THE DOCTOR, &c.
There is a kind of physiognomy in the titles of books no less than in
the faces of men, by which a skilful observer will as well know what
to expect from the one as the other.
BUTLER'S REMAINS.
THE DOCTOR, &c.
[Illustration: a tetrahedron]
VOL. VI.
LONDON:
LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS.
1847.
LONDON:
PRINTED BY W. NICOL, PALL-MALL.
PREFACE.
INVENIAS ETIAM DISJECTI MEMBRA POETÆ.
In the distribution of the lamented Southey's literary property, the
History of the Brazils, his much treasured MS. History of Portugal,
the Doctor, &c. and the MS. materials for its completion, fell to the
share of Edith May Warter, his eldest child, and, as he used to call
her, his right hand,—to whom he addressed the Dedication of the Tale
of Paraguay, and to whom he commenced a little Poem of which the lines
following are almost the last, if not the very last, he ever wrote in
verse.
O daughter dear, who bear'st no longer now
Thy Father's name, and for the chalky flats
Of Sussex hast exchanged thy native land
Of lakes and mountains,—neither change of place
Condition, and all circumstantial things,
Nor new relations, and access of cares
Unfelt before, have alienated thee
Nor wean'd thy heart from this beloved spot,
Thy birth place, and so long thy happy home!
The present Volume is drawn up from the MS. materials alluded to, as
nearly as possible in the order the Author had intended, and the
seventh and concluding volume is in the press and will shortly be
published.
The whole of the MS. sheets, previous to being sent to the press, were
cautiously examined by his no less amiable and excellent, than highly
gifted Widow, who, at the time, was staying with us on a visit at
West-Tarring. Had the lamented Southey continued the work, it was his
intention, in this volume, to have advanced a step in the story,—and
the Interchapters, no doubt, would have been enlarged, according to
custom. His habit was, as he said, “to lay the timbers of them, and to
jot down, from time to time, remarks serious or jocose, as they
occurred to him.” Full readily would this holy and humble man of heart
have acceded to the truth conveyed in these lines from Martin Tupper's
Proverbial philosophy,—and none the less for their dactylic cadence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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