3833. Robert Southey to Edith May Southey, 7 May 1822

 

Address: Miss Southey/ Hattersleys Hotel/ Harrowgate
Stamped: WETHERBY/ 194
MS: Private collection. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 305–306.

Keswick, May 7. 1822.
My dear E–May,

Fortune I think has fitted you with a Physician

(1)

John Jacques (d. 1832), a doctor based in Harrogate.

to your taste. He has tabooed ham, vinegar, red–herring & all fruits. But if the melancholy Jaques

(2)

The ‘Melancholy Jaques’, a character in As You Like It (1599).

were not a heretic he would not  <never> have put you to a trial so far beyond the strength of woman. If Eve when she had the choice of the whole garden besides (a garden too as rich in fruits as William Herberts,

(3)

William Herbert (1778–1847; DNB). He abandoned a career in politics and the law for the Church of England, serving as Rector of Spofforth, near Wetherby, 1814–1840, and Dean of Manchester 1840–1847. Herbert was also a poet and a noted writer on botany. His garden at the Old Rectory, Spofforth, was well known and the site of Herbert’s development of the Spofforth crocus.

which you have been visiting, is in flowers) could not refrain from the forbidden apple,

(4)

In Genesis 3, Eve, the first woman, was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The fruit was usually identified as an apple.

how does he suppose that a daughter of Eve can resist strawberries, cherries & currants, to say nothing of green gooseberries & hard pears?

Your second letter arrived to day, & Sara has it at Mrs Calverts

(5)

Mary Calvert (c. 1775–1834), née Mitchinson, the wife of William Calvert.

whither she is gone for the remainder of the week. I have not much to tell you, – the boat is in the water, & looks very well; –the pew

(6)

The Southey family’s pew at St Kentigern’s church, Crosthwaite.

was painted yesterday, your Uncle Tom has lost a cow, in calf–bed, sundry rats have been taken, I expect a parcel by the next carrier, & your plant is as well as can be expected, whereby you will understand that there is an addition to its leaves. But this new xxxx leaf has been produced in a curious manner, – the stem proceeding from the base of the youngest & largest of its three ancestors, & all the folded part from the mother, or middle one, so that its genealogy is more puzzling than the relationship between Dick & John.

(7)

‘Dick and John’ were commonly used for fictional characters, including by Southey himself in his Botany Bay Eclogue, ‘John, Samuel, & Richard’, Poems (Bristol, 1797), pp. 92–98.

I am glad you take so kindly to the waters, & that they seem to agree with you so well. What a happy quarter of an hour you must pass between the two draughts! 

I had forgotten to tell you as part of the domestic news, that I have laid hands, since your departure, upon a larger & richer picture of Muckens

(8)

Cuthbert Southey’s pronunciation of ‘monkeys’.

than any which Cupn had ever seen before. Having told you all that has happened, I believe I must now tell you what has not. Pone

(9)

Unidentified.

is not gone; Mr Midgeley

(10)

Midgeley (first name and dates unknown) was renting Greta Lodge, next door to Greta Hall.

is not come. Miss Wilbraham

(11)

Mary Laetitia Wilbraham (1799–1874), Tom Southey’s lodger.

is not married, Mr Friar

(12)

Joseph Harrison Fryer (1777–1855) of Whitley House, Northumberland. A surveyor, geologist and mining engineer, Fryer spent part of each year at Keswick. At this time he was renting Ormathwaite, a large house about a mile and a quarter from Keswick. He married Mary Laetitia Wilbraham in June 1822.

is not false, & a she–Friar will not be the same thing as a Nun. Mr Potts

(13)

Unidentified.

has made no proposals to Mary Calvert, (by the by, if he has ever any children, they will all be pipkins);(14

Mary Calvert (1804–1890) was the daughter of William Calvert. She married Joshua Stanger (1801–1854) in 1824. A ‘pipkin’ is a small cooking pot. Southey is joking that if Mr Potts was ever to marry his children would be small Potts.

