Letter from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Spithead, to Sir George Beaumont, 1804 April 6 : autograph manuscript signed.

Admitting that Sir George's "...anxiety for my Health would be a strong Inducement to me to take care of it; adding his confused inner thoughts about his feelings; saying that their departure was delayed due to high winds, they hope to leave tomorrow but it is also possible they will be delayed for a fortnight; saying that he is feeling better, but is still depressed and does not have hope about his illness; discussing the transitions he has been through recently with traveling and eating and drinking; describing Portsmouth "...all are mock tars--the whole town is one huge Man of War of Brick & Mortar;" giving a description of the personality of the captain, the two passengers sitting next to him "the one a half pay Lieutenant, turned small Merchant, who with a bright eye over a yellow-purple face that betrays to me that half his Liver is gone or going, has said 4 or 5 times aloud, that wine never did any man any harm / & an unconscientiously fat Woman, who would have wanted Elbow Room on Salisbury Plain / a body that might have been in a less spendthrift mood of Nature sliced into a company, & a reasonable Slice allotted to her as Corporal! I think, I never saw so large a woman, such a monopolist, patentee, abstract, of superfluous Flesh!"; saying that Mr. J.C. Mottley will forward him his mail more frequently; saying how painful it is to him to say goodbye to them.