“Are you still engaged with the Lord of the Isles, or may I give you joy of a happy deliverance? There are few greater pleasures in life than that of getting fairly through a great work of this kind, and seeing it when it first comes before us in portly form. I envy you the advantage which you always derive from a thorough knowledge of your poetical ground; no man can be more sensible of this advantage than myself, though I have in every instance been led to forego it.
“Longman was to
take care that Roderick
should be duly conveyed to you. Remember that if you do not duly receive every
book which has the name of R. S. in the title-page, the fault lies among the
booksellers. My last employment has been an Odeous one.
I was in good hope that this silly custom had been dispensed with, but on
making inquiry through Croker, the reply
was that an Ode I must write. It would be as absurd in me to complain of this,
as it is in the higher powers to exact it. However, I shall no longer feel
myself bound to volunteer upon extraordinary service. I had a ridiculous
disappointment about the intended marriage of the Princess Charlotte, which was so mischievously broken off.
Willing to be in time, as soon as I was assured that the marriage was to be, I
fell to work, and produced some fifty six-lined stanzas, being about half of a
| 96 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 40. |
“I do not like the aspect of affairs abroad. We make war better than we make peace. In war John Bull’s bottom makes amends for the defects of his head; he is a dreadful fellow to take by the horns, but no calf can be more easily led by the nose. Europe was in such a state when Paris was taken, that a commanding intellect, had there been such among the allies, might have cast it into whatever form ho pleased. The first business should have been to have reduced France to what she was before Louis XIV.’s time; the second to have created a great power in the north of Germany with Prussia at its head; the third to have consolidated Italy into one kingdom or commonwealth. A fairer opportunity was given us than at the peace of Utrecht, but moderation and generosity were the order of the day, and with these words we have suffered ourselves to be fooled. Here at home the Talents, with that folly which seems to pursue all their measures like a fatality, are crying out in behalf of Poland and Saxony—the restoration of which would be creating two powerful allies for France; and in America we have both lost time and credit. Of Sir G. Prevost, from his former conduct, I have too good an opinion to condemn him until I have heard his defence; but there has evidently been misconduct somewhere. And at Baltimore I cannot but think that the city would have been taken if poor Ross had not been killed. Confidence is almost everything in war.
| Ætat. 40. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 97 |
“Jeffrey I hear has written what his admirers call a crushing review of the Excursion. He might as well seat himself upon Skiddaw and fiincy that he crushed the mountain. I heartily wish Wordsworth may one day meet with him, and lay him alongside, yard-arm and yard-arm in argument.
“I saw Canning
for an hour or two when he was in this country, and was far more pleased with
him than I had expected. He has played his cards ill. In truth I believe that
nature made him for something better than a politician. He is gone to a place
where I wish I could go. Indeed I should think seriously of going to Spain, if
the country were not evidently in a very insecure state. Some of my old
Guerilla friends, for want of other occupation, might employ a cartridge upon
me. I have still a communication with Madrid, but of course we get no
information concerning the real state of things; nor can I guess who is the
mover of this mischief. For Ferdinand is
a fool, and is moreover exceedingly popular, which seems as if he were a
good-natured fool. And a change of ostensible counsellors has produced no
change of system. I am much gratified by the compliment the Academy have paid
me, and if the Lisbon Academy should follow the example, I should desire no
other mark of literary honour. The concluding volume of my Brazil is in the press, and I am closely
employed upon it. You will find in it some warfare of the old hearty character,
the whole history of the Jesuits in Paraguay, and much curious information
respecting the savages. Remem-
| 98 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 40. |
