3861. Robert Southey to Joseph Blanco White, 28 June 1822

 

Address: [in another hand] London July one 1822/ The Revd. J Blanco White/ Little Gaddesden/ Herts/ CW Williams Wynn
MS: Courtesy of the University of Liverpool Library, RP. V.4.46. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Hamilton Thom (ed.), The Life of the Reverend Joseph Blanco White, 3 vols (London, 1845), I, pp. 380–381 [in part].

Keswick. 28 June. 1822
My dear Blanco

It gave me great pleasure to receive a letter from you.

(1)

For Blanco White’s letter, 15 June 1822, see Vicente Llorens, ‘Blanco White and Robert Southey: Fragments of a Correspondence’, Studies in Romanticism, 11 (1972), 150–151.

I intended to have ordered Leucadio Doblado’s letters, because the name had led me to fix upon the right author.

(2)

Letters from Spain by Don Leucadio Doblado (1822). ‘Leucadio’ was derived from the Greek word for ‘white’ and ‘Doblado’ is Spanish for ‘doubled’, so the pseudonymous author’s name could be translated as ‘white doubled’, as in ‘Blanco White’.

The book reached me two days ago, & I have read it, as I expected with great delight. The only fault is that there should be only one volume. I will take it as a text in the Q Review, & use it to introduce some speculations upon the state of Spain & Portugal.

(3)

Southey did not review this in the Quarterly Review.

My feelings respecting those countries differ not a shade from yours. Both nations appear now to be suffer experiencing the dreadful consequences of that abominable church-tyranny which has so long been dominant there, & which no where in no other part of the world has ever been exercised with such remorseless rigour. The nature of the disease cannot be mistaken, nor the deep hold which it has taken. But where to look for any remedial causes I know not. At present I see little more in either country than a change of evils, & the imminent danger of a civil war which if there be any thing <like> a balance of parties will be carried on with all the tremendous obduracy of the national character.

(4)

Military revolts in both Spain and Portugal in 1820 had led to the adoption of liberal Constitutions, but both regimes were threatened by royalist disaffection.

I happen to know some of the members of the Portugueze Cortes,

(5)

Henrique Xavier Bãeta (1776–1854), doctor, educated at the University of Edinburgh; and Felix Avellar Brotero (1744–1828), Professor of Botany at the University of Coimbra. Southey had met Brotero in Portugal on 13 March 1801. Both men were Deputies for Estramadura in the Portuguese Cortes elected in 1821.

& perfectly understand that the constitution of that body is just like that of the neighbouring assembly, that it contains the same mixture of atheism & bigotry, ignorance & presumption, good intentions & deplorable opinions.

The more I know of history, & the more I know of what is going on in this disturbed age of the world, the less am I able to expect good from popular assemblies. Like most persons in this country, I hoped every thing from a Cortes in Spain.

(6)

The Cortes elected in 1812 under the liberal constitution of that year and abolished in 1814.

This was the last prejudice to which I clung, & the result has disabused me (to use a Portugueze phrase.) Had I been a Spaniard or Portugueze beyond all doubt my heart would have bust burst its fetters, if it had not broken in the attempt, & in my abhorrence of slavery I should have rushed into the opposite extreme. But looking at these dispassionately, & from a safe retirement, it appears to me that great beneficial changes in countries not accustomed to a representative government, are may best be brought about by the ascendancy of a single mind, – if indeed they are practicable in any other manner. For instance: – if Ferdinand

(7)

Ferdinand VII (1784–1833; King of Spain 1808, 1813–1833). He had restored royal absolutism in 1814, before being forced to re-establish the Constitution of 1812 in 1820.

had had a minister with the strength of character that Ximenes

(8)

Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros (1436–1517), Archbishop of Toledo 1495–1517 and leading statesman in Castile and Aragon.

possessed, as well adapted to the spirit of this age, as that Franciscan was to the spirit of his own, such a minister might have reformed both the church & state, & have prepared the people for liberty, by a wise use of despotism. Pombal

(9)

Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal (1699–1782), Prime Minister of Portugal 1750–1777.

would have done this in Portugal, had he lived half a century later.

I am glad to hear that you are employed upon a Spanish historical subject.

(10)

Blanco White was writing memoirs of either the reign of John II (1405–1454; King of Castile 1406–1454) or John II (1398–1479; King of Aragon 1458–1479). Blanco White does not seem to have completed this project.

I know the period well, & have perused the works from whence your chief materials must be drawn. It is not long since I went thro P. Martires Epistles, & there to my utter surprize I found siphilis described as the scourge of the age, by its Spanish & French names, xxx in a letter written four years before Columbus sailed upon his first voyage.

