In a letter to Wedgewood from Göttingen in 1799, Coleridge said: Before I left England, I had read the book of which you speak [Malthus's first Essay on Population, published in 1798]. I must confess that it appeared to me exceedingly illogical. … My objections to the Essay on Population you will find in my sixth letter at large—but do not, my dear sir, suppose that because unconvinced by this essay, I am therefore convinced of the contrary. … Is the march of the human race progressive, or in cycles?