"My dear Cottle,

... On Thursday morning, by Milton, the Stowey carrier, I shall send you
a parcel, containing the book of my Poems interleaved, with the
alterations, and likewise the prefaces, which I shall send to you, for
your criticisms...."


This is mentioned as an apology for the freedom of the remarks I then
took, for it was always my principle not to spare a friend through
mistaken kindness;--however much I might spare myself.


"Dear Coleridge,

You have referred your two last Poems to my judgment. I do not think your
first, 'Maiden! that with sullen brow,' admissible, without a little more
of your nice picking.

The first verse is happy, but two objections apply to the second. To my
ear, (perhaps too fastidious) 'inly,' and 'inmost,' are too closely
allied for the same stanza; but the first line presents a more serious
objection, in containing a transition verb, (or rather a participle, with
the same government) without an objective:

'Inly gnawing, thy distresses
Mock those starts of sudden glee.'