Skip to main content

Full text of "Tom Wedgwood, the first photographer; an account of his life, his discovery and his friendship with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, including the letters of Coleridge to the Wedgwoods and an examination of accounts of alleged earlier photographic discoveries"

See other formats 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


TOM  WEDGWOOD 


TOM  WEDGWOOD 

THE   FIRST   PHOTOGRAPHER 

AN  ACCOUNT  OF  HIS  LIFE,  HIS  DIS- 
COVERY AND  HIS  FRIENDSHIP  WITH 
SAMUEL  TAYLOR  COLERIDGE 
INCLUDING  THE  LETTERS  OF 
COLERIDGE  TO  THE  WEDGWOODS 

AND  AN  EXAMINATION  OF  ACCOUNTS 

OF  ALLEGED  EARLIER  PHOTOGRAPHIC 

DISCOVERIES 


BY  R.  B.  LITCHFIELD 


"  A  mind  perhaps  the  finest  I  ever  met  with" — T.  CAMPBELL 


LONDON 
DUCKWORTH     AND     CO. 

3  HENRIETTA  STREET,  COVENT  GARDEN 

1903 


•' 


"  RES  OMNES  EARUMQUE  PROGRESSUS  INITIIS  SUIS  DEBENTUR    ' 

LORD  BACON  (First  words  of  his  letter  sending  a 
copy  of  the  "  De  Augmentis"  to  Trinity  College, 
Cambridge,  the  place  of  his  early  education). 


INSCRIBED  TO 

GODFREY   WEDGWOOD 

GREAT-NEPHEW  OF  THE  FIRST  PHOTOGRAPHER,  AND 

GREAT-GRANDSON  OF  THE  FAMOUS  POTTER,   IN 

ADMIRATION  OF  A  LIFE  AND  CHARACTER 

WORTHY  OF  THE  NAME  HE  BEARS 


221577 


All  rights  reserved 


PREFACE 

THIS  Memoir  appears,  it  must  be  confessed,  rather 
late.  It  was  in  the  year  1806  that  the  little  world  of 
Tom  Wedgwood's  friends,  relations,  and  acquaintances 
— a  little  world,  but  it  included  some  of  the  most 
notable  Englishmen  of  the  time — were  expecting  the 
appearance  of  a  book  which  was  to  give  an  account  of 
his  life  and  character,  with  an  essay  expounding  his 
philosophical  theories.  This  essay  was  to  be  written  by 
Sir  James  Mackintosh,  and  the  Memoir  by  Coleridge. 
But  neither  of  these  eminent  persons  did  what  he  pro- 
mised. It  is  not  certain  that  either  even  began  to  do 
it.  Of  Mackintosh,  Coleridge  once  wrote  :  "  He  is 
one  of  those  men  with  whom  the  meaning  to  do  a 
thing  means  nothing."  Of  Coleridge  himself  this  was 
absolutely  true,  and  it  was  not  quite  untrue  of  Mackin- 
tosh ;  for  he  was  noted  for  his  infinite  capacity  for 
procrastination,  as  if  his  rule  of  life  was  never  to  do 
a  thing  to-day  which  could  possibly  be  put  off  till 
to-morrow.  The  plan  of  a  joint  Memoir  by  two  such 
collaborators,  two  men,  as  it  happened,  not  the  least  in 
sympathy  one  with  the  other,  was  thus  virtually  hope- 
less from  the  first.  Mackintosh,  moreover,  had  gone 
to  be  a  Judge  in  India,  and  Coleridge  was  nearing  that 


viii  PREFACE 

saddest  time  in  his  life  when  his  best  friends  could  only 
describe  his  condition  (produced  by  opium)  as  one  of 
"  paralysis  of  the  will."  So  it  has  been  Tom  Wedg- 
wood's fate  to  be  but  faintly  remembered — 

carpere  lividas  * 
obliviones  .  .  . 

caret  quia  vate  sacro. 

But  it  seemed  to  me  that,  in  spite  of  the  lapse  of 
time,  partly  indeed  by  reason  of  it,  it  might  now  be 
worth  while  for  the  humblest  of  biographers  to  essay  a 
modest  record  of  the  man,  in  part  reparation  of  the 
failure  of  those  two  sadly  untrustworthy  vates  sacri. 
The-  task  seemed  to  come  naturally  in  my  way,  as, 
through  the  accident  of  private  connection,  I  had 
happened  to  have  read  a  great  number  of  old  family 
letters  of  the  Wedgwoods,  preserved  by  the  descen- 
dants of  the  photographer's  brother  Josiah,  including 
a  mass  of  correspondence  formerly  in  the  possession  of 
Mrs.  Charles  Darwin,  the  last  survivor  of  his  many 
nieces  and  nephews,  who  died  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
eight  in  1896. 

This  year  1902,  the  centenary  of  the  date  which 
justifies  our  calling  him  the  "  first  photographer,"  seemed 
a  fitting  time  for  putting  some  account  of  him  before 
the  world,  and  for  examining  the  question,  which,  so 
far  as  I  know,  has  not  been  critically  discussed  before, 
whether  that  title  properly  applies  to  him.  It  was  the 
more  necessary  to  do  this,  as  the  story  of  what  he 
really  did  had  become  confused  with  a  foolish  legend, 
a  complete  misrepresentation  of  the  facts,  which  had 
unluckily  been  put  forward  in  what  was  the  only  book 
(prior  to  the  recent  appearance  of  a  notice  in  the 


PREFACE  ix 

• 

"  Dictionary  of  National  Biography  ")  giving  information 
about  him.* 

Only  two  persons,  as  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  have  been 
described  as  doing,  or  possibly  doing,  anything  photo- 
graphic before  the  time  of  Wedgwood,  the  German 
Heinrich  Schulze,  and  the  French  physicist  Charles  ; 
but  an  examination  of  the  accounts  of  what  they  did 
clearly  disposes,  I  think,  of  both  claims.  Knowing 
next  to  nothing  of  the  technique  of  photographic  pro- 
cesses, I  should  have  no  right  to  say  this  if  the  question 
turned  on  technical  points,  but  that,  as  the  reader  of 
pp.  218-240  will  see,  is  not  the  case. 

When  one  thinks  of  the  astonishing  developments  of 
the  art  in  these  latter  years,  the  now  familiar  " living 
pictures,"  the  achievements  of  the  camera  in  stellar 
astronomy,  and  its  importance  as  an  aid  to  various  kinds 
of  literary,  scientific,  and  artistic  research,  with  the 
collateral  wonders  that  have  sprung  out  of  photography, 
the  strange  mysteries  of  Rontgen,  Becquerel,  and 
Cathode  "Rays,"  with  their  suggestions  of  fresh  reve- 
lations of  yet  unknown  natural  forces,  the  poor  little 
results  got  by  Wedgwood  may  well  seem  insignificant. 
But  there  remains  the  fact  that  the  step  he  took  was 
the  first  step,  the  premier  pasj  and  his  the  original 

*  "A  Group  of  Englishmen,"  by  Eliza  Meteyard,  1872.  In  this 
book  Miss  Meteyard,  who  had  written  a  life  of  Josiah  the  famous 
potter,  gives  a  pleasant  gossipy  account  of  his  sons  and  other  relatives. 
It  has  been  rightly  called  "  an  agreeable  melange"  but  it  is  full  of 
inaccuracy,  the  authoress  habitually  mixing  up  guesswork  with  fact. 

t  "  Ah  !  Monsieur  le  Cardinal,  dans  de  pareilles  affaires,  il  n'y  a 
que  le  premier  pas  qui  coute."  The  affaire  under  discussion  when 
Mme.  Du  Deffand  said  this  was  the  famous  walk  of  Saint  Denis  after 
his  decapitation  on  Montmartre.  The  Cardinal  had  been  wondering 
how  the  saint  could  possibly  have  walked  all  the  way  to  Paris. 


xii  PREFACE 

picture  which  has  never  been  engraved,  nor,  I  think, 
publicly  exhibited. 

I  am  under  like  obligation  to  Mr.  Godfrey  Wedg- 
wood (of  Idlerocks,  Staffordshire),  who  placed  at  my 
disposal  the  whole  of  the  MSS.  left  by  the  photo- 
grapher, and  has  also  very  kindly  allowed  me  to  re- 
produce in  miniature  the  very  interesting  picture  by 
Stubbs,  which  includes  the  whole  of  Tom  Wedgwood's 
family  as  it  was  in  the  year  1780. 

For  valuable  assistance  on  specific  points  my  thanks 
are  due  to  Lord  Kelvin  and  to  Professor  Liveing  of 
Cambridge,  who  obligingly  answered  inquiries  as  to 
Tom  Wedgwood's  physical  science  work  ;  as  also  to 
Mrs.  Henry  Sand  ford,  who  kindly  allowed  me  to  see 
some  letters  of  the  Wedgwoods,  not  printed  in  her  Life 
of  Tom  Poole.  I  may  mention  that  I  should  have  printed 
a  remarkable  estimate  of  the  character  of  Tom  Wedg- 
wood written  soon  after  his  death  by  Tom  Poole,  had 
not  this  been  already  given  at  length  in  that  biography, 
a  book,  it  is  needless  to  say,  which  should  be  read  by 
any  one  interested  in  Coleridge  and  his  circle. 


R.  B.  LITCHFIELD. 


31  KENSINGTON  SQUARE,  LONDON, 
November  1902. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE        ...         .         .         .         .         .  vii 

SKETCH  OF  FAMILY  RELATIONSHIPS.          .          .          .  xvii 

I.     EARLY  YEARS,   1771-1788 I 

II.     ETRURIA  AND  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE,    1789-1793  .          .  17 

III.  BEDDOES  AND  THE  PNEUMATIC  INSTITUTE,   1793-1794  33 

IV.  THE  FAMILY  CIRCLE,   1795-1796  ....  39 
V.     POOLE   AND    COLERIDGE — THE    COLERIDGE  ANNUITY, 

1797-1798      .                                              .  49 
VI.     WANDERINGS — SETTLEMENT   IN    DORSETSHIRE,    1798- 

1800       .          .         .         .          .          .          .          .  65 

VII.     THE  WEST  INDIES — A  FAILURE,   1800      ...  86 
VIII.     COLERIDGE  AT  GRETA  HALL — TRAVEL  PLANS,   1800— 

1802 102 

IX.     SOUTH  WALES  AND  CRESSELLY  WITH  COLERIDGE,  1802  120 

X.     ULLESWATER — TO  GENEVA  AND  FLIGHT  HOME,   1803  130 
XI.     CONTINUED  STRUGGLE  FOR  HEALTH — INVASION  ALARMS 

AND  VOLUNTEERING,   1803-1804        .          .          .143 

XII.     THE  LAST  YEAR,   1804-1805            .          .          .         .  166 

XIII.  THE  PHOTOGRAPHIC  WORK      .          .         .          .         .185 

XIV.  His  METAPHYSICS  AND  PSYCHOLOGY  206 


xiv  CONTENTS 

APPENDICES 

PAGE 

A.  AN  ALLEGED    DISCOVERY    OF    PHOTOGRAPHY  IN   1727 — 

SCHULZE'S  WORD-PATTERNS        .         .         .         .         .217 

B.  THE  STORY  OF  PROFESSOR  CHARLES'S  SILHOUETTES         .        228 

C.  A    MYTHICAL    ACCOUNT    OF   T.    WEDGWOOD'S    PHOTO- 

GRAPHIC WORK .241 

D.  ON  SOME  NOTICES  OF  T.  WEDGWOOD  IN  HISTORIES  OF 

PHOTOGRAPHY          .         .         .         •         •         •         .       246 

E.  As  TO  SOLID    BODIES    HAVING   THE  SAME  TEMPERATURE 

AT  THE   POINT  OF  INCANDESCENCE      .         .         .         .251 

F.  PRIESTLEY  IN  AMERICA        .         .         .         .         .  253 
G.     THE  COLERIDGE  ANNUITY — ITS  AFTER-HISTORY    .          .        254 
H.     T.  WEDGWOOD'S  WILL 260 

I.     A    NOTE    ON   THE    VALUE   OF    PHOTOGRAPHY    TO    THE 

WORLD.  262 


SHORTENED  REFERENCES  TO  SOME  BOOKS  CITED 

"  D.  C."  "  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge,  a  Narrative  of  the  Events  of 
his  Life."  By  James  Dykes  Campbell  (Macmillan's,  1894). 

"COLERIDGE'S  POETICAL  WORKS."  The  One  Volume  Edition 
(Macmillan's,  1893),  edited  by  J.  Dykes  Campbell,  with  a 
Biographical  Introduction,  being  that  which  was  reproduced  in 
1 894  as  a  separate  work. 

«T.  P."  "Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends."  By  Mrs.  Henry 
Sandford.  Two  vols.  1888. 

"  COLERIDGE  LETTERS."  The  Collection  edited  by  Mr.  E.  H. 
Coleridge,  1895.  Two  vols.  8  vo,  paged  continuously. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


TOM  WEDGWOOD.     From  a  chalk  drawing  belonging  to  Miss 

Wedgwood,  of  Leith  Hill  Place.     Artist  unknown       Fronthpiect 

Facing 
Page 

THE  WEDGWOOD  FAMILY  AT  ETRURIA  HALL,  in  or  about 
1780.  From  the  picture  by  George  Stubbs,  R.A.  (1724- 
1806),  belonging  to  Mr.  Godfrey  Wedgwood  of  Idlerocks, 
Staffordshire.  (It  was  begun  in  1780  but  occupied  the 
painter,  at  intervals,  several  years.)  It  shows  Josiah 
Wedgwood  of  Etruria  (1730-1795)  with  his  wife  Sarah 
Wedgwood  (d.  1815)  and  their  children.  These  are 
(beginning  on  the  right)  John  (1766-1844),  eldest  son, 
afterwards  of  Cote  House;  Josiah  (1769-1843),  afterwards 
of  Gunville  Park  and  MaerHall ;  Susannah  (176 5-1 8 17), 
afterwards  Mrs.  Robert  Darwin  and  mother  of  Charles 
Darwin  ;  Catharine  (1774-1823),  girl  pulling  carriage  ; 
Tom  (1771-1805),  photographer  and  friend  of  Coleridge  ; 
Sarah  (1776-1856),  girl  by  carriage;  Mary  Anne,  in 
carriage,  born  1778,  died  in  childhood.  The  spire  in 
the  distance,  on  left,  is  Wolstanton  Church.  The  object 
on  the  table  under  the  tree  is  the  Portland  or  Barberini 
Vase,  Wedgwood's  copies  of  which  greatly  advanced  his 
fame.  In  the  distance  on  the  right  are  the  chimneys  of 
Burslem,  where  his  pottery  had  previously  been.  Stubbs 
was  the  famous  animal  painter  of  the  time,  and  was 
especially  noted  for  his  pictures  of  horses  ...  6 

ETRURIA  HALL  AND  POTTERY  in  1775.  From  a  drawing  in 
the  possession  of  Mr.  Godfrey  Wedgwood.  The  Hall, 
T.  Wedgwood's  birthplace,  is  the  large  house  on  the  left. 

b 


xvi  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Facing 
Page 

That  in  the  centre  is "  Little  Etruria,"  the  house  built  for 
Bentley,  Wedgwood's  partner.  It  was  pulled  down  long 
since.  The  buildings  below  it  are  the  Works  (still 
carried  on  by  Wedgwood's  great-great-grandsons).  The 
canal  runs  between  the  Works  and  the  grounds  of  the 
Hall.  The  distant  tower  and  windmill  are  at  Hanley  .  i  ^ 

FACSIMILE  OF  TOM  WEDGWOOD'S  HANDWRITING       .         .          .21 

JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD  (of  Gunville  Park  and  Maer  Hall),  brother 
of  T.  Wedgwood.  From  the  oil  painting  by  Owen,  in 
possession  of  Miss  Wedgwood  of  Leith  Hill  Place  .  .  38 

ELIZABETH  (ALLEN),  WIFE  OF  JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD.  From  the 
portrait  by  Romney,  in  possession  of  Miss  Wedgwood. 
Painted  when  she  was  about  twenty-eight  ...  42 

*HousE  AT  EASTBURY  PARK,  DORSETSHIRE.     The  residence  of 

Tom  Wedgwood  in  1801-1805     .....       95 

*ENTRANCE  TO  EASTBURY  PARK       .         .         .         .          .         .113 

*VILLAGE  OF  TARRANT  GUNVILLE   .         .         .         .          .  1 1 3 

*TARRANT  GUNVILLE  CHURCH.     Burial-place  of  T.  Wedgwood      180 

*  For  these  four  views  the  author  is  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  the  Editors  of 
Photography.  They  are  from  photographs  taken  in  1902  for  the  Centenary  number 
(May  6,  1902)  of  that  publication. 


CO 

PH 

3 
CO 

o 
p 


W 
rt 

£ 

I— H 

I 

O 

£ 
w 


H 


£ 
o 

w 
^ 

CO 


J  «. 

<*\  ^.     •!-•     XT 

g  ^W  a 

i  .ipT 


v£> 

°>*    S 


aH 


J 


-fit 

KW* 
§S| 


ai, 


§6 


lit] 

X*  S  *•£ 


III 
H  «^ 


r  -« 

"iJi|- 

00   ~° 

W       d. 


-2^o^S'§-> 


CHAPTER   I 

EARLY   YEARS 

-  -*•  « «--00 


*  The  house  still  exists  ;  for  many  years  past  it  has  belonged  to 
the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  which  owns  the  minerals  under  it  and 
the  surrounding  lands,  and  is  now  used  for  purposes  connected  with 
the  mines. 

Thomas  is  often  called  the  third  son,  one  of  his  elder  brothers 
having  died  in  infancy. 

A 


While  this  work  was  still  in  the  press,  Mr. 
Litchfield  died  at  Cannes  on  January  11,  1903. 
Owing  to  his  absence  from  England  and  other 
causes  there  had  been  delay  in  its  appearance. 
He  had  greatly  hoped  that  it  would  appear 
hi  1902,  the  Centenary  of  Tom  Wedgwood's 
photographic  work 


CHAPTER   I 

EARLY   YEARS 

1771 — 1788 

THOMAS  WEDGWOOD,  fourth  son  of  Josiah  Wedg- 
wood, the  famous  potter,  was  born  on  May  14,  1771, 
at  Etruria  Hall,  near  Stoke-upon-Trent.  The  hall 
was  a  new  house  which  his  father  had  built  as  a  resi- 
dence for  the  family,  hard  by  the  Pottery,  the  potting 
business  having  been  removed  from  Burslem  to  this 
site  a  year  or  two  previously.^  When  only  six  years 
old  the  boy  was  sent  to  a  school  kept  by  Mr.  Holland, 
a  Unitarian  minister  at  Bolton,  where  his  brothers 
already  were,  and  remained  there  two  years.  The 
method  of  his  education  was  a  matter  which  gave  his 
father  many  doubts.  Josiah  Wedgwood's  letters  to  his 
partner  and  friend,  Bentley,  contain  frequent  specula- 
tions on  the  questions  as  to  what  his  boys  should  learn, 
and  how  to  secure  their  having  a  healthy  bodily  life 
while  the  schooling  went  on. 

"  Erasmus  Darwin,"  he  says  in  one  letter  (October 
1779),  "has  approved  my  idea  of  curtailing  the  educa- 

*  The  house  still  exists  ;  for  many  years  past  it  has  belonged  to 
the  Duchy  of  Lancaster,  which  owns  the  minerals  under  it  and 
the  surrounding  lands,  and  is  now  used  for  purposes  connected  with 
the  mines. 

Thomas  is  often  called  the  third  son,  one  of  his  elder  brothers 
having  died  in  infancy. 


&  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

tion  of  my  boys  in  order  to  establish  their  health,  and 
give  the  more  strength  to  their  constitution."  Dr. 
Darwin  advises  him  to  keep  them  at  home,  and  this  he 
does.  They  are  to  have  four  Latin  lessons  a  week, 
"  only  to  keep  up  what  they  know,  till  I  have  decided 
as  to  this  part  of  their  learning."  "  I  am  distressed  to 
find  out  a  sort  of  compromise  between  the  body  and 
the  mind  that  shall  do  the  least  injury  to  either." 

In  another  letter  he  describes  the  regime  at  length. 
They  "  read  English  before  breakfast,  newspaper  or 
travels,  writing  one  hour  with  Mr.  Swift ;  writing 
French  exercises ;  then  ride  or  drive  their  hoop  or 
jump  over  a  cord,  or  use  any  exercise  they  please  for 
an  hour."  Later  in  the  day  there  are  two  French 
lessons,  and  "  some  accounts  in  the  evening,  in  which 
the  girl  takes  part." 

The  earliest  letter  of  Tom  which  has  been  preserved 
is  one  written  when  he  was  nearly  twelve  years  old, 
giving  an  account  of  a  scene  during  the  bread  riots, 
which  broke  out  in  the  Potteries  in  1783.  His  father 
is  in  London. 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  father,  Josiah 

ETRURIA, 

Wednesday,  March  II,  1783. 
DEAR  PAPA, — 

As  I  thought  you  would  like  to  hear  how  the  mob  went  on 
I  will  tell  you. 

On  Sunday  all  was  quiet.  There  was  a  meeting  at  Newcastle 
(at  which  my  brother  John  was  present)  to  consider  what  was 
the  best  way  to  quell  the  Mob  and  to  keep  up  the  market. 
John  subscribed  j£lo  ;  a  good  many  others  also  subscribed. 

On  Monday  the  mob  came  to  Bilington's  where  there  was 


EARLY  YEARS  3 

a  meeting  of  the  Master  Potters,  Dr.  Falkener,  Mr.  Ing, 
Mr.  Sneyd  of  Bellmont,  and  harrangued  to  the  Mob  on  the 
bad  way  they  had  begun  in  to  lessen  the  price  of  corn,  as  did 
my  brother  John  and  also  Major  Sneyd  (who  came  with  the 
Militia)  was  exceedingly  active  in  speaking  to  them.  He 
said,  "  Why  do  you  rise,"  and  he  answer'd  him  "  on  the  same 
account  that  your  father  went  out  of  the  country."  This 
distressed  him  so  much  that  he  cried.  All  their  speaking  was 
to  no  effect. 

They  then  raised  a  subscription.  John  subscribed  ^20. 
This  they  said  would  not  have  been  raised  without  we  had 
risen.  This  speech  pussled  them  much.  They  then  read  the 
riot  act  and  said  if  they  did  not  disperse  in  a  hour's  time  they 
would  fire  on  them.  An  hour  gone  and  they  did  not  disperse. 
Dr.  Falkener  had  got  the  word  "  Fire  "  in  his  mouth  when  two 
men  dropt  down  by  accident  which  stopt  him  and  he  con- 
sidered about  it  more.  The  Woemen  were  much  worse  than 
the  men  ;  as  for  example,  Parson  Sneyd  had  got  about  30  men 
to  follow  him  he  hurraing  and  the  an  all  [sic]  but  a  woman 
cried  Nay,  nay  that  wunna  do,  that  wunna  do,  and  so  they 
turned  back  again ;  it  was  agreed  that  the  corn  taken  in  the 
boat*  should  be  sold  at  a  fair  price. 

Bolton,  Barlow  are  taken  up  and  gone  to  Stafford  the  rest  of 
the  days  have  been  quiet.  John  and  Mr.  Lomas  are  gone  to 
Stone.  They  all  send  their  love  to  you  and  comt8.  to  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Byerley. 

I  am, 

Your  dutifull  son, 

THOMAS  WEDGWOOD. 
Turn  over. 

P.S. — I  would  have  written  this  letter  well  but  I  have  got 
the  head  ach,  but  did  not  like  to  miss  the  opportunity  of  a 
box.  T.W. 

*  A  barge  which  was  stopped  and  plundered  at  Etruria,  as  it  was 
making  its  way  to  Manchester,  the  mob  imagining  that,  as  the  corn 


4  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Another  letter  to  his  father,  of  about  a  year  later, 
gives  a  pleasant  glimpse  of  his  home  life,  and  shows 
him  as  certainly  very  much  grown  up  for  a  boy  of 
thirteen.  It  shows,  too,  that  he  was  on  charmingly 
easy  terms  with  his  father. 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  father 

ETRURIA, 

April  20,  1/84. 
DEAR  PAPA, — 

By  the  time  this  letter  reaches  you  I  hope  you  will  have  had 
a  pleasant  journey  and  got  safe  and  sound  to  London.  Matthew 
Mills  is  very  busy  at  the  Garden  Pools  repairing  the  dams  at 
the  lower  Pool,  which  the  cows  have  damaged  very  much  that 
go  to  drink  there,  and  unless  some  remedy  is  thought  of  to  secure 
the  dam,  it  will  be  considerably  damaged.  Now  making  a 
drinking  place  just  below  the  lower  Pool  with  the  water  that 
runs  from  the  Pool  and  fencing  a  post  and  railing  round  the 
dam,  will  be  good  security.  If  you  will  give  me  the  post  of 
Superintendant  of  your  pools,  I  will  see  that  they  are  done  pro- 
perly and  soon.  My  hotbed  is  compleated  all  but  glazing.  The 
Bricklayers  have  pulled  down  part  of  the  lower  wall  and  are 
building  it  up  again  and  will  finish  at  the  end  of  the  week. 

I  have  had  several  large  fish  at  my  line  lately  (fishing  with  a 
Gudgeon)  and  leaving  it  in  all  night.  Some  large  fish  at  the 
top  Pool  struck  at  my  Bait  as  I  lifted  it  up.  Another,  my  rod 
drawn  in  the  water  and  the  bait  eat  of.  Still  another,  half  my 
bait  eat  of  and  the  other  half  drawn  up  the  line. 

I'd  be  very  glad  if  you  would  give  me  that  post  for  indeed 

was  going  out  of  the  district,  the  owners  were  trying  to  raise  prices 
against  the  Staffordshire  people.  John  Wedgwood,  Tom's  eldest 
brother,  is  at  this  time  a  lad  of  seventeen.  The  reply  of  the  mob 
to  Major  Sneyd  is  enigmatical.  Possibly  Mr.  Wedgwood  would 
understand  why  it  made  him  cry.  The  two  men  taken  to  Stafford 
were  convicted,  and  Barlow  executed. 


EARLY   YEARS  c 

•  J 

1  would  take  very  good  care  and  always  keep  them  in  good 
order.  Mathew  only  waits  only  for  Command  to  go  on  and 
finish  his  job. 

My  Aunt  is  much  better  and  will  drink  Beer  and  brandy  and 
I  don't  know  what.  I  wish  you  would  get  me  a  pair  of  Buckles 
and  send  them  immediately,  for  I  have  got  none  but  a  broken 
pair.  I  shall  furnish  all  your  pools  with  plenty  of  baits  as  I 
have  now  near  a  dozen  hands  under  employment.  I  have  got 
leave  to  fish  of  Mr.  Stockley  and  the  miller  will  get  leave  of 
the  tenant  of  Mr.  Allen  and  J.  Beech  of  Mr.  Jarvis,  so  then 
for  Wilkes  and  liberty. 

Give  my  love  to  my  sister  and  will  answer  her  letter  very 
soon.  Mary  Anne  is  very  well  indeed  and  was  much  pleased 
with  her  journey. 

Almost  everybody  have  colds  but  I  have  escap'd  yet.  Mr. 
Chisolm  is  very  well  and  sends  his  best  respects  to  you  and 
family. 

Give  my  best  love  to  my  Mother,  sister  and  John  and  should 
be  happy  in  hearing  from  them.  Pray  remember  me  to  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Byerley  and  believe  me  to  be, 

Your  dutifull  son, 

THOS.  WEDGWOOD. 

Would  have  written  it  better  but  had  not  time. 

(Address  on  cover  :  Mr.  Wedgwood,  London. — No  postmark  ; 
it  no  doubt  went  in  the  box.) 

The  person  who  had  most  to  do  with  the  education 
of  Tom  *  Wedgwood,  after  his  father,  was  Alexander 
Chisolm,  Josiah  Wedgwood's  faithful  secretary  and 
chemical  assistant.  Chisolm  came  to  Etruria,  a  man 
of  middle  age,  in  1780,  when  Tom  was  nine  years  old. 

*  I  shall  refer  to  him  thus  throughout  the  book,  as  he  was  always 
so-called,  both  in  and  outside  of  the  family  circle. 


6  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

He  was  a  good  chemist,  a  man  of  education,  and 
at  least  something  of  a  classical  scholar.  The  boys 
became  much  attached  to  him.  The  various  other 
influences  which  would  help  to  mould  the  mind 
and  character  of  a  boy  growing  up  in  the  Etruria 
household  may  be  easily  imagined  from  what  we  know 
of  Josiah  Wedgwood  and  his  life.*  Among  the  friends 
of  the  great  Potter  were  some  of  the  foremost  English- 
men of  the  time.  He  was  intimate  with  James  Watt 
from  1768  onwards.  Priestley,  who  settled  in  Bir- 
mingham in  1780,  owed  much  to  his  friendship. 
Wedgwood  sent  him  annually  twenty-five  guineas  in 
aid  of  his  expenditure  on  scientific  experiments.  With 
Erasmus  Darwin  and  his  family  there  was  constant 
intercourse.  Derby,  where  Darwin  lived  from  about 
1781,  was  not  far  off,  and  the  children  of  the  two 
houses  were  intimate  as  well  as  the  parents.  James 
Keir  of  West  Bromwich,  ex-captain  of  foot  and  glass 
manufacturer,  whom  James  Watt  called  "  a  mighty 
chemist  and  very  agreeable  man/'  was  one  of  the  group. 
Richard  Lovell  Edgeworth  was  another.  It  was  a 
circle  in  which  "  advanced  "  ideas  prevailed,  ideas  which 


*  Unfortunately  there  is  no  satisfactory  biography  of  Josiah,  the 
Potter.  Miss  Meteyard's  two  bulky  volumes  give  a  large  amount  of 
information  about  him,  but,  as  sufficiently  appears  from  her  entirely 
mythical  account  of  Tom  Wedgwood's  photography  (see  p.  241) 
no  statement  of  hers  can  be  trusted  which  is  not  confirmed  by  other 
evidence,  while  her  persistent  strain  of  magniloquent  eulogy  is  a 
constant  irritation  to  the  reader.  The  little  book  by  Mr.  Smiles 
(1894)  is  a  lively  sketch  of  the  man  and  his  career,  but  it  has  many 
technical  errors,  and  was  evidently  put  together  in  great  haste.  The 
memoir  in  the  "  Dictionary  of  National  Biography,"  by  Professor 
Church,  F.R.S.,  is  (I  am  told  by  a  high  authority  on  the  subject) 
excellently  well  done. 


EARLY   YEARS  7 

were  in  great  part  a  reverberation  from  the  pre-revolu- 
tionary  movement  in  France.  All  this  could  not  fail 
to  give  a  strong  bent  to  Tom  Wedgwood's  mind.  His 
training  was  scientific  rather  than  literary,  but  we  find 
him  working  hard  at  the  Latin  classics  with  Chisolm, 
and  also  with  a  tutor  by  name  Lomas,  who  however, 
according  to  his  brother  Josiah's  account,  was  a  quite 
uninspiring  teacher.  A  French  prisoner  was  found  to 
teach  the  boys  French. 

In  the  autumn  of  1786  (<*?/.  fifteen),  Tom  joined  his 
brother  Josiah  at  Edinburgh  University.  The  lads 
lived  with  Dr.  Blacklock,  the  blind  poet,  who  must 
have  been  an  interesting  man  in  many  ways.  He  was 
one  to  whom  the  world  owes  something,  for  it  was  he 
who,  at  a  critical  moment  in  the  life  of  Robert  Burns, 
when  the  young  poet,  despairing  of  a  career  in  Scotland, 
had  resolved  to  leave  his  native  country  for  ever  and 
was  on  the  point  of  embarking  for  the  West  Indies, 
induced  him  to  give  up  the  scheme  and  come  to 
Edinburgh.* 

The  letters  of  the  two  young  men  from  Edinburgh 
show  them,  as  one  would  expect,  plentifully  interested 
in  the  place  and  its  student  life.  They  are  busy  with 
their  lectures  and  their  various  societies,  and  take  a 
good  deal  of  exercise — golf,  apparently,  is  the  chief 


*  "  My  chest  was  on  its  way  to  Greenock  "  (writes  Burns  to  Dr. 
Moore,  August  2,  1787)  "when  a  letter  from  Dr.  Blacklock  to  a 
friend  of  mine  overthrew  all  my  schemes,  by  opening  new  prospects 
to  poetic  ambition.  His  opinion  that  I  would  meet  with  encourage- 
ment in  Edinburgh  for  a  second  edition  fixed  me  so  much  that  away 
I  posted  for  that  city  without  a  single  acquaintance  or  a  single  letter 
of  introduction."  ("  Currie's  Life,"  Ed.  1800.  See  also  Sir  Leslie 
Stephen's  account  in  "  Diet.  Nat.  Biog.") 


8  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

form  of  it,  which  Jos  expects  will  keep  off  Tom's 
headaches.  Jos  tells  his  father  "  the  students  here  are 
not  very  genteel ;  the  Divinity  students  are  the  dirtiest 
set  I  ever  saw  ;  a  company  of  old  potters  look  like 
gentlemen  compared  to  them." 

Tom  corresponds  with  Chisolm,  chiefly  on  chemical 
topics  ;  his  letters  bristle  with  rows  of  the  queer  old 
symbols  for  gases,  acids,  and  metals  which  were  still 
then  in  use  among  chemists.  Chisolm  gives  him  wise 
advice  about  his  studies  ;  his  letters  are  big  folio  sheets, 
closely  written  in  a  clear  and  careful  hand.  Some  read 
like  chapters  out  of  a  chemical  journal,  discussions  on 
what  Priestley  or  Lavoisier  is  doing,  and  the  conflicting 
theories  of  the  day.  He  addresses  the  boy  (who  is 
only  fifteen)  with  the  ceremonious  formality  of  the 
time. 

Alexander  Chisolm  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

ETRURIA, 

Dec  23,  1786. 
DEAR  SIR, — 

I  wrote  to  you  a  few  lines  two  or  three  days  ago  along  with 
some  books,  which  I  understand  are  not  yet  gone,  and  therefore 
I  cannot  let  slip  the  opportunity  of  thanking  you  for  the  very 
sensible  letter  I  received  from  you  last  night,  and  expressing  my 
unfeigned  pleasure  in  the  avidity  I  observe  in  you  for  useful 
knowledge,  and  your  assiduity  in  acquiring  it.  Your  plan  or 
study  has  my  perfect  approbation.  .  .  .  The  classics  I  could 
wish  to  be  a  principal  object  this  winter  ;  you  can  now  read 
them  with  understanding ;  you  will  soon  read  them  with 
pleasure. 

[Here  follows  much  about  the  question  of  using  translations, 
the  Latin  of  Livy  and  of  Buchanan,  &c.  ;  then  advice  as  to 
how  to  read  to  the  blind  Dr.  Blacklock,  not  sinking  the  voice 


EARLY  YEARS  9 

0 

in  the  final  syllables.  At  present  let  him  not  try  to  study 
Moral  Philosophy  or  "Belles  Lettres,"  but  let  Classics  and 
Chemistry  take  his  whole  time.] 

Your  elaboratory  shall  be  taken  care  of  [and  this  leads  to  a 
long  chemical  excursus.] 

I  will  only  add  that  I  am  sincerely  glad  the  salubrious  exercise 
of  golf  is  agreeable  to  you,  and  I  recommend  it  to  you  as 
strongly  for  Saturdays  as  I  would  Chemistry  or  Classics  any 
other  day. 

Interpone  tuis  interdum  gaudia  curis, 

Ut  quemvis  animo  possis  perferre  laborem. 

Remember  me  to  Jos,  and  believe  me  to  be, 

Dear  Sir,  Your  faithful  &  Obedient  servant, 

ALEXr.  CHISOLM. 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  Father 

Dec.  31,  1786. 
DEAR  SIR, — 

#  *  *  *  * 

I  have  just  got  into  a  new  society  here,  called  the  Philo- 
logical Society,  in  which  I  must  exert  all  my  oratory  powers, 
which,  as  I  never  yet  tried  them  in  public,  you  know,  may  be  very 
great ;  but  I  dinna  ken.  There  are  some  very  clever  members 
of  it :  I  shall  have  to  write  a  paper  in  a  little  time,  but  am  as 
yet  quite  undetermined  of  the  subject  of  it,  and  should  be  very 
thankful  if  you  would  help  me  a  little  in  this. 

***** 

There  has  been  a  very  disagreeable  thing  here  [story  of  a 
student  having  tried  to  pass  a  forged  bill  at  a  shop].  He  was 
sent  to  the  Tolbooth  (the  prison).  He  stands  no  chance  for  his 
life.  This  unlucky  affair  will  confirm  the  townspeople  a  bad 
opinion  of  the  Irish  gentry  (He  was  one).  There  has  already 
been  one  hanged,  and  several  have  taken  French  leave. 


io  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

I  am  come  to  the  end  of  my  paper,  and  so  I  shall  finish  with 
desiring  you  to 

Believe  me. 

Yours  affectionately, 

THOS.  WEDGWOOD. 

Auld  Reekie,  Decr.,  Saturday  before  New  Year's  Day,  1786. 

Josiah  Wedgwood  to  *Alexr  Chisolm 

January  n,  1787. 
DEAR  SIR, — 

Tom  began  this  letter  and  I  shall  finish  it.  ...  The  Philo- 
logical Society  consists  of  13  or  14  young  men,  among  which 
are  two  or  three  very  clever.  I  intend  to  write  on  the  sublime 
...  I  like  Dr.  Blacklock  more  every  day.  .  .  .  We  had  three 
visits  from  Mr.  Burns,  a  natural  poet ;  his  brother  is  a  farmer 
and  he  was  the  ploughman,  but  had  a  very  uncommon  poetic 
turn.  He  is  now  publishing  a  second  edition  of  his  poems,  to 
which  I  shall  subscribe.  Many  of  them  are  in  the  Scottish 
dialect. 

My  love  to  all  at  Etruria, 

I  am  your  much  obliged  friend, 

JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD. 

Tom  Wedgwood  spent  two  winter  sessions,  appa- 
rently, at  Edinburgh,  1786-7  and  1787-8.  In  the 
spring  of  1788  there  was  a  scheme  for  his  going  to 
Rome ;  but  this  dropped,  and  he  remained  at  Etruria, 
taking  part  in  the  work  of  the  pottery.  We  find  him 
writing  to  his  father,  in  March  1790,  about  such 
matters  as  the  dismissal  of  apprentices  at  Etruria  for 
over  much  swearing,  and  the  colouring  and  furnishing 
of  the  London  show-room  in  Greek  Street.  But  his 
letters  show  him  to  be  keenly  eager,  all  this  time,  to  go 
on  with  his  studies  in  Natural  Philosophy.  This  was  the 


EARLY   YEARS  n 

main  motive  of  a  scheme  which  he  now  proposed  to  his 
father. 

While  at  Edinburgh  he  had  made  the  acquaintance 
of  John  Leslie,  a  young  man  about  five  years  older  than 
himself  who  had  come  there  as  a  student  of  Theology, 
but  had  given  up  the  intention  of  becoming  a  minister 
and  was  working  at  natural  science.  Tom  and  he  had 
not  been  particularly  intimate  at  Edinburgh,  but  they 
had  since  corresponded  at  intervals.  Leslie,  who  had 
no  private  means — his  father  was  a  carpenter — had  been 
to  America  as  a  travelling  tutor,  and  was  now  without 
any  definite  plans,  supporting  himself  in  a  precarious 
way  by  teaching  and  lecturing.  Tom's  proposition  to 
his  father  was  that  Leslie  should  be  asked  to  come  to 
stay  at  Etruria  to  assist  him  and  his  brother  Josiah  in 
their  laboratory  work  and  scientific  studies  generally. 
His  father  agreed  to  this,  and  Leslie  received  the  offer 
with  rapturous  delight. 

John  Leslie  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

LONDON, 

Jprilis,  1790. 
MY  DEAREST  SIR, — 

To-day  I  received  your  very  kind  and  flattering  letter  of  the 
9th  instant.  Your  uncommon  manner  of  writing  throws  me 
into  a  maze  of  wonder,  and  transports  me  with  heartfelt  joy. 
What  a  charming  picture  of  a  polished,  elegant,  and  feeling 
mind  !  I  am  at  a  loss  to  answer  your  kindness.  That  warmth 
of  affection,  and  that  goodness  of  heart,  give  a  lovely  cast  to 
human  nature.  A  crowd  of  ideas  at  once  rush  upon  me.  That 
diffidence  and  extreme  delicacy  is  highly  pleasing  ;  but  to  me 
is  unnecessary.  Talk  freely — from  you  nothing  can  displease. 
.  .  .  The  idea  of  residing  with  a  young  man  whose  heart  is 


12  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

of  the  same  mould,  and  whose  mind  is  so  benevolent,  so 
generous,  and  so  enlarged,  is  beyond  measure  delightful.  Every 
other  view  vanishes  in  an  instant.  Money,  my  dear  friend,  is 
to  me  no  object.  The  situation  which  you  describe  is  the  most 
fortunate,  the  most  happy  I  could  picture  in  my  imagination.  .  .  . 

I  am  afraid,  my  dearest  friend,  you  over-rate  my  real  merit. 
.  .  .  The  smallness  of  my  acquisitions  will  I  hope  be  compen- 
sated by  steady  attention  and  warm  affections.  [Then  follows 
an  eulogy  of  the  genius  of  Josiah  Wedgwood,  the  father.]  I 
have  long  been  accustomed  to  admire  the  ingenuity  and  bold- 
ness which  created  a  manufacture,  that  contributes  more  to  the 
real  glory  and  wealth  of  our  country  than  our  fleets  and 
armies.  .  .  . 

But  I  exhaust  your  patience  and  precious  time  with  long 
epistles.  I  wait  with  trembling  anxiety — my  happiness  hangs 
upon  your  decision. 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  ever  sincerely, 

Jo.  LESLIE. 

Excuse  this  scrawl. 

This  letter  is  a  characteristic  specimen  of  Leslie's 
epistolary  style.  Except  when  he  happens  to  be  writ- 
ing of  thermometers  or  gases,  we  seem  to  be  reading 
Mr.  Collins  in  "  Pride  and  Prejudice."  The  "  scrawl  " 
for  which  he  excuses  himself  is  a  piece  of  quite  perfect 
penmanship,  without  sign  of  erasure  or  alteration. 

It  was  a  part  of  Tom  Wedgwood's  plan  that  he  and 
Leslie  should  live  together,  not  in  the  family  house 
at  Etruria,  but  in  a  separate  house  hard  by.  His 
father  did  not  see  the  advantage  of  this,  but  Tom  is 
urgent  in  arguing  the  point.  Here  is  one  of  several 
letters  in  which  he  expounds  his  views.  They  dis- 
close intensely  "  earnest "  views  of  life  and  duty. 


EARLY  YEARS  13 

9 

He  is    full  of   exalted    ideas    of   self-culture,  and  of 
devotion  to  the  service  of  mankind. 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  Father 

May  8,  1790. 


* 


I  rather  suppose  that  you  have  formed  a  wrong  idea  of  my 
intention.  ...  Be  assured  there  is  no  danger  of  my  entering 
into  the  selfish,  insignificant  character  of  a  hermit.  I  know 
too  well  the  purposes  of  my  creation.  I  have  conceived  too 
exalted  a  notion  of  the  real  dignity  of  man,  existing  in  Action 
from  principle,  and  despise  too  heartily  those  mistaken  beings 
who  amuse  themselves  unprofitably  in  the  mazes  of  meta- 
physical refinements  and  abstruse  philosophy.  My  aim  is  to 
strengthen  the  power  of  reason  by  the  habit  of  reflection,  and 
by  cultivating  the  virtues  of  the  heart  in  a  temporal  [sic\  retire- 
ment from  the  world  at  large  ;  to  purify  the  motives  of  conduct 
—  for  what  is  Action  unless  the  sources  be  pure  ?  With  that  open- 
ness which  should  subsist  between  a  father  and  a  son,  I  joyfully 
acquaint  you  that  I  have  already  made  considerable  progress  in 
this  most  important  work  —  a  thousand  sensations  convince  me 
that  in  this  confidence  I  am  not  misled  by  the  illusions  of 
vanity.  .  .  . 

I  am  well  aware  that  the  next  three  or  four  years  of  my  life 
are  the  most  important.  Manhood  is  the  seal  of  man.  Our 
passions  and  affections  are  all  to  be  moderated  and  corrected  in 
the  season  of  youth.  In  this  critical  moment  I  shall  strive  hard 
to  fashion  myself  so,  that  I  may  best  perform  the  grand  dutys 
[his  spelling  is  not  impeccable]  of  this  life.  I  reflect  every  day 
on  the  nature  of  the  relation  between  the  creator  and  creature, 
and  hope  by  these  instructive  speculations  to  arrive  at  the  know- 
ledge of  the  purposes  of  creation,  and  hence  of  what  these  dutys 
consist  in.  The  question  is  extremely  intricate  and  compre- 
hensive, and  can  never  receive  a  full  decisive  answer  from  human 
reason.  .  .  .  An  inactive  and  virtuous  life  are  incompatible, 


14  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

and  I  mean  to  exert  myself  for  the  good  of  my  fellow  crea- 
tures. .  .  . 

[In  another  letter].  Our  main  dutys  are  Beneficence  and  the 
Social.  I  can  say  for  myself  that  whatever  my  situation  and 
circumstances  may  be,  I  shall  never  sleep  in  the  service  of  my 
fellow  creatures. 

Promiscuous  company  has  no  allurements.  ...  I  have  a 
strong  desire  of  enjoying  the  blessing — the  right,  perhaps,  of 
choosing  my  own  company  and  of  avoiding  that  I  dislike,  by 
easier  methods  than  I  have  now  recourse  to. 

One  may  smile  at  many  things  in  this  letter,  but 
we  must  remember  that  the  writer  is  just  nineteen 
years  old,  and  that  the  time  is  ten  months  after  the 
fall  of  the  Bastille.  In  his  aspirations  after  a  life  of 
"  beneficence  and  virtue  "  one  feels  the  ring  of  the  new 
ideas  which  the  great  upheaval  of  1789  was  stirring  in 
the  young  and  ardent  souls  of  the  time.  How  Josiah 
Wedgwood  replied  to  his  son's  eager  pleadings  we  do 
not  know.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  wise  father  did 
not  laugh  at  his  young  enthusiasm,  though  he  may 
have  been  amused  at  the  didactic  solemnity  with  which 
the  lad  expounds  his  ideal  of  life.  Nor  do  we  know 
whether  he  and  Leslie  were  allowed  to  set  up  house 
apart  from  the  family  at  Etruria  Hall.  We  might 
guess  that  Tom's  friend  and  tutor  was  treated  with 
Josiah  Wedgwood's  usual  liberality,  and  received  cor- 
dially as  one  of  the  family.  Leslie  lets  us  know,  in  his 
magnificent  language,  that  this  was  the  case. 


EARLY  YEARS  15 

John  Leslie  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

LONDON, 

April  29,  1790. 

***** 

How  shall  I  make  a  proper  return  ?  I  hope  the  magnitude 
of  the  offer  will  be  an  additional  spur  to  my  exertions.  There 
is  a  circumstance,  my  dear  friend,  which  gives  me  peculiar 
pleasure.  From  the  generosity  of  your  nature  I  am  convinced 
that  I  shall  be  upon  an  easy  footing.  I  am  a  moderate  lover  of 
liberty,  but  I  am  every  day  more  riveted  in  a  settled  aversion  to 
the  fawning  arts  of  the  sycophant,  and  to  be  submitted  to  the 
caprices  and  tyranny  of  an  Aristocrate  [sic"]  would  to  me  be 
the  more  dreadful  of  punishments.  At  the  same  time  my  dear 
Sir,  I  hope  this  disposition  does  not  arise  from  any  overweaned 
conceit  of  myself,  but  springs  from  the  consciousness  of  the 
unalienable  rights  and  native  dignity  of  man.  .  .  . 

I  am  rilled  with  a  mixture  of  wonder  and  gratitude.  .  .  . 
United  with  a  gentleman  who  possesses  all  the  warmth  of  dis- 
position and  the  acuteness  of  discernment  of  our  friend  T.  M. 
Randolph,  but  who  possesses,  besides,  a  virtue  the  most  essential 
to  the  dignity  and  success  of  life,  steadiness  of  conduct  and 
resolution  of  character,  whose  passions  are  subordinate  to  his 
reason,  and  who  has  imbibed  more  of  the  spirit  of  the  Stoic  than 
the  Epicurean  philosophy — and  not  yet  nineteen  !  I  upbraid 
myself  that  I  am  five  years  older.  This  is  the  age  of  bliss,  the 
head  not  hardened  by  jarring  interests  is  susceptible  of  every 
delicate  impression,  and  the  soul  springs  unbounded.  .  .  .  What 
character  is  so  benevolent  and  so  generous  as  that  of  a  young 
man  who  has  just  left  college.  You  feel  the  justness  of  the 

remark. 

***** 

I  am,  my  dear  Sir, 

Yours  affectly., 

Jo.  LESLIE. 


16  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Leslie  remained  at  Etruria  about  two  years,  from 
June  1790.  His  stay  there  was  doubtless  a  great  help 
to  Tom  Wedgwood  in  his  scientific  work.  One  may 
doubt  whether  his  influence  was  good  in  other  ways. 
He  pours  out  his  admiration  for  his  pupil  in  language 
which  is  too  exuberant  to  sound  sincere,  and  whether 
sincere  or  not,  it  was  hardly  wholesome  reading  for  a 
lad  of  nineteen. 

<c  Our  dispositions,  you  say,  are  congenial.  I  esteem  this 
the  highest  compliment  I  could  receive." 

"I  derived  great  advantage  from  it  [Edinburgh  University], 
but  what  I  am  confident  is  the  greatest  of  all,  I  commenced  at 
Edinburgh  an  acquaintance  with  yourself." 

"To  reside  with  a  young  man  whose  heart  is  of  the  same 
mould,  and  whose  mind  is  so  benevolent,  so  generous  and  so 
enlarged,  is  altogether  delightful." 

"  Your  time  is  too  precious  to  spend  much  of  it  with  me — 
but  to  enjoy  your  company  in  your  intervals  of  leisure  is  the 
most  flattering  prospect." 

These  are  specimens  of  Leslie's  outpourings  ;  but 
his  career  as  a  man  of  science  showed  him  to  be  a  man 
of  more  real  capacity  than  one  would  have  inferred 
from  the  absurd  pomposity  of  his  letters. 


CHAPTER   II 

ETRURIA  AND  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE  WORK 
1789—1793 

THE  three  years  which  followed  Tom  Wedgwood's 
stay  at  Edinburgh  University,  1789—91,  were  spent 
mainly  at  Etruria,  and  they  may  be  said  to  have  been 
the  only  working  years  of  his  short  life,  for  this  was 
the  only  time  during  which  health  allowed  him  to  set 
himself  to  any  definite  occupation.  Early  in  1790  he 
became  a  partner  in  his  father's  business,  and  began 
taking  part  in  the  management  of  the  pottery.  During 
these  years  he  was  also  working  at  physical  science.  The 
laboratory  and  the  pottery  processes  at  Etruria  gave  him 
special  facilities  for  experiments  bearing  on  the  relations 
between  heat  and  light,  and  he  gave  much  time  to  a 
course  of  experiments  of  this  kind.  The  results  of  his 
work  were  embodied  in  two  papers  which  were  read 
before  the  Royal  Society.  The  first  of  these,  read  on 
December  22,  1791  {'Transactions  for  1792,  pp.  28-47), 
is  entitled  "  Experiments  and  Observations  on  the 
production  of  Light  from  different  bodies  by  heat  and 
attrition,"  by  Mr.  Thomas  Wedgwood,  communicated 
by  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  Bart.,  F.R.S.  The  second  paper 
is  described  as  a  continuation  of  the  first.  This 
special  field  of  investigation  was  apparently  a  new  one. 
He  corresponded  with  Priestley  on  the  subject,  and  we 


i8  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

find  the  great  chemist  telling  him  :  "  I  do  not  know 
that  any  experiments  have  been  made  on  the  curious 
and  important  subjects  that  you  mention,"  and  again, 
"  they  (your  experiments)  will  throw  some  new  light 
on  a  very  important  subject,  about  which  we  as  yet 
know  very  little."* 

In  his  first  paper,  after  a  brief  summary  of  the 
results  of  previous  observations,  beginning  with  the 
discovery  of  the  stone  which  went  by  the  name  of 
"  Bolognese  Phosphorus,"  he  describes  how  a  great 
variety  of  substances,  some  fifty  or  more,  can  be 
rendered  luminous  by  the  method  of  reducing  the 
substance  to  powder  and  sprinkling  it  on  a  warm^plate 
of  iron,  and  then  gives  an  account  of  the  processes 
whereby  he  has  been  able  to  obtain  phosphoric  effect  by 
attrition. 

In  his  second  paper  he  gives  the  particulars  of 
various  experiments  showing  the  results  of  making 
different  substances  red  hot.  In  the  first  of  these  (to 
take  an  instance)  he  fixes  two  equal  cylinders  of  silver, 
half  an  inch  long  and  a  quarter  of  an  inch  in  diameter, 
with  polished  surfaces,  in  a  tube  of  earthenware.  One 
cylinder  is  painted  over,  one  not  so.  Both  are  put 
into  a  red  hot  crucible  surrounded  by  burning  coals, 
and  he  observes  that  the  blackened  silver  shines  much 
before  that  with  the  non-blackened  surface. 

A  particular  interest  attaches  to  one  of  these  experi- 
ments (the  seventh),  as  it  was  the  first  announcement, 
apparently,  of  a  law  at  that  time  unknown.  He 
"  gilded  a  piece  of  earthenware  in  lines  running  across  " 

*  Quoted  by  Miss  Meteyard  ("Group  of  Englishmen,"  p.  53) 
from  letters  described  as  Finch  MSS. 


ETRURIA  AND  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE     19 

and  gradually  made  it  red  hot ;  and  he  "  could  not, 
after  many  trials,  perceive  that  either  the  gold  or  the 
earthenware  began  to  shine  first."  Whereon  he  adds  : 
"As  it  appears  from  this  experiment  that  gold  and 
earthenware  begin  to  shine  at  the  same  temperature, 
and  as  no  two  bodies  can  well  be  more  different,  in  all 
their  sensible  properties,  may  it  not  be  inferred,  that 
almost  all  bodies  begin  to  shine  at  the  same  tempera- 
ture ? "  The  inference,  it  will  be  seen,  is  put  in  an 
interrogative  form ;  but  though  this  experiment  would 
not  in  itself  establish  the  suggested  law,  it  is  the  fact 
that  all  bodies  "  begin  to  shine  at  the  same  tempera- 
ture," or,  as  it  sometimes  is  expressed,  have  the  same 
point  of  incandescence. 

I  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  to  whom  the  first 
discovery  of  this  law  has  usually  been  attributed,  but  I 
have  not  at  present  found  any  reference  to  it,  other 
than  that  in  Tom  Wedgwood's  paper,  earlier  than  the 
year  1847.  (See  Appendix,  p.  241.) 

While  working  at  the  long  series  of  experiments 
described  in  the  two  papers,  Wedgwood  was  corre- 
sponding on  the  subject  with  Priestley,  and  with 
another  chemist  of  note,  James  Keir,  of  West 
Bromwich.* 

*  James  Keir  was  a  man  of  mark,  and  had  a  singular  career.  He 
had  been  a  medical  student  at  Edinburgh,  where  he  was  a  great 
friend  of  Erasmus  Darwin,  and  afterwards,  for  about  nine  years, 
an  officer  in  the  army.  His  proclivities  to  science  ultimately  led 
him  to  settle  at  West  Bromwich  and  devote  himself  to  chemistry  and 
geology.  Then  he  became  a  glass  manufacturer,  and  was  concerned 
in  other  manufacturing  works,  being  at  one  time  associated  with 
Boulton  and  Watt.  He,  like  so  many  of  Tom  Wedgwood's  friends, 
was  a  sympathiser  with  the  French  Revolution,  and  became  con- 
spicuous in  that  character  by  taking  the  chair  at  the  meeting  at 
Birmingham  on  July  14,  1791  (second  anniversary  of  the  fall  of  the 


FACSIMILE   OF   T.    WEDGWOOD'S    WRITING 


ETRURIA  AND  PHYSICAL   SCIENCE    21 

direction  of  photography  is  wholly  uncertain.  At 
present  there  seems  to  be  no  evidence  definitely  show- 
ing that  he  did ;  but  this  point  will  be  touched  on  in 
the  chapter  dealing  with  his  photographic  work. 

Other  problems  connected  with  light  and  heat 
occupied  him  for  a  long  time  in  these  years.  But 
by  the  year  1792  the  ill  health  from  which  he  had 
suffered  more  or  less  from  childhood  had  become  so 
constant  as  to  make  him  unfit  for  any  serious  or  Con- 
tinous  work,  and  from  that  time  onwards  he  seems  to 
have  done  nothing  in  physical  science  save  in  a  frag- 
mentary and  occasional  way. 

A  memorandum  in  his  writing,  preserved  among  his 
letters,  records  this  arrest  of  what  promised  to  be  a 
fruitful  course  of  scientific  work.  It  is  on  a  half-sheet 
of  letter  paper,  and  bears  marks  of  wafers,  by  which  it 
seems  to  have  been  closed  up  as  if  for  special  preserva- 
tion, with  the  endorsement  "  Account  of  proposed 
experiments  in  vacuo."  It  runs  as  follows  : 

<c  I  spent  half  a  year  in  endeavouring  to  suspend  a  ther- 
mometer in  vacuo.  Olive  oil  seemed  to  promise  better  than 
mercury.  I  thought  that  the  thermometer  might  be  raised  to  a 
great  height  by  exposing  it  with  a  blackened  bulb  to  the  rays  of 
the  sun,  suspended  by  a  very  fine  wire  or  hair,  as  I  concluded 
that  a  true  vacuum  would  not  conduct  the  heat  away  from  the 
bulb,  all  it  would  lose  would  be  by  the  wire  or  hair.  I  proposed 
to  converge  the  rays  of  the  moon  on  it  also  to  try  if  their  heat 
could  be  thus  appreciated.  I  proposed  likewise  to  have  sails 
upon  a  delicate  axis  to  turn  round  by  the  impulse  of  light.  But 
not  succeeding  in  my  trials  at  a  vacuum,  and  finding  my  health 
impaired,  I  resolved  to  give  up  experimenting. 

"  April,  1792.*  THOS.  WEDGWOOD." 

*  This  date  is  so  placed  (the  word  "  experimenting  "  being  at  the 


22  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

His  object,  I  should  imagine,  in  writing  this,  was  to 
keep  some  record  of  ideas  which  he  might  pursue  at  a 
future  time  if  his  health  should  mend,  or  which  might 
be  useful  as  suggestions  to  future  experimenters.  The 
first  sentence  testifies  to  his  perseverance  as  well  as  his 
enthusiasm.  To  spend  six  months  in  struggling  with 
a  single  mechanical  problem  shows  something  of  the 
"  infinite  capacity  for  taking  pains,"  in  which  we  have 
been  told  that  genius  mainly  consists.  But  the  interest 
of  the  record  is  in  the  date,  which  shows  that  at  least 
as  early  as  April  1792  his  health  had  become  too  bad 
to  allow  of  his  going  on  with  any  continuous  work. 
He  was  then  some  weeks  short  of  twenty-one  years 
old.  There  is  a  pathos  in  the  thought  of  so  eager  a 
student  being  forced,  when  still  only  at  the  outset  of 
his  work,  to  abandon  the  hope  of  doing  anything 
effective. 

His  idea  of  getting  sails  upon  a  delicate  axis  to  turn 
round  by  the  action  of  light  may  perhaps  remind  a 
modern  reader  of  the  curious  radiometer  of  Sir  William 
Crookes,  in  which  something  like  this  appears  to  be 
going  on.  But  of  course  Wedgwood  could  have  had 
no  real  prevision  of  what  happens  in  the  radiometer. 
Reasoning  on  Newton's  emission  theory  of  light,  he 
thought  that  if  the  opposing  pressure  of  the  air  could 
be  got  rid  of,  the  shock  of  the  little  particles  of  light 
knocking  on  the  sails  would  make  them  turn  round. 
In  the  radiometer,  as  I  understand,  the  turning  of  the 
little  vanes  has  to  do  with  light  only  in  the  sense  that 

end  of  a  line)  that  it  may  signify  either  the  date  on  which  the  paper 
was  written,  or  the  date  when  he  "  resolved  to  give  up  experiment- 
ing." 


ETRURIA  AND   PHYSICAL  SCIENCE    23 

'(0 x 

the  heat  accompanying  it  makes  inequalities  of  tem- 
perature in  the  gas  surrounding  the  instrument,  whence 
come  differences  of  pressure  causing  the  motion.  Tom 
Wedgwood,  naturally,  had  no  glimmering  of  these 
mysteries  of  molecular  action,  which  were  to  be  ex- 
pounded nearly  a  century  later  by  Clerk  Maxwell  and 
other  physicists.* 

The  detection  and  measurement  of  the  heat  sent  to 
the  earth  by  the  moon  was  another  problem  which  had 
to  wait  long  for  a  solution.  Lord  Rosse  attempted  it 
some  forty  years  ago,  but  it  has  only  recently,  I  believe, 
been  settled  by  means  of  Mr.  Boys's  "  micro-radio- 
meter," a  wonderful  instrument,  which  measures  very 
minute  changes  of  temperature  by  means  of  a  test 
founded  on  the  electrical  action  of  one  metal  on 
another. 

Tom  Wedgwood's  "  resolve  to  give  up  experiment- 
ing "  on  account  of  impaired  health  brings  us  to  what 
was  the  dominant  fact  of  his  life.  He  never  had  any 
health.  In  his  early  years  he  was  weakly  ;  we  hear  of 
headaches  troubling  him  as  a  boy,  and  in  his  student 
days  at  Edinburgh.  As  years  went  on  it  became  clear 
that  he  had  a  grave  constitutional  disease,  which,  as  we 
shall  see,  made  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  utterly 
miserable.  What  the  ailment  was  the  best  medical 
skill  of  the  time  failed  to  discover.  The  doctors 
seem  to  have  generally  agreed  that  it  had  to  do  with 
the  digestive  system.  Some  called  it  a  paralysis  or 
semi-paralysis  of  the  colon.  One  considered  it  to  be 


*  Clerk  Maxwell  in  Phil.   Tr.  of   1879   on   Stresses  in  rarefied 
gases,  &c.      "  Enc.  Brit."  Art.  "  Pneumatics,"  p.  249. 


24  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

the  sequel  of  an  attack  of  dysentery  which  he  had  when 
a  student  at  Edinburgh.  Others  would  only  call  it 
"  hypochondria."  Whatever  the  physical  cause  was,  a 
main  feature  of  the  disease  was  a  continual  recurrence 
of  fits  of  depression,  sometimes  lasting  for  weeks 
together.  His  mental  misery  at  these  times,  especially 
towards  the  close  of  his  life,  made  his  condition  hardly 
distinguishable  from  one  of  insanity.  The  impression, 
however,  left  by  the  letters  is  that  the  disease  was  not 
primarily  mental.  There  is  not  the  slightest  trace  in 
them  of  anything  approaching  a  delusion,  and  in  letters 
written  in  moments  of  the  deepest  despondency  we  find 
him  discussing  practical  matters  in  the  manner  of  a 
man  who  is  in  complete  possession  of  his  faculties. 
There  were  intervals  when  he  was  well  capable  of 
bodily  and  mental  labour,  but  as  time  went  on  the 
periods  of  depression  became  longer  and  more  frequent, 
making  his  life  well-nigh  unbearable.  Thus  it  came 
about  that,  broadly  speaking,  his  whole  adult  life,  from 
about  1792  on  to  the  end  in  1805,  was  devoted  to  a 
single  object,  the  fighting  this  terrible  and  mysterious 
enemy.  He  went  the  round  of  the  most  notable 
physicians  of  the  day,  Clive,  Baillie,  Erasmus  Darwin, 
Beddoes,  and  many  more.  He  tried  all  manner  of 
cures,  strange  and  fantastic  regimes,  new  modes  of  life. 
"  Change  of  scene  "  was  continually  recommended  as  a 
remedy ;  hence  he  was  perpetually  travelling,  in 
England  and  abroad,  and  continually  visiting  relatives 
and  friends.  It  was  not  till  nearly  the  end  of  his  life 
that  he  had  a  house  of  his  own,  and  that  was  only 
nominally  a  home.  Its  acquisition  hardly  arrested  his 
wandering  course  of  life. 


ETRUR1A   AND  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE    25 

• 

To  revert  to  the  year  1792 — it  was  then  that  he  was 
for  the  first  time  out  of  England,  making  a  flying  visit 
to  Paris  in  order  to  be  present  at  the  great  "  Federa- 
tion "  f£te  held  on  July  14,  on  the  Champ-de-Mars,  to 
celebrate  the  third  anniversary  of  the  fall  of  the 
Bastille.  Like  most  of  his  friends  and  belongings  he 
was  ardently  in  sympathy  with  the  revolutionary  move- 
ment in  its  early  stages.  The  following  letter  gives 
some  of  the  impressions  made  by  this  first  sight  of  a 
foreign  country.  At  this  moment,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered, the  fall  of  the  French  monarchy  was  imminent. 
Another  month  was  to  see  the  attack  on  the  Tuileries 
and  the  massacre  of  the  Swiss  Guard  (August  10, 
1792).  Six  months  later  Louis  had  been  guillotined 
and  France  and  England  were  at  war. 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  Father 

PARIS, 

July  7,  1792. 
DEAR  SIR, — 

We  have  had  a  most  delightful  journey  from  London  to 
this  place.  We  spent  near  three  days  at  Brighton,  waiting  for 
a  good  packet,  and  the  wind  being  favourable  got  to  Dieppe 
in  nine  hours.  We  were  about  25  passengers,  all  groaning 
under  sickness.  .  .  .  Mr.  Biddulph  made  a  third  in  a  cabriolet 
with  us  from  Dieppe  to  Paris.  .  .  .  The  last  50  or  60  miles 
to  Paris  is  all  vineyard  and  a  charming  country.  We  stopped 
near  a  day  at  Rouen  with  Mr.  Wild  ;  nine-tenths  of  the  people 
are  Aristocrats ;  nearly  three  dozen  churches  are  turning  into 
shops  and  dwellings  by  a  decree  of  the  N.  Assembly,  and  yet 
seventeen  Parish  Churches  are  left.  I  lodge  here  in  the  same 
house  with  young  Watt — he  is  a  furious  democrat — detests  the 
King  and  Fayette.  The  latter  seems  to  be  pretty  generally 
suspected  of  treachery — Condorcet  is  equally  so.  It  is  entirely 


26  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

impossible  for  me  to  give  you  any  good  account  of  French 
politics  ;  they  are  mutable  as  the  wind.  Watt  says  that  a  new 
revolution  must  inevitably  take  place,  and  that  it  will  in  all 
probability  be  fatal  to  the  King,  Fayette,  and  some  hundred 
others.  The  I4th  of  this  month  will  probably  be  eventful. 
He  means  to  join  the  French  Army  in  case  of  any  civil  rupture. 
I  have  this  morning  been  to  some  of  the  principal  buildings  of 
Paris  with  him  as  a  guide.  The  Thuilleries  are  shut  up  by 
the  King's  order,  though  they  are  national  property.  I  am 
this  moment  risen  from  a  dinner  at  Bouvilliers  (which  John 
knows)  where  everything  is  given  in  a  style  far  superior  to 
what  they  do  in  London,  and  very  much  cheaper.  .  .  .  The 
streets  of  Paris  stink  more  than  the  dirtiest  hole  in  London, 
and  you  cannot  walk  even  in  this  dry  time,  without  repeated 
splashes.  I  have  been  most  completely  lost  many  times  already, 
and  find  the  little  French  I  know  of  the  greatest  use.  Poor 
John  Turner  *  has  never  yet  given  utterance  to  a  single  word. 
I  shall  endeavour  to  get  some  intelligence  about  the  safety 
with  which  one  may  be  a  spectator  at  the  Federation.  I  do 
not  intend  to  run  any  risk  in  the  matter,  though  every  one 
agrees  that  the  sight  will  be  grand  beyond  conception.  I  shall 
write  again  before  I  leave  Paris.  .  .  .  The  English  here  are 
all  Aristocrats,  and  I  do  not  intend  to  dine  again  at  the  Table 
d'Hote,  as  politics  are  discussed  with  such  freedom  that  it  is 
difficult  to  avoid  disagreeable  disputes.  .  .  . 

Believe  me,  Yours  affectionately, 

THO.    WEDGWOOD.t 

Best  love  to  all. 

P.S. — You  cannot  write  to  me  in  Paris. 


*  Who  he  was  does  not  appear  ;  perhaps  an  employe  from  Etruria, 
going  over  to  France  on  a  business  errand. 

t  This  and  the  letter  next  mentioned  are  the  only  letters  of  his 
among  the  family  papers  between  the  years  1791  and  1795. 


ETRURIA  AND  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE    27 

•- 

The  P.S.  probably  means  that  he  is  hurrying 
home  after  the  fete.  His  making  the  journey  for 
such  a  short  stay  is  a  sign  of  his  revolutionary  ardour. 
One  can  well  imagine  him  making,  like  Wordsworth 
at  the  same  time,  a  pilgrimage  to  the  site  of  the 
Bastille,  and  piously  bringing  away  a  bit  of  stone  from 
the  fallen  fortress. 

Bliss  was  it  in  that  dawn  to  be  alive, 
But  to  be  young  was  very  heaven  ! 

It  was  only  for  about  two  years  that  Tom  Wedg- 
wood was  a  partner  in  the  Etruria  works.  Whether  he 
really  worked  at  the  business  it  is  impossible  to  say — 
probably  he  did  very  little,  considering  his  poor  health 
and  his  laboratory  work.  A  letter  of  April  1792  gives 
a  glimpse  of  him  as  attending  to  sundry  matters  relat- 
ing to  the  pottery,  and  sending  a  string  of  memoranda 
thereon  to  his  father  and  brother  in  London.  "  Our 
common  jasper  is  not  yet  at  all  as  it  should  be ;  it  is 
too  soft  and  all  the  things  made  of  it  drop  in  firing. 
.  .  .  This  is  a  great  disappointment."  Then  come 
questions  as  to  purchases  of  adjacent  land,  and  as  to 
what  can  be  done  with  a  tipsy  coachman  or  postilion. 
Twice  in  a  fortnight  "  Dan  has  got  very  drunk  at  Mr. 
Fletchers,  and  had  like  to  have  fallen  off  his  horses. 
He  alarmed  my  sisters  by  his  bad  driving  and  was  very 
saucy  to  George  this  morning." 

But  by  April  in  the  next  year,  1793,  we  ^ave  discus- 
sions as  to  the  terms  on  which  he  and  John  Wedgwood 
are  to  retire  from  the  partnership,  and  in  June  they 
ceased  to  be  members  of  the  firm.  Tom  had  now 


28       %  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

some  thoughts,  apparently,  of  settling  in  America.  To 
the  young  enthusiasts  of  that  revolutionary  time  the 
lately  born  republic  seemed,  as  we  know,  a  blessed  land 
of  promise,  a  land  where  men  might  live  in  "  freedom 
and  virtue,"  untrammelled  by  the  corruptions  and 
superstitions  of  the  old  world.  Leslie,  who  had  spent 
a  year  or  two  in  the  States,  argues  with  Tom  against 
this  project. 

"I  am  afraid  you  will  hardly  find  a  situation  in  America 
where  you  could  settle  comfortably.  The  society  is  neither 
sufficiently  enlightened  for  you,  nor  sufficiently  refined.  That 
country,  seen  at  a  distance,  will  present  its  fairest  aspect ;  and, 
though  the  slavish  disposition  of  the  people  of  Britain  is 
mortifying  to  a  generous  man,  we  may  reasonably  hope  that 
the  impulse  lately  given  to  men's  minds  will  soon  triumph 
over  every  obstacle,  and  finally  produce  a  general  renovation  of 
things." 

Wedgwood,  in  turning  his  thoughts  to  America, 
probably  had  in  his  mind  the  notable  example  of 
Priestley,  who,  shrinking  from  the  idea  of  returning  to 
Birmingham  after  the  destruction  of  his  home  in  the 
riots  of  1791,  was  on  the  point  of  migrating  to  Penn- 
sylvania. But  Leslie's  advice  was  sensible,  whatever 
we  may  think  of  his  reasons.  Priestley's  own  experi- 
ence a  year  or  two  later  was  a  good  commentary  on  the 
hint  that  America  was  not  altogether  an  ideal  abode 
for  the  "friends  of  liberty."  The  unorthodox 
theologian  and  savant  did  not  find  it  at  all  a  peaceful 
retreat.* 

At  some  time  in    the   year  1793    Tom  Wedgwood 

*  See  Appendix,  p.  253. 


ETRURIA   AND  PHYSICAL  SCIENCE    29 

made  the  acquaintance  of  William  Godwin,*  then  a 
prominent  figure  among  the  "  friends  of  liberty." 
His  "  Enquiry  concerning  Political  Justice "  had 
appeared  early  in  that  year,  and  it  had  made  him 
known  as  the  philosophical  representative  of  English 
Radicalism.  Wedgwood,  a  youth  of  twenty-two,  still 
in  the  stage  of  vehement  revolt  against  things  as  they 
were,  readily  fell  into  the  attitude  of  a  reverent  dis- 
ciple, and  we  may  be  sure  that  to  the  impecunious 
and  much-borrowing  philosopher,  the  devoted  allegi- 
ance of  a  young  man  belonging  to  a  circle  in  which 
there  was  no  lack  of  money,  and  himself  on  the  way 
to  being  rich,  would  be  more  than  welcome.  The 
earliest  of  the  extant  letters  addressed  to  Godwin 
(November  9,  1795)  *s  on  tne  subject  of  a  proffered 
gift.  It  would  seem  that  Wedgwood  had  proposed  to 
send  him  a  copying  machine,  and  that  Godwin  had  de- 
clined the  gift,  explaining  at  the  same  time  his  "  senti- 
ments on  the  giving  and  taking  of  presents."!  This 
evoked  from  Wedgwood  a  lengthy  reply,  in  which  he 
treats  the  matter  from  the  high  ethical  standpoint. 


*  William  Godwin,  born  at  Wisbech  in  1756,  began  life  as  a 
Presbyterian  minister,  but  at  about  thirty  became  a  "complete 
unbeliever";  published  "  Political  Justice  "  in  1793,  and  "Caleb 
Williams"  in  1794;  married  Mary  Wollstonecraft  (father  by  her 
of  Shelley's  second  wife)  ;  and  afterwards  Mrs.  Clements  or  Claire- 
mont,  mother  of  the  "Claire"  who  was  mother  of  Byron's 
"  Allegra  "  ;  got  the  sinecure  post  of  yeoman-usher  of  the  Exchequer 
in  1833,  and  died  in  l83^. 

t  One  would  like  to  know  what  these  "sentiments"  were. 
Godwin's  delicacy  in  the  matter  of  gifts  was  of  a  singular  kind.  In 
after  years  he  did  not  mind  begging  of  Shelley,  but  stipulated  that 
his  son-in-law's  drafts  should  be  made  out  without  his  own  name 
appearing  on  them. 


