795. Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 9 June [1803]*
It has come into my head that France will go to war with Portugal – & if so perhaps we may send an army there, & if so – perhaps it might not be impossible that I could get a civil appointment, of which there were plenty of good berths for the last war. Now by what xx channel & what interest are these things to be obtained? for it is worth trying if the opportunity should offer. To go to Lisbon any how would help my history,1 & the flaws in my lifehold lease, but to have pay for going there, & rations, & baugh2 & forage into the bargain, would be what they call in Portugal a fat fortune. these appointments are places of emolument – not of honour or rank or advancement – & so the more procurable. My Uncle was made Chaplain to the last staff by the Duke of Northumberlands3 desire. I believe that my for my Uncles sake Lord Bute4 & the Duke of Bedford5 would willingly serve me in this way were he to request it. but I am quite ignorant how these things are got at. & have hurried the thought out of my head upon this paper just as it came in.
Methinks it is my turn now to call you lazy. if I did not see your name in the list of the minority, & your potential autograph upon my proofsheets. I should begin to be doubtful whether you were not translated to the other world.
Luckily I have found just in time for the Preface6 a positive assertion that Vasco Lobeira7 is the author of Amadis, & the the inventor of the story, in an old Chronicle8 written just 60 years after Lobeiras death by the Royal Chronicler of Portugal, a man uncommonly versed in the literature of his age, & whose authority cannot be questioned. I am proceeding triumphantly with the history, & have done considerably more than half a volume since you were here. if this war shuts me from Portugal & cuts off my supplies of books – it will almost break my heart. God send that Bonaparte9 may come in person with his Invaders. he had better come with a diving-bell instead of a helmet, in readiness – for if he do not feed the crabs in the channel –
& if he do not feed the crabs the Crows shall have him ashore.
God bless you. R S.
June 9.
Notes
Address: To/ C W Williams Wynn Esqr. M.P./ Lincolns Inn/
London
Postmarks: FREE/ JUN 10 1803; BRISTOL/ JN 9 1803
Endorsements: June 9 1803; Mr Wynn
MS:
National Library of Wales, MS 4811D. ALS; 3p.
Previously published: Kenneth Curry (ed.), New Letters of Robert Southey, 2
vols (London and New York, 1965), I, pp. 317-318. Back
1. Southey’s unfinished ‘History of Portugal’. Back
2. A pudding made from milk and flour. Back
3. Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland (1742-1817; DNB). He had spent some time in Lisbon in the 1790s. Back
4. John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute (1744-1814; DNB), Ambassador to Spain 1795-1796 and collector of books on Spain and Portugal, an interest which may have led him to know Herbert Hill. Back
5. John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford (1766-1839; DNB). His first wife, Lady Georgiana Russell (c. 1768-1801), spent two years in Portugal for her health and was friendly with Herbert Hill. Back
6. Southey’s translation of Amadis of Gaul, 4 vols (London, 1803), I, ‘Preface’, pp. x-xi. Back
7. Vasco de Lobeira (d. 1403), medieval troubadour. He was not the originator of Amadis of Gaul, which dates to the early 14th century. Back
8. Gomes Eanes de Zurara (c. 1410-1474), in his ‘Chronica do Conde Dom Pedro de Menezes’ (1463), published in Jose Correia da Serra (1750-1823), Colleccao de Livros Ineditos da Historia Portugueza, 4 vols (Lisbon, 1790-1816), II,; no. 3785 in the sale catalogue of Southey’s library. Back
9. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821, First Consul 1799-1804, Emperor of the French 1804-1814). Back