[108] The publication by Cottle, in 1837, of this and the following letter, and still more of that to Josiah Wade of June 26, 1814 (Letter CC.), was deeply resented by Coleridge’s three children and by all his friends. In the preface to his Early Recollections Cottle defends himself on the plea that in the interests of truth these confessions should be revealed, and urges that Coleridge’s own demand that after his death “a full and unqualified narrative of my wretchedness and its guilty cause may be made public,” not only justified but called for his action in the matter. The law of copyright in the letters of parents and remoter ancestors was less clearly defined at that time than it is at present, and Coleridge’s literary executors contented themselves with recording their protest in the strongest possible terms. In 1848, when Cottle reprinted his Early Recollections, together with some additional matter, under the title of Reminiscences of S. T. Coleridge, etc., he was able to quote Southey as an advocate, though, possibly, a reluctant advocate, for publication. There can be no question that neither Coleridge’s request nor Southey’s sanction gave Cottle any right to wound the feelings of the living or to expose the frailties and remorse of the dead. The letters, which have been public property for nearly sixty years, are included in these volumes because they have a natural and proper place in any collection of Coleridge’s Letters which claims to be, in any sense, representative of his correspondence at large.
[109] At whatever time these lines may have been written, they were not printed till 1829, when they were prefixed to the “Monody on the Death of Chatterton.” Poetical Works, p. 61; Editor’s Note, pp. 562, 563.
[110] “The Picture; or The Lover’s Resolution,” lines 17-25. Poetical Works, p. 162.
[111] Solomon Grundy is a character, played by Fawcett, in George Colman the younger’s piece, Who wants a Guinea? produced at Covent Garden, 1804-1805.
[112] A character in Macklin’s play, Love à la Mode.
[113] A character in Macklin’s play, A Man of the World.
[114] It is needless to say that Coleridge never even attempted a translation of Faust. Whether there were initial difficulties with regard to procuring the “whole of Goethe’s works,” and other books of reference, or whether his heart failed him when he began to study the work with a view to translation, the arrangement with Murray fell through. A statement in the Table Talk for February 16, 1833, that the task was abandoned on moral grounds, that he could not bring himself to familiarise the English public with “language, much of which was,” he thought, “vulgar, licentious, and blasphemous,” is not borne out by the tone of his letters to Murray, of July 29, August 31, 1814. No doubt the spirit of Faust, alike with regard to theology and morality, would at all times have been distasteful to him, but with regard to what actually took place, he deceived himself in supposing that the feelings and scruples of old age would have prevailed in middle life. Memoirs of John Murray, i. 297 et seq.
[115] “The thoughts of Coleridge, even during the whirl of passing events, discovered their hidden springs, and poured forth, in an obscure style, and to an unheeding age, the great moral truths which were then being proclaimed in characters of fire to mankind.” Alison’s History of Europe, ix. 3 (ninth edition).
[116] The eight “Letters on the Spaniards,” which Coleridge contributed to the Courier in December, January, 1809-10, are reprinted in Essays on His Own Times, ii. 593-676.
[117] The character of Pitt appeared in the Morning Post, March 19, 1800; the letters to Fox, on November 4, 9, 1802; the Essays on the French Empire, etc., September 21, 25, and October 2, 1802; the Essay on the restoration of the Bourbons, October, 1802. They are reprinted in the second volume of Essays on His Own Times.