it would induce a great expence, & in case of his having children, a long minority, thereby giving great advantage to faction, which, God knows, requires none. I do not think any monarchy in Europe xx xxxxx <will stand> fifty years xxxxx xxxx but if they are overthrown, whatever the process may be, the end must be an iron tyranny every where.

Wynn is on a bed of roses.

(9)

Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593; DNB), ‘The Passionate Shepherd to his Love’ (1599), line 9. Wynn had joined the Cabinet in January 1822, with the office of President of the Board of Control. This gave him ultimate responsibility for overseeing the affairs of the East India Company and the government of its possessions in India. He disagreed with Southey, though, by favouring Catholic Emancipation.

I am glad he is there; for except upon the Catholic question, no man has sounder opinions upon all great points. – Phillimore

(10)

Phillimore had been appointed to the Board of Control on 8 February 1822, serving until 1828.

is a man with whom I was upon good terms at school & at College; & whom every body liked & respected him. He is, I think, likely to distinguish himself in proportion as he is called forth, & he has the great advantage of one of the most powerful voices I ever heard.

Have you seen John May lately? I am anxious to know how he is going on, & not a little apprehensive that his last accounts are unfavourable ones, because I have not heard from him.

Our love to Louisa & Mrs Gonne

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. A bust of Southey had been sculpted in 1813 by James Smith (1775–1815). Smith’s business was continued by his sons, Charles Raymond Smith (c. 1798–1888) and Thomas Smith (b. 1800), at 57 Upper Norton Street.[back]
2. Literally a stupid, thick-headed person, but here used in a joking way to describe a sculpted bust.[back]
3. Sir Francis Chantrey had completed a bust of Wordsworth in 1820. It is now in the Wordsworth Room, Lilly Library, Indiana University, Bloomington.[back]
4. Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
5. Lieutenant General Sir Samuel Ford Whittingham (1772–1841; DNB), a British soldier who served with Spanish forces in the Peninsular War 1808–1813.[back]
6. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821; Emperor of the French 1804–1814, 1815).[back]
7. History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, pp. 3–61, which contained a great deal of criticism of the Whigs for opposing war with France, especially at pp. 55–58.[back]
8. George IV’s mistress from 1819 was Elizabeth Conygham, Marchioness Conygham (1769–1861; DNB). Her demand that the government provide employment for her relatives and friends was causing some strain between the King and his Cabinet.[back]
9. Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593; DNB), ‘The Passionate Shepherd to his Love’ (1599), line 9. Wynn had joined the Cabinet in January 1822, with the office of President of the Board of Control. This gave him ultimate responsibility for overseeing the affairs of the East India Company and the government of its possessions in India. He disagreed with Southey, though, by favouring Catholic Emancipation.[back]
10. Phillimore had been appointed to the Board of Control on 8 February 1822, serving until 1828.[back]
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