What an excellent character is the black Colonel in Mrs. Bennett's "Beggar
Girl!"[1]
If an inscription be put upon my tomb, it may be that I was an enthusiastic
lover of the church; and as enthusiastic a hater of those who have betrayed
it, be they who they may.[2]
[Footnote 1:
This character was frequently a subject of pleasant description and
enlargement with Mr. Coleridge, and he generally passed from it to a high
commendation of Miss Austen's novels, as being in their way perfectly
genuine and individual productions.--ED.]
[Footnote 2:
This was a strong way of expressing a deep-rooted feeling. A better and a
truer character would be, that Coleridge was a lover of the church, and a
defender of the faith! This last expression is the utterance of a
conviction so profound that it can patiently wait for time to prove its
truth.--ED.]
_May_ 4. 1830.