1707. Robert Southey to Herbert Hill, 11 November 1809 ⁠* 

If I had written to my Aunt instead of you, & made no mention of Kehama, [1]  I should have deserved some displeasure, – but the fact is that to you I have always written upon more important subjects, & that I never supposed the they could be a secret having been announced in magazines twelve months ago, & advertised at the end of the last edition of Thalaba, [2]  – which by the bye I ordered to be sent you. It would have given me quite as much pleasure to send the poem to her – as it could possibly give her to hear it, (I am afraid more.) – & I would have transcribed it for her, were it not for want of leisure. But busy as I am, I make a copy for Tom, – which Percival franks to him, – & this gets on more slowly that it ou <ought to do>, – for a sailors life is a very dull one, & Tom has no greater pleasure than in receiving one of these little packets. You know how I am employed, & how much time it would require to transcribe between 4 & 5000 lines. The history of the poem is thus – I began it at Lisbon & brought with me to this place in 1803 about 900 lines which remained untouched from that time till my last journey to the South. I had there some talk with Landor, about my own poem & his. [3]  I told him of this fragment, as a thing laid aside, because I could not live upon praise without pudding, [4]  – & I told him the outline of the story, – which was wild enough to delight him. He said the to me, finish it – & I will print it for you, – this offer stung me to compleat it. I have as much contempt for ordinary praise as for ordinary censure, but you know in what respect I held Landors Gebir, notwithstanding all its obscurity. – & there is not that man living whose praise would gratify me so highly – upon such a subject. As I could not afford to write poetry I resolve to create time for it by rising earlier, – & that resolution I have kept, rising whenever my rest has not been disturbed by the children. time enough to write about twenty lines before breakfast, – & not a single line have I written at any other hours than these. It is not finished, but very nearly so, there will be 24 sections (about the average length of those in Madoc [5] ) & the 23^d is begun. Longman is to have it on our usual terms, his advice is that it be printed like Thalaba, [6]  – I am not satisfied that his judgment is right in this case, & shall consult my friends the Scotchmen. [7]  The Poem itself will for some time get me less money than reputation, & less reputation than censure. but time sets all these things to rights. It will not be generally interesting, being of a far wilder character than any thing that has ever yet appeared in prose or rhyme, except such writings as are altogether mythological. But it is written me judice, [8]  with great power, & they who like it at all will admire it very much. The metre is altogether my own, – rhyme in lines of any length & in any arrangement, & with the rhythm of blank verse. The character of the versification has no other resemblance to Scotts than its irregularity, – mine is pitched in a higher key. If it were to be printed in London, where franks are to be had, I would send my Aunt the proofs, sheet by sheet, they would not be worth the postage from Edinburgh.

The journey of Nuno Vallo [9]  is in Harrys hands. I cut it out of the volume that it may be bound seperately, & meant him to translate it for Pinkertons Collection of V & Travels, [10]  – if Pinkerton had not made his Collection as injudiciously as his original work. The Naufragia [11]  certainly throws more light upon S. Africa than any book with which I am acquainted. – There are some books of Labats respecting W. Africa [12]  which I have repeatedly sent for from Cataloguens without success, – the Un. History [13]  refers to them as the main authorities respecting Angola & the adjoining countries – Marchais Voyages which Labat published I have.  [14]  There is the narrative of an Englishman, in Purchas, [15]  who was in captivity among the Gongas of Angola, [16]  – this narrative is often quoted in the Un. History. Purchas is luckily to be reprinted, & then I x Purchas will be to be purchased, – a pun which I dare say he made upon himself poor fellow, for he was a desperate lover of punning.

You may see Azaras maps [17]  (if there be a copy left) at Dulaus, in Soho Square [18]  where there is by far the best collection of foreign books in fxxxx xxx in <that is to be found in> London. One of the partners is an emigrant who was at Lisbon, & used to be a good deal at the Gonnes. I met him the last time I was at Champion Hill, [19]  but I forget his name. There are two good prints of the Tamandua in Azara, & the only view I have ever seen of Buenos Ayres. [20]  My distrust of translations is as great as your own: in this case there was no alternative.

Staunton is a better place than Streatham , which is near enough to London to have all its expences & is heightened, & far enough from it to be out of its advantages of society &c, – the very worst of all possible situations. Your parishioners Mess^rs Harris & Kemble ought to remember the New Price in their Easter dues. [21]  According to their present mode of proceeding I look every day to see that my old acquaintance MrsOpie has been served with a summons by them for her names-sake. [22]  – I shall be glad to hear that you have taken possession.

My book will not be ready before Xmas, [23]  – for Pople has loitered with it. I must print xx the notes in double columns & in as small a type as can correctly be used, for the sake of diminishing the bulk of the volume. Your sheets had better be compleated & stitched together as a copy in which you will make corrections & emendations. So much interest do I feel in this & the other histories, that if I could afford it, I would do nothing else till the whole series were compleated. The first vol. of the Hist of the Mother Country [24]  will be one of the most amusing books that has ever appeared, – so rich will it be in incident, characteristic anecdote, & matters of customs I believe there must be a supplementary volume concerning Portugueze Africa: [25]  – but of this I shall be better able to judge hereafter.

If you pass near New Cavendish Street, Miss Betham (N^o 14) will show you the pictures of my son & eldest daughter, as happily taken as possible. there is also a very good likeness of Edith, – my own is more penseroso [26]  than the original, – & does not look like a man who is not merely of a happy, but even of a joyous temperament.

RS.

Nov. 11. 1809.