“The tone and temper of your letter left me in an
uncomfortable mood;—certainly I deserved it—as far as negligence
deserves reproof so harsh;—but indeed, Grosvenor, you have been somewhat like the Scotch judge, who
included all rape, robbery, murder, and horse-stealing under the head of
sedition; so have you suspected negligence of cloaking a cold, and fickle, and
insincere heart. Dear, dear Grosvenor, if by any magic of
ear you could hear how often your name passes my lips! or could you see how
often I see your figure in my walks—the recollections—and the
wishes—but what are these? A hundred times should I have begun a letter
if there had been enough to fill it,—if I could have sent you the
| 158 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 27. |
“With Drummond it
seems I go not, but he and Wynn design to
get for me—or try to get—a better berth;—that of Secretary to
some Italian Legation, which is permanent, and not personally attached to the
minister. Amen. I love the south, and the possibility highly pleases me, and
the prospect of advancing my fortunes. To England I have no strong tie; the
friends whom I love live so widely apart that I never see two in a place; and
for acquaintance, they are to be found everywhere. Thus much for the future;
for the present I am about to move to Coleridge, who is at the Lakes;—and I am labouring,
somewhat blindly indeed, but all to some purpose, about my ways and means; for
the foreign expedition that has restored my health, has at the same time picked
my pocket; and if I had not good spirits and cheerful industry, I should be
somewhat surly
| Ætat. 27. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 159 |
“Thus, then, is my time employed, or thus it ought to be; for how much is dissipated by going here and there,—dinnering, and tea-taking, and suppering, traying, or eveninging, take which phrase of fashion pleases you,—you may guess.
“Grosvenor, I perceive no change in myself, nor any
symptoms of change; I differ only in years from what I was, and years make less
difference in me than in most men. All things considered, I feel myself a
fortunate and happy man; the future wears a better face than it has ever done,
and I have no reason to regret that indifference to fortune which has marked
the past. By the by, it is unfortunate that you cannot come to the sacrifice of
one law book—my whole proper stock—whom I design to take up to the
top of Mount Etna, for the express purpose of throwing him down straight to the
devil. Huzza, Grosvenor! I was once
afraid that I should have a deadly deal of law to forget whenever I had
| 160 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 27. |
“You will direct to Keswick, Cumberland. I set off on Saturday next, and shall be there about Tuesday; and if you could contrive to steal time for a visit to the Lakes, you would find me a rare guide.
“If you have not seen the second volume of Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads, I counsel you to buy them, and read aloud the poems entitled The Brothers, and Michael; which, especially the first, are, to my taste, excellent. I have never been so much affected, and so well, as by some passages there.
“God bless you. Edith’s remembrance.
