Coleridge, the Morning Post, and female illustrissimae: An unpublished autograph

Recently, an unpublished, undated letter by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (in London) to Samuel Purkis (at Brentford), composed between February 26 and March 1, 1800, was found in a collection of autograph letters once belonging to the Baptist minister Joseph Angus (1816-1902), principal of Regent's Park College, London, from 1849 to 1893. In the letter, Coleridge requests a loan of 10 from Purkis to be sent to Coleridge's mother-in-law in Bristol in order to defray expenses that would soon arise from Sara Coleridge's visit in March to the West Country. In the letter, Coleridge refers to Richard B. Sheridan as a Rogue, boasts of having spent considerable time with Elizabeth Inchbald, Charlotte Smith, Mrs Barbauld, and Mary Robinson (Coleridge's list of Illustrissimae!), and once again declares his intention of giving up newspaper work and returning to the West Country to live for a time with Tom Poole. This essay discusses Coleridge's past history with Purkis, Coleridge's current situation with the Morning Post, Sara's pregnancy, Coleridge's presence during Sheridan's speech in the Commons on February 10, 1800, as well as Coleridge's intimate relationship with a select group of prominent female writers.