; Sara has had no letter from Wiffin;

(15) & 

Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (1792-1836; DNB), poet and writer. He had met Southey and Wordsworth in the Lake District in summer 1819. In 1821 he was appointed librarian to John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (1766-1839; DNB). At the time of Southey's letter, Wiffen was engaged in translating Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), Gerusalemme Liberata (1591). His translation was published as The Jerusalem Delivered of Torquato Tasso, translated in English Spenserian verse, with a Life of the Author (1824).

I have not yet heard from Mr B.

(16) &

Possibly Grosvenor Charles Bedford.

 your mother, notwithstanding her persevering search has not found anything under the bed at night, – & I am neither younger, nor fatter, nor quieter, nor graver, than when you departed for Harrogate. O ye immortal Powers!

(17)

Joseph Addison (1672–1719; DNB), Cato, a Tragedy (1712), Act 5, scene 3, line 9.

I would send you a noise, but I cannot tell how to inclose it: – but you may imagine one at breakfast time.

My movements will be determined by yours. If Mr Wordsworth goes with me, we shall travel in a jaunting car, which will bring us all back. If I go alone, I shall follow your course to Skipton & chaise it solo from thence, which will be better than taking the Penrith road, & sleeping the second night at Borough Bridge. I do not wish to be more than three days at Harrogate at the most.

Remember us to Miss H. & her sister

(18)

Joanna Hutchinson (1780–1841).

 & so

God bless you,
Very magnificent Daughter,
Yo el Pa.

Notes

1. John Jacques (d. 1832), a doctor based in Harrogate.[back]
2. The ‘Melancholy Jaques’, a character in As You Like It (1599).[back]
3. William Herbert (1778–1847; DNB). He abandoned a career in politics and the law for the Church of England, serving as Rector of Spofforth, near Wetherby, 1814–1840, and Dean of Manchester 1840–1847. Herbert was also a poet and a noted writer on botany. His garden at the Old Rectory, Spofforth, was well known and the site of Herbert’s development of the Spofforth crocus.[back]
4. In Genesis 3, Eve, the first woman, was tempted to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The fruit was usually identified as an apple.[back]
5. Mary Calvert (c. 1775–1834), née Mitchinson, the wife of William Calvert.[back]
6. The Southey family’s pew at St Kentigern’s church, Crosthwaite.[back]
7. ‘Dick and John’ were commonly used for fictional characters, including by Southey himself in his Botany Bay Eclogue, ‘John, Samuel, & Richard’, Poems (Bristol, 1797), pp. 92–98.[back]
8. Cuthbert Southey’s pronunciation of ‘monkeys’.[back]
9. Unidentified.[back]
10. Midgeley (first name and dates unknown) was renting Greta Lodge, next door to Greta Hall.[back]
11. Mary Laetitia Wilbraham (1799–1874), Tom Southey’s lodger.[back]
12. Joseph Harrison Fryer (1777–1855) of Whitley House, Northumberland. A surveyor, geologist and mining engineer, Fryer spent part of each year at Keswick. At this time he was renting Ormathwaite, a large house about a mile and a quarter from Keswick. He married Mary Laetitia Wilbraham in June 1822.[back]
13. Unidentified.[back]
14. Mary Calvert (1804–1890) was the daughter of William Calvert. She married Joshua Stanger (1801–1854) in 1824. A 'pipkin' is a small cooking pot. Southey is joking that if Mr Potts was ever to marry his children would be small Potts.[back]
15. Jeremiah Holmes Wiffen (1792-1836; DNB), poet and writer. He had met Southey and Wordsworth in the Lake District in summer 1819. In 1821 he was appointed librarian to John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (1766-1839; DNB). At the time of Southey's letter, Wiffen was engaged in translating Torquato Tasso (1544-1595), Gerusalemme Liberata (1581). His translation was published as The Jerusalem Delivered of Torquato Tasso, translated in English Spenserian verse, with a Life of the Author (1824). [back]
16. Possibly Grosvenor Charles Bedford.[back]
17. Joseph Addison (1672–1719; DNB), Cato, a Tragedy (1712), Act 5, scene 3, line 9.[back]
18. Joanna Hutchinson (1780–1841).[back]
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