The Correspondence of Robert Southey With Caroline Bowles: To Which Are Added: Correspondence With Shelley, and Southey's Dreams. E-book. Formato PDF - 9780259656548

It is not once an age two hearts are set
So well in unison that not a note
Jars in their music; but a skilful hand
Slurs lightly over the discordant tones,
And wakens only the full power of those
That sound in concord.
Happy, happy those
Who thus perform the grand concerto - Life.

Caroline Bowles, The Birthday, Part II.

It was Southey's wish that his correspondence with Caroline Bowles, afterwards Caroline Southey, at a fitting time should see the light. "As for my letters," he wrote (December 18, 1829), "I will deposit them with yours (for I have preserved every line that I ever received from you). There is nothing in them which might not be seen by men and angels, and though written, as their utter carelessness and unreserve may show, without the slightest reference to any other eyes than those to which they were addressed, I shall not be unwilling to think that when time has consecrated both our memories (which it will do) this correspondence may see the light. Our earthly life, dear Caroline, lasts longer than in the hearts of those we love; it endures in the hearts of those whom we have never known, and who learn to love us after our work on earth is done. They who live on earth in their good works continue to make friends there as long as their works survive; and it may be one of the pleasures of another state to meet those friends when they seek us in heaven.