fantastic mountains of Borrodaile. Behind us is the
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ROBERT SOUTHEY. 361
massy Skiddaw, smooth, green, high with two chasms,
and a tent-like ridge in the larger. A fairer scene you have
not seen in all your wanderings.^
The benefit Southey had derived from his residence in
Portugal induced him to hope for some foreign appoint-
ment, which would enable him to fix his abode in a
warmer latitude. He had some prospect of obtaining a
secretaryship to the embassy at Constantinople, and con-
templated a tour in the East with great satisfaction. He
was at a little trouble in raising the necessary funds for his
travelling expedition to the Lakes, where he arrived in the
coiu^e of the summer. The scenery disappointed him at
first ; his memory still dwelling on the broader waters, and
the loftier mountains, and the purer and brighter sunshine
of a southern landscape ; but more familiar acquaintance
converted disappointment into admiration and love. The
gorgeous splendoiu: of other lands may appeal to the
imagination, and captivate the eye ; but the gentler loveli-
ness of English scenery, like that of our English women,
speaks imperceptibly to the heart, and fascinates affec-
tion.
In the autumn of the year, he paid a visit to his friend
Mr. Wynn at his seat Uangedwin, in North Wales, where
on his arrival he found a letter awaiting him, offering him
the appointment of secretary to Mr. Corry, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer for Ireland with a salary of £350 a-year.
He accepted the post, and as his services were required at
once, hastened back to Keswick to make the necessary pre-
parations for his journey. At Dublin he was preseiiMJed
with a visible argument in favour of the Union, by some
glaring specimens of the inveterate peculation that had
flourished under the native government. The duties of
his office required him after a very short stay there to
proceed to London, and he expresses an unusual soreness
at his altered position with regard to the world, or rather a
Digitized by VjOOQIC
362 ROBERT SOUTHEY.
certain section of that multiform concretion : '^ As if/'
says he, " the author of * Joan of Arc,' and ' Thalaba,'
was made a great man by scribing for the Irish Chancellor
of the Exchequer." No one ever had a greater and more
becoming sense of the dignity of the literary calling than
Southey, and his pure and upright dealing throughout
contributed to vindicate his lofty notion. The world
thought him elevated in the social scale by the acceptance
of this paltry appointment. Southey rather looked upon
it as a degradation, for it suspended higher labours.
In the beginning of 1802, his mother, who was residing
with him at London, died, and the loss was severely felt
by one of his acute sensibilities. As the duties of his office
were chiefly nominal, Mr. Corry proposed that he should
comprise among them the tuition of his son to fill up the
vacant time. To this Southey properly objected, and
urged by conscientious motives, resigned " a foolish office
and a good salary," and retired to Bristol. " I have a job
in hand for Longman and Rees which will bring in £60,
a possibility of £40, and a chance of a further £30." For
such cheering prospects he threw up a comfortable sine-
cure.
His own straits only made him more sympathizing
with the necessities of others. He undertook, in con-
junction with Cottle, an edition of Chatterton's Works,
for the benefit of the poet's sister, Mrs. Newton and her
daughter, who were in extremely reduced circumstances,
and felt as happy in handing over to her £300, the pro-
ceeds of his industry, as the poor woman could have felt in
receiving it.
In September, 1802, his first child was borni, and he
becanie anxious to settle for life. He thought of Rich-
mond, Keswick, Wales, and entered into a treaty for Maes
Gwyn, a house in the Vale of Neath, which, on some
misunderstanding with the landlord, was broken off. His
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ROBERT SOUTHEY. 363
thoughts stiU occasionally reverted to the South. Writing
to his brother in May, he says : " This war terrifies and
puzzles me about Portugal. I think of going over alone
this next winter while I can. I have fifteen quartos
on the way from Lisbon, and — zounds ! if they should
be taken r'
In June, 1803, he made a short trip to London to
consult with Messrs. Longman and Rees respecting their
projected "Bibliotheca Britannica," and he meditated
settling at Richmond, and devoting himself entirely to this
extensive and laborious work. But his first-born child —
the infisoit girl of whom he had been so " foolishly fond"
— was taken from him, and the bereaved parents turned
their steps to Keswick, for the consolations of friendship
in the society of Mr. and Mrs. Coleridge.
