3962. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 9–[10] February 1823

 

Address: To/ G.C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer
Endorsement: 9. Feb. 1823
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.

Keswick. Sunday 9 Feby 1823
My dear Grosvenor

The blockade having been broken up, three mails have arrived to day, – that of the day being still due. They bring me your letter by which I am glad to perceive that this hard winter has not frozen up all the ink at the Exchequer, as I began to apprehend.

Edith-May thanks you for her pocket book & so would Sara if she were here, instead of being in London at this time, with her mother, visiting John Coleridge.

So the Whigs are clamorous for war in behalf of the Spaniards!

(1)

In Spain the liberal Constitution of 1812 had been restored by a military revolt in 1820. France was preparing to invade Spain to restore royal absolutism and the Whigs were urging the government to pressurise France not to intervene.

I hope some person will remind them of their sympathy for the Spaniards during the last contest. Oh that my second volume

(2)

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

were ready at this time, for their sake. It stirs my gall to hear Brougham speak about them as he does now,

(3)

In a widely publicised speech in the House of Commons on 4 February 1823, Brougham had stated that if France invaded Spain ‘our intervention in some shape would become unavoidable’.

he having used all his powers to vilify & traduce them formerly, & make this country abandon them to their fate.

(4)

Brougham had often been critical of the British intervention in the Peninsular War 1808–1813.

– I will dress up his own words for him, which will prove as comfortable a dressing as the garment which Deianira sent to Hercules.

(5)

In Greek myth, Deianira was the wife of the hero Hercules. She unwittingly killed Hercules by giving him a shirt smeared with the toxic blood of the centaur Nessus.

The weather has confined me to the house, a full month, with the intervention of two or three days. I am not the better for this. It is now thawing fast, & I hope to get abroad again, & recover my good condition.

Will you send my daughter, under favour of his Right Honour, a cake of ultra-marine,

(6)

A dried block of pigment for use in watercolour painting. Ultramarine is a deep blue colour.

which she stands greatly in need of for certain drawings now in hand. When you come to us next summer – as I trust it is written in the Book of Fate

(7)

Thalaba the Destoyer (1801), Book 11, line 7.

that you will do, – you will be pleased with her dexterity of hand.

If ears were transferable, I would lend you one excellent one, – & sleep from that time forward with the deaf side upwards. However it will be far better if Sir Antony can set you up with two of your own. I am glad to see his name in your letter, for the sake of old times.

Monday

I thought to have filled my paper this evening but a sick headache disables me, – & I will not detain it, because of the receipt, the delay of the QR

(8)

Southey’s 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), was not until published 15 February 1823. The book was no. 2838 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

will render its account very accepxtable.

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. In Spain the liberal Constitution of 1812 had been restored by a military revolt in 1820. France was preparing to invade Spain to restore royal absolutism and the Whigs were urging the government to pressurise France not to intervene.[back]
2. The second volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832).[back]
3. In a widely publicised speech in the House of Commons on 4 February 1823, Brougham had stated that if France invaded Spain ‘our intervention in some shape would become unavoidable’.[back]
4. Brougham had often been critical of the British intervention in the Peninsular War 1808–1813.[back]
5. In Greek myth, Deianira was the wife of the hero Hercules. She unwittingly killed Hercules by giving him a shirt smeared with the toxic blood of the centaur Nessus.[back]
6. A dried block of pigment for use in watercolour painting. Ultramarine is a deep blue colour.[back]
7. Thalaba the Destoyer (1801), Book 11, line 7.[back]
8. Southey’s 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), was not until published 15 February 1823. The book was no. 2838 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
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