Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert SoutheyCottle, Joseph
General
Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey
Cottle, Joseph
Authors, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Coleridge, Samuel Taylor, 1772-1834; Southey, Robert, 1774-1843
In conformity with such resolution, he obtained letters of introduction
to influential men in the respective towns he meant to visit, and, like a
shrewd calculator, determined to add the parson's avocation to that of
the political pamphleteer. The beginning of Jan. 1796, Mr. Coleridge,
laden with recommendatory epistles, and rich in hope, set out on his
eventful journey, and visited in succession, Worcester, Birmingham,
Nottingham, Lichfield, Derby, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, &c. and
as a crowning achievement, at the last, paid his respects to the great
metropolis; in all which places, by bills, prospectuses, advertisements,
and other expedients, the reading public were duly apprised of the "NEW
REVIEW, NEWSPAPER, and ANNUAL REGISTER," about to be published.
The good people, in all the towns through which Mr. Coleridge passed,
were electrified by his extraordinary eloquence. At this time, and during
the whole of his residence in Bristol, there was, in the strict sense,
little of the true, interchangeable conversation in Mr. C. On almost
every subject on which he essayed to speak, he made an impassioned
harangue of a quarter, or half an hour; so that inveterate talkers, while
Mr. Coleridge was on the wing, generally suspended their own flight, and
felt it almost a profanation to interrupt so impressive and mellifluous a
speaker. This singular, if not happy peculiarity, occasioned even Madame
de Stael to remark of Mr. C. that "He was rich in a Monologue, but poor
in a Dialogue."
From the brilliant volubility before noticed, admiration and astonishment
followed Mr. C. like a shadow, through the whole course of his
peregrinations. This new "Review, Newspaper, and Annual Register," was
largely patronized; for who would not give fourpence every eighth day, to
be furnished, by so competent a man as Mr. Coleridge, with this
quintessence, this concentration of all that was valuable, in Politics,
Criticism, and Literature; enriched in addition, with Poetry of the first
waters, luminous Essays, and other effusions of men of letters? So choice
a morçeau was the very thing that every body wanted; and, in the course
of his journey, subscriptions poured in to the extent of one thousand;
and Mr. C. on his return, after what might be called a triumph,
discovered the elasticity of his spirit; smiling at past depressions, and
now, on solid ground, anticipating ease, wealth, and fame.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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