4164. Robert Southey to Alfred Beesley, 30 March 1824

 

Address: To/ Mr Alfred Beesley/ Banbury/ Oxfordshire
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Seal: [partial] red wax
MS: Beinecke Library, GEN MSS 298, Series I, Box 1, folder 3. ALS; 3p,
Unpublished.

Keswick 30 March 1824
Sir

The cause which induces me to suspend my life of George Fox

(1)

George Fox (1624–1691; DNB), the founder of Quakerism. Southey planned to, but did not, write an account of his life.

is this: the correspondence of William Penn with his wife & with James Logan

(2)

William Penn (1644–1718; DNB), the leading Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania; Hannah Callowhill Penn (1671–1726), Penn’s second wife and effective administrator of Pennsylvania 1712–1726; and James Logan (1674–1751), an Irish Quaker who sailed to Pennsylvania with Penn in 1699 as his secretary and remained in the colony as a key representative of the Penn family’s interests, holding a variety of offices. The publication of their letters was announced in Transactions of the Historical & Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society, I (1819), pp. xiii–xiv, no. 63 in the sale catalog…

his confidential friend & secretary has been announced for publication by the American Philosophical Society – of Philadelphia, – not absolutely indeed, but in such a manner as to leave little doubt that it will appear, & from what is said of this correspondence, it must contain information of great importance to any person who is investigating the rise & progress of Quakerism. Meantime I go on collecting materials, & arranging them as opportunity occurs. The time & labour will not be misemployed; for the subject is curious, & in many points of view important. Nor do I think that the Quakers will have any reason to complain of the spirit in which it is written, tho assuredly their “sandy foundations”

(3)

A reference to William Penn’s The Sandy Foundation Shaken, or, Those so Generally Approved and Applauded Doctrines, of One God, Subsisting in Three Distinct and Separate Persons, the Impossibility of God’s Pardoning Sinners, without a Plenary Satisfaction, the Justification of Impure Persons by an Imputative Righteousness, Refuted from the Authority of Scripture Testimonies, and Right Reason (1668).

will be shaken.

I remain Sir
Yours with respect
Robert Southey.

Notes

1. George Fox (1624–1691; DNB), the founder of Quakerism. Southey planned to, but did not, write an account of his life.[back]
2. William Penn (1644–1718; DNB), the leading Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania; Hannah Callowhill Penn (1671–1726), Penn’s second wife and effective administrator of Pennsylvania 1712–1726; and James Logan (1674–1751), an Irish Quaker who sailed to Pennsylvania with Penn in 1699 as his secretary and remained in the colony as a key representative of the Penn family’s interests, holding a variety of offices. The publication of their letters was announced in Transactions of the Historical & Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society, I (1819), pp. xiii–xiv, no. 63 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. This was to be based on the family archives of Dr George Logan of Stenton (1753–1821), James Logan’s grandson, and undertaken by ‘A Lady of the Doctor’s family’ [Deborah Norris Logan (1761–1839), wife of George Logan], who had already delivered ‘the first MS. Volume of the collection, which she has enriched with notes and with introductory matter of much interest.’ However, Logan’s edition was not published until 1870–1872.[back]
3. A reference to William Penn’s The Sandy Foundation Shaken, or, Those so Generally Approved and Applauded Doctrines, of One God, Subsisting in Three Distinct and Separate Persons, the Impossibility of God’s Pardoning Sinners, without a Plenary Satisfaction, the Justification of Impure Persons by an Imputative Righteousness, Refuted from the Authority of Scripture Testimonies, and Right Reason (1668).[back]
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