3972. Robert Southey to John Murray, 3 March 1823

 

Endorsement: Mar 3. 1822/ R Southey
MS: National Library of Scotland, MS 42552. ALS; 3p.
Previously published: Samuel Smiles, A Publisher and His Friends. Memoir and Correspondence of the Late John Murray, with an Account of the Origin and Progress of the House, 1768–1843, 2 vols (London, 1891), II, p. 388 [in part].

Keswick. 3 March. 1823
My dear Sir

I thank you for your letter, & return the receipt, – reminding you however that our engagement was <is> for guineas, – as the letter containing your offer shows.

(1)

Murray had offered Southey one thousand guineas for his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832); see Southey to Herbert Hill, 18 July 1813, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Five, Letter 2283. However, when the History grew from the two volumes proposed in 1813 to three, Murray raised this to £1,500.

– You have dealt fairly & uprightly with me, – as I was confident you would do, & as I have deserved to be treated.

I can readily believe that if this history had been brought out close upon the termination of the war, the immediate sale might have been greater than it has been now. But I am perfectly sure, that in the end, the delay which has intervened will prove not less conducive to your interest, than it was due to the subject, & my own reputation. For if the execution of the work be in any degree worthy of the subject, the story is so important in itself, so varied in its details, & so honourable to us as a nation, that sooner or later the book will find its way into every Englishmans <Gentlemans> library: & this it could not do if it had been composed hastily, upon insufficient materials. – On the other hand I am plainly a loser by the delay. Had we been to treat concerning the work when I was last in town,

(2)

Southey was aware of Byron’s accusations in the suppressed, but widely circulated, ‘Dedication’ to Don Juan (1819): ‘You [Southey] have your Salary – was’t for that you wrought?’ (line 45). Byron had returned to the attack in the ‘Appendix’ to ‘The Two Foscari’, Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery (London, 1821), which referenced ‘Mr. Southey, with all his places and presents for panegyrics and abuse’ (p. 327) and described him as an ‘arrogant scribbler of all works’ (p. 329). In The Vision of Judgment (1822), a parody of Southey’s A Vision of Judgement (1821), Byron accused Southey of, amongst many other things, writing to order.

you would have offered me just double what you are now paying. Known to you as I am, it is needless for me to say, that tho I live almost wholly by my writings (& that too, hitherto, from hand to mouth) this thought has never in the slightest degree abated the interest which I take in pursuing the history, nor the desire which I feel of rendering it as compleat as the most conscientious diligence can make it. That miscreant Lord Byron has slandered me as being a mercenary writer;

(3)

In the ‘Appendix’ to ‘The Two Foscari’, Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery (London, 1821), Byron referred to ‘Mr. Southey, with all his places and presents for panegyrics and abuse’ (p. 327) and described him as an ‘arrogant scribbler of all works’ (p. 329). Byron’s The Vision of Judgment (1822), a parody of Southey’s A Vision of Judgement (1821), was first published in the Liberal, 1 (October 1822), 3–39, and accused Southey of changing his opinions, dullness, prolixity and writing to order.

– how falsely I might appeal to you. But my life will one day give the lie to all such slanderers.

Mr Rees appears to have acted with a bad judgement, as well as an unfortunate memory. That house,

(4)

i.e. Rees and his partners at Longmans and Co.

I suspect, is a little out of humour at my connection with you. Yet you & Turner both know, that the reason why we came to no conclusion concerning the Biography,

(5)

Southey’s meaning is not quite clear here; the firm of Longman had refused to join with Murray in publishing Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832) as they feared interest in the subject had waned with the passing of time. The ‘Biography’ is possibly Southey’s projected but unrealised life of Warren Hastings (1732–1818; DNB).

was because they could not be brought to act with you in it.

The second volume would have in the press long ago, if the booksellers whom you have employed had procured those works of Olivera’s.

(6)

Southey had read John Mitford’s ‘On Spanish Literature, with some Account of Francisco de Olivarez’, New Monthly Magazine, 10 (October 1818), 221–223. It mentioned Olivarez’s Account of the War in Catalonia (1815) in four volumes, published at Seville, 1815; Anecdotes of Chiefs Employed in the Catalan War (1816); and Memoirs of the Spanish Monarchy to the Abdication of Charles 4 & the Usurpation of Joseph Bonaparte (1816). However, none of these works seem to exist. Southey had already asked Murray to try and acquire them; see Southey to John Murray: 10 July 1820, The Collected Letters of Robe…

Had my poor friend in Spain been living, I would have had them <over> in the despatches Spanish despatches. You cannot be more desirous that the remaining volumes should be brought out with as little delay as possible, than I am. – My absence from home this spring will occasion two months intermission of employment; – but I can promise both volumes in eighteen months from this time.

(7)

Southey was being optimistic. The second volume of his History of the Peninsular War was not published until 1827, and the third appeared in 1832.

Believe me my Dear Sir
yrs truly
Robert Southey.

Notes

1. Murray had offered Southey one thousand guineas for his History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832); see Southey to Herbert Hill, 18 July 1813, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Five, Letter 2283. However, when the History grew from the two volumes proposed in 1813 to three, Murray raised this to £1,500.[back]
2. Southey had visited London in May–June 1820.[back]
3. Southey was aware of Byron’s accusations in the suppressed, but widely circulated, ‘Dedication’ to Don Juan (1819): ‘You [Southey] have your Salary – was’t for that you wrought?’ (line 45). Byron had returned to the attack in the ‘Appendix’ to ‘The Two Foscari’, Sardanapulus, A Tragedy. The Two Foscari, A Tragedy. Cain, A Mystery (London, 1821), which referenced ‘Mr. Southey, with all his places and presents for panegyrics and abuse’ (p. 327) and described him as an ‘arrogant scribbler of all works’ (p. 329). In The Vision of Judgment (1822), a parody of Southey’s A Vision of Judgement (1821), Byron accused Southey of, amongst many other things, writing to order.[back]
4. i.e. Rees and his partners at Longmans and Co.[back]
5. Southey’s meaning is not quite clear here; the firm of Longman had refused to join with Murray in publishing Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832) as they feared interest in the subject had waned with the passing of time. The ‘Biography’ is possibly Southey’s projected but unrealised life of Warren Hastings (1732–1818; DNB).[back]
6. Southey had read John Mitford’s ‘On Spanish Literature, with some Account of Francisco de Olivarez’, New Monthly Magazine, 10 (October 1818), 221–223. It mentioned Olivarez’s Account of the War in Catalonia (1815) in four volumes, published at Seville, 1815; Anecdotes of Chiefs Employed in the Catalan War (1816); and Memoirs of the Spanish Monarchy to the Abdication of Charles 4 & the Usurpation of Joseph Bonaparte (1816). However, none of these works seem to exist. Southey had already asked Murray to try and acquire them; see Southey to John Murray: 10 July 1820, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3509; 27 February 1821, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3641; 11 June 1821, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3693; and 27 July 1822, Letter 3877; and 1 November [1822], Letter 3911.[back]
7. Southey was being optimistic. The second volume of his History of the Peninsular War was not published until 1827, and the third appeared in 1832.[back]
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