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24 CAMBRIDGE [1791the
kindness of Boyer, who presumably had concealed the
affair from the Hospital authorities. His officers, in particular
Captain Nathaniel Ogle, also appear to have exerted themselves
on his behalf. Early in March he was moved to High
Wycombe, missing a visit to Henley by Le Grice, and was
billeted at the Compasses, now the Chequers, Inn. Here he
employed himself in talking philosophy with a frequenter
of the pot-house and writing a declamation for Robert Allen
on the good and evil of novels. Shortly afterwards he was
back at Reading, where one George Cornish found him at
the 'White Hart' and gave him a guinea. The 'Jesuites'
wrote, hoping for his return. But the negotiations for his
release lingered on, because the Army authorities asked for
a substitute recruit. Meanwhile the brothers arranged for
the payment of his college debts, which after all did not
amount to more than £13 2. Coleridge had lost all his civilian
clothes, and needed a new outfit. He was anxious, too,
about some books which he had sold at Reading and wanted
for his projected volume of translations. But he was reflecting
on his past attitude to religion, when he 'had too much
vanity to be altogether a Christian, too much tenderness of
nature to be utterly an infidel'. He doubted whether his faith
was very different yet. 1
While awaiting his discharge, Coleridge walked arm-inarm
with the handsome daughter of Charles Clagget, a musician,
who set songs for him and advised him to write an
opera. He also made the acquaintance of a gentleman at
Bray who promised to take him to London on his way to
Cambridge and introduce him to his bookseller. 2 The discharge
was granted on 7 April, and by 10 April Coleridge
was at Jesus again. His reception was a somewhat mixed
one. His tutor, James Plampin, behaved with 'exceeding
and most delicate kindness 5 , and wrote to George that his
conduct was extremely proper. Dr. Pearce, on the other
hand, showed 'great asperity'. Coleridge was convened
before the Fellows, gated for a month, and required to translate
the works of Demetrius Phalereus, whom he found a
dull writer. Caldwell and others greeted him with almost
1 C. 22-9; G. 9-11.
2 C. 30; 2 Gent. Mug. x. 124.