The Doctor, &c
Robert Southey
Paperback
(Forgotten Books, July 27, 2012)
Edition of that work. It has fallen to my lot, otherwise laboriously occupied, to edit it. What is done, ought to be done well, whether it be so or not, competent readers will be the best judges. Not unversed in books, and familiar with ancient and modern languages as toward circumstances have made me, I trust the endeavour has not been unattained, though some errors ... Quas out incuriafud.it A ut humanaparum cavit natura will unavoidably be detected and charitably overlooked. Five out of six, it has been said by those quite able to form an unbiassed and judicious opinion, were assured as to the authorship of THE DOCTOR, c. It is now well known that the lamented Southey played with its pages as he did with his kittens, as a relaxation from his bread-earning and everyday pursuits. It is not too much to say that no one butS outhey could have written it. Line upon line, page upon page, shows the man that feared God, and honoured the King, and loved his Country, and despised all political tinkers, whether in matters ecclesiastical or civiL The extract following from a letter toM iss Caroline Bowles, the present no less talented than amiable and excellent Mrs. Southey, and my much valued friend, contains the most interesting particulars relative to the work. It is dated, Keswick, June, 1835. Miss B., who then lived in the next house, was theB how Begum. That whole chapter (that is, Chapter VII. A. I.) is from the life, and theB ook grew out of that nights conversation, exactly as there related. But to go farther back with its history. There is a story of Dr. D. D. of D., and of his horse Nobs, which has, I believe, been made into aH awker sB ook. Coleridge used to tell it, and the humour lay in making it as longwinded as possible ;it suited, however, my long-windedness better than his, and 1was frequently called upon for it by those who enjoyed it, and sometimes(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)