| 198 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
The cessation of the war, as it put an end to some of the great
public interests which had for so long a time filled my father’s thoughts and
imagination, so left him more free to brood over a new class of subjects, not less
important in themselves, and pressing, if possible, still more closely upon his personal
hopes and fears. He viewed with great alarm the internal condition of England, and the
danger arising from anarchical principles among the poor. Upon this subject, as we have
seen, he had already written in the Quarterly
Review, and his letters to Mr. Rickman
have shown in brief some of his reflections. I
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 199 |
At a period much earlier than that which we are now speaking of, he had
contracted a gloomy misanthropical way of speaking, because circumstances had forced upon
his unwilling mind the fact that human nature was not so good as he had fancied
it,—that, in short, men in general were not qualified to be worthy members of his
Republic. Like many other ardent spirits, he had been dreaming of a Respublica Platonis, and waking he had found himself
in fæce Romuli. In a letter of January, 1814, he
says,
| 200 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
The thoughts which made him a political writer were roused wholly by a fear of revolution in England. This feeling was not an unnatural one. He was deeply impressed with the horrors of the French Revolution, and having contemplated the progress and operation in England of the same causes which had led to those horrors in France, he inferred that similar consequences must ensue at home, unless prompt measures were taken to avert them. He accordingly devoted himself to the task of using that power which he had obtained as a periodical writer for this object—a higher object could hardly be named—of exposing the evils in the social condition of the poor,—of rousing his countrymen to acknowledge them,—of patiently seeking out and suggesting, where practicable, the proper remedies. Among the first and foremost of which may be named, the general education of the lower classes based upon sound religious principles, of which he was one of the earliest and most active advocates.
As one of these evils which he wrote against was the incessant corrupting
of men’s minds by the revolutionary, the infidel, and the immoral part of
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 201 |
In the summer of this year (1816) a circumstance occurred, which showed he had not written wholly in vain, and which, had he been less scrupulous, he might doubtless have turned to good account as respected his worldly circumstances, whatever might have been the effect upon his present comfort or his permanent reputation.
It appears that some of his papers in the Quarterly Review had attracted the especial notice of the Ministry of that day, and a communication was privately made to him through various channels, and finally by Mr. Bedford, to the effect that Lord Liverpool wished to have an interview with him, for which purpose he was requested to go immediately to London.
This was certainly as high a compliment as could be paid to his powers as
a political writer. He was, however, as the reader will see, too prudent hastily to catch
at what most persons would have deemed a golden opportunity, and too independent to place
himself unreservedly under the orders of the Govern-
| 202 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“I have seldom taken up a pen with so little knowledge of what was to proceed from it as on this occasion; for after sleeping upon your letters, and thinking on them, and breakfasting upon them, I am at a loss how to reply or how to act. If it be necessary, I will certainly go to London. Do you, after what I may say, talk with Herries, and determine whether it be so. . . . .
“It is very obvious that a sense of danger has
occasioned this step. Look at my first Paper upon the Poor in the 16th Quarterly; had the ministry opened
their eyes four years ago, had they seen what was passing before their eyes,
the evil might then have been checked. The events of a successful war would
have enabled them to pursue a vigorous policy at home. It will be more
difficult now, and requires more courage. And less is to be done by
administering antidotes, than by preventing the dis-
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 203 |
“In any way that may be thought desirable I will do my best; but alas, Grosvenor, what can I do that I have not been doing? A journal with the same object in view as the Anti-Jacobin, but conducted upon better principles, might be of service. I could contribute to it from a distance. But to you it must be obvious, that as my head and hands are not, like Kehama’s, multipliable at pleasure, I can exert myself only in one place at a time, and Government would gain nothing by transferring me from the Quarterly to anything else which they might be willing to launch. It may be said that the Q. R. is established; that this engine is at work, and will go on, and that it is desirable to have more engines than one. I admit this. . . . . In short, whatever ought to be done I am ready to do, and to do it fearlessly. The best thing seems to write a small book or large pamphlet upon the state of the nation.
