 Without his prior knowledge, the Earl of Radnor, an admirer of his work, had Southey returned as MP for the latter's pocket borough seat of Downton in Wiltshire at the 1826 general election, as an opponent of Catholic emancipation, but Southey refused to sit, causing a by-election in December that year, pleading that he did not have a large enough estate to support him through political life, or want to take on the hours full attendance required.He wished to continue living in the Lake District and preferred to defend the Church of England in writing rather than speech.He declared that "for me to change my scheme of life and go into Parliament, would be to commit a moral and intellectual suicide."