The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Richard Duppa, 11 July 1808
“The thought of writing to you,—or, rather, the
thought that I had not written,—has very often risen in my conscience
heavily. Joanna Southcote has been the
cause. Her books, with Sharp’s
dirty treasure, are now on their way to London. It is so much better to say I
have done a thing than I will do it, that I really have deferred writing for
the sake of saying these books were actually gone.
“For the last three weeks I have suffered from a
blinding and excoriating catarrh; always with me a very obstinate disease, and
more violent than I have ever seen it in any person except one of my own
family. Diseases are the worst things a man can ![]()
| Ætat. 34. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 157 |
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inherit,
and I am never likely to inherit anything else. That father’s brother of
mine in Somersetshire—whom I would so gladly sell at half
price—received me as cordially as was in his nature last April, and gave
me 25l.,—an act of great generosity in a man of
1200l. a year, and remarkable as being all I ever
have had, or ever shall have, from him, for he has now turned his sister out of
doors, and desired never to see any of the family again. Duppa, my breeches’ pockets will never
be so full as to make me stick in Heaven’s gate. Three lines of that
fellow’s pen will cut me off from more than all the pens I shall ever
wear to the stump will gain for me, and yet I hope many is the goose egg yet
unlaid which is to produce quills for my service.
“The Lakers are coming in shoals, and some of them
find their way here. Among others, I have had the satisfaction of seeing
Joanna Baillie: she drank tea with
us, and very much pleased we were with her,—as good-natured, unaffected,
and sensible a woman as I have ever seen.
“A month ago you might, perhaps, have been gratified
by knowing what were my thoughts of the state of Spain; now, I suppose,
everybody thinks alike. But I have always said that, if the deliverance of
Europe were to take place in our days, there was no country in which it was so
likely to begin as Spain; and this opinion, whenever I expressed it, was
received with wonder, if not with incredulity. But there is a spirit of
patriotism, a glowing and proud remembrance of the past, a generous shame for
the present, and a living hope for the future, both in ![]()
| 158 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 34. |
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the Spaniards and Portuguese, which convinced me that the heart of the country
was sound, and that those nations are likely to rise in the scale, perhaps,
Duppa, when we are sunk. Not that
England will sink yet, but there is more public virtue in Spain than in any
other country under Heaven. I have no fears nor doubts concerning that country;
the spirit of liberty is not to be extinguished: nothing but that spirit could
possibly check the progress of Bonaparte;
this will check, and, it is my firm conviction, eventually destroy him.
William Bryan prophesied a happy
termination in Spain when I saw him in London, and I dare say, if ever we meet
again, he will not fail to remind me of it. I expect his corrected copy of
Espriella with
some curiosity.
“God bless you!
Joanna Baillie (1762-1851)
Scottish poet and dramatist whose
Plays on the Passions
(1798-1812) were much admired, especially the gothic
De Montfort,
produced at Drury Lane in 1800.
William Bryan (1812 fl.)
Originally a Quaker and copper-plate engraver, he was an associate of the mystic Richard
Brothers and the Avignon Society, emigrating to America some time after 1812. He was an
acquaintance of Robert Southey.
Richard Duppa (1768-1831)
Writer and antiquary; a contributor to the
Literary Gazette; he
published
A Journal of the most remarkable Occurrences that took place in
Rome (1799) and other works.
Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821)
Military leader, First Consul (1799), and Emperor of the French (1804), after his
abdication he was exiled to Elba (1814); after his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to St.
Helena (1815).
Richard Sharp [Conversation Sharp] (1759-1835)
English merchant, Whig MP, and member of the Holland House set; he published
Letters and Essays in Poetry and Prose (1834).
Joanna Southcott (1750-1814)
English prophet and visionary, originally the daughter of a Devonshire farmer.
