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The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to C. W. W. Wynn, 12 March 1813
THIS EDITION—INDEXES
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Preface
Vol. I Contents
Early Life: I
Early Life: II
Early Life: III
Early Life: IV
Early Life: V
Early Life: VI
Early Life: VII
Early Life: VIII
Early Life: IX
Early Life: X
Early Life: XI
Early Life: XII
Early Life: XIII
Early Life: XIV
Early Life: XV
Early Life: XVI
Early Life: XVII
Ch. I. 1791-93
Ch. II. 1794
Ch. III. 1794-95
Ch. IV. 1796
Ch. V. 1797
Vol. II Contents
Ch. VI. 1799-1800
Ch. VII. 1800-1801
Ch. VIII. 1801
Ch. IX. 1802-03
Ch. X. 1804
Ch. XI. 1804-1805
Vol. III Contents
Ch. XII. 1806
Ch. XIII. 1807
Ch. XIV. 1808
Ch. XV. 1809
Ch. XVI. 1810-1811
Ch. XVII. 1812
Vol. IV Contents
Ch. XVIII. 1813
Ch. XIX. 1814-1815
Ch. XX. 1815-1816
Ch. XXI. 1816
Ch. XXII. 1817
Ch. XXIII. 1818
Ch. XXIV. 1818-1819
Vol. IV Appendix
Vol. V Contents
Ch. XXV. 1820-1821
Ch. XXVI. 1821
Ch. XXVII. 1822-1823
Ch. XXVIII. 1824-1825
Ch. XXIX. 1825-1826
Ch. XXX. 1826-1827
Ch. XXXI. 1827-1828
Vol. V Appendix
Vol. VI Contents
Ch. XXXII. 1829
Ch. XXXIII. 1830
Ch. XXXIV. 1830-1831
Ch. XXXV. 1832-1834
Ch. XXXVI. 1834-1836
Ch. XXXVII. 1836-1837
Ch. XXXVIII. 1837-1843
Vol. VI Appendix
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“Keswick, March 12. 1813.
“My dear Wynn,

“Do not be too sure of your victory in the House of Commons. It is not unlikely that when the securities come to be discussed you will find yourselves in a minority there, as well as in the country at large. The mischief, however, is done. It is like certain bodily complaints, trifling in themselves, but of infinite import as symptomatic of approaching death. The more I see, the more I read, and the more I reflect, the more reason there appears to me to fear that our turn of revolution is hastening on. In the minds of the busy part of the public it is already effected. The save-all reformers have made them suspicious; the opposition has made them discontented; the anarchists are making them furious. Methodism is undermining the Church, and your party, in league with all varieties of opinionists, have battered it till you have succeeded in making a breach. I give you all credit for good intentions; but I know the dissenters and the philosophists better than you do, and know that the principle
Ætat. 39. OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. 25
which they have in common is a hatred of the Church of England, and a wish to overthrow her. This they will accomplish, and you will regret it as much as I do; certainly not the less for having yourself contributed to its destruction.

“The end of all this will be the loss of liberty, for that is the penalty which, in the immutable order of things, is appointed for the abuse of it. What we may have to go through, before we sit down quietly in our chains, God only knows.

“Have you heard of the strange circumstance about Coleridge? A man hanging himself in the Park with one of his shirts on, marked at full length! Guess C.’s astonishment at reading this in a newspaper at a coffee-house. The thing is equally ridiculous and provoking. It will alarm many persons who know him, and I dare say many will always believe that the man was C. himself, but that he was cut down in time, and that his friends said it was somebody else in order to conceal the truth. As yet, however, I have laughed about it too much to be vexed.

“I have just got General Mackinnon’s Journal*: never was any thing more faithful than his account of the country and the people. We have, I fear, few such men in the British army. I knew a sister of his well some years ago, and should rejoice to meet with her again, for she was one of the cleverest women I ever knew. When they lived in France, Bonaparte was a frequent visitor at their mother’s

* See Inscription, xxxv. p. 178. one vol. edit.

26 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE Ætat. 39.
house. Mackinnon would have made a great man. His remarks upon a want of subordination, and proper regulations in our army, are well worthy of
Lord Wellington’s consideration. It was by thinking thus, and forming his army, upon good moral as well as military principles, that Gustavus became the greatest captain of modern times: so he may certainly be called, because he achieved the greatest things with means which were apparently the most inadequate. God bless you!

R. Southey.”