BIB_ID
416951
Accession number
MA 2204.22
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
London, England, 1804 January 30.
Credit line
Purchased from James Richard Scarlett, 8th Baron Abinger, 1962.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 18.5 x 11.2 cm
Notes
Coleridge does not list a place of writing and there is no postmark, but based on the contents and other letters he wrote the same day to different correspondents, it is most likely that the letter was written in London. See the published edition of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
Coleridge gives the date of writing as "Monday Morning, Jan. 30 / 1804."
Signed with initials.
This collection, MA 2204, is comprised of 41 letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to William Godwin, written between 1800 and 1823. See the collection-level record for more information (MA 2204.1-41).
Coleridge gives the date of writing as "Monday Morning, Jan. 30 / 1804."
Signed with initials.
This collection, MA 2204, is comprised of 41 letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to William Godwin, written between 1800 and 1823. See the collection-level record for more information (MA 2204.1-41).
Provenance
Purchased, via the London dealer Constance A. Kyrle Fletcher, from James Richard Scarlett, 8th Baron Abinger, in 1962 as a gift of the Fellows.
Summary
Saying that Thomas Poole left town on Saturday and will not return for seven or eight days; mentioning that Samuel Purkis ("an intimate & dear friend of Poole's, & a man who has been attentive to me") may arrive in London on Tuesday and that he will take the liberty of leaving a note for him "stating that I am sure you will welcome him if he will walk over & dine at 1/2 past 4 at Sommers' Town for his own sake, and as my friend;" adding that he found Godwin's packet for him on the table that morning ("they are very careless here as to the delivery of Cards &c for me"), that he has burnt the letter and that he will read the manuscript as soon as possible; discussing the weather and travel arrangements for the following day; describing his reaction to a letter from "T.W." (probably Thomas Wedgwood); adding that he dined with Daniel Stuart and describing the powerful physical effects he experienced (sweating, diarrhoea, vomiting) as soon as he began to eat: "This is always the case, when any distress occurs during wet, or damp weather - any thing that increases the sensations from the Stomach either directly as Food, or indirectly by withdrawing the counter action of the Senses, as Sleep, acts then inevitably like a dreadful Poison upon me. - And, what is strange, this Distress is often almost unknown to myself - nay, I have often accused myself of insensibility when smash! crash!"; sending his respects to Mary Jane Godwin.
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