3973. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 3 March 1823

Address: To/ D^r Southey/ 15. Queen Anne Street/ Cavendish Square/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 6 MR 6/ 1823
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, 1996.5.130. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.

Keswick 3 March.

My dear Harry

Tom has at last desired me to apply for a grant of lands in Canada, – & not content with my application, has written, unknown to me (more suo)

⁽¹⁾

to Lord Bathurst,

⁽²⁾

to ask also for an official situation there! His own letter had it been unbacked, I suspect would have brought him nothing but a dry denial. <- official situations there being none to bestow> But to Wynns application “every facility” was promised, & Wilmot

⁽³⁾

personally said he should be glad to render him any service when he came to town. Whether he will think it needful to go to town I know not, – convenient I am sure it will not be. But as the next business is to ascertain what will be granted him, & what steps are to be taken, I have asked Wynn whether the better way would not be for you to consult with Wilmot; – if he thinks so, he will let you know. Sarah, it seems, approves the intention, – & has friends at Quebec and at Montreal,

⁽⁴⁾

upon whom they count for useful hospitality. – Of the prudence & necessity of this step there can be no doubt.

Murray has paid me for the volume

⁽⁵⁾

in two bills of long date, – adding, as he ought, a third to the sum for which we agreed, – because the bargain was for two volumes. I remit the bills by this post to J May,

⁽⁶⁾

– about 150£ I shall have occasion for in the course of the month.

⁽⁷⁾

By Murrays account, Rees (for the Longmen) shuffled dirtily out of the concern, thinking the time was gone by, & that it would not be a good adventure. It has proved a very good one, answering Murrays best expectations.

It is long since I heard from you, & your last letter intimated uneasiness on Roberts account.

⁽⁸⁾

How is he? – & how are you all? My cattle are tolerably well. Love to all

God bless you
RS.

Notes

1. ‘in his usual way’.[back]

2. Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst (1762–1834; DNB), Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1812–1827.[back]

3. Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton (1784–1841; DNB), Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1821–1828.[back]

4. Especially Matthew Bell (1769–1849), a wealthy merchant, iron manufacturer and land speculator in Quebec, originally from Berwick-upon-Tweed. He was a relative of Sarah Southey.[back]

5. The first volume of Southey’s History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832). Murray had offered Southey one thousand guineas for this work; see Southey to Herbert Hill, 18 July 1813, The Collected Letters of Robert Southey. Part Five, Letter 2283. However, when the History grew from the two volumes proposed in 1813 to three, Murray raised this to £1,500.[back]

6. Southey to John May, 3 March [1823], Letter 3971.[back]

7. Richard Westall (1765–1836; DNB) produced a set of six illustrations, Illustrations of Roderick, the Last of the Goths. A Poem, by Robert Southey, Esq. from the Drawings of R. Westall, R.A. (1824), nos 2627–2628 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. Longman published them and purchasers could arrange for the engravings to be bound into their copy of Roderick (1814). Southey secretly invested some of his earnings from the History of the Peninsular War (1823–1832) in this venture.[back]

8. Henry Herbert Southey’s eldest son, Robert Southey, Jnr (b. 1817).[back]

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3973. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 3 March 1823

3973. Robert Southey to Henry Herbert Southey, 3 March 1823

The Collected Letters of Robert Southey: Part Seven

Lynda Pratt, Ian Packer