4223. Robert Southey to Edith May Southey, 24 July 1824

 

Address: [in another hand] Emsworth First August 1824/ Miss Southey/ with Lady Mallet/ Seaton/ Devon/ Free/ JRickman
MS: British Library, Add MS 47888. ALS; 4p. 
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 435–436 [in part].

Keswick. 24 July. 1824

My Elegant Cygnet

(1)

Amelia Opie had written a verse in Edith May’s album, when she and her father left Norwich on 30 January 1824, which likened Southey to a swan and Edith May to a cygnet: ‘and see thee, fam’d Swan of the Derwent’s fair tide/ With that elegant cygnet that floats by thy side’ (John Wood Warter, Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, p. 435).

By this time your Elegancy will be looking for some news of the Swan & the Swans nest. The Swan has for a long time been in bad feather, he is now at last looking up & pluming himself once more – & if your companions would but possess themselves of some Veils like those in the German story,

(2)

Karl Augustus Musäus (1735–1787) published ‘Der Geraubte Schleier’ as a traditional story in his Volksmärchen der Deutschen, 5 vols (Gotha, 1782–1786). It was translated into English as ‘The Stealing of the Veil, or, the Tale a la Montgolfier’, Popular Tales of the Germans, 2 vols (London, 1791), I, pp. 162–264. Southey referred to this story in Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829), I, p. 147.

& appoint a meeting, he would be ready to take wing with them for a flight among the mountains

Your box arrived in wicked condition, – so slightly made that it was broken in half, & so slightly corded that the halves came asunder, – whereby you have lost one volume of the Evidences of Xtianity,

(3)

William Paley (1743–1805; DNB), A View of the Evidences of Christianity (1794).

– unless you happen to have retained it, for only two were to be found, the 1st and 3d. I suppose your mother & My Lady between them will express their approbation of the manner in which you must have executed all commissions. We are all however satisfied that you must have been as indefatigable with your hands as with your feet, which is saying a xx good deal. Your letters & billet doux are tied up with red tape between two boards, & deposited in a bookcase which you have never seen – standing on the drawers in your mothers room.

Mrs Keenan

(4)

Frances Keenan (d. 1838), an artist and widow of the Irish portrait painter John Keenan (d. 1819). Southey had first met the Keenans in Exeter in 1799.

is expected here next Wednesday. Bedford also gives me some hopes of seeing him – & when he comes we are to have a concert with the rattle & the horn.

(5)

A Southeyan joke. Southey had acquired a watchman’s rattle in 1812 to help protect his home against intruders, and a horn like that used by coachmen on his trip to London in 1823–1824, purely to watch his sister-in-law Sara Coleridge’s horror when he unpacked the item and to observe the effect on her when family members played the instrument.

To day I am in the horrors two Malkins

(6)

Probably Frederic Malkin (1802–1830), author of The History of Greece from the Earliest Times to its Final Subjection to Rome (1829) and Arthur Malkin, civil engineer and writer. They were the two younger sons of Benjamin Heath Malkin (1769–1842; DNB), headmaster of the grammar school at Bury St Edmunds 1809–1828. William Peachy had married secondly in 1812 a widow called Susannah Henry (dates unknown) and Mrs Peachy’s mother was an inhabitant of Bury St Edmunds; see Robert Southey to John Spedding, 12 September 1818, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Five, Letter 3192.

being to dine here, who brought an introduction from Mrs Peachy, & who both stutter so dreadfully, that it is miserable to hear them. What will become of me when I am left between them after dinner! – Robert Lovell is looked for next week, & I would think Edward Hill would make his appearance about a week after

You are now in a good land; – a land flowing with xxxxx clouted cream <& laver> – which are better things than milk & honey,

(7)

Exodus 3: 17: where the Israelites’ Promised Land is described as ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’.

– a land of fish, & of cyder, & where moreover the strong beer is good: – a land also of squab pie, – a plentiful land, – a good land, only not so good as the neighbouring land of Somersetshire. I should not like you to be settled in London by marriage, nor in Ireland, – nor in Scotland, – nor in the fens of Lincolnshire, which suitable as they are for waterfowl, are not suitable for my xxxxxxx Cygnet. Devonshire or Somersetshire would do better, – or Gloucestershire, tho inferior might do: or Cornwall: but not the ugly middle of England, nor the Eastern counties. Love may be willing enough to take up with spare diet, a meagre country & a raw air: but plenty, & a mild climate & a beautiful & good country agree better with him; & you may depend upon it that there is no better diet for Love than what Devonshire affords. Miss Woods grandmother you know gained a husband by a bowl of cream

