480. To Thomas Poole Address: T. Poole Esqre | N. Stowey I Bridgewater | Somerset MS. British Museum, Pub. E.L.G. i. 235. Postmark: ≪1≫ January 180≪3≫. Stamped: Keswick. Wednesday, Dec. 29. [1802] My dear Friend I have such a mass of Letters to answer, that I can write you but a few Lines. We arrived safely on Friday afternoon -- and on the morning before, at ½ past six, Mrs Coleridge was brought to bed of a healthy Girl, who is to be called Sarah. Both Mother & Babe are well. -- I am middling --. My plans are these -- it is probable, that I shall return with our Friend, either to Gunville or Trewern, & there employ myself for six weeks or 2 months -- at the end of which time it is my firm resolution to go myself to the Canary Islands & see them -- & know whether a comfortable House & the common Comforts of Life are to be had in Gran Canaria or Teneriffe -- if so, I shall return, & by the next vessel transport my family, myself, & my books. If not, I shall attempt to see Sicily and the South of Italy -- for the same purposes. -T. Wedgewood. is much as usual -- his Spirits indifferent, his appetite tolerable. He leaves Keswick with me tomorrow morning, & goes to Ulswater -- whether he returns to Keswick, or goes on to Newcastle upon Tyne, is uncertain. At all events, he means to have come back to the South before the last week of January. -After I had last written you, & sent off the Letter, my heart -906- misgave me that I had written triflingly, & in a tone unworthy of you & of myself -- in a first Letter on your return to your native Country after your first absence -- & that too on so unpleasant a necessity, & in ill health to boot. But I was not writing for myself only -- & this writing ½ for myself, & ½ as a kind of Amanuensis untuned my feelings. -- I found your Letter here: both T. W. & myself mourn, that your ill-health clings about you. -- I doubt not, I shall see you soon. -- As you know, I often joke with a Tear in my eye -- so I could not help saying, that as your digestive organs were disordered, it was no wonder, that the Cream turned sour on your Stomach. -- I received a Letter from Sharp a few days ago with this Post script -- 'I like your friend, Poole, Most EXCEEDINGLY.' Sharp is a clever ready-cut-& dried-speech-retailer, and a friendly man who, tho' he has no heart, has a neat thing enough of a cardioeiděs Automaton, that answers all the purposes of a heart to all the demands & interests of simple acquaintanceship. As your Greek is not French or Latin or English, I must lexiconize my 'Cardioeidous['] -- which signifies something in the likeness of a Heart -- / a puppet Heart ---- What a misery that the Canarians are Catholics! O the Devil sulphur-roast all Papishes! I would burn every Mother's child of them with Fire & Faggot in remembrance of what they did to us Christians in the time of bloody Queen Mary. -- T. W.'s Love. ---- To Ward, & to his Sister remember me kindly -- And when you write to Bristol, do be so good as to remember [me] in more than common terms to your Sister & Mr King. -- God bless you, my dear Poole! | & | Your affectionate & | faithful -- S. T. Coleridge T. Wedgewood sent you a dozen Pound of Honey -- at least, left word to have sent to you -- before he left Gunville. --