Item 36 - William Whewell to Julius Charles Hare

3 pp.

The Coleridge prize as JCH presented it in his last letter is more plausible [see WW to JCH, 19 Oct. 1834]: 'I would not at once look slightingly at such a project; for the mere name of Coleridge would to a certain extent tinge the speculations of the writers, and the establishment of the thing with its name would bring him more to the notice of our divines, young and old, as a religious philosopher and certainly they could not acquire this knowledge of him without great benefit to themselves'. He thinks the phrase 'the philosophy of Christianity' would in the long run be inappropriate. Further 'it might not be best to follow your suggestion and make it a prize for metaphysical dissertations in speculative subjects generally, or with only a recommendation that they should by preference be such as illustrate the history of Christianity and connexion of the Christian scheme with man's place and nature borrowed from other sources'.