3893. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 6 September 1822

 

Address: To/ Dr Southey./ 15. Queen Anne Street/ Cavendish Square/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 9 SE 9/ 1822
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Don. d. 4. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

Keswick. 6 Sept <Sept> 1822
My dear Harry

I am vexed that your nervous Lady should make you the patient now, if however she only delays you till the stormy weather blows over, it will be well.

(1)

Louisa Southey was pregnant and gave birth to Henry Herbert Southey, Jnr (1822–1829) on 6 November 1822.

The bust arrived safely at Rydal.

(2)

A bust of Southey had been sculpted in 1813 by James Smith (1775–1815). Smith’s business was carried on by his sons, Charles Raymond Smith (c. 1798–1888) and Thomas Smith (b. 1800) at 57 Upper Norton Street and Southey had ordered a copy to be made, to give to Wordsworth in exchange for a copy of Sir Francis Chantrey’s bust of Wordsworth, completed in 1820.

The Shakspere will no doubt make its appearance next week.

(3)

James Boswell (1778–1822; DNB), old school-friend of Southey, lawyer, poet and literary scholar, had died on 24 February 1822. Boswell completed Edmond Malone (1741–1812; DNB), The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare, with the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators: Comprehending a Life of the Poet, and an Enlarged History of the Stage (1821) and Southey had asked Henry Herbert Southey to send him a copy. It became no. 2539 in the sale catalogue of his library.

I have a list of the American books, – but it is a list raisonnée in Ticknors letter, with an &c at the end, & what that &c may comprehend I cannot tell. It may however be as well that Miller

(4)

John Miller (dates unknown), a publisher who specialised in marketing and distributing American books and journals.

should know I have the list, because he had no business to ask the question. Ticknor sends the books thro him as the bookseller whom he employs (largely I have no doubt both on his private account, & for his College,

(5)

Ticknor had an enormous private library, but he was also Smith Professor of French and Spanish Languages and Literature at Harvard University 1817–1835.

) & all he had to do according to his instructions would be to get them on shore & transmit them to me, merely repacking them after they had been opened at the Custom House, – The duty if they went there. The duty would be the veryest trifle, which T. would in all likelihood order to be charged to his account. It is very possible that they may be on the road to me from Longmans.

John May was to have written to me on his arrival in town. I am rather uneasy at not hearing from him, & the more so as you do not mention having seen him since I know it was his intention to have written on Monday last, & to have seen you before he wrote. He seemed to enjoy his visit,

(6)

John May and his son, John May (1802–1879), visited Southey at Keswick 5 August–2 September 1822.

& we heartily enjoyed his company.

I am not sure whether I told you of Charles Henrys

(7)

Charles Edward Henry (1807–1833), the younger of Peachy’s two stepsons. The accident occurred on 2 August 1822 and was widely reported in the newspapers (without naming him): ‘A young gentleman, by way of saluting some friends who were taking their departure, fired off a cannon, which unfortunately burst in consequence of being overloaded, and the fragments severely fractured his skull’ (Glasgow Herald, 12 August 1822). The cannon was kept outside Peachy’s house on Derwent Island and was fired as part of the annual Keswick Regatta.

accident, a dreadful fracture of the scull by the bursting of a cannon. For a full month the brain continued to protrude through the fracture – like a large egg, part indeed was knocked out, – a part came away for a long time with the dressings. It is just five weeks since the accident happened, – to day he was to go up stairs into the drawing room, & it is expected that in ten days more, if all goes on as it has hitherto done, that the wound will be closed – a recovery all but miraculous

The General had as narrow an escape himself on Tuesday last, but of a less tragical kind. Sir Fred. Morshead

(8)

Sir Frederick Treise Morshead, 2nd Baronet (1783–1828), lived at Derwent Lodge, Keswick.

gave him a little boat which only holds one person, & is corked

(9)

The boat was lined with cork to aid buoyancy.

for the sake of lessening that persons danger. The General took advantage of a rough day to circumnavigate Shirt Island

(10)

A family nickname for one of the islands in Derwentwater.

in this cockle shell rain came on with the wind when he was about half way on his return – he hoisted an umbrella, & in endeavouring to save that when it was caught by the wind, upset the boat. Having done this the wisest man could not have behaved with more compleat presence of mind, he swam to the boat, & contrived to turn it up, – but it was then more than half full of water, & there was no possibility of getting into it, without its upsetting again. So he laid hold, & holloaed long & lustily for help. They heard him at the island,

(11)

Derwent Island, where Peachy lived.

