We must quote the letter in which Southey gives an account of this
terrible denouement. It introduces us at once into the state of
affairs, his enthusiastic project, and the associates with whom it was
to be carried out. A rather different account, it will be observed,
is here given of its origin, than that which we have quoted from Mr
Cuthbert Southey--
"TO THOMAS SOUTHEY.
BATH, _Oct. 19, 1794_.
My Dear Brother Admiral,--Here's a row! here's a kick up!
here's a pretty commence! We have had a revolution in the
College Green, and I have been turned out of doors in a
wet night. Lo and behold! even like my own brothers, I am
penniless. It was late in the evening; the wind blew and the
rain fell, and I had walked from Bath in the morning. Luckily,
my father's old greatcoat was at Lovell's; I clapt it on,
swallowed a glass of brandy, and set off. I met an old drunken
man three miles off, and was obliged to drag him all the way to
Bath, nine miles! Oh Patience, Patience! thou hast often helped
poor Robert Southey, but never didst thou stand him in more
need than on Friday the 17th of October 1794.
Well, Tom, here I am. My aunt has declared she will never see
my face again, or open a letter of my writing. So be it. I do
my duty, and will continue to do it, be the consequences what
they may. You are unpleasantly situated, so is my mother, so
were we all, _till this grand scheme of Pantisocracy flashed
upon our minds, and now all is perfectly delightful_.
Open war--declared hostilities! The children are to come
here on Wednesday, and I meet them at the Long Coach on this
evening. My aunt abuses poor Lovell most unmercifully, and
attributes the whole scheme to him: _you know it was concerted
between Burnett and me_. But of all the whole catalogue of
enormities, nothing enrages my aunt so much as my intended
marriage with Mrs Lovell's sister Edith: this will hardly take
place till we arrive in America; it rouses the whole army of
prejudices in my aunt's breast. Pride leads the fiery host, and
a pretty kick-up they must make there....
_Everything is in the fairest train._ Favell and Le Grice, two
young Pantisocrats of nineteen, join us; they possess great
genius and energy. I have seen neither of them, yet correspond
with both. You may, perhaps, like this sonnet on the subject
of our emigration by Favell." [We skip the sonnet. It seems to
have been held sufficient testimonial for his qualifications
as an emigrant.] "This is a very beautiful piece of poetry;
and we may form a very fair opinion of Favell from it. Scott,
a brother of your acquaintance, goes with us. So much for news
relative to our private politics.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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