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Title: The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Vol I (of II)

Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Editor: Ernest Hartley Coleridge

Release Date: June 11, 2009 [EBook #29091]

Language: English

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THE

COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS

OF

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

 

INCLUDING

POEMS AND VERSIONS OF POEMS NOW

PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME

 

EDITED

WITH TEXTUAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

 

BY

ERNEST HARTLEY COLERIDGE

M.A., HON. F.R.S.L.

 

IN TWO VOLUMES

VOL. I: POEMS

OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1912

HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK
TORONTO AND MELBOURNE

PREFACE

The aim and purport of this edition of the Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge is to provide the general reader with an authoritative list of the poems and dramas hitherto published, and at the same time to furnish the student with an exhaustive summary of various readings derived from published and unpublished sources, viz. (1) the successive editions issued by the author, (2) holograph MSS., or (3) contemporary transcriptions. Occasion has been taken to include in the Text and Appendices a considerable number of poems, fragments, metrical experiments and first drafts of poems now published for the first time from MSS. in the British Museum, from Coleridge's Notebooks, and from MSS. in the possession of private collectors.

The text of the poems and dramas follows that of the last edition of the Poetical Works published in the author's lifetime—the three-volume edition issued by Pickering in the spring and summer of 1834.

I have adopted the text of 1834 in preference to that of 1829, which was selected by James Dykes Campbell for his monumental edition of 1893. I should have deferred to his authority but for the existence of conclusive proof that, here and there, Coleridge altered and emended the text of 1829, with a view to the forthcoming edition of 1834. In the Preface to the 'new edition' of 1852, the editors maintain that the three-volume edition of 1828 (a mistake for 1829) was the last upon which Coleridge was 'able to bestow personal care and attention', while that of 1834 was 'arranged mainly if not entirely at the discretion of his latest editor, H. N. Coleridge'. This, no doubt, was perfectly true with regard to the choice and arrangement of the poems, and the labour of seeing the three volumes through the press; but the fact remains that the text of 1829 differs from that of 1834, and that Coleridge himself, and not his 'latest editor', was responsible for that difference.

I have in my possession the proof of the first page of the 'Destiny of Nations' as it appeared in 1828 and 1829. Line 5 ran thus: 'The Will, the Word, the Breath, the Living God.' This line is erased and line 5 of 1834 substituted: 'To the Will Absolute, the One, the Good' and line 6, 'The I am, the Word, the Life, the Living God,' is added, and, in 1834, appeared for the first time. Moreover, in the 'Songs of the Pixies', lines 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, as printed in 1834, differ from the readings of 1829 and all previous editions. Again, in 'Christabel' lines 6, 7 as printed in 1834 differ from the versions of 1828, 1829, and revert to the original reading of the MSS. and the First Edition. It is inconceivable that in Coleridge's lifetime and while his pen was still busy, his nephew should have meddled with, or remodelled, the master's handiwork.

The poems have been printed, as far as possible, in chronological order, but when no MS. is extant, or when the MS. authority is a first draft embodied in a notebook, the exact date can only be arrived at by a balance of probabilities. The present edition includes all poems and fragments published for the first time in 1893. Many of these were excerpts from the Notebooks, collected, transcribed, and dated by myself. Some of the fragments (vide post, p. 996, n. 1) I have since discovered are not original compositions, but were selected passages from elder poets—amongst them Cartwright's lines, entitled 'The Second Birth', which are printed on p. 362 of the text; but for their insertion in the edition of 1893, for a few misreadings of the MSS., and for their approximate date, I was mainly responsible.

In preparing the textual and bibliographical notes which are now printed as footnotes to the poems I was constantly indebted for information and suggestions to the Notes to the Poems (pp. 561-654) in the edition of 1893. I have taken nothing for granted, but I have followed, for the most part, where Dykes Campbell led, and if I differ from his conclusions or have been able to supply fresh information, it is because fresh information based on fresh material was at my disposal.

No apology is needed for publishing a collation of the text of Coleridge's Poems with that of earlier editions or with the MSS. of first drafts and alternative versions. The first to attempt anything of the kind was Richard Herne Shepherd, the learned and accurate editor of the Poetical Works in four volumes, issued by Basil Montagu Pickering in 1877. Important variants are recorded by Mr. Campbell in his Notes to the edition of 1893; and in a posthumous volume, edited by Mr. Hale White in 1899 (Coleridge's Poems, &c.), the corrected parts of 'Religious Musings', the MSS. of 'Lewti', the 'Introduction to the Dark Ladié', and other poems are reproduced in facsimile. Few poets have altered the text of their poems so often, and so often for the better, as Coleridge. He has been blamed for 'writing so little', for deserting poetry for metaphysics and theology; he has been upbraided for winning only to lose the 'prize of his high calling'. Sir Walter Scott, one of his kindlier censors, rebukes him for 'the caprice and indolence with which he has thrown from him, as if in mere wantonness, those unfinished scraps of poetry, which like the Torso of antiquity defy the skill of his poetical brethren to complete them'. But whatever may be said for or against Coleridge as an 'inventor of harmonies', neither the fineness of his self-criticism nor the laborious diligence which he expended on perfecting his inventions can be gainsaid. His erasures and emendations are not only a lesson in the art of poetry, not only a record of poetical growth and development, but they discover and reveal the hidden springs, the thoughts and passions of the artificer.

But if this be true of a stanza, a line, a word here or there, inserted as an afterthought, is there use or sense in printing a number of trifling or, apparently, accidental variants? Might not a choice have been made, and the jots and tittles ignored or suppressed?

My plea is that it is difficult if not impossible to draw a line above which a variant is important and below which it is negligible; that, to use a word of the poet's own coining, his emendations are rarely if ever 'lightheartednesses'; and that if a collation of the printed text with MSS. is worth studying at all the one must be as decipherable as the other. Facsimiles are rare and costly productions, and an exhaustive table of variants is the nearest approach to a substitute. Many, I know, are the shortcomings, too many, I fear, are the errors in the footnotes to this volume, but now, for the first time, the MSS. of Coleridge's poems which are known to be extant are in a manner reproduced and made available for study and research.

Six poems of some length are now printed and included in the text of the poems for the first time.

The first, 'Easter Holidays' (p. 1), is unquestionably a 'School-boy Poem', and was written some months before the author had completed his fifteenth year. It tends to throw doubt on the alleged date of 'Time, Real and Imaginary'.

The second,'An Inscription for a Seat,' &c. (p. 349), was first published in the Morning Post, on October 21, 1800, Coleridge's twenty-eighth birthday. It remains an open question whether it was written by Coleridge or by Wordsworth. Both were contributors to the Morning Post. Both wrote 'Inscriptions'. Both had a hand in making the 'seat'. Neither claimed or republished the poem. It favours or, rather, parodies the style and sentiments now of one and now of the other.

The third, 'The Rash Conjurer' (p. 399), must have been read by H. N. Coleridge, who included the last seven lines, the 'Epilogue', in the first volume of Literary Remains, published in 1836. I presume that, even as a fantasia, the subject was regarded as too extravagant, and, it may be, too coarsely worded for publication. It was no doubt in the first instance a 'metrical experiment', but it is to be interpreted allegorically. The 'Rash Conjurer', the âme damnée, is the adept in the black magic of metaphysics. But for that he might have been like his brothers, a 'Devonshire Christian'.

The fourth, 'The Madman and the Lethargist' (p. 414), is an expansion of an epigram in the Greek Anthology. It is possible that it was written in Germany in 1799, and is contemporary with the epigrams published in the Morning Post in 1802, for the Greek original is quoted by Lessing in a critical excursus on the nature of an epigram.

The fifth, 'Faith, Hope, and Charity' (p. 427), was translated from the Italian of Guarini at Calne, in 1815.

Of the sixth, 'The Delinquent Travellers' (p. 443), I know nothing save that the MS., a first copy, is in Coleridge's handwriting. It was probably written for and may have been published in a newspaper or periodical. It was certainly written at Highgate.

Of the epigrams and jeux d'esprit eight are now published for the first time, and of the fragments from various sources twenty-seven have been added to those published in 1893.

Of the first drafts and alternative versions of well-known poems thirteen are now printed for the first time. Two versions of 'The Eolian Harp', preserved in the Library of Rugby School, and the dramatic fragment entitled 'The Triumph of Loyalty', are of especial interest and importance.

An exact reproduction of the text of the 'Ancyent Marinere' as printed in an early copy of the Lyrical Ballads of 1798 which belonged to S. T. Coleridge, and a collation of the text of the 'Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladié', as published in the Morning Post, Dec. 21, 1799, with two MSS. preserved in the British Museum, are included in Appendix No. I.

The text of the 'Allegoric Vision' has been collated with the original MS. and with the texts of 1817 and 1829.

A section has been devoted to 'Metrical Experiments'; eleven out of thirteen are now published for the first time. A few critical notes by Professor Saintsbury are, with his kind permission, appended to the text.

Numerous poems and fragments of poems first saw the light in 1893; and now again, in 1912, a second batch of newly-discovered, forgotten, or purposely omitted MSS. has been collected for publication. It may reasonably be asked if the tale is told, or if any MSS. have been retained for publication at a future date. I cannot answer for fresh discoveries of poems already published in newspapers and periodicals, or of MSS. in private collections, but I can vouch for a final issue of all poems and fragments of poems included in the collection of Notebooks and unassorted MSS. which belonged to Coleridge at his death and were bequeathed by him to his literary executor, Joseph Henry Green. Nothing remains which if published in days to come could leave the present issue incomplete.

A bibliography of the successive editions of poems and dramas published by Coleridge himself and of the principal collected and selected editions which have been published since 1834 follows the Appendices to this volume. The actual record is long and intricate, but the history of the gradual accretions may be summed up in a few sentences. 'The Fall of Robespierre' was published in 1795. A first edition, entitled 'Poems on Various Subjects', was published in 1796. Second and third editions, with additions and subtractions, followed in 1797 and 1803. Two poems, 'The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere' and 'The Nightingale, a Conversation Poem', and two extracts from an unpublished drama ('Osorio') were included in the Lyrical Ballads of 1798. A quarto pamphlet containing three poems, 'Fears in Solitude,' 'France: An Ode,' 'Frost at Midnight,' was issued in the same year. 'Love' was first published in the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, 1800. 'The Three Graves,' 'A Hymn before Sunrise, &c.,' and 'Idoloclastes Satyrane', were included in the Friend (Sept.-Nov., 1809). 'Christabel,' 'Kubla Khan,' and 'The Pains of Sleep' were published by themselves in 1816. Sibylline Leaves, which appeared in 1817 and was described as 'A Collection of Poems', included the contents of the editions of 1797 and 1803, the poems published in the Lyrical Ballads of 1798, 1800, and the quarto pamphlet of 1798, but excluded the contents of the first edition (except the 'Eolian Harp'), 'Christabel', 'Kubla Khan', and 'The Pains of Sleep'. The first collected edition of the Poetical Works (which included a selection of the poems published in the three first editions, a reissue of Sibylline Leaves, the 'Wanderings of Cain', a few poems recently contributed to periodicals, and the following dramas—the translation of Schiller's 'Piccolomini', published in 1800, 'Remorse'—a revised version of 'Osorio'—published in 1813, and 'Zapolya', published in 1817) was issued in three volumes in 1828. A second collected edition in three volumes, a reissue of 1828, with an amended text and the addition of 'The Improvisatore' and 'The Garden of Boccaccio', followed in 1829.