(8)

Mary Anne Wood (1782–1860), a cousin of Humphrey Senhouse. Southey recorded this story in John Wood Warter (ed.), Southey’s Common-Place Book, 4 vols (London, 1849–1850), IV, p. 367: ‘Lt Moneypenny, Miss Wood’s grandfather, on being paid off, set out with a friend to visit Scotland, and went with that friend to pass a night at Bamborough, at an acquaintance of the companion. The daughter of his host hearing that the lieutenant would have milk for supper, brought him cream, and in consequence he never left Bamborough as long as he lived.’ The Lieutenant was probably the ‘Mr Moneypenny’ (c. 1714…

I xxx remind you of it as a caution, you are in a land of cream, & wives peradventure may be won by it as well as husbands: but if it should be so, I shall not object to the county. – Nay I should prefer it to most others, for I have still an inkling for the West. Sxxxx xxxll xxx xxgpxxxl xxgpxxl Eliz xppxx xxxxx Moreover is a good country for geese, & if for geese it must be good for swans also, & therefore a good country for a Cygnet to settle in.

Your mother has had a letter from Mrs Wade Browne who expects you to visit her at Exeter. This may be settled when we know more concerning your movements. Meantime if you should be going to trip it on the fantastic great toe there at the Assizes,

(9)

Assizes were courts that tried the most serious offences in each county. The Devon and Exeter Summer Assizes began on 14 August 1824. However, the assizes also conducted much local administrative business and were the occasion for many of the local gentry to congregate in the county town and thus for entertainments and social occasions.

call on her at her lodgings which are No 5. Paris Street, where she will be about the middle of next month.

The day of Marys execution

(10)

As nobody named ‘Mary’ was executed in England in 1824–1825, this is probably a reference to the killing of a farm animal.

is at hand. She appears perfectly resigned to her fate & prepared for it. Her fellow sufferer is not yet arrived, – Xx Cramptons

(11)

William Crampton (c. 1785–1843), a Keswick bookseller, had obtained a copper plate to forge one-guinea banknotes of the Whitehaven Bank of Johnston, Adamson, Hope & Co. He was condemned to death at Carlisle Assizes on 26 August 1824, but recommended to mercy and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

trial is to take place in August. Nothing but misery.

Remember us most kindly to Lady M.

(12)

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

Miss C. & Dame Elizabeth. <& to Miss Anne Malet>

(13)

Elizabeth Charter (1782–1860), a sister of William Peachy’s first wife, Emma Peachy. Sir Charles Malet had three children in India with Amber Kaur (b. 1772): Eliza (b. 1791); Henry Charles (1793–1844); and Louisa (b. 1795). They accompanied him to Britain in 1798 and were brought up with his children by Susanna Malet. Eliza Malet married, in 1812, Robert Ekins (1785–1874), Vicar of Godalming 1810–1833, Rector of Folke, Dorset 1833–1843, Perpetual Curate of North Wootton 1843–1854. Southey is probably referring here to Louisa Malet. The Malets and Charters had accompanied Southey and Edith May …

I suppose you will <have> seen Lightfoot before this reaches you. He talked of riding to Seaton with young George Coleridge

(14)

George May Coleridge (1798–1847), son of George Coleridge, elder brother of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. After receiving his BA from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1820 he was ordained in 1822 and was Vicar of St Marychurch, Torbay 1827–1847, and Prebendary of Wells Cathedral 1823–1847.

to visit you. Take care of swan-hoppers.

(15)

Swan-upping is the annual ceremony by which a census is taken of swans living on the River Thames. By royal prerogative all mute swans belong to the Crown unless granted to the Vintners Company or the Dyers Company, who put ownership marks on the bills of cygnets born to their swans. The officials who perform this duty are known as swan uppers or, occasionally, swan hoppers.

Rumplestilzchen has been very poorly, but is now in tolerable health. Hurlyburlybuss has not been seen for some days.

(16)

Two feline members of the Southey household.

I have put on some new striped trowsers to day, also I have a drab jacket, & drab trowsers, – not to mention the blue Pascoe

(17)

Possibly John Cooper & James Pascoe, tailors of 63 Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.

which I brought down: think of the richness of my wardrobe.

Once more – beware of swan hoppers
Your affectionate father
The Swan.

PS Are you learning to swim?

