3892. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 6 September 1822

 

Address: To/ G.C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer/Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 9 SE 9/ 1822
Endorsement: 6. Septr. 1822/ Laureate’s Sack
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.

Keswick. 6 Sept 1822
My dear G.

I had occasion lately to write to Croker concerning the conduct of our ships at the siege of Rosas in 1808

(1)

Rosas is a fortified port in Catalonia, which was also defended by the nearby Castell de la Trinitat. It endured a long siege from French forces in 1808, during which British sailors were landed to help defend Castell de la Trinitat. Southey dealt with the matter in History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), II, pp. 37–47. He was not critical of the conduct or tactics of the British commanders.

(Capt Bennet in the Fame)

(2)

Captain Richard Alexander Henry Bennet (c. 1771–1818), MP for Launceston 1802–1806, Enniskillen 1807, Launceston 1807–1812, commander of HMS Fame, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line. Boats from HMS Fame helped evacuate the British garrison from Castell de la Trinitat after its surrender on 5 December 1808.

which the French represent as very bad, – & the Spaniards rather attempt to excuse than vindicate. He sent me all the documents he could collect, & in the note which accompanied them he says “Did you not tell me once that you wished to have back your butt of sack instead of some allowance for it?

(3)

Traditionally, part of the Poet Laureate’s salary was a butt of sack (c. 570 litres of sweet, fortified wine from Spain). Southey’s predecessor, Henry James Pye (1745–1813; DNB), had exchanged this for a payment of £27 p.a. from the Lord Steward, who was in charge of the Royal Household’s domestic arrangements.

If you have any wish on the subject, let me have a brief, & I will plead the cause.”

Now in order to furnish him with this brief, I want to know, what the allowance is (which I do not know) – & what the in what manner my predecessors were supplied with the wine when they took it in kind. Dear Grosvenor, for as much as you love sack, do enquire into this matter for me, & enable me to state my case. – What I want is an order upon the Kings wine merchant

(4)

There was no officially appointed royal wine merchant, but Berry Bros & Rudd of 3 St James’s Street, London, had supplied wine to the royal family since the 1760s.

for my butt, – & an arrangement with him for taking out the value part in the authentic sack, the rest in other wines, to wit Claret & Rhenish,

(5)

Red wine from Bordeaux and sweet white wine from the Rhineland.

– for I would drink nothing worse.

My full dressed book

(6)

The specially bound copy of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832), for presentation to George IV, to whom the book was dedicated.

<alone would> deserve the restitution of my rights – which ought also to be made in respect to the memory of Ben Johnson.

(7)

The butt of sack was first provided to Ben Jonson (1572–1637; DNB), Poet Laureate 1616–1637, in 1630.

I have added largely to the rhymes upon Lodore, so that the thing is really become a curiosity of its kind, & I am about to send it to Joanna Baillie for her charitable volume.

(8)

‘The Cataract of Lodore, Described in Rhymes for the Nursery, By One of the Lake Poets’, published in Joanna Baillie (ed.), A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript, And From Living Authors (London, 1823), pp. 280–283. Southey had sent Bedford an early version on 8 June 1822, Letter 3852.

I should like you to see a Baltimore review of the Life of Wesley,

(9)

Unidentified.

xxx writes <wherein it is> asserted as a matter beyond all doubt that I planned it upon the model of the Iliad. It is full of the highest praise of the execution, & the grossest misstatement of its principles & object.

God bless you
RS.

Ask Henry for me if the Capt Bennet who commanded the Fame in 1808 was Grey Bennet.

(10)

Henry Grey Bennet (1777–1836), Whig MP for Shrewsbury 1806–1807, 1811–1826, was a politician whom Southey greatly disliked for his criticisms of Charles Watkin Williams Wynn. Bennet had served in the Foot Guards 1793–1796, but not in the Royal Navy.

Notes

1. Rosas is a fortified port in Catalonia, which was also defended by the nearby Castell de la Trinitat. It endured a long siege from French forces in 1808, during which British sailors were landed to help defend Castell de la Trinitat. Southey dealt with the matter in History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (London, 1823–1832), II, pp. 37–47. He was not critical of the conduct or tactics of the British commanders.[back]
2. Captain Richard Alexander Henry Bennet (c. 1771–1818), MP for Launceston 1802–1806, Enniskillen 1807, Launceston 1807–1812, commander of HMS Fame, a 74-gun third rate ship of the line. Boats from HMS Fame helped evacuate the British garrison from Castell de la Trinitat after its surrender on 5 December 1808.[back]
3. Traditionally, part of the Poet Laureate’s salary was a butt of sack (c. 570 litres of sweet, fortified wine from Spain). Southey’s predecessor, Henry James Pye (1745–1813; DNB), had exchanged this for a payment of £27 p.a. from the Lord Steward, who was in charge of the Royal Household’s domestic arrangements.[back]
4. There was no officially appointed royal wine merchant, but Berry Bros & Rudd of 3 St James’s Street, London, had supplied wine to the royal family since the 1760s.[back]
5. Red wine from Bordeaux and sweet white wine from the Rhineland.[back]
6. The specially bound copy of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832), for presentation to George IV, to whom the book was dedicated.[back]
7. The butt of sack was first provided to Ben Jonson (1572–1637; DNB), Poet Laureate 1616–1637, in 1630.[back]
8. ‘The Cataract of Lodore, Described in Rhymes for the Nursery, By One of the Lake Poets’, published in Joanna Baillie (ed.), A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript, And From Living Authors (London, 1823), pp. 280–283. Southey had sent Bedford an early version on 8 June 1822, Letter 3852.[back]
9. Unidentified.[back]
10. Henry Grey Bennet (1777–1836), Whig MP for Shrewsbury 1806–1807, 1811–1826, was a politician whom Southey greatly disliked for his criticisms of Charles Watkin Williams Wynn. Bennet had served in the Foot Guards 1793–1796, but not in the Royal Navy.[back]
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