The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Edith Southey, 16 May 1804
“A. Aikin had
need send me certain complimentary sugar-plums; he has cut out some of my
bitterest and best sentences, and has rejected my reviewal of his
father’s Letters on the
English Poets, to make room for something as Bare-bald* as the book itself. However, no
wonder; there must be a commander-in-chief, and the Annual Review has at least as good, or better, than
either army, navy, or government in England.
“You should have seen my interview with
Hyde. I was Eve, he the tempter;
could I resist Hyde’s eloquence? A coat, you know, was predetermined; but
my waistcoat was shameful. I yielded; and yielded also
to a calico under-waistcoat, to give the genteel fulness
which was requisite. This was not all. Hyde pressed me
further; delicate patterns for pantaloons,—they make gaiters of the same;
it would not soil, and it would wash. I yielded, and am tomorrow to be
completely hyded in coat, waistcoat, under-waistcoat, pantaloons, and gaiters;
and shall go forth, like ——, conquering and to conquer. If
Mrs. —— should see me! and in my new hat—for I
have a new hat—and my new gloves. O Jozé! I will show myself to
Johnny Cockbain† for the benefit of the North.
Davy talks of going to the Lakes with
Sir G. Beaumont, probably, and, in
that case, soon.
* See page 276. † A Keswick tailor. |
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| 286 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 29. |
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Elmsley talks of going in the autumn,
and wishes me to accompany him to Edinburgh. Wynn wants me in Wales, and would fetch me. I cannot be in two
places at once, and must not be cut in half, for to
Solomon’s decision I have an objection. . . . .
I shall desire A. Aikin, my commander,
to ship me down a huge cargo, that I may get at least fifty pounds for next
year, and look to that for a supply in April. In the foreign one which he
proposes, I will not take any active part; it will take more time, and yield
less money in proportion. The whole article upon Peter Bayley is
in, in all its strength. . . . . I perfectly long to be at home again, and home
I will be at the month’s end, God willing, for business shall not stand
in my way. I will do all that is possible next week and the beginning of the
following, and then lay such a load upon Dapple’s back as he never trudged under before; he shall
work, a lasy, long-eared animal, he shall work, or the printer’s devil
shall tease him out of his very soul.* . . . .
“Dear Edith,
how weary I am! God bless you!
Arthur Aikin (1773-1854)
English chemist and geologist, the son of Dr. John Aikin and brother of Lucy Aikin; he
edited the
Annual Review (1803-08).
Anna Laetitia Barbauld [née Aikin] (1743-1825)
English poet and essayist, the sister of John Aikin, who married Rochemont Barbauld in
1774 and taught at Palgrave School, a dissenting academy (1774-85).
Peter Bayley (1778-1823)
Educated at Rugby School and Merton College, Oxford, he rejected a career in law to
become a poet and editor of the
London Museum (1822).
Grosvenor Charles Bedford (1773-1839)
The son of Horace Walpole's correspondent Charles Bedford; he was auditor of the
Exchequer and a friend of Robert Southey who contributed to several of Southey's
publications.
Sir Humphry Davy, baronet (1778-1829)
English chemist and physicist, inventor of the safety lamp; in Bristol he knew Cottle,
Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Southey; he was president of the Royal Society (1820).
Peter Elmsley (1774-1825)
Classical scholar educated at Christ Church, Oxford, who published in the
Edinburgh Review and
Quarterly Review.
Southey described him to W. S. Landor as “the fattest under-graduate in your time and
mine.”
Edith Southey [née Fricker] (1774-1837)
The daughter of Stephen Fricker, she was the first wife of Robert Southey and the mother
of his children; they married in secret in 1795.
Charles Watkin Williams Wynn (1775-1850)
The son of Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, fourth baronet; educated at Westminster and Christ
Church, Oxford, Robert Southey's friend and benefactor was a Whig MP for Old Sarum (1797)
and Montgomeryshire (1799-1850). He was president of the Board of Control (1822-28).
