[166] The bill in which Coleridge interested himself, and in favour of which he wrote two circulars which were printed and distributed, was introduced in the House of Commons by the first Sir Robert Peel. The object of the bill was to regulate the employment of children in cotton factories. A bill for prohibiting the employment of children under nine was passed in 1833, but it was not till 1844 that the late Lord Shaftesbury, then Lord Ashley, succeeded in passing the Ten Hours Bills. In a letter of May 3d to Crabb Robinson, Coleridge asks: “Can you furnish us with any other instances in which the legislature has interfered with what is ironically called ‘Free Labour’ (i. e. dared to prohibit soul-murder on the part of the rich, and self-slaughter on that of the poor!), or any dictum of our grave law authorities from Fortescue—to Eldon: for from the borough of Hell I wish to have no representatives.” Henry Crabb Robinson’s Diary, ii. 93-95.
[167] James Maitland, 1759-1839, eighth Earl of Lauderdale, belonged to the party of Charles James Fox, and, like Coleridge, opposed the first war with France, which began in 1793. In the ministry of “All the Talents” he held the Great Seal of Scotland. Coleridge calls him plebeian because he inherited the peerage from a remote connection. He was the author of several treatises on finance and political economy.
[168] It was, I have been told by an eyewitness, Coleridge’s habit to take a pinch of snuff, and whilst he was talking to rub it between his fingers. He wasted so much snuff in the process that the maid servant had directions to sweep up these literary remains and replace them in the canister.
[169] A pet name for the Gillmans’ younger son, Henry.
[170] Coleridge was fond of quoting these lines as applicable to himself.
[171] Washington Allston.
[172] Charles Robert Leslie, historical painter, 1794-1859, was born of American parents, but studied art in London under Washington Allston. A pencil sketch, for which Coleridge sat to him in 1820, is in my possession. Mr. Hamo Thornycroft, R. A., after a careful inspection of other portraits and engravings of S. T. Coleridge, modelled the bust which now (thanks to American generosity) finds its place in Poets’ Corner, mainly in accordance with this sketch.
[173] Letters, Conversations, and Recollections of S. T. Coleridge, London, 1836, i. 1-3.
[174] The Prospectus of the Lectures on the History of Philosophy was printed in Allsop’s Letters, etc., as Letter xliv., November 26, 1818, but the announcement of the time and place has been omitted. A very rare copy of the original prospectus, which has been placed in my hands by Mrs. Henry Watson, gives the following details:—
“This course will be comprised in Fourteen Lectures, to commence on Monday evening, December 7, 1818, at eight o’clock, at the Crown and Anchor, Strand; and be continued on the following Mondays, with the intermission of Christmas week—Double Tickets, admitting a Lady and Gentleman, Three Guineas. Single Tickets, Two Guineas. Admission to a Single Lecture, Five Shillings. An Historical and Chronological Guide to the course will be printed.”