The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 17 October 1814
“It is not long since I heard of you from De Quincey, but I wish you would let me
sometimes hear from you. There was a time when scarcely
a ![]()
| 82 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 40. |
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day passed without my seeing you, and in all that time I
do not remember that there ever was a passing coldness between us. The feeling,
I am sure, continues; do not, then, let us be so entirely separated by
distance, which in cases of correspondence may almost be considered as a mere
abstraction. . . . .
“Longman will
send you my poem. It has
been printed about two months, but he delays its publication till November, for
reasons of which he must needs be the best judge. I am neither sanguine about
its early, nor doubtful about its ultimate, acceptation in the world. The
passion is in a deeper tone than in any of my former works; I call it a tragic
poem for this reason; and also that the reader may not expect the same busy and
complicated action which the term heroic might seem to promise. The subject has
the disadvantage of belonging to an age of which little or no costume has been
preserved. I was, therefore, cut off from all adornments of this kind, and had
little left me to relieve the stronger parts but description, the best of which
is from the life. . . . .
“Can you tell me anything of Coleridge? A few lines of introduction for a
son of Mr. ——, of St. James’s (in
your city), are all that we have received since I saw him last September
twelvemonth in town. The children being thus entirely left to chance, I have
applied to his brothers at Otley concerning them, and am in hopes through their
means, and the aid of other friends, of sending Hartley to ![]()
| Ætat. 40. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 83 |
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College. Lady Beaumont has promised 30l. a year for this purpose, Poole 10l. I wrote to
Coleridge three or four months ago, telling him that
unless he took some steps in providing for this object I must make the
application, and required his answer within a given term of three weeks. He
received the letter, and in his note by Mr. —— promised to
answer it, but he has never taken any further notice of it. I have acted with
the advice of Wordsworth. The brothers,
as I expected, promise their concurrence, and I daily expect a letter, stating
to what amount they will contribute
Believe me, my dear Cottle,
Ever your affectionate old friend,
Robert Southey.”
Lady Margaret Beaumont [née Willes] (1756-1829)
The daughter of John Willes of Astrop; in 1778 she married Sir George Howland Beaumont,
seventh baronet; she is mentioned by Byron in “The Blues.”
Thomas Tregenna Biddulph (1763-1838)
Son of Thomas; educated at Truro Grammar School and Queen's College, Cambridge, he was
perpetual curate of St. James's, Bristol (1799-1838).
Hartley Coleridge [Old Bachelor] (1796-1849)
The eldest son of the poet; he was educated at Merton College, Oxford, contributed essays
in the
London Magazine and
Blackwood's, and
published
Lives of Distinguished Northerns (1832).
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.
Joseph Cottle (1770-1853)
Bristol bookseller and poet; he published the
Lyrical Ballads,
several heroic poems that attracted Byron's derision, and
Early
Recollections, chiefly relating to the late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 2 vols
(1837).
Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859)
English essayist and man of letters; he wrote for the
London
Magazine and
Blackwood's, and was author of
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater (1821).
Thomas Norton Longman (1771-1842)
A leading London publisher whose authors included Southey, Wordsworth, Scott, and
Moore.
Thomas Poole (1766-1837)
Of Nether Stowey; he was a farmer, tanner, and the early friend of Samuel Taylor
Coleridge.
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.
