Page:Notes and Queries - Series 2 - Volume 1.djvu/513

 2nd s. NO 26., JUNE 28. '56.]

NOTES AND QUERIES.

505

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 28, 1856.

INEDITED LETTER OF SOUTHEY.

[The following letters, for the use of which we are in- debted to the courtesy of Mu. DILLON CROKKR, contain what the elder D'Israeli would have called "the secret his- tory" of an article in the Quarterly Review. Barre Charles Koberts, the amiable and clever youth towhom they allude, died at the age of twenty-one in 1810. Mr. Grosvenor Bedford, his cousin, published his Letters and Papers, with a Memoir, in 1814; and, according to the fashion of that lordly period, enshrined them in a handsome 4to. volume. The review alluded to at the conclusion of the second letter was published in the Quarterly Review for Jan. 1815 (vol. xii. p. 509.). Written in the tone of exagge- ration which pervades these letters, there is one passage in it which is worthy of quotation for the almost prophe- tic character of its close. Southey is describing the too frequent course of men of genius " the melancholy sum of what the biography of men of letters almost uni- formly presents." It is thus that he sums up the melan- choly tale : " A morning of ardour and of hope ; a day of clouds and storms; an evening of gloom closed in by premature darkness." Should he not have looked be- yond the grave, to that "recompense of reward" which,. even in this world, awaits the memory of those who de- vote their powers to high and noble ends?]

" Keswick, 16. Dec. 1814.

" You will not I trust, Sir, think me obtrusive, if I return thanks to you as well as to Grosvenor, for the volume with which he has favoured me. I have read it with great interest and great admira- tion ; could the cause of its publication have been forgotten, I might have added with unmingled pleasure..

"We know too many instances of promising talents cut off in the bud, but I remember no in- stance in any way resembling this. The good sense, the careful research, the playful temper, which the letters display, are truly delightful ; and the picture of filial and fatherly affection might be held up as the ideal of all that can be desired between parent and child.

" Books are more durable than marbles ; and while this volume exists, Barre will be known and admired. That he would have attained a dis- tinguished reputation if a longer life had been granted him, I cannot doubt. Perhaps under any other circumstances he would not have been so entirely laid open to the world; and if he had not been made known so well, however distinguished his attainments, he would never have been ad- mired or lamented so much.

" You, Sir, have the consolation of reflecting that everything which the wisest and fondest parent would do for the welfare and happiness of his child was done, and of knowing that what death has taken away, death will restore. One

who has felt this latter consolation, may be al- lowed to touch upon it. " Believe me, Sir,

" With the most sincere respect, " Your obliged humble servant,

" ROBEBT SOUTHEY."

" Ealing, 20th December, 1814. " Dear Sir,

" I should ill requite the favour you have con- ferred on me, or deserve the good opinion which your own worthiness has led you to entertain on my behalf, if I did not gratefully acknowledge the value I set on both.

" As soon as Grosvenor's Memoir of dear Barre was issued from the press, I was very desirous that a copy should be sent to you forthwith. This wish sprang out of the respect which I bear you, and which you are so eminently entitled to receive from every one : it was restrained, so far as regards the not having presented the work from myself, from an apprehension, alone, that I might seem to be taking a presumptuous liberty. If I erred, I did so from delicacy.

" The kindness, may I say the friendly sentiment, your letter displays in regard to my lamented son and myself, are deeply impressed on my mind ; but your admiration of dear carre, your applause of his affectionate disposition and nature, of his persevering industry and his various acquire- ments, excites a tumultuous conflict of joy and grief in me ; not to be controuled by any power which I possess, nor described by any language which I can command. Instruct me, dear Sir, if the rich stores of your own vast mind contain the means how I shall convert these hours of grief into consolatory reflections.

" I trust, with the lowest humility, and I hope with pious resignation, that the Almighty who blessed me with such a son and friend, and who endowed me with the best and warmest affections of our nature for his merits, will not be displeased with me, or will pardon my infirmity, that I can- not cease whilst I have life, however unavailing my sorrow, to repine at the loss of him. It has been hinted, that a great obligation is yet in store for me ; that the most masterly pen amongst living authors is about to exercise its mighty powers in a review and delineation of the unpub- lished memoir and works of Dear Barru. How shall I sustain this large addition to the debt which Gros r Bedford, from zeal and affection, already has heaped upon me.

" Believe me to be, dear Sir, with the highest respect and esteem, your obedient and most faith- ful servant,

" ED. ROBERTS. " Robert Southey, Esq."