The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Nicholas Lightfoot, 8 November 1822
“By my brother Henry’s means, I have found how the impediment between me
and your cyder may be removed. If you will direct it for me to the care of
George Sealy, Esq., Liverpool, and ship it for that
place, letting me know by what vessel it is sent, he will look after it there
and forward it to Keswick, and then we will all drink your health in the juice
of the apple. It will need a case to protect it from the gimlet.
“There is little chance of any circumstance
* “Lord
Byron has rendered it quite unnecessary for me to
resent his attacks any farther. This last publication is so thoroughly
infamous that it needs no exposure. It may reach a second number if
it escape prosecution, but hardly a third. He and Leigh Hunt, no doubt, will quarrel, and
their separation break up the concern.”—To the Rev.
Neville White, Nov. 16.
1822. |
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| Ætat. 48. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 127 |
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drawing me from this country to reside in the vicinity of
London,—at least I can foresee none. The question whether or not the Quarterly Review should do so has
been fairly considered and decided, in consequence of Gifford’s dangerous illness. He had
written to me soon after you left us, saying he could not long continue to
conduct the Review, and he knew not where to look for a successor. He was not
ill at the time, and therefore my consideration of the matter was not hastily,
but deliberately made. If I had chosen to propose myself, the office must have
been mine, of course. The objections to it were, that the increased expenditure
which I must incur near London would fully consume any increase of income which
I should have obtained, and therefore the time consumed in the mere management
of the journal would have been a dead loss. This time would be unpleasantly, as
well as unprofitably spent in corresponding upon the mere business of the
Review, examining communications, and either correcting them myself where there
was anything erroneous, imprudent, or inconsistent with those coherent opinions
which the journal should have maintained under my care, or in persuading the
respective writers to amend and alter according to that standard. Lastly, it
seemed that there was nothing which could recompense me for the sacrifice which
it needs would be to quit a country in which I take so much delight, and of
which all my family are as fond as myself; and there was this weightier
consideration,—that if I gave up the quantity of time which the management of
such a journal re-![]()
| 128 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 48. |
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quires, it would take away all reasonable
hope of my completing the various great works for which I have been so long
making preparations.
“I talked this matter over with John May, who entered entirely into my feelings.
The next point, having fully made up my mind concerning myself, was to secure
the succession (as far as my influence extended) for some person with whom I
could freely and heartily co-operate. John
Coleridge is just such a person; and having ascertained that he
would like the situation, I mentioned him to Gifford and to Murray.
Gifford’s illness has occurred since. He is
better at present, and I have good reason to believe it is all but settled that
John Coleridge is to become the Editor of the Quarterly Review. Without taking him
from his profession, it will render him independent of it, and place him at
once in a high and important situation.
“. . . . . This is a long explanation, and yet I think
you will like to know the how and the why of my proceedings. In consequence, I may possibly take more part
in the review, and certainly more interest in it; because, knowing the tenor of
his opinions, and his way of thinking, I am sure he will admit nothing that
either in matter or manner could offend a well-regulated mind. He will hold a
manly and straightforward course, and censure will always come with weight and
effect, because it will never be unduly or insolently applied. . . . .
Believe me, my dear
Lightfoot,
Yours affectionately,
R. Southey.”
Sir John Taylor Coleridge (1790-1876)
Barrister, nephew of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and writer for the
Quarterly Review, of which he was briefly editor in 1824, succeeding William
Gifford.
William Gifford (1756-1826)
Poet, scholar, and editor who began as a shoemaker's apprentice; after Oxford he
published
The Baviad (1794),
The Maeviad
(1795), and
The Satires of Juvenal translated (1802) before becoming
the founding editor of the
Quarterly Review (1809-24).
James Henry Leigh Hunt (1784-1859)
English poet, journalist, and man of letters; editor of
The
Examiner and
The Liberal; friend of Byron, Keats, and
Shelley.
Nicholas Lightfoot (1771 c.-1847)
The son of Nicholas Lightfoot, Devon, he was educated at Balliol College, Oxford and was
curate of Churcheton, Devon (1795) and rector of Pomeroy, Devonshire (1831-47). He
corresponded with his schoolmate, Robert Southey.
John May (1775-1856)
Wine merchant and close friend of Robert Southey; after the failure of the family
business in Portuguese wines he was a bank manager in the 1820s.
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.
Henry Herbert Southey (1783-1865)
The younger brother of Robert Southey; educated at Edinburgh University, he was physician
to George IV, Gresham Professor of Medicine, and friend of Sir Walter Scott.
John Neville White (1785 c.-1845)
The elder brother of Henry Kirke White; after working in medicine he was educated at
Peterhouse College, Cambridge, and was rector of Rushall (1828) and Tivetshall in Norfolk
(1832-45). The rumor that he died a suicide was denied in the
Gentleman's
Magazine.
The Quarterly Review. (1809-1967). Published by John Murray, the
Quarterly was instigated by Walter
Scott as a Tory rival to the
Edinburgh Review. It was edited by
William Gifford to 1824, and by John Gibson Lockhart from 1826 to 1853.
