This collection, MA 1852, is comprised of 40 autograph letters signed from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Mr. and Mrs. John James Morgan, written from November 1807 through October 1826. Coleridge lived with the Morgans from 1810-1816.
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 postmark and fragments of a seal to "Mr. J. J. Morgan / St. James's Square / Bristol."
The date of writing extends from February 10-February 12, 1808. In the second half of the letter, written to Mr. Morgan, Coleridge says that the first half of the letter, to Mrs. Morgan, was written on "Wednesday Night", [February 10, 1808] and he writes that he is writing to Mr. Morgan on "Friday morning." The letter is postmarked February 12, 1808.
Apologizing, at length and in detail, for pouring out his heart to her in his previous letter (see MA 1852.6); continuing to complain about Sara Coleridge's attitude toward him and a disagreement they are having about the proper treatment for Derwent eye infection; saying he had suggested to Mrs. Coleridge that they bring Derwent to stay with the Morgans to which she replied "...As to his being at Mr. Morgan's - they are estimable people, no doubt - but it is quite out of the Question.' These are her very words. And this is her Child! and the medicine is such, that a couple of drops too concentered, not sufficiently diluted, would make his eyeballs start and shrink up in their Socket. Are they then not my Children too? I have indeed no other proof, and can have none, than their Faces & their Hearts ; but I have to maintain them, to brood over them, to hope and fear and pray & weep for them. Whether or no they be my Children, I am quite certain, that I am their Father...Henceforward, I will trouble you no more with this hateful Subject. But only think just enough of it, not to remain too much surprized that my Spirit was so weighed down by her unfeelingness, her seeming pleasure at the anticipation of my being speedily got quit of...be assured, that shall be the last querulous over doleful Letter from your most affectionate & grateful Friend & Brother;" continuing with a letter to Mr. Morgan; relating his illness and the need to postpone a Lecture; expressing his frustration that Mrs. Coleridge "...has infused dislike of me into the mind of my own child, the first born & darling of my Hopes;" saying how much he looks forward to seeing him in London; expressing his wish that they might all share a house in order that it might ease his loneliness; saying "For I am too low to endure mixed Company - & yet this unceasing Loneliness, I know, must be injurious. The greater the dislike becomes of having that Loneliness interrupted, the more dangerous that Loneliness is becoming. But this is but an aspiration, a wishing-sigh;" referring to a note he received from a Miss S. Temple and a letter he received from Southey.