TOM   WEDGWOOD 


Tom  Wedgwood  to  Godwin 

'November  9,  1795. 

[After  an  elaborate  preamble]  ^  Prostituted  as  we  all  are  to 
the  customs  and  opinions  of  Society,  the  attempt  to  build  all 
our  actions  on  motives  of  vestal  purity  is  obviously  impractic- 
able. I  durst  not  give,  nor  could  another  accept,  an  invitation 
to  my  table.  .  .  .  But  what  would  result  from  the  total  suspen- 
sion of  good  offices  ?  A  disposition  of  mind  unalloyed  by 
selfishness  ?  No,  our  selfishness  would  increase  with  our 
wants  and  our  principles  would  become  every  day  weaker  and 
weaker  from  not  being  brought  into  action.  ...  I  will  now 
y  explain  to  you  the  precise  motives  of  the  action  which  gave 
birth  to  this  speculation."  [This  he  does  at  great  length,  be- 
ginning with  the  "  pleasure  that  curious  mechanical  inventions 
afford."  Copying  machines  had  just  lately  been  invented  by 
James  Watt.  Then  he  proceeds  :] 

"  I  was  glad  when  it  occurred  to  me  that  by  thus  becoming 
useful  to  your  pursuits  and  by  cautiously  avoiding  at  the  same 
time  any  interruption  of  them  from  unseasonable  visits,  it  was 
not  improbable  you  might  connect  some  agreeable  associations 
with  my  person,  and  conceive  some  interest  in  my  fellowship. 
.  .  .  The  above  is  a  perfectly  ingenuous  and  accurate  review 
of  the  ideas  that  determined  and  grew  out  of  an  action  of  my 
life  that  I  can  never  wish  to  retract.  There  may  be  a  speck 
of  selfishness  on  the  face  of  it,  but  it  is  sound  and  untainted  at 
heart.  .  .  .  May  I  solicit  from  you  an  explication  as  unreserved 
of  the  feelings  that  accompanied  your  passive  situation  ?  If  more 
agreeable  to  you,  defer  it  till  our  next  meeting.  I  confess  that 
on  some  accounts  I  prefer  writing  to  conversation.  But  this 
preference  is  owing  entirely  to  my  want  of  a  frank  and  clear 
expression  of  my  thoughts  which  exercise  alone  can  supply. 

"  THOMAS  WEDGWOOD." 

Wedgwood's  early  letters  are  written,  as  this  speci- 
men shows,  in  an  elaborately  formal  dialect,  which  we 


ETRURIA  AND   PHYSICAL  SCIENCE    31 

may  set  down  in  part  to  the  fashion  of  the  time.  Later 
they  became  less  stiff.  In  this  instance,  doubtless,  the 
reverential  attitude  of  the  disciple  to  the  master  is 
accountable  for  the  solemnity  with  which  he  discusses 
Godwin's  pragmatical  refusal  of  a  small  present.  Like 
many  older  and  wiser  people,  he  was  completely  taken 
in  by  the  audacious  vigour  with  which  Godwin  ex- 
pounded an  utterly  preposterous  theory  of  human  life. 
'JMr.  Kegan  Paul  tells  us  that  the  two  men  did  not 
really  get  on  very  well  together  ;  they  were  "  antipa- 
thetic when  they  met,  and  suited  each  other  only  at  a 
distance."  Wedgwood,  while  helping  his  friend  with 
liberal  loans,  "preferred  that  they  should  not  meet, 
and  that  their  discussions  should  be  conducted  on 
paper."* 

It  is  rather  entertaining,  when  one  remembers  the 
philosopher's  many  borrowings,  euphemistically  so 
called,  to  find  that  he  was  annoyed  at  his  disciple 
being  so  indelicate  as  to  prepay  the  postage  of  his 
letters.  Mrs.  Shelley  tells  us  that  at  one  time  Tom 
Wedgwood  and  her  father  "  contemplated  making  a 
common  household  together."  Such  a  common 
household  would  not  have  lasted  many  days  without  an 
explosion. 

Wedgwood's  papers  include  one  or  two  bits  of  what 
appear  to  be  compositions  sent  to  Godwin  for  correc- 
tion and  comment.  The  criticisms  in  Godwin's  hand 
are  not  of  a  kind  to  suggest  that  the  master's  help  was 
of  much  value  to  the  pupil.  They  are  minute  verbal 
corrections,  in  the  manner  rather  of  the  schoolmaster 

*  Kegan  Paul's  "Life  of  Godwin,"  i.  311. 


32  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

than  of  the  philosopher.  Wedgwood,  for  instance, 
writes :  "  This  feeling,  from  the  cradle  to  the  death 
bed,  never  once  deserts  us."  Godwin  comments : 
"  '  Once/  pleonastic."  Wedgwood  describes  a  man  as 
being  in  a  "  live"  mood.  Godwin  says,  "for  'live* 
read  '  vigilant,'  the  other  is  scarcely  English."  Wedg- 
wood's English  is  lax  (e.g.,  the  odd  use  of  the  word 
"  prostituted  "  in  the  above  letter),  but  Godwin's  cor- 
rections are  of  the  kind  which  would  take  the  life  out 
of  any  style. 


CHAPTER  III 

BEDDOES  AND  THE  PNEUMATIC  INSTITUTE 

1793—1794 

SOON  after  the  rearrangement  of  the  Wedgwood  part- 
nership in  1793,  when  Tom  Wedgwood  and  his  eldest 
brother  John  retired  from  the  firm,  the  latter  took  up 
his  abode  at  Cote  House,  a  country  place  not  far  from 
Bristol,  and  there  Tom  was  a  frequent  visitor.  That, 
apparently,  led  to  his  becoming  acquainted  with  Dr. 
Beddoes,  the  noted  physician,  who  had  lately  come  to 
settle  in  Bristol.  The  two  men  became  intimate. 
Their  views  of  things  were  in  general  accord,  as  would 
be  sufficiently  shown  by  the  fact  that  it  was  Beddoes' 
sympathy  with  the  French  Revolution  which  had  in 
some  way  been  the  cause  of  his  having  to  give  up  the 
post  of  reader  in  chemistry  at  Oxford.*  Both  men 
shared  the  passion  for  reforming  and  improving  the 
world,  which  moved  so  many  of  the  younger  men  of 
the  time.  Beddoes  was  a  singularly  interesting  man. 
His  letters  give  the  impression  of  a  mind  overflowing 
with  new  ideas,  a  nature  full  of  energy  and  initiative, 


*  Beddoes  was  born  in  1760  at  Shifnal  in  Shropshire,  and  died  in 
London,  where  he  had  a  large  practice  in  his  later  years,  in  1808. 
He  was  father  of  Thomas  Lovell  Beddoes,  the  half-mad  poet,  author 
of  "  Death's  Jest  Book."  See  the  notices  of  both  in  the  "  Diet. 
Nat.  Biog." 

C 


34  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

sanguine,    optimistic,    rebelling     against     antiquated 
routine,  keen  on  striking  out  new  paths.     One  of  the 
things  he  preached  was  the  importance  of  "  preventive  " 
medicine.      He   must  have   been  one  of   the  earliest 
workers  in  that  field,  and  one  of  his  schemes  was  a  plan 
for  setting  a  staff  of  young  doctors  to  go  about  Bristol 
lecturing  on  the  prevention  of  disease.     "  By  this  plan," 
he  tells  Wedgwood,  "  I  think  £550  a  year  would  con- 
fer the  full  benefit  of  preventive  and  to  a  great  extent 
of  curative  medicine  upon  all  Bristol  and  the  counties 
within  attending  distance."     "  This  preventive  medi- 
cine," he  says,  in   another  letter,   "  is  much  the  most 
important  of  the  two  divisions."     At  another  time  we 
find  him  advocating  a  new  system  of  "  rational  toys," 
and  at  another  a  new  method   of  teaching  geometry. 
But  his  chief  enterprise  was  the  "  Pneumatic  Institute," 
a  scheme  which  aimed  at   giving  a  full  trial  to  the 
method    of  treating    consumption,  cancer,  and  other 
diseases  by  the  use   of  "factitious  airs" — i.e.,  by  the 
inhalation  of  certain  gases,  or  of  chemically  modified 
atmospheric  air.      The   institute  was  to    be    a    small 
hospital  for  the  reception  of  patients  thus  to  be  treated. 
Various  eminent  men,  such  as  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin, 
Keir  the  chemist,   Professor  Black,  James  Watt  the 
great  engineer,  and  some  leading  physicians,  supported 
the  scheme.     Watt  invented  apparatus  for  making  and 
administering  the  gases.    (Jhe  Wedgwoods,  father  and 
sons,  gave  substantial  contributions.     Tom  Wedgwood 
was  also  active  in  helping  Beddoes  to  collect  the  need- 
ful funds ;  and  when  there  seemed  to  be  a  difficulty  in 
getting  together  what  was  wanted,   he  gave  an  addi- 
tional thousand  pounds  in  order  that   the  plan  might 


THE   PNEUMATIC   INSTITUTE        35 

be  at  once  started.^  His  feeling  about  it  is  shown  by 
a  few  words  he  puts  on  a  letter  of  Beddoes  (dated 
August  12,  1794),  which  he  sends  on  to  his  brother 
Josiah.  "  I  think  I  shall  contribute"  (this  was  at  the 
first  inception  of  the  scheme),  "  as  the  attempt  must  be 
successful  in  part  if  it  only  goes  to  show  that  c  airs  * 
are  not  efficacious  in  medicine. "j 

The  Institute  was  duly  opened  in  1798,  the  patients 
being  taken  into  a  house  in  Dowry  Square,  on  the 
Clifton  side  of  Bristol,  but  it  did  not,  alas  !  answer  the 
sanguine  hopes  of  Beddoes.  Consumption,  cancers, 
and  internal  ulcers  refused  to  yield  to  the  new  treat- 
ment. The  experiment  had  only  the  negative  success 
guessed  at  in  Tom  Wedgwood's  wise  and  suggestive 
words.  It  showed  that  "  airs  are  not  efficacious  in 
medicine."  After  two  or  three  years  the  Institute  was 
given  up,  and  in  1801  Beddoes  left  Bristol  for  London. 
During  these  years  Tom  Wedgwood  was  one  of 
Beddoes'  patients,  stopping  at  Clifton  at  intervals  to  be 
under  his  care.  The  "  airs,"  however,  did  him  no 
good,  nor  had  he  better  success  with  other  strange 
sorts  of  treatment  which  he  tried,  apparently,  under 
Beddoes'  advice.  One  was  the  "warm-room  plan.'' 
His  brother  Josiah  (December  1799)  describes  him  as 
living  in  a  completely  closed  room,  with  a  stove, 
double  windows,  and  double  doors,  in  a  temperature 
kept  up  to  70  degrees,  without  once  going  out  of  the 
room  for  seventy-two  hours.  He  tells  us  also  of  con- 
sumptive patients  living  in  cow-houses,  "  three  cows  in 

*  In  the  notice  of  Josiah  Wedgwood  (the  father)  in  the  "  Diet. 
Nat.  Biog.,"  it  is  implied  that  he  gave  this  large  contribution,  but  it 
seems  to  have  been  Tom  Wedgwood's. 


36  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

each  of  the  cow-houses,"  warmed  by  stoves.  Whether 
Tom  Wedgwood  lived  with  the  cows  does  not  appear. 
"  For  mere  temperature,"  says  Beddoes  in  his  beautiful 
optimistic  way,"  "  living  with  cows  is  the  most 
delicious  thing  imaginable ;  perhaps  the  fumes  would 
give  a  salutary  stimulus  to  the  surface  of  the  lungs, 
which  might  communicate  itself  to  the  whole  system. 
I  find  this  much  better  than  living  with  a  butcher." 
(Beddoes  to  T.  W.  November  12,  1799.)  The  last 
words  seem  to  show  that  Beddoes  had  other  patients 
living  with  butchers,  presumably  on  the  theory  that  the 
meaty  atmosphere  would  do  them  good.  In  another 
letter  (Beddoes  to  Tom  Wedgwood,  August  3,  1792) 
he  says :  "  I  have  had  strict  inquiry  made  concerning 
the  state  of  health  among  the  Bristol  butchers.  The 
information  is  curious  and  satisfactory,  and  the  result 
will  be  of  great  use  to  my  essay  on  consumption."  We 
come  across  this  strange  cow-cure  in  the  "  Life  and 
Letters  of  Maria  Edgeworth,"  whose  sister  Anna 
Beddoes  married.  "  One  of  his  hobbies,"  it  is  there 
asserted,  "  was  to  introduce  cows  into  invalids'  bed- 
rooms, that  they  might  inhale  the  breath  of  the 
animals,  a  prescription  which  naturally  gave  umbrage 
to  the  Clifton  lodging-house  keepers."  De  Quincey, 
many  years  afterwards,  described  Tom  Wedgwood  as 
having  at  one  time  kept  a  butcher's  shop.  This  myth 
may  perhaps  have  arisen  from  some  twisted  account  of 
the  theory  held,  and  apparently  practised,  by  his 
doctor.* 


*  The  story  is  in  De  Quincey's  gossiping  account  of  Coleridge  in 
the  "  Autobiographic  Sketches,"  first  published  in  Taifs  Magazine, 
and  afterwards  republished  (1854)  among  the  "Selections  Grave  and 


THE   PNEUMATIC   INSTITUTE  .      37 

It  was  through  Beddoes'  "  Pneumatic  Institution " 
that  the  world  first  heard  of  the  afterwards  famous 
chemist,  Humphrey  Davy,  of  whom  we  shall  have 
more  to  say  as  collaborating  with  Tom  Wedgwood  in 
his  photographic  work.  The  Wedgwoods  had  met 
him  at  Penzance,  his  native  place,  where  he  was  an 
apothecary's  apprentice,  when  staying  there  in  the 
winter  of  1797-8  for  the  sake  of  the  warm  climate. 
Beddoes,  hearing  that  the  youth  knew  something  of 
chemistry,  engaged  him  as  assistant  in  the  laboratory 
at  Dowry  Square.  There,  doubtless,  he  and  Tom 
Wedgwood  became  more  closely  acquainted.  One  of 
the  excitements  of  the  time  was  Davy's  discovery  of 
the  so-called  "  laughing  gas."  He  had  found  a  way  of 
making  nitrous  oxide  safely  respirable,  and  was  trying 
its  effects  on  troops  of  friends  who  came  to  the  labora- 
tory to  see  and  feel  the  new  wonder.  Southey  called 
it  "  the  wonder-working  gas  of  delight."  Here  is  Tom 
Wedgwood's  written  report  of  his  sensations  : 

I  called  on  Mr.  Davy  at  the  Medical  Institution  on  July  23. 
...  I  had  six  quarts  of  the  oxide  given  me  in  a  bag  undiluted, 
and  as  soon  as  I  had  breathed  three  or  four  respirations,  I  felt 
myself  affected,  and  my  respiration  hurried,  which  effect  in- 
creased rapidly  until  I  became  as  it  were  entranced,  when  I 

Gay."  "  As  a  desperate  attempt  to  rouse  and  irritate  the  decaying 
sensibility  of  his  system,  I  have  been  assured,  by  a  surviving  friend,  that 
Mr.  Wedgwood  at  one  time  opened  a  butcher's  shop,  conceiving  that 
the  affronts  and  disputes  to  which  such  a  situation  would  expose  him 
might  act  beneficially  upon  his  increasing  torpor."  "Which,  how- 
ever" (he  adds  in  a  note  to  the  reprint  of  1854),  "his  brother  Josiah 
denied  as  a  pure  fable." 

De  Quincey's  account  of  Tom  Wedgwood,  in  the  passage  of  which 
this  is  a  part,  has  all  his  accustomed  charm  of  manner,  but  is  too 
full  of  inaccuracies  and  confusions  to  be  worth  quoting. 


38  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

threw  the  bag  from  me  and  kept  breathing  on  furiously  with 
an  open  mouth,  and  holding  my  nose  with  my  left  hand, 
having  no  power  to  take  it  away,  though  aware  of  the 
ridiculousness  of  my  situation.  .  .  .  Before  I  breathed  the  air 
I  felt  a  good  deal  fatigued  from  a  very  long  ride  I  had  had  the 
day  before ;  but  after  breathing,  I  lost  all  sense  of  fatigue.* 

After  the  Institute  was  given  up  and  Beddoes  went 
to  London,  Tom  Wedgwood  appears  to  have  seen 
little  of  him.  In  letters  of  the  year  1803  we  find  him 
collecting  funds  for  some  project  the  nature  of  which 
is  not  mentioned,  to  which  Tom  gives  ,£100  and  his 
brother  Josiah  £50.) 

*  Printed  in  the  collected  works  of  Davy  with  reports  of  other 
like  experiences. 


JOSIAH    WEDGWOOD 
Of  Gunville,  Dorset,  and  Maer  Hall,  Staffordshire 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   FAMILY   CIRCLE 
i795_I796 

IN  the  last  few  pages  I  have  departed  from  chrono- 
logical sequence  in  order  to  give  an  account  of  Tom 
Wedgwood's  relations  with  Beddoes.  I  will  now  take 
up  the  thread  of  his  life  from  the  time  when  the  death 
of  old  Josiah  Wedgwood  of  Etruria  led  to  a  dispersion 
of  the  family  circle. 

That  death  happened  in  January  1795.  The  fortune 
the  great  potter  left  to  be  divided  among  his  children 
was  large,  and  thus  at  the  age  of  twenty-three  Tom 
became  a  fairly  rich  man.  His  broken  health  forbade 
him  to  think  of  taking  up  any  regular  pursuit,  and  his 
frequent  fits  of  dejection  and  restlessness  drove  him  to 
seek  relief  in  a  wandering  life.  Of  marriage  he  cannot 
have  thought,  it  was  too  plainly  impossible ;  and 
neither  his  extant  letters  nor  family  tradition  tell  us 
of  his  caring  for  any  woman  outside  the  circle  of 
his  relations.  But  he  had  a  warmly  affectionate 
nature ;  he  clung  closely  to  his  family,  and  could  not 
endure  to  be  for  long  away  from  his  brothers  and 
sisters  and  their  children.  Among  them  he  may 
be  said  to  have  lived,  though  in  an  intermittent  way. 
And  here  it  may  be  convenient  to  say  what  were 


40  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

his  family  surroundings  in  this  year  1795  and  there- 
after. 

Josiah  Wedgwood  of  Etruria  left  behind  him  a 
widow  and  six  children :  three  sons,  John,  Josiah,  and 
Thomas,  and  three  daughters,  Susannah,  Catharine, 
and  Sarah.  John,  the  eldest  son,  who  had  given  up  his 
partnership  in  the  pottery  in  1793,  had  become  a 
London  banker,  and  was  living  in  Devonshire  Place, 
Marylebone.  A  year  or  two  later  he  took  up  his 
abode  at  Cote  House,  a  country  place  about  two  miles 
out  of  Bristol.  Josiah,  the  next  brother,  remained  for 
a  time  at  Etruria,  carrying  on  the  works  in  conjunction 
with  his  cousin,  Thomas  Byerley,  who  for  many  years 
was  the  working  head  of  the  business.  He  not  long 
afterwards  sought  an  abode  in  the  south  of  England, 
fixing  himself  first  at  Stoke  d'Abernon,  near  Cobham, 
in  Surrey,  and  ultimately  (1799—1800)  at  Gunville 
House,  near  Blandford,  in  Dorsetshire.  Josiah  had 
married,  in  1792,  Elizabeth  Allen,  the  eldest  of  many 
daughters  of  John  Bartlett  Allen  of  Cresselly,  a  Pem- 
brokeshire squire,  and  John,  about  a  year  later,  had 
married  Jane  Allen,  another  of  the  sisters.  Both 
brothers  had  children.  Susannah  Wedgwood,  Tom's 
eldest  sister,  married,  a  few  months  after  her  father's 
death,  Dr.  Robert  Darwin  of  Shrewsbury,  son  of  Dr. 
Erasmus  the  poet.  One  of  her  many  children  was 
Charles  Darwin,  author  of  the  "  Origin  of  Species " 
(born  1 809).  The  two  younger  sisters,  Catharine  and 
Sarah  Wedgwood  (always  spoken  of  as  Kitty  and 
Sally),  aged  twenty  and  eighteen,  lived  with  their 
mother  for  a  few  years  in  Staffordshire,  and  afterwards 
moved  with  her  into  Dorsetshire  to  be  near  Josiah's 


HIS   FAMILY  41 

0 

family.  The  person  who  counted  for  most  in  Tom 
Wedgwood's  life  was  his  brother  Josiah.  An  intense 
affection  united  these  two  men.  It  was  to  Josiah  that 
Tom  turned  in  all  his  troubles.  Intellectually,  the 
two  were  not  much  alike.  Josiah  was  a  man  of  solid 
character,  wide-minded  and  high-minded ;  an  upright, 
calmly  judging  person,  a  man  whom  every  one 
trusted,  and  on  whom  every  one  near  him  leant.  He 
had  intellectual  tastes,  but  these  were  quite  secondary 
to  the  practical  interests  of  life,  and  warm  affections, 
but  no  man  could  have  been  more  inexpressive.  His 
letters  are  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  dryness.  As  he  was  his 
poor  sick  brother's  mainstay,  so  he  was  a  rock  of  sup- 
port at  all  times  of  doubt  and  difficulty  to  the  whole 
of  his  family,  including  his  wife's  relations.  The 
strong  family  belief  in  his  excellent  judgment  was  well 
shown  at  a  critical  moment  in  the  life  of  his  nephew, 
Charles  Darwin.  The  turning-point  in  Darwin's 
career  was  his  going  as  naturalist  on  the  voyage  of  the 
Beagle.  When  the  offer  was  made  to  him — he  was 
then  twenty-one — his  father  strongly  objected  to  his 
accepting  it,  and  he  was  on  the  point  of  sending  a 
refusal ;  but  his  "  Uncle  Jos  "  backed  him  up  in  his 
desire  to  go,  and  wrote  to  Dr.  Darwin,  discussing 
seriatim  the  latter's  objections.  His  reasonings  con- 
vinced the  father,  and  the  son  became  a  naturalist, 
instead  of,  as  he  had  intended,  a  clergyman.  Darwin, 
in  the  brief  autobiography  which  he  wrote  (in  1876) 
for  his  wife  and  children,  describes  his  uncle  thus  : 

I  greatly  revered  him  ;  he  was  siient  and  reserved  so  as  to 
be  rather  an  awful  man ;  but  he  sometimes  talked  openly  with 


42  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

me.  He  was  the  very  type  of  an  upright  man,  with  the  clearest 
judgment.  I  do  not  believe  that  any  power  on  earth  could 
have  made  him  swerve  an  inch  from  what  he  considered  the 
right  course.  I  used  to  apply  to  him  in  my  mind  the  well- 
known  ode  of  Horace,  now  forgotten  by  me,  in  which  the 
words,  "  nee  vultus  tyranni,"  &c.,  come  in.* 

Josiah  had  had  the  happiness  to  marry  a  delightful 
woman.  His  "  Bessy"  was  the  best  beloved  of  the 
whole  family  circle,  and  her  letters  give  the  reflection 
of  an  ideally  beautiful  character.  The  family  tradition 
tells  the  same  story  with  one  voice,  and  we  can  well 
believe  it  when  we  look  at  the  "  radiantly  cheerful 
countenance  "  that  beams  upon  us  out  of  one  of  the 
loveliest  of  Romney's  portraits,  t 

Cote  House,  the  abode  of  John  Wedgwood,  was 
Tom's  most  frequent  resort  after  that  of  his  brother 
Josiah.  There,  too,  he  had  always  an  affectionate  wel- 
come from  another  charming  sister-in-law.  Louisa 
Jane  Wedgwood  (always  called  "  Jenny  "  in  the  family) 
was  the  beauty  of  the  Wedgwood-Allen  circle,  and  the 
family  letters  give  ample  proof  that  she  must  have  been 
a  singularly  attractive  woman.  The  Robert  Darwins 
of  Shrewsbury  seem  to  have  seen  but  little  of  Tom. 


*  "  Life  of  C.  Darwin,"  by  F.  Darwin,  I.  44.  (The  ode  is  that 
beginning  "  Justum  et  tenacem  propositi  virum.")  The  interesting 
letter  of  Josiah's  about  the  Beagle  business  is  given  on  p.  198  of  the 
same  volume. 

t  Now  belonging  to  her  grand-daughter,  Miss  Wedgwood,  of 
Leith  Hill  Place.  "  She  has  her  mother's  radiantly  cheerful  counten- 
ance," are  the  words  used  by  Maria  Edgeworth,  a  life-long  friend 
of  the  family,  in  describing  Mrs.  Charles  Darwin,  Mrs.  Josiah's 
youngest  daughter,  then  in  her  thirty-third  year.  (Letter  of  Decem- 
ber 26,  1840,  to  Fanny  Butler.) 


MRS.   JOSIAH   WEDGWOOD,    BORN    ELIZABETH   ALLEN 
From  Portrait  by  Romney 


HIS   FAMILY  43 

Of  his  two  unmarried  sisters,  both  of  whom  were  culti- 
vated and  intelligent  women,  Sally  was  the  one  with 
whom  he  had  most  in  common  intellectually.  During 
his  wanderings  in  search  of  health  it  is  to  her  that  he 
most  often  sends  affectionate  messages.^ 

Through  his  two  sisters-in-law  he  became  intimate 
with  the  family  at  Cresselly.  Fanny  Allen, f  the 
youngest,  gayest,  and  most  keen  witted  of  the  group 
of  sisters,  became,  during  the  last  few  years  of  his  life, 
one  of  his  best  friends. 

Catherine  Allen,  another  of  the  Cresselly  sisters, 
married  Mr.  Mackintosh  (afterwards  Sir  James)  in 
1798.  They  naturally  became  friends  of  Tom  Wedg- 
wood, and  the  two  men  were  brought  the  closer 
together  by  their  common  interest  in  metaphysical 
speculation. 

Such  was  the  family  entourage  of  Tom  Wedgwood 
when  he  ceased  to  live  at  Etruria  after  his  father's 
death.  What  plan  of  life,  if  any,  he  formed  at  that 
time,  there  is  nothing  to  show.  Metaphysical  study 
and  speculation  was  evidently,  as  always,  one  of  his 
chief  interests.^  Physical  investigations  he  had  put 

*  Sarah  Wedgwood  lived  to  the  age  of  eighty  and  died  in  1856. 
She  spent  her  last  years  at  Down,  in  Kent,  living  near  her  nephew 
and  niece,  Charles  and  Emma  Darwin. 

t  Fanny  Allen  lived  to  be  ninety-three,  dying  in  1875,  and  was 
the  last  link  between  Tom  Wedgwood's  generation  and  that  of  his 
great-nephews  and  nieces.  They  remember  her  as  a  most  enter- 
taining old  lady,  with  a  sharp  tongue  and  caustic  wit  ;  a  fiercely 
bigoted  whig  of  the  old  school,  full  of  Holland  House  traditions, 
including  the  worship  of  Napoleon.  Mackintosh  and  Sydney  Smith 
were  among  her  particular  friends.  When  the  news  of  Waterloo 
came,  she  wrote  of  it  as  "  a  splendid  victory,  but  in  a  terribly  bad 
cause."  (As  to  Jessie  Allen,  Mme.  Sismondi,  see  p.  123.) 

I  See  chap.  xiv. 


44  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

aside,  at  least  for  a  time.  Such  active  work  as  his 
letters  disclose  always  took  the  form  of  helping  for- 
ward some  scheme  aiming  at  the  improvement  of  the 
world.  v  Anything  of  the  kind  we  now  call  a  social  or 
philanthropic  "  movement,"  any  plan  for  teaching 
mankind  to  mend  its  ways,  if  it  ran  on  what  he 
thought  sound  philosophical  or  liberal  lines,  found  in 
i  him  a  zealous  supporter.  To  such  plans  he  would 
give  work  as  well  as  money.  To  spread,  for  instance, 
a  knowledge  of  inoculation  as  a  preventive  of  small- 
pox was  one  of  the  things  with  which  he  busied  him- 
self. He  corresponded  with  people  in  various  parts  of 
England  who  were  engaged  in  the  same  effort,  and 
used  his  local  influence  in  the  cause.  We  find  him 
getting  a  thousand  copies  printed  of  an  "  address  to 
parents"  on  the  subject,  for  distribution  among  the 
people  of  the  Potteries.  This  was  in  1795,  after 
which  time  I  find  no  more  letters  on  the  subject. 
Jenner  was  just  then  completing  the  investigations 
which  led  to  vaccination  taking  the  place  of  inocula- 
tion. 

^Another  correspondent  is  a  worthy  Quaker  book- 
seller, Mr.  Samuel  Phillips,  whom  he  has  commissioned 
to  send  him  a  supply  of  books  fit  for  popular  reading. 
Mr.  Phillips  applauds  "  thy  praiseworthy  attempts  to 
improve  the  minds  of  the  labouring  poor  in  your 
neighbourhood,"  and  sends  a  supply  of  booksp  He 
has  severe  views  as  to  what  reading  is  beneficial,  and 
sternly  bars  ail  fiction.  "  I  was  much  pleased  with  the 
hesitating  perhaps  to  *  two  or  three  novels.'  Experto 
crede  "P^oberto.  Let  them  read  none.  Few  of  them  are 
true  pictures  of  life.  The  best  of  them  fill  the  mind 


THE    FAMILY   CIRCLE  45 

with  dreams  of  imaginary  happiness  not  to  be  enjoyed 
in  this  life." 

In  1796,  Tom  Wedgwood  took  the  first  of  many 
tours  out  of  England  in  search  of  health,  spending 
some  five  months  in  Germany  and  Switzerland,  with 
Leslie  for  his  companion.  As  a  rule  his  letters  during 
such  absences  are  not  cheerful  reading,  being  but  too 
full  of  his  health  troubles  ;  but  this  journey  was  com- 
paratively prosperous.  He  does  much  of  it  on  foot, 
at  one  time  walking  200  miles,  as  he  reckons,  in 
fourteen  days ;  and  he  apparently  walks  without  diffi- 
culty over  mountain  passes  in  the  Swiss  Oberland. 
The  two  friends  follow  the  now  familiar  route, 
Lucerne,  Rigi,  Brunig,  Meyringen,  Grindelwald, 
Lauterbrunnen,  Thun ;  and  his  long,  cheerful  letters, 
telling  his  brother  Jos  of  each  day's  experiences,  show 
that  at  this  time  he  had  a  spell  of  fair  health. 

It  is  merely  through  the  accidental  preservation  of  a 
few  letters  from  his  friends  that  a  record  has  survived 
of  some  of  his  charitable  and  public-spirited  deeds 
during  the  years  immediately  following  his  father's 
death ;  *  but  enough  appears  to  show  that  he  was 
acting  out  the  scheme  of  life  and  duty  which  was  the 
burden  of  those  enthusiastic  outpourings  to  his  father 
in  his  early  youth. 

u  I  mean,"  he  had  said  at  nineteen,  "  to  exert  myself 
for  the  good  of  my  fellow  creatures."  He  had  become 


*  His  only  letters  of  this  time  are  those  from  abroad.  He  was  an 
enjoying  traveller,  and  every  word  must  have  been  interesting  to  the 
readers  of  a  century  ago  in  Staffordshire.  But  travel-letters  have  too 
often  proved  the  bane  of  biographers,  and  these  would  be  no  excep- 
tion to  the  rule. 


(46)  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

i     \^y 

a  rich  man,  and  this  was  what  he  was  trying  to  do, 
though  a  cruel  fate  had  cut  him  off  from  the  possi- 
bility of  trying  to  do  it  by  direct  personal  work.  He 
believed,  e/idently,  that  advance  in  knowledge  was  the 
surest  means  of  bettering  the  condition  of  the  world. 
This  belief,  doubtless,  quite  as  much  as  personal 
friendship,  was  the  governing  motive  which  led  him  to 
promise  John  Leslie  an  annuity  of  ^150  a  year,  to  be 
increased  to  £250  in  the  case  of  his  marrying,  with  the 
view  of  putting  him  in  a  position  to  go  on  working  at 
physical  science,  unhampered  by  anxiety  as  to  his  daily 
bread.  Leslie  at  this  time  (1797)  was  thirty-one  years 
old.  He  had  been  pursuing  his  physical  researches, 
but  had  not  got  any  post  suitable  to  his  powers,  or  any 
other  prospect  of  making  a  regular  income.  He  was 
at  a  loose  end,  and  had  vague  intentions  of  seeking  his 
fortune  on  the  continent  or  in  India.  The  query  on 
which  Wedgwood  hung  the  offer  of  the  annuity  was  : 
"  would  it  materially  increase  the  sum  total  of  your 
philosophical  product  ? "  Leslie's  response  to  this 
(August  1 8,  1797)  is  in  his  customary  strain  of 
magniloquence : 

"  Your  letter  I  have  perused  with  surprise  and  with  admira- 
tion. Sentiments  so  remote  from  vulgar  apprehension,  so  pure, 
so  refined,  so  far  exalted  above  the  cold  maxims  that  govern 
the  world  !  I  well  know  your  elevation  of  mind,  fired  by 
every  generous  resolve,  yet  attempered  by  the  calm  dictates  of 
philosophy.  But  how  wide  the  difference  between  the  aspira- 
tions of  beneficence  and  that  vigour  of  character  which  success- 
fully spurns  the  low,  the  incessant  whisperings  of  opinions  and 
interest,  and  in  spite  of  sacrifice  carries  its  plans  into  deliberate 
effect ! " 


PROVISION   FOR   LESLIE  47 

In  another  letter,  after  taking  time  to  consider  the 
query,  he  answers  it  (at  great  length)  in  the  affirma- 
tive.^ 

Of  the  letter  offering  the  annuity  there  is  no  copy 
among  the  Wedgwood  papers.  But  we  may  take  the 
motives  of  the  generous  act  to  have  been  the  same  as 
we  shall  see  expressed,  a  little  later,  in  the  offer  of  an 
annuity  to  Coleridge.  What  degree  of  personal  attach- 
ment existed  between  Tom  Wedgwood  and  Leslie  it  is 
not  easy  to  say.  It  was  apparently  a  warm  feeling,  on 
Wedgwood's  side  at  any  rate,  in  the  early  days  of 
their  acquaintance  at  Edinburgh,  but  the  impression 
given  by  the  later  letters  is  that  it  afterwards  sub- 
sided into  no  more  than  an  intellectual  friendship. 
In  Wedgwood's  letters  during  their  five  months 
touring  in  1796,  he  hardly  ever  mentions  his  com- 
panion, and  the  elaborate  pomposity  of  Leslie's  style 
effectually  masks  any  feeling  there  may  have  been  on 
his  side. 

Wedgwood's  generosity,  in  this  instance,  may  be  said 
to  have  borne  good  fruit  in  the  way  which  he  desired. 
Leslie's  contributions  to  the  advance  of  physical  science 
were  substantial,  and  they  rested  on  long-continued 
experimental  researches  which  he  certainly  could  not 
have  pursued  without  some  assurance  of  a  maintenance. 
His  "  Experimental  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Pro- 
perties of  Heat,"  has  been  described  as  "an  important 
contribution  to  the  scientific  study  of  the  subject,"  and 
his  discoveries  as  to  the  radiation  of  heat  made  his 
name  widely  known.  His  "  differential  thermometer  " 
is,  I  understand,  still  a  familiar  instrument  in  physical 
laboratories.  He  is  mentioned  by  Clerk  Maxwell  as 


48  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

having  u  given  the  first  correct  explanation  of  the  rise 
of  liquid  in  a  tube  "  (capillary  attraction).  Ice-making 
machines  were  his  invention.* 


*  He  received  the  annuity  up  to  the  year  1812.  He  became 
Professor  of  Mathematics  at  Edinburgh  in  1805,  and  Professor  of 
Natural  Philosophy  there  in  1819.  He  was  knighted  in  1832  and 
died  in  the  same  year. 


CHAPTER  V 

POOLE  AND  COLERIDGE— THE  COLERIDGE  ANNUITY 

I797—I798 

THE  year  1797  brought  with  it  a  notable  extension  of 
Tom  Wedgwood's  friendships.  He  was  staying  in  the 
summer  with  his  brother  John  at  Cote  House  (near 
Bristol),  and  it  was  probably  there  that  he  made  the 
acquaintance  of  that  interesting  and  singular  man 
Thomas  Poole,  or  "  Tom  Poole  "  as  every  one  called 
him,  tanner,  farmer,  and  land  agent,  of  Nether  Stowey. 
The  acquaintance  soon  became  a  very  close  friendship, 
and  out  of  it  sprang  an  equally  close  friendship  with 
Coleridge  the  poet. 

The  admirable  biography  of  Poole  by  Mrs.  Henry 
Sandford,^  gives  a  vivid  picture  of  his  life,  besides 
much  information,  some  of  it  new,  as  to  Coleridge  and 
as  to  Tom  Wedgwood.  Poole  was  a  man  of  rough 
exterior,  and  for  the  most  part  self-educated,  but  what 
we  now  know  of  his  mind  and  character  fully  explains 

*  "  Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends,"  2  vols.  Macmillan,  1886.  See 
also  the  notice  of  Poole  in  "  Diet.  Nat.  Biog."  by  Sir  L.  Stephen.  Mrs, 
Sandford  is,  I  believe,  the  grand-daughter  of  one  of  Poole's  first  cousins, 
He  was  born  in  1765,  lived  practically  his  whole  life  at  Nether 
Stowey,  and  died  in  1837.  The  group  of  friends  among  whom 
Tom  Wedgwood  now  found  himself  were  all  young  together.  Their 
birth  dates  all  fall  within  the  range  of  a  few  years  :  Coleridge  1772, 
Wedgwood  1771,  Wordsworth  1770,  Dorothy  Wordsworth  1771,. 
Poole  1765,  Lamb  1775. 

D 


50  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

how  it  was  that  he  became  the  attached  friend  of  some 
of  the  most  remarkable  Englishmen  of  his  time. 
Here  is  De  Quincey's  description  of  the  man  as  he 
found  him  in  1807,  ten  years  later  than  the  time  of 
his  first  acquaintance  with  Tom  Wedgwood  : 

I  found  him  a  stout,  plain-looking  farmer,  leading  a  bachelor 
life,  in  a  rustic,  old-fashioned  house,  the  house,  however,  upon 
further  acquaintance,  proving  to  be  amply  furnished  with 
modern  luxuries,  and  especially  with  a  good  library,  superbly 
mounted  in  all  departments  bearing  upon  political  philosophy  ; 
and  the  farmer  turning  out  a  polished  and  liberal  Englishman, 
who  had  travelled  extensively,  and  who  had  so  entirely  dedicated 
himself  to  the  service  of  his  humble  fellow  countrymen — the 
hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water  in  this  part  of  Somerset- 
shire— that  for  many  miles  round  he  was  the  general  arbiter  of 
their  disputes,  the  guide  and  counsellor  of  their  difficulties  ; 
besides  being  appointed  executor  and  guardian  to  his  children 
by  every  third  man  who  died  in  or  about  the  town  of  Nether 
Stowey.* 

Coleridge  had  at  this  time  (Midsummer  1797)  been 
living  for  six  months  in  a  cottage  at  Stowey  with  his 
wife  and  their  infant  child.  He  and  Poole  were  almost 
next  door  neighbours,  for  a  walk  of  a  few  yards  along 
a  back  lane  led  from  the  garden  of  the  cottage  to  the 
garden  of  Poole's  house.  Wordsworth  and  his  sister 
Dorothy  were  just  then  taking  up  their  abode  at 
Alfoxden  House  in  the  Quantocks,  where  they  lived 
for  a  year,  about  three  miles  away ;  and  it  was  then 

*  From  an  article  contributed  to  T ait's  Magazine  in  1834,  vol.  ii. 
p.  139  of  Professor  Masson's  Ed.  of  De  Quincey,  1889.  The  epithet 
"  polished  "  as  applied  to  Poole,  is  absurdly  out  of  place.  But  De 
Quincey's  inaccuracies  of  detail  are  innumerable,  especially  when  he 
is  writing  from  recollections  of  thirty  or  forty  years  back. 


POOLE   AND   COLERIDGE  51 

that  they  and  Coleridge  first  became  intimate. 
Dorothy's  journal  gives  a  delightful  picture  of  the 
three  friends.  There  were  almost  daily  meetings,  con- 
tinual walkings  to  and  fro  between  Stowey  and  Alfox- 
den,  wanderings  among  the  glades  and  over  the  downs 
of  the  Quantocks — they  were,  as  Coleridge  said,  "  three 
people  and  one  soul."  In  much  of  this  intimacy  Poole 
shared.  He  had  been  a  good  friend  to  Coleridge  since 
1794,  the  days  of  the  wild  Pantisocracy  scheme,  had 
helped  him  much,  and  was  still  helping  him.  For  some 
years  past  he  had  been  his  chief  stand-by  in  all  trouble. 
Into  this  remarkable  group  of  friends  Tom  Wedgwood 
came  through  his  acquaintance  with  Poole.  Unfortu- 
nately we  have  none  of  his  letters  of  this  date,  and  it  is 
only  through  a  few  words  in  a  note  book  kept  for 
jotting  down  memoranda  bearing  on  his  metaphysical 
studies  that  we  know  that  in  September  of  this  year  he 
paid  a  visit  of  five  days  to  the  Wordsworths  at 
Alfoxden.  The  note  is  as  follows  : 

Time,  entering  the  garden  at  Langford,  September  15,  1797. 

Went   down   to   Wordsworth's    with n.     Spent    5    days 

there.     Remarked  to n  on  the  5th  day  at  Alfoxden  that 

the  time  had  gone  like  lightning.  He  agreed  with  me.  Enter- 
ing the  garden  at  L ,  it  struck  me  as  being  very  long  since 

I  had  entered  it  before,  though  I  knew  it  was  only  five  days. 
Might  not  this  be  owing  to  my  having  never  "  intermediately  " 
thought  of  the  garden  ?  Its  recollection  was  faint,  and  sug- 
gested remoteness  of  time,  as  faint  objects  do  distance  in  sight.* 


*  Tom  Wedgwood  evidently  did  much  of  his  metaphysical  think- 
ing while  travelling,  and  it  was  his  habit  to  keep  by  him  a  notebook 
wherein  he  could  record  at  the  moment  anything  that  occurred  to 
him.  The  front  page  of  the  one  containing  the  above  observation 


52  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

One  would  have  liked  to  have  heard  something  of 
the  impressions  left  by  those  five  days  spent  in  the 
company  of  Coleridge  and  Wordsworth,  and  of  that 
delightful  woman,  Dorothy  Wordsworth,  who  was  so 
much  to  both  of  them.  The  moment  was  one  of 
supreme  interest.  For  what  was  stirring  those  three 
minds  was  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  new  departure  in 
English  poetry.  Wordsworth  was  still  unknown  to 
the  world,  but  most  of  the  "  Lyrical  Ballads  "  lay  on 
his  table,  ready  for  the  press ;  and  it  was  only  a  few 
weeks  later  that  the  three  happy  people  started  on  that 
memorable  walk  to  Porlock  and  Lynton,  during  the 
first  few  miles  of  which  the  "  Rime  of  the  Ancient 
Mariner  "  began  to  take  shape.  The  talks  which  went 
on  during  those  autumn  days,  when,  as  Wordsworth 
has  it  in  the  Prelude  : 

Upon  smooth  Quantoclc's  airy  ridge  they  roved 
Unchecked,  or  loitered  'mid  her  sylvan  combes, 

or  in  the  many  walks  between  Stowey  and  Alfoxden, 
were  giving  form  and  force  to  ideas  which  were  to  issue 
in  a  literary  revolution,  to  mould,  more  or  less,  the 
poetry  of  the  coming  century,  and  to  colour  the  whole 
of  its  intellectual  movement.  Wedgwood,  probably, 
could  have  had  little  prevision  of  what  was  to  come  out 
of  the  association  of  his  new  group  of  friends.  The 
poetic  side  of  Coleridge's  genius  would  appeal  to  him 


bears  the  words  :  "  If  this  book  is  sent  by  coach  or  other  conveyance 
to  A.  R.  BUSH  TAVERN,  BRISTOL,  to  lie  till  called  for,  one 
crown  will  be  given  to  the  person  sending  it."  I  should  guess  that 

his  companion  " n,"  was  the  James  Tobin  with  whom  both  he 

and  the  Wordsworths  were  intimate.     (See  note  p.  143.) 


POOLE  AND   COLERIDGE  §         53 

less  than  the  outpourings  of  that  wonderful  mind  upon 
the  subjects  which  most  occupied  his  own  thoughts — 
Ethics  and  Metaphysics.^  In  any  case  the  impression 
he  carried  away  was  a  deep  one,  as  is  sufficiently  shown 
by  what  occurred  three  months  later. 

Coleridge's  whole  existence  was  made  up  of  visions, 
and  his  then  plan  of  life,  if  plan  it  could  be  called,  was 
one  of  these.  He  was  living  in  the  cottage  found  for 
him  by  Poole.  There  he  was  trying,  or  professed  to 
be  trying,  to  support  himself  with  his  wife  and  child 
by  a  "  combination  of  literature  and  husbandry." 
Charles  Lloyd,  the  young  man  who  had  been  living 
with  him  for  a  time  as  pupil  and  friend,  paying  £80  a 
year,  had  left  him.  The  cottage  stood  in  a  garden  of 
an  acre  and  a  half.  On  this  he  thought  he  could 
"  raise  vegetables  and  corn  enough  for  myself  and  wife, 
and  feed  a  couple  of  grunting  cousins  from  the  refuse." 
His  evenings  he  was  to  devote  to  literature.  "By 
reviews  in  the  magazine  and  other  shilling-scavenger 
employments,  I  shall  probably  gain  £40  a  year,  which 
economy  and  self-denial,  gold-beaters,  shall  hammer 
till  it  cover  my  annual  expenses."  The  ever  kind 
Poole,  who  let  him  have  the  cottage  rent  free,  was  also 
apparently  to  supply  the  family  with  milk,  and  no 
doubt  with  other  incidentals.  Before  Tom  Wedgwood 
came  on  the  scene,  this  arcadian  dream,  hardly  less 


*  I  feel  it  difficult  to  imagine  that  Tom  Wedgwood  cared  deeply 
for  poetry.  Hazlitt  quotes  Coleridge  as  saying  that  "  Mackintosh 
and  Tom  Wedgwood  (of  whom,  however,  he  spoke  highly)  had 
expressed  a  very  indifferent  opinion  of  Mr.  Wordsworth,  on  which 
he  remarked  to  them,  *  he  strides  on  so  far  before  you  that  he 
dwindles  in  the  distance.'" 


54  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

absurd  than  the  Pantisocracy  of  a  few  years  earlier, 
must  have  nearly  faded  away.  The  "  Watchman  " 
enterprise  of  the  previous  year  (1796)  had  utterly 
failed,  and  Coleridge  was  in  great  straits.  Poole  had 
then  got  together  a  sum  of  £35  to  £40,  six  or  seven 
friends  contributing  five  guineas  each,  which  was  given 
him  as  a  "  testimonial, "  with  the  expressed  intention 
that  the  like  help  should  be  continued  annually  for  a 
time.  The  gift  seems  to  have  been  repeated  in  1797. 

It  was  in  December  of  this  year  that  Coleridge  was 
invited  to  preach  in  a  Unitarian  Chapel  at  Shrewsbury, 
with  the  prospect  of  being  appointed  its  minister  at  a 
salary  of £150  a  year.  "This  coming  to  the  know- 
ledge of  Josiah  and  Thomas  Wedgwood,  they  hastened 
to  send  him  a  present  of  £100,  to  relieve  his  immediate 
necessities,  and  to  dissuade  him  from  abandoning  poetry 
and  philosophy  for  the  ministry.  The  cheque  was 
immediately  returned  by  Coleridge  with  a  grateful 
letter,  explaining  that  the  ^100  would  soon  be  con- 
sumed, and  prospectless  poverty  recur."  *  Immedi- 
ately after  writing  this,  he  went  to  Shrewsbury,  and  on 
the  next  Sunday,  January  14,  1798,  preached  there  the 
sermon  so  graphically  described  many  years  later  by 
William  Hazlitt  in  an  often  quoted  passage.  Mean- 
while, on  the  preceding  Saturday  (January  13),  there 
had  reached  Stowey  the  following  letter,  addressed  to 
him  by  Josiah  Wedgwood,  writing  on  behalf  of  himself 
and  his  brother. 

*  These  are  the  words  of  Mr.  Dykes  Campbell,  p.  81,  but  see 
note  on  p.  56  infra.  There  is  nothing  in  the  Wedgwood  papers 
referring  to  this  matter.  A  copy  of  Coleridge's  letter  declining 
the  j£ioo  exists  in  Tom  Poole's  letter-book  (T.  P.,  i.  256),  but 
Mrs.  Sandford  does  not  print  it. 


POOLE  AND   COLERIDGE  55 

Josiah  Wedgwood  to  S.  'T.  Coleridge 

PENZANCE, 

January  10,  1798. 
DEAR  SIR, — 

In  the  absence  of  my  brother,  who  has  an  engagement  this 
morning,  I  take  up  the  pen  to  reply  to  your  letter  received 
yesterday.  I  cannot  help  regretting  very  sincerely  that,  at  this 
critical  moment,  we  are  separated  by  so  great  a  length  of  the 
worst  road  in  the  kingdom.  It  is  not  that  we  have  found 
much  difficulty  in  deciding  how  to  act  in  the  present  juncture 
of  your  affairs,  but  we  are  apprehensive  that,  deprived  of  the 
benefit  of  conversation,  we  may  fail  somewhat  in  explaining 
our  views  and  intentions  with  that  clearness  and  persuasion 
which  should  induce  you  to  accede  to  our  proposal  without 
scruple  or  hesitation — nay,  with  that  glow  of  pleasure  which 
the  accession  of  merited  good  fortune,  and  the  observation  of 
virtuous  conduct  in  others,  ought  powerfully  to  excite  in  the 
breast  of  healthful  sensibility.  Writing  is  painful  to  me.  I 
must  endeavour  to  be  concise,  yet  to  avoid  abruptness.  My 
brother  and  myself  are  possessed  of  a  considerable  superfluity  of 
fortune  ;  squandering  and  hoarding  are  equally  distant  from  our 
inclinations.  But  we  are  earnestly  desirous  to  convert  this 
superfluity  into  a  fund  of  beneficence,  and  we  have  now  been 
accustomed  for  some  time,  to  regard  ourselves  rather  as  Trustees 
than  Proprietors.  We  have  canvassed  your  past  life,  your 
present  situation  and  prospects,  your  character  and  abilities. 
As  far  as  certainty  is  compatible  with  the  delicacy  of  the  esti- 
mate, we  have  no  hesitation  in  declaring  that  your  claim  upon 
the  fund  appears  to  come  under  more  of  the  conditions  we 
have  prescribed  for  its  disposal,  and  to  be  every  way  more  un- 
objectionable, than  we  could  possibly  have  expected.  This 
result  is  so  congenial  with  our  heartfelt  wishes,  that  it  will  be 
a  real  mortification  to  us  if  any  misconception  or  distrust  of 
our  intentions,  or  any  unworthy  diffidence  of  yourself,  should 
interfere  to  prevent  its  full  operation  in  your  favour. 


56  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

After  what  my  brother  Thomas  has  written,*  I  have  only 
to  state  the  proposal  we  wish  to  make  to  you.  It  is  that  you 
shall  accept  an  annuity  for  life  of  £150,  to  be  regularly  paid 
by  us,  no  condition  whatsoever  being  annexed  to  it.  Thus 
your  liberty  will  remain  entire,  you  will  be  under  the  influence 
of  no  professional  bias,  and  will  be  in  possession  of  a  "permanent 
income  not  inconsistent  with  your  religious  and  political  creeds"  t  so 
necessary  to  your  health  and  activity. 

I  do  not  now  enter  into  the  particulars  of  the  mode  of 
securing  the  annuity,  &c. — that  will  be  done  when  we  receive 
your  consent  to  the  proposal  we  are  making  ;  and  we  shall  only 
say  that  we  mean  the  annuity  to  be  independent  of  everything 
but  the  wreck  of  our  fortune,  an  event  which  we  hope  is  not 
very  likely  .to  happen,  though  it  must  in  these  times  be  regarded 
as  more  than  a  bare  possibility. 

Give  me  leave  now  to  thank  you  for  the  openness  with 
which  you  have  written  to  me,  and  the  kindness  you  express 
for  me,  to  neither  of  which  can  I  be  indifferent,  and  I  shall 
be  happy  to  derive  the  advantages  from  them  that  a  friendly 
intercourse  with  you  cannot  fail  to  afford  me. 

I  am  very  sincerely  yours, 

JOSIAH  WEDGWOOD. J 

*  What  Tom  had  written  we  do  not,  and  probably  never  shall, 
know*  Presumably  Josiah  is  alluding  to  the  letter  sending  Coleridge 
j£ioo,  which  Mr.  Dykes  Campbell  describes  as  written  "  to  dissuade 
him  from  abandoning  poetry  and  philosophy  for  the  ministry."  The 
terms  of  that  letter  have  never,  I  believe,  been  published,  and  pro- 
bably it  does  not  exist.  Coleridge's  mention  of  it  in  a  letter  of 
January  30,  1798,  to  Thelwall  ("  Letters  of  S.  T.  C.,"  234),  shows 
nothing  to  connect  it  with  the  Shrewsbury  invitation,  save  the  fact 
that  it  and  the  invitation  reached  him  at  the  same  time.  But  the 
Wedgwoods  may  have  known  before  that  time  that  Coleridge  was 
thinking  of  becoming  a  Unitarian  minister. 

t  A  "quotation,"  says  Mrs.  Sandford,  "from  S.  T.  C.'s  last 
letter." 

t  Poole  entered  a  copy  of  Josiah's  letter  in  his  own  letter-book, 
from  which  copy  it  was  printed  for  the  first  time  by  Mrs.  Sandford 
(T.  P.,  i.  259).  She  describes  it  as  a  reply  to  the  letter  of 
Coleridge  declining  the  £100,  which  letter  I  take  to  be  the  one 


POOLE   AND    COLERIDGE  57 

This  letter  was  opened  by  Poole,  who  at  once  wrote 
to  Coleridge,  sending  him  a  copy  of  it ;  and  strenuously 
urging  him  to  accept  the  offer.  This  found  Coleridge 
at  Wem,  a  village  near  Shrewsbury,  where  he  was  stay- 
ing for  a  few  days  with  the  Hazlitts.  He  accepted 
the  proposal  at  once.  Hazlitt's  account  *  says  : 

When  I  came  down  to  breakfast,  I  found  that  he  had  just 
received  a  letter  from  his  friend  T.  Wedgwood,  making  him  an 
offer  of  £150  a  year  if  he  chose  to  waive  his  present  pursuit, 
and  devote  himself  entirely  to  the  study  of  poetry  and  philosophy. 
Coleridge  seemed  to  make  up  his  mind  to  close  with  this  pro- 
posal in  the  act  of  tying  on  one  of  his  shoes. 

The  letter  conveying  the  acceptance  is  apparently 
not  now  extant ;  that  it  expressed  his  deep  gratitude 
may  be  safely  inferred  from  his  allusions  to  the 
brothers7  generosity  in  other  letters  and  at  other  times. 
"  You  know,  of  course,"  he  writes  to  Wordsworth, 
"  that  I  have  accepted  the  magnificent  liberality  of 
Josiah  and  Thomas  Wedgwood."  And  to  Thelwall 
(January  30,  1798),  he  says:  "Astonished,  agitated, 
and  feeling  as  I  could  not  help  feeling,  I  accepted  the 
offer  in  the  same  worthy  spirit,  I  hope,  in  which  it  was 
made."  (Letters  of  S.  T.  C,  pp.  234,  235.) 


Josiah  mentions  as  "  received  yesterday."  Poole's  letter  to  Coleridge 
sending  him  a  copy  of  Josiah's  (also  printed  by  Mrs.  Sandford)  is 
curiously  argumentative,  as  if  he  were  afraid  Coleridge  would  decline 
the  offer. 

*  First  published  in  1817  by  Hazlitt  in  the  Examiner  and  reprinted 
by  him  with  additions  more  than  once.  The  whole  story  evidently 
made  a  deep  impression  on  him,  so  that  his  recollections  were 
probably  accurate,  notwithstanding  the  lapse  of  twenty  years. 


58  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

The  following  letter  has  more  than  once  been  printed 
as  being  that  conveying  the  acceptance.  This  it  was 
not,  but  a  reply  to  a  note  from  Tom  Wedgwood 
asking  him  to  come  at  once  to  Cote  House,  whither, 
no  doubt,  Tom  was  then  going  from  Penzance.  The 
"Friday  night  "  must  have  been  January  26,  1798.* 

S.  'T.  Coleridge  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

Friday  night, 

Twelve  o'clock. 
MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

I  have  this  moment  received  your  letter,  and  have  scarcely 
more  than  a  moment  to  answer  it  by  return  of  post.  If  kindly 
feelings  can  be  repaid  by  kindly  feelings,  I  am  not  your  debtor. 
I  would  wish  to  express  the  something  that  is  big  at  my  heart, 
but  I  know  not  how  to  do  it  without  indelicacy.  As  much  ab- 
stracted from  personal  feelings,  as  is  possible,  I  honour  and  esteem 
you  for  that  which  you  have  done.  I  must,  of  necessity,  stay  here 
till  the  close  of  Sunday  next.  On  Monday  morning  I  shall 
leave  it,  and  on  Tuesday  will  be  with  you  at  Cote  House. 
Very  affectionately  yours, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 
Shrewsbury. 

The  letter  making  the  offer  of  the  annuity  was 
written,  it  will  be  seen,  by  Josiah  Wedgwood,  but  this, 
as  the  first  words  show,  was  an  accident.  I  think  it  is 


*  (See  T.  P.,  i.  261,  and  Dykes  Campbell,  p.  84.)  This  point 
of  detail  would  be  of  no  consequence  if  Coleridge's  hasty  note  had 
not  been  wrongly  read  as  representing  his  feelings  on  receiving  the 
offer  of  the  annuity.  Cottle's  print  of  the  letter  is,  as  usual,  inaccu- 
rate in  several  places.  The  original  is  at  Leith  Hill  Place. 


POOLE   AND   COLERIDGE  59 

certain  that  the  act  was  due  to  Tom's  initiative.  Sub- 
sequent correspondence  shows  that  Coleridge  was  much 
less  intimate  with  Josiah  than  with  his  brother,  and 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  was  the  impression 
which  Tom  took  away  from  those  autumn  days  at 
Stowey  and  Alfoxden  that  impelled  him  to  come  to 
Coleridge's  assistance  at  the  critical  moment  of  the 
Shrewsbury  candidature.  It  was  in  the  preceding 
summer  that  he  had  promised  the  annuity  to  Leslie. 
In  that  Josiah  had  no  share ;  but  there  was  the  closest 
possible  union  between  the  brothers,  and  we  may  easily 
suppose  that  he  would  be  anxious  to  take  his  part  in 
this  new  exercise  of  a  wise  generosity. 

Wordsworth  called  it  an  act  of  "  unexampled 
liberality,"  and  this  it  probably  was.  There  have  been, 
of  course,  in  all  times  "  patrons"  of  poets  and  men  of 
genius.  But  this  act  had  nothing  of  patronage  in  it, 
nor  anything  savouring  of  selfishness.  It  sprang  from 
the  same  kind  of  impulse  as  prompted  that  memorable 
legacy  of  ^900  left  by  the  dying  Raisley  Calvert  to 
Wordsworth,  upon  which  little  sum,  with  a  few  slight 
windfalls,  he  and  his  sister  managed  to  live  during 
those  seven  or  eight  years  at  Alfoxden  and  Dove 
Cottage  which  gave  to  the  world  the  most  imperish- 
able of  his  poems.  The  history  of  the  world,  perhaps, 
could  show  no  case  of  a  little  money  better  used  than 
that.  The  act  differed  from  the  Wedgwoods'  only  in 
being  a  bequest  while  theirs  was  an  immediate  gift. 
But  whether  "  unexampled  "  or  not,  their  liberality  was 
of  a  rare  kind.^  The  brothers  were  acting  out,  in  a 


*  The  nearest  parallel  to  it  which  I  can  remember,  is  that  of  the 


60  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

very  uncommon  way,  that  high  conception  of  wealth  as 
a  trust  which  is  so  often  heard  of  but  so  seldom  trans- 
lated into  deeds.  How  far  the  annuity  worked  for  the 
good  of  Coleridge,  or  for  the  benefit  of  the  world, 
except  as  a  fine  example  of  public  spirit,  is  a  question 
not  to  be  answered  with  certainty.  No  one  can  be 
sure  that  if  he  had  taken  for  a  time  the  charge  of  the 
Shrewsbury  chapel,  the  pressure  and  stimulus  of  regular 
work  might  not  have  saved  him  from  the  weakness 
which  practically  spoilt  his  life.  One  can  hardly  say 
that  the  relief  from  pressing  money  cares  stimulated 
his  poetic  faculty.  The  "  Ancient  Mariner  "  was  begun 


annuity  secured  to  Beethoven  by  three  Viennese  grandees,  in  order 
to  deliver  him  from  the  necessity  of  teaching  for  a  livelihood,  and 
give  him  the  leisure  to  which  we  owe  the  grandest  of  his  music. 
Their  wise  liberality  has  given  a  secure  immortality  to  the  names 
of  the  Archduke  Rudolph,  Prince  Lobkowitz,  and  Prince  Kinsky  ; 
but  their  act  was  not  clear  of  a  touch  of  selfishness  ;  for  they  did 
it  partly  to  keep  Beethoven  in  Vienna,  fearing  lest  he  might  be 
tempted  by  some  royal  or  noble  music-lover  to  migrate  to  Berlin  or 
elsewhere.  Similarly  the  world  has  reason  to  be  grateful  to  the 
Esterhazys  for  maintaining  Haydn  in  ease  and  plenty  for  many 
years  ;  but  that,  of  course,  was  only  in  a  secondary  sense  an  act  of 
public  spirit,  to  keep  an  orchestra  and  a  composer  as  part  of  a 
princely  establishment  being  in  that  time  and  country  much  the 
same  thing  as  an  English  peer's  keeping  a  pack  of  foxhounds. 

Southey  had,  from  1797  (<zt.  23),  an  annuity  settled  on  him  by 
his  old  schoolfellow  Charles  Wynn,  which  he  insisted  on  relinquishing 
when  Wynn  married,  but  private  friendship  counted  for  much  in 
that  case. 

The  case  of  Auguste  Comte  and  his  English  admirers,  Grote, 
Molesworth,  Mill,  and  Currie,  who  came  to  his  assistance  on  his 
losing  an  official  income,  is  another  example  of  public  spirit.  But 
it  ended  somewhat  uncomfortably,  for  when  the  philosopher  began 
to  claim  payment  of  the  subsidy  as  a  right,  the  donors,  partly  perhaps 
because  they  had  cooled  in  their  estimate  of  his  philosophy,  did 
not  see  their  way  to  continue  it. 


POOLE   AND  COLERIDGE  61 

in  November  1797,  before  the  annuity  was  thought  of, 
and  finished  in  March  1798  ;  the  first  part  of  "  Chris- 
tabel "  was  produced  in  that  same  year  1797.  Save 
the  second  part  of  "  Christabel,"  which  was  completed 
in  1800,  little  of  his  work  after  1797  can  be  said  to  be 
of  substantial  value.^  That  the  "  shaping  spirit  of 
imagination"  which  produced  such  a  marvel  as  the 
"  Ancient  Mariner "  should  have  thus  gone  to  sleep, 
only  to  wake  again  at  rare  moments,  is  one  of  the  sad 
wonders  of  Coleridge's  life.  The  annuity,  however, 
had  one  immediate  result,  the  effects  of  which  were  far- 
reaching.  Coleridge's  stay  in  Germany  was  from 
September  1798  to  June  1799.  It  was  there  that  he 
got  his  knowledge  of  the  language  and  began  to  make 
a  close  acquaintance  with  German  poetry  and  philo- 
sophy. German  literature  was  at  that  time  practically 
unknown  in  England,  though  there  had  been  signs 
here  and  there,  towards  the  end  of  the  century,  that 
we  were  beginning  to  take  note  of  its  existence.  It 
was  Coleridge  who  played  the  leading  part  in  bringing 
German  philosophy  within  the  range  of  English  ideas, 
and  the  residence  in  the  country  which  enabled  him  to 
do  this  was  the  first  result  of  the  annuity. f  The 

*  "Kubla  Khan  was  written  about  April  1798  (D.  C.,  p.  88), 
"Love"  in  1798-99,  "France"  in  February  1798,  "Dejection" 
and  the  "  Chamounix  Sunrise-hymn"  in  1802.  Sara  Coleridge, 
herein  agreeing  with  all  the  world,  calls  1797  her  father's  "  annus 
mirabilis,"  his  "poetical  zenith  "  ("  Biog.  Lit."  ed.  1847,  ii.  421). 

t  Sir  L.  Stephen,  in  the  "  History  of  English  Thought  in  the 
Eighteenth  Century,"  calls  Coleridge  "  the  interpreter  of  Germany 
to  England."  See  also  the  same  writer's  Essay  on  the  "  Importation 
of  German  "  ("  Studies  of  a  Biographer  "),  in  which  he  brings  together 
a  number  of  curious  particulars  as  to  the  first  beginnings  of  the 
study  of  German  literature  and  philosophy  in  England.  "Cole- 


62  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

project  had  been  talked  over,  apparently,  between  him 
and  the  Wordsworths  at  Alfoxden,  and  it  took  shape 
almost  immediately  after  they  gave  up  that  abode  at 
Midsummer  1798.  By  September  they  and  Coleridge 
were  on  their  way  to  Hamburg,  he  leaving  his  wife  and 
child  at  Stowey.  The  route  they  took,  by  Gottingen, 
Goslar,  and  the  Hartz  Mountains,  was  exactly  that 
which  Tom  Wedgwood  had  followed  with  Leslie  a  year 
and  a  half  earlier.  This  was  probably  more  than  a 
coincidence.  We  may  suppose  the  whole  scheme  to 
have  been  planned  at  Alfoxden,  where  Wedgwood 
would  naturally  have  talked  about  his  travels  of  the 
preceding  year  in  the  country  the  three  friends  were 
about  to  visit.  In  any  case  it  was  the  annuity  which 
made  the  journey  possible  to  Coleridge.5*  His  meeting 
with  Tom  Wedgwood  was  the  turning-point  of  his 
life. 

He  was  then  twenty-five,  and  had  yet  thirty-seven 
years  to  live.  During  many  of  these  years  he  was 
under  the  bondage  of  the  opium-slavery,  which  so 
nearly  wrecked  his  life.  But  from  this  he  was  to  re- 
cover, as  we  all  know,  and  to  such  effect  that  one  of 


ridge,"  he  says,  "  must  be  regarded  as  the  main  channel  through 
which  German  philosophy  began  to  influence  Englishmen." 

*  It  has  been  stated  that  the  Wedgwoods  supplied  the  funds  for 
Coleridge's  journey,  besides  giving  him  the  annuity  :  but  I  know  of 
nothing  to  show  that  they  did  this.  Professor  Knight  ("  Life  of 
Wordsworth,"  vol.  i.)  seems  to  think  that  they  also  defrayed  part 
of  the  Wordsworths'  expenses,  but  I  think  any  help  they  gave  him 
was  only  by  way  of  loan,  and  by  enabling  him  to  get  his  drafts 
cashed  through  their  German  correspondents.  A  letter  of  Josiah 
(February  5,  1799)  mentions  drawings  of  this  kind,  and  in  another 
letter  (July  31,  1800)  he  alludes  to  the  repayment  of  an  advance 
of  £  100  which  he  made  to  Wordsworth  for  the  tour. 


POOLE   AND   COLERIDGE  63 

the  greatest  thinkers  of  the  succeeding  generation,  one 
whose  words  were  as  oracles  to  the  English  youth  of 
his  time,  could  speak  of  him  as  "  one  of  the  two 
seminal  minds  of  the  century."  Thus  wrote  John 
Stuart  Mill  in  1840,  coupling  him  with  Bentham — a 
curious  collocation,  but  one  that  shows,  at  least,  the 
breadth  of  view  on  which  the  judgment  was  founded. 
If  Coleridge's  far-reaching  influence  on  many  of  the 
finest  minds  of  the  next  generations  has  tended  to  the 
benefit  of  the  world,  we  may  well  "  count  it  for  right- 
eousness "  to  Tom  Wedgwood  that  he  had  the  insight 
to  discern,  in  the  unknown  young  man  of  twenty-five, 
during  these  five  days  at  Stowey  and  Alfoxden,  a  rare 
and  original  genius,  and  that  when  the  opportunity 
came  he  did  what  he  could  to  set  that  genius  free  for 
doing  the  highest  service  to  the  world.  How  it  was 
that  such  a  life  as  Coleridge's,  made  up  of  visionary 
schemings,  with  only  fitful  intervals  of  fragmentary 
effort,  and  with  hardly  any  accomplished  result  save 
the  few  pages  of  poetry  which  have  enshrined  him 
among  the  immortals,  should  have  left  such  an  influ- 
ence behind  it,  is  a  standing  wonder.  His  earlier  and 
his  later  life  seem  like  the  lives  of  two  different  men. 
Any  attempt  to  estimate  the  extent  of  that  influence 
would  be  here  out  of  place.  I  may  perhaps  recall 
one  example  which  to  myself  has  always  been  a  con- 
vincing proof  of  its  reality  and  power,  the  life  and 
work  of  Frederick  Denison  Maurice.  The  aims  and 
beliefs  of  that  "  spiritual  splendour  "  (as  Gladstone 
called  him,  quoting  Dante's  description  of  St.  Dominic 
in  the  Taradiso\  whose  mind  and  character  became,  in 
their  turn,  a  living  and  inspiring  influence  still  felt  in 


64  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

various  spheres    of   English    life,  were  a  direct   out- 
come of  Coleridge's  teaching.^ 


*  Whatever  may  be  the  true  view  of  Coleridge's  teaching  we 
need  not,  I  think,  take  any  serious  account  of  Carlyle's  famous 
caricature  of  him  in  the  "  Life  of  Sterling."  ("  Coleridge  sat  on 
the  top  of  Highgate  Hill,"  &c.)  That  I  prefer  to  think  of  as  merely 
a  piece  of  picturesque  satire,  thrown  in  for  the  sake  of  literary 
effect,  and  a  good  example  of  the  rule  that  in  writing  history  the 
picturesque  is  the  deadly  enemy  of  the  true.  This,  perhaps,  was 
what  Jowett  chiefly  meant  when  he  wrote  of  Carlyle  as  "  a  man 
totally  regardless  of  truth."  He  certainly  had  in  him,  with  all  his 
virtues,  a  strain  of  churlish  jealousy  which  made  him  incapable  of 
heartily  admiring  genius  in  a  contemporary.  A  man  who  was 
always  talking  of  the  "eternal  verities,"  and  yet  never  told  the 
world  how  much  he  himself  believed  of  any  known  creed,  should 
not  have  scoffed  at  another  man's  religion  as  "  Coleridgean  moon- 
shine." "  Coleridge  was  not,"  says  Carlyle,  "without  what  talkers 
call  wit"  !  Did  ever  a  sneer  go  more  hopelessly  wide  of  the  mark  ? 
But  perhaps  what  looks  like  malice  may  have  only  been  dyspepsia. 


CHAPTER  VI 

WANDERINGS— SETTLEMENT   IN   DORSETSHIRE 
1798 — 1800 

IN  the  winter  of  1797-98,  Tom  Wedgwood,  as  we 
have  seen,  was  at  Penzance  with  his  brother,  making 
one  of  his  many  experiments  on  change  of  climate  as  a 
means  of  combating  his  disease.  During  the  latter  part 
of  1798,  Josiah's  house  at  Stoke  d'Abernon  in  Surrey 
was  apparently  his  temporary  home,  and  here  we  find 
Coleridge  visiting  them  shortly  before  his  departure 
for  Germany.  Writing  hence  to  Poole  (in  June),  he 
says  : 

The  Wedgwoods  received  me  with  joy  and  affection.  I 
have  been  metaphysicizing  so  long  and  so  closely  with  T.  W. 
that  I  am  a  caput  mortuum^  mere  lees  and  residuum.  .  .  .  This 
place  is  a  noble,  large  house  in  a  rich,  pleasant  country  ;  but 
the  little  toe  of  Quantock  is  better  than  the  head  and  shoulders 
of  Surrey  and  Middlesex.* 

During  a  great  part  of  these  two  years  (1798-99) 
the  brothers  were  making  journeys  and  inquiries  in 
various  parts  of  the  South  of  England,  trying  to  find 
an  estate  which  they  could  make  their  permanent 
home.  In  this  search  Poole  joined  very  zealously,  and 

*  T.  P.,  i.  271. 


66  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

at  one  time  they  were  on  the  point  of  settling  near 
Taunton,  in  his  immediate  neighbourhood.  They  had 
nearly  purchased  an  attractive  estate  there,  and  were 
planning  to  get  an  abode  in  the  same  country  for  their 
mother  and  sisters.  This  project,  however,  broke  down, 
another  purchaser  having  anticipated  them.  Poole  had 
set  his  heart  upon  securing  them  as  life-long  neigh- 
bours, and  his  disappointment  at  this  failure  was  intense. 
Here  is  his  letter  announcing  it : 

2".  Poole  to  T.  Wedgwood 

TAUNTON, 

Wednesday  (Feb.  1799). 

This  morning  I  got  to  Combe  Florey,  and  was  too  much 
sickened  with  the  intelligence  I  heard  to  proceed  upon  the 
business  I  was  upon.  I  heard  that  Gwyn  had  actually  yesterday 
sold  Pigott  the  Mansion  House  and  fifty  acres  of  land  and 
Lethbridge  Coomdown  Estate.  To  be  certain  I  came  here 
and  have  seen  Gwyn.  //  is  true.  ...  I  hope  this  disappoint- 
ment is  not  severe  to  you,  but  it  is  indeed  to  me  the  greatest  I 
ever  sustained.  ...  I  will  never  set  my  heart  upon  anything 
again. 

Yours  ever, 

THOMAS  POOLE. 

A  letter  of  Poole  to  Coleridge  brings  in  this  grievous 
disappointment  as  to  the  estate  in  a  curious  way. 
Mrs.  Coleridge  had  just  lost  her  youngest  boy,  the 
baby  Berkeley. 