“In all this I see nothing which would require a change of residence; that measure would induce a great sacrifice of feeling, of comfort, and of expense, and draw on a heavily increased expenditure. They would provide for this; but in what manner? A man is easily provided for who is in a profession, or is capable of holding any official character; this is not my case. . . . .
“You will understand that I will hasten to London
| 204 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“It is better that I should write either to you or Herries a letter to be shown, than that I should show myself. Good may undoubtedly be done by exposing the anarchists, and awakening the sound part of the country to a sense of their danger. This I can do; but it will be of no avail unless it be followed by effective measures. . . . . The immediate distress can best be alleviated by finding employment for the poor. . . . . I am very desirous that Mr. Owen’s plan for employing paupers in agriculture should be tried: he writes like a madman, but his practice ought not to be confounded with his metaphysics; the experiment is worth trying, I do not doubt its success; and the consequences which he so foolishly anticipates will triumph should be regarded as the dreams of an enthusiast, not as reasons to deter Government from the most plausible means of abolishing the poor-rates which has been (or in my judgment can be) proposed. I have seen Owen, and talked with him at great length.
“God bless you!
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 205 |
“About manufactures we shall not differ much, when we fully understand each other. I have no time now to explain; there are strangers coming to tea, and I seize the interval after dinner to say something relative to your prognostics,—a subject which lies as heavy at my heart as any public concerns can do, for I fully and entirely partake your fears.*
“Four years ago I wrote in the Q. R. to explain the state of Jacobinism in the country, and with the hope of alarming the Government. At present they are alarmed; they want to oppose pen to pen, and I have just been desired to go up to town and confer with Lord Liverpool. God help them, and is it come to this! It is well that the press should be employed in their favour; but if they rely upon influencing public opinion by such means, it becomes us rather to look abroad where we may rest our heads in safety, or to make ready for taking leave of them at home.
|
* “I am in a bad state of mind, sorely disgusted at the prevalence of that mock humanity, which is now becoming the instrument of dis solving all authority, government, and, I apprehend, human society itself. Again we shall have to go through chaos and all its stages. It is of no use to think, or to try to act for the benefit of mankind, while this agreeable poison is in full operation, as at present. I retire hopeless into my nutshell till I am disturbed there, which will not be long if the humanity men prevail; the revolution will not, I expect, be less tremendous, or less mischievous than that of France—the mock humanity being only a mode of exalting the majesty of the people and putting all things into the power of the mob. I wish I may be wrong in my prognostics on this subject.”—J. R. to R. S., Sept. 7. 1816. |
| 206 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“I wish to avoid a conference which will only sink me in Lord Liverpool’s judgment: what there may be in me is not payable at sight; give me leisure and I feel my strength. So I shall write to Bedford (through whom, via Herries, the application has been made) such a letter as may be laid before him, and by this means I shall be able to state my opinion of the danger in broader terms than I could well do perhaps in conversation. The only remedy (if even that be not too late) is to check the press; and I offer myself to point out the necessity in a manner which may waken the sound part of the country from their sleep. My measures would be to make transportation the punishment for sedition, and to suspend the Habeas Corpus; and thus I would either have the anarchists under weigh for Botany Bay or in prison within a month after the meeting of Parliament. Irresolution will not do.
“I suppose they will set up a sort of Anti-Jacobin journal, and desire me to write upon the state of the nation before the session opens. If they would—but act as I will write,—I mean as much in earnest and as fearlessly—the country would be saved, and I would stake my head upon the issue, which very possibly may be staked upon it without my consent.
“Of course no person knows of this application except
my wife. By the time my letter (which will go to-morrow) can be answered, I
shall be able to start for London, if it be still required. Most likely it will
be. Meantime I should like to know your opinion of my views. They want you for
their
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 207 |
“Never, I entreat you, think it necessary to apologise for, or to explain any long interval of correspondence on your part, lest it should seem to require a like formality on mine, and make that be regarded in the irksome character of a debt, which is only valuable in proportion as it is voluntary. We have both of us business always to stand in our excuse, nor can any excuses ever be needed between you and me. I thank you for your letter and your inquiries. Time is passing on, and it does its healing work slowly, but will do it effectually at last. As much as I was sensible of the happiness which I possessed, so much must I unavoidably feel the change which the privation of that happiness produces. My hopes and prospects in life are all altered, and my spirits never again can be what they have been. But I have a living faith, I am resigned to what is (if I know my own heart, truly and perfectly resigned), thankful for what has been, and happy in the sure and certain hope of what will be, when this scene of probation shall be over.
