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Huntington Library, HM 48423 . Previously published: John Warden Robberds (ed.), A Memoir of the Life and Writings of the Late William Taylor of Norwich, 2 vols (London, 1843), I, pp. 487–490.
These letters were edited with the assistance of Carol Bolton, Tim Fulford and Ian Packer
For permission to publish the text of MSS in their possession, the editor wishes to thank the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library, Yale University; Berg Collection of English and American Literature, The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations; the Bodleian Library Oxford University; the British Library; Boston Public Library; the Syndics of Cambridge University Library; the Syndics of the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge; Haverford College, Connecticut; the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the Hornby Library, Liverpool Libraries and Information Services; the Houghton Library, Harvard University; the John Rylands Library, Manchester; the Kenneth Spencer Research Library, University of Kansas; Luton Museum (Bedfordshire County Council); Massachusetts Historical Society; McGill University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the Newberry Library, Chicago; the New York Public Library (Pforzheimer Collections); the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; the Public Record Offices of Bedford, Suffolk (Bury St Edmunds) and Northumberland, the Master and Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge; the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne; the Trustees of the William Salt Library, Stafford, the Wisbech and Fenland Museum; the University of Virginia Library.
A research grant from the British Academy made much of the archival work possible, as did support from the English Department of Nottingham Trent University.
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An unfinished Eclogue upon an Aldermans Funeralmake my set out as
soon, or as long after as is convenient – tho the sooner the better.
Do not think me incurious when you hear that I have not read the Critical Review.xx twice was it sent for, & twice by blundering did they disappoint me, & now there is no opportunity of receiving
it. so patience per-force till April. Curious I am to see it – not that it will contain any opinion which you have not heretofore
expressed in letters, but because from two or three quarters persons have spoken of the criticism itself – as I always wish to hear
your writings spoken of. I wrote to you once respecting your style, somewhat petulantly perhaps – which you perceived & forgave,
because you understood it. but I had been vexed at the time into an argument to defend it, & wrote in attack while the heat was on
me. Cooly now & considerately let me xxx say that you should lower your language to the level of common comprehension. A
little mannerism – a little oddity – is not merely allowable but it is useful, – these things individualize composition. they are to
written – what the eye & the tone of the voice are to oral speech. But you too often (like your admirable old townsman Sir T.
Brownem Taylors articles (says Tom to me in a letter
speaking of the Annual Review) by jaw-breaking words which are not to be found in the dictionary, – & also by extensive erudition
& profound knowledge – such as belong to nobody else.’ a true extract – but for the sake of poor Tom, & of others like him, do sometimes ask yourself the question whether the word you are
about to xx to use be in the dictionary or not. – Harry asked
me who wrote the Critical account of Thalaba – saying he should have thought it yours if there had been hard words enough in it. – I
thank you for the Iris – & will pay you in kind.
Longman has sent me the first Annual, which till now I have had no opportunity
to examine. my own articles
Letters from Lisbon authorize me to enquire into my Uncles affairs & make provision for Harry. My enquiries have been answered by procrastinations – however in the course of the summer we shall be clear of any money-debt to you – & his allowance regulated. He will be hear in the summer – & nothing would give me so much pleasure as that you should be here too.
Coleridge is going for Malta – he leaves London tomorrow to embark at Portsmouth – in sad & most anomalous health. perfectly well, when under no paroxysm, & yet never secure from one hour to another. it is unfortunate that you have never met. there is no man whom he so much desires to see as you.
You may have seen Madoc advertised as in the press – which is a publishers licence – the use of the present for the
future tense.