4167. Robert Southey to Edith May Southey, 5 April 1824*

Keswick. 5 April. 1824 My dear EMay

We are in what is sometimes called a mess, sometimes a quandary, concerning Bertha. This morning came intelligence that Miss Tolson1 has put off her journey from Wednesday the 7 till Monday the 12, – & a very great mess or quandary this alteration occasions. For if Bertha goes with her then, when she arrives in London what is to become of her? The Rickmans2 will be out of town, – so will Mrs Gonne, – your Aunt Louisa it is very likely will go with her, & if it were possible to get her to Streatham, that house also will be without its inhabitants So that the mess seems to be as compleat as it can be. And it is even curiously unlucky, – for had it been a little earlier or a little later, the difference of a few days would have been of no manner of consequence.

There remains a forlorn hope that a Miss Walmesley of Penrith3 – bound in like manner to Vanity Fair4 upon a mission in the cause of Fashion, may take charge of her, & may be going at the right time. A letter goes by this post to see if this can be arranged, & by tomorrows you shall be informed of the result. Meantime the only use of my writing at present (except that of letting you know xx our state of quandaring) is, that you may tell us whether your Aunt Louisa is going out of town, & consequently whether the forlorn Bertha can be housed in Q Anne Street till you & Mrs Rickman return: – in case the Penrith scheme should fail, – as I fear it most likely will.

As for deranging your engagements with Lady Malet5 that is not to be thought of. Engagements are never to be broken off except in cases of absolute necessity. – If we can send her so that she may arrive as late as the 12th we will. But at the worst, the visit can only be put off

The cold which visits every body has taken up its abode with me, & I am scarcely able to do any thing except blowing my nose

God bless you RS


We are expecting every day a visit from Wade Browne.6

Notes

Address: To/ Miss Southey/ at Mrs Gonne’s/ 16 York Place/ Baker Street/ London
Stamped: KESWICK/ 298
Postmark: E/ 8 AP 8/ 1824
Seal: red wax; design illegible
MS: British Library, Add MS 47888. ALS; 3p.
Unpublished. Back

1.  Mary Tolson (dates unknown). She had set up business in High Holborn, London, as a ‘linen-draper, dealer and chapwoman’. Declared bankrupt on 8 July 1826, she started a new business in Regent Street as a ‘milliner and dress maker’ only to go bankrupt again on 16 May 1828. Back

2.  John Rickman and his family. Back

3.  Unidentified, but possibly a connection of Roger Walmesley (d. 1812), a wine merchant of Penrith. Back

4.  A term for London, from John Bunyan (1628–1688; DNB), The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678), where ‘Vanity Fair’ represented all the sins of earthly life that distracted the Pilgrim on his journey to salvation. Back

5.  Lady Susanna Malet, née Wales (1779–1868), the widow of Sir Charles Malet, 1st Baronet (1752–1815; DNB), with whom Edith May Southey was staying in London. Back

6.  Wade Browne (1796–1851), only son of Wade Browne and later a country gentleman at Monkton Farleigh in Somerset. He had been travelling in the Near East. Back