view_ did not wish to attack it, but was ashamed to say
a word in its favor. Thank God! these things pass from me like drops
from a duck's back, except as far as they take the bread out of my
mouth; and this I can avoid by consenting to publish only for the
_present_ times whatever I may write. You will be so kind as to
acknowledge the receipt of the L50 in such manner as to make all matters
as clear between us as possible; for, though you, I am sure, could not
have intended to injure my character, yet the misconceptions, and
perhaps misrepresentations, of your words have had that tendency. By a
letter from R. Southey I find that he will be in town on the 17th. The
article in Tuesday's _Courier_ was by me, and two other articles on
Apostacy and Renegadoism, which will appear this week.
Believe me, with respect, your obliged,
S.T. COLERIDGE.
The following letter completes Coleridge's correspondence with Murray on
this subject:
_Mr. Coleridge to John Murray_.
[Highgate], _March_ 29, 1817.
Dear Sir,
From not referring to the paper dictated by yourself, and signed by me
in your presence, you have wronged yourself in the receipt you have been
so good as to send me, and on which I have therefore written as
follows--"A mistake; I am still indebted to Mr. Murray L20 _legally_
(which I shall pay the moment it is in my power), and L30 from whatever
sum I may receive from the 'Christabel' when it is finished. Should Mr.
Murray decline its publication, I conceive myself bound _in honor_ to
repay." I strive in vain to discover any single act or expression of my
own, or for which I could be directly or indirectly responsible as a
moral being, that would account for the change in your mode of thinking
respecting me. But with every due acknowledgment of the kindness and
courtesy that I received from you on my first coming to town,
I remain, dear Sir, your obliged, S.T. COLERIDGE.
Leigh Hunt was another of Murray's correspondents. When the _Quarterly_
was started, Hunt, in his Autography, says that "he had been invited,
nay pressed by the publisher, to write in the new Review, which
surprised me, considering its politics and the great difference of my
own." Hunt adds that he had no doubt that the invitation had been made
at the instance of Gifford himself. Murray had a high opinion of Hunt as
a critic, but not as a politician. Writing to Walter Scott in 1810 he
said:
_John Murray to Mr. Scott_,
"Have you got or
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