The letter is undated. The date of writing has been drawn from the postmark and the news of Perceval's assassination referred to in the letter. See the published edition of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
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.
Signed with initials.
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."
Saying that the "aweful Event of yester afternoon" (i.e. the assassination of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval) has forced him to postpone his next lecture until the 19th; urging Southey to write on a subject that he thinks other commentators underestimate, namely "the sinking down of Jacobinism below the middle & tolerably educated Classes into the Readers & all-swallowing Auditors in Tap-rooms &c, of the Statesman, Examiner, Cobbet, &c"; saying that he has learned that in the great manufacturing counties of England, the leading articles of the Statesman and the Examiner, as well as "Whitbread's, Burdett's, & Waithman's speeches" are printed in ballad format and sold cheaply; describing his shock and sorrow at the news of Perceval's assassination; describing entering the taproom of a public house and finding that all the customers were celebrating: "It was really shocking -- Nothing but exultation -- [Francis] Burdett's Health drank with a clatter of Pots -- & a Sentiment given to at least 50 men & women -- May Burdett soon be the man to have Sway over us!"; quoting at length the things he heard said in the taproom; sending his love to Sara and saying that he has received everything; mentioning that some plate will be sent and along with a gift for his daughter Sara and Southey's daughter Edith from "good old Mr. Brent" (the silversmith Moses Brent); saying that the rupture between Wordsworth and himself seems to be settled, much against his expectations: "I sent by Robinson an attested avowed Statement of what Mr & Mrs [Basil] Montagu told me -- & Wordsworth has sent an unequivocal denial of the Whole in spirit & of the most offensive passages in letter as well as Spirit -- & I then instantly informed him that were ten thousand Montagues to swear against it, I should take his word not ostensibly only but with inward Faith!"; promising to write out a passage from Apuleius and send it in a letter to John Rickman tomorrow; reporting on the subscriptions and saying that they are "languid," though Lady Margaret Beaumont and Sir Thomas Bernard have done their best; asking Southey to assure Sara Coleridge that he reads all her letters immediately and that he hopes she will excuse his silence in the knowledge that he has to write a dozen or more letters every day, "& I have not been in bed after 1/2 past 8 since I have been in town."