3150. Robert Southey to [William Wilberforce], 12 June 1818
3150. Robert Southey to [William Wilberforce], 12 June 1818*
Keswick. 12 June 1818.
My dear Sir
I have just been offered a house [1] for you which in size, situation & conveniences seems to be what you would wish. It is on the bank of the river Greta, [2] half a mile above the town, & belongs to Mr Calvert, who resides in it, but will remove with his family to the sea. The house is partly old & partly new, – it has five bed rooms, & three for servants, stabling, coach house, & a garden, which for this part of the country is a good one, & will be no inconsiderable accommodation in a place so badly supplied as Keswick. If you think proper you may have this for not less than two months, at six guineas per week, bringing your own linen. The house stands on the side of Lattrig, [3] the greater part of which belongs to Mr Calvert, – the river runs at the foot of the garden, & the situation is a very fine one. Calvert desires me not to speak too well of the house, & in saying that part of it is old & part new I can best explain describe it. The drawing room is a good room; the dining room tho not capacious, but large enough; & there is a smaller apartment which served as a school room for his children. [4]
Believe me my dear Sir
Yrs with sincere respect
Robert Southey.
Notes
* Watermark: B. E. & S. BATH.
1814
MS: Department of Rare Books, Special Collections and Preservation,
River Campus Libraries, University of Rochester, Robert Southey Papers A.S727.
ALS; 1p.
Unpublished. BACK
[4] Calvert had four children: John Mitchinson Calvert, later a doctor; Raisley Calvert (1803–1838), later a clergyman; Mary Calvert (1804–1890) – she married Joshua Stanger (1801–1854) in 1824; and William Calvert (1810–1841), later a surgeon in India. BACK
