Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letter from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Keswick, to Sir George and Lady Beaumont, 1803 August 12 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
402379
Accession number
MA 1581.24
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
1803 August 12 :
Credit line
Purchased from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 25.0 x 20.3 cm
Notes
Address panel to "Sir George Beaumont, Baronet / at the / Right Honorable Lord Lowther's / Lowther Hall / Penrith."
Written from Greta Hall, Keswick.
This letter is from a large collection of letters written to Sir George Howland Beaumont (1753-1827) and Lady Margaret Willes Beaumont (1758-1829) of Coleorton Hall and to other members of the Beaumont family. See collection level record for more information (MA 1581.1-297.
This letter was formerly identified as MA 1581 (Coleridge) 1.
Provenance
Purchased as a gift of the Fellows from Benjamin Ifor Evans, 1954..
Summary
Saying to George and Lady Beaumont that he arrived an hour and a half after their departure with Hartley and Derwent & with Wordsworth, his wife, sister, and the baby; stating that Mrs. Wordsworth became sick on that Wednesday from packing for the journey, and that he was also feeling unwell and was scared to walk home, especially since they had already departed which upset him deeply; saying "It will give a lasting Interest to the Drawing of the Waterfall, that I first saw it through tears. I was indeed unwell and sadly nervous; and I must not be ashamed to confess to you, my honoured Friends! that I found a bodily relief in weeping, and yielded to it"; discussing his visit with Mr. Rogers and how Wordsworth is stronger than he is which makes him melancholy and "If to be a Poet or a Man of Genius entailed on us the necessity of housing such company in our bosoms, I would pray the very flesh off my knees to have a head as dark and unfurnished, as Wordsworth's old Molly has, if only I might have a heart as careless & as loving"; discussing his belief that Wordsworth and Southey were classed with him "...as a School, originates entirely in our not hating or envying each other / it is so unusual that three professed Poets, in every respect unlike each other, should nevertheless take pleasure in each other's welfare - & reputation;" stating his love and gratitude towards them; telling a story about Derwent's dismay when he discovered that they had departed and screamed at their door "Lady Beaumont's gone away, & I WILL be a naughty boy. Lady Beaumont's gone away!"; stating if his health permits, then he will travel on Monday, but with his atonic gout, the weather and conditions could deeply impact his well-being, but he is still inclined to go to Malta with Stoddart or to Madeira; adding that he will send them the following evening "...a large coarse Sheet, containing the Leech Gatherer which Miss Wordsworth has copied out - & such of my own verses as appeared to please you (see MA 1581.25); concluding with professing his affection for them and his esteem for their friendship.