Finally, in 1834, there was a reissue in three volumes of the contents of 1829 with numerous additional poems then published or collected for the first time. The first volume contained twenty-six juvenilia printed from letters and MS. copybooks which had been preserved by the poet's family, and the second volume some forty 'Miscellaneous Poems', extracted from the Notebooks or reprinted from newspapers. The most important additions were 'Alice du Clos', then first published from MS., 'The Knight's Tomb' and the 'Epitaph'. 'Love, Hope, and Patience in Education', which had appeared in the Keepsake of 1830, was printed on the last page of the third volume.

After Coleridge's death the first attempt to gather up the fragments of his poetry was made by his 'latest editor' H. N. Coleridge in 1836. The first volume of Literary Remains contains the first reprint of 'The Fall of Robespierre', some thirty-six poems collected from the Watchman, the Morning Post, &c., and a selection of fragments then first printed from a MS. Notebook, now known as 'the Gutch Memorandum Book'.

H. N. Coleridge died in 1843, and in 1844 his widow prepared a one-volume edition of the Poems, which was published by Pickering. Eleven juvenilia which had first appeared in 1834 were omitted and the poems first collected in Literary Remains were for the first time included in the text. In 1850 Mrs. H. N. Coleridge included in the third volume of the Essays on His Own Times six poems and numerous epigrams and jeux d'esprit which had appeared in the Morning Post and Courier. This was the first reprint of the Epigrams as a whole. A 'new edition' of the Poems which she had prepared in the last year of her life was published immediately after her death (May, 1852) by Edward Moxon. It was based on the one-volume edition of 1844, with unimportant omissions and additions; only one poem, 'The Hymn', was published for the first time from MS.

In the same year (1852) the Dramatic Works (not including 'The Fall of Robespierre'), edited by Derwent Coleridge, were published in a separate volume.

In 1863 and 1870 the 'new edition' of 1852 was reissued by Derwent Coleridge with an appendix containing thirteen poems collected for the first time in 1863. The reissue of 1870 contained a reprint of the first edition of the 'Ancient Mariner'.

The first edition of the Poetical Works, based on all previous editions, and including the contents of Literary Remains (vol. i) and of Essays on His Own Times (vol. iii), was issued by Basil Montagu Pickering in four volumes in 1877. Many poems (including 'Remorse') were collated for the first time with the text of previous editions and newspaper versions by the editor, Richard Herne Shepherd. The four volumes (with a Supplement to vol. ii) were reissued by Messrs. Macmillan in 1880.

Finally, in the one-volume edition of the Poetical Works issued by Messrs. Macmillan in 1893, J. D. Campbell included in the text some twenty poems and in the Appendix a large number of poetical fragments and first drafts then printed for the first time from MS.

The frontispiece of this edition is a photogravure by Mr. Emery Walker, from a pencil sketch (circ. 1818) by C. R. Leslie, R.A., in the possession of the Editor. An engraving of the sketch, by Henry Meyer, is dated April, 1819.

The vignette on the title-page is taken from the impression of a seal, stamped on the fly-leaf of one of Coleridge's Notebooks.

I desire to express my thanks to my kinsman Lord Coleridge for opportunity kindly afforded me of collating the text of the fragments first published in 1893 with the original MSS. in his possession, and of making further extracts; to Mr. Gordon Wordsworth for permitting me to print a first draft of the poem addressed to his ancestor on the 'Growth of an Individual Mind'; and to Miss Arnold of Fox How for a copy of the first draft of the lines 'On Revisiting the Sea-shore'.

I have also to acknowledge the kindness and courtesy of the Authorities of Rugby School, who permitted me to inspect and to make use of an annotated copy of Coleridge's translation of Schiller's 'Piccolomini', and to publish first drafts of 'The Eolian Harp' and other poems which had formerly belonged to Joseph Cottle and were presented by Mr. Shadworth Hodgson to the School Library.

I am indebted to my friend Mr. Thomas Hutchinson for valuable information with regard to the authorship of some of the fragments, and for advice and assistance in settling the text of the 'Metrical Experiments' and other points of difficulty.

I have acknowledged in a prefatory note to the epigrams my obligation to Dr. Hermann Georg Fiedler, Taylorian Professor of the German Language and Literature at Oxford, in respect of his verifications of the German originals of many of the epigrams published by Coleridge in the Morning Post and elsewhere.

Lastly, I wish to thank Mr. H. S. Milford for the invaluable assistance which he afforded me in revising my collation of the 'Songs of the Pixies' and the 'Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladié', and some of the earlier poems, and the Reader of the Oxford University Press for numerous hints and suggestions, and for the infinite care which he has bestowed on the correction of slips of my own or errors of the press.

Ernest Hartley Coleridge.

CONTENTS OF THE TWO VOLUMES

VOLUME I

PAGE

Preface

iii

 

1787

Easter Holidays. [MS.

Letter

, May 12, 1787.]

1

Dura Navis. [B. M. Add. MSS. 34,225]

2

Nil Pejus est Caelibe Vitâ. [Boyer's

Liber Aureus

.]

4

 

1788

Sonnet: To the Autumnal Moon

5

 

1789

Anthem for the Children of Christ's Hospital. [MS. O.]

5

Julia. [Boyer's

Liber Aureus

.]

6

Quae Nocent Docent. [Boyer's

Liber Aureus

.]

7

The Nose. [MS. O.]

8

To the Muse. [MS. O.]

9

Destruction of the Bastile. [MS. O.]

10

Life. [MS. O.]

11

 

1790

Progress of Vice. [MS. O.: Boyer's

Liber Aureus

.]

12

Monody on the Death of Chatterton. (First version.) [MS. O.: Boyer's

Liber Aureus

.]

13

An Invocation. [J. D. C.]

16

Anna and Harland. [MS. J. D. C.]

16

To the Evening Star. [MS. O.]

16

Pain. [MS. O.]

17

On a Lady Weeping. [MS. O. (c).]

17

Monody on a Tea-kettle. [MSS. O., S. T. C.]

18

Genevieve. [MSS. O., E.]

19

 

1791

On receiving an Account that his Only Sister's Death was Inevitable. [MS. O.]

20

On seeing a Youth Affectionately Welcomed by a Sister

21

A Mathematical Problem. [MS.

Letter

, March 31, 1791: MS. O. (c).]

21

Honour. [MS. O.]

24

On Imitation. [MS. O.]

26

Inside the Coach. [MS. O.]

26

Devonshire Roads. [MS. O.]

27

Music. [MS. O.]

28

Sonnet: On quitting School for College. [MS. O.]

29

Absence. A Farewell Ode on quitting School for Jesus College, Cambridge. [MS. E.]

29

Happiness. [MS.

Letter

, June 22, 1791: MS. O. (c).]

30

 

1792

A Wish. Written in Jesus Wood, Feb. 10, 1792. [MS.

Letter

, Feb. 13, [1792].]

33

An Ode in the Manner of Anacreon. [MS.

Letter

, Feb. 13, [1792].]

33

To Disappointment. [MS.

Letter

, Feb. 13, [1792].]

34

A Fragment found in a Lecture-room. [MS.

Letter

, April [1792], MS. E.]

35

Ode. ('Ye Gales,' &c.) [MS. E.]

35

A Lover's Complaint to his Mistress. [MS.

Letter

, Feb. 13, [1792].]

36

With Fielding's 'Amelia.' [MS. O.]

37

Written after a Walk before Supper. [MS.

Letter

, Aug. 9, [1792].]

37

 

1793

Imitated from Ossian. [MS. E.]

38

The Complaint of Ninathóma. [MS.

Letter

, Feb. 7, 1793.]

39

Songs of the Pixies. [MS. 4

^o

: MS. E.]

40

The Rose. [MS.

Letter

, July 28, 1793: MS. (

pencil

) in Langhorne's

Collins

: MS. E.]

45

Kisses. [MS.

Letter

, Aug. 5, 1793: MS. (

pencil

) in Langhorne's

Collins

: MS. E.]

46

The Gentle Look. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 11. 1794: MS. E.]

47

Sonnet: To the River Otter

48

An Effusion at Evening. Written in August 1792. (First Draft.) [MS. E.]

49

Lines: On an Autumnal Evening

51

To Fortune

54

 

1794

Perspiration. A Travelling Eclogue. [MS.

Letter

, July 6, 1794.]

56

[Ave, atque Vale!] ('Vivit sed mihi,' &c.) [MS.

Letter

, July 13, [1794].]

56

On Bala Hill. [Morrison MSS.]

56

Lines: Written at the King's Arms, Ross, formerly the House of the 'Man of Ross'. [MS.

Letter

, July 13, 1794: MS. E: Morrison MSS: MS. 4

^o

.]

57

Imitated from the Welsh. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 11, 1794: MS. E.]

58

Lines: To a Beautiful Spring in a Village. [MS. E.]

58

Imitations: Ad Lyram. (Casimir, Book II, Ode 3.) [MS. E.]

59

To Lesbia. [Add. MSS. 27,702]

60

The Death of the Starling. [

ibid.

]

61

Moriens Superstiti. [

ibid.

]

61

Morienti Superstes. [

ibid.

]

62

The Sigh. [MS.

Letter

, Nov. 1794: Morrison MSS: MS. E.]

62

The Kiss. [MS. 4

^o

: MS. E.]

63

To a Young Lady with a Poem on the French Revolution. [MS.

Letter

, Oct. 21, 1794: MS. 4

^o

: MS. E.]

64

Translation of Wrangham's 'Hendecasyllabi ad Bruntonam e Granta Exituram' [Kal. Oct. MDCCXC]

66

To Miss Brunton with the preceding Translation

67

Epitaph on an Infant. ('Ere Sin could blight.') [MS. E.]

68

Pantisocracy. [MSS.

Letters

, Sept. 18, Oct. 19, 1794: MS. E.]

68

On the Prospect of establishing a Pantisocracy in America

69

Elegy: Imitated from one of Akenside's Blank-verse Inscriptions. [(No.) III.]

69 The Faded Flower 70

The Outcast

71

Domestic Peace. (From 'The Fall of Robespierre,' Act I, l. 210.)

71

On a Discovery made too late. [MS.

