4128. Robert Southey to Nicholas Lightfoot [fragment], 27 January 1824

 

Address: [in another hand] London Twenty Eighth Jany/ 1824/ Revd N. Lightfoot/ Crediton/ Devon/ [MS missing] JRickman
Postmark: FREE/ 28 JA 28/ 1824
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. d. 110. AL; 4p.
Unpublished.

Norwich. Tuesday 27 Jany. 1824
My dear Lightfoot

A fortnight has this day elapsed since I shook hands with you on my departure from Devonshire; & not five minutes have I had from that hour till this in which I could sit quietly down to thank you & Mrs Lightfoot for all your kindness, to send my love to Fanny Jane, & Kate, & Bridget & Nico,

(1)

Nicholas Lightfoot married Bridget Prideaux (1768–1856) on 13 July 1801. Their children were: John Prideaux Lightfoot; Frances Jane Lightfoot (1806–1882), Southey’s god-daughter; Catherine Anne Lightfoot (1808–1898); Bridget Mary Lightfoot (1810–1889); and Nicholas Francis Lightfoot (1811–1881), Vicar of Cadbury 1846–1855, Rector of Islip 1855–1881.

– & to tell you with what pleasure I look back upon my visit to Crediton, & think of you & your happy family.

My movements since have been as punctual as they were designed to be, & as prosperous as could be desired. Where I had to wait the chance of room in a stage coach, the chance always proved favourable. I made my visits at Taunton, at Earnshill, Buckland, & Winchester,

(2)

Southey had visited: his aunt, Mary Southey; his Westminster schoolfriend, Edward Combe; Caroline Bowles; and Elizabeth Heathcote (1773–1855) and Alethea Bigg (1777–1847), two sisters of Catherine Hill who shared a house at 12 Cathedral Close, Winchester.

reached London about ten o clock on the Wednesday night, took places the next morning in the Norwich mail for Friday, & am now this day about to fulfil a promise made some years ago of standing Godfather to my friend Neville White’s eldest son;

(3)

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.

the said son having most conveniently made his entrance into this world about four weeks ago.

I have will trouble you with an easy commission respecting my forthcoming book: it is to forward the copies

(4)

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

intended for Mrs Keenan,

(5)

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.

& for Mrs Wade Browne, whose direction is with the Revd F. Belfield, Primly Hill near Newton.

(6)

Finney Belfield (1758–1845), a landowner and clergyman, lived at Primley Hill, Paignton, Devon.

They will come with yours, an arrangement whereby without increasing your carr cost of carriage, theirs will be lessened. – You will see that the book is dated from Crediton

(7)

‘Crediton, Jan. 10, 1824’, The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), I, p. [vii].

– a memorial of my visit which I was glad to have an opportunity of making. – The concluding proofs I found at Buckland; – the title-page &c on my arrival in town. I suppose you will receive it in the course of a few days.

Our places are taken for Ipswich – for Saturday afternoon next. We shall reach Clarksons that night, go to Cambridge on Tuesday the 3d. to London on the 5th – to Richmond on the 7th. On the 10th I return to London, & on the 13th intend to set out in the mail coach for Keswick, when I hope to feel myself at rest, after having led for fifteen weeks a life which might almost entitle me to the appellation of the Wandering Christian.

(8)

An adaptation of the legend of the ‘Wandering Jew’, an immortal man, cursed to walk the earth forever. The legend seems to date to the thirteenth century.

I am charged to present my daughters best thanks to Mrs Lightfoot for her beautiful ring. It is not impossible that you may see her in the summer, for she seems more than half inclined to accompany her friend Lady Malet

(9)

Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), the widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB).

to the Devonshire Coast about the end of May, – a scheme which I am willing to encourage, in the hope that sea air & sea bathing may give her some of that bracing which she wants.

My best & kindest regards to all. Tell Mrs Lightfoot that I should be afraid of being killed with kindness where I now am, if I had not gained confidence by escaping from that fate at Crediton: – after which I may venture to believe no kindness ever will kill me.

[remainder of MS missing]

Notes

1. Nicholas Lightfoot married Bridget Prideaux (1768–1856) on 13 July 1801. Their children were: John Prideaux Lightfoot; Frances Jane Lightfoot (1806–1882), Southey’s god-daughter; Catherine Anne Lightfoot (1808–1898); Bridget Mary Lightfoot (1810–1889); and Nicholas Francis Lightfoot (1811–1881), Vicar of Cadbury 1846–1855, Rector of Islip 1855–1881.[back]
2. Southey had visited: his aunt, Mary Southey; his Westminster schoolfriend, Edward Combe; Caroline Bowles; and Elizabeth Heathcote (1773–1855) and Alethea Bigg (1777–1847), two sisters of Catherine Hill who shared a house at 12 Cathedral Close, Winchester.[back]
3. 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]
4. Copies of Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
5. 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]
6. Finney Belfield (1758–1845), a landowner and clergyman, lived at Primley Hill, Paignton, Devon.[back]
7. ‘Crediton, Jan. 10, 1824’, The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), I, p. [vii].[back]
8. An adaptation of the legend of the ‘Wandering Jew’, an immortal man, cursed to walk the earth forever. The legend seems to date to the thirteenth century.[back]
9. Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), the widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB).[back]
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