Address: [in another hand] London Twenty Eight March/ 1822/ E. Atherstone Esq/ Taunton/ Fm/ J Rickman
Postmark: FREE/ 28 MR 28/ 1822
MS: Somerset Record Office. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.
I have been endeavouring to recollect what books may be useful in affording hints & materials for the poem on which you are engaged.
(1)
Atherstone was intending to write a poem set in Anglo-Saxon England, centring on Alfred the Great (849–899; King of England 871–899). This was not written, but Atherstone published a novel on the same theme, The Sea-Kings in England: An Historical Romance of the Time of Alfred (1830).
You have the most important in Turner, but I hope you have the last edition of his work, (which is the third, in three volumes octavo,) – for each edition differs very materially from the other.
(2)
Sharon Turner, The History of the Anglo-Saxons: Comprising the History of England from the Earliest Period to the Norman Conquest, 3rd edn (1820), no. 2838 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. Earlier editions had appeared in 1799–1805 and 1807.
There is also an earlier Edda than that which you have in Mallet.
(3)
The medieval Icelandic Prose Edda was translated by Paul Henri Mallet (1730–1807), Monuments de la Mythologie et de la Poesie des Celtes, et Particulierement des Anciens Scandinaves (1756) and was known to most English readers through the English edition by Thomas Percy (1729–1811; DNB), Northern Antiquities: or, a Description of the Manners, Customs, Religion and Laws of the Ancient Danes and other Northern Nations, 2 vols (London, 1770), II, pp. 1–223, no. 2046 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.
One volume was translated about five & twenty years ago by my poor friend Amos Cottle,
(4)
Amos Cottle, Icelandic Poetry, or the Edda of Saemund Translated into English Verse (1797), no. 983 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. This was a translation of the Poetic Edda, believed at this time to be earlier than the Prose Edda.
& you may find there <some> wilder parts of Runic mythology which will be new to you, if you have never seen this book. I understand that more of these ancient poems have since that time been printed at Copenhagen, & indeed am in expectation of procuring them from thence.
(5)
Edda Saemundar hinns Froda. Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquor, Vulgo Saemundina Dicta (1787–1818), no. 918 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. He never acquired the third volume, published in 1828.
Some, I believe, have been translated by the Honourable William Herbert, (our best Northern scholar) – in whose poems you might probably find much that would be useful.
(6)
William Herbert (1778–1847; DNB), Select Icelandic Poetry, Translated from the Originals with Notes (1804–1806).
You should read Lingards History of the Anglo Saxon Church, – an octavo volume published in 1810.
(7)
John Lingard (1771–1851; DNB), The Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church, 2nd edn (1810), no. 1728 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.
Whitakers “Life of St Neot, the oldest of all the Brothers of xx Alfred”,
(8)
John Whitaker (1735–1808; DNB), The Life of Saint Neot, the Oldest of All the Brothers to King Alfred (1809), no. 3002 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.
tho it is, like all Whitakers works almost merely hypothetical, might give you some hints, – certainly that of a most interesting character if you thought proper to adopt his opinion concerning the Saint.
(9)
St Neot (d. 870) was a Cornish saint; some legends attested he was a relative of King Alfred.
Sharpes translation of William of Malmesbury (4to. 1815)
(10)
William of Malmesbury (c. 1095–c. 1143; DNB), Gesta Regum Anglorum, translated by John Sharpe (1769–1859) as The History of the Kings of England and the Modern History of William of Malmesbury (1815), no. 1664 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.
would give you an excellent view of the Saxon times, with many characteristic traits of manners: & you should look at the works of Strutt (the engraver)
(11)
Joseph Strutt (1749–1802; DNB), The Regal and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of England (1773), Manners, Customs, Arms, Habits etc of the People of England (1774–1776) and Chronicle of England (1777–1778).
who took a great deal of pains with our antiquities, & has collected much curious matter concerning the times upon which you are employed. If you wish to see the whole mass of monkish fables concerning the British & Anglo Saxon Church, it has been brought together with perfect credulity in a large folio volume by F. Cressy, an English Benedictine in Charles the Seconds reign.
(12)
Hugh Paulinus Cressy (c. 1605–1674; DNB), The Church History of Brittanny or England, from the Beginning of Christianity to the Norman Conquest (1668), no. 707 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. Cressy was a Benedictine monk active in the reign of Charles II (1630–1688; King of Great Britain 1660–1688; DNB).
Pyes Alfred
(13)
Henry James Pye (1745–1813; DNB), Poet Laureate 1790–1813 and author of Alfred: an Epic Poem (1801).
is as much forgotten as Sir Richard Blackmores,
(14)
Sir Richard Blackmore (1654–1729; DNB), Alfred, an Epick Poem, in Twelve Books (1723).
– & my old friend Cottle’s
(15)
Joseph Cottle, Alfred; an Epic Poem, in Twenty-Four Books (1801), no. 742 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.
(one of the best men in the world) need not stand in your way. You have the great advantage of living almost upon the spot. – I would have given a limb for the power of making myself perfect master of the ground in any of my poems which have a foundation in history. All my subjects have taken me from home; – & a poet pays dearly for thus expatriating himself; – for all localities & peculiar images he must trust to others eyes instead of his own. There are some scenes in Roderick
(16)
Southey’s Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814), set in Spain, which Southey had visited in 1795–1796.
which I had seen, & I felt in describing them what I how different it is to paint from description, is, from to painting from nature
Remember me to Poole & Standart. And if ever you come to these lakes & mountains (as all poets & painters ought to do) – put yourself under my guidance here. I shall be right glad to shake hands with you. Meantime go on in your pursuits & prosper.
believe me
yours faithfully
Robert Southey
