560. Robert Southey to Charles Danvers, 10 December 1800*

Wednesday 10 December. 1800. Lisbon.

My dear Danvers

The frippery box arrived on Sunday. not so our cheese. I have not yet seen Yescombe¹ but am in great fear that they have been stopt for the good of the nation & eaten at Falmouth by act of Parliament. – with regard to Lambe you have acted quite properly in shunning him. he had nothing but well-meaning to recommend him – & as he seems to have discarded decency, one may be allowed to avoid vulgar ignorance. – Mrs Madox² I have seen at your house, & her husbandsx person I recollect – having sometimes met him when walking with you. you will give me credit for sincerity in wishing I could be one of your rich customers.

I am hard at history.³ the labour pleases me & I feel both power & inclination for the work. but the scantiness of my finances miserably cripples me. I cannot afford to buy two or three very costly works – which I must buy before any one page is in a state for publication. thus will I at last lose much time & labour in going over the old ground, when the hooks & eyes of connection shall between one author & another shall be mislaid in my memory. I must lay out thirty pounds – but in losing Thalaba⁴ my sheet-anchor was lost. certainly there will be the first volume quarto of the History ready for the Press by next winter. the literary history⁵ will soon follow – if success encourages it. Madoc is my Army of Reserve. – after a summer in Wales has been devoted to correcting it, its publication will be a question of prudence – , whether like your old wine it will increase in value by keeping – or whether I shall publish as soon as possible not to lose the yearly profits that may be expected. it would greatly delight me to give Mrs Danvers her poem in print. ⁶ You will not be surprized to hear that I am thinking of another long poem – the story imaginary – the groundwork Hindoo mythology. some progress in the plan is made, & probably in a few days I shall gallop thro the first book.⁷

I must send you more money & more commissions – but as I delay writing to John May for about a fortnight or three weeks, you will have the goodness to execute them on credit, till that time. imprimis⁸ a copy of Joan of Arc⁹ – Russia bound according to my fashion. if Jackson¹⁰ has forgotten it there is the first Anthology¹¹ among the books we left, as a pattern. secondly – I am grown shabby & want a coat & pantaloons. my measure was left with Baker,¹² & probably his successor has retained the same foreman. if it should be lost there is I think an old black coat at Mrs Frickers by which a new one might be made. chuse me a good brown. velvet collar – covered buttons. worsted pantaloons the same colour – they are easily made to fit a long lean man. if my Uncle returns thro Bristol – he will take the parcel – my Mother can inform you of this. otherwise direct it to him as usual. my motive for sending so far is that a coat here would cost me five pounds. water carriage costs nothing – & I get it on shore without difficulty or trouble.

I have at last seen & seditionized with Davys friend.¹³ a pleasant & able man. from whom I hope some useful introductions to those friars who are worth knowing. we have some pleasant English neighbours – a Biddeford family¹⁴ with whom is a Miss Seton a very clever woman, who draws most admirably. I find no fault in her except a resemblance to Mrs Barbauld in countenance; & that is a heavy one. a friend of Capel Loft¹⁵ is here – recommended to me as a man of literary acquirements. his name Du Bois¹⁶ – I have as yet seen him but little. after all Thomas the Cat is my chief companion – & a most magnificent Thomas he is. fat as Rover, all life & good humour.

Our wet weather is now commenced after a series of the most delightful days I ever experienced. we had scarcely a cloud thro the whole November. now we sit by the fire – for we have removed to tenant my Uncles house during his absence. Lisbon grows weekly worse as to robbery & murder & I hope is now so bad that it must awaken the police. daily murders & robberies so impudent that they astonish everybody. our vacant house has been opened & searched but there was nothing left portable enough to steal. last Monday two boatmen stabbed a poor fellow by mistake – begged his pardon & left him dying. the robbers are usually soldiers & in several instances Cadets – answering to our Ensigns. it is not possible to conceive a more total anarchy as to all useful purposes of society. yet there is a germ of vitality – a living spark existing – we see only the worst classes of society – the highest & the lowest – the oppressors & the oppressed. in the middle class – the tiers-etats – & tis a prophetic name – there are many who think & feel – who remember the past – & look on to the future.

I have been admitted behind the curtain – introduced to one of the Censors,¹⁷ shown his official reports of every books presented for publication – & thus know not only what is published – but those more important works that are not – that are strangled in the birth. this Censor was the Lutheran Minister here who changed his religion & is now as sincere in Popery – as he was in Protestantism. by his introduction he is of indispensable use to me, for he is a man of power, – communicative & very well informed. by his means the manuscripts are at my use. I even meditate the adventure of searching the records of the Inquisition. five written folios of the bloody chronicle whose outside I have seen with respectful eyes & itching fingers.

In writing history¹⁸ I actually want an Amanuensis, so troublesome is the shifting from book to paper. I am sanguine as to the merits of this work – not as to its success. fashion – rank in life – connections are every thing. for six quartos Gibbon¹⁹ got 8000 pounds. I shall be satisfied if I get 1500 for three – tho I expect a more durable & deserved reputation than that even of Gibbon. money – money is my only want. they reckon by moidores & six & thirties – & we learn like them to consider these pieces only as guineas – only as single coins – when alas there is a lamentable difference in the number of a yearly income. If Sam Reid calls here on his return – I should like to re[MS obscured] him – should the time suit my plans. conveniences are of little import to s[MS obscured] are Edith & myself. – a pot to be sick-in is the only article in requisition. & we should by embarking directly for Bristol save full thirty guineas – allowing a handsome price for passage & provisions. this is a material object. Why did you not tell me the name of his ship that I might have found him out?

I shall inclose my cousins letter to you – to spare her postage. Will you purchase for her such useful things as she probably would think too expensive to afford – & pay yourself when the remittance arrives. I will remit enough to leave something for her afterwards. much I cannot do. the call for the Thalaba money has quite crippled me.

Coleridge has never written – nor has Mrs C. written to Edith since her confinement – which is I think somewhat uncivil. why will he given his children such Heathenish <names?>. – did he dip him in the river & baptize him in the name of the Stream God?²⁰

By the next packet I expect news of the parcels arrival both from you & Rickman. his negociation will I hope be succesful – & if so Thalaba ought to be now in the printers office & gone to the Devil at last.²¹

God bless you. our love to your Mother. Time runs away at an unmerciful rate & a few packets more will cross only, before we shall reach Bristol – still the port to which after every wandering I return.

yrs affectionately Robert Southey.