After the complete reconciliation had taken place with Mr. Coleridge, Mr.
Southey in the autumn of 1796, settled in London, and purposed to study
the law. From London he sent me the following letter.
"London, Nov. 1796.
My dear friend,
I am now entering on a new way of life which will lead me to
independence. You know that I neither lightly undertake any scheme, nor
lightly abandon what I have undertaken. I am happy because I have no
want, and because the independence I labour to attain, and of attaining
which, my expectations can hardly be disappointed, will leave me nothing
to wish. I am indebted to you, Cottle, for the comforts of my later time.
In my present situation I feel a pleasure in saying thus much.
Thank God! Edith comes on Monday next. I say Thank God, for I have never
since my return from Portugal, been absent from her so long before, and
sincerely hope and intend never to be so again. On Tuesday we shall be
settled, and on Wednesday my legal studies begin in the morning, and I
shall begin with 'Madoc' in the evening. Of this it is needless to
caution you to say nothing; as I must have the character of a lawyer; and
though I can and will unite the two pursuits, no one would credit the
possibility of the union. In two years the Poem shall be finished, and
the many years it must lie by will afford ample time for correction.
I have declined being a member of a Literary Club, which meet at the
Chapter Coffee House, and of which I had been elected a member. Surely a
man does not do his duty who leaves his wife to evenings of solitude; and
I feel duty and happiness to be inseparable. I am happier at home than
any other society can possibly make me. With Edith I am alike secure from
the wearisomeness of solitude, and the disgust which I cannot help
feeling at the contemplation of mankind, and which I do not wish to
suppress.
Here is a great deal about myself, and nothing about those whom I have
seen in London, and of whom we have all heard in the country. I will make
a report upon them in my next letter. God bless you.
Yours sincerely,