The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Thomas Southey, 14 March 1809
“Keswick, March 14. 1809.
“Yesterday I returned from a visit to Henry and his bride. . . . . He lives in a street called by the unaccountable
name of Old Elvet. A lucky opening on the opposite side of the way leaves him a
good view of the cathedral on the hill, and the river is within a stone’s
throw of his back-door. Durham stands upon a peninsula,—that is to say,
the main part of it,—a high bank, on which is the cathedral, and the
castle, and the best houses; and there are delightful walks below, such as no
other city can boast, through fine old trees on the river’s bank, from
whence you look to the noble building on the opposite side, and see one bridge
through the other. Harry is well off there, getting rapidly into practice, and
living among all sorts of people,—prebends and Roman Catholics, fox-
hunters and old women, with all of whom he seems to accord equally well. . . .
It is a place where any person might live contentedly. Among all these thousand
and one ![]()
| 224 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 35. |
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acquaintances there are some whom one might soon
learn to love, and a great many with whom to be amused, and none that are
insufferable. One day I dined with Dr.
Zouch, who wrote the Life of Sir P. Sidney. I never saw a
gentler-minded man; the few sentences of bigotry which he has written must have
cost him strange efforts to bring forth, for I do not think a harsh expression
ever could pass his lips, nor a harsh feeling ever enter his heart. In spite of
his deafness, I contrived to have a good deal of talk with him. Dr. Bell was there, the original transplanter
of that Hindoo system of teaching which Lancaster has adopted. He is a great friend of Coleridge’s; a man pleasant enough, certes a great benefactor to his country, but a little
given to flattery, and knowing less about India than a man ought to know who
has lived there. Another day I dined with Dr.
Fenwick, the ex-physician of the place. There we drank the
Arch-duke Charles’s health in
Tokay, a wine which I had never before tasted. This is the first victory by
which I ever got anything. The Tokay proved prolific.
Harry’s next door neighbour was one of the
party, and fancied some unknown wine which had been presented to him might be
the same as this; and he proposed, as we walked home, to bring in a bottle and
sup with us. I, however, recognised it for Old Sack,—itself no bad thing.
“On Monday last, after a week’s visit, I took
coach where I had appointed, to pass a day with James Losh, whom you know I have always ![]()
| Ætat. 35. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 225 |
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mentioned as coming nearer the ideal of a perfect man than any other person
whom it has ever been my good fortune to know; so gentle, so pious, so zealous
in all good things, so equal-minded, so manly, so without speck or stain in his
whole habits of life. I slept at his house, which is two miles from Newcastle,
and the next day took the mail to Carlisle. It is an interesting road,
frequently in sight of the Tyne before you reach Hexham, and then as frequently
along the Eden. We reached Carlisle at ten o’clock. Yesterday I rose at
five, and walked to Hesket to breakfast, fourteen miles; a mile lost on the way
made it fifteen. There was many a gentle growl within for the last five miles.
From thence another stage of fourteen brought me home by half after
two,—a good march, performed with less fatigue than any other of equal
length in the whole course of my pedestrian campaigns.
“I found all well at home, God be praised! Your letter
was waiting for me, and one from Gifford, containing 16l. 8s. for my article
in the second Quarterly, with quant. suff. of praise, which I put down to the account
of due desert. He has a reviewal of Holmes’s American Annals in his hands for the third number. I am about the
Polynesian Mission, and am to have Lord
Valencia’s Travels as soon as they appear. He requested me to choose any
subjects I pleased. I have named Barlow’s Columbiad, Elton’s
Hesiod, and Whitaker’s Life of St. Neots; and I have solicited the
office of justifying Frere against
Sir John Moore’s friends. . .
. . Send for Words-![]()
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worth’s pamphlet*: the more you read it the higher
will be your admiration
“God bless you!
George Annesley, second earl of Mountnorris (1769-1844)
The son of Arthur Annesley, first earl of Mountnorris whom he succeeded in 1816. In 1795
he sued John B. Gawler, Esq. for criminal conversation with his wife, Lady Anne
Courtenay.
