4048. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 25 July 1823

 

Address: To/ Dr Southey/ 15. Queen Anne Street/ Cavendish Square/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 28 JY 28/ 1823
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, 1996.5.136. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.

Keswick. 25 July. 1823
My dear Harry

Tom is returned.

(1)

Tom Southey had sailed from Whitehaven on 20 April 1823 on the brig Maria and reached Quebec on 27 May. The purpose of his journey had been to investigate whether to emigrate with his family to Canada.

He fled thro the country, learnt that it was better to purchase an estate, than to clear one & build upon it; never looked at the part of the country where he might have had a grant; thought the climate unhealthy for children & insupportable for himself, & came back as fast as he could with an opinion that it was better for his children

(2)

Margaret Hill Southey (b. 1811); Mary Hill Southey (b. 1812); Robert Castle Southey (1813–1828); Herbert Castle Southey (1815–1864); Eleanor Thomasina Southey (1816–1835); Sarah Louise Southey (1818–1850); Nelson Castle Southey (1820–1834); and Sophia Jane Southey (1822–1859). Thomas Castle Southey (1824–1896) completed the family.

to rough it in England, than be placed in such circumstances as he could <be> provided them for them in Canada at the cost of some years of privations & exertion on the part of their parents. The conclusion seems to sit very easy upon both of them: but what they think, – or dream of doing, or what they can do, is more than I can tell. The journey certainly has not discovered to him any one impediment, or difficulty of which he was not perfectly aware before he set out. – This would fret me, if I allowed myself to think about it.

Richard Harrison

(3)

Richard Harrison (1776–1850), a wealthy Liverpool Unitarian and silk merchant, engaged in the trade with Spain and Portugal. His brother, John Harrison (1773–1852), lived at Ambleside.

called here about a fortnight ago, & said it was not impossible that Mrs Gonne might travel to Liverpool in September. Tell her that the way lies thro Keswick. She ought to come by Leeds & see the Caves

(4)

Yordas and Weathercote caves in North Yorkshire.

in her way, & take Liverpool on her return. – I am glad none of my friends were here this summer; for it has been the coldest & wettest that we remember.

The two Miss Charters

(5)

Louisa Charter, and Elizabeth Charter (1782–1860), friend of the poet George Crabbe (1754–1832; DNB). They were the sisters of Emma Peachy, first wife of William Peachy, and nieces of Sir Charles Malet (1752–1815; DNB), 1st Baronet, a prominent diplomat with the East India Company. Peachy had lent the Charter sisters his home on Derwent Island.

are expected at the Island tomorrow, – a melancholy visit, for they have not been there since the days of the dumb concert.

(6)

See Southey to William Peachy, 15 May 1808, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Three, Letter 1458. At this time Emma Peachy had still been alive.

I shall be glad to see them, tho rather any where than there.

I am preparing a paper on the reign of Charles 2. for my ways & means in the next QR.

(7)

Charles II (1630–1685; King of Great Britain 1660–1685; DNB). The paper was a review of Bishop Burnet’s History of his Own Time: with the Suppressed Passages of the First Volume and Notes by the Earls of Dartmouth and Hardwicke, and Speaker Onslow, Hitherto Unpublished; to Which are Added the Cursory Remarks of Swift, and Other Observations (1823), no. 498 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. This was a new edition of Gilbert Burnet (1643–1715; DNB), History of My Own Time (1724–1734), edited by Martin Routh (1755–1854; DNB). Southey reviewed it in Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823), 165…

That upon Infidelity in the last is mine.

(8)

Southey’s review of Henri Grégoire (1750–1831), ‘Histoire de la Théophilantropie, depuis sa Naissance jusqu’à son Extinction’, part of Grégoire’s 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, 2 vols (Paris, 1814), II, pp. 55–171, Quarterly Review, 28 (January 1823), 493–536, published 8 July 1823. The book was no. 2838 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

As usual Gifford has done some mischief to it. – I hear from Landor that he has sent me a box of books from Italy, – he could not gratify me more. From Yankeeland they have sent me another tail to my name, so that I shall have new ones for my next title page, – the R. Irish Academy,

(9)

Southey had been elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy (founded 1785), a body to promote Irish scientific and cultural activities and studies.

& the Am: Antiquarian Society.

(10)

Southey had been elected a Member of the American Antiquarian Society (founded 1812) on 23 October 1822. His new honours appeared on the title page of The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), I, p. [iii].

Tell me how Robert

(11)

Robert Southey, Jnr (b. 1817), eldest son of Henry Herbert Southey.

is going on.

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. Tom Southey had sailed from Whitehaven on 20 April 1823 on the brig Maria and reached Quebec on 27 May. The purpose of his journey had been to investigate whether to emigrate with his family to Canada.[back]
2. Margaret Hill Southey (b. 1811); Mary Hill Southey (b. 1812); Robert Castle Southey (1813–1828); Herbert Castle Southey (1815–1864); Eleanor Thomasina Southey (1816–1835); Sarah Louise Southey (1818–1850); Nelson Castle Southey (1820–1834); and Sophia Jane Southey (1822–1859). Thomas Castle Southey (1824–1896) completed the family.[back]
3. Richard Harrison (1776–1850), a wealthy Liverpool Unitarian and silk merchant, engaged in the trade with Spain and Portugal. His brother, John Harrison (1773–1852), lived at Ambleside.[back]
4. Yordas and Weathercote caves in North Yorkshire.[back]
5. Louisa Charter, and Elizabeth Charter (1782–1860), friend of the poet George Crabbe (1754–1832; DNB). They were the sisters of Emma Peachy, first wife of William Peachy, and nieces of Sir Charles Malet (1752–1815; DNB), 1st Baronet, a prominent diplomat with the East India Company. Peachy had lent the Charter sisters his home on Derwent Island.[back]
6. See Southey to William Peachy, 15 May 1808, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Three, Letter 1458. At this time Emma Peachy had still been alive.[back]
7. Charles II (1630–1685; King of Great Britain 1660–1685; DNB). The paper was a review of Bishop Burnet’s History of his Own Time: with the Suppressed Passages of the First Volume and Notes by the Earls of Dartmouth and Hardwicke, and Speaker Onslow, Hitherto Unpublished; to Which are Added the Cursory Remarks of Swift, and Other Observations (1823), no. 498 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. This was a new edition of Gilbert Burnet (1643–1715; DNB), History of My Own Time (1724–1734), edited by Martin Routh (1755–1854; DNB). Southey reviewed it in Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823), 165–214, published 27–28 September 1823.[back]
8. Southey’s review of Henri Grégoire (1750–1831), ‘Histoire de la Théophilantropie, depuis sa Naissance jusqu’à son Extinction’, part of Grégoire’s 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, 2 vols (Paris, 1814), II, pp. 55–171, Quarterly Review, 28 (January 1823), 493–536, published 8 July 1823. The book was no. 2838 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
9. Southey had been elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy (founded 1785), a body to promote Irish scientific and cultural activities and studies. [back]
10. Southey had been elected a Member of the American Antiquarian Society (founded 1812) on 23 October 1822. His new honours appeared on the title page of The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), I, p. [iii].[back]
11. Robert Southey, Jnr (b. 1817), eldest son of Henry Herbert Southey.[back]
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