BIB_ID
416960
Accession number
MA 2204.23
Creator
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834.
Display Date
London, England, 1804 February 3.
Credit line
Purchased from James Richard Scarlett, 8th Baron Abinger, 1962.
Description
1 item (4 pages, with address) ; 22.4 x 18.3 cm
Notes
Coleridge does not list a place of writing and there is no postmark, but based on the contents, 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 "Friday Morning, 1/2 past 8. Feb. 3. 1804."
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).
Address panel: "Mr Godwin / Polygon / Sommers Town."
Coleridge gives the date of writing as "Friday Morning, 1/2 past 8. Feb. 3. 1804."
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).
Address panel: "Mr Godwin / Polygon / Sommers Town."
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
Describing himself as "stunned and stupified by the disgraceful Scene of last night;" writing "[b]efore Mrs Godwin I at once take to myself shame and sorrow : to her I have no defence, no excuse : simply and with eagerness I entreat her forgiveness;" explaining that one cause of his behavior was the fact that he had taken "a large glass of Punch before Supper [...] yet still - with the exception of the one speech, for which I apologized to you at the time (O how shall I apologize for it to my own Heart? - ) I cannot but think that I was spurred on, goaded, and stung to every thing, I said;" explaining how his faith played a role in the events: "I have at all times, (most unbelievable by those who only know the two or three first Coatings of my Being) a most intense Faith in my religious opinions, such as they are / this by the poisonous excitement of nervous Feeling & the Punch was made mad & extravagant - I felt & thought, as if the meanest man having such a Faith, & living under it, as his ultimate Principle of action, was as a God, compared with the most illustrious of those, who have disciplined their minds & hearts in disbelief;" adding that at no point did he harbor any ill feelings towards Godwin; saying that this outburst was also "but the second Shock of the commotion that began before Supper respecting Southey & the Review - for I felt wounded by what I thought rash, harsh, & indelicate on your part, as I had proposed the Scheme, & mentioned Southey as ready to act upon it, - to stigmatize me, & him, as beings of gross & vulgar Egotism;" saying that he did not realize that a reaction to these comments played a part in his behavior in the course of the evening and went home convinced he was in the right; adding that he wished the Lambs had said to him at the time "what is the matter with you, Coleridge?" and that Godwin had left when his wife first pressed him to go; saying "I have written this Letter, because I cannot bear to see you till I hear from you / I am not a man to be much troubled about Consequences : it is the Causes of Things that sink deep into me;" saying that he hopes he can be truly forgiven: "Solemnly, I assure you that tho' I do think, you goaded me - as well as Mary Lamb respecting my Flattery - yet for myself I feel only sorrow & shame - toward you nothing but Love & Respect, even more if possible than before. - Give two or three Lines by the Bearer to say that I shall see you at 1/2 past 3 -."
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