44. Robert Southey to Nicholas Lightfoot, 25 March 1793*

Sapey. March 25. 1793.

Since no mortal on earth could have packd our things betterYou deserve at least Lightfoot the thanks of a letter —A long one indeed full of thanks — but — God knowsI cannot pack a letter as you pack up cloaths.As you put a stocking where a shirt will not fitCould I fill each loophole of sense full of witWhat a letter were mine! but with this be contentTho’ tis badly performd tis exceeding well meant.

Perhaps you suppose that poor Seward & meSide by side are fallen down & dead felo-de-seOr whilst all our unhappy limbs blister & acheLaid up on the road have found out our mistake.No, no, no mischances like these can I tell.Here we are both arrived both alive & both well

We set off Wednesday morn but too lazy were youTo bring us on our journey a furlong or two — Of Braybrook & Woodstock & Heythrop & EnstoneOf Salford & Kitebrook were tedious to mentionAt Morton we slept, miles from you twenty sevenIn state apostolic & equal & even.For when in the morning together we roseHe had seizd all the bed & Id taken the cloaths.

Do not think for a rhyme only I have been coblingWhen I ask why old grave one walkd like Mr Hoblyn? For like him he was. but how you must discover.And so pray suppose that our breakfast was over.From Broadway six miles unto Evesham we cameA place much renownd for monastical fameIn grandeur majestic the Gothic piles standIn age more admird & in ruins more grand.

Memorial where Priesthood once stretchd his fell swayBut Priesthood dear Lightfoot has seen his best dayThe Nation resumes all the long lazy groundsAnd the twelve great Apostles melt into half crowns —Een the old Abbots bones into bullets are madeWhich when hurld at the foe but continue his tradeMid the heretic ranks as they ravage pell mellAnd whom he anathematisd hurry to hell.

How often did I all my hungry thoughts pleaseWith devouring in fancy the brown bread & cheeseLike a great carp just taken — expanding his jawsIn the place of good water thin air only drawsSo I dreamt of good eating & fed upon airFor me no cameleon most horrible fare.At last upon Friday we came — o ye powersThat preside over the cheese which your votary devours(For surely some Numen¹ presides over the cheeseSo give him what name & what virtues you please)O ye powers ye beheld what I fear to relateHow I eat till I almost had swallowed the plate.Old Gravity eat quite as hearty as meAnd we left off our dinner to fall to our tea.Thus the French Democrats take one king a head shorterAnd set off directly the others to halter,And as Dumourier² does as old Joshua³ of yoreSo we eat as you, I & Combe once eat before.

To describe as truth wills all the country aroundThe high towering hill or the well wooded groundThe hoarse stream roughrolling oer each craggy stoneBesprinkled with foam & with green moss oergrownThe house on the bank whence the eyes ample gazeOer hills mountains vallies & rivulets strays

All these to describe — indeed Lightfoot I wouldWith truth & with elegance too if I couldBut here Reason bids me my Rashness restrainNor attempt to describe where description were vain.

Let Burke⁴ talk of Freedom & bellow awayLet Reason attend be convinced & obeyOf humility modesty let Bishops preachAnd enforce by their lives what their sermons but teachLet Pitt⁵ fear to give & his slaves take a bribeAnd then I perhaps may attempt to describe

this drawing may exercise the speculative abilities of you & Lewis till our return.

[Southey adds a rough sketch of the ground plan of the Sewards’ house & garden]