Letter

, Oct. 21, 1794.]

72

To the Author of 'The Robbers'

72

Melancholy. A Fragment. [MS.

Letter

, Aug. 26,1802.]

73

To a Young Ass: Its Mother being tethered near it. [MS. Oct. 24, 1794: MS.

Letter

, Dec. 17, 1794.]

74

Lines on a Friend who Died of a Frenzy Fever induced by Calumnious Reports. [MS.

Letter

, Nov. 6, 1794: MS. 4

^o

: MS. E.]

76

To a Friend [Charles Lamb] together with an Unfinished Poem. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 1794]

78

Sonnets on Eminent Characters: Contributed to the

Morning Chronicle

, in Dec. 1794 and Jan. 1795:—

I.

To the Honourable Mr. Erskine

79

II.

Burke. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 11, 1794.]

80

III.

Priestley. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 17, 1794.]

81

IV.

La Fayette

82

V.

Koskiusko. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 17, 1794

.]

82

VI.

Pitt

83

VII.

To the Rev. W. L. Bowles. (First Version, printed in

Morning Chronicle

, Dec. 26, 1794.) [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 11, 1794.]

84

 

(Second Version.)

85

VIII.

Mrs. Siddons

85

 

1795.

IX.

To William Godwin, Author of 'Political Justice.' [Lines 9-14, MS.

Letter

, Dec. 17, 1794.]

86

X.

To Robert Southey of Baliol College, Oxford, Author of the 'Retrospect' and other Poems. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 17, 1794.]

87

XI.

To Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq. [MS.

Letter

, Dec. 9, 1794: MS. E.]

87

XII.

To Lord Stanhope on reading his Late Protest in the House of Lords. [

Morning Chronicle

, Jan. 31, 1795.]

89

To Earl Stanhope

89

Lines: To a Friend in Answer to a Melancholy Letter

90

To an Infant. [MS. E.]

91

To the Rev. W. J. Hort while teaching a Young Lady some Song-tunes on his Flute

92

Pity. [MS. E.]

93

To the Nightingale

93

Lines: Composed while climbing the Left Ascent of Brockley Coomb, Somersetshire, May 1795

94

Lines in the Manner of Spenser

94

The Hour when we shall meet again. (

Composed during Illness and in Absence.

)

96

Lines written at Shurton Bars, near Bridgewater, September 1795, in Answer to a Letter from Bristol

96

The Eolian Harp. Composed at Clevedon, Somersetshire. [MS. R.]

100

To the Author of Poems [Joseph Cottle] published anonymously at Bristol in September 1795

102

The Silver Thimble. The Production of a Young Lady, addressed

to the Author of the Poems alluded to in the preceding Epistle. [MS. R.] 104

Reflections on having left a Place of Retirement

106

Religious Musings. [1794-1796.]

108

Monody on the Death of Chatterton. [1790-1834.]

125

 

1796

The Destiny of Nations. A Vision

131

Ver Perpetuum. Fragment from an Unpublished Poem

148

On observing a Blossom on the First of February 1796

148

To a Primrose. The First seen in the Season

149

Verses: Addressed to J. Horne Tooke and the Company who met on June 28, 1796, to celebrate his Poll at the Westminster Election

150

On a Late Connubial Rupture in High Life [Prince and Princess of Wales]. [MS

Letter

, July 4, 1796]

152

Sonnet: On receiving a Letter informing me of the Birth of a Son. [MS.

Letter

, Nov. 1, 1796.]

152

Sonnet: Composed on a Journey Homeward; the Author having received Intelligence of the Birth of a Son, Sept. 20, 1796. [MS.

Letter

, Nov. 1, 1796.]

153

Sonnet: To a Friend who asked how I felt when the Nurse first presented my Infant to me. [MS.

Letter

, Nov. 1, 1796]

154

Sonnet: [To Charles Lloyd]

155

To a Young Friend on his proposing to domesticate with the Author.

Composed in

1796

155

Addressed to a Young Man of Fortune [C. Lloyd]

157

To a Friend [Charles Lamb] who had declared his intention of writing no more Poetry

158

Ode to the Departing Year

160

 

1797

The Raven. [MS. S. T. C.]

169

To an Unfortunate Woman at the Theatre

171

To an Unfortunate Woman whom the Author had known in the days of her Innocence

172

To the Rev. George Coleridge

173

On the Christening of a Friend's Child

176

Translation of a Latin Inscription by the Rev. W. L. Bowles in Nether-Stowey Church

177

This Lime-tree Bower my Prison

178

The Foster-mother's Tale

182

The Dungeon

185

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

186

Sonnets attempted in the Manner of Contemporary Writers

209

Parliamentary Oscillators

211

Christabel. [For MSS.

vide

p.

214

]

213

Lines to W. L. while he sang a Song to Purcell's Music

236

 

1798

Fire, Famine, and Slaughter

237

Frost at Midnight

240

France: An Ode.

243

The Old Man of the Alps

248 To a Young Lady on her Recovery from a Fever 252

Lewti, or the Circassian Love-chaunt. [For MSS.

vide

pp. 1049-62]

253

Fears in Solitude. [MS. W.]

256

The Nightingale. A Conversation Poem

264

The Three Graves. [Parts I, II. MS. S. T. C.]

267

The Wanderings of Cain. [MS. S. T. C.]

285

To ——

292

The Ballad of the Dark Ladié

293

Kubla Khan

295

Recantation: Illustrated in the Story of the Mad Ox

299

 

1799

Hexameters. ('William my teacher,' &c.)

304

Translation of a Passage in Ottfried's Metrical Paraphrase of the Gospel

306

Catullian Hendecasyllables

307

The Homeric Hexameter described and exemplified

307

The Ovidian Elegiac Metre described and exemplified

308

On a Cataract. [MS. S. T. C.]

308

Tell's Birth-Place

309

The Visit of the Gods

310

From the German. ('Know'st thou the land,' &c.)

311

Water Ballad. [From the French.]

311

On an Infant which died before Baptism. ('Be rather,' &c.) [MS.

Letter

, Apr. 8, 1799]

312

Something Childish, but very Natural. Written in Germany. [MS.

Letter

, April 23, 1799.]

313

Home-Sick. Written in Germany. [MS.

Letter

, May 6, 1799.]

314

Lines written in the Album at Elbingerode in the Hartz Forest. [MS.

Letter

, May 17, 1799.]

315

The British Stripling's War-Song. [Add. MSS. 27,902]

317

Names. [From Lessing.]

318

The Devil's Thoughts. [MS. copy by Derwent Coleridge.]

319

Lines composed in a Concert-room

324

Westphalian Song

326

Hexameters. Paraphrase of Psalm xlvi. [MS.

Letter

, Sept. 29, 1799.]

326

Hymn to the Earth. [Imitated from Stolberg's

Hymne an die Erde

.] Hexameters

327

Mahomet

329

Love. [British Museum Add. MSS. No. 27,902: Wordsworth and Coleridge MSS.]

330

Ode to Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, on the Twenty-fourth Stanza in her 'Passage over Mount Gothard'

335

A Christmas Carol

338

 

1800

Talleyrand to Lord Grenville. A Metrical Epistle

340

Apologia pro Vita sua. ('The poet in his lone,' &c.) [MS. Notebook.]

345

The Keepsake

345

A Thought suggested by a View of Saddleback in Cumberland. [MS. Notebook.]

347

The Mad Monk

347 Inscription for a Seat by the Road Side half-way up a Steep Hill facing South 349

A Stranger Minstrel

350

Alcaeus to Sappho. [MS.

Letter

, Oct. 7, 1800.]

353

The Two Round Spaces on the Tombstone. [MS.

Letter

, Oct. 9, 1800: Add. MSS. 28,322]

353

The Snow-drop. [MS. S. T. C.]

356

 

1801

On Revisiting the Sea-shore. [MS.

Letter

, Aug. 15, 1801: MS. A.]

359

Ode to Tranquillity

360

To Asra. [MS. (of

Christabel

) S. T. C. (c).]

361

The Second Birth. [MS. Notebook.]

362

Love's Sanctuary. [MS. Notebook.]

362

 

1802

Dejection: An Ode. [Written April 4, 1802.] [MS.

Letter

, July 19, 1802: Coleorton MSS.]

362

The Picture, or the Lover's Resolution

369

To Matilda Betham from a Stranger

374

Hymn before Sun-rise, in the Vale of Chamouni. [MS. A. (1803): MS. B. (1809): MS. C. (1815).]

376

The Good, Great Man

381

Inscription for a Fountain on a Heath

381

An Ode to the Rain

382

A Day-dream. ('My eyes make pictures,' &c.)

385

Answer to a Child's Question

386

The Day-dream. From an Emigrant to his Absent Wife

386

The Happy Husband. A Fragment

388

 

1803

The Pains of Sleep. [MS.

Letters

, Sept. 11, Oct 3, 1803.]

389

 

1804

The Exchange

391

 

1805

Ad Vilmum Axiologum. [To William Wordsworth.] [MS. Notebook.]

391

An Exile. [MS. Notebook.]

392

Sonnet. [Translated from Marini.] [MS. Notebook.]

392

Phantom. [MS. Notebook.]

393

A Sunset. [MS. Notebook.]

393

What is Life? [MS. Notebook.]

394

The Blossoming of the Solitary Date-tree

395

Separation. [MS. Notebook.]

397

The Rash Conjurer. [MS. Notebook.]

399

 

1806

A Child's Evening Prayer. [MS. Mrs. S. T. C.]

401

Metrical Feet. Lesson for a Boy. [Lines 1-7, MS. Notebook.]

401

Farewell to Love

402

To William Wordsworth. [Coleorton MS: MS. W.]

403

An Angel Visitant. [? 1801.] [MS. Notebook.]

409

 

1807

Recollections of Love. [MS. Notebook.]

409

To Two Sisters. [Mary Morgan and Charlotte Brent]

410

 

1808

Psyche. [MS. S. T. C.]

412

 

1809

A Tombless Epitaph

413

For a Market-clock. (Impromptu.) [MS.

Letter

, Oct. 9, 1809: MS. Notebook.]

414

The Madman and the Lethargist. [MS. Notebook.]

414

 

1810

The Visionary Hope

416

 

1811

Epitaph on an Infant. ('Its balmy lips,' &c.)

417

The Virgin's Cradle-hymn

417

To a Lady offended by a Sportive Observation that Women have no Souls

418

Reason for Love's Blindness

418

The Suicide's Argument. [MS. Notebook.]

419

 

1812

Time, Real and Imaginary

419

An Invocation. From

Remorse

[Act III, Scene

i

, ll. 69-82]

420

 

1813

The Night-scene. [Add. MSS. 34,225]

421

 

1814

A Hymn

423

To a Lady, with Falconer's

Shipwreck 424

 

1815

Human Life. On the Denial of Immortality

425

Song. From

Zapolya

(Act II, Sc. i, ll. 65-80.)