“I shall be glad to receive your communications upon
the distresses of the manufacturers; they might probably have been of great use
had they reached
| 208 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 209 |
“I believe I have never congratulated you on your emancipation from mathematics, and on your ordination. This latter event has placed you in an active situation; you have duties enough to perform, and no man who performs his duty conscientiously can be unhappy. He may endure distress of mind as well as of body, but under any imaginable suffering he may look on to the end with hope and with joy.
“Upon mature deliberation, I am clearly of opinion that
it would be very imprudent and impolitic for me to receive anything in the
nature of emolument from Government at this time, in any shape whatsoever. Such
a circumstance would lessen the worth of my services (I mean it would render
them less serviceable), for whatever might come from me would be received with
suspicion, which no means would be spared to excite. As it concerns myself
personally, this ought to be of some weight; but it is entitled infinitely to
greater consideration if you reflect how greatly my influence (whatever it may
be) over a good part of the public would be diminished, if I
| 210 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“It would be superfluous to assure you that, in declining any immediate remuneration, I act from no false pride or false delicacy. Proof enough of this is, that at first I was willing to accept it. But I feel convinced that it would (however undeservedly) discredit me with the public. Every effort, even now, is making to discredit me, as if I had sold myself for the Laureateship. While I am as I am, these efforts recoil upon the enemy, and I even derive advantage
* “What think you of a club of Atheists meeting twice a week at an ale-house in Keswick, and the landlady of their way of thinking?”—To C. W. W. Wynn, Esq., Sept. 11. 1816. |
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 211 |
“God bless you!
“If I am again desired to come to London, it will be
very foolish, after the letters I have written. They are to this purport, to
express my full opinion upon the real state of things, and expose the actual
danger in broad terms; to recommend, as the only means of averting it, that the
batteries which arc now playing in breach upon the Government, be silenced; in
other words, that the punishment for sedition be made such as to prevent a
repetition of the offence. . . . . I have endeavoured to make the necessity of
these measures felt, and show that, for my own part, I cannot be better
employed anywhere than here; and that if it be thought advisable that I should
either covertly or openly give up some time to political writing, it would
counteract, in great measure, the effect of anything, if I were to accept of
anything in shape of office or augmented pension. This, therefore, I have
decidedly
| 212 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“I heartily wish you were in an efficient situation. Everything may be done with foresight and intention; without them, everything must go to ruin.
“God bless you!
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 213 |
“I have received no further communication from Bedford, which is very well, as I must finish some few things, and rid my hands of them, before I set seriously to work in the good cause. Meantime the subject occupies my mind in all intervals of employment. . . . . I shall take a wide range; and I feel just now as if it were in my power to produce a work which, whatever might be its immediate effect, should be referred to hereafter as a faithful estimate of these times.
“Davy was here last week, and told me a valuable fact. A friend of his who, applying philosophical knowledge to practical purposes, has turned manufacturer at Clitheroe, went abroad immediately after the peace, not to seek for orders, but to examine with his own eyes the state of the manufacturers on the Continent. He returned with a conviction that it was necessary to draw in; reduced his produce in time, and in consequence is doing well, while his neighbours are breaking all around. Certain it is that manufactures depending upon machinery advanced very rapidly during the last war. No prohibition or penalties, however severe, can prevent machinery and workmen from finding their way abroad; to this we must make up our mind, and it is better that it should be so. A little time sets these things to rights.
| 214 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“I incline to think there will come a time when public opinion will no more tolerate the extreme of poverty in a large class of the community, than it now tolerates slavery in Europe. Meantime it is perfectly clear that the more we can improve the condition of the lower classes, the greater number of customers we procure for the home market; and that if we can make people pay taxes instead of claiming poor-rates, the wealth as well as security of the State is increased. The poor-rates are a momentous subject, and I have long believed you were the only man who could grapple with it. I see, or think I see, palliatives and alteratives, in providing the labourers with garden and grass land, in establishing saving banks, in national education, and in affording all possible facilities and encouragement for emigration, and in colonising at home upon our waste lands.
