4178. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 27 April 1824

 

Address: To/ G. C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer,/ Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 30 AP 30/ 1824
Endorsements: 27 April 1824./ Ansd 1st May.
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), V, pp. 173–175 [in part].

Keswick. 27 Apr. 1824
My dear Grosvenor

Your letter was as welcome as this days rain when the thirsty ground was gaping for it. Indeed I should have been uneasy at your silence, & apprehended that some untoward cause must have occasioned it, if I had not heard from Edith that you had supplied her Exchequer.

I should indeed have enjoyed the sight of Duppa in the condition which you describe & the subsequent process of transformation.

(1)

Bedford had written to Southey on 16 April 1824, describing how Duppa had arrived at his house caked in mud after being splashed by a passing coach. Bedford had provided Duppa with an ill-assorted selection of his own and his brother, Henry Bedford’s, clothes. This allowed Duppa to attend a nearby dinner party.

How well I can call to mind his appearance on his return from the Theatre one & thirty years ago!

(2)

Duppa had visited Southey in Oxford to attend the installation of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738–1809; DNB; Prime Minister 1783, 1807–1809) as Chancellor of the University of Oxford, on 1 July 1793. The ceremony had been held in the Sheldonian Theatre (built 1664–1669).

Little did I think that day that the next time I was to enter that Theatre would be in a red dress gown to be bedoctored & called every thing xxx that ends in issimus.

(3)

Southey was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law at the University of Oxford on 14 June 1820. The ceremony was again in the Sheldonian Theatre.

And yet of the two days, the former was one of the most chearful in my life, & the latter if not the most melancholy, I think the very loneliest.

Murray writes to me that he has put the Book of the Church

(4)

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

to press for a second edition. I make no alterations, except to correct two slips of the pen & the press – when the Emperor Charles 5 is called Q. Catharines brother instead of her nephew

(5)

The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, p. 8, where Charles V (1500–1558; Holy Roman Emperor 1519–1556, King of Spain 1516–1556) was misidentified as the brother, rather than the nephew, of Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536; DNB), first wife of Henry VIII (1491–1547; King of England 1509–1547; DNB).

& Henry IV printed for III.

(6)

The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, p. 341, where Henry IV (1553–1610; King of France 1589–1610) was misprinted for Henry III (1551–1589; King of France 1574–1589).

– & to omit an anecdote about Gardiners death which Wynn tells me has been disproved by Lingard.

(7)

The Morning Chronicle, 6 February 1824, contained a letter from ‘TRUTH’, provoked by the first edition of Southey’s Book of the Church (1824). It pointed out that Southey’s account of the death of Stephen Gardiner (1483–1555; DNB), Bishop of Winchester 1531–1551, 1553–1555, in Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, pp. 209–210, could not be accurate and was contradicted by John Lingard (1771–1851; DNB), The History of England, from the First Invasion of the Romans, 5 vols (London, 1819–1823), V, p. 628. Southey only possessed the first three volumes of the latter, published in 1819, no…

I do not know what number Murray printed. But if there should appear a probability of its obtaining a regular sale, in that case I shall be disposed to think seriously of composing a similar view of our civil history, & calling it the Book of the State,

(8)

Southey did not write this work.

with the view of showing how the course of political events has influenced the condition of society, & tracing the growth & effect of our institutions, the gradual decay of disappearances of some evils & the rise of others. Meantime however I have enough upon my hands – & still more in my head.

Hudson Gurney

(9)

Hudson Gurney (1775–1864; DNB), an antiquarian and poet from a prominent Quaker family in Norwich. Gurney was a Whig MP for Shaftesbury 1812–1813, and Newtown, Isle of Wight 1816–1832.

said to me he wished the King would lay his commands on me to write the history of his Fathers reign.

(10)

George III (1738–1820; King of Great Britain 1760–1820; DNB). Southey did not write a history of his reign.

I wish he would – provided he would make my pension a clear 500 £ a year,

(11)

i.e. £500 after tax. Southey’s pension, paid since 1807, was only £200 per annum, which was reduced to about £144 per annum after tax.

to support me while I was writing it. And then I think I could xx treat the subject with some credit to myself.

