4242. Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 6 September 1824

 

Address: To/ G. C. Bedford Esqre/ Exchequer/ Westminster
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 9 SE 9/ 1824
Endorsement: 6 Sept. 1824.
MS: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford, MS. Eng. lett. c. 26. ALS; 4p.
Unpublished.

Keswick 6 Sept. 1824
My dear G

I have got about again, after an ailment which threatened to lay me on the sofa, & keep me there. Thank God I am able again to take exercise & to a considerable extent, with little inconvenience, & sometimes without any. This I shall endeavor to keep up thro the winter, & when the spring advances, if it be possible for me to leave home, I will take a journey, as the only chance of avoiding a yearly attack that becomes every year more serious. Most probably it will be to visit the Bp of Limerick who would fain have taken me with him to Ireland about ten days ago.

My Ways & Means are sorely deranged by Gifford, who has not inserted an article of mine upon Hayleys life in this number.

(1)

Southey’s review of John Johnson (1769–1833; DNB), Memoirs of the Life and Writings of William Hayley, Esq. the Friend and Biographer of Cowper, Written by Himself; with Extracts from his Private Correspondence, and Unpublished Poetry; and Memoirs of his Son Thomas Alphonso Hayley, the Young Sculptor (1823), no. 1179 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library, Quarterly Review, 31 (March 1825), 263–311. Southey had hoped that it might appear in Quarterly Review, 30 (January 1824), published 28 August 1824.

I have had no intimation why it has been delayed, – certainly not as being too late for insertion, for I corrected the proofs more than two months ago. I am even half inclined to suspect an intention of rejecting it, because without eulogizing Hayley in the slightest degree beyond his deserts, it touches lightly on his faults, & treats him as a scholar & a gentleman ought to be treated. This remains to be seen, – meantime I pray you assist me with a supply.

Almost – I begin to despair of seeing you, – & yet to see you would do me good at this time, & you would be the better for the visit. I have some rich veins of nonsense which you might assist me in working.

Edward Hill is passing his holydays with me. The blow on the nose which he received from Phillimores son

(2)

John George Phillimore (1808–1865; DNB), eldest surviving son of Joseph Phillimore. Like his father, he was educated at Westminster School (1817–1824) and Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1828, MA 1831). In later life he was variously a Clerk at the Board of Control 1827–1832, a barrister and a Liberal MP for Leominster 1852–1857. In 1820 Phillimore had passed ‘The Challenge’ examination and became one of 40 King’s Scholars at Westminster. They had their own house known as ‘College’ and considerable privileges, including the right to proceed to closed scholarships at Trinity College, Cambridge, or Ch…

in one of his fits of passion, has destroyed xxxx his sense of smell, & affected his breathing & his speech. And this was a second act of brutal tyranny, after a first which had endangered his life.

By way of holydays exercise Goodenough has given them one of Horaces satires (Ibam forte via) to modernize in English verse,

(3)

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 BC), Satires (c. 35–33 BC) 1.9, line 1: ‘I happened to be walking on the Sacred Way.’

– without enquiring whether the boys ever wrote an English verse in their lives. Edward I know never has written one. Is it possible to conceive any thing more injudicious than this? If men are born rhymers let them be so, but I am sure there is no necessity of training them to it

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. Southey’s review of John Johnson (1769–1833; DNB), Memoirs of the Life and Writings of William Hayley, Esq. the Friend and Biographer of Cowper, Written by Himself; with Extracts from his Private Correspondence, and Unpublished Poetry; and Memoirs of his Son Thomas Alphonso Hayley, the Young Sculptor (1823), no. 1179 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library, Quarterly Review, 31 (March 1825), 263–311. Southey had hoped that it might appear in Quarterly Review, 30 (January 1824), published 28 August 1824.[back]
2. John George Phillimore (1808–1865; DNB), eldest surviving son of Joseph Phillimore. Like his father, he was educated at Westminster School (1817–1824) and Christ Church, Oxford (BA 1828, MA 1831). In later life he was variously a Clerk at the Board of Control 1827–1832, a barrister and a Liberal MP for Leominster 1852–1857. In 1820 Phillimore had passed ‘The Challenge’ examination and became one of 40 King’s Scholars at Westminster. They had their own house known as ‘College’ and considerable privileges, including the right to proceed to closed scholarships at Trinity College, Cambridge, or Christ Church, Oxford. Edward Hill was also a member of ‘College’.[back]
3. Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65–8 BC), Satires (c. 35–33 BC) 1.9, line 1: ‘I happened to be walking on the Sacred Way.’[back]
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