“. . . . . I am amused to hear that before the fourth volume could be
permitted to circulate in the Book
| 340 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 63. |
“I think of a special Inter«chapter upon the occasion, proposing a reform of our vocabulary: for example, that as no one ventures to pronounce the name of a she-dog before female ears, the principle of decency should be carried through, (as reformers phrase it,) and we should speak of a she-horse, a she-cow; he-goat and she-goat are in use, so ought he-sheep and she-sheep to be; or Tom-sheep, as no one has objected to Tom-cat: then touch upon the Family Shakspeare, and hint at a Family Bible upon a plan different from all others. . . . .
“People say they know me to be the author. As how? There are two ways: one is, by being in the secret. Now it must be presumed that none who are would commit so gross a breach of confidence as to proclaim it. The other way is, they know it by particular circumstances, and by internal evidences; their knowledge, therefore, is worth just what their opinion may be,—no more.
“This is certain, that some of my nearest relations and oldest friends have not been entrusted with the secret: in this way we have a good right to discredit the assertions of persons who show so little sense of what they ought to have considered a moral obligation.
“God bless you!
| Ætat. 63. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 341 |
“We dined yesterday in the bed of one of the Borodale streams. Karl, and Erroll Hill, Kate, Miss Muckle, Davies, and I. Just when we had finished our dinner came on a noble thunder-storm. The subject would have been good for a picture: rocks and umbrellas sheltered some of us well. I was among the fortunate. Erroll and Davies got well soaked. We sate it out like so many Patiences, except that Patience, though she may have been in as heavy a storm, was never in so merry a mood. The force of the storm was at Armboth, about two miles from us, where some sheep were killed and other mischief done. Lowdore was nearly dry in the morning; and on our return it was in great force. I did not think an hour’s rain could possibly have swollen the streams so much. God bless you!
