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Robert Southey
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Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Aubin (Madame de Genlis) : Theatre de l'Education
Robert Southey to Charles Collins, 12-13 January 1793: 'Whether or not man has the stain of original sin I leave to theologians & metaphysicians. That education tends to give it him I do not even doubt. Rousseau's plan is too visionary — it supposes such unremitted attention in the tutor & such natural virtue in the pupil that I doubt its practability of this however when we read Emilius (an occupation I look forward to with pleasure) we will freely determine. Madame Brulerck (late Genlis) appears to me to have struck out a path equally new & excellent — the Emilius of L Homme de la Nature existed only in his imagination. but the two sons of Phillipe Egalitè are living proofs of her capacity.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Unknown
Jean Jacques Rousseau : Emile
Robert Southey to Charles Collins, 12-13 January 1793: 'Whether or not man has the stain of original sin I leave to theologians & metaphysicians. That education tends to give it him I do not even doubt. Rousseau's plan is too visionary — it supposes such unremitted attention in the tutor & such natural virtue in the pupil that I doubt its practability of this however when we read Emilius (an occupation I look forward to with pleasure) we will freely determine. Madame Brulerck (late Genlis) appears to me to have struck out a path equally new & excellent — the Emilius of L Homme de la Nature existed only in his imagination. but the two sons of Phillipe Egalitè are living proofs of her capacity.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Unknown
Juvenal : Satires
Robert Southey to Charles Collins, 12-13 January 1793: 'I have read all Juvenal with pleasure it is a manly stile more adapted to me than the sly sarcasms of Horace but I have no time for more church is ready & I go to hear a sermon very probably about right divine sedition & impiety which last are always linked together in the pulpit.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Horace : Odes
Robert Southey to Charles Collins, 12-13 January 1793: 'I have read all Juvenal with pleasure it is a manly stile more adapted to me than the sly sarcasms of Horace but I have no time for more church is ready & I go to hear a sermon very probably about right divine sedition & impiety which last are always linked together in the pulpit.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Grosvenor Charles Bedford : Ode
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 16-21 January 1793: 'Of your ode a few words before I set to transcribing. Before I read the last half sheet I wished you to lengthen it for only three authors are mentioned & only Shakespear of the first rank — Nature had so little to do with Dryden that I wonder at your ranking him with the Swan of Avon — Milton Spenser — Pope — Akenside Collins — Churchill — Beaumont — Fletcher would each afford a fine scope for your fancy & will you refuse one stanza to deck the unnoted grave of Chatterton? When this fault is noticed I have noticed all. If however (as I hope) you mean to lengthen it I would not wish you to fetter yourself in the chains of precedent — regular lyrics are like despotic monarchies they look stately but lose all the energy of freedom.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Manuscript: Sheet
Horace : Odes 4:4
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 16-21 January 1793: 'This day has been a most unpleasant one all except the earlier part of the morning when I read your favourite Horace. That beginning Qualem ministrum fulminis alitem struck me as well adapted to the present times & I think I shall attempt it this week — certain of falling as much short of Horace as his subject will be inferior to mine. notwithstanding the admiration with which I read his works there is a something in the character of the little fat parasite which sullies it very much.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Edward Gibbon : The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 16-21 January 1793: 'I do not know in the annals of history & barbarity any character which I so much abhor as that of the vain the vile Augustus — the death of Cicero the banishment of Ovid — the black boys & the incestuous daughter the total suppression of liberty these are blots which all the art of Flattery cannot hide from the eye of Reason. “With the same hand & probably with the same frame of mind did he sign the proscription of Cicero & the pardon of Cinna” — you remember Gibbons remark upon Augustuss appearance at the banquet in that very elegant piece of the virtuous Julian.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Tacitus : unknown
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 25 January - 8 February 1793: 'Over the pages of the philosophic Tacitus the hours of study pass rapidly as even those which are devoted to my friends & I have not found as yet one hour which I could wish to have employed otherwise this is saying very much in praise of a collegiate life — but remember that a mind disposed to be happy will find happiness everywhere & why we should not be happy is beyond my philosophy to account for — Heraclitus certainly was a fool & what is much more rare an unhappy one.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Heraclitus :
