Jan. 1. 1851.
_Coleridge and the Penny Post_ (Vol. iii., p. 6.).--Mr. Venables asks a
question in a way that may lead the reader to infer an answer, and an
ungenerous answer; and he calls on Mr. Hill to give him satisfaction, as if
Mr. Hill had nothing better to do than to inform Mr. Venables, and correct
Miss Martineau's blunders. If Mr. Venables had taken an active part in
bringing about the greatest moral movement of our age, he would have known
that, amongst the hundred other illustrations adduced by Mr. Hill, was the
very anecdote to which he refers; and that Mr. Hill quoted it, not once or
twice, but dozens of times, and circulated it, with Coleridge's name, over
the whole length and breadth of the three kingdoms, by tens of thousands of
printed papers. Mr. Hill has not had a tithe of the honour he deserves--and
never will have--and I cannot remain silent, and see his character
questioned, though in matters too trifling, I think, even to have occupied
a corner in "NOTES AND QUERIES."