Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
ms, letterColeridge, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834). - Holograph letter, from Grasmere, Kendal, to his brother Rev George Coleridge, at Ottery St Mary, Honiton, Devon, dated 9 October 1809 - 1 folded sheet. - He begins 'Dear Brother It would have been well if I had answered your kind letter on the day of it's arrival'. He discusses his literary career and his work on 'The Friend': 'I am, & was at the very first number of The Friend, sensible of my defect in facility of Style, and more desirous to avoid obscurity than successful in the attempt. Habits of abstruse and continuous thought...have combined to render my sentences more piled up and architectural, than is endurable in so illogical an age as the present'; 'It should not however be forgotten, that I am making an experiment whether throughout the Kingdom a sufficient number of readers can be found for a periodical Work, which does not appeal to Curiosity, or Personality'; 'the Friend will be the outlet of my whole reservoir as well as of the living Fountain till it shall be dried up'. He also details his financial woes, in particular that of acquiring duty-stamped paper, for he has been left 'absolutely penniless, and what has affected me more, under the necessity of suffering Mrs Coleridge to pay for Hartley & Derwent's Board & this year's annuity to her worthy and almost bed-ridden Mother'.
Provenance:
Purchase, with the generous assistance of the Friends of the National Libraries and Harry Williamson, 2013 |
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