BIB_ID
106350
Accession number
MA 77.19
Creator
Crompton, Peter, active 1796-1812.
Display Date
Liverpool, England, 1800 September 11.
Credit line
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1904.
Description
1 item (3 pages, with address) ; 23.1 x 18.9 cm
Notes
Crompton gives the place of writing as "Eton, near Liverpool." This is probably a reference to Eaton House, his residence.
This collection, MA 77, is comprised of fifteen letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to John Thelwall, one letter from Coleridge to Susannah (called "Stella") Thelwall, two letters from John Thelwall to Susannah Thelwall, one letter from Peter Crompton to John Thelwall, and one incomplete draft of an article on the death of Queen Charlotte. The letters were written from 1796 to 1803, and the draft may have been written in 1818.
Address panel: "Mr John Thelwall / Llynswen / near the Hay / Brecknockshire."
This collection, MA 77, is comprised of fifteen letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to John Thelwall, one letter from Coleridge to Susannah (called "Stella") Thelwall, two letters from John Thelwall to Susannah Thelwall, one letter from Peter Crompton to John Thelwall, and one incomplete draft of an article on the death of Queen Charlotte. The letters were written from 1796 to 1803, and the draft may have been written in 1818.
Address panel: "Mr John Thelwall / Llynswen / near the Hay / Brecknockshire."
Provenance
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan from the London dealer J. Pearson & Co., 1904. Removed from a bound volume in June 1967.
Summary
Apologizing for not having written for a long time; asking after Mrs. Thelwall and saying that he hopes their journey was an agreeable one; mentioning that "Sheppard" had to forgo visiting the Thelwalls because of "the suspicion of his mare being with foal" but he is very pleased with Thelwall's poem; telling him that "Coleridge & Sara were with us on their way to the Lakes, where they are gone to reside ; they are both much improved, our Ladies were much pleased with her, contrary to expectation ; he was quite a favorite at Liverpool;" describing Coleridge's interest in "the metaphysics of Germany, where he has been for the sake of obtaining the language;" passing along Sheppard's thoughts about Thelwall's poem and the perils of publishing it on his own; mentioning that Sheppard spent ten days at Dorchester and "imbib'd Dr. [Thomas] Beddoes's air at Bristol which greatly affected him, a circumstance he did not in the least expect;" sending along news of mutual acquaintances in Derby, including Mrs. Evans (possibly Elizabeth Evans), the Strutt family, and Mr. Ward ("who lent his Baptist Chapel, for you to lecture in, & where I & many others were almost knock'd on the head"); noting "There has been rioting in Derby, Nottingham & several other places, concerning which I have had no particular information;" commenting on the prospect of similar events in Liverpool ("there were symptoms of rioting, which I believe are removed, a few days ago"); encouraging Thelwall to write back soon and saying that it would give "Mrs & Miss Crompton great pleasure to hear of you Mrs Thelwall & the Children."
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