“The state of the Church is another important question,
assailed as it is on all sides. I think it would be possible to take in the
Methodists as a sort of Cossacks, or certainly to employ those persons
henceforward in aid of the Establishment, who, if not thus employed, will swell
the numbers of the Methodists and act against it. There are no differences of
doctrine in the way; it is but to let the licence come from the clergyman
instead of the magistrate, to invent some such name as coadjutor for those who
have a ‘call;’ let them catechise the children, convert the women,
reclaim the reprobates, and meet on week days, or at extra hours on Sundays in
the church, to expound or sing psalms;
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 215 |
“By nature I am a poet, by deliberate choice an historian, and a political writer I know not how; by accident, or the course of events. Yet I think I can do something towards awakening the country, and that I can obtain the confidence of well-disposed minds by writing honestly and sincerely upon things in which all persons are concerned.
“Were I to accept a good berth, which is held out to me, it would very much counteract the impression which I am aiming to produce. Instead of attempting to answer my arguments and assertions, the anarchists would then become the assailants, and attack me as one who had sold himself.
“God bless you!
“I have not looked with impatience for further news
from you, because, whatever news you might have to send, I must needs finish a
paper in time for the present number,—for the love of 100l. I have no intention of going to London unless there
be a necessity for it. Application was made to me, some months ago, to revise a
great book by Raffles upon the Island of Java before it goes
to press;
| 216 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“That I shall make an appeal to the good sense of the country upon the existing state of things, and the prospect before us, is very likely, since my attention has been thus called to it. Indeed, if there be a probability of doing good, there seems little reason for any further stimulus, and the thing may be done certainly as well, and perhaps more becomingly, without any further intimation from the powers above. I incline at present to write anonymously, or under some fictitious name; for were the book to attract notice (and if it does not it will be useless), a mystery about the author would very much increase its sale. In that case a change of publishers would contribute to keep the secret; and, if I seek a new one, Nicoll would obviously be the man. In meditating upon this work I grow ambitious, and think of presenting such a view of things, as, whether it produce immediate benefit or not, may have a permanent value both for matter and composition.
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 217 |
“Pray Inform me with the least possible delay whether, as P. L., I am exempt from serving parish offices, the people of Keswick having this day thrust honour upon me in the office of surveyor (what it means they best know); my appeal against the appointment must be made on the 12th of this month. Whatever the office be, I have neither knowledge, leisure, or inclination for it.
“Abuse does good, and of that I have plenty; but praise is more useful, and is not so liberally bestowed. I have seen a number of the Champion, in which my name stands for text to a sermon nothing relating to me; but at the conclusion it is said that the change in my opinions, as implied in my last writings, is that I recommend implicit submission; hence it should appear that the said Champion had not read those writings. Hunt and Hazlitt, I know, incessantly attack me; this barking makes a noise, and noise calls attention; so that as long as they have it not in their power to pass sentence upon me as a counter-revolutionist, such enmity is in its degree useful.
“The children, thank God, are well, and so am I as far
as the husk is concerned; but the interior is as unlike what it was
twelvemonths ago, as the darkest November day Is unlike the bright sunshine of
a genial May morning. And, whenever I relapse into recollections of what has
been (and every hour brings with it something that calls up these thoughts), it
is an effort to refrain from tears. I go about my business as usual, perform
the ordinary functions of life, see company, go out visit-
| 218 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“This is too deep a strain. Give me my cap and Bells. . . . .
“Can you send me some money? I am pauper et inops. The next number will float me. I have a thousand things to say to you if you were here; and have planned many expeditions into the vales and up the mountains when next you come. Remember me to all at home. God bless you!
