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Gentleman's Magazine 1851 part 1 p.9
LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF ROBERT SOUTHEY.*
THESE two volumes extend from the year 1820 to the period of
Mr. Southey's death in 1843. As the history approaches
nearer to our own times, the interest of the subjects
increases. His opinion is given on most works of learning or
talent that appeared; and few events of importance occurred,
certainly none affecting the happiness and welfare of the
community, in which his active mind and benevolent
disposition did not take a commanding interest. His reading
in this period of life had been very extensive, in some
branches of literature almost complete, - his taste refined
and elegant, and his observations and reflections those of a
person of sagacity, clearness of view, and much experience.
His favourite subjects, next perhaps to poetry, were those
connected with history, with all that related to the
religious opinions and the social being of the community, to
political theories and the various interests which bear on
the state of civilised life; and if the result of his long
observation and manifold reflections produced a feeling of
the unsatisfactory state of the present and gloomy
apprehensions of the future, it was, we believe, what was
then and is now shared by many who are looking with anxiety
and sorrow to the unsettled principles, to the conflicting
interests, and to the visionary projects, which are
endangering all stability, weakening all authority, and
placing the most valuable institutions of the country at the
feet of selfishness, violence, and worldly cunning. Great,
no doubt, have been the sins of our fathers, and various
their errors. The bad seed then sown seems now springing up
into rank and profuse growth. The eternal and unbroken law
is, that the son suffers for the father's works, and heavy
may be the penalty that we shall pay for them and for
ourselves. It is not the part of a good man to despair of
the republic; but it is hardly the part of a wise one to
feel confident against all the dictates of experience, when
we at once distrust the power of the present and disregard
the wisdom of the past. During this period many of Mr.
Southey's most popular works were published: his Life of
Wesley, his Colloquies, his Book of the Church, his Life of
Nelson, The Doctor, and the latest employment of his mind,
the Life and Works of Cowper. To these are to be added many
learned and valuable reviews of books; but his
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