4060. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 20 September 1823

 

Address: To/ G. C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer/ Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 22 SE xx/ 182x
Endorsements: 20 Sept 1823 
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

Keswick 20 Sept. 1823
My dear G.

I did indeed wonder what was become of you, & you would long ago have received some enquiries upon the subject, if at this season of the year I had had leisure for any employment which might be dispensed with. What a shock have you escaped in not having been with poor Bourke

(1)

John William Bourke (c. 1773–1823), Rector of Llanwyddan 1803–1807, Vicar of Oswestry 1808–1823. Bourke was an old friend of Bedford’s from Westminster School, where he was admitted in 1788. He died on 21 August 1823, just before Bedford had been due to visit him in Oswestry.

at the time of his seizure!

My dear Grosvenor why will you not lay in your stock of good air here rather than at the sea. Come early in October, the sooner the better. At the end of that month, or a little later (if the weather be fine enough to delay us here) my daughter & I set off on our southern travels. Our plan is to take some Ladies from the Island

(2)

William Peachy’s house on Vicar’s Island, Derwentwater, was often rented out to visitors.

under convoy, & fill two chaises – they are the two sisters of the first Mrs Peachy,

(3)

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.

– their Uncles widow Lady Malet,

(4)

Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB), maternal uncle of the Charter sisters.

& Miss Malet,

(5)

During his time in India, Charles Malet’s relationship with Amber Kaur (b. 1772) had produced three children: Eliza (b. 1791); Henry Charles (1793–1844); and Louisa (b. 1795). They accompanied him to Britain in 1798 and were brought up with his children by Susanna Malet. Eliza Malet married, in 1812, Robert Ekins (1785–1874), Vicar of Godalming 1810–1833, Rector of Folke, Dorset 1833–1843, Perpetual Curate of North Wootton 1843–1854. Southey is probably referring here to Louisa Malet.

Sir Charless daughter by an Indian woman. Why cannot you & Henry & Miss Page come here for three or four weeks & travel back in this caravan, which purposes to see the Yorkshire Caves & the Peak on its way?

I received two or three weeks ago a begging letter from one J.W. Page,

(6)

J. W. Page, a merchant of Wood Street, was a bankrupt in 1808, but there is no mention of a J. W. Page in the Record of Old Westminsters.

who must have been at Westminster (by his age) in our time, but I have no recollection of him. His credentials are good, & the story sad enough – When you pass by Hatchards,

(7)

The bookshop run by John Hatchard (1768–1849; DNB) at 187 Piccadilly, London.

if you will give twenty shillings in my name to his account, – you will make me feel more at ease upon this score, than I have done in letting his application lie unnoticed

My brother Tom has returned from Canada, & reaped nothing from his journey but the trouble of it, – for by flying thro the country as if the fever had been at his heels he made a toil & a pain of it. He did not see enough, or stay long enough, to learn any thing more than he knew perfectly well before he set off, xxx the whole expences of the expedition have been thrown away, & he seems to have gone for no other purpose than to be able to say that he has seen the country & does not like it.

I heard of Lord G. at Keswick after he had been here, – but of course had I known of his presence, I should not have presented myself. I was twice invited to meet Canning at Mr Boltons, –

(8)

John Bolton (1756–1837; DNB), Liverpool merchant and prominent supporter of Canning as MP for the city. He owned Storrs Hall on the banks of Lake Windermere.

the expence of time & of conveyance was more than the object would have been worth, & therefore I xx excused myself; as I have done likewise from a very obliging invitation to the Music at York, from a Mr York, who married Lord Harewood’s sister.

(9)

Richard York invited Southey to the ‘Yorkshire Grand Music Festival, for the Benefit of York County Hospital, and of the General Infirmaries of Leeds, Sheffield and Hull’ on 22–25 September 1823 in York Minster. Both Richard York and his brother-in-law, Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood (1767–1841; DNB), were Patrons of the Festival.

You will be pleased to hear that we have a most worthy cat, of the more worthy gender, & moreover an entire cat, (for Cats never go into the boot here xx)

(10)

Southey is referring to the practice of putting a male kitten head-first into a boot in order to immobilise it while it was neutered.

– whose name is Earl Rumpelstilschen, Baron Macbum: Macbum being patronymical, he having been born in the house of a Bailiff.

(11)

A bum-bailiff was a court official empowered to collect debts.

I hope you admire the name, & I am sure you would admire the fine condition, the perfect good humour, & the excellent laziness of this noble cat, who is moreover brave as he is gentle having done good-service against the rats, & being often engaged in furious combat with a rival named Hurliburlibuss, who prowls round about the house.

You ought to come to Keswick were it only see see Rumpelstilschen, & your godson Cuthbert.

God bless you Grosvenor!
yrs as ever
RS.

Notes

1. John William Bourke (c. 1773–1823), Rector of Llanwyddan 1803–1807, Vicar of Oswestry 1808–1823. Bourke was an old friend of Bedford’s from Westminster School, where he was admitted in 1788. He died on 21 August 1823, just before Bedford had been due to visit him in Oswestry.[back]
2. William Peachy’s house on Vicar’s Island, Derwentwater, was often rented out to visitors.[back]
3. 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]
4. Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB), maternal uncle of the Charter sisters.[back]
5. During his time in India, Sir Charles Malet's relationshop with Amber Kaur (b. 1772) had produced three children: Eliza (b. 1791); Henry Charles (1793–1844); and Louisa (b. 1795). They accompanied him to Britain in 1798 and were brought up with his children by Susanna Malet. Eliza Malet married, in 1812, Robert Ekins (1785–1874), Vicar of Godalming 1810–1833, Rector of Folke, Dorset 1833–1843, Perpetual Curate of North Wootton 1843–1854. Southey is probably referring here to Louisa Malet.[back]
6. J. W. Page, a merchant of Wood Street, was a bankrupt in 1808, but there is no mention of a J. W. Page in the Record of Old Westminsters.[back]
7. The bookshop run by John Hatchard (1768–1849; DNB) at 187 Piccadilly, London.[back]
8. John Bolton (1756–1837; DNB), Liverpool merchant and prominent supporter of Canning as MP for the city. He owned Storrs Hall on the banks of Lake Windermere.[back]
9. Richard York invited Southey to the ‘Yorkshire Grand Music Festival, for the Benefit of York County Hospital, and of the General Infirmaries of Leeds, Sheffield and Hull’ on 22–25 September 1823 in York Minster. Both Richard York and his brother-in-law, Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood (1767–1841; DNB), were Patrons of the Festival.[back]
10. Southey is referring to the practice of putting a male kitten head-first into a boot in order to immobilise it while it was neutered.[back]
11. A bum-bailiff was a court official empowered to collect debts.[back]
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