2. Robert Southey to Charles Collins, 10 [–11] December 1791 ⁠* 

Bath. Saturday. December 10 – 1791.

Dear Collins

The first hours of my arrival are devoted to you & you will excuse the inaccuries which fall from the pen of one tormented with a horrible head ache. Wynn will be in town Monday next see him as my substitute at Bedfords & settle whatever you think proper in my name but insist upon avowing the paper from Westminster as otherwise it must descend to oblivion & the chandlers shop. by dating it thence it will burst into notice very probably acquire correspondents & insure a good local sale. old Westminsters at Oxford & Cambridge will be glad to see some sparks of genius from their old habitation. should it fail it cannot well be worse than the Trifler  [1]  should it succeed it will retrieve the reputation of the school & establish our own. Allow me to say I do not much doubt of success. naturally sanguine in my expectations I think I may be so now with justice. Bedford Wynn & Strachey are either of them equal to any of the authors of the Trifler & if I thought my verses only equal to those in that paper I would burn every line. remember what Rough said the other day & allow my vanity not half so bad as if I affected modesty.

In my journey down a train of ideas crowded into my mind about the holyday task & I fancy I shall succeed – first invoke Winter describe his seat amongst the Andes – Iceland – the Glaciers. Lapland. Siberia, the exiles there. then paint the climate of India & the insufferable heat. happy climate of England. the pleasures of a wintry season. Christmas. the games of chess & backgammon by the fire. theatres. assemblies – dancing. & conclude with considering Winter in a moral light. I forgot to arrange Ovid  [2]  in exile properly. take the few lines of the beginning.

some images from Job may be introduced here & I think I can extend it to an hundred or 150 lines without flagging.

Sunday Morning.

I shall to day send a paragraph to the Argus  [4]  stating that a new periodical publication is to be expected shortly from Westminster – it will naturally excite the curiosity of the people & they will wait with some impatience for it. as you will see young Wynn tell him my direction that he may write & give me his. a letter directed to me at No 9 Duke Street Bath will come safe. and now as I have nothing else to say take a story I read yesterday as a true one which strikes me as an instance of more refined barbarity than any in the annals of cruelty – a prisoner in the dreary cells of the Bastile had familiarized a spider the only tenant except himself of the miserable spot. to a man secluded thus from the light of day & every living creature this reptile was a kind of mournful companion. the Keeper at length took notice of it & told the Governor – the Governor commanded him to tread upon it.  [5]  I have read instances of barbarity which have made my blood run cold but never did I meet with so wanton so refind a one before. I know not whether this may strike you as forcibly as it does me. an animal which time has rendered dear to one becomes as an old friend & we feel the same reluctance to part from it. I rememb[MS torn] owl died I could have cried now what must this poor wretch have felt [MS torn] companion he was ever like to have crushd to atoms by the wanton tre[MS torn] inhumanity? I certainly will introduce the story in some ode one of[MS torn]

In all probability you are tired with wading thro this epistle & as I[MS torn]

except that I shall be very glad to hear from you very often[MS torn]

yours sincerely

Robert Southey.