“I know not how I have lost sight of you so long, nor whether this may find you at Florence, nor what may have befallen you in the interval since we have communicated. No such affliction, I hope, as has befallen me, in the loss of my youngest daughter. Seven months have elapsed since we suffered this bereavement. She was the flower of my family,—and a lovelier flower this earth never produced. It was long before I could recover heart for anything, and sometimes I fear that my spirits will never again be what they have been. My wife’s, I have but too much cause to apprehend, have received a shock from which they will not recover. Yet we have much left for which to be thankful; and, above all, I am thankful for that settled and quiet faith which makes me look on to the end of my journey as a point of hope.
“My friend Kenyon talks of going to Italy this year, and if he goes, I shall get him to carry my last book.
“Last summer, like the one preceding, I travelled for
my health. On the first occasion I came back with erysipelas (the effect of an
accident), which
| 288 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 52. |
“Holland is to me a very interesting country. Except Amsterdam, which outstinks Lisbon, I like everything in it. There is a greater appearance of domestic comfort and decent wealth, and less appearance of vice, poverty, and wretchedness, than in any other part of Europe that I have seen, and I verily believe than in any other part of the world. In prospect there is enough to sadden one, for the bright days of Holland are gone by, and there seems no likelihood, scarcely indeed a possibility, that they ever should return. Decay is felt there, but it is not apparent, and you must inquire and look for it before you perceive that it is going on. But the Dutch merchants are not like the English, who so generally live up to the full measure of their prosperity. In their best times they have been frugal; and they are very generally at this time living upon the interest of old capital, great part of which is vested in the English funds.
“You will not wonder when you call to mind in how many
things the two nations resemble each other, that Dutch poetry should in its
character of thought and feeling resemble English, much more than the English
resembles that of any other nation, ancient or modern. Their poets have been as
numerous, in proportion to the country, as their painters, and not a few of
them as skilful in their art. One has two things to get over in the language,
its ugli-
| Ætat. 52. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 289 |
“While I am writing the post has brought news that Lord Liverpool has had an apoplectic stroke, which is likely to be fatal, but which certainly incapacitates him from ever taking any farther part in public affairs. How often do I wish that you were in England. The curious state of things in this country can hardly be understood, even by an Englishman, at a distance; the strange complexity and contrariety of interests, the strange coalitions, the ferment of opinions, and the causes which are at work to bring about greater changes in the constitution of society, than even the last half century has produced. No guess can as yet be formed as to the effect that this accident will produce upon the administration. Canning’s health is broken, and in my judgment it would be fortunate for his reputation if this cause should prevent him from taking possession of the premiership. Every one had confidence in Lord Liverpool; there are none who will have confidence in him; with all his brilliancy of talent, with all his personal good qualities, (and they are such that he is liked wherever he is known,) he must ever be distrusted as a statesman. New scenes are opening upon us, new men will come forward, and some of the old ones be seen in new characters; but for statesmen, such as they are and long have been in England, there will always be an abundant supply. What can be expected as long as St. Pitt and St. Fox have their red letter days in the political calendar?
| 290 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 52. |
“I would give a great deal to enjoy three such days as those which I passed at Como now ten years ago.
“God bless you!
