“I received Rokeby on Monday evening, and you need not be told that I did not go to bed till I had read the poem through. It is yours all over, and, like all its brethren, perfectly original. I have only to congratulate you upon its appearance, upon its life and spirit, and (with sure and certain anticipation) upon its success. Let me correct an error in your last note, in time for the second edition. Robin the Devil lived not upon one of our islands, but on Curwen’s in Winandermere, which then belonged to the Philipsons’. You may find the story in Nicholson and Burns’ History of Westmoreland, pp. 185-6.
“I enjoyed your poem the more, being for the first time able to follow you in its scenery. My introduction at Rokeby* was a very awkward one; and if the old woman who would not let me through the gate till I had promised her to call at the house, had been the porter or the porter’s wife on the day of your story, Edmund might have sung long enough before he could have got in. However, when this awkwardness was over, I was very much obliged to her for forcing me into such society, for nothing could be more hospitable or more gratifying than the manner in which I and my companions were received. The glen is, for its extent, more beautiful than any thing
* See vol. iii. p. 345. |
| Ætat. 39. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 9 |
“In the course of next month I hope you will receive my
Life of Nelson, a
subject not self-chosen—and out of my way, but executed . Some of my periodical employment I must ere long relinquish, or
I shall never complete the great historical works upon which so many years have
been bestowed, in which so much progress has been made, and for which it is
little likely that any other person in the country will ever so qualify himself
again. Yonder they are lying unfinished, while I suffer myself to be tempted to
other occupations of more immediate emolument indeed, but, in all other
respects, of infinitely less importance. Meanwhile time passes on, and I who am
of a short-lived race, and have a sense of the uncertainty of life more
continually present in my thoughts and feelings than most men, sometimes
reproach myself for not devoting my time to those works upon which my
reputation, and perhaps the fortunes of my family, must eventually rest, while
the will is strong, the ability yet unimpaired, and the leisure permitted me.
If I do not greatly deceive myself, my History of
Portugal will be one of the most curious books of its kind that has
ever yet appeared—the matter is in itself so interesting, and I have
hunted out so much that is recondite, and have so much strong light
| 10 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 39. |
“Remember us to Mrs. Scott, and believe me,