The excited state of public affairs deeply affected the
interests of literature, and the publishers deemed it
prudent to defer the appearance of their weighty under^
taking. Meanwhile, two extracts from letters written
during the following year, wiH afford some glimpse of our
author's occupations.
In March, writing to Rickman, he says : " I have more
in hand than Bonaparte or Marquis Wellesley — digesting
Gothic law, gleaning moral history from monkish legends,
and conquering India, or rather Asia with Albuquerque,
filling up the chinks of the day by hunting in Jesuit
chronicles, and. compiling ' Collectanea Hispanica and
Gothica.' Meantime, 'Madoc* sleeps, and my lucre of
gain compilation. (* Specimens of the English Poets') goes
on at night, when I am fairly obliged to lay history aside,
because it perplexes me in my dreams."
In September of the same year, he thus writes to his
brother :
" Meantime, these are my employments— to finish the
correcting and printing of * Madoc,' to get through my
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364 ROBERT SOUTHEY.
annual work of reviewing, and bring my history as fiir
forward as possible. In the press, I have: 1. 'Metrical
Tales and other Poems ;' 2. * Specimens of the later
English Poets/ i. c, of all who have died from 1685 to
1800; 3. *Madoc,* in quarto, whereof twenty-two sheets
are printed. I am learning Dutch. My reason for
attaining the language is, that as the Dutch conquered,
or rather destroyed, the Portuguese empire in Asia, the
history of the downfall of that empire is, of course, more
fully related by Dutch than by Portuguese historians. I
have so far altered my original plan of the history as to
resolve upon not introducing the life of St. Francisco and
the Chiu'ch therewith connected, but to reserve them for a
separate history of Monachism, which will make a very
entertaining and amusing work. A good honest quarto
may comprise it. My whole historical labours will then
consist of three separate works : 1. * History of Portugal' :
the European part, 3 vols. ; 2. ' History of the Portu-
guese Empire in Asia,' 2 or 3 vols. ; 3. ' History of
Brazil;' 4. 'History of the Jesuits in Japan;' 5. * Lite-
rary History of Spain and Portugal,' 2 vols. ; 6. ' History
of Monachism.' In all, ten, eleven, or twelve quarto
volumes ; and you can easily imagine with what pleasure
I look at all the labour before me." Happy Southey !
Gradually, he became stationary at Keswick, fixed
there by his everraccumulating library, which so increased
that it became impossible to move it about with him.
His life, henceforth, presents few incidents that affected his
character or career, flowing on in an even tenor to the
last, reading and writing his sole occupation. His health
was preserved by frequent excursions to the neighbouring
counties, to London and to the continent, and generally
with a party of friends. These trips formed his only
relaxation, but his leisure was as laborious as other men's
toil. He kept minute accounts of everything that fell
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ROBERT SOUTHEY. 365
under his observation, ransacked book-stalls, dived into
libraries, while huge packages of books, straggling after
him at uncertain intervals, invariably followed his retiun
home.
In the previous summer, he had paid a visit to London,
where he dined with Sotheby, the amiable translator of
" Oberon," and met several of the more distinguished
literati; and this year (1805), he accompanied his friend,
the Rev. Peter Elmsley (afterwards Principal of St.
Alban's Hall, Oxford), to Scotland, visited Sir Walter
Scott at Ashestiel, and went over the ground to which that
poet had imparted a renewed interest by his recent poem,
" The Lay of the Last Minstrel."
His manner of life when at home, which afterwards
experienced little variation, is thus detailed in a letter to a
friend : " My actions are as regular as St. Dunstan's quar-
ter-boys. Three pages of history after breakfast (equivalent
to five in small quarto printing) ; then to transcribe and
copy for the press, or to make my selections and biogra-
phies, or what else suits my humour, till dinner-time ; from
dinner to tea I read, write letters, see the newspapers, and
very often indulge in a siesta. After tea I go to poetry,
and correct, and re-write, and copy tiU I am tired, and
then turn to anything else till supper. And this is my life,
which if it be not a very merry one, is yet as happy as
heart could wish."
