The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Grosvenor C. Bedford, 28 November 1828
“Keswick, Nov. 28. 1828.
“My dear Grosvenor,
“You may get the whole of Sir Thomas Brown’s works more easily perhaps than the
Hydrotaphia in a single
form. The folio is neither scarce nor dear, and you will find it throughout a
book to your heart’s content. If I were confined to a score of English
books, this I think would be one of them; nay, probably, it would be one if the
selection were cut down to twelve. My library, if reduced to those bounds,
would consist of Shakspeare, Chaucer, Spenser, and Milton;
Lord Clarendon; Jackson, Jeremy
Taylor, and South;
Isaac Walton, Sidney’s Arcadia, Fuller’s Church History, and Sir Thomas Brown; and what
a wealthy and well-stored mind would that man have, what an inexhaustible
reservoir, what a Bank of England to draw upon for profitable thoughts and
delightful associations, who should have fed upon them!
“. . . . . I am glad you have passed six weeks
pleasurably and profitably, though grudging a little that they were not spent
at Keswick, where, ![]()
| Ætat. 53. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 333 |
![]()
among other things, I should like you
to see the additional book-room that we have fitted up, and in which I am now
writing, dividing my time between the two book-rooms by spells, so that both
may be kept well aired. It would please you to see such a display of literary
wealth, which is at once the pride of my eye, and the joy of my heart, and the
food of my mind; indeed, more than metaphorically, meat, drink, and clothing
for me and mine. I verily believe that no one in my station was ever so rich
before, and I am very sure that no one in any station had ever a more thorough
enjoyment of riches of any kind, or in any way. It is more delightful for me to
live with books than with men, even with all the relish that I have for such
society as is worth having.
“I broke off this morning (not being a post day) for
the sake of walking to Lodore, to see the cataract in its glory, after heavy
rain in a wet season. A grand sight it was, and a grand sound. The walk,
however, has just induced enough of agreeable lassitude to disincline me for my
usual evening’s penwork.
“Your godson
comes on well with his books, and if you are disposed to make him a
godfather’s gift, you may send him a Septuagint, that being a book in
which Michaelis advises that all who are
intended for the theological profession should be grounded at school.
Intentions, or even wishes, I hardly dare form concerning him: but this I am
sure is the best and happiest profession which a wise man could ![]()
| 334 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 53. |
![]()
choose for himself, or desire for those who are dear to
him. . . . . God bless you!
Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682)
English physician and essayist; he was the author of
Religio
medici (1642) and
Pseudodoxia epidemica (1646).
Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 c.-1400)
English Poet, the author of
The Canterbury Tales (1390 c.).
Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)
English divine and biographer whose
Worthies of England was
posthumously published in 1662.
Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791)
German theologian and biblical translator; he translated Richardson's
Clarissa into German.
John Milton (1608-1674)
English poet and controversialist; author of
Comus (1634),
Lycidas (1638),
Areopagitica (1644),
Paradise Lost (1667), and other works.
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
English poet, courtier, and soldier, author of the
Arcadia (1590),
Astrophel and Stella (1591) and
Apology for
Poetry (1595).
Robert South (1634-1716)
High-church Restoration divine and chaplain to James II; he was patronized by the Earl of
Clarendon.
Charles Cuthbert Southey (1819-1888)
Son of Robert Southey whose
Life and Correspondence (1849-1850) he
edited. Educated at Queen's College, Oxford, he was curate of Plumbland in Cumberland,
vicar of Kingsbury Episcopi, Somerset (1855-79) and Askham, near Penrith (1885).
Edmund Spenser (1552 c.-1599)
English poet, author of
The Shepheards Calender (1579) and
The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596).
Izaak Walton (1593-1683)
The friend and biographer of John Donne, and author of
The Compleat
Angler (1653).
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586)
Arcadia. (London: William Ponsonbie, 1593). The “New Arcadia“ consisting of the text as Sidney left it; the “Old
Arcadia“ containing additional episodes was not published until the twentieth
century.
