SOUTHEY, ROBERT, was born at Bristol, England, in August, 1774. He
was educated at Westminster School and at Balliol College, Oxford.
After some years of wandering he took up his residence (1803) at
Greta Hall, near Keswick, where he continued to live until his
death in 1843. In 1813 he was made poet laureate. Although Southey
wrote much prose, he is chiefly known as a poet, and his poems are
innumerable. His little piece, _The Battle of Blenheim_, though one
of the least pretentious of his works, has been very widely quoted,
and is here given for the sake of younger readers.