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 25 January - 8 February 1793: 'Over the pages of the philosophic Tacitus the hours of study pass rapidly as even those which are devoted to my friends & I have not found as yet one hour which I could wish to have employed otherwise this is saying very much in praise of a collegiate life — but remember that a mind disposed to be happy will find happiness everywhere & why we should not be happy is beyond my philosophy to account for — Heraclitus certainly was a fool & what is much more rare an unhappy one.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
George Richards : Songs of the Aboriginal Bards of Britain
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 25 January - 8 February 1793: 'The man who gaind the last English verse prize in Oxford has since published two odes which he calls Songs of the Aboriginal Britains — of these the Review speaks very well & yet to me who as you know have written upon the same plan these odes appear ill planned & ill executed — some metaphors are good but young Wynns observation is just that he should have mistaken the odes for burlesque.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Luis Vaz de Camoëns : ‘Babylon and Sion’
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 1-7 January, 1797: '...the view is bounded by the accursed smoke of London. methinks like Camoens I could dub it Babylon & write lamentations for the “Sion” of my birth place, having like him no reason to regret the past [words scored out] except that it is not the present. it is the country I want. a field thistle is to me worth all the flowers of Covent Garden.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
William Lisle Bowles : Hope, An Allegorical Sketch on Recovering Slowly from Sickness
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 16 January 1797: 'I begin to think that our opinions upon poetry are not consonant. I am no friend to the harmony with which we have been cloyed since the days of Pope. Churchill is too rough: but there is a medium, & I am on the side of Bowles versus Reviewers: who by the by are in general a set of stupid fellows.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
anon : Review of Hope, An Allegorical Sketch on Recovering Slowly from Sickness
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 16 January 1797: 'I begin to think that our opinions upon poetry are not consonant. I am no friend to the harmony with which we have been cloyed since the days of Pope. Churchill is too rough: but there is a medium, & I am on the side of Bowles versus Reviewers: who by the by are in general a set of stupid fellows.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Serial / periodical
anon : Review of Hope, An Allegorical Sketch on Recovering Slowly from Sickness
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 16 January 1797: 'I begin to think that our opinions upon poetry are not consonant. I am no friend to the harmony with which we have been cloyed since the days of Pope. Churchill is too rough: but there is a medium, & I am on the side of Bowles versus Reviewers: who by the by are in general a set of stupid fellows.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Serial / periodical
William Gilbert : The Hurricane
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 16 January 1797: 'I wish Bob would insert a review of my writing in the British Critic. it is upon a strange poem with still stranger notes, written by a man of brilliant genius & polishd manners who is deranged. it is easy to imply this without doing it in such terms as would wound his feelings. the book is “the Hurricane a Theosophical & Western Eclogue by William Gilbert.”'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Unknown
Grosvenor Charles Bedford : The Loves of Hero and Leander
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 29 January 1797: 'I have received Bedfords book this morning — he has much amended it since I saw the manuscript.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Mary Hays : articles in the Monthly Magazine
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 13 March 1797: 'When I was with George Dyer one morning last week Mary Hayes & Miss Christall entered, & the ceremony of introduction followed. Mary Hayes writes in the M. Magazine under the signature M.H. & sometimes writes nonsense about Helvetius there. she has lately published a novel — Emma Courtney — a book much praised & much abused; I have not seen it myself. but the severe censures passed upon it by persons of narrow mind, have made be curious, & convinced me that it is at least an uncommon work. Mary Hays is an agreable woman — & a Godwinite.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Serial / periodical
Ann Batten Cristall : Poetical Sketches
