4301. Robert Southey to Neville White, 21 December 1824

 

MS: MS untraced; text is taken from John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856)
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 452–455.

Keswick, Dec. 21. 1824.
My dear Neville,

I will not allow you to subscribe for more than one copy,

(1)

Southey was seeking subscriptions for Tom Southey’s Chronological History of the West Indies (1827).

nor will I let your sister’s name

(2)

White’s two sisters were Frances Moriah White (1791–1854) and Catherine Bailey White (1794–1889).

and your brother James’s be given in. A very serious objection to this mode of publication is, that it leads those friends, who are friends indeed, to tax themselves most unreasonably. When these four copies are stricken off the list, you will then have done more to serve me in this matter than any other individual. And this I knew you would do. For none of you, I thank God, are among those persons with whom to be out of sight is to be out of mind.

The person who has been expelled by the Conference preachers at Beverley is, I have no doubt, the Mark Robinson whose letter you saw;

(3)

Southey had sent to William Howley, Bishop of London, a letter (13 January 1824) he had received from Mark Robinson (d. 1836), a Beverley draper, who was seeking to lead a group of local Methodists into union with the Church of England; see Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), V, pp. 161–164.

but he has not communicated this affair to me, and I only know of it what the newspapers have stated. Concerning the Irish schism, some pamphlets were sent me some time ago by a Dublin bookseller, who is one of the Church Methodists, – Martin Keene, I think, is his name;

(4)

See Southey to Messrs Longman & Co., 7 May 1819, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3291. Southey’s correspondent was the Methodist, Martin Keene (1781–1846), bookseller of 6 College Green, Dublin, and son of Arthur Keene (d. 1818), one of the founders of Irish Methodism. This body had divided in 1818, with most leaving the Church of Ireland, while a group of ‘Primitive Wesleyans’ remained within the Church.

and I have had thought of making a paper in the “Q.R.’” which should comprise a brief history of Methodism from the time of Wesley’s death.

(5)

Southey did not write this article on Methodism since the death of its founder, John Wesley (1703–1791; DNB).

If you remember, I obtained “Kelham’s Life,”

(6)

Alexander Kilham (1762–1798; DNB), founder of the New Connexion, which separated from Methodism in 1797. The book Southey refers to is The Life of Mr. Alexander Kilham, Methodist Preacher (Nottingham, 1799), no. 1722 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

through your good offices, from Nottingham, where it was published. I have since got at some of his writings, and am tolerably well informed upon that schism. But there are one or two other points on which I want information. Upon these I applied to Mark Robinson, but he has not supplied me, being, I suppose, wholly engrossed with his own affairs.

I suppose you have heard of the atrocious libel upon me in the “Morning Chronicle,” called forth by my letter;

(7)

The Morning Chronicle, 17 December 1824, published a letter headed ‘Southey versus Lord Byron’, which contained a sustained attack on Southey. (The latter eventually decided not to take legal action.) Southey believed that the letter was a response to the one he had written to the Editor of the Courier, 8 December 1824, Letter 4289 (published 13 December 1824) – which was, in turn, a reply to the material on Southey in Thomas Medwin (1788–1869; DNB), Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron: Noted During a Residence with his Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and 1822 (1824).

in atrocity it exceeds everything of the kind that I have ever seen. I have written to Turner, and shall be guided by his opinion, whether to bring an action against the publisher, founded upon the last charge,

(8)

‘Has Mr. Southey, or has he not, in one of his publications, raked up and collected together (note upon note, and line upon line) the most salacious, prurient, and filthy witticisms upon the most awful and sacred subjects, upon the Vessel of Incarnation chosen for the redemption of mankind, upon the Salutation of the Angel, upon the formation of our Holy Redeemer in the uterus, and upon the practicability of clergymen baptizing children in the vagina of their mothers’ wombs before they were brought into the world?’ (Morning Chronicle, 17 December 1824).

and overlooking the other lies (foul and malignant as they are) because they are nothing when compared to this accusation of obscene impieties. I think that at last I have found out on what it is founded, – on some extracts from a Roman Catholic book of devotions to the Virgin Mary, in the first volume of the “Omniana.”

