Mr. Southey to John Murray.
June 17, 1835.
"What Sir Robert Peel has done for me will enable me, when my present engagements are completed, to employ the remainder of my life upon those works for which inclination, peculiar circumstances, and long preparation, have best qualified me. They are "The History of Portugal," "The History of the Monastic Orders," and "The History of English Literature," from the time when Wharton breaks off. The possibility of accomplishing three such works at my age could not be dreamt of, if I had not made very considerable progress with one, and no little, though not in such regular order, with the others."
Shortly after his second marriage, Southey's intellect began to fail him, and he soon sank into a state of mental imbecility. He would wander about his library, take down a book, look into it, and then put it back again, but was incapable of work. When Mr. Murray sent him the octavo edition of the "Peninsular War," his wife answered:
Mrs. Southey to John Murray.
GRETA HALL, May 15, 1840.
If the word pleasure were not become to me as a dead letter, I should tell you with how much I took possession of your kind gift. But I may tell you truly that it gratified, and more than gratified me, by giving pleasure to my dear husband, as a token of your regard for him, so testified towards myself. The time is not far passed when we should have rejoiced together like children over such an acquisition.
Yours very truly and thankfully,
CAR. SOUTHEY.
May 23, 1840.