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Bodleian Library, MS Eng. Lett. c. 25. Not previously published.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.
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Line 7 Of – preferable to with, because With begins the following sentence,
43 After the mention of Atahalipa that wide empire can only refer to Peru. the person indicated is Hernando de Soto
lengthy I grant you, – but it is a favourite with me & with my two
Ediths,
86. The rattling tufts, are the keys of the ash as they are called in Somersetshire, they rattle
with a wind in which the leaves are silent
114 – Excellent woman – might remind you of Excellent wench – good authority for such an exclamation
117 You are right the expression is awkward – but I laboured long & vainly to make it better, & almost despair
of success in another attempt
257 – 1 – the rhyme had escaped me – perhaps because they are not so strongly marked to the ear as to the eye
Lionet
273–4 – An oversight in altering the passage. – read for it a foul thing grotesque –
294 – I cannot remove the repetition without injury
There must of necessity be a brief historical preface, – much in the manner of that to Madoc.in quite eager enough to have it in time for their summers half year, – which is
impossible. And as for the public a certain number of persons will order it whenever it appears, – & out of that
numbering advertisements are not likely to induce purchasers. You may gift give me a lift if you can thro Mr Braithwaitebr short notice into the European Magazine.
Toms bust must be directed to him at Samuel Castles Esqre
Durham.
Ballantyne has a portion of the notes in his hands to print a-la-Scott with a different paging, that when the text is done the publication may not be
delayed.th book,
& look forward to a rapid completion. That the poem will not disappoint expectation I am by no means so well satisfied as you
appear to be; – but I dare say no person will see so many faults in it as I shall do.
Sara Coleridge is better, – but these have been perilous symptoms, –
the more so as Hartley has now given decided proof that there is
scrofula in the blood. Kate mends, but is not as she in health. I have
my usual summer companion, but not as yet with its usual violence. I suppose it will ripen & flourish when the warm weather comes –
I could be unhappy enough if I pleased. Coleridges conduct is bringing
on a train of distresses upon his family which it has been easy to foresee, & impossible to prevent. They have only
at this time an income of £67–10/ the whole of which as you may well suppose xxxx
goes is x required for the schooling, & clothing of the two boys.x must literally be by the charity of
their fathers friends, & the mother & daughter fall upon me for support. Of course this is for yourself alone. If I
were in opulence this would be well, & even as it is, I have so much confidence in the Bank of Faith that I have no more unpleasant
feeling upon the subject than a proper indignation – which however does not wholly overcome my pity for the most compleat
<deplorable> case of moral insanity & guilt that perhaps was ever yet exhibited. Were I really in fashion for a
few years, I should certainly be in affluence; – but this neither is, nor is likely to be, the case.
The green book is arrived,in good upon good terms with my own Carmen –
I am so near the end of Roderick that it is high time my mind were made fairly up upon the subject of the next poem.
Peradventure I shall <may> write you at length upon my dreams & doubts. Another month, if there be no unforeseen
check or interruption will bring this work to its close. I am transcribing the 19 book for you: – it is very short; – the interview
between Roderick & his mother. The 20th moves into the Moorish camp & brings Count Julian into sight.
Perhaps you will have stared in the xxxxxx acclamative book at the word auriphrygiatechoice <apt> sweet & well cull’d I assure you;”st brings Florinda & Guisla
to the Moors, the former returning to her father, upon a promise that he will in nothing force her inclinations, – the latter deserting
to them with intelligence that Pelayo, has removed the wo his the women & children to the Cave; – Orpas xxxx
xxx Julian is murdered in the night by Orpas’s instigation, – but a scene later takes place before he dies between him his
daughter & Roderick – who has accompanied her to the camp as a Priest. The miraculous battle of Covadonga