The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to C. W. W. Wynn, 15 April 1812
“Keswick, April 15. 1812.
“What a number of recollections crowd upon me when I
think of ——! Of all our school companions, how very few of
them are there whose lots in life have proved to be what might have been
expected for them. You and Bedford have
gone on each in your natural courses, and are to be found just where and what I
should have looked to find, if I had waked after a Nourjahad sleep of twenty years. The same thing might be said
of me, if my local habitation were not here at the end of the map. I am ![]()
| Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 331 |
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leading the life which is convenient for me, and
following the pursuits to which, from my earliest boyhood, I was so strongly
predisposed. A less troubled youth would probably have led to a less happy
manhood. I should have thought less and studied less, felt less and suffered
less. Now, for all that I have felt and suffered, I know that I am the better;
and God knows that I have yet much to think, and to study, and to do. It is now
eighteen years since you and I used to sit till midnight over your claret in
Skeleton Corner,—half your life and almost half mine. During that time we
have both of us rather grown than changed, and accident has had as little to do
with our circumstances as with our character. “Your godson, Herbert, who is just old enough to be
delighted with the Old Woman of Berkeley, tells me he means, when he is a man,
to be a poet like his father. It will be time enough ten years hence, if we
live so long, to take thought as to what he shall be; the only care I need take
at present, is, what should be done, in case of my death, for the provision of
my family. I have insured my life for 1000l. I had
calculated upon my copyrights as likely to prove valuable when it would become
the humour of the day to regret me; but to my great surprise, I find the
booksellers interpret the terms of their taking the risk and sharing the
profit, as an actual surrender to them of half the property in perpetuity.
Townsend, the traveller, who was as
much deceived in this case as I have been, was about to try the point with
them. I know not what prevented him. . . . . This is a flagrant and cruel
injustice . . . . . If I live, and preserve my health and faculties, I ![]()
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have no doubt of realising a decent competency in twenty
years; but twenty years is almost as much as my chances of life would be
reckoned at in tables of calculation. . . . .
“One thing which I will do whenever I can afford
leisure for the task, will be, to write and leave behind me my own Memoirs:
they will contain so much of the literary history of the times, as to have a
permanent value on that account. This would prove a good post obit, for there
can be no doubt I shall be sufficiently talked of when I am gone.
“Such are my ways and means for the future; but if I
should not live to provide more than the very little which is already done,
then, indeed, the exertion of some friends would be required. An arrangement
might be made with Longman to allow of a
subscription edition of my works: this would be productive in proportion to the
efforts that were used. I should hope, also, in such a case, that the
continuance of my pension might be looked for from either of the present
parties in the state, through Perceval,
or Canning, or yourself.
“This is a sort of testamentary letter. It is fit there
should be one; and to whom, my dear Wynn,
could it so properly be addressed? By God’s blessing, I may yet live to
make all necessary provision myself. My means are now improving every year. I
am up the hill of difficulty, and shall very soon get rid of the burthen which
has impeded me In the ascent. I have some arrangements with Murray, which are likely to prove more
profitable than any former speculations; and should I succeed In obtaining the
office which the old Frenchman fills at
present ![]()
| Ætat. 38. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 333 |
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so properly,—and which is the only thing
for which I have the slightest ambition,—it would soon put me in
possession of the utmost I could want or wish for, inasmuch as I could lay by
the whole income, and the title would be, in a great degree, productive.
“Hitherto I have been highly favoured. A healthy body,
an active mind, and a cheerful heart are the three best boons nature can
bestow; and, God be praised, no man ever enjoyed them more perfectly. My skin
and bones scarcely know what an ailment is, my mind is ever on the alert, and
yet, when its work is done, becomes as tranquil as a baby; and my spirits
invincibly good. Would they have been so, or could I have been what I am, if
you had not been ‘for so many years my stay and support? I believe not;
yet you had been so long my familiar friend, that I felt no more sense of
dependence in receiving my main, and at one time sole, subsistence from you,
than if you had been my brother: it was being done to as I would have done.
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.
George Canning (1770-1827)
Tory statesman; he was foreign minister (1807-1809) and prime minister (1827); a
supporter of Greek independence and Catholic emancipation.
Louis Dutens (1730-1812)
Huguenot diplomat and writer who edited Leibnitz (6 vols, Geneva, 1768). The author of
Mémoires d'un voyageur qui se repose (1806), he was a book
collector and historiographer to the king.
Thomas Norton Longman (1771-1842)
A leading London publisher whose authors included Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and
Moore.
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.
Spencer Perceval (1762-1812)
English statesman; chancellor of the exchequer (1807), succeeded the Duke of Portland as
prime minister (1809); he was assassinated in the House of Commons.
Joseph Townsend (1739-1816)
Educated at Clare College, Cambridge and Edinburgh University, he was a member of the
Countess of Huntingdon's circle, a Wiltshire clergyman, and author of
Journey through Spain in the Years 1786 and 1787 (1791).
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).
