“I have an invincible dislike to saying the same things
in two different letters, and yet you must own it is no easy matter, to write
half a dozen different ones, upon the same subject. I am at Lisbon, and
therefore all my friends expect some account of Portugal; but it is not
pleasant to reiterate terms of abuse, and continually to present to my own mind
objects of filth and deformity. By way of improving your English cookery, take
the Portuguese receipt for dressing rabbits. The spit is placed either above
the fire, below the fire, by the side of the fire, or in the fire; (this is
when they have a spit, and that is little better than an iron skewer, for they
roast meat in a jug, and boil it in a frying-pan;) to know if it is
| Ætat. 22. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 263 |
“Miss* remains in Lord Bute’s stables, in Madrid:—she amused me on the road by devouring one pair of horsehair socks, one tooth-brush, one comb, a pound of raisins, do. of English beef, and one pair of shoes: Maber has as much reason to remember her. So you see Miss lived well upon the road. Tossed about as I have been by the convulsions of air, water, and earth, and enduring what I have from the want of the other element, I am in high health. My uncle and I never molest each other by our different principles. I used to work Maber sometimes, but
* A favourite dog. |
| 264 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 22. |
| Ætat. 22. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 265 |
“The meeting of the two Courts at Badajos is supposed to
have been political, and it was surmised that Spain meant to draw Portugal into
an alliance with France; they, however, parted on bad terms. War with Spain is
not improbable, and, if our minister knew how to conduct it, would amply repay
the expenses of the execrable contest. The Spanish settlements could not resist
a well-ordered expedition, and humanity would be benefited by the delivery of
that country from so heavy a yoke. There is a very seditious Spaniard there
now, preaching Atheism and
| 266 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 22. |
“I can see no paper here but the London Chronicle, and those every other day papers
are good for nothing. Coleridge is at
Birmingham, I hear; and I hear of his projected ‘Watchman.’ I send five letters by
this post to Bristol, and two to London,—a tolerable job for one who
keeps no secretary. I shall send four by the Magician
frigate, and four more by the next packet. This is pretty well, considering I
read very hard, and spend every evening in company. . . . . I know not why I
have lost all relish for theatrical amusements, of which no one was once more
fond. The round of company here is irksome to me, and a select circle of
intimate friends is the summum bonum
I propose to myself. I leave this country in April; and, when once I reach
England, shall cross the seas no more. O the super-celestial delights of the
road from Falmouth to Launceston! Yet I do believe that Christian, in the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress,’ felt
little more pleasure at his journey’s end than I shall in traversing the
lovely hills and plains of Cornwall. . . . . John Kett was of great service to
me in Spain, and will return to England, where, as soon as I shall have pitched
my tent, I purpose burning him a sacrifice to the household gods, and inurning
his ashes with a suitable epitaph. Then shall sans
culotte be hung upon the wall, and I will make a trophy
of my travelling shoes and fur cap. I am now going out to dinner; then to see a
procession; then to talk French; then to a huge assembly, from whence there is
no returning
| Ætat. 22. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 267 |
“Here are most excellent wines, which I do in no small degree enjoy: the best Port; Bucellas of exquisite quality; old Hock, an old gentleman for whom I have a very great esteem; Cape, and I have ‘good hope’ of getting some to-day; and Malmsey such as makes a man envy Clarence. . . . .
“Farewell! Love to Mrs. L.