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 13 March 1797: 'But Miss Christall. have you seen her Poems? — a fine, artless sensible girl, now Cottle that word sensible must not be construed here in its dictionary acceptation. ask a Frenchman what it means & he will understand it, tho perhaps
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Sir William Blackstone : Commentaries on the Laws of England
Robert Southey to John James Morgan, 6 March, 1797: 'Blackstone & I agree better than perhaps you imagine. true it is that I should like to write Commentaries upon his Commentaries — but mine would be an illegal book. the study fixes my attention sufficiently, when my attention begins to flag, I relieve myself by employing half an hour differently, & then set to again with fresh spirits. '
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
anon : German Grammar
Robert Southey to John James Morgan, 6 March, 1797: 'My mornings are devoted to Law; I allow the evening for pleasanter employments & divide it between the German Grammar & [writing] Madoc. with both of which I am getting forwards. I am fond of learning languages. nothing exercises a mans ingenuity more, he sees the progress he makes, & this at once gratifies & encourages. it is my intention to learn Welsh.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
anon : Law books
Robert Southey to Thomas Southey, 16 March, 1797: 'We have been here now nearly a month. I read much Law — & find time to write. for company I have neither leisu[re or MS torn] inclination, & therefore confine myself to a very fe[MS torn] friends.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
John Prior Estlin : The Nature and Causes of Atheism, Pointed Out in a Discourse, Delivered at the Chapel in Lewin’s-Mead, Bristol. To Which Are Added, Remarks on a Work, Entitled Origine de Tous Les Cultes, ou Religion Universelle. Par Dupuis, Citoyen François
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 9 April, 1797: 'Mr Estlin has sent me his sermon — a most superb copy — tho not I have not the one he sent — for Johnsons man could not find it & so he gave me another. it is I think the best paper I ever saw. I wrote to day to thank him — & make a few remarks upon his book, freely & respectfully — therefore properly.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Unknown
George Dyer : The Poet’s Fate, a Poetical Dialogue
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 9 April, 1797: 'George Dyer gave me what he calls his “crotchet” & what I call an indifferent poem. “I could not bring in Wordsworth & Lloyd & Lamb in the poem (said he to me) but I put them in in a note —.” that man is all benevolence — he even shows it in notes to his dedication.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Thomas Baynton : Descriptive Account of a New Method of Treating Old Ulcers of the Legs
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 9 April, 1797: 'I have seen Bayntons Book. it is vilely written. but the theory seems good, & the practise appears to have been successful. my friend Carlisle means to try it at the Westminster Hospital. I was somewhat amused at seeing a treatise on sore legs printed on wove paper & hot-pressed.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Thomas Park : Sonnets, and Other Small Poems
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 26 April, 1797: 'Some Mr T Park sent me a volume of his poems last week, with a note; its praises too gross for one who is no fowl-feeder. I read his book it was not above mediocrity; he seems very fond of poetry, & even to a superstitious reverence for Thomsons old table & Miss Sewards manuscripts which he “rescued” from the printers. I called on him to thank him & was not sorry to find that he was not at home. But the next day a note arrives with more praise — he wishes my personal acquaintance & “trusts I shall excuse the frankness that avows that it would gratify his feelings to receive a copy of Joan of Arc from the Author.” now I thought this, to speak tenderly, not very modest.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Mary Wollstonecraft : Letters Written During a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark
Robert Southey to Thomas Southey, 28 April, 1797: 'Have you ever met with Mary Wollstonecrafts letters from Sweden & Norway? she has made me in love with a cold climate & frost & snow, with a Northern moonlight.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
John Henderson : Treatise upon Miracles
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 2 May, 1797: 'I have a treasure in store for you. a little treatise in old English, very short, upon miracles — written by John Henderson for Coleridges brother — & given me by a pupil of his — John May — a Lisbon acquaintance — & a very valuable one. '
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
John Gisborne : The Vales of Wever, a Loco-Descriptive Poem
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 25 May, 1797: 'This New Forest is very lovely. I should like to have a house in it — & dispeople the rest like William the Conqueror. of all land objects a forest is the finest. Gisborne has written a feeble poem upon the subject.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Robert Robinson : Ecclesiastical Researches
