[137] The Hon. and Rev. T. A. Methuen, Rector of All Cannings, was the son of Paul Methuen, Esq., M. P., afterward Lord Methuen of Corsham House. He contributed some reminiscences of Coleridge at this period to the _Christian Observer_ of 1845. _Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a Narrative_, by J. Dykes Campbell, 1894, p. 208.
[138] The annual payments for board and lodging, which were made at first, for some time before Coleridge's death fell into abeyance. The approximate amount of the debt so incurred, and the circumstances under which it began to accumulate, are alike unknown to me. The fact that such a debt existed was, I believe, a secret jealously guarded by his generous hosts, but as, with the best intentions, statements have been made to the effect that there was no pecuniary obligation on Coleridge's part, it is right that the truth should be known. On the other hand, it is only fair to Coleridge's memory to put it on record that this debt of honour was a sore trouble to him, and that he met it as best he could. We know, for instance, on his own authority, that the profits of the three volume edition of his poems, published in 1828, were made over to Mr. Gillman.
[139] _Zapolya: A Christmas Tale, in two Parts_, was published by Rest Fenner late in 1817. A year before, after the first part had been rejected by the Drury Lane Committee, Coleridge arranged with Murray to publish both parts as a poem, and received an advance of £50 on the MS. He had, it seems, applied to Murray to be released from this engagement, and on the strength of an ambiguous reply, offered the work to the publishers of _Sybilline Leaves_. From letters to Murray, dated March 26 and March 29, 1817, it is evident that the £50 advanced on _A Christmas Tale_ was repaid. In acknowledging the receipt of the sum, Murray seems to have generously omitted all mention of a similar advance on "a play then in composition." In his letter of March 29, Coleridge speaks of this second debt, which does not appear to have been paid. _Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a Narrative_, by J. Dykes Campbell, p. 223; _Memoirs of John Murray_, i. 301-306.
[140] Murray had offered Coleridge two hundred guineas for "a small volume of specimens of Rabbinical Wisdom," but owing to pressure of work the project was abandoned. "Specimens of Rabbinical Wisdom selected from the Mishna" had already appeared in the original issue of _The Friend_ (Nos. x., xi.), and these, with the assistance of his friend Hyman Hurwitz, Master of the Hebrew Academy at Highgate, he intended to supplement and expand into a volume. _Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a Narrative_, by J. Dykes Campbell, p. 224 and note.