Mr. Coleridge remarks, in his letter to Mr. T. Wedgewood, dated "16,
Abingdon Street, London:" "Poole looks so worshipful in his office among
his clerks, that it would give you a few minutes' good spirits to look in
upon him." The following letter will explain this allusion.
"Stowey, Sept. 14, 1803.
My dear Sir,
... I thank you heartily for your kindness, and I will tell you all about
my going to London. I became acquainted with Rickman, whom you saw, when
you set off from Cote-house with Coleridge and myself, to London, to hear
Davy's lectures at the Royal Institution. It was last January
twelvemonths. I liked Rickman, and if I may judge from his conduct since,
he liked me. I saw him frequently when I was in London in May and June
last. We often talked about the poor laws, the sin of their first
principle, their restraints, their contradictions, their abuses, their
encouragement to idleness, their immense burdens to those who pay, and
their degradation to those who receive. On this subject also some letters
have passed between us.
I have long imagined that the principles of benefit societies may be
extended and modified, so as to remedy the greater part of those evils,
and I have long had a plan in my mind which attempted something of this
sort, and which as soon as I had leisure I meant to detail in writing,
and perhaps to publish. I mentioned this to Coleridge when he was last
with me. He mentioned it to Rickman, who wrote to me on the subject.
Soon after this Sir George Eose introduced a bill into parliament for
obtaining information from the overseers of every parish, concerning the
poor, benefit societies, &c. He applied to Rickman to assist him in
framing the bill; and finally requested him to get some one to make an
abstract, to present to parliament, of the returns made by the overseers.
This office Rickman has desired me to undertake. He states to me a
variety of inducements; such as my being in London, getting much
information on a subject which interests me; and in short, I have agreed
to undertake it. Rickman says it will take me three months. I am to have
eight clerks under me, or more if I can employ them. He says there will
be twenty thousand returns. He proposes that my expenses should be paid
with a douceur of three or otherwise four hundred pounds. I stipulated
for the former, but told him the douceur would be the pleasure, I
trusted, of being useful to the poor....