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14 THE BLUE-COAT BOY [1772very
polite, very civil, and very cold/ In the same letter, as
printed, is mention of one 'Alia'. Is this a slip for Allen, or
is it the mysterious F. Augustus Elia, whose name Lamb
borrowed? 1 Lamb himself was more than two years Coleridge's
junior, and the long intimacy between them probably
had its origin in 1794. A younger Samuel Le Grice and a
Samuel Fa veil will appear later in this narrative; also a John
Mathew Gutch and a Frederick William Franklin, of both
of whom Coleridge had unfortunate experiences. George
Dyer, the eccentric poet and scholar, whom he came
to know, was of an older generation, Leigh Hunt of a
younger one. Thomas Hartwell Home was coached by
Coleridge during the summer vacation of 1790. A Reverend
Mr. Smith, whom I cannot identify, calls him his 'old satrap',
and claims to have cleaned his shoes. 2 We may be quite sure
that Coleridge did not clean them himself.
On 12 January 1791 Coleridge was granted a Christ's
Hospital exhibition of £40 for the liberal period of seven
years, with a reduction to £30 in the last three; and on
5 February he was elected to a sizarship at Jesus College,
Cambridge. 3 His career seemed now to be marked out for
him, if the gods would have had it so. He showed his gratitude
long after by a newspaper defence of the policy of the
Governors in using their endowments for the benefit, not
of the very poor, but of children of reputable parents, threatened
through death or calamity with lapse into a state of
penury. 4 Verses written during the months of waiting record
his budding hopes, not unmingled with regret at leaving
the 'much-lov'd cloisters pale', and 'this maternal seat'.
There are hints of a friend and once more a 'lovely maid'.
Another set is of grief for the death of his sister Ann, which
followed hard upon that of Luke. 5 From Christ's Hospital
Coleridge carried away, besides a trained intelligence, and
a store of wide and varied reading, two other things. One
was the habit of walking bare-headed, with his hat in his
hand. 6 The other, which he himself acknowledges, was the
1 2
W. 1406; Lamb, Works, ii. 21; I.L.N.
Studies, 61.
3
Lockhart, Ch. H. Exhibitioners, 36.
4 5
O.T. iii. 854. P.W. 30, 29, 30, 78; D.H. 19.
6
Leslie, i. 51; H. A. Eaton, Diary of De Quincey, 191.