4054. Robert Southey to Herbert Hill, 19 August 1823

 

Address: To/ The Reverend Herbert Hill/ Streatham/ Surrey
Stamped: [partial] KESWICK
Postmarks: E/xx xx xx/ 1823; 10 F.NOON 10/ AU. 22/ 1823
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, WC 235. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 398–400 [in part].

Keswick 19 Aug. 1823

I have not written to you, I think, since Tom’s return,

(1)

Tom Southey had been to Canada to investigate the possibility of emigrating there; he decided against this idea.

– which I should have done had there been anything satisfactory to communicate concerning him. He fled thro the country, learnt nothing there which he did not know perfectly well before he set out, & made up his mind not to take his family there with so much precipitation, – that the journey might very well have been spared. What he dreams of doing or attempting I know not.

The summer, for so according to the Almanach we must call it, has brought with it some of its usual interruptions; & tho I have not been idle altogether I can give little credit for industry for the last two months. Sometimes my cold incapacitated me, & at others I was fain to make exercise my business, in the hope of shaking off the complaint, & overcoming the effects of relaxation which it brought with it. Thank God I have succeeded in this & am once more in tolerably good condition.

By this nights post I send Murray the first part of an article upon Charles the seconds reign, for which the new edition of Burnet gives occasion.

(2)

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Suppressed Passages of the First Volume and Notes by the Earls of Dartmouth and Hardwicke, and Speaker Onslow, Hitherto Unpublished; to Which are Added the Cursory Remarks of Swift, and Other Observations (1823), no. 498 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.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. It provided the occasion for an article on the rei…

The Portugueze Embassadors relation supplies me with some curious facts,

(3)

When describing in the Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823) the negotiations behind the marriage in 1662 of Charles II and the Portuguese Princess, Catherine of Braganza (1638–1705; DNB), Southey noted ‘we happen to possess a relation drawn up at the time by the Portugueze ambassador’ and drew on this extensively (189–196). This manuscript was no. 3857 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. The leading figure on the Portuguese side of the negotiations was Francisco de Melo e Torres (c. 1610–1667).

– & without entering into any detail, but treating merely upon the changes in society which were going on during that reign the subject would afford matter for three or four papers. You have added a drawing to a strange account of an aerostatic machine

(4)

i.e. a machine to enable human flight.

in one of the volumes of the Papeis Politicos,

(5)

The nine volumes of manuscript material described as ‘Papeis Varias Politicos’ (1674), no. 3852 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

– I have found an earlier account of the same kind, equally strange in Sylvius’s continuation of Aitzema’s history

(6)

Lieuwe van Aitzema (1600–1669), Sakem van Staet en Oorlogh in emde Omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1655–1671), with the continuation by Lambert van den Bos (1610–1698), Historien onses Tyds, 4 vols (Amsterdam, 1685–1699), I, p. 551, no. 214 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

– both which I shall here bring forward.

(7)

Southey did not publish these accounts in the Quarterly Review, but included them in his Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829), I, pp. 340–346.

It is curious to observe how long men play with discoveries before they perceive how to apply them.

In a fortnight I shall have finished this paper & a month more will finish my ecclesiastical subject;

(8)

Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).

– my ways & means will then I trust be pretty well provided for some time to come, & I shall set forth for London, bringing Edith May with me.

(9)

Southey left for London on 3 November 1823.

She has often been ailing this season, & is I think just in that state of health in which good medical advice is likely to be xx useful.

Landor tells me he has sent me a box of books, – about 70 volumes of all sorts, – mostly very old ones. I have desired Longman to look out for them at the Custom House. The collection is a very curious one, & heartily glad shall I be to see it arrive. He is living at Florence, & urges me to visit him there, – which I will gladly do whenever I can afford time & means for passing a winter in Italy. And this I dare say I shall one day be able to xxx accomplish

(10)

Southey was unable to visit Italy again after his trip there in June 1817.

I must endeavor to see if some of the Doctors Portugueze friends can procure the Sermons of P. Antonio das Chagas.

(11)

Antonio da Fonseca Soares (1631–1682), a soldier who became a Franciscan friar under the name Antonio das Chagas. Southey later acquired a seven-volume edition of his Obras (1763), no. 3257 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

He was a man of extraordinary character as well as great abilities, & I am sure that much will be found there relating to the manners of his age. When may we expect news of the Catalan history?

