Henry Crabb Robinson, Bury St. Edmunds, to Dawson Turner, [Yarmouth], 11 February 1844. 

Bury St. Edmunds.

11th Feb: 1844./

My dear Sir

      I have just had a letter from Mr. J. W. Robberds in which he informs me that you had written to him about Southey’s letters; That you had told him that a friend of yours is in possession of you believe 500 of Southey’s letters, which he is reserving till an editor shall come forward –; That you have also some interesting letters &c &c – I believe Mr Robberds has written to you on this Subject, but probably not so fully as I wish now to do—Southey appointed Henry Taylor his literary Executor And expressed a wish that whatever of his own letters might be thought worthy of publication together with any posthumous remains, would pass through H. Taylor’s hands—This Mr. T. is the author of Philip van Artefeld, a tragedy that as you may recollect, gave him a very high place among our dramatic poets. H. T. is a Gentleman from Durham, not of fortune, but he has married a daughter of Lord Monteagle And is a clerk in the Colonial Office—His health has been injured by over work And he is now in Italy on a journey for the recovery of his health—On his return he hopes to execute the trust imposed on him by his friend And of course with no view to profit, but if there were any, for the benefit of the children who were poorly provided for—I am very sure that your letters will be at the service of the family And I should hope the 500 of your unnamed friend—Unless he should be the Individual, which I can hardly suppose a friend of yours to be, of whom I heard an anecdote that made me feel as awkwardly as you will on reading it now—And yet there can not be many individuals who have so large a number as 500 letters from even so active a correspondent as Southey—Among Southey’s friends was one whom I never saw, but of whom I have frequently heard in former times as being Southey’s nearest & dearest friend – Nearer & dearer than either Wordsworth or Coleridge – His name was Bedford – He died before Southey – He was applied to for the use of his letters by Mr H. T. I mean his representative, I believe his son or it might be his nephew—The answer received was coolly that he should not give the letters, but he was willing to sell them!!! There are meannesses that excite as much or more disgust than even crimes that the law punishes And I confess that this is one of that Sort. Wordsworth told the story at a party And the Sentiment it excited was strong—

       That liberal passion for collecting & preserving possibly also of circulating the remains of the great departed, which I believe you have cultivated is thus perverted into a taste And a very low one, because it ought not to be a taste at all—Some persons aware of this are taking pains to recover their letters Wordsworth & Harriet Martineau among others—There is not much to be said against the representative of the writer, if poor, gaining by such means – but the seeking a profit by the representatives of the receivers is so repugnant to the gentlemanly Sense of men that I dare say it will be put an end to if possible by our Courts of justice. – The Chancellor in some cases will grant an injunction And possibly in more, a court of Common law will entertain an action for money had & received – This is however a digression – I have no right to surmise that your friend is a Bedford

      By the bye I hope you approve of what I wrote on the hostile publication of letters in the life time of the writer in my pamphlet agt the Wilberforces

       I shall be happy to hear from you here, if you have leisure to write now – I mean to be in London on the 28th  Instant

       I beg my Comps to Mrs Turner – I do not suppose that any other of your family will recollect me           

  I am very truly your’s

                                    H.C. Robinson

No address page. No endorsement 

Text:  Turner Papers, O.14.36/63 (1844), Trinity College, Cambridge.