Joel Barlow (1754-1812)
Connecticut Wit educated at Yale College who wrote the epic
Vision of
Columbus (1787) and the mock-epic
Hasty-Pudding
(1796).
Andrew Bell (1753-1832)
Scottish Episcopalian educated at St. Andrews University; he was the founder of the
“Madras” system of education by mutual instruction; Robert Southey was his
biographer.
King Charles I of England (1600-1649)
The son of James VI and I; as king of England (1625-1649) he contended with Parliament;
he was revered as a martyr after his execution.
Charles, Archduke of Austria (1771-1847)
Leader of the Austrian forces during the Napoleonic Wars; he was victorious at
Aspern-Essling, defeated at the Battle of Wagram.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
English poet and philosopher who projected
Lyrical Ballads (1798)
with William Wordsworth; author of
Biographia Literaria (1817),
On the Constitution of the Church and State (1829) and other
works.
Sir Charles Abraham Elton, sixth baronet (1778-1853)
English poet and translator who contributed to the
Edinburgh
Review and
London Magazine. He was an acquaintance of
Charles Lamb and Samuel Taylor Coleridge and was related by marriage to Henry
Hallam.
John Ralph Fenwick (1761-1855)
Of Durham; he was a physician, justice of the peace, and lieutenant-colonel of the
militia.
John Hookham Frere (1769-1846)
English diplomat and poet; educated at Eton and Cambridge, he was envoy to Lisbon
(1800-02) and Madrid (1802-04, 1808-09); with Canning conducted the
The
Anti-Jacobin (1797-98); author of
Prospectus and Specimen of an
intended National Work, by William and Robert Whistlecraft (1817, 1818).
William Gifford (1756-1826)
Poet, scholar, and editor who began as a shoemaker's apprentice; after Oxford he
published
The Baviad (1794),
The Maeviad
(1795), and
The Satires of Juvenal translated (1802) before becoming
the founding editor of the
Quarterly Review (1809-24).
Abiel Holmes (1763-1837)
Congregationalist minister, the father of Oliver Wendell Holmes; he published
American Annals (1805).
Joseph Lancaster (1778-1838)
Founder of the Lancastrian system of education; he published
Improvements in Education (1803).
James Losh (1763-1833)
Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was a barrister on the Northern Circuit,
philanthropist, editor of Milton's
Areopagitica, and friend of
Wordsworth. Southey described him as “coming nearer the ideal of a perfect man than any
other person whom it has ever been my good fortune to know.”
Sir John Moore (1761-1809)
A hero of the Peninsular Campaign, killed at the Battle of Corunna; he was the son of Dr.
John Moore, the author of
Zeluco.
Henry Herbert Southey (1783-1865)
The younger brother of Robert Southey; educated at Edinburgh University, he was physician
to George IV, Gresham Professor of Medicine, and friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Louisa Southey [née Gonne] (d. 1830)
In 1815 she married Henry Herbert Southey, younger brother of the poet. Confusingly,
Robert Southey speaks of Henry's “new bride” in 1809.
Thomas Southey (1777-1838)
The younger brother of Robert Southey; he was a naval captain (1811) and afterwards a
Customs officer. He published
A Chronological History of the West
Indies (1828).
John Whitaker (1735-1808)
Historian, poet, reviewer, Tory clergyman and friend of Richard Polwhele; he was author
of
The History of Manchester (1771), 4 vols (1773).
Thomas Zouch (1737-1815)
Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, he held multiple church livings and pursued his
interests as a scholar and antiquary; he wrote biographies of Izaak Walton and Sir Philip
Sidney.
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
George Annesley, second earl of Mountnorris (1769-1844)
Voyages and Travels in India, Ceylon, the Red Sea, Abyssinia, and Egypt, in
the years 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806. 3 vols (London: W. Miller, 1809).
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Concerning the Relations of Great Britain, Spain, and Portugal, to each other,
and to the common Enemy, at this Crisis; and specifically as affected by the Convention of
Cintra the whole brought to the Test of those Principles, by which alone the Independence
and Freedom of Nations can be preserved or recovered. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1809). Originally published in
The Courier.