Though thus occupied, he still found time to assist
oppressed and struggling talent; and the yoimg and
inexperienced always found in him a candid and faithful
monitor, a generous and sympathizing friend. When the
poems of Kirke White were so unjustifiably assailed in
" The Monthly Review," the letter the broken-hearted poet
wrote to the reviewers met Southey's eye. His indig-
nation burned at the unfeeling attack. He wrote to
White, offering any aid he could afford, mentioned him
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366 ROBERT SOITTHEY.
in London, and obtained assurances of assistance from
Sotheby, Lord Carysfort, and others. Two short years
laid the ardent student in his grave, a victim to College
honours. "Were I to paint a picture of Fame," were
his words to a friend shortly before his death, " crowning
a distinguished undergraduate after a senate-house exami*
nation, I would represent her as concealing a death's head
under a mask of beauty.** He spoke with a presentiment
of his approaching doom. Southey mourned his fate,
edited his remains, wrote the tragic story of his life, and
assisted his surviving brothers, who ever remained his
grateful friends and correspondents.
Ebenezer Elliott acquired much of his after power and
perspicuity, through following the judicious advice that
Southey at various times administered, on receiving copies
of his first crude and imperfect compositions. But the
detail would be endless were we to go through the list of
all the aspiring candidates for fame, who wrote to Southey
for advice, and teased him to correct or read their eflEu-
sions. Two only we select, as being instances of unusual
promise untimely cut off in the unfruitful blossom.
James Dusautoy was the son of a retired officer living
in Devonshire. He was one of a numerous family ; their
means were narrow, and he was ambitious of working his
way through literature to the bar. He forwarded some
of his compositions to Southey, asking his advice as to
the advisability of publishing them. He was then but
seventeen, and a boy's verses would not be likely to attract
much notice, competing with the giant reputations of that
prolific era. " Abstain from publication," was the reply,
" read and write. Shoot at a high mark, and you will
gain strength of arm. Precision of aim will come at its
proper season." Southey interested himself to obtain his
admission at Emanuel College, Cambridge, where he
greatly distinguished himself in the College examinations ;
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ROBBRT SOUTHEY. 367
stood first of his year in classics, and fourth in mathe-
matics. A fever that broke out in the town carried him
off in the full flush of success, with the highest University
honours almost in his grasp. He had been a competitor
for the English poetical prize in 1814, when Dr. Whewell
was announced as the successful candidate.
Herbert Knowles was of humble origin. Alone in the
world, without father or mother ; his abilities excited the
attention of strangers, and they offered to subscribe a
portion of the necessary expenses of his education, if his
friends could raise the rest. He was sent to a school in
Yorkshire, on leaving which, his friends found themselves
unable to afford him further assistance. Anxious to do
something for himself, he wrote a poem, "brimful of
power and of promise,^' and sent it to Southey, asking per-
mission to dedicate it to him. Southey made inquiries
respecting him, found that his conduct was exemplary,
subscribed himself, and obtained other subscriptions to
make up the requisite sum for his support at Cambridge.
The overjoyed youth wrote a letter to his benefactor,
remarkable for the sense of gratitude it manifests through-
oyt, but more remarkable still for its good sense. The
melancholy case of Kirke White was before his eyes. He
was apprehensive his physical strength might prove
insufficient to support him under the exhausting efforts
necessary for University distinction. " Could he twine a
laurel with the cypress, he would not repine, but to relin-
quish every hope of futiu-e excellence, and future usefulness
in one wild and unavaiUng pursuit, were indeed a mad-
man's act, and worthy of a madman's fate." What he
could do he would, and thus he set to work, and after
the lapse of two brief months sank in the race, with all
his aspirations.
Southey, notwithstanding his diligence, had been unable
to extricate himself fi-om the annoyances of hampered
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368 ROBERT SOUTHEY,
means; as the profits of his writings were insufficient to
defray the expenses of his moderate household. In 1807,
the Grenville ministry dining their short tenure of power,
through the influence of Mr. Wynn, one of its members,
conferred on him a pension of £200 a-year. But fees
and taxes reduced the amount to £144, so that his actual
income was diminished by the grant, as he refused all
further acceptance of the annuity Mr. Wynn had so
generously allowed him. A new source of emolument
was, however, soon opened up to his indefatigable pen,
to which, though it interfered with the progress of what
he deemed his more important works, we owe some of
his most popular productions.
