Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey ... |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
affectionately appears arrived Bedford believe bless Bonaparte booksellers Brazil called Captain Southey certainly Coleridge copy course curious danger DEAR NEville DEAR RICKMAN DEAR WYNN Edinburgh Edinburgh Annual Edith edition England expect feel French friends give glad Grosvenor hand Herbert Herbert Hill History of Brazil honour hope J. N. White Jesuits John Rickman Kehama Keswick Landor letter Lisbon London Longman look Lord Lord Lonsdale Lord Wellington Madoc never opinion paper Paraguay perhaps person poem poet poor Portugal Portuguese possible printed probably published Quarterly R. S. To John Remember respecting Review ROBERT SOUTHEY Roderick Scott seen Senhora sent Skiddaw soon Spain Spaniards Spanish Streatham suppose tell thank things thought tion told Travels uncle volume Walter Savage Landor Walter Scott week whole wish write written
Popular passages
Page 146 - They sin who tell us Love can die. With life all other passions fly, All others are but vanity. In Heaven Ambition cannot dwell, Nor Avarice in the vaults of Hell; Earthly these passions of the Earth, They perish where they have their birth ; But Love is indestructible. Its holy flame for ever burneth, From Heaven it came, to Heaven returneth...
Page 147 - But love is indestructible. Its holy flame for ever burneth, From heaven it came, to heaven returneth ; Too oft on earth a troubled guest, At times deceived, at times opprest, It here is tried and purified, Then hath in heaven its perfect rest : It soweth here with toil and care, But the harvest-time of Love is there.
Page 157 - Welsh triad might comprehend all the rules of style. Say what you have to say as perspicuously as possible, as "briefly as possible, and as rememberably as possible, and take no other thought about it. Omit none of those little circumstances which give life to narration, and bring old manners, old feelings, and old times before your eyes.
Page 156 - Make your writing books in foolscap quarto, and write on only one side of a leaf; draw a line down the margin, marking off space enough for your references, which should be given at the end of every paragraph ; — noting page, book, or chapter of the author referred to. This minuteness is now demanded, and you will yourself find it useful ; for in transcribing or in correcting proofs, it is often requisite to turn to the original authorities. Take the best author, that is to say the one that has...
Page 160 - I have a strong and lively faith in a state of continued consciousness from this stage of existence; and that we shall recover the consciousness of other stages through which we previously may have passed, seems to me not improbable.
Page 372 - ... so, because I possess the will as well as the power of employing myself for the support of my family, and value riches exactly at what they are worth. I have store of books, and pass my life among them, finding no enjoyment equal to that of accumulating knowledge. In worldly affairs the world must consider me as unfortunate, for I have been deprived of a good property, which, by the common laws of inheritance, should have been mine; and this through no fault, error, or action of my own. But my...
Page 168 - How does the water Come down at Lodore?" My little boy asked me Thus, once on a time; And moreover he tasked me To tell him in rhyme. Anon, at the word, There first came one daughter, And then came another, To second and third The request of their brother, And to hear how the water Comes down at Lodore, With its rush and its roar, As many a time They had seen it before. So I told them in rhyme, For...
Page 189 - I heard the same things repeated, — repeated to every fresh company, seven times in the week if we were in seven parties, — still I was silent, in great measure from depression of spirits at perceiving those vices in his nature which soon appeared to be incurable. When he provoked me into an argument, I made the most of my time; and, as it was not easy to get in more than a few words, took care to make up in weight for what they wanted in measure.
Page 91 - It was not long before his wife became deranged, and when all this was told me by one who knew him well, five years ago, he was still almost confined in his own house, anxiously waiting upon this wife in her long and hopeless malady. A sad history ! It is no wonder that he gives so melancholy a picture of human life.
Page 159 - My dear Rickman, — I can wish you nothing better than that your life may be as long, your age as hale, and your death as easy as your father's. The death of a parent is a more awful sorrow than that of a child, but a less painful one : it is in the inevitable order and right course of nature that ripe fruit should fall ; it seems like one of its mishaps when the green bud is cut off. In the outward and visible system of things, nothing is wasted : it would therefore be belying the whole system...