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British Library, Add MS 47888. Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2 vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 186–189.
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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Southey’s spelling has not been regularized.
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Edith I begin to be uneasy at not hearing from you. you know I always scold when you hurt yourself, & now I am angry because I am anxious. you have often told me Edith, that when I am away from you, you fancy all possible accidents & alarm yourself; dear dear Edith if I could but look at you now you should not <think> I felt the least harshness – but indeed disappointment makes me uneasy. perhaps tomorrow will bring me a letter.
You know Carlisle is coming to Bristol. now our arrangements
are thus. he will be fishing at Hungerford, for you know he likes to be at one end of the stick & string with a maggot at the
other. I shall come down by the day coach, pick him up there, & be with him at Westbury on
Monday night 27th of this month. I do not suppose he will stay more than three days & will not perhaps sleep at
Westbury all the time. the inconveniences of this are – coming home so late, & bringing
him with me when I had rather be alone, but then I shall be home on Monday night instead of Tuesday noon. tell Burnett
Carlisle is coming down. while Carlisle is with me he can bed at his sisters I suppose – or perhaps Danvers can lodge him. he will be glad to see Carlisle, & may talk to him with advantage of his physical views. Edith I count the
days like a school-boy. it is Monday week – & now the uncomfortable thought comes across me that you have been so long silent –
that perhaps you are ill – or have met with some accident. write – if but a line that I may think of you with pleasure, for think of
you I must.
I called on Hamilton£ for which I drew on him. he was not at home when it was presented for
payment, & it was sent back to Bristol. Cottle had it immediately returned to
town, wrote to me, & Hamilton promised it should be taken up immediately. it seems he has now the whole review, having seperated
from his brother. I dine there on Tuesday to meet Carlisle & Friend. I
called on Mary Hays. she appeared glad to see me, & the conversation of course
turned upon Lloyd. she told me Lloyd had behaved very ill to her. The circumstances were these. One evening when her spirits were very much oppressed by
some grief, she went on a visit somewhere with Lloyd & Stephen Weever
Browne:m you know talks
most mightily. from the effort which persons often make when they are depressed, she had talked with a degree of gaiety, so as to
exhaust herself. they went home with her, Stephen Brownes talking fatigued her still more, he left her first - & when she came into
her lodgings & sat down she burst into tears. Lloyd was full of expressions
<of friendship –> – had she anything on her mind? &c. &c. & the following day wrote her a letter full of professions
& sentiment & feelings. But Lloyd tells this story in company with these
alterations – that Mary Hays was in love with him – that she contrived to send away
St. Browne that she might be left alone with Lloyd, & burst into tears
because Lloyd would not understand her. this was repeated to her, & she wrote
to Lloyd, rather rallying him for his ridiculous vanity than reproaching him,
because it was so contemptible & because she did not fully understand the whole abuse till his reply. he answered by confessing
that he had traduced her character – & apologizing most humbly for it, alledging that her principles were so very bad that he had
suspected her conduct – yet saying that no one who knew her could doubt her excellence unless he were a fool or a villain. of course
she thinks him either the one or the other, nor was it possible for me to justify him – as he evidently has said that she would have
prostituted herself to him if he had pleased – & now comes out with a canting repentance. it has sadly sunk him in my opinion. She
told me these circumstances because she thought I might hear something of them from him. she spoke with temper & great good sense.
you know I like Mary Hays. About his marriage she blamed him for telling every body
that he had no affection for Sophia.
I shall only tell Lloyd that I have seen Mary Hays & heard that they have disagreed. it is not my wish to enter upon the subject. the
intercourse between us, he will probably drop if he takes orders – & I xxxxxx xxxxxx
that suspect that will be the end – in that case my consistency will estrange him, & his inconsistency, to use a gentle
word, must preclude all esteem on my part.
On Saturday I am going with Mary Hays to see Barrys Picturesmake money <fill his pocket>. however as this must be one must
make the best of it, & as there is something to be got by me it had better be got by a friend, so the job will be Amos Cottle’s, & then there will be no lies, & I can object to any thing
objectionable.
Perhaps you will be amused to hear that there is a man in Bond Street
If I do not get a letter tomorrow Edith – but my dear dear Edith write to me when you receive this & tell me if you will be at home on the Monday? I shall get over the down by ten o clock I suppose. it is almost supper time – the pleasantest part of the day because the day is nearly over. God bless you. yr Robert Southey.
Remember me to your sister. I think of Moses, & shall probably remember him when he has forgotten me. perhaps one of these days. God bless you Edith – if I was not as happy at home as any man can hope to be, I should not <look> forward with such eagerness to my return.