(12)

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…

I should be very impatient for it, & not a little provoked with Murray, if I had not plenty of employment during the delay

Little by little I am getting an insight into the Teutonic languages chiefly for the purpose of reading the old German Romances, & the poems of the Minnesingers,

(13)

Minnesingers were the performers of German courtly love songs termed Minnesang, and similar to the troubadors of Provence. They flourished between the end of the twelfth century and the fifteenth century. Southey acquired Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698–1783), Sammlung von Minnesinger aus dem Schwaebischen Zeitpuncte: CXL Dichter Enthaltend (1758–1759), no. 2586 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

& tracing their connection xxxx with the early poetry of this country. I therefore take half an hour of the Saxon Chronicle

(14)

James Ingram (1774–1850; DNB), The Saxon Chronicle, with an English Translation and Notes, Critical and Explanatory. To which are added Chronological, Topographical and Glossarial Indices; a Short Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language; a New Map of England During the Heptarchy; Plates of Coins etc (1823). Southey possessed two copies, nos 2593 and 2594 in the sale catalogue of his library.

every night. In all studies of this kind a pupil, or fellow-student, is the best teacher. However I find that I can get on alone, tho neither so fast nor so pleasantly. Edward should help me, if he were near enough. When he can command his hours of leisure I shall earnestly wish him to take up the German grammar, & ground himself in that language, – after which all <the acquirement of any> others will be mere amusement to him. Nothing could be so gratifying to me as to think that he would profit as much by my collections as I have done, & am doing, by yours.

Love to my Aunt, & the children –

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. Tom Southey had been to Canada to investigate the possibility of emigrating there; he decided against this idea.[back]
2. 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. It provided the occasion for an article on the reign of Charles II (1630–1685; King of Great Britain 1660–1685; DNB).[back]
3. When describing in the Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823) the negotiations behind the marriage in 1662 of Charles II and the Portuguese Princess, Catherine of Braganza (1638–1705; DNB), Southey noted ‘we happen to possess a relation drawn up at the time by the Portugueze ambassador’ and drew on this extensively (189–196). This manuscript was no. 3857 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. The leading figure on the Portuguese side of the negotiations was Francisco de Melo e Torres (c. 1610–1667).[back]
4. i.e. a machine to enable human flight.[back]
5. The nine volumes of manuscript material described as ‘Papeis Varias Politicos’ (1674), no. 3852 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
6. Lieuwe van Aitzema (1600–1669), Sakem van Staet en Oorlogh in emde Omtrent de Vereenigde Nederlanden (1655–1671), with the continuation by Lambert van den Bos (1610–1698), Historien onses Tyds, 4 vols (Amsterdam, 1685–1699), I, p. 551, no. 214 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
7. Southey did not publish these accounts in the Quarterly Review, but included them in his Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829), I, pp. 340–346.[back]
8. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
9. Southey left for London on 3 November 1823.[back]
10. Southey was unable to visit Italy again after his trip there in June 1817.[back]
11. Antonio da Fonseca Soares (1631–1682), a soldier who became a Franciscan friar under the name Antonio das Chagas. Southey later acquired a seven-volume edition of his Obras (1763), no. 3257 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
12. 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. Murray had then written to Spain to try and obtain these books for Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832), and Herbert Hill had also offered to help.[back]
13. Minnesingers were the performers of German courtly love songs termed Minnesang, and similar to the troubadors of Provence. They flourished between the end of the twelfth century and the fifteenth century. Southey acquired Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698–1783), Sammlung von Minnesinger aus dem Schwaebischen Zeitpuncte: CXL Dichter Enthaltend (1758–1759), no. 2586 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
14. James Ingram (1774–1850; DNB), The Saxon Chronicle, with an English Translation and Notes, Critical and Explanatory. To which are added Chronological, Topographical and Glossarial Indices; a Short Grammar of the Anglo-Saxon Language; a New Map of England During the Heptarchy; Plates of Coins etc (1823). Southey possessed two copies, nos 2593 and 2594 in the sale catalogue of his library.[back]
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