Coleridge gives the date of writing as "Tuesday, Feb. 10th, 1808." In that year, month and week, Tuesday fell on the 9th, making it unclear on which day this letter was actually written.
No place of writing is given, but, based on Coleridge's movements at this time and the contents of the letter, it was most likely written in London. See the published edition of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
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: "R. Southey, Esqre. / Greta Hall / Keswick / Cumberland." Under the address, Coleridge has written: "If Mr S. have left Keswick, it need not be forwarded."
Discussing a possible article on Wordsworth's poems for the Annual Review and saying that he had meant to ask when the issue would be published, "[b]ut it is probable that, I wrote confusedly, my health even then being far worse than I suffered to be known"; describing his interactions and negotiations with Thomas Longman and his partner Owen Rees; saying that he believes Rees has not dealt fairly with Southey and that he himself "would rather give a work away than nominally sell it for a share of the net profits"; adding "A happy word, that net profits -- it must be large Fish with a vengeance, such as the Lay of the Last Minstrel, or Pleasures of Memory, or Mr Fox's Sketches of the two 1st Chapters of his intended History, that shall not escape thro' the Meshes"; discussing the idea of Southey translating Don Quixote and urging him to do it for "glory & respectability" and to supplant "that damned Thing of Smollett" (Smollett's translation); saying that he has just learned a bit of Spanish and Portuguese and giving his thoughts on language study and various dictionaries; saying that he would have mastered Swedish and Danish if the war did not make it impossible to get materials; discussing books on linguistics, the Inquisition and German poetry; adding "I am writing this worthless Letter without knowing whether it is to find you at Keswick" and asking about Southey's plans; saying that Sara Coleridge has sent him no news of their respective families; describing how ill he is and how it has affected his lectures; describing problems that Charles Lamb is having with Longman; mentioning that William Taylor came to see him recently, though he could not receive him for long because of his illness, and commenting on Taylor's understanding ("I had anticipated more subtlety, less of the Trot Trot on the beaten path of Hartley & explanations of every thing by nothing"); saying that Southey should not think that he is vexed at the idea of not writing the review of Wordsworth, but that "Charles Lloyd's name did give me a feeling of sadness"; saying that he holds no grudges, but "of that man's character I have an unfeigned Horror"; mentioning that Joseph Cottle has finished an epic poem and is printing it as fast as possible; giving his opinion of Cottle's poetry.