Robert Southey to John May, 4 June, 1797: 'The books with me are more than I wish when moving, & fewer than I want when settled. whilst I was packing them up, a friend brought me Robinsons Ecclesiastical Researches. he has as much wit as Jortin & yet never ceases to be serious, & with erudition at least equal to Mosheim, possesses a candour & discrimination which Mosheim wanted. have you read George Dyers life of Robert Robinson? it is the history of a very extraordinary man told with infinite simplicity by one as extraordinary as himself.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
George Dyer : Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Robert Robinson
Robert Southey to John May, 4 June, 1797: 'The books with me are more than I wish when moving, & fewer than I want when settled. whilst I was packing them up, a friend brought me Robinsons Ecclesiastical Researches. he has as much wit as Jortin & yet never ceases to be serious, & with erudition at least equal to Mosheim, possesses a candour & discrimination which Mosheim wanted. have you read George Dyers life of Robert Robinson? it is the history of a very extraordinary man told with infinite simplicity by one as extraordinary as himself.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Grosvenor Charles Bedford : The Rhedycenian Barbers
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, c. 25 June, 1797: '“The Rhedycenian Barbers” is Grosvenor Bedfords — & a most incomparable parody it is.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Serial / periodical
François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon : unknown
Robert Southey to John May, 26 June, 1797: '...the French never can have a good epic poem till they have republicanized their language; it appears to me a thing impossible in their metres; & for the prose of Fenelon Florian & Bitaubè — I find it peculiarly unpleasant. I have sometimes read the works of Florian aloud; his stories are very interesting & well conducted, but in reading them I have been felt obliged to simplify as I read & omit most of the similes & apostrophes. they disgusted me & I felt ashamed to pronounce them. Ossian is the only book bearable in this stile, there is a melancholy obscurity in the history of Ossian & of almost
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian : unknown
Robert Southey to John May, 26 June, 1797: '...the French never can have a good epic poem till they have republicanized their language; it appears to me a thing impossible in their metres; & for the prose of Fenelon Florian & Bitaubè — I find it peculiarly unpleasant. I have sometimes read the works of Florian aloud; his stories are very interesting & well conducted, but in reading them I have been felt obliged to simplify as I read & omit most of the similes & apostrophes. they disgusted me & I felt ashamed to pronounce them. Ossian is the only book bearable in this stile, there is a melancholy obscurity in the history of Ossian & of almost
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Paul Jérémie Bitaubè : unknown
Robert Southey to John May, 26 June, 1797: '...the French never can have a good epic poem till they have republicanized their language; it appears to me a thing impossible in their metres; & for the prose of Fenelon Florian & Bitaubè — I find it peculiarly unpleasant. I have sometimes read the works of Florian aloud; his stories are very interesting & well conducted, but in reading them I have been felt obliged to simplify as I read & omit most of the similes & apostrophes. they disgusted me & I felt ashamed to pronounce them. Ossian is the only book bearable in this stile, there is a melancholy obscurity in the history of Ossian & of almost
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Ossian [James Macpherson] : Poems
Robert Southey to John May, 26 June, 1797: '...the French never can have a good epic poem till they have republicanized their language; it appears to me a thing impossible in their metres; & for the prose of Fenelon Florian & Bitaubè — I find it peculiarly unpleasant. I have sometimes read the works of Florian aloud; his stories are very interesting & well conducted, but in reading them I have been felt obliged to simplify as I read & omit most of the similes & apostrophes. they disgusted me & I felt ashamed to pronounce them. Ossian is the only book bearable in this stile, there is a melancholy obscurity in the history of Ossian & of almost
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Marie-Jeanne Roland de la Platiere : Appel a l’Impartiale Posteritè
Robert Southey to John May, 26 June, 1797: 'Have you seen Madame Rolands Appel a l’impartiale Posteritè? it is one of those books that makes me love individuals & yet dread detest & despise mankind in a mass.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Jean Chapelain : La Pucelle ou la France Délivrée
Robert Southey to John May, 11 July, 1797: 'I thank you for Chapelain. I read his poem with the hope of finding something
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
S.T. Coleridge : Poems, by S. T. Coleridge, Second Edition. To Which are Now Added Poems by Charles Lamb, and Charles Lloyd