Notes

1. Amelia Opie had written a verse in Edith May’s album, when she and her father left Norwich on 30 January 1824, which likened Southey to a swan and Edith May to a cygnet: ‘and see thee, fam’d Swan of the Derwent’s fair tide/ With that elegant cygnet that floats by thy side’ (John Wood Warter, Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, p. 435).[back]
2. Karl Augustus Musäus (1735–1787) published ‘Der Geraubte Schleier’ as a traditional story in his Volksmärchen der Deutschen, 5 vols (Gotha, 1782–1786). It was translated into English as ‘The Stealing of the Veil, or, the Tale a la Montgolfier’, Popular Tales of the Germans, 2 vols (London, 1791), I, pp. 162–264. Southey referred to this story in Sir Thomas More: or, Colloquies on the Progress and Prospects of Society, 2 vols (London, 1829), I, p. 147.[back]
3. William Paley (1743–1805; DNB), A View of the Evidences of Christianity (1794).[back]
4. Frances Keenan (d. 1838), an artist and widow of the Irish portrait painter John Keenan (d. 1819). Southey had first met the Keenans in Exeter in 1799.[back]
5. A Southeyan joke. Southey had acquired a watchman’s rattle in 1812 to help protect his home against intruders, and a horn like that used by coachmen on his trip to London in 1823–1824, purely to watch his sister-in-law Sara Coleridge’s horror when he unpacked the item and to observe the effect on her when family members played the instrument.[back]
6. Probably Frederic Malkin (1802–1830), author of The History of Greece from the Earliest Times to its Final Subjection to Rome (1829) and Arthur Malkin, civil engineer and writer. They were the two younger sons of Benjamin Heath Malkin (1769–1842; DNB), headmaster of the grammar school at Bury St Edmunds 1809–1828. William Peachy had married secondly in 1812 a widow called Susannah Henry (dates unknown) and Mrs Peachy’s mother was an inhabitant of Bury St Edmunds; see Robert Southey to John Spedding, 12 September 1818, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Five, Letter 3192.[back]
7. Exodus 3: 17: where the Israelites’ Promised Land is described as ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’.[back]
8. Mary Anne Wood (1782–1860), a cousin of Humphrey Senhouse. Southey recorded this story in John Wood Warter (ed.), Southey’s Common-Place Book, 4 vols (London, 1849–1850), IV, p. 367: ‘Lt Moneypenny, Miss Wood’s grandfather, on being paid off, set out with a friend to visit Scotland, and went with that friend to pass a night at Bamborough, at an acquaintance of the companion. The daughter of his host hearing that the lieutenant would have milk for supper, brought him cream, and in consequence he never left Bamborough as long as he lived.’ The Lieutenant was probably the ‘Mr Moneypenny’ (c. 1714–1788), possibly tenant of the Manor House, who died at Bamburgh in February 1788.[back]
9. Assizes were courts that tried the most serious offences in each county. The Devon and Exeter Summer Assizes began on 14 August 1824. However, the assizes also conducted much local administrative business and were the occasion for many of the local gentry to congregate in the county town and thus for entertainments and social occasions.[back]
10. As nobody named ‘Mary’ was executed in England in 1824–1825, this is probably a reference to the killing of a farm animal.[back]
11. William Crampton (c. 1785–1843), a Keswick bookseller, had obtained a copper plate to forge one-guinea banknotes of the Whitehaven Bank of Johnston, Adamson, Hope & Co. He was condemned to death at Carlisle Assizes on 26 August 1824, but recommended to mercy and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.[back]
12. Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), the widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB).[back]
13. Elizabeth Charter (1782–1860), a sister of William Peachy’s first wife, Emma Peachy. Anne Malet (1751-1836), sister of Sir Charles Malet.[back]
14. George May Coleridge (1798–1847), son of George Coleridge, elder brother of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. After receiving his BA from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1820 he was ordained in 1822 and was Vicar of St Marychurch, Torbay 1827–1847, and Prebendary of Wells Cathedral 1823–1847.[back]
15. Swan-upping is the annual ceremony by which a census is taken of swans living on the River Thames. By royal prerogative all mute swans belong to the Crown unless granted to the Vintners Company or the Dyers Company, who put ownership marks on the bills of cygnets born to their swans. The officials who perform this duty are known as swan uppers or, occasionally, swan hoppers. [back]
16. Two feline members of the Southey household.[back]
17. The reference is obscure, probably an item of clothing Southey had purchased from John Cooper & James Pascoe, tailors of 63 Rupert Street, Haymarket, London.[back]
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