426

Hunting Song. From

Zapolya

(Act IV, Sc. ii, ll. 56-71)

427

Faith, Hope, and Charity. From the Italian of Guarini

427

To Nature [? 1820]

429

 

1817

Limbo. [MS. Notebook: MS. S. T. C.]

429 Ne Plus Ultra

[? 1826]. [MS. Notebook.]

431

The Knight's Tomb

432

On Donne's Poetry [? 1818]

433

Israel's Lament

433

Fancy in Nubibus, or the Poet in the Clouds. [MS. S. T. C.]

435

 

1820

The Tears of a Grateful People

436

 

1823

Youth and Age. [MS. S. T. C

.

: MSS. (1, 2) Notebook.]

439

The Reproof and Reply

441

 

1824

First Advent of Love. [MS. Notebook.]

443

The Delinquent Travellers

443

 

1825

Work without Hope. Lines composed 21st February, 1825

447 Sancti Dominici Pallium.

A Dialogue between Poet and Friend. [MS. S. T. C.]

448

Song. ('Though veiled,' &c.) [MS. Notebook.]

450

A Character. [Add. MSS. 34,225]

451

The Two Founts. [MS. S. T. C.]

454

Constancy to an Ideal Object

455

The Pang more Sharp than All. An Allegory

457

 

1826

Duty surviving Self-love. The only sure Friend of declining Life.

459

Homeless

460

Lines suggested by the last Words of Berengarius; ob. Anno Dom. 1088

460

Epitaphium Testamentarium

462

Ἔρως ἀεὶ λάληθρος ἑταῖρος

462

 

1827

The Improvisatore; or, 'John Anderson, My Jo, John'

462

To Mary Pridham [afterwards Mrs. Derwent Coleridge]. [MS. S. T. C.]

468

 

1828

Alice du Clos; or, The Forked Tongue. A Ballad. [MS. S. T. C.]

469

Love's Burial-place

475

Lines: To a Comic Author, on an Abusive Review [? 1825]. [Add. MSS. 34,225]

476

Cologne

477

On my Joyful Departure from the same City

477

The Garden of Boccaccio

478

 

1829

Love, Hope, and Patience in Education. [MS.

Letter

, July 1, 1829: MS. S. T. C.]

481

To Miss A. T.

482

Lines written in Commonplace Book of Miss Barbour, Daughter of the Minister of the U. S. A. to England

483

 

1830

Song,

ex improviso

, on hearing a Song in praise of a Lady's Beauty

483

Love and Friendship Opposite

484

Not at Home

484

Phantom or Fact. A Dialogue in Verse

484

Desire. [MS. S. T. C.]

485

Charity in Thought

486

Humility the Mother of Charity

486

[Coeli Enarrant.] [MS. S. T. C.]

486

Reason

487

 

1832

Self-knowledge

487

Forbearance

488

 

1833

Love's Apparition and Evanishment

488

To the Young Artist Kayser of Kaserwerth

490

My Baptismal Birth-day

490

Epitaph. [For six MS. versions vide

Note

, p. 491].

491

 

End of the Poems

 

 

VOLUME II

DRAMATIC WORKS

1794

The Fall of Robespierre.

An Historic Drama

495

1797

Osorio.

A Tragedy

518

1800

The Piccolomini

; or,

The First Part of Wallenstein

. A Drama translated from the German of Schiller.

 

Preface to the First Edition

598

 

The Piccolomini

600

The Death of Wallenstein.

A Tragedy in Five Acts.

 

Preface of the Translator to the First Edition

724

 

The Death of Wallenstein

726

1812

Remorse.

 

Preface

812

 

Prologue

816

 

Epilogue

817

 

Remorse. A Tragedy in Five Acts

819

1815

Zapolya.

A Christmas Tale in Two Parts.

 

Advertisement

883

 

Part I. The Prelude, entitled 'The Usurper's Fortune'

884

 

Part II. The Sequel, entitled 'The Usurper's Fate'

901

Epigrams

 

An Apology for Spencers

951

 

On a Late Marriage between an Old Maid and French Petit Maître

952

 

On an Amorous Doctor

952

 

'Of smart pretty Fellows,' &c.

952

 

On Deputy ——

953

 

'To be ruled like a Frenchman,' &c.

953

 

On Mr. Ross, usually Cognominated

Nosy

953

 

'Bob now resolves,' &c.

953

 

'Say what you will, Ingenious Youth'

954

 

'If the guilt of all lying,' &c.

954

 

On an Insignificant

954

 

'There comes from old Avaro's grave'

954

 

On a Slanderer

955

 

Lines in a German Student's Album

955

 

[Hippona]

955

 

On a Reader of His Own Verses

955

 

On a Report of a Minister's Death

956

 

[Dear Brother Jem]

956

 

Job's Luck

957

 

On the Sickness of a Great Minister

957

 

[To a Virtuous Oeconomist]

958

 

[L'Enfant Prodigue]

958

 

On Sir Rubicund Naso

958

 

To Mr. Pye

959

 

[Ninety-Eight]

959

 

Occasioned by the Former

959

 

[A Liar by Profession]

960

 

To a Proud Parent

960

 

Rufa

960

 

On a Volunteer Singer

960

 

Occasioned by the Last

961

 

Epitaph on Major Dieman

961

 

On the Above

961

 

Epitaph on a Bad Man (Three Versions)

961

 

To a Certain Modern Narcissus

962

 

To a Critic

962

 

Always Audible

963

 

Pondere non Numero

963

 

The Compliment Qualified

963

 

'What is an Epigram,' &c.

963

 

'Charles, grave or merry,' &c.

964

 

'An evil spirit's on thee, friend,' &c.

964

 

'Here lies the Devil,' &c.

964

 

To One Who Published in Print, &c.

964

 

'Scarce any scandal,' &c.

965

 

'Old Harpy,' &c.

965

 

To a Vain Young Lady

965

 

A Hint to Premiers and First Consuls

966

 

'From me, Aurelia,' &c.

966

 

For a House-Dog's Collar

966

 

'In vain I praise thee, Zoilus'

966

 

Epitaph on a Mercenary Miser

967

 

A Dialogue between an Author and his Friend

967

 

Μωροσοφία

, or Wisdom in Folly

967

 

'Each Bond-street buck,' &c.

968

 

From an Old German Poet

968

 

On the Curious Circumstance, That in the German, &c.

968

 

Spots in the Sun

969

 

'When Surface talks,' &c.

969

 

To my Candle

969

 

Epitaph on Himself

970

 

The Taste of the Times

970

 

On Pitt and Fox

970

 

'An excellent adage,' &c.

971

 

Comparative Brevity of Greek and English

971

 

On the Secrecy of a Certain Lady

971

 

Motto for a Transparency, &c. (Two Versions)

972

 

'Money, I've heard,' &c.

972

 

Modern Critics

972

 

Written in an Album

972

 

To a Lady who requested me to Write a Poem upon Nothing

973

 

Sentimental

973

 

'So Mr. Baker,' &c.

973

 

Authors and Publishers

973

 

The Alternative

974

 

'In Spain, that land,' &c.

974

 

Inscription for a Time-piece

974

 

On the Most Veracious Anecdotist, &c.

974

 

'Nothing speaks our mind,' &c.

975

 

Epitaph of the Present Year on the Monument of Thomas Fuller

975

Jeux d'Esprit

976

 

My Godmother's Beard

976

 

Lines to Thomas Poole

976

 

To a Well-known Musical Critic, &c.

977

 

To T. Poole: An Invitation

978

 

Song, To be Sung by the Lovers of all the noble liquors, &c.

978

 

Drinking

versus

Thinking

979

 

The Wills of the Wisp

979

 

To Captain Findlay

980

 

On Donne's Poem 'To a Flea'

980

 

[Ex Libris S. T. C.]

981

 

ΕΓΩΕΝΚΑΙΠΑΝ

981

 

The Bridge Street Committee

982

 

Nonsense Sapphics

983

 

To Susan Steele, &c.

984

 

Association of Ideas

984

 

Verses Trivocular

985

 

Cholera Cured Before-hand

985

 

To Baby Bates

987

 

To a Child

987

Fragments from a Notebook.

(

circa

1796-1798)

988

Fragments.

(

For unnamed Fragments see

Index of First Lines.)

996

 

Over my Cottage

997

 

[The Night-Mare Death in Life]

998

 

A Beck in Winter

998

 

[Not a Critic—But a Judge]

1000

 

[De Profundis Clamavi]

1001

 

Fragment of an Ode on Napoleon

1003

 

Epigram on Kepler

1004

 

[Ars Poetica]

1006

 

Translation of the First Strophe of Pindar's Second Olympic

1006

 

Translation of a Fragment of Heraclitus

1007

 

Imitated from Aristophanes

1008

 

To Edward Irving

1008

 

[Luther—De Dæmonibus]

1009

 

The Netherlands

1009

 

Elisa: Translated from Claudian

1009

 

Profuse Kindness

1010

 

Napoleon

1010

 

The Three Sorts of Friends

1012

 

Bo-Peep and I Spy—

1012

 

A Simile

1013

 

Baron Guelph of Adelstan. A Fragment

1013

Metrical Experiments

1014

 

An Experiment for a Metre ('I heard a Voice,' &c.)

1014

 

Trochaics

1015

 

The Proper Unmodified Dochmius

1015

 

Iambics

1015

 

Nonsense ('Sing, impassionate Soul,' &c.)

1015

 

A Plaintive Movement

1016

 

An Experiment for a Metre ('When thy Beauty appears')

1016

 

Nonsense Verses ('Ye fowls of ill presage')

1017

 

Nonsense ('I wish on earth to sing')

1017

 

'There in some darksome shade'

1018

 

'Once again, sweet Willow, wave thee'

1018

 

'Songs of Shepherds, and rustical Roundelays'

1018

 

A Metrical Accident

1019

 

Notes by Professor Saintsbury

1019

 

APPENDIX I

First Drafts, Early Versions, etc.

A. Effusion 35, August 20th, 1795. (First Draft.) [MS. R.]

1021

 

Effusion, p. 96 [1797]. (Second Draft.) [MS. R.]

1021

B. Recollection

1023

C. The Destiny of Nations. (Draft I.) [Add. MSS. 34,225]

1024

 

The Destiny of Nations. (Draft II.) [

ibid.

]

1026

 

The Destiny of Nations. (Draft III.) [

ibid.

]

1027

D. Passages in Southey's

Joan of Arc

(First Edition, 1796) contributed by S. T. Coleridge

1027

E. The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere [1798]

1030

F. The Raven. [

M. P.

March 10, 1798.]

1048

G. Lewti; or, The Circassian's Love-Chant. (1.) [B. M. Add. MSS. 27,902.]

1049

 

The Circassian's Love-Chaunt. (2.) [Add. MSS. 35,343.]

