BIB_ID
415476
Accession number
MA 1848.55
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
Keswick, England, 1803 May 17.
Credit line
Purchased from Joanna Langlais, 1957.
Description
1 item (2 pages, with address) ; 24.9 x 20.5 cm
Notes
Coleridge does not list a year of writing, but based on the contents of the letter, it was most likely written in 1803. See the published edition of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
No place of writing is given, but the letter is postmarked "Keswick."
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: "To / R. Southey Esqre / Saint-James's place / Kingsdown / Bristol." The address is in the hand of Sara Coleridge.
No place of writing is given, but the letter is postmarked "Keswick."
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: "To / R. Southey Esqre / Saint-James's place / Kingsdown / Bristol." The address is in the hand of Sara Coleridge.
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
Saying that he returned to Keswick on Good Friday, having caught influenza from "an old man in the Mail"; describing in detail the effects of the illness and saying that he had nearly recovered when he caught a cold, which turned into a severe attack of rheumatic fever; mentioning that his entire household was sick; mourning the deaths of Mrs. Danvers and Mrs. Poole; sympathizing with Southey's grief over Mrs. Danvers; adding that he will write as soon as he is able and will do all that he can respecting Robert Lovell; correcting him regarding an essay by Plutarch and commenting on memory; saying that his plans remain the same and if Spain stays neutral he will go there in the fall, "otherwise I must go to Madeira / which will be our's in some shape or other"; writing "I am weary & ashamed of talking about my intended works / I am still in hopes that the summer will not pass without something worthy of me"; recommending that Southey purchase life insurance and giving him information about the cost and terms; saying that he has done it and "I cannot express what a comfort it has been to me / what a weight off my mind"; mentioning John Rickman's opinion on the subject and saying "Every body (attorneys & men of the world) agrees, that it is the best possible way of saving money."
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