The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to James White, 16 February 1812
“I was glad to hear from Neville that you were comfortably settled, and growing attached
to college; and glad to hear afterwards from yourself that you
* These musical anticipations were fully realised,
and the performance of them was one of the amusements of my childhood.
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begin to feel your ground. There is no part of my own
life which I remember with so little pleasure as that which was passed at the
university; not that it has left behind it any cause of self-reproach, but I
had many causes of disquietude and unhappiness,—some imaginary, and some,
God knows, real enough. And I cannot think of the place without pain, because
of the men with whom I there lived in the closest intimacy of daily and almost
hourly intercourse; those whom I loved best are dead, and there are some whom I
never have seen since we parted there, and possibly never shall see more. It is
with this feeling I believe, more or less, that every man who has any feeling
always remembers college. Seven years ago I walked through Oxford on a fine
summer morning, just after sunrise, while the stage was changing horses: I went
under the windows of what had formerly been my own rooms; the majesty of the
place was heightened by the perfect silence of the streets, and it had never
before appeared to me half so majestic or half so beautiful. But I would rather
go a day’s journey round than pass through that city again, especially in
the day-time, when the streets are full. Other places in which I have been an
inhabitant would not make the same impression; there is an enduring sameness in
a university like that of the sea and mountains. It is the same in our age that
it was in our youth; the same figures fill the streets, and the knowledge that
they are not the same persons brings home the sense of change which is of all
things the most mournful.
“I see your name to the Bible Society, concerning which
I have read Herbert
Marsh’s—pamphlet
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| Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 329 |
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and Dr.
Clarke’s reply. Marsh may possibly be fond of
controversy, because he knows his strength. He is a clear logical writer, and
in these days a little logic goes a great way, for of all things it is that in
which the writers of this generation are most deficient. His reasoning is to me
completely satisfactory as to these two points,—that where Christians of
all denominations combine for the purpose either of spreading Christianity or
distributing Bibles in other countries, the cause of the general church is
promoted thereby; but that when they combine together at home, as that
condition can only be effected by a concession on the part of the churchmen, by
that concession the Church of England is proportionally weakened. Nothing can
be clearer. But though the Margaret Professor is perfectly right in his views,
and his antagonists are mere children when compared to him, I think he has been
injudicious in exciting the controversy, because upon that statement of the
case which his opponents will make, and which appears at first sight to be a
perfectly fair one, everybody must conclude him to be in the wrong, and very
few persons will take the trouble of looking farther. And I think his object
might have been effected by a little management without much
difficulty,—by an arrangement among the Church members of the Society
that the Liturgy should be appended to the Bibles which they distributed at
home, or by a Prayer-book Society. A man should be very careful how he engages
in a controversy, in which, however right he may be, he is certain to appear
wrong to the multitude; and he ought to be especially careful, when he thus
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not his own character alone but that of the body
to which he belongs. Besides, the mischief which Marsh
perceives is not very great, because I apprehend that at least nine tenths of
the business of B. Society relates to foreign countries. But I agree with him
entirely as to the mischief that lurks under the name of liberality; by which
is meant not an indulgence to the opinions of other communities, but an
indifference to your own.
“Do you attend the Divinity Lectures? Herbert Marsh is likely to be a good lecturer,
being a thorough master of his subject, and a reasoner of the old school.
“Give me a letter when you feel inclined; and believe
me,
My dear James,
Your affectionate friend,
Robert Southey.”
Edward Daniel Clarke (1769-1822)
English traveler and collector, the younger brother of James Stanier Clarke; he was
professor of mineralogy at Cambridge (1808) and university librarian (1817). He published
Travels in various Countries of Europe, Asia and Africa
(1810-23) and corresponded with Byron.
James White (1793 c.-1885)
The younger brother of Henry Kirke White; educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge, he was
curate of St George's Manchester (1826-42), rector of Stalham, Norfolk (1846-52) and Sloley
Norfolk (1852-85).
John Neville White (1785 c.-1845)
The elder brother of Henry Kirke White; after working in medicine he was educated at
Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and was rector of Rushall (1828) and Tivetshall in Norfolk
(1832-45). The rumor that he died a suicide was denied in the
Gentleman's
Magazine.
