3866. Robert Southey to Caroline Bowles, 7 July 1822

 

Endorsement: No 25 To Miss Caroline Bowles/ Keswick 7 July 1822
MS: British Library, Add MS 47889. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: Edward Dowden (ed.), The Correspondence of Robert Southey with Caroline Bowles (Dublin and London, 1881), pp. 26–28.

I have just received a letter from Bowles, in which he says – “you mention my namesake Caroline. If you write, do make my warmest congratulations known to her. – Have I read Ellen Fitzarthur?

(1)

Caroline Bowles, Ellen Fitzarthur; a Metrical Tale, in Five Cantos (1820).

– There was only one copy in Bath, – no one read a word of it, no one thought of buying it, no one spoke of it. I was the first in this neighbourhood to bring it into notice. I spoke to every one with the utmost warmth of it, as deeply affecting in story, & beautiful in genuine language of poetry. I trumpeted it to Lord & Lady Lansdowne,

(2)

Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863; DNB), Whig politician and great landowner; and his wife, Lady Louisa, née Fox-Strangways (1785–1851). Their country seat was Bowood, Wiltshire.

Miss Fox,

(3)

Possibly Caroline Fox (1767–1845), sister of Lord Holland.

& all the literati of Bowood, & without knowing the name, I flatter myself I contributed in some degree to its more general notice among some distinguished ornaments of taste & literature. I should be happy to know Caroline, & more to think her a relation. I think a poem so remote from the golden – silvery – diamond –alabaster – Pontypool-style

(4)

‘Pontypool’ was a form of decorated domestic tinplate.

of the present Cockney race of Dandy Poetasters

(5)

The ‘Cockney school’ was a dismissive term for London-based poets, especially those associated with Leigh Hunt.

cannot be too much noticed; & I am rejoiced the real touches of nature & passion have awakened attention.”

Thus for Bowles, & in a postscript he adds ‘I think I shall write a note to Caroline, with my poem.’

If authorship in its notoriety brings with it some evils, they are overpaid, where there is desert, by a large portion of good. I owe to it not merely many pleasant acquaintance, but some valuable friends & you will reap the same fruits. My question to Bowles was concerning your last volume,

(6)

The Widow’s Tale: and Other Poems (1822).

as well as Ellen Fitzarthur: – if he has not seen it, he will look for it now, & he will find there all that he found in the former publication & more. I have shown it to many persons & in no one instance have I been disappointed of seeing it produce the effect which I expected. I have a friend with me now whom I had not seen since we parted at College, eight & twenty years ago – xxx <tho> our occasional communication by letter had never been interrupted. We parted xxx just as mere commencing men, in youth & xxx with the world before us, – & we meet just at that time of life when age & decay are beginning to make themselves felt. You can better feel what the feelings of such a meeting are, than I could express them. I should not have recognized him so much is he changed: he says he should have known me any where. We have been comparing notes, & find our hearts & views just as much in unison as they were when we, literally, lived together at college, – for we breakfasted together every morning, read together, & past every evening together. In this respect I have been peculiarly fortunate, that most of my friendships have been formed for eternity, & grown stronger as they have grown older.

There is a very bad translation of Herman & Dorothea by Holcroft,

(7)

Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809; DNB), Herman and Dorothea. A Poem, from the German (1801), a translation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), Hermann und Dorothea (1797).

but it would show you the plan of the poem. The original I am told is a piece of finished versification: the translation is meant for blank verse by a man who was no poet & did not even understand the common rules of metre.

You mention Shelley. – I should like to show you some letters which past between that wretched man & me about two years ago.

(8)

At this point is added in another hand: ‘Note. These letters are in possession of Southey’s family – & very remarkable ones they are.’ [Editors note: In a letter of 26 June 1820, Shelley had accused Southey of writing a hostile review of Laon and Cythna, or the Revolution of the Golden City (1818; published late 1817) and The Revolt of Islam. A Poem, in Twelve Cantos (1818); see Edward Dowden (ed.), The Correspondence of Robert Southey with Caroline Bowles (Dublin and London, 1881), pp. 358–359. Southey responded with his letter to Percy Bysshe Shelley, [c. 29 July 1820], The Collected Letters…

He came to this place with his wife immediately after his marriage.

(9)

Shelley had stayed in Keswick November 1811–February 1812, shortly after his marriage to Harriet Westbrook. He met Southey a number of times.

I saw a great deal of him then, & hoped that he would outgrow the insane opinions which had held <their root>, as I then thought, in mere ignorance not in a corrupted heart & will. And I know a great deal of his accursed history since.

How are you? & what are you doing? – I have been very much out of order. A cold which comes regularly every year with the summer & continues ten or twelve weeks, has this year attacked my chest; & tho materially better I cannot yet say that it is fairly dislodged. I shall soon have a volume of the Peninsular War

(10)

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

abroad; a noble story, which will set foul tongues railing, while it makes sound hearts throb with generous emotions. My Book of the Church

(11)

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

will speedily follow it.

God bless you – sister-poetess. I have a right to call you so, tho I cannot look for a relationship like Bowles.

yrs truly
Robert Southey.

Keswick 7 July. 1822

Notes

1. Caroline Bowles, Ellen Fitzarthur; a Metrical Tale, in Five Cantos (1820).[back]
2. Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne (1780–1863; DNB), Whig politician and great landowner; and his wife, Lady Louisa, née Fox-Strangways (1785–1851). Their country seat was Bowood, Wiltshire.[back]
3. Possibly Caroline Fox (1767–1845), sister of Lord Holland.[back]
4. ‘Pontypool’ was a form of decorated domestic tinplate.[back]
5. The ‘Cockney school’ was a dismissive term for London-based poets, especially those associated with Leigh Hunt.[back]
6. The Widow’s Tale: and Other Poems (1822).[back]
7. Thomas Holcroft (1745–1809; DNB), Herman and Dorothea. A Poem, from the German (1801), a translation of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832), Hermann und Dorothea (1797).[back]
8. At this point is added in another hand: ‘Note. These letters are in possession of Southey’s family – & very remarkable ones they are.’ [Editors note: In a letter of 26 June 1820, Shelley had accused Southey of writing a hostile review of Laon and Cythna, or the Revolution of the Golden City (1818; published late 1817) and The Revolt of Islam. A Poem, in Twelve Cantos (1818); see Edward Dowden (ed.), The Correspondence of Robert Southey with Caroline Bowles (Dublin and London, 1881), pp. 358–359. Southey responded with his letter to Percy Bysshe Shelley, [c. 29 July 1820], The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3517. Shelley replied in a letter to Southey, 17 August 1820, Edward Dowden (ed.), The Correspondence of Robert Southey with Caroline Bowles (Dublin and London, 1881), pp. 361–363. Southey to Percy Bysshe Shelley, 12 October 1820, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3538, closed the correspondence.][back]
9. Shelley had stayed in Keswick November 1811–February 1812, shortly after his marriage to Harriet Westbrook. He met Southey a number of times.[back]
10. Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
11. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
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