251. To Thomas Poole Address: Mr T. Poole | Stowey | near | Bridgewater | Somerset MS. British Museum. Pub. with amis. Thomas Poole, i. 271. Stamped: Cobham. Saturday. June 16th, 1798 My dear Poole I arrived in Bristol on Monday Evening, 1 spent the next day at Estlin's, who opposed my German Expedition furore perreligioso, amicissimo furore. -- At Brentford I arrived Wednesday Evening -and was driven by Mr Purkiss 2 great part of the way to Stoke, on Thursday Evening --: and here I am, well, &c &c. Mr Josiah Wedgewood & Wife left us this morning, being obliged to go to Bristol; for Dr Beddoes has alarmed him concerning the state of his wife's health; so I stay with Tom & the Miss Wedgewoods. / -- Purkiss is a gentleman with the free & cordial & interesting manners of the man of literature. His colloquial diction is uncommonly pleasing, his information various, his own mind elegant & acute /: all these are but general expressions; but this I can say, that if he liked me as well as I liked him, I have left very agreeable thoughts & feelings in the mind of an excellent man. And I like Mrs Purkiss. The Wedgewoods received me with joy & affection. I have been metaphysicizing so long & so closely with T. Wedgewood, that I am a caput mortuum, mere lees & residuum; but if I do not write now, you will not receive the letter, heaven knows when / for the post here is quite uncertain. -- Godwin has expressed to the Wedgewoods a vehement desire of being re-introduced to me -- so I shall see him next week. -- I shall step into London on Monday / there are some letters from Wedgewood to me; be so kind as to open them, & to give me an account whether any thing be contained in them except his various' determinations concerning his ____________________ 1 Hazlitt, his visit to Stowey over, accompanied Coleridge to Bristol. Writing to his father he says: 'I have just time to let you know that I shall set out on my way home this evening. Mr. Coleridge is gone to Taunton to preach for Dr. Toulmin. He is to meet me at Bridgwater, and we shall proceed from thence to Bristol tomorrow morning.' P. P. Howe, The Life of William Hazlitt, 1947, pp. 48-44. 2 Samuel Purkis, Poole's friend, was living in Brentford, near London. -413- going to Bristol / -- direct -- Mr Coleridge, Josiah Wedgewood's Esq. Stoke, near Cobham, Surry. -- This place is a noble large house, in a rich pleasant country / but the little Toe of Quantock is better than the head & shoulders of Surry & Middlesex. These dull places however have the effect of liveliness from their being a variety to me. -- May you say the same by this letter -- for it is scarcely worth the postage. -- God bless you, my Friend, & believe me with gratitude & constancy your's ever, S. T. Coleridge