4119. Robert Southey to Bertha Southey, 4 January 1824

 

Address: To/ Miss Bertha Southey/ Keswick/ Cumberland
Postmark: EXETER/ JA 4/ xx24
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, WC 239. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

Escot. Sunday 4 Jany. 1824
My dear Bertha

Till now I have not been able to find time to thank you for your pleasant letter. I can now do it having about an hour to spare before Church begins, – & the letter will announce my safe arrival in Devonshire.

I set out with John Coleridge in a Coach called the Defiance,

(1)

The name of a regular stage-coach that ran between London and Exeter.

at five o clock on Friday afternoon. The night was so mild that my boot-stockings were not needed, & it was impossible to travel more comfortably as far as comfort in travelling depends upon weather. We had the window partly open the whole night, & at one the next day I was deposited at Sir John Kennaways

(2)

Sir John Kennaway, 1st Baronet (1758–1836), made a fortune in the East India Company and became a landowner in Devonshire. Southey knew him through his son, Charles Edward Kennaway, who had visited Southey in the Lake District in 1819–1820. The Kennaway home, Escot House, is close to Ottery St Mary.

door, where Mr Pattison,

(3)

John Patteson (1790–1861; DNB), a barrister and later Justice of the King’s Bench 1830–1852. On 22 April 1824 he married Frances Duke Coleridge (1796–1842), sister of John Taylor Coleridge.

& Mr William Coleridge were waiting to see my fellow traveller, before he past on to his own family at Combe Sedgewick. Our journey however was not wholly without adventures. About six in the morning we felt a great shock, behold we had run against a tilted cart, & as in such cases the weakest goes to the wall, the cart was overset. There were in it two men & a woman on their way to market, none of whom, most fortunately received any hurt. But if they had a basket of butter with them, it would x not be the better, & if they were carrying eggs, the eggs would be a great deal the worse. The Guard & some of the outside passengers got down to give what help they could, but the people were so angry that they would accept of no assistance, & the matter is likely to end in a law-suit. They were in the middle of the road, which they ought not to have been & must have seen our lights, if their eyes were open; besides it was not a dark morning. But they were the more angry from a mishap of the Guards, for when he went to xxx help them out from under the tilt, where they were lying men, woman, butter & eggs one upon another, the poor womans clothes were so discomposed that he took her by the knee instead of the elbow; & as she did not like a cold hand upon her knee at six o clock in the morning, they twarld about that as well as about the overturn: & they were in a great passion when we drove off & left them.

Mrs Keenan

(4)

Frances Keenan (d. 1838), an artist and widow of the Irish portrait painter, John Keenan (d. 1819). Southey had first met her in Exeter in 1799.

is here. This is a very comfortable house, & a very agreable family. The two little girls

(5)

Probably Sir John Kennaway’s two youngest (of five) daughters: Augusta Kennaway (1810–1895) and Susan Kennaway (1812–1890), who married, in 1841, Gerard Thomas Noel (1782–1851; DNB), a clergyman and hymn writer.

remind me very much of Kate & Bel. One of them repeated How does the Water come down at Lowdore.

(6)

‘The Cataract of Lodore, Described in Rhymes for the Nursery, By One of the Lake Poets’, published in Joanna Baillie (ed.), A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript, And From Living Authors (London, 1823), pp. 280–283.

They danced waltzes together very prettily. Tomorrow I dine & sleep at Ottery. Mxx Tuesday at Mr Marryatts,

(7)

John Marriott (1780–1825; DNB), a clergyman, poet and friend of Walter Scott. He was Curate of St James, Exeter, St Lawrence, Exeter, and St John, Broadclyst. The patron of the latter church was Sir Thomas Acland, who was also a friend of Marriott.

& Lightfoot fetches me from Exeter on Wednesday, where I have only to look for Mrs Browne, & call for old acquaintance sake on Mr Northmore.

(8)

Thomas Northmore (c. 1766–1851; DNB), a geologist and writer whom Southey had met in Exeter in 1799.

– Dr Coplestone dines here to day.

And so it never occurred to you that the green seal was left in my desk as a sure means of my knowing whether any body peeped in it during my absence! You have read of talismans, & this was one whereby female curiosity would be detected. It xx was made by a great enchanter, whose name I do not know, & came to me from foreign parts.

I am very glad that you give so good an account of your drawing & especially that Isabel is improving in it under Kates teaching. Be good girls, & strive always in all ways to improve & assist & oblige one another. It is some comfort to me that the greater part of my long absence is over, & that after a few weeks more of this hurrying, harassing life, I shall be with you once more. I do not expect to pass above four days more in London.

Your old friend Mr Charles Kennaway enquires very particularly for you & your sisters, & so does Mrs Keenan. Give my love to Cupn. By this time he will have received his cousin Roberts

(9)

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

letter. The weather is changed to a sharp frost; this is no inconvenience to me now – rather an improvement as it makes it better walking, & even should the cold continue when I have to travel again by night, I am well provided having the old great coat for my knees, & the great stockings. So your Mamma must not have any uneasiness for me on that score, for I am a good traveller, practised in all means for taking care of myself. I hope I shall have a letter from her at Crediton, – my next will be from thence. My love to all. Please to tell Sara that Sir John Kennaway tells me he has heard she is very soon going to be married, but he could not inform me to whom.

(10)

Sara Coleridge had become secretly engaged to her cousin, Henry Nelson Coleridge, on 21 March 1823.

My kind regards to Rumpelstilzchen. My compliments to Hurliburlibus. There is a very handsome cat here, a tortoise shell, with whom I have made an acquaintance. – God bless you, xxx Bertha my dear Bertha

Yr affectionate father
RS.

Notes

1. The name of a regular stage-coach that ran between London and Exeter.[back]
2. Sir John Kennaway, 1st Baronet (1758–1836), made a fortune in the East India Company and became a landowner in Devonshire. Southey knew him through his son, Charles Edward Kennaway, who had visited Southey in the Lake District in 1819–1820. The Kennaway home, Escot House, is close to Ottery St Mary.[back]
3. John Patteson (1790–1861; DNB), a barrister and later Justice of the King’s Bench 1830–1852. On 22 April 1824 he married Frances Duke Coleridge (1796–1842), sister of John Taylor Coleridge.[back]
4. Frances Keenan (d. 1838), an artist and widow of the Irish portrait painter, John Keenan (d. 1819). Southey had first met her in Exeter in 1799.[back]
5. Probably Sir John Kennaway’s two youngest (of five) daughters: Augusta Kennaway (1810–1895) and Susan Kennaway (1812–1890), who married, in 1841, Gerard Thomas Noel (1782–1851; DNB), a clergyman and hymn writer.[back]
6. ‘The Cataract of Lodore, Described in Rhymes for the Nursery, By One of the Lake Poets’, published in Joanna Baillie (ed.), A Collection of Poems, Chiefly Manuscript, And From Living Authors (London, 1823), pp. 280–283.[back]
7. John Marriott (1780–1825; DNB), a clergyman, poet and friend of Walter Scott. He was Curate of St James, Exeter, St Lawrence, Exeter, and St John, Broadclyst. The patron of the latter church was Sir Thomas Acland, who was also a friend of Marriott.[back]
8. Thomas Northmore (c. 1766–1851; DNB), a geologist and writer whom Southey had met in Exeter in 1799.[back]
9. Robert Southey, Jnr (b. 1817), the eldest son of Henry Herbert Southey.[back]
10. Sara Coleridge had become secretly engaged to her cousin, Henry Nelson Coleridge, on 21 March 1823.[back]
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