Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 6 December 1792: 'Juvenal is a grand nervous Satirist — your refined criticks prefer the sneering strokes of Horace — for me I think otherwise — Johnsons London & Vanity of Human Wishes are two of the noblest compositions in our language — the satire of the first is already become obsolete & some centuries hence posterity will believe the supple French Fop only a creation of some drunken Englishmans brain. the last will retain its original beauty even if 1600 years hence some future Bard should imitate Johnson in some future language.'