At the commencement of the present century, a clique
of writers professing extreme liberal opinions, with charac-
teristic intolerance attempted to establish a dictator-
ship in literature and politics. In their organ, "The
Edinburgh Review," Southey's writings had been assailed
with unsparing virulence; but on the occasion of some
altercation between the editor and the publishers, the latter
made overtures to Southey requesting some articles from
his pen. In November, 1807, Sir Walter Scott likewise,
who was a casual contributor to that journal, wrote to
him, urging him to bring his talents to so lucrative a
mart ; and by way of palliation for the flippancy of the
criticisms of " Madoc" and " Thalaba," stated, that Jeffrey
had expressed the highest opinion of his character and
talents. In his previous visit to Scotland, Southey had
met some of these gentlemen, and personal intercourse
had not led him to form any very exalted notion of their
acquirements or capacity.
" The Edinburgh Reviewers I Uke well as companions,"
he wrote, " and think little of as anything else. Elmsley
has more knowledge and a sounder mind than any or all of
them. Living in habits of intimate intercourse with such
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ROBERT SOUTHEY. 369
men as Rickman, William Taylor, Wordsworth and
Coleridge, the Scotch did certainly appear to me very
pigmies — ^literatuli/' Friendship might have slightly
swayed his judgment; but there is no doubt, the great
influence these writers possessed at that time, was owing
more to the skill with which they directed their talent, than
the talent itself. With minds highly cultivated and wdl
disciplined, they were deficient in originality; clever in
mastering the details of a subject, but at fault if higher
faculties were needed ; able men, indeed, but not the master
spirits that they told the world they were.
Southey, in forwarding his objections to any alliance
of the kind proposed, thus strongly reprobated the violent
personalities that disgraced the conduct of that journals
^ On subjects of moral or political importance, no man
is more apt to speak in the very gall of bitterness than
I am, and this habit is likely to go with me to the grave ;
but that sort of bitterness, in which he (JefiFrey) indulges,
which tends directly to wound a man in his feelings, and
injure him in his fame and fortune, appears to me utterly
inexcusable. Now, though th^e would be no necessity
that I should follow this example, yet every separate
article in the * Review* derives authority from the mmt of
all the others ; and in this way, whatever of any merit
I might insert there, would aid and abet opinions hostile to
my own, and thus identify me with a system which I
thoroughly disapprove. This is not said hastily. The
emolument to be derived from writing at 10 guineas
a sheet, Scotch measure, instead of £7, would be con-
siderable j the pecuniary advantage, resulting from the
diflferent manner in which my ftiture works would be
handled, probably still more so. But my moral feeKngs-
must not be compromised." And in the following year,
he expressed great pleasure on hearing that Sir Walter
Scott had withdrawn his assistance from the periodical.
B B
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370 ROBERT SOUTHEY.
In " The Quarterly Review," established shortly after-
wards, Southey found a more congenial field of em-
ployment. For a long series of years, he wrote regularly
for its pages, and contributed more than any other indi-
vidual writer to its permanent popularity and success.
Nevertheless, his equanimity had to submit to the most
vexatious trials. Gifford applied the editorial knife with
slashing and imperturbable severity, and the spectacle
of his mutilated phrases and opinions, touched him to
the quick. He expostulated likewise against the harsh-
ness with which occasionally authors were treated, who
were dragged before the editorial tribunal, as likewise
on the disparaging tone assumed by the "Review" on
matters pertaining to America ; but his sentiments on such
topics were unknown to or overlooked by the public at
large, and as a prominent contributor he underwent much
personal abuse for the very blemishes which he had
anxiously endeavoured to remove.
In the summer of 1809, he received a severe shock by
the sudden death of one of his daughters. His eldest
boy had been dangerously ill, and had barely recovered
before another child was struck. In relating the cir-
cumstance to a friend, he writes : " We lost Emma
yesternight. I have five children; three of them at
home, and two under my mother's care in heaven." As
his expenses increased, he found it incumbent on him
to think less of futurity, and more of the present hour ;
and periodical writing encroached upon the time he would
otherwise have alloted to his more ambitious eflEbrts.
In 1808, Ballantyne the publisher had projected an
" Annual Register," and requested Southey's co-operation.
