There is a much more direct source for Southey's liking of roasted rats. In
a letter to friend Grosvenor C. Bedford (5 May 1819) he reported that he
recently had a roasted rat for supper which was good, though it would have
been better if it hadn't been so young. Shedow (a friend I suppose) liked it
a lot, and Sara (Coleridge's daughter) found it all right; but he should
have seen Mrs. Coleridge's face when they talked about it during breakfast.
I am sorry I cannot quote verbatim; I took my notes in German and would have
to go back to the library to check it. Anyway, it is in 'Selections from the
Letters of Robert Southey', 4 vols., London 1856, vol. 3, p. 131, and
finding it was not easy.

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