Letter from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Keswick, to Robert Southey, 1799 November 10 : fragment of an autograph manuscript.

Saying that he was called to Keswick by worrying reports about Wordsworth's health, though it turned out to be a false alarm, and he has since visited the Lakes; writing that he will go to London next where he has received an offer (of employment at the Morning Post) which would allow him and Sara to live there for four or five months, "a thing I wish extremely on many & important accounts"; explaining why he thinks his poem "Christabel" would be inappropriate as the opening poem of the next volume of the Annual Anthology: "My reason is -- it cannot be expected to please all / Those who dislike it will deem it extravagant Ravings, & go on thro' the rest of the Collection with the feeling of Disgust -- & it is not impossible that were it liked by any, it would still not harmonize with the real-life Poems that follow"; saying that he thinks the opening poem should be one "in couplets, didactic or satirical -- such a one as the lovers of genuine poetry would call sensible and entertaining, such as the Ignoramuses & Pope-admirers would deem genuine Poetry"; adding that he had begun writing a poem of this kind but was interrupted by "the absolute necessity of scribbling prose"; criticizing the last volume of the anthology for its lack of arrangement and suggesting possible arrangements; quoting from Virgil's Eclogues and Georgics in Latin; saying that he is unhappy that Southey must spend his time editing anthologies: "I would to Heaven, that you could afford to write nothing, or at least, to publish nothing until the completion & publication of the Madoc"; saying that he thinks "Madoc" will be well-received and that its success would "give immediate sale to your after Compositions, & a license of writing more at ease"; arguing that "Thalaba" is more likely to have detractors; urging him to publish "Madoc" and promising "I will instantly publish an Essay on Epic Poetry in reference to it"; mentioning that he has been reading the Aeneid, and saying that he thinks there are many faults in its construction and "Madoc" will surpass it; saying that he will also read Homer, if he can, "for the good old" (the letter ends here).