This collection, MA 1849, is comprised of forty-six autograph letters signed from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to his wife, Sara Coleridge, written between 1802 and 1824.
This letter is from the Joanna Langlais Collection, a large collection of letters written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge to various recipients. The collection has been divided into subsets, based primarily on Coleridge's addressees, and these sub-collections have been cataloged individually as MA 1848- MA 1857.
Address panel with postmarks and fragments of a seal " For England / Mrs. Coleridge / Greta Hall / Keswick / Cumberland / England / Single Sheet / per Germania / e Londra."
The date of this letter is from a footnote to the published letter cited below which indicates "Mrs. Coleridge in writing to Mrs. George Coleridge summarizes Coleridge's letter and gives the date as 11 June 1804; Coleridge himself hear the conclusion reports that Mrs. Stoddart's little girl 'died on Tuesday, June 5th /.' It is obvious, therefore, that the letter was begun, as Wordsworth writes, on 5 June and completed on 11 June."
The top and bottom portions of pages 1 and 2 have been cut away. According to a footnote to the published letter cited below, "The opening lines of this letter are supplied from a passage quoted by Wordsworth in a letter to Sir George Beaumont." The published letter indicates the letter was written "June 5, 1804, Tuesday noon ; Dr. Stoddart's, Malta." This record reflects only the text in the manuscript at hand.
Describing in detail his voyage to Malta; saying "The whole of the voyage from Gibraltar to Malta, excepting the last 4 or 5 days I was wretchedly unwell ; oppressed, uncomfortable, incapable of the last exertion of mind or attention, tho' not sick, in the intervals of eating ; and the moment, I eat any thing, I became sick and rejected it - at length, my appetite wholly deserted me; I loathed the sight of Food ; & for 3 days preceding the 8th of May I had not taken half an ounce of Food - which made me neglectful of taking an opening medicine;" appearing to continue describing his ill health in the portion of the letter which continues after the missing 8 lines at the bottom of page 1 and the missing 13 lines at the top of page 2; saying "Whoever makes a sea voyage, should above all things provide themselves with aloetic pills, castor oil, & several other purgatives - as sometimes one will answer when others disagree - & every thing depends on keeping the Body regularly open;" describing the harbor at Valetta, the streets of the town as he made his way to Dr. Stoddart's house and his welcome by Dr. Stoddart; telling her of his plans to travel to Sicily "...& spend the next 2 or 3 months in some cooler & less dreary place ; & return in September. For 8 months in the year the Climate of Malta is delightful; but a drearier Place Eye never saw. No stream in the whole Island...Malta is about 20 miles by 12 - a mere rock of free stone...Nothing green meets your eye - one dreary grey-white / & all the country Towns from the retirement & invisibility of the windows look like Towns burnt out & desolate . - Yet the fertility is marvellous - you almost see things grow - & the population I suppose unexampled;" describing the streets and houses in Valetta and the Maltese women; saying "The Maltese, a dark, light limbed people - the women 5/10ths ugly - of the remainder 4/5ths would be ordinary but that they look so quaint - and 1/10th perhaps may be called quaint-pretty. The prettiest resemble pretty Jewesses in England. - They are the noisiest race under Heaven, & Valetta the noisiest place;" relating news of the death of the Stoddart's daughter soon after she was born on June 5th; asking about a box of books he thinks he may have lost and asking to be remembered to friends and family.