I  have  advised  her  [writes  Poole  to  Josiah  Wedgwood]  not 
to  inform  Coleridge  of  his  death.  For  he  indulges  in  such 
tumultuous  feelings  upon  every  possible  occasion  where  his 
wife  and  children  are  concerned,  and  his  untired  imagination 


WANDERINGS  67 

is  so  active  in  conjuring  up  every  possible  scene  of  distress 
which  could  have  occurred  to  them,  that  I  am  persuaded  the 
knowledge  of  this  event  would  either  hurry  him  home,  or  at 
least  prevent  for  a  long  time  his  exerting  himself  to  any 
advantage. 

Poole  accordingly  writes  himself  to  Coleridge  to  tell 
him  the  sad  news  in  a  judicious  fashion.  After  detail- 
ing the  circumstances  of  the  baby's  death,  he  launches 
into  an  argument  to  the  effect  that  as  a  parent's  love  of 
an  infant  is  not  "  a  thing  of  reason,"  but  only  "  a  wise 
law  of  nature/'  "  a  mere  instinct,  destined  to  preserve 
man  in  his  infant  state,"  such  a  death  ought  not  to  be 
a  serious  grief  to  the  parent. 

Let  your  mind  act  [he  says]  not  your  feelings.  .  .  .  Mrs. 
Coleridge  is  now  perfectly  well,  and  does  not  make  herself 
miserable  by  recalling  the  engaging,  though,  remember,  mere 
instinctive  "attractions"  of  an  infant  a  few  months  old. 
Heaven  and  Earth  !  I  have  myself  experienced  disappoint- 
ments more  weighty  than  the  death  of  ten  infants.  There  are 
two  particular  friends  of  mine  who  offered,  ten  days  ago, 
£22,000  for  a  delightful  estate  within  seven  miles  of  Stowey. 
But  for  an  untoward  circumstance,  they  would  have  had  it.  ... 
The  loss  to  the  neighbourhood  is  incalculable.  .  .  .* 

This  odd  outburst  is  not  in  keeping  with  Poole's 
undeniable  kindness  of  heart,  and  it  betokens  a  strange 
lack  of  imagination.  But  it  also  shows  the  warmth  of 
his  attachment  to  the  Wedgwoods.  His  letters,  of 
which  many  remain,  show  that  no  man  can  have  had  a 
truer  friend  than  Tom  Wedgwood  had  in  him.  Many 
were  evidently  written  with  no  other  purpose  than  to 

*  Letter  of  March  15,  1799.     T.  P.,  i.  290. 


68  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

put  a  little  hope  and  brightness  into  the  gloomy  life 
of  the  poor,  sick,  broken  man.  With  the  same  object 
he  was  always  ready  to  go  to  him,  to  be  his  com- 
panion in  travel  or  to  welcome  him  to  Stowey — and 
a  most  burdensome  guest  he  must  have  been — when- 
ever it  seemed  likely  that  a  change  of  surroundings 
would  help  to  mitigate  his  troubles.  It  was  a  quite 
brotherly  devotion. 

When  Coleridge's  stay  in  Germany  was  drawing  to 
a  close,  Josiah  had  from  him  the  following  letter : 

S.  <T.  Coleridge  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

GOTTINGEN, 

May  21,  1799. 
MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

I  have  lying  by  my  side  six  huge  letters,  with  your  name  on 
each  of  them,  and  all  excepting  one  have  been  written  for 
these  three  months.  About  this  time  Mr.  Hamilton,  by  whom 
I  send  this  and  the  little  parcel  for  my  wife,  was,  as  it  were, 
setting  off  for  England ;  and  I  seized  the  opportunity  of  sending 
them  by  him,  as  without  any  mock-modesty  I  really  thought 
that  the  expense  of  the  Postage  to  me  and  to  you  would  be 
more  than  their  worth.  Day  after  day,  and  week  after  week, 
was  Hamilton  going,  and  still  delayed;  and  now  that  it  is 
absolutely  settled  that  he  goes  to-morrow,  it  is  likewise  abso- 
lutely settled  that  I  shall  go  this  day  three  weeks,  and  I  have 
therefore  sent  only  this  and  the  Picture  by  him,  but  the  letters 
I  will  now  take  myself,  for  I  should  not  like  them  to  be  lost, 
as  they  comprise  the  only  subject  on  which  I  have  had  any 
opportunity  of  making  myself  thoroughly  informed,  and  if  I 
carry  them  myself,  I  can  carry  them  without  danger  of  their 
being  seized  at  Yarmouth,  as  all  my  letters  were,  yours  to  the 
Von  Axens,  &c.,  excepted,  which  were  luckily  not  sealed. 
Before  left  England,  I  had  read  the  Book  of  which  you 


COLERIDGE   IN   GERMANY  69 

speak.*  I  must  confess  that  it  appeared  to  me  exceedingly 
illogical.  Godwin's  and  Condorcet's  extravagancies  were  not 
worth  confuting;  and  yet  I  thought  that  the  Essay  on  Popula- 
tion had  not  confuted  them.  Professor  Wallace,  Derham,  and 
a  number  of  German  Statistic  and  Physico-theological  writers 
had  taken  the  same  ground,  namely,  that  Population  increases 
in  a  geometrical  but  the  accessional  nutriment  only  in  an 
arithmetical  ratio  ;  and  that  vice  and  misery,  the  natural  con- 
sequences of  this  order  of  things,  were  intended  by  Providence 
as  the  Counterpoise.  I  have  here  no  means  of  procuring  so 
obscure  a  book  as  Rudgard's ;  but  to  the  best  of  my  recollection, 
at  the  time  that  the  Fifth  Monarchy  enthusiasts  created  so 
great  a  sensation  in  England,  under  the  Protectorate  and  the 
beginning  of  Charles  the  Second's  reign,  Rudgard  or  Rutgard 
(I  am  not  positive  even  of  the  name)  wrote  an  Essay  to  the 
same  purpose  ;  in  which  he  asserted,  that  if  War,  Pestilence, 
Vice,  and  Poverty  were  wholly  removed,  the  World  could  not 
exist  two  hundred  years,  &c.  Stissmilch,  in  his  great  work 
concerning  the  divine  order  and  regularity  in  the  Destiny  of 
the  human  Race  has  a  chapter  entitled  a  confutation  of  this 
idea  ;  I  read  it  with  great  eagerness,  and  found  therein  that  this 
idea  militated  against  the  Glory  and  Goodness  of  God,  and 
must  therefore  be  false,  but  further  confutation  found  I  none  ! 
This  book  of  Sussmilch's  has  a  prodigious  character  throughout 
Germany  ;  and  never  methinks  did  a  Work  less  deserve  it.  It 
is  in  3  huge  octavos,  and  wholly  on  the  general  Laws  that 
regulate  the  Population  of  the  human  species  ;  but  is  throughout 
most  unphilosophical,  and  the  tables,  which  he  has  collected 
with  great  Industry,  proved  nothing.  My  objections  to  the 
Essay  on  Population  you  will  find  in  my  sixth  letter  at  large ; 
but  do  not,  my  dear  sir,  suppose  that  because  unconvinced  by 
this  Essay,  I  am  therefore  convinced  of  the  contrary.  No, 
God  knows  I  am  sufficiently  sceptical,  and  in  truth  more  than 
sceptical,  concerning  the  possibility  of  universal  Plenty  and 

*  Malthus's  "  Essay  on  the  Principle  of  Population  "  was  published 
(anonymously)  in  1798. 


yo  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Wisdom  ;  but  my  doubts  rest  on  other  grounds.  I  had  some 
conversation  with  you  before  I  left  England  on  this  subject ; 
and  from  that  time  I  had  proposed  to  myself  to  examine  as 
thoroughly  as  it  was  possible  for  me  the  important  question, 
Is  the  march  of  the  Human  Race  progressive,  or  in  cycles  ? 
But  more  of  this  when  we  meet. 

What  have  I  done  in  Germany  ?  I  have  learned  the  lan- 
guage, both  high  and  low  German  ;  I  can  read  both,  and  speak 
the  former  so  fluently,  that  it  must  be  a  torture  for  a  German 
to  be  in  my  company — that  is,  I  have  words  enough  and 
phrases  enough,  and  I  arrange  them  tolerably ;  but  my  pronuncia- 
tion is  hideous.  2ndly,  I  can  read  the  oldest  German,  the 
Prankish,  and  the  Swabian.  3rdly,  I  have  attended  the 
lectures  on  Physiology,  Anatomy,  and  Natural  History,  with 
regularity,  and  have  endeavoured  to  understand  these  subjects. 
4thly,  I  have  read  and  made  collections  for  a  History  of  the 
Belles  Lettres  in  Germany  before  the  time  of  Lessing  ;  and 
5thly,  very  large  collections  for  a  Life  of  Lessing,  to  which  I 
was  led  by  the  miserably  bad  and  unsatisfactory  Biographies 
that  have  been  hitherto  given,  and  by  my  personal  acquaintance 
with  two  of  Lessing's  Friends.  Soon  after  I  came  into 
Germany,  I  made  up  my  mind  fully  not  to  publish  anything 
concerning  my  Travels,  as  people  call  them ;  yet  I  soon  per- 
ceived that  with  all  possible  economy  my  expenses  would  be 
greater  than  I  could  justify,  unless  I  did  something  that  would 
to  a  moral  certainty  repay  them.  I  chose  the  Life  of  Lessing 
for  the  reasons  above  assigned,  and  because  it  would  give  me 
an  opportunity  of  conveying,  under  a  better  name  than  my  own 
ever  will  be,  opinions  *  which  I  deem  of  the  highest  importance. 
Accordingly  my  main  business  at  Gottingen  has  been  to  read 
all  the  numerous  Controversies  in  which  L.  was  engaged; 
and  the  works  of  all  those  German  Poets  before  the  time  of 
Lessing,  which  I  could  not  or  could  not  afford  to  buy.  For 
these  last  four  months,  with  the  exception  of  last  week,  in 

*  Here  he  wrote,  apparently,  and  then  struck  out,  the  words  "  on' 
History  and  Metaphysics." 


COLERIDGE   IN   GERMANY  71 

which  I  visited  the  Hartz,  I  have  worked  harder  than,  I  trust 
in  God  Almighty,  I  shall  ever  have  occasion  to  work  again  ; 
this  endless  transcription  is  such  a  body-and-soul-wearying 
Purgatory.  I  shall  have  bought  thirty  pounds  worth  of  books, 
chiefly  metaphysics,  and  with  a  view  to  the  one  work  to  which 
I  hope  to  dedicate  in  silence  the  prime  of  my  life  ;  but  I  believe 
and  indeed  doubt  not,  that  before  Christmas  I  shall  have 
repayed  myself;  but  before  that  time  I  shall  have  been  under 
the  necessity  of  requesting  your  permission  that  I  may  during 
the  year  anticipate  for  40  or  fifty  pound.  I  have  hitherto 
drawn  on  you  for  35  &  30  &  30  &  30  =  125^.  Of  this  sum 
I  left  about  32  or  33  pounds  in  your  hands,  of  Mr.  Chester's, 
when  I  left  England,  and  Chester  has  since  desired  his  brother 
to  transmit  25^,  and  again  in  his  last  letter  30.^.  Wordsworth 
has  promised  me  that  he  will  pay  into  your  hands  4^  for  me, 
33  &  25  &  30  &  4  =  92^.  Hitherto,  therefore,  I  have  drawn 
as  it  were  about  33  or  34  pound,  but  this  week,  to  pay  both  our 
Gottingen  Bills,  and  our  journey  to  England,  I  must  draw  for 
jo£.  So  that  altogether  I  shall  have  in  this  year  drawn  for 
103  pound. 

I  never,  to  the  best  of  my  recollections,  felt  the  fear  of  Death 
but  once  ;  that  was  yesterday  when  I  delivered  the  picture  to 
Hamilton.  I  felt,  and  shivered  as  I  felt  it,  that  I  should  not 
like  to  die  by  land  or  water  before  I  see  my  wife  and  the  little 
one  that  I  hope  yet  remains  to  me.  But  it  was  an  idle  sort  of 
feeling,  and  I  should  not  like  to  have  it  again.  Poole  half 
mentioned,  in  a  hasty  way,  a  circumstance  that  depressed  my 
spirits  for  many  days,  that  you  and  Thomas  were  on  the  point 
of  settling  near  Stowey,  but  had  abandoned  it.  "  God  Al- 
mighty !  what  a  dream  of  happiness  it  held  out  to  me  !  "  writes 
Poole.  7  felt  disappointment  without  having  had  hope  ! 

In  about  a  month  I  hope  to  see  you.  Till  then  may  heaven 
bless  and  preserve  us  !  Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  with  every 
feeling  of  love,  esteem,  and  gratitude, 

Your  affectionate  Friend, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


72  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

The  object  of  this  letter  was  evidently  to  satisfy  the 
natural  wish  of  the  brothers  to  hear  what  Coleridge  was 
doing.  They  would  not  understand  as  well  as  we  do 
how  little,  alas !  was  signified  by  the  large  literary  pro- 
jects he  tells  them  of.  Neither  the  JLessing  biography, 
as  we  know,  nor  the  pre-Lessing  history  of  Belles 
Lettres,  came  to  anything.  One  is  half  inclined  to 
wonder  whether  the  "  six  huge  letters,"  which  had 
waited  so  mysteriously  three  months  for  a  means  of 
conveyance,  ever  had  any  objective  existence.  If  they 
ever  reached  Josiah's  hands  it  seems  strange  that  they 
should  not  be  found  with  other  letters  of  Coleridge 
carefully  kept  by  him. 


In  August  1799  the  brothers'  long  hunt  for  a  place 
of  abode  was  ended  by  their  hearing  of  what  seemed  a 
suitable  property  in  Dorsetshire,  a  house  with  an  estate 
of  moderate  size  round  it,  which  Josiah  soon  agreed  to 
take.  This  was  Gunville  House  (or  Park)  at  Tarrant 
Gunville,  some  five  or  six  miles  from  Blandford. 
Josiah's  plan  was  to  live  here  during  most  of  each  year, 
migrating  to  Staffordshire  for  about  three  months  every 
summer,  in  order  to  look  after  the  works  at  Etruria. 
A  year  later  Tom  bought  the  Eastbury  estate,  a  pro- 
perty separated  only  by  a  road  from  Gunville,  and  here 
soon  afterwards  his  mother  and  sisters  joined  him. 
The  place  was  remote  from  any  considerable  town,  the 
nearest  being  Salisbury,  about  seventeen  miles  away. 
One  may  judge  from  the  present  old-world  look  of  the 
little  village  how  utterly  rural  must  have  been  its 
aspect  in  1800.  The  house  at  Eastbury  Park  was  (and 


COLERIDGE—  LIFE   IN    LONDON     73 

is)  a  singular  one,  being  but  a  remnant  of  a  magnificent 
mansion  built  by  Vanbrugh,  about  1718,  for  Bubb 
Dodington,  at  a  cost,  it  is  said,  of  about  £150,000. 
Earl  Temple,  who  inherited  the  estate,  found  the  vast 
building  a  burdensome  possession.  He  offered  to  pay 
any  gentleman  £200  a  year  to  inhabit  it,  and  when  this 
failed  to  secure  a  tenant,  he  took  it  down,  selling  it 
piecemeal,  all  but  one  wing.  This  was  done  about 


Josiah's  life  at  Gunville  became  that  of  a  country 
gentleman.  He  hunted,  shot,  did  his  share  of  county 
business,  and  became  deeply  interested  in  improving  his 
breed  of  sheep.  * 

This  would  have  been  a  happy  family  settlement  but 
for  the  gloom  thrown  over  it  by  Tom's  sad  condition 
of  health.  He  had  long  given  up  all  serious  work, 
and  his  life  was  devoted  to  the  wearying  struggle  to 
get  the  better  of  his  disease.  The  "  warm-room  cure  " 
had  had  no  good  result  ;  but  cold,  apparently,  was  his 
great  enemy,  and  we  now  find  him  busy  with  the  pro- 
blem how  to  adapt  a  part  of  Gunville  House  to  carry- 
ing out  some  regime  ,  of  the  same  kind.  Herein  he 
sought  the  aid  of  his  and  his  father's  old  friend,  James 
Watt,  who  had  already  been  the  deviser  of  the  appa- 
ratus for  generating  Beddoes'  medicinal  "  airs."  How 
eager  the  great  engineer  was  to  help  him  is  shown  by 

*  Tom  Wedgwood's  educational  theories  (p.  208)  absolutely 
ignored  any  such  thing  as  inheritance  or  congenital  character.  And 
yet  he  must  have  seen  his  brother  taking  vast  pains  to  get  rams  or 
the  right  sort.  Strange  that  this  object-lesson  never,  apparently, 
led  him  to  question  the  omnipotence  of  education,  a  theory  which 
seems  to  assume  that  all  human  infants  are  born  with  substantially 
the  same  character  ! 


74  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

five  or  six  very  long  letters,  in  which  Watt  describes, 
with  careful  drawings  by  his  own  hand,  various  elabo- 
rate appliances,  special  grates,  window  fittings,  and 
ventilating  contrivances,  which  he  thinks  will  suit 
Wedgwood's  purpose.  But  Gunville  is  not  yet  in  a 
condition  fit  for  an  invalid's  occupation,  and  in  the 
beginning  of  1 800  Tom  is  planning  a  voyage  to  the 
West  Indies,  hoping  that  a  year  of  tropical  heat  may  do 
something  for  him. 

The  following  two  letters  from  Coleridge  are  of  this 
time.  The  first  gives  an  idea  of  his  life  in  London, 
where  he  is  writing  for  the  Morning  Post,  and  of  his 
various  shadowy  literary  projects.  The  other  answers 
a  letter  from  Josiah  about  the  West  India  scheme. 

S.  'T.  Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

No.  2  I  BUCKINGHAM  STREET,  STRAND. 

[Jan.]  1800. 

[Address  :  CORNWALLIS  HOUSE,  CLIFTON,  BRISTOL.] 
MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

I  am  sitting  by  a  fire  in  a  rug  great  coat.  Your  room  is 
doubtless  to  a  greater  degree  air-tight  than  mine,  or  your  notion 
of  Tartarus  would  veer  round  to  the  Greenlander's  creed.  It 
is  most  barbarously  cold,  and  you,  I  fear,  can  shield  yourself 
from  it  only  by  perpetual  imprisonment.  If  any  place  in  the 
southern  Climates  were  in  a  state  of  real  quiet,  and  likely  to 
continue  so,  should  you  feel  no  inclination  to  migrate  ?  Poor 
Southey,  from  over  great  industry  as  I  suspect,  the  Industry,  too> 
of  a  solitary  Composition,  has  reduced  himself  to  a  terrible  state 
of  weakness,  and  is  determined  to  leave  this  Country  as  soon  as 
he  has  finished  the  poem  on  which  he  is  now  employed.  'Tis 


COLERIDGE'S   LIFE   IN   LONDON     75 

a  melancholy  thing — so  young  a  man,  and  one  whose  life  has 
ever  been  so  simple  and  self-denying  !  Oh,  for  Peace,  and 
the  south  of  France  !  I  could  almost  wish  fora  Bourbon  king, 
if  it  were  only  that  Sieyes  and  Buonaparte  might  finish  their 
career  in  the  old  orthodox  way  of  Hanging.  Thank  God,  I 
have  my  health  perfectly  and  I  am  working  hard  ;  yet  the  present 
state  of  human  affairs  presses  on  me  for  days  together,  so  as  to 
deprive  me  of  all  my  chearfulness.  It  is  probable  that  a  man's 
private  and  personal  connections  and  interests  ought  to  be  upper- 
most in  his  daily  and  hourly  Thoughts,  and  that  the  dedication 
of  much  hope  and  fear  to  subjects  which  are  perhaps  dispro- 
portionate to  our  faculties  and  power  is  a  disease.  But  I  have 
had  this  disease  so  long,  and  my  early  Education  was  so  undo- 
mestic,  that  I  know  not  how  to  get  rid  of  it  ;  or  even  to  wish 
to  get  rid  of  it.  Life  was  so  flat  a  thing  without  enthusiasm, 
that  if  fora  moment  it  leaves  me,  I  have  a  sort  of  a  stomach- 
sensation  attached  to  all  my  Thoughts,  like  those  which  succeed 
to  the  pleasurable  operation  of  a  dose  of  opium.  Now  I  make 
up  my  mind  to  a  sort  of  heroism  in  believing  the  progressiveness 
of  all  nature,  during  the  present  melancholy  state  of  Humanity; 
and  on  this  subject  I  am  now  writing  ;  and  no  work  on  which 
I  ever  employed  myself  makes  me  so  happy  while  I  am  writing. 
I  shall  remain  in  London  till  April.  \The  expences  of  my 
last  year  made  it  necessary  for  me  to  exert  my  industry  ;  ana 
many  other  good  ends  are  answered  at  the  same  time.  Where 
I  next  settle  I  shall  continue,  and  that  must  be  in  a  state  o 
retirement  and  rustication.  It  is  therefore  good  for  me  to  have 
a  run  of  society,  and  that  various,  and  consisting  of  marked 
characters.  Likewise  by  being  obliged  to  write  without  much 
elaboration  I  shall  greatly  improve  myself  in  naturalness  and 
facility  of  style  ;  and  the  particular  subjects  on  which  I  write 
for  money  are  nearly  connected  with  my  future  schemes.  My 
mornings  I  give  to  compilations,  which  I  am  sure  cannot  be 
wholly  useless,  and  for  which  by  the  beginning  of  April  I  shall 
have  earned  nearly  an  150^;  my  evenings  to  the  Theatres,as  I  am 
to  conduct  a  sort  of  Dramaturgy  or  series  of  Essays  on  the 


76  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Drama  ;  both  its  general  principles,  and  likewise  in  reference 
to  the  present  state  of  the  English  Theatres.  This  I  shall 
publish  in  the  Morning  Tost.  The  attendance  on  the  Theatres 
costs  me  nothing,  and  Stuart,  the  Editor,  covers  my  expences  in 
London.  Two  mornings  and  one  whole  day,  I  dedicate  to  the 
Essay  on  the  possible  Progressiveness  of  man  and  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  Population.  In  April  I  retire  to  my  greater  work, 
The  Life  of  Lessing.  My  German  chests  are  arrived,  but  I 
have  them  not  yet,  but  expect  them  from  Stowey  daily  ;  when 
they  come  I  shall  send  a  little  pacquet  down  to  you.; 

To  pay  my  wife's  travelling  expences  in  London  I  borrowed 
29j£  from  my  friend  Purkis,  for  which  I  gave  him  an  order  on 
your  Brother,  York  Street,  dating  it  Jan.  5,  1800.  Will  you 
be  kind  enough  to  excuse  my  having  done  this  without  having 
previously  written ;  but  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  I 
shall  have  no  occasion  to  draw  again  till  the  year  1801  ;  and  I 
believe,  that  as  I  now,  [sic]  I  have  not  anticipated  beyond  the 
year,  if  I  have  wholly  anticipated  that.  I  shall  write  to  Jos.  to- 
morrow for  certain. 

I  have  seen  a  good  deal  of  Godwin,  who  has  just  published  a 
novel.  I  like  him  for  thinking  so  well  of  Davy.  He  talks  of 
him  everywhere  as  the  most  extraordinary  human  Being  he  had 
ever  met  with.  I  cannot  say  that,  for  I  know  one  whom  I  feel 
to  be  the  superior,  but  I  never  met  with  so  extraordinary  a 
young  man.  I  have  likewise  dined  with  Home  Tooke.  He  is 
a  clear  headed  old  man,  as  every  man  needs  must  be  who  attends 
to  the  real  import  of  words  ;  but  there  is  a  sort  of  charlatannery 
in  his  manner  that  did  not  please  me.  He  makes  such  a  mystery 
and  difficulty  out  of  plain  and  palpable  things,  and  never  tells 
you  any  thing  without  first  exciting  and  detaining  your  curiosity. 
But  it  were  a  bad  Heart  that  could  not  pardon  worse  faults  than 
these  in  the  author  of  the  Epea  Pteroenta.* 

Believe  me,  my  dear  sir,  with  much  affection, 

Yours, 

S.  T.  C. 

*  Home  Tooke,  ex-clergyman,  radical  politician,  and  philologist, 


COLERIDGE'S   LIFE   IN   LONDON     77 

S.  T.  Coleridge  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

[Address  :  CORNWALLIS  HOUSE,  CLIFTON,  BRISTOL.] 
Tuesday  Morning,  4  Feb.,  1800. 

21  BUCKINGHAM  STREET,  STRAND. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

Your  brother's  health  outweighs  all  other  considerations  ;  and 
beyond  a  doubt  he  has  made  himself  acquainted  with  the  degree 
of  heat  which  he  is  to  experience  there.  The  only  objections 
that  I  see  are  so  obvious,  that  it  is  idle  in  me  to  mention  them  : 
the  total  want  of  men  with  whose  pursuits  your  brother  can 
have  a  fellow  feeling ;  the  length  and  difficulty  of  the  return, 
in  case  of  a  disappointment  ;  and  the  necessity  of  Sea-voyages 
to  almost  every  change  of  Scenery.  I  will  not  think  of  the 
Yellow  Fever ;  that,  I  hope,  is  quite  out  of  all  probability. 
Believe  me,  my  dear  friend,  I  have  some  difficulty  in  suppressing 
all  that  is  within  me  of  affection  and  grief !  God  knows  my 
heart ;  wherever  your  Brother  is,  I  shall  follow  him  in  spirit  ; 
follow  him  with  my  thoughts  and  most  affectionate  wishes. 

I  read  your  Letter,  and  did  as  you  desired  me.  Montagu* 
is  very  cool  to  me.  Whether  I  have  still  any  of  the  leaven  of 
the  citizen  and  visionary  about  me, — too  much  for  his  present 
zeal  ;  or  whether  M.  is  incapable  of  attending  to  more  than 
one  man  at  a  time  ;  or  whether  from  his  dislike  of  my  pressing 
him  to  do  something  for  poor  Wordsworth  ;  or  perhaps  from  all 
these  causes  combined — certain  it  is  that  he  is  shy  of  me.  Of 


(born  1736,  died  1812),  published  his  "  Err  fa  nrepoevra,  or  the 
Diversions  of  Purley,"  an  entertaining  medley  of  Etymology,  Meta- 
physics, and  Politics,  in  the  years  1786-1805. 

*  Basil  Montagu  (b.  1770,  d.  1851),  friend  of  Wordsworth,  Cole- 
ridge, Mackintosh,  and  Godwin,  was  at  this  time  beginning  his  legal 
career.  He  became  known  in  later  life  by  the  edition  of  Bacon 
which  Macaulay  made  the  text  of  his  famous  Essay.  It  was  some 
ten  years  after  this  that  he  was  the  -:ause  of  an  unfortunate  estrange- 
ment between  Wordsworth  and  Coleridge  by  misreporting  something 
Wordsworth  had  said  to  him. 


78  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

course,  I  am  supposed  to  know  but  little  of  him  distinctly  from 
himself;  this  however  in  Montagu's  case  implies  no  loss  of  any 
authentic  source  of  Information.  From  his  friends  I  hear  that 
the  pressure  of  his  immediate  circumstances  increases,  and  that 
(as  how  could  it  be  otherwise,  poor  fellow  !)  he  lives  accumu- 
lating Debts  and  Obligations.  He  leaves  Wordsworth  without 
his  Principal  and  Interest,  which  of  course  he  would  not  do, 
W.'s  daily  bread  and  meat  depending  in  great  part  on  him,  if  he 
were  not  painfully  embarrassed.  Embarrassed  I  should  have 
said  ;  for  Pinny  tells  me  that  he  suffers  no  pain  from  it.  As 
to  his  views,  he  is  now  going  to  Cambridge  to  canvass  for  a  fel- 
lowship in  Trinity  Hall.  Mackintosh  has  kindly  written  to  Dr. 
Lawrence,  who  is  very  intimate  with  the  Master  ;  and  he  has 
other  interest.  He  is  also  trying  hard  for  and  in  expectation  of 
a  Commissionership  of  Bankruptcy,  and  means  to  pursue  the 
Law  with  all  ardour  and  steadiness.  As  to  the  state  of  his  mind 
it  is  that  which  it  was  and  will  be.  God  love  him  !  He  has  a 
most  incurable  Forehead.  John  Pinny  called  on  him  and  look- 
ing on  his  table  saw  by  accident  a  letter  directed  to  himself.  "Why, 
Montagu  !  that  letter  is  for  me,  and  from  Wordsworth  !  " 
"  Yes  !  I  have  had  it  some  time."  "  Why  did  you  not  give  it 
me  ?  "  "  Oh  !  it  wants  some  explanation  first.  You  must  not 
read  it  now,  for  I  can't  give  you  the  explanation  now."  And 
Pinny,  who  you  know  is  a  right  easy-natured  man,  has  not  been 
able  to  get  his  own  Letter  from  him  to  this  Hour  !  Of  his 
success  at  Cambridge  Caldwell  is  doubtful,  or  more  than 
doubtful.  He  says  that  men  at  Cambridge  don't  trust  overmuch 
these  sudden  changes  of  Principle.  And  most  certainly,  there 
is  a  zeal,  an  over  acted  fervour,  a  spirit  of  proselytism  that  dis- 
tinguishes these  men  from  the  manners,  and  divides  them  from 
the  sympathies,  of  the  very  persons  to  whose  party  they  have  gone 
over.  Smoking  hot  from  the  oven  of  conversion  they  don't 
assort  well  with  the  old  Loaves.  So  much  of  Montagu  ;  all  that 
I  know,  and  all,  I  suspect,  that  is  to  be  known.  A  kind,  gentle- 
manly, affectionate-hearted  man,  possessed  of  an  absolute  Talent 
for  Industry  ;  would  to  God  !  he  had  never  heard  of  Philosophy! 


COLERIDGE'S   LIFE   IN   LONDON     79 

I  have  been  three  times  to  the  House  of  Commons  ;  each 
time  earlier  than  the  former  ;  and  each  time  hideously  crowded. 
The  two  first  Days  the  Debate  was  put  off ;  yesterday  I  went 
at  a  quarter  before  8,  and  remained  till  3  this  morning  ;  and 
then  sat  writing,  and  correcting  other  men's  writing  till  8 — a 
good  twenty  four  hours  of  unpleasant  activity  !  I  have  not  felt 
myself  sleepy  yet.  Pitt  and  Fox  completely  answered  my  pre- 
formed ideas  of  them.  The  elegance  and  high  finish  of  Pitt's 
Periods,  even  in  the  most  sudden  replies,  is  curious^  but  that  is 
all.  He  argues  but  so  so,  and  does  not  reason  at  all.  Nothing 
is  rememberable  in  what  he  says.  Fox  possesses  all  the  full  and 
overflowing  Eloquence  of  a  man  of  clear  head,  clean  heart,  and 
impetuous  feelings.  He  is  to  my  mind  a  great  orator  ;  all  the 
rest  that  spoke  were  mere  creatures.  I  could  make  a  better 
speech  myself  than  any  that  I  heard,  except  Pitt's  and  Fox's. 
I  reported  that  part  of  Pitt's  which  I  have  enclosed  in  crotchets, 
not  that  I  report  ex-officio ;  but  curiosity  haying  led  me  there, 
I  did  Stuart  a  service  by  taking  a  few  notesA  I  work  from  morn- 
ing to  night,  but  in  a  few  weeks  I  shall  have  Completed  my  pur- 
pose ;  and  then  adieu  to  London  for  ever  !  We  newspaper 
scribes  are  true  Galley-Slaves.  When  the  high  winds  of  Events 
blow  loud  and  frequent  then  the  Sails  are  hoisted,  or  the  ship 
drives  on  of  itself.  When  all  is  calm  and  Sunshine,  then  to  our 
oars.  Yet  it  is  not  unflattering  to  a  man's  vanity  to  reflect  that 
what  he  writes  at  twelve  at  night  will  before  twelve  hours  is  over 
have  perhaps  5  or  6000  Readers  !  To  trace  a  happy  phrase, 
good  image,  or  new  argument,  running  through  the  town  and 
sliding  into  all  the  papers  !  Few  Wine-merchants  can  boast  of 
creating  more  sensation.  Then  to  hear  a  favourite  and  often- 
urged  argument  repeated  almost  in  your  own  particular  phrases 
in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  and  quietly  in  the  silent  self-com- 
placence of  your  own  heart  chuckle  over  the  plagiarism,  as  if 
you  were  grand  Monopolist  of  all  good  Reasons  !  But  seriously, 
considering  that  I  have  newspapered  it  merely  as  means  of 
subsistence  while  I  was  doing  other  things,  I  have  been  very 
lucky.  The  New  Constitution,  the  Proposals  for  Peace,  the  Irish 


8o  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Union,  &c.  &c. — they  are  important  in  themselves,  and  excellent 
Vehicles  for  general  Truths.  I  am  not  ashamed  of  what  I 
have  written. 

I  desired  Poole  to  send  you  all  the  papers  antecedent  to  your 
own.  I  think  you  will  like  the  different  Analyses  of  the  French 
Constitution.  I  have  attended  Mackintosh  regularly.  He  was 
so  kind  as  to  send  me  a  Ticket,  and  I  have  not  failed  to  profit 
by  it.  What  I  think  of  M.  and  all  I  think  I  will  tell  you  in 
some  future  Letter.  My  affectionate  respects  to  Mrs.  W.  God 
love  you,  my  dear  Sir  ! 

I  remain,  with  grateful  and  most  affectionate  Esteem, 

Your  faithful  Friend, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

It  was  while  Tom  Wedgwood  was  preparing  for  his 
voyage  to  the  West  Indies,  that  he  must  have  been,  as 
we  may  suppose,  startled  by  receiving  from  Leslie  a 
letter  making  a  proposal  for  the  hand  of  one  of  his 
sisters.  It  was  of  quite  prodigious  length,  and  of  course 
a  most  ornate  and  poetical  composition,  one  so  re- 
markable indeed  that  I  am  tempted  to  insert  part  of  it 
here,  as  a  curiosity  of  amatory  literature.  Leslie 
having  left  no  descendants,  we  may  hope  that  no  one's 
feelings  will  be  hurt  by  our  taking  this  liberty  with  a 
century-old  love-story.  We  may  remember  that  his 
first  sight  of  Kitty  and  Sarah  Wedgwood  was  when  he 
came  to  stay  with  the  family  at  Etruria  in  1790. 
When  he  left  it  in  1792,  Sarah,  the  younger,  was  about 
sixteen  years  old.  She  was  now  in  her  twenty-fourth 
year.  He  does  not  mention  the  lady's  name,  but  it  is 
believed  that  Sarah  was  the  adored  one.  The  letter 
begins  without  any  introductory  words. 


LESLIE— A   PROPOSAL  8r 

John  Leslie  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

ISLINGTON, 

10  Feb.,  1800. 

On  the  eve  of  bidding  a  tender  adieu,  may  I  venture  at  last 
to  communicate  a  matter  of  the  most  serious  and  delicate 
nature  ?  Long  has  the  thought  fired  and  tortured  my  brain. 
Often  have  I  been  on  the  point  of  disclosing  it  and  as  often 
have  I  been  restrained  by  timidity  or  a  sense  of  propriety. 
Still  I  hesitate.  Shall  I,  by  one  rash  step,  provoke  your  dis- 
pleasure ?  That  reflection  would  be  the  torment  of  my  life. 
Yet  to  whom  should  I  unbosom  myself  but  to  my  early  and 
tried  friend,  who  has  felt  such  a  lively  interest  in  all  my 
concerns,  and  who  on  this  occasion  is  called  by  the  most  sacred 
ties  to  interpose  his  counsel  ?  By  dwelling  on  a  loved  object 
which  absorbs  the  imagination,  by  cherishing  a  sort  of  forlorn 
hope  amidst  obstacles  seemingly  almost  insurmountable,  a 
passion  full  of  delicious  anxiety  has  gradually  sprung  up,  has 
acquired  consistency,  and  has  at  length  mounted  to  such  a  pitch 
as  to  threaten  my  repose.  I  need  your  indulgence.  I  will 
submit  to  your  direction.  And  as  the  ardour  of  my  attachment 
is  chastened  by  sentiments  of  deference  and  distant  respect,  I 
have  some  room  to  expect  you  will  judge  me  with  tenderness. 
Not  to  keep  you  longer  in  suspense,  I  have  had  the  temerity  to 
think  of  soliciting  an  alliance  in  your  family. 

You  startle  at  this  declaration.  It  may  appear  presumptuous 
and  romantic.  I  must  intreat  you  to  suppress  your  emotions 
until  you  have  finished  the  perusal  of  this  letter.  I  owe  it  to 
my  conscience  to  disclaim  the  idea  of  being  stimulated  by 
ambitious  motives.  Calculations  of  interest  would  on  this 
occasion  ill  comport  with  the  warmth  of  my  feelings.  I  am 
indeed  convinced  that  riches  would  in  a  very  slight  degree,  if 
at  all,  augment  my  happiness.  I  have  hitherto  betrayed  no 
disposition  to  outstep  the  bounds  of  mediocrity.  The  close 
and  artificial  garb  of  ambition  is  foreign  to  my  heart.  By  dis- 
guising or  retracting  my  sentiments  it  was  more  than  once  in 

F 


82  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

my  power  to  have  obtained  situations  which  the  bulk  of  men 
considered  respectable.  I  have  sought  only  the  approbation  of 
my  own  mind  and  that  of  a  few  discerning  friends.  My 
attachment  to  the  fair  object  of  all  my  vows  is  founded  on  a 
certain  sympathy  of  character,  rendered  irresistible  by  the 
fascination  of  personal  charms.  Her  fortune  and  condition,  so 
far  from  inviting  the  suit,  present  the  most  formidable  bar  to 
the  accomplishment  of  my  wishes. 

I  have  seen  very  few,  indeed  none  of  their  sex,  with  whom 
I  would  compare  your  younger  sisters.     What  a  bewitching 
assemblage  of  all  the  qualities  fitted  to  inspire  love,  affection 
and    esteem  !     One    of  them,   and  I  believe    your  particular 
favourite,  to  great    personal    attractions    unites   the   most  un- 
common powers  of  mind.     But  her  sister  seems  to  possess  those 
soft  feminine   charms  which  touch  and  melt   the  soul.     The 
impression  I  first  received  can  never  be  effaced.     In  the  bloom  of 
health  and  beauty — but  what  a  sweetness  was  expressed  on  every 
feature  !     I  was  confused,   intoxicated.     Fortune  soon   placed 
me  beside  her,  and  the  memory  of  that  happy  period  will  always 
affect  me  with  delight.     My  prepossessions  were  surpassed  by 
experience.     That  species  of  mild  beauty  which  is  most  capti- 
vating, and  those  qualities  of  head  and  heart  which  justify  the 
triumph  !     The  image  was  realised  which  my  fancy  had  framed, 
of  the  most  amiable  of  women.     Gentle,  kind,  frank  and  open 
— invariably,  habitually  chearful,  without  levity,  and  without 
the  smallest  particle  of  affectation.     Blessed  with  the   finest 
dispositions  on  earth,  she  seemed  formed  to  be  happy  herself 
and  to  diffuse  happiness  around  her.     Such  admirable  equality 
of  temper  !     Never  a  frown  was  seen  on  her  brow.     Endued 
with  good  sense,  a  correct  judgment,  and  a  cultivated  under- 
standing, with  considerable  accomplishments,  she  yet  appeared 
unconscious    of  her   merits,  and   showed   on   all   occasions   a 
hesitation  and  a  modesty  bordering  on  timidity,  which  in  her 
sex  is  altogether  irresistible.    When  I  remarked,  too,  the  interior 
economy  of  the  family,  those  excellent  patterns  exhibited,  the 
ease,  simplicity,  and  decorum  which  prevailed,  that  knowledge 


LESLIE— A   PROPOSAL  83 

and  liberality  of  sentiment  which  seasoned  every  conversation — 
I  envied  the  happy  man  who  was  destined  to  enjoy  those 
reflected  charms.  For  my  part,  I  durst  not  aspire — I  sighed 
in  secret.  I  strove  to  repress  every  symptom  that  might  excite 
suspicion.  Yet  a  gleam  of  hope  would  at  times  flit  across  my 
mind  and  lift  it  to  extacy. 

A  long  separation  followed,  but  she  remained  undisputed 
mistress  of  my  heart.  .  .  .  How  I  longed  to  see  her,  without 
daring  to  signify  a  wish !  How  often  my  attempts  were  traversed  ! 
At  length  I  enjoyed  that  supreme  satisfaction  last  summer.  I 
found  her  fresh  as  Hebe  ;  and  if  possible  more  amiable  than 
ever.  What  kindness  and  condescension  !  My  senses  were 
overpowered.  In  the  delirium  of  imagination,  I  even  fancied 
that  she  betrayed  some  marks  of  partiality.  I  formed  the 
resolution  to  disclose  my  passion,  but  I  wanted  courage  and 
opportunity.  The  most  imperious  urgency  only,  the  obligation 
of  previously  consulting  your  sentiments,  could  compel  me  to  a 
confession. 

But  why  fatigue  you  with  this  amorous  tale  ?  ...  If  I  am 
guilty  of  an  offence,  I  have  endeavoured  to  make  it  as  light  as 
possible.  Never  shall  the  young  lady  need  to  ...  [words  torn 
away]  ...  on  my  account.  The  secret  has  not  been  entrusted 
to  mortal  ;  it  shall  rest  in  my  breast,  it  shall  perish  with  me.  I 
shall  religiously  avoid  hurting  her  feelings  or  those  of  the  family. 
Yet  such  is  my  opinion  of  her  perfect  goodness  that  I  am 
persuaded  she  is  incapable  of  conceiving  hatred  or  disdain,  and 
that  even  a  repulse  from  her  would  be  couched  in  obliging 
terms. 

I  owe  a  thousand  apologies  for  abusing  your  patience.  It  is 
the  first  time  I  have  written  in  such  a  strain — the  first  time  I  ever 
made  profession  of  love.  You  see  the  state  of  my  mind.  I  am 
agitated  by  conflicting  passions.  This  is  the  most  momentous 
crisis  of  my  life.  My  heart  swells  with  anxiety.  I  tremble  to 
hear  your  advice.  A  few  words  will  suffice,  but  let  it  be  from 
your  own  hand.  If  it  shall  be  in  the  least  consolatory,  it  will 
give  buoyancy  to  hope — it  will  in  part  open  the  prospect  of 


84  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

earthly  elysium.  A  contrary  presentiment  weighs  me  down. 
Alas  !  is  all  the  future  to  be  shrouded  in  despondency  ?  I  fear 
I  have  already  committed  folly.  Destroy  this  letter. 

Farewell  ! 

JOHN  LESLIE. 

On  one  of  the  flaps  is  a  P.S.  as  to  some  commissions, 
with  the  following  sentences  : 

Your  brother's  note  has  at  this  moment  fallen  into  my  hands. 
It  rends  my  heart.  I  had  still  some  lingering  hopes.  I  have 
a  thousand  things  to  say,  and  your  [sic]  torn  prematurely  from 
me. 

How  the  "  amorous  tale "  ended  appears  from 
Leslie's  next  letter,  which  also  gives  us  a  glimpse  of 
the  lady's  attitude  towards  her  lover  during  his  visit  to 
Stoke  in  the  preceding  year. 

John  Leslie  to  T'om  Wedgwood 

(Address  :  COMMERSON'S  HOTEL,  FALMOUTH.) 

No  date. 

Postmark:  Feb.  21,  1800. 

Each  new  incident  raises  my  admiration  of  your  character, 
and  makes  me  feel  more  intensely  the  pang  of  separation.  In 
your  last  letter  you  appear  in  a  light  peculiarly  endearing.  The 
circumstances  under  which  it  was  written,  the  indulgent  and 
friendly  tone  of  admonition  all  affect  me  extremely.  There  is 
a  solemnity  in  the  scene.  It  is  a  precious  relict — the  last 
perhaps  I  shall  receive  for  many  months.  Yet  it  has  dashed  all 
the  gay  visions  of  hope.  I  submit,  whatever  the  effort  may  cost. 
Here  the  matter  shall  rest.  My  spirits  are  now  more  composed 
and  I  shall  listen  to  the  dictates  of  reason.  Be  assured  that  my 
conduct  shall  during  your  absence  give  no  ground  of  uneasiness 
or  suspicion.  I  will  testify  my  devotion  by  observing  a  religious 
silence.  That  rapturous  attachment  can  never  be  extinguished, 


LESLIE— A   PROPOSAL  85 

but  I  may  hope  that  it  will  finally  soften  down  into  permanent 
esteem. 

What  a  disclosure  the  letter  contains  !  I  am  indeed 
astonished.  Nothing  could  have  betrayed  me  but  my  em- 
barrassed manner  and  fixed  absent  looks,  circumstances  which 
I  imagined  would  naturally  be  confounded  with  my  ordinary 
habits.  Is  it  possible  that  I  may  have  hurt  inadvertently  the 
feelings  of  the  tenderest,  gentlest  nymph  on  earth  ?  If  I  have, 
I  am  heartily  concerned  for  it.  But  my  pardon  is  already 
sealed.  My  reception  at  Stoke  I  shall  never  forget.  On  that 
supposition,  it  evinced  a  superiority  of  mind  which  might  call 
forth  admiration,  as  her  other  qualities  inspire  the  most  ardent 
love.  There  were  some  little  traits  which  can  never  be  effaced 
from  my  mind.  But  I  will  discourage  all  such  reflections. 
This  is  the  last  time  I  shall  fatigue  you  with  such  a  theme.* 

The  thoughts  of  your  absence  make  me  feel  a  blank  in  my 
existence.  Yes,  my  inestimable  friend,  we  shall  meet  again; 
the  Atlantic  shall  not  long  part  us.  Tho'  I  opposed  the 
West  India  project,  do  not  imagine  that  after  your  mind  was 
unalterably  fixed  that  I  would  have  declined  to  accompany 
you.  On  several  accounts  you  have  made  a  better  choice. 
But  should  circumstances  require  any  change  of  arrangement, 
depend  always  on  my  services.  I  will  fly  to  join  you  on  any 
spot  of  the  globe.  .  .  . 

Pray,  when  your  spirits  will  permit,  get  Koenig  to  write 
out  your  metaphysical  speculations.  In  case  of  accident,  there 
should  be  more  than  one  copy.  If  one  were  transmitted  to 
me  I  would  foster  it  with  paternal  care. 

I  may  write  again  before  you  start.  My  prayers  and  wishes 
will  attend  you  on  the  voyage.  Farewell. 

*  Sarah  Wedgwood  had  many  suitors,  some  quite  in  middle  life, 
but  she  died  unmarried.  A  grand-niece  who  remembers  her  in  her 
old  age  tells  me  she  never  can  have  been  beautiful.  She  was  an  able 
and  a  very  generous  woman,  spent  little  on  herself,  and  gave  away 
nearly  the  whole  of  her  fortune  in  charity. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE   WEST   INDIES— A   FAILURE 

1800 

ON  one  of  the  last  days  of  February  1800,  Tom 
Wedgwood  sailed  for  the  West  Indies,  hoping  that 
some  months  in  the  tropics  might  better  his  health. 
It  was  practically  the  first  separation  of  the  two 
brothers,  and  how  deeply  the  feelings  of  both  were 
stirred  by  it  appears  from  a  letter  of  Josiah  written  a 
few  days  later. 

Josiah  Wedgwood  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

GUNVILLE, 

February  28,  1800. 
MY  DEAR  TOM, — 

I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  employing  my  first  moment 
of  leisure  to  unburden  my  heart  in  writing  to  you.  The  dis- 
tance that  separates  us,  the  affecting  circumstances  under  which 
we  parted,  our  former  inseparable  life  and  perfect  friendship, 
unite  to  deepen  the  emotion  with  which  I  think  of  you,  and 
give  an  importance  and  solemnity  that  is  new  to  my  communi- 
cation with  you.  I  did  not  know  till  now  how  dearly  I  love 
you,  nor  do  you  know  with  what  deep  regret  I  forbore  to 
accompany  you.  It  was  a  subject  I  could  not  talk  to  you  upon, 
though  I  was  perpetually  desirous  to  make  you  acquainted  with 
all  my  feelings  upon  it.  I  could  not  without  necessity  leave 
my  wife  and  children,  and  I  believed  that  I  ought  not,  yet  my 


THE   WEST   INDIES  87 

resolution  was  not  taken  without  a  mixture  of  self-reproach. 
But  I  repeat  the  promise  I  made  to  you  at  Falmouth.  I  have 
not  yet  been  able  to  think  of  you  with  dry  eyes,  but  a  little 
time  will  harden  me.  It  is  not  so  necessary  for  me  to  see  you, 
as  to  know  that  you  are  well  and  happy.  Nothing  can  be 
more  disinterested  than  the  love  I  bear  you.  I  know  that  my 
wife  and  children  could  alone  render  me  happy,  but  I  see  with 
the  most  heartfelt  concern  that  your  admirable  qualifications 
are  rendered  ineffectual  for  your  happiness  and  your  fame  by 
your  miserable  health.  But  I  have  a  full  conviction  that  your 
constitution  is  strong  and  elastic,  and  that  your  present 
experiment  bids  fair  to  remove  the  derangement  of  your 
machine.  I  look  forward  with  hope  and  joy  to  our  meeting 
again,  and  I  am  sure  the  seeing  you  again  well  and  vigorous 
will  be  a  moment  of  the  purest  happiness  I  can  feel. 

Perhaps  this  may  be  the  last  time  I  shall  write  to  you  in  this 
strain.  If  it  should  for  a  time  revive  your  sorrow,  it  cannot 
long  injure  your  tranquillity  to  be  told  that  I  love  you,  esteem 
you,  and  admire  you,  truly  and  deeply. 

I  took  possession  of  this  place  this  morning  with  very  different 
feelings  from  those  I  should  have  had  if  we  had  been  together. 
.  .  .  The  last  waggon  load  from  Upcott  came  about  an  hour 
after  me.  .  .  . 

This  place  will  be  exceedingly  pleasant  in  summer.  It  is 
now  very  cold  with  a  frost  and  east  wind. 

I  have  written  to  Gregory  Watt*  to  send  me  a  copying 
machine,  that  I  may  send  duplicates  by  another  packet,  a 
precaution  you  must  not  forget.  I  will  send  you  more  copying 
paper.  I  shall  curse  the  French  if  they  take  the  packet  bearing 
your  first  letter.  How  anxiously  will  it  be  expected,  and  with 
what  emotion  will  it  be  opened  and  read.  We  must  not  expect 
to  hear  from  you  in  less  than  four  months. 

Very  few  of  the  letters  I  write  afford  me  any  pleasure,  but  I 

*  Son  of  the  great  inventor.  He  was  an  affectionate  friend  of 
Tom  and  Josiah.  Copying  machines  had  lately  been  invented  by 
James  Watt. 


88  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

foresee  a  great  pleasure  in  writing  to  you  all  that  comes,  and 
just  as  it  comes.  There  is  a  pleasure  in  tender  regret  for  the 
absence  and  misfortunes  of  a  person  one  loves,  and  corresponding 
with  that  person  is  the  complete  fruition  of  it.  I  feel  like 
JEneas  clasping  the  shade  of  Creusa.  I  call  up  your  image, 
but  it  is  not  substantial. 
Farewell,  dear  Tom. 

This  letter  was,  so  far  as  the  existing  Wedgwood 
papers  show,  a  unique  outpouring  of  feeling  on  the 
part  of  Josiah.  The  rest  of  his  letters  to  his  brother 
contain  only  hints  of  the  sorrow  stirred  by  the  con- 
tinual spectacle  of  Tom's  wrecked  life,  hardly  ever  an 
approach  to  an  expression  of  his  deeper  feelings.  He 
was  inexpressive  in  writing  as  in  speech,  and  his  thus 
breaking  through  the  habitual  reserve  of  years  shows 
how  deeply  touched  he  was  at  this  critical  moment. 
His  feeling  towards  his  brother  was  a  mixture  of  com- 
passion, love  and  admiration.  Tom  was  in  truth  the 
great  passion  of  his  life. 

Tom's  letters  from  the  West  Indies  contain  little  or 
nothing  that  is  of  extra-personal  interest,  but  they 
have  a  pathetic  significance  as  showing  the  depth  of  the 
affection  which  united  him  to  his  family,  and  the 
warmth  of  his  gratitude  for  the  never  failing  sympathy 
which  his  sad  condition  evoked  from  all  his  brothers 
and  sisters.  His  first  letter  home  is  a  sort  of  encyclical 
to  the  family  circle.  He  seems  to  have  shrunk  from 
writing  to  any  of  them  individually,  feeling  how  much 
he  owed  to  all. 


THE   WEST   INDIES  89 

'Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  family 

ST.  PIERRE,  MARTINIQUE, 

April  $th,  1800. 

[After  referring  to  the  voyage  and  the  circumstances  of  his 
arrival].  I  staid  two  days  at  Barbadoes  and  gained  strength 
and  spirits  every  moment.  .  .  .  The  climate,  the  beauty  of  the 
trees  and  shrubs,  the  tout  ensemble,  astonished  and  delighted  us 
all  beyond  our  highest  expectations.  We  came  to  this  place 
on  the  3rd — and  found  a  paradise.  I  have  been  for  some  days 
in  a  trance  of  enjoyment.  I  am  perfectly  at  a  loss  how  to 
convey  an  idea  of  the  exquisite  beauty  of  the  scenery.  .  .  . 
Reconvey  me  to-morrow  by  the  same  intolerable  journey  to 
Europe,  and  I  must  consider  myself  as  repaid  by  what  I  have 
enjoyed,  and  by  the  materials  I  have  laid  in  for  future  enjoy- 
ment. .  .  .  The  near  scenery  is  exquisite,  little  vallies  at  the 
feet  of  mountains  piled  on  each  other  in  a  noble  succession, 
every  tree  new  to  the  eye,  many  loaded  with  brilliant  flowers 
and  fruit.  Another  impression  which  has  not  abated  is  that  of 
a  desire  to  have  this  astonishing  scene  disclosed  more  gradually. 
The  sight  aches  and  the  spirit  sinks  from  unceasing  excitement. 
The  mind,  too  full,  keeps  longing  for  a  moment's  respite,  for 
leisure  to  pursue  the  various  channels,  the  little  bye-streams  of 
those  rapid  and  full  currents  of  thought  which  pass  through  it 
in  all  directions. 

But  I  will  not  exhaust  myself  nor  run  the  risk  of  disgusting 
you,  for  you  have  not  these  scenes  and  feelings  present  to  you 
to  enable  you  to  sympathise  in  my  most  imperfect  efforts  at 
expression.  .  .  . 

To  illustrate — we  got  here  in  the  dark.  I  rose  first  in  the 
morning,  put  my  head  out  of  the  window — what  a  picture 
then  lay  before  me  !  I  called  to  King — and  we  actually  em- 
braced each  other. 

I  gain  strength  very  rapidly.  ...  If  I  had  no  indigestion 
and  headache  I  should  be  in  heaven.  .  .  . 

I  cannot  send  this  off  without  offering  with  tears  of  the 


90  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

purest  love  and  gratitude,  a  simple  declaration.  Believe  me 
then,  I  am  affected  in  the  manner  I  ought  to  be  by  all  your 
kindnesses  to  me.  I  know,  too,  that  I  must  too  often  have 
seemed  insensible  to  all  their  claims,  but  do  not  be  deceived 
into  this  cruel  opinion.  The  languor  of  illness  and  a  conflict 
of  uneasy  sensations  never  blinded  my  observation,  though  it 
prevented  any  expression  of  sentiment.  But  I  have  placed  to 
your  credit  a  thousand  tender  services  which  your  delicacy  in 
vain  attempted  to  conceal  from  me.  Nothing  has  more  deeply 
affected  me  than  your  mild  forbearance  with  my  petulancies 
and  caprices. 

But  I  dare  not  now  proceed  in  this  subject.  I  dare  not 
indulge  in  the  luxury  of  those  feelings  which  begin  to  intro- 
duce a  disordered  agitation.  I  must  add  however  that  I  have 
above  made  a  most  unfeigned  tender  of  sentiment  to  a  very 
numerous  band.  Let  no  one  who  reads  this  imagine  an  exclu- 
sion. Certainly  some  individuals  have  sacrificed  more  largely 
to  my  health  and  comfort  than  others.  But  a  single  enquiry 
expressed  with  interest  I  always  consider  as  an  offer  and 
earnest  of  a  host  of  kind  actions.  .  .  . 

I  cannot  write  another  word. 

THOMAS  WEDGWOOD. 


The  exhilaration  produced  in  presence  of  the  glories 
of  tropical  scenery  did  not  last  long.  He  thinks  at 
first  that  he  is  gaining  strength,  but  that  soon  turns 
out  to  be  an  illusion ;  the  old  pains  and  physical 
troubles  reappear,  and  he  begins  to  plan  for  his  return, 
if  there  is  no  sign  of  real  amendment.  He  tells  next 
to  nothing  as  to  what  he  sees  or  does.  Writing 
exhausts  him,  and  he  cannot  waste  his  little  strength 
upon  describing  incidents  of  travel.  And  there  is 
hardly  a  word  as  to  the  social  condition  of  the  people 
about  him,  and  not  a  word  as  to  slaves  or  slave  holding. 


THE   WEST   INDIES  91 

This  is  singular  when  we  remember  the  general  set  of 
his  ideas,  and  that  the  agitation  for  abolishing  the 
trade  by  which  these  islands  were  supplied  with  slaves 
had  been  going  on  for  many  years — and  all  Wedg- 
woods were  keen  abolitionists.  But  the  ceaseless 
struggle  with  bodily  suffering  absorbs  him.  He  is 
continually  speculating  on  future  plans,  and  as  he 
thinks  of  these  he  is  always  harassed  by  the  thought 
that  his  own  miseries  are  spoiling  the  lives  of  those 
who  care  for  him. 

The  following  letter  would  seem  to  be  his  answer  to 
that  written  by  his  brother  after  they  parted. 

fom  Wedgwood  to  his  brother  Josiah 

NEVIS, 

May  I3//5,  1800. 
MY  DEAREST  FRIEND, — 

I  cannot  tell  you  the  pleasure  your  letter  gave  me.  It  gave 
me  an  assurance  of  what  my  conscience  and  judgment  bade  me 
not  to  be  too  confident  [of],  your  unabated  esteem  and  affection. 
.  .  .  Your  most  welcome  assurance  brought  with  it  everything 
which  was  wanting  to  complete  the  charm  of  that  intimate 
connection  which  has  so  long  and  so  happily  subsisted  between 
us  ...  To  the  moment  of  our  separation  your  tenderness 
and  affection  were  continually  on  the  increase  ;  I  was  only 
apprehensive  that  even  your  forbearance  and  pity  might  at 
length  be  fatigued  by  the  importunate  and  dismal  intercourse  of 
a  sick  man.  I  have  read  your  letter  a  dozen  times  over.  It 
has  inspired  me  with  an  increased  craving  after  health.  I  long 
so  ardently  to  contribute  towards  your  happiness  ...  I  cannot 
endure  the  idea  of  being  a  thorn  in  your  side. 

You  may  judge  how  welcome  your  letter  was  to  me  when  I 
tell  you  that  I  read  the  receipt  to  dress  a  pig  three  times,  merely 
for  the  association  with  your  hand-writing.  You  have  never 


92  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

known  to  what  a  degree  my  attachment  to  you  has  long  risen. 
When  you  are  with  me,  I  imagine  myself  an  exile  from  home, 
longing,  as  I  always  do  most  burningly,  for  your  society.  I 
then  exultingly  bless  myself  that  you  are  present  to  me.  .  .  . 
You  are  my  great  repository,  magazine,  reservoir  of  agreeable 
associations  and  lively  feelings.  You  are  for  ever  present  to 
my  memory,  and  the  chief  consolation  of  absence  and  a  most 
tedious  illness.  I  often  cannot  help  yielding  to  the  illusion  of 
our  mutual  affection  being  carried  forward  into  a  future  and  a 
better  existence.  .  .  .  Whenever  those  separations  which  we 
both  lament  have  been  about  to  take  place,  I  have  always 
contrived  to  spend  every  moment  which  remained  to  me  in 
your  company.  If  you  have  been  called  from  me  for  a  few 
hours  I  feel  as  if  robbed  of  some  vital  energy,  &c.  &c.,  for 
this  strain  is  endless.  Be  for  ever  assured  that  you  and  your 
wife  are  objects  of  my  most  perfect  love  and  esteem — your 
children  are  most  dear  to  me.  Oh  God  !  that  I  had  force  to 
display  my  own  character — to  act,  in  any  degree,  as  I  feel.  I 
should  not  then  be  making  professions.  But  I  am  so  blasted 
by  my  cruel  Fates,  so  crippled  and  cramped  in  every  energy  of 
mind  and  body,  that  with  all  those  qualities  for  which  you  give 
me  credit,  I  am  absolutely  inferior  to  the  veriest  imbecile  that 
eats,  drinks,  and  sleeps  away  life.  But  patience,  patience — I 
am  determined  to  live  as  long  as  Nature  permits,  I  must  there- 
fore humbly  submit  and  patiently  bear  the  evils  of  existence — 
Farewell. 

My  birds  are  singing  on  all  sides  of  me — oranges  by  thou- 
sands close  to  the  house — a  supper  on  land-crabs  in  prospettc 
and  yet  I  crave  for  that  desart  spot,  dear,  dear  Gunville. 


His  first  letter  home  (supra,  p.  89),  had  arrived  in 
England  about  June  4.  Part  of  its  contents  must  have 
been  communicated  by  Josiah  to  Coleridge,  who  writes 
as  follows  : 


THE   WEST   INDIES  93 

S.  <T.  Coleridge  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 


BRISTOL, 

Thursday,  June  12,  1800. 
MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

Enclosed  is  £20  .  .  . 

I  had  heard  such  pleasing  accounts  of  your  dear  brother, 
accounts  exaggerated  at  second  hand  by  the  joy  of  the  narrators, 
that  T.  Wedgwood's  own  statement  came  on  me  as  a  dis- 
appointment. Still,  however,  Broxham  must  have  seen  a  great 
difference  or  he  could  not  have  written  as  he  did.  God  in 
heaven  bless  him  !  Your  letter  to  me,  that  is,  the  account  in 
your  letter,  made  the  tears  roll  down  Poole's  face.  .  .  . 

Old  Mrs.  Poole  is,  I  am  afraid,  dying.  .  .  .* 

The  doubts  as  to  how  Tom  Wedgwood  was  faring 
were  soon  set  at  rest.  Poole  was  surprised  one  evening 
at  Stowey  by  receiving  the  following  note : 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  CT.  Poole  and  S.  T.  Coleridge 

BRIDGEWATER, 

Tuesday,  6  (?  clock. 

(Probably  June  24,  1800.) 
MY  DEAR  FRIENDS, — 

It  is  with  the  utmost  reluctance  that  I  pass  so  near  you 
without  a  personal  salutation.  Accept  this,  however,  such  as 
it  is — may  it  carry  to  Stowey  as  warm  as  it  leaves  my  heart. 

You  are  no  doubt  much  surprised  at  my  return.  I  have 
soon  convinced  myself  that  a  stay  in  the  West  Indies  would 
not  benefit  my  health — for  many  reasons  which  I  cannot  now 

*  The  omitted  sentences  refer  to  Coleridge's  fruitless  house- 
hunting about  Porlock,  and  to  his  intention  to  try  for  a  house  in 
the  Lake  country. 


94  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

enter  upon.  I  am  now  hurrying  to  Cote,  to  inquire  after  my 
friends  ;  and  my  fatigue,  joined  to  anxiety,  prevents  my  making 
any  round  in  my  journey,  or  I  would  surely  see  you  at  Stowey. 
Let  me  hear  from  you.  It  will  delight  me  to  have  a  good 
account  of  you  and  yours,  particularly  your  excellent  mother. 

Ever  yours  most  cordially, 

T.  WEDGWOOD. 

This  must  have  been  scribbled  off  while  he  was 
changing  horses  at  Bridgewater  on  his  way  from  Fal- 
mouth  to  Bristol.  The  meeting  at  Cote  cannot  have 
been  a  happy  one.  The  West  Indies  scheme,  planned 
with  much  thought  and  trouble,  had  failed.  Yet  he 
had  moments  when  he  could  fancy  himself  really  re- 
covering. Six  weeks  later  we  find  him  riding  to 
London  from  Christchurch,  where  he  had  been  staying 
with  his  brother  Jos. 

Writing  from  a  roadside  inn  he  says  (August  15, 
1800): 

How  often  have  I  wished  you  jogging  at  my  side,  to  enjoy 
what  I  have  done,  of  air  and  scenery,  and  to  witness  and  sym- 
pathise in  my  rapid  progress  in  convalescence.  But  for  the 
many  cruel  disappointments  already  experienced,  I  might  now 
indulge  a  hope  of  regaining  my  lost  health  and  strength.  I 
dare  not  cherish  the  viper  idea.  If  they  are  restored  to  me, 
God  knows  they  will  be  welcome — if  not,  I  mean  not  to  sink 
lower  from  disappointment.  I  rode  5  hours  yesterday  and  have 
ridden,  by  n  to-day,  28  miles  without  any  fatigue.  .  .  .  Slept 
in  an  alehouse  last  night — never  lay  better.  Avoid  great  inns 
— hot,  dear,  noisy.  You'll  hear  of  me  by  calling  at  the  single 
houses,  and  in  the  "  pleasant  villages."  .  .  . 
Believe  me, 

le  plus  devout  des  £tres  humains, 

T.  W. 


I 
* 


A   FAILURE  95 

And  this  is  followed  by  a  light-hearted  letter  talking 
of  prospective  shooting  in  the  New  Forest,  and  matters 
incidental  to  starting  life  at  Gunville.  Possibly  the 
sea  voyages  and  the  stay  in  the  tropics  had  made  him 
stronger  for  the  time.  During  this  autumn  and  the 
succeeding  winter  he  had  continual  alternations  of 
what  seemed  like  recovery  followed  by  heart-sickening 
relapses.  It  was  apparently  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
year  1800  that  he  was  making  his  photographic  experi- 
ments, and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  persistent 
recurrence  of  these  periods  of  illness  and  suffering  was 
what  prevented  his  following  up  his  discovery.  The 
following  extracts  from  letters  of  this  time  show  his 
variable  condition : 

'Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  brother  Josiah 

27  August,  1800. 
[Travelling  from  London  to  Gunville.] 

I  am  gradually  fallen  these  last  few  days  into  the  status  quo 
ante  iter.  Henceforth  I  never  will  entertain,  or  at  least  com- 
municate to  others,  these  sanguine  anticipations  of  returning 
health. 

Tom  to  Josiah  and  others  at  Gunvillc 

WHITE  HART  INN. 

[Salisbury,  November  12  or  13,  1800.] 
MY  DEAREST  FRIENDS, — 

I  cannot  dismiss  Samuel  without  a  word  to  say  that  I  am  all 
the  better  for  the  ride  hither.  ...  I  will  write  on  my  arrival 
in  town,  and  as  soon  after  as  I  am  encouraged  to  do  so  by  any 
favourable  change  in  my  health.  I  am  secure  at  least  from  dis- 
appointment, for  I  dare  not  cherish  a  hope  on  the  subject.  .  .  . 


96  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Once  more  adieu  !  It  is  in  vain  for  me  to  repine  at  the  cruel 
persecution  which  has  soon  again  forced  me  from  all  I  hold  dear 
in  life.  In  entering  into  new  scenes  I  must  strive  to  forget 
what  I  leave  behind  me.  , 


Josiah  Wedgwood  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

GUNVILLE, 

November  13,  1800. 
MY  DEAR  TOM, — 

...  It  is  useless  to  repine,  and  your  separation  from  us  was 
evidently  necessary,  yet  I  cannot  refrain  from  assuring  you  how 
heartily  I  sympathise  with  you.  My  heart  is  full,  and  if  it 
would  do  either  of  us  good  I  could  cry  like  a  child.  But  no 
more  of  this.  .  .  . 

Josiah  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

GUNVILLE, 

February  6,  1801. 
MY  DEAREST  BROTHER, — 

Your  letter  has  excited  the  most  painful  feelings  in  my  heart, 
and  I  know  not  what  to  write,  for  I  have  no  other  topic  of  con- 
solation than  the  truest  affection  and  the  warmest  sympathy, 
and  in  your  state  of  health  and  feeling  that  is  nothing.  .  .  . 
I  cannot  deny  that  every  failure  renders  your  situation  more 
cheerless,  but  I  cannot  and  will  not  give  up  my  hopes  that  time 
will  ameliorate  your  fate.  ...  I  will  not  despair  of  a  brother 
so  dear  to  my  heart.  .  .  . 

Josiah  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

i8///  February,  1801. 
MY  DEAR  TOM, — 

...  I  do  not  know  what  to  think  about  your  design  of  stay- 
ing at  home.  ...  I  can  conceive  the  efforts  it  must  cost 
you  to  refrain  from  giving  yourself  up  to  languor  and  despond- 


SOCIAL   LIFE   IN   LONDON  97 

ency.  This  consideration  ought  to  reconcile  you  to  the  occa- 
sional uneasiness  that  may  be  excited  by  our  observing  your 
sufferings. 


To  a  man  in  this  condition  any  regular  work  was 
of  course  impossible ;  and  yet  in  the  early  part  of  this 
winter  (1800-1801),  he  seems  to  have  been  able  to  see 
a  great  deal  of  society  of  a  friendly  kind.  He  set  up 
a  temporary  abode  in  the  building  in  York  Street, 
St.  James's  Square,  in  which  were  the  London  show- 
rooms of  the  Etruria  firm,*  and  there  gave  frequent 
bachelor  parties.  Among  the  relations  and  friends 
whom  he  was  seeing  at  this  time  we  find  the  names  of 
Mackintosh  (then  making  his  way  at  the  bar  and  living 
with  his  wife,  Josiah's  sister-in-law,  in  Serle  Street, 
Lincoln's  Inn),  Godwin,  Leslie,  the  brothers  John  and 
James  Tobin,  Gregory  Watt  (son  of  the  great  engineer), 
Richard  ("  Conversation ")  Sharp,  and  many  more. 
He  was  often,  too,  at  a  social  club  which  had  been 
founded  by  Mackintosh,  and  met  at  a  tavern  in  the 
Strand.  It  had  grown  out  of  a  dinner-party  at 
Mackintosh's  house,  at  which  Sharp,  "  Bobus  "  Smith 
(brother  of  Sydney),  Rogers,  and  John  Allen  of  Cres- 
selly  were  present,  and  Bobus  had  christened  it  the 
"  King  of  Clubs."  Tom  Campbell  the  poet  describes 
it,  perhaps  a  little  too  magnificently,  as  a  "  gathering- 
place  of  brilliant  talkers,  dedicated  to  the  meetings 
of  the  reigning  wits  of  London,"  and  a  "  lineal 


*  The  building  on  the  east  side  of  the  southern  end  of  the  street. 
It  afterwards  became  a  chapel.  Mr.  Stopford  Brooke  preached  there 
for  many  years. 

G 


98  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

descendant    of  the   Johnson,    Burke,    and    Goldsmith 
society."  * 

About  this  time  (November  1 800)  an  incident 
occurred  which  threatened  to  bring  a  cloud  over  the 
friendship  between  Poole  and  the  Wedgwoods.  This 
was  what  may  be  called  a  quasi-proposal  of  marriage 
made  by  Poole  to  Catharine  Wedgwood,  the  elder  of 
the  two  unmarried  sisters.  After  a  visit  to  Gunville 
he  wrote  to  Josiah  Wedgwood,  saying  :  "  I  have  ven- 
tured to  write  to  Miss  Wedgwood  to  request  her  to 
enter  into  a  correspondence  with  me,  by  which  she  shall 
know  me  as  I  am."  The  correspondence,  he  explains, 
would  be  "  merely  a  mutual  communication  of  senti- 
ments on  such  subjects  as  may  occur  to  us — if  you  do 
not  blame  me  you  will  be  my  friend,  .  .  .  and  when  I 
say  this  I  address  the  same  to  Mr.  T.  Wedgwood,  on 
whose  unbounded  affection  shown  to  me  I  rely."  This 
of  course  practically  amounted  to  a  proposal,  though 
Poole  seems  to  have  persuaded  himself  it  did  not. 
Josiah,  writing  to  Tom,  who  had  left  Gunville,  de- 
scribes the  answer  he  gave  Poole  as  "  friendly  on  my 
part,  not  uncivil,  but  peremptory  on  C.'s,  and  C.'s 


*  By  this  he  can  only  mean  that  it  was  a  club  of  the  old 
eighteenth-century  type,  like  the  one  founded  by  Reynolds.  The 
Johnsonian  club  exists  still ;  the  "King  of  Clubs"  lasted  till  1824. 
Here  is  a  glimpse  of  one  of  its  meetings  from  a  letter  of  T.  W.  to 
Jos.  W.,  December  5,  1800  :  "A  very  pleasant  day  on  Saturday  at 
the  club.  But  it  was  rather  noisy  owing  to  some  uproarious  visitors, 
and,  as  Mackintosh  says,  afforded  a  very  bad  specimen  of  their 
meetings.  I  had  a  little  conversation  with  Sharp,  B.  Smith,  and 
Scarlett,  but  much  less  than  I  wished,  my  neighbour  Pearson 
engrossed  me  too  much.  Among  the  members  then  or  later  were 
Lord  Holland,  Lord  Lansdowne,  Henry  Brougham,  Porson,  Romilly, 
Dumont  (of  Geneva),  Ricardo,  and  Hallam. 


POOLE— A  PROPOSAL  99 

refusal  enforced  by  my  approbation  of  its  propriety." 
It  does  not  appear  that  Catharine  wrote  herself  to 
Poole.  He  having  asked  Josiah  to  help  him,  she  would 
naturally  be  glad  to  leave  to  her  brother  the  disagree- 
able task  of  sending  an  answer. 

