talents; if these do not procure for me and mine the necessary comforts of life, I can receive as I would bestow, and, in either case-receiving or bestowing-be equally grateful to my Almighty Benefactor. I am undetermined therefore-not because I receive with pain and reluctance, but because I suspect that you attribute to others your own enthusiasm of benevolence; as if the sun should say-With how rich a purple those opposite windows are burning!' But with God's permission I shall talk with you on this subject. By the last page of No. X., you will perceive that I have this day dropped The Watchman. On Monday morning I will go per caravan to Bridgewater, where, if you have a horse of tolerable meckness unemployed, you will let him meet me. "I should blame you for the exaggerated terms in which you have spoken of me in the proposal, did I not perceive the motive. You wished to make it appear an offering-not a favor—and in excess of delicacy have, I fear, fallen into some grossness of flattery. "God bless you, my dear, very dear friend. The widow is calm, and amused with her beautiful infant. We are all become more religious than we were. God be ever praised for all things! Mrs. Coleridge begs her kind love to you. To your dear mother my filial respects. "S. T. COLERIDGE." The visit to Mr. Poole at Stowey was paid, and Mr. C. returned to Bristol on the 20th of May, 1796. On his way back he wrote the following letter to Mr. Poole from Bridgewater: "MY DEAR POOLE, 29th May, 1796. "THIS said Caravan does not leave Bridgewater till nine. In the market-place stand the hustings. I mounted, and pacing the boards, mused on bribery, false swearing, and other foibles of election times. I have wandered too by the river Parret, which looks as filthy as if all the parrots in the House of Commons had been washing their consciences therein. Dear Gutter of Stowey! Were I transported to Italian plains, and lying by the side of a streamlet which murmured through an orange grove, I would think of thee, dear Gutter of Stowey! and wish that I were poring on thee. "So much by way of rant. I have eaten three eggs, swallowed sundries of tea, and bread and butter, purely for the purpose of amusing myself, and I have seen the horse fed. When at Cross, where I shall 3 Mrs. Robert Lovell, whose husband had been carried off by a fever, about two years after his marriage with my Aunt. S. C. dine, I shall think of your happy dinner, celebrated under the auspices of humble independence, supported by brotherly love. I am writing, you understand, for no worldly purpose, but that of avoiding anxious thoughts. Apropos of honey-pie: Caligula, or Heliogabalus (I forget which), had a dish of nightingales' tongues served up. What think you of the stings of bees? God bless you. My filial love to your mother, and fraternity to your sister. Tell Ellen Cruikshanks, that in my next parcel to you, I will send my Haleswood Poem to her. Heaven protect her, and you, and Sara, and your mother, and—like a bad shilling passed off in a handful of guineas—your affectionate friend and brother, "S. T. COLERIDGE. "P. S. Don't forget to send by Milton my old clothes and linen that once was clean-a pretty periphrasis that! " The month of June, 1796, was spent in Bristol, and some negotiation took place as to Mr. C.'s settling in Nottingham, the particulars of which the Editor is unable to state. On the 4th of July Mr. Coleridge writes to Mr. Poole. To Mr. Poole. 4th July, 1796. "MY VERY DEAR POOLE, 6 “Do not attribute it to indolence that I have not written to you. Suspense has been the real cause of my silence. Day after day I have confidently expected some decisive letter, and as often have been disappointed. Certainly I shall have one to-morrow noon, and then I will write.' Thus I contemplated the time of my silence in its small component parts, forgetful into what a sum total they were swelling. As 1 have heard nothing from Nottingham notwithstanding I have written a pressing letter, I have, by the advice of Cottle and Dr. Beddoes, accepted a proposal of Mr. Perry's, the editor of the Morning Chronicle,— accepted it with a heavy and reluctant heart. On Thursday Perry was at Bristol for a few hours, just time enough to attend the dying moments of his associate in the editorship, Mr. Grey, whom Dr. Beddoes attended. Perry desired Dr. B. to inform me that, if I would come up to London and write for him, he would make me a regular compensation adequate to the maintenance of myself and Mrs. Coleridge, and requested an immediate answer by the post. Mr. Estlin, and Charles Danvers, and Mr. Wade are or were all out of town; I had no one to advise with except Dr. Beddoes and Cottle. Dr. B. thinks it a good opening on account of Grey's death; but I rather think that the intention is to employ me as a mere hackney without any share of the profits. However, as I am doing nothing, and in the prospect of doing nothing settled, I was afraid to give way to the omenings of my heart; and accordingly I accepted his proposal in general terms, requesting a line from him expressing the particulars both of my proposed occupation and stipend. This I shall receive to-morrow, I suppose; and if I do, I think of hiring a horse for a couple of days, and galloping down to you to have all your advice, which indeed, if it should be for rejecting the proposals, I might receive by post; but if for finally accepting them, we could not interchange letters in a time sufficiently short for Perry's needs, and so he might procure another person possibly. At all events I should not like to leave this part of England-perhaps for ever-without seeing you once more. I am very sad about it, for I love Bristol, and I do not love London; and besides, local and temporary politics have become my aversion. They narrow the understanding, and at least acidulate the heart; but those two giants, yclept Bread and Cheese, bend me into compliance. I must do something. If I go, farewell, Philosophy! farewell, the Muse! farewell, my literary Fame! 6 "My Poems have been reviewed. The Monthly has cataracted panegyric on me; the Critical cascaded it, and the Analytical dribbled it with civility. As to the British Critic, they durst not condemn, and they would not praise-so contented themselves with commending me as a poet, and allowed me tenderness of sentiment and elegance of fiction.' I am so anxious and uneasy that I really cannot write any further. My kind and fraternal love to your Sister, and my