[95] Compare the last six lines of a sonnet, “On a Discovery made too late,” sent in a letter to Southey, dated October 21, 1794. (Letter XXXVII.) See Poetical Works, p. 34, and Editor’s Note, p. 571.
[96] The first of six sonnets on the Slave Trade. Southey’s Poetical Works, 1837, ii. 55.
[97] Prefixed as a dedication to Juvenile and Minor Poems. It is addressed to Edith Southey, and dated Bristol, 1796. Southey’s Poetical Works, 1837, vol. ii. The text of 1837 differs considerably from the earlier version. Possibly in transcribing Coleridge altered the original to suit his own taste.
[98] To a Friend [Charles Lamb], together with an Unfinished Poem [“Religious Musings”]. Poetical Works, p. 37.
[99] This farewell letter of apology and remonstrance was not sent by post, but must have reached Southey’s hand on the 13th of November, the eve of his wedding day. The original MS. is written on small foolscap. A first draft, or copy, of the letter was sent to Coleridge’s friend, Josiah Wade.
[100] The Rev. David Jardine, Unitarian minister at Bath. Cottle lays the scene of the “inaugural sermons” on the corn laws and hair powder tax, which Coleridge delivered in a blue coat and white waistcoat, in Mr. Jardine’s chapel at Bath. Early Recollections, i. 179.
[101] If we may believe Cottle, the dispute began by Southey attacking Coleridge for his non-appearance at a lecture which he had undertaken to deliver in his stead. The scene of the quarrel is laid at Chepstow, on the first day of the memorable excursion to Tintern Abbey, which Cottle had planned to “gratify his two young friends.” Southey had been “dragged,” much against the grain, into this “detestable party of pleasure,” and was, no doubt, rendered doubly sore by his partner’s delinquency. See Early Recollections, i. 40, 41. See, also, letter from Southey to Bedford, dated May 28, 1795. Life and Correspondence, i. 239.
[102] At Chepstow.
[103] A village three miles W. S. W. of Bristol.
[104] During the course of his tour (January-February, 1796) to procure subscribers for the Watchman, Coleridge wrote seven times to Josiah Wade. Portions of these letters have been published in Cottle’s Early Recollections, i. 164-176, and in the “Biographical Supplement” to the Biographia Literaria, ii. 349-354. It is probable that Wade supplied funds for the journey, and that Coleridge felt himself bound to give an account of his progress and success.