Poole  accepted  the  rebuff  in  the  most  angelic  spirit. 
He  explains,  not  very  successfully,  why  he  wrote  as  he 
did  ;  he  cannot  quite  see  why  his  request  was  unreason- 
able, but  the  answer  is  so  decided  that  he  takes  it  as 
absolutely  final.  "  I  was  stunned  by  it,  though  I  do 
not  know  why ;  .  .  .  I  stood  looking  at  it  for  an 
hour.  ...  I  submit  to  it,  and  assure  you,  from 
its  peremptory  nature,  that  I  am  perfectly  satisfied.'* 
The  refusal,  it  is  clear,  was  Miss  Wedgwood's,  not 
her  brothers'  doing.  But  it  is  also  clear  that  Josiah 
and  Tom  took  it  ill  that  Poole  should  have  ventured 
to  think  of  marrying  their  sister.  Josiah  thought  it 
necessary — why,  it  is  not  easy  to  see — to  "  enforce  " 
her  refusal  by  showing  his  approval  of  it.  And  Tom 
writes  to  him :  "  I  am  concerned  and  surprised  at 
Poole's  presumption."  Tom,  we  may  be  sure,  did 
not  say  anything  like  this  to  Poole  himself  (for  Poole 
"  heartily  thanks  him  "  for  his  letter  on  the  subject) ; 
but  why  should  he  think  it  a  c<  presumption  "  ?  Ac- 
cording to  the  ordinary  ideas  of  social  rank,  there 
was  no  such  immense  gap  between  Poole  and  the 
Wedgwoods,  sons  and  daughters  of  a  man  who  had 
started  from  a  very  modest  position.  Poole  puts  it 
fairly  when  he  says :  "  I  knew  that  Miss  W.  was 
among  the  heads  of  the  class  of  society  in  which  I  filled 
a  middle  station."  If  the  brothers  objected  to  the 
courtship  on  the  ground  of  difference  of  social  rank 


TOO  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

it  was  an  odd  attitude  to  be  taken  up  by  philosophical 
radicals  bound  by  their  creed  to  despise  all  such  con- 
ventional prejudices.  But  we  need  not  attribute  their 
surprise  and  displeasure  to  what  we  now  call  "snobbism." 
Another  explanation  is  quite  simple.  All  the  accounts 
of  Poole  represent  him  as  a  man  of  a  decidedly  rough 
type.  He  was  a  farmer  and  a  tanner,  and  had  the 
manners  of  his  class,  though  far  above  it,  and  above  most 
men  of  any  class,  in  knowledge  and  intelligence.  One 
of  his  relatives  in  a  younger  generation  tells  us  (T.  P. 
ii.  312)  that  "  his  clownish  exterior,  and  rough,  im- 
perious manner,  with  his  very  disagreeable  voice,  spoilt 
by  snuff,  made  a  strange  contrast  with  his  great  mental 
cultivation  and  excess  in  sensibility  and  tenderness  of 
heart.  I  suppose,"  she  adds,  "in  his  republican 
days  he  cultivated  clownishness  just  as  he  left  off 
powder."  This  helps  us  to  understand  how  Kitty  was 
quite  decided  against  marrying  him,  and  how  her 
brothers  thought  it  out  of  the  question.  The  letters 
show  he  was  not  all  surprised  at  their  attitude. 
"  Though,"  he  says,  "  I  have  not  lost  your  friendship, 
I  cannot  but  be  apprehensive  that  your  affection  for  me 
may  be  diminished  by  an  action  which  you  must  with- 
out doubt  consider  as  a  witless  presumption"  This 
apprehension  weighed  much  upon  his  mind,  but  the 
attachment  between  him  and  them  does  not  appear  to 
have  been  sensibly  lessened  ;  though,  naturally,  there 
remained  for  a  time  a  certain  awkwardness.  This 
appears  when  there  is  a  question  of  his  meeting  Kitty 
at  Gunville  a  year  or  so  later.  His  letters  on  the  sub- 
ject are  excellent  in  taste,  tone,  and  temper ;  his 


POOLE— A  PROPOSAL'  io* 

• 

language  is  somewhat  apologetic,  perhaps  a  little  too 
argumentative,  modest,  and  yet  dignified.^ 


*  Had  Poole's  overture  led  to  a  marriage,  it  would  have  been  a 
suitable  one  as  regards  ages.  Poole  was  then  thirty-five  and  Kitty 
twenty-six.  She  was  rich,  but  he  was  not  poor.  He  was  sufficiently 
well  off  to  be  able  to  lead  a  life  of  leisure  if  he  chose.  There  is 
an  interesting  comment  on  the  incident  in  a  letter  written  nearly 
half  a  century  later  by  Fanny  Allen,  sister  of  Mrs.  John  and  Mrs. 
Josiah  Wedgwood,  who  was  at  this  time  a  girl  of  eighteen.  "  I  have 
been  deep  in  the  letters  of  the  family  for  these  ten  days.  Poor 
Tom's  letters  are  very  melancholy  and  touching,  and  some  of  Jos's 
answers  very  beautiful.  What  two  men  they  were  !  .  .  .  Tom 
Poole's  letters  are  interesting  ;  I  never  cease  regretting  that  Kitty 
did  not  accept  him.  How  different  would  have  been  her  life  to 
that  absurd  and  ridiculous  attachment  which  bound  her  to  Miss 

M .     Among   the    mass    of  letters  his    are    among    the    most 

affectionate,  and  from  the  most  healthful  mind."  (F.  Allen  to  S.  E. 
Wedgwood,  daughter  of  Josiah,  October  3,  1847 — Darwin  MSS.) 

Miss  M was  a  philanthropical  lady  of  advanced  views,  an  early 

specimen  of  the  "strong-minded"  type.  Fanny  Allen  was  a  clever 
and  capable  old  lady,  but  perhaps  it  should  be  added  that  she  was  an 
inveterate  match-maker,  and  so  would  be  inclined,  a  priori,  to  take 
the  Poole  side  in  the  matter.  Kitty  Wedgwood  died,  unmarried,  in 
the  year  1823.  Family  tradition  represents  her  as  an  interesting 
and  able  woman.  She  had  the  family  taciturnity.  Bessy  Wedg- 
wood (Mrs.  Josiah)  says,  "  the  more  I  know  her,  the  more  I  admire 
her  character."  Dr.  Robert  Darwin,  her  brother-in-law,  used  to 
say  of  her  that  she  was  the  only  woman  he  ever  knew  who  thought 
for  herself  in  matters  of  religion. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

COLERIDGE  AT  GRETA  HALL— TRAVEL  PLANS 

1800 — 1802 

IT  was  in  July  1800  that  Coleridge  made  his  move  to 
Keswick,  which  became  for  a  time  his  settled  home, 
and  for  the  rest  of  this  year  he  and  the  Wedgwoods 
seem  not  to  have  met.  His  letters  to  Josiah  during 
this  time  include  but  slight  references  to  Tom  Wedg- 
wood, but  are  interesting  in  other  ways. 

S.  T.  Coleridge  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

Thursday,  July  24,  1800. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

I  found  your  letter  on  my  arrival  at  Grasmere,  namely,  on 
June  29,  since  which  time  to  the  present,  with  the  exception 
of  the  last  few  days,  I  have  been  more  unwell  than  I  have  ever 
been  since  I  left  school.  For  many  days  I  was  forced  to  keep 
my  bed,  and  when  released  from  that  worst  incarceration,  I 
suffered  most  grievously  from  a  brace  of  swollen  Eyelids,  and 
a  head  into  which  on  the  least  agitation  the  blood  felt  as  rushing 
in  and  flowing  back  again  like  the  raking  of  the  Tide  on  a 
coast  of  loose  stones.  However,  thank  God  !  I  am  now  coming 
about  again. 

That  Tom  receives  such  pleasure  from  natural  scenery 
strikes  me  as  it  does  you  ;  the  total  incapability  which  I  have 
found  in  myself  to  associate  any  but  the  most  languid  feelings 


COLERIDGE   AT   KESWICK          103 

with  the  God-like  objects  which  have  surrounded  me  lately, 
and  the  nauseous  efforts  to  impress  my  admiration  into  the 
service  of  nature,  has  given  me  a  sympathy  with  his  former 
state  of  health  which  I  never  before  could  have  had.  I  wish 
from  the  bottom  of  my  soul  that  he  may  be  enjoying  similar 
pleasures  with  those  which  I  am  now  enjoying  with  all  that 
newness  of  sensation,  that  voluptuous  correspondence  of  the 
blood  and  flesh  about  me  with  breeze  and  sun-heat,  which 
makes  convalescence  more  than  repay  me  for  disease. 

I  parted  from  Poole  with  pain  and  dejection.  For  him  and 
for  myself  in  him.  I  should  have  given  Stowey  a  decisive 
preference  ;  it  was  likewise  so  conveniently  situated  that  I  was 
in  the  way  of  almost  all  whom  I  love  and  esteem.  But  there 
was  no  suitable  house,  and  no  prospect  of  a  suitable  house. 
Add  to  this  Poole's  determination  to  spend  a  year  or  two  on 
the  continent  in  case  of  a  peace  and  his  mother's  death.  God 
in  heaven  bless  her  !  I  am  sure  she  will  not  live  long. 

This  is  the  first  day  of  my  arrival  at  Keswick.  My  house 
is  roomy,  situated  on  an  eminence  a  furlong  from  the  Town  ; 
before  it  an  enormous  Garden,  more  than  two-thirds  of  which 
is  rented  as  a  garden  for  sale  articles,  but  the  walks,  &c.,  are 
ours  most  completely.  Behind  the  house  are  shrubberies,  and 
a  declivity  planted  with  flourishing  trees  of  15  years'  growth  or 
so,  at  the  bottom  of  which  is  a  most  delightful  shaded  walk  by 
the  River  Greta,  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length.  The  room  in 
which  I  sit  commands  from  one  window  the  Bassenthwaite 
Lake,  woods,  and  mountains ;  from  the  opposite,  the  Derwent- 
water  and  fantastic  mountains  of  Borrowdale  ;  and  straight 
before  me  is  a  wilderness  of  mountains,  catching  and  streaming 
lights  or  shadows  at  all  times.  Behind  the  house  and  entering 
into  all  our  views  is  Skiddaw. 

My  acquaintance  here  are  pleasant,  and  at  some  distance  is 
Sir  Guilfrid  Lawson's  seat  with  a  very  large  and  expensive 
library,  to  which  I  have  every  reason  to  hope  that  I  shall  have 
free  access.  But  when  I  have  been  settled  here  a  few  days 
longer,  I  will  write  you  a  minute  account  of  my  situation. 


io4  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Wordsworth  lives  12  miles  distant ;  in  about  a  year's  time  he 
will  probably  settle  at  Keswick  likewise.  It  is  no  small  advan- 
tage here  that  for  two-thirds  of  the  year  we  are  in  complete 
retirement.  The  other  third  is  alive  and  swarms  with  Tourists 
of  all  shapes  and  sizes  and  characters.  It  is  the  very  place  I 
would  recommend  to  a  novellist  or  farce-writer.  Besides,  at 
that  time  of  the  year  there  is  always  hope  that  a  friend  may 
be  among  the  number,  and  miscellaneous  crowd,  whom  this 
place  attracts.  So  much  for  Keswick  at  present. 

Have  you  seen  my  translation  of  the  Wallenstein  ?  It  is  a 
dull  heavy  play  ;  but  I  entertain  hopes,  that  you  will  think  the 
language  for  the  greater  part  natural  and  good  common-sense 
English  ;  to  which  excellence  if  I  can  lay  fair  claim  in  any 
work  of  poetry  or  prose,  I  shall  be  a  very  singular  writer  at 
least.  I  am  now  working  at  my  introduction  to  the  life  of 
Lessing,  which  I  trust  will  be  in  the  press  before  Christmas  ; 
that  is,  the  Introduction,  which  will  be  published  first,  I 
believe.  I  shall  write  again  in  a  few  days.  Respects  to  Mrs. 
W.  God  bless  you  and 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

S.  <T.  Coleridge  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

KESWICK, 

November  i,  1800. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

I  would  fain  believe  that  the  experiment  which  your  Brother 
has  made  in  the  West  Indies  is  not  wholly  a  discouraging  one.  If 
a  warm  climate  did  nothing  but  only  prevented  him  from  getting 
worse,  it  surely  evidenced  some  power  ;  and  perhaps  a  climate 
equally  favourable  in  a  country  of  more  various  interest,  Italy 
or  the  South  of  France,  may  tempt  your  Brother  to  make  a 
longer  trial.  If  (disciplining  myself  into  silent  chearfulness)  I 
could  be  of  any  comfort  to  him  by  being  his  companion  and 
attendant  for  two  or  three  months,  on  the  supposition  that  he 
should  wish  to  travel  and  was  at  a  loss  for  a  companion  more 


COLERIDGE   AT   KESWICK  105 

fit,  I  would  go  with  him  with  a  willing  affection.  You  will 
easily  see,  my  dear  friend,  that  I  say  this  only  to  increase  the 
range  of  your  Brother's  choice — for  even  in  chusing  there  is  some 
pleasure. 

There  happen  frequently  little  odd  coincidences  in  time,  that 
recall  momentary  faith  in  the  notion  of  sympathies  acting  in 
absence.  I  heard  of  your  Brother's  Return,  for  the  first  time, 
on  Monday  last  (the  day  on  which  your  letter  is  dated)  from 
Stoddart.  Had  it  rained  on  my  naked  skin  I  could  not  have 
felt  more  sfrangely.  The  three  or  400  miles  that  are  between 
us  seemed  converted  into  a  moral  distance  ;  and  I  knew  that 
the  whole  of  this  silence  I  was  myself  accountable  for  ;  for  I 
ended  my  last  letter  by  promising  to  follow  it  with  a  second  and 
longer  one  before  you  could  answer  the  first.  But  immediately 
on  my  arrival  in  this  country  I  undertook  to  finish  a  poem  which 
I  had  begun,  entitled  "  Christabel,"  for  a  second  volume  of  the 
Lyrical  Ballads.  I  tried  to  perform  my  promise  ;  but  the  deep  un- 
utterable Disgust  which  I  had  suffered  in  the  translation  of  that 
accursed  Wallenstein  seemed  to  have  stricken  me  with  barrenness; 
for  I  tried  and  tried,  and  nothing  would  come  of  it.  I  desisted 
with  a  deeper  dejection  than  I  am  willing  to  remember.  The 
wind  from  Skiddaw  and  Borrowdale  was  often  as  loud  as 
wind  need  be  ;  and  many  a  walk  in  the  clouds  on  the  moun- 
tains did  I  take  ;  but  all  would  not  do,  till  one  day  I  dined  out 
at  the  house  of  a  neighbouring  clergyman  and  somehow  or 
other  drank  so  much  wine,  that  I  found  some  effort  and  dexterity 
requisite  to  balance  myself  on  the  hither  edge  of  sobriety.  The 
next  day  my  verse-making  faculties  returned  to  me,  and  I  pro- 
ceeded successfully ;  till  my  poem  grew  so  long  and  in  Words- 
worth's opinion  so  impressive,  that  he  rejected  it  from  his 
volume  as  disproportionate  both  in  size  and  merit,  and  as  dis- 
cordant in  its  character.*  In  the  mean  time  I  had  gotten 

*  "  Christabel "  was  first  printed,  unfinished  (Parts  I  and  2  only), 
in  1816.  All  his  life,  at  intervals,  Coleridge  talked  or  dreamed 
about  completing  it.  Mr.  Dykes  Campbell,  in  a  note  of  four  pages 
("Poetical  Works,"  60 1,  sqq.},  brings  together,  with  a  fulness  of 


io6  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

myself  entangled  in  the  old  Sorites  of  the  old  Sophist,  Procrasti- 
nation. I  had  suffered  my  necessary  businesses  to  accumulate 
so  terribly,  that  I  neglected  to  write  to  any  one,  till  the  Pain  I 
suffered  from  not  writing  made  me  waste  as  many  hours  in 
dreaming  about  it  as  would  have  sufficed  for  the  Letter-writing 
of  half  a  life.  But  there  is  something  beside  Time  requisite 
for  the  writing  of  a  Letter,  at  least  with  me.  My  situation  here 
is  indeed  a  delightful  situation ;  but  I  feel  what  I  have  lost — 
feel  it  deeply  ;  it  recurs  more  often  and  more  painfully  than  I 
had  anticipated  ;  indeed,  so  much  so  that  I  scarcely  ever  feel 
myself  impelled,  that  is  to  say,  pleasurably  impelled  to  write  to 
Poole.  I  used  to  feel  myself  more  at  home  in  his  great  windy 
Parlour  than  in  my  own  cottage.  We  were  well  suited  to  each 
other — my  animal  spirits  corrected  his  inclinations  to  melan- 
choly ;  and  there  was  something  both  in  his  understanding  and 
in  his  affections  so  healthy  and  manly,  that  my  mind  freshened 
in  his  company,  and  my  ideas  and  habits  of  thinking  acquired 
day  after  day  more  of  substance  and  reality.  Indeed,  indeed, 
my  dear  sir,  with  tears  in  my  eyes,  with  all  my  heart  and  soul 
I  wish  it  were  as  easy  for  us  to  meet  as  it  was  when  you  lived 
at  Upcott.  Yet  when  I  revise  the  step  I  have  taken,  I  know 
not  how  I  could  have  acted  otherwise  than  I  did.  Everything 
I  promise  myself  in  this  country  has  answered  far  beyond  my 
expectations.  The  room  in  which  I  write  commands  six  dis- 
tinct Landscapes;  the  two  Lakes,  the  Vale,  the  River,  and 
Mountains,  and  Mists,  and  Clouds  and  Sunshine,  make  endless 
combinations,  as  if  heaven  and  earth  were  for  ever  talking  to 
each  other.  Often  when  in  a  deep  study,  I  have  walked  to 
the  window  and  remained  there  looking  without  seeing ;  all  at  once 

knowledge  which  was  all  his  own,  a  mass  of  particulars  as  to  the 
wonderful  poem,  and  much  that  was  said  and  written  by  Coleridge 
on  the  subject,  including  a  "  final  utterance "  quoted  from  Table 
Talk  under  date  July  1833  :  u  The  reason  for  my  not  finishing 
'  Christabel '  is  not  that  I  don't  know  how  to  do  it — for  I  have, 
as  I  always  had,  the  whole  plan  entire  from  beginning  to  end  in  my 
mind  ;  but  I  fear  I  could  not  carry  on  with  equal  success  the  execu- 
tion of  the  idea,  an  extremely  subtle  and  difficult  one." 


A   PICTURE   OF   GRETA   HALE     107 

the  lake  of  Keswick  and  the  fantastic  mountains  of  Borrowdale 
at  the  head  of  it  have  entered  into  my  mind  with  a  suddenness 
as  if  I  had  been  snatched  out  of  Cheapside  and  placed  for  the 
first  time  on  the  spot  where  I  stood ;  and  that  is  a  delightful 
feeling,  these  Fits  and  Trances  of  Novelty  received  from  a  long 
known  Object.  The  river  Greta  flows  behind  our  house,  roar- 
ing like  an  untamed  son  of  the  Hills  ;  then  winds  round  and 
glides  away  in  the  front,  so  that  we  live  in  a  peninsula.  But 
besides  this  etherial  eye  feeding,  we  have  very  substantial  con- 
veniences. We  are  close  to  the  town,  where  we  have  respect- 
able and  neighbourly  acquaintance,  and  a  sensible  and  truly 
excellent  medical  man.  Our  garden  is  part  of  a  large  nursery 
garden,  which  is  the  same  to  us  and  as  private  as  if  the  whole 
had  been  our  own  ;  in  this  too  we  have  delightful  walks  without 
passing  our  garden  gate.  My  landlord,  who  lives  in  the  Sister 
House  (for  the  two  Houses  are  built  so  as  to  look  like  one  great 
one),  is  a  modest  and  kind  man,  of  a  singular  character.  By 
the  severest  economy  he  has  raised  himself  from  a  carrier  into 
the  possession  of  a  comfortable  independence.  He  was  always 
very  fond  of  reading,  and  has  collected  nearly  500  volumes,  of 
our  most  esteemed  modern  writers,  such  as  Gibbon,  Hume, 
Johnson,  &c.  &c.  His  habits  of  economy  and  simplicity  remain 
with  him,  and  yet  so  very  disinterested  a  man  I  scarcely  ever 
knew.  Lately,  when  I  wished  to  settle  with  him  about  the 
Rent  of  our  House,  he  appeared  much  affected,  told  me  that  my 
living  near  him,  and  the  having  so  much  of  Hartley's*  company 
were  so  great  comforts  to  him  and  his  housekeeper,  that  he  had 
no  children  to  provide  for,  and  did  not  mean  to  marry  ;  and  in 
short,  that  he  did  not  want  any  rent  at  all  from  me.  This  of  course 
I  laughed  him  out  of;  but  he  absolutely  refused  to  receive  any 
rent  for  the  first  half-year,  under  the  pretext  that  the  house  was 
not  completely  furnished.  Hartley  quite  lives  at  the  house,  and 
it  is  as  you  may  suppose,  no  small  joy  to  my  wife  to  have  a 

*  His  eldest  boy,  now  four  years  old.    All  accounts  represent  him 
as  a  singularly  charming  child. 


io8  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

good  affectionate  motherly  woman  divided  from  her  only  by  a  wall. 
Eighteen  miles  from  our  house  lives  Sir  Guilfrid  Lawson,  who 
has  a  princely  library,  chiefly  of  Natural  History,  a  kind  and 
generous,  but  weak  and  ostentatious  sort  of  man,  who  has  been 
abundantly  civil  to  me.  Among  other  raree  shows,  he  keeps  a 
wild  beast  or  two,  with  some  eagles,  &c.  The  master  of  the 
beasts  at  the  Exeter  'Change,  sent  him  down  a  large  Bear — 
with  it  a  long  letter  of  directions  concerning  the  food,  &c.,  of 
the  animal,  and  many  solicitations  respecting  other  agreeable 
Quadrupeds  which  he  was  desirous  to  send  the  Baronet  at  a 
moderate  price,  concluding  in  this  manner:  "And  remain  your 
honour's  most  devoted  humble  servant,  J.P.  Permit  me,  Sir 
Guilfrid,  to  send  you  a  Buffalo  and  a  Rhinoceros."  As  neat  a 
postscript  as  I  ever  heard — the  tradesmanlike  coolness  with  which 
these  pretty  little  animals  occurred  to  him  just  at  the  finishing 
of  his  letter  !  !  You  will  in  the  course  of  three  weeks  see  the 
Letters  on  the  rise  and  condition  of  the  German  Boors.  I  found 
it  convenient  to  make  up  a  volume  out  of  my  journeys,  &c.,  in 
North  Germany;  and  the  Letters  (your  name  of  course  erased) 
are  in  the  Printer's  Hands.  I  was  so  weary  of  transcribing  and 
composing^  that  when  I  found  those  more  carefully  written  than 
the  rest,  I  even  sent  them  off  as  they  were. 

Poor  Alfred  !  I  have  not  seen  it  in  print.  Charles  Lamb 
wrote  me  the  following  account  of  it :  "  I  have  just  received 
from  Cottle  a  magnificent  Copy  of  his  Guinea  Alfred  !  Four 
and  20  books,  to  read  in  the  Dog  Days.  I  got  as  far  as  the 
mad  monk  the  first  day,  and  fainted.  Mr.  Cottle's  Genius 
strongly  points  him  to  the  very  simple  Pastoral^  but  his  inclina- 
tions divert  him  perpetually  from  his  calling.  He  imitates 
Southey  as  Rowe  did  Shakespeare,  with  his  *  Good  morrow  to 
you,  good  Master  Lieutenant  ! '  Instead  of  c  a  man,'  a  woman/ 
'  a  daughter,'  he  constantly  writes  '  one,  a  man,'  <  one,  a  woman/ 
*  one,  his  daughter '  ;  instead  of  '  the  King,'  *  the  Hero,'  he 
constantly  writes  "  He,  the  King,'  '  He,  the  Hero ' — two 
flowers  of  rhetoric  palpably  from  the  Joan.  But  Mr.  Cottle 
soars  a  higher  pitch,  and  when  he  is  original,  it  is  in  a  most 


COLERIDGE  AT   KESWICK          109 

original  way  indeed.  His  terrific  scenes  are  indefatigable. 
Serpents,  Asps,  Spiders,  Ghosts,  Dead  Bodies,  and  Staircases 
made  of  NOTHING,  with  Adders'  Tongues  for  Bannisters — 
my  God  !  what  a  Brain  he  must  have  !  he  puts  as  many  Plums 
in  his  Pudding  as  my  Grandmother  used  to  do  ;  and  then  his 
emerging  from  Hell's  Horrors  into  Light,  and  Treading  of  this 
Earth  for  23  Books  together  ! — C.  L." 

My  littlest  one  is  a  very  stout  boy  indeed  :  he  is  christened 
by  the  name  of  "  Derwent"  a  sort  of  sneaking  affection,  you 
see,  for  the  poetical  and  the  novellish  which  I  disguise  to 
myself  under  the  show  that  my  Brothers  had  so  many  Children, 
John's,  James',  George's,  &c.  &c.,  that  a  handsome  Christian- 
like  name  was  not  to  be  had  except  by  encroaching  on  the 
names  of  my  little  Nephews.  If  you  are  at  Gunville  at 
Christmas,  I  hold  out  hopes  to  myself  that  I  shall  be  able  to 
pass  a  week  with  you  then.  I  mentioned  to  you  at  Upcott  a 
kind  of  comedy  that  I  had  committed — to  writing,  in  part. 
This  is  in  the  wind. 

Wordsworth's  second  volume  of  the  Ly.  Ball,  will,  I  hope 
and  almost  believe,  afford  you  as  unmingled  pleasure  as  is  in 
the  nature  of  a  collection  of  very  various  poems  to  afford  to  one 
individual  mind.  Sheridan  has  sent  to  him  too,  requesting  him 
to  write  a  tragedy  for  Drury  Lane.  But  W.  will  not  be 
diverted  by  anything  from  the  prosecution  of  his  great  work. 

I  shall  request  permission  to  draw  upon  you  shortly  for  20^  ; 
but  if  it  be  in  the  least  inconvenient  to  you,  I  pray  you,  tell  me 
so  ;  for  I  can  draw  on  Longman,  who  in  less  than  a  month  will 
owe  me  6o.£,  though  I  would  rather  not  do  it. 

Southey's  Thalaba,  in  twelve  books,  is  going  to  the  Press. 
I  hear  his  Madoc  is  to  be  nonum-in-annum'd.  Besides  these,  I 
have  heard  of  four  other  Epic  Poems — all  in  Quarto  !  A 
happy  age  this  for  tossing  off  an  Epic  or  two  ! 

Remember  me  with  great  affection  to  your  Brother;  and 
present  my  kindest  respects  to  Mrs.  Wedgewood.  Your  late 
Governess  wanted  one  thing  which,  where  there  is  health,  is 
I  think  indispensable  to  the  moral  character  of  a  young  person, 


no  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

a  light  and  cheerful  Heart.  She  interested  me  a  good  deal ; 
she  appears  to  me  to  have  been  injured  by  going  out  of  the 
common  way  without  any  of  that  imagination,  which,  if  it  be 
a  Jack  O'  Lan thorn  to  lead  us  out  of  that  way,  is  however  at 
the  same  time  a  Torch  to  light  us  whither  we  are  going. 

A  whole  essay  might  be  written  on  the  danger  of  thinking 
without  Images.  God  bless  you,  my  dear  sir,  and  him  who  is 
with  grateful  and  affectionate  esteem, 

Yours  ever, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

S.  <T.  Coleridge  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

November  12,  1800. 

[Postmark :  KESWICK.] 
MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

I  received  your  kind  letter,  with  the  20^.  My  eyes  are  in 
such  a  state  of  inflammation  that  I  might  as  well  write  blind- 
fold ;  they  are  so  blood-red  that  I  should  make  a  very  good 
personification  of  Murder.  I  have  had  Leaches  twice,  and 
have  now  a  blister  behind  my  right  Ear.  How  I  caught  the 
cold,  in  the  first  instance,  I  can  scarcely  guess  ;  but  I  improved 
it  to  its  present  glorious  state  by  taking  long  walks  all  the 
mornings,  spite  of  the  wind,  and  writing  late  at  night,  while 
my  eyes  were  weak. 

I  have  made  some  rather  curious  observations  on  the  rising 
up  of  Spectra  in  the  eye,  in  its  inflamed  state,  and  their  influence 
on  Ideas,  &c.,  but  I  cannot  see  to  make  myself  intelligible  to 
you.  Present  my  kindest  remembrance  to  Mrs.  W.  and  your 
brother.  Pray  did  you  ever  pay  any  particular  attention  to  the 
first  time  of  your  little  ones  smiling  and  laughing  ?  Both  I 
and  Mrs.  C.  have  carefully  watched  our  little  one,  and  noted 
down  all  the  circumstances,  &c.,  under  which  he  smiled,  and 
under  which  he  laughed,  for  the  first  six  times  ;  nor  have  we 
remitted  our  attention  ;  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  derive  the 
least  confirmation  of  Hartley's  or  Darwin's  Theory. 


TRAVEL   PLANS  in 

You  say  most  truly,  my  dear  sir,  that  a  Pursuit  is  necessary. 
Pursuit,  I  say,  for  even  praiseworthy  Employment,  merely  for 
good,  or  general  good,  is  not  sufficient  for  happiness,  is  not  fit 
for  man. 

God  bless  you,  my  dear  sir,  and  your  sincerely  affectionate 
friend, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

P.S. — I  cannot  at  present  make  out  how  I  stand  in  pecuniary 
way  ;  but  I  believe  that  I  have  anticipated  on  the  next  year 
to  the  amount  of  30  or  40  pound,  probably  more. 

A  main  interest  of  Tom  Wedgwood's  life  was 
metaphysical  and  psychological  speculation,  and  he 
seems  to  have  been  specially  occupied  with  these  sub- 
jects in  the  year  1801.  In  March  of  that  year  he  is 
described  as  deep  in  "  Time,  Space,  and  Motion,"  and 
later  he  was  discussing  his  theories  with  Mackintosh 
and  making  apparently  some  kind  of  effort  to  put  them 
in  a  definite  shape.  Of  this  there  will  be  more  to  be 
said  in  a  later  chapter.  For  the  rest,  his  life  in  this 
and  the  succeeding  years  might  be  described  in  words 
we  find  him  using  to  Poole :  "  I  am  just  the  same  as 
last  Christmas,  eternally  racking  my  brains  for  some 
plausible  scheme  of  action,  and  subject  every  day  to  fits 
of  the  greatest  despondency."  The  "  plausible  schemes 
of  action "  at  home  alternated  with  plans  of  travel 
abroad  which  were  equally  failures.  In  July  1801,  for 
example,  he  crosses  the  Channel  to  begin  a  tour,  but  a 
few  weeks  later  he  is  feeling  too  depressed  to  go  on, 
and  flies  back  to  England.  Again,  in  May  1 802,  he 
has  been  consulting  Cline,  with  no  effective  result ;  he 
has  a  "loathing  of  going  abroad,"  but  is  "unable  to 


ii2  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

come  to  any  practicable  scheme  of  living  in  England." 
He  starts  off  on  a  tour  which  is  to  take  him  to  Vienna 
and  then  to  Italy  for  the  winter.  At  Paris  he  has  a 
pleasant  time  with  Sharp  and  other  friends.  He 
spends  hours  daily  among  the  ancient  marbles  in  the 
Louvre,  is  enthusiastic  about  "  a  new  Diana  supposed 
to  be  by  the  same  hand  as  the  Belvedere  Apollo,"  and 
about  a  young  French  Sculptor  whose  "  manner  is  very 
much  that  of  Michael  Angelo."  Also  he  has  dis- 
covered, after  infinite  trouble,  a  delightful  travelling 
companion,  a  young  musical  composer,  Acerbi.  Then 
comes  the  inevitable  breakdown.  "  My  strength  and 
spirits  have  entirely  failed  me,  and  I  am  forced  home 
by  the  same  demon  that  drove  me  thence."  * 

A  month  or  two  later  he  is  going  to  take  a  farm  in 
hand,  near  Gunville,  and  work  it  through  a  factotum, 
"  so  that  I  shall  have  something  going  on  about  me.  I 
shall  fit  up  a  good  room,  .  .  .  shall  perhaps  place 
some  companionable  musical  person  there,  and  so  spend 
many  hours  a  day  with  him.  .  .  .  But  this  is  all  a  new 
scheme,  and  judging  of  it  by  its  predecessors,  will  be 
extinct  before  this  letter  reaches  you  at  Geneva."  t 


The  time  of  closest  intimacy  between  Tom  Wedg- 
wood and  Coleridge  was  the  latter  part  of  this  year, 
1802.  They  were  together  continuously  for  more  than 
two  months.  It  was  a  sad  time  in  the  life  of  Cole- 
ridge. His  estrangement  from  his  wife  was  increasing, 


*  To  Poole,  June  27,  1802. 
t  To  Poole,  August  29,  1802. 


ENTRANCE   TO    EASTBURY    PARK    (1902) 


r9t     r  VILLAGE  OFcTARRANT  GUNVILLE   (1902) 


COLERIDGE'S  TROUBLES  113 

and  so  was  his  habit  of  opium-eating,  which  was  to 
bring  him  in  a  few  years  to  that  state  which  he  himself 
described  as  a  "  pitiable  slavery."  This  had  begun, 
apparently,  about  a  year  earlier,  and  it  was  as  yet  hardly 
known  to  his  most  intimate  friends.  The  Words- 
worths  seem  not  to  have  been  yet  aware  of  it.  To  this 
there  is  no  open  reference  in  his  letters  to  the  Wedg- 
woods ;  of  the  home  trouble  there  is,  alas  !  too  much. 
The  following  letter  would  appear  to  refer  to 
one  from  Wedgwood  mooting  some  scheme  for  their 
travelling  together.  Such  schemes,  and  the  ceaseless 
search  for  a  companion  for  the  sick  man  in  his 
wanderings,  make  up  a  great  part  of  the  Wedgwood 
correspondence. 

S.  CT.  Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

(Address :  EASTBURY,  BLANDFORD.) 

GRETA  HALL,  KESWICK, 

October  20,  1802. 
MY  DEAR  SIR, — 

This  is  my  birthday,  my  thirtieth.  It  will  not  appear 
wonderful  to  you  therefore,  when  I  tell  you  that  before  the 
arrival  of  your  letter  I  had  been  thinking  with  a  great  weight 
of  different  feelings  concerning  you  and  your  dear  Brother. 
For  I  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  I  should  not  now  have 
been  alive,  if  in  addition  to  other  miseries  I  had  had  immediate 
poverty  pressing  upon  me.  I  will  never  again  remain  silent  so 
long.  It  has  not  been  altogether  Indolence  or  my  habit  or 
Procrastination  which  have  kept  me  from  writing,  but  an  eager 
wish,  I  may  truly  say  a  Thirst  of  Spirit,  to  have  something 
honourable  to  tell  you  of  myself.  At  present  I  must  be  con- 
tent to  tell  you  something  cheerful.  My  Health  is  very  much 
better.  I  am  stronger  in  every  respect,  and  am  not  injured  by 
study  or  the  act  of  sitting  at  my  writing  Desk.  But  my  eyes 

H 


n4  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

suffer  if  at  any  time  I  have  been  intemperate  in  the  use  'of 
Candle  light.  This  account  supposes  another,  namely,  that  my 
mind  is  calm,  and  more  at  ease.  My  dear  sir,  when  I  was  last 
with  you  at  Stowey,  my  heart  was  often  full,  and  I  could 
scarcely  keep  from  communicating  to  you  the  tale  of  my  dis- 
tresses, but  how  could  I  add  to  your  depression,  when  you  were 
low  ?  Or  how  interrupt,  or  cast  a  shade  on  your  good  spirits, 
that  were  so  rare  and  so  precious  to  you  ?  I  found  no  comfort 
except  in  the  driest  speculations.  In  the  Ode  to  Dejection* 
which  you  were  pleased  with,  these  lines,  in  the  original, 
followed  the  line  "  My  shaping  spirit  of  Imagination  :  " 

"  For  not  to  think  of  what  I  needs  must  feel, 
But  to  be  still  and  patient,  all  I  can, 
And  haply  by  abstruse  Research  to  steal 
From  my  own  Nature  all  the  natural  man — 


*  "Dejection,    an    Ode,"  was  printed    in    the    Morning   Post  of 

October  4,  1802,  where  probably  Wedgwood  had  just  seen   it.  It 

was  written  in  the  previous  April.     The  passage  referred  to  runs  as 
follows  : 

There  was  a  time  when,  though  my  path  was  rough, 
This  joy  within  me  dallied  with  distress, 
And  all  misfortunes  were  but  as  the  stuff 
Whence  Fancy  made  me  dreams  of  happiness  ; 
For  hope  grew  round  me,  like  the  twining  vine, 
And  fruits,  and  foliage,  not  my  own,  seemed  mine. 
But  now  afflictions  bow  me  down  to  earth  ; 
Nor  care  I  that  they  rob  me  of  my  mirth ; 

But  oh  !  each  visitation 
Suspends  what  Nature  gave  me  at  my  birth 
My  shaping  spirit  of  Imagination. 
For  not  to  think  of  what  I  needs  must  feel,  &c. 

"  No  sadder  cry  from  the  depths,"  says  Mr.  Dykes  Campbell, 
"  was  ever  uttered,  even  by  Coleridge.  Health  was  gone,  and  with 
it  both  the  natural  joy  which  had  been  his  in  rich  abundance,  and 
that  rarer  kind  which,  as  he  tells  us,  dwells  only  with  the  pure. 
Nor  was  this  all,  for  he  discovered  that  he  had  lost  control  of  his 
most  precious  endowment,  his  '  shaping  spirit  of  imagination.'  He 
felt  that  poetically  he  was  dead,  and  that  if  not  dead  spiritually,  he 
had  lost  his  spiritual  identity." 


COLERIDGE'S   TROUBLES.         115 

This  was  my  sole  resource,  my  only  plan, 

And  that  which  suits  a  part  infects  the  whole, 

And  now  is  almost  grown  the  Temper*  of  my  soul." 

I  give  you  these  lines  for  the  spirit  and  not  for  the  poetry .t 


But  better  days  are  arrived,  and  are  still  to  come.  I  have 
had  visitations  of  Hope,  that  I  may  yet  be  something  of  which 
those  who  love  me  may  be  proud. 

I  cannot  write  that  without  recalling  dear  Poole.  I  have 
heard  twice,  and  written  twice,  and  I  fear  that  by  a  strange 
fatality,  one  of  the  Letters  will  have  missed  him.  Leslie  was 
here  some  time  ago.  I  was  very  much  pleased  with  him. 

And  now  I  will  tell  you  what  I  am  doing.  I  dedicate  three 
days  in  the  week  to  the  Morning  Post,  and  shall  hereafter  write, 
for  the  far  greater  part,  such  things  only  as  will  be  of  as  per- 
manent interest  as  anything  I  can  hope  to  write  ;  and  you  will 
shortly  see  a  little  Essay  of  mine  justifying  the  writing  in  a 
Newspaper. 

My  comparison  of  the  French  with  the  Roman  Empire  was 
very  favourably  received.  The  Poetry  which  I  have  sent  has 
been  merely  the  emptying  out  of  my  Desk.  The  Epigrams 
are  wretched  indeed,  but  they  answered  Stuart's  purpose  better 
than  better  things.  I  ought  not  to  have  given  any  signature 
to  them  whatsoever.  I  never  dreamt  of  acknowledging  either 
them  or  the  "  Ode  to  the  Rain.'*  As  to  feeble  expressions  and 
unpolished  lines,  there  is  the  rub  !  Indeed,  my  dear  sir,  I  do 
value  your  opinion  very  highly.  I  should  think  your  judgment 
on  the  sentiment,  the  imagery,  the  flow  of  a  poem  decisive  ;  at 
least  if  it  differed  from  my  own,  and  after  frequent  considera- 


*  Mr.  Dykes  Campbell,  quoting  this  letter  ("  Poetical  Works," 
p.  628),  gives  this  word  as  "  temple,"  misled,  apparently,  by  one  of 
Cottle's  silly  alterations  of  what  Coleridge  wrote.  In  his  print  of 
the  poem  (founded  on  the  issue  of  1829),  it  appears  as  "habit." 

t  Here  follows  an  outpour  on  the  subject  of  his  home  troubles. 


n6  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

tion  mine  remained  different,  it  would  leave  me  at  least 
perplexed.  For  you  are  a  perfect  electrometer  in  these  things  ; 
but  in  point  of  poetic  diction,  i  am  not  so  well  satisfied  that 
you  do  not  require  a  certain  aloofness  from  the  language  of  real 
life,  which  I  think  deadly  to  poetry. 

Very  shortly,  however,  I  shall  present  you  from  the  Press 
with  my  opinions  in  full  on  the  subject  of  Style  both  in  prose 
and  verse  ;  and  I  am  confident  of  one  thing,  that  I  shall  con- 
vince you  that  I  have  thought  much  and  patiently  on  the 
subject  and  that  I  understand  the  whole  strength  of  my 
Antagonist's  Cause.  For  I  am  now  busy  on  the  subject,  and 
shall  in  a  very  few  weeks  go  to  Press  with  a  volume  on  the 
prose  writings  of  Hall,  Milton  and  Taylor  ;  and  shall  immedi- 
ately follow  it  up  with  an  Essay  on  the  writings  of  Dr.  Johnson 
and  Gibbon.  And  in  these  two  volumes  I  flatter  myself  I  shall 
present  a  fair  History  of  English  Prose.*  If  my  life  and  health 
remain,  and  I  do  but  write  half  as  much  and  as  regularly  as  I 
have  done  during  the  last  six  weeks,  these  will  be  finished  by 
January  next ;  and  I  shall  then  put  together  my  memorandum 
book  on  the  subject  of  Poetry.  In  both  I  have  endeavoured 
sedulously  to  state  the  Facts  and  the  Differences  clearly  and 
acutely  ;  and  my  reasons  for  the  preference  of  one  style  and 
another  are  secondary  to  this.  Of  this  be  assured,  that  I  will 
never  give  anything  to  the  world  in  propria  persona,  in  my 
own  name,  which  I  have  not  tormented  with  the  File.  I 
sometimes  suspect  that  my  foul  copy  would  often  appear  to 
general  readers  more  polished  than  my  fair  copy.  Many  of  the 
feeble  and  colloquial  expressions  have  been  industriously  sub- 
stituted for  others  which  struck  me  as  artificial,  and  not  standing 
the  test ;  as  being  neither  the  language  of  passion,  nor  distinct 
conceptions. 

*  All  this,  and  what  follows,  as  to  literary  work  must  be  treated  as 
merely  visionary.  Confusion  between  things  done  and  things  which 
he  dreamed  of  doing  was  habitual  with  Coleridge.  He  "  spawned 
plans  like  a  herring,"  as  Southey  tells  him  in  a  letter  of  about  this 
time  (Southey's  "Life,"  ii.  190).  See  D.C.  p.  251,  on  such  visions. 


TRAVEL  PLANS  117 

Dear  sir,  indulge  me  with  looking  still  further  on  to  my 
literary  life.  I  have  since  my  twentieth  year  meditated  an 
heroic  poem  on  the  Siege  of  Jerusalem  by  Titus.  This  is  the 
Pride  and  the  Stronghold  of  my  Hope.  But  I  never  think  of 
it  except  in  my  best  moods.  The  work,  to  which  I  dedicate 
the  ensuing  years  of  my  life,  is  one  which  highly  pleased  Leslie 
in  prospective,  and  my  paper  will  not  let  me  prattle  to  you 
about  it.  I  have  written  what  you  most  wished  me  to  write, 
all  about  myself. 

Our  climate  is  inclement,  and  our  houses  not  as  compact  as 
they  might  be ;  but  it  is  a  stirring  climate,  and  the  worse  the 
weather,  the  more  unceasingly  entertaining  are  my  Study 
Windows ;  and  the  month  that  is  to  come  is  the  Glory  of  the 
year  with  us.  A  very  warm  Bedroom  I  can  promise  you,  and 
one  that  at  the  same  time  commands  our  finest  Lake  and 
Mountain  view.  If  Leslie  could  not  go  abroad  with  you,  and 
I  could  in  any  way  mould  my  manners  and  habits  to  suit  you, 
I  should  of  all  things  like  to  be  your  companion.  Good  nature, 
an  affectionate  disposition,  and  so  thorough  a  sympathy  with 
the  nature  of  your  complaint  that  I  should  feel  no  pain,  not  the 
most  momentary,  at  being  told  by  you  what  your  feelings 
required  at  the  time  in  which  they  required  it — this  I  should 
bring  with  me.  But  I  need  not  say  that  you  may  say  to  me, 
"  You  don't  suit  me,"  without  inflicting  the  least  mortification. 
Of  course  this  letter  is  for  your  Brother  as  for  you  ;  but  I  shall 
write  to  him  soon.  God  bless  you,  and 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


In  answer  to  this  letter  Tom  Wedgwood  must  have 
replied  by  a  proposal  that  Coleridge  should  at  once 
join  him,  doubtless  at  Bristol. 

Coleridge  is  evidently  ready,  if  not  anxious,  to  leave 
his  home,  and  he  writes  as  if  he  thought  his  absence 
would  be  a  long  one. 


n8  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

S.  'T.  Coleridge  to  ^Tom  Wedgwood 

KESWICK, 

Wednesday,  Nov.  3,  1802. 
DEAR  WEDGWOOD, — 

It  is  now  two  hours  since  I  received  your  letter  ;  and  after 
the  necessary  consultation,  Mrs.  Coleridge  herself  is  fully  of 
opinion  that  to  lose  Time  is  merely  to  lose  Spirits.  Accord- 
ingly, I  have  resolved  not  to  look  the  children  in  the  Face 
(the  parting  from  whom  -is  the  only  downright  Bitter  in  the 
thing),  but  to  take  a  chaise  to  morning  morning,  half  past  four 
for  Penrith,  and  go  to  London  by  to-morrow's  Mail.  Of 
course  I  shall  be  in  London  (God  permitting)  on  Saturday 
morning.  I  shall  rest  that  day,  and  the  next,  and  proceed  to 
Bristol  by  the  Monday  night's  mail.  At  Bristol  I  will  go  to 
Cote,  and  there  wait  your  coming.  If  the  family  be  not  at 
home,  I  shall  beg  a  Bed  at  Dr.  Beddoes's,  or  at  least  leave  word 
where  I  am.  At  all  events,  barring  serious  Illness,  serious 
Fractures,  and  the  et  cetera  of  serious  Unforeseen;,  I  shall  be  at 
Bristol,  Tuesday,  Noon,  Nov.  gth. 

You  are  aware,  that  my  whole  knowledge  of  French  does 
not  extend  beyond  the  power  of  limping  slowly,  not  without  a 
Dictionary  Crutch,  thro'  an  easy  French  Book  :  and  that  as 
to  Pronunciation,  all  my  Organs  of  Speech,  from  the  bottom 
of  the  Larynx  to  the  Edge  of  my  Lips,  are  utterly  and  naturally 
Anti-gallican.  If  only  I  shall  have  been  any  Comfort,  any 
Alleviation  to  you,  I  shall  feel  myself  at  ease  ;  and  whether 
you  go  abroad  or  no,  while  I  remain  with  you,  it  will  greatly 
contribute  to  my  comfort,  if  I  know  you  will  have  no  hesitation, 
nor  pain,  in  telling  me  what  you  wish  me  to  do  or  not  to  do. 

I  regard  it  among  the  Blessings  of  my  Life,  that  I  have 
never  lived  among  men  whom  I  regarded  as  my  artificial 
superiors :  that  all  the  respect  I  have  at  any  time  paid  has 
been  wholly  to  supposed  Goodness,  or  Talent.  The  con- 
sequence has  been  that  I  have  no  alarms  of  Pride  ;  no  cheval 
de  frise  of  Independence.  I  have  always  lived  among  equals. 


TRAVEL  PLANS  11,9 

• 

It  never  occurs  to  me,  even  for  a  moment,  that  I  am  otherwise. 
If  I  have  quarrelled  with  men,  it  has  been  as  Brothers  or  School- 
fellows quarrel.  How  little  any  man  can  give  me,  or  take 
from  me,  save  in  matters  of  kindness  and  esteem,  is  not  so 
much  a  Thought,  or  Conviction  with  me,  or  even  a  distinct 
Feeling,  as  it  is  my  very  Nature.  Much  as  I  dislike  all  formal 
Declarations  of  this  kind,  I  have  deemed  it  well  to  say  this.  I 
have  as  strong  feelings  of  Gratitude  as  any  man.  Shame  upon 
me,  if  in  the  sickness  and  the  sorrow  which  I  have  had,  and 
which  have  been  kept  unaggravated  and  supportable  by  your 
kindness  and  your  Brother's — shame  upon  me  if  I  did  not  feel 
a  kindness,  not  unmixed  with  reverence,  towards  you  both. 
But  yet  I  never  should  have  had  my  present  Impulses  to  be 
with  you,  and  this  confidence  that  I  may  become  an  occa- 
sional comfort  to  you,  if  independently  of  all  gratitude,  I  did  not 
thoroughly  esteem  you  ;  and  if  I  did  not  appear  to  myself  to 
understand  the  nature  of  your  sufferings  ;  and  within  the  last 
year,  in  some  slight  degree  to  have  felt,  myself,  something  of 
the  same. 

Forgive  me,  my  dear  sir,  if  I  have  said  too  much.  It  is 
better  to  write  it  than  to  say  it  ;  and  I  am  anxious  in  the 
event  of  our  travelling  together  that  you  should  yourself  be  at 
ease  with  me,  even  as  you  would  with  a  younger  Brother,  to 
whom  from  his  childhood  you  had  been  in  the  habit  of  saying, 
"  Do  this,  Col."  or  "don't  do  that." 

I  have  been  writing  fast,  lest  I  should  be  too  late  for  the 
Post,  forgetting  that  I  am  myself  going  with  the  Mail,  and  of 
course  had  better  send  the  letter  from  London  with  the 
intelligence  of  my  safe  arrival  there.  Till  then,  all  good  be 

with  us. 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

Penrith,  Thursday  morning. 

If  this  letter  reaches  you  without  any  further  writing,  you 
will  understand  by  it  that  all  the  places  in  the  Mail  are  engaged, 
and  that  I  must  wait  a  day — but  this  will  make  no  difference 
in  my  arrival  at  Bristol. 


CHAPTER  IX 

SOUTH  WALES  AND  CRESSELLY  WITH  COLERIDGE 

1802 

THE  two  friends  had  made  plans,  apparently,  for  a 
journey  on  the  Continent,  but  these  were  adjourned. 
Tom  Wedgwood's  schemes  varied  from  day  to  day, 
and  the  project  of  the  moment  was  a  tour  in  South 
Wales. 

'Tom  Wedgwood  to  'Tom  Poole  * 

BATH, 

Nov.  ii,  1802. 
MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — 

I  received  yours  from  Paris  a  day  or  two  since.  It  is  in 
vain  for  me  to  seek  for  expressions  to  convey  what  I  feel  and 
have  long  felt  towards  you  for  your  unwearied  attentions  to 
my  comfort.  Once  for  all,  be  assured  that  I  am  as  much  alive 
to  services  like  yours  as  human  being  can  be. 

I  am  now  on  my  road  to  Cote  House,  where  Coleridge,  who 
is  like  another  comforting  spirit  to  me,  gives  me  the  meeting 
from  the  Bath.  We  then  proceed  to  South  Wales,  where  I  shall 
shoot  for  a  fortnight  or  so,  having  sent  a  man  and  seven  dogs 
before  me.  Our  plan  is  then  to  come  and  see  how  comfortable 
we  can  make  ourselves  in  your  new  house  at  Stowey. 
*  *  *  *  * 

For  about  three  weeks,  I  was  much  better  and  stronger  than  I 
*  Wedgwood  MSS.,  one  of  many  letters  given  to  Josiah  by  Poole. 


SOUTH   WALES  AND   CRESSELLY     121 

have  been  for  some  years — and  infinitely  more  cheerful.  I 
seconded  this  kindly  effort  of  Nature  by  every  possible  exertion 
of  my  own — I  lived  in  the  fields — shooting,  walking,  &c.  I 
took  a  farm  and  wholly  abandoned  myself  to  active  and  cheer- 
ful prospects.  In  the  midst  of  this  occupation,  as  if  by  some 
vile  incantation,  I  was  without  warning  suddenly  tumbled  into 
the  lowest  condition,  and  left  to  contemplate  the  ruin  of  all 
my  projects  like  the  visions  of  a  dream — so  completely  possessed 
by  languor  and  despondency  that  I  was  unable  even  to  conceive 
how  it  can  ever  have  entered  into  my  existence  to  cherish  the 
views  and  feelings  which  had  so  recently  made  up  my  whole 
being.  I  am  now  a  little  recovered,  but  my  mind  is  still  shaken 
and  sore  from  its  fall.  Pray  write  to  me  at  Cote  House  and 
believe  me  ever  most  faithfully  Yours, 

T.  W. 

The  journey  into  South  Wales  was  mainly  a  visit  to 
Cresselly,  the  country  house  of  John  Bartlett  Allen, 
father  of  Tom's  two  sisters-in-law,  Jane  and  Elizabeth 
Wedgwood.  On  the  way  thither,  Coleridge  writes 
thus  to  his  wife  : 

S.  T.  Coleridge  to  his  Wife 

ST.  CLEAR,  CARMARTHEN, 

1 6  Nov.  1802. 

MY  DEAR  LOVE, — 

***** 

The  inn,  the  Blue  Boary  is  the  most  comfortable  little  public 
house  I  was  ever  in,  Miss  S.  Wedgwood  (Tom's  youngest  sister) 
left  us  this  morning  for  Cresselly,  Mr.  Allen's  seat  (the  Miss 
Wedgwood's  father),  fifteen  miles  from  this  place,  and  T. 
Wedgwood  is  gone  out  cock-shooting,  in  high  glee  and  spirits. 
He  is  very  much  better  than  I  expected  to  have  found  him  ; 
he  says  the  thought  of  my  coming,  and  my  really  coming  so 
immediately,  has  sent  a  new  life  into  him.  He  will  be  out  all 
the  mornings.  The  evenings  we  chat,  discuss,  or  I  read  to 


122  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

him.  To  me  he  is  a  delightful  and  instructive  companion. 
He  possesses  the  finest,  the  subtlest  mind  and  taste  I  have  ever 
yet  met  with.  His  mind  resembles  that  miniature  in  my 
"Three  Graves": 

A  small  blue  sun  !  and  it  has  got 

A  perfect  glory  too  ! 
Ten  thousand  hairs  of  colour'd  light, 
Make  up  a  glory  gay  and  bright, 

Round  that  small  orb  so  blue  !  * 
*  *  *  *  * 

My  dear  love  !  I  have  said  nothing  of  Italy,  for  I  am  as 
much  in  the  dark  as  when  I  left  Keswick,  indeed  much  more  : 
For  I  now  doubt  very  much  whether  we  shall  go  or  no. 
[Then  follows  more  as  to  the  utter  uncertainty  of  all  Wedg- 
wood's schemes  of  travel.]  t 

I  must  subscribe  myself  in  haste  (the  mail  is  waiting)  your 
dear  husband, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

A  few  days  after  this  letter  was  written  the  travellers 

*  The  exact  point  of  the  comparison  of  Tom  Wedgwood's  mind 
to  the  "  small  blue  sun  "  is  not  very  evident.  The  quotation  of  the 
context  may  make  it  clearer.  The  scene  in  the  poem  is  an  arbour- 
like  nook  in  a  woody  dell,  wherein  three  people  are  resting  and 
talking  on  a  sunny  morning  : 

The  sun  peeps  through  the  close  thick  leaves, 

See,  dearest  Ellen  !     See  ! 
'Tis  in  the  leaves,  a  little  sun, 

No  bigger  than  your  *ee  ; 
A  small  blue  sun  !  and  it  has  got 

A  perfect  glory  too  ! 
Ten  thousand  hairs  of  colour'd  light,"  &c. 

I  imagine  that  the  simile  is  meant  to  emphasise,  as  it  were,  his 
underlining  the  words  "  subtlest"  "finest"  "  A  small  blue  sun  " 
became  in  later  editions  "  a  tiny  sun." 

t  The  whole  letter  is  printed  in  Mr.  E.  H.  Coleridge's  selection 
of  S.  T.  C.'s  letters,  p.  410.  It  begins  with  an  interesting  comparison 
between  the  Vale  of  Usk,  "  nineteen  miles  of  delightful  country," 
and  "  our  Vale  of  Keswick." 


SOUTH   WALES   AND   CRESSELLY     123 

were  at  Cresselly,  and  they  remained  there  or  in  its 
neighbourhood  for  about  a  month,  Wedgwood  taking 
occasional  trips  for  shooting,  while  Coleridge  stayed 
with  the  Aliens.  Cresselly  is  a  country  house  and 
estate  near  Narbeth  in  Pembrokeshire,  a  few  miles 
inland  from  Tenby. 

Writing  to  Poole  on  December  17,  Coleridge  tells 
him  that  he  is  very  happy  here,  and  that  they  have 

plenty  of  music  and  plenty  of  cream.  For  at  Cresselly  (I 
mention  it  as  a  remarkable  circumstance,  it  being  the  only 
place  I  was  ever  at  in  which  it  was  not  otherwise)  though  they 
have  a  dairy,  and  though  they  have  plenty  of  milk,  they  are  not 
at  all  stingy  of  it.  In  all  other  houses  where  cows  are  kept, 
you  may  drink  six  shillings  worth  of  wine  a  day,  and  welcome, 
but  use  three  pennyworth  of  cream,  and  O  Lord  !  the  feelings 
of  the  household. 

These  sarcasms,  according  to  a  note  put  by  Poole 
on  the  letter,  were  aimed  at  the  dairymaid  at  Stowey, 
who  thought  Coleridge  made  too  free  with  her  clouted 
cream,  or  at  himself.*" 

That  Coleridge  was  happy  at  Cresselly  is  no  wonder. 
Besides  the  good  cream,  there  was  the  good  company 
of  the  daughters  of  the  house.  The  eldest  of  them, 
who  was  the  presiding  lady  (the  squire's  wife  having 
died  long  before),  was  Jessie  Allen,  then  aged  twenty- 
five,  a  woman  of  rare  intelligence  and  singularly  beauti- 
ful character,  sympathetic,  warm-hearted,  responsive  ; 
in  moral  qualities  the  counterpart  of  her  sister  Bessy, 
the  universally  beloved  wife  of  Josiah  Wedgwood.  She 

*  T.  P.,  ii.  101. 


i24  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

afterwards,  in  middle  age,  became  the  wife  of  Sismondi 
the  historian.  The  next  sister,  Emma,  was  a  person  of 
more  ordinary  type,  an  affectionate  and  kindly  woman. 
The  youngest  of  the  group,  Frances,  always  spoken  of 
as  Fanny  Allen,  was  in  her  twenty-first  year.  She 
lived  to  be  ninety-three,  dying  in  1875;  and  was 
known  to  the  multitudinous  Wedgwood-Allen-Darwin 
cousinhood  of  the  next  two  generations  as  one  of  the 
cleverest  and  most  entertaining  of  old  ladies.  Her 
talk,  like  her  letters,  was  full  of  piquancy  and  point, 
and  in  the  early  bloom  of  twenty-one  she  must  have 
been  a  very  attractive  creature.  Through  her,  as  it 
happens,  we  have  some  slight  reminiscences  of  this 
visit  of  Tom  Wedgwood  and  Coleridge  to  Cresselly. 
In  her  old  age,  sixty-nine  years  later,  she  dictated  to 
her  niece,  Elizabeth  Wedgwood,  a  few  sentences  of 
"  Recollections  of  Tom  Wedgwood."*  These  run  as 
follows : 

Fanny  says  there  was  a  great  charm  in  Uncle  Tom's  manner ; 
it  was  gracious  and  elegant,  but  it  was  more  the  charm  of  his 
character  which  made  it  so  interesting.  His  ill  health  made 
him  felt  to  be  apart,  but  in  everything  he  said  there  was  sym- 
pathy and  great  sensibility,  and  from  his  not  talking  much  he 
was  a  very  keen  observer,  and  his  fine  taste  was  easily  shocked. 
But  he  judged  calmly  and  sweetly.  When  he  arrived  at 
Cresselly,  they  were  all  set  down  to  dinner  before  Mr.  Allen, 
who  was  a  great  invalid,  came  in  ;  and  Fanny  says  she  never 
can  forget  the  beauty  of  his  manner  when  he  rose  and  took 


*  The  paper  is  endorsed  "  written  by  Sarah  Eliz.  Wedgwood, 
eldest  daughter  of  J.  W.  of  Maer,  whilst  staying  with  Miss  F.  Allen 
at  Tenby  in  Dec.  1871."  It  was  found  among  Mrs.  Charles  Darwin's 
papers. 


SOUTH   WALES  AND   CRESSELLY     125 

Mr.  Allen's  hand  with  so  much  respect  and  feeling.  Mr.  Allen 
said  afterwards  he  had  never  seen  so  fine  a  manner.  After 
T.  W.  left  Cresselly  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Sarah  *  [Wedgwood] 
speaking  of  them  all  with  so  much  delicate  affection  and  of  his 
feeling  towards  them  as  sisters,  that  Fanny  regretted  never  to 
have  seen  the  letter  again. 

One  day  at  Cresselly  Mr.  Coleridge  was  saying  something 
about  the  Ten  Commandments  which  T.  W.  thought  would 
shock  Mr.  Allen,  and  he  tapped  him  [Coleridge]  on  the  arm 
and  took  him  out  of  the  room  and  stopped  him. 

Once  in  London  there  was  a  party,  and  Uncle  Tom  among 
them,  to  see  a  picture  of  Christ  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci.  Dugald 
Stewart  was  of  the  party,  and  said,  "  You  are  all  looking  at 
that  head — I  cannot  keep  my  eyes  from  the  head  of  Mr. 
Wedgwood  (who  was  looking  intently  at  the  picture)  ;  it  is  the 
finest  head  I  ever  saw."  t 

Another  day  at  Cresselly,  Coleridge,  who  was  fond  of  reading 
MS.  poems  of  Wordsworth's,  asked  Fanny  whether  she  liked 
poetry,  and  when  she  said  she  did,  came  and  sat  by  her  on  the 
sofa,  and  began  to  read  the  Leechgatherer.  When  he  came  to 
the  passage,  now  I  believe  omitted,  about  his  skin  being  so  old 
and  dry  that  the  leeches  wouldn't  stick,  it  set  Fanny  a-laughing. 
That  frightened  her,  and  she  got  into  a  convulsive  fit  of 
laughter  that  shook  Coleridge,  who  was  sitting  close  to  her, 
looking  very  angry.  He  put  up  his  MS.,  saying  he  ought  to 
ask  her  pardon,  for  perhaps  to  a  person  who  had  not  genius 
(Fanny  cannot  exactly  remember  the  expression)  the  poem 
might  seem  absurd.  F.  sat  in  a  dreadful  fright,  everybody 
looking  amazed,  Sarah  looking  angry  ;  and  she  almost  expected 

*  Tom's  sister,  who  had  accompanied  him  and  Coleridge  into 
South  Wales. 

t  I  find  in  a  letter  written  by  Fanny  Allen  to  the  same  niece  in 
the  fifties  an  allusion  to  the  "  effect  that  Tom's  appearance  and  manner 
had  on  Mackintosh's  '  set,'  as  they  were  called,  the  winter  he  left  for 
India — Sydney  Smith  was  almost  awed."  Dugald  Stewart  (d.  1828) 
was  the  Edinburgh  Professor  who  had  already  become  famous  through 
his  writings  on  mental  and  moral  philosophy. 


126  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

her  father  would  turn  her  out  of  the  room,  but  Uncle  Tom 
came  to  her  rescue.  "  Well,  Coleridge,  one  must  confess  that 
it  is  not  quite  a 'subject  for  a  poem."  *  Coleridge  did  not  forgive 
Fanny  for  some  days,  putting  by  his  reading  aloud  if  she  came 
in.  But  afterwards  he  was  very  good  friends  with  her,  and 
one  day  in  particular  gave  her  all  his  history,  saying,  amongst 
other  things,  "  and  there  I  had  the  misfortune  to  meet  with  my 
wife." 

The  two  friends  seem  to  have  lingered  on  at  Cres- 
selly  in  a  state  of  complete  indecision  as  to  schemes 
of  further  travel.  "  God  knows  what  I  can  do,"  Tom 
writes  to  his  brother  Josiah,  "  Coleridge  is  all  kind- 
ness to  me,  and  in  prodigious  favour  here.  .  .  .  He 
takes  great  pains  to  make  himself  pleasant.  He  is 
willing,  indeed  desirous,  to  accompany  me  to  any  part 
of  the  globe." 

Both  men  were  eager  to  get  into  a  warm  climate. 
Italy,  Teneriffe,  Madeira,  were  talked  of  in  turn. 
Then  Tom  imagines  another  scheme.  "  A  Mr.  Luff, 
a  friend  of  Coil's  in  the  North,  a  young  man,  for- 
merly of  fashion,  now  in  distress,  with  a  pretty  little 
wife,  five  years  married  and  no  children ;  he  is  mad 


*  The  poem  known  in  the  Wordsworth  household  as  the  "  Leech- 
gatherer  "  was  first  published  in  1 807,  under  the  title  "  Resolution 
and  Independence."  Neither  in  that  nor  any  later  edition  is  there 
anything  as  to  the  old  man's  skin  or  the  leeches  not  sticking. 
Dorothy  Wordsworth's  diary  shows  that  she  made  two  copies  of 
the  poem  for  Coleridge,  one  on  May  9,  1802,  and  one  on  July  5, 
1802.  In  this  same  year  Coleridge  sent  Sir  George  Beaumont  a 
copy,  presumably  made  from  one  of  Dorothy's,  it  is  not  known 
which  ;  but  that  copy  does  not  contain  the  passage  in  question. 
Knight's  edition  of  the  Poems,  1896,  ii.  12.)  Possibly  it  appeared 

3  the  copy  made  by  Dorothy  in  May,  and  Coleridge  may  have 
been  reading  from  that. 


VISITING   WORDSWORTH          127 

after  field  sports,  of  the  best  possible  dispositions — I 
think  to  form  a  trio  for  a  year  and  run  wild." 

This  plan  takes  them  at  once  to  the  Lake  country, 
for  Luff's  abode  is  at  Patterdale,  and  on  Christmas 
Eve  we  find  them  calling  at  Wordsworth's  cottage  at 
Grasmere  on  their  way  to  Keswick,  which  they  reach 
the  same  day.^  Of  this  passing  visit  to  Wordsworth 
I  find  a  trace  in  a  letter  written  by  the  poet  to 
Josiah  Wedgwood  after  Tom's  death.  "  When  your 
brother,"  he  says,  "  entered  the  room  where  I  am  now 
writing,  about  four  years  ago,  I  was  quite  heart-stricken  ; 
he  was  deplorably  changed,  which  was  painful  to  see ; 
but  his  calm  and  dignified  manner,  united  with  his  tall 
person  and  beautiful  face,  produced  in  me  an  impression 
of  sublimity  beyond  what  I  ever  experienced  from  the 
appearance  of  any  other  human  being."  f 

These  remarkable  expressions,  used  by  a  man  not 
given  to  extravagance  of  language,  show  that  Wedg- 
wood's personal  appearance  must  have  been  excep- 
tionally striking ;  and  they  agree,  it  will  be  seen,  with 
Fanny  Allen's  anecdote  as  to  his  meeting  with  Dugald 
Stewart  and  with  her  remarks  as  to  his  dignified  bear- 
ing when  at  Cresselly. 

Tom's  first  letter  from  Coleridge's  abode  at  Keswick 
shows  that  he  had  again  fallen  back  into  a  terrible  depth 
of  despondency. 


*  Here  Coleridge  finds  his  new-born  daughter,  Sara,  who  had 
appeared  on  the  preceding  day. 

t  Written  in  September  1806.  The  letter  is  given  in  a  short 
account  of  Tom's  life  which  Josiah  drew  up  for  the  information  of 
Mackintosh.  In  the  words  "deplorably  changed"  Wordsworth  is 
probably  recalling  Tom's  visit  to  him  at  Alfoxden  (anfe,  p. 5  2). 


128  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  his  brother  Josiah 

GRETA  HALL, 

25  Dec.,  1802. 

...  If  that  fail  [a  plan  of  settling  in  Wales,  one  of  various 
schemes  for  fighting  his  disease]  I  will  neither  distress  myself 
nor  my  friends  by  continuing  a  vain  struggle  with  Nature,  but 
in  complete  resignation  yield  to  her  an  existence  which  she 
will  not  allow  to  be  anything  but  a  burden  to  myself,  and  a 
perpetual  source  of  anxiety  to  all  around  me.  I  feel  a  comfort 
from  this  resolution  which  sustains  me  in  my  most  gloomy 
moments — I  see  a  termination  of  my  sufferings.  .  .  .  For  God's 
sake  understand  me  aright.  I  have  for  more  than  ten  years 
made  every  possible  effort  to  recover  my  health  and  spirits.  In 
that  time  I  have  suffered  more  than  I  have  ever  told  and  more 
than  can  easily  be  conceived.  I  am  not  at  all  advanced.  My 
patience  is  gone.  I  do  not  become  inured  to  suffering,  and  I 
am  determined,  after  one  or  two  more  efforts,  to  relieve  myself 
from  all  further  effort,  and  to  minister  such  stimuli  as  shall 
diminish  the  tediousness  and  misery  of  my  life  to  a  bearable 
degree,  and  take  my  chance  for  the  consequences.  If  for  a 
moment  you  could  enter  into  my  feelings,  you  would  not  be 
inclined  to  controvert  my  resolve.  Would  to  God  I  could 
devote  my  life  to  your  happiness,  instead  of  thus  for  ever  dis- 
turbing it  ! 

This  letter  is  headed  "  Read  this  by  yourself,"  and  is 
marked  "  Private."  Another  following  it  is  in  the  same 
strain : 

"  .  .  .  Shall  I  add  that  if  the  feelings  of  others  were  not 
involved  in  my  decision,  I  should  instantly  resort  to  that  final 
scheme  which  would  bring  immediate  ease  into  my  mind,  by 
calmly  yielding  to  that  power  which  has  baffled  as  much  fore- 
sight, courage,  and  temperance  as  would  have  ensured  a  victory 
in  99  cases  in  a  hundred  ?  If  I  am  to  continue  yet  much 


NEARING   DESPAIR  129 

longer  on  this  earth,  I  must  at  all  events  be  separated  from  all 
my  best  friends,  the  sensation  which  wrings  my  soul." 

To  these  despairful  utterances  Josiah's  answer  was  *  : 

Josiah  Wedgwood  to  his  brother  'Tom 

ETRURIA, 

Dec.  31,  1802. 
MY  DEAR  TOM, 

I  got  yours  of  the  25th  only  to-day.  .  .  .  Your  situation 
fills  me  with  anguish,  and  I  feel  it  with  the  more  bitterness, 
having  no  consolation  to  offer  you,  nor  any  expedient  for  your 
relief  to  point  out.  Would  to  God  you  could  show  me  how 
I  can  alleviate  your  sufferings,  for  I  love  you  with  my  heart 
and  soul.  If  the  expression  of  your  feelings  afford  you  the 
slightest  relief,  do  not  refrain  from  it  from  any  apprehension  of 
giving  me  pain.  I  feel  your  pains,  and  shall  think  myself 
despicable  if  ever  I  cease  to  feel  them,  but  my  temper  is 
cheerful,  and  I  am  in  no  danger  of  being  permanently  affected. 
I  do  not  wish  you  to  exhaust  yourself  by  writing  long  letters, 
but  I  beg  to  hear  often  from  you. 

*  This  is  a  half-sheet  bearing  no  signature.     It  may  have  been  a 
draft  only. 


CHAPTER  X 

ULLESWATER— TO  GENEVA  AND  FLIGHT  HOME 

1803 

THE  new  year  found  Tom  in  a  pleasant  resting-place, 
the  cottage  of  the  Luffs  at  the  head  of  Ulleswater, 
"  embarked,"  as  he  says,*  "  on  a  new  scheme,  not  of  any 
great  promise,  but  at  any  rate  a  temporary  relief  to  a 
most  painful  state  of  irresolution  and  despondency." 
His  description  of  his  hosts  shows  them  as  good 
affectionate  people,  doing  anything  they  can  to 
make  the  sick  man's  life  tolerable.  Their  cottage  is 
in  a  delightful  spot,  a  hundred  yards  from  the  lake. 
Behind  it  are  the  lower  slopes  of  Helvellyn,  in  front 
the  great  mass  of  Place  Fell,  rising  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  lake.  The  garden  is  washed  by  the 
streamlet  from  Glen  Ridding.  He  is  only  nine  miles 
away  from  the  Wordsworths,  whom  he  hopes  to  see 
not  seldom,  for  he  already  feels  that  the  society  of  the 
cottage  "  would  be  dull  diet  without  occasional  season- 
ing "  ;  but  there  is  a  "  tremendous  mountain  "  [Grise- 
dale  Pass]  between  him  and  Dove  Cottage.  He  is  on 
the  "  most  cordial  terms  of  intimacy  and  good  under- 
standing "  with  the  Luffs.  The  lady  is  a  "  little  being 
of  a  simple  but  kindly  nature,  extremely  limited  in 

*  To  Josiah  Wedgwood,  January  I,  180  3. 


A   RETREAT   ON   ULLESWATER     131 

general  information  "  but  with  "  sense  of  the  right 
sort.  Her  steadiness  of  character  has  rescued  her 
husband  from  perdition."  They  are  living  in  this 
remote  spot,  partly  for  fishing  and  other  sport,  partly 
because  "  Luff  has  still  some  debts,  and  does  not  wish 
to  have  it  much  known  where  he  is."  * 

Here  Wedgwood  thinks  to  fix  himself,  at  least  for  a 
time,  after  having  persuaded  these  kind  people,  with 
some  difficulty,  to  let  him  share  their  housekeeping 
expenses.  But  as  the  winter  advances  he  craves  for  a 
warmer  climate,  and  is  still  planning  schemes  of  southern 
travel.  If  his  strength  permits  he  u  may  probably 
induce  Luff  to  go  too,  as  a  sporting  companion,  with 
Coleridge  for  conversation." 

Coleridge,  writing  to  him  from  Greta  Hall  on 
January  9,  develops  this  wild  scheme  in  his  usual 
optimistic  fashion : 

In  some  part  of  Italy  or  Sicily  which  we  both  liked,  I  would 
look  out  for  two  houses.  Wordsworth  and  his  family  would 
take  one,  and  I  the  other,  and  then  you  might  have  a  home 
either  with  me,  or  if  you  thought  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Luff  under 
this  modification,  one  of  your  own  ;  and  in  either  case  you 
would  have  neighbours,  and  so  return  to  England  when  the 
home-sickness  pressed  heavy  upon  you, 

and  so  on.  We  hear  no  more  of  this  visionary  project. 
It  is  in  the  letter  just  mentioned  t  that  Coleridge 
gives  an  often-quoted  and  striking  description  of  a 
ride  over  Kirkstone  Pass  in  the  face  of  a  furious 

*  They  were  familiar  friends  of  Wordsworth  and  his  sister. 

t  Printed  in  full  in  Mr.  E.  H.  Coleridge's  "  Letters  of  S.  T.  C." 
p.  417.  It  is  the  only  one  of  the  poet's  letters  to  T.  Wedgwood 
which  appears  in  that  collection. 


132  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

storm,  telling  how  at  the  top  he  met  a  man  who  had 
dismounted,  not  being  able  to  keep  on  his  horse,  and 
who  said  to  him  with  much  feeling  :  "  Oh  !  Sir,  it  is  a 
perilous  buffeting."  Wedgwood's  reply,  asking  why 
he  ventured  to  go  on  in  the  face  of  such  weather, 
evoked  the  following  remarkable  letter  : 

S.  <T.  Coleridge  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

[Address :  C.  LUFF'S,  ESQ.,  GLENRIDDEN,  ULLESWATER.] 

Friday  night,  Jan.  14,  1803. 
[No  postmark  :  evidently  sent  from  GRETA  HALL,  KESWICK.] 