“. . . . . About the poor I am very anxious to be
informed thoroughly, and very sensible how deficient I am in the right sort of
knowledge on this subject; that is, how the great evil is to be
remedied—that of the poor-rates. My present views can reach no further
than to the slow alterations and preventives, of good instruction in youth and
encouragement to frugality and industry afterwards by means of hope. Concerning
immediate alleviations, I entirely agree with you in the great advantage of
undertaking great public works, and stated it strongly some years ago
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 219 |
“My scheme is something of this kind; (but though I am always long even to dilatoriness in planning whatever I write, the plan is very much altered in the course of execution;) 1st. State in which the war has left us, political and moral. 2nd. Necessity of that war, and Bonaparte drawn to the life, as the Perfect Emperor of the English friends of freedom. 3rd. Sketch of the history of anarchical opinions in this country from Charles the First’s time. Wilkes and Junius the root in modern times—the first fruit was the American war; the French revolution the second. This leads to, 4th. A view of the united reformers, i. e. the enemies of Government, under their several classes; their modes of operation; their various plans of reform, and the sure consequences of each. . . . .
“All this will be well liked, and if I looked for
favour it would be prudent to stop here; but it is not from any such motive
that I put myself in the front of the battle. But here I wish to begin upon an
exposure of the evils which exist in our state of society, and which it is the
duty and interest of Government, as far as possible, to mitigate and remove.
Some things should be got rid of as matters of scandal. To destroy influence in
elections would be neither
| 220 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“The great evil is the state of the poor, which, with our press and our means of communication, constantly exposes us to the horrors of a bellum servile, and sooner or later, if not remedied, will end in one. . . . .
“There are also great evils in the delays of law, which
are surely capable of remedy, and in the expense of criminal law. . . . . A
greater still in the condition of women; here we are upon your old ground: and
passing from morals to religion, I think I could show how a great comprehension
is practicable,—that is, how the Church might
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 221 |
“One topic more, which is not introduced here in its proper place, may conclude this long outline. All professions, trades, and means of getting a livelihood among us are over-stocked. We must create a new layer of customers at home by bettering the condition of the lower classes, and giving them more wants, with more means of gratifying them. We must extend establishments instead of diminishing them,—more clergymen, more colleges, more courts of law; and lastly, we must colonise upon the true principle of colonisation, and cultivate every available acre at home. God bless you!
“I want to raise 30l. a year for four years from this time, and for this purpose:—
“There is a lad at Richmond school (Yorkshire), by name
Herbert Knowles, picked out from a
humble situation for his genius (he has neither father nor mother), and sent to
this school (a very excellent one) by Dr.
Andrews, Dean of Canterbury, and a
| 222 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“In this state of things, Herbert Knowles, God help him, thought the sure way to help himself was to publish a poem. Accordingly, he writes one, and introduces himself by letter to me, requesting leave to dedicate it to my worship, if, upon perusal, I think it worthy, and so forth. Of course I represented to him the folly of such a scheme, but the poem is brimful of power and of promise. I have written to his master, and received the highest possible character of him both as to disposition and conduct; and now I want to secure for him that trifling assistance, which may put him in the right path, and give him at least a fair chance of rendering the talents, with which God has endowed him, useful to himself and beneficial to others.
“Of the 30l. which are wanting
for the purpose, I will give 10l., and it is not for
want of will that I do
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 223 |
It does not appear that Mr. Bedford’s applications were successful, and my father then applied to Mr. Rogers, with whose willingness to give assistance to struggling genius he was well acquainted, and who promptly and most kindly expressed his pleasure at this opportunity being afforded him, and also conveyed the promise of the third portion of the sum required from Lord Spencer, whose guest he chanced to be at the time my father’s letter reached him. All difficulties now seemed removed, and the tidings were gladly communicated by my father to Herbert Knowles, whose grateful and sensible reply will, I think, not be deemed misplaced here.
