BIB_ID
415085
Accession number
MA 1849.23
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
Valetta, Malta, 1804 July 5.
Credit line
Purchased from Joanna Langlais, 1957.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 22.8 x 18.6 cm
Notes
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 fragments of a seal to "Mrs. Coleridge / Greta Hall / Keswick / Cumberland / by favor / of the Rev'd / Mr. Laing."
Written on "Thursd. afternoon, July 5, 1804. 1/2 past I."
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 fragments of a seal to "Mrs. Coleridge / Greta Hall / Keswick / Cumberland / by favor / of the Rev'd / Mr. Laing."
Written on "Thursd. afternoon, July 5, 1804. 1/2 past I."
Provenance
Purchased from Joanna Langlais in 1957 as a gift of the Fellows with the special assistance of Mrs. W. Murray Crane, Mr. Homer D. Crotty, Mr. and Mrs. Donald F. Hyde, Mr. Robert H. Taylor and Mrs. Landon K. Thorne. Formerly in the possession of Ernest Hartley Coleridge and Thomas Burdett Money-Coutts, Baron Latymer.
Summary
Explaining that this letter will be taken to London by Mr. Laing "...and young Mr. Ball, Sir Alexander's only Son, who is going to spend two years with a Professor at Glasgow;" asking that she welcome Mr. Laing and Mr. Ball at Greta Hall and allow them to stay as long as they wish; relating news of his health and the very hot climate in Valetta; saying he will be much happier living in the Palace instead of staying with Dr. Stoddart; adding "At the Palace I have the pleasantest & coolest suite of Rooms, I have seen in Malta - and with a view from the windows that you would wonder any view could be so impressive having neither River, Trees, nor grassy Fields in Sight / but the Harbour & main Sea, & Buildings &c make altogether a glorious Sight;" saying he will likely stay there for a fortnight longer or perhaps a month and then he will travel to Sicily to tour the Island, then to Naples and back to Malta in the Fall; commenting on how kind Sir Alexander Ball has been to him but reporting that he has not felt well since he arrived in Malta; expressing his hope that Mr. Laing will see their children when he arrives at Keswick and telling her he expects not to have to draw from Mr. Stuart as his expenses have been minimal; adding, in a postscript, "My sole Reason for not writing to Southey at present, hurried as I am, is my ignorance respecting the result of Edith's Confinement - & the heart-damps of Fear which that ignorance occasions in my exceeding low-spiritedness. May God bless him, and all whom he loves & who are thereby necessary to his Happiness. - Of course you will say what you ought for me to your Sisters."
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