LIFE. FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH MR. COLERIDGE. PANQUARREL WITH MISS TYLER. -LETTER TISOCRACY. THOMAS SOUTHEY.-A.D. 1794. ΤΟ So passed the close of 1793. At the latter end of the following January my father was again in residence at Balliol; before, however, we come to the events of the year, it is necessary to make a few preliminary remarks. The expenses of my father's education, both at school and college, had been defrayed by his uncle, the Rev. Herbert Hill, at that time chaplain to the British Factory at Lisbon, whom he so touchingly addresses in the Dedication to the "Colloquies :"- "O friend! O more than father! whom I found And the kindness with which this was done had been the more perfectly judicious, as, although it had been both wished and hoped that my father would take holy orders, his uncle had never even hinted to him that he was educating him with that view. Other friends, however, had not shown the same judgment, and he had up to this time considered himself as "destined for the church" a prospect to which he had never reconciled himself, and which now began to weigh heavily upon him. It is not to be concealed or denied, that the state of my father's mind with respect to religion, and more especially with respect to the doctrines of the Church of England, was very different in very early life from the opinions and feelings which he held in the maturity of his later years. Neither is this much to be wondered at, when we remember the sort of "bringing up" he had received, the state of society at that time, and the peculiar constitution of his own mind. His aunt, Miss Tyler, although possessing many good qualities, could hardly be said to have been a religiously-minded person. He had been removed from one school to another, undergoing "many of those sad changes through which a gentle spirit has to pass in this uneasy and disordered world;"* and he has said himself, doubtless from his own experience, that such schools are "unfavourable to devotional feelings, and destructive to devotional habits; that nothing, which is not intentionally profane, can be more irreligious than the forms of worship which are observed there; and that at no time has a schoolboy's life afforded any encouragement, any inducement, or any opportunity for devotion." must also be borne in mind that the aspect of the Church in this country at that time, as it presented itself to those who did not look below the surface, was very different from that which it now presents. A cloud, as it were, hung over it; if it had not our * Life of Cowper, vol. i. p. 6 † Ibid. p. 12. It unhappy divisions, it had not also the spur to exertion, and the sort of spiritual freshness, which the storms of those dissensions have infused into it-good coming out of evil, as it so often does in the course of God's providence. It is not so strange, therefore, that he should have entertained an invincible repugnance to taking Holy orders. Enthusiastic and visionary in the extreme, imbued strongly with those political views* which rarely fail to produce lax and dangerous views in religion, as his uncle quietly observes in one of his letters to him "I knew what your politics were, and therefore had reason to suspect what your religion might be;" viewing the Church only as she appeared in the lives and preaching of many of her unworthy, many of her cold and indolent ministers; never directed to those studies which would probably have solved his doubts, and settled his opinions; and unfortified by an acquaintance with "that portion of the Church's history, the knowledge of which," as he himself says, "if early inculcated, might arm the young heart against the pestilent errors of these distempered times; "t-it is little to be wondered at if he fell into some of these errors. His opinions at this time were somewhat unsettled, although they soon took the form of Unitarianism, * In the following passage, written with reference to the times of Charles I., my father has evidently in view the causes of his own early republican bias: "And, at the same time, many of the higher classes had imbibed from their classical studies prejudices in favour of a popular government, which were as congenial to the generous temper of inexperienced youth, as they are inconsistent with sound knowledge and mature judgment."-Book of the Church, vol. ii. p. 356. † Book of the Church; Preface, p. 1. from which point they seem gradually to have ascended without any abrupt transition, as the troubles of life increased his devotional feelings, and the study of religious authors informed his better judgment, until they finally settled down into a strong attachment to the doctrines of the Church of England. For the present he felt he could not assent to those doctrines, and therefore, although no man could possibly have been more willing to labour perseveringly and industriously for a livelihood, he began to feel much anxiety and distress of mind as to his future prospects, and to make several fruitless attempts to find some suitable profession. These several projects are best narrated by himself: "Once more am I settled at Balliol, once more among my friends, alternately studying and philosophising, railing at collegiate folly, and enjoying rational society; my prospects in life are totally altered. I am resolved to come out Esculapius secundus. Our society at Balliol continues the same in number. The freshmen of the term are not estimable (as Duppa says), and we are enough with the three Corpus men, who generally join us. The fiddle with one string is gone, and its place supplied with a harpsichord in Burnett's room. Lightfoot still melodises on the flute, and, had I but a Jew's harp, the concert would be complete On Friday next my anatomical studies begin; they must be pursued with attention. Apollo has hitherto only received my devotion as the deity of poets; I must now address him as a physician. I could allege many reasons for my preference of physic; some disagreeable circumstances must attend the study, but they are more than counterbalanced by the expansion it gives the mind, and the opportunities it affords of doing good. Chemistry I must also attend: of this study I have always been fond, and it is now necessary to pursue it with care." And again, a few days after, he writes to Mr. Grosvenor Bedford: "I purpose studying physic: innumerable and insuperable objections appeared to divinity: surely the profession I have chosen affords at least as many opportunities of benefiting mankind. In this country a liberal education precludes the man of no fortune from independence in the humbler lines of life; he may either turn soldier or embrace one of three professions, in all of which there is too much quackery. . . . Very soon shall I commence my anatomical and chemical studies. When well grounded in these, I hope to study under Cruikshank to perfect myself in anatomy, attend the clinical lectures, and then commence - Doctor Southey!!!" He accordingly attended, for some little time, the anatomy school, and the lectures of the medical professors, but he soon abandoned the idea as hastily as he had adopted it; partly from being unable to overcome his disgust to a dissecting-room, and partly because the love of literary pursuits was so strong within him, that, without his being altogether aware of it at the time, it prevented his applying his mind *To Horace Bedford, Esq., Jan. 24. 1794. |