4269. Robert Southey to Edith May Southey, 27 October [1824]

 

MS: British Library, Add MS 47888. ALS; 1p. 
Unpublished.
Dating note: Year is derived from the content.

Keswick 27 Oct.
My dear EMay

Tho’ we have nothing to say, I do not like to let these half-bills go without a line to accompany them.

A frightful circumstance has happened at the Island.

(1)

Derwent Island, home of William Peachy.

One of the servant was taken ill on Saturday & died the next morning. – A very fine young woman, Stoddard by name,

(2)

Unidentified beyond the information given here.

who once lived with the Townshends.

(3)

Possibly the family of Chauncey Hare Townshend.

I do not remember her.

A great shock to the poor General. – He has shown great feeling for us at this time; – & if I had had no regard for him before, I should now love him as long as I live. – But I already knew his real worth. – You are likely to see him in the course of the winter.

————

Have they told you that Haec is no longer declined, but actually conjugated?

(4)

‘Hic’ is a Latin word meaning ‘this’, which declines (i.e. has its endings altered depending on its place in a sentence) as ‘Hic, Haec, Hoc’. Conjugation refers to the differing forms taken by Latin verbs. Southey’s joke here is obscure but may refer to the fact that a person known to him and Edith May Southey had ceased to ‘decline’ an offer of marriage, and decided to ‘conjugate’, i.e. to marry.

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. Derwent Island, home of William Peachy.[back]
2. Unidentified beyond the information given here.[back]
3. Possibly the family of Chauncey Hare Townshend.[back]
4. ‘Hic’ is a Latin word meaning ‘this’, which declines (i.e. has its endings altered depending on its place in a sentence) as ‘Hic, Haec, Hoc’. Conjugation refers to the differing forms taken by Latin verbs. Southey’s joke here is obscure but may refer to the fact that a person known to him and Edith May Southey had ceased to ‘decline’ an offer of marriage, and decided to ‘conjugate’, i.e. to marry.[back]
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