THE

LIFE & CORRESPONDENCE

of the late

ROBERT SOUTHEY,

IN SIX VOLUMES.

EDITED BY HIS SON,

The Red Charles Cuthbert Southey.

VOL.1.

London:

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN & LONGMANS.

THE

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE

OF

ROBERT SOUTHEY.

EDITED BY HIS SON, THE

REV. CHARLES CUTHBERT SOUTHEY, M.A.

CURATE OF PLUMBLAND, CUMBERLAND.

Second Edition.

IN SIX VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR

LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS,

PATERNOSTER-ROW.

PREFACE.

FOR the delay which has taken place in bringing forth this Work I am not responsible, as it has chiefly arisen from the circumstance that no literary executor was expressly named in my father's latest will; and in consequence of the difficulties which thus arose, it was not until the spring of 1848 that the materials, as far as they had then been collected, were put into my hands. hands. I have since then made what speed I might in the preparation of them for the press, amid the engagements of other business, and with my hand often palsied by causes over which I had no control.

It were useless to endeavour to refute the various objections often made to a son's undertaking such a task; yet one remark may be permitted, that although a son may not be a fit person to pass judgment upon a father's character, he yet may faithfully chronicle his life; and is undoubtedly, by a natural right, the most proper person to have all private letters submitted to his eye, and all family affairs intrusted to his judgment.