Between 1808 and 1838, Southey had written ninety-four articles for the
_Quarterly_; the last was upon his friend Thomas Telford, the engineer,
who left him a legacy. He had been returned Member of Parliament for
Downton (before the Reform Bill passed), but refused the honour--a
curious episode not often remembered in the career of this distinguished
man of letters. When about fifty-five years old, his only certain source
of income was from his pension, from which he received L145, and from
his laureateship, which was L90. But the larger portion of these sums
went in payment for his life insurance, so that not more than L100 could
be calculated on as available. His works were not always profitable. In
one year he only received L26 for twenty-one of his books, published by
Longman.
Murray gave him L1,000 for the copyright of the "Peninsular War"; but
his "Book of the Church" and his "Vindiciae" produced nothing.
Southey's chief means of support was the payments (generally L100 for
each article) which he received for his contributions to the
_Quarterly_; but while recognizing this, as he could not fail to do, as
well as Murray's general kindness towards him, he occasionally allowed a
vein of discontent to show itself even in his acknowledgment of favours
received.
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