(11)

Peter Martyr d’Anghiera (1457–1526), Opus Epistolarum (Amsterdam, 1670), p. 34. Christopher Columbus (1450/1–1506) was an Italian explorer, commissioned by the Spanish Crown in 1492 to find a new route to Asia across the Atlantic; instead he discovered America. The theory that Columbus’s sailors brought syphilis back to Europe was much debated.

The origin of that disease is a subject which has been so much investigated, that I cannot conceive how this decisive testimony should have been overlooked. I wish you could obtain access to the Portugueze Cancioncero, as well as to the Spanish, but I doubt whether there is a copy in England.

(12)

The Cancionero General (1511) was an anthology of Spanish lyric poetry, originally created by Hernando del Castillo (dates unknown). The Cancioneiro Geral (1516), compiled by Garcia de Resende (1470–1536) contains nearly 1,000 lyrics in Portuguese and Castilian.

I have only some extracts which I made at Lisbon. Poor Abella intended to edite the Spanish one, which he was well qualified to have done.

The Nun of Arouca is not mine.

(13)

John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878; DNB), was the author of The Nun of Arrouca, A Tale (1822).

I have not seen it, & know not whose it is. I have long been almost wholly engaged in prose. It will not be long before I shall send you an epitome of our religious history, written for the purpose of making the rising generation feel & understand what they owe to the Church of England.

(14)

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

I hope & trust that it will not be without effect: & I am sure you will approve the spirit in which it is composed.

The first volume of the Hist. of the Peninsular War is nearly compleated & waits only for the printer.

(15)

Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). The printer was Thomas Davison (1766–1831).

I am also preparing a series of dialogues upon the progress & prospects of society,

(16)

Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society (1829).

taking for my text three words of St Bernard, – Respice, aspice, prospice.

(17)

‘Look to the past, the present, the future’, words attributed to St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). These words did appear on the title page [unpaginated] of vol. 1 of Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829).

– It is a comfort to know that the world will never be worse for any works which I shall leave in it. My endeavours are to strengthen the moral & religious feelings, & to uphold those institutions upon which the welfare of society depends.

God bless you my dear Blanco
Yrs most truly
Robert Southey.

Notes

1. For Blanco White’s letter, 15 June 1822, see Vicente Llorens, ‘Blanco White and Robert Southey: Fragments of a Correspondence’, Studies in Romanticism, 11 (1972), 150–151.[back]
2. Letters from Spain by Don Leucadio Doblado (1822). ‘Leucadio’ was derived from the Greek word for ‘white’ and ‘Doblado’ is Spanish for ‘doubled’, so the pseudonymous author’s name could be translated as ‘white doubled’, as in ‘Blanco White’.[back]
3. Southey did not review this in the Quarterly Review.[back]
4. Military revolts in both Spain and Portugal in 1820 had led to the adoption of liberal Constitutions, but both regimes were threatened by royalist disaffection.[back]
5. Henrique Xavier Bãeta (1776–1854), doctor, educated at the University of Edinburgh; and Felix Avellar Brotero (1744–1828), Professor of Botany at the University of Coimbra. Southey had met Brotero in Portugal on 13 March 1801. Both men were Deputies for Estramadura in the Portuguese Cortes elected in 1821.[back]
6. The Cortes elected in 1812 under the liberal constitution of that year and abolished in 1814.[back]
7. Ferdinand VII (1784–1833; King of Spain 1808, 1813–1833). He had restored royal absolutism in 1814, before being forced to re-establish the Constitution of 1812 in 1820.[back]
8. Francisco Jimenez de Cisneros (1436–1517), Archbishop of Toledo 1495–1517 and leading statesman in Castile and Aragon.[back]
9. Sebastiao Jose de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal (1699–1782), Prime Minister of Portugal 1750–1777.[back]
10. Blanco White was writing memoirs of either the reign of John II (1405–1454; King of Castile 1406–1454) or John II (1398–1479; King of Aragon 1458–1479). Blanco White does not seem to have completed this project.[back]
11. Peter Martyr d’Anghiera (1457–1526), Opus Epistolarum (Amsterdam, 1670), p. 34. Christopher Columbus (1450/1–1506) was an Italian explorer, commissioned by the Spanish Crown in 1492 to find a new route to Asia across the Atlantic; instead he discovered America. The theory that Columbus’s sailors brought syphilis back to Europe was much debated.[back]
12. The Cancionero General (1511) was an anthology of Spanish lyric poetry, originally created by Hernando del Castillo (dates unknown). The Cancioneiro Geral (1516), compiled by Garcia de Resende (1470–1536) contains nearly 1,000 lyrics in Portuguese and Castilian.[back]
13. John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878; DNB), was the author of The Nun of Arrouca, A Tale (1822).[back]
14. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
15. Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). The printer was Thomas Davison (1766–1831).[back]
16. Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society (1829).[back]
17. ‘Look to the past, the present, the future’, words attributed to St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153). These words did appear on the title page [unpaginated] of vol. 1 of Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829).[back]
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