3011. Robert Southey to Chauncy Hare Townshend, 9 [August] 1817

3011. Robert Southey to Chauncy Hare Townshend, 9 [August] 1817 ⁠* 

Q Anne Street. Saturday 9. April [1]  1817

My dear Chauncy

Here I am, safely returned to England, – & should you come to London during the next week, I will be here at any hour which you will fix, between nine in the morning & five in the afternoon, on any day from Tuesday till Sunday. Give me a line to say <if, &> when I may see you.

I give you joy of your success at Cambridge, – & feel as much pleasure in it as if I were your nearest & dearest relation. The poem is full of good feeling, & of power. [2]  Some day I will look it over with a critical eye, & point out every defect which I can discover; – there is not one in this there will be little to detect.

God bless you

Robert Southey

I write this supposing you may be near London.

Notes

* Address: To/ Chauncy Hare Townsend Esqre/ near/ Godalmin/ Surry
Postmark: BAP/ 9/ 1817
MS: Wisbech and Fenland Museum, Townshend Collection. ALS; 2p.
Unpublished. BACK

[1] Southey’s misdating; the content reveals that this letter was written on Saturday 9 August 1817. BACK

[2] At the University of Cambridge, where he was an undergraduate at Trinity Hall, Townshend was awarded the Chancellor’s Gold Medal for the best English ode or poem in heroic verse, on 2 June 1817, on the subject of ‘Jerusalem’. BACK

Addressee

Townshend [originally ‘Townsend’], Chauncy [also Chauncey] Hare (1798–1868)

Places mentioned

Queen Anne Street, Cavendish Square, London (mentioned 1 time)
The Collected Letters of Robert Southey, Part Five
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