loss of both her parents: her mother had died suddenly, in 1817. Hear­ ing she was there, Southey conceived the idea of getting an old friend of his from Bristol days, the surgeon John King, to call on Caroline Bowles and bring his expertise to bear on her ailment. He did not know her well enough to press this step upon her, however, so he merely offered to effect an introduction if she ‘would like to have an acquaintance who would be desirous of rendering you any service in his power’ (Dowden, p. 16). But to King himself he wrote:

doi:10.4324/9780429459375-32

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loss of both her parents: her mother had died suddenly, in 1817. Hear ing she was there, Southey conceived the idea of getting an old friend of his from Bristol days, the surgeon John King, to call on Caroline Bowles and bring his expertise to bear on her ailment. He did not know her well enough to press this step upon her, however, so he merely offered to effect an introduction if she ‘would like to have an acquaintance who would be desirous of rendering you any service in his power’ (Dowden, p. 16). But to King himself he wrote:

Chapter

loss of both her parents: her mother had died suddenly, in 1817. Hear ing she was there, Southey conceived the idea of getting an old friend of his from Bristol days, the surgeon John King, to call on Caroline Bowles and bring his expertise to bear on her ailment. He did not know her well enough to press this step upon her, however, so he merely offered to effect an introduction if she ‘would like to have an acquaintance who would be desirous of rendering you any service in his power’ (Dowden, p. 16). But to King himself he wrote:

ABSTRACT

As the years passed and their friendship blossomed, Southey became intimately acquainted with her personality. The first time they met was in June 1820, at Southey’s London publishers; the next, when Caroline Bowles paid a visit to the Lakes in September 1823. She had written to him in April, telling him of her plan to make a ‘long pilgrimage’ in search of health, ‘that almost first of earthly blessings, which I am told I have no chance of regaining in our damp relaxing air’. She proposed spending some weeks during the coming summer at Leamington Spa in Warwickshire, and from there, if her health improved, T shall be strongly tempted to journey onwards, and ... to sojourn in your neighbourhood for a month or two, breathing that purer air which I am told will be so beneficial to me, and revelling in the enjoyment of your beautiful scen ery’ . She takes care to emphasise that the effort of such a long journey will only be worthwhile if Southey will be in residence at the time:

But after all my embryo scheme will be very principally decided by you, and my [illegible] motive for troubling you at present is to ask (and I persuade myself you will not think me impertinently inquisitive) whether you are likely to be at Keswick this next summer - You have permitted me to look forward to the pleasure of being introduced to your family, and with that object in view, and with the certainty of finding you there, I may perhaps be stimulated to the desperate undertaking of migrating more than

360 miles from my own home. If I find you are likely to be absent, I shall relinquish my plan altogether for the present season, and I could not resolve to take any chance, feeling as I do, that this projected journey will probably be the only one I shall ever under take to such a distance. I am assured I shall have no difficulty in finding at Keswick & in other places near the Lakes such simple accommodation in the lodging way, as will just suffice for myself and servant.8