370. To William Godwin Address: Mr Godwin | Polygon | Sommers' Town | London MS. Lord Abinger. Pub. with omis. William Godwin, ii. 15. Postmark: 20 December 1800. Stamped: Keswick. Greta Hall, Keswick. Wednesday Night, Dec. 17. 1800 Dear Godwin I received the Newspaper with a beating heart & laid it down with a heavy one. But cheerily, Friend! it is worth something to -656- have learnt what will not please. Kemble, like Saul, is among the Prophets ----- The account in the Morning Post was so unusually well written & so unfeelingly harsh, that it induced suspicions in my mind of the Author -- Stuart assuredly, nor any of his regular workmen, wrote it. If your Interest in the Theatre is not ruined by the fate of this, your first piece, take heart, set instantly about a new one, and if you want a glowing Subject, take the Death of Myrza, as related in the Holstein Ambassador's Travels into Pe[r]sia,. in p. 93. Vol. II of Harris's Collections. 1 There is Crowd, Character, Passion, Incident, & Pageantry in it -- & the History is so little known, that you may take what Liberties you like without Danger. It is my present purpose to spend the two or three weeks after the Christmas Week in London / then we can discuss all & every thing. Your last play wanted one thing, which I believe is almost indispensable in a play -- a proper Rogue, in the cutting of whose throat the Audience may take an unmingled pleasure. I go to Grasmere at the end of the week ----- if you should wish to write to me, direct thus Mr Wordsworth, | Grasmere, | near | Ambleside, | Westmoreland. For | Mr Coleridge We are all tolerably well. -- God love you, and S. T. Coleridge P.S. There is a Paint, the first coating of which, put on paper, becomes a dingy black, but the second turns to a bright gold Color. -- So I say -- Put on a second Coating, Friend! --