Longman can tell you nothing more about my brothers intended book

(12)

Tom Southey, Chronological History of the West Indies (1827).

than that he will venture upon printing 750 copies provided 200 subscribers can be obtained. The form of the work is that of President Henault’s Abr. Chronologique

(13)

Charles-Jean-François Hénault (1685–1770), Abrégé Chronologique de l’Histoire d’Espagne et de Portugal, divisé en huit périodes, avec des remarques particulieres à la fin de chaque période sur le génie, les moeurs, les usages, le commerce, les finances de ces monarchies; ensemble la notice des Princes contemporains, & un précis historique sur les savans & illustres (1765), no. 2714 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. He was President of the Chamber of Enquiries of the Parlement of Paris 1710–1731.

– which is the only form adapted to that particular subject – the sole thread being that of chronology. The plan includes the whole of the West India Islands.

Edith returns to town the end of this week. Bertha I believe is at this time at Rickmans.

How is Gifford? I know nothing of him, of the Review, – nor of any thing in town – or any body. Half a dozen from Murray about the new edition

(14)

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

being all I have heard from him since my return.

God bless you. I have scrawled this in the twilight & made <it> I fear even more unintelligible than usual
RS.

Notes

1. Bedford had written to Southey on 16 April 1824, describing how Duppa had arrived at his house caked in mud after being splashed by a passing coach. Bedford had provided Duppa with an ill-assorted selection of his own and his brother, Henry Bedford’s, clothes. This allowed Duppa to attend a nearby dinner party.[back]
2. Duppa had visited Southey in Oxford to attend the installation of William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland (1738–1809; DNB; Prime Minister 1783, 1807–1809) as Chancellor of the University of Oxford, on 1 July 1793. The ceremony had been held in the Sheldonian Theatre (built 1664–1669).[back]
3. Southey was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Civil Law at the University of Oxford on 14 June 1820. The ceremony was again in the Sheldonian Theatre.[back]
4. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
5. The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, p. 8, where Charles V (1500–1558; Holy Roman Emperor 1519–1556, King of Spain 1516–1556) was misidentified as the brother, rather than the nephew, of Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536; DNB), first wife of Henry VIII (1491–1547; King of England 1509–1547; DNB).[back]
6. The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, p. 341, where Henry IV (1553–1610; King of France 1589–1610) was misprinted for Henry III (1551–1589; King of France 1574–1589).[back]
7. The Morning Chronicle, 6 February 1824, contained a letter from ‘TRUTH’, provoked by the first edition of Southey’s Book of the Church (1824). It pointed out that Southey’s account of the death of Stephen Gardiner (1483–1555; DNB), Bishop of Winchester 1531–1551, 1553–1555, in Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, pp. 209–210, could not be accurate and was contradicted by John Lingard (1771–1851; DNB), The History of England, from the First Invasion of the Romans, 5 vols (London, 1819–1823), V, p. 628. Southey only possessed the first three volumes of the latter, published in 1819, no. 1634 in the sale catalogue of his library.[back]
8. Southey did not write this work.[back]
9. Hudson Gurney (1775–1864; DNB), an antiquarian and poet from a prominent Quaker family in Norwich. Gurney was a Whig MP for Shaftesbury 1812–1813, and Newtown, Isle of Wight 1816–1832.[back]
10. George III (1738–1820; King of Great Britain 1760–1820; DNB). Southey did not write a history of his reign.[back]
11. i.e. £500 after tax. Southey’s pension, paid since 1807, was only £200 per annum, which was reduced to about £144 per annum after tax. [back]
12. Tom Southey, Chronological History of the West Indies (1827).[back]
13. Charles-Jean-François Hénault (1685–1770), Abrégé Chronologique de l’Histoire d’Espagne et de Portugal, divisé en huit périodes, avec des remarques particulieres à la fin de chaque période sur le génie, les moeurs, les usages, le commerce, les finances de ces monarchies; ensemble la notice des Princes contemporains, & un précis historique sur les savans & illustres (1765), no. 2714 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. He was President of the Chamber of Enquiries of the Parlement of Paris 1710–1731.[back]
14. The second edition of Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
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