The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Robert Gooch, 20 January 1813
“. . . . . Wordsworth refers, in more than one of his poems, with a
melancholy feeling of regret, to the loss of youthful thoughts and hopes. In
the last six weeks he has lost two children—one of them a fine boy of seven years old. I believe he feels, as
I have felt before him, that ‘there is healing in the bitter
cup,’—that God takes from us those we love as hostages for our
faith (if I may so express myself),—and that to those who look to a
reunion in a better world, where there shall be no separation, and no
mutability except that which results from perpetual progressiveness, the
evening becomes more delightful than the morning, and the sunset offers
brighter and lovelier visions than those which we would build up in the morning
clouds, and which disappear before the strength of the day. The older I
grow—and I am older in feeling than in years—the more I am sensible
of this: there is
no other alterations made in it now than
C. was willing to have made in it then, was
rejected in 1797 by Sheridan and
Kemble. Had these sapient
caterers for the public brought it forward at that time, it is by no
means improbable that the author might have produced a play as good
every season: with my knowledge of Coleridge’s habits I verily believe he
would.”—To G. C.
B. Jan. 27. 1813. |
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| 14 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 39. |
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a precious alchemy in this faith, which transmutes grief
into joy, or, rather, it is the true and heavenly euphrasy which clears away
the film from our mortal sight, and makes affliction appear what, in reality,
it is to the wise and good,—a dispensation of mercy.
“God bless you!
Yours affectionately,
R. Southey.”
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.
Robert Gooch (1784-1830)
Educated at Edinburgh University, he was obstetric physician and lecturer in midwifery at
St Bartholomew's Hospital, a friend of Robert Southey and contributor to
Blackwood's and the
Quarterly Review.
John Philip Kemble (1757-1823)
English actor renowned for his Shakespearean roles; he was manager of Drury Lane
(1783-1802) and Covent Garden (1803-1808).
Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
Anglo-Irish playwright, author of
The School for Scandal (1777),
Whig MP and ally of Charles James Fox (1780-1812).
Thomas Wordsworth (1806-1812)
The eldest son of William Wordsworth, who died of measles 1 December 1812.
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.