1050

 

Lewti; or, The Circassian's Love-Chant. (3.) [Add. MSS. 35,343.]

1051

H. Introduction to the Tale of the Dark Ladie. [

M. P.

Dec. 21, 1799.]

1052

I. The Triumph of Loyalty. An Historic Drama. [Add. MSS. 34,225.]

1060

J. Chamouny; The Hour before Sunrise. A Hymn. [

M. P.

Sept. 11, 1802.]

1074

K. Dejection: An Ode. [

M. P.

Oct. 4, 1802.]

1076

L. To W. Wordsworth. January 1807

1081

M. Youth and Age. (MS. I, Sept. 10, 1823.)

1084

 

Youth and Age. (MS. II. 1.)

1085

 

Youth and Age. (MS. II. 2.)

1086

N. Love's Apparition and Evanishment. (First Draft.)

1087

O. Two Versions of the Epitaph. ('Stop, Christian,' &c.)

1088

P. [Habent sua Fata—Poetae.] ('The Fox, and Statesman,' &c.)

1089

Q. To John Thelwall

1090

R. [Lines to T. Poole.] [1807.]

1090

 

APPENDIX II

Allegoric Vision

1091

 

APPENDIX III

Apologetic Preface to 'Fire, Famine, And Slaughter'

1097

 

APPENDIX IV

Prose Versions of Poems, etc.

A. Questions and Answers in the Court of Love

1109

B. Prose Version of Glycine's Song in

Zapolya

1109

C. Work without Hope. (First Draft.)

1110

D. Note to Line 34 of the

Joan of Arc

Book II. [4

^o

1796.]

1112

E. Dedication. Ode on the Departing Year. [4

^o

1796.]

1113

F. Preface to the MS. of

Osorio

1114

 

APPENDIX V

Adaptations

From Fulke Greville, Lord Brooke:

 

God and the World

we

worship still together

1115

 

The

Augurs

we of all the world admir'd

1116

 

Of Humane Learning

1116

From Sir John Davies: On the Immortality of the Soul

1116

From Donne: Eclogue. 'On Unworthy Wisdom'

1117

 

Letter to Sir Henry Goodyere.

1117

From Ben Jonson: A Nymph's Passion (Mutual Passion)

1118

 

Underwoods, No. VI. The Hour-glass

1119

 

The Poetaster, Act I, Scene i.

1120

From Samuel Daniel: Epistle to Sir Thomas Egerton, Knight

1120

 

Musophilus, Stanza

CXLVII

1121

 

Musophilus, Stanzas

XXVII, XXIX, XXX

1122

From Christopher Harvey: The Synagogue (The Nativity, or Christmas Day.)

1122

From Mark Akenside: Blank Verse Inscriptions

1123

From W. L. Bowles:—'I yet remain'

1124

From an old Play: Napoleon

1124

 

APPENDIX VI

Originals of Translations

F. von Matthison: Ein milesisches Mährchen, Adonide

1125

Schiller: Schwindelnd trägt er dich fort auf rastlos strömenden Wogen

1125

 

Im Hexameter steigt des Springquells flüssige Säule

1125

Stolberg: Unsterblicher Jüngling!

1126

 

Seht diese heilige Kapell!

1126

Schiller: Nimmer, das glaubt mir

1127

Goethe: Kennst du das Land, wo die Citronen blühn

1128

François-Antoine-Eugène de Planard: 'Batelier, dit Lisette'

1128

German Folk Song: Wenn ich ein Vöglein wär

1129

Stolberg: Mein Arm wird stark und gross mein Muth

1129

Lessing: Ich fragte meine Schöne

1130

Stolberg: Erde, du Mutter zahlloser Kinder, Mutter und Amme!

1130

Friederike Brun: Aus tiefem Schatten des schweigenden Tannenhains

1131

Giambattista Marino: Donna, siam rei di morte. Errasti, errai

1131

MS. Notebook: In diesem Wald, in diesen Gründen

1132

Anthologia Graeca:

Κοινῇ πὰρ κλισίῃ ληθαργικὸς ἠδὲ φρενοπλὴξ

1132

Battista Guarini: Canti terreni amori

1132

Stolberg: Der blinde Sänger stand am Meer

1134

 

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE POETICAL WORKS OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

1135

 

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL APPENDIX

No. I. Poems first published in Newspapers or Periodicals

1178

No. II. Epigrams and Jeux d'Esprit first published in Newspapers and Periodicals

1182

No. III. Poems included in Anthologies and other Works

1183

No. IV. Poems first printed or reprinted in

Literary Remains

, 1836, &c.

1187

Poems first printed or reprinted in

Essays on His Own Times

, 1850

1188

 

INDEX OF FIRST LINES

1189

ABBREVIATIONS

MS. B. M.

=

MS. preserved in the British Museum.

MS. O.

=

MS. Ottery: i. e. a collection of juvenile poems in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge (

circ.

1793).

MS. O. (c.)

=

MS. Ottery, No. 3: a transcript (

circ.

1823) of a collection of juvenile poems by S. T. Coleridge.

MS. S. T. C.

=

A single MS. poem in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge.

MS. E.

=

MS. Estlin: i. e. a collection of juvenile poems in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge presented to Mrs. Estlin of Bristol

circ.

1795.

MS. 4

^o

=

A collection of early poems in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge (

circ.

1796).

MS. W.

=

An MS. in the handwriting of S. T. Coleridge, now in the possession of Mr. Gordon Wordsworth.

MS. R.

=

MS. Rugby: i. e. in the possession of the Governors of Rugby School.

An. Anth.

=

Annual Anthology

of 1800.

B. L.

=

Biographia Literaria

.

C. I.

=

Cambridge Intelligencer

.

E. M.

=

English Minstrelsy

.

F. F.

=

Felix Farley's Bristol Journal

, 1818.

F. O.

=

Friendship's Offering

, 1834.

L. A.

=

Liber Aureus

.

L. B.

=

Lyrical Ballads

.

L. R.

=

Literary Remains

.

M. C.

=

Morning Chronicle

.

M. M.

=

Monthly Magazine

.

M. P.

=

Morning Post

.

P. R.

=

Poetical Register

, 1802.

P. & D. W.

=

Poetical and Dramatic Works

.

P. W.

=

Poetical Works

.

S. L.

=

Sibylline Leaves

(1817).

S. S.

=

Selection of Sonnets

.

ERRATA

On p. 16, n. 2, line 1, for Oct. 15, read Oct. 25.

On p. 68, line 6, for 1795 read 1794, and n. 1, line 1, for September 24, read September 23.

On p. 69, lines 11 and 28, for 1795 read 1794.

On p. 96, n. 1, line 1, for March 9, read March 17.

On p. 148, n. 1, line 2, for March 28, read March 25.

On p. 314, line 17, for May 26 read May 6.

On p. 1179, line 7, for Sept. 27, read Sept. 23.

On p. 1181, line 33, for Oct. 9 read Oct. 29.

POETICAL WORKS

POEMS

EASTER HOLIDAYS[1:1]

Verse 1st

Hail! festal Easter that dost bring Approach of sweetly-smiling spring, When Nature's clad in green: When feather'd songsters through the grove With beasts confess the power of love 5 And brighten all the scene.

Verse 2nd

Now youths the breaking stages load That swiftly rattling o'er the road To Greenwich haste away: While some with sounding oars divide 10 Of smoothly-flowing Thames the tide All sing the festive lay.

Verse 3rd

With mirthful dance they beat the ground, Their shouts of joy the hills resound And catch the jocund noise: 15 Without a tear, without a sigh Their moments all in transports fly Till evening ends their joys.

Verse 4th

But little think their joyous hearts Of dire Misfortune's varied smarts 20 Which youthful years conceal: Thoughtless of bitter-smiling Woe Which all mankind are born to know And they themselves must feel.

Verse 5th

Yet he who Wisdom's paths shall keep 25 And Virtue firm that scorns to weep At ills in Fortune's power, Through this life's variegated scene In raging storms or calm serene Shall cheerful spend the hour. 30

Verse 6th

While steady Virtue guides his mind Heav'n-born Content he still shall find That never sheds a tear: Without respect to any tide His hours away in bliss shall glide 35 Like Easter all the year.

1787.

FOOTNOTES:

[1:1] From a hitherto unpublished MS. The lines were sent in a letter to Luke Coleridge, dated May 12, 1787.

DURA NAVIS[2:1]

To tempt the dangerous deep, too venturous youth, Why does thy breast with fondest wishes glow? No tender parent there thy cares shall sooth, No much-lov'd Friend shall share thy every woe. Why does thy mind with hopes delusive burn? 5 Vain are thy Schemes by heated Fancy plann'd: Thy promis'd joy thou'lt see to Sorrow turn Exil'd from Bliss, and from thy native land.

Hast thou foreseen the Storm's impending rage, When to the Clouds the Waves ambitious rise, 10 And seem with Heaven a doubtful war to wage, Whilst total darkness overspreads the skies; Save when the lightnings darting wingéd Fate Quick bursting from the pitchy clouds between In forkéd Terror, and destructive state[2:2] 15 Shall shew with double gloom the horrid scene?

Shalt thou be at this hour from danger free? Perhaps with fearful force some falling Wave Shall wash thee in the wild tempestuous Sea, And in some monster's belly fix thy grave; 20 Or (woful hap!) against some wave-worn rock Which long a Terror to each Bark had stood Shall dash thy mangled limbs with furious shock And stain its craggy sides with human blood.

Yet not the Tempest, or the Whirlwind's roar 25 Equal the horrors of a Naval Fight, When thundering Cannons spread a sea of Gore And varied deaths now fire and now affright: The impatient shout, that longs for closer war, Reaches from either side the distant shores; 30 Whilst frighten'd at His streams ensanguin'd far Loud on his troubled bed huge Ocean roars.[3:1]

What dreadful scenes appear before my eyes! Ah! see how each with frequent slaughter red, Regardless of his dying fellows' cries 35 O'er their fresh wounds with impious order tread! From the dread place does soft Compassion fly! The Furies fell each alter'd breast command; Whilst Vengeance drunk with human blood stands by And smiling fires each heart and arms each hand. 40

Should'st thou escape the fury of that day A fate more cruel still, unhappy, view. Opposing winds may stop thy luckless way, And spread fell famine through the suffering crew, Canst thou endure th' extreme of raging Thirst 45 Which soon may scorch thy throat, ah! thoughtless Youth! Or ravening hunger canst thou bear which erst On its own flesh hath fix'd the deadly tooth?

Dubious and fluttering 'twixt hope and fear With trembling hands the lot I see thee draw, 50 Which shall, or sentence thee a victim drear, To that ghaunt Plague which savage knows no law: Or, deep thy dagger in the friendly heart, Whilst each strong passion agitates thy breast, Though oft with Horror back I see thee start, 55 Lo! Hunger drives thee to th' inhuman feast.

