“Westall has
sent me four of the six prints for Roderick; the others are not yet finished. I am very much pleased
with these. If I were persuaded, according to the custom of these times, that
it is absolutely necessary to find some fault with every thing, I might perhaps
say that the engraver has aimed at throwing too much expression into the eyes
in some of the plates. Those which are come are Roderick at the Foot of the Cross, Adosinda showing him the Dead Bodies, Florinda at her Confession, and the Death of Count Julian. The first strikes me as the best,
and for this reason, that the subject is altogether picturesque,—it explains
itself sufficiently; whereas, to know what the others mean, the poetical
situation must be understood. I am much more desirous that this speculation
should succeed on Westall’s account than on my own.
He had set his heart upon it, in the belief that it would be of service to me
to have my poems thus illustrated (as the phrase is), and in the feeling that
the publishers were acting unhandsomely in having such things done for every
writer of any note except myself. The success would have been certain, had
| Ætat. 48. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 139 |
“How is Chantrey? Something like a message from him has been brought me by Mr. Gee, expressing a wish that I would sit to him when I come to London. When will that be you ask? And many, I daresay, ask the same question, who know not what pains, as well as thought, I must take for the morrow before I can afford two months of travelling and expenditure. To-night I shall finish with Queen Mary’s reign; Elizabeth’s will require not a long chapter; James’s a short one. The next is one of the most important in the book, but easily and soon written, because the materials are ready. Another chapter comes down to the Revolution, and one more will conclude. Then I shall set out for town, and eat ice there instead of oysters. . . . .
“God bless you!
