4162. Robert Southey to Edith May Southey, 27 March 1824

 

Address: To/ Miss Southey/ at Mrs Gonne’s/ 16 York Place/ Baker Street
Postmark: 2. A.NOON. 2 x/ 30 MR/ 1824
MS: British Library, Add MS 47888. ALS; 4p. 
Unpublished.

Keswick. 27 March. 1824

My dear EMay

We expect that Bertha will set off under the care of Miss Tolson

(1)

Mary Tolson (dates unknown). She had set up business in High Holborn, London, as a ‘linen-draper, dealer and chapwoman’, but was declared bankrupt on 8 July 1826. She started a new business in Regent Street as a ‘milliner and dress maker’, only to go bankrupt again on 16 May 1828.

(milliner) of Workington, on Wednesday, April 7th she goes by Manchester, & will arrive in town either on the 10th or 11th we suppose. If Lady M.

(2)

Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), the widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB), with whom Edith May Southey was staying in London.

can without inconvenience put off her departure for two or three days, that you might see her & take proper measures for rigging her, it would be desirable; but if not, paciencia,

(3)

‘patience’ in Spanish.

so go you with Lady M. at any rate. Your mother hopes however that you will see Mrs Rickman before you set out, & talk about Bertha. Miss Crosthwaite

(4)

Mary Crosthwaite (dates unknown), a linen and woollen draper in Keswick.

thinks that her escort will have her head quarters in Holborn; – but wherever that may be she will notify her arrival to Mrs R, & they will have the goodness to send for her. As far as we can tell – till we have seen Miss Tolson, – this appears to be the course of proceedings.

I will desire Bedford, my Chancellor of the Exchequer, to send you some money.

Isabel is getting well to day, after a weeks illness – a bilious affliction it has been.

You remember your Uncle Henrys report that the Ventriloquist was coming with a letter of introduction from a Dutchman, whose wife was translating Roderick into Dutch.

(5)

Alexandre Vattemare (1796–1864), a celebrated French ventriloquist, who used the stage name ‘Monsieur Alexandre’. The introduction was from Willem Bilderdijk, whose wife, Katherina Bilderdijk, née Schweickhardt (1776–1830) had translated Southey’s Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814) into Dutch as Rodrigo de Goth, Konig van Spanje (1823–1824), no. 2701 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library, where it was described as ‘red morocco, gilt leaves’; see Southey to William Peachy, 23 August 1821, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3718.

This morning I received the first volume of the translation in a red morocco dress, with a Latin epistle from the husband, & one in Dutch-English from the merchant at Amsterdam who forwarded it, & who being an author himself also, inclosed an essay of his own upon the character of “My Cid.’

(6)

Willem de Clercq, ‘De Cid, Voorgesteld als Het Ideaal van den Held der Middeleeuwen’, originally published in Magazijn voor Wetenschappen, Kunsten en Lettern, 3 (1824), 192–244.

The translation appears to be very faithfully done, & I doubt have no doubt very well, the husband being himself the one of the most, if not the most, distinguished critics & poets of his country, & a man of great erudition as well as great abilities. He is a very old man, having been known as a poet he tells me sixty years; – the wife is probably much younger as he xxx says they have been married a quarter of a century & more.

(7)

Bilderdijk was only 63 years old at this time, but he was a chronic hypochondriac. His first poem was published in 1776 and his first major publication was the anonymous verse collection Mijn Verlustiging (1781), so his fame as a poet dated back 43 years, rather than the 60 years that Southey assumed to be the case. Bilderdijk and Schweickhardt married in 1802, but had lived together since 1797.

Her name is Katharina Wilhelmina Bilderdijk, & she dedicates the translation to me, in a very good ode.

(8)

Rodrigo de Goth, Koning van Spanje, 2 vols (The Hague, 1823–1824), I, pp. i–xii.

The poem is in the Dutch heroic verse – that is – 12 syllable rhyme, like that of the French.

You are going to a very ugly country, & a very bleak one. It is by no means unlikely that you may fall in with James White there.

(9)

James White was at this time Stipendiary Curate of Christ Church, West Bromwich.

Our love to Mrs G. & Louisa, – & kind remembrances wherever they ought to be made.

So no more at present from
Your dutiful father
RS.

Poor Hurlyburlybuss

(10)

A feline member of the Southey household.

has disappeared, to the sorrow of this whole family, – even of the Lady Mare herself.

Notes

1. Mary Tolson (dates unknown). She had set up business in High Holborn, London, as a ‘linen-draper, dealer and chapwoman’, but was declared bankrupt on 8 July 1826. She started a new business in Regent Street as a ‘milliner and dress maker’, only to go bankrupt again on 16 May 1828.[back]
2. Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), the widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB), with whom Edith May Southey was staying in London.[back]
3. ‘patience’ in Spanish.[back]
4. Mary Crosthwaite (dates unknown), a linen and woollen draper in Keswick.[back]
5. Alexandre Vattemare (1796–1864), a celebrated French ventriloquist, who used the stage name ‘Monsieur Alexandre’. The introduction was from Willem Bilderdijk, whose wife, Katherina Bilderdijk, née Schweickhardt (1776–1830) had translated Southey’s Roderick, the Last of the Goths (1814) into Dutch as Rodrigo de Goth, Konig van Spanje (1823–1824), no. 2701 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library, where it was described as ‘red morocco, gilt leaves’; see Southey to William Peachy, 23 August 1821, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3718.[back]
6. Willem de Clercq, ‘De Cid, Voorgesteld als Het Ideaal van den Held der Middeleeuwen’, originally published in Magazijn voor Wetenschappen, Kunsten en Lettern, 3 (1824), 192–244.[back]
7. Bilderdijk was only 63 years old at this time, but he was a chronic hypochondriac. His first poem was published in 1776 and his first major publication was the anonymous verse collection Mijn Verlustiging (1781), so his fame as a poet dated back 43 years, rather than the 60 years that Southey assumed to be the case. Bilderdijk and Schweickhardt married in 1802, but had lived together since 1797.[back]
8. Rodrigo de Goth, Koning van Spanje, 2 vols (The Hague, 1823–1824), I, pp. i–xii.[back]
9. James White was at this time Stipendiary Curate of Christ Church, West Bromwich.[back]
10. A feline member of the Southey household.[back]
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