Joseph Cottle

[1] He was the brother of Amos Simon Cottle but did not receive his classical education; he was for two years at the school of Richard Henderson.

He facilitated Coleridge's marriage by the promise of a guinea and a half for every hundred lines of poetry he might produce after the completion of the volume already contracted for.

He was shortly afterwards introduced by Coleridge to William Wordsworth, and the acquaintance resulted in the publication of the two poets' Lyrical Ballads in the autumn of 1798.

In his Biographia Literaria, Coleridge alludes to Cottle as 'a friend from whom I never received any advice that was not wise, or a remonstrance that was not gentle and affectionate.'

'The confusion in Cottle's "Recollections" is greater than any one would think possible,' said Southey; the book is inaccurate in its dates, and documents quoted are garbled.

The appendix to the fourth edition of his Malvern Hills (1829) contains several essays, including an account of his tutor Henderson, a discussion of the authenticity of the Rowley poems, and a description of the Oreston Caves, near Plymouth, and their fossils.