The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Grosvenor C. Bedford, 22 December 1814
“If Murray were
to offer me 500l. for a Register, I certainly should not for a moment
hesitate. In-![]()
| Ætat. 40. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 93 |
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deed, I know not whether I ought not gladly to
catch at the 400l., circumstanced as I am. In that case
I should advise him to begin with the Peace, for many reasons. First, because
it would be so tremendous an undertaking to bring up the lee-way from the
beginning of 1812; and, secondly, because there is a great advantage in
commencing with a new era in history. It might be worth while at leisure (if I
could possibly procure it) to write the volumes for 1812-13, for the sake of
connecting the former volumes with these: but this I should despair of. My
history of the Peninsula will include what is to me the most interesting
portion, and the only portion which I can do thoroughly as it ought to be done.
And, more than all, however I might spirit myself up to the undertaking, flesh
and blood are not equal to it. I cannot get through more than at present;
unless I give up sleep, or the little exercise which I take (and I walk to the
Crag* before breakfast); and, that hour excepted, and my meals (barely the
meals, for I remain not one minute after them), the pen or the book is always
in my hand.
“Had you not better wait for Jeffrey’s attack upon Roderick? I have a most curious letter
upon this subject from Hogg,
the Ettrick Shepherd, a worthy fellow, and a man of
very extraordinary powers. Living in Edinburgh, he thinks
Jeffrey the greatest man in the world—an
intellectual Bonaparte, whom nobody and
nothing can resist. But Hogg, notwithstanding this, has
fallen in liking with me, and is a
* A promontory jutting out into Derwentwater, about a
mile from Greta Hall. |
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| 94 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 40. |
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great admirer of Roderick. And
this letter is to request that I will not do anything to nettle Jeffrey, while he is deliberating
concerning Roderick, for he seems favourably disposed
towards me! Morbleu! it is a rich letter! Hogg requested
that he himself might review it, and gives me an extract from
Jeffrey’s answer, refusing him. ‘I
have, as well as you, a great respect for Southey,’ he says; ‘but he is a most
provoking fellow, and at least as conceited as his neighbour Wordsworth.’ But he shall be
happy to talk to Hogg upon this and other kindred
subjects, and he should be very glad to give me a lavish allowance of praise,
if I would afford him occasion, &c.; but he must do what he thinks his
duty, &c.! I laugh to think of the effect my reply will produce upon
Hogg. How it will make every bristle to stand on end
like quills upon the fretful porcupine.
“God bless you!
“What can I call the ode? Can you find anything to
stand with Carmen? Annuum I will not use, nor will I call it Ode for the
New Year, for I will do nothing that I can avoid toward perpetuating the
custom. How would Carmen Hortatorium do, if there be such a word?”
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.
James Hogg [The Ettrick Shepherd] (1770-1835)
Scottish autodidact, poet, and novelist; author of
The Queen's
Wake (1813) and
Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified
Sinner (1824).
Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773-1850)
Scottish barrister, Whig MP, and co-founder and editor of the
Edinburgh
Review (1802-29). As a reviewer he was the implacable foe of the Lake School of
poetry.
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.
Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821)
Military leader, First Consul (1799), and Emperor of the French (1804), after his
abdication he was exiled to Elba (1814); after his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to St.
Helena (1815).
Robert Southey (1774-1843)
Poet laureate and man of letters whose contemporary reputation depended upon his prose
works, among them the
Life of Nelson, 2 vols (1813),
History of the Peninsular War, 3 vols (1823-32) and
The Doctor, 7 vols (1834-47).
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.