These are the ills, that may the course attend— Then with the joys of home contented rest— Here, meek-eyed Peace with humble Plenty lend Their aid united still, to make thee blest. 60 To ease each pain, and to increase each joy— Here mutual Love shall fix thy tender wife, Whose offspring shall thy youthful care employ And gild with brightest rays the evening of thy Life.

1787.

FOOTNOTES:

[2:1] First published in 1893. The autograph MS. is in the British Museum.

[2:2] State, Grandeur [1792]. This school exercise, written in the 15th year of my age, does not contain a line that any clever schoolboy might not have written, and like most school poetry is a Putting of Thought into Verse; for such Verses as strivings of mind and struggles after the Intense and Vivid are a fair Promise of better things.—S. T. C. aetat. suae 51. [1823.]

[3:1] I well remember old Jemmy Bowyer, the plagose Orbilius of Christ's Hospital, but an admirable educer no less than Educator of the Intellect, bade me leave out as many epithets as would turn the whole into eight-syllable lines, and then ask myself if the exercise would not be greatly improved. How often have I thought of the proposal since then, and how many thousand bloated and puffing lines have I read, that, by this process, would have tripped over the tongue excellently. Likewise, I remember that he told me on the same occasion—'Coleridge! the connections of a Declamation are not the transitions of Poetry—bad, however, as they are, they are better than "Apostrophes" and "O thou's", for at the worst they are something like common sense. The others are the grimaces of Lunacy.'—S. T. Coleridge.

NIL PEJUS EST CAELIBE VITÂ[4:1]

[IN CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOOK]

I

What pleasures shall he ever find? What joys shall ever glad his heart? Or who shall heal his wounded mind, If tortur'd by Misfortune's smart? Who Hymeneal bliss will never prove, 5 That more than friendship, friendship mix'd with love.

II

Then without child or tender wife, To drive away each care, each sigh, Lonely he treads the paths of life A stranger to Affection's tye: 10 And when from Death he meets his final doom No mourning wife with tears of love shall wet his tomb.

III

Tho' Fortune, Riches, Honours, Pow'r, Had giv'n with every other toy, Those gilded trifles of the hour, 15 Those painted nothings sure to cloy: He dies forgot, his name no son shall bear To shew the man so blest once breath'd the vital air.

1787.

FOOTNOTES:

[4:1] First published in 1893.

SONNET[5:1]

TO THE AUTUMNAL MOON

Mild Splendour of the various-vested Night! Mother of wildly-working visions! hail! I watch thy gliding, while with watery light Thy weak eye glimmers through a fleecy veil; And when thou lovest thy pale orb to shroud 5 Behind the gather'd blackness lost on high; And when thou dartest from the wind-rent cloud Thy placid lightning o'er the awaken'd sky.

Ah such is Hope! as changeful and as fair! Now dimly peering on the wistful sight; 10 Now hid behind the dragon-wing'd Despair: But soon emerging in her radiant might She o'er the sorrow-clouded breast of Care Sails, like a meteor kindling in its flight.

1788.

FOOTNOTES:

[5:1] First published in 1796: included in 1803, 1829, 1834. No changes were made in the text.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xviii, To the, &c.: Sonnet xviii, To the, &c., 1803.

ANTHEM[5:2]

FOR THE CHILDREN OF CHRIST'S HOSPITAL

Seraphs! around th' Eternal's seat who throng With tuneful ecstasies of praise: O! teach our feeble tongues like yours the song Of fervent gratitude to raise— Like you, inspired with holy flame 5 To dwell on that Almighty name Who bade the child of Woe no longer sigh, And Joy in tears o'erspread the widow's eye.

Th' all-gracious Parent hears the wretch's prayer; The meek tear strongly pleads on high; 10 Wan Resignation struggling with despair The Lord beholds with pitying eye; Sees cheerless Want unpitied pine, Disease on earth its head recline, And bids Compassion seek the realms of woe 15 To heal the wounded, and to raise the low.

She comes! she comes! the meek-eyed Power I see With liberal hand that loves to bless; The clouds of Sorrow at her presence flee; Rejoice! rejoice! ye Children of Distress! 20 The beams that play around her head Thro' Want's dark vale their radiance spread: The young uncultur'd mind imbibes the ray, And Vice reluctant quits th' expected prey.

Cease, thou lorn mother! cease thy wailings drear; 25 Ye babes! the unconscious sob forego; Or let full Gratitude now prompt the tear Which erst did Sorrow force to flow. Unkindly cold and tempest shrill In Life's morn oft the traveller chill, 30 But soon his path the sun of Love shall warm; And each glad scene look brighter for the storm!

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

[5:2] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

This Anthem was written as if intended to have been sung by the Children of Christ's Hospital. MS. O.

[3]

yours] you MS. O.

[14]

its head on earth MS. O.

JULIA[6:1]

[IN CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOOK]

Medio de fonte leporum Surgit amari aliquid.

 

Julia was blest with beauty, wit, and grace: Small poets lov'd to sing her blooming face. Before her altars, lo! a numerous train Preferr'd their vows; yet all preferr'd in vain, Till charming Florio, born to conquer, came 5 And touch'd the fair one with an equal flame. The flame she felt, and ill could she conceal What every look and action would reveal. With boldness then, which seldom fails to move, He pleads the cause of Marriage and of Love: 10

The course of Hymeneal joys he rounds, The fair one's eyes danc'd pleasure at the sounds. Nought now remain'd but 'Noes'—how little meant! And the sweet coyness that endears consent. The youth upon his knees enraptur'd fell: 15 The strange misfortune, oh! what words can tell? Tell! ye neglected sylphs! who lap-dogs guard, Why snatch'd ye not away your precious ward? Why suffer'd ye the lover's weight to fall On the ill-fated neck of much-lov'd Ball? 20 The favourite on his mistress casts his eyes, Gives a short melancholy howl, and—dies. Sacred his ashes lie, and long his rest! Anger and grief divide poor Julia's breast. Her eyes she fixt on guilty Florio first: 25 On him the storm of angry grief must burst. That storm he fled: he wooes a kinder fair, Whose fond affections no dear puppies share. 'Twere vain to tell, how Julia pin'd away: Unhappy Fair! that in one luckless day— 30 From future Almanacks the day be crost!— At once her Lover and her Lap-dog lost.

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

[6:1] First published in the History of . . . Christ's Hospital. By the Rev. W. Trollope, 1834, p. 192. Included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 33, 34. First collected P. and D. W., 1877-80.

LINENOTES:

Medio, &c.] De medio fonte leporum. Trollope.

[12]

danc'd] dance (T. Lit. Rem.)

QUAE NOCENT DOCENT[7:1]

[IN CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOOK]

O! mihi praeteritos referat si Jupiter annos!

 

Oh! might my ill-past hours return again! No more, as then, should Sloth around me throw Her soul-enslaving, leaden chain! No more the precious time would I employ In giddy revels, or in thoughtless joy, 5 A present joy producing future woe.

But o'er the midnight Lamp I'd love to pore, I'd seek with care fair Learning's depths to sound, And gather scientific Lore: Or to mature the embryo thoughts inclin'd, 10 That half-conceiv'd lay struggling in my mind, The cloisters' solitary gloom I'd round.

'Tis vain to wish, for Time has ta'en his flight— For follies past be ceas'd the fruitless tears: Let follies past to future care incite. 15 Averse maturer judgements to obey Youth owns, with pleasure owns, the Passions' sway, But sage Experience only comes with years.

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

[7:1] First published in 1893.

THE NOSE[8:1]

Ye souls unus'd to lofty verse Who sweep the earth with lowly wing, Like sand before the blast disperse— A Nose! a mighty Nose I sing! As erst Prometheus stole from heaven the fire 5 To animate the wonder of his hand; Thus with unhallow'd hands, O Muse, aspire, And from my subject snatch a burning brand! So like the Nose I sing—my verse shall glow— Like Phlegethon my verse in waves of fire shall flow! 10

Light of this once all darksome spot Where now their glad course mortals run, First-born of Sirius begot Upon the focus of the Sun— I'll call thee ——! for such thy earthly name— 15 What name so high, but what too low must be? Comets, when most they drink the solar flame Are but faint types and images of thee! Burn madly, Fire! o'er earth in ravage run, Then blush for shame more red by fiercer —— outdone! 20

I saw when from the turtle feast The thick dark smoke in volumes rose! I saw the darkness of the mist Encircle thee, O Nose! Shorn of thy rays thou shott'st a fearful gleam 25 (The turtle quiver'd with prophetic fright) Gloomy and sullen thro' the night of steam:— So Satan's Nose when Dunstan urg'd to flight, Glowing from gripe of red-hot pincers dread Athwart the smokes of Hell disastrous twilight shed! 30

The Furies to madness my brain devote— In robes of ice my body wrap! On billowy flames of fire I float, Hear ye my entrails how they snap? Some power unseen forbids my lungs to breathe! 35 What fire-clad meteors round me whizzing fly! I vitrify thy torrid zone beneath, Proboscis fierce! I am calcined! I die! Thus, like great Pliny, in Vesuvius' fire, I perish in the blaze while I the blaze admire. 40

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

[8:1] First published in 1834. The third stanza was published in the Morning Post, Jan. 2, 1798, entitled 'To the Lord Mayor's Nose'. William Gill (see ll. 15, 20) was Lord Mayor in 1788.

LINENOTES:

Title] Rhapsody MS. O: The Nose.—An Odaic Rhapsody MS. O (c).

[5]

As erst from Heaven Prometheus stole the fire MS. O (c).

[7]

hands] hand MS. O (c).

[10]

waves of fire] fiery waves MS. O (c).

[15]

I'll call thee Gill MS. O. G—ll MS. O (c).

[16]

high] great MS. O (c).

[20]

by fiercer Gill outdone MS. O.: more red for shame by fiercer G—ll MS. O (c).

[22]

dark] dank MS. O, MS. O (c).

[25]

rays] beams MS. O (c).

[30]

MS. O (c) ends with the third stanza.

TO THE MUSE[9:1]

Tho' no bold flights to thee belong; And tho' thy lays with conscious fear, Shrink from Judgement's eye severe, Yet much I thank thee, Spirit of my song! For, lovely Muse! thy sweet employ 5 Exalts my soul, refines my breast, Gives each pure pleasure keener zest, And softens sorrow into pensive Joy. From thee I learn'd the wish to bless, From thee to commune with my heart; 10 From thee, dear Muse! the gayer part, To laugh with pity at the crowds that press Where Fashion flaunts her robes by Folly spun, Whose hues gay-varying wanton in the sun.

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

[9:1] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet I. To my Muse MS. O.

