3946. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 3 January 1823

 

MS: National Library of Wales, MS 4813D. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 371–373.

My dear Wynn

Thank you for the Cambro-Briton

(1)

The Cambro-Briton (1819–1822), a journal on Welsh history, no. 527 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

– & for your note.

The Mill is in good order, & the horse willing to go on in his daily rounds. I am as willing as old Siward to die in harness;

(2)

Siward, Earl of Northumbria (d. 1055; DNB). Fatally ill with dysentery, he insisted on being clad in armour and given his weapons so that he could die like a soldier.

& should wear it as a volunteer if I were not compelled to serve in the ranks.

Poor Daniel says of himself in old age

– Time hath done to me this wrong
               To make me write too much, & live too long. (3)

My disposition is too chearful a one to admit of a fear that I may ever have occasion to apply these melancholy lines to myself. The main thing, without which I should have had anxious thoughts to keep me waking, – is secured; – a respectable provision for my family. And if I should live a few years longer, in possession of my health & faculties, there is a reasonable prospect of accumulating enough to make me independent of all periodical employment. The Peninsular War (which I trust you have received) is to be the beginning of this.

(4)

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

I made a most improvident bargain nine years ago,

(5)

See Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 23 July 1813, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Four, Letter 2284.

instead of calculating upon the rise of my own reputation, – & accepted Murrays offer of 1000 guineas, for two volumes. Had we been to make terms now he would have given me that sum for each. I shall expect to be paid 1500 for the three, – & that sum I shall lay by.

Application has been made to me to continue Wartons History of Poetry.

(6)

Thomas Warton (1728–1790; DNB), The History of English Poetry from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century (1774–1781). A new edition appeared in 1824, edited by Richard Price (1790–1833; DNB), no. 2986 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. The offer to continue this work came through Thomas Frognall Dibdin.

I should have accepted the offer if it would have enabled me to dispense with reviewing, – that being the only work to which I go with reluctance, – for it withdraws me from worthier pursuits.

I have had a gracious message from the King – thro Sir Wm Knighton, – with the special favour of having it approved in the Kings own hand.

(7)

Knighton had conveyed George IV’s commendation of the first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).

What you tell me of the Indian College

(8)

Thomas Fanshaw Middleton (1769–1822; DNB), first Bishop of Calcutta 1814–1822, had founded Bishop’s College, Calcutta, in 1820 to train Indians for the Anglican ministry.

I am very glad to hear. – If you were minister for our new Colonies

(9)

As President of the Board of Control, Wynn had overall responsibility for the territories governed by the East India Company. All other colonies were the remit of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (1762–1834; DNB).

that subject interests me so much that I should almost ask to be your Secretary. We must have recourse to colonization. & that too extensively & upon system, – or it will be impossible to save our fabric of society from destruction. And if provision is not made for a proper religious establishment at first, it will be very difficult to introduce it afterwards. In New Holland & V Diemens land

(10)

Australia and Tasmania.

we settle by occupancy – not by conquest. – & if we go wrong there it must be from inexperience & error, not from any extraneous causes

You would be well pleased with your godson, who has as many promising qualities as I could desire to see.

I am very incredulous concerning what is said of the Welsh Paradise Lost.

(11)

William Owen Pughe had published Coll Gwynfa (1819), a Welsh translation of John Milton (1608–1674; DNB), Paradise Lost (1667).

My old acquaintance William Owen was one of Joanna Southcotts four & twenty elders, – full of Welsh information certainly he was, but a muddier minded man I never met with. And There is abundant proof in his dictionary

(12)

William Owen Pughe, A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, Explained in English: with Numerous Illustrations, from the Literary Remains and from the Living Speech of the Cymry (1803).

how loose & inaccurate his knowledge of his own language is, – & I could almost as soon believe in Joanna Southcott myself, as be persuaded that he has well translated a book which I am very sure he does not understand.

God bless you
RS.

Jany 3. 1823.

Notes

1. The Cambro-Briton (1819–1822), a journal on Welsh history, no. 527 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
2. Siward, Earl of Northumbria (d. 1055; DNB). Fatally ill with dysentery, he insisted on being clad in armour and given his weapons so that he could die like a soldier.[back]
3. Samuel Daniel (1562–1619; DNB). Southey slightly misquotes from Daniel’s poem, ‘To the Prince’, lines 107–108, which was prefixed to his play, Philotas (1604). The original text reads ‘But yeeres hath done this wrong,/ To make me write too much, and liue to long.’[back]
4. The first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
5. See Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 23 July 1813, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Four, Letter 2284.[back]
6. Thomas Warton (1728–1790; DNB), The History of English Poetry from the Close of the Eleventh to the Commencement of the Eighteenth Century (1774–1781). A new edition appeared in 1824, edited by Richard Price (1790–1833; DNB), no. 2986 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. The offer to continue this work came through Thomas Frognall Dibdin.[back]
7. Knighton had conveyed George IV’s commendation of the first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
8. Thomas Fanshaw Middleton (1769–1822; DNB), first Bishop of Calcutta 1814–1822, had founded Bishop’s College, Calcutta, in 1820 to train Indians for the Anglican ministry.[back]
9. As President of the Board of Control, Wynn had overall responsibility for the territories governed by the East India Company. All other colonies were the remit of the Secretary of State for War and the Colonies, Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (1762–1834; DNB).[back]
10. Australia and Tasmania.[back]
11. William Owen Pughe had published Coll Gwynfa (1819), a Welsh translation of John Milton (1608–1674; DNB), Paradise Lost (1667).[back]
12. William Owen Pughe, A Dictionary of the Welsh Language, Explained in English: with Numerous Illustrations, from the Literary Remains and from the Living Speech of the Cymry (1803).[back]
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