4125. Robert Southey to Eliza [Fricker], [c. 23 January 1824]

 

MS: Victoria University (Toronto), Samuel Taylor Coleridge Collection. ALS; 1p. (c).
Unpublished.
Dating note: Dating from content. The Book of the Church was published on 2 February 1824. Southey left London for Norwich on 23 January. This letter was probably written very shortly before his departure. He returned to London on 5 February; see Robert Southey to Nicholas Lightfoot, 18 February 1824 (Letter 4136).

Dear Eliza

I inclose Mrs C.s letter. & as I have not a minute this day which can be spared, write to say it would be saving no trouble to you were I to take with me the portion of her money now in your hands,

(1)

Possibly the inheritance received from her uncle George Fricker, a Bristol accountant, who had died at Wells, Somerset, in August 1823. Because he had died intestate, his estate was divided among his nearest surviving relatives, who included his nieces, Sara Coleridge and her four sisters.

because there can be no doubt that all of it will be wanted to go the same way. & by the time you have received it, & heard from her how much Derwent requires, Mr Rickman will be in town.

(2)

The money was required to assist Derwent Coleridge, who had secured a disappointing pass degree from the University of Cambridge in January 1824 and was in debt.

Moreover bills cut in half are perfectly safe by the post, whereas whole ones are not safe in my pocket, or keeping travelling as I do with a portmanteau which will not lock.

I send Wesley & the 3d vol. of Brazil.

(3)

A copy of Southey’s The Life of Wesley; and the Rise and Progress of Methodism (1820) and the third volume of his History of Brazil which had been published in 1819.

& the Book of the Church

(4)

Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).

will be sent to Martha as soon as it is published – which will be in a week or ten days.

My table is covered with letters, which I must answer with more haste & less consideration than some of them require. I shall return on Thursday the 5th.

God bless you
RS

Notes

1. Possibly the inheritance received from her uncle George Fricker, a Bristol accountant, who had died at Wells, Somerset, in August 1823. Because he had died intestate, his estate was divided among his nearest surviving relatives, who included his nieces, Sara Coleridge and her four sisters.[back]
2. The money was required to assist Derwent Coleridge, who had secured a disappointing pass degree from the University of Cambridge in January 1824 and was in debt. [back]
3. A copy of Southey’s The Life of Wesley; and the Rise and Progress of Methodism (1820) and the third volume of his History of Brazil which had been published in 1819.[back]
4. Southey’s The Book of the Church (1824).[back]
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