466. To Mrs. S. T. Coleridge Address [Mr]s Coleridge | Greta Hall I Keswick | Cumberla[nd] MS. Victoria University Lib.Hitherto unpublished. This fragment comprises parts of the first, second, third, and fourth pages of the manuscript. Undoubtedly the missing passages in this letter included an account of the time Coleridge spent in the company of Sara Hutchinson at Penrith on his way to London. The letters immediately following show that Mrs. Coleridge, cognizant of her husband's intimacy with Sara Hutchinson and thoroughly -879- angered by it, wrote in high dudgeon of this visit. Thus Coleridge was led to berate his wife for her jealousy and to offer analyses of her and of himself; and while he was solicitous about her coming confinement, it is evident that her failure either to look with favour on his affection for Sam Hutchinson and the Wordsworths or 'to give them any Share of your Heart', was an important source of friction between them. Postmark: 8 18<02>. [ 8 November 1802] 1 . . . his wife a nasty hard-hearted, hatchet-fac'd, droop-nos'd, eye-sunken, rappee-complexioned, [old Bitch. --] 2 The first night we stopp'd at 10 o clock -- & slept at [Leeming Lane]2 -- the next night at 12, & slept at Newark -- Sunday afternoon 2 o clock brought us to Stamford -- where I took the Mail for London / a horrible stinking Jew crucified my Nose the whole way -- It is fact, that I never knew what a true foul stench was, before -- O it was a STINKING JEW! We arrived at the Bull & Mouth Inn at ½ past 5 this morning -- I sate by the fire in the dark Coffee-house till ½ past 7, when I got my Breakfast / & took a hackney Coach for King's Street, where the Howells received me with great Joy --, & seemingly true affection. -- My Cloathes are just gone off, & Books 3 -so that I have been under the necessity of ordering a new suit, immediately -- & I shall stay in Town till Wednesday or perhaps Thursday -- but shall see no body but Stuart & John Wordsworth -of this you may depend -----. If any Letter come from the Colonel i.e. my Brother -- or from Mr Dennys, . . . . . . you had better direct the Letter to Mr Estlin's, where I will leave my Address -- if I shall have quitted Bristol. -- It must be a Joy to you to hear, that I have borne the Journey so well -- it cost me two pound, perhaps, more than it would have done, if I could have taken my place in the Mail -- but it was money wellspent -- for both the first & second night my Limbs were quite crazed & feverous, & my inside hot as fire -- so that in all probability had I not had sound sleep each night, I should have been layed up. My Journey has cost me, all in all, £8 11 11s 11 6D. I Will send you down some money in a post or two -- My dear Love -- write as chearfully as possible. I am tenderer, & more fluttery, & bowel-weak, than most -- I can not bear any thing gloomy, unless when it is quite necessary. -- Be assured, I ____________________ 1 Coleridge left Keswick on 4 Nov. as he had planned (see Letter 465), stayed in Penrith overnight, and arrived in London on 8 Nov. 2 The words in brackets are inked out in the manuscript. 3 On 4 Nov. 1802 Lamb wrote to Coleridge that his books, &c., which had been left in London, were to leave by the Kendal wagon the following day. Lamb Letters, i. 328. -880- will bring back (come home when I will) a pure, affectionate, & husbandly Heart to . . . Again & again & for ever more God bless & preserve you, my Love! & me for your sake, & the sake of our dear Children / -- & try to love & be kind to, those whom I love. -- I am, & will remain, Your faithful & affectionate Husband S. T. Coleridge