The Life and Correspondence of Robert Southey
Robert Southey to Grosvenor C. Bedford, 19 November 1797
“Grosvenor, I
have found out a better fence for our Utopia than Carlisle’s plantation of vipers and rattlesnakes, it
is,—to surround it with a vacuum; for you know,
Grosvenor, this would so puzzle the philosophers on
the other side; and we might see them making experiments on the atmosphere, to
the great annoyance of dogs, whom they would scientifically torture. Besides,
if we had any refractory inmate, we might push him into the void.
“. . . . . I hate the journey; and yet going to London
I may say with Quarles,
“‘My journey’s better than my journey’s
end.’ |
![]()
A little home, Grosvenor, near the sea, or in any
quiet country where there is water to bathe in, and what should I wish for in
this life? and how could I be so honourably or so happily employed as in
writing?
“If Buonaparte
should come before I look like ![]()
| 324 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 23. |
![]()
Sir John Comyns! Oh that fine chuckle
head was made for the law! I am too old to have my skull moulded.
“. . . . . Why not trust the settled quietness to which
my mind has arrived? It is wisdom to avoid all violent emotions. I would not
annihilate my feelings, but I would have them under a most Spartan despotism.
Grosvenor, Inveni portum,
spes et fortuna valete.
“‘Tu quoque, si vis Lumine claro Cernere rectum, Gaudia pelle, Pelle timorem, Spemque fugato, Nec dolor adsit.’ |
![]()
I have laid up the advice of Boëthius
in my heart, and prescribe it to you,—so fare you well.
Grosvenor Charles Bedford (1773-1839)
The son of Horace Walpole's correspondent Charles Bedford; he was auditor of the
Exchequer and a friend of Robert Southey who contributed to several of Southey's
publications.
Boethius (480 c.-524)
Philosopher and Christian theologian, author of
The Consolations of
Philosophy.
Sir Anthony Carlisle (1768-1840)
English surgeon and professor of anatomy at the Royal Academy (1808).
Sir John Comyns (1667-1740)
Tory barrister; he was lord chief baron of the exchequer (1738) and author of
Digest of the Laws of England.
Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821)
Military leader, First Consul (1799), and Emperor of the French (1804), after his
abdication he was exiled to Elba (1814); after his defeat at Waterloo he was exiled to St.
Helena (1815).
Francis Quarles (1592-1644)
English poet and royalist whose
Emblems (1635) were long
reprinted.