DEAR  FRIEND, — 

I  was  glad  at  heart  to  receive  your  letter  (which  came  to  me 
on  Thursday  morning),  and  still  more  gladdened  by  the  reading 
of  it.  The  exceeding  kindness  which  it  breathed  was  literally 
medicinal  to  me ;  and  I  firmly  believe,  cured  me  of  a  nervous 
rheumatism  in  my  head  and  teeth.  I  daresay  that  you  mixed 
up  the  scolding  and  the  affection,  the  acid  and  the  oil,  very 
compleatly  at  Patterdale  ;  but  by  the  time  it  came  to  Keswick, 
the  oil  was  atop. 

You  ask,  in  God's  name,  why  I  did  not  return  when  I  saw 
the  state  of  the  weather  ?  The  true  reason  is  simple,  though 
it  may  be  somewhat  strange — the  thought  never  once  entered 
my  head.  The  cause  of  this  I  suppose  to  be  that  (I  do  not 
remember  it  at  least)  I  never  once  in  my  whole  life  turned 
back  in  fear  of  the  weather.  Prudence  is  a  plant,  of  which  I 
no  doubt  possess  some  valuable  specimens,  but  they  are  always 
in  my  hothouse,  never  out  of  the  glasses,  and  least  of  all  things 
would  endure  the  climate  of  the  mountains.  In  simple  earnest, 
1  never  find  myself  alone  with  the  embracement  of  rocks  and 
hills,  a  traveller  up  an  alpine  road,  but  my  spirit  courses,  drives, 
and  eddies,  like  a  Leaf  in  Autumn  ;  a  wild  activity,  of  thoughts, 
imaginations,  feelings,  and  impulses  of  motion,  rises  up  from 
within  me  ;  a  sort  of  bottom-wind,  that  blows  to  no  point  of  the 


COLERIDGE   AMONG   THE   HILLS    133 

compass,  comes  from  I  know  not  whence,  but  agitates  the 
whole  of  me  ;  my  whole  being  is  filled  with  waves  that  roll  and 
stumble,  one  this  way,  and  one  that  way,  like  things  that  have 
no  common  master.  I  think  that  my  soul  must  have  pre- 
existed in  the  body  of  a  Chamois-chaser  ;  the  simple  image  of 
the  old  object  has  been  obliterated  ;  but  the  feelings,  and  im- 
pulsive habits,  and  incipient  actions  are  in  me,  and  the  old 
scenery  awakens  them.  The  further  I  ascend  from  animated 
Nature,  from  men,  and  cattle,  and  the  common  birds  of  the 
woods  and  fields,  the  greater  becomes  in  me  the  Intensity  of 
the  feeling  of  life.  Life  seems  to  me  then  a  universal  spirit, 
that  neither  has,  nor  can  have,  an  opposite.  "  God  is  every- 
where," I  have  exclaimed,  "and  works  everywhere,  and  where 
is  there  room  for  death  ?  "  In  these  moments  it  has  been  my 
creed,  that  Death  exists  only  because  Ideas  exist ;  that  life  is 
limitless  Sensation  ;  that  Death  is  a  child  of  the  organic  senses, 
chiefly  of  the  Sight ;  that  Feelings  die  by  flowing  into  the 
mould  of  the  Intellect,  and  becoming  ideas  ;  and  that  Ideas 
passing  forth  into  action  reinstate  themselves  again  in  the  world 
of  Life.  And  I  do  believe  that  truth  lies  enveloped  in  these 
loose  generalisations.  I  do  not  think  it  possible  that  any  bodily 
pains  could  eat  out  the  love  and  joy,  that  is  so  substantially  part 
of  me,  towards  hills,  and  rocks,  and  steep  waters  ;  and  I  have 
had  some  Trial. 

On  Tuesday  I  was  uncommonly  well  all  the  morning,  and 
eat  an  excellent  dinner  ;  but  playing  too  long  and  too  romp- 
ingly  with  Hartley  and  Derwent,  I  was  very  unwell  that  even- 
ing. On  Wednesday  I  was  well,  and  after  dinner  wrapped 
myself  up  warm,  and  walked  with  Sarah  Hutchinson*  to 
Lodore.  I  never  beheld  anything  more  impressive  than  the 
wild  outline  of  the  black  masses  of  mountain  over  Lodore  [here 
he  gives  a  rough  sketch  of  the  mountain  outline]  to  the  Gorge 
of  Borrowdale,  seen  through  the  bare  Twigs  of  a  grove  of 


*  Sister  of  Mrs.  Wordsworth.     Lodore  is  the  cataract  near  the 
Borrowdale  end  of  Derwentwater. 


i34  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Birch  Trees,  through  which  the  road  passes  ;  and  on  emerging 
from  the  grove  a  red  planet  (so  very  red  that  I  never  saw  a  star 
so  red,  being  clear  and  bright  at  the  same  time)  stood  on  the 
edge  of  the  point  where  I  have  put  an  asterisk  ;  it  seemed  to 
have  sky  behind  it ;  it  started,  as  it  were,  from  the  Heaven,  like 
an  eye-ball  of  Fire.  I  wished  aloud  for  you  to  have  been  with 
me  at  that  moment. 

The  walk  appeared  to  have  done  me  good,  but  I  had  a 
wretched  Night;  had  shocking  pains  in  my  head,  occiput,  and 
teeth,  and  found  in  the  morning  that  I  had  two  blood-shot  eyes. 
But  almost  immediately  after  the  receipt  and  perusal  of  your 
letter  the  pains  left  me,  and  I  have  bettered  to  this  hour  ;  and 
am  now  indeed  as  well  as  usual,  saving  that  my  left  eye  is  very 
much  blood-shot.  It  is  a  sort  of  duty  with  me  to  be  particular 
respecting  facts  that  relate  to  my  health.  I  am  myself  not  at 
all  dispirited.  I  have  retained  a  good  sound  appetite  through 
the  whole  of  it,  without  any  craving  after  exhilarants  or 
narcotics  ;  and  I  have  got  well,  as  in  a  moment.  Rapid 
recovery  is  constitutional  with  me  ;  but  the  two  former  cir- 
cumstances I  can  with  certainty  refer  to  the  system  of  Diet, 
abstinence  from  vegetables,  wine,  spirits,  and  beer,  which  I  have 
adopted  by  your  advice. 

I  have  no  dread  or  anxiety  respecting  any  fatigue  which 
either  of  us  is  likely  to  undergo,  even  in  continental  Travelling. 
Many  a  healthy  man  would  have  been  layed  up  with  such  a 
Bout  of  thorough  wet  and  intense  cold  at  the  same  time  as  I 
had  at  Kirkstone.  Would  to  God  that  also  for  your  sake  I 
were  a  stronger  man  j  but  I  have  strong  wishes  to  be  with  you, 
and  love  your  society ;  and  receiving  much  comfort  from  you, 
and  believing  that  I  receive  likewise  much  improvement,  I  find 
a  delight  (very  great,  my  dear  friend  !  indeed  it  is),  when  I  have 
reason  to  imagine  that  I  am  in  return  an  alleviation  of  your 
destinies,  and  a  comfort  to  you.  I  have  no  fears  ;  and  am  ready 
to  leave  home  at  a  two  days'  warning.  For  myself  I  should  say 
two  hours  ;  but  bustle  and  hurry  might  disorder  Mrs.  Coleridge, 
She  and  the  three  children  are  quite  well. 


SCHEMES   OF  JOINT   TRAVEL        135 

I  grieve  that  there  is  a  lowring  in  politics.  The  Moniteur 
contains  almost  daily  some  bitter  abuse  of  our  ministers  and 
parliament,  and  in  London  there  is  great  anxiety  and  omening. 
I  have  dreaded  war  from  the  time  that  the  disastrous  fortunes 
of  the  expedition  of  Saint  Domingo,*  under  Le  Clerc,  was 
known  in  France. t  .  .  . 

I  remain,  my  dear  Wedgewood,  with  most  affectionate 
esteem  and  grateful  attachment, 

Your  sincere  friend, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

A  month  later,  Coleridge  is  with  Poole  at  Stowey, 
and  Tom  at  Cote  House.  The  scheme  for  their 
travelling  together  forms  the  burden  of  several  more 
letters,  but  doubts  and  hesitations  increase  as  the  weeks 
go  on. 

S.  f.  Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

[Address :  COTE  HOUSE,  BRISTOL.] 
STOWEY, 

Thursday  night  I :  Feb.  10,  1803. 

.  .  .  You  bid  Poole  not  reply  to  your  letter.  Dear  Friend, 
I  could  not,  if  I  had  wished  it.  Only  with  regard  to  myself  and 
my  accompanying  you,  let  me  say  this  much.  My  health  is  not 
worse  than  it  was  in  the  North  ;  indeed  it  is  much  better.  I 

*  The  expedition  sent  by  Buonaparte  to  enforce  the  re-establish- 
ment of  slavery  in  the  island.  Only  about  2000  out  of  35,000  lived 
to  return  to  France.  It  was  then  that  Toussaint  1'Ouverture, 
"  most  unhappy  man  of  men,"  was  seized  and  carried  off  to  die  in 
a  French  dungeon. 

t  What  follows  is  as  to  errands,  shoppings,  &c.,  with  an  invitation 
to  Greta  Hall. 

\  I  think  it  needless  to  print  another  letter  he  writes  on  this  same 
date  to  Tom  Wedgwood  at  Cote.  It  is  without  interest,  except 
that  it  refers  to  a  request  made  by  Coleridge  to  Captain  John 
Wordsworth  (the  poet's  brother)  to  get  from  India  some  "  bang " 
for  Wedgwood's  use. 


136  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

have  no  fears.  But  if  you  feel  that  my  health  being  what  you 
know  it  to  be,  the  inconveniences  of  my  being  with  you  will 
be  greater  than  the  advantages,  feel  no  reluctance  in  telling  me 
so.  It  is  so  entirely  an  affair  of  spirits,  that  the  conclusion  must 
be  made  by  you,  not  in  your  reason,  but  purely  in  your  Spirits 
and  Feelings.  Sorry  indeed  should  I  be  to  know  that  you  had 
gone  abroad  with  one  to  whom  you  were  comparatively  indif- 
ferent. Sorry  if  there  should  be  no  one  with  you,  who  could 
with  fellow-feeling  and  general  like-mindedness,  yield  you  sym- 
pathy in  your  sunshiny  moments.  Dear  Wedgewood  !  my 
heart  swells  within  me  as  it  were.  I  have  no  other  wish  to  ac- 
company you  than  what  arises  immediately  from  my  personal 
attachment  to  you,  and  a  deep  sense  in  my  own  heart,  that  let 
us  be  as  dejected  as  we  will,  a  week  together  cannot  pass  in  which 
a  mind  like  yours  would  not  feel  the  want  of  affection,  or  be 
wholly  torpid  to  its  pleasurable  influences.  I  cannot  bear  to 
think  of  your  going  abroad  with  a  mere  travelling  companion  ; 
with  one  at  all  influenced  by  salary,  or  personal  conveniences. 
You  will  not  suspect  me  of  flattering  you,  but  indeed,  dear 
Wedgewood,  you  are  too  good  and  too  valuable  a  man  to  deserve 
to  receive  attendance  from  a  hireling,  even  for  a  month  together, 
in  your  present  state. 

If  I  do  not  go  with  you,  I  shall  stay  in  England  only  such 
time  as  may  be  necessary  for  me  to  raise  the  travelling  money, 
and  go  immediately  to  the  south  of  France.  I  shall  probably 
cross  the  Pyrenees  to  Bilboa,  see  the  country  of  Biscay,  and 
cross  the  north  of  Spain  to  Perpignan,  and  so  on  to  the  north 
of  Italy,  and  pass  my  next  winter  at  Nice.  I  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  I  can  live,  even  as  a  traveller,  as  cheap 
as  I  can  in  England.  [Here  are  some  lines  as  to  a  commission 
of  Josiah's  for  buying  some  malt.] 

God  bless  you  !  I  will  repeat  no  professions,  even  in  the 
subscription  of  a  Letter.  You  know  me,  and  that  is  my 
serious  simple  wish  that  in  everything  respecting  me  you  would 
think  altogether  of  yourself,  and  nothing  of  me  ;  and  be  assured 
that  no  Resolve  of  yours,  however  suddenly  adopted,  or  however 


HESITATIONS  137 

nakedly  communicated,  will  give  me  any  pain,  any  at  least 
arising  from  my  own  Bearings. 

Your's  ever 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

P.S. — I  have  been  so  overwhelmed  that  I  have  said  nothing 
of  Poole.  What  indeed  can  or  ought  I  to  say  ?  You  know 
what  his  feelings  are,  even  to  men  whom  he  loves  and  esteems 
far  less  than  you.  He  is  deeply  affected . 

Perhaps  Leslie  would  accompany  you. 

S.  'T.  Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

[Address :  COTE  HOUSE,  BRISTOL.] 
POOLE'S, 

Thursday ,  February  17,  1803. 
MY  DEAR  WEDGEWOOD, — 

I  do  not  know  that  I  have  anything  to  say  that  justifies  me 
in  troubling  you  with  the  Postage  and  Perusal  of  this  scrawl. 
I  received  a  short  and  kind  letter  from  Josiah  last  night.  He 
is  named  the  sheriff  [of  Dorset].  Poole,  who  has  received  a 
very  kind  invitation  from  your  Brother  in  a  letter  of  last 
Monday,  and  which  was  repeated  in  last  night's  letter,  goes 
with  me,  I  hope,  in  the  full  persuasion  that  you  will  be  there 
before  he  is  under  the  necessity  of  returning  home.  He  has 
settled  both  his  might-have-been-lawsuits  in  a  perfectly  pleasant 
way,  exactly  to  his  own  wish.  He  bids  me  say,  what  there  is 
no  occasion  of  saying,  with  what  anxious  affection  his  Thoughts 
follow  you.  Poole  is  a  very,  very  good  man.  I  like  even  his 
incorrigibility  in  little  faults  and  deficiencies  ;  it  looks  like  a 
wise  determination  of  Nature  "  to  let  well  alone." 

Are  you  not  laying  out  a  scheme  which  will  throw  your 
Travelling  in  Italy  into  an  unpleasant  and  unwholesome  part 
of  the  year?  From  all  I  can  gather,  you  ought  to  leave  this 
country  in  the  first  days  of  April  at  the  latest.  But  no  doubt 
you  know  these  things  better  than  I.  If  I  do  not  go  with  you, 
it  is  very  probable  that  we  shall  meet  somewhere  or  other ;  at 


138  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

all  events  you  will  know  where  I  am,  and  I  can  come  to  you 
if  you  wish  it.  And  if  I  go  with  you,  there  will  be  this 
Advantage,  that  you  may  drop  me  where  you  like,  if  you  should 
meet  any  Frenchman,  Italian,  or  Swiss,  whom  you  liked,  and 
who  would  be  pleasant  and  profitable  to  you.  But  this  we  can 
discuss  at  Gunville. 

As  to  Mackintosh,  I  never  doubted  that  he  means  to  fulfil 
his  engagements  with  you  ;  but  he  is  one  of  those  weak-moraled 
men,  with  whom  the  meaning  to  do  a  thing  means  nothing.* 
He  promises  with  his  whole  Heart,  but  there  is  always  a  little 
speck  of  cold  felt  at  the  core  that  transubstantiates  the  whole 
resolve  into  a  Lie,  even  in  his  own  consciousness.  But  what  I 
most  fear  is  that  he  will  in  some  way  or  other  embroider  him- 
self upon  your  Thoughts  ;  but  you,  no  doubt,  will  see  the 
Proof  Sheets,  and  will  prevent  this  from  extending  to  the  injury 
of  your  meaning.  Would  to  Heaven  it  were  done  !  I  may 
with  strictest  truth  say,  that  I  have  thirsted  for  its  appearance. 

I  remain  in  comfortable  Health.  Warm  rooms,  an  old 
Friend,  and  Tranquillity,  are  specifics  for  my  complaints. 
With  all  my  ups  and  downs  I  have  a  deal  of  joyous  feeling, 
that  I  would  with  gladness  give  a  good  part  of  to  you,  my 
dear  Friend  !  God  grant  that  Spring  may  come  to  you  with 
healing  on  her  wings  ! 

My  respectful  remembrances  to  your  Brother,  and  Mrs.  J. 
Wedge  wood. 

I  desire  Mrs.  J.  Wedgewood,  when  she  writes  to  Crescelly, 
to  remember  me  with  affection  to  Miss  Allen,  and  Fanny  and 
Emma  ;  and  to  say  how  often  I  think  with  pleasure  on  them 
and  the  weeks  I  passed  in  their  society.  When  you  come  to 
Gunville,  please  not  to  forget  my  Pens.  Poole  and  I  quarrel 
once  a  day  about  them. 


*  This  and  what  follows  refers  to  Mackintosh's  undertaking  to 
put  into  shape  Wedgwood's  philosophical  speculations,  a  promise 
which  was  not  fulfilled.  But  that  Coleridge  of  all  men  should  com- 
plain of  any  one  else  as  being  "  one  with  whom  the  meaning  to 
do  a  thing  means  nothing" !  ! 


COLERIDGE— A   CRITICAL  VIEW     139 

God  bless  you,  my  dear  Wedgewood  ! 

I  remain  with  most  affectionate  esteem  and  regular  attach- 
ment and  good  wishes. 

Your's  ever, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

The  messages  to  the  Cresselly  sisters,  and  allusions  in 
other  letters,  give  the  impression  that  Coleridge  made 
good  friends  among  the  Allen  ladies.  That  Tom's 
near  relations,  however,  did  not  all  sympathise  with 
him  in  his  admiration  for  the  poet  is  shown  by  a  letter 
from  his  sister  Kitty  which  must  have  been  written 
about  this  time.  It  is  interesting  as  giving  a  /cooJ 
estimate  of  the  man  as  he  appeared  to  an  intelligent, 
though  matter-of-fact  bystander.  Some  of  her 
criticism  was  certainly  of  a  kind  not  very  easy  to 
answer. 

Kitty  Wedgwood  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

[No  date — endorsed  COTE,  1803.] 

*  *  *  *  * 

We  shall  do  everything  to  make  your  bed-room  warm  and 
Mr.  Coleridge's  comfortable,  though  it  cannot  be  smart,  as  he 
must  ascend  to  the  tower.  I  don't  know  whether  we  shall 
ever  agree  in  our  sentiments  respecting  this  gentleman,  but 
I  hope  if  we  do  not  that  we  may  agree  to  differ.  I  certainly 
felt  no  scruples  of  conscience  in  joining  the  attack  at  Cresselly. 
I  have  never  seen  enough  of  him  to  overcome  the  first  dis- 
agreeable impression  of  his  accent  and  exterior.  I  confess,  too, 
that  in  what  I  have  seen  and  heard  of  Mr.  Coleridge  there  is 
in  my  opinion  too  great  a  parade  of  superior  feeling  ;  and  an 
excessive  goodness  and  sensibility  is  put  too  forward,  which 
gives  an  appearance,  at  least,  of  conceit,  and  excites  suspicion 
that  it  is  acting  j  as  real  sensibility  never  endeavours  to  excite 


140  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

notice.  I  will  tell  you  sincerely  my  opinion  of  him,  whether 
it  is  well  or  ill  founded.  He  appears  to  be  an  uncomfortable 
husband,  and  very  negligent,  of  the  worldly  interest  at  least,  of 
his  children  ;  leaving  them  in  case  of  his  death  to  be  provided 
for  by  his  friends  is  a  scheme  more  worthy  of  his  desultory 
habits  than  of  his  talents.  I  think  a  sturdy  independent  spirit 
is  so  very  admirable  that,  to  be  extremely  candid,  I  have  never 
recovered  his  so  willingly  consenting  to  be  so  much  obliged  to 
even  you.  You  see  I  have  not  much  to  say,  but  'tis  the  im- 
pression I  have  of  his  thinking  himself  much  better  than  the 
world  in  general  that  inclines  one  to  look  more  closely  into  his 
own  life  and  conduct  ;  and  as  his  judgments  of  others  are  not 
inclined  to  the  favourable  side,  he  does  not  from  his  own 
conduct  claim  lenity. 

I  am  almost  afraid  to  let  you  see  this  letter,  but  it  does  as 
clearly  as  I  can  express  contain  my  present  opinion  of  Mr. 
Coleridge.  I  think  I  am  not  so  rivetted  to  this  opinion  but 
that  I  can  change,  if  upon  seeing  more  of  him  he  gives  me 
sufficient  grounds.  That  I  shall  ever  think  him  very  agree- 
able I  do  not  imagine.  I  agree  with  you  in  some  parts  of 
your  character  entirely,  and  of  the  others  I  cannot  judge.  I 
think  it  would  have  been  strange  if  he  had  not  been  very  civil 
and  obliging  at  Cresselly  where  he  was  so  hospitably  received — 
I  question  whether  Emma  will  celebrate  his  politeness* — I 
hope  this  subject  is  very  interesting — otherwise  you  will  be 
very  much  tired,  but  I  was  glad  to  state  quite  plainly  and 
sincerely  my  opinion. 

At  length  the  plan  of  joint  travel,  a  hopeless  one  at 
the  best,  for  two  sick  men  of  such  abnormal  tempers  as 
Coleridge  and  Wedgwood,  finally  collapsed  when,  on 

*  I  find  nothing  in  the  letters  to  explain  this  doubt.  Emma 
Allen  was  the  one  plain  figure  in  the  group,  and  though  an  intelli- 
gent woman,  was  not  nearly  so  agreeable  as  her  sisters ;  but  one 
would  not  like  to  think  this  made  Coleridge  less  polite  to  her  than 
to  the  rest.  What  "  the  attack  "  was  there  is  nothing  to  show. 


TO  GENEVA  AND  FLIGHT  HOME    141 

the  top  of  all  other  difficulties,  came  imminent  threat- 
enings  of  renewed  war  with  France.  But  Tom  found 
a  companion,  an  artist  named  Underwood,  and  on 
March  25,  1803,  crossed  to  Calais.  At  that  moment 
his  countrymen  were  all  flying  home.  A  few  days 
previously  Buonaparte  had  personally  insulted  Lord 
Whitworth,  our  Ambassador,  at  an  official  reception  at 
the  Tuiieries,  and  the  general  belief  was  that  war  was 
inevitable.  On  April  16  we  find  Tom  at  Paris,  and  a 
fortnight  later  he  is  at  Geneva,  planning  moves  to 
warmer  regions ;  but,  alas !  with  scarce  a  hope  of  any 
betterment.  "  Nothing,"  he  says,  "  can  be  more  hope- 
less than  my  situation."  He  shrinks  from  returning, 
and  yet  all  other  schemes  seem  impracticable.  He  tells 
his  brother  his  troubles,  blaming  himself  for  doing  so. 
"  The  repugnance  I  feel  at  again  distressing  you  with 
my  almost  hopeless  case,  believe  me,  is  most  extreme." 
He  lingered  at  Geneva  very  nearly  too  long,  and  only 
just  escaped  being  caught  and  made  a  detenu  under 
Buonaparte's  iniquitous  decree.  On  May  6,  he  is  in 
fear  of  "  the  Calais  passage  being  shut."  He  must 
have  left  a  day  or  two  later,  and  got  to  Paris  just  as 
the  English  Ambassador  was  leaving  it.  He  crossed 
the  Channel  on  the  very  day  of  the  declaration  of  war, 
May  16;  and  on  the  22nd  Buonaparte  ordered  the 
arrest  of  all  English  residents  and  travellers.  His 
travelling  companion,  Underwood,  who  had  stayed  in 
France  with  intent  _to  pursue  his  art  studies,  had  the 
bad  luck  to  be  caught,*  and  was  a  detenu  for  at  least  two 


*  Wedgwood  did  all  he  could  to  obtain  his  release,  but  without 
avail,  and  sent  him  supplies  of   money.     His   letters  give  one  an 


i42  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

years,    if  not   for   another  nine,   till  the   end  of  the 


war. 


idea  of  the  amount  of  undeserved  suffering  caused  by  the  decree. 
For  a  long  time  he  was  unable  to  learn  whether  his  old  mother  was 
dead  or  alive.  It  took  about  two  months  to  get  letters  from  England, 
as  they  had  to  go  round  by  Sweden.  Without  Wedgwood's  help  he 
would  have  been  nearly  starved.  The  latest  of  his  letters,  a  very 
sad  one,  is  dated  April  3,  1805  (three  months  before  Wedgwood's 
death).  The  First  Consul's  abominable  act,  which  was  a  violation 
of  all  rules  of  war,  made  about  ten  thousand  English  families 
miserable  in  this  way.  It  is  curious  that  the  Whig  pro-Buona- 
partists  should  have  forgotten  all  this  when  they  inveighed  against 
the  cruelty  of  keeping  their  hero  at  Longwood,  where  he  was  living 
in  one  of  the  most  delightful  climates  in  the  world,  and  with  twelve 
thousand  a  year  wherewith  to  get  himself  any  luxury  he  might 
fancy. 


CHAPTER   XI 

CONTINUED  STRUGGLE  FOR  HEALTH—  INVASION 
ALARMS  AND  VOLUNTEERING 

-  1804          ;,-; 


WEDGWOOD'S  malady,  whatever  it  was,  had  evidently 
been  advancing,  and  from  1  803  onwards  to  his  death 
two  years  later  the  burden  of  his  letters  to  his  brother 
is  an  increasing  hopelessness  :  "  If  I  recrossed  the 
Channel  it  has  only  been  to  seize  the  last  possibility 
of  staving  off  a  little  longer  that  termination  which 
nature  seems  determined  to  force  upon  me."  But 
he  still  kept  struggling  on.  In  the  summer  of  this 
year  he  was  trying  to  make  out  something  of  a  life 
for  himself  in  London.  His  main  abode  was  the 
house  of  the  Wedgwood  firm  in  York  Street,  St. 
James's,  but  he  was  often  at  the  chambers  of  John 
Hensleigh  Allen  (brother-in-law  of  his  two  brothers) 
in  the  Temple.  In  July  he  says  :  "  I  am  almost  living 
with  Tobin  in  Barnard's  Inn  "  ;  and  later  he  is  "  messing 
with  Tobin  "  for  a  month.  * 

*  This  Tobin  I  understand  to  be  John,  the  solicitor  and  dramatist, 
brother  to  the  James  who  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Tom's,  as  he  was 
also  of  the  Wordsworths.  James  was  the  "  dear  brother  Jem  "  who 
figures  in  the  first  edition  of"  We  are  seven," 

"  A  simple  child,  dear  brother  Jem, 
Who  lightly  draws  its  breath,"  &c. 
See  the  Fenwick  note  to  the  poem,  where  Wordsworth  tells  how 


i44  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Among  his  chief  associates  at  this  time  were  two 
new  acquaintances  with  whom  he  quickly  became  in- 
timate, Richard  ("  Conversation  ")  Sharp  and  Thomas 
Campbell  the  poet.  Every  mention  of  Sharp  shows 
him  as  one  of  the  most  sympathetic  and  helpful  of 
friends — "  He  is  devoted  to  my  service,"  "  out-doing 
all  former  kindnesses,"  &c.  Campbell  was  then  a 
young  man  of  twenty-six  at  the  outset  of  his  literary 
career.  "  The  Pleasures  of  Hope  "  had  appeared  in 
1799.  To  him  Tom  Wedgwood  was  strongly  attracted, 
and  the  feeling  was  warmly  returned.  A  letter  of 
Campbell's  to  his  great  friend  Dr.  Currie  gives  us  a 
curiously  expressed  record  of  the  impression  made 
upon  him  by  Wedgwood.  After  enlarging  on  a 
singular  kind  of  feeling  which,  when  he  is  in  a  certain 
mood,  prevents  his  writing  to  Currie  with  perfect  ease 
and  frankness,  he  says  : 

The  mischief  is,  I  respect  you  ;  I  am  afraid  of  prattling  to 
you,  and  for  fear  of  that  I  can  say  nothing.  Worse  than  this, 
I  have  another  fault  of  true  English  temperament.  When  the 
world  crosses  me  ...  or  when  I  have  a  slight  headache  or 
derangement  of  stomach,  the  duty  of  propriety^  and  above  all 
in  correspondence,  stares  me  in  the  face  like  a  gorgon.  .  .  . 
Every  motion  of  my  mind  grows  cramped  and  ungraceful.  I 
lose  confidence  in  myself  and  the  world.  ...  I  thought  this 
malady  of  metempsychosis  peculiar  to  one  unhappy  being.  .  .  . 
If  I  had  observed  symptoms  of  it  in  others,  it  was  in  some 
bad  characters  whom  I  did  not  like  myself  for  resembling. 
But  I  found  it  lately,  by  the  confession  of  a  candid  and  worthy 
man,  in  one  who  is  more  than  my  fellow-creature  in  this 
failing,  as  he  has  it  even  worse  than  myself ;  I  have  even  been 

James  Tobin  entreated  him  to  cancel  it — "  for  if  published  it  will 
make  you  everlastingly  ridiculous." 


CAMPBELL'S  ACCOUNT   OF   HIM     145 

reconciled  to  it  from  seeing  it  the  concomitant  of  a  mind 
perhaps  the  finest  I  ever  met  with.  The  person  I  speak  of  is 
Thorn.  Wedgwood,  the  son  of  the  potter,  of  whom  you  may 
have  heard,  as  he  is  known  to  literary  people.  We  have  been 
sometime  well  acquainted  ;  and  from  finding  him  a  man  above 
par,  I  was  fond  of  his  conversation.  We  met  one  day,  both  in 
a  cold  and  cramped  metempsychosis,  with  bad  health,  and  I 
was  crossed  with  my  love  affair  ;  and  our  conversation  got 
upon  this  subject.  ...  I  cannot  help  noticing  poor  Wedgwood 
— a  strange  and  wonderful  being.  Full  of  goodness,  benevo- 
lence, with  a  mind  stored  with  ideas,  with  metaphysics  the 
most  exquisitely  fine  I  ever  heard  delivered,  a  man  of  wonder- 
ful talents,  a  tact  of  taste  acute  beyond  description — with  even 
good  nature  and  mild  manners,  he  is  not  happy.  I  thought 
till  I  saw  him,  that  happiness  was  to  be  defeated  by  no  other 
circumstances  than  weakness,  vice,  or  an  uncommanded 
temper.* 

Still  meditating  foreign  travel,  Tom  Wedgwood 
tried  to  get  Campbell  to  accompany  him,  but  had  to 
give  up  the  idea,  as  he  found  that  Campbell  was  on  the 
point  of  marrying.  He  calls  this  "  a  cruel  disappoint- 
ment." He  then  thought  of  Hazlitt.  The  vivid 
account  of  Hazlitt  given  by  Coleridge  in  the  follow- 
ing letter  was  evidently  an  answer  to  some  inquiry 
made  by  Tom  in  this  view.f 


*  Beattie's  "  Life  of  Campbell,"  i.  46.  I  know  of  nothing  to 
explain  why  Campbell  should  apply  the  Greek  term  for  the  trans- 
migration of  souls  to  the  kind  of  mental  malaise  which  he  describes 
as  common  to  Tom  Wedgwood  and  himself. 

t  William  Hazlitt  (b.  1778,  d.  1830)  was  at  this  time  twenty- 
five  years  old,  seven  years  younger  than  Tom  Wedgwood.  He  was 
trying  portrait-painting  for  a  livelihood,  and  had  not  yet  done  any 
literary  work. 


146  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

S.  T.  Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

(At  Mr.  Allen's  Chambers,  Inner  Temple.) 
GRETA  HALL,  KESWICK, 

September  16,  Friday  [1803]. 
MY  DEAR  WEDGWOOD, — 

I  reached  home  on  yesterday  noon,  and  it  was  not  a  Post 
Day.  William  Hazlitt  is  a  thinking,  observant,  original  man, 
of  great  power  as  a  Painter  of  Character-Portraits,  and  far 
more  in  the  manner  of  the  old  Painters  than  any  living  Artist, 
but  the  objects  must  be  before  him  ;  he  has  no  imaginative 
memory.  So  much  for  his  Intellectuals.  His  manners  are  to 
99  in  100  singularly  repulsive  ;  brow-hanging,  shoe-contem- 
plative, strange.  Sharp  seemed  to  like  him  ;  but  Sharp  saw 
him  only  for  half  an  hour,  and  that  walking.  He  is,  I  verily 
believe,  kindly-natured  ;  is  very  fond  of,  attentive  to,  and 
patient  with  children  ;  but  he  is  jealous,  gloomy,  and  of  an 
irritable  Pride.  With  all  this,  there  is  much  good  in  him. 
He  is  disinterested  ;  an  enthusiastic  lover  of  the  great  men 
who  have  been  before  us;  he  says  things  that  are  his  own, 
in  a  way  of  his  own  ;  and  though  from  habitual  Shyness,  and 
the  outside  and  bearskin  at  least,  of  misanthropy,  he  is  strangely 
confused  and  dark  in  his  conversation,  and  delivers  himself  of 
almost  all  his  conceptions  with  a  Forceps,  yet  he  says  more 
than  any  man  I  ever  knew  (yourself  only  excepted)  that  is  his 
own  in  a  way  of  his  own  ;  and  oftentimes  when  he  has  warmed 
his  mind,  and  the  synovial  juice  has  come  out  and  spread  over 
his  joints,  he  will  gallop  for  half  an  hour  together  with  real 
eloquence.  He  sends  well-headed  and  well-feathered  Thoughts 
straight  forwards  to  the  mark  with  a  Twang  of  the  Bow- 
string. If  you  could  recommend  him  as  a  portrait-painter,  I 
should  be  glad.  To  be  your  Companion  he  is,  in  my  opinion, 
utterly  unfit.  His  own  Health  is  fitful. 

I  have  written,  as  I  ought  to  do,  to  you  most  freely,  into  ex 
corde  ;  you  know  me,  both  head  and  heart,  and  will  make  what 


COLERIDGE'S   HEALTH   TROUBLES  147 

deductions  your  reasons  will  dictate  to  you.*  I  can  think  of 
no  other  person.  What  wonder  ?  For  the  last  years  I  have 
been  shy  of  all  mere  acquaintance. 

"  To  live  beloved  is  all  I  need, 
And  when  I  love,  I  love  indeed." 

I  never  had  any  ambition  ;  and  now,  I  trust,  I  have  almost 
as  little  vanity. 

For  5  months  past  my  mind  has  been  strangely  shut  up.  I 
have  taken  the  paper  with  the  intention  to  write  to  you  many 
times  ;  but  it  has  been  all  one  blank  Feeling,  one  blank  idealess 
Feeling.  I  had  nothing  to  say, — I  could  say  nothing.  How 
dearly  I  love  you,  my  very  Dreams  make  known  to  me.  I  will 
not  trouble  you  with  the  gloomy  tale  of  my  Health.  While  I 
am  awake,  by  patience,  employment,  effort  of  mind,  and  walking, 
I  can  keep  the  fiend  at  arm's  length,  but  the  Night  is  my  Hell  ! 
sleep  my  tormenting  Angel.  Three  nights  out  of  four  I  fall 
asleep  struggling  to  lie  awake  ;  and  my  frequent  night-screams 
have  almost  made  me  a  nuisance  in  my  own  House.  Dreams 
with  me  are  no  Shadows,  but  the  very  substances  and  foot-thick 
calamities  of  my  Life.  Beddoes,  who  has  been  to  me  ever  a  very 
kind  man,  suspects  that  my  stomach  "  brews  vinegar."  I  am 
careful  of  my  Diet.  The  supercarbonated  kals  does  me  no 
service,  nor  magnesia,  neither  have  I  any  head-ach.  But  I  am 
grown  hysterical.  Meantime  my  looks  and  strength  have 
improved.  I  myself  fully  believe  it  to  be  either  atonic,  hypo- 
chondriacal  Gout,  or  a  scrophulous  affection  of  the  Mesenteric 


*  Cottle's  version  of  this  sentence  may  be  quoted  to  show  what  utter 
nonsense  his  reckless  editing  makes  of  what  Coleridge  wrote  :  "  I 
have  written  as  I  ought  to  do  :  to  you  most  freely.  You  know  me, 
both  head  and  heart,  and  I  will  make  what  deductions  your  reasons 
may  dictate  to  me."  A  sentence  a  few  lines  higher  up  is  similarly 
travestied  out  of  all  recognition.  Here  Cottle,  not  understanding 
Coleridge's  odd  anatomical  metaphor,  calmly  cuts  it  out,  and  puts 
in  a  patchwork  of  his  own  :  "  .  .  .  When  he  has  wearied  his  mind, 
and  the  juice  is  come  out,  and  spread  over  his  spirits,  he  will  gallop, 
&c." 


148  TOM  WEDGWOOD 

Glands.  In  the  hope  of  drawing  the  Gout,  if  Gout  it  should 
be,  into  my  feet,  I  walked,  previously  to  my  getting  into  the 
Coach  at  Perth,  263  miles  in  eight  Days,  with  no  unpleasant 
fatigue  ;  *  and  if  I  could  do  you  any  service  by  coming  to 
town,  and  there  were  no  Coaches,  I  would  undertake  to  be 
with  you,  on  foot,  in  7  days.  I  must  have  strength  some- 
where ;  my  head  is  indefatigably  strong ;  my  limbs  too  are 
strong;  but  [here  he  launches  into  a  wild  description  of  his 
bodily  troubles.] 

All  my  family  are  well.  Southey,  his  wife,  and  Mrs.  Lovell 
are  with  us.  He  has  lost  his  little  girl,  the  unexpected  gift  of 
a  long  marriage  ;  and  stricken  to  the  heart  is  come  hither  for 
such  poor  comforts  as  my  society  can  afford  him. 

To  diversify  this  dusky  letter,  I  will  write  an  Epitaph,  which 
I  composed  in  my  sleep  for  myself,  while  dreaming  that  I  was 
dying.  To  the  best  of  my  recollection  I  have  not  altered  a 
word.  Your's  dear  Wedgwood,  and  of  all  that  are  dear  to 
you  at  Gunville,  gratefully  and  most  affectionately, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

EPITAPH. 

"  Here  sleeps  at  length  poor  Col.  and  without  screaming, 
Who  died,  as  he  had  always  liv'd,  a  dreaming : 
Shot  dead,  while  sleeping,  by  the  Gout  within, 
Alone,  and  all  unknown,  at  E'nbro'  in  an  inn." 

It  was  on  Tuesday  night  last,  at  the  Black  Bull,  Edinburgh. 

Before  Wedgwood  received  this  letter  he  had  put 
aside,  for  a  time  at  least,  the  scheme  of  travel  which 
prompted  the  inquiry  about  Hazlitt,  and  was  immersed 


*  This  alludes  to  his  solitary  wanderings  in  the  Highlands  after 
leaving  Wordsworth  and  his  sister  in  the  middle  of  the  Scotch  tour 
described  in  Dorothy's  delightful  "  Recollections."  He  left  them 
on  the  plea  of  being  unwell,  but  the  real  reason  must  have  been 
that  being  with  them  interfered  with  his  taking  laudanum. 


A   STRANGE   EXPERIMENT        149 

in  another  project,  one  of  the  oddest  of  the  many 
plans  by  which,  when  all  regular  doctoring  had  failed 
to  do  anything  for  him,  he  sought  to  circumvent  his 
mysterious  malady.  The  beginning  and  end  of  this 
may  be  told  in  a  few  sentences  from  his  letters  to  Poole 
and  to  his  brother. 


"(n  Sept.  1803)  .  .  .  going  to  take  a  house  in  town  by  the 
week.  My  plan  is  to  busy  myself  in  the  little  practical  con- 
cerns of  housekeeping.  I  have  a  friend  who  will  be  with  me. 

(17  Sept.)  I  am  fairly  embarked  in  my  scheme,  having 
just  made  the  beds  and  explained  my  intentions  to  Frederic, 
and  [with]  a  louis  bribe  to  a  discreet  silence.  His  room  is 
now  fitting  up  as  my  kitchen.  I  am  going  to  York  Street  for 
stores.  At  one  I  return  to  cook  our  dinner.  If  I  can  only 
escape  those  horrible  lownesses,  I  shall  certainly  adhere  to  this 
new  plan  of  life.  As  to  making  life  pleasant  on  the  whole,  I 
have  no  such  expectation.  I  aim  only  at  making  it  tolerable. 
Send  Frederic's  flute  by  waggon. 

(19  Sept.)  I  persevere  in  my  plan — have  cooked  two  dinners 
and  made  beds,  &c.  &c.  .  .  I  like  the  plan  better  than  I  expected, 
and  find  that  living  with  one  person  will  furnish  as  much  work 
as  I  shall  ever  want,  including  washing  and  ironing.  Aslet 
certainly  will  not  do  for  that  person.  His  temper  is  bad. 

(23  Sept.)  I  experienced  a  most  cruel  mortification  yester- 
day. After  nine  days  steady  perseverance,  I  found  myself  so 
low  and  so  languid  that  I  was  obliged  to  get  Frederic  to  finish 
the  cooking  of  the  dinner,  washing,  &c.  Cooking  I  resign  for 
ever  ;  it  deprives  me  of  all  stomach  for  my  dinner.  I  am  so 
harassed  by  fever,  tho'  I  have  lived  on  fish  for  the  last  fortnight, 
that  I  am  afraid  I  must  desist  from  labour  for  a  while.  I  am 
frightened  at  the  prospect  before  me. 

(28  Sept.)  So  extremely  feeble  I  can't  prosecute  my  labours, 
which,  when  cookery  is  excluded,  are  indeed  insufficient  in 
quantity.  .  .  . 


150  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

And  so  he  turns  to  other  plans.  He  is  "  impatient  to 
quit  London,"  and  thinks  at  one  time  of  getting  some 
additions  made  to  a  farmhouse  near  Gunville,  where 
Luff  and  his  wife  can  come  and  companionise  him  ; 
then  of  "  running  up  a  room "  for  himself  with  a 
"  minute  Kitchen  "  on  his  Eastbury  estate. 


In  the  autumn  of  1803  all  England  was  in  a  ferment 
in  the  expectation  of  a  French  invasion.  Napoleon's 
"  Army  of  England  "  was  encamped  at  Boulogne,  with 
the  flotilla  of  transports  ready  to  carry  100,000  men 
across  those  few  miles  of  sea  at  the  first  fair  wind. 
The  country  was  fully  roused,  and  able-bodied  men  of 
all  ranks  were  being  enrolled  as  volunteers.  Even 
Tom  Wedgwood,  sick  as  he  was,  fancied  at  moments 
that  he  might  do  some  kind  of  service.  "  If  it  lasts," 
he  says  (October  3),  speaking  of  a  slight  improvement 
in  his  health,  "  I  seriously  mean  to  offer  myself  for 
garrison  service  on  the  coast,  but  last  night  I  found 
myself  unable  to  get  off  my  chair,  and  for  the  time 
abandoned  the  idea  of  ramming  a  cannon."  But  he 
could  not  rest  without  doing  something  towards  the 
defence  of  the  country.  "  As  my  health,"  he  wrote 
to  Poole,  "  will  not  allow  me  to  serve  in  person,  it  is 
my  duty  to  serve  by  my  purse.  I  have,  therefore, 
made  an  offer  to  Government  to  raise  a  Company  of 
volunteers  and  clothe1  them  at  my  expense." 

Poole,  then  in  London  for  his  Poor  Law  work, 
helped  him  to  arrange  this  at  the  War  Office.  He 
learnt  that  about  Patterdale  and  the  Lakes,  where  he 
had  stayed  with  the  Luffs,  the  men  were  eager  to 


"WEDGWOOD'S   MOUNTAINEERS"  151 

volunteer;  but  that  money  was  wanted  for  the 'needful 
expenses.  He  therefore,  with  LufFs  aid,  formed  a 
Company  of  eighty  men  from  among  the  "  statesmen  " 
of  the  district,  clothing  and  arming  them  as  riflemen. 
The  cost  of  doing  this,  including  pay  for  twenty  days 
exercise,  which  he  gave  the  men  while  they  were 
"  supernumeraries,"  before  Government  allowed  them 
the  regular  pay  of  volunteers,  came  to  about  ^800. 
Luff,  who  had  been  in  the  army,  was  put  at  their 
head,  and  proved  a  most  zealous  organiser  and  com- 
mander. The  Company  decided  on  taking  the  name 
of  its  founder,  and  it  was  known  as  "  Wedgwood's 
Mountaineers."  They  "  exercised  through  the  first 
winter,"  says  Josiah  Wedgwood,  "  often  mid-leg  deep 
in  snow,  many  of  them  walking  ten  miles  to  the  field." 
All  the  accounts  go  to  show  that  they  were  a  splendid 
set  of  men.  An  inspecting  officer  tells  them  he  shall 
"  report  them  as  not  only  fit  for  immediate  service, 
but  perfectly  equal  to  being  brigaded  with  any  regi- 
ment of  the  line,  and  to  be  sent  on  the  most  arduous 
duty."  That  they  were  grateful  for  Wedgwood's 
help  is  testified  by  a  letter  dated  "  Ulcatrow  Moor," 
signed  by  "John  Sutton  and  John  Robinson  Lieu- 
tenants," and  addressed  to  "  Charles  Luff  Esq.,  Captain 
Wedgwood  Loyal  Mountaineers,"  wherein  they  request 
him  to  "  represent  to  our  most  worthy  patron  Mr. 
Wedgwood  our  sincere  and  grateful  acknowledgements 
for  the  Honour,  and  in  this  county  unexampled 
favour,  he  has  conferred  on  us,  by  putting  us  in  a  state 
to  serve  our  King  and  Country,  where  every  Hand  and 
stout  Heart  should  join ;  but  without  this  favour  we 
had  been  left,  like  too  many  others,  unable  though 


152  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

willing  to  join  our  brother  Soldgers."  In  a  letter  of 
Luff's  to  Tom  Wedgwood  we  have  an  animated  account 
of  a  field-day  held,  in  the  next  summer  (May  1 804), 
at  and  about  Gowbarrow  Park  : 

A  very  severe  day  it  was,  but  an  excellent  dinner  of  Beef 
and  plumb  pudding,  to  which  120  sat  down,  recruited  their 
exhausted  strength.  What  would  I  not  have  given  to  have 
had  you  on  the  spot  !  [Wedgwood  was  ill  in  Dorsetshire.] 
The  gratitude  of  the  men  was  unbounded.  William  Words- 
worth dined  with  us  on  the  lawn  before  the  house,*  and  declared 
it  to  be  the  most  interesting  day  he  ever  witnessed,  such  as  he 
should  long  remember  ;  and  said  he  almost  envied  you  your 
feelings  on  the  occasion. 

We  may  imagine  how  the  poet  would  be  stirred  by 
that  scene  when  we  remember  that  it  was  he  who,  in 
those  memorable  sonnets  of  1 803,  had  given  voice  to 
the  emotions  aroused  by  that  great  national  crisis. 

"  No  parleying  now  !  In  Britain  is  one  breath  ; 
We  are  all  with  you  now  from  shore  to  shore  ; 
Ye  Men  of  Kent,  'tis  victory  or  death." 

The  Wedgwood  letters  of  1 803  reflect  the  anxieties 
which  must  have  disturbed  hundreds  of  households, 
especially  those  near  the  coasts,  during  that  memorable 


*  The  house  here  mentioned  is  presumably  that  known  as  "Lyulph's 
Tower,"  on  the  beautiful  slope  just  above  that  bit  of  the  Ulleswater 
shore  which  is  familiar  to  all  Wordsworth-lovers  as  the  scene  of  the 
Daffodils. 

"The  Wedgwood  Mountaineers"  continued  to  exist  till  long 
after  the  fear  of  an  invasion  had  passed  away  with  the  victory  of 
Trafalgar.  Up  till  1812  Josiah  Wedgwood,  as  Tom's  executor, 
continued  to  provide  Luff's  captain's  pay,  and  find  money  for  other 
expenses  in  connection  with  the  corps. 


INVASION   ALARMS  153 

• 
autumn.     Tom,  who  is  in  London,  and  hears  all  kinds 

of  speculations  as  to  when  and  where  the  French  may 
land,  is  naturally  thinking  of  his  mother  and  sisters 
at  Eastbury  and  his  brother's  family  at  Gunville, 
only  a  few  miles  from  the  coast  of  Dorset.  Jos  has 
"  ordered  a  tilt  for  his  wagon,"  in  case  of  having  to 
move  in  bad  weather,  and  is  packing  up  some  of  the 
most  important  things,  but  his  old  mother  is  averse  to 
moving,  and  Bess  is  unwilling  to  send  the  children 
away. 

'Tom  Wedgwood  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

TEMPLE, 

Oct.  10,  1803. 
DEAR  Jos, — 

It  seems  to  be  the  general  opinion  that  the  French  will  land 
somewhere  or  other.  Now  your  family  is  on  the  coast  ;  have 
you  anticipated  deliberately  all  the  circumstances  immediately 
arising  from  a  landing  in  your  neighbourhood  ?  I  am  afraid 
there  would  be  a  great  deal  of  distress,  great  difficulty  of 
removal.  Your  horses  would  be  pressed  for  service.  Might  it 
not  be  wise,  in  so  awful  a  moment  of  danger,  for  your  family 
and  my  mother's  to  retire  to  the  centre  and  most  secure  part 
of  the  island  ?  Or  at  any  rate,  to  make  immediate  and  com- 
plete arrangements  for  removal,  such  as  packing  valuables,  etc., 
and  perhaps  to  occupy  Cote  House  for  the  next  critical  month. 
For  as  Pitt  said  at  Margate  : — Expect  the  French  every  dark  night. 
Don't  suppose  that  I  write  in  a  moment  of  excessive  alarm  ;  I 
have  heard  the  subject  a  good  deal  canvassed  lately,  and  I  am 
convinced  that  some  of  the  stoutest  hearts  in  the  Island  are 
apprehensive  about  the  event.  I  have  made  enquiries  about  the 
measures  of  removal,  and  as  far  as  I  can  foresee,  there  will  be 
amazing  confusion  the  moment  the  landing  of  the  French  in 
any  neighbourhood  is  proclaimed.  Sounding  the  alarm  is  no 
doubt  very  unpleasant :  but  a  balance  must  be  struck. 


154  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Tom's  urgency  was  intelligible,  considering  that 
Gunville  was  only  some  three  or  four  hours'  march 
from  Poole  Harbour.  Gloucestershire  was  a  much 
safer  place  for  non-combatants.  George  III.,  we  may 
remember,  had  at  this  time  made  all  arrangements  for 
the  Queen  and  Princesses  moving  from  Windsor,  at 
a  few  hours'  notice,  to  the  Palace  of  his  friend  Bishop 
Hurd,  at  Worcester.  Weekly  rehearsals  were  going 
on  at  Boulogne  of  the  embarkation  of  the  troops,  and 
Pitt,  now  Warden  of  the  Cinque  Ports,  was  "  riding 
up  and  down  the  coast  of  Kent "  looking  after  the 
3000  volunteers  of  the  Walmer  district.  The  prospect 
of  seeing  the  French  on  English  soil  was  serious  enough> 
though  some  still  maintain  that  the  "  Armee  d'Angle- 
terre  "  was  more  or  less  of  a  sham,  and  that  Napoleon's 
real  object  was  a  great  move  across  the  Rhine. * 

Kitty  Wedgwood  to  her  brother  'Tom 

EASTBURY, 

Oct.  [about  iCth  (?),  1803]. 

*  *  *  #  * 

We  are  just  returned  from  Lymington,  and  I  own  I  was 
glad  to  be  at  home  again  without  any  alarm  from  the  enemy. 
The  day  after,  we  had  a  slight  one,  which  seemed  to  arise  from 
the  Blandford  Volunteers  being  ordered  to  Poole.  .  .  .  We  feel 
quite  unsettled  from  having  a  doubt  whether  we  will  not  retire 


*  Which  hardly  agrees  with  Napoleon's  having  had  a  medal 
struck  with  the  legend  :  "  Descents  en  Angleterre :  frappe  a  Londres  en 
MDCCCIF"  (A  copy  of  this  medal  may  be  seen  at  Boulogne,  and 
Earl  Stanhope  has  one  at  Chevening.)  Some  of  the  plans  imagined 
in  France  for  transporting  the  troops  seem  to  have  been  simply  insane. 
Mr.  Rose's  recent  "  Life  of  Napoleon  "  gives  a  picture  of  a  new 
kind  of  ship  which,  according  to  the  figures  given,  would  have  a 
deck  area  of  many  acres. 


EXPECTING   THE   FRENCH         155 

into  the  interior  for  the  winter.  ...  I  really  think  that  we 
shall  feel  more  anxiety  thinking  every  morning  that  perhaps 
Dorsetshire  is  all  in  confusion.  What  I  most  fear  is  that  in 
very  bad  weather  we  should  really  be  obliged  to  go,  and  my 
mother  would  perhaps  suffer  from  want  of  accommodation  on 
the  road  ;  besides,  the  hurry  and  confusion  of  the  scene  —  or  even 
travelling  in  very  cold  weather  is  a  great  risk  for  her.  She  is 
not  in  the  least  alarmed,  and  I  believe  would  dislike  the  thoughts 
of  removing  ;  but  we  shall  certainly  consider  whether  we  had 
not  better.  Jos  will  not  be  here  in  case  of  danger  [being  High 
Sheriff  of  the  county]  and  it  would  be  one  anxiety  the  less  for 
him. 


Wedgwood  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

TEMPLE, 

Oct.  17,  Monday,  1803. 
DEAR  Jos,  — 

I  am  afraid  I  shall  hardly  get  you  a  guinea,  as  Howorth  does 
not  receive  any  in  York  St.,  nor  can  any  be  got  at  our  bank.* 
I  had  begun  a  little  store  before  I  received  yours,  and  have  yet 
only  amassed  eight.  I  had  no  thoughts  of  your  leaving  the 
county,  and  am  very  glad  you  are  so  well  prepared  for  quitting 


I  sent  the  Birds  to  Mack's  also  as  he  has  company  to-day. 
He  says  he  shall  begin  Time  and  Space  tomorrow,  and  has 
invited  me  to  join  in  the  attack,  which  I  totally  declined 

'Tom  Wedgwood  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

HENRIETTA  ST., 

Oct.  1  8,  1803. 

I  don't  know  what  to  say  about  their  continuing  in  Dorset- 
shire. I  am  afraid  my  mother's  want  of  apprehension  of 

*  John  Wedgwood's  bank  in  Pall  Mall.     Howorth  is  the  cashier 
at  the  York  Street  show-rooms. 
t  Seep.  157. 


156  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

danger  is  derived  from  a  very  inadequate  consideration  of  it. 
Mackintosh  thinks  a  landing  will  certainly  be  effected,  as  the 
attack  will  probably  be  made  at  many  points.  Now,  as  Kitty 
says,  a  forced  march  in  mid-winter  happening  when  she  may  be 
indisposed  might  be  very  distressing.  I  should  think  Cote 
House  tolerably  secure,  and  [they]  will  much  easier  move 
forward  into  the  interior. 


Pray  prepare  Bess  and  all  about  you  for  the  horrors  that  are 
almost  inevitable.  Bess  writes  with  too  much  composure  for  a 
woman  who  may,  even  probably,  find  herself  a  widow  in  a  week. 
My  repugnance  to  inactivity  increases  with  my  strength  ;  but  I 
am  still  utterly  unable  to  enter  into  any  corps. 

***** 

Howorth  has  a  friend  who  has  promised  him  20  guineas — 
these  shall  be  saved  for  you,  and  a  few  more  he  has  collected. 
What  say  you  to  a  little  bullion,  or  gold  grains  ?  It  is  now  at 
.£4  is.  Sd.  the  ounce.  I  shall  get  a  few  ounces. 


Tom's  view  prevailed,  and  before  long  his  mother 
and  sisters  moved  to  John's  house  at  Cote,  near  Bristol. 
There,  too,  we  find  Tom  himself  in  November,  reading 
the  second  edition  of  Malthus  on  Population,  and 
corresponding  with  military  people  in  London,  and 
with  Lord  Lowther  the  Lord  Lieutenant  of  Westmore- 
land, about  his  volunteer  corps.  Volunteering  is  the 
great  business  of  the  moment.  Jos  is  distracted 
between  his  duties  as  Captain  of  a  Staffordshire  corps, 
formed  from  the  Etruria  works,  and  as  High  Sheriff 
of  Dorset ;  but  as  "  there  arc  now  230,000  enrolled  " 
• — this  was  when  the  population  of  England  was  about 
a  fourth  of  its  present  amount — he  thinks  there  is  "  no 
great  necessity  for  more." 


A   FAMILY   GATHERING  157 

The  family  event  of  that  winter  was  the  departure 
of  Mackintosh,  with  his  wife  and  children,  for  India. 
He  had  just  been  made  Recorder  of  Bombay,  and  there 
was  a  large  muster  in  London  of  the  Wedgwood-Allen 
families,  and  of  intimate  friends,  the  Sydney  Smiths, 
the  Horners,  and  many  more,  to  bid  them  farewell. 
Some  time  before  this  Mackintosh  had  agreed  to  write 
an  essay  expounding  Tom  Wedgwood's  philosophical 
views,  about  which  they  had  had  much  discussion, 
orally  and  in  writing,  and  the  following  letter,  written 
about  two  years  before  this  time,  would  seem  to  imply 
that  he  had  made  some  kind  of  beginning  of  the  task. 

font  Wedgwood  to  Sir  James  Mackintosh. 

YORK  STREET, 

December  nth,  1801. 
DEAR  MACKINTOSH, — 

If  I  was  called  upon  to  declare  the  action  which  required 
the  most  good  nature  and  self  sacrifice  and  which  originated  in 
the  purest  disinterestedness,  I  should  not  hesitate  an  instant  to 
cite  your  kind  attempts  to  relieve  me  from  my  distressing  per- 
plexities. I  cannot  sufficiently  admire  the  kindness  of  the  offer 
nor  the  unwearied  patience  of  the  execution. 

I  feel  considerably  embarrassed  in  proceeding  with  the  subject 
of  my  letter.  Don't  imagine  that  I  feel  any  repugnance  to 
lying  under  so  great  an  obligation  to  you  ;  but  in  employing 
your  time  and  talents,  I  am  using  a  fund  which  is  the  peculiar 
property  of  your  family.  You  have  already  had  the  satisfaction 
of  a  completely  generous  action  ;  it  is  my  part  to  prevent 
the  interests  of  your  family  suffering  from  its  consequences. 
Take  then  without  scruple  in  its  behalf  the  retainer  on  the 
other  side.  I  cannot  write  more  at  present — so  extend  your 
good  nature  to  giving  me  credit  for  wishing  to  treat  your 


158  TOM  WEDGWOOD 

feelings  with  all  possible  tenderness,  and  believe  me  your  ever 
obliged  and  sincere  friend, 

THOS.  WEDGWOOD. 

Cheque  for  £100  sent  herewith. 

But  Mackintosh's  departure  for  India  practically  put 
an  end  to  this  design ;  though,  as  we  see  from  the 
following  letter,  he  seems  to  have  fancied  that  he 
would  be  able  to  accomplish  it  in  what  he  characteris- 
tically calls  the  "  long  and  undisturbed  leisure  "  of  his 
judicial  life  at  Bombay. 

Sir  James  Mackintosh  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

17,  DOVER  STREET, 

ibth  Dec.,  1803. 
DEAR  WEDGWOOD, — 

Will  you  have  the  patience  to  read  beyond  the  first  line  when 
I  begin  by  telling  you  that  our  MS.  is  in  the  drawer  of  my  library 
table  on  board  the  Winchelsea,  for  the  present  inaccessible  to 
human  hand  or  eye. 

I  began  in  November,  not  only  with  the  most  honest  inten- 
tion but  with  the  most  anxious  and  ardent  wish,  to  execute  our 
project.  I  sat  down  at  least  ten  mornings  to  do  it.  I  was 
constantly  interrupted — I  was  annoyed  not  merely  by  the  bustle 
of  preparation  but  sometimes  by  anxieties  of  so  painful  a  kind 
that  they  left  no  quiet  for  Philosophy.  Leisure  I  could  com- 
mand, but  tranquillity,  which  I  found  equally  necessary,  was 
not  so  easily  to  be  had.  It  would  not  have  been  difficult  to 
have  written  something  but  I  could  not  bring  my  conscience 
to  do  injustice  to  speculations  which  I  estimate  so  very  highly. 
Under  these  circumstances,  after  many  ineffectual  attempts  I 
resolved,  at  the  risk  of  your  displeasure,  to  send  the  MSS.  on 
board  ship  that  I  might  apply  the  long  and  undisturbed  leisure 


SENDING   OFF   THE   MACKINTOSHES  159 

of  Bombay  to  the  undertaking.  I  did  this  without  consulting 
you,  because  I  was  fearful  that  justly  resenting  my  past  in- 
fidelity and  distrusting  my  future  faith  you  might  have  recalled 
your  MSS.,  which  I  should  have  very  severely  regretted.  The 
first  moment  after  my  books  are  placed  on  their  shelves  shall 
be  devoted  to  Time  and  Space. 

They  are  in  the  same  drawer  and  will  share  the  same  fate 
with  all  the  MSS.  I  have  in  the  world  on  Metaphysics  Morals 
and  Politics.  When  I  have  finished  them  I  shall  print  a  dozen 
copies  at  Bombay  for  the  sake  of  security  and  easy  transmission 
to  Europe. 

Great  as  my  faults  have  been  with  respect  to  your  philosophy, 
they  are  still  more  in  appearance  than  they  are  in  reality,  and 
though  I  do  not  know  whether  with  your  present  knowledge 
you  can  forgive  me,  I  think  I  should  be  certain  of  your  pardon 
if  I  could  communicate  to  you  the  whole  succession  of  incidents 
which  have  frustrated  my  intention. 

All  here  join  in  kindest  good  wishes  to  your  party,  and 
I  am 

Dear  Wedgwood 

Your's  most  affectionately 

JAMES  MACKINTOSH. 


Of  the  gathering  of  friends  and  relatives  to  see  the 
last  of  the  Mackintoshes  we  have  pleasant  glimpses  in 
some  lively  letters  of  Fanny  Allen  to  her  sister  Bessy 
in  the  country.  The  merriment  of  Sydney  Smith 
helped  to  brighten  the  "  sadness  of  farewells,"  and 
we  hear  of  amusing  dinner-table  discussions  as  to  the 
comparative  virtues  of  the  Allen  sisters,  and  of  his, 
Sydney  Smith's,  final  pronouncement  on  that  interesting 
point. 


i6o  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Fanny  */[llen  to  her  sister  "Bessy  (Mrs.  Josiah 

II  Jan.  1804.  "Sydney  Smith  was  in  his  highest  spirits, 
and  pleased  me  particularly  by  talking  of  my  sisters  in  the  way 
I  wish  to  hear  them  talked  of,  as  the  very  first  of  women. 
' 1  cannot  tell  you,'  he  told  me,  *  how  much  I  admire  and 
like  all  your  sisters,  but  I  think  that  Mrs.  Jos  Wedgwood 
surpasses  you  all.'  " 

25  Jan.  1804.  "  I  kept  back  [in  the  previous  letter]  part  of 
the  good  things  he  said  of  you.  Mackintosh,  Kitty,  and  I 
dined  with  the  Smiths  on  Sunday  last,  and  I  have  scarcely  ever 
passed  a  merrier  day.  The  company,  as  usual,  were  Sharp, 
Rogers,  Horner,  and  Boddington.  .  .  .  You  were  again  the 
subject  of  a  very  warm  eulogium  from  more  of  the  gentlemen 
than  S.  S.  It  was  a  very  humorous  dispute — I  will  not  detail 
it  to  you  because  of  your  unbelief.  But  Sydney  put  an  end 
to  that  part  of  it  which  treated  of  the  different  degrees  of 
dependence  they  could  place  in  you  and  my  other  sisters  in 
case  of  any  emergency,  by  declaring  he  would  rely  on  your 
kindness  to  nurse  him  during  a  fever,  and  Jenny's  only  in  a 
toothache.  This  was  unanswerable  and  unanswered." 

The  beginning  of  another  year  found  Tom  Wedg- 
wood still  in  a  condition  which  seemed  to  be  quickly 
passing  into  a  state  of  despair.  His  most  frequent 
mood,  henceforward,  is  that  reflected  in  the  following 
letters. 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

COTE, 

Jany.  10,  1804. 

*  *  *  *  * 

I  have  endured  pangs  and  torments  such  as  none  can  con- 
ceive who  have  never  been  in  like  circumstances.  These 
nothing  shall  lead  me  to  renew.  As  far  as  the  coldest  prudence 


A   SCHEME   OF   SECLUSION       161 

can  procure  me  peace,  I  will  have  it.  I  am  now  endeavouring 
to  habituate  myself  to  my  near  exit  without  dismay,  to  separate 
all  idea  of  melancholy  and  repugnance  from  an  event  which 
may  put  an  end  to  intolerable  sensations,  to  suppress  all  regret 
of  the  hopes  and  pleasures  to  which  my  qualifications,  if  I  know 
myself  at  all,  might  have  been  expected  to  lead  me.  Vanity 
may  influence  my  opinion,  but  I  have  no  concealment  with 
you  ;  as  far  as  I  know  other  men  and  can  examine  myself,  I 
feel  very  certain  that  at  the  age  of  fifteen  I  held  out  more 
promise,  and  united  a  greater  variety  of  talent,  a  more  ardent 
longing  after  all  that  is  beautiful  and  good,  in  morals,  things, 
and  art,  than  any  young  man  I  have  ever  met  with.  That  this 
should  all  perish  and  come  to  nothing,  I  should  regret  in  the 
liveliest  manner  in  another — and  I  certainly  do  still  more  in 
my  own  person.  But  I  feel  that  I  have  now  made  every 
possible  effort  to  save  myself,  and  I  do  not  harass  myself  with 
any  further  plans.  I  am  interrupted — this  is  a  subject  on 
which  I  could  write  folios,  but  there  is  no  harm  in  being 
stopped. 

'Tom  Wedgwood  to  Josiah  Wedgwood 

COTE, 

Jany.  23,  1804. 

DEAR  Jos, — 

*  *  *  *  * 

I  find  myself  every  day  more  and  more  unable  to  combat 
with  my  disorder,  and  I  am  convinced  of  the  necessity  o/ 
keeping  my  room  if  not  my  bed.  I  cannot  think  of  entering 
on  this  melancholy  scheme  at  this  place — it  would  entirely 
destroy  the  comfort  of  the  little  society  here.  I  propose 
returning  with  you  to  Gunville,  and  making  the  North  room 
as  noise-proof  as  we  can.  I  need  not  expatiate  to  you  on  the 
extreme  repugnance  I  feel  at  introducing  myself  and  all  my 
attendant  gloom  in  the  midst  of  a  prosperous  family  like  yours, 
but  it  is  my  fate  in  this  life  to  cast  a  gloom  around  me.  The 
pains  I  have  taken  and  the  sacrifices  I  have  made  to  prevent  it 

L 


162  TOM     WEDGWOOD 

are  the  only  consolation  and  excuse  I  have  left.     What  other 

alternative  is  left  me  ? 

***** 

Though  I  cannot  sit  up,  nor  longer  bear  to  be  present  a 
lifeless  unparticipating  thing  in  living  scenes — yet  I  know  from 
several  trials,  that  my  sufferings  in  the  seasoning  to  this  self- 
entombment,  are  to  be  very  acute.  There  may  be  times,  and 
frequently,  when  I  may  require  your  company  and  patient 
attendance.  God  only  knows  the  horrors  which  low  spirits 

sometimes  produce.    At  those  times  solitude  is  insupportable. 

***** 

I  feel  that  my  plan  has  nothing  definite — if  it  had,  I  could 
not  bring  myself  to  state  it.  It  is  an  act  of  resignation  to  a 
consuming  disorder  against  which  I  have  kept  up  a  fight  of 
twelve  years.  I  shall  no  longer  think  of  health,  but  administer 
every  present  comfort — and  I  imagine  this  process  will  give 
such  an  advantage  to  my  implacable  foe,  that  his  complete 
triumph  and  mine,  no  less  a  one,  in  his  victory,  must  be  hastened. 
Perhaps  you  will  send  your  horses  from  Bath — the  chaise  will 
meet  you  when  you  write  to  have  it.  My  mother  and  sisters 
bore  the  communication  as  I  could  wish — with  feeling  and 
composure.  My  kindest  love  to  Bess.  I  stop  because  my 
powers  and  paper  are  exhausted — or  I  could  converse  with 
you  for  a  month  without  a  stop. 

These  are  terrible  letters,  for  a  man  only  in  his 
thirty-second  year.  Josiah's  reply  to  them  is,  as 
always,  deeply  sympathetic,  though  he  can  only 
bid  his  brother  struggle  on.  The  one  bright  spot 
in  this  story  of  a  wrecked  life  is  the  unwearying 
kindness  with  which  the  sick  man's  relatives  and 
friends  strove  to  do  all  that  was  possible  to  mitigate 
his  sufferings.  Outside  his  family,  Poole,  perhaps, 
was  the  most  devoted  of  his  friends,  always  on  the 
alert  to  seek  some  way  of  cheering  or  helping  him 


SYMPATHY   OF  FRIENDS  163 

under  the  constant  struggle.  Coleridge's  affection 
for  him  must  have  been  deep  and  lasting,  whatever 
we  may  think  of  the  over-effusive  manner  of  its 
expression.  And  there  are  signs  that  from  various 
less  intimate  associates,  Sharp,  Campbell,  and  others, 
he  met  with  much  real  sympathy  and  kindness. 
Josiah's  devotion  to  his  brother  Tom  was  an  absorbing 
passion,  and  was  Tom's  greatest  solace.  "I  find" 
(he  says  to  Josiah,  Nov.  4,  1804),  "that  yourself  and 
Sally  always  move  me  most  to  think  of  a  love  more  than 
mortal,  which  cannot  flourish  in  this  chilling  world, 
and  must  survive  it.  Your  deep  affection,  and  Sally's 
angelic  kindness,  give  a  certain  value  to  life  in  its  most 
trying  moments.*'  In  a  letter  of  this  year  Sally  had 
said  to  him :  "  I  have  sometimes  feared  I  must  have 
appeared  insensible  to  your  sufferings,  when  my 
taciturnity  has  really  been  owing  partly  to  the  family 
infirmity."  The  affectionate  terms  on  which  he  stood 
with  Bessy  Wedgwood  are  shown  in  the  following 
letter,  while  her  reply  is  significant  of  the  warm  and 
sympathetic  nature  which  made  her  perhaps  the  best 
beloved  member  of  that  united  family  : 

Tom  Wedgwood  to  Mrs.  Josiah  Wedgwood 

COTE, 

[Dated,  in  another  hand,  Feb.  17,  1804]. 
MY  DEAR  BESS, — 

Pray  come — and  stay  as  long  as  you  can.  Don't  imagine 
for  a  moment  that  you  can  ever  be  in  my  way.  I  look  upon 
you  as  no  half-sister.  I  have  even  felt  towards  you  as  sister  in 
full,  with  all  rights  and  privileges,  and,  also,  with  a  claim  on 
you  for  duties  and  attentions  as  such.  After  ten  years  intimacy 


1 64  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

I  am  less  inclined  than  ever  to  love  you  by  halves.  You  must 
not  judge  always  of  my  feelings  towards  you  by  my  manners 
and  exterior.  These  are  under  the  control  of  sufferings  greater 
than  you  have  ever  imagined  them — and  my  temper  is  nearly 
gone  in  the  general  wreck.  I  cannot  now  write  more,  nor  is 
there  to  you  any  occasion.  Everybody  finds  you  all  kindness, 
and  the  deficiencies  in  kindness  and  respect  at  times  from  me 
have  been  forgotten  and  forgiven  by  you  before  I  had  either 
forgotten  or  forgiven  them  myself. 

Ever  your's  most  affectly, 

T.  W. 

Mrs.  Josiah  Wedgwood  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

GUNVILLE, 

Feby.  20,  1804. 
MY  DEAR  TOM, — 

I  was  more  gratified  than  you  can  imagine  by  the  few  kind 
lines  I  received  from  you  yesterday,  made  doubly  valuable  by 
the  inconvenience  (to  use  the  lightest  expression)  with  which 
you  write  at  present.  It  was  impossible  for  a  moment  to  doubt 
of  your  kindness,  but  a  real  want  of  self-confidence  makes  it 
soothing  and  delightful  to  me  to  receive  so  touching  an  assur- 
ance of  it,  and  I  thank  you  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart.  I 
cannot  enter  into  the  sympathy  with  which  I  consider  your 
sufferings,  it  is  deep  and  sincere,  nor  would  anything  I  think, 
in  this  world,  make  me  so  happy  as  to  see  you  restored  to 
health  and  enjoyment.  I  wished  very  much  to  have  gone 
with  Jos  to  Cote,  but  I  am  deterred  by  the  uncertainty  I  am 
in  as  to  poor  Kitty's  movements  at  Ryde,*  as  I  believe  the 
wind  is  entirely  against  their  sailing,  and  if  it  continues  in  a 
settled  point  I  should  not  wonder  if  she  were  to  come  here. 
She  has  also  been  so  very  anxious  to  see  some  of  us,  that  I  am 
afraid  of  putting  it  out  of  my  power  to  go  there  if  I  find  that 
I  cannot  resist  her  affectionate  entreaties. 

*  Lady  Mackintosh  is  just  sailing  from  Spithead  for  Bombay. 


BESSY   WEDGWOOD  165 

A  sentence  in  a  letter  of  Bessy  Wedgwood  to  her 
husband  well  shows  the  feeling  which  this  warm- 
hearted and  unselfish  woman  had  for  her  sorely 
afflicted  brother-in-law.  Such  an  absorbing  attach- 
ment as  that  of  Josiah  to  Tom  might  have  made 
some  wives  jealous,  and  she  seems  to  have  had  a  fear 
— it  was,  of  course,  quite  groundless — that  Jos  might 
imagine  this  possibility  in  her  case.  "  I  am  very  glad/* 
she  says,  "  that  you  acquit  me  of  all  jealousy  with 
respect  to  dear  Tom.  I  really  deserve  it,  for  there 
are  no  sacrifices  I  would  not  make  to  be  of  any  use  to 
him  compatible  with  my  other  duties."  *  The  situa- 
tion had  its  difficulties,  and  it  must  have  needed  her 
unalterable  sweetness  of  character  and  tact  to  avoid 
friction.  Tom,  for  one  thing,  made  the  Gunville 
nursery  a  field  of  philosophical  study,  observing 
and  recording  the  doings  of  its  little  inhabitants  as 
material  for  working  out  his  various  psychological 
and  educational  theories.  If  little  Bess  was  out  of 
temper,  or  Joe  disobedient  to  his  governess,  he  would 
note  the  incident  as  illustrating  some  principle  of  child- 
training,  and  perhaps  propound  a  plan  for  correcting 
the  infant's  evil  tendencies,  based  on  the  principles  of 
Locke,  Hartley,  or  Rousseau.  An  uncle  given  to  these 
pursuits  must  have  been  at  times  a  troublesome  guest, 
and  family  tradition  tells  us  that  even  the  sweet- 
tempered  Bessie  sometimes  found  Tom's  frequent 
incursions  into  her  nursery  embarrassing. 

