4127. Robert Southey to Caroline Bowles, 27 January 1824

 

Address: [in another hand] London Twenty Eighth Jany/ 1824/ Miss Bowles/ Buckland/ Lymington/ Hants/ Fm/ JRickman
Postmark: FREE/ 28 JA 28/ 1824
Endorsement: No 43 To Miss Caroline Bowles
MS: British Library, Add MS 47889. ALS; 4p. 
Previously published: Edward Dowden (ed.), The Correspondence of Robert Southey with Caroline Bowles (Dublin and London, 1881), pp. 49–50.

Norwich. 27 Jany. 1824.

Till now I have not had five minutes during which I could quietly put pen to paper since we parted. I breakfasted in the Close at Winchester

(1)

Southey breakfasted with Elizabeth Heathcote (1773–1855) and Alethea Bigg (1777–1847), two sisters of Catherine Hill who shared a house at 12 Cathedral Close, Winchester.

on the morning after, saw the Cathedral & the College, – found room in the Coach at noon & reached London at night. The next day I secured places in the Norwich mail for Friday evening, – & dined among “strange women”

(2)

Women who flattered Southey: Proverbs 5: 3, ‘For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil’.

at Lady Malet’s,

(3)

Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB). Her house was at 100 Gloucester Place, London.

– a situation something worse than that of Daniel in the Lion’s den.

(4)

Daniel 6, where Daniel is thrown into a lions’ den, but survives through divine intervention.

– Your note in the travelling frank reached me before I left town, & after a parcel had been sent off which I hope reached you without mishap, tho with no better packing than xxx my hands, (awkward at such work) could give it. You have there all my poems which have as yet been printed in that form.

(5)

Southey had sent Caroline Bowles a specially bound copy of his Minor Poems (1823).

How many more such volumes may be added to them depends as much upon you as on myself.

(6)

Southey had proposed that he and Caroline Bowles should write a poem on the legendary figure Robin Hood. The completed sections were published as ‘Robin Hood’ in Robin Hood: a Fragment. By the Late Robert Southey, and Caroline Southey. With Other Fragments and Poems By R.S. and C.S. (London, 1847), pp. [1]–36.

Many I hope & trust, – very many, – to your benefit & mine, – to our mutual delight, – to our lasting remembrance.

We arrived here safely on Saturday morning, Sunday I heard Neville officiate in a little village Church of which he is curate.

(7)

Neville White had been Perpetual Curate of Great Plumstead, five miles east of Norwich, since 1822.

– One of his brothers hymns was sung there, & I dined at his mothers

(8)

Mary White, née Neville (1755–1833).

where her whole family were assembled, with the father & mother of Nevilles sweet wife.

(9)

Neville White had married Charlotte White, née Sewell (1799–1873) in 1820. Her parents were Joseph Sewell (1772–1844), a wealthy Norwich solicitor, and Ann Sewell, née Cubitt (1780–1849).

Ten years ago when he had no prospect of marriage I volunteered to be godfather to his first son: & very obligingly this son made his entrance a month ago, & is this day to be christened Henry Kirke.

(10)

Family histories, including The Homes and Haunts of Henry Kirke White; with some account of the family of White, of Nottingham and Norfolk (London and Nottingham, 1908), p. 260, suggest that Neville White’s first son, christened Henry Kirke White (d. 1849), was born in 1821, but this information may be inaccurate, as Southey stood as godfather to him in January 1824.

I do not believe that any act of kindness was ever so largely overpaid, as that has been which I rendered to the Whites.

(11)

Southey had edited and arranged the publication of The Remains of Henry Kirke White (1807). This had sold extremely well, reaching ten editions by 1823.

It has been of far greater consequence to them than I could possibly have dreamt of, – but their gratitude has more than kept pace with the benefit which they have received. And when I think that to the publication of Henrys Remains I am indebted for my knowledge of you,

(12)

Southey’s kindness to Kirke White’s family had encouraged Caroline Bowles to write to him in 1818, seeking his opinion of her then unpublished Ellen Fitzarthur; a Metrical Tale, in Five Cantos (1820).

I certainly look upon it as one of the most fortunate events of my life, & perhaps one of the most influential. If as a poet I am to have a second spring (there is still sap enough in the trunk – & enough life in the root) xxx xxxxx – to this it must be owing.

– But the christening guests are come – & I must hasten to say two things, – first that you may introduce a few songs with good effect

(13)

Southey means here that Bowles could introduce songs into their proposed poem, ‘Robin Hood’.

