BIB_ID
416116
Accession number
MA 1856.25
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
London, England, circa 1828 May 8.
Credit line
Purchased from Joanna Langlais, 1957.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 22.8 x 18.4 cm
Notes
Coleridge does not list a date of writing and there are no postmarks on the letter. Based on the contents, Griggs argues that it was written soon after the preceding letter dated May 5, 1828 (cataloged as MA 1856.24). See the published edition of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
No place of writing is given, but based on biographical information, it is most likely that the letter was written in Highgate.
Signed with initials.
This collection, MA 1856, is comprised of 48 letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Joseph Henry Green and 2 autograph manuscripts, written between 1817 and 1834. See the collection-level record for more information (MA 1856.1-50).
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.
No place of writing is given, but based on biographical information, it is most likely that the letter was written in Highgate.
Signed with initials.
This collection, MA 1856, is comprised of 48 letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Joseph Henry Green and 2 autograph manuscripts, written between 1817 and 1834. See the collection-level record for more information (MA 1856.1-50).
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.
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
Explaining in detail the rationale for his doubts about the wisdom of Green's accepting an appointment as chair of surgery at the prospective King's College, London; saying that he has concerns about how seriously King's College is presenting itself and being taken; arguing "The Truth permits, and the interests of Science make it most desirable, that the Government should be induced to consider it a National Concern; and as one most efficient & especially needed Means, by which the Metropolis of the British Empire is to be rescued from the Impolicy as well as the Disgrace of ranking only fourth or fifth in scientific Attraction, inferior not only to Paris, but to Vienna, to Munich -- perhaps, to Berlin or Petersburgh"; writing about the problem of finding a worthy sucessor to Green; discussing the comparisons that will be made between the Royal College and King's College, and his position and compensation at each institution; praising Green for all the good he does and warning him against the danger of risking it on an "insecure venture -- and under circumstances that do not give me the assurance, I want, that the appointment will be favorable to the execution of your designs and the realization of the high and precious Objects, which you well and wisely no less than honorably have proposed to yourself"; sharing further thoughts about the idea and how it would look to the world at large; saying that these comments represent only "a mood of my mind" and that he has consciously presented just one side of the argument, so that it is clear how strong the arguments against accepting the appointment are; re-iterating his hope that Green could continue in practice to some extent, "in Consulations and in Operations [which] required more than ordinary Science, tact and experience"; saying that he also believes Green should be offered "an intelligent Assistant and Secretary"; concluding "But we shall have opportunities enough, I hope, to talk this matter over -- & you will find no difficulty in putting me in another mood of mine. God bless you & S.T.C."
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