*  Letter  of  September  I,  1800  (Darwin  MSS.). 


CHAPTER  XII 

THE   LAST   YEAR 
1804 — 1805 

COLERIDGE  and  Tom  Wedgwood  never  met,  apparently, 
after  their  parting  at  PatterdaJe  in  January  1803. 
Coleridge  came  to  London  in  January  1804,  bent 
on  making  a  voyage  to  a  warm  climate  for  the  sake 
of  his  health.  He  writes  thus  from  the  office  in 
Westminster  where  Poole  was  carrying  on  his  statis- 
tical poor-law  work. 

Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

(Address :   COTE  HOUSE,  BRISTOL.) 

1 6,  ABINGDON  STREET, 

WESTMINSTER, 

Wednesday  afternoon, 

[25  Jan.]  1804. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — 

Some  divines  hold  that  with  God  to  think  and  to  create  are 
one  and  the  same  act.  If  to  think  and  even  to  compose  had 
been  the  same  as  to  write  with  me,  I  should  have  written  as 
much  too  much  as  I  have  now  written  too  little.  The  whole 
Truth  of  the  matter  is  that  I  have  been  very,  very  ill ;  your 
letter  remained  four  days  unread,  I  was  so  ill.  What  effect 
it  had  upon  me  I  cannot  express  by  words  ;  it  lay  under  my 
pillow  day  after  day.  I  should  have  written  20  times,  but 


COLERIDGE  AND  THE  WORDSWORTHS    167 

as  it  often  and  often  happens  with  me,  my  heart  was  too  full 
and  I  had  so  much  to  say  that  I  said  nothing.  I  never  received 
a  delight  that  lasted  longer  upon  me,  "  brooded  on  my  mind 
and  made  it  pregnant,"  than  the  six  last  sentences  of  your 
Letter,  which  I  cannot  apologize  for  not  having  answered,  for 
I  should  be  canting  calumnies  against  myself,  for  for  the  last  six 
or  seven  weeks  I  have  both  thought  and  felt  more  concerning 
you,  and  relatively  to  you,  than  of  all  other  men  put  together. 
Somehow  or  other,  whatever  plan  I  determined  to  adopt,  my 
fancy,  good-natured  Pandar  of  our  wishes,  always  linked  you 
on  to  it  ;  or  I  made  it  your  Plan,  and  linked  myself  on. 

I  left  my  home  December  20,  1803,  intending  to  stay  a  day 
and  a  half  at  Grasmere,  and  then  to  walk  to  Kendal,  whither  I 
had  sent  all  my  Cloaths  and  Viatica  ;  from  thence  to  go  to 
London,  and  to  see  whether  or  no  I  could  arrange  my  pecuniary 
matters  so  as  leaving  Mrs.  Coleridge  all  that  was  necessary  to 
her  comforts,  to  go  myself  to  Madeira,  having  a  persuasion 
strong  as  the  life  within  me,  that  one  winter  spent  in  a  really 
warm,  genial  climate,  would  compleatly  restore  me.  Words- 
worth had,  as  I  may  truly  say,  forced  on  me  a  hundred  Pound, 
in  the  event  of  my  going  to  Madeira ;  and  Stuart  had  kindly 
offered  to  befriend  me  ;  and  during  the  days  and  affrightful 
nights  of  my  disease,  when  my  Limbs  were  swoln  and  my 
stomach  refused  to  retain  the  food  taken  in  in  sorrow,  then  I 
looked  with  pleasure  on  the  scheme.  But  as  soon  as  dry  frosty 
weather  came,  or  the  rains  and  damps  passed  off,  and  I  was 
filled  with  elastic  Health  from  Crown  to  Sole,  then  the 
Thought  of  the  weight  of  pecuniary  Obligation,  having 
hitherto  given  no  positive  proof  that  I  was  a  fit  moral  object 
of  so  much  exertion  from  so  many  people,  revisited  me. 

But  I  have  broken  off  my  story.  I  stayed  at  Grasmere  a 
month,  f  ths  of  the  time  bed-ridden  ;  and  deeply  do  I  feel  the 
enthusiastic  kindness  of  Wordsworth's  Wife  and  Sister,  who 
sate  up  by  me,  one  or  the  other,  in  order  to  awaken  me  at  the 
first  symptoms  of  distressful  Feeling  ;  and  even  when  they 
went  to  rest,  continued  often  and  often  to  weep  and  watch  for 


168  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

me  even  in  their  dreams.  I  left  them,  Saturday,  Jan.  1 4th,  and 
have  spent  a  very  pleasant  week  at  Dr.  Crompton's,  at  Liver- 
pool, and  arrived  at  Poole's  lodgings  last  night,  at  8  o'clock. 

Though  my  right  hand  is  so  much  swoln  that  I  can  scarcely 
keep  my  pen  steady  between  my  Thumb  and  Forefinger,  yet 
my  Stomach  is  easy,  and  my  Breathing  comfortable  ;  and  I  am 
eager  to  hope  all  good  things  of  my  health  ;  and  that  gained, 
I  have  a  cheering,  and  I  trust  prideless  confidence  that  I  shall 
make  an  active  perseverant  use  of  the  faculties  and  acquirements 
that  have  been  entrusted  to  my  keeping,  and  a  fair  trial  of  their 
Heighth,  Depth,  and  Width.  Indeed  I  look  back  on  the  last 
four  months  with  honest  Pride,  seeing  how  much  I  have  done, 
with  what  steady  attachment  of  mind  to  the  same  subject,  and 
under  what  vexations  and  sorrows  from  without,  and  amid 
what  inward  sufferings.  So  much  of  myself.  When  I  know 
more,  I  will  tell  you  more. 

I  find  you  are  still  at  Cote,  and  Poole  tells  me  you  talk  of 
Jamaica  as  a  summer  excursion.  If  it  were  not  for  the  Voyage, 
I  would  that  you  would  go  to  Madeira,  for  from  the  Hour  I 
get  on  board  the  vessel  to  the  time  that  I  once  more  feel 
England  beneath  my  feet,  I  am  as  certain  as  past  and  unvary- 
ing experience  can  make  me,  that  I  shall  be  in  Health,  in  high 
Health  ;  and  then  I  am  sure,  not  only  that  I  should  be  a 
comfort  to  you,  but  that  I  should  be  so  without  Diminution 
of  my  activity  or  professional  usefulness.  Briefly,  dear  Wedg- 
wood !  I  truly  and  at  heart  love  you,  and  of  course  it  must  add 
to  my  deeper  and  moral  happiness  to  be  with  you,  if  I  can  be 
either  assistance  or  alleviation.  If  I  find  myself  so  well  that  I 
defer  my  Madeira  Plan,  I  shall  then  go  forthwith  to  Devon- 
shire to  see  my  aged  mother  once  more  before  she  dies,  and 
stay  two  or  three  months  with  my  Brothers.  But  wherever  I 
am,  I  never  suffer  a  day  (except  when  I  am  travelling)  to  pass 
without  doing  something. 

Poole  made  me  promise  that  I  would  leave  one  side  for  him, 
and  preciously  I  have  remembered  it.  God  bless  him !  He 
looks  so  worshipful  in  his  office,  among  his  Clerks,  that  it 


COLERIDGE  BIDS  HIM  STILL  HOPE     169 

would  give  you  a  few  minutes'  good  spirits  at  least  to  look 
in  upon  him.  I  pray  you  as  soon  as  you  can  command  your 
pen,  give  me  half  a  score  Lines,  and  now  that  I  am  loose^  say 
whether  or  no  I  can  be  any  good  to  you. 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


This  letter,  I  imagine,  crossed  one  from  Tom  in 
which  he  told  Coleridge  of  his  despairful  resolve  to 
shut  himself  up  at  Gunville  and  to  give  up  struggling 
with  his  disease.  This  Coleridge  answers  in  a  strain 
of  passionate  protest : 

S.  T.  Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

{Address:  COTE  HOUSE,  BRISTOL.) 

1 6  ABINGDON  STREET, 

WESTMINSTER, 

Saturday,  Jan.  28,  1804. 
MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — 

It  is  idle  for  me  to  say  to  you,  that  my  Heart  and  very  soul 
ache  with  the  dull  pain  of  one  struck  down  and  stunned.  I 
write  to  you,  for  my  letter  cannot  give  you  unmixed  Pain,  and 
I  would  fain  say  a  few  words  to  dissuade  you.  What  good 
can  possibly  come  of  your  plan  ?  Will  not  the  very  chairs  and 
furniture  of  your  room  be  shortly  more,  far  more  intolerable  to 
you  than  new  and  changing  objects !  more  insufferable  Reflec- 
tors of  Pain  and  Wearisomeness  of  Spirit?  Oh,  most  certainly 
they  will !  You  must  hope,  my  dearest  Wedgwood  ;  you  must 
act  as  if  you  hoped !  Despair  itself  has  but  that  advice  to  give 
you.  Have  you  ever  thought  of  trying  large  doses  of  opium 
in  a  hot  climate,  with  a  diet  of  grapes,  and  the  fruits  of  the 
climate  ? 

Is  it  impossible  that  by  drinking  freely  you  might  at  last 
produce  Gout,  and  that  a  violent  Pain  and  Inflammations  in 
the  extremities  might  produce  new  trains  of  motion  and  feeling 


170  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

in  your  stomach,  and  the  organs  connected  with  the  stomach, 
known  and  unknown  ?  Worse  than  what  you  have  decreed 
for  yourself  cannot  well  happen.  Say  but  a  word,  and  I  will 
come  to  you,  will  be  with  you,  will  go  with  you — to  Malta — 
to  Madeira — to  Jamaica,  or  (of  the  climate  of  which  and  its 
strange  effects  I  have  heard  wonders,  true  or  not)  to  Egypt. 

At  all  events,  and  at  the  worst,  even  if  you  do  attempt  to 
realize  the  scheme  of  going  to  and  remaining  at  Gunville,  for 
God's  sake,  my  dear  dear  friend  !  do  keep  up  a  correspondence 
with  one  or  more  ;  or  if  it  were  possible  for  you,  with  several. 
I  know  by  a  little  what  your  sufferings  are  ;  and  that  to  shut  the 
eyes  and  stop  up  the  ears  is  to  give  one's  self  up  to  storm  and 
darkness  and  the  lurid  forms  and  horrors  of  a  Dream.  Poole 
goes  off  to-night,  but  I  shall  send  this  Letter  by  the  Post. 

I  scarce  know  why — it  is  a  feeling  I  have  and  hardly  under- 
stand— I  could  not  endure  to  live  if  I  had  not  a  firm  Faith 
that  the  Life  within  you  will  pass  forth  out  of  the  Furnace  : 
for  that  you  have  borne  what  you  have  borne,  and  so  acted 
beneath  such  Pressure,  constitutes  you  an  awful  moral  Being. 
I  am  not  ashamed  to  pray  aloud  for  you. 

Your  most  affectionate  Friend, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 

Poole  will  call  on  you  some  time  before  Dinner  on  Monday, 
for  an  hour,  unless  he  hear  from  you  a  wish  to  the  contrary, 
addressed  to  him  at  Mr.  King's,  No.  12  RedclifFe  Parade. 

Eight  weeks  after  this  Coleridge  was  leaving  England 
for  Malta.  Two  or  three  days  before  his  departure 
he  writes  thus  : 

S.  ?*.  Coleridge  to  'Tom  Wedgwood 

[No  date:  Postmark  24  Mch,  1804.] 
MY  DEAR  FRIEND, — 

Though  fearful  of  breaking  in  upon  you,  after  what  you  have 
written  to  me,  I  could  net  have  left  England  without  having 


COLERIDGE'S  LAST  WORDS  TO  HIM    171 

written  both  to  you  and  your  Brother.  I  received  your 
letter  at  the  very  moment  I  received  a  note  from  Sharp  inform- 
ing [me]  that  I  must  instantly  secure  a  place  in  the  Ports- 
mouth Mail  for  Tuesday,  and  if  I  could  not,  that  I  must  do  so 
in  the  Light  Coach  for  Tuesday  early  morning. 

I  am  agitated  by  many  things,  and  only  write  now  because 
you  desired  an  answer  by  return  of  Post.  I  have  been  dan- 
gerously ill,  but  the  illness  is  going  about,  and  not  connected 
with  my  immediate  ill  health,  however  it  may  be  with  my 
general  Constitution.  It  was  the  cholera  morbus.  But  for  a 
series  of  the  merest  accidents  I  should  have  been  seized  in  the 
Streets,  in  a  bitter  East  wind  with  cold  rain  ;  at  all  events  have 
walked  through  it  struggling  with  the  seizure — it  was  Sunday 
night — and  have  suffered  it  at  Tobin's,  Tobin  sleeping  out  at 
Woolwich,  no  fire,  no  wine  or  spirit,  or  medicine  of  any  kind, 
and  no  human  Being  within  call.  But  luckily — perhaps  the 
occasion  would  better  suit  the  word  providentially — Tuffin 
took  me  home  with  him.  After  the  first  painful  Fit 

[Here  he  describes  the  attack.] 

***** 

But  however  this  is  rather  a  History  of  the  past  than  of  the 
present.  I  have  now  only  enough  for  memento,  and  already 
on  Wednesday  I  considered  myself  in  clear  sunshine,  out  of 
the  Shadow  of  the  Wings  of  the  Destroying  Angel.  What 
else  relates  to  myself  I  will  write  on  Monday. 

Would  to  heaven  you  were  going  with  me  to  Malta,  if  it 
were  not  for  the  voyage  !  For  all  other  things  I  could  make 
the  passage  with  an  unwavering  mind,  not  without  chearings 
of  Hope.  Let  me  mention  one  thing.  Lord  Cadogan  was 
brought  to  absolute  Despair  and  Hatred  of  Life  by  a  Stomach 
Complaint,  being  now  an  old  man.  The  symptoms,  as  stated 
to  me,  were  strikingly  like  yours,  considering  the  enormous 
difference  of  the  two  characters ;  the  same  flitting  Fevers,  dire 
costiveness  with  Diarrhoea,  Dejection,  compelled  Changes,  &c. 
He  was  advised  to  reduce  lean  Beef  to  a  pure  jelly  by  Papin's 
•digester,  with  as  little  water  as  would  secure  it  from  burning, 


172  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

and  of  this  to  take  half  a  wine  glass  from  10  to  14  times  a  day ; 
this  and  nothing  else.  He  did  so.  Sir  George  Beaumont  saw 
within  a  few  weeks  a  letter  from  Lord  C.  to  Lord  St.  Asaph, 
in  which  he  states  the  circumstance,  his  perseverance  in  it, 
rapid  amelioration,  and  final  recovery.  "  I  am  now,"  he  says, 
"  in  real  good  Health  ;  as  good,  and  in  as  chearful  spirits  as 
ever  I  was  when  a  young  man."  Mingay,  the  medical  man  ot 
Thetford,  was  his  attendant.  I  could  give  you  all  particulars. 
May  God  bless  you,  even  here, 

S.  T.  COLERIDGE. 


This  is  the  latest  letter  of  Coleridge  among  the 
Wedgwood  papers.  He  did  not  return  to  England 
till  after  Tom  Wedgwood's  death.  When  in  Malta 
he  wrote  but  little  to  any  friends  or  relations,  and 
probably  not  at  all  to  Tom  or  his  brother. 

The  rest  of  the  year  1804  shows  no  lightening  of 
the  gloom  which  is  the  dominant  note  of  Tom  Wedg- 
wood's letters.  He  was  now  resorting  to  opium  as  a 
relief  from  his  sufferings,  but  to  what  extent  or  how 
continuously  he  took  it  is  not  clear.  "  The  quantity 
not  exceeding  four  grains  often  proves,"  he  says^ 
"  wholly  insufficient  to  produce  any  tolerable  ex- 
hilaration." At  times  the  language  in  which  he 
describes  his  sufferings  (to  his  brother  Josiah)  is  such 
as  might  well  suggest  a  doubt  of  his  complete  sanity, 
as  when  he  says  "  the  nature  of  my  miseries  is  too 
shocking  for  communication  " ;  but  the  tone  of  other 
letters  dealing  with  affairs  of  ordinary  life  shows,  I 
think,  that  there  was  no  definitely  mental  disturbance. 
A  frequent  topic  in  the  family  correspondence  of  this 
time  was  "  the  disordered  state  of  John's  affairs." 
John  had  not  the  faculty  of  keeping  his  expenditure 


JOHN   LESLIE'S   BOOK  173 

within  his  income,  and  his  chronic  state  of  embar- 
rassment was  a  constant  source  of  anxiety  to  his 
brothers  and  sisters.  In  a  letter  of  May  1804,  to 
Josiah,  Tom  discusses  this  matter,  and  does  so  in  a 
thoroughly  rational  way.  It  is  the  letter  of  a  man  in 
complete  command  of  his  faculties.  He  proposes  to 
lend  his  brother  "  some  thousands,"  in  order  to  "  bring 
his  affairs  completely  round."  He  thinks  John  "  should 
abandon  Cote,  and  perhaps  might  be  induced  to  live 
at  Etruria."  "  Jane  has  given  up  all  hope  of  his  ever 
regulating  his  expenditure."  * 

It  was  at  this  time  Leslie  brought  out  the  book 
embodying  the  results  of  the  investigations  which  the 
annuity  given  him  by  Tom  Wedgwood  had  enabled  him 
to  carry  on  for  some  seven  years  past  at  his  home  in 
Fifeshire.  It  appeared  under  the  title  of  "  An  Inquiry 
into  Heat  and  Electricity,"  and  it  established  his 
position  as  a  natural  philosopher.  In  a  letter  of 
March  (1804)  he  had  sent  Wedgwood  a  draft  of  the 
dedication,  written  in  his  usual  portentously  ornate 
style,  asking,  "  What  alteration  do  you  wish  ?  "  This 
inquiry  seems  to  have  remained  unanswered,  as  in 
another  letter  Leslie  alludes  to  Wedgwood's  having, 
"  with  uncommon  delicacy,"  declined  to  read  the  draft. 
In  the  dedication  as  printed,  he  refers  vaguely  to  being 
under  obligation  to  Wedgwood,  but  does  not  mention 
the  annuity  or  make  any  allusion  to  money  help.f 


*  John  Wedgwood  gave  up  Cote  House  shortly  after  this.  He 
had  a  great  love  of  planting  and  gardening,  and  was  the  founder,  or 
had  most  to  do  with  the  founding,  of  the  Royal  Horticultural 
Society.  His  name  appears  still  on  the  Society's  papers.  He  died 
in  the  year  1844. 

t  Nor,  strange  to  say,  is  there  a  word  about  it  in   the  Memoir 


174  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

As  the  year  (1804)  went  on  he  was  again,  notwith- 
standing all  previous  disappointments,  making  plans  of 
travel ;  and  this  always  involved  finding  a  travelling 
companion.  The  discovering  of  a  suitable  person  was 
a  matter  of  infinite  trouble,  the  difficulties  always 
attending  companionship  in  travel  being  aggravated 
in  this  case  by  his  sad  condition,  and  his  more  or  less 
fastidious  tastes.  He  was  a  great  lover  of  music,  and 
himself  a  player  on  the  violin  and  flute.  He  generally 
tried  to  find  some  one  who  was  accomplished  in  that 
art,  while  having  enough  knowledge  and  intelligence 
to  afford  the  chance  of  rational  conversation.  So  the 
problem  was  a  complicated  one.  At  one  time  he  seems 
to  have  thought  of  getting  a  lady  to  travel  with  him. 
This  idea,  however,  the  discreet  Josiah  did  not  think 
one  to  be  encouraged. 

Josiah  to  Tom  Wedgwood 

(Address:  COTE  HOUSE,  BRISTOL.) 

MAER,* 

July  19,  1804. 
MY  DEAR  TOM, — 

Susan  [Darwin,  their  sister]  does  not  at  present  recollect 
any  female  at  all  likely  to  answer  your  purpose  except  a  young 
woman  that  has  lived  as  nurse  and  companion  with  Miss 

(Edinb.,  1838)  by  Macvey  Napier,  who  knew  Leslie  intimately,  and 
"  had  the  advantage  "  (he  says)  "  of  all  the  information  possessed  by 
the  family."  Napier  represents  him  (p.  14  of  the  Memoir)  as  living 
during  these  years  on  the  fruits  of  his  own  work,  which  shows  that 
the  biographer  knew  nothing  of  the  annuity,  though  it  was  the  thing 
that  had  determined  Leslie's  career. 

*  A  country  house  a  few  miles  from  the  Potteries,  which  Josiah 
had  lately  bought,  and  which  ultimately  became  the  home  of  his 
family  till  the  death  of  his  widow  in  1 846. 


SEEKING  A  TRAVEL-COMPANION     175 

Pannell,  and  has  in  that  situation  learnt  French  and  some 
other  accomplishments.  She  has  left  Miss  P.  on  some  quarrel, 
but  Miss  P.  is  endeavouring  to  get  her  again.  If  she  should 
not  go  to  Miss  P.  I  imagine  she  would  not  be  likely  to  consent 
to  accompany  you,  as  indeed  I  think  no  young  person  can 
with  safety  do.  Her  brothers  are  bringing  up  to  the  Church ; 
she  left  Miss  P.  on  account  of  some  slight,  real  or  supposed  ; 
and  I  should  suppose  she  or  her  family  would  be  very  scrupulous 
as  to  appearances  and  character.  I  will  make  what  enquiry  I 
can,  and  I  understand  that  you  mean  male  or  female.  As  to 
Dugard  [a  doctor  at  Shrewsbury]  I  believe  there  is  no  chance 
of  his  quitting  his  present  prospects. 

Would  not  a  change  of  place  be  useful  to  you  now  ?  Susan 
will  in  all  probability  leave  us  in  a  week  and  we  can  keep  the 
house  tolerably  quiet  and  give  you  a  quiet  bedroom.  My 
mother  remains  very  well.  Susan  as  usual.  All  unite  in  love 
to  Jane  and  you. 

Your  affectionate, 

J.  W. 

P.S. — The  Etruria  were  inspected  with  the  Hanley  and  Lane 
End  Volunteers  yesterday  who  have  been  on  permanent  duty. 
I  think  we  are  in  no  respect  worse  than  them,  and  in  steady 
orderly  conduct  and  keeping  our  arms  in  order  very  far  their 
superiors.  Col.  Broughton  said  he  had  seen  no  volunteers 
with  their  arms  so  well  taken  care  of  as  ours. 


Nothing  more  was  heard,  apparently,  of  the  lady- 
companion  scheme.  During  the  most  of  this  year 
Tom  divided  his  time  between  Gunville,  Eastbury,  and 
Cote ;  but  in  the  first  days  of  October  he  set  off  for 
Westmoreland  to  stay  with  the  Luffs,  partly  that  he 
might  see  how  his  corps  of  "Loyal  Volunteers"  was 
getting  on  with  its  training.  When  there  "  he  wrote  " 
(says  his  brother)  "  an  address  to  the  Company,  pointing 


1ST 


TOM   WEDGWOOD 

out  the  advantages  and  necessity  of  strict  discipline, 
but  was  too  ill  to  speak  it  to  them,  and  Captain  Luff 
had  to  read  it  for  him."  On  this  visit  to  Patterdale 
he  is  again  smitten  with  the  beauty  of  the  lovely  land 
of  lakes  and  mountains,  and  has  dreams  of  making  it 
his  place  of  abode.  "  This  country  is  heavenly  beau- 
tiful, I  would  buy  here  if  I  could  have  a  day's  health 
a  week." 

One  of  the  sweetest  nooks  in  that  delightful  region 
is  a  little  farm,  called  Bleawick,  close  to  the  head  of 
Ulleswater ;  a  homestead  surrounded  by  a  few  acres  of 
pasture  sloping  to  the  water's  edge,  sheltered  from  east 
winds  by  the   overhanging  mass   of   Place   Fell,   and 
looking   across   at    Glen    Ridding    and    the    crests    of 
Helvellyn.     This   little  place,  which   is    as    charming 
now  as  it  must  have  been  in  1804,  was  then  for  sale, 
and  Tom  seems  to  have  tried  to  buy  it.     He  writes  to 
Jos  (November  5)  putting  to  him  a  case  of  conscience. 
A  friend  is  after  it,  "  but  while  he  is  shilly-shallying, 
other  purchasers  may  carry  it  off."     Is  he  bound,  he 
asks,  to  let  Mr.  A.  go  on  with  the  negotiation  without 
having  a  try  for  it  himself?     The  project,  however, 
came  to  nothing.     Meanwhile,  he  found  the  home  of 
the  kind  Luffs  a  welcome  retreat,  and  he  was  generous 
in  helping  them  in  their  poverty.     He  lent  them,  which 
must  have  meant  giving  them,  several  hundred  pounds. 
QThis  is  but  one  of  many  instances  which  occur  in 
the  letters  testifying  to  his  liberality  in  assisting  friends 
and  others  in  trouble.     Basil  Montagu  and  Godwin 
were  among  those  whom  he  helped.     In  one  of   his 
letters  to  Godwin  he  prefaces  a  gift  of  ^100  by  some 
admirable  reasons  for  not  giving  it : 


HELPING   GODWIN  177 

tL 

I  have  no  opinion  of  the  good,  upon  the  whole,  resulting 
from  great  facility  in  the  opulent  in  yielding  to  requests  of  the 
needy.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  is  best  that  every  one  should 
anticipate  with  certainty  the  pinch  and  pressure  of  distress 
from  indulging  in  indolence,  or  even  from  misfortune.  It  is 
this,  certainly,  which  quickens  the  little  wit  that  man  is 
ordinarily  endowed  with  and  calls  out  all  his  energies.  And 
were  it  removed  by  the  idea  that  the  rich  held  funds  for  the 
distressed,  I  am  convinced  that  not  only  half  the  industry  of 
the  country  would  be  destroyed,  but  also  that  misfortunes 
would  be  doubled  in  quantity.  I  confess  to  you  I  have  always 
a  doubt  of  the  value  of  any  donation  or  loan  at  the  same 

time-    /^j^^mg^  ' 

But  after  this  exposition  of  perfectly  sound  principles, 
which  we  may  guess  would  not  particularly  please  the 
philosopher,  he  explains  how  strong  is  his  natural 
desire  to  give  relief  to  suffering,  and  how  in  Godwin's 
case  he  can't  resist  the  impulse,  and  so  he  sends  him 
the  hundred  pounds.^} 

'{Another  friend  whom  we  find  him  helping  more 
than  once  was  Campbell,  the  poet.  A  letter  from  him 
appealing  for  a  loan  of  j£ioo  discloses  a  singular  excuse 
for  the  request.  A  lady  who  had  lent  Campbell  ^100, 
and  "  is  since  mad,"  is  publishing  accounts  of  his 
"baseness,  dishonesty,  and  ingratitude,"  calumnies 
which  it  is  "not  easy  for  him  to  refute,"  the  debt 
being  real.  So  he  asks  Wedgwood  for  ^100  to  relieve 
him  from  this  objectionable  woman.  "This  letter," 
he  says,  "  is,  I  must  own,  a  thunderbolt  of  indelicacy," 
a  phrase  which  is  explained  by  his  alluding  to  a  note 


*  Letter  of  April  25,  1804:  Kegan   Paul's  "Godwin,"  ii.  125. 
A  year  later  (K.  P.,  ii.  141)  we  find  another  "loan "  in  progress. 

M 


178  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

for  £100  which  Wedgwood  him  sent  him  a  year 
previously.  Wedgwood  lent  him  the  money.  But 
Campbell  was  not  a  borrower  of  the  Godwin  type, 
and  three  months  later  he  repaid  it  "  with  a  heart  full 
of  gratitude.^j 

It  was  in  July  1805,  that  Tom  Wedgwood's  poor 
broken  life  came  to  an  end.  It  had  been  long  appa- 
rent that  his  struggle  for  health  was  a  hopeless  one. 
But  he  never  gave  it  up.  He  again  planned  a  voyage 
to  the  West  Indies,  had  secured  a  companion,  was  on 
the  point  of  leaving  Gunville  to  embark,  when  the 
mortal  stroke  came,  suddenly  and  painlessly.  Here  is 
the  letter  in  which  his  affectionate  sister-in-law  sent  the 
news  to  her  relatives  at  Cresselly. 

Mrs.  Jos.  Wedgwood  to  her  sister  Emma  Allen 

GUNVILLE, 

Wednesday,  July  10,  1805. 

MY  DEAR  EMMA, — 

John  [their  brother]  arrived  yesterday  to  carry  away  our 
Fan  from  me,  which  is  a  great  damper  to  the  pleasure  his 
company  always  gives  me.  [Here  she  breaks  off.] 

Friday  ye  I2th. — I  was  writing  to  you  on  Wednesday  morn- 
ing, when  all  the  agreeable  feelings  with  which  I  sat  down  to 
the  employment,  were  cruelly  dampt  by  the  sad  intelligence 
that  poor  Tom  was  so  ill  that  there  was  no  hope  of  his  re- 
covery. He  had  not  been  worse  than  usual,  and  we  thought 
him  rather  better,  from  the  custom  he  had  taken  up  of  going 
out  every  day  with  Jos  in  the  gig ;  but  on  Monday  I  think  he 
got  a  little  chilled,  which  brought  on  much  internal  pain,  and 
left  him  weak.  On  Tuesday  night  Joe  parted  with  him  with 
an  engagement  as  usual  to  go  and  breakfast  at  Wood  Gates, 


A   PAINLESS   END  179 

but  at  midnight  he  rang  his  bell,  and  told  his  servant  to  give 
him  something,  for  he  was  very  weak,  but  not  ill.  He  told 
him  also  to  come  in  in  two  hours  time,  and  see  how  he  was, 
and  to  call  Jos  at  5.  The  servant  did  so,  and  found  him  as  he 
thought  sleeping,  but  in  fact  he  was  then  without  any  sign  of 
sense  except  that  he  still  breathed.  When  Jos  came  he  also 
thought  him  sleeping,  and  sat  down  an  hour  and  half  beside 
him,  before  he  discovered  that  he  was  not ;  when  he  did  he 
became  alarmed  and  sent  for  Dr.  Crawford,  who  immediately 
said  he  was  dying.  He  continued  in  that  state,  his  head  quietly 
reposing  on  his  arm,  till  seven  in  the  evening,  when  he  expired 
without  seeming  to  have  suffered  the  least  pain.  What  a  day 
for  poor  Jos,  watching  him  dying  for  12  hours.  They  have 
all  had  such  a  preparation  for  this  stroke  by  the  long  suffer- 
ings he  has  undergone,  that  it  ought  only  to  be  now 
considered  as  a  relief,  though  it  is  grievous  just  at  the 
time;  but  I  quite  feel  it  a  blessing  to  us  and  to  him  that 
he  died  now,  before  he  went  aboard-ship,  rather  than  to 
have  suffered  all  the  pain  of  parting  and  then  perhaps  to 
have  sunk  under  the  first  attack  of  seasickness,  which  I  now 
suppose  would  certainly  have  been  the  case.  We  have  pre- 
vailed on  his  mother  and  sisters  to  come  down  here,  till 
they  go  to  Staffordshire,  which  they  now  mean  to  do  as 
soon  as  they  can.  On  Tuesday  will  be  the  Funeral,  and  we 
wish  them  to  go  before  that,  as  we  are  so  near  the  Church. 
He  is  to  be  buried  in  the  Vault  belonging  to  this  place.  He  has 
left  his  fortune  equally  between  all  his  brothers  and  sisters,  and 
he  has  left  a  discretionary  fund  in  Jos's  hands  to  supply  the 
generous  purposes  that  his  death  would  otherwise  have  cut  short, 
to  assist  a  great  number  who  have  often  felt  his  bounty  before. 
He  has  also  left  a  Memorandum  with  Jos  that  Edward  Drewe  * 


*  Caroline  Allen,  a  sister  of  Mrs.  Jos.  and  Mrs.  John  Wedgwood,, 
married  Edward  Drewe,  Rector  of  Broadhembury,  near  Honiton. 
One  of  her  daughters  (Georgina)  married  Baron  Alderson,  and  was 
the  mother  of  the  late  Marchioness  of  Salisbury  ;  another  was  wife 
of  the  first  Lord  Gifford. 


i8o  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

is  to  have  ^20,  Caroline  ^20  as  a  remembrance  from  him,  and 
each  of  their  daughters  a  hundred  a  piece.  This  Caroline  does 
not  yet  know,  as  I  did  not  hear  it  till  to-day  ;  but  I  am  more 
gratified  at  it  than  I  can  express,  as  I  know  it  will  give  Caroline 
so  much  pleasure  to  have  been  remembered  by  him.  Indeed 
the  more  I  think  of  him  the  more  his  character  rises  in  my 
opinion  ;  he  really  was  too  good  for  this  world.  Such  a  crowd 
of  feelings  and  remembrances  fill  my  mind  while  I  am  recalling 
all  his  past  kindnesses  to  me  and  mine,  and  to  all  his  acquaint- 
ance, that  I  feel  myself  quite  unfit  to  make  his  panegyric,  but 
I  trust  my  children  will  ever  remember  him  with  veneration 
as  an  honour  to  the  family  to  which  he  belonged.  I  have  been 
writing  to  Kitty  Mackintosh,  as  the  fleet  is  not  yet  sailed,  and 
to  others;  and  I  feel  nervous  and  shaken,  so  if  I  write  in- 
coherently you  must  excuse  it. 

Ever  yours, 

E.  W. 

Such  a  death  could  be  thought  of  by  his  friends 
only  as  a  happy  release.  Twenty  years  of  childhood 
and  youth,  and  fourteen  of  struggle  with  disease, 
made  up  the  whole  of  his  life  of  thirty-four  years. 
Though  he  himself  never  quite  despaired,  there  could 
have  been  no  real  hope  of  betterment.  The  struggle 
might  conceivably  have  been  prolonged,  but  we  cannot 
imagine  him  regaining  the  power  of  effective  work. 
"  As  to  your  poor  brother's  death,"  wrote  Sydney 
Smith  to  Jos  Wedgwood,  "  it  is  difficult  to  know 
in  what  light  to  consider  it.  It  is  painful  to  lose 
such  a  man,  but  who  would  have  wished  to  pre- 
serve him  at  such  a  price  of  misery  and  pain  ?  He 
will  not  easily  be  forgotten.  I  know  no  man  who 
appears  to  have  made  such  an  impression  upon  his 
friends." 


HIS   CHARACTER   BY   COLERIDGE    181 

A  few  years  after  Tom  Wedgwood's  death,  a  re- 
markable description  of  his  character  and  powers,  but 
without  a  mention  of  his  name,  was  appended  by 
Coleridge  to  one  of  his  Essays  in  "The  Friend." 
The  passage  is  as  follows — it  has  no  formal  heading 
or  introduction : 

A  lady  once  asked  me  if  I  believed  in  ghosts  and  apparitions. 
I  answered  with  truth  and  simplicity :  No,  madam !  I  have 
seen  far  too  many  myself.  I  have  indeed  a  whole  memorandum 
book  filled  with  records  of  these  phaenomena,  many  of  them 
interesting  as  facts  and  data  for  psychology,  and  affording  some 
valuable  materials  for  a  theory  of  perception  and  its  dependence 
on  the  memory  and  imagination.  In  omnem  actum  perceptions 
imagmatio  influit  efficienter ;  says  Wolff".  But  he  is  no  more, 
who  would  have  realised  this  idea  :  who  had  already  established 
the  foundations  and  the  law  of  the  theory ;  and  for  whom  I 
had  so  often  found  a  pleasure  and  a  comfort,  even  during  the 
wretched  and  restless  nights  of  sickness,  in  watching  and  in- 
stantly recording  these  experiences  of  the  world  within  us,  of 
the  gemma  naturay  qua  fit  et  facit,  et  creat  et  creatur !  He  is 
gone,  my  friend;  my  munificent  co-patron,  and  not  less 
the  benefactor  of  my  intellect  ! — He  who,  beyond  all  other 
men  known  to  me,  added  a  fine  and  ever-wakeful  sense  of 
beauty  to  the  most  patient  accuracy  in  experimental  philosophy 
and  the  profounder  researches  of  metaphysical  science  ;  he  who 
united  all  the  play  and  spring  of  fancy  with  the  subtlest  dis- 
crimination and  an  inexorable  judgment;  and  who  controlled 
an  almost  painful  exquisiteness  of  taste  by  a  warmth  of  heart, 
which  in  the  practical  relations  of  life  made  allowances  for 
faults  as  quickly  as  the  moral  taste  detected  them  ;  a  warmth 
of  heart,  which  was  indeed  noble  and  pre-eminent,  for  alas! 
the  genial  feelings  of  health  contributed  no  spark  toward  it. 
Of  these  qualities  I  may  speak,  for  they  belonged  to  all  man- 
kind. The  higher  virtues,  that  were  blessings  to  his  friends, 
and  the  still  higher  that  resided  in  and  for  his  own  soul,  are 


182  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

themes  for  the  energies  of  solitude,  for  the  awfulness  of  prayer ! — 
virtues  exercised  in  the  barrenness  and  desolation  of  his  animal 
being;  while  he  thirsted  with  the  full  stream  at  his  lips,  and 
yet  with  unwearied  goodness  poured  out  so  all  around  him, 
like  the  master  of  a  feast  among  his  kindred  in  the  day  of 
his  own  gladness !  Were  it  but  for  the  remembrance  of  him 
alone  and  of  his  lot  here  below,  the  disbelief  in  a  future  state 
would  sadden  the  earth  around  me,  and  blight  the  very  grass  in 
the  field.* 

Part  of  the  thought  that  inspired  these  moving 
words  is  to  be  found  in  a  letter  of  Coleridge,  written 
some  years  earlier,  to  his  and  Wedgwood's  friend 
Richard  Sharp : 

Of  our  common  friends,  my  dear  Sir,  I  flatter  myself  that 
you  and  I  should  agree  in  fixing  on  T.  Wedgwood  and  on 
Wordsworth  as  genuine  Philosophers,  for  I  have  often  said  (and 
no  wonder,  since  not  a  day  passes  but  the  conviction  of  the 
truth  of  it  is  renewed  in  me,  •  and  with  this  conviction  the 


*  "  The  Friend,"  vol.  i.  p.  24.9  (ed.  1818).  In  this  reprint  the  name 
of  Wedgwood  is  not  given  ;  and  I  suppose  it  was  not  in  the  original. 
It  appears  in  a  footnote  in  the  edition  of  1850,  vol.  i.  p.  190.  "  The 
Friend  "  first  appeared  in  June  1809,  and  was  described  in  its  title  as 
"A  Literary,  Moral,  and  Political  Paper,  excluding  Personal  and 
Party  Politics  and  the  Events  of  the  Day.  Conducted  by  S.  T.  Cole- 
ridge, of  Grasmere,  Westmoreland.  Price,  each  number  One  Shilling. 
Penrith :  Printed  and  Published  by  J.  Brown  and  will  be  delivered 
free  of  expense  by  post  throughout  the  kingdom  to  Subscribers."  It 
ceased  to  appear  in  1810.  Its  early  death  was  not  surprising.  Cole- 
ridge and  J.  Brown  lived  28  miles  apart,  with  Kirkstone  Pass  between 
them.  The  proofs  travelled  to  and  fro,  sometimes  by  the  weekly 
post,  sometimes  by  the  carrier,  and  sometimes  by  a  casual  post-chaise. 
Coleridge  was  habitually  late  with  his  "  copy,"  and  the  interval 
between  the  issues  varied  from  one  to  seven  weeks.  But  the 
papers  published  in  this  absurd  fashion  contained  some  of  his  most 
characteristic  utterances;  and  in  its  book  form  "The  Friend" 
had,  as  the  century  went  on,  a  lasting  influence  on  the  thought  of 
the  time. 


CHARACTER   BY   COLERIDGE       183 

accompanying  esteem  and  love),  often  have  I  said  that 
T.  Wedgwood's  faults  impress  me  with  veneration  for  his 
moral  and  intellectual  character  more  than  almost  any  other 
man's  virtues;  for  under  circumstances  like  this,  to  have  a 
fault  only  in  that  degree  is,  I  doubt  not,  in  the  eye  of  God,  to 
possess  a  high  virtue.  Who  does  not  prize  the  retreat  of 
Moreau  more  than  all  the  straw-blaze  of  Napoleon's  vic- 
tories ?  And  then  to  make  it  (as  Wedgwood  really  does)  a 
sort  of  crime  even  to  think  of  his  faults  by  so  many  virtues 
retained,  cultivated  and  preserved  in  growth  and  blossom, 
n  a  climate  where  now  the  gusts  so  rise  and  eddy,  that 
deeply  rooted  must  that  be  which  is  not  snatched  up  and 
made  a  plaything  of  by  them — and,  now,  "  the  parching  air 
burns  frore." 

W.  Wordsworth  does  not  excite  that  almost  painfully  pro- 
found moral  admiration  which  the  sense  of  the  exceeding 
difficulty  of  a  given  virtue  can  alone  call  forth,  and  which, 
therefore,  I  feel  exclusively  towards  T.  Wedgwood.* 

Another  expression  of  Coleridge's  feeling  as  to  his 
dead  friend  appears  in  a  letter  written  in  1 809,  about 
four  years  later,  to  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  just  after  he 
had  heard  of  the  death  of  Beddoes.  After  expressing 
his  deep  attachment  to  Beddoes  and  the  emotion  with 
which  he  heard  of  his  death,  he  says,  "The  death  of 
T.  Wedgwood  pulled  hard  at  my  heart ;  I  am  sure  no 
week  of  my  life — almost  I  might  have  said  scarce  a 
day  [has  passed]  in  which  I  have  not  been  made  either 
sad  or  thoughtful  by  the  recollection.  .  .  .  There  are 
two  things  which  I  exceedingly  wished,  and  in  both 


*  Letters  of  S.  T.  C.,  p.  448.  An  estimate  of  Wordsworth's 
character  follows.  "  The  parching  air  burns  frore,"  is  from  Mil- 
ton's description  of  the  icy  region  of  Hell  in  "  Paradise  Lost," 
Book  ii. 


184  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

have  been  disappointed :  to  have  written  the  Life  and 
prepared  the  Psychological  Remains  of  my  revered 
friend  and  benefactor,  T.  W.  :  and  to  have  been  in- 
trusted with  the  biography,  etc.,  of  Dr.  B."  * 

*  "  Fragmentary  Remains,  &c.,  of  Sir  H.  Davy,"  by  John  Davy, 
M.D.,  1858,  pp.  108,  no. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  PHOTOGRAPHIC  WORK 

OF  Wedgwood's  photographic  work  we  know  hardly 
any  more  than  is  discoverable  from  the  "  Account "  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institution  for  1802. 

It  was  evidently  only  an  episode  in  his  life.  In  his 
letters  I  find  no  allusion  to  it ;  nor  do  I  find  anything 
in  his  handwriting  relating  to  his  experiments  in  physics, 
save  only  the  "  Memorandum  "  of  1792  as  to  his  giving 
up  experimenting  (ante,  p.  21).  But  in  a  letter  of 
November  18,  1800,  written  by  Leslie  in  London  to 
Wedgwood  at  Gunville,  there  is  a  sentence  which 
presumably  refers  to  the  photographic  work.  "A 
few  days  ago  I  left  at  York  Street  an  object-glass  and 
some  thin  cylinders  for  the  solar  microscope,  and  half 
a  dozen  bits  of  painted  glass  which  will,  I  think,  suit 
you.  I  have  more  pieces,  which  you  may  have  at  any 
time."  This  makes  it  probable  that  Wedgwood's 
photographic  experiments,  in  which  coloured  glasses 
and  the  microscope  were  used,  were  going  on  at  about 
that  time ;  and  various  letters  show  that  he  came  to 
town  on  November  17,  1800,  and  stayed  there  till 
December  8  or  later.  Another  little  piece  of  evidence, 
however,  points  to  photographic  work  some  ten  years 
earlier  than  that.  During  the  discussions  of  1864—5 
on  what  were  called  the  "  Early  Photographs "  (see 


186  TOM  WEDGWOOD 

Appendix  C.),  there  was  produced  at  a  meeting  of 
the  Photographic  Society  a  letter,  written  by  James 
Watt,  apparently  in  1 7  90  or  1 7  9 1 ,  to  Josiah  Wedgwood, 
and  beginning  with  the  following  words :  "  Dear  Sir, 
I  thank  you  for  your  instructions  as  to  the  Silver 
Pictures,  about  which,  when  at  home,  I  will  make  some 
experiments."  (The  rest  of  the  letter  is  about  a  mill 
at  Etruria.)  This  letter  has  the  date  "  Thursday" 
only,  but  it  is  described  as  having  been  "  docketed 
by  Josiah  Wedgwood,  Jan.  1790,"  which  date  Mr. 
Hensleigh  Wedgwood,  the  owner  of  the  letter,  after- 
wards corrected  to  1791.*  Tom  Wedgwood  was 
certainly  working  at  questions  of  light  and  heat 
during  the  years  preceding  1792,  and  as  nitrate  of 
silver  was  used  in  his  later  experiments  we  can  hardly 
avoid  the  inference  that  the  "silver  pictures"  men- 
tioned by  Watt  were  early  photographic  attempts. 
These  pictures  would  naturally  excite  interest  in  the 
Wedgwood  circle,  and  Watt,  an  intimate  family  friend, 
had  probably  asked  for  information  about  them.  The 
question,  however,  of  the  exact  date  of  the  experi- 
ments is  of  no  special  interest,  there  being  no  doubt 

*  It  is  not  known  where  this  letter  of  Watt's  now  is.  I  quote  it 
from  the  Report  in  the  Photographic  Journal  of  the  meeting  of  the 
Society,  January  5,  1864.  It  was  obtained  by  Dr.  Diamond,  the 
Secretary,  from  the  late  Mr.  Hensleigh  Wedgwood  (son  of  Josiah),  but 
Dr.  Diamond  appears  not  to  have  returned  it.  The  theory  which  it 
was  produced  to  support  having  been  clearly  disproved,  there  would  be 
no  special  reason  for  preserving  it.  There  seems  to  have  been  some 
doubt  as  to  its  date,  for  Miss  Meteyard  ("  Group  of  Englishmen," 
p.  130)  describes  it  as  "docketed  1799."  If  this  was  the  date,  it 
must  have  been  addressed  to  the  younger  Josiah,  the  father  having 
died  1795.  If  written  in  1790  or  1791  it  might  have  been  addressed 
either  to  the  old  or  to  the  young  Josiah,  but  more  probably  to  the 
father. 


THE   PHOTOGRAPHIC   WORK      187 

as  to  the  date  of  the  first  announcement  of  the  process 
to  the  world. 

This  was  made  in  a  paper  of  June  1802,  printed  in 
the  first  volume  of  the  "  Journals  of  the  Royal  Insti- 
tution." No  name  is  appended  to  it,  but  as  Humphrey 
Davy,  then  a  young  man  of  twenty-three,  was  at  the 
time  Assistant  Editor  of  the  Journal,  and  as  the 
*£  Account "  was  included,  after  his  death,  in  the 
collected  edition  of  his  works,  we  may  take  it  to 
have  been  written  by  him. 

Presumably  the  experiments  were  made  in  the 
Laboratory  of  the  "Royal  Institution."  The  Insti- 
tution had  been  founded  three  years  previously,  and 
it  occupied  from  the  first  the  building  in  Albemarle 
Street  which  is  still  its  home.  Josiah  Wedgwood 
(Tom's  brother)  was  one  of  the  first  "Proprietors," 
subscribing  a  hundred  guineas  to  its  funds.  Davy 
became  "Assistant  Lecturer"  there  early  in  1802. 
The  Wedgwoods  had  known  him  when  he  was  an 
apothecary's  apprentice  at  Penzance,  and  Tom  must 
have  seen  much  of  him  when  he  was  employed  by 
Dr.  Beddoes  in  the  "  Pneumatic  Institute  "  at  Bristol. 

The  second  volume  of  Davy's  collected  works, 
<edited  by  his  brother  (9  vols.,  1839-40)  is,  so  far 
.as  I  know,  the  only  book  in  which  the  paper  has  been 
reprinted,  and  the  original  volume  of  Journals  is  to  be 
found  in  but  few  libraries.  The  "  Account "  has  thus 
been  virtually  inaccessible  to  ordinary  readers,  and  one 
of  the  motives  which  prompted  the  compilation  of 
this  Memoir  was  the  wish  to  put  within  the  reach  of 
.all  who  are  interested  in  the  origins  of  photography 
the  only  authentic  record  of  what  appears  to  have  been 


188  TOM  WEDGWOOD 

the  first  essay  in  the  Art.  It  is  to  be  found  at  p.  171 
of  the  first  volume  of  the  Journals,  and  is  usually  said 
to  have  been  published  in  June  1802,  but  no  dates  are 
appended  to  the  various  papers  and  reports  contained 
in  the  volume.  A  sentence  in  the  preface  says  :  "  The 
first  three  sheets  were  published  under  Count  Rumford's 
direction.  Dr.  Young  was  the  editor  of  the  next  four ; 
and  the  subsequent  parts  have  been  conducted  jointly 
by  Dr.  Young  and  Mr.  Davy."  *  The  title-page  of 
the  volume  is  as  follows : 

JOURNALS 


OF 


THE  ROYAL  INSTITUTION 


VOLUME    I. 


LONDON. 

Sold  at  the  house  of  the  Institution,  Albemarle 

Street;  by  Cadell  &  Davies,  Strand; 

Johnson,  St.  Paul's  Churchyard ;  Longman  and 

Rees,  and  H.  D.  Symonds,  Paternoster  Row. 

1802. 

From  the  Press  of  the  Royal  Institution  of  Great 
Britain  :  W.  Savage,  Printer. 

*  Fragmentary  extracts  from  the  "  Account "  are,  of  course,  to  be 
found  in  many  books  relating  to  the  history  of  Photography,  but 
when  these  are  examined  it  becomes  evident  that  they  are  generally 
quotations  from  quotations,  that  the  authors  have  not  seen  the  com- 
plete "Account,"  and  are  often  only  further  abridging  previous 
abridgments.  The  longest  extract  I  have  met  with  is  in  Robert 
Hunt's  "Researches  on  Light,"  1844.  The  whole  was  reprinted 
(since  this  was  written)  in  Photography  for  May  1902. 


DAVY'S   "ACCOUNT"  189 

• 

An  Account  of  a  method  of  copying  Paintings  upon  Qlassy 
and  of  making  Profiles,  by  the  agency  of  Light  upon 
Nitrate  of  Silver.  Invented  by  T.  WEDGWOOD, 
With  Observations  by  H. 


White  paper,  or  white  leather,  moistened  with 
solution  of  nitrate  of  silver,  undergoes  no  change 
when  kept  in  a  dark  place  ;  but  on  being  exposed  to 
the  daylight,  it  speedily  changes  colour,  and  after 
passing  through  different  shades  of  grey  and  brown, 
becomes  at  length  nearly  black. 

The  alterations  of  colour  take  place  more  speedily  in 
proportion  as  the  light  is  more  intense.  In  the  direct 
beams  of  the  sun,  two  or  three  minutes  are  sufficient 
to  produce  the  full  effect.  In  the  shade,  several  hours 
are  required,  and  light  transmitted  through  different 
coloured  glasses  acts  upon  it  with  different  degrees  of 
intensity.  Thus  it  is  found  that  red  rays,  or  the 
common  sunbeams  passed  through  red  glass,  have  very 
little  action  upon  it  :  Yellow  and  green  are  more 
efficacious,  but  blue  and  violet  light  produce  the  most 
decided  and  powerful  effects.* 

*  The  facts  above  mentioned  are  analogous  to  those  observed  long 
ago  by  Scheele,  and  confirmed  by  Senebier.  Scheele  found,  that  in 
the  prismatic  spectrum,  the  effect  produced  by  the  red  rays  upon 
silver  muriate  was  very  faint,  and  scarcely  to  be  perceived  ;  whilst 
it  was  speedily  blackened  by  the  violet  rays.  Senebier  states,  that 
the  time  required  to  darken  silver  muriate  by  the  red  rays,  is  20 
minutes,  by  the  orange  1  2,  by  the  yellow  5  minutes  and  30  seconds, 


190  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

The  consideration  of  these  facts  enables  us  readily  to 
understand  the  method  by  which  the  outlines  and  shades 
of  paintings  on  glass  may  be  copied,  or  profiles  of 
figures  procured,  by  the  agency  of  light.  When  a 
white  surface,  covered  with  solution  of  nitrate  of  silver, 
is  placed  behind  a  painting  on  glass  exposed  to  the 
solar  light,  the  rays  transmitted  through  the  differently- 
painted  surfaces  produce  distinct  tints  of  brown  or 
black,  sensibly  differing  in  intensity  according  to  the 
shades  of  the  picture,  and  where  the  light  is  unaltered, 
the  colour  of  the  nitrate  becomes  deepest. 

When  the  shadow  of  any  figure  is  thrown  upon  the 
prepared  surface,  the  part  concealed  by  it  remains  white, 
and  the  other  parts  speedily  become  dark. 

For  copying  paintings  on  glass,  the  solution  should 
be  applied  on  leather  ;  and  in  this  case  it  is  more  readily 
acted  upon  than  when  paper  is  used. 

After  the    colour  has  been  fixed  upon  the  leather 

by  the  green  37  seconds,  by  the  blue  29  seconds,  and  by  the  violet 
only  15  seconds.  "  Senebier  sur  la  Lumiere,"  vol.  iii.  p.  199. 

Some  new  experiments  have  been  lately  made  in  relation  to  this 
subject,  in  consequence  of  the  discoveries  of  Dr.  Herschel  concern- 
ing the  invisible  heatmaking  rays  existing  in  the  solar  beams,  by 
Dr.  Ritter  and  Bockmann  in  Germany,  and  Dr.  Wollaston  in 
England. 

It  has  been  ascertained,  by  experiment  upon  the  prismatic  spectrum, 
that  no  effects  are  produced  upon  the  muriate  of  silver  by  the 
invisible  heatmaking  rays  which  exist  on  the  red  side,  and  which 
are  least  refrangible,  though  it  is  powerfully  and  distinctly  affected 
in  a  space  beyond  the  violet  rays  out  of  the  visible  boundary.  See 
"Annalen  der  Physik,  siebenter  Band,"  527. — D. 


DAVY'S   "ACCOUNT"  191 

or  paper,  it  cannot  be  removed  by  the  application  of 
water,  or  water  and  soap,  and  it  is  in  a  high  degree 
permanent. 

The  copy  of  a  painting,  or  the  profile,  immediately 
after  being  taken,  must  be  kept  in  some  obscure  place. 
It  may  indeed  be  examined  in  the  shade,  but  in  this 
case  the  exposure  should  be  only  for  a  few  minutes ; 
by  the  light  of  candles  and  lamps,  as  commonly 
employed,  it  is  not  sensibly  affected. 

No  attempts  that  have  been  made  to  prevent  the 
uncoloured  part  of  the  copy  or  profile  from  being 
acted  upon  by  light  have  as  yet  been  successful.  They 
have  been  covered  with  a  thin  coating  of  fine  varnish, 
but  this  has  not  destroyed  their  susceptibility  of 
becoming  coloured  ;  and  even  after  repeated  washings, 
sufficient  of  the  active  part  of  the  saline  matter  will 
still  adhere  to  the  white  parts  of  the  leather  or  paper, 
to  cause  them  to  become  dark  when  exposed  to  the 
rays  of  the  sun. 

Besides  the  applications  of  this  method  of  copying 
that  has  just  been  mentioned,  there  are  many  others. 
And  it  will  be  useful  for  making  delineations  of  all 
such  objects  as  are  possessed  of  a  texture  partly  opaque 
and  partly  transparent.  The  woody  fibres  of  leaves, 
and  the  wings  of  insects,  may  be  pretty  accurately  re- 
presented by  means  of  it,  and  in  this  case,  it  is  only 
necessary  to  cause  the  direct  solar  light  to  pass  through 
them,  and  to  receive  the  shadows  upon  prepared  leather. 


192  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

When  the  solar  rays  are  passed  through  a  print  and 
thrown  upon  prepared  paper,  the  unshaded  parts  are 
slowly  copied  ;  but  the  lights  transmitted  by  the  shaded 
parts  are  seldom  so  definite  as  to  form  a  distinct 
resemblance  of  them  by  producing  different  intensities 
of  colour. 

The  images  formed  by  means  of  a  camera  obscura 
have  been  found  too  faint  to  produce,  in  any  moderate 
time,  an  effect  upon  the  nitrate  of  silver.  To  copy 
these  images  was  the  first  object  of  Mr.  Wedgwood  in 
his  researches  on  the  subject,  and  for  this  purpose  he 
first  used  the  nitrate  of  silver,  which  was  mentioned  to 
him  by  a  friend,  as  a  substance  very  sensible  to  the 
influence  of  light ;  but  all  his  numerous  experiments 
as  to  their  primary  end  proved  unsuccessful. 

In  following  these  processes,  I  have  found,  that  the 
images  of  small  objects,  produced  by  means  of  the 
solar  microscope,  may  be  copied  without  difficulty  on 
prepared  paper.  This  will  probably  be  a  useful  ap- 
plication of  the  method ;  that  it  may  be  employed 
successfully,  however,  it  is  necessary  that  the  paper  be 
placed  at  but  a  small  distance  from  the  lens. 

With  regard  to  the  preparation  of  the  solution,  I 
have  found  the  best  proportions  those  of  i  part  of 
nitrate  to  about  10  parts  of  water.  In  this  case,  the 
quantity  of  the  salt  applied  to  the  leather  or  paper  will 
be  sufficient  to  enable  it  to  become  tinged,  without 
affecting  its  composition,  or  injuring  its  texture. 


DAVY'S   "ACCOUNT"  193 

In  comparing  the  effects  produced  by  light  upon 
muriate  of  silver  with  those  produced  upon  the 
nitrate,  it  seemed  evident  that  the  muriate  was  the 
most  susceptible,  and  both  were  more  readily  acted 
upon  when  moist  than  when  dry,  a  fact  long  ago  known. 
Even  in  the  twilight,  the  colour  of  moist  muriate  of 
silver  spread  upon  paper  slowly  changed  from  white  to 
faint  violet ;  though  under  similar  circumstances  no 
immediate  alteration  was  produced  upon  the  nitrate. 

The  nitrate,  however,  from  its  solubility  in  water, 
possesses  an  advantage  over  the  muriate  :  though  leather 
or  paper  may,  without  much  difficulty,  be  impregnated 
with  the  last  substance,  either  by  diffusing  it  through 
water,  and  applying  it  in  this  form,  or  by  immersing 
paper  moistened  with  the  solution  of  the  nitrate  in  very 
diluted  muriatic  acid. 

To  those  persons  not  acquainted  with  the  properties 
of  the  salts  containing  oxide  of  silver,  it  may  be  useful 
to  state  that  they  produce  a  stain  of  some  permanence, 
even  when  momentarily  applied  to  the  skin,  and  in 
employing  them  for  moistening  paper  or  leather,  it  is 
necessary  to  use  a  pencil  of  hair,  or  a  brush. 

From  the  impossibility  of  removing,  by  washing,  the 
colouring  matter  of  the  salts  from  the  parts  of  the 
surface  of  the  copy  which  have  not  been  exposed  to 
light,  it  is  probable  that,  both  in  the  case  of  the  nitrate 
and  the  muriate  of  silver,  a  portion  of  the  metallic  acid 
abandons  its  acid  to  enter  into  union  with  the  animal 


194  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

or  vegetable  substance,  so  as  to  form  with  it  an  insoluble 
compound.  And,  supposing  that  this  happens,  it  is  not 
improbable,  but  that  substances  may  be  found  capable  of 
destroying  this  compound,  either  by  simple  or  com- 
plicated affinities.  Some  experiments  on  this  subject 
have  been  imagined,  and  an  account  of  the  results  of 
them  may  possibly  appear  in  a  future  number  of  the 
Journals.  Nothing  but  a  method  of  preventing  the 
unshaded  parts  of  the  delineation  from  being  coloured 
by  exposure  to  the  day  is  wanting,  to  render  the  process 
as  useful  as  it  is  elegant. 

Such  is  Davy's  account.  Considered  as  a  piece  of 
exposition,  it  is  clear,  but  dull,  dry,  and  rigid.  It  reads 
as  if  the  writer  were  trying  to  say  as  little  as  possible, 
beyond  the  conveying  of  the  main  fact.  It  is  plain 
that  Davy,  whatever  may  have  been  his  scientific  apti- 
tudes, was  destitute  of  the  scientific  imagination.  He 
was  describing  something  which,  so  far  as  he  knew, 
and  so  far  as  we  know,  had  never  before  happened. 
Up  to  that  moment  every  picture  produced  by  man 
had  been  made  by  the  human  hand,  guided  by  the 
human  eye.  -  But  here  was  a  picture,  or  a  sort  of 
picture,  a  representation  of  an  object,  which  had  come 
into  existence  by  the  spontaneous  action  of  natural 
forces,  by  a  chemical  change  produced  by  the  action 
of  light.  Obviously,  one  might  say,  this  was  a  fact 
behind  which  lay  wonderful  possibilities.  But  to  Davy, 
apparently,  no  such  thought  occurred.  Now  we  do 
not,  of  course,  expect  that  the  discoverer  of  a  hitherto 


PHOTOGRAPHIC   WORK  195 

unknown  fact  should  foresee  all  that  is  to  result  from 
it.  When  Oersted  noticed  (in  1819)  that  a  magnetic 
needle  on  his  table  was  deflected  by  an  electric  current, 
he  had  probably  no  idea  that  the  quivering  of  that 
needle  meant  that  some  forty  years  later  people  would 
be  sending  instantaneous  messages  from  Copenhagen 
to  the  Antipodes.  But  one  might  suppose  that  to  a 
scientific  mind  like  Davy's  it  would  be  self-evident  that 
when  an  entirely  new  use  of  one  of  the  forces  of 
nature  is  discovered  some  important  results  are  pretty 
sure  to  follow.  He  failed,  however,  to  make  that 
inference.  In  the  title  of  his  paper  he  suggests  two 
uses  only  to  which  the  new  process  may  be  applied, 
the  making  of  profiles,  and  the  copying  of  glass- 
paintings.  As  the  making  of  profiles  could  interest 
but  few  people,  and  only  glass-painters  could  find  a 
use  for  copying  such  paintings,  he  could  hardly  have 
chosen  a  title  less  likely  to  arouse  attention.*  And  it 
is  odd  that  he  did  not  notice  the  awkward  ambiguity 
of  the  phrase,  which  many  people  would  read  as  meaning 
the  making  of  copies,  on  glass,  of  oil  paintings  or 
other  paintings.  The  oversight  was  probably  due  to 
haste,  but  when  taken  along  with  the  general  tone  of 
the  paper,  it  is  significant.  Had  he  felt  any  real 
interest  in  the  matter,  or  thought  there  was  any  value 


*  This  title  always  reminds  me  of  Mr.  Dick  in  "  David  Copper- 
field."  Mrs.  Crupp  had  told  him  his  room  at  Hungerford  market  was 
not  big  enough  to  swing  a  cat  in.  "  But  you  know  Trotwood,  I 
don't  want  to  swing  a  cat,  I  never  do  swing  a  cat.  Therefore,  what 
does  that  signify  to  me  ?  "  A  reader  might  have  said  to  Davy  :  "  I 
don't  want  to  copy  paintings  on  glass,  so  what  does  that  signify  to 
me?" 


196  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

in  the  "invention"  he  would  surely  have  given  a  few 
moments'  thought  to  the  words  which  he  put  at  the 
head  of  his  report. 

It  is  possible,  of  course,  that  Wedgwood  himself 
may  not  have  attached  any  special  importance  to  the 
experiments,  or  perceived  what  great  possibilities  were 
opened  up  by  his  partial  success.  But  whether  this 
was  so  it  is  impossible  to  say ;  as  not  a  word  of  any 
writing  of  his  on  the  subject  is  extant,  and  we  know 
nothing  of  the  exact  circumstances  under  which  the 
account  was  drawn  up.  He  was  out  of  England  when 
it  appeared  in  print,  and  had  been  constantly  moving 
about  since  November  1800,  the  date  when  Leslie 
was  getting  him  the  coloured  glasses,  &c.  I  am  inclined 
to  believe  that  there  was  probably  no  time  between  that 
date  and  his  departure  from  England,  early  in  1802, 
in  which  he  could  have  been  working  at  the  subject. 
Probably  he  left  the  whole  matter,  after  his  experiments 
of  November  1 800,  in  Davy's  hands.  In  any  case,  it 
was  utterly  impossible  for  him,  broken  as  he  was  by 
disease,  to  pursue  the  subject  himself. 

It  may  seem  at  first  sight  strange  that  the  appear- 
ance of  this  Account  by  Davy  should  not  have  stimu- 
lated some  one  conversant  with  chemistry  to  attack 
the  problem  of  finding  a  means  of  "  preventing  the 
unshaded  parts  of  the  delineation  from  being  coloured 
by  exposure  to  the  day" — i.e.,  of  "fixing"  the  image 
of  the  object  on  the  paper.  But  this  is  not  so  surprising 
when  we  discover  what  the  "  Journal  "  was.  It  was  not 
a  periodical  published  in  the  ordinary  way,  but  a  little 
paper  printed  from  time  to  time  to  let  the  subscribers 
to  the  infant  institution  know  what  was  being  done 


PHOTOGRAPHIC   WORK  197 

there.  It  was  not  announced  as  appearing  at  any 
stated  periods,  but  was  to  be  issued  "  as  often  at  least 
as  once  a  fortnight."  This  announcement,  however, 
was  not  acted  upon.  The  first  number  came  out  in 
April  1 800,  but  the  next  not  till  fourteen  months  later, 
and  the  "  Journal  "  did  not  live  beyond  a  first  volume.* 
There  is  nothing  to  show  that  Davy's  account  was  ever 
read  at  any  meeting ;  and  the  print  of  it  would  have 
been  read,  apparently,  if  read  at  all,  only  by  the  small 
circle  of  members  and  subscribers  to  the  institution, 
of  whom,  we  may  be  pretty  sure,  only  a  small 
minority  can  have  been  scientific  people.  For  the 
Royal  Institution  was  in  its  early  years  something 
quite  different  from  what  it  afterwards  became.  It 
was  founded  in  1799  by  Count  Rumford,  in  co-opera- 
tion with  a  "Society  for  Bettering  the  Condition  of 
the  Poor,"  with  the  object  of  providing  a  place  for  the 
exhibition  of  models  of  mechanical  inventions,  and  for 
teaching  "  the  applications  of  science  to  the  common 
purposes  of  life."  The  chief  things  exhibited  in  the 
"  Repository  "  appear  to  have  been  improved  cooking 
appliances,  roasters,  fireballs,  economical  grates,  brewers' 
boilers,  laundry  fittings,  ventilators,  models  of  cottages, 
&c.  Thus  Davy's  paper  cannot  be  said  to  have  been 
"published,"  in  any  effective  sense,  in  the  year  1802. 
Wedgwood  was  at  the  time  out  of  the  country,  and 
under  these  circumstances  it  is  no  wonder  that  the 
record  of  his  first  steps  towards  the  creation  of  a  wholly 
new  art  should  have  escaped  general  notice. 


*  "  The  Royal  Institution,  its  founders  and  first  professors,"  by 
Dr.  Bence  Jones,  1871. 


198  TOM    WEDGWOOD 

That  Davy  did  not  seriously  tackle  the  problem  of 
fixing  the  pictures  is,  I  think,  evident  from  the  closing 
sentences  of  the  Account.  He  contented  himself,  it 
would  seem,  with  "imagining  some  experiments"  on  the 
subject,  the  result  of  which  might  "  possibly "  be 
reported  at  a  future  day.  Dr.  Davy,  when  he  included 
the  Account  in  the  complete  edition  of  his  brother's 
works  (1834—1840),  added  a  note  saying  "recently 
this  method  of  delineation  has  been  futher  cultivated, 
especially  by  Mr.  Talbot  in  this  country,"  but  said 
nothing  as  to  Sir  Humphrey  having  done  or  written 
anything  more  as  to  the  silver  pictures  of  1802.  The 
discoveries  of  Daguerre  and  Talbot  were  then  attract- 
ing much  attention.  Dr.  Davy  was  referring  to  Talbot's 
"  Photogenic  Drawing "  (which  was  described  in  the 
Athenaeum  of  February  9,  1839),  and  if  he  had  known 
anything  of  further  researches  by  his  brother  in  the 
same  direction  he  would  certainly  have  mentioned 
them.  Indeed  a  note  on  p.  14  of  Dr.  Davy's  "Frag- 
mentary Remains,  &c.,  of  Sir  H.  D."  (1858)  makes  it 
certain  that  Sir  H.  did  nothing  more  than  is  shown 
in  the  Account. 

Sir  William  Abney,  in  his  article  on  photography  in 
the  "  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,"  after  describing  the 
Wedgwood  process  as  reported  by  Davy,  says : 

"  In  this  method  of  preparing  the  paper  lies  the  germ  of  the  silver 
printing  processes  which  are  practised  at  the  present  time 
(1884),  and  it  was  only  by  the  recent  spread  of  chemical  know- 
ledge that  the  hiatus  was  filled  up,  when  hyposulphate  of  soda, 
discovered  by  Chaussier  in  1799,  or  three  years  before  Wedg- 
wood published  his  paper,  was  used  for  making  the  print 
permanent. " 


PHOTOGRAPHIC   WORK  199 

Mr.  Jerome  Harrison,  in  his  account  of  fixing  pro- 
cesses, writes  as  follows  :  * 

"The  only  thing  deplored  by  Wedgwood  and  Davy  in  1802 
was  their  inability  to  discover  any  satisfactory  solvent  for  the 
salts  of  silver — the  muriate  (or,  as  we  should  now  call  it,  the 
chloride)  and  the  nitrate — which  they  employed." 

Mr.  Harrison  would  here  seem  to  imply  that  Wedgwood 
and  Davy  were  really  working  together  at  the  problem 
in  1802.  But  I  see  nothing  to  show  that  this  was  so. 
I  think  it  is  evident  that  Davy  gave  the  question  no 
serious  attention.  We  do  not  know  when  he  drew  up 
the  Account,  or  when  the  experiments  were  made. 
He  does  not  describe  them  ;  he  merely  states  their 
result,  and  the  language  of  the  Account,  all  through, 
rather  suggests  that  he  is  telling  an  old  story.  I 
incline  to  think  that  when  he  printed  it  he  probably 
had  already  dismissed  the  subject  from  his  mind,  as 
one  of  no  particular  interest,  which  it  certainly  would 
have  been,  if  it  had  involved  nothing  more  important 
than  the  copying  of  glass-paintings. 

"In  1819,"  continues  Mr.  Jerome  Harrison,  "Sir  John 
Herschel  pointed  out  (in  the  Edinburgh  Philosophical  Journal) 
the  ready  solubility  of  silver  salts  in  the  alkaline  hyposulphates. 
From  this  time  the  problem  of  photography  was  solved  ;  but, 
unfortunately,  Niepce,  Daguerre,  and  Talbot  seem  to  have 
known  nothing  of  the  work  already  done  by  Davy  and  by 
Herschel.  In  1839  Daguerre  fixed  his  iodised  silver  plates  by 
washing  them  either  with  ammonia  or  with  a  strong  solution 
of  common  salt.  At  the  same  time,  too,  Talbot  used  common 
salt,  and  also  solutions  of  bromide  of  potassium  and  iodide  of 

*  "History  of  Photography  "  (Trubner  1888),  p.  89. 


200  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

potassium.  Immediately  Herschel  heard  of  Daguerre's  and 
Talbot's  successes  in  photography  (in  January  1839),  he 
remembered  the  substance  whose  solvent  power  for  silver  salts 
he  had  announced  in  1819  (hyposulphate  of  soda),  and  the 
directions  which  he  gives  for  its  use,  in  a  valuable  paper  read 
before  the  Royal  Society  on  February  20,  1840,  have  ever 
since  formed  the  foundation  of  our  ordinary  method  of  fixing 
photographs  on  paper." 

From  these  statements  of  expert  authorities  I  infer 
that  if  Davy  had  tried  seriously  to  find  a  "  fixing " 
process,  there  was  nothing  to  hinder  his  soon  dis- 
covering one.  And  this  appears  to  be  the  view  taken 
by  Dr.  Eder  in  his  account  of  Wedgwood's  work. 

"  Wedgwood  and  Davy  had  forgotten,  or  not  known, 
Scheele's  important  discovery  that  white  chloride  of  silver  is 
completely  dissolved  in  ammonia,  but  that  when  darkened  by 
light  it  leaves  behind  a  deposit  of  silver,  which  is  much  to  be 
wondered  at,  considering  how  widely  disseminated  were 
Scheele's  writings,  of  which  there  was  also  an  English  transla- 
tion. By  this  a  means  would  have  been  given  of  fixing  the 
chloride  of  silver  pictures.* 

Dr.  Schiendel  makes  a  similar  observation : 

<c  It  must  appear  highly  remarkable  that  a  chemist  of  Davy's 
rank  should  not  have  been  acquainted  with  Scheele's  weighty 
discovery  that  chloride  of  silver  dissolves  in  ammonia,  and  that 
Wedgwood  had  at  his  command,  in  that  discovery,  a  very  easily 
procurable  means  of  making  his  pictures  permanent."  t 

*  "  Geschichte  der  Photochemie  und  Photographic."  Dr.  Joseph 
Maria  Eder  (Halle  a.  S.  1891). 

t  "Geschichte  der  Photographic,"  1891,  p.  19.  I  find  it,  how- 
ever, difficult  to  suppose  that  Wedgwood  can  have  overlooked  any 
material  point  in  Scheele's  researches.  They  are  referred  to  in  the 
Account,  and  in  a  letter  to  Godwin  on  philosophical  subjects  (Jan.  14, 


PHOTOGRAPHIC   WORK  201 

The  whole  story  seems  to  show  that  in  getting  Davy's 
collaboration  Wedgwood  made  an  unlucky  mistake. 
The  "  Account "  being  practically  a  record  of  failure 
in  the  critical  point  as  to  fixing  the  pictures,  Davy's 
eminence  as  a  chemist — for  he  had  already  made  a 
name,  though  only  at  the  beginning  of  his  career — 
would  make  such  failure,  or  apparent  failure,  all  the 
more  discouraging  to  future  investigators.  That  in 
one  instance  it  had  this  effect  appears  from  a  remark 
made  by  Fox-Talbot  in  1839  when  describing  his  own 
work.*  He  there  relates  how  Davy's  announcement 
of  what  seemed  a  complete  failure  had  discouraged  a 
scientific  friend  of  his  from  pursuing  the  matter  ;  adding 
that  it  would  have  perhaps  led  himself  to  consider  the 
attempt  as  hopeless,  if  he  had  not,  fortunately,  before 
he  read  the  "  Account,"  discovered  a  method  of  fixing 
the  image.  Dr.  Eder  makes  a  like  remark,  though  he 
is  in  error,  as  I  believe,  as  to  the  extent  of  Davy's 
efforts,  when  he  says :  "  The  want  of  any  result 
from  the  experiments  deterred  his  (Davy's)  contem- 
poraries from  attempting  the  solution  of  a  problem  on 
which  a  scientific  man  of  the  first  rank  had  wrecked 
himself  (gescheitert  war)  ;  and  thus  many  years  passed 
before  the  fixing  of  silver  pictures  was  discovered." 

