“. . . . . Poor Karl* is to start on Monday, the 12th, if no mishap intervene. . . . His sisters will miss
* The German abbreviation of my name, which he commonly used. |
| 276 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 60. |
“Time, however, passes rapidly with us; every day brings its employments, and my interest in them is unabated. Last week I received a parcel sent by Quillinan from Porto, containing Gil Vincente’s works, a present from one of the editors. My uncle would have rejoiced with me over it, but in losing him, I lost the only person who could fully enter into that branch of my pursuits. The book is printed at Hamburgh, from a copy of the first edition in the Gottenburgh Library: I believe there is no other copy of that edition in Europe, and none of the only other one are in England, that other, moreover, having been expurgated by the Inquisition. More than any other writer Gil V. may be called the father of the Spanish drama. He was a man of most extraordinary genius, his satire so undaunted, that it accounts for the almost utter annihilation of his work. As connected with the history of Portuguese manners and literature, this republication is the most important work that could have been undertaken. I sup upon him every night.
“Grimshaw and his publishers, by taking the evangelical line, have removed the only uncomfortable circumstance in my way, which was the care I must otherwise have taken (in consideration to the publishers) not to say anything that would have been unpalatable to that party. . . . .
| Ætat. 60. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 277 |
“The first fine day in next week. Bertha, Kate, Karl, and I are to accompany the Lord High Snab* to his estate, and there each of us is to plant a yew tree, which planting I am to celebrate in a poem that is to live as long as the yew trees themselves, live they ever so long. I need not tell you how happy the Lord High Snab is at the prospect of both the fête and the poem. It does one’s heart good to see a man so thoroughly happy who so thoroughly deserves to be so. . . . .
“God bless you!