DESTRUCTION OF THE BASTILE[10:1]

I

Heard'st thou yon universal cry, And dost thou linger still on Gallia's shore? Go, Tyranny! beneath some barbarous sky Thy terrors lost and ruin'd power deplore! What tho' through many a groaning age 5 Was felt thy keen suspicious rage, Yet Freedom rous'd by fierce Disdain Has wildly broke thy triple chain, And like the storm which Earth's deep entrails hide, At length has burst its way and spread the ruins wide. 10

       *       *       *       *       *

IV

In sighs their sickly breath was spent; each gleam Of Hope had ceas'd the long long day to cheer; Or if delusive, in some flitting dream, It gave them to their friends and children dear— Awaked by lordly Insult's sound 15 To all the doubled horrors round, Oft shrunk they from Oppression's band While Anguish rais'd the desperate hand For silent death; or lost the mind's controll, Thro' every burning vein would tides of Frenzy roll. 20

V

But cease, ye pitying bosoms, cease to bleed! Such scenes no more demand the tear humane; I see, I see! glad Liberty succeed With every patriot virtue in her train! And mark yon peasant's raptur'd eyes; 25 Secure he views his harvests rise; No fetter vile the mind shall know, And Eloquence shall fearless glow. Yes! Liberty the soul of Life shall reign, Shall throb in every pulse, shall flow thro' every vein! 30

VI

Shall France alone a Despot spurn? Shall she alone, O Freedom, boast thy care? Lo, round thy standard Belgia's heroes burn, Tho' Power's blood-stain'd streamers fire the air, And wider yet thy influence spread, 35 Nor e'er recline thy weary head, Till every land from pole to pole Shall boast one independent soul! And still, as erst, let favour'd Britain be First ever of the first and freest of the free! 40

? 1789.

FOOTNOTES:

[10:1] First published in 1834. Note. The Bastile was destroyed July 14, 1789.

LINENOTES:

Title] An ode on the Destruction of the Bastile MS. O.

[11]

In MS. O stanza iv follows stanza i, part of the leaf being torn out. In another MS. copy in place of the asterisks the following note is inserted: 'Stanzas second and third are lost. We may gather from the context that they alluded to the Bastile and its inhabitants.'

[12]

long long] live-long MS. O.

[32]

Shall She, O Freedom, all thy blessings share MS. O erased.

LIFE[11:1]

As late I journey'd o'er the extensive plain Where native Otter sports his scanty stream, Musing in torpid woe a Sister's pain, The glorious prospect woke me from the dream.

At every step it widen'd to my sight— 5 Wood, Meadow, verdant Hill, and dreary Steep, Following in quick succession of delight,— Till all—at once—did my eye ravish'd sweep!

May this (I cried) my course through Life portray! New scenes of Wisdom may each step display, 10

And Knowledge open as my days advance! Till what time Death shall pour the undarken'd ray, My eye shall dart thro' infinite expanse, And thought suspended lie in Rapture's blissful trance.

1789.

FOOTNOTES:

[11:1] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet II. Written September, 1789 MS. O: Sonnet written just after the writer left the Country in Sept. 1789, aetat. 15 MS. O (c).

[6]

dreary] barren MS. O, MS. O (c).

[8]

my ravish'd eye did sweep. MS. O, MS. O (c).

[12]

Till when death pours at length MS. O (c).

[14]

While thought suspended lies MS. O: While thought suspended lies in Transport's blissful trance MS. O (c).

PROGRESS OF VICE[12:1]

[Nemo repente turpissimus]

 

Deep in the gulph of Vice and Woe Leaps Man at once with headlong throw? Him inborn Truth and Virtue guide, Whose guards are Shame and conscious Pride. In some gay hour Vice steals into the breast; 5 Perchance she wears some softer Virtue's vest. By unperceiv'd degrees she tempts to stray, Till far from Virtue's path she leads the feet away.

Then swift the soul to disenthrall Will Memory the past recall, 10 And Fear before the Victim's eyes Bid future ills and dangers rise. But hark! the Voice, the Lyre, their charms combine— Gay sparkles in the cup the generous Wine— Th' inebriate dance, the fair frail Nymph inspires, 15 And Virtue vanquish'd—scorn'd—with hasty flight retires.

But soon to tempt the Pleasures cease; Yet Shame forbids return to peace, And stern Necessity will force Still to urge on the desperate course. 20 The drear black paths of Vice the wretch must try, Where Conscience flashes horror on each eye, Where Hate—where Murder scowl—where starts Affright! Ah! close the scene—ah! close—for dreadful is the sight.

1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[12:1] First published in 1834, from MS. O.

LINENOTES:

Title] Progress of Vice. An Ode MS. O. The motto first appears in Boyer's Liber Aureus.

[1]

Vice] Guilt L. A.

[3]

inborn] innate L. A.

[9]

Yet still the heart to disenthrall L. A.

[12]

Bid] Bids MS. O. ills] woes L. A.

[13]

But hark! their charms the voice L. A.

[15]

The mazy dance and frail young Beauty fires L. A.

[20]

Still on to urge MS. O.

[24]

Ah! close the scene, for dreadful MS. O.

MONODY ON THE DEATH OF CHATTERTON[13:1]

[FIRST VERSION, IN CHRIST'S HOSPITAL BOOK—1790]

Cold penury repress'd his noble rage,

And froze the genial current of his soul.

Now prompts the Muse poetic lays, And high my bosom beats with love of Praise! But, Chatterton! methinks I hear thy name, For cold my Fancy grows, and dead each Hope of Fame.

When Want and cold Neglect had chill'd thy soul, 5 Athirst for Death I see thee drench the bowl! Thy corpse of many a livid hue On the bare ground I view, Whilst various passions all my mind engage; Now is my breast distended with a sigh, 10 And now a flash of Rage Darts through the tear, that glistens in my eye.

Is this the land of liberal Hearts! Is this the land, where Genius ne'er in vain Pour'd forth her soul-enchanting strain? 15 Ah me! yet Butler 'gainst the bigot foe Well-skill'd to aim keen Humour's dart, Yet Butler felt Want's poignant sting; And Otway, Master of the Tragic art, Whom Pity's self had taught to sing, 20 Sank beneath a load of Woe; This ever can the generous Briton hear, And starts not in his eye th' indignant Tear?

Elate of Heart and confident of Fame, From vales where Avon sports, the Minstrel came, 25 Gay as the Poet hastes along He meditates the future song, How Ælla battled with his country's foes, And whilst Fancy in the air Paints him many a vision fair 30 His eyes dance rapture and his bosom glows. With generous joy he views th' ideal gold: He listens to many a Widow's prayers, And many an Orphan's thanks he hears; He soothes to peace the care-worn breast, 35 He bids the Debtor's eyes know rest, And Liberty and Bliss behold: And now he punishes the heart of steel, And her own iron rod he makes Oppression feel.

Fated to heave sad Disappointment's sigh, 40 To feel the Hope now rais'd, and now deprest, To feel the burnings of an injur'd breast, From all thy Fate's deep sorrow keen In vain, O Youth, I turn th' affrighted eye; For powerful Fancy evernigh 45 The hateful picture forces on my sight. There, Death of every dear delight, Frowns Poverty of Giant mien! In vain I seek the charms of youthful grace, Thy sunken eye, thy haggard cheeks it shews, 50 The quick emotions struggling in the Face Faint index of thy mental Throes, When each strong Passion spurn'd controll, And not a Friend was nigh to calm thy stormy soul.

Such was the sad and gloomy hour 55 When anguish'd Care of sullen brow Prepared the Poison's death-cold power. Already to thy lips was rais'd the bowl, When filial Pity stood thee by, Thy fixéd eyes she bade thee roll 60

On scenes that well might melt thy soul— Thy native cot she held to view, Thy native cot, where Peace ere long Had listen'd to thy evening song; Thy sister's shrieks she bade thee hear, 65 And mark thy mother's thrilling tear, She made thee feel her deep-drawn sigh, And all her silent agony of Woe.

And from thy Fate shall such distress ensue? Ah! dash the poison'd chalice from thy hand! 70 And thou had'st dash'd it at her soft command; But that Despair and Indignation rose, And told again the story of thy Woes, Told the keen insult of th' unfeeling Heart, The dread dependence on the low-born mind, 75 Told every Woe, for which thy breast might smart, Neglect and grinning scorn and Want combin'd— Recoiling back, thou sent'st the friend of Pain To roll a tide of Death thro' every freezing vein.

O Spirit blest! 80 Whether th' eternal Throne around, Amidst the blaze of Cherubim, Thou pourest forth the grateful hymn, Or, soaring through the blest Domain, Enraptur'st Angels with thy strain,— 85 Grant me, like thee, the lyre to sound, Like thee, with fire divine to glow— But ah! when rage the Waves of Woe, Grant me with firmer breast t'oppose their hate, And soar beyond the storms with upright eye elate![15:1] 90

1790

FOOTNOTES:

[13:1] First published in 1898. The version in the Ottery Copy-book MS. O was first published in P. and D. W., 1880, ii. 355*-8*. Three MSS. of the Monody, &c. are extant: (1) the Ottery Copy-book [MS. O]; (2) Boyer's Liber Aureus = the text as printed; (3) the transcription of S. T. C.'s early poems made in 1823 [MS. O (c)]. Variants in 1 and 3 are given below.

[15:1] [Note to ll. 88-90.] 'Altho' this latter reflection savours of suicide, it will easily meet with the indulgence of the considerate reader when he reflects that the Author's imagination was at that time inflam'd with the idea of his beloved Poet, and perhaps uttered a sentiment which in his cooler moments he would have abhor'd the thought of.' [Signed] J. M. MS. O (c).

LINENOTES:

Title] A Monody on Chatterton, who poisoned himself at the age of eighteen—written by the author at the age of sixteen. MS. O (c).

The motto does not appear in MS. O, but a note is prefixed: 'This poem has since appeared in print, much altered, whether for the better I doubt. This was, I believe, written before the Author went to College' (J. T. C.).

[6]

drench] drain MS. O, MS. O (c).

[7]

corpse] corse MS. O, MS. O (c).

[13]

Hearts] Heart MS. O, MS. O (c).

[20]

taught] bade MS. O, MS. O (c).

[21]

Sank] Sunk MS. O, MS. O (c).

[22]

This ever] Which can the . . . ever hear MS. O, MS. O (c).

[29]

whilst] while MS. O.

[32]

ideal] rising MS. O.

[36]

eyes] too MS. O (c).

[42]

To feel] With all MS. O.

[43]

Lo! from thy dark Fate's sorrow keen MS. O.

[45]

powerful] busy MS. O.

[50]

cheeks it] cheek she MS. O: looks she MS. O (c).

[51]

the] thy MS. O.

[60]

eyes] eye MS. O.

[61]

On scenes which MS. O. On] To MS. O (c).

[64]

evening] Evening's MS. O (c).

[66]

thrilling] frequent MS. O (c).