If  these  views  are  sound,  we  may  apparently  infer 
that  if  Davy  had  had  some  little  imagination,  and  had 
taken  any  reasonable  amount  of  pains  in  following  up 


1797)  we  find  him  saying:  "This  talent"  [for  philosophical  investi- 
gation], "  if  I  have  it  in  any  degree,  I  attribute  to  a  spirit  of  accurate 
analysis  acquired  from  the  writings  of  Scheele  and  Bergmann,  and 
practised  in  the  operations  of  the  laboratory." 
^  Jan.  1839,  P-  I44« 


202  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

Wedgwood's  footsteps,  photography  would  probably 
have  come  into  existence  as  a  practical  art  some  thirty- 
five  years  before  the  time  of  Daguerre  and  Talbot. 

A  question  of  some  interest  in  regard  to  these  later 
inventors  is,  Was  any  of  their  work  prompted  by  a 
knowledge  of  Wedgwood's  imperfect  results  ?  On 
this  point  we  have  little  or  no  positive  evidence,  but 
what  we  do  know  seems  to  make  it  unlikely  that  they 
were  aware  of  Wedgwood's  work.  The  first  recorded 
effective  photography  was  undoubtedly  that  achieved 
by  Nicephore  Niepce,  who,  at  least  as  early  as  1816, 
thirteen  years  before  the  time  when  he  entered  into  his 
partnership  with  Daguerre,  was  taking,  by  means  of  a 
camera,  pictures  of  outdoor  scenes — pictures  which 
might  be  called  "  permanent,"  as  compared  with  the 
evanescent  products  of  Wedgwood's  experiments.  The 
fullest  account  of  his  work^  gives  no  hint  of  his  having 
derived  his  ideas  from  any  predecessor,  and  the  cir- 
cumstances were  such  as  to  make  it  extremely  unlikely 
that  he  had  ever  read  Davy's  ' '  Memoir  "  of  1 802.  He 
was  not  a  professed  chemist  or  savant^  and  was  living 
the  quietest  of  lives  at  Chalon-sur-Saone,  some  hundreds 
of  miles  from  Paris.  It  was  in  1813  that  he  began 


*  Namely,  the  series  of  private  letters  to  his  brother  Claude  Niepce 
given  in  the  biography  entitled,  "  La  verit'e  sur  I' invention  de  la  photo- 
graphy :  Nicephore  Niepce,  sa  vie,  &c."  par  Victor  Fouque.  Chalon- 
sur-Saone,  1867.  M.  Fouque's  narrative,  which  certainly  seems  to 
be  borne  out  by  the  documents  he  prints,  purports  to  show  that 
Niepce  was  the  real  inventor  of  the  art,  having  accomplished  the 
most  decisive  steps  before  he  entered  into  the  partnership  under 
which  he  and  Daguerre  agreed  to  "  pool "  their  knowledge  and  their 
results ;  and  that  it  was  only  by  a  series  of  dishonest  measures  that 
Daguerre  contrived  to  secure  to  himself  the  credit  of  the  discovery, 
and  get  the  art  called  (for  a  time)  by  his  own  name. 


PHOTOGRAPHIC   WORK  203 

trying  to  apply  to  lithography  (then  a  new  art  in  France) 
the  alterative  power  of  sunlight ;  and  we  know  how 
slight  was  the  intercourse  between  England  and  France 
during  all  that  war-time.  Daguerre's  ideas  on  photo- 
graphy were  mainly  derived  from  Ni£pce.  Arago's 
Report  of  1839  on  "  Daguerrotypie,"  though  it 
mentions  Davy's  "  Memoir  "  as  the  earliest  announce- 
ment of  a  photographic  process,  gives  no  hint  of  this 
having  been  known  to  Daguerre.  There  is  thus  no 
reason  to  think  that  either  of  the  two  first  French 
photographers  took  anything  from  Wedgwood. 

Fox-Talbot  knew  of  Wedgwood's  experiments,  but 
not,  apparently,  until  after  he  had  himself  found  a 
method  of  fixing  the  image.* 

But  though  Wedgwood's  attempts  to  produce 
permanent  light-pictures  failed  to  stimulate  his 
contemporaries  to  pursue  the  subject,  one  of  his 
conclusions,  at  least,  seems  to  have  led  to  an  important 
result  nearly  forty  years  later,  just  at  the  critical  time 
when  the  art  was  reaching  the  stage  of  unqualified 
success.  After  the  publication,  in  1839,  of  the  processes 
of  Talbot  and  of  Daguerre,  the  advance  of  photo- 
graphy much  depended  on  the  question  how  it  might 
be  possible  to  shorten  the  time  of  exposure  necessary 
to  secure  a  picture.  In  1841  Talbot  patented  his 
a  Calotype  "  process,  which  reduced  the  time  of  exposure 

*  Ante,  p.  20 1.  The  soundness  of  Fox-Talbot's  claim,  however, 
to  be  an  original  inventor  has  been  disputed.  Werge  ("  Evolution  of 
Photography,"  pp.  14,  101)  holds  to  the  view  that  his  process,  as  first 
announced,  did  not  go  beyond  Wedgwood's,  and  that  he  must  have 
seen  Davy's  "  Memoir."  Of  the  merits  of  this  controversy  I  know 
nothing,  but  the  reasons  given  by  Werge  for  doubting  Talbot's 
statement  do  not  seem  to  me  to  have  much  weight. 


204  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

to  two  or  three  minutes.  This  was  effected  by  brushing 
over  the  sensitive  paper  with  a  mixture  of  gallic  acid 
and  nitrate  of  silver.  But  in  this  system,  says  Mr. 
Jerome  Harrison,*  "it  is  tolerably  certain  that  Talbot 
had  been  anticipated  by  the  Rev.  J.  B.  Reade."  This 
was  established  in  a  trial  (Talbot  v.  Laroche)  arising 
from  an  attempt  to  upset  Taibot's  patent  on  the  ground 
of  "  previous  discovery."  Now  Reade's  use  of  the  gallic 
acid  had  arisen  from  his  noticing  Davy's  statement  that 
in  Wedgwood's  process  leather  was  found  to  be  more 
readily  acted  upon  than  paper.  In  order  to  repeat 
Wedgwood's  experiment,  he  had  borrowed  a  pair  of 
light  coloured  kid  gloves  from  his  wife.  She,  however, 
objected  to  lend  him  a  second  pair ;  "  and  this  "  (here 
I  quote  his  own  words)  "  led  me  to  say,  '  Then  I  will 
tan  paper."  Reade  was  at  this  time  (1837)  taking 
photographs  of  objects  by  the  solar  microscope,  and 
employing  an  artist  to  copy  the  images  on  the  screen. 
To  avoid  the  continued  expense  of  this  copying, 

"I  fell  back,"t  he  says,  "but  without  any  sanguine  expecta- 
tions, upon  the  photographic  process  adopted  by  Wedgwood. 
My  fortunate  inability  to  replenish  the  stock  of  leather  induced 
me  to  apply  the  tannin  solution  to  paper,  and  thus  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  succeeding  where  Talbot  acknowledged  that  he 
failed.  .  .  .  My  old  friend,  Mr.  Andrew  Ross,  told  Mr.  Talbot 
how  first  of  all,  by  means  of  the  solar  microscope,  I  threw  the 
image  of  the  object  on  prepared  paper,  and  then,  while  the 


*  "A  History  of  Photography  "  (1887),  pp.  30,  sqq. 

t  I  am  abbreviating  here  his  rather  rambling  account  as  given 
by  Mr.  Werge.  Reade,  a  country  clergyman,  was  an  amateur 
astronomer  and  microscopist.  He  died  in  1870.  (Werge,  pp.  15, 
16,  90.) 


PHOTOGRAPHIC   WORK  205 

paper  was  yet  wet,  washed  it  over  with  the  infusion 'of  galls, 
when  a  sufficiently  dense  negation  was  quickly  obtained.  In 
the  trial  (Talbot  v.  Laroche)  Mr.  Talbot  in  his  cross-examina- 
tion, and  in  an  almost  breathless  court,  acknowledged  that  he 
had  received  this  information  from  Ross." 

This  essential  detail  in  Talbot's  process  thus  seems 
to  have  come  to  him,  through  Reade  and  Ross,  from 
T.  Wedgwood. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

HIS   METAPHYSICS  AND    PSYCHOLOGY 

I  WILL  not  here  attempt  any  estimate  of  Tom  Wedg- 
wood's character.  His  letters  reflect  clearly  enough 
its  moral  side,  his  temper  and  disposition,  but,  as  the 
reader  will  have  seen,  they  tell  little  or  nothing  as  to 
his  intellectual  interests.  Pre-occupied  as  he  necessarily 
was  with  the  ever  urgent  question  of  his  bodily  health, 
it  is  hardly  strange  that,  to  his  nearest  and  dearest 
friends,  he  could  write  of  hardly  anything  else.  When 
the  great  question  for  every  day  was  whether  it  was  or 
was  not  to  be  passed  in  misery,  any  free  play  of  thought 
on  things  less  personal  was  scarcely  to  be  looked  for. 
If  we  had  his  letters  to  Coleridge,  they  might  give  us  a 
completer  knowledge  of  his  mind  ;  but  none  of  these, 
so  far  as  I  know,  are  extant. 

His  first  serious  efforts,  as  has  been  shown,  were  in 
the  direction  of  physical  science,  and  I  imagine  that  if 
he  had  had  ordinary  health  his  best  work  would  have 
been  of  that  kind.  Sir  Humphrey  Davy's  remarkable 
words:  "  His  opinions  were  to  me  a  secret  treasure, 
and  often  enabled  me  to  think  rightly  when  otherwise 
perhaps  I  should  have  thought  wrongly,"  presumably 
referred  to  their  interchange  of  ideas  on  physical 
problems.  But  the  main  drift  of  his  thoughts,  after 
ill-health  had  forced  him  to  give  up  experimenting  in 


SUPPOSED    "DISCOVERIES"         207 

the  laboratory,  was  in  another  direction,  as  is  shown  by 
the  mass  of  writing  which  he  left  behind  him.  This  is, 
for  the  most  part,  a  chaotic  heap  of  rough  MSS.,  dealing 
wholly  with  one  group  of  subjects,  namely,  metaphysical 
and  psychological  speculation,  with  excursions  into  edu- 
cational and  social  questions.  It  seems  to  have  been 
mainly  his  talk  on  these  subjects  that  gave  his  friends  and 
acquaintances  such  a  high  opinion  of  his  powers.  And  if 
we  are  to  accept  the  judgment  of  Mackintosh,  who  was 
then  (and  is  still)  thought  an  authority  on  the  subject, 
there  must  have  been  something  distinctively  original  in 
his  handling  of  some  of  the  most  time-honoured  meta- 
physical problems.^  Mackintosh  undertook  to  be  the 
editor  of  his  philosophical  speculations,  "  or,"  he  says, 
"  as  I  would  rather  call  them,  discoveries,"  and  he 
took  with  him  to  India,  as  we  have  seen,  various  MSS. 
of  Tom's,  intending  to  draw  up,  as  he  had  promised, 
an  exposition  of  his  views. 

After  Tom's  death  (in  the  next  year)  Mackintosh 
renewed  his  promise  to  Josiah  Wedgwood,  and  it  was 
then  settled  that  the  publication  should  include  a 
Memoir  by  Coleridge,  towards  which  Poole,  Sharp, 
and  others  were  to  assist.  But  this  project  came  wholly 
to  naught.  Whether  Mackintosh  seriously  attempted 
to  do  his  part  is  not  quite  clear.  It  was  hardly  possible, 


*  Josiah,  telling  Poole  (in  1800)  of  his  brother's  discussions  with 
Mackintosh,  writes :  "  The  subjects  cleared  are  no  less  than  Time, 
Space,  and  Motion ;  and  Mackintosh  and  Sharp  think  a  meta- 
physical revolution  likely  to  follow."  Coleridge,  who  never  liked 
Mackintosh,  receives  this  news  with  chilling  caution.  He  thinks  it 
likely  Tom  has  fallen  upon  some  valuable  truth,  but  has  "many 
reasons  for  being  exceedingly  suspicious  of  supposed  discoveries  in 
Metaphysics."  (T.  P.,  ii.  28-30.) 


208  TOM  WEDGWOOD 

and  if  possible  would  have  been  scarcely  decent,  that 
the  judge  of  an  important  court  at  Bombay  should 
find  time  for  dissertations  on  subtle  metaphysical 
questions — "  time,"  "  space,"  and  the  everlasting  con- 
troversy between  Intuitionists  and  Empiricists.  So  the 
promise  good-naturedly  but  not  wisely  made  was  never 
redeemed.  Nor  was  anything  ever  heard  of  Coleridge's 
Memoir,  save  in  the  way  of  belated  excuses  and 
apologies,  with  a  confused  story  of  papers  of  his  having 
been  lost  at  Malta  or  thrown  overboard  from  the  ship 
which  was  carrying  them  home. 

Tom  Wedgwood's  speculations  in  psychology  led 
him  on  to  theories  about  education.  "  Child-study  " 
was  one  of  his  constant  interests,  stimulated  perhaps 
by  his  having  subjects  of  observation  always  at  hand  in 
Josiah's  young  family.  His  views  hereon,  as  on  human 
affairs  generally,  are  largely  Rousseauistic.  The  om- 
nipotence of  education,  philosophically  guided,  in  the 
formation  of  character  is  taken  for  granted  ;  inheritance 
and  congenital  character  are  ignored ;  he  puts  no  limit 
to  what  may  be  achieved  by  appropriate  training.  Here 
we  have  the  perfectibilism  of  Godwin  and  the  pre- 
French-Revolution  philosophers.  The  great  engine  of 
child-management  is  the  Hartleian  doctrine  of  the 
"  association  of  ideas."  This  he  applies  more  to  the 
play  of  the  emotions  than  to  purely  mental  phenomena. 
We  come  here  and  there  on  entertaining  illustrations 
of  the  method.  They  are  explained  with  the  utmost 
seriousness ;  for  though  Erasmus  Darwin,  when  Tom 
Wedgwood  was  staying  with  him  at  the  age  of  eight 
years,  wrote  to  his  father  of  the  boy's  "  humour," 
I  have  not  detected  the  smallest  sign  of  that  quality  in 


CHILD-STUDY  209 

• 

the  mature  philosopher.  His  methods  remind  us  of 
those  of  another  child  of  the  Revolution,  Thomas 
Day,  once  so  well  known  in  English  nurseries  by  his 
"  Sandford  and  Merton."  Day,  in  order  to  cultivate 
presence  of  mind  in  the  two  orphan  girls  whom  he  set 
about  training  with  the  view  of  choosing  one  of  them 
for  a  wife,  used  to  drop  hot  sealing-wax  on  their 
bare  arms,  or  suddenly  fire  pistols  at  their  petticoats. 
Wedgwood,  in  the  course  of  a  disquisition  on  the  same 
virtue,  suggests  a  similar  method  of  teaching  children 
"how  men  elude  danger  and  inconvenience  by  address." 
"  The  parent  might  invite  the  attack  of  a  fierce  bull, 
stand  with  perfect  composure  until  the  animal  be 
within  two  or  three  paces  of  him,  then  suddenly  open 
an  umbrella,  hold  his  hat  before  his  face,  or  somehow 
contrive  to  amuse  and  terrify  the  foe,  whilst  his  child, 
on  the  other  side  of  the  stile,  shall  witness  his  intrepidity, 
and  by  degrees  practise  the  same  feat  himself  in  company 
with  his  parent."  This  recipe  is  awkwardly  vague  on 
the  critical  point  how  the  parent,  while  on  the  bull's 
side  of  the  stile,  is  to  "  amuse  or  terrify  the  foe," 
but  Wedgwood  kindly  provides,  for  the  benefit,  no 
doubt,  of  less  heroic  spirits,  a  less  trying  variant  of 
the  same  procedure,  in  which  "  a  raging  turkey  cock  " 
does  duty  for  the  bull ;  and  he  explains  at  some 
length  the  rationale  of  the  effect  produced  on  the 
bull's  or  the  turkey  cock's  mind  by  the  parent's 
manoeuvres. 

Richard  Sharp  was  a  remarkably  acute  critic  and 
much  given  to  philosophical  speculation,  but  what  the 
discoveries  were  from  which  he  "  thought  a  revolution 
in  metaphysics  likely  to  follow,"  is  a  question  which  I, 

o 


TOM   WEDGWOOD 

though  I  have  looked  through  the  box  full  of  Tom's 
MSS.  which  has  been  kept  as  a  family  relic  for  nearly  a 
century,  am  quite  unable  to  answer.  And  I  doubt 
whether  the  best  equipped  and  most  industrious  of 
experts  in  these  high  matters  would  be  able  to  extract 
from  them  much  definite  metaphysical  doctrine.  They 
are  mostly  rough  note-books  and  fragmentary  essays,  or 
bits  of  essays,  many  of  them  evidently  jotted  down  in  a 
travelling  carriage.  What  they  most  clearly  show  is,  that 
Wedgwood  had  an  acute  and  penetrating  mind,  and  de- 
lighted in  the  minute  analysis  of  mental  and  psychical 
processes.  The  same  perseverance  which  kept  him  try- 
ing for  six  months  to  hang  a  thermometer  in  vacuo  here 
appears  in  the  laborious  minuteness  with  which  he  dissects 
little  every-day  experiences  of  memory  and  association. 
He  believed,  apparently,  that  through  such  minute 
analysis  lies  the  road,  if  any  road  there  be,  to  dis- 
covering what  is  the  exact  process  by  which  we  arrive 
at  a  belief  in  the  existence  of  an  external  world  ;  and 
how  emotion,  thought,  and  will  (if  there  be  such  a 
thing),  are  related  to  the  primary  facts  of  sensation. 
To  many  people  speculation  of  this  kind,  the  laborious 
attempt  to  discover  by  thinking  what  thinking  /V,  seems 
something  like  an  eye's  trying  to  look  into  itself.  But 
however  that  may  be,  it  does  not  seem  to  me  likely 
that  any  exposition  of  Tom  Wedgwood's  metaphysical 
views,  outgrowths  of  the  thought  of  more  than  a 
century  ago,  could  now  have  any  other  than  a  historical 
interest.  In  metaphysics,  as  in  other  matters,  "  much 
has  happened  since  then."  To  note  one  point  only, 
Englishmen  then  had  no  knowledge  of  the  course 
of  philosophical  speculation  in  Germany.  Coleridge's 


METAPHYSICS  211 

influence  as  the  "  interpreter  of  Germany  to-  Eng- 
land "*  had  not  begun.  Kant's  "  Critic  of  Pure  Reason  " 
appeared  in  1781,  but  as  late  as  about  1816,  we  find 
Dugald  Stewart  could  only  read  it  in  a  Latin  transla- 
lation,  and  "  abandoned  the  undertaking  in  despair." 
I  see  nothing  to  show  that  Wedgwood  read  or  knew 
German  (though  he  travelled  in  the  country  for  some 
weeks  or  more  in  1796).  (Mackintosh  knew  nothing 
of  it  till  1804,  when  he  took  some  lessons  from  his 
children's  German  governess  on  his  voyage  to  Bombay.) 
Another  thing  which  would  necessarily,  I  conceive, 
make  Wedgwood's  discussion  of  mental  phenomena 
out  of  date  is  the  immense  advance  since  made  in  our 
knowledge  of  the  physiology  of  the  brain  and  nervous 
system.  Not  till  some  five  years  after  his  death  did 
Sir  Charles  Bell's  great  discovery  of  the  distinction  be- 
tween sensory  and  motor  nerves  become  known  to  the 
world,  t 

For  a  substantially  similar  reason  his   lucubrations 

*  Sir  L.  Stephen. 

t  The  only  bit,  so  far  as  I  know,  of  Wedgwood's  metaphysical 
work  which  has  been  printed,  is  a  short  article  in  the  third  volume 
(1817)  of  the  "Journal  of  Science  and  the  Arts"  (edited  at  the 
Royal  Institution),  entitled  "An  Enquiry  into  the  origin  of  our 
notion  of  distance,  drawn  up  from  notes  left  by  the  late  Thomas 
Wedgwood,  Esq."  This,  as  its  vague  title  shows,  is  not  actually  of 
Wedgwood's  writing.  It  is  a  recast  of  a  MS.  essay  bearing  nearly 
the  same  title,  with  additions  taken  from  another  MS.  called  an 
"  Essay  on  Vision,"  some  portions  being  paraphrases  of  Wedgwood's 
words  or  additions  by  the  editor.  I  have  not  discovered  who  edited 
or  arranged  this  paper.  Might  it  possibly  have  been  done  by 
Mackintosh  ?  If  so  one  can  understand  his  not  wishing  to  put  his 
name  to  a  very  partial  attempt  to  redeem  the  promise  made  so  many 
years  previously.  The  paper  deals  with  the  Berkleyan  theory  of 
vision,  but  I  have  not  sufficient  knowledge  of  this  thorny  subject  to 
venture  on  a  summary  of  the  arguments.  It  was  reprinted  in  Miss 
Meteyard's  "Group  of  Englishmen,"  1871. 


212  TOM   WEDGWOOD 

on  education,  and  matters  touching  politics  and 
sociology  (to  use  a  modern  phrase),  could  scarcely 
have  any  interest  for  a  reader  of  the  twentieth  cen- 
tury. How  long,  or  how  closely,  he  held  to  his  early 
Godwinian  creed  is  not  clear ;  but  in  turning  over  his 
MSS.  one  perceives  that  his  mind  is  still  moving  within 
that  same  order  of  ideas.  We  have  the  familiar  de- 
nunciation of  the  tyranny  of  custom  and  convention, 
and  appeals  to  the  "  simplicity  of  nature,"  with  the 
underlying  Rousseauistic  implication  that  the  evils  of 
the  world,  in  fact,  all  its  modern  polity  and  civilisation, 
have  come  about  by  way  of  corruption  and  depravation 
of  a  primitive  ideal.  The  now  dominant  conception 
of  Evolution  has  taught  us  to  treat  that  view  of  the 
past  not  merely  as  the  fantastic  vision  which  probably 
most  of  our  grandfathers  saw  it  to  be,  but  as  a  com- 
pletely topsy-turvy  view  of  the  history  of  the  race. 

A  biographer  of  Tom  Wedgwood,  however,  when 
touching  the  matter  of  evolution,  cannot  help  remem- 
bering that  there  were  links,  though  only  of  a  personal 
kind,  between  him  and  the  genesis  of  that  doctrine. 
He  was  often  exchanging  ideas  with  old  Erasmus 
Darwin,  his  sister's  father-in-law,  in  whose  specula- 
tions (as  his  grandson  was  careful  to  point  out)  there 
were  foreshadowings  of  evolution ;  but  we  have  no 
reason  to  think  that  when  reading  "  Zoonomia,"  or  the 
notes  to  the  "  Botanic  Garden,"  he  saw  in  them  any 
special  significance  of  this  kind.  It  was  not  till  1809, 
three  and  a  half  years  after  his  death,  that  there 
appeared,  in  his  sister's  nursery  at  Shrewsbury,  the 
baby  out  of  whose  little  brain  there  was  to  come, 
fifty  years  later,  the  book  which  did  most  to  establish 


A  LINK   WITH   "EVOLUTION"     213 

the  order  of  ideas  now  increasingly  dominant  in  all 
regions  of  thought — ideas,  the  growth  of  which  has 
quietly  relegated  to  the  domain  of  history  the  systems 
of  many  more  notable  philosophers  than  Tom  Wedg- 
wood.* 


*  Charles  Darwin,  Tom's  nephew,  was  born  Feb.  12,  1809. 
"  The  Origin  of  Species  by  means  of  Natural  Selection,"  appeared 
in  Nov.  1859.  It  is  hardly  possible  to  say  when  the  idea  of  Evolu- 
tion first  began  to  make  an  impression  on  the  general  world  of 
thought.  "  In  Memoriam "  will  serve  to  remind  posterity  that  it 
was  in  the  air  some  time  before  Darwin's  work  became  known. 
Old  people  remember  the  excitement  produced,  perhaps  more  in 
religious  than  in  scientific  circles,  by  the  "  Vestiges  of  Creation  "  in 
1 844,  which  was  the  work,  not  of  a  man  of  science,  but  of  a  clever 
"  litterateur."  In  the  Life  of  Tennyson  there  is  a  noticeable 
letter  in  which  he  asks  his  publisher  to  get  him  that  book,  saying : 
"  It  seems  to  contain  many  speculations  with  which  I  have  been 
familiar  for  years,  and  on  which  I  have  written  more  than  one 
poem."  A  reader  in  the  future,  not  having  in  mind  the  dates, 
might  naturally  think  some  pages  of  "  In  Memoriam  "  must  have 
been  written  after  the  "  Origin,"  but  it  was  not  so.  The  wonderful 
stanzas  beginning: 

"  Contemplate  all  this  work  of  time, 
The  giant  labouring  in  his  youth," 

and  ending  with 

"  Move  upward,  working  out  the  beast, 
And  let  the  ape  and  tiger  die," 

as  well  as  the  earlier  section,  " '  So  careful  of  the  type  ? '  but  no," 
must  have  taken  shape  between  1833  and  (about)  1840.  Darwin 
was  at  that  time  quite  unknown  except  to  a  few  naturalists  and 
private  friends.  He  and  Tennyson  were  at  Cambridge  together,  but 
did  not  know  each  other  till  the  sixties. 


APPENDICES 


AN  ALLEGED   DISCOVERY   OF 
PHOTOGRAPHY   IN    1727 

I  CALL  Wedgwood  the  first  photographer  (adopting  a  phrase 
used  by  more  than  one  writer)  because  he  was,  so  far  as  we 
know,  the  first  person  who  conceived  and  put  in  practice  the 
idea  of  using  the  agency  of  light  to  obtain  a  representation  of  an 
object ;  while  to  call  him  the  inventor  of  photography  would 
be  inaccurate,  inasmuch  as  he  did  not  fully  succeed  in  his 
attempt.  But  two  writers  of  high  authority  (already  mentioned 
in  these  pages),  Dr.  Eder  and  Herr  Schiendel,  give  the  title  of 
u  inventor  of  photography "  to  John  Hermann  Schulze,  a 
German  university  professor  who  died  many  years  before 
Wedgwood  was  born.  This  they  do  on  the  strength  of  a 
Memoir  by  Schulze,  describing  an  experiment  whereby  he 
accidentally  discovered  the  darkening  effect  of  light  upon  silver- 
salt  in  or  previously  to  the  year  1727.  This  Memoir,  however, 
shows,  not  that  Schulze  did  anything  or  thought  of  anything  to 
which  the  word  "photographic"  can  properly  be  applied,  but 
only  that  he  observed  (and  was  possibly  the  first  to  observe)  a 
fact  which  about  a  century  later  became  the  groundwork  of 
photographic  processes. 

As  Schulze  tells  his  story  in  an  entertaining  way,  and 
extracts  might  give  a  misleading  idea  of  his  drift,  I  subjoin  a 
translation  of  the  entire  Memoir.* 

*  A  paper  on  this  question,  including  the  translation  here  given 
was  read  by  me  in  October  1898  at  a  "  Technical  Meeting"  of  the 


218  APPENDIX   A 

It  is  to  be  found  in  the  Transactions  of  the  "  Caesarean 
Academy  "  for  the  year  1727.  The  full  title  of  the  volume  is, 
"  Acta  Physico-Medica  Academics  C&sarete  Leopoldino-Carolin&j 
Nature  Curiosorum  exhibentia  Ephemerides^  sive  Observationes 
Historias  et  Experimenta  celeberrimis  Germanic  et  exterarum 
regionum  viris  habita  et  communicata"  Norimbergae  :  An. 
MDCCXXVII. 

John  Hermann  Schulze,  born  at  Kolditz  in  Saxony  in  1687, 
was  a  man  of  considerable  note  in  his  time,  chiefly  as  a  linguist 
and  philologist,  and  as  a  historian  of  ancient  medicine.  He  was 
professor  of  anatomy,  and  also  of  Greek  and  Arabic,  at  the 
University  of  Altdorf  in  Franconia,  and  afterwards  became 
professor  of  Eloquence  and  Antiquities  at  Halle.  He  died  in 
1744. 


"AN  OBSERVATION  BY  MASTER  DOCTOR 
JOHN  HENRY  SCHULZE.  SCOTOPHORUS  DIS- 
COVERED INSTEAD  OF  PHOSPHORUS,  OR  A 
CURIOUS  EXPERIMENT  ON  THE  EFFECT  OF 
THE  SUN'S  RAYS."  (OBSERVATIO  CCXXXIII.) 

We  often  discover  by  accident  what  we  should  hardly  have 
found  out  by  intention  or  design.  In  this  way,  while  looking 
for  and  working  at  one  thing,  I  discovered  something  I  could 
not  have  hoped  for.  Whether  in  communicating  the  whole 
story  to  other  inquisitive  people,  and  leaving  it  to  their  further 
discussion,  I  am  doing  what  is  worth  the  trouble,  the  benevolent 
reader  will  judge  for  himself.  Fair  judges  will  pardon  the 
freedom  of  my  title.  My  only  reason  for  calling  my  experi- 
ment "  scotophoric  "  is  to  indicate  the  darkening  effect  which 
it  showed  me.  While  the  "  Bologna  stone  "  receives  light  from 
the  sun's  rays,  this  mixture  of  mine  is  darkened  by  the  sun  and 

Royal  Photographic  Society  of  Great  Britain  (see  the  Photographic 
Journal  of  November  30,  1898).  In  the  discussion  which  then 
followed  the  views  expressed  by  members  present  agreed  with  mine. 


SCHULZE'S   WORD-PATTERNS      219 

takes  a  dusky  colour.  But  I  think  that  the  true  cause  of  this 
darkening  is  no  less  deserving  of  investigation  by  the  natural 
philosopher  than  is  that  of  the  light  which  emanates  from  any 
of  the  class  of  phosphorescents. 

It  is  about  two  years  ago  that,  while  reading  various  things 
about  phosphorescents,  I  bethought  myself  of  examining  the 
"  Baldwin  process."  *  I  happened  then  to  have  at  hand  some 
aqua  forth  containing  a  very  small  quantity  of  silver  particles, 
say  about  as  much  as  is  wanted  to  make  the  preparation  suitable 
for  separating  gold  from  silver.  I  was  using  this  aqua  forth  for 
saturating  chalk  with  it,  as  one  has  to  do  in  the  Baldwin  experi- 
ment. I  was  doing  this  at  an  open  window,  into  which  the 
sun  was  at  the  time  shining  very  brightly.  I  was  surprised  to 
see  that  the  colour  of  the  surface  changed  to  a  dark  red,  inclin- 
ing to  violet.  But  I  was  more  surprised  to  see  that  the  part 
of  the  dish  not  touched  by  the  sun's  rays  did  not  at  all  show  that 
colour. 

Seeing  this,  and  considering  that  it  deserved  further  examina- 
tion, I  put  aside  the  Baldwin  experiment,  and  applied  myself  to 
this  (as  it  were)  darkness-making  experiment,  in  order  to  get  an 
explanation  of  the  change  of  colour.  Doubting  what  plan  to 
follow,  I  divided  the  saturated  chalk  into  two  parts,  one  of  which 
I  put  into  a  round  oblong  glass  of  the  kind  we  commonly  use 
in  dispensing  liquid  medicines.  And  in  order  to  get  the  thick 
mixture  more  conveniently  into  the  bottle  I  began  to  pour  in 
more  aqua  forth.  But  as  the  aqua  forth  made  too  much  ebulli- 
tion and  began  to  dissolve  the  chalk,  I  added  some  water  to 
check  this  action.  I  then  put  the  glass  in  a  place  exposed  to 
the  sun's  rays.  Scarcely  a  few  minutes  elapsed  when  I  saw  that 
the  glass,  on  the  side  touched  by  the  sun,  showed  a  similar 
colour,  namely,  dark  red  verging  towards  blue.  The  rest  of 
the  mixture  I  left  in  the  dish  exposed  to  the  sun's  rays  and  to 
light  until  it  dried,  and  noticed  the  coloured  surface  remaining 

*  Baldwin  was  the  discoverer,  about  1677,  of  a  kind  of  phos- 
phorus, afterwards  called  by  his  name,  different  from  the  "  Bolognian." 
It  was  made  by  dissolving  chalk  in  aqua  for tis. 


220  APPENDIX   A 

so  for  several  days  until  the  stuff  was  used  up  in  further 
experiments. 

I  showed  the  discovery  to  friends  who  visited  me,  in  order 
to  learn  their  opinions.  Some  appeared  to  think  the  darkened 
colour  was  due  to  heat.  To  ascertain  therefore  whether  the 
effect  arose  from  heat,  we  tried  various  tests.  First  we  put  the 
glass  close  enough  to  a  bright  fire  to  make  it  pretty  hot,  but 
in  such  a  position  that  the  part  which  had  not  been  reached  by 
the  sun's  rays,  and  which  had  none  of  the  colour,  fronted 
the  fire.  That  caused  no  change  of  colour,  though  the 
glass  had  become  so  hot  that  the  hand  could  hardly  bear  to 
touch  it. 

This  is  sufficient  proof  that  nothing  here  was  due  to  heat,  so 
I  pass  over  the  other  experiments  made  to  this  end.  But  in 
order  to  see  more  clearly,  and  show  others,  that  the  dark  colour 
was  induced  by  the  sun's  light,  not  his  heat,  I  shook  up  the 
glass,  thus  mixing  up  the  chalk  sediment  and  the  fluid  at 
the  top,  so  completely  as  to  remove  all  difference  of  colour. 
Dividing  the  liquor  (if  I  may  so  call  the  mixture)  in  this  state, 
I  decided  to  put  one  bottleful  of  it  in  a  dark  place  not  ex- 
posed to  sunlight,  and  kept  another  for  fresh  experiments.  I 
accordingly  put  [the  former]  in  the  sun,  tying  a  thin  thread 
from  the  mouth  to  the  bottom  of  the  bottle,  so  as  to  divide 
the  side  exposed  to  the  sun  in  about  the  middle,  and  left  it 
for  some  hours  in  a  very  hot  sun,  not  to  be  touched  or  dis- 
turbed by  any  one.  When  the  thread  was  removed  we  were 
delighted  to  perceive  that  the  part  which  it  had  covered  showed 
the  same  colour  as  the  back  of  the  bottle  which  no  ray  of 
the  sun  had  reached.  We  tried  the  same  experiment  with 
the  same  result  with  horsehair,  with  human  hair,  and  with  an 
extremely  thin  silver  wire  ;  so  that  there  was  no  doubt  that 
the  change  of  colour  depended  wholly  on  the  sun's  light, 
and  that  heat,  even  the  sun's  heat,  had  had  nothing  to  do 
with  it. 

I  further  instituted  experiments  in  a  contrary  sense,  that  is  to 
say,  whenever  I  wished  to  repeat  the  experiment,  I  mixed  up 


SCHULZE'S   WORD-PATTERNS     221 

the  fluid  so  as  to  make  it  of  uniform  colour,  and  covered  the 
greater  part  of  the  glass  with  opaque  bodies,  leaving  a  small  part 
of  it  freely  accessible  to  the  light.  I  thus  several  times  wrote 
words  or  entire  sentences  on  paper,  and  after  carefully  cutting 
out  with  a  sharp  knife  the  ink-marked  parts,  stuck  the  paper, 
perforated  in  this  way,  on  the  glass  by  means  of  wax.  Before 
long  the  sun's  rays,  on  the  side  on  which  they  had  touched  the 
glass  through  the  apertures  in  the  paper,  wrote  the  words  or 
sentences  so  accurately  and  distinctly  on  the  chalk  sediment,  that 
many  people  curious  in  such  matters,  but  ignorant  of  the  nature 
of  the  experiment,  were  led  to  attribute  the  result  to  all  kinds  of 
artifices. 

I  said  that  I  had  kept  the  dried  portion  of  the  saturated  chalk. 
This  also,  I  found,  quickly  changed  its  colour  whenever  it  was 
exposed  freely  to  the  sun,  and  in  such  a  way  that  nothing  could 
be  attributed  to  the  heat,  but  that  the  whole  change  was  attri- 
butable solely  to  the  light.  I  mentioned  also  that  I  put  another 
bottle  of  the  same  material  in  a  dark  place.  That,  whenever 
I  looked  at  it,  kept  the  same  whitish  colour,  not  showing 
in  any  part  even  a  trace  of  change  of  colour.  Just  as  I  have 
often  found  a  solution  of  silver  made  with  aqua  forth  does 
not  get  dark  in  a  quite  dark  place,  while  when  exposed  to  the 
sun  a  dark  red  colour  is  induced,  verging  afterwards  towards 
blue. 

I  saw  that  it  remained  to  investigate  the  cause  of  the  effects 
described.  But  I  was  under  the  belief  that  all  the  results 
depended  on  chalk  and  aqua  forth  being  mixed  together,  and  so 
began  theorising  on  the  effect  of  light  operating  on  those 
substances  ;  for  it  had  wholly  escaped  me  that  the  aqua  forth 
which  I  had  employed  had  been  altered,  or,  as  we  commonly 
say,  "  precipitated,"  by  some  few  particles  of  silver.  It  was  a 
happy  chance,  therefore,  that  it  occurred  to  me  to  repeat  the 
same  experiments  afresh.  I  had  at  hand  some  very  penetrating 
fuming  spirit  of  nitre,  such  as  is  used  in  preparing  oil  of  vitriol. 
This,  in  order  that  it  should  not  quite  dissolve  the  chalk,  I 
diluted  with  a  good  deal  of  water,  and  thus  began  to  saturate 


222  APPENDIX   A 

the  chalk.  But,  though  I  did  this  in  the  brightest  sunlight,  I 
could  not  in  the  least  see  the  remarkable  change  of  colour  before 
observed.  I  therefore  tried  the  process  with  aqua  forth  as  sold 
in  the  chemists'  shops.  The  result  was  the  same  as  I  observed 
to  follow  with  the  spirit  of  nitre,  and  not  what  I  expected. 
Whence  it  came  into  my  mind  to  remember  that  the  aquafortis 
I  had  first  used  had  produced  the  phenomena  by  reason  of  the 
particles  of  silver  in  it. 

Now,  therefore,  following  up  the  matter  more  closely,  I 
dissolve  a  portion  of  silver  in  aqua  fortis,  weaken  the  solution 
with  water,  and  saturate  the  chalk  as  before.  The  same  phe- 
nomena made  their  appearance,  but  the  colour  now  showed  it- 
self far  more  distinctly  as  a  larger  quantity  of  silver  particles 
were  immersed  in  the  saturating  fluid.  I  remember,  in  fact, 
that  when  I  repeated  the  experiment  with  aqua  fortis  charged 
with  a  sufficient  quantity  of  silver  to  form  a  complete  solution, 
the  result  was  that  even  the  parts  of  the  glass  not  reached  by  the 
direct  rays  of  the  sun  soon  took  a  distinctly  blackish  hue  from 
the  reflected  rays.  I  exposed  the  same  solution,  but  diluted 
with  water  and  with  no  admixture  of  chalk,  in  a  window  open 
to  the  sun's  rays,  and  found  that  the  dark  colour  was  equally 
produced  in  the  fluid. 

To  make  the  more  sure  that  the  effect  described  was  due  to 
the  sun's  light,  I  put  a  bottleful  of  the  mixture  in  such  a  position 
that  it  received  the  sun's  rays  reflected  from  a  plane  mirror,  and 
soon  discovered  that  all  the  results  followed  under  this  condition 
just  as  well  as  if  I  had  put  it  to  catch  the  sun  directly.  I  found 
at  the  same  time  that,  to  make  the  experiment  with  proper 
precautions,  the  mixture  in  the  bottle  must  be  so  placed  as  not 
to  have  behind  it  any  object  which  can  reflect  the  sun's  rays. 
I  remember  I  put  a  glass  (of  the  mixture)  at  night  in  a  window 
which  did  not  get  the  sun  till  the  afternoon.  But  there  was  a 
house  opposite,  which  had  lately  been  covered  with  a  coat  of 
quite  white  plaster,  and  this  refracted  the  morning  light  vividly 
into  my  room.  I  looked  at  the  bottle  in  the  morning  and 
detected  the  usual  colour.  After  this  I  often  placed  it  so  as  to 


SCHULZE'S   WORD-PATTERNS     223 

front  a  brightly  sunlit  wall,  while  no  part  of  it  was  touched  im- 
mediately by  any  direct  ray.  I  found  that  it  showed  the  usual 
colour,  though  more  slowly  than  when  the  light  came  from  the 
mirror. 

My  use  of  powdered  chalk  was  only  accidental,  since,  as  I  have 
said,  my  intention  was  to  prepare  some  Baldwin's  phosphorus. 
But  I  think  it  makes  no  difference  if  one  prefers  to  substitute 
for  the  chalk  some  other  white  substance,  such  as  hartshorn, 
white  magnesia,  &c.  I  have  myself  used  ceruss  of  lead  in 
the  same  experiment  with  nearly  the  same  success.  But  this 
seemed  inconvenient,  as  the  ceruss  both  sticks  more  firmly  to 
the  sides  of  the  bottle,  and  is  slower  in  gravitating  to  the 
bottom,  and  after  remaining  still  a  long  time  mixes  less  easily 
with  the  fluid — a  thing  which  it  should  do  [easily]  in  order  that 
the  induced  colour  may  be  removed  for  the  purpose  of  fresh 
experiments. 

If  any  one  desires  to  see  the  effect  produced  in  a  few  moments, 
he  should  concentrate  the  sun's  rays  on  a  bottle  full  of  the 
mixture  by  means  of  a  burning-glass ;  taking  care,  however, 
not  to  put  the  bottle  exactly  in  the  focus,  but  a  little  away 
from  it.  In  this  way  he  will  see  that  even  in  a  moment 
the  colour  of  the  mixture  in  the  bottle  will  be  distinctly 
darkened. 

This  is  a  summary  account  of  a  frequently  repeated  experi- 
ment. I  should  add  something  as  to  the  cause  of  the  phe- 
nomenon if  I  could  satisfy  myself  with  regard  to  it.  We  may 
at  any  rate  take  it  as  demonstrated  that  the  effect  of  solar  light 
and  heat  is  different  from  any  that  can  be  looked  for  from  a 
kitchen  fire.  I  have  further  thought  that  this  experiment  of 
mine  might  also  have  a  use  in  helping  the  testing  of  minerals  or 
metals,  in  case  one  wishes  to  ascertain  whether  they  include  any 
portion  of  silver  ;  for  these  phenomena  have  so  far  not  been 
observed  to  hold  in  the  case  of  any  other  metal  or  mineral  when 
similarly  treated.  Nor  do  I  despair  of  its  being  possible  that 
the  experiment  should  lead  the  curious  investigators  of  nature  to 
other  useful  results.  On  which  account  I  have  not  hesitated 


224  APPENDIX  A 

publicly  to  submit  it  to  the  further  examination  of  those  more 
learned  than  myself. 


It  seems  strange  that  any  one  reading  this  should  take  it  as 
showing  that  Schulze  was  the  "  discoverer  of  photography."  It  is 
clear  that  he  found  out  for  himself  the  fact  that  silver-salt  is 
darkened  by  sunlight ;  but  there  is  not  a  word  in  his  paper  which 
suggests  that  he  had  any  idea  of  using  this  fact  so  as  to  get  a 
picture  or  representation  of  an  object,  which  is  of  course  the 
essential  idea  of  photography.  Only  one  practical  suggestion 
occurs  to  him,  the  possibility,  namely,  of  the  discovery  being 
used  to  test  the  presence  of  silver  in  an  alloy. 

Dr.  Eder,  after  describing  what  Schulze  did,  quotes  in  the 
original  Latin  the  passage  describing  the  cutting  out  of  the 
paper  patterns,  and  proceeds :  "  From  this  account  it  un- 
questionably appears  that  Schulze  had  not  only  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  sensitiveness  to  light  of  silver-salt  as  early  as 
1727,  but  that  he  also  applied  it  to  copying  written  characters 
(Schriftziige  zu  copiren)  by  means  of  sunlight.  Accordingly 
Schulze,  a  German,  must  be  designated  the  discoverer  of  photo- 
graphy (Erfinder  der  'Photographic}^  though  he  has  never  once 
been  so  called,  a  fact  which  may  be  attributed  to  the  difficulty  of 
getting  access  to  the  original  sources  of  information."  * 

From  this  it  would  seem  that  Dr.  Eder  rests  his  view  mainly 
on  what  he  calls  Schulze's  "  copying  of  written  characters." 
But  surely  it  is  straining  Schulze's  account  to  say  that  when  he 
cut  out  words  on  a  piece  of  paper,  and  stuck  the  paper  on  the 
bottle,  he  was  u  copying  "  writings.  He  had  already  satisfied 
himself  that  the  light  darkened  the  mixture,  by  the  device  of  the 
thread,  and  by  covering  up  part  of  the  bottle.  The  artifice  of 
cutting  out  the  words  was  simply  a  more  vivid  and  amusing 

*  "  Geschichte  der  Photochemie  und  Photographic."  Dr.  Josef 
Maria  Eder.  Halle,  1891.  Dr.  Eder  had  already  published  the  sub- 
stance of  this  part  of  his  history  in  Photographische  Correspondenz 
for  January  1881,  No.  207. 


SCHULZE'S  WORD-PATTERNS     225 

way  of  showing  the  same  fact.  If  he  had  had  any  idea  of 
applying  it  to  the  copying  of  anything  whatever,  he  would  have 
said  so.  Evidently  no  such  thought  occurred  to  him.  The 
device  of  the  cut-out  words  amused  him  and  amused  his  friends, 
as  a  bit  of  "  natural  magic."  From  his  lively  account  we  can 
picture  the  scene — they  are  astonished  at  the  mysterious 
writing,  seen  Inside  the  glass  ;  he  gives  the  bottle  a  shake,  and 
the  writing  vanishes!  No  wonder  that,  in  the  year  1727, 
the  multi  curiosi  made  wild  guesses  as  to  how  the  trick  was 
done.  Dr.  Eder  has  fallen  into  the  mistake — not  a  very  un- 
common one — of  reading  an  old  story  by  the  light  of  current 
ideas.  He  sees  photography  in  what  was  only  photochemistry. 
Priestley,  who  described  Schulze's  experiment  in  a  few  clear 
sentences  ("  History  and  Present  State  of  Discoveries  relating 
to  Vison,  Light,  and  Colours,"  1772),  and  who  evidently  wrote 
with  the  memoir  before  him,  treats  it  simply  as  a  demonstration 
of  the  fact  that  the  silver  in  the  mixture  was  the  cause  of  the 
change  of  colour. 

Probably  to  this  notice  by  Priestley  is  due  the  appearance  of 
Schulze's  experiment  with  the  paper  word-patterns  in  a  book, 
apparently  popular  more  than  a  century  ago,  entitled  "  Rational 
Recreations,  in  which  the  principles  of  numbers  and  Natural 
Philosophy  are  elucidated  by  a  series  of  easy,  entertaining  and 
interesting  experiments,  &c.,"  by  W.  Hooper,  M.D.  (1774). 
Schulze's  name  is  not  mentioned,  but  "  Recreation  xliii " 
(vol.  iv.  p.  143)  runs  as  follows  :  "  Writing  on  glass  by  the  rays 
of  the  sun.  Dissolve  chalk  in  aqua  forth  to  the  consistence  of 
milk,  and  add  to  that  a  strong  dissolution  of  silver.  Keep  this 
liquor  in  a  glass  decanter  well  stopped,  then  cut  out  from  a  paper 
the  letters  you  would  have  appear,  and  paste  the  paper  on  the 
decanter,  which  you  are  to  place  in  the  sun,  in  such  a  manner 
that  its  rays  may  pass  through  the  spaces  cut  out  of  the  paper, 
and  fall  on  the  surface  of  the  liquor.  The  part  of  the  glass 
through  which  the  rays  pass  will  turn  black,  and  that  under  the 
paper  will  remain  white.  You  must  observe  not  to  move  the 
bottle  during  the  time  of  the  operation." 

p 


226  APPENDIX   A 

Herr  Schiendl  ("Geschichte  der  Photographic,"  Wien,  &c., 
1891 )  is  even  more  determined  than  Dr.  Eder  to  prove  that  Pro- 
fessor Schulze  was  the  first  photographer.  "  I  entirely  agree,"  he 
says,  "with  Dr.  Eder's  view  that  Schulze  especially  may  be 
considered  the  discoverer  of  photography,  for  no  one  before  him 
knew  the  effect  of  light  (as  such)  on  silver-salts,  and  he  was 
without  dispute  the  first  who  made  use  of  the  operation  of  light 
to  produce  light-pictures,  evanescent  though  they  were,  by  means 
of  silver-salts  through  patterns  (negatives)."* 

Herr  Schiendl  here  gives  two  reasons  for  his  view,  but  it  is  the 
latter,  doubtless,  on  which  he  really  relies.  He  can  hardly 
mean  that  Schulze's  discovery  of  the  <c  light-sensitiveness  of 
silver-salt  "  in  itself  made  him  the  discoverer  of  photography, 
for  that  would  imply  that  the  discoverer  of  a  fact  is  also  the  dis- 
coverer of  whatever  the  knowledge  of  that  fact  may  ultimately 
lead  to.  On  this  principle  we  might  give  the  discoverer  of 
photography  to  Porta,  who  invented  the  camera  obscura  three 
centuries  ago  ;  or,  with  equal  reason,  to  whoever  first  noticed 
the  fading  of  a  curtain  under  sunlight.  Substantially,  Herr 
Schiendl's  point  is  that  Schulze  "  made  use  of  the  operation  of 
light  to  produce  light-pictures."  But  surely  he  did  not  do  this. 
He  clearly  had  no  thought  of  producing  a  picture.  His  proce- 
dure was  the  converse  of  what  is  represented.  He  did  not  use 
the  operation  of  light  to  produce  the  image  of  the  word- 
pattern,  but  used  the  image  of  the  word-pattern  to  show  the 
operation  of  light.  When  he  has  got  the  image,  or  "negative," 
as  Herr  Schiendl  calls  it,  by  a  startling  anticipation  of  the 
language  of  a  century  later,  he  has  no  thought  of  preserving  or 
repeating  it.  All  he  does  is  to  destroy  it.  He  shakes  the 
bottle  and  it  vanishes. 

But  Herr  Schiendl  cannot  get  rid  of  modern  photographic 
ideas.  He  would  seem  even  to  suggest  that  Schulze  tried  to 
"  fix  "  the  image.  For  in  a  later  page,  referring  to  the  sun- 

*  "  Stencil-patterns "  may  perhaps  represent  Herr  Schiendl's 
meaning.  His  words  are  "  urn  mittelst  Silbersalzen  durch  Schab- 
lonen  (Negative)  Lichtbilder,  wenn  auch  vergangliche,  herzustellen." 


SCHULZE'S   WORD-PATTERNS     227 

pictures  taken  by  Thomas  Wedgwood,  he  says  :  "  Schulze 
similarly  produced  silhouettes  in  1727*  on  a  light-sensitive 
silver-salt,  and  could  not  fix  them,  any  more  than  Davy  and 
Wedgwood." 

Now  not  only  does  Schulze  give  no  hint  of  trying  to  "fix" 
the  image,  but  the  form  of  the  experiment  shows  that  he  could 
not  have  had  any  such  idea.  The  image  was  on  the  surface  of 
a  liquid  or  semi-liquid  substance — "  the  liquor,"  as  he  calls  it — 
and  any  disturbance  of  the  stuff  at  once  dissipated  the  dis- 
colouration. One  is  inclined  to  ask,  can  Herr  Schiendl  have  read 
the  whole  memoir,  or  only  some  misleading  summary  of  it  ?  It 
is  difficult  to  account  for  the  almost  angry  language  (emphasised 
by  large  type)  with  which  he  ends  the  chapter:  "The  priority, 
then,  of  discovery  in  getting  light-pictures  from  silver-salts 
belongs  indisputably  to  Schulze,  and  only  an  intentional  mis- 
understanding and  ignoring  of  the  above  adduced  facts  made  it 
possible  to  throw  doubt  on  his  claim." 

In  spite  of  these  strong  words  the  extent  of  Schulze's  work 
is  clear.  He  certainly  made  a  remarkable  discovery,  namely, 
the  darkening  effect  of  light  upon  silver-salts,  and  he  did  this 
about  half  a  century  before  the  time  of  Scheele,  who  is  usually 
said  to  have  first  made  known  the  fact.  But  more  than  this 
he  did  not  do.  Seventy  years  had  to  pass  before  Thomas 
Wedgwood  tried  to  get  light-pictures,  and  did  get  them,  though 
he  failed  to  fix  them  j  while  more  than  a  century  elapsed  from 
the  time  of  Schulze's  Observation^  before  Niepce,  Daguerre,  and 
Talbot  created  the  art  in  a  practical  sense. 

*    Printed  "  1737"  (evidently  in  error). 


B 


THE  STORY   OF   PROFESSOR   CHARLES'S 
SILHOUETTES 

IN  many  accounts  of  the  origin  of  photography  we  find 
reference  to  a  Professor  Charles  of  Paris,  who  is  said  to  have 
taken  some  kind  of  shadow-pictures  or  silhouettes  of  his  pupils, 
as  a  lecture-room  experiment,  at  some  time  about  the  beginning 
of  the  last  century.  The  story  is  very  vague,  resting  only  on 
tradition,  and  it  has  been  generally  put  aside  by  English  writers 
as  mythical  or  unimportant.  But  French  writers  treat  it  more 
seriously,  and  it  has  some  interest,  as  being  apparently  (if  true  and 
assigned  to  a  true  date)  the  only  trace  of  anything  that  can  be 
represented  as  photographic  work  before  the  time  of  Wedgwood. 
I  cannot  find  that  any  writer  on  the  history  of  photography  has 
examined  it  with  care,  and  I  will  here  put  together  such 
information  about  it  as  I  have  been  able  to  collect. 

First,  as  to  who  and  what  Charles  was.  There  are  notices 
of  him  in  the  "  Biographic  Universelle "  (Michaud,  Paris, 
vol.  lx.,  1836),  in  the  "  Biographic  des  Contemporains " 
(Levrault,  Paris,  1834),  and  in  the  "  Nouvelle  Biographic 
Universelle"  (F.  Didot,  vol.  ix.,  1854).  His  career  is  also 
described  in  an  "  Eloge  Historique "  delivered  before  the 
French  Academy  on  July  16,  1828,  by  Baron  Fourier,  the 
mathematician,  then  Perpetual  Secretary  of  the  Academy.  This 
is  the  fullest  of  the  biographical  accounts  I  have  found,  and 
from  it,  mainly,  I  take  the  following  summary  : 


, 


CHARLES'S    SILHOUETTES         229 

Jacques  Alexandre  Cesar  Charles  was  born  at  Beaugency, 
November  12,  1746.  He  first  distinguished  himself  in  literary 
studies,  then  cultivated  music  and  the  fine  arts.  He  had  for  a 
long  time  a  modest  clerkship  in  the  Office  of  the  Ministry  of 
Finance.  This  post  being  suppressed,  he  retired  with  a  fair 
pension  and  thus  got  the  free  disposal  of  his  time.  It  was  when 
Franklin's  discoveries  in  electricity  were  astonishing  the  world. 
Charles  took  up  natural  science,  and  soon  became  a  successful 
public  lecturer  on  physics.  His  lectures,  given  in  the  Louvre, 
drew  large  and  brilliant  audiences,  and  he  "  had  the  same 
success  for  thirty  years."  He  was  celebrated  for  his  striking 
experiments  ;  he  "  aimed  at  exciting  attention  by  the  grandeur 
and  intensity  of  his  results  "  ;  in  microscopical  experiments  he 
used  enormous  enlargements  ;  in  lectures  on  electricity  "il 
foudroyait  un  animal."  Among  his  hearers  were  Volta  and 
Franklin.  Then  came  (1783)  the  Montgolfiers'  discovery  of 
ballooning.  Charles  took  a  leading  part  in  the  early  ascents, 
and  it  was  he  who  suggested  using  hydrogen  gas  to  fill  the 
balloon  (the  method  still  practised),  as  an  improvement  on  the 
Montgolfiers'  plan  of  heating  atmospheric  air.  Fourier  gives 
details  of  his  ascents.  He  must  have  been  a  man  of  enterprise 
and  courage,  for  he  was  actually  the  first  man  who  ventured  to 
ascend,  alone,  in  a  free  balloon.*  One  day  he  had  a  curious 
experience.  A  man  came  to  see  him  who  professed  to  have  made 
discoveries  in  physics  and  to  have  proved  that  certain  theories 
of  Sir  Isaac  Newton  were  wrong.  Charles  and  his  visitor  got 
into  a  lively  discussion  ;  the  visitor  became  angry,  and  in  a  fit 
of  rage  drew  a  sword  and  rushed  at  the  Professor.  Charles  was 
unarmed,  but  seized  his  assailant,  threw  him  down  and  broke 
his  sword.  The  man  fainted  and  had  to  be  carried  home.  This 
fiery  person  was  Marat,  afterwards  the  terrible  revolutionary 
leader.  On  the  famous  August  10,  1792,  the  Tuileries  were 
invaded  by  the  Paris  mob,  who  found  their  way  to  Charles's 
laboratory.  He  was  surrounded  by  a  raging  multitude,  but 

*  See  article  Aerostation  in  "  Encyc.  Brit." 


23o  APPENDIX  B 

saved  himself  by  telling  them  he  was  the  Charles  of  the 
balloon  ascents,  pointing  to  the  car  which  hung  from  the 
ceiling. 

Fourier  says  he  cannot  give  a  full  enumeration  of  Charles's 
many  researches.  He  mentions  his  "  Megascope  "  and  his  im- 
portant experiments  on  the  dilatation  of  gas.  It  is  by  the  result 
of  these  ("  Charles's  law ")  that  his  name  is  still  known  to 
students  of  physics.  "  To  get  an  idea,"  says  Fourier,  "  of  his 
work  and  talents,  one  should  consult  the  many  reports  in  which 
he  took  part."  He  was  "  Librarian  of  the  Royal  Institute,"  at 
what  time  Fourier  does  not  say.  The  "  Biog.  Univ."  says  he 
became  member  of  the  Academy  in  1795,  "and  then  Librarian 
of  the  Society."  The  "  Nouvelle  Biog.  Univ."  gives  1 785  as  the 
date  of  his  becoming  a  member  of  the  Academy.  The  same 
notice  says  that  he  wrote  very  little,  and  that  in  Biot's  "  Trair.6 
de  Physique  Expe>imentale  "  nearly  all  his  work  (presque  tous 
ses  travaux)  had  been  transmitted  to  us.  This  article  mentions 
various  observations  of  his  as  to  electricity,  gases,  lightning- 
conductors,  optics,  acoustics,  &c.,  but  has  no  reference  to  the 
silhouettes,  nor  can  I  find  in  the  above  work  of  Biot  any  allusion 
to  Charles  in  connection  with  the  effect  of  light  on  chemicals. 

The  "  Biog.  des  Contemporains  "  (1834)  says  he  wrote  little 
about  science — "  quelques  memoires  imprimesdans  les  recueils  de 
1' Academic  des  Sciences,"  and  some  mathematical  articles  in  the 
"  Encyclopedic  Methodique,"  are  his  only  works  ;  also,  that  he 
gave  courses  of  lectures  in  physics  at  the  Louvre  up  to  the  time  of 
the  Revolution  ("  jusqu'a  1'epoque  de  la  Revolution  ").  None 
of  the  above  notices  refer  to  the  silhouettes.  The  earliest 
mention  of  these  which  I  have  found  is  that  by  Arago,  in  the 
famous  discourse  given  before  the  French  Academy  of  Sciences 
in  1839,  on  the  occasion  when,  as  representative  of  the  scientific 
commission  which  had  recommended  the  national  grants  to 
Daguerre  and  to  Isidore  Niepce,  he  gave  to  the  world  the 
particulars  of  the  Daguerre-Niepce  method.  In  this  address, 
after  referring  to  previous  speculations  and  discoveries  bearing 
on  the  subject,  Porta's  "  camera  obscura,"  the  attempts  of  the 


CHARLES'S  SILHOUETTES         231 

alchymists,  &c.,  Arago  says  (I  italicise  in  this  and  other  quotations 
the  more  important  phrases)  : 

"  Ces  applications  de  la  si  curieuse  propriet6  du  chlorure 
d'argent,  decouverte  par  les  anciens  alchymistes,  semblaient 
devoir  s'etre  presentees  d'elles-me'mes  et  de  bonne  heure  ;  mais 
ce  n'est  pas  ainsi  que  precede  1'esprit  humain.  II  nous  faudra 
descendre  jusqu'aux  premieres  annees  du  dix-neuvieme  siecle  pour 
trouver  les  premieres  traces  de  Tart  photographique.  Alors 
Charles,  notre  compatriote,  se  servira,  dans  ses  discours,  d'un 
papier  enduit  pour  engendrer  des  silhouettes  a  Vaide  de  Faction 
lumineuse.  Charles  est  mart  sans  decrire  la  preparation  dont  il 
faisait  usage  ;  et  comme,  sous  peine  de  tomber  dans  le  plus  in- 
extricable confusion,  1'historien  des  sciences  ne  doit  s'appuyer 
que  sur  des  documents  imprimis,  authentiques,  il  est  de  toute 
justice  de  faire  remonter  les  premieres  lineaments  du  nouvel  art 
a  un  Memoire  de  Wedgwood"  and  he  goes  on  to  describe  and 
quote  from  the  account  of  Wedgwood's  discovery  published  in 
the  Journal  of  the  Royal  Institution  for  June  1802. 

A  later  allusion  to  Charles  is  found  in  a  tract  by  Arago,  entitled 
"  Le  Daguerreotypie,"  printed  in  vol.  vii.  of  his  complete 
works.  This  is  apparently  a  reprint  of  a  former  publication, 
but  no  date  or  title-page  is  given  to  show  when  the  original 
appeared.  From  internal  evidence,  I  infer  it  to  have  been 
written  at  some  date  near  1850.  It  is  an  account  of  the  dis- 
coveries of  Niepce  and  Daguerre.  In  a  chapter  entitled, 
"  Examen  de  quelques  reclamations  de  priorite*,"  he  discusses  the 
priority-claim  made  by  Fox  Talbot,  and  in  this  he  says  :  u  La 
premiere  idee  de  fixer  les  images  de  la  chambre  obscure  ou  du 
microscope  solaire  sur  certaines  substances  chimiques,  n'appartient 
ni  a  M.  Daguerre  ni  a  M.  Talbot.  M.  Charles,  de  1'Academie 
des  Sciences,  qui  faisait  des  silhouettes  dans  ses  cours  publics, 
a  precede  M.  Wedgwood.  Les  premiers  essais  de  M.  Nie"pce 
pour  perfectionner  le  precede  de  M.  Charles  ou  de  M.  Wedg- 
wood sont  de  1814."  In  section  xv.  of  this  tract  Arago 
says  :  "  Je  me  suis  attache,  dans  cette  notice,  a  demontrer  que 
la  photographic  est  une  invention  compl£tement  fran£aise," 


232  APPENDIX  B 

adding  that  Talbot  has  undeniably  the  credit  of  a  large  share  in 
the  invention  of  processes  for  taking  photographs  on  paper. 
This  variation  by  Arago  of  his  earlier  account  is  singular.  In 
1839  he  pat  Charles's  experiments  in  the  first  years  of  the  last 
century,  and  gave  no  hint  of  his  using  the  camera.  One  would 
like  to  know  what  led  him  afterwards  to  say  Charles  "  preceded 
Wedgwood,"  which  must  mean  did  his  experiments  before 
1802,  the  date  of  publication  of  Wedgwood's  discovery.  One 
cannot  help  noticing  that  the  latter  statement  is  in  a  paper  the 
declared  object  of  which  was  to  show  that  photography  was 
wholly  a  French  invention.  It  would  have  been  more  satis- 
factory if  he  had  given  some  indication  of  the  actual  date, 
instead  of  the  loose  phrase,  "  preceded  Wedgwood."  But  this 
later  account,  apart  from  any  question  of  the  date  of  the  experi- 
ment, gives  a  wholly  new  turn  to  the  story.  It  would  seem  to 
imply  that  Charles  used  both  the  camera  and  the  solar  micro- 
scope, and  also  that  he  tried  to  "  fix  "  his  pictures.  The  earlier 
statement  merely  says  he  used  a  prepared  paper  to  make  sil- 
houettes. Now,  if  the  "silhouette"  of  the  tradition  means,  as 
surely  it  must,  a  shadow-picture  thrown  on  the  paper  by  the 
head  of  the  sitter,*  Charles  could  not  have  used  a  camera.  For 
with  the  camera,  as  we  all  know,  it  is  not  the  interception 
of  light,  but  the  light  proceeding  from  the  object,  that  produces 
the  image.  On  this  point  Arago's  later  version  seems  to  be 
quite  unintelligible.  And  if  the  tradition  he  mentioned  in 
1839  included  anything  as  to  the  use  of  a  camera,  or  as  to 
"  fixing  the  image,"  it  was  surely  most  strange  that  he  should 
then  have  said  nothing  as  to  these  important  details.  The 
Charles  story  may  be  said  now  to  rest  upon  Arago's  state- 
ments as  to  the  tradition  existing  in  his  time,  and  it  is  un- 
lucky that  these  statements  were  so  lacking  in  precision.  That 
Arago  could  be  careless  even  when  he  was  specially  bound  to 
be  accurate,  for  his  business  in  1839  was  to  set  forth  the  grounds 
for  a  grant  of  public  money,  is  shown  by  his  confusing  Tom 

*  See  quotation,  infra,  from  M.  Tissandier. 


CHARLES'S    SILHOUETTES         233 

Wedgwood  with  his  father,  the  potter.  If  he  had  looked  at  the 
"  Biographic  Universelle,"  it  would  have  told  him  that  Josiah, 
the  father,  had  died  seven  years  before  the  date  of  the  Memoir 
from  which  he  was  quoting. 

Blanquart-Evrard's  "  Traite  de  Photographic  sur  Papier " 
(Paris,  1851)  has  an  introductory  sketch  of  the  history  of 
photography  by  George  Ville.  In  this  we  read  : 

"  La  photographic  est  une  decouverte  franfaise."  ..."  Elle 
est  Pceuvre  de  deux  hommes  (Nie"pce  et  Daguerre)."  .  .  . 
"  L'idee  de  mettre  a  profit  la  propriete  que  possede  la  chlorure 
d'argent  de  noircir  a  la  lumiere,  pour  copier  des  dessins,  et  fixer 
f  image  de  la  chambre  noire^  n'est  pas  venue  pour  la  premiere  fois 
a  MM.  Niepce  et  Daguerre.  Deja,  Charles,  physicien  francais, 
Pemployait  dans  les  cours  qu'il  faisait  au  Louvre,  il  y  a  plus 
cTiin  demi-siede  (this  would  mean  before  1 80 1),  pour  produiredes 
silhouettes  au  moyen  de  la  lumiere.  Wedgwood,  le  Palissy  de 
PAngleterre,  Pavait  employe  de  son  cote  pour  copier  des 
vitraux  d'eglise,  et  Sir  H.  Davy,  pour  fixer  Pi  mage  de  la 
chambre  noire."  The  time  here  indicated  agrees  with  that 
mentioned  by  Arago  in  1839,  while  the  phraseology  and  the 
blunder  as  to  the  two  Wedgwoods  suggest  that  the  writer  is 
virtually  copying  from  Arago's  later  account. 

But  the  mention  of  chloride  of  silver  does  not  accord  with 
Arago's  statement  that  Charles  left  no  record  of  his  method. 

In  a  later  book  of  M.  Blanquart-Evrard,  "  La  Photographic, 
ses  origines,  ses  transformations"  (Lille,  1870),  we  find  yet  a 
new  account  of  Charles.  Here,  after  mentioning  Scheele's 
researches  on  the  operations  of  light  (1777),  the  writer  says  : 
"  ^uelques  annees  plus  tard,  vers  1780,  le  Professeur  Charles  a 
ex£cut£,  dans  son  cours  public  a  Paris,  le  portrait  en  silhouette 
de  ses  eleves."  ..."  Vers  le  me*me  temps,  mais  un  peu  plus 
tard,  un  industriel  Anglais,  Wedgwood  [again  confusion  of  son 
and  father],  obtenait  de  son  cot£  de  pareils  resultats ;  "  and  he 
refers  to  Davy's  Memoir  of  1802.  This  is  the  earliest  mention 
I  have  found  of  1780  as  the  date  of  Charles's  experiments.  No 
authority  is  quoted  for  it. 


234  APPENDIX  B 

In  "La  Photographic,"  by  Mayer  and  Pierson  (Paris,  1862), 
Charles  is  mentioned  in  connection  with  Wedgwood. 
<c  Charles,  le  professeur  populaire,  obtenait  rapidement  dans  ses 
seances  un  grand  nombre  de  silhouettes  tracers  en  noir  sur  un 
papier  enduit,  pour  eprouver  Faction  lumineuse^  mais  il  mourut 
sans  faire  connaitre  le  secret  de  sa  preparation."  It  is  added 
that  "La  couleur  violacee  pourrait  faire  croire  a  I'emploi  de 
Piode.  L'inge"nieux  Wedgwood  cherche  aussi  a  utiliser  cette 
singuliere  propriete  que  possede  la  nitrate  d'argent,  etc."  This 
account  agrees  with  Arago's  early  version  of  the  tradition, 
ignoring  the  later  amplifications,  but  the  addition  of  the  sur- 
mise as  to  iodine  is  new.  This  substance  was  not  discovered 
till  well  on  in  the  nineteenth  century. 

The  story  of  the  silhouettes  is  set  out  at  greater  length  in  a 
book  entitled  "  A  History  and  Handbook  of  Photography," 
translated  from  the  French  of  Gaston  Tissandier,  and  edited  by 
J.  Thomson,  F.R.G.S.  (London :  Sampson  Low,  1876).* 
"  About  the  year  1780,  Professor  Charles,  the  inventor  of  the 
hydrogen  gas  balloon,  made  the  first  use  of  the  dark  room  for 
attempting  to  produce  rudimentary  photographs.  By  means 
of  a  strong  solar  ray,  he  projected  a  shadow  of  the  head  of  one 
of  his  pupils  on  to  a  sheet  of  white  paper  which  had  previously 
been  soaked  in  a  solution  of  chloride  of  silver.  Under  the 
influence  of  the  light  it  was  not  long  in  becoming  black  in  the 
parts  exposed,  remaining  white  on  that  portion  of  the  sheet 
which  had  been  shaded,  and  then  giving  a  faithful  silhouette  of 
the  person's  head  in  white  on  a  black  ground."  A  picture  of 
the  supposed  scene  in  the  lecture-room  is  given,  which  (says  a 
footnote)  uis  based  on  the  rather  vague  and  incomplete  ac- 
counts which  were  given  of  it  at  the  time  of  its  exhibition 
by  Professor  Charles."  The  picture  represents  a  room,  in  one 
wall  of  which  is  a  circular  hole  about  a  foot  in  diameter,  through 
which  streams  horizontally  a  cylinder-shaped  beam  of  light  of 

*  I  do  not  find  the  original  book  in  the  British  Museum,  and 
therefore  quote  from  the  translation. 


CHARLES'S  SILHOUETTES         235 

the  same  diameter,  so  as  to  illuminate  a  screen.  (This  state  of 
things  would  imply  either  that  the  sun  was  on  the  horizon  or 
that  a  mirror  was  used.)  Part  of  the  light  is  intercepted  by 
the  head  of  a  sitting  figure,  thus  throwing  a  shadow  on  the 
illuminated  disk.  "  The  sheet  of  paper  was  passed  from  hand 
to  hand  .  .  .  but  soon  the  light  blackened  it,  and  the  profile 
disappeared  little  by  little  as  though  blotted  with  ink.  Pro- 
fessor Charles  also  reproduced,  roughly,  it  is  true,  some  engrav- 
ings which  he  placed  on  a  sensitised  paper.  The  details  of  this 
experiment  are,  however,  for  the  most  part,  wanting  in  the 
historical  documents  relating  to  his  works.  Wedgwood,  a 
clever  English  scientist,  made  a  similar  experiment  to  Pro- 
fessor Charles ;  he  projected  the  image  of  the  dark  room  on  to 
a  sheet  of  paper  similarly  sensitised,  and  obtained  a  rough  pic- 
ture, which  could  only  be  preserved  in  the  dark.  In  1802 
Wedgwood  and  Sir  H.  Davy  published  a  remarkable  treatise 
on  the  reproduction  of  objects  by  light."*  There  is  a  great  air 
of  particularity  about  this  account,  but  it  gives  no  authority 
for  the  additions  made  to  the  tradition  reported  by  Arago, 
namely,  the  mention  of  the  chemical  used  and  the  alleged 
reproduction  of  engravings.  It  is  difficult,  moreover,  to  under- 
stand M.  Tissandier's  account  of  what  was  done.  He  says 
Charles  made  use  of  the  dark  room  to  produce  his  rudimentary 
photographs.  "  Chambre  obscure"  (dark  room)  is  the  usual 
French  equivalent  of  "  camera  obscura."  The  experiment  is 
pictured  as  made  in  a  darkened  room,  but  the  process  is  not 
that  of  the  camera.  And  one  naturally  asks,  What  or  where 
are  the  "  historical  documents  relating  to  Charles's  works,"  and 
the  "  incomplete  accounts  given  at  the  time  ?  "  These 
phrases  are  virtually  a  confession  that  the  story  is  a  tradition 
only  ;  for  if  M.  Tissandier  had  known  of  such  accounts,  how- 
ever incomplete,  he  surely  would  have  quoted  or  referred  to 

*  The  words,  "published  a  remarkable  treatise,  &c."  are  absurdly 
inapplicable  to  Davy's  dry  little  report  in  four  or  five  pages,  of 
Wedgwood's  experiment.  We  may  be  pretty  sure  M.  Tissandier 
never  saw  the  "  treatise." 


236  APPENDIX  B 

them,  instead  of  giving  pages  of  hypothetical  description.  What 
he  says  as  to  Wedgwood  is  so  hopelessly  wrong  that  we  cannot 
attach  any  weight  to  what  he  says  about  Charles.  He  repre- 
sents Wedgwood  as  obtaining  a  rough  picture  by  means  of  a 
camera,  while  we  know  Wedgwood  failed  to  get  any  image 
from  the  camera.  It  is  significant  that  in  a  later  edition  of  the 
same  book  (1878)  the  translator  and  editor,  in  a  chapter  added 
by  himself,  says :  "The  story  of  the  heliographic  researches  of 
Charles  is  altogether  too  vague  and  improbable  to  be  taken  into 
serious  account." 

