4008. Robert Southey to Herbert Hill, 27 April 1823

Address: To/ The Reverend Herbert Hill/ Streatham
Postmarks: 2 A. NOON 2/ 1823; [partial] 4 N 4/ 1823; [1 illegible].
Seal: [partial] red wax
MS: Keswick Museum and Art Gallery, WC 231. ALS; 4p.
Previously published: John Wood Warter (ed.), Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey, 4 vols (London, 1856), III, pp. 387–388 [in part].

I am heartily glad to hear of Edwards success.

⁽¹⁾

– He has had the disadvantage of not having the Westminster grammars

⁽²⁾

– (abominable ones they are!) at his fingers ends, – & therefore must have <been> more likely to make trifling slips himself, & less alert at detecting them in another than his opponents. Success in such a contest is no more a test of capacity, or proficiency, than the full crop of a turkey who is in training for the cook, is a proof of the birds appetite.

Edward has xxx done with all such trials, if xx he should be elected to Ch. Ch: – there is nothing for him to get there. If to Trinity he will be contented with the scholarship while it lasts, unless he should determine upon an academical life, – which is not the most conducive either to happiness, or to intellectual improvement.

⁽³⁾

The principle of emulation is carried much too far in modern education. Many men are absolutely killed by it at the Universities, & many more injure their constitutions irreparably. No one with whom I have any influence shall ever suffer from that cause. The habit to be encouraged is that of placid diligence. What is thus healthily acquired is retained: whereas the cramming system hurts the digestion. My chief reason for wishing that Edward may be elected to Oxford, is because they cram there less than at Cambridge

I am not surprized at my Aunts determination concerning Erroll.

⁽⁴⁾

Indeed I rather expected it; & yet, as the thing would (I have no doubt) have been in my power, it seemed proper to mention it.

It is well for us that in youth we do not see the objections which xxx <exist> to every profession in life, – if we did, life would <might> be at an end before one could venture to make the choice. Edwards I hope will be made for the Church. He will take a little Hebrew with him from Westminster; – little enough, but still a foundation. I shall advise him before he leaves school to master the German grammar, – which ten minutes a day would enable him to do. No person knows better than I do what small gains amount to, in accumulations of this kind. & This language is of main importance in most literary researches.

⁽⁵⁾

You will not wonder (knowing how prone, in Persian phrase my ‘pen of the steed is, to expatiate in the plain of prolixity.”

⁽⁶⁾

) that the Book of the Church is swelling into two ordinary sized octavos.

⁽⁷⁾

The fact is that I intended to deal in generals, but found as I went on that it was the particulars which must <give> life & effect to the composition. As far as it has gone I am well satisfied with it. A view of the papal system is just printed,

⁽⁸⁾

which is likely to produce a proper effect. I do not quite see my way xx in the last chapter,

⁽⁹⁾

but it will open before me when I arrive at it. I think of dedicating it to the Bp. of London.

⁽¹⁰⁾

The Doctor I see has been at court,

⁽¹¹⁾

– a ceremony which I hope to escape. He writes in good spirits, but makes no mention of poor Robert.

⁽¹²⁾

Love to my Aunt, & the young ones.

God bless you
RS.

Keswick 27 Apr. 1823.

Notes

1. Edward Hill had taken ‘The Challenge’, a gruelling examination at Westminster School to select the King’s Scholars. He had placed fifth, thus guaranteeing himself a Scholarship.[back]

2. Westminster School had its own instruction manuals from which boys learnt Latin and Greek; for example, A Short Introduction to the Latin Grammar for the Use of the Lower Forms in Westminster School (1821).[back]

3. King’s Scholars could proceed to a Closed Scholarship at either Christ Church, Oxford, or Trinity College, Cambridge. There was no certainty that a King’s Scholar would receive a Fellowship once he graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge. However, at Christ Church, a King’s Scholar immediately became one of the body of Students, with a modest stipend that was guaranteed for life, if the recipient wished and if he obeyed the rules of the College. If they took university degrees in a timely fashion their stipend would increase. However, the rules governing Studentships were strict and anyone who married, did not take Holy Orders, or accepted a paid occupation had to resign. Edward Hill chose Christ Church, Oxford. The Studentships at Christ Church were initially worth about £50 or £60 a year, those at Trinity College about £25.[back]

4. Southey had offered to ask Wynn, as President of the Board of Control, to nominate Erroll Hill to either: a cadetship at Addiscombe Military College, which trained officers for the East India Company’s army; or to a writership (the lowest civil service post) in the East India Company. This latter option often involved two years’ training at the East India College at Haileybury. Herbert Hill’s wife, Catherine Hill, had declined this offer of help.[back]

5. Southey’s reading knowledge of German was limited, though he could understand Dutch, mainly due to his historical research for the History of Brazil (1810–1819).[back]

6. Jonathan Scott (1753–1829; DNB), Bahar-Danush: or, Garden of Knowledge. An Oriental Romance, 3 vols (Shrewsbury 1799), II, p. 109. Southey’s copy was no. 94 in the sale catalogue of his library.[back]

7. The Book of the Church (1824). The first volume ran to 394 pages and the second to 528.[back]

8. The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), I, pp. 283–320.[back]

9. The Book of the Church, 2 vols (London, 1824), II, pp. 468–528, covered 1660–1688, but ended abruptly.[back]

10. The Book of the Church was dedicated to Peter Elmsley.[back]

11. Henry Herbert Southey had been present at the first levée of the new season on 21 April 1823.[back]

12. Robert Southey, Jnr (b. 1817).[back]

TEI Link

TEI

Volume Editor(s)

Lynda Pratt

Ian Packer