3887. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 28 August 1822

 

Address: To/ G.C. Bedford Esqre./ Exchequer
Postmarks: [partial] o’Clock/ 2. SP/ 22 N.T; T P/ ChasSt Westmr 
Endorsement: 28. August 1822.
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

Keswick. 28. Aug. 1822
My dear G.

There can be no better proof how greatly I have been engaged of late with guests & visitors, than that I have not found time for talking per-pen with you. John May & his son

(1)

John May (1802–1879).

left us on Monday. Yesterday I had a Frenchman here sent by Heber, – a M. Pichot,

(2)

Amédée Pichot (1795–1877), French novelist, historian and prolific translator.

who had begun to translate Roderick when two other translations

(3)

Antoine André Brugière, Baron de Sorsum, Roderick, le Dernier des Goths (1820), no 2697 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library; and Pierre Hyppolite Amillet de Sagrie (1785–1830), Roderic, Dernier Roi des Goths (1821), no. 2700 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

appeared, & cut his work short. He means to write his travels in England, & intersperse them with an account of our living Poets.

(4)

Amédée Pichot, Voyage Historique et Littéraire en Angleterre et en Ecosse, 3 vols (Paris, 1825), II, p. 422–463, contained Pichot’s assessment of Southey and his poetry.

Canning is looking ill, – & Heber also, I am sorry to say, begins to show in his appearance that he has lived too hard. – I was glad to see Herries not more aged than he ought to be, – Cupn was introduced to his god-brother.

(5)

Sir Charles John Herries (1815–1883; DNB), eldest son of J. C. Herries, and in later life a financier.

He loves you for the god-fathership he says; – & if you were here, you would find reasons enough for loving him, for he is a most amusing creature.

Locker was here lately. Like many other persons he would fain tempt me to the neighbourhood of London, – & by way of temptation mentioned that a house on May’s Hill

(6)

There is a May’s Hill in Bromley, Kent. However, Southey did not know this area well, and it is more likely he has phonetically spelled Maze Hill, Greenwich, with which he was acquainted; see Southey to Tom Southey, 16 March 1797, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part One, Letter 206. Greenwich was also where Locker was based, in his work for Greenwich Hospital. He may well have been tempting Southey with one of the houses at Vanbrugh Fields at the top of Maze Hill.

was now vacant. I guessed at once what house it was, & certainly there is no situation to which I should remove more willingly, – if I were to remove at all, & time & other circumstances suited. But my own conviction is that I am best where I am. I do not think that the QR. would be offered to me in case of Giffords withdrawing. He as well as Murray would think me an impracticable person, which in certain points most certainly I should prove: for as I would suffer nothing to appear in the journal of which I should be ashamed, or which I could not in principle maintain, I should have to turn out half the contributors, or make them conform to my notions of propriety & justice. Would the object be worth the trouble which it would involve me in, – or should I be justified in sacrificing more time than I already do, to a perishable & temporary work? I think not. My wish would be that John Coleridge should succeed to Gifford. He, I know, would conduct it in the same spirit, as I should do. If it fall into the hands of a man who steers a different course, Giffords abdication will be the signal for my secession.

I have some notion of bringing up a certain ms.

(7)

The Doctor (1834–1847).

when next I visit London, to be printed & published by Wm Nicol,

(8)

William Nicol (1777–1857), printer and friend of Grosvenor Bedford. He printed The Doctor, published by Longmans.

for the sake of as much secrecy as can be had, – & as much profit by doing it on my own account. You know what I mean (Dr. D. D.)

(9)

‘Dr Daniel Dove’. This was the working title for The Doctor.

One of my many reasons for wishing you here this summer was to have shown you this delectable history, which will you would find to your hearts content.

I had corrected G. Stewarts name,

(10)

Charles William Stewart (1778–1854; DNB), 3rd Marquess of Londonderry from 1822. He commanded a brigade of cavalry during the Corunna campaign of 1808–1809, and was later Adjutant-General to the Duke of Wellington and British Minister to Prussia 1813–1814 and Austria 1814–1823. Southey had corrected the spelling of Stewart’s name in his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

the misspelling was from James Moore,

(11)

James Moore (1763–1834; DNB), A Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army in Spain, Commanded by His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, K.B. &c. Authenticated by Official Papers and Original Letters (1809). Moore consistently misspelt Stewart’s name as ‘Stuart’.