In 1 809, Ballantyne again wrote, asking him to write the
history of the Spanish affairs for that year ; and afterwards,
on being disappointed in one of his contributors, entrusted
to him the historical department generally, with an allow-
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ROBERT SOUTHEY. 371
ance of £400 a-year. This, as yet, was the most profitable
engagement he had entered into. He took an interest in
the subject, and calculated that if it lasted two or three years
his property in the Longmans' hands would clear itself,
and he should be in a fair way of relieving himself from
pecuniary uncertainties. The boldness of his views
touching our policy in Spain, alarmed the timid acqui-
escence of " The Edinburgh Review," which recommended
the most abject submission on the part of this country to
the designs of the invincible Napoleon : and in somewhat
strange discordance with its professions respecting the un-
limited liberty of the press, it recommended the obnoxious
journal for government prosecution, which hint, however,
was wisely left unnoticed. This engagement was of short
duration, as the affairs of the publisher rendered a discon-
tinuance of the work imperative.
In the summer of 1811, a strange apparition appeared
at the Lakes. Shelley, with his young wife, took up his
abode there for a short time ; and in his dreaming restless-
ness and Utopian enthusiasm, he seemed to Southey like
the shadow of his wild former self. The two poets
formed an acquaintance. The elder could sympathize with
the younger, for he had himself passed through his
agonizing phase ; and Shelley, for the first time, fancied
he had found one who could understand his nature. Like
a meteor he flitted to disappear in other lands; but
Southey watched his wanderings with charitable sorrow,
and, notwithstanding angry words, and unjust accusations,
always spoke of him with tenderness.
In 1813, Pye died. A semi-official offer of the laurel
was made to Sir Walter Scott, who mentioned Southey as
one who would adorn it by his talents, and to whom the
additional income would be acceptable. A few years pre-
viously. Sir Walter had interested himself with his political
friends, Mr. Canning and others, in favour of his brother
B B 2
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372 ROBERT SOUTH EY.
bard. Southey had suggested the creation of the office of
Historiographer as an appropriate one for him, but on
inquiry, he found such a one already existed ; and on the
death of the person holding it, shortly afterwards, his
application was anticipated. The appointment was hono-
rary, there being no salary attached.
On the receipt of a letter from Sir Walter Scott,
Southey proceeded to London, and had an interview with
Croker. Relating the circumstance he says : " He (Croker)
had spoken to the Prince, and the Prince observing that I
had written some good things in favour of the Spaniards,
said the office should be given me. You will admire the
reason, and infer from it that I ought to have been made
Historiographer because I had written ' Madoc' " It is
singular how seldom poetical merit of any kind has been
regarded as the qualification necessary for holding the
solitary office in England professedly tenable only by a
poet. It was on the occasion of this visit to London that
Southey met Lord Byron at Holland House; and the
prejudices, perhaps just ones, he had conceived against the
noble poet melted away amid the fascinations of his pre-
possessing manners. " I saw a man," he writes, " whom
in voice, manner and countenance, I liked very much more
than either his character or his writings had given me
reason to expect." On the acceptance of his new office,
he had intimated some hope that the disagreeable require-
ments of annual celebration might be in some degree
dispensed with, and was led to expect that some such
rational arrangement would be made. But no reformation
of the kind was attempted, and after waiting some weeks,
he was admitted to be sworn in, in the customary way.
He then left London, resolved to acquit himself to the best
of his ability ; but to exercise his discretion about giving
to the world his official inspiration.
llie regularity of home life was occasionally relieved by
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ROBERT SOUTHEY. 373
the visits of tourists, mountain pionics, and other similar
festivities. When the news arrived of the victory at
Waterloo, it was resolved to celebrate the event on the top
of Skiddaw. The country round poured forth to the
gathering. Old and young, peer and peasant, climbed the
ascent; and the huge bonfire of blazing tar-barrels on its
summit darkened the skies by its excessive brilliancy.
There they prepared the historical dishes of Old England,
the wine-cup circulated freely, and with ©very toast, the
report of their cannon was lost in the louder tumult of
their vociferous cheering. Large flaming balls of tow and
turpentine were sent rolling down the mountain-side, and
the calm still night was especially propitious for the revel.
An incident has been commemorated, not very poetical, biit
not on that account the less amusing. On a demand being
made for more punch, it was discovered that the kettle had
been upset. Water at such a place was not a commodity