P.S. "I saw Wordsworth on my way, and mentioned your wish about engraving
his portrait. He referred it entirely to my opinion of its
likeness."[104]
On his arrival, Mr. Southey deliberately re-read the whole of my MS., and
objected alone to a few trifles, which were expunged. He read the series
of _opium letters_ with a mind evidently affected, but no part did he
interdict. He now arrived at, and read the solemn _Testamentary
Letter_,(p. 394 [Letter dating "Bristol, June 26th, 1814. Transcriber.]).
I said to him, "Southey shall I, or shall I not, omit this letter." He
paused for a few moments, and then distinctly said. "You must print it.
It is your authority for what you have done." He then continued, "You
must print it also, for the sake of faithful biography, and for the
beneficial effect this, and the other opium letters must inevitably
produce." This unqualified approval determined me to publish the whole of
the opium letters.
I here give the next letter I received from Mr. Southey, when he had
returned home, after his long excursion to Bristol, and the West of
England, by which it will be perceived that no after inclination existed
in Mr. S.'s mind to alter the opinion he had given.
"Keswick, May 9, 1837.
My dear Cottle,
It is scarcely possible that a day should pass, in which some
circumstance, some object, or train of recollection, does not bring you
to my mind. You may suppose then how much I thought of you during the
employment I recently got through of correcting "_Joan of Arc_" for the
last time....
Our journey, after we left your comfortable house, was as prosperous as
it could be at that time of the year. We have reason, indeed, to be
thankful, that travelling so many hundred miles, in all sorts of ways,
and over all kinds of roads, we met with no mischief of any kind; nor any
difficulties greater than what served for matter of amusement. During the
great hurricane, we were at Dawlish, in a house on the beach, from which
we saw the full effect of its force on the sea.
The great snow-storm caught us at Tavistock, and rendered it impossible
for us to make our intended excursion on Dartmoor. Cuthbert and I parted
company at my friend, Miss Caroline Bowles's, near Lymington, he going to
his brother-in-law, (at Terring, where he is preparing for the
University,) I, the next day, to London. I joined him again at Terring,
three weeks afterward; and, after a week, made the best of my way home.
The objects of my journey were fully accomplished. Cuthbert has seen most
of the spots which I desired to show him, and has been introduced to the
few old friends whom I have left in the West of England. I had much
pleasure, but not unmingled with pain, in visiting many places which
brought back vividly the remembrance of former days; but to Cuthbert, all
was pure pleasure.
God bless you, my dear old friend,
Yours affectionately,