3907. Robert Southey to Herbert Hill, 14 October 1822

 

Address: To/ The Reverend Herbert Hill/ Streatham/ Surrey
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmarks: 10 o’Clock/ OC 17/ 1822 FNn; E/ 17 OC 17/ 1822
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, WC 222. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 333–335 [in part].

B. Frere has sent me a box full of his brothers papers, – I have as many bundles fastened with red tape before me, as if I were at the head of a public office, & am a great deal busier with them than if I were paid two or three thousand a year for my work. These papers will carry on my narrative

(1)

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

very satisfactorily to the time when those which I had from M Wellesley begin. But I shall very likely spring some other mines when I come to town.

Sir Robert Inglis has given me the first & third volume of the Chronicas de la Provincia de Rel. Desc. Da S Francisco en las Islas Philipinas, China, Japon &c

(2)

Juan Francisco de San Antonio (1682–1744), Chronicas de la Apostolica Provincia de S. Gregorio de Religiosos Descalzos de N. S. P. S. Francisco en las Islas Philipinas, China, Japon &c (1738–1744), no. 3569 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

– printed in their Convent at Manila from whence this imperfect set was brought by some curioso in Sir W Drapers

(3)

Lieutenant General Sir William Draper (1721–1787; DNB). He commanded the expedition that captured Manila in 1762, at the end of the Seven Years War.

expedition. Sir R. purchased them the other day at the sale of a relations books.

(4)

Unidentified.

The first vol. contains a fuller description of the Philippines than I have seen in any other work. There is a great deal of curious matter in the book, – as indeed there is in almost all books of this kind. The good matter is mingled in them as it is in our county histories, – & the rubbish is better worth raking.

I have also added to my stores the two volumes of the earlier Edda published at Copenhagen in 1784 & 1818

(5)

Edda Saemundar hinns Froda. Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquor, Vulgo Saemundina Dicta (1787–1818), no. 918 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. He never acquired the third volume, published in 1828.

– a third is soon expected to compleat the work. Were it only for its copious glossaries it would be exceedingly curious, but the poems themselves are of the most curious kind. At the same time I obtained a Bibliotheca Danica

(6)

Jens Edvard Kraft (1784–1853) and Rasmus Nyerup (1759–1829), Almendeligt Litteraturlexicon for Danmark, Norge og Island (1820), no. 1407 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

– I wish it had included Swedish as well as Norwegian & Islandic <Icelandic> authors.

Like you, it is not often that I meet with any one who can enter into my pursuits. People come to look at me as a live poet, little thinking how compleatly I have ceased to exist as such, & that I have as little inclination to write verses, as to play at pottle

(7)

Pottle was a simple card game.

or whip a top. Now that I am left to myself & to my ordinary xxxx habits, I take every night after supper with my blackcurrant rum (thanks be to your friend Hoblyn

(8)

Robert Hoblyn (1751–1839). He was a Christ Church contemporary of Herbert Hill (matriculated 1768, BA 1771) and inherited Nanswhyden House, where Southey and Hill stayed in November 1795 on their way to Falmouth to take ship for Spain.

for introducing me to that xxx admirable tincture!) – a composing dose of Dutch looking thro the huge work of Aitzema,

(9)

Lieuwe van Aitzema (1600–1669), Sakem van Staet en Oorlogh in emde Omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1655–1671), with the continuation by Lambert van den Bos (1610–1698) of 1685–1699, and Aitzema’s Verhael van de Nederlansche Vrede-Handeling (1671), no. 214 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

from which I shall make no inconsiderable gleanings. It is an invaluable repository of facts for the greater part of the 17th century; & a great deal which it contains is not to be found elsewhere.

The other day I finished the Life of Philippes de Mornay,

(10)

Philippe de Mornay, Seigneur du Plessy Marly (1549–1623), Histoire de la Vie de Messire Philippes de Mornay, Seigneur de Plessis Marly &c (1647), no. 1892 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

better known among us by that name, than by his title of Du Plessis. The book is heavy, but it shows how much intrigue was mixed up with the affairs of the Hugonots, – & Du Plessis himself seems to have been a perfect example of integrity. – When I come to you in the spring I shall set upon your Sully.

(11)

Maximilien de Bethune, Duke of Sully (1560–1641), Memoires des Sages et Royales Oeconomies d’Estat Domestiques, Politiques et Militaires de Henry le Grand, l’Examplaire des Roys, le Prince des Vertus, des Armes & des Loix & le Pere en Effet de ses Peuples Francois (1638), no. 2664 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

By that time I shall have pretty nearly finished the earlier Memoirs as far as my set goes.

I have written to the Marquis, & made my excuses for not having done so sooner. The Doctor left me with heavy arrears of correspondence, & business of every kind. I have worked steadily since his departure – but it was too late for the Q.R. & there will be nothing of mine in the next number.

