BIB_ID
415123
Accession number
MA 1849.35
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
Grasmere, England, 1808 September 9.
Credit line
Purchased from Joanna Langlais, 1957.
Description
1 item (3 pages, with address) ; 22.6 x 18.0 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 wafer to "Mrs. Coleridge / Greta Hall / Keswick."
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 wafer to "Mrs. Coleridge / Greta Hall / Keswick."
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
Describing his arrival at Grasmere with Sara and assuring her of his affection and esteem for her; saying "O it was a perfect comedy to see little John on Sara's Entrance - He had screamed with Joy on seeing us come up the Field; but when Sara entered, he ran & crept under the Kitchen-table, then peeped out at her, then all red with Blushes crept back again, laughing half-convulsively yet faintly - at length, he came out, & throwing his pinafore over his face & with both hands upon that, he ran and kissed her thro' the pinafore - Soon however all was agreed - John has put the Question, & Sara has consented - But (says she) is the Church a far way off? - Nay, replies John - nought but a lile bit - & I'll carry you on my back all the way, & all the way back, after we are married...Every one is delighted with her - indeed, it is absolutely impossible that there can be a sweeter or a sweetlier behaved Child - This is not my Speech; but Wordsworth's. - Little John absolutely dotes on her; and she is very fond of him, & very good to all of them;" asking her to send his razor case and his Undershirt; adding "Be assured, my dear Sara! that your kind behavior has made a deep impression on my mind - Would to God, it had been always so on both sides - but the Past is past - & my business now is to recover the Tone of my Constitution if possible & to get money for you and our Children - I trust, I shall never wilfully do any thing to give you the least pain - Heaven knows! nothing is more at my Heart than to be conducive to your Comfort, of mind, body and estate - for you mistake greatly, if you imagine I do not entertain both affection & a very great esteem for you;" adding that Sara sends her love and saying "... verily, Sara is a deal cleverer than I supposed - She is indeed a very sweet unblameable Darling. And what elegance of Form & Motion - her dear Eyes too! as I was telling a most wild Story to her & John, her large Eyes grew almost as large again with wonderment;" asking, in a postscript, if she would send him a box of wafers.
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