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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 25. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), II, pp. 108–109.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.
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Inclosed is my Memorialto the best of my recollection the last time I was in the Hall I kept
no term, & for this reason, – a new regulation had been made that three dinners must be eaten instead of one. In intended
conformity to this rule I had laid out my time, & secured my place for Bristol in the mail; on the third night of from
the commencement of the term. But on going into the Hall the first day I was informed that the three dinners must be eaten in as many
half weeks. It did not suit me to alter my arrangements – & lose my place – I preferred losing the term, & especially enquired
at the time whether any expences would be acquired, – as I had not yet committed the act of eating, when I was assured not. And I
therefore left the Hall, with a distinct understanding that that term was not kept, & not chargeable. – I do not think this could
have been later than May, – & perhaps could ascertain the point by reference to some letters, – but 1–15–8 – is not worth the
trouble of a dispute.
The sooner you can let me have some money the better, for it is low water with me. – I am a little uneasy at what you
say about Gifford. A portion of the article ought to have reached him three or
four days before you wrote, – sent as he desired under cover to Barrow,x number, – it is of importance to start early.
r. 1814
This is such a dirty trick of the Worshipfuls, that I heartily wish the 300 Absentees would subscribe to contest the point. I would willingly throw five pounds after the seven to expose the injustice.