– & secondly that I have promised to ask you for a devotional poem, – as an act of charity, to a poor music master here, now four years a helpless paralytic, for whom poets are willing to write, & composers to set their strains, – & to whom I have promised something from myself & something from you, – from whom I might venture to promise.

(14)

Caroline Bowles contributed ‘I weep, but not rebellious tears’, published in Robin Hood: a Fragment. By the Late Robert Southey, and Caroline Southey. With Other Fragments and Poems By R.S. and C.S. (London, 1847), pp. [227]–228; and Southey contributed ‘Thanksgiving for Victory’ (originally Southey’s New Year’s ode for 1816) to Pettet’s Original Sacred Music (London, n.d., but 1827), pp. 67–70 and 58–66.

One thing more, – do not forget that I wish, – earnestly wish to pay what tribute I can to Paul Burrards memory.

(15)

Paul Henry Durell Burrard (1790–1809), an Ensign in the 1st Foot Guards, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Corunna (1809). He was Caroline Bowles’s first cousin. Southey composed ‘Lines. To the Memory of a Young Officer, Who was Mortally Wounded in the Battle of Coruña. By Robert Southey, Esq. Poet Laureate’, The Literary Souvenir; Or, Cabinet of Poetry and Romance (London, 1826), pp. [341]–344.

Send me such notices of him as you may have heart to give, & I will do my best.

And now dear friend – dear Caroline, farewell. Let me have a letter from you in Q Anne Street where I hope to arrive on Thursday the 5th. – Ediths love. –

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. Southey breakfasted with Elizabeth Heathcote (1773–1855) and Alethea Bigg (1777–1847), two sisters of Catherine Hill who shared a house at 12 Cathedral Close, Winchester.[back]
2. Women who flattered Southey: Proverbs 5: 3, ‘For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil’.[back]
3. Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB). Her house was at 100 Gloucester Place, London.[back]
4. Daniel 6, where Daniel is thrown into a lions’ den, but survives through divine intervention.[back]
5. Southey had sent Caroline Bowles a specially bound copy of his Minor Poems (1823).[back]
6. Southey had proposed that he and Caroline Bowles should write a poem on the legendary figure Robin Hood. The completed sections were published as ‘Robin Hood’ in Robin Hood: a Fragment. By the Late Robert Southey, and Caroline Southey. With Other Fragments and Poems By R.S. and C.S. (London, 1847), pp. [1]–36.[back]
7. Neville White had been Perpetual Curate of Great Plumstead, five miles east of Norwich, since 1822.[back]
8. Mary White, née Neville (1755–1833).[back]
9. Neville White had married Charlotte White, née Sewell (1799–1873) in 1820. Her parents were Joseph Sewell (1772–1844), a wealthy Norwich solicitor, and Ann Sewell, née Cubitt (1780–1849).[back]
10. Family histories, including The Homes and Haunts of Henry Kirke White; with some account of the family of White, of Nottingham and Norfolk (London and Nottingham, 1908), p. 260, suggest that Neville White’s first son, christened Henry Kirke White (d. 1849), was born in 1821, but this information may be inaccurate, as Southey stood as godfather to him in January 1824.[back]
11. Southey had edited and arranged the publication of The Remains of Henry Kirke White (1807). This had sold extremely well, reaching ten editions by 1823.[back]
12. Southey’s kindness to Kirke White’s family had encouraged Caroline Bowles to write to him in 1818, seeking his opinion of her then unpublished Ellen Fitzarthur; a Metrical Tale, in Five Cantos (1820).[back]
13. Southey means here that Bowles could introduce songs into their proposed poem, ‘Robin Hood’.[back]
14. Caroline Bowles contributed ‘I weep, but not rebellious tears’, published in Robin Hood: a Fragment. By the Late Robert Southey, and Caroline Southey. With Other Fragments and Poems By R.S. and C.S. (London, 1847), pp. [227]–228; and Southey contributed ‘Thanksgiving for Victory’ (originally Southey’s New Year’s ode for 1816) to Pettet’s Original Sacred Music (London, n.d., but 1827), pp. 67–70 and 58–66.[back]
15. Paul Henry Durell Burrard (1790–1809), an Ensign in the 1st Foot Guards, was mortally wounded at the Battle of Corunna (1809). He was Caroline Bowles’s first cousin. Southey composed ‘Lines. To the Memory of a Young Officer, Who was Mortally Wounded in the Battle of Coruña. By Robert Southey, Esq. Poet Laureate’, The Literary Souvenir; Or, Cabinet of Poetry and Romance (London, 1826), pp. [341]–344.[back]
TEI Link
TEI
Volume Editor(s)
Lynda Pratt
Ian Packer