4155. Robert Southey to Edith May Southey, 12 March 1824

 

Address: To/ Miss Southey/ at Mrs Gonne’s/ 16. York Place/ Baker Street
Postmark: EVEN/ 15 MR/ 1824
MS: Frellsen Fletcher Smith Collection, Special Collections, Manuscripts, and Archives, Prescott Memorial Library, Louisiana Tech University, Ruston, Louisiana. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 412–414 [in part].

Keswick. 12 March. 1824
My dear E May

I am to give notice,

that the packages arrived on Tuesday last, & that the tunic & trowsers produced a most extraordinary metamorphosis in Cuthbert. He declared that he must now leave off all his childish ways, he kept his hands in his pockets, as if that were the main purpose for which hands were xx intended: & having unawares given me a kiss after tea, he recollected himself, reddened to think of the impropriety into which he had been betrayed, & exclaimed in a quick tone, half anger, half mortification, – Oh, but I’ve left off kissing! For your comfort however I may assure you that the tunic & trowsers are quietly put away for high days & holydays, & that he no longer insists upon the decorums belonging to the degree which he has taken in apparel.

The Beaumonts

(1)

Sir George and Lady Beaumont.

move for London in the 17th of this month. I would have you call there soon.

Montgomerys two volumes of Prose; by a Poet,

(2)

James Montgomery, Prose, by a Poet (1824).

were left behind. They had been lent to somebody I suppose. When they turn up, let them be sent to Murrays to come in one of his parcels. I have succeeded in stowing away the whole of this recent cargo, & of the books from Italy, without having any new shelves; – by converting four duodecimo shelves in the Organ room,

(3)

A room at Greta Hall that had contained an organ when it was used by William Jackson and had once served as Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s study.

into three octavo ones; & removing the duodecimo books into the passage, where some of the shelves have been pieced to make them hold a double row, – octavos behind, shorticums in front. Another change has been to fill the bookcase on the lower landing place with bound books, – which has very greatly improved its appearance

I wrote an account of the effect produced upon Mrs C. by the unpacking of the horn, – in a letter to Bedford, which you ought to see.

(4)

Southey to Grosvenor Bedford, 22 February 1824, Letter 4141. The horn was a kind of bugle that Southey had bought as a joke, as his sister-in-law Sara Coleridge had a horror of loud noises.

You will let us know when you are low in purse, & I will desire him to supply you. I will supply you also with another pack of autographs. By the by if you were <to> get yourself a little book, & transcribe into it these brief extracts from time to time as they pass thro your hands; – you would find yourself possessed of xxxx one of these days of a choice collection of sentences & maxims, – & I should have an additional reason for supplying you.

(5)

Edith May Southey bought the notebook but made little progress in filling it up.

Your drawing books are likely to prove as useful as you wished them to be. All three girls

(6)

Bertha, Kate and Isabel Southey.

are getting on well, – & Bertha has made a hopeful attempt at colouring a butterfly. – What shall I do for my wine–brewer this year?? – I am at this time drinking your currant wine, – & I assure you that some bottle marked with the ignominious name of puddle, might have very well past muster for Champagne. One third of the bottle was puddle; but the clear part was as good as any Champagne I ever tasted; the main difference – almost the only distinction – being, that it left no unpleasant tang behind it

Your mother I suppose has told you all the business & news of the family. Sara is Secretary for triangular affairs.

(7)

Aiding Southey with The Doctor (1834–1847). The title pages of the individual volumes bore a triangle.

The department of nonsense is all that is left for me; & in that you shall hear from me officially sometimes. – My love to Mrs Gonne & your Aunt, – & my kind remembrances to Lady Malet –

(8)

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

Miss C. & Dame Elizabeth.

(9)

Elizabeth Charter (1782–1860), friend of the poet George Crabbe (1754–1832; DNB) and a sister of Emma Peachy, first wife of William Peachy. Elizabeth and her sister Louisa Charter had travelled from Keswick to London with Southey, Edith May Southey and Lady Malet in November 1823.

God bless you my dear child!!
RS.

Notes

2. James Montgomery, Prose, by a Poet (1824).[back]
3. A room at Greta Hall that had contained an organ when it was used by William Jackson and had once served as Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s study.[back]
4. Southey to Grosvenor Bedford, 22 February 1824, Letter 4141. The horn was a kind of bugle that Southey had bought as a joke, as his sister-in-law Sara Coleridge had a horror of loud noises.[back]
5. Edith May Southey bought the notebook but made little progress in filling it up.[back]
7. Aiding Southey with The Doctor (1834–1847). The title pages of the individual volumes bore a triangle.[back]
8. 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]
9. Elizabeth Charter (1782–1860), friend of the poet George Crabbe (1754–1832; DNB) and a sister of Emma Peachy, first wife of William Peachy. Elizabeth and her sister Louisa Charter had travelled from Keswick to London with Southey, Edith May Southey and Lady Malet in November 1823.[back]
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