329. To Samuel Purkis Address: Samuel Purkis Esq. | Brentford MS. McGill University. Hitherto unpublished. The top and the bottom of this manuscript have been cut off. The words in brackets have been heavily inked out, but through the courtesy of Mr. Richard Pennington of the Redpath Library I have been able to examine the holograph and decipher the partially obliterated passages. Postmark: 27 March 1800. . . . Without some apology, for having neglected it so long, my next & wiser way is to ask you -- if there be not some mistake. I [drew on you for 5£ --] while at your house, [my Debt was augmented to 20£] for which I gave you a [Draft on] Mr Wedgewood -- [I opened the Draft & altered it to 25£] for which you [payed me the difference --] I afterwards wrote to you, [begging you to Lend me 10£ for 14 days] -- you sent me [a Draft to that amount --] stating that you should want it at the end of that time / I in the meantime had concluded a Bargain with Longman, & did not [want the Draft -- ] accordingly I destroyed it -- & wrote you in answer that I should not use it --. -- Believe me my dear Fellow! it is so improbable that I should be more accurate [in money matters] than you, that I cannot convey to you my perplexity. . . at your Service -- / I pray you, write to me immediately. O this Translation is indeed a Bore -- never, never, never will I be so taken in again -- Newspaper writing is comparative extacy -I do not despair of making Bonaparte as good as Pitt -- but there is a 2nd Part of Pitt to come 1 -- & a Review of a curious Pamphlet connected with it 2 -- That on Pitt has made sensation -- I am at present at Lamb's -- Direct to me No/ 36 | Chapel Street, | Pentonville. Give my kind Love to Mrs P. -- & believe me, my dear Purkis! very affectionately Your's S. T. Coleridge ____________________ 1 Neither the character of Bonaparte nor the '2nd Part of Pitt' was ever written. 2 On 27 Mar 1800 Coleridge printed in the Morning Post a brief review of Arthur Young pamphlet, The Question of Scarcity Plainly Stated. Essays on His Own Times, ii. 895-403. -583- I have heard thrice from Sara -- She & Hartley are both well -- / I have taken a House, or rather half a house, at Stowey----when I go there, I cannot determine. Remember me kindly to Miss Fox-and to Mary: my love & to John.