“I have duly received your two last letters, both of
which have filled me with pleasure and gratitude, not so much for the solid
advantage which your kindness affords and has obtained for me, as for the
tender
| 224 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“And now, my dear Sir, I will freely state to you my feelings and my sentiments at the present hour. Upon reading the Life of Kirke White, I was struck with surprise at the distinguished success which he met with at the University; and from his inordinate anxiety and immoderate exertions* to obtain it, I was insensibly led into the opinion, not that his success at college was considered as a sine quâ non for the benevolence of his patrons, but that that benevolence was given under the impression, and accompanied with the expectation, that he would make a corresponding
* I extract here the melancholy record of some of these exertions, “During his first term, one of the university scholarships became vacant; and Henry, young as he was in college, and almost self-taught, was advised by those who were best able to estimate his chance of success to offer himself as a competitor for it. He passed the whole term in preparing himself for this; reading for college subjects in bed, in his walks, or, as he says, where, when, and how he could; never having a moment to spare, and often going to his tutor without having read at all. His strength sunk under this; and though he had declared himself a candidate, he was compelled to decline: but this was not the only misfortune. The general college examination came on; he was utterly unprepared to meet it, and believed that a failure here would have ruined his prospects for ever. He had only about a fortnight to read what other men had been the whole term reading. Once more he exerted himself beyond what his shattered health could bear; the disorder returned; and he went to his tutor, Mr. Catton, with tears in his eyes, and told him that he could not go into the hall to be examined. Mr. Catton, however, thought his success here of so much importance, that he exhorted him, with all possible earnestness, to hold out the six days of the examination. Strong medicines were given him to enable him to support it, and he was pronounced the first man of his year. But life was the price which he was to pay for such honours as this; and Henry is not the first young man to whom such honours have proved fatal. He said to his most intimate friend, almost the last time he saw him, that were he to paint a picture of Fame, crowning a distinguished undergraduate after the senate-house examination, he would represent her as concealing a death’s head under a mask of beauty.”—Remains of H. K. White, vol. i. p. 46. |
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 225 |
“I will not deceive. If I thought the bounty of my friends was offered under the same impression, I would immediately decline it. Far be it from me to foster expectations which I feel I cannot gratify. My constitution is not able to bear half the exertion under which Kirke White sunk; double those exertions would be insufficient to obtain before October next his attainments, or insure his success at St. John’s. Two years ago I came to Richmond, totally ignorant of classical and mathematical literature. Out of that time, during three months and two long vacations, I have made but a retrograde course; during the remaining part of the time, having nothing to look forward to, I had nothing to exert myself for, and wrapped in visionary thought, and immersed in cares and sorrows peculiarly my own, I was diverted from the regular pursuit of those qualifications which are requisite for University distinction. . . . . I need not say much more. If I enter into competition for University honours, I shall kill myself. Could I twine (to gratify my friends) a Laurel with the Cypress, I would not repine; but to sacrifice the little inward peace which the wreck of passion has left behind, and relinquish every hope of future excellence and future usefulness in one wild and unavailing pursuit, were indeed a madman’s act, and worthy of a madman’s fate.
“Yet will I not be idle; but as far as health and
strength allow, I will strive that my passage through the University, if not
splendid, shall be respectable;
| 226 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“I am at a loss to convey to you the high sense I feel of your proffered kindness, and that of your friends. The common professions of gratitude all can use, and extraordinary ones are unnecessary. Suffice it, then, to say, I thank you from my heart; let time and my future conduct tell the rest.
“I know not how I should act with respect to Lord Spencer and Mr. Rogers. Will you direct me? Should I write to them? If so, will you give me their respective addresses? With the highest esteem for your character, profound veneration for your talents, and the warmest gratitude for your kindness, I have the honour to be,
Alas! as in the case of Kirke White and young Dusautoy, the fair promise which high principle, talent, and good sense combined, seemed to hold forth, was blighted in the bud, and not two months from the date of this letter, Herbert Knowles was laid in his early grave. Too truly had he prognosticated that his feeble body and ardent mind could not have borne the requirements of hard study, for the mere excitement of his improved and now hopeful prospects, seems to have hastened the close of a life which, we might suppose, under no circumstances, could have been a long one.
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 227 |
His kind friend, Mr. Tate, communicated the event to my father; and after speaking of him with the greatest affection, and saying that all that the kind attention of friends and medical skill could do, had been done, he adds, “But with ardour and genius, encouraged by the most flattering patronage, the stamina of his constitution could not support the anxious energies of such a mind; and before we were well aware of the danger that impended, the lamp was consumed by the fire which burned in it. . . . . Poor Herbert had in prospect commenced his academical career. He died grateful to all his friends, and had longed for recovery the more earnestly, that he might redeem his unwilling silence by the expression of his gratitude.”
