The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Walter Scott, 6 November 1808
“I have sometimes thought of publishing translations
from the Spanish and Portuguese, with the originals annexed, but there was no
prospect of profit to tempt me; and as certainly, if I live, it is my intention
to enter fully into the literary history of both countries. That made me lay
aside the
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thought of any thing on a lesser scale.
Another reason, perhaps, may have been this, that it is not more difficult to
compose poetry than to translate it, and that, in my own opinion, I can make as
good as I can find. Very, very few of the Spanish ballads are good; they are
made in general upon one receipt, and that a most inartificial one; they begin
by describing the situation of somebody who makes a speech which is the end.
Nothing like the wildness—or the character of our ballads is to be found
among them. It is curious, and at present inexplicable to me, how their prose
should be so exquisitely poetical—as it is in the Cid, and their poetry so completely
prosaical as it is in their narrative poems. Nevertheless, I might be tempted.
Some translations I have by me, and many of my books are marked for others.
There are some high-toned odes in the Spanish, and a good many beautiful
sonnets. Many of their epics would afford good extracts; and I am competent to
give critical sketches of biography, formed not at second-hand, but from full
perusal of the authors themselves. My name, however, is worth nothing in the
market, and the booksellers would not offer me any thing to make it worth my
while to interrupt occupations of greater importance. I thank you heartily for
your offer of aid, and should the thing be carried into effect, would gladly
avail myself of it.
“I am planning something of great importance, a poem upon Pelayo, the first
restorer of Spain: it has long been one of my chosen subjects; and those late
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events which have warmed every heart that has right
British blood circulating through it, have revived and strengthened old
resolutions. It will be in regular blank verse, and the story will naturally
take rather a higher tone than Madoc.
“It gives me great pleasure to hear that you have done
with the Edinburgh Review. Of
their article respecting
Spain, I heard from Coleridge. That subject is a fair touchstone whether a man has any
generous sympathies in his nature. There is not in history such another
instance of national regeneration and redemption. I have been a true prophet
upon this subject, and am not a little proud of the prophecy. Of the eventual
issue I have never felt a moment’s doubt. Such a nation, such a spirit,
are invincible. But what a cruel business has this convention of Cintra been.
Junot clearly expressed his own
feelings of our commander-in-chief when he recommended him to take up his
quarters at Quintella’s house as he had done:
“the man,” he said, “kept a very good table,
and he had seldom had reason to find fault with it.” My blood
boils to think that there should be an English general to whom this rascal
could venture to say this! In one of the Frenchmen’s knapsacks, among
other articles of that property which they bargained to take away with them,
was a delicate female hand with rings upon the fingers.
“Our ministers do not avail themselves as they might
do of their strong cause. They should throw away the scabbard and publish a
manifesto, stating why this country never will make peace with Bona-
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parte, and on what
plain terms it will at any moment make peace with France under any other ruler.
I fully believe that it would be possible to overthrow his government by this
means at this time.
“A reviewal of my Cid
by you will be the best aid that it can possibly receive. Five hundred only
were printed, and in spite of the temporary feeling and the wonderful beauty of
the book, I dare say they will hang upon hand.
“It will rejoice me to see you here, and show you my
treasures, and talk of the days of the shield and the lance. We have a bed at
your service, and shall expect you to be our guest. Wordsworth, who left me to-day, desires his remembrances. He is
about to write a pamphlet
upon this precious convention, which he will place in a more philosophical
point of view than any body has yet done. I go to press in a few weeks with my
History of Brazil, and
have Thalaba at present in
Ballantyne’s hands—that
poem having just reached the end of its seven years’ apprenticeship. And
I have got half way through my Hindoo poem, which, it is to be hoped, will please myself, inasmuch
as it is not likely to please anybody else. It is too strange, too much beyond
all human sympathies; but I shall go on, and as, in such a case, I have usually
little but my labour for my pains, the certainty that it never can be popular
will not deter me from gratifying my own fancy.
“Mrs. Southey
joins me in remembrances to Mrs. Scott.
Believe me.
Yours very truly,
Robert Southey.”
James Ballantyne (1772-1833)
Edinburgh printer in partnership with his younger brother John; the company failed in the
financial collapse of 1826.
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.
Jean-Andoche Junot (1771-1813)
French general who commanded the invasion of Portugal in 1807 and was driven back by
Wellington the following year.
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).
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.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
With Coleridge, author of
Lyrical Ballads (1798), Wordsworth
survived his early unpopularity to succeed Robert Southey as poet laureate in 1843.
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Madoc. (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1805). A verse romance relating the legendary adventures of a Welsh prince in Wales and
pre-Columbian America.
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.