The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Herbert Hill, 30 May 1810
“Keswick, May 30. 1810.
“My dear Uncle,
“. . . . . My Register work was finished before I left home. . . . . An interval
of idleness, which is to me more wearisome than any labour, has given me new
appetite for employment, and I am now busily occupied with my second volume*, to which, with such
alternations of work for the Review as are always
wholesome as well as convenient (for over-application to any one subject
disturbs my sleep, and I have long learnt by neutralising as it were, one set
of thoughts with another, to sleep as sweetly as a child), I shall
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| 288 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 36. |
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devote the next three months uninterruptedly. My first
volume seems to be well liked by my friends; they
all speak of it as amusing, which I was at one time apprehensive it would not
be.
“Murray the
bookseller, with whom the Quarterly has led me into a correspondence, promises to procure for
me a MS. history of Lima, written by one of its viceroys. I shall be glad to
see it, and am a good deal obliged by this mark of attention on his part; but
those books upon Paraguay would be far more useful at this time, for I have no
other guides than Charlevoix, and the
mutilated translation of Techo, in
Churchill. Luckily, a very brief
summary of events is all that I am called upon, or indeed, consistently with
the main purpose and plan of the work, ought to give; still it is impossible to
do this to my own satisfaction, unless I feel myself thoroughly acquainted with
the whole series of events. . . . .
“Scott sent me his
poem to Durham. I like it
better than either Marmion or
the Lay, though its measure is less
agreeable; but the story has finer parts, and is better conceived. The
portraits both of Camp and his master are remarkably
good. He talks of a journey to the Hebrides; but, if that does not take place,
of a visit southward; in which case, Keswick will be taken on his way, and we
are to concoct some plan for employing Ballantyne’s press.
“The old Douay establishment is removed to England, to
a place called Ushaw, about four miles from Durham. They began it upon a Bank
of Faith system, after Huntingdon’s manner, having only 2000l. to begin with. The 2000l. have already been
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| Ætat. 36. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 289 |
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expended, and pretty near as much more will go
before it is completed. There are 100 students there already, chiefly boys; and
preparations are making for doubling the number. I rode over with Henry, and one of his Catholic friends, to
look after the library. The philosophical tutor showed me a volume of the Acta Sanct. Benedictorum,—‘Saints, as they
choose to call them,’ said he. In the evening, however, the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxons, by this
very Mr. ——, were put into my hands; and there he relates
miracles, and abuses Turner for what he
calls his Romance of St. Dunstan! These fellows are all
alike. I asked what the number of the English Catholics was supposed to be, and
was told 300,000. This is most likely exaggerated. I should not have guessed
them at half. God bless you!
James Ballantyne (1772-1833)
Edinburgh printer in partnership with his younger brother John; the company failed in the
financial collapse of 1826.
Awnsham Churchill (1658-1728)
London bookseller and financial agent for John Locke; he published
A
Collection of Voyages (1704).
William Huntington (1745-1813)
Coal-heaver and dissenting preacher who issued prophecies regarding Napoleon and the
Pope; he attracted large congregations in London.
John Murray II (1778-1843)
The second John Murray began the
Quarterly Review in 1809 and
published works by Scott, Byron, Austen, Crabbe, and other literary notables.
Henry Herbert Southey (1783-1865)
The younger brother of Robert Southey; educated at Edinburgh University, he was physician
to George IV, Gresham Professor of Medicine, and friend of Sir Walter Scott.
Nicolás del Techo (1611-1685)
French Jesuit who wrote
Historia de la Provincia del Paraguay de la
Compañía de Jesús.
Sharon Turner (1768-1847)
Attorney, historian, and writer for the
Quarterly Review; he wrote
History of the Anglo-Saxons, 4 vols (1799-1805).
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
