681. Robert Southey to John Rickman, 2 June 1802*

June 2. 1802.Dear Rickman

Now that my arrangements pro tempore¹ are concluded, it is time to dispatch intelligence to my friends. You remember Danvers’s house. We have taken one in the same row − the whole − furnished − at a guinea & half per week. so much room is necessary as Edith expects to be confined in the course of the summer.² the situation is good, & the almost next door neighbourhood of a friend every way desirable. this evening we take possession − I shall at least have leisure to do much here. after my thousand & one acquaintance in London I feel as secluded here as in a convent.

Our journey was cheap. four & twenty hours for three & twenty shillings. what a bargain if the coach had been as long again upon the road! I find some good books arrived for me from Lisbon. two of the oldest & rarest chronicles − the best book upon Abyssinia − & the whole monastic history of the kingdom & its colonies.³ these last will enable me to compleat the two three first centuries, & then I enter upon the splendid period aera of discovery.⁴ I wrote to one Simon Harcourt M.P.⁵ to send me a Portugueze Manuscript belonging to my Uncle, directed to you. should it arrive will you acknowledge its receipt by a line to him. it is the paper of which I published an abstract.⁶

You will soon I hope be able to send me intelligence from the Chancellor. I left him a note the morning of our departure. I am well pleased that our connection should end − not but any foolish office is desirable with such a salary annexed − but I am weary of vagabonding about − & have now a pressing motive for settling. Nor can I & my books afford to be so seperated any longer. I should now be half a dozen times in the course of a day in your house, if the Devil would carry me there, or I could ride a broomstick. About the where of my abiding place there is little hesitation. Bristol has not enough society. for that Norwich is the best place − but the neighbourhood of London allows a readier intercourse of with booksellers − & in ceasing to be a Secretary I must become a Scribbler. My stay here − or at least Ediths − if it should please the Powers above to whistle me over to Dublin − cannot be less than four months − I expect that your definitive intelligence will enable me to commission John May to have his eye upon the small houses around Richmond, & secure me one at Michaelmas. He fixes me to that neighbourhood. One friend within a half hours walk is among the necessaries of life.

I met Poole here on his way to France − & desired that he would make Davy take him to you. he is a man whom you will like to converse with − for his pursuits have been chiefly agriculture & political oeconomy. he is self-taught, & his mind powerful, active & discriminating.

The Pneumatic Institution continues. the name should be changed⁷ − as they do little with the gasses − on account chiefly of the expence of experiments. Beddoes now chiefly supports it. Davys successor − King − a Swiss − is a very able man − with a hand of dexterity almost as convertible as yours. their patients are very numerous. they sometimes succeed in curing early consumption by the Caustic⁸ − & their treatment of syphilis rarely or never fails.⁹ − I forget whether you saw Beddoes. the old medical language fits his character admirably − he is of nature cold & dry. it is to be lamented that they have not pursued pneumatic experiments steadily. the gasses act so immediately & powerfully that they should appear to be great agents in medicine.

Do you know anything − that is have you ever thought anything about the production of mushrooms? I want to have a method discovered of producing them in great quantities − because they contain more nutriment than any vegetable substance − & appear to need no manure. & besides they are excellent in a hundred ways. The world wants some Epicure to turn Chemist − & give us a scientific book of cookery. I dream of a thousand things which I could do if settled in a house in the country with a garden.

direct Kingsdown. Bristol.

Danvers − his Mother − & Edith all desire to be remembered

yrs truly Robert Southey.

I direct with the old &c formula to Mr Abbot.¹⁰ correct me if this be wrong.