407. To Robert Southey Address: Mrs Danvers | Kingsdown Parade | Bristol (For Mr Southey) MS. Lord Latymer. Pub. with omis. Letters, i. 361. Postmark: 3 August 1801. Scarborough, Aug. 1. 1801 My dear Southey On my return from Durham (I foolishly walked back) I was taken ill -- & my left knee swelled, 'pregnant with agony' as Mr Dodsley says in one of his poems. Dr Fenwick has earnestly persuaded me to try Horse-exercise & warm Sea-bathing -- & I took the opportunity of riding with Sara Hutchinson to her Brother Tom, who lives near this place, where I can ride to & fro, & bathe with no other expence there than that of the Bath. The fit comes on me either at 9 at night, or 2 in the morning -- in the former case it continues 9 hours, in the latter 5 -- I am often literally sick with pain. -- In the day time however I am well -- surprisingly so indeed considering how very little sleep I am able to snatch. -- Your letter was sent after me, & arrived here this morning -- and but that my -748- letter can reach you on the 4th of this month, I would immediately set off again, tho' I arrived here only last night. But I am unwilling not to try the Baths for one week --. If therefore you have not made the immediate preparation, you may stay one week longer at Bristol -- but if you have, you must look at the Lake, & play with my Babies 8 or four days -- tho' this grieves me. I do not like it -- I want to be with you, & to meet you even at the very verge of the Lake Country. -- I would far rather that you would stay a week at Grasmere, (which is on the Road, 14 miles from Keswick) with Wordsworth than go on to Keswick, & I not be there. O how you will love Grasmere! All I ever wish of you with regard to wintering at Keswick is to stay with me till you find the climate injurious. -- When I read that chearful sentence 'we will climb Skiddaw this year, & scale Etna the next' with a right piteous & humorous Smile did I ogle my poor knee, which at this present moment is larger than the thickest part of my Thigh. ----- A little quaker Girl (the daughter of the great quaker mathematician Slee, a friend of Anti-Negro-trade Clarkson who has a house at the foot of Ulswater, which Slee Wordsworth dined with -a pretty parenthesis!) this little Girl, 4 years old, happened after a very hearty meal to eructate, while Wordsworths were there. Her Mother looked at her -- & the little creature immediately & formally observed -- 'Yan belks when yan's fu', & when yan's empty' -- that is 'One belches when one's full, & when one's empty.' -- Since that time this is a favorite piece of Slang at Grasmere & Greta Hall -- whenever we talk of poor Joey, George Dyer, & other Perseverants in the noble Trade of Scriblerism. -- Wrangham, who lives near here, one of your Anthology Friends, has married again -- a Lady of a neat 700£ a year -- his Living by the Inclosure will be something better than 600 -- besides what little fortune he had with his last wife, who died in the first year. His present wife's Cousin observed -- 'Mr W. is a lucky man -- his present Lady is very weakly & delicate.' -- I like the idea of a man's speculating in sickly Wives. It would be no bad character for a farce. That letter ₤ to which you allude was a kind-hearted honest well-spoken Citizen -- the three Strokes, which did for him were, as I take it, First, the Ictus Cardiacus, which devitalized his moral Heart -- 2ndly, the Stroke of the Apoplexy in his head -- & thirdly, a stroke of the Palsy in his Right hand -- which produces a terrible shaking & impotence in the very attempt to reach his Breeches Pocket. -- O dear Southey! what incalculable Blessings, worthy of Thanksgiving in Heaven, do we not owe to our being & having been, -749- Poor! No man's Heart can wholly stand up against Property. ----- My love to Edith. S. T. Coleridge P.S. If you write again, before I see you, which I scarcely expect, direct your letter as before, to Mr George Hutchinson's, Bishops Middleham, Rushiford, Durham. -- I shall be there in ten days, unless I should be worse, than I have the slightest reason to expect. -- There I shall stay two days, merely for rest -- & then proceed straight on to Keswick -- at which place I trust that I shall arrive on the 15th of this month, or the 16th at farthest. ----- Kind Remembrances to Danvers!