But the thought of you personally and individually is at present too strong and stirring to permit me to reason on any points. If the weather is at all plausible, we propose to set off on Saturday. I do most earnestly wish that you could accompany us; a steam-vessel would give us three-fourths of the whole day to _tête-à-tête_ conversation. God bless you,
And your affectionate and faithful friend, S. T. COLERIDGE.
Cottle saw Coleridge for the last time in 1821. He says "It is a consolation to reflect, that, in the year 1821, being in London, I called to see Mr. Coleridge, at Mr. Gillman's, when he welcomed me in his former kind and cordial manner. The depressing thought filled my mind, that that would be our final interview in this world, as it was. On my going away, Mr. C. presented me with his _Statesman's Manual_, in the title-page of which he wrote--'Joseph Cottle, from his old and affectionate friend, S. T. Coleridge.'"--(_Early Recollections_, ii, 177.)
Coleridge, during his Highgate period, was induced by Blackwood to send a few contributions to his magazine (see _Lamb's Letters_, ii, 32). He had contributed _Fancy in Nubibus_ in 1819, and he now sent selections from his _Literary Correspondence_ in the shape of letters, which appeared in 1821. Two of these letters are printed by Thomas Ashe (_Miscell. Works_, 238). The following is one of the letters not published by Ashe:
Here have I been sitting, this whole long-lagging, _muzzy_, mizly morning, struggling without success against the insuperable disgust I feel to the task of explaining the abrupt chasm at the outset of our correspondence, and disposed to let your verdict take its course, rather than suffer over again by detailing the causes of the stoppage; though sure by so doing to acquit _my will_ of all share in the result. Instead of myself, and of _you_, my dear sir, in relation to myself, I have been thinking, first, of the _Edinburgh Magazine_; then of magazines generally and comparatively; then of a magazine in the abstract; and lastly, of the immense importance and yet strange neglect of that prime dictate of prudence and common sense--Distinct Means to Distinct Ends. But here I must put in one proviso, not in any relation though to the aphorism itself, which is of universal validity, but relatively to my intended application of it. I must assume--I mean, that the individuals disposed to grant me free access and fair audience for my remarks, have _a conscience_--such a portion at least, as being eked out with superstition and sense of character, will suffice to prevent them from seeking to realise the _ultimate_ end, (_i.e._ the maxim of profit) by base or disreputable means. This, therefore, may be left out of the present argument, an extensive sale being the common object of all publishers, of whatever kind the publications may be, morally considered. Nor do the means appropriate to this end differ. Be the work good or evil in its tendency, in both cases alike there is one question to be predetermined, viz. what class or classes of the reading-world the work is intended for? I made the proviso, however, because I would not mislead any man even for an honest cause, and my experience will not allow me to promise an equal immediate circulation from a work addressed to the higher interests and blameless predilections of men, as from one constructed on the plan of flattering the envy and vanity of sciolism, and gratifying the cravings of vulgar curiosity. Such may be, and in some instances, I doubt not, has been, the result. But I dare not answer for it beforehand, even though both works should be equally well suited to their several purposes, which will not be thought a probable case, when it is considered how much less talent, and of how much commoner a kind, is required in the latter.