Robert Southey to John May, 11 July, 1797: 'Cottle brought with him the new edition of Coleridges poems, they are dedicated to his brothe[MS torn] George, in one of the most beautiful poems I ever read. [MS torn] know S T Coleridge better than any existing being, & yet great part of his conduct is utterly inexplicable to me. last night I wrote to him, requesting some thing for insertion in Chattertons works that his name might appear in the proposals. I then told him that his brother had not known where he was till he learnt it from you. You will be delighted with his new edition, it contains all the poems of Lloyd & Lamb, & I know no volume that can be compared to it.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Bernando Tasso : Amadis of Gaul
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 19 July 1797: 'The old Lady Strathmore has some curious books. I hope to get from her library the Amadigi of Tassos father.if he had been a very bad poet Tasso would never have published his works — & I love every thing belonging to Amadis & Galaor.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Isabel Godin des Odonais : Lettre Contenant la Relation des Madame Godin (par le Fleuve des Amazons)
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 19 July 1797: 'If you can get me any poetical information about the River of Amazons I shall be glad — but I must have no Amazons as Madoc was buried long before Orellana learnt to tell lies. Did you ever see Madame Godines melancholy account? I shall allude to it by & by.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Pierre Le Moyne : Saint Louis
Robert Southey to Joseph Cottle, 28 July 1797: 'Since you left me I have been reading the Saint Louis of Le Moyne: an epic poem in 18 books. Le Moyne had genius — but he has introduced the most incredibly ridiculous thing in his poem. Louis is wounded with a poisoned arrow, for which there is no earthly cure, but he is healed by the waters of a fountain in which the Virgin Mary had, on the way to Egypt, washed her little boys clouts!'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Epictetus : Encheiridion
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, c. 3 August 1797: 'I think you would derive more good from Epictetus than from studying yourself. there is a very proud independance in the Stoic philosophy which has always much pleased me; you would find certain sentences in the Enchiridion which would occur to the mind when such maxims were wanted & operate as motives. besides when you are examining yourself you ought to have a certain standard by which to measure yourself: & however far an old Stoic may be from perfection, he is almost a God when compared to the present race who libel that nature which appeared with such exceeding lustre in Athens in Lacedæmon & in Rome. I could send you to a better system than that of the bondsman Epictetus, where you would find a better model on which to form your conduct. but the mind should have arrived at a certain stage to profit properly by that book, which few have attained. it should be cool & confirmed.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Thomas James Mathias : The Pursuits of Literature, or What You Will. A Satirical Poem in Dialogue. With Notes. Part the Second
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 9 August 1797: 'I have only seen the former parts of the Pursuits of Literature. the author appeared to me to have the malevolence of Gifford without his wit. the lines on Darwin were however uncommonly good. if he has wiped me with civility he will serve the book, & the advertisement makes amends for the censure.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Sir William Blackstone : Commentaries on the Laws of England
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 9 August 1797: 'I have now gone thro Blackstone often & attentively, so repeatedly reperusing the more important parts, that I think I know the book well. nor does farther study of it now appear necessary or useful.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Joshua Barnes : The History of That Most Victorious Monarch Edward III
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 9 August 1797: 'I have got learnt much military knowledge from a history of Edward 3rd. by old Joshua Barnes, who, Bentley said, knew as much Greek as an Athenian cobbler. did you ever see the book? it is a large folio, so minute as almost to make me amends for the want of Froissard: & I expect to be very accurate in my costume, but if this merit be not pointed out by explanatory notes it will be lost, for the Reviews did not discover my blunders...'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Epictetus : Encheiridion
Robert Southey to John May, 15 August 1797: 'I am fond of great part of the Stoical system, & there are few characters that I contemplate with more reverence than the slave Epictetus. his book was
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Edmund Howes : The Annales, or Generalle Chronicle of England, Begun First by Maister John Stow, and After Him Continued and Augmented with Matters Forreine and Domesticall unto the End of Yeare 1610, by E. H.
