Letter from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Malta, to Sara Coleridge, 1805 August 21 : autograph manuscript signed.
This collection, MA 1849, is comprised of forty-six autograph letters signed from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to his wife, Sara Coleridge, written between 1802 and 1824.
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 individually as MA 1848- MA 1857.
Address panel with postmarks and fragments of a seal to "Mrs. Coleridge / Greta Hall / Keswick / Cumberland / England."
Written from "Treasury-House, / Second Bill of Exchange Malta."
Expressing his frustration that his attempts to return to England continue to be thwarted by Sir Alexander Ball who continues to need him in Malta; relating news of the earthquake in the Kingdom of Naples which destroyed three towns and killed 8,000 people and a small earthquake in Malta "...which shook my bed and me in it with a Giant's Ar[m] but did no mischief. Ships 60 leagues distant from [Lan]d felt it : and it appeared as [if they had] suddenly struck on a rough shore, & were raking the stones; commenting on Sir Alexander Ball's continuing kindness to him and his offers to keep him in Malta; saying "...he told a Gentleman a few days ago, that were he a man of Fortune he would gladly give me 500£ a year to dine with him twice a week for the mere advantage, which he received from my Conversation / and for a long time past he has been offering me different places to induce me to return / he would give me a handsome House, Garden, Country House, & a place of 600£ a year certain / I thank him cordially - but neither accept nor refuse. I had lately a fine Opening in America, which I was much inclined to accept; but my knowledge of Wordsworth's aversion to America stood in my way. My Health is by no means what I could l wish it / the quantity and variety of my public Business confine me, & I cannot take enough Exercise / & Malta, alas! it is a barren Rock / the Sky, the Sea, the Bays, the Buildings are all beautiful / but no rivers, no brooks, no Hedges, no green fields, almost no Trees, & the few that are are unlovely. - It might have been better for me if I had remained wholly independent / for the living in a huge Palace all to myself, like a mouse in a Cathedral on a Fair or Market Day, and the being hail'd 'Most illustrious Lord, the Public Secretary' are no pleasures to me who have no ambition, & having no curiosity, the deal, I see of men & things only tends to tinge my mind with melancholy. However, I trust, that the first of September will be the latest time I shall stay here / of all tender recollections I have spoken in my last - & do not wonder if with people about me craving dispatch of Business, I cannot bring myself to write down names that make my inmost Heart as often bleed tears as dissolve with tenderness : all whom I loved in England I seem to love tenfold in Malta / - My dear Sara! may God bless you / be assured, I shall never, never cease to do every thing that can make you happy."