“I am bitterly disappointed at not finding ‘The Flagellant’ here, of
which I sent my only copy to my uncle. It
was my intention to have brought it home again with me. You see, Grosvenor, this relic is already become rare.
Have you received the original Joan
of Arc, written at Brixton, bound decently, &c.? I left it with
Cottle, to send with your copy: he
has the transcript of it himself, which he begged with most friendly devotion,
and, I believe, values as much as a monk does the parings of his tutelary
saint’s great toe nail. Is not the preface a hodgepodge of inanity? I had
written the beginning only
| 268 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 22. |
“What has all this to do with Lisbon? say you. Take a sonnet for the ladies, imitated from the Spanish of Bartolomi Leonardo, in which I have given the author at least as many ideas as he has given me.
“Nay, cleanse this filthy mixture from thy hair, And give the untricked tresses to the gale; The sun, as lightly on the breeze they sail, Shall gild the bright brown locks: thy cheek is fair, Away then with this artificial hue, This blush eternal! lady, to thy face Nature has given no imitable grace. Why these black spots obtruding on the view The lily cheek, and these ear jewels too, That ape the barbarous Indian’s vanity! Thou need’st not with that necklace there invite The prying gaze; we know thy neck is white. Go to thy dressing room again, and be Artful enough to learn simplicity.” |
“Could you not swear to the author if you had seen this
in the newspaper? You must know, Bedford, I have a deadly aversion to anything merely ornamental in
female dress. Let the dress be as
| Ætat. 22. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 269 |
“Do write to me, and promise me a visit at Bristol in the summer; for, after I have returned to Edith, I will never quit her again, so that we shall remain there till I settle doggedly to law, which I hope will be during the next winter. . . . .
“Timothy Dwight (Bedford, I defy you or Mr. Shandy to physiognomise that man’s name rightly. What historian is it who, in speaking of Alexander’s feast, says they listened to one Timothy a musician?) Timothy Dwight, an American, published, in 1785, an heroic poem on the conquest of Canaan. I had heard of it, and long wished to read it, in vain; but now the American minister (a good-natured man, whose poetry is worse than anything except his criticism) has lent me the book. There certainly is some merit in the poem; but, when Colonel Humphreys speaks of it, he will not allow me to put in a word in defence of John Milton. If I had written upon this subject I should have been terribly tempted to take part with the Canaanites, for whom I cannot help feeling a kind of brotherly compassion. There is a fine ocean of ideas floating about in my brain-pan for Madoc, and a high delight do I feel in sometimes indulging them till self-forgetfulness follows.
“’Tis a vile kind of philosophy, that for
to-morrow’s prospect glooms to-day; àpropos, sit
down when you have no better employment, and find all the faults
| 270 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 22. |
“Do you remember the days when you wrote No. 3. at Brixton? We dined on mutton chops and
* “The Retrospect” was published, among some poems by my father and Mr. Lovel, in the autumn of 1794.
|
| Ætat. 22. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 271 |
‘“With jealous eye, Hating a rival’s look, the husband hides His miserable meal.” |
“No, Grosvenor, you and I shall not talk politics. I am weary of them, and little love politicians; for me, I shall think of domestic life, and confine my wishes within the little circle of friendship. The rays become more intense, in proportion as they are drawn to a point. Heighho! I should be very happy were I now in England: with Edith by the fireside, I would listen to the pelting rain with pleasure,—now it is melancholy music, yet fitly harmonising with my hanging mood.
“Farewell! write long letters.
|
* One of the Westminster masters. † The depository of the contributions to “The Flagellant.” |
| 272 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 22. |
“P.S. In many parts of Spain they have female shavers: the proper name of one should be Barbara.”
