4006. Robert Southey to John Murray, 23 April 1823

Address: To/ John Murray Esq^re/ Albemarle Street/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 26 AP 26/ 1823
Endorsement: April 23/ 23/ R. Southey Esqre
MS: National Library of Scotland, MS 42552. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished.

Keswick. 23 Apr. 1823

My dear Sir

This Book of the Church

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has grown under my hands, tho I have introduced nothing that is extraneous, have past rapidly over that what is least interesting, & not touched upon any thing which is not in some point of view material to the structure & object of the work. Will it not be better to divide it into two volumes, somewhat short of 400 pages each,

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than to produce on of inconvenient bulk, – or in any way th injure the composition by curtailing it toward the conclusion? For I have yet to handle the parts which are of deepest interest, – Q Marys reign, & the overthrow of the Church by the Puritans,

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– the latter a most important part of our relig history which has never yet been presented in a clear & connected manner.

If you think it will be better to divide it, the first volume may end with the tenth chapter.

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Unawares I have been led to produce a work of more importance than either you or I intended. Yet from the interest which I have felt, & the pains which I have taken in writing it, I believe that ultimately it will be to the advantage of us both.

That I may not be deficient any where for want of full information, let me trouble you for Strypes Annals (not his Memorials)

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– I shall then have the whole of his historical works. – Thank you for sending the Oxford edition of his Cranmer, which <it> contains an important document, not in the folio.

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Thank you also for Franklins Journey.

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The prints are very beautiful, & excellently characteristic

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The narrative very interesting & most creditable to the author & his companions. It would be a delightful book altogether, were not for its dismal conclusion, & the loss of poor Lt Hood,

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who seems to have been a man of wonder talents & accomplishments of every kind.

Believe my my dear Sir
Yours very truly
Robert Southey

I am in the full tide of composition, & shall not leave home till the book is compleated. You shall have more copy when I return the proofs – by the next post.

Notes

1. Southey’s Book of the Church (1824).[back]

2. The Book of the Church (1824) was published in two volumes, running to 394 and 528 pages, respectively.[back]

3. Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, pp. 141–251, 347–467, dealing with the reign of Mary I (1516–1558; Queen of England 1553–1558; DNB), and the replacement of Anglicanism as the State Church during the period of the Civil War of 1642–1651 and the Republic 1649–1660.[back]

4. The first volume of the Book of the Church (1824) ended with Chapter 11.[back]

5. Southey wished for a copy of John Strype (1643–1737; DNB), Annals of the Reformation and Establishment of Religion (1709). Oxford University Press published a new edition in 1824, no. 2753 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. He did not want Strype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials, Relating Chiefly to Religion, and the Reformation of it, and the Emergencies of the Church of England under King Henry VIII, King Edward VI, and Queen Mary the First (1721).[back]

6. John Strype (1643–1737; DNB), Memorials of the Most Reverend Father in God Thomas Cranmer, Sometime Lord Archbishop of Canterbury: Wherein the History of the Church, and the Reformation of it during the Primacy of the said Archbishop are Greatly Illustrated; and Many Singular Matters Relating Thereunto, now first Published (1694). This was reprinted by Oxford University Press in 1812 and was no. 2754 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]

7. Sir John Franklin (1786–1847; DNB), Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea in the Years 1819, 1820, 1821, and 1822 (1823), no. 1128 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library.[back]

8. The book contained 31 engravings by Edward Francis Finden (1791–1857; DNB), based on drawings by members of Franklin’s company.[back]

9. Lieutenant Robert Hood (1797–1821), naval officer, explorer, painter and surveyor, and member of Franklin’s expedition. He was murdered on 20 October 1821 by a travelling companion following a quarrel. Despite the expedition’s discoveries in northern Canada, 11 members died from exposure or starvation.[back]

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4006. Robert Southey to John Murray, 23 April 1823

4006. Robert Southey to John Murray, 23 April 1823

The Collected Letters of Robert Southey: Part Seven

Lynda Pratt, Ian Packer