COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor (1772-1834). Poet.
Part of a Document Signed, as Public Secretary to His Majesty's Civil Commission, ca 70 x 190 mm (3 x 7½ inches), La Valette [Valletta, Malta], Feb 1805. Laid down on the remains of an album leaf, the document is a 'true copy of a Power of Attorney'.
When Coleridge resolved to leave England in 1804, John (later Sir John) Stoddard, Hazlitt's brother-in-law, at that time a judge in Malta, persuaded him to go to that island rather than to Madeira. He became for a time the secretary to the governer, Sir Alexander Ball and was heavily engaged in clerical work. Before departing Coleridge had paid off all his debts, made his annuity from Wedgwood over to his wife, and written a series of highly emotional farewell letters to his friends. It would appear from these arrangements that he thought a return to England unlikely.
[No: 19950]