4126. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, [23 January 1824]

 

MS: National Library of Wales, MS 4813D. ALS; 1p.
Unpublished.
Dating note: Dating from content. This letter was written on the Friday on which Southey left London for Norwich; see Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 19 January 1824 (Letter 4122).

My dear Wynn

I called yesterday at the India House,

(1)

East India House, on Leadenhall Street in the City of London, the headquarters of the East India Company.

– & as I cannot reach Westminster to day, I write to say that the three last days of my abode in London will be the 10th, 11 & 12th of Feby, & on either of those days I shall be very glad to dine with you.

To night I go for Norwich: return to town on the 5th – leave it for Richmond the 7th; return again on Tuesday 10th, & finally depart on Friday the 17th. You will receive my Book

(2)

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

before you see me, – & will not be sorry that I have dedicated it to Elmsley.

I spent a day with the Αναξ ανδρων,

(3)

‘King of men’, i.e. Edward Combe.

– & the visit would well deserve a chapter in the Sketch Book.

(4)

Washington Irving (1783–1859), The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1820), which contained descriptions of English country life and traditions.

When we meet I will tell you the singular way of life which he leads. – I fell in also with young Levett,

(5)

Edward Levett (1775–1845), Rector of Ingestre 1809–1829, Deene 1811–1825, Church Eaton 1825–1829, and an old friend of Southey from Westminster School, which he attended 1785–1792, becoming a King’s Scholar in 1788. Levett had also been a student at Christ Church, Oxford 1792–1796, at the same time as Wynn. Levett and Southey had met recently during the latter’s time in Hampshire.

– to our mutual satisfaction.

God bless you
RS.

Friday Morning.

Notes

1. East India House, on Leadenhall Street in the City of London, the headquarters of the East India Company.[back]
2. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
3. ‘King of men’, i.e. Edward Combe.[back]
4. Washington Irving (1783–1859), The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1820), which contained descriptions of English country life and traditions.[back]
5. Edward Levett (1775–1845), Rector of Ingestre 1809–1829, Deene 1811–1825, Church Eaton 1825–1829, and an old friend of Southey from Westminster School, which he attended 1785–1792, becoming a King’s Scholar in 1788. Levett had also been a student at Christ Church, Oxford 1792–1796, at the same time as Wynn. Levett and Southey had met recently during the latter’s time in Hampshire.[back]
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