Your note arrives. If on so slight a
knowledge of the play I could venture to erase either of the words you
set before me, I fear it would be _Yes_, but I feel cruel and wicked in
saying so. I hope you got your dinner in comfort when you got rid of me
and that gentle pyramid [Belzoni].
Yours truly,
B.D.
Mr. Southey was an indefatigable and elaborate correspondent, and, as
his letters have already been published, it is not necessary to quote
them. He rarely wrote to Mr. Gifford, who cut down his articles, and, as
Southey insisted, generally emasculated them by omitting the best
portions. Two extracts may be given from those written to Mr. Murray in
1820, which do not seem yet to have been given to the world, the first
in reference to a proposed Life of Warren Hastings:
"It appears to me that the proper plan will be to publish a selection
from Warren Hastings's papers and correspondence, accompanying it with
his Life. That Life requires a compendious view of our Indian history
down to the time of his administration, and in its progress it embraces
the preservation of our Indian empire and the establishment of the
existing system.
Pages:
445
446
447
448
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469