“I am now endeavouring to turn to my employment, as the rest of my sad household must do. The girls as well as their mother are sorely shaken, and sometimes I think ominously of the old proverb, which says, welcome evil if thou comest alone!
“With regard to the mode of getting out of Parliament, I am very willing that others should decide for me, in the total indifference with which I regard the question. Being aware of the nullity of the return, I abstain from franking*, and this is all that it concerns me to do. As for the impediment arising from the pension, nothing could have been easier than to have removed it, by having the pension made for life instead of during pleasure, or transferred to my wife. Herries could have done this, or you could have had it done, for it was in fact asking nothing but the alteration of a few words; with regard to the qualification, no one could have censured me if I had gone into Parliament, and as so many others do, with one prepared for the nonce. I am so sure that my life will be seen in its proper light, when it is at an end, that misrepresentations, however malicious, serve only to make me smile; and I am amused at thinking that many persons will be as
* This resolution he steadily persevered in, notwithstanding the entreaties of his family for “one frank” in memory of his temporary M-P.-ship, and the persecution of autograph collectors. |
| Ætat. 52. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 265 |
“This odd affair, however, will be of some use; it keeps my name fresh before the public, and in a way too which raises it in vulgar estimation. Had I arrived here in a chaise instead of coming in the mail, the people would have drawn me home in triumph; and there was a consultation about chairing me, which ended in the true conclusion that, perhaps, I should not like it. The General* had these honours (except the chairing) yesterday afternoon. They drew him from the turnpike to his own landing-place, and he made a speech from the boat. How he must have enjoyed this, and how we should have enjoyed it, if that very hour had not been one of the bitterest of our lives. God bless you!
