4065. Robert Southey to Sir George Beaumont, 4 October 1823

 

MS: MS untraced; text taken from William Knight, Memorials of Coleorton, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1887)
Previously published: William Knight, Memorials of Coleorton, 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1887), II, pp. 212–215.

Keswick, 4th Oct. 1823.
My dear Sir,

I must begin by performing a commission, arising, I am sorry to say, as you will be to hear, from the death of Mr. Edmondson. By his desire I am to say that a hamper of yours, which was left in his care, will be as secure with his family as it was during his lifetime. This most useful and meritorious man died on Monday last, worn out by an internal disease, with which he had struggled for the last two years. A subscription is proposed for placing a tablet in the church to his memory.

(1)

A wall tablet was commissioned and placed in St Kentigern’s church, Crosthwaite.

His professional skill, the conscientiousness of his charges, and the laborious course of duty in which his life was passed, deserve this tribute. It will be creditable to the people of this place that this should be done, and you do men good by raising them in their own esteem when you engage them in anything which partakes of a generous or a grateful feeling. What a different world would this be if half the pains were taken to call forth good feelings which are employed in exciting and fostering evil ones!

My first thought when I read of Canova’s death

(2)

Antonio Canova (1757–1822), Italian sculptor, had died on 13 October 1822. Beaumont had befriended him on his visit to Italy in 1821–1822.

was of you. The death of a friend so remotely situated that we have no hope or prospect of seeing him again is nevertheless felt as a loss, and is one in reality. He may be nearer to us than when he existed in the same world, and even more intimately sensible of our regard for him. This is a consolatory thought. But all our associations connected with the dead change their character, and thus our happiest recollections die before us. The longer we live the stronger those ties become which attract us toward another world, and the fewer and the weaker those that attach us to this. Faith and hope then become essential parts of our nature, and thus we gain more than we lose.

I should indeed be delighted to enjoy Rome in your company. The hope of seeing that city is among my dreams, but whether the dream will ever be fulfilled is very doubtful. My course of life, though in every respect the happiest (I verily believe) into which a merciful Providence could have led me, seems at present not very likely to afford me the means or the leisure. Nevertheless I dream of such things, and have lived to realise some things which appeared less feasible.

You will, I think, be pleased with the paper on Spain in the last Quarterly.

(3)

Blanco White published a review of Michael Joseph Quin (1796–1843; DNB), A Visit to Spain; Detailing the Transactions which Occurred during a Residence in that Country in the Latter Part of 1822, and the First Four Months of 1823. With an Account of the Removal of the Court from Madrid to Seville; and General Notices of the Manners, Customs, Costume and Music of the Country, in Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823), 240–276, published 27 or 28 September 1823.

It is written by Blanco White, the author of Leucadio Doblado’s Letters,

(4)

Letters from Spain by Don Leucadio Doblado (1822).

a very interesting person; by birth a Spaniard of Irish-Catholic extraction, and at one time holding some preferment in the Cathedral of Seville. He came over to this country a thorough Liberal in his opinions, disbelieving everything. Here he was led into a right course of inquiry, and I believe that at this time the Church of England has not a more thoroughly pious man among her ministers.

(5)

Blanco White was ordained as a priest in 1800 and appointed to a chaplaincy in the Chapel Royal of St Ferdinand in Seville Cathedral in 1802. He subsequently lost his faith and fled to England in 1810 after the French invasion. Blanco White became an Anglican in 1812 and was ordained in 1814, though he did not hold a post in the Church of England.

I am in daily expectation of seeing Wordsworth on his return from Whitehaven, where he is with the Lonsdales. The accounts of little William

(6)

William ‘Willy’ Wordsworth (1810–1883), youngest child of William Wordsworth. He succeeded his father in the post of Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland in 1842, having done much of its work since 1831. He had been educated at Charterhouse School in London, but had returned home in July 1822, severely ill with dropsy. On his recovery he was placed at the local school in Ambleside, run by John Dawes.

are good, except that application to study is found neither to agree with him nor his brother

(7)

John Wordsworth entered New College, Oxford in March 1823. He too had attended the local school at Ambleside, run by John Dawes.

at this time.

At present I am closely occupied in finishing the long promised Book of the Church.

(8)

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

It has grown into two volumes, and the cost bestowed upon it has (as usual in most cases) more than doubled the estimate. I hope, however, it has not been ill bestowed. As soon as it is done I shall set out with my daughter Edith for London, probably the first week in November. Shall you be at Coleorton then? If so, it would give me great pleasure to direct my course in that direction, and pass a few days with you.

My family, thank God, are in tolerable health, and my little boy everything that we could wish him at his age. Mrs. Coleridge and Sara desire to be particularly mentioned. Present our kindest respects to Lady Beaumont, and believe me, dear Sir George, with sincere regard and respect, yours faithfully,

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

Notes

1. A wall tablet was commissioned and placed in St Kentigern’s church, Crosthwaite.[back]
2. Antonio Canova (1757–1822), Italian sculptor, had died on 13 October 1822. Beaumont had befriended him on his visit to Italy in 1821–1822.[back]
3. Blanco White published a review of Michael Joseph Quin (1796–1843; DNB), A Visit to Spain; Detailing the Transactions which Occurred during a Residence in that Country in the Latter Part of 1822, and the First Four Months of 1823. With an Account of the Removal of the Court from Madrid to Seville; and General Notices of the Manners, Customs, Costume and Music of the Country, in Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823), 240–276, published 27 or 28 September 1823.[back]
4. Letters from Spain by Don Leucadio Doblado (1822).[back]
5. Blanco White was ordained as a priest in 1800 and appointed to a chaplaincy in the Chapel Royal of St Ferdinand in Seville Cathedral in 1802. He subsequently lost his faith and fled to England in 1810 after the French invasion. Blanco White became an Anglican in 1812 and was ordained in 1814, though he did not hold a post in the Church of England.[back]
6. William ‘Willy’ Wordsworth (1810–1883), youngest child of William Wordsworth. He succeeded his father in the post of Distributor of Stamps for Westmorland in 1842, having done much of its work since 1831. He had been educated at Charterhouse School in London, but had returned home in July 1822, severely ill with dropsy. On his recovery he was placed at the local school in Ambleside, run by John Dawes.[back]
7. John Wordsworth entered New College, Oxford in March 1823. He too had attended the local school at Ambleside, run by John Dawes.[back]
8. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
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