(12)

Quarterly Review, 27 (July 1822), published 23 October 1822. It did not contain an article by Southey, who had been working on his review of Henri Grégoire (1750–1831), Histoire des Sectes Religieuse, qui, Depuis de Commencement du Siecle Dernier Jusqu’a l’Epoque Actuelle, sont Nées, se sont Modifiées, se sont Éteintes dans le Quatre Parties du Monde (1814), Quarterly Review, 28 (October 1822), published 15 February 1823. The book was no. 2838 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

Between ourselves that journal will be in great danger, whenever Gifford drops it, or drops off. It has got itself into deserved disgrace by its silence <& its notice> concerning Lord Byron;

(13)

Murray was the publisher of both Byron and the Quarterly Review. The forthcoming review of Byron’s Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts. With Notes. The Prophecy of Dante, a Poem (1821) and Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy, Cain, A Mystery (1821) by Reginald Heber, Quarterly Review, 27 (July 1822), 476–524, published 23 October 1822, was not the swingeing condemnation that Southey would have liked.

& many persons are offended as you & I have been, by its irritating papers concerning America,

(14)

Hostility to the United States was a consistent feature of the Quarterly Review. See, for example, the review of Henry Bradshaw Fearon (c. 1793–1842), Sketches of America. A Narrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles Through the Eastern and Western States of America (1818), Quarterly Review, 21 (January 1819), 124–167, by Sir John Barrow (1764–1848; DNB).

& [MS obscured]per of its criticism. A New Quarterly has been thought of & if an unfit person were to succeed Gifford, – or if his successor were to commit the same faults, – I have no doubt it would be started. If I would undertake the management, a bookseller of sufficient capital would move into the West end of the town from the city, (Mawman

(15)

Joseph Mawman (1759–1827), bookseller and author from York, who became a well-known London publisher. His firm was based in the City of London, rather than the West End, like Murray. The proposal for a rival journal to the Quarterly Review did not materialise.

is the man) secure to me 500£ a year, give me half the profits above that sum, whatever they might be, & vest the copyright in me; – & coadjutors enough are ready to bear a part. This has been intimated to me, for my consideration. I am not inclined to make so great a sacrifice of worthier pursuits, as would be required; – & would much rather see the existing QR in the hands of an editor who would make it what it ought to be.

Love to my Aunt – God bless you

RS.

Keswick 14 Oct. 1822.

Notes

1. For Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
2. Juan Francisco de San Antonio (1682–1744), Chronicas de la Apostolica Provincia de S. Gregorio de Religiosos Descalzos de N. S. P. S. Francisco en las Islas Philipinas, China, Japon &c (1738–1744), no. 3569 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
3. Lieutenant General Sir William Draper (1721–1787; DNB). He commanded the expedition that captured Manila in 1762, at the end of the Seven Years War.[back]
4. Unidentified.[back]
5. Edda Saemundar hinns Froda. Edda Rhythmica seu Antiquor, Vulgo Saemundina Dicta (1787–1818), no. 918 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. He never acquired the third volume, published in 1828.[back]
6. Jens Edvard Kraft (1784–1853) and Rasmus Nyerup (1759–1829), Almendeligt Litteraturlexicon for Danmark, Norge og Island (1820), no. 1407 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
7. Pottle was a simple card game.[back]
8. Robert Hoblyn (1751–1839). He was a Christ Church contemporary of Herbert Hill (matriculated 1768, BA 1771) and inherited Nanswhyden House, where Southey and Hill stayed in November 1795 on their way to Falmouth to take ship for Spain.[back]
9. Lieuwe van Aitzema (1600–1669), Sakem van Staet en Oorlogh in emde Omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1655–1671), with the continuation by Lambert van den Bos (1610–1698) of 1685–1699, and Aitzema’s Verhael van de Nederlansche Vrede-Handeling (1671), no. 214 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
10. Philippe de Mornay, Seigneur du Plessy Marly (1549–1623), Histoire de la Vie de Messire Philippes de Mornay, Seigneur de Plessis Marly &c (1647), no. 1892 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
11. Maximilien de Bethune, Duke of Sully (1560–1641), Memoires des Sages et Royales Oeconomies d’Estat Domestiques, Politiques et Militaires de Henry le Grand, l’Examplaire des Roys, le Prince des Vertus, des Armes & des Loix & le Pere en Effet de ses Peuples Francois (1638), no. 2664 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
12. Quarterly Review, 27 (July 1822), published 23 October 1822. It did not contain an article by Southey, who had been working on his review of Henri Grégoire (1750–1831), Histoire des Sectes Religieuse, qui, Depuis de Commencement du Siecle Dernier Jusqu’a l’Epoque Actuelle, sont Nées, se sont Modifiées, se sont Éteintes dans le Quatre Parties du Monde (1814), Quarterly Review, 28 (October 1822), published 15 February 1823. The book was no. 2838 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
13. Murray was the publisher of both Byron and the Quarterly Review. The forthcoming review of Byron’s Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts. With Notes. The Prophecy of Dante, a Poem (1821) and Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy, Cain, A Mystery (1821) by Reginald Heber, Quarterly Review, 27 (July 1822), 476–524, published 23 October 1822, was not the swingeing condemnation that Southey would have liked.[back]
14. Hostility to the United States was a consistent feature of the Quarterly Review. See, for example, the review of Henry Bradshaw Fearon (c. 1793–1842), Sketches of America. A Narrative of a Journey of Five Thousand Miles Through the Eastern and Western States of America (1818), Quarterly Review, 21 (January 1819), 124–167, by Sir John Barrow (1764–1848; DNB).[back]
15. Joseph Mawman (1759–1827), bookseller and author from York, who became a well-known London publisher. His firm was based in the City of London, rather than the West End, like Murray. The proposal for a rival journal to the Quarterly Review did not materialise.[back]
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