“. . . . . Is there not something; monstrous in taking such a subject as the Plague in a Great City?* Surely it is out-Germanising the Germans. It is like bringing racks, wheels, and pincers upon the stage to excite pathos. No doubt but a very pathetic tragedy might be written upon “the Chamber of the Amputation,” cutting for the stone, or the Caesarean operation; but actual and tangible horrors do not belong to poetry.
* This allusion is to Wilson’s “City of the Plague.” |
| 228 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“What news to-morrow may bring of Monday’s riots, God knows,—the loss of some lives, I expect; and this I am sure of, that if Government refrain much longer from exerting those means which are intrusted to it for the preservation of public security, the alternative will be, ere long, between revolution and a military system.
“I am more sorry than surprised to see so many sailors in the mob. It has always been the custom to disband as many men as possible at the conclusion of a war, but there has been often a great cruelty in this; and in the present instance a great and glaring impolicy. The immediate cause of that distress which was felt in the beginning of the year, was an enormous diminution of the national expenditure; the war, a customer of fifty millions, being taken out of the market, and consequently a great number of hands put out of employ, Now surely to spend less, and turn off more hands, is only an Irish way of remedying this.
“You, who know how much my thoughts have been led
towards the subject, will not be surprised to hear that I am writing Observations upon the Moral and Political State of
England. What I have
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 229 |
| 230 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“Your last letter gave me great and most unexpected
concern. I had indeed believed that you were sailing on a quiet sea, in no
danger of shoals or tempests. By what principle, or what strange want of
principle, is it that mercantile men so often, for the sake of the shortest
reprieve from bankruptcy, involve their nearest friends and connexions with
them? I write to you in a frame of mind which you will easily conceive, looking
back upon the year which has just closed, and reflecting on the trials with
which we have both been visited during its course. Your loss, I would fain
hope, may not prove altogether so great as you apprehend; and I would hope also
that some prize in the lottery of life, full of change as it is, may one day or
other replace it. Even at the worst it leaves you heart-whole. It will be long
before I shall find myself so; and if life had no duties, I should be very far
from desiring its continuance for the sake of any enjoyments which it can
possibly have in store. I have the same sort of feeling that a man who is
fondly attached to his family has when absent from them,—as if I were on
a journey. I yearn, perhaps more than I ought to do, to be at home and at rest.
Yet what abundant cause have I for thankfulness, possessing as I do so many
blessings, that I should think no man could possibly be happier, if I had not
been so much happier myself. Do not think
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 231 |
| 232 | LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE | Ætat. 43. |
“God bless you, my dear Friend!
“The Courier of to-night tells me I am elected member of the Royal Institute of Amsterdam; now I put it to your feelings, Mr. Bedford, whether it be fitting that a man upon whom honour is thus thrust, should be without a decent pair of pantaloons to receive it in; such, however, is my condition; and unless you can prevail upon the Grand Hyde to send me some new clothes without delay, I shall very shortly become a sans culottes, however unwilling Minerva may be. Moreover, I have promised to pay a visit at Netherhall* toward the end of this month, and I must therefore supplicate for the said clothes in formâ pauperis.
“The packet wherein this will be enclosed carries up the conclusion of a rousing paper for Gifford, which, with some omissions and some insertions, will be shaped into the two first chapters of my book. It will not surprise me if in some parts it should
* The seat of his friend Humphrey Senhouse, Esq. |
| Ætat. 43. | OF ROBERT SOUTHEY. | 233 |
“Were I to see one of these personages, and he were to propose anything specific, it would probably be some scheme of conducting a journal à la mode the Anti-Jacobin. This is no work for me. They may find men who will like it, and are fitter for it.
“I think of being in town in April, si possum. My book, peradventure, may be ready by that time; but there is a large field before me, and many weighty subjects. Meantime, though I want nothing for myself, and certainly would not at this time accept of anything, I should nevertheless be very glad if they would remember that I have a brother in the navy. God bless you!
| ≪ PREV | NEXT ≫ |
