Letter from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Brunswick, to George Bellas Greenough, 1799 July 6 : autograph manuscript signed.

Describing his seven-hour walk with John Chester from Göttingen to Helmstadt and his visit in Helmstadt with Paul Jakob Bruns and Gottfried Beireis; saying Bruns welcomed him "... with great kindness, took me in his arms to the Library, where we rummaged old Manuscripts, & looked at some Libri Rarissimi for about an Hour - (N.B. the Library resembles strikingly the Libraries of some of the little Colleges at Oxford and Cambridge.) After this he took me to his House, spoke to me of a little Translation which Lowth had made in his Presence of an Ode of Ramler's - talked of England, & Oxford, where he had resided some years & I found that he had been intimate with many of my Father's Friends;" relating his visit with [Gottfried Christoph] Beireis; saying "Beireis! - A short man, drest in black, with a very expressive Forehead - & small eyes - He went strait to work - asked no questions - offered no Civilities...began instantly - 'You wish to see my Things - what do you wish to see - To see all, or half, or quarter is impossible, in one or in two Days...So I chose his Pictures - O Lord! it was a Treat! - His Eloquence, which is natural & unaffected, really surprized me - in the space of half an hour I counted on my fingers at least half a million Sterling that he had given as purchase money - The earliest attempts of all the great masters, & their last Performances - Cranach, & Holbein, Michael Angelo, Raphael, Correggio, &c &c &c - & behind each a Distich, of Beireis's own Composition - I wondered at all with broad eyes, hands uplifted!! like two notes of Admiration & such a stupid Face of Praise, that Beireis fell in raptures - Extacied as I was with each & all, yet I never forgot to turn to the Back of each Pictures, & read aloud with admiring Emphasis the Latin Distich - still trying the Experiment, whether I could not rise above Beireis's Self-Praises - in vain! My most extravagant Compliments were as German Mustard to Cayenne Pepper!;" relating his viewing of the automaton "Eating Duck of Brass, which quacked like rusty Hinges - tho' Beireis asked me seriously, if I could distinguish it from a real Duck's Quack! I shut my eyes - lifted up both my hands - listened - & cried - Herr Jesus!!!! On our return from these Machineries into his parlour then - yes - then he shook my hand friendlily - & out of his Pocket he pulled the Diamond - apparently, a semi transparent Pebble almost as large as my Fist;" interrupting his narrative to tell him that his luggage, which was due to him on July 1st had not arrived and that he had only one clean shirt; saying "Last night I sprinkled my shirt with [water], hung it up at the window, & slept naked - for my one clean Shirt I must keep till I get to Hamburg. - Heaven! I stink like an old poultice! I should mislead any Pack of Foxhounds in Great Britain - Put a Trail of Rusty Bacon at a Furlong Distance, & me at a mile, and they would follow me - I should hear a cry of Stop Thief close at my ears with a safe Conscience - but if I caught only the Echo of a Tally Ho! I should climb up into a Tree! - You know me too well, to suspect Hyperbole - I stink damnably - & that's the Truth!"