Fabre's  "  Traite  Encyclop£dique  de  la  Photographic  "  (Paris, 
1889)  says  :  "En  1780  le  physicien  Charles,  dans  ses  cours  du 
Louvre,  dessinait  les  silhouettes  sur  papier  recouvert  de  chlorure 
d'argent."  This  is  a  book  which  quotes  authorities,  and  a 
footnote  here  mentions  Blanquart-Evrard's  book,  "  La  Photo- 
graphic, ses  origines,  etc.  Lille,  1870,"  as  to  which  see  above. 

Schiendl,  in  his  "Geschichte  der  Photographic,"  1891,  gives 
1780  as  the  date  when  Charles  took  his  silhouettes  "  prepared 
with  chloride  of  silver,"  but  the  authority  he  quotes  is  Fabre's 
book  just  mentioned,  adding  that  Fabre's  authority  is  Blanquart- 
Evrard's  book,  "La  Photographic,  etc.,  1870,"  quoted  above. 
This  seems  to  show  that  neither  Herr  Schiendl,  whose  book 
indicates  very  wide  research,  nor  Fabre,  had  found  any  earlier  or 
better  authority  for  the  date  1780,  or  for  the  mention  of  chloride 
of  silver,  than  the  statement  of  Blanquart-Evrard. 

Dr.  Eder,  in  his  important  "  History  of  Photochemistry  and 
Photography  "(Halle,  1891),  quotes  Arago's  statement  of  1839^ 
but  his  verdict  is,  "  The  statement  that  Charles  obtained 
silhouettes  independently  of,  or  before,  Wedgwood  is  without 
foundation  (entbehrt  jeder  Begrundung)."  He  points  out  the 
vagueness  of  Arago's  phrase,  "first  years  of  the  I9th  century," 
and  suggests  that  Charles,  who  was  a  member  and  librarian  of 
the  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  lived  till  1823,  may  well  have  read 
the  account  of  Wedgwood's  experiments,  published  in  1802,  and 
have  taken  from  it  the  idea  of  the  experiment  shown  to  his 
class. 


CHARLES'S  SILHOUETTES         237 

The  English  writers  on  Photography  whom  I  have  consulted 
treat  the  story  of  the  silhouettes  as  of  no  account,  as  being 
purely  traditional,  but  we  cannot  expect  English  books  to  tell 
us  much  in  a  case  in  which  evidence  could  be  looked  for  only 
from  France.  Robert  Hunt,  in  his  "  Researches  on  Heat  and 
Light,"  a  work  of  authority  in  its  time  (1844),  a  time  very  near 
that  of  the  discussions  of  1839  on  the  beginnings  of  Photography, 
notices  Charles  thus  :  "  This "  (the  account  of  Wedgwood's 
work  published  in  1802)  "  was  certainly  the  first  published  account 
of  any  attempt  to  produce  images  by  the  decomposing  power  of  light. 
It  does,  indeed,  appear  that,  nearly  about  the  same  time, 
M.  Charles  in  his  lectures  at  Paris  proposed  to  make  use  of  a 
prepared  paper  to  produce  black  profiles  by  the  action  of  light, 
but  he  died  without  disclosing  the  preparation  which  he 
employed  ;  indeed,  his  countryman,  the  Abb£  Moigno,  admits 
that  Charles  '  left  no  authentic  document  to  attest  his 
discovery.'  " 

Mr.  W.  Jerome  Harrison,  in  his  "  History  of  Photography," 
mentions  the  story  of  the  silhouettes,  but  adds,  "  This  statement 
is  a  mere  tradition,  and  the  best  authorities  have  considered  it 
*  too  vague  and  improbable  to  be  taken  into  serious  account.' " 

This  review  seems  to  show  that  no  better  authority  for  the 
story  of  the  silhouettes  has  been  brought  forward  than  the  state- 
ment of  Arago  in  1839,  and  that  the  only  discoverable  authority 
for  the  date  1780  is  a  statement  given,  without  any  supporting 
evidence,  by  M.  Blanquart-Evrard.  It  must  be  remembered 
that  Arago,  whether  he  was  accurate  or  not,  had  exceptional 
opportunities  of  knowing  what  was  to  be  known  on  the  matter. 
He  was  a  foremost  figure  in  the  French  scientific  world.  As 
Secretary  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences  he  had  at  his  command 
the  Academy  records,  and  we  may  presume  that  he  had  looked 
to  see  what  they  showed  upon  this  subject.  He  not  only  says 
he  knew  of  no  record  left  by  Charles,  but  asserts  that  Charles 
left  none.  He  must  have  known  Charles  personally,  and  was 
writing  only  sixteen  years  after  his  death.  It  seems  very  im- 
probable that  any  valid  evidence  should  have  been  in  existence 


238  APPENDIX  B 

for  the  date  1780,  or  for  the  accounts  of  the  chemical  used,  and 
that  this  evidence  should  have  been  unknown  to  him.  That 
Charles  was  lecturing  "vers  1780"  may  be  taken  as  probable,  if 
not  certain.  His  connection  with  the  balloon  ascents,  and  the 
adventure  with  Marat,  point  to  a  date  before  1789.  But  if  he 
lectured  for  thirty  years  (as  Fourier  asserts),  the  date  of  the 
lecturing  would  not  show  anything  as  to  the  date  of  the 
silhouette  experiments  ;  while  it  is  easy  to  understand  that  an 
oral  tradition  might  confuse  one  date  with  the  other.  If  this 
point  were  worth  further  investigation,  possibly  a  search  among 
pre-revolution  French  newspapers  might  yield  some  evidence. 

But,  supposing  the  story  of  the  silhouettes  to  be  true,  the 
question  remains,  has  it  any  significance  in  regard  to  the  history 
of  photography  ?  Was  the  experiment  photographic,  that  is, 
photographic  in  intent  ?  There  is  nothing  to  show  that  it  was. 
It  is  much  more  simple  to  regard  it  as  done  only  "  pour 
e"prouver,"  as  MM.  Mayer  et  Pierson  say,  "  Faction  lumineuse." 
It  was  a  way  of  making  pupils  seize  the  already  well-known 
fact  that  light  has  a  darkening  effect  on  certain  substances. 
Charles,  we  know,  took  pains  to  get  vivid  illustrations,  and  this 
was  just  the  kind  of  experiment  to  stick  in  the  memory  of  an 
audience.  It  is,  of  course,  possible  that,  after  showing  them  the 
silhouettes,  he  went  on  to  tell  them  that  some  means  might 
conceivably  be  found  of  stopping  the  after-action  of  light  on  the 
space  which  remained  white,  and  that  if  this  could  be  done  the 
silhouette  would  remain  as  a  permanent  profile  portrait.  If  he 
said  anything  like  this,  and  if  he  actually  tried  to  get  a  "fixing" 
process,  he  was  to  that  extent  a  photographer.  If  not,  the  idea 
of  photography  was  not  there  ;  it  was  only  an  illustration  of  a 
known  fact  in  photochemistry.  But  our  most  trustworthy 
report  of  the  tradition  gives  no  hint  of  his  trying  to  fix  the  sil- 
houette, or  of  his  using  the  camera.  This  last  point  is  im- 
portant, for  if  Charles  had  had  in  his  mind  the  possibility  of 
getting  pictures  of  objects,  he  could  hardly  have  failed  to  think 
of  the  camera,  the  familiar  picture-making  machine.  If  he  told 
his  class  that  what  he  showed  them  was  a  first  step  towards 


CHARLES'S   SILHOUETTES         239 

actually  getting  portraits  by  the  mere  operation  of  light  it  is 
difficult  to  imagine  how  an  idea  so  new,  so  startling,  so  interest- 
ing to  the  common  world,  put  forward  by  a  man  who  was,  qufi. 
lecturer,  the  Tyndall  or  Faraday  of  the  Paris  of  his  time,  could 
have  made  so  little  stir  as  not  to  be  noticed  in  any  record  of  his 
life,  or  leave  any  trace  beyond  the  vague  tradition  known  to  us. 
These  considerations  add  force  to  Dr.  Eder's  supposition  that 
the  experiment  was  shown  after  1802,  and  was  suggested  by  a 
reading  of  the  Davy  Memoir.  The  volume  containing  that 
Memoir  may  well  have  been  sent  to  the  Paris  Academy,  of 
which  Charles  was  (at  some  time)  the  Librarian.  Arago 
evidently  had  it  before  him  in  1839. 

It  is,  of  course,  perfectly  easy  to  account  for  the  existence  or 
the  tradition  without  supposing  that  the  experiment  had  any 
photographic  meaning.  For,  on  the  announcement  to  the 
world  in  1839  of  Daguerre's  method  of  applying  the  decompo- 
sing power  of  light  to  the  making  of  pictures,  nothing  would 
be  more  likely  than  that  people  who  had  witnessed  or  heard  of 
Charles's  illustration  of  that  fundamental  fact  should  be  reminded 
of  his  experiment,  and  should  see  in  it,  by  the  light  of  later 
knowledge,  a  significance  which  he  himself  had  not  given  it. 

My  conclusions  on  the  matter  are  these  :  from  the  nature  of 
the  case  they  can  but  be  put  in  the  language  of  proba- 
bilities : 

1.  The  story  of  the  silhouettes  has  probably  a  foundation  in 
fact,  though  no   record  has  been  produced,  contemporary  or 
other,  to  show  when  the  experiments  were  made,  what  was 
their  object,  or  what  method  and  materials  were  employed. 

2.  The  assignment  of  the  early  date,  1780,  would  appear  to 
rest  on  the  unsupported  statement  of  one  author,  writing  nearly 
a  century  after  that  time. 

3.  There  is  no  good  reason  for  supposing  that  the  experi- 
ments, if  made,  were  photographic  in  character  or  intentio^ 
and  it  is  not  at  all  probable  that  they  were  so. 

4.  Assuming    that  they  might  have  been  photographic    in 
character,  no  evidence  has  been  adduced  to  refute  the  supposition 


24o  APPENDIX  B 

that  they  were  prompted  by  the  account  published  in  1802  of 
Thomas  Wedgwood's  work. 

Thus  there  seems  to  be  no  solid  ground  for  treating  the 
story  as  relevant  to  the  history  of  photography.  It  will  probably 
remain  an  unverified  tradition,  as  it  is  hardly  likely  that  any  one 
will  think  it  worth  while  to  search  for  documentary  evidence 
of  its  truth. 


A   MYTHICAL  ACCOUNT   OF  T.   WEDG- 
WOOD'S PHOTOGRAPHIC  WORK 

THE  story  which,  as  mentioned  in  the  preface,  was  put  forward 
by  Miss  Meteyard  in  her  book,  called  "  A  Group  of  English- 
men" (1872),  and  which  has  confused  the  true  story  of 
Wedgwood's  work  by  representing  that  he  did  what  he  certainly 
did  not  do,  is  in  effect  the  same  as  had,  some  years  earlier,  made 
a  stir  among  English  photographers,  and  had  been  then  proved 
to  be  a  myth.  It  was  known  as  the  "  story  of  the  early  photo- 
graphs," and  was  discussed  at  many  meetings  of  photographers, 
of  which  reports  may  be  found  in  the  Photographic  News  and 
Photographic  Journal  of  the  years  1863  and  1864. 

Miss  Meteyard  maintains  that  two  photographs  on  paper,  of 
which  she  gives  engravings,  one  called  a  "Breakfast  Table 
Scene,"  in  her  "Life  of  Josiah  Wedgwood"  (vol.  ii.  585),  and 
another  called  "  A  Savoyard  Piper,"  which  she  makes  the 
frontispiece  of  the  "  Group  of  Englishmen,"  were  done  by  him 
in  the  years  1791-93.  This  is,  of  course,  absolutely  impossible 
in  face  of  two  facts  clearly  set  forth  by  Davy  in  the  paper  of 
1802  :  First,  that  all  Wedgwood's  pictures  faded  away  after  a 
short  exposure  to  light ;  secondly,  that  images  formed  by  means 
of  a  camera  obscura  "  were  found  too  faint  to  produce  in  any 
moderate  time  an  effect  upon  the  nitrate  of  silver."  The 
"  Breakfast  Table  "  picture  must  obviously  have  been  made  by 
means  of  a  camera,  and  according  to  Miss  Meteyard  it  was 

Q 


242  APPENDIX  C 

permanent  enough  to  be  copied  by  an  engraver  some  seventy 
years  after  it  was  taken.  There  is  nothing  in  the  engraving  of 
the  "  Savoyard  Paper  "  to  show  that  it  was  taken  from  a  photo- 
graph, but  if  it  was,  the  photograph  could  not  have  been 
Wedgwood's. 

In  the  discussions  of  1863  an  attempt  was  made  to  show  that 
the  art  had  been  invented,  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  about 
1790-1800,  or  about  forty  or  fifty  years  before  the  era  of 
Niepce,  Daguerre,  and  Talbot.  It  was  said  that,  in  clearing 
out  some  rooms  at  Messrs.  Boulton  and  Watt's  works  at  Soho, 
near  Birmingham,  there  had  been  discovered  two  views  on 
metal  plates,  showing  a  house  at  Soho,  which  views  could  be 
proved  to  have  been  taken  before  1791 ;  and  that  a  camera  had 
also  been  found  whereby  such  pictures  had  been  or  might  have 
been  taken.  There  had  been  found  also  certain  large  coloured 
pictures  of  about  the  same  date,  which  were  copies  of  well- 
known  paintings,  evidently  not  done  by  hand,  and  these,  too, 
were  said  to  be  photographic.  All  these  various  pictures  were 
shown  at  meetings  of  the  Photographic  Society.  The  story 
was  evidently  put  forward  in  good  faith  and  at  first  was  widely 
believed.  The  Saturday  Review  discussed  it  at  length,  and 
spoke  of  the  "  chain  of  evidence  "  as  "  nearly  complete."  But 
before  long  the  so-called  evidence  proved  to  be  worthless.  The 
big  coloured  pictures,  though  the  method  of  their  production 
was  a  puzzle,  were  certainly  not  photographic.  The  two 
views  of  the  house  at  Soho  were  admitted  to  be  daguerreotypes, 
but  the  evidence  for  the  early  date  went  to  pieces  when  care- 
fully examined.  As  to  the  two  alleged  Wedgwoodian  photos, 
no  proof  of  date  or  authorship  was  offered  beyond  Miss 
Meteyard's  statement  that  she  had  evidence  to  show  they  were 
Wedgwood's  ;  which  evidence,  it  was  said,  would  appear  in  the 
forthcoming  life  of  his  father.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Society  on 
November  3,  1863,  there  was  read  a  letter  from  her  saying: 
"  You  may  with  safety  put  Wedgwood's  experiments  in 
1790-1791,"  &c.  At  a  later  meeting,  however  (January  5, 
1864),  the  secretary  showed  an  old  photograph  belonging  to 


A  MYTHICAL  STORY  243 

himself,  done  by  Mr.  Fox  Talbot  about  1841,  which  corre- 
sponded exactly  with  that  entitled  by  Miss  Meteyard  "  The 
Breakfast  Table  at  Etruria  Hall,  1791."  As  this  photograph 
showed  a  collection  of  twenty  or  thirty  separate  objects,  cups 
and  saucers,  spoons,  teapot,  &c.,  disposed  about  a  table,  the 
existence  of  two  views  of  the  scene,  exactly  similar  and  yet  ot 
independent  origin,  would  have  been  simply  impossible.  This 
evidence  was  confirmed  by  a  letter  from  Mr.  Fox  Talbot, 
saying  that  he  had  taken  the  view  at  Lacock  Abbey  (where  he 
lived),  and  that,  no  doubt,  copies  would  be  found  there.  These 
copies  have  since  been  found  * — as  also  has  the  negative. 
No  attempt  was  made  to  disprove  the  attribution  of  this 
picture  to  Mr.  Talbot,  nor  was  the  origin  of  the  "  Savoyard 
Piper  "  explained. 

The  "  story  of  the  early  photographs  "  was  thus  completely 
disposed  of  in  1864.  But  in  1866  it  reappeared  in  Miss 
Meteyard's  "  Life  of  Josiah  Wedgwood."  She  there  described 
"  The  Breakfast  Table  "  as  an  "  Early  Photograph  by  Thomas 
Wedgwood  (Mayer  Collection),"  but  of  the  promised  evidence 
of  authenticity  there  was  not  a  word,  not  even  a  word  to 
suggest  that  the  origin  of  the  picture  had  been  questioned. 
Five  years  later,  in  1871,  she  brought  out  her  "Group  of 
Englishmen."  And  again  in  that  volume  the  exploded  story 
was  still  more  emphatically  reasserted.  An  engraving  of  "  The 
Savoyard  Piper  "  there  figures  as  the  frontispiece,  and  is  called  a 
"  facsimile  of  the  earliest  known  heliotype,  or  sun-picture, 
taken  by  the  Inventor  of  Photography,  Thomas  Wedgwood, 
1791-93."  But  again  no  evidence  is  offered.  We  are  only 
told  that  a  Mr.  Mayer  derived  it  from  an  undoubted  source," 
that  "  many  of  these  c  heliotypes '  were,  it  is  said,  scattered  at 
one  time  about  the  Potteries " ;  that  its  "  authenticity  is 
undoubted,"  and  that  as  the  earliest  known  specimen  of  photo- 
graphy it  is  "  considered  to  be  of  great  value."  It  is  curious 
that  in  both  the  volumes  containing  these  statements  there  are 

*  I  have  seen  one  of  them,  kindly  sent  me  by  Mr.  Fox  Talbot's 
son.— R.  B.  L. 


244  APPENDIX  C 

allusions  which  show  that  the  authoress  knew  of  the  discussions 
of  1863-64.  She  alludes  (Life,  ii.  5)  to  the  "Soho  pictures," 
and  in  the  "  Group  of  Englishmen  "  the  "  Savoyard  Piper  "  is 
mentioned  as  having  been  "  shown  at  a  meeting  of  the  Photo- 
graphic Society."  It  is  not  easy  to  imagine  how  she  could  have 
put  the  story  into  her  books  without  taking  the  trouble  to 
ascertain  the  issue  of  the  discussions  to  which  she  herself  had 
contributed  materials.  Such  carelessness  is  nearly  inconceiv- 
able ;  and  yet  one  shrinks  from  supposing  her  to  have  been 
simply  mendacious. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  mention  here  another  theory  which 
has  found  its  way  into  books  about  Photography,  and  which  was 
also  started  by  Miss  Meteyard.  It  purports  to  connect 
Daguerre's  discovery  with  Tom  Wedgwood's  silver  pictures, 
and  turns  on  a  guess  that  one  Dominique  Daguerre,  a  Paris 
shopkeeper  or  trader,  who  was  (undoubtedly)  old  Josiah 
Wedgwood's  agent,  may  have  been  the  father  of  Louis 
Daguerre,  the  inventor  of  the  Daguerreotype  process.  The 
guess  is  based  entirely  on  the  coincidence  that  the  inventor  and 
the  agent  had  the  same  surname.  Her  "chain  of  evidence"  is 
as  follows :  Daguerre,  the  agent,  was  once  or  oftener  in  London. 
"  There  is  reason  to  think — indeed  there  is  a  tradition  to  the 
effect — that  he  visited  Etruria,  as  was  customary  with  most 
foreigners,  and  whilst  there  he  probably  witnessed  some  of 
T.Wedgwood's  experiments  on  light  and  heat"  (G.  of  E.,p.  50). 
In  a  later  page  (157)  this  guess  or  probability  appears  as  a  fact: 
"  Daguerre's  son,  who  was  with  him  in  his  visits  to  Etruria  in 
1791  and  1793,  was  about  20  or  21  years  old  in  1802.  If  he 
inherited  his  father's  tastes,  we  may  reasonably  conclude  that  he 
was  one  and  the  same  with  the  M.  Daguerre  who  in  1824 
improved  the  heliotype  process  ....  and  he  may  have 
been  led  to  these  researches  either  through  memory  of  what  he 
had  seen  or  heard  of  T.  Wedgwood's  experiments." 

This  theory,  which  rests,  as  Miss  M.'s  words  show,  only  on  a 
series  of  guesses,  is  at  once  disposed  of  by  the  fact  that  Daguerre, 
the  inventor,  was  born  in  1787.  If,  therefore,  he  was  the 


A  MYTHICAL  STORY  245 

agent's  son  who  "probably"  heard  of  or  saw  Wedgwood's 
experiments  in  1791  or  1793,  he  had  developed  a  taste  for 
physical  science,  and  accompanied  his  father  on  business  tours, 
when  a  babe  of  four  or  six  years  old  !  and  if  in  1802  the  agent's 
son  was  "20  or  21  years  of  age,"  he  must  have  been  born  in 
1781  or  1782,  or  at  least  five  years  before  the  inventor.  The 
biographical  dictionaries  do  not  give  Louis  Daguerre's  parentage, 
but  in  a  book  written  by  M.  Mentienne,  Mayor  of  the  place 
(Bry)  where  he  died,  what  is  said  about  his  father  could  hardly 
apply  to  a  Paris  shopkeeper.  The  father  was  a  rural  functionary, 
"  huissier  of  the  bailliage  of  Cormeilles,"  and  afterwards  (1792) 
moved  to  Orleans,  where  he  was  employed  on  the  crown 
domains.* 

*  "La  Decouverte  de  la  Photographic  en  1839."     Paris,  1892. 


D 


ON  SOME  NOTICES  OF  TOM  WEDGWOOD 
IN   HISTORIES   OF   PHOTOGRAPHY 

I  GIVE  here,  by  way  of  supplement  to  my  account  of 
Wedgwood's  Photographic  work,  some  notes  on  what  is  said 
about  him  by  well-known  writers  on  the  subject.  The  earliest 
(known  to  me)  of  such  notices,  that  by  Arago  (1839),  has 
already  been  mentioned. 

Dr.  Eder,  in  his  important  History,*  says  :  "  The  invention 
of  photography  on  paper  and  leather  by  Wedgwood  dates  from 
the  year  1802  [referring  to  Davy's  Memoir  of  that  year]. 
Many  authors  give  this  year  as  that  of  the  invention  of  photo- 
graphy generally,  which  I,  having  regard  to  Schulze  (1727), 
cannot  admit."  (As  to  Schulze,  see  Appendix  A.)  Dr.  Eder 
points  out  that  the  work  described  in  the  Davy  Memoir  (which 
he  summarises)  should  not  be  attributed,  as  it  is  by  some  writers, 
to  Wedgwood  and  Davy,  the  latter  having  only  described 
Wedgwood's  experiments  and  furnished  an  Appendix.  He 
considers  Arago  to  have  been  wrong  when,  in  his  memoir  laid 
before  the  French  Academy  in  1839,  "he  proclaimed  these  two 
men  as  the  inventors  of  photography,"  though  he  (Dr.  Eder) 
places  them  "  in  the  rank  of  those  enquirers  in  the  province  of 

*  "Geschichte  der  Photochemie  und  Photographic  von  Alterthume 
bis  in  die  Gegenwart,"  von  Dr.  Josef  Maria  Eder,  Direktor  der  K.  K. 
Lehr  und  Versuchsanstalt  fur  Photographic  in  Wien,  &c.  &c. 
Halle,  a  S.  Wilhelm  Krapp,  1891. 


APPENDIX   D  247 

photo-chemistry  who  develop  facts  already  known  in  a  more  or 
less  new  direction  with  more  or  less  deep  research  (welche  schon 
bekannte  Thatsachen  in  einer  mehr  oder  weniger  tiefen 
Vorstudium  weiter  ausbildeten)."  These  last  words  seem  to  be 
a  fair  description  of  Wedgwood's  work,  but  surely  they  are 
equivalent  to  saying  that  he  was  an  inventor,  though  he  left  his 
invention  incomplete  ;  for  do  not  most  inventions — nearly  all, 
perhaps — consist  in  the  application  of  known  facts  to  new 
purposes  ? 

Dr.  Eder  mentions  that  Wedgwood's  experiments  became 
known  in  Germany  in  1803,  and  from  a  reference  made  by  Herr 
Schiendel  I  gather  that  Davy's  account  appeared  in  Gilbert's 
"  Annalen  "  as  early  as  181 1. 

In  Herr  Schiendel's  History  *  the  notice  of  Wedgwood 
begins  as  follows:  "In  the  year  1802  Wedgwood  appears  to 
have  received  a  suggestion  from  a  scientific  society  existing  in 
Birmingham  that  called  itself  the  *  Lunatic  Society,'  for  making 
an  attempt  to  copy  pictures  and  drawings  on  glass,  and  to  pro- 
duce silhouettes  in  the  same  manner."  (Im  Jahre  1802,  scheint 
Wedgwood  von  einer  in  Birmingham  existirenden  wissenschaft- 
lichen  Gesellschaft,  die  sich  *  Lunatic  Society '  nannte,  die  Anre- 
gung  erhalten  zu  haben,  Versuchte  anzustellen,  Gemalde  und 
Zeichnungen  mittelst  Silbersalzen  auf  Glas  zu  copiren  und  auf 
ahnliche  Weise  Silhouetten  zu  erzeugen.)  Herr  Schiendel 
does  not  quote  any  authority  for  this  story,  and  I  know  of 
no  foundation  for  it.  Dr.  Eder  also  alludes  to  it,  but  doubt- 
fully. He  refers  in  a  note  (p.  60)  to  the  tale  of  the  "early 
photographs"  current  in  1863  and  1864,  whence  I  conjecture 
that  the  supposed  intervention  of  the  society  was  part  of  that 
myth. 

The  word  "  Lunatic,"  which  Herr  Schiendel  naturally  thinks 
an  odd  epithet  to  be  applied  to  men  like  Watt  and  Priestley, 
should  be  "  Lunar."  The  reference  is  to  a  group  of  private 
friends,  living  about  Birmingham  and  in  the  neighbouring 

*  "  Geschichte  der  Photographic,"  von  C.  Schiendel.  Wien, 
Hartlebeas,  1891. 


248  APPENDIX  D 

counties,  who  were  in  the  habit  of  spending  a  day  together 
once  a  month  at  one  or  other  of  their  houses  in  succession. 
Among  them  were  James  Watt,  Boulton,  Captain  Keir  the 
chemist,  Dr.  Erasmus  Darwin,  Priestley,  Samuel  Galton, 
Dr.  Withering  the  botanist,  and  one  or  two  more.  Herschell 
the  astronomer,  Edgeworth,  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  and  others  are 
mentioned  as  having  been  occasional  visitors.  The  meetings 
were  held  at  or  near  the  full  moon,  doubtless  in  view  of  the 
considerable  distances  which  some  of  the  party  had  to  ride  or 
drive,  whence  came  the  word  "  Lunar."  *  I  do  not  know  of 
anything  to  connect  the  Society  with  Tom  Wedgwood  (who 
was  from  thirty  to  forty  years  younger  than  most  of  the  group), 
except  the  facts  that  most,  if  not  all,  were  friends  of  his  father, 
and  that  Tom  corresponded  with  Priestley  and  Keir  about  his 
experiments  on  heat  and  light.  Whatever  be  the  origin  of  the 
story,  it  has  a  very  apocryphal  look.  No  one  who  knew  the 
facts  could  have  described  the  "  Lunar  "  friends  as  a  "  Scientific 
Society  existing  in  Birmingham,"  and  the  statement  that  the 
Society  prompted  Wedgwood  to  an  attempt  trying  to  "  copy 
pictures  on  glass"  an  attempt  which  he  did  not  make,  must 
surely  have  arisen  from  a  mis-reading  of  the  ambiguous  title  of 
Davy's  "  account." 

Herr  Schiendel  refers  to  the  account  as  published  after 
Wedgwood's  death,  a  mistake  which  I  suppose  arises  from  his 
confusing  the  photographer  with  his  father,  the  potter,  who  had 
died  in  1795.  Like  Dr.  Eder,  he  insists  that  Schulze  was  the 
real  inventor  of  Photography,  a  view  which  I  think  is  con- 
clusively refuted  by  Schulze's  own  Memoir  (Appendix  A).  He 
refers,  as  does  Dr.  Eder,  to  Beccarius  and  Scheele  as  "prede- 
cessors "  of  Wedgwood  and  Davy — a  vague  phrase,  which 
might  lead  readers  to  suppose  that  these  earlier  physicists  aimed 
at  turning  the  facts  they  were  investigating  to  some  graphic  use. 
This,  as  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  was  not  the  case.  Priestley,  in 

*  A  lively  account  of  the  "  Lunar  Meetings "  is  given  in  the 
autobiography  of  Mrs.  Schimmelpenninck,  a  daughter  of  Samuel 
Gallon. 


APPENDIX    D  249 

his  "History  and  Present  State  of  Discoveries  relating  to 
Vision,  Light,  and  Colours"  (1772),  gives  an  account  of  the 
observations  of  Beccarius,*  Scheele,  Schulze,  and  others,  but  says 
nothing  to  show  that  any  of  their  experiments  were  directed 
towards  obtaining  a  representation  of  an  object.  Dr.  Eder 
writes  (p.  62)  :  "Schulze  and  Beccarius  showed  that,  by 
patterns  applied  to  opaque  substances,  writings  and  drawings 
can  be  copied  on  chloride  of  silver  exposed  to  light "  (dass  man 
durch  aufgelegte  Schablonen  aus  undurchsichtigen  Stoffen, 
Schriften  und  Zeichnungen  auf  Chlorsilber  im  Lichte  copiren 
kann).  But  on  referring  to  the  Commentaries  of  the  Bolog- 
nese  Academy,  which  Dr.  Eder  quotes  as  his  authority  as  far  as 
relates  to  Beccarius  (with  date  1757),  I  find  nothing  there  to 
fit  such  a  description  of  his  work.  The  experiments  described 
relate  to  the  effect  of  light  on  various  substances,  and  the  one 
in  which  its  darkening  effect  on  luna  cornea  is  shown  is  very 
like  Schulze's  "  Observation,"  including  the  artifice  of  sticking 
a  piece  of  black  paper  on  the  side  of  the  glass  :  but  I  find 
nowhere  a  word  as  to  copying  either  patterns,  or  writings,  or 
engravings,  or  anything  else.t 

I  notice  this  apparent  error  of  Dr.  Eder's  because,  occurring 
in  a  work  of  high  authority,  it  has  probably  misled  other  writers. 
In  many  of  the  histories  of  photography,  especially  the  more 
popular  books,  one  meets  with  loose  statements  as  to  the  earlier 
physicists  whose  observations  prepared  the  way  for  the  art,  with- 
out any  attempt  to  distinguish  between  photochemical  and  photo- 
graphic  experiments.  I  find,  for  instance,  in  one  of  these 

*  James  Bartholomew  Beccaria  of  Bologna,  not,  as  Dr.  Eder  and 
Herr  Schiendel  call  him,  John  Baptist  Beccaria,  Professor  of  Physics 
at  Turin. 

t  Vol.  iv.  of  the  "Commentaries"  (pp.  84-87)  has  an  account  of 
experiments  by  Beccarius  and  Bonzi  on  the  effects  of  light  on  various 
substances.  The  heading  is  "  De  vi  quam  ipsa  per  se  lux  habet  non 
colores  modo,  sed  etiam  texturam  rerum  salvis  interdum  coloribus, 
immutandi."  These  "  Commentaries  "  include  a  number  of  tracts 
or  papers  by  different  writers  or  editors.  The  only  one  I  find  by 
Beccarius  himself  is  one  on  phosphorescents  :  "  De  quam  plurimis 
phosphoris  nunc  primum  detectis."  Tom  2,  pars  altera,  p.  136. 


250  APPENDIX  D 

popular  histories  (after  an  account  of  the  invention  of  the 
camera obscura)  a  chapter  beginning:  "Nothing  further  appears 
to  have  been  done  in  photography  until  T.  Wedgwood,  a  son 
of  the  famous  potter,  took  up  the  subject"  These  last  words  are 
wholly  misleading.  Before  Wedgwood  "  the  subject "  did  not 
exist,  no  one,  so  far  as  we  yet  know,  having  thrown  out  the 
idea  of  making  a  picture  by  means  of  light. 


AS  TO  WEDGWOOD'S  DISCOVERY  (p.  19) 
OF  THE  FACT  THAT  SOLID  BODIES 
HAVE  THE  SAME  TEMPERATURE  AT 
THE  POINT  OF  INCANDESCENCE 

I  HAVE  not  succeeded  in  finding  any  definite  statement  as  to 
when,  or  through  whom,  this  fact  first  became  known.  A 
paper  by  Professor  Draper,  of  New  York,  printed  in  the 
Philosophical  Magazine  for  1847  (vo^  3°>  P-  345)?  contains 
expressions  which  seem  to  imply  his  belief  that  Thomas 
Wedgwood  was  in  effect  the  discoverer  of  the  law,  whereof  that 
paper  was  apparently  intended  to  give  a  complete  proof. 
Draper  describes  its  objects  thus  : 

1.  To  determine  the  point  of  incandescence  of  platinum  and 
to  prove  that  different  bodies   become  red  hot  at  the   same 
temperature. 

2.  To  determine  the  colour  of  the  rays  emitted  by  luminous 
bodies  at  different  temperatures. 

3.  To  determine  the  relation  between  the  brilliance  of  the 
light  and  the  temperature. 

After  describing  some  experiments  which  led  him  to  put  the 
temperature  of  incandescence  at  977°,  he  says:  "Against  the 
No.  977°  it  may  also  be  objected  that  antimony  melts  at  a 
much  lower  temperature  and  yet  emits  light  before  it  fuses.  If 
this  statement  were  true  it  would  lead  us  to  believe  that  all 


252  APPENDIX   E 

bodies  have  not  the  same  point  of  incandescence.  But  I  think 
the  experiments  of  Mr.  Wedgwood  on  gold  and  earthenware  are 
decisive  on  that  point ;  and  moreover,  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  melting-point  of  antimony  is  much  higher  than  is  com- 
monly supposed." 

In  his  preamble,  Draper  says :  "  Sir  I.  Newton  fixed  the 
temperature  at  which  bodies  become  self-luminous  at  635°,  Sir 
H.  Davy  at  812°,  Mr.  Wedgwood  at  947°,  Mr.  Daniel  at  900°." 
Draper  seems  to  be  here  confusing  the  two  Wedgwoods,  father 
and  son.  It  was  Josiah,  the  father,  who,  in  a  paper  on  his 
"Pyrometer,"  in  the  Phil.  Trans,  for  1784,  gave  a  table  of 
comparative  temperatures,  one  entry  wherein  is  "  red  heat 
fully  visible  in  the  dark  947°."  If  he  had  meant  by  this  that 
all  bodies  become  luminous  at  that  temperature,  his  son  certainly 
would  not  have  used  the  language  we  find  in  his  paper  of  eight 
years  later.  I  have  not  discovered  where  it  is  that  Newton 
makes  the  statement  Draper  ascribes  to  him.  It  is  not  in  his 
"Scala  graduum  caloris"  given  in  the  Phil.  Trans,  for  1701. 

A  paper  by  Professor  Kirchhoff  in  *Pogg.  *<fnn.y  vol.  109, 
translated  in  Phil.  Mag.  for  July  1860,  on  the  relation  between 
the  radiating  and  absorbing  powers  of  different  bodies  for  light 
and  heat,  gives  a  more  general  treatment  of  the  subject, 
extending,  so  far  as  I  understand  it,  the  law  indicated  by 
T.  Wedgwood,  and  applying  high  mathematics  to  the  problem. 
One  of  KirchhofPs  conclusions  is  thus  expressed  :  "  It  follows 
that  all  bodies,  when  their  temperature  is  gradually  raised,  begin 
to  emit  waves  of  the  same  length  at  the  same  temperature,  and 
therefore  become  red  hot  at  the  same  temperature,  emit  yellow 
rays  at  the  same  temperature,  &c." 

From  all  that  I  can  learn  on  the  matter,  I  infer  that  we  may 
regard  T.  Wedgwood  as  the  discoverer  of  this  curious  and 
important  physical  law. 


PRIESTLEY  IN  AMERICA  (P.  28) 

PRIESTLEY'S  move  to  America  was  in  1794,  just  at  the  time 
when  Coleridge,  Lovell,  and  Southey  were  hatching  the  famous 
Pantisocracy  scheme  which  was  to  "  realize  the  age  of  reason  " 
on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna.  They  were  hoping  the 
philosopher  would  join  them,  but  he  set  up  his  household  gods 
at  Northumberland,  a  little  town  or  village  in  Pennsylvania. 

"  Lo !   Priestley  there,  patriot  and  saint  and  sage, 
Him,  full  of  years  from  his  loved  native  land, 
Statesmen  bloodstained  and  priests  idolatrous, 
By  dark  lies  maddening  the  blind  multitude, 
Drove  with  vain  hate." 

(Religious  Musings.) 

This  is  Coleridge's  fiery  account  of  Priestley's  exile,  written 
in  1794,  when  he  was  in  the  white  heat  of  his  young  revolu- 
tionary fervour.  But  it  is  curious,  when  we  turn  to  Priestley's 
letters  to  his  neighbours  at  Northumberland,  to  find  him 
enlarging  on  the  rancorous  vehemence  with  which  he  was 
maligned  and  attacked  in  that  land  of  freedom.  Pennsylvania, 
equally  with  Warwickshire,  had  its  "  priests  idolatrous,"  who 
"maddened  the  blind  multitude"  against  the  " saint  and  sage." 
u  At  a  Baptist  Chapel,"  we  read,  "  the  minister  burst  out  and 
bade  the  people  beware,  for  ca  Priestley  had  entered  the  land' ; 
then,  crouching  in  a  worshipping  attitude,  exclaimed,  *  Oh  ! 
Lamb  of  God,  how  they  would  pluck  Thee  from  Thy 
Throne.'"  (Life  by  Rutt,  ii.  263.) 


THE  COLERIDGE  ANNUITY— ITS  AFTER- 
HISTORY 

A  CIRCUMSTANCE  in  the  after-history  of  the  annuity  has  been 
made  the  subject  of  speculation  and  criticism  by  various  writers, 
for  which  reason  I  think  it  well  to  notice  it  here,  though  it 
occurred  some  years  after  T.  Wedgwood's  death.  He  be- 
queathed to  Coleridge  an  annuity  of  £75  a  year,  being  one  hair 
of  the  £150.!  No  part  of  the  annuity  had  previously  been  settled 
legally  upon  him.  Mr.  Dykes  Campbell's  statement  that  Tom's 
half  had  been  so  settled  is  an  error.  This  is  clearly  shown  by 
the  language  of  the  will.  Moreover,  there  was  no  mode  in  which 
such  a  promise  could  have  been  made  legally  enforceable,  in  the 
absence  of  what  lawyers  call  a  "  valuable  consideration."  This 
fact  had  been  ascertained  by  T.  W.  in  the  case  of  the  annuity 
which  he  gave  to  Leslie,  and  that  promise  was  therefore  embodied 
in  a  simple  letter,  which  left  it  binding  in  honour  though  not  in 
law.  Josiah  Wedgwood,  indeed,  in  his  letter  of  January  1798, 
alludes  to  "  securing  "  the  annuity  to  Coleridge,  but  by  this  he 
can  only  have  meant  arranging  for  its  payment  through  a  bank 
or  otherwise.  The  brothers  cannot  have  forgotten  what  passed 
in  the  Leslie  case  about  a  year  previously. 

Thus,  after  T.  W.'s  death,  Coleridge  received  £75  a  year 
from  Tom's  executors  up  to  the  time  of  his  death  in  1834. 
But  at  some  time  near  the  end  of  1812  Josiah  ceased  paying 
the  £75  a  year  which  he  had  theretofore  been  paying  on  his  own 


APPENDIX   G  255 

account.  It  is  not  known  what  reasons  led  him  to  do  this, 
or  what,  if  anything,  passed  between  him  and  Coleridge 
on  the  subject.  Nothing  has  transpired  to  suggest  that 
Coleridge  ever  made  any  objection  or  remonstrance.  A  long 
and  effusive  letter  of  his  to  Poole  (Feb.  13,  1813  :  Letters,  p. 
611)  is  not  only  free  from  any  trace  of  resentment  or  com- 
plaint, but  overflows  with  expression  of  love  and  gratitude  towards 
Josiah. 

Josiah's  act  has  been  criticised  as  having  the  appearance  of 
a  breach  of  the  promise  made  in  the  letter  of  January  1798 
(p.  55).  That  view,  however,  rests  on  a  strained  interpreta- 
tion of  the  language  of  the  letter — an  interpretation  incon- 
sistent with  the  essential  facts  of  the  case.  "  Without  any 
condition  annexed  to  it "  was  an  unlucky  phrase  ;  for  it  said,  or 
seemed  to  say,  what  the  writer  could  not  mean,  while  it  did  not 
say  what  he  did  mean.  The  brothers  could  not  have  meant  to 
promise  that,  under  any  conceivable  circumstances,  whatever 
Coleridge  should  do  or  not  do,  should  be  or  not  be,  they  would 
give  him  ^150  a  year  for  life.  Such  a  promise  would  have  been 
merely  senseless.  The  annuity  was  given  for  a  purpose,  and  the 
purpose  necessarily  made  a  condition,  vague,  but  substantial.  It 
was  not  annexed  to  the  promise,  but  it  was  inseparably  bound 
up  with  the  transaction.  Hazlitt,  who  was  with  Coleridge 
when  he  accepted  the  offer,  describes  it  in  the  words  "  devote 
himself  to  the  study  of  poetry  and  philosophy,"  and  "  to  dissuade 
him  from  abandoning  poetry  and  philosophy  for  the  ministry." 
And  nobody  has  ever  read  the  story  otherwise.  Coleridge,  in 
accepting  the  offer,  was  in  fact  undertaking  to  occupy  himself  in 
work  of  that  kind,  or  at  any  rate  in  intellectual  work  of  some  kind. 
By  taking  the  annuity  he  undertook  to  carry  out  its  purpose,  as 
really  as  the  Wedgwoods  undertook  to  give  him  the  money. 
When  Josiah  wrote  "  no  condition  annexed  "  he  simply  meant 
to  say,  "  We  do  not  stipulate  that  you  must  write  so  many  pages 
per  annum  of  poetry,  or  such  and  such  philosophical  essays  ;  we 
shall  not  prescribe  any  specific  task ;  we  wish  you  to  be  free  to 
do  the  work  you  think  best  worth  doing  ;  you  will  best  judge 


256  APPENDIX   G 

how  to  work  and  what  to  work  at."  To  read  the  words  "  with 
no  condition  annexed  "  as  equivalent  to  "  under  all  or  any  con- 
ceivable circumstances  "  is  to  make  the  promise  absurd.  Cole- 
ridge was  about  to  become  a  Unitarian  preacher.  He  might 
have  taken  orders  and  become  Bishop  of  Durham,  with  twenty 
or  thirty  thousand  a  year.  Or  he  might  have  turned  out  a 
wholly  depraved  character,  might  have  forged  the  Wedgwoods 
names  on  bills  of  exchange,  or  become  an  irreclaimable  profligate. 
Will  any  one  say  that  in  any  of  such  cases  the  brothers  would 
be  bound  in  honour  to  go  on  paying  him  ^150  a  year  for  life 
because  they  did  not  " annex  the  condition"  that  he  should 
not  become  a  bishop,  or  a  convict,  or  a  debauchee  ?  But  we 
do  not  know  that  the  obligation  he  undertook  was  not  some- 
thing of  a  specific  kind.  For  we  have  not  before  us  all  that 
passed  between  him  and  the  brothers  in  January  1798.  The 
most  important  sentence  in  Josiah's  letter  begins  :  "After  what 
my  brother  Thomas  has  written  :  :  .  "  That  imports  Tom's 
letter  into  the  offer  :  but  what  his  brother  Thomas  had 
written  we  do  not  know,  nor  do  we  know  what  Coleridge 
wrote  in  accepting  the  offer.  It  is  possible  that  these  lost 
letters  might  give  some  clearer  indication  of  what  the  brothers 
hoped  or  expected  him  to  do.  At  all  events,  without  them  we 
do  not  know  all  that  passed  in  1798,  any  more  than  we  know 
what  passed  in  1812. 

No  one  can  now  say  exactly  what  prompted  Josiah's  action  at 
the  latter  date.  But  we  may,  I  think,  assume  that  his  view  on 
the  question  of  honour  and  obligation  was  that  above  expressed. 
If  he  had  thought  himself  bound  in  honour  to  go  on  paying  he 
would  certainly  have  done  so.  He  was  not  only  a  man  of 
presumed  probity  and  honour,  but  a  man  who,  during  the 
whole  of  a  long  life,  was  conspicuous  for  his  large-minded 
generosity.  Remembering  what  Charles  Darwin  wrote  about 
him — ("  the  very  type  of  an  upright  man — I  do  not  believe  that 
any  power  upon  earth  would  have  made  him  swerve  an  inch 
from  what  he  considered  the  right  course  ") — we  may  dismiss 
the  suspicion  that  his  act  was  prompted  by  any  mean  or  petty 


APPENDIX   G  257 

motive.  In  view  of  Coleridge's  utter  failure,  during' all  the 
fourteen  years  elapsed  since  1798,  to  make  his  life  in  any  degree 
consonant  with  the  obligation  cast  on  him  by  the  annuity,  he 
must  have  felt  himself  free  to  consider  the  question  afresh.  In 
going  on  with  the  payment  was  he  doing  good  or  harm  ?  His 
brother's  moiety  was  irrevocably  given  as  from  1805 ;  but  that 
did  not  forbid  his  considering  the  matter  afresh  so  far  as  it  con- 
cerned his  own  action.  Indeed  he  was  bound  so  to  do.  That 
he  did  consider  it  carefully  is  certain  ;  for  we  know,  though 
the  fact  comes  to  us  only  by  oral  tradition,  that  when  one  of  his 
sons,  long  afterwards,  asked  him  why  the  payment  ceased,  he 
replied  :  "  I  had  ample  reason  for  what  I  did,"  and  would  say 
no  more.  He  was  the  most  reticent  of  men,  and  would 
naturally  hate  to  talk  about  that  most  miserable  time  in 
Coleridge's  life.  What  those  words  meant  will  be  for  ever  a 
secret.  He  probably  knew  much  which  we  shall  never  know. 
With  such  a  man  as  Coleridge,  and  a  man  in  such  a  state,  no 
imaginable  possibility  would  be  unbelievable.  But  I  should  not 
myself  read  the  words  as  implying  any  specific  misdoing  on  his 
part.  A  simpler  explanation  is  more  obvious.  The  most 
essential  fact  in  the  case  appears  clearly  in  a  letter  of  Southey  to 
Cottle,  1 7th  April  1814.  (This  was  a  year  or  more  after  the 
withdrawal,  but  Southey's  statements  evidently  apply  to  the 
immediately  preceding  years.)  He  is  pointing  out  the  futility 
of  a  proposal  made  by  Cottle  to  collect  funds  for  giving 
Coleridge  £150  a  year.  "No  part  of  Coleridge's  embarrass- 
ment arises  from  his  wife  and  children,  except  that  he  has 
insured  his  life  for  .£1000  and  pays  the  premium.  He  never 
writes  to  them,  and  never  opens  a  letter  from  them.  .  .  . 
Perhaps  you  are  not  aware  of  the  costliness  of  this  drug.  In 
the  quantity  which  C.  takes,  it  would  consume  more  than  the 
whole  which  you  propose  to  raise.  A  frightful  consumption  of 
spirits  is  added.  Proposals  after  proposals  have  been  made  to 
him  by  the  booksellers,  and  he  repeatedly  closed  with  them. 
He  is  at  this  moment  as  capable  of  exertion  as  I  am,  and  would 
be  paid  as  well  for  whatever  he  might  be  pleased  to  do.  There 

R 


258  APPENDIX   G 

are  two  Reviews — the  '  Quarterly '  and  the  '  Eclectic,'  in  both 
of  which  he  might  have  employment  at  ten  guineas  a  sheet. 
As  to  the  former  I  could  obtain  it  for  him ;  in  the  latter  they 
are  urgently  desirous  of  his  assistance.  He  promises  and  does 
nothing.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  wanting  to  make  him  easy  in 
circumstances  and  happy  in  himself  but  to  leave  off  opium,  and 
direct  a  certain  portion  of  his  time  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties. 
Four  hours  a  day  would  suffice."* 

"  My  case,"  wrote  Coleridge  himself,  "  is  a  species  of  mad- 
ness, only  that  it  is  a  derangement,  an  utter  impotence  of  the 
volition,  and  not  of  the  intellectual  faculties."  (To  Cottle, 
26th  April,  1814.) 

This  had  been  his  state  for  some  years.  In  February  1810 
we  find  Josiah  writing  to  Poole  :  "  It  seems  the  '  Friend  '  is  at 
an  end.  I  fear  Col.  is  a  lost  man  .  .  .  I  see  the  wreck  of 
genius  with  tender  concern,  but  without  hope."  Similarly 
Wordsworth  (March  1808):  "He  has  no  voluntary  power  of 
mind  whatsoever,  nor  is  he  capable  of  acting  under  any  con- 
straint of  duty  or  moral  obligation." 

Evidently  this  terrible  condition,  a  "  madness  "  or  paralysis 
of  the  will  and  moral  sense,  was  not  to  be  mended  by  a  money 
subsidy.  If  the  "pitiable  slavery  to  opium"  could  be  ended 
there  would  be  no  lack  of  money.  But  the  subsidy  was  only 
aggravating  the  evil,  by  making  it  easier  for  him  to  indulge  in 
the  pernicious  drug,  easier  to  acquiesce  in  the  slavery.  Josiah 
Wedgwood  must  have  known  the  facts,  and  who  can  say  that 
they  did  not  justify  his  conclusion  ?  We  must  not  forget  that, 
at  that  time,  the  wreck  of  Coleridge's  life  must  have  seemed  to 
every  one  final  and  irrevocable ;  though  only  about  three  years 
later  there  came  the  turning-point;  when  he  summoned  up 
courage  to  seek  for  protection  from  himself,  and  at  length,  by 
wonderful  good  fortune,  found  himself  in  that  haven  of  rest, 
under  the  care  of  the  Gillmans,  which  made  the  last  eighteen 
years  of  his  life  comparatively  happy. 

*  Cottle's  "Reminiscences,  1848,"  p.  37.  Another  letter  of 
Southey's  to  the  same  effect  is  quoted  by  Dykes  Campbell,  p.  204. 


APPENDIX   G  259 

Mr.  Dykes  Campbell's  treatment  of  this  incident  (f>.  192  of 
his  book)  seems  to  me — I  write  it  with  regret,  remembering 
what  we  owe  to  him — rather  lacking  in  the  care  and  judgment 
which  are  generally  so  conspicuous  in  his  work.  I  have  noticed 
above  the  mistake  of  fact  upon  which  it  partly  rests.  He  also 
remarks  that  "  Mrs.  Coleridge  was  the  sufferer  by  the  with- 
drawal, for  the  whole  (of  the  annuity)  had  been  for  many  years 
at  her  disposal."  This  may  be  true,  but  it  hardly  touches  the 
main  question  Josiah  had  to  decide.  Any  regular  aid  he  gave 
the  wife  evidently  went  to  remove,  pro  tanto^  one  of  the 
husband's  chief  inducements  to  exertion.  It  may  be  said> 
indeed,  that  a  man  in  his  then  condition  would  not  be 
influenced  by  any  such  notice.  But  this  is  answered  by  the  fact 
that  he  did  afterwards  make  the  effort  which  led  to  his  recovery  i 
and  who  can  say  that  he  was  not  helped  thereto  by  what 
Josiah  did  ? 


H 


T.   WEDGWOOD'S  WILL 

THE  following  is  a  summary  made  from  the  copy  Probate  at 
Somerset  House : 

Will  dated  13  June  1805.     Proved  4  Jan.  1806. 

Executors :  Josiah  Wedgwood,  of  Gunville,  and  Dr.  Robert 
Waring  Darwin,  of  Shrewsbury. 

The  main  disposition  is  the  gift  of  Residue  to  his  two 
brothers,  John  and  Josiah,  and  his  three  sisters,  Susan  Darwin, 
Catharine,  and  Sarah,  in  fifths. 

There  are  a  number  of  small  legacies  to  servants  and  to 
village  people  at  Gunville. 

Bequest  of  furniture  at  Eastbury  to  his  mother,  and  of  plate 
to  Catharine  and  Sarah  :  his  watch  and  seals  to  his  nephew, 
Josiah,  son  of  his  brother  Josiah. 

Bequest  of  annuity  for  life  of  £150  to  John  Leslie  (to  be 
^250  in  case  of  his  marriage),  conditionally  on  his  not  having 
from  other  sources  more  than  ^200  a  year  ;  or  ^300  if  married. 

Power  to  buy  an  annuity  for  him. 

Bequest  of  annuity  for  life  of  £75  to  "  Samuel  Taylor 
Coleridge,  now  or  late  of  Stowey,  near  Bridgwater,  gentle- 
man," to  be  paid  half-yearly,  clear  of  all  deductions  except  in- 
come tax,  with  power  to  the  executors  to  purchase  an  annuity 
for  him  ;  he  not  to  have  power  to  sell,  assign,  or  mortgage  it. 

After  this  there  is  the  following  special  bequest  :  "  Whereas 
there  are  several  persons  to  whom  I  have  given  assurance  of 


APPENDIX   H  261 

pecuniary  assistance  towards  their  maintenance  so  long  as  the 
same  shall  be  necessary  and  there  may  after  my  decease  appear 
claims  for  pecuniary  remunerations  and  advances  which  said 
several  persons  and  the  circumstances  giving  rise  to  such  claims 
are  well  known  to  my  said  brother  Josiah  Wedgwood,  I  do 
therefore  give  and  bequeath  unto  my  said  brother  Josiah  Wedg- 
wood the  sum  of  five  thousand  pounds  Upon  trust  to  assist  such 
persons  and  satisfy  such  claims  according  to  his  own  discretion." 


A   NOTE   ON  THE   VALUE   OF  PHOTO- 
GRAPHY TO  THE  WORLD 

IF  some  competent  person  would  take  the  pains  to  sum  up  the 
multifarious  uses  now  made  of  photography,  the  hundred  ways 
in  which  it  aids  study,  research,  and  work  of  various  kinds, 
scientific,  artistic,  social,  legal,  and  many  more,  such  a  list 
would  give  us  some  measure  of  the  importance  of  the  art  to  the 
world.  But  it  would  be  a  task  demanding  an  almost  encyclo- 
paedic knowledge  of  modern  activities.  To  take  one  illustra- 
tion only,  the  use  of  the  camera  in  observatories  seems  to  be 
daily  disclosing  fresh  wonders  in  stellar  astronomy,  wonders 
which  no  human  eye,  however  laboriously  applied  to  the  eye- 
piece of  a  telescope,  could  ever  have  discovered.  A  quite 
different  aspect  of  the  question — may  we  not,  perhaps,  say 
a  higher  ?  certainly  one  too  often  forgotten — is  vividly  set 
forth  in  some  words  of  John  Richard  Green,  the  historian, 
which  I  will  make  the  epilogue  to  this  little  book.  They  are 
words  which  would  have  pleased  the  sympathetic  soul  of  Tom 
Wedgwood.  Green  was,  it  may  be  remembered,  for  many 
years  a  hardworking  clergyman  in  a  very  poor  district  of  East 
London.  He  is  giving  a  sketch  of  the  noble  work  of  Edward 
Denison  in  that  region  ("  Stray  Studies,"  p.  13)  : 

"  What  do  you  look  on  as  the  greatest  boon  that  has  been 
conferred  on  the  poorer  classes  in  later  years  ? "  said  a  friend  to 


APPENDIX   I  263 

me  one  day,  after  expatiating  on  the  rival  claims  of  schools, 
missions,  shoeblack  brigades,  and  a  host  of  other  philanthropic 
efforts  for  their  assistance.  I  am  afraid  I  sank  in  his  estimation 
when  I  answered,  "  sixpenny  photographs."  But  any  one  who 
knows  what  the  worth  of  family  affection  is  among  the  lower 
classes,  and  who  has  seen  the  array  of  little  portraits  stuck  over 
a  labourer's  fireplace,  still  gathering  together  into  one  the 
"home"  that  life  is  always  parting — the  boy  that  has  "gone 
to  Canada,"  the  girl  "  out  at  service,"  the  little  one  with  the 
golden  hair  that  sleeps  under  the  daisies,  the  old  grandfather  in 
the  country — will  perhaps  feel  with  me  that  in  counteracting 
the  tendencies,  social  and  industrial,  which  every  day  are 
sapping  the  healthier  family  affections,  the  sixpenny  photograph 
is  doing  more  for  the  poor  than  all  the  philanthropists  in  the 
world. 


INDEX 


ABNEY,  Sir  W.  de  W.,  K.C.B.,  198. 

Alderson,  Georgina  Lady,  1 7977. 

tl  Alfred,"  Cottle's  epic  poem,  108. 

Allen,  Catherine,  see  Mackintosh,  Catherine. 

Allen,  Elizabeth,  see  Wedgwood,  Elizabeth. 

Allen,  Fanny  (1781-1875),  sister  of  T.  W.'s  sisters-in-law,  her  "Re- 
collections," 1 24 ;  her  view  of  Poole's  proposal  for  Kitty  Wedg- 
wood, ioi#. ;  scene  with  Coleridge  at  Cresselly,  124,  125. 

Allen,  Jane,  see  Wedgwood,  Jane. 

Annuity  given  by  J.  and  T.  Wedgwood  to  Coleridge,  55,  399  ; 
Wordsworth's  description  of  it,  59 ;  parallel,  or  partly  parallel 
cases,  59,  59». ;  an  immediate  result,  61  ;  incident  in  its  later 
history,  254,  599. 

Arago,  Fran9ois  (1786-1853),  231,  232,  233,  237. 

BANKS,  Sir  Joseph,  P.R.S.  (1741-1820),  17. 

Beddoes,  Dr.  Thomas  (1760-1808),  33  ;  the  Pneumatic  Institute, 

34,  599;  his  medical  theories,  living  with  cows,  &c.,  35  ;  his 

death,  183. 

Thomas  Lovell  (1803-1849),  330. 

Beethoven,  59^.,  6on. 

Bell,  Sir  Charles,  211. 

Blacklock,  Dr.  (1721-1791),  blind  poet,  7,  jn. 

Blanquart-Evrard,  233,  236,  237. 

Boddington,  friend  of  Mackintosh,  160. 

Bull,  use  of,  in  child  training,  209. 

CAMPBELL,  Thomas  (1744-1844),  poet  ;  at  the  King  of  Clubs,  97  ; 
his  account  of  T.  W.,  144,  145,  163. 


266  INDEX 

Charles,  J.  A.  C.  (1746-1823),  of  Paris,  supposed  photographer,  229  ; 
his  silhouettes  variously  described,  231-239;  summary  of  dis- 
cussion, 239. 

Chisolm,  Alexander,  T.  W.'s  teacher  in  Chemistry,  &c.,  5-7;  ad- 
vises as  to  his  studies,  8. 

Coleridge,  Sara,  the  poet's  wife,  121,  126. 

Sara,  the  poet's  daughter,  i2/». 

S.  T.   (1772-1834)  first   acquaintance  with  T.  W.,   49; 

his  fantastic  scheme  of  life,  53  ;  offered  an  annuity  by  the 
Wedgwoods,  54^.;  accepts  it,  57  ;  a  first  result,  his  stay  at 
Gottingen,  61  ;  interpreter  of  Germany  to  England,  6in. ;  J.  S. 
Mill's  estimate  of  him,  63  ;  Carlyle's  -satire,  64*7. ;  on  Malthus, 
69;  life  in  London,  74,  79;  life  at  Keswick,  102-110; 
" Christabel,"  105,  io6». ;  "accursed  Wallenstein,"  105;  es- 
tranged from  his  wife,  112,  114;  with  T.  W.  in  S.  Wales  and 
at  Cresselly,  121-126;  reading  "The  Leechgatherer,"  125  ; 
cream  and  music,  123  ;  at  Keswick  with  T.  W.,  129  ;  his  feel- 
ings when  among  the  hills,  132,  133  ;  Kitty  Wedgwood's 
criticism  of  his  character,  139  ;  his  character  of  Hazlitt,  146  ; 
sick  at  Grasmere,  the  Wordsworths'  goodness  to  him,  167  ; 
leaving  for  Malta,  170  ;  last  letter  to  T.  W.,  172  ;  hearing  of 
Beddoes'  death,  183  ;  "The  Friend,"  180,181. 

Letters  of:  to  T.Wedgwood,  74,  77,  113,  118,  132,  135, 


137,  146,  166,  169,  170;  to  Josiah  Wedgwood,  68,  93,  102, 

104,  no  ;  to  Poole,  120  ;  to  his  wife,  121. 
Cote  House,  abode  of  John  Wedgwood,  42 
Cottle,  Joseph  (1770-1853),  printer  and  early  friend  of  Coleridge  : 

his  mutilation  of  Coleridge's  letters,  xii.,  xiii. ;  Lamb's  amusing 

description  of  his  Epic,  108,  109, 
Cows,  living  with,  a  medical  regime,  36. 
Crompton,  Dr.,  168. 

DAGUERRE,  Dominique,  agent  of  Josiah  Wedgwood,  244. 

Louis  (1789-1 85 1 ),  inventor  of  Daguerrotypie,  202,  2020. ; 

a  fanciful  theory  about  him,  244. 

Darwin,  Charles  (1809-1882),  T.  W.'s  nephew,    212,  213,  213*. ; 
his  admiration  for  his  uncle  Josiah  Wedgwood,  41. 
-  Mrs.  Charles  (1808-1896),  T.  W.'s  niece,  420. 

Erasmus,  physician  and  poet  (1731-1802),  father-in-law  of 

T.  W.'s  sister  Susannah,  6,  212. 


INDEX  267 

Darwin,  Robert  Waring,  physician  (1766-1848),  husband  of  T.W.'s 

sister  Susannah,  40,  42,  loin. 
Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  famous    chemist  (1778-1829),   37,   187;  his 

lack  of  imagination,  194;  his  "Account  "of  T.W.'s  photography, 

189  sqq.  ;  circumstances  of  its  so-called  publication,  196-197  ; 

his  slackness  in  the  matter,  198,  200,  201. 

Dr.  John,  brother  of  Sir  H.  D.,  198. 

Day,  Thomas  (1748-1789),  209. 

De  Quincey  (1785-1859)  ;  his  half-mythical  account  of  T.  W.,  36  ; 

description  of  T.  Poole,  50. 

Derwentwater,  scenery  about,  described  by  Coleridge,  103-110. 
Dick,  Mr.  ("David  Copperfield "),  1950. 
Drewe,  Caroline,  sister  of  T.  W.'s  sisters-in-law,  179. 
her  daughters,  1 790. 

EDER,  Dr.,  writer  on  photography,  217,  224^.,  236,  239-246,  247. 
Edgeworth,  Maria,  420. 

R.  Lovell,  6. 

Edinburgh  University,  in  1786-1788,  the  Wedgwoods'  experiences, 
7-10. 

FRANCE  in  1792  :  T.  W.  in  Paris,  25. 

GERMAN,  begun  to  be  studied  in  England,  211. 
language  and  philosophy  unknown  to  T.  W.,  211. 

Godwin,  William  (1756-1836),  author  of  "  Political  Justice,"  290.  ; 
gets  money  from  T.  W.,  declines  a  copying  machine,  29,  30  ; 
he  and  T.  W.  agree  best  at  a  distance,  3 1  ;  correcting  T.  W.'s 
English,  31  ;  in  London,  97  ;  helped  by  T.  W.,  177. 

Greta  Hall,  Coleridge's  abode  at  Keswick  ;  set  Coleridge. 

HARRISON,  Mr.  Jerome,  199, 

Hazlitt,  William  (1778-1830),  57,  1450.,  146. 

Horner,  Francis  (1778-1817),  160. 

Hunt,  Robert,  237. 

Hutchinson,  Sarah,  Wordsworth's  sister-in-law,  133. 

INOCULATION,  T.  W.'s  efforts  to  spread  the  practice,  44. 
Invasion,  alarms  of,  1803-1804,  150  sqq. 

KANT,  211. 


268  INDEX 

Keir,  James,  chemist,  6,  19. 
"King  of  Clubs,"  97. 

LA  FAYETTE,  25. 

Lawson,  Sir  G.,  Coleridge's  neighbour,  103  ;  offered  a  buffalo  and 
rhinoceros,  108. 

Leslie  (Sir)  John  (1766-- 183 2)  physicist,  1 1  ;  at  Etruria  to  instruct 
the  Wedgwoods,  11-16;  his  grand  epistolary  style,  11-15  > 
has  an  annuity  from  T.  W.,  46,  47  ;  offers  marriage  to  Sarah 
Wedgwood,  80  sqq.  ;  his  book  on  Heat,  173. 

Lodore,  scenery  about,  described  by  Coleridge,  133. 

Lowther,  Lord,  156. 

Lunar,  miscalled  "  lunatic,"  meetings,  247. 

Luff,  Charles,  and  his  wife,  126,  175. 

MACKINTOSH,  Sir  James  (1765-1 832),  brother-in-law  of  T.  W.'s  sisters- 
in-law,  43  ;  lecturing,  80  ;  founds  the  "  King  of  Clubs,"  97  ; 
discussing  metaphysics  with  T.  W.,  1 1 1  ;  promises  to  edit  his 
philosophical  work,  157-159,  207,  208  ;  goes  to  India,  a  "send- 
off"  by  family  and  friends,  157  ;  learning  German,  211,  537*.  ; 
possibly  editor  of  an  essay  by  T.  W.,  21  in. 
Catherine,  Lady,  sister  of  T.  W.'s  sisters-in-law,  43,  160. 

Mayer  and  Pierson,  MM.,  234. 

Meteyard,  Eliza  :  her  life  of  Josiah  Wedgwood,  6n.  ;  mythical  account 
of  T.  W.'s  photography,  241  sqq. 

NAPIER,  Macvey,  biographer  of  Leslie,  1740. 

Napoleon,  his  seizure  of  English  travellers,  141;  threatened  invasion, 

154,  154*. 
Niepce,  Nic£phore,  the  first  successful  photographer,  202, 2O2«.,  227. 

CERSTED,  his  discovery,  195. 

POOLE,  Thomas  (1765-1837),  49  ;  described  by  De  Quincey,  50  ; 
the  link  between  Coleridge  and  the  Wedgwoods,  51;  his  action 
as  to  the  Coleridge  annuity,  57  ;  sorrow  at  failure  to  get  the 
Wedgwoods  to  settle  in  Somerset,  67  ;  seeking  to  marry  Kitty 
Wedgwood,  98  ;  close  attachment  to  T.  W.,  67,  68. 

Priestley,  Joseph  (1733-1804),  the  famous  chemist,  6  ;  helping  T.  W. 
in  his  investigations,  19  ;  settles  in  America,  28,  253  ;  his 
account  of  Schulze's  word-pattern  experiment,  225. 


INDEX  269 

READE,  J.  B.,  photographer,  204,  205. 
Rogers,  Samuel,  poet  (1763-1855),  97. 

"  Royal  Institution  of  Great  Britain  "  :  Wedgwood's  light-pictures 
done  in  its  laboratory,  187  ;  its  early  history,  187,  197. 

SALISBURY,  The  late  Marchioness  of,  179. 

Sandford,  Mrs.  H.  :  her  memoir  of  T.  Poole,  49. 

Schiendel,  Dr.,  writer  on  photography,  217,  226,  236. 

Schulze,  Hermann  (1687-1744),  described  as  the  inventor  of  pho- 

tography, 218-227. 
Sharp,  Richard  (1759-1834),  known  as  "Conversation  Sharp,"    17, 

1  8,  97,  163  ;  his  view  of  T.  W.'s  metaphysics,  209. 
Smith,  Robert  or  "  Bobus,"  97. 
Smith,  Sydney,  157  ;  on  the  comparative  virtues  of  the  Allen  sisters, 

159,  1  60. 

Stewart,  Dugald,  125,  125^. 
Switzerland,  T.  W.'s  tour  in,  45. 

TALBOT,  W.  H.  Fox  (1800-1871),  his  photographic  discovery,  203, 
2O3//.  ;  a  point  in  his  process  obtained  indirectly  from  T.  Wt) 
204,  205  ;  author  of  a  photograph  falsely  attributed  to 
T.  W.,  ,43. 

Tennyson,  "  In  Memoriam"  and  Evolution,  213^. 

Tissandier,  G.,  234,  235. 

Tobin,  James,  friend  of  Wordsworth,  520.;  97,  143;*. 
-  John, 


UNDERWOOD,  T.  W.'s  travelling  companion,  140. 

VOLUNTEERING  in  1803-1804  :   150  sqq.  ;  at  Etruria,  156  ;  "  Wedg- 
wood's Mountaineers,"  152. 

WATT,  Gregory,  97. 

Watt,  James  (1736-1819),  6,  73  ;  letter  as  to  T.  W.'s  light-pictures 
186. 

Wedgwood,  Bessy  :  see  Wedgwood,  Elizabeth. 
-  Catharine    ("Kitty")    T.  W.'s  sister  (1774-1823),    40; 
loiw.,    160  ;  her  view  of  Coleridge's  character,    139. 
-  Elizabeth  («  Bessy  "),  born  Allen,  wife  of  T.  W.'s  brother 
Josiah  (1764-1846),  40  ;  her  character,  42  ;  T.  W.'s  affection 
for  her,  162-164  5  T.  W.  in  her  nursery,  165. 


270  INDEX 

Wedgwood,  Hensleigh,  (1803-1891)  nephew  of  T.  W.,  i86«. 

Jane,  born  Allen  (1771-1836),  wife  of  T.  W.'s  brother 

John,  40,  42. 

John  (1766-1844),  T.  W.'s  eldest  brother,  2,  3,  40  ;  a  bad 

financier,  leaves  Cote,   173  ;  founder   of  Horticultural  Society, 

173*. 

Josiah  (1730-1795),  father  of  T.  W.,  6,  6n. 

Josiah,  (1769-1843),  T.  W.'s  elder  brother,  7  sqq.,  10;  his 


close  union  with  Tom,  41  ;  his  character,  Charles  Darwin's 
account,  41 ;  offer  of  £100  to  Coleridge,  54  ;  offer  of  annuity 
to  Coleridge,  54  sqq.  ;  Sheriff  of  Dorset  during  the  invasion 
alarms,  153  ;  his  action  as  to  Coleridge  in  1812,  254  sqq. 

-  Josiah,  Tom's  nephew  (1795-1880),  165. 

Sarah  (17     -1815),  Tom's  mother,  153-156. 

Sarah  (1776-1856),  Tom's  sister,  40-43  ;  sought  in  marriage 

by  Leslie,   80,   sqq.  ;  her  last  years,  85^.;  her  "angelic  kind- 
ness," 163. 

-  Sarah  Elizabeth  (1793-1880),  daughter  of  Tom's  brother 
Josiah  :  records  Fanny  Allen's    recollections  of  T.  W.,  124  ;  as 
a  baby,  165. 

Susannah  (1765-1817),  Tom's  eldest  sister,  wife  of  Dr.  R. 


Darwin ;  40,  212. 

Tom  (1771-1 805)  :  birth  and  boyhood,  I  -6;  a  letter  eet.  12, 

2  ;  offers  to  manage  his  father's  pools,  4  ;  at  Edinb.  Univ.,  7-10  ; 
working  at  the  Pottery,  10,27;  at  Natural  Philosophy,  10; 
earnest  views  of  Life,  13;  working  at  physics,  17  sqq. ;  heat 
and  light,  Roy.  Soc.  papers,  17  sqq.  and  251,  252;  experiments 
in  vacuo,  21-23  ;  has  to  give  up  experimenting,  21  ;  wretched 
health,  23,  24,  and  passim;  in  Paris,  1792,  25;  thinks  of 
America,  28;  inhaling  laughing-gas,  37;  butcher's  shop  story, 
36,  37;  preaching  inoculation,  44;  gives  annuity  to  Leslie,  46, 
47 ;  acquaintance  with  Poole  and  Coleridge,  49 ;  and  with 
Wordsworth,  5 1  ;  search  for  place  of  abode,  64-67  ;  settles  in 
Dorset,  72  ;  voyage  to  W.  Indies,  brothers'  first  separation,  86  ; 
letter  from  Martinique  to  his  family,  89  ;  return  from  W. 
Indies,  93;  temporarily  better,  94,  95;  London  Life,  97; 
metaphysics,  in  ;  foreign  tour,  in  ;  to  Paris,  1892,  112;  in 
S.  Wales  with  Coleridge,  121;  at  Cresselly,  124;  seeing 
Wordsworth  at  Grasmere,  gives  Wordsworth  an  impression  of 
"sublimity,"  127  ;  terrible  despondency,  128  ;» to  Geneva  and 


INDEX  271 

flight  home,  narrowly  escapes  being  detenu,  14?;  forms  a 
Volunteer  corps,  151;  near  despair,  1 60;  trying  housework, 
146  ;  scheme  of  seclusion,  161  ;  at  his  worst,  completely  sane, 
172  ;  difficulties  as  to  travel-companion,  173  ;  to  Ulleswater 
and  the  Luffs,  175  ;  thinks  of  buying  a  place  there,  176  ;  help- 
ing friends,  176,  177  ;  a  painless  end,  179. 

various  estimates  of  his  character  :  by  Coleridge,  in  "  The 

Friend,"  181  ;  by  Coleridge  in  letters,  122,  182;  by  Campbell, 
144,  145  ;  by  Sydney  Smith,  180;  by  Wordsworth,  127  ;  Fanny 
Allen,  124;  Bessy  Wedgwood,  180. 

his   photographic   work;    date  doubtful,   20,    186,    187; 


described  by  Davy,  187,  189-194;  the  so-called  publication  of 
Davy's  Account,  195,  197;  his  process  the  germ  of  present- 
day  processes,  198;  mythical  story  of  his  work,  241-245. 

his  Psychology  and  Metaphysics  ;  Pref.,  207,  2070.,  210  ; 

Rousseauism,  208  ;  child-training  methods,  209 ;   Enquiry  into 
notion  of    distance,    21  in. ;    his  Sociology    pre-Darwinian,    a 
personal  link  with  Evolution,  212,  213. 

Wordsworth  William  (1770-1850)  :  T.  W.'s  first  acquaintance  with 
him,  52  ;  his  feeling  as  to  the  annuity  to  Coleridge,  59;  his 
legacy  from  Raisley  Calvert,  59;^"The  Leechgatherer  "  read 
by  Coleridge  at  Cresselly,  1 25  ;  his  impression  of  T.  W.'s  personal 
appearance,  127;  with  "  Wedgwood  Mountaineers,"  152; 
"Lyrical  Ballads,"  52. 

Dorothy  (1771-1855),  49-52. 


Printed  by  BALLANTYNE,  HANSON  &*  Co. 
London  &*  Edinburgh 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


DEC  1  31952  LU 
13JA'62JC 

REG'D  LD 

APR  16  1962 
MAR  IS  1968 


^^^^-^^^^J^^PPB^»^^^*" 

ICLF  (H) 


DEC  0  2  2005 


LD  21-100m-9,'47(A5702sl6)476 


221577