3908. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 18 October 1822

 

Address: To/ G.C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer/ Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ xxOCxx/ 1822
Endorsements: 18 Octor. 1822./ Congratulations – Qy. Review
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 335–338.

Keswick 18 Oct. 1822
My dear Grosvenor

Your letter gave me the greatest pleasure, enhanced by knowing that the promptitude & manner in which a promotion

(1)

James Fisher (c. 1758–1821), Chief Clerk in the Auditor’s Office, had died on 15 December 1821. Bedford duly succeeded Fisher as Chief Clerk 1822–1834, relinquishing his post of Clerk of Registers and Issues, which he had held since 1806.

so just & proper in itself has been granted, must have been owing to Wynn.

(2)

The words ‘owing to Wynn’ have been underlined and in the left hand margin at this point ‘It was not.’ has been written in Bedford’s hand.

I never doubted his hearty desire to be of real service to you, whenever it should be in his power. Tell me the designation of your office. Long may you live to fulfill its duties, & to enjoy the remuneration to which you will be rightly entitled whenever you are weary of them, & chuse to amuse yourself in your own way for the rest of your life.

Poor Gifford! The state of his health must make him think seriously of appointing a King of the Romans,

(3)

‘King of the Romans’ was originally a title used, from the eleventh century, by a person who had been elected as Holy Roman Emperor, but not yet crowned by the Pope. It later, from the sixteenth century, became a title used by the Emperor’s relative (usually his eldest son), who had been elected heir-apparent.

– & between ourselves, neither he nor Murraylemagne are aware of how much depends upon the choice. You will not let what I am about to say to you go farther. Murray has a great many enemies, especially in his own trade; & the QR has disgusted a great many persons who were by principle strongly disposed to be its friends. They are offended by its wretched inconsistency upon many points; by criticisms which are often as ill tempered & unmanly as they are unjust; & by its silence concerning Lord Byron, which is not the less scandalous in such a journal because Murray is implicated with him in the disgrace which must attach to every person concerned in bringing forth D Juan.

(4)

Murray had published Byron’s Don Juan (1819), though this was not acknowledged in the text.

In the event of Giffords decession – or decease, a New Q.R. has been talked of unless he should be succeeded by a person who would make the existing one what it ought to be in point of consistency, & high uncompromising principle. Thus it may be started with advantage. Mawman

(5)

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 ready to move to the West end of the town, & I am assured that if I would take the management he would secure me 500 £ a year, give me half the profits above that sum whatever they might be, & vest the copyright in me. Coadjutors on which I could rely, & such as I should chuse, are ready.

This has been communicated to me by John Coleridge. My wish is that he should be Giffords successor, & upon this point I wrote to Gifford as he has probably told you. Should that arrangement take place, this scheme falls to the ground at once. Otherwise, tho it is by no means likely that I should accede to it, so as to change my residence & act as Editor, it is very probable that it will be tried. And the Q.R. might be as much shaken by it, as the Edinburgh

(6)

The Edinburgh Review (1802–1929), the Whig quarterly journal. The Quarterly Review was founded in 1809 as a rival to the Edinburgh Review.

has been by the QR.

I have returned no answer to John Coleridge. Because tho it would be far more congenial to my habits, desires & feelings to withdraw from periodical & temporary literature altogether, rather than engage in it more deeply, still the prospect of a certain income is not hastily to be rejected by one whose means are so precarious as mine, at my age. Murrays conduct has not been such as to make me feel bound to him in the slightest degree. And no future Editor shall ever treat my papers as Gifford has done.

Enough of this. Pray send me the remaining sheets of my first volume

(7)

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

that I may get it put in boards & enjoy the satisfaction of seeing it compleat & in a tangible shape: At present I am working (hard as any Clerk in a public office after a motion for papers) upon a box full of papers from Frere, all which I have to read & exenterate, not to use so coarse a word as gut. As soon as this task is performed, the second volume will go on briskly.

I am keeping up my course of exercise in due obedience to Osiris. How should I ever do this in a tame country! To day I have been up Latrigg. Yesterday along the Terrace which runs under Skiddaw, the day before up Walla Woods to the summit of the crags. The improvement in my health is surprizing. At present indeed I am once more a sound man.

Thank God we are all well. I wish you could see your Godson, the future Archbishop-in-rus. I am learning Danish – & take a good dose of Dutch every night, after supper, with my black-currant rum. And I am as noisy as ever, – a sure sign that all within is well -

God bless you my dear Grosvenor
RS.

Notes

1. James Fisher (c. 1758–1821), Chief Clerk in the Auditor’s Office, had died on 15 December 1821. Bedford duly succeeded Fisher as Chief Clerk 1822–1834, relinquishing his post of Clerk of Registers and Issues, which he had held since 1806.[back]
2. The words ‘owing to Wynn’ have been underlined and in the left hand margin at this point ‘It was not.’ has been written in Bedford’s hand.[back]
3. ‘King of the Romans’ was originally a title used, from the eleventh century, by a person who had been elected as Holy Roman Emperor, but not yet crowned by the Pope. It later, from the sixteenth century, became a title used by the Emperor’s relative (usually his eldest son), who had been elected heir-apparent.[back]
4. Murray had published Byron’s Don Juan (1819), though this was not acknowledged in the text.[back]
5. 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]
6. The Edinburgh Review (1802–1929), the Whig quarterly journal. The Quarterly Review was founded in 1809 as a rival to the Edinburgh Review.[back]
7. The first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
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