– & three men not one of whom could swim rowed out to him in his own little boat, – which as you know, ought not in rough weather to carry more than two. It did not do to send them back for the larger boat, – which was on the other side the water at the time, & the General knew that he could not get into this; so he ordered them to fasten the chain to the cockle-shell, & take it in tow, & him at the stern of it, – & in this way was he towed at the tail of the second boat to his own island, where he came in, in high glee, holding on with one hand, & waving his hat with the other. If the upset had happened out of hearing, or if the wind had set the other way so as to have disperse lost his voice, it might very easily have cost his life, he had on a heavy great coat, which assisted in buoying him, but would soon have acted very differently.

I tell him he should have a picture painted of this adventure & also that Mrs P. should insist upon his chusing whether to wear a cork waistcoat, or a straight one –

(12)

Cork waistcoats were early lifejackets; straitjackets were used to constrain those confined in lunatic asylums.

God bless you
RS.

I wanted to consult you about Cuthbert. He appears in excellent health & spirits, – but his tongue is always foul in the morning, & he is always hotter than he ought to be, during the night. – Should I give him small does of calomel?

(13)

Mercury chloride, used as a purgative.

I can detect no discover no cause for this. He eats plenty of ripe fruit, & his digestion goes on regularly & well: but there must be something amiss.

Notes

1. Louisa Southey was pregnant and gave birth to Henry Herbert Southey, Jnr (1822–1829) on 6 November 1822.[back]
2. A bust of Southey had been sculpted in 1813 by James Smith (1775–1815). Smith’s business was carried on by his sons, Charles Raymond Smith (c. 1798–1888) and Thomas Smith (b. 1800) at 57 Upper Norton Street and Southey had ordered a copy to be made, to give to Wordsworth in exchange for a copy of Sir Francis Chantrey’s bust of Wordsworth, completed in 1820.[back]
3. James Boswell (1778–1822; DNB), old school-friend of Southey, lawyer, poet and literary scholar, had died on 24 February 1822. Boswell completed Edmond Malone (1741–1812; DNB), The Plays and Poems of William Shakespeare, with the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators: Comprehending a Life of the Poet, and an Enlarged History of the Stage (1821) and Southey had asked Henry Herbert Southey to send him a copy. It became no. 2539 in the sale catalogue of his library.[back]
4. John Miller (dates unknown), a publisher who specialised in marketing and distributing American books and journals.[back]
5. Ticknor had an enormous private library, but he was also Smith Professor of French and Spanish Languages and Literature at Harvard University 1817–1835.[back]
6. John May and his son, John May (1802–1879), visited Southey at Keswick 5 August–2 September 1822.[back]
7. Charles Edward Henry (1807–1833), the younger of Peachy’s two stepsons. The accident occurred on 2 August 1822 and was widely reported in the newspapers (without naming him): ‘A young gentleman, by way of saluting some friends who were taking their departure, fired off a cannon, which unfortunately burst in consequence of being overloaded, and the fragments severely fractured his skull’ (Glasgow Herald, 12 August 1822). The cannon was kept outside Peachy’s house on Derwent Island and was fired as part of the annual Keswick Regatta.[back]
8. Sir Frederick Treise Morshead, 2nd Baronet (1783–1828), lived at Derwent Lodge, Keswick.[back]
9. The boat was lined with cork to aid buoyancy.[back]
10. A family nickname for one of the islands in Derwentwater.[back]
11. Derwent Island, where Peachy lived.[back]
12. Cork waistcoats were early lifejackets; straitjackets were used to constrain those confined in lunatic asylums.[back]
13. Mercury chloride, used as a purgative.[back]
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