Southey, Coleridge, and Burnett lived together with great simplicity in Bristol, in 1795, and to obtain means for existence, they started as public lecturers, Southey on History, and Coleridge on Politics and Ethics; the lectures are said to have been well attended. Southey had two years before written Joan of Arc, an epic of considerable length, but had not means to get it printed. He however 'became acquainted with Joseph Cottle, a bookseller in Bristol, who, to his praise be it recorded, not only assisted Coleridge with money, but offered fifty guineas for Joan of Arc, and fifty copies for the author's subscribers. Joan of Arc was published in 1796; a work," says Mr. Hazlitt, "in which the love of liberty is inhaled like the breath of Spring, mild, balmy, heaven-born-that is, full of fears, and virgin-sighs, and yearnings of affection after truth and good, gushing warm and crimsoned from the heart."

Soon after the sale of the copyright of his poems, Southey's uncle, the Rev. Mr. Hill, who held the appointment of a chaplain in Portugal, arrived in England. He found his nephew with but little belief in revealed religion, and with political sentiments of the wildest order. Acting the part of a father, Mr. Hill proposed a visit to Portugal, to wean him from what was supposed to be an imprudent attachment; and to gratify his mother, who urged the removal, Southey consented, but on the morning of the day of his departure, he was married to Edith Fricker. They parted immediately after the ceremony, and the wife retired, wearing her wedding-ring attached to a ribbon round her neck. After a stay of six months in Lisbon, Southey returned, and, accompanied by his wife, went to London, and entered himself a student at Gray's Inn, to begin the study of the law, by the wish of his uncle, who

had agreed to furnish the required funds. After a year's torture, Southey gave up this-to him—irksome toil. He had become an occasional contributor to the Monthly Magazine, and in conjunction with Charles Lamb, Humphrey Davy, Taylor of Norwich, and Coleridge, he published two volumes of poetry, under the title of The Annual Anthology. In 1800-1 he again visited Portugal for the benefit of his health, accompanied by his wife; and on his return at the latter end of 1801, through the interest of, we believe, Sir James Macintosh, he obtained the appointment of Private Secretary to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, with a salary of 4001. a year. On his arrival in Dublin, he not only found that in his office he had nothing to do, but that the minister was so sensible of the fact, that he proposed that Southey should undertake the tuition of his son. This proposition Southey manfully rejected, and threw up his appointment a few months after. He returned to Bristol, and ere long obtained a connexion with Messrs. Longman and Rees, producing the romance of Amadis de Gaul, from a Spanish version, and his metrical romance of Thalaba the Destroyer. At this time, while struggling for himself, he learnt the forlorn condition of Mrs. Newton, sister of the unfortunate Chatterton, and to aid her, he, in conjunction with Mr. Cottle, undertook to publish by subscription a complete edition of Chatterton's writings, and they were enabled by this means to hand over 300l. to the family. He had now settled himself at Greta, in Cumberland, where he resided to the end of his life: and here he afforded an asylum for his wife's sister, Mrs. Lovell, and her child, who had been left without the slightest provision; and the wife and children of Coleridge, whom he had in a wayward mood

deserted, were saved much of the knowledge of their hardships by finding a home in the Sanctuary of Robert Southey. His life exhibits many traits of his Sympathy for misfortune; for in 1811, when William Taylor fell into distress, he offered to contribute a yearly 107., and the same thing he did for John Morgan; and in 1821 he directs his friend Bedford to transfer to Mr. May, who had in early life rendered Southey substantial service, 625l., in the 3 per cents, his whole savings, and wishes it was more. When mentioning these circumstances, an able writer in the leading journal of our time says,—“ If biography be not utterly worthless, these illustrations of Southey's character have an inestimable value. Look at him, pen in hand, the indefatigable day labourer in his literary seclusion, with no inheritance but his vigorous intellect, no revenue but such as his well-stored mind and matchless industry can furnish, perfect in the manifold relation of husband, brother, father, friend, and by his chosen labours delighting and instructing the world, as well as ministering to the daily happiness of his needy circle,-Look, we say, and confess that heroism is here which conquerors might envy."

To another young and ardent poet-poor Henry Kirke White, whose volume had been most unmercifully attacked in a Review, Southey offered his kind assistance, and White's early death enabled him to prove his sympathy in collecting the scattered fragments, and in a memoir vindicated his title to genius. In fact, Southey's correspondence exhibits numerous instances of his kind-heartedness to all young aspirants for literary fame.

After he had fairly settled himself down amongst the mountains, he set to work for the booksellers, and what with prose and verse, the result of his labours was really

marvellous. In 1806, he was at the same time engaged in writing The History of Portugal, Espriella's Letters, The Chronicle of the Cid, and The Curse of Kehema. When writing to his friend, Mr. Bedford, communicating the tasks he had undertaken, he says, "I tell you I can't afford to do one thing at a time; no, nor two neither; and it's only by doing many things I continue to do as much; for I cannot work long at anything without hurting myself, and I do everything by heats; then by the time I am tired of one my inclination for another is at hand." Whether his works succeeded or failed it was all the same; his courage or perseverance never deserted him. He religiously believed future generations would recognise his talents, and he continued his almost gigantic epics.

In 1807 he produced Specimens of the later English Poets, and Palmerin of England, a translation from the Portuguese; and we learn that in the same year he had a proposal from Walter Scott to contribute to the Edinburgh Review. But Southey had some time before abandoned his democratic creed and taken up one diametrically opposite, and for the remainder of his life he became a most uncompromising monarchist, and in his political opinions an extreme conservative. In his answer to Scott, Southey says, "To Jeffery, as an individual, I shall ever be ready to show individual courtesy, but of Judge Jeffery of the Edinburgh Review, I must ever think and speak as of a bad politician, a worse moralist, and a critic, in matters of taste, equally incompetent and unjust." Scott, who was one of Southey's most sincere friends, knowing the large claims on his income, through Canning, had an opportunity of offering Southey some appointment worth 3007. a-year, but that, as well as another of a professor at one of the

universities, was declined. Southey had at this time a government pension of 1607. a-year, for literary services; but a more certain income was opened to him, in the wellpaid remuneration provided by the Quarterly Review, which was set on foot, chiefly at his instigation.

In 1813, on the death of Mr. Pye, the offer of the appointment of Poet Laureate was made to Scott, but was by him declined; at the same time he recommended Southey as the most competent, therefore upon Southey it was conferred.

For the remainder of his life the labour of Southey was incessant, and by degrees the happiness of his home was flying away. First, he loses one child, of whom he was "foolishly fond;" then another-his daughter marries, and his "best days are over;" and at last, his wife, Edith, who had for forty years been the light of his life, was placed in a lunatic asylum. Upon this latter event, writing to his friend, Grosvenor Bedford, he says, "God, who has visited me with this affliction, has given me strength to bear it, and will, I know, support me to the end, whatever that may be. Mine is a strong heart. I will not say the last week has been the most trying of my life, but I will say that the heart which could bear it can bear anything."

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While suffering under this trying affliction, the offer of a baronetcy was made him by Sir Robert Peel, then First Lord of the Treasury; and at the same time a private letter, requesting Southey to tell him (Sir R. Peel) frankly how the minister could serve him. Southey, declining the proffered distinction, replied by a clear statement of his position: Sir Robert, without loss of time, attached his name to a warrant, adding 300l. per annum to Southev's income.

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