"J. Tobin, Esqre.,[13] No. 17 Barnard's Inn, Holborn. For Mr. Coleridge." _So_, if you wish me to answer it by return of post: but if it be of no consequence, whether I receive it four hours sooner or four hours later, then direct "Mr. Lambe,[14] East India House, London."
I did not receive your last letter written on the "very, very windy and very cold Sunday night," till yesterday afternoon, owing to Poole's neglect and forgetfulness. But Poole is one of those men who have one good quality, namely, that they always _do_ one thing at a time; but who likewise have one defect, that they can seldom _think_ but of one thing at a time. For instance, if Poole is intent on his matter while he is speaking, he cannot give the least attention to his language or pronunciation, in consequence of which there is no one error in his dialect which he has ever got rid of. My mind is in general of the contrary make. I too often _do_ nothing, in consequence of being impressed all at once (or so rapidly consecutively as to appear all at once) by a variety of impressions. If there are a dozen people at table I hear, and cannot help giving some attention to what each one says, even though there should be three or four talking at once. The detail of the Good and the Bad, of the two different _makes_ of mind, would form a not uninteresting brace of essays in a _Spectator_ or _Guardian_.
You will of course repay Southey instantly all the money you may have borrowed either for yourself or for Mr. Jackson,[15] and do not forget to remember that a share of the _wine-bill_ belonged to me. Likewise when you pay Mr. Jackson, you will pay him just as if he had not had any money from you. Is it half a year? or a year and a half's rent that we owe him? Did we pay him up to July last? If we did, _then_, were I you, I would now pay him the whole year's rent up to July next, and tell him that you shall not want the twenty pounds which you have lent him till the beginning of May. Remember me to him in the most affectionate manner, and say how sincerely I condole with him on his sprain. Likewise, and as affectionately, remember me to Mrs. Wilson.
It gave me pain and a feeling of anxious concern on our own account, as well as Mr. Jackson's, to find him so distressed for money. I fear that he will be soon induced to sell the house.