Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Letter from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Nether Stowey, to Robert Southey, 1803 February 17 : autograph manuscript signed.

BIB_ID
415415
Accession number
MA 1848.52
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
Nether Stowey, England, 1803 February 17.
Credit line
Purchased from Joanna Langlais, 1957.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 23.5 x 18.8 cm
Notes
This collection, MA 1848, is comprised of 92 letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Robert Southey, written between 1794 and 1819. See the collection-level record for more information (MA 1848.1-92).
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 as MA 1848-1857.
Address panel with postmarks: "Robert Southey Esqre / St James's Parade / Kingsdown / Bristol / Single Sheet."
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
Apologizing for the bluntness of his last letter and for giving the impression that he is making conditions, but saying that he is in an awkward position: "I shall either be guilty of a Breach of Confidence to Mrs Coleridge or I must request of you not to mention what I say to Mrs Southey"; explaining that his wife has told him that while she would be happy to live with the Southeys, she does not want to live with Mary Lovell (her sister) or Southey's brother Tom; adding that this is partly because of personal feelings but also because of the crowding, noise and need for extra servants that this would entail, and that their landlord William Jackson shares this objection: "Assuredly, I have no right to do any thing that will in the least degree diminish Mrs Coleridge's Comforts & Tranquillity. In an evil Day for me did I first pay attentions to Mrs Coleridge; in an evil day for me did I marry her; but it shall be my care & my passion, that it shall not be an evil day for her; & that whatever I may be, or may be represented, as a Husband, I may yet be unexceptionable, as her Protector & Friend"; adding that Southey should not count on him returning to Keswick; turning to the question of Mary Lovell, suggesting that Southey offer her a small allowance until she can find a job and urging him above all to "emancipate yourself"; describing the differences between himself and Southey in terms of the qualities they need in a wife; commenting on Southey's happy marriage; adding that he is content to be alone, "or only with the common Inhabitants of a Batchelor's House: / --an old Woman and a sharp Child"; urging Southey to rid himself of "unnecessary Appendages" and writing "Go to Keswick -- or to the South of France -- first, compleatly clear yourself -- & then live within your income, & do nothing but great works"; saying that his illness could be called "irregular scrophulous Gout"; writing that he has tried every type of medicine and regimen to treat gout, and none have been effective; adding that his own experience has shown him that cold, wet weather makes him ill, and that in hot weather, he is healthy; describing his disease in terms of its effects on his muscles, veins, glands and nerves: "My only medicine is an universal & regular Stimulus -- Brandy, Laudanum &c &c make me well, during their first operation; but the secondary Effects increase the cause of the Disease"; writing that he believes that ultimately the only effective treatment for him is a hot climate and tranquility; discussing his travel plans for the immediate future and saying that he hopes Thomas Wedgwood will make a "fair Trial of a good climate" with an appropriate companion; writing "Do not mind the Cid. I do not think, I shall be able to do any thing in the poetry Line"; conveying in a postscript Thomas Poole's "kind remembrances" and saying that he will send laver; asking Southey to procure for him "a bottle of the red Sulfat, and one of the Compound Acid" and to send them within the week to Wedgwood in Cote.