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 16 August 1797: 'Our Edwards were tolerable considering the day they lived in. I have never thought so highly as our historians of the Black Princes waiting at supper upon the captive King, it was an ill judged condescension & must have been painful to John. he should have supped with him. but Henry after the battle of Agincourt made the his prisoners wait upon him. I find this in an old Chronicler whose name seems almost to have perished. Edmond Howes. he wrote under Elizabeth James & in the earlier years of Charles & expresses obligations to Sir Edward Coke & Master Camden.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Anna Seward : 'Written by Anna Seward, After Reading Southey’s Joan of Arc’
Robert Southey to John May, 24 August 1797: 'Have you seen a poem addressed to me by Miss Anna Seward? if not I can much amuse you by it. she applies to my poetry what Milton says of the Pandæmonium chorists.calls me an unnatural boy, a beardless parricide, & dark of heart; says I cry like a crocodile & bids me laugh like a hyena. — & laugh I did most heartily — & so I think will you at perusing this very delectable poem.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Newspaper
Robert Loveday : Cléopâtre
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 24 August 1797: '...tis in the translation of the huge romance Cleopatra by a Robert Loveday, who from the recommendatory verses prefixd to his book seems to have possessed more celebrity than diffidence.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
William Godwin : The Enquirer. Reflections on Education, Manners and Literature in a Series of Essays
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 12 September 1797: 'Nothing disgusts me so much as the affectation of fine language. Godwins Enquirer is a sad example. if a writer has a plain thing to express let him express it plainly, & if he ought to write at all the ideas will elevate the language — he may rest assured that his language will not elevate the idea.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Francis Quarles : Argalus and Parthenia
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 12 September 1797: 'I doubted not that you would agree with me in thinking very highly of quaint old Quarles. you shall see his Argalus & Parthenia when we meet, it is more ridiculous than his Emblems, but often very fine & never tame.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
anon : Palmerin of England
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 12 September 1797: 'I much want the latter books of Amadis, subsequent to those which Tressan has abridged & prior to Amadis of Greece: you know my great attachment to the old romances. I know the Portugueze Palmerin. it has fine parts but deserves not the praise of Cervantes.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Jean Froissart : Le Premier (-Quart) Volume De Messire Jehan Froissart Lequel Traicte de Choses Vingts de Memoire Advenues Tant es Pays de France, Angleterre, Flandres, Espaigne que Escoce, ets Aus Tres Lieux Circonvoisins
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 22 September 1797: 'I have been reading old Froissart. after Sir Walter Manny & about a dozen Knights with three hundred archers had sallied out & broken an engine than annoyed them — the Countess of Montford met them in the on their return, & she kissed them all three or four times, like a noble & valiant Lady. I have a great love for this plain quaintness of speech — it is often ludicrous, but it as often beautiful — & one who wishes to write good poetry now should read old prose.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
Jean Jacques Rousseau : La Lévite d’Ephraim
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 22 September 1797: 'Do you know Rousseaus Levite of Ephraim? if not — you will find a poem that has not a word too much.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Book
anon : Review of William Rough, Lorenzini di Medici
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 22 September 1797: 'I see Roughs Lorenzino reviewed. I had not expected much.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Serial / periodical
Anna Letitia Barbauld : ‘To S. T. Coleridge, 1797’
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 22 September 1797: 'Mrs Barbauld has written some lines to Coleridge advising him to abandon metaphysics. the poem is not good. if however you are inclined to see it I will copy it for you.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Print: Serial / periodical
S.T. Coleridge : Osorio
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 22 September 1797: 'Coleridge has written a tragedy — by request of Sheridan. it is uncommonly fine — tho every character appears to me to possess qualities which can not possibly exist in the same mind.'
UnknownCentury: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey
William Wordsworth : The Borderers
Robert Southey to Charles Watkin Williams Wynn, 22 September 1797: '...but there is a man, whose name is not known in the world — Wordsworth — who has written great part of a tragedy, upon a very strange & unpleasant subject — but [MS obscured] is equal to any dramatic pieces, [MS obscured] I have ever seen.'
Century: 1700-1799 Reader/Listener/Group: Robert Southey Manuscript: Unknown
William Shakespeare : [history plays, particularly Henry VI, Parts I and II]
Robert Southey to Grosvenor Charles Bedford, 30 September 1797: '... this took a strange turn when I was about nine years old. I had been reading the historical plays of Shakespere — concluded that there must be civil war in my own time & resolved to be a very great man, like the Earl of Warwick.'
