4067. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 8 October [1823]

 

Address: To/ Dr Southey/ 15. Queen Anne Street/ Cavendish Square/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 11 OC 11/ 1823
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, 1996.5.327. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

My dear Harry

Miss Fricker will send to your house a packet for which I shall be obliged to you to procure a potential frank, – the shortest way will be for you to send it to Bedford with an intimation to that effect. It contains some law papers which Edith & her two sisters

(1)

Sara Coleridge and Mary Lovell.

must sign, & by virtue of which they will receive about 160£ each, from the effects of their Uncle

(2)

George Fricker, a Bristol accountant, had died at Wells, Somerset in August 1823. Because he had died intestate, his estate was divided amongst his nearest surviving relatives, who included his nieces Edith Southey and her four sisters.

who has lately died intestate. Our Uncles

(3)

John Southey and Thomas Southey, both wealthy men, had made wills that left nothing to Southey and his brothers.

were not so obliging as to xxx let the law dispose of their property.

We shall probably set out the first week in November, – tho in consequence of this arrangement I must take work to finish at Streatham.

(4)

The Book of the Church (1824), which Southey wished to complete.

However it is not a bad place for working. Edith May & I are to accompany the Miss Charters & Lady Malet,

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

which will be pleasant for all parties – we shall fill two chaises & see a few sights on the way, if the weather permit. If Sir G. Beaumont should be at Cole-Orton we then part company at Derby, E May & I going to pass a day or two with him, – I shall finish a paper for the QR before we start. Poor Edmundson is dead – to the great sorrow & loss of the neighbourhood I believe we shall get a subscription tablet placed in the church, in testimony of the respect which was felt for him.

(6)

A wall tablet commemorating John Edmondson was placed in St Kentigern’s, Crosthwaite.

You know he had suffered many severe attacks of iliac passion.

(7)

Severe intestinal obstruction.

Latterly he had found such speedy relief from the oil of Croton

(8)

An oil prepared from the seeds of the tree Croton Tiglium, native to the Far East. It was used as a laxative.

that he almost thought himself possessed of a safe specific. But a cough came on in the latter end of spring, which he could not, or did not attend to in time. In itself it was not alarming, but it became frequent & teizing & the irritation which it occasioned brought in a most distressing hiccup, with which, & with repeated attacks of the intestinal complaint he struggled ten weeks, losing so much strength at each attack that he was not able in any degree to recruit during the intervals. – I do not know what appearances were found after death; – but as you may suppose it was his desire that the body should be opened, there being proof enough of some organic derangement.

Gifford appears to have rallied, I have a letter from him, – the first since the commencement of his illness. He has promised Murray to conduct the Review till the 60th No.

(9)

Gifford’s final contribution to the Quarterly Review was to co-edit the issue published on 30 December 1824: vol. 31 (April 1824).

– rather he says to satisfy Murray than with any real hope of so doing. When I am in town I shall of course enquire into the affair of the succession. The reviewal of the Peninsular War has all the marks of particular personal xxx civility.

(10)

The first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832) was reviewed in the Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823), 53–85, published 27 or 28 September 1823, by George Procter (1796–1842), Adjutant at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Prior to publication the article had been substantially amended by John Wilson Croker.

I do not know who wrote it. The paper upon Spain which is as good as that in the former paper was good for little, is by Blanco.

(11)

Blanco White’s 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. Southey compared it favourably with the review of The Crisis of Spain (1823); Constiticion Politica de la Monarquia Espanola (1820); A.L.B., De l’Exce…

– My present subject is taken from Dr Dwights Travels,

(12)

Timothy Dwight (1752–1817), Travels in New-England and New-York (1821–1822), no. 881 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library, reviewed by Southey in Quarterly Review, 30 (October 1823), 1–40, published 17 April 1824.

– first I gut the book of its miscellaneous facts & speculations, – then take up the political subject of America; as to the stability & tendency of its institutions. I believe that I have some things to say which are worth saying, – & I wish to say them in a friendly & conciliatory temper. It is bad policy, & indeed wrong in every respect, to irritate the Americans. They cannot possibly hold together, & our business should be to regard the Eastern states as our natural allies, – the people of all others whom it is our interest to be upon good terms with, & with whom we have the most points of resemblance.

Your niece is much improved in health by the exercise into which our old friends of the Island have led her. We see a great deal of them & if the weather had not been worse than any body ever remembers it, not a mountain summit within reach would have been left unvisited. They often talk of you, & of former times, – & some of these recollections are not the worse for the melancholy which is mingled with them.

I hope Robert

(13)

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

continues to amend. Our love to all –

God bless you
RS.

Keswick. 8 Oct.

Notes

2. George Fricker, a Bristol accountant, had died at Wells, Somerset in August 1823. Because he had died intestate, his estate was divided amongst his nearest surviving relatives, who included his nieces Edith Southey and her four sisters. [back]
3. John Southey and Thomas Southey, both wealthy men, had made wills that left nothing to Southey and his brothers.[back]
4. The Book of the Church (1824), which Southey wished to complete.[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. They were accompanied by Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB), the maternal uncle of the Charter sisters.[back]
6. A wall tablet commemorating John Edmondson was placed in St Kentigern’s, Crosthwaite.[back]
7. Severe intestinal obstruction.[back]
8. An oil prepared from the seeds of the tree Croton Tiglium, native to the Far East. It was used as a laxative.[back]
9. Gifford’s final contribution to the Quarterly Review was to co-edit the issue published on 30 December 1824: vol. 31 (April 1824).[back]
10. The first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832) was reviewed in the Quarterly Review, 29 (April 1823), 53–85, published 27 or 28 September 1823, by George Procter (1796–1842), Adjutant at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. Prior to publication the article had been substantially amended by John Wilson Croker.[back]
11. Blanco White’s 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. Southey compared it favourably with the review of The Crisis of Spain (1823); Constiticion Politica de la Monarquia Espanola (1820); A.L.B., De l’Excellence de la Guerre avec l’Espagne (1823); Giuseppe Pecchio (1785–1835), Anecdotes of the Spanish and Portugueze Revolutions (1823), by Robert William Hay (1786–1861; DNB), with William Jacob (c. 1761–1851), in Quarterly Review, 28 (January 1823), 536–580, published 8 July 1823.[back]
12. Timothy Dwight (1752–1817), Travels in New-England and New-York (1821–1822), no. 881 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library, reviewed by Southey in Quarterly Review, 30 (October 1823), 1–40, published 17 April 1824.[back]
13. Robert Southey, Jnr (b. 1817), the eldest son of Henry Herbert Southey.[back]
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