Coleridge lists only "Friday Afternoon" for the date of writing. However, the letter is postmarked "February 28, 1823," which fell on a Friday. See the published edition of the correspondence, cited below, for additional information.
This collection, MA 2204, is comprised of 41 letters from Samuel Taylor Coleridge to William Godwin, written between 1800 and 1823. See the collection-level record for more information (MA 2204.1-41).
Address panel with seal and postmarks: "William Godwin, Esqre / 195 Strand / (opposite St Clement's Church)."
Thanking Godwin for his kindness and saying that he is gratified to hear that Lady Caroline Lamb admires Schiller's Wallenstein (which Coleridge had translated); adding that he must conclude he had some part in its merits and that the scholar Ludwig Tieck "assured me that familiar as he was with the German play, he could never read my Wallenstein but as an Original - nor did he hesitate to declare that in diction and metre it was decidedly superior to Schiller's : and that it had the not ordinary good fortune of Mr [William] Pitt's applause, in addition to Mr [George] Canning's & Mr John H. Frere's;" praising Edmund Kean highly as "a man, whose genial originality, whose unique and multiform energy in the evolution of Thought, Passion, and Character, in one word whose intense Genius in re-creating the creations of the World's first Genius are granted - I had almost said - conclaimed - even by those whose Preconceptions of Tragedy are at variance with his;" saying that he had recently thought of condensing the Wallenstein plays into one and had written to and received permission from Longman to proceed with the idea; adding that he plans to present it to Kean, "but with very little expectation of the result unless he would kindly consent to regard my abridgement or reduction as a mere rough Copy, to be altered, abridged, added to, translocated &c under his advice & directions;" telling Godwin that he has had an obstinate cough and other symptoms for the last three months, "symptoms different in kind from those of my ordinary up and down, better and worse, Valetudinarianism," and that James Gillman is concerned about his health; saying that, in these circumstances, he "cannot follow my first impulse - that of acknowledging & availing myself of Lady C. Lamb's polite invitation" and promising to write her soon; concluding with regards to Godwin and his family from "your poor, sick, and dejected / but very sincere Friend."