255. To Thomas Poole Transcript Thomas Ward copy-book, New York Public Lib. Hitherto unpublished. Hamburg Friday Septr 28th 1798 My dear dear Poole The Ocean is between us & I feel how much I love you! God bless you my dear Friend -- Since I last wrote to Sara, I have been wandering about & about to find Lodgings -- I have given up all thought of going to Eisenach or Weimar, and shall settle with Chester for three months or possibly four at Ratzeburg, 7 German (i.e. 85 English Miles) from Hamburg -- We go tomorrow & my address is -- Mr Coleridge | at the | Pastor Unruke, I Ratzeburg, | Germany, -- Get a German Map and find me out -- Ratzeburg is a most beautiful place and North-east of Hamburg -- On Sunday Morning I begin ____________________ which are added, France, an Ode; and Frost at Midnight, 1798. This little work was printed by Johnson, which may explain why he gave Coleridge the order on Remnant. 1 A few lines cut from the manuscript, presumably for Coleridge's autograph on the opposite page. The words enclosed in brackets have been supplied from a transcript made by Thomas Ward. 2 Practical Education, a joint work of Maria Edgeworth and her father, Richard Edgeworth, appeared in two volumes in 1798. -418- my Journal, and you' will receive, or Sara, the first Sheet by the next Mail -- Did you receive my letter from Yarmouth? Did Sara receive the Bank note of £80 from London? -- The price of Lodging and Boarding is very high -- we shall pay 86 marks a week for two rooms, for bread, butter, milk, dinner, & supper -- & find ourselves washing, tea & wine -- this is at the rate of 60 pounds a year each, English Money -- We are not imposed on in this -- but the Cheapness of Germany is a Hum! -- at least of the Northern Parts. -Wordsworth & his Sister have determined to travel on into Saxony, to seek cheaper places 1 -- God knows whether he will succeed -- to him who means to stay two or three years, it may answer -- To me who mean to return in 3 months, the having no travelling expences will nearly pay for my Lodging and Boarding -- For Chester & I shall reach Ratzeburg (Luggage & all) for 16 shillings -- Our Journey to Eisenach and back again could not have cost less than £30 -- A Mark is 16 pence but then an English Guinea is always 17 marks & now it is 17 marks and ninepence -- and Bills of Exchange for pounds sterling are reckoned in the same proportion -- I have not been idle -- you will soon see in the Morning Post the Signature of Cordomi 2 -- Let me hear from you and tell me of every thing -- & ____________________ 1 After a short stay together in Hamburg, Wordsworth and Coleridge separated, Coleridge and Chester setting off for Ratzeburg on 30 Sept. Three days later the Wordsworths moved on to Goslar ( Dorothy Wordsworth Journals, i. 28, 31, and 34). The decision to settle in separate places in Germany was, as this letter shows, a perfectly justifiable one, and relations continued as amicable as before. Between the two poets, too, a voluminous correspondence, now lost, was carried on: 'I hear as often from Wordsworth as letters can go backward & forward,' Coleridge wrote to Mrs. Coleridge on 14 Jan. 1799. At home in England, however, the separation of the two poets was greeted with enthusiasm. 'The Wordsworths', Poole wrote to Coleridge on 8 Oct. 1798, 'have left you -- so there is an end of our tease about amalgamation, etc, etc. I think you both did perfectly right -- it was right for them to find a cheaper situation, and it was right for you to avoid the expence of travelling, provided you are where pure German is spoken. You will of course frequently hear from Wordsworth -- when you write remember me to him and to his sister.' Josiah Wedgwood, too, expresses satisfaction in an unpublished letter to Poole, dated 1 Feb. 1799: 'I have received one long & interesting letter from Coleridge. . . . I think his expedition seems to have answered to him and I hope that Wordsworth & he will continue separated. I am persuaded that Coleridge will derive great benefit from being thrown into mixed society.' And Lamb, not without maliciousness, wrote to Southey when he heard the news: 'I hear that the Two Noble Englishmen have parted no sooner than they set foot on German earth, but I have not heard the reason -- possibly, to give novelists an handle to exclaim, " Ah me! what things are perfect?" ' ( Lamb Letters, i. 141). 2 No contributions to the Morning Post for this period have been identified. Two poems, Something Childish, but very Natural and Home-sick. Written in Germany, were first published with the signature 'Cordomi' in the Annual Anthology, 1800. (Cf. Poems, i. 818-14.) Coleridge quoted the first poem in Letter 276, the second in Letter 277. -419- give me your Opinion &c -- I expect that Stuart will pay me very handsomely for what I mean to do -- I have spent some time with Klopstock; but I shall anticipate nothing. I associate none but kindly feelings with Stowey -- & therefore tell all whom you meet that I desire my love to them -- but to your dear Mother and Ward particularly, for they are with you and of you -- Tell my dear Sara that I am well, very well -- and so is Chester -- Go to my house and kiss my dear babies for me -- my Friend, my best Friend, my Brother, my Beloved -- the tears run down my face -- God love you & S T Coleridge Chester's love and duty to his Mother &c &c &c -- The People here for this last week have been frantic with Joy for Nelson's Victories 1 &c --