& the official accounts. – You will admire the skill with which in two places I have dove-tailed in additions to the amount of two pages in each places. How do you like the Ded. & Preface?

(12)

History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, p. [iii]: ‘It is with peculiar fitness, as well as with pleasure, that I inscribe to your Majesty [George IV] a History of the most glorious war recorded in the British annals./When the Regency devolved into your hands, the fortunes of our allies were at their lowest ebb, and neither arts nor efforts were spared for making the spirit of this country sink with them. At that momentous crisis every thing depended, under Providence, upon your single determination; and to that determination Great Britain is beholden for its triumph, and …

–

But I must conclude, for it is time for the post -

God bless you
RS.

I must not omit to tell you that the exercise which I have taken with Lightfoot & John May, has set me up wonderfully, & for the time entirely removed the infirmity

(13)

Southey was suffering from a rectal prolapse.

which when I began almost incapacitated me from walking to the Lake side.

Notes

1. John May (1802–1879).[back]
2. Amédée Pichot (1795–1877), French novelist, historian and prolific translator.[back]
3. Antoine André Brugière, Baron de Sorsum, Roderick, le Dernier des Goths (1820), no 2697 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library; and Pierre Hyppolite Amillet de Sagrie (1785–1830), Roderic, Dernier Roi des Goths (1821), no. 2700 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
4. Amédée Pichot, Voyage Historique et Littéraire en Angleterre et en Ecosse, 3 vols (Paris, 1825), II, p. 422–463, contained Pichot’s assessment of Southey and his poetry.[back]
5. Sir Charles John Herries (1815–1883; DNB), eldest son of J. C. Herries, and in later life a financier.[back]
6. There is a May’s Hill in Bromley, Kent. However, Southey did not know this area well, and it is more likely he has phonetically spelled Maze Hill, Greenwich, with which he was acquainted; see Southey to Tom Southey, 16 March 1797, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part One, Letter 206. Greenwich was also where Locker was based, in his work for Greenwich Hospital. He may well have been tempting Southey with one of the houses at Vanbrugh Fields at the top of Maze Hill.[back]
7. The Doctor (1834–1847).[back]
8. William Nicol (1777–1857), printer and friend of Grosvenor Bedford. He printed The Doctor, published by Longmans.[back]
9. ‘Dr Daniel Dove’. This was the working title for The Doctor.[back]
10. Charles William Stewart (1778–1854; DNB), 3rd Marquess of Londonderry from 1822. He commanded a brigade of cavalry during the Corunna campaign of 1808–1809, and was later Adjutant-General to the Duke of Wellington and British Minister to Prussia 1813–1814 and Austria 1814–1823. Southey had corrected the spelling of Stewart’s name in his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
11. James Moore (1763–1834; DNB), A Narrative of the Campaign of the British Army in Spain, Commanded by His Excellency Lieut.-General Sir John Moore, K.B. &c. Authenticated by Official Papers and Original Letters (1809). Moore consistently misspelt Stewart’s name as ‘Stuart’.[back]
12. History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), I, p. [iii]: ‘It is with peculiar fitness, as well as with pleasure, that I inscribe to your Majesty [George IV] a History of the most glorious war recorded in the British annals./When the Regency devolved into your hands, the fortunes of our allies were at their lowest ebb, and neither arts nor efforts were spared for making the spirit of this country sink with them. At that momentous crisis every thing depended, under Providence, upon your single determination; and to that determination Great Britain is beholden for its triumph, and Europe for its deliverance./To your Majesty, therefore, this faithful History is offered, as a portion of the tribute due to a just, magnanimous, and splendid reign, and as a proof of individual respect and gratitude from/Your Majesty’s/Most dutiful subject and servant,/ROBERT SOUTHEY.’ The ‘Preface’ appeared at pp. [v]–vi.[back]
13. Southey was suffering from a rectal prolapse.[back]
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