, states that the
"tragedy was written in the summer and autumn of the year 1797, at Nether Stowey, in the county of Somerset. By whose recommendation, and of the manner in which both the play and the author were treated by the recommender, let me be permitted to relate: that I knew of its having been received only from a third person; that I could procure neither answer nor the manuscript; and that but for an accident, I should have had no copy of the work itself. That such treatment would damp a young man's exertions may be easily conceived: there was no need of after-misrepresentation and calumny, as an additional sedative."
Coleridge contributed many pieces to Southey's
Omniana
, (all marked with an asterisk,) and was engaged in other literary pursuits; he had notwithstanding much bodily suffering. The
cause
of this was the organic change slowly and gradually taking place in the structure of the heart itself.
it was so masked by other sufferings, though at times creating despondency, and was so generally overpowered by the excitement of animated conversation, as to leave its real cause undiscovered.