Mr. Coleridge's reply to the preceding letter.
"Wednesday morning, 10 o'clock.
My dearest Cottle,
... 'Ill besped' is indeed a sad blotch; but after having tried at least
a hundred ways, before I sent the Poem to you, and often since, I find it
incurable. This first Poem is but a so so composition. I wonder I could
have been so blinded by the ardour of recent composition, as to see
anything in it.
Your remarks are _perfectly just_ on the 'Allegorical lines,' except
that, in this district, corn is as often cut with a scythe, as with a
hook. However, for '_Scythesman_' read _Rustic_. For '_poor fond thing_'
read _foolish thing_, and for '_flung to fade, and rot, and die_,' read
_flung to wither and to die_.[30]
* * * * *
Milton (the carrier) waits impatiently.