(9)

Southey’s Omniana or Horae Otiosiores, 2 vols (London, 1812), I, pp. 123–128, quoting a prayer to the Virgin Mary from Arthur Crowder (1588/1589–1666; DNB), Jesus, Maria, Joseph, or the Devout Pilgrim of the Ever–Blessed Virgin Mary, in His Holy Exercises, Affections, and Elevations, upon the sacred Mysteries of Jesus, Maria, Joseph (Amsterdam, 1657), unpaginated, no. 1515 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.

It is my fortune, my dear Neville, to have some of the best friends in the world, and some of the most diabolical enemies; and to despise the one as heartily as I esteem and love the other.

I noticed the advertisement, and hope it may be of some use. But the only effectual way of checking this rascally piracy must be by meeting it with a cheap edition, which may be always upon sale in the provincial towns.

(10)

Pirated copies of Henry Kirke White’s poems and parts of the Remains of Henry Kirke White (1807) were becoming common at this time. In 1823–1824 unauthorised versions were published by the firms of Jones & Company, Orlando Hodgson, a congerie led by W. Baynes and Son, and A. Robertson and Co. Longman took up Southey’s advice about a cheap edition, and a one-volume, eleventh edition of the Remains was published in 1825, priced at 5 shillings. Moreover, Longman’s advertisements for the tenth edition (1823) may have taken up another of Southey’s suggestions as they began to state: ‘The property …

I should like to have some of my own poems printed in that manner, – the only manner by which anything can ever obtain a popular sale; but the publisher would not like the immediate outlay, would despise the small return, and not perceive the ultimate advantage. So my books must wait for this till they are set afloat in this form after my death, by the same unprincipled spirit of trade which is now interfering with the “Remains.”

(11)

Southey’s ten-volume Poetical Works (1837–1838) were re-issued by Longman in 1845, after Southey’s death in 1843, in a cheap one-volume format, priced at 21 shillings.

A vile spirit it is, Neville!

You will never believe any advertisement concerning my works unless it says, “This day is published.” Murray advertised my second volume for last month.

(12)

‘In November will be published, The Second Volume of the History of the Late War in Spain and Portugal. By Robert Southey. Printing for John Murray, Albermarle–street’ (Morning Post, 26 October 1824). The second volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832) did not appear until 1827.

248 pages of it are printed, and it will extend to 800, so you see how far it is from the conclusion. Were I to pursue it uninterruptedly, my progress might be very rapid, but this is never my practice; if I did, it would be apparent in the want of skill, gracefulness, and animation, which must always be betrayed when a writer works in haste. So soon as my interest in the narrative flags, or as I find any difficulty in connecting it or carrying it on, I lay it aside; at present it is in good progress. I am also advancing in the last canto of my “Tale of Paraguay,”

(13)

Southey’s A Tale of Paraguay (1825).

which, to my great relief and joy, will soon be finished; and then I shall take up my New England poem in good spirits, and pursue it vigorously.

(14)

Southey’s unfinished ‘Oliver Newman’, set in New England. A fragment was published posthumously in Oliver Newman: a New–England Tale (Unfinished): with Other Poetical Remains by the Late Robert Southey (London, 1845), pp. 1–90.

My daughters

(15)

Edith May and Bertha Southey.

will return as soon after the beginning of February as an opportunity of convoy may present itself. We are beginning to look with some impatience for that time. Did I tell you that my brother Henry has bought a part of Watson Taylor’s house in Harley Street,

(16)

Henry Herbert Southey settled at 4 Harley Street, one of a number of dwellings fashioned out of a larger building on the corner of Cavendish Square and Harley Street. The house belonged to George Watson-Taylor (1771–1841), a wealthy Jamaican plantation-owner and MP for a number of seats 1816–1832.

which he is now dividing off and fitting up, that he may remove into it, having outgrown the house in Queen Anne Street? God bless you, my dear Neville,

Yours most affectionately,
ROBERT SOUTHEY.

