BIB_ID
415518
Accession number
MA 1852.8
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
London, England, 1808 February 17.
Credit line
Purchased from Joanna Langlais, 1957.
Description
1 item (2 pages, with address) ; 23.5 x 19.2 cm
Notes
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 "Mrs. Morgan / St. James's Square / Bristol."
The first two pages are missing from this letter. The letter is addressed to Mrs. Morgan, however the two pages remaining of the manuscript are to Mr. Morgan and it seems likely that Coleridge's letter to Mrs. Morgan occupied the first two pages.
Coleridge does not indicate the place of writing but it appears from the contents he is living at the Courier Office, 348 Strand.
Date of writing from postmark and published letter cited below.
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 "Mrs. Morgan / St. James's Square / Bristol."
The first two pages are missing from this letter. The letter is addressed to Mrs. Morgan, however the two pages remaining of the manuscript are to Mr. Morgan and it seems likely that Coleridge's letter to Mrs. Morgan occupied the first two pages.
Coleridge does not indicate the place of writing but it appears from the contents he is living at the Courier Office, 348 Strand.
Date of writing from postmark and published letter cited below.
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
Referring to the Letters of Jack Colson and referring to "canine psychology;" saying "As you have rightly observed, the memory is the least part - and yet even that is important - because it completely confutes the dogma of Aristotle, which has been adopted by almost all after metaphysicians, that Beasts and Infants remember, man only recollects - i.e., that beasts only recognize, the Object being presented anew. But here is a clear instance of reflective recollection, proved by all the passions of distinct anticipation;" discussing his ill health, the Morgans offer to have him live with them but "...questioning myself, what right I have to make your House my Hospital - how I am justified in bringing Sickness, & Sorrow, and all the disgusts and all the Troublesomenesses of Disease, into your quiet Dwelling. Ah! whither else can I go? [To Keswick? The sight of that Woman would destroy me.] (This line has been crossed through.) To Grasmere? - They are still in their Cottage, one of their rooms is proved untenantable from damp - & they have not room scarcely for a Cat -. Not to speak of the distance. And shall I stay here? Alas! it is sad, it is very sad. The Noises of the Pressmen at between 4 & 5 in the morning, & continued till 8 - the continual running up stairs by my door to the Editor's room, which is above me - the frequent calls of persons, who wish to see me, and whom I cannot see - the forced Intrusions of some - and the Alarm in consequence of every Knock at the private Door - trifles in themselves - are yet no trifles to me. Saving a few hours at night, in order to let my bed be made, I have not been out of bed, I scarce remember when - all this morning I was so bad, I thought it all over with me - O what agony I suffered...O had I health and youth, and were what I once was - but I played the fool, and cut the throat of my Happiness, of my genius, of my utility, in compliment to the merely phantom of overstrained Honor! [O Southey! Southey! an unthinking man were you - and are - & will be."] (This line has been crossed through.).
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