Among the works of Coleridge undertaken at Calne was the drama of _Zapolya_, in which the character of Sarolta, an offshoot from the Christabel idea, appears.
These works were composed by Coleridge to tide over the necessities of the time, but the Morgans and he were unable to hold together, and Coleridge came once more to London at the beginning of 1816. Morgan fell into ill health. Mrs. Morgan latterly had to take a situation as teacher of a charity school; Charles Lamb and Southey got up a subscription annuity of £25 for Morgan, who did not live long to enjoy it, dying in 1820 (_Southey's Life and Correspondence_, iv, 361); and after 1823 Charlotte Brent disappears from the arena of literary history (_Letters_, 722).
Coleridge's letters to Dr. Brabant of Devizes, were written between February 1815, and 5th December 1816, and are published in the _Westminster Review_ for 1870.]
[90] This statement requires an explanation, which none now can give. Was the far larger proportion of this £300 appropriated to the discharge of Opium debts? This does not seem unlikely, as Mr. C. lived with friends, and he could contract few other debts [Cottle]. [This note is most misleading. Coleridge's receipt for the £300 is dated November 12, 1807 (_De Quincey Memorials._ I, 132). At this time, and for long after it, Coleridge never lived with friends except the Morgans, whom he paid. Cottle's assumption is baseless.]
[91] "Of the truth of what I say."--_Early Recollections._
[93] [Coleridge gives a general acknowledgment of indebtedness; and doubtless when he wrote the _Biographia_ he could not always discriminate in his note-books what was Schelling's and what was his own.]
[It was in the Spring of 1816 that Coleridge took refuge from himself and the world and came to the Gillmans of Highgate, and became the great lay preacher of his time. Before this he had been staying at 42, Norfolk Street, Strand, and consulting a physician, Dr. Joseph Adams, who recommended him to Mr. Gillman. The letter of Dr. Adams to Mr. Gillman is as follows:
A very learned, but in one respect an unfortunate gentleman, has applied to me on a singular occasion. He has for several years been in the habit of taking large quantities of opium. For some time past he has been in vain endeavouring to break himself of it. It is apprehended his friends are not firm enough, from a dread, lest he should suffer by suddenly leaving it off, though he is conscious of the contrary; and has proposed to me to submit himself to any regimen, however severe. With this view he wishes to fix himself in the house of some medical gentleman, who will have courage to refuse him any laudanum, and under whose assistance, should he be the worse for it, he may be relieved. As he is desirous of retirement, and a garden, I could think of no one so readily as yourself. Be so good as to inform me whether such a proposal is absolutely inconsistent with your family arrangements. I should not have proposed it, but on account of the great importance of the character, as a literary man. His communicative temper will make his society very interesting, as well as useful. Have the goodness to favour me with an immediate answer, and believe me, dear sir,