filial respects to your dear Mother, and believe me to be in my head, heart, and soul, yours most sincerely, "S. T COLERIDGE." The Editor can find no further trace of the proposed connexion with the Morning Chronicle; but almost immediately after the date of the preceding letter, Mr. Coleridge received an invitation from Mrs. Evans, then at Darley, near Derby, to visit her with a view to his undertaking the education of her sons. He and Mrs. C. accordingly went to Darley, where the matter was arranged to the satisfaction of both parties; and Mr. C. returned to Bristol alone with the intention of visiting his Mother and Brother at Ottery before leaving the south of England for what promised to be a long absence. But this project, like others, ended in nothing. The other guardians of Mrs. E.'s sons considered a public education proper for them, and the announcement of this resolution to Mr. C. at Bristol stopped his further progress, and recalled him to Darley. After a stay of some ten days he left Darley with Mrs. C., and visited Mr. Thomas Hawkes at Mosely, near Birmingham, and thence he wrote to Mr. Poole To Mr. Poole. August, 1796. "MY BELOVED FRIEND, “I was at Matlock, the place monodized by Bowles, when your letter arrived at Darley, and I did not receive it till near a week afterwards. My very dear Poole, I wrote to you the whole truth. After the first moment I was perfectly composed, and from that moment to the present have continued calm and lighthearted. I had just quitted you, and I felt myself rich in your love and esteem: and you do not know how rich I feel myself. O ever found the same, and trusted and beloved! “The last sentences of your letter affected me more than I can well describe. Words and phrases which might perhaps have adequately expressed my feelings, the cold-blooded children of this world have anticipated and exhausted in their unmeaning gabble of flattery. I use common expressions, but they do not convey common feelings. My heart has thanked you. I preached on Faith yesterday. I said that Faith was infinitely better than Good Works, as the cause is greater than the effect,- -as a fruitful tree is better than its fruits, and as a friendly heart is of far higher value than the kindnesses which it naturally and necessarily prompts. It is for that friendly heart that I now have thanked you, and which I so eagerly accept; for with regard to settlement, I am likely to be better off now than before, as I shall proceed to tell you. * "I arrived at Darley on the Sunday. * * * * * * Monday I spent at Darley. On the Tuesday Mrs. Coleridge, Miss Willett, and I went in Mrs. Evans's carriage to Matlock, where we stayed till Saturday. * * Sunday we spent at Darley, and on Monday, Sara, Mrs. Evans, and myself visited Oakover, a seat famous for a few first-rates of Raffael and Titian; thence to Ilam, a quiet vale hung round with wood, beautiful beyond expression, and thence to Dovedale, a place beyond expression tremendously sublime. Here, in a cavern at the head of a divine little fountain, we dined on cold meat, and returned to Darley, quite worn out with the succession of sweet sensations. On Tuesday we were employed in packing up, and on Wednesday we were to have set off. * * * But on the Wednesday Dr. Crompton, who had just returned from Liverpool, called on me, and made me the following proposal-that if I would take a house in Derby and open a day-school, confining my number to twelve scholars, he would send three of his children on these terms-till my number should be completed, he would allow me £100 a year for them ;—when the number should be complete, he would give £21 a year for each of them :-the children to be with me from nine to twelve, and from two to five-the last two hours to be employed with their writing or drawing-master, who would be paid by the parents. He has no doubt but that I shall complete my number almost instantly. Now 12×20 guineas £252, and my mornings and evenings at my own disposal=good things. So I accepted the offer, it being understood that if anything better offered, I should accept it. There was not a house to be got in Derby; but I engaged with a man for a house now building, and which is to be completed by the 8th of October, for 127. a year, and the landlord to pay all the taxes except the Poor Rates. The landlord is rather an intelligent fellow, and has promised me to Rumfordize the chimneys. The plan is to commence in November; the intermediate time I spend at Bristol, at which place 1 shall arrive, by the blessing of God, on Monday night next. This week I spend with Mr. Hawkes, at Mosely, near Birmingham; in whose shrubbery I now write. I arrived here on Friday, having left Derby on Friday. I preached here yesterday. "If Sara will let me, I shall see you for a few days in the course of a month. Direct your next letter to S. T. C., Oxford Street, Bristol. My love to your dear Mother and Sister, and believe me affectionately your ever faithful friend, "S. T. COLERIDGE "I shall write to my Mother and Brothers to-morrow." At the same time Mr. C. wrote to Mr. Wade in terms similar to the above, adding that at Matlock the time was completely filled up with seeing the country, eating, concerts, &c. "I was the first fiddle; not in the concerts-but everywhere else, and the company would not spare me twenty minutes together. Sunday I dedicated to the drawing up my sketch of education, which I meant to publish, to try to get a school!" He speaks of "the thrice lovely valley of Ilam; a vale hung with beautiful woods all round, except just at its entrance, where, as you stand at the other end of the valley, you see a bare bleak mountain standing as it were to guard the entrance. It is without exception the most beautiful place I ever visited." He concludes :-" I have seen a letter from Mr. William Roscoe, author of the Life of Lorenzo the Magnificent; a work in two 4to. volumes (of which the whole first edition sold in a month); it was addressed to Mr. Edwards, the minister here, and entirely related to me. Of me and my compositions he writes in terms of high admiration, and concludes by desiring Mr. Edwards to let him know my situation and prospects, and saying that if I would come and settle at Liverpool, he thought a comfortable situation might be procured for me. This day Edwards will write to him." * * * Whilst at Birmingham, on The Watchman tour, Mr. C. had been introduced to Mr. Charles Lloyd, the eldest son of Mr. Lloyd, an eminent |