[ Southey / Omniana ]
Southey (1774 – 1843) was an English poet and writer, quite popular and respected in his lifetime — he served as Poet Laureate, the official poet of Britain, for thirty years — though his reputation has diminished quite a bit since. He is probably most famous today for writing "Goldilocks and the Three Bears" — or, at least, he would be famous for that, if anyone knew he was the guy who actually wrote it.
This volume, Omniana; or Horæ Otiosiores — the Latin title means something like "Miscellaneous Items on Different Topics; or Leisure Hours" — was first published in 1812 (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown). The text below is from this edition.
There is only one mention of Newfoundlands in this book, which occurs in a section entitled "Dogs at Court":
There was a Newfoundland dog on board the Bellona last war, who kept the deck during the battle of Copenhagen, running backward and forward with so brave an anger, that he became a greater favourite with the men than ever. When the ship was paid off after
the peace of Amiens, the sailors had a parting dinner on shore. Victor was placed in the chair, and fed with roast beef and plumb [sic] pudding, and the bill was made out in Victor's name. He was so called after his original master, who was no less a personage than Victor Hugues. (294)
This book was briefly reviewed in the Gentleman's Magazine for June 1813, in which the entire "Dogs at Court" section, including the above anecdote, was quoted.