It was the publication of this particular letter, with its thinly-veiled allusions to Wordsworth, Southey, and to Coleridge’s sons, which not only excited indignation against Allsop, but moved Southey to write a letter to Cottle. Letters, Conversation, etc., 1836, ii. 140-146.
[188] Compare “The Wanderer’s Farewell to Two Sisters” (Mrs. Morgan and Miss Brent), 1807. Miss Brent made her home with her married sister, Mrs. J. J. Morgan, and during the years 1810-1815, when Coleridge lived under the Morgans’ roof at Hammersmith, in London, and in the West of England, he received from these ladies the most affectionate care and attention, both in sickness and in health. Poetical Works, pp. 179, 180.
[189] The Reverend Edward Coleridge, 1800-1883, the sixth and youngest son of Colonel James Coleridge, was for many years a Master and afterwards a Fellow of Eton. He also held the College living of Mapledurham near Reading. He corresponded with his uncle, who was greatly attached to him, on philosophical and theological questions. It was to him that the “Confessions of an Enquiring Spirit” were originally addressed in the form of letters.
[190] Colonel Coleridge’s only daughter, Frances Duke, was afterwards married to the Honourable Mr. Justice Patteson, a Judge of the Queen’s Bench.
Like those trim skiffs, unknown of yore
On winding lake, or rivers wide,
That ask no aid of sail or oar,
That fear no spite of wind or tide.
“Youth and Age,” ll. 12-15. Poetical Works, p. 191. A MS. copy of “Youth and Age” in my possession, of which the probable date is 1822, reads “boats” for “skiffs.”
[192] Sir Alexander Johnston, 1775-1849, a learned orientalist. He was Advocate General (afterwards Chief Justice) of Ceylon, and had much to do with the reorganisation of the constitution of the island. He was one of the founders of the Royal Asiatic Society. Dict. of Nat. Biog. art. “Johnston, Sir Alexander.”
[193] Gabriele Rossetti, 1783-1854, the father of Dante G. Rossetti, etc., first visited England as a political exile in 1824. In 1830 he was appointed Professor of the Italian language at King’s College. He is best known as a commentator on Dante. He presented Coleridge with a copy of his work, Dello Spirito Antipapale che Produsse la Riforma, and some of his verses in MS., which are in my possession.
[194] From the letter of Wordsworth to Lord Lonsdale, of February 5, 1819, it is plain that the translation of three books of the Æneid had been already completed at that date. Another letter written five years later, November 3, 1824, implies that the work had been put aside, and, after a long interval, reattempted. In the mean time a letter of Coleridge to Mrs. Allsop, of April 8, 1824, tells us that the three books had been sent to Coleridge and must have remained in his possession for some time. The MS. of this translation appears to have been lost, but “one of the books,” Professor Knight tells us, was printed in the Philological Museum, at Cambridge, in 1832. Life of W. Wordsworth, ii. 296-303.