"unto you, rejoice; baptized Christians are to "be put on sackcloth and ashes, and try, by "torturing themselves and others, to procure a "rescue from the devil. Again, let me thank

you for your remembrance of me, and believe "me from the hour we first met at Bristol, with "esteem and regard,

"Your sincere friend,

"S. T. COLeridge."

Ramsgate, 28th Oct. 1822.

DEAR FRIEND,

"Words I know are not wanted between you "and me. But there are occasions so awful, "there may be instances and manifestations of

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friendship so affecting, and drawing up with "them so long a train from behind, so many "folds of recollection as they come onward on "one's mind, that it seems but a mere act of "justice to oneself, a debt we owe to the dignity "of our moral nature to give them some record; "a relief which the spirit of man asks and de"mands to contemplate in some outward symbol, "what it is inwardly solemnizing. I am still too "much under the cloud of past misgivings, too "much of the stun and stupor from the recent peals and thunder-crush still remains, to permit "me to anticipate others than by wishes and prayers. What the effect of your unwearied "kindness may be on poor M.'s mind and con

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duct, I pray fervently, and I feel a cheerful trust

that I do not pray in vain, that on my own "mind and spring of action, it will be proved not "to have been wasted. I do inwardly believe, "that I shall yet do something to thank you, my "dear-in the way in which you would wish to "be thanked-by doing myself honour.-Dear “friend and brother of my soul, God only knows "how truly, and in the depth, you are loved and prized by your affectionate friend,

"S. T. COLeridge."

During the first lecture of the course in 1817, a young man of modest demeanor sent him a letter, and afterwards introduced himself, stating that he was a student in literature, and from his conversation, he struck Coleridge as one much more attached to the better part of our nature than to the love of gain. An intimacy consequently took place, and Coleridge addressed many letters to him, from which will be selected such as are critical or autobiographical. Fortunately they have been preserved, and are too valuable not to form a part of this volume.

The following is an answer to the first letter Coleridge received from him :

66 DEAR SIR,

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Wednesday Morning, Jan. 28th, 1818.

"Your friendly letter was first delivered to me at the lecture-room door on yesterday even

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"ing, ten minutes before the lecture, and my spirits were so sadly depressed by the circumstance of my hoarseness, that I was literally incapable of reading it. I now express my acknowledgments, and with them the regret "that I had not received the letter in time to "have availed myself of it.

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"When I was young I used to laugh at flattery, as, on account of its absurdity, I now "abhor it, from my repeated observations of its "mischievous effects. Amongst these, not the "least is, that it renders honourable natures "more slow and reluctant in expressing their “real feelings in praise of the deserving, than, "for the interests of truth and virtue, might be "desired. For the weakness of our moral and "intellectual being, of which the comparatively

strongest are often the most, and the most painfully, conscious, needs the confirmation derived from the coincidence and sympathy of "the friend, as much as the voice of honour "within us denounces the pretences of the flat"terer. Be assured, then, that I write as I think, "when I tell you that, from the style and thoughts "of your letter, I should have drawn a very dif"ferent conclusion from that which you appear "to have done, concerning both your talents and "the cultivation which they have received. Both "the matter and manner are manly, simple, and "correct.

"Had I the time in my own power, compatibly with the performance of duties of immediate urgency, I would endeavour to give you, by "letter, the most satisfactory answer to your

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questions that my reflections and the expe"rience of my own fortunes could supply. But, "at all events, I will not omit to avail myself of your judicious suggestion in my last lecture, in which it will form a consistent part of the sub'ject and purpose of the discourse. “believe me, with great respect,

Meantime,

"Your obliged fellow-student

"of the true and the beseeming

"S. T. COLeridge."

"DEAR SIR,

Sept. 20th, 1818.

"Those who have hitherto chosen to take "notice of me, as known to them only by my

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To me.

public character, have for the greater part taken "out, not, indeed, a poetical, but a critical, license "to make game of me, instead of sending game Thank heaven! I am in this respect "more tough than tender. But, to be serious, "I heartily thank you for your polite remem"brance; and, though my feeble health and "valetudinarian stomach force me to attach no “little value to the present itself, I feel still more obliged by the kindness that prompted it.

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"I trust that you will not come within the purlieus of Highgate without giving me the opportunity of assuring you personally that I "am, with sincere respect,

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"Your obliged,

"S. T. COLEridge."

Following the chronological order I proposed, I am led to speak again of Lamb, who having at this time collected many little poems and essays, scattered in different publications, he reprinted and published them in two small volumes, which he dedicated to Coleridge; and those of my readers who have not seen this work will, doubtless, find it interesting. The simplicity of this dedication, and above all the biographical portion of it, seem to render it appropriate to this work, and it is therefore subjoined.

TO S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq.

MY DEAR COLERIDGE,

You will smile to see the slender labors of your friend designated by the title of Works; but such was the wish of the gentlemen who have kindly undertaken the trouble of collecting them, and from their judgment could be no appeal.

It would be a kind of disloyalty to offer to any