Notes

1. Southey was seeking subscriptions for Tom Southey’s Chronological History of the West Indies (1827).[back]
2. White’s two sisters were Frances Moriah White (1791–1854) and Catherine Bailey White (1794–1889).[back]
3. Southey had sent to William Howley, Bishop of London, a letter (13 January 1824) he had received from Mark Robinson (d. 1836), a Beverley draper, who was seeking to lead a group of local Methodists into union with the Church of England; see Charles Cuthbert Southey (ed.), Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey, 6 vols (London, 1849–1850), V, pp. 161–164.[back]
4. See Southey to Messrs Longman & Co., 7 May 1819, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Six, Letter 3291. Southey’s correspondent was the Methodist, Martin Keene (1781–1846), bookseller of 6 College Green, Dublin, and son of Arthur Keene (d. 1818), one of the founders of Irish Methodism. This body had divided in 1818, with most leaving the Church of Ireland, while a group of ‘Primitive Wesleyans’ remained within the Church.[back]
5. Southey did not write this article on Methodism since the death of its founder, John Wesley (1703–1791; DNB).[back]
6. Alexander Kilham (1762–1798; DNB), founder of the New Connexion, which separated from Methodism in 1797. The book Southey refers to is The Life of Mr. Alexander Kilham, Methodist Preacher (Nottingham, 1799), no. 1722 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
7. The Morning Chronicle, 17 December 1824, published a letter headed ‘Southey versus Lord Byron’, which contained a sustained attack on Southey. (The latter eventually decided not to take legal action.) Southey believed that the letter was a response to the one he had written to the Editor of the Courier, 8 December 1824, Letter 4289 (published 13 December 1824) – which was, in turn, a reply to the material on Southey in Thomas Medwin (1788–1869; DNB), Journal of the Conversations of Lord Byron: Noted During a Residence with his Lordship at Pisa, in the Years 1821 and 1822 (1824).[back]
8. ‘Has Mr. Southey, or has he not, in one of his publications, raked up and collected together (note upon note, and line upon line) the most salacious, prurient, and filthy witticisms upon the most awful and sacred subjects, upon the Vessel of Incarnation chosen for the redemption of mankind, upon the Salutation of the Angel, upon the formation of our Holy Redeemer in the uterus, and upon the practicability of clergymen baptizing children in the vagina of their mothers’ wombs before they were brought into the world?’ (Morning Chronicle, 17 December 1824).[back]
9. Southey’s Omniana or Horae Otiosiores, 2 vols (London, 1812), I, pp. 123–128, quoting a prayer to the Virgin Mary from Arthur Crowder (1588/1589–1666; DNB), Jesus, Maria, Joseph, or the Devout Pilgrim of the Ever–Blessed Virgin Mary, in His Holy Exercises, Affections, and Elevations, upon the sacred Mysteries of Jesus, Maria, Joseph (Amsterdam, 1657), unpaginated, no. 1515 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]
10. Pirated copies of Henry Kirke White’s poems and parts of the Remains of Henry Kirke White (1807) were becoming common at this time. In 1823–1824 unauthorised versions were published by the firms of Jones & Company, Orlando Hodgson, a congerie led by W. Baynes and Son, and A. Robertson and Co. Longman took up Southey’s advice about a cheap edition, and a one-volume, eleventh edition of the Remains was published in 1825, priced at 5 shillings. Moreover, Longman’s advertisements for the tenth edition (1823) may have taken up another of Southey’s suggestions as they began to state: ‘The property of the Family having been invaded, it is necessary to state that this is the only Edition that contains the Life by Mr. Southey, and the whole of the contents of the 3d vol.’ (The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts and Sciences, 410 (27 November 1824) p. 767).[back]
11. Southey’s ten-volume Poetical Works (1837–1838) were re-issued by Longman in 1845, after Southey’s death in 1843, in a cheap one-volume format, priced at 21 shillings.[back]
12. ‘In November will be published, The Second Volume of the History of the Late War in Spain and Portugal. By Robert Southey. Printing for John Murray, Albermarle–street’ (Morning Post, 26 October 1824). The second volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832) did not appear until 1827.[back]
13. Southey’s A Tale of Paraguay (1825).[back]
14. Southey’s unfinished ‘Oliver Newman’, set in New England. A fragment was published posthumously in Oliver Newman: a New–England Tale (Unfinished): with Other Poetical Remains by the Late Robert Southey (London, 1845), pp. 1–90.[back]
16. Henry Herbert Southey settled at 4 Harley Street, one of a number of dwellings fashioned out of a larger building on the corner of Cavendish Square and Harley Street. The house belonged to George Watson-Taylor (1771–1841), a wealthy Jamaican plantation-owner and MP for a number of seats 1816–1832.[back]
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