452. To Robert Southey Address: Robert Southey Esq. | St James's Place | King's Down | Bristol Single Sheet MS. Lord Latymer. Pub. with omis. Letters, i. 393. Postramk: 12 August 1802. Stamped: Keswick. Monday Night, August 9, 1802 My dear Southey Derwent can say his Letters -- and if you could but see his darling Mouth, when he shouts out Q! -- This is a Digression. -- On Sunday August I. after morning church I left Greta Hall, crossed the fields to Portinscale, went thro' Newlands, where 'Great Robinson looks down upon Maiden's Bower,' and drank Tea at Buttermere -- crossed the mountains to Ennerdale, & slept at a farm House a little below the foot of the Lake / Spent the greater part of the next Day mountaineering, & went in the evening thro' Egrement to St Bees & slept there -- returned next day to Egremont & slept there -- went by the Sea Coast as far as Gosforth, then turned off, & went up Wasdale, & slept at T. Tyson's at the head of the vale / Thursday morning crossed the mountains, & ascended Sca' fell, which is more than a 100 yards higher than either Helvellin or Skiddaw / spent the whole day among clouds, & one of them a frightening thunder-cloud -- slipt down into Eskdale, & there slept -- & spent good part of the next day -- proceeded that evening to Devock Lake, & slept at Ulpha Kirk / on Saturday passed thro' the Donnerdale Mountains to Broughton Vale, Torvor Vale, & in upon Coniston / Sunday surveyed the Lake &c of Coniston, & proceeded to Bratha, and slept at Lloyd's House / this Morning walked from Bratha to Grasmere, & from Grasmere to Greta Hall -- where I now am, quite sweet and ablute / & have but even now read thro' your Letter -- which I will answer by the night's post, & therefore must defer all account of my very Interesting Tour -- saying only that of all earthly things which I have beheld, the view of Sea' fell & from Sca' Fell, (both views from it's own summit) is the most heart-exciting. And now for business -The rent of the whole House, including Taxes, & the Furniture we have, will be not under 40£, & not above 42£ a year / You will have half the house, & half the furniture, and of course, your share will be either 20£ or 20 guineas. As to furniture, the house certainly will not be wholly, i.e. compleatly, furnished by Jackson / two rooms we must somehow or other furnish between us -- but not immediately -- you may pass the winter without it -- & it is hard, if ____________________ afterwards Charles and Mary Lamb arrived at Greta Hall for a visit lasting three weeks. -846- we cannot raise 30£ in the course of the winter between us / and whatever we buy, may be disposed of any Saturday, to a moral certainty at it's full value / or Mr Jackson, who is uncommonly desirous that you should come, will take it -- but we can put on for the winter well enough / . -- Your Books may come all the way from Bristol either to Whitehaven, Maryport, or Workington / sometimes directly, always by means of Liverpool. In the latter case they must be sent to Whitehaven / from whence waggons come to Keswick twice a week. -- You will have 20 or 80 shillings to lay out in Tin & Crockery -- & you must bring with you, or buy here, which you may do at 8 months' credit, knives & forks, &c, and all your Linen from the diaper subvestments of the young Jacobin to diaper Table Cloths, Sheet[s], Napkins, &c. But these, I suppose, you already have. -- What else I have to say, I can not tell / & indeed shall be too late for the Post. But I will write soon again / I was exceedingly amused with the Cottelism / but I have not time to speak of this or of other parts of your Letter. I believe that I can execute the Criticisms with no Offence to Hayley, & in a manner highly satisfactory to the admirers of the Poet Bloomfield, & to the Friends of the Man Bloomfield. But there are certainly other objections of great weight. -- Sara is well -- and the children pretty well. Hartley is almost ill with transport at my Sea' Fell expedition / That child is a Poet, spite of the Forehead 'villainous low,' 1 which his Mother smuggled into his Face. Derwent is more beautiful than ever -- but very backward with his Tongue -altho' he can say all his Letters -- N.B. Not out of Books. God bless you! & your's -- & S. T. Coleridge If you are able to determine, you will of course let me know it, without waiting for a second Letter from me / as if you determine in the affirmative of the Scheme, it will be a great motive with Jackson, indeed a most infallible one, to get immediately to work-so as to have the whole perfectly finished six weeks at least before your arrival. ---- Another reason for your writing immediately is that we may lay you in a Stock of Coals during the summer, which is a saving of some Pounds. ---- When I say determine, of course, I mean -- such determination, as the thousand Contingencies, black & white, permit a wise man to make / & which would be enough for me to act on. ---- ____________________ 1 The Tempest, iv. i. 250. -847- Sara will write to Edith soon -- Sara did not ctach the £ itch, 1 before her concubition with Abram / . -- I have just received a Letter from Poole -- but I have found so many Letters, that I have opened your's only. ----