[67]

made] bade MS. O, MS. O (c).

[78]

sent'st] badest MS. O.

[79]

To] Quick. freezing] icening MS. O, MS. O (c).

[81]

eternal] Eternal's MS. O: endless MS. O (c).

[82]

Cherubim] Seraphim MS. O.

[88]

But ah!] Like thee MS. O, MS. O (c).

[89]

To leave behind Contempt, and Want, and State, MS. O.

To leave behind Contempt and Want and Hate MS. O (c).

And seek in other worlds an happier Fate MS. O, MS. O (c).

AN INVOCATION[16:1]

Sweet Muse! companion of my every hour! Voice of my Joy! Sure soother of the sigh! Now plume thy pinions, now exert each power, And fly to him who owns the candid eye. And if a smile of Praise thy labour hail 5 (Well shall thy labours then my mind employ) Fly fleetly back, sweet Muse! and with the tale O'erspread my Features with a flush of Joy!

1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[16:1] First published in 1893, from an autograph MS.

ANNA AND HARLAND[16:2]

Within these wilds was Anna wont to rove While Harland told his love in many a sigh, But stern on Harland roll'd her brother's eye, They fought, they fell—her brother and her love!

To Death's dark house did grief-worn Anna haste, 5 Yet here her pensive ghost delights to stay; Oft pouring on the winds the broken lay— And hark, I hear her—'twas the passing blast.

I love to sit upon her tomb's dark grass, Then Memory backward rolls Time's shadowy tide; 10 The tales of other days before me glide: With eager thought I seize them as they pass; For fair, tho' faint, the forms of Memory gleam, Like Heaven's bright beauteous bow reflected in the stream.

? 1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[16:2] First printed in the Cambridge Intelligencer, Oct. 25, 1794. First collected P. and D. W., 1880, Supplement, ii. 359. The text is that of 1880 and 1893, which follow a MS. version.

LINENOTES:

Title] Anna and Henry C. I.

[1]

Along this glade C. I.

[2]

Henry C. I.

[3]

stern] dark C. I. Harland] Henry C. I.

[5]

To her cold grave did woe-worn C. I.

[6]

stay] stray C. I.

[7]

the] a C. I.

[9]

dark] dank C. I.

[10]

Then] There C. I.

[11]

tales] forms C. I.

[14]

Like Heaven's bright bow reflected on the stream. C. I.

TO THE EVENING STAR[16:3]

O meek attendant of Sol's setting blaze, I hail, sweet star, thy chaste effulgent glow; On thee full oft with fixéd eye I gaze Till I, methinks, all spirit seem to grow. O first and fairest of the starry choir, 5 O loveliest 'mid the daughters of the night, Must not the maid I love like thee inspire Pure joy and calm Delight?

Must she not be, as is thy placid sphere Serenely brilliant? Whilst to gaze a while 10 Be all my wish 'mid Fancy's high career E'en till she quit this scene of earthly toil; Then Hope perchance might fondly sigh to join Her spirit in thy kindred orb, O Star benign!

? 1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[16:3] First published in P. and D. W., 1880, Supplement, ii. 359, from MS. O.

PAIN[17:1]

Once could the Morn's first beams, the healthful breeze, All Nature charm, and gay was every hour:— But ah! not Music's self, nor fragrant bower Can glad the trembling sense of wan Disease. Now that the frequent pangs my frame assail, 5 Now that my sleepless eyes are sunk and dim, And seas of Pain seem waving through each limb— Ah what can all Life's gilded scenes avail? I view the crowd, whom Youth and Health inspire, Hear the loud laugh, and catch the sportive lay, 10 Then sigh and think—I too could laugh and play And gaily sport it on the Muse's lyre, Ere Tyrant Pain had chas'd away delight, Ere the wild pulse throbb'd anguish thro' the night!

? 1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[17:1] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Pain, a Sonnet MS. O: Sonnet Composed in Sickness MS.

[3]

But ah! nor splendid feasts MS. O (c).

[12]

Muse's] festive MS. O, MS. O (c).

ON A LADY WEEPING[17:2]

IMITATION FROM THE LATIN OF NICOLAUS ARCHIUS

Lovely gems of radiance meek Trembling down my Laura's cheek, As the streamlets silent glide Thro' the Mead's enamell'd pride, Pledges sweet of pious woe, 5 Tears which Friendship taught to flow, Sparkling in yon humid light Love embathes his pinions bright: There amid the glitt'ring show'r Smiling sits th' insidious Power; 10 As some wingéd Warbler oft When Spring-clouds shed their treasures soft Joyous tricks his plumes anew, And flutters in the fost'ring dew.

? 1790.

[17:2] First published in 1893. From MS. O (c).

MONODY ON A TEA-KETTLE[18:1]

O Muse who sangest late another's pain, To griefs domestic turn thy coal-black steed! With slowest steps thy funeral steed must go, Nodding his head in all the pomp of woe: Wide scatter round each dark and deadly weed, 5 And let the melancholy dirge complain, (Whilst Bats shall shriek and Dogs shall howling run) The tea-kettle is spoilt and Coleridge is undone!

Your cheerful songs, ye unseen crickets, cease! Let songs of grief your alter'd minds engage! 10 For he who sang responsive to your lay, What time the joyous bubbles 'gan to play, The sooty swain has felt the fire's fierce rage;— Yes, he is gone, and all my woes increase; I heard the water issuing from the wound— 15 No more the Tea shall pour its fragrant steams around!

O Goddess best belov'd! Delightful Tea! With thee compar'd what yields the madd'ning Vine? Sweet power! who know'st to spread the calm delight, And the pure joy prolong to midmost night! 20 Ah! must I all thy varied sweets resign? Enfolded close in grief thy form I see; No more wilt thou extend thy willing arms, Receive the fervent Jove, and yield him all thy charms!

How sink the mighty low by Fate opprest!— 25 Perhaps, O Kettle! thou by scornful toe Rude urg'd t' ignoble place with plaintive din. May'st rust obscure midst heaps of vulgar tin;— As if no joy had ever seiz'd my breast When from thy spout the streams did arching fly,— 30 As if, infus'd, thou ne'er hadst known t' inspire All the warm raptures of poetic fire!

But hark! or do I fancy the glad voice— 'What tho' the swain did wondrous charms disclose— (Not such did Memnon's sister sable drest) 35 Take these bright arms with royal face imprest, A better Kettle shall thy soul rejoice, And with Oblivion's wings o'erspread thy woes!' Thus Fairy Hope can soothe distress and toil; On empty Trivets she bids fancied Kettles boil! 40

1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[18:1] First published in 1834, from MS. O. The text of 1893 follows an autograph MS. in the Editor's possession.

LINENOTES:

[1]

Muse that late sang another's poignant pain MS. S. T. C.

[3]

In slowest steps the funeral steeds shall go MS. S. T. C.

[4]

Nodding their heads MS. S. T. C.

[5]

each deadly weed MS. S. T. C.

[8]

The] His MS. S. T. C.

[9]

songs] song MS. S. T. C.

[15]

issuing] hissing MS. S. T. C.

[16]

pour] throw MS. S. T. C. steams] steam MS. S. T. C.

[18]

thee] whom MS. S. T. C. Vine] Wine MS. S. T. C.

[19]

who] that MS. S. T. C.

[21]

various charms MS. S. T. C.

[23]

extend] expand MS. S. T. C.

[25]

How low the mighty sink MS. S. T. C.

[29]

seiz'd] chear'd MS. S. T. C.

[30-1]

When from thy spout the stream did arching flow As if, inspir'd

MS. S. T. C.

[33]

the glad] Georgian MS. S. T. C.

[34]

the swain] its form MS. S. T. C.

[35]

Note. A parenthetical reflection of the Author's. MS. O.

[38]

wings] wing MS. S. T. C.

GENEVIEVE[19:1]

Maid of my Love, sweet Genevieve! In Beauty's light you glide along: Your eye is like the Star of Eve, And sweet your voice, as Seraph's song Yet not your heavenly beauty gives 5

This heart with Passion soft to glow: Within your soul a voice there lives! It bids you hear the tale of Woe. When sinking low the sufferer wan Beholds no hand outstretch'd to save, 10 Fair, as the bosom of the Swan That rises graceful o'er the wave, I've seen your breast with pity heave, And therefore love I you, sweet Genevieve!

1789-90.

FOOTNOTES:

[19:1] First published in the Cambridge Intelligencer for Nov. 1, 1794: included in the editions of 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Three MSS. are extant; (1) an autograph in a copy-book made for the family [MS. O]; (2) an autograph in a copy-book presented to Mrs. Estlin [MS. E]; and (3) a transcript included in a copy-book presented to Sara Coleridge in 1823 [MS. O (c)]. In an unpublished letter dated Dec. 18, 1807, Coleridge invokes the aid of Richard ['Conservation'] Sharp on behalf of a 'Mrs. Brewman, who was elected a nurse to one of the wards of Christ's Hospital at the time that I was a boy there'. He says elsewhere that he spent full half the time from seventeen to eighteen in the sick ward of Christ's Hospital. It is doubtless to this period, 1789-90, that Pain and Genevieve, which, according to a Christ's Hospital tradition, were inspired by his 'Nurse's Daughter', must be assigned.

'This little poem was written when the Author was a boy'—Note 1796, 1803.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet iii. MS. O: Ode MS. E: A Sonnet MS. O (c): Effusion xvii. 1796. The heading, Genevieve, first appears in 1803.

[2]

Thou glid'st along [so, too, in ll. 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 14] MS. O, MS. E, MS. O (c), C. I.

[4]

Thy voice is lovely as the MS. E: Thy voice is soft, &c. MS. O (c), C. I.

[8]

It bids thee hear the tearful plaint of woe MS. E.

[10]

no . . . save] no friendly hand that saves MS. E. outstretch'd] stretcht out MS. O, MS. O (c), C. I.

[12]

the wave] quick-rolling waves MS. E.

ON RECEIVING AN ACCOUNT THAT HIS ONLY
SISTER'S DEATH WAS INEVITABLE[20:1]

The tear which mourn'd a brother's fate scarce dry— Pain after pain, and woe succeeding woe— Is my heart destin'd for another blow? O my sweet sister! and must thou too die? Ah! how has Disappointment pour'd the tear 5 O'er infant Hope destroy'd by early frost! How are ye gone, whom most my soul held dear! Scarce had I lov'd you ere I mourn'd you lost; Say, is this hollow eye, this heartless pain, Fated to rove thro' Life's wide cheerless plain— 10 Nor father, brother, sister meet its ken— My woes, my joys unshared! Ah! long ere then On me thy icy dart, stern Death, be prov'd;— Better to die, than live and not be lov'd!

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[20:1] First published in 1834. The 'brother' (line 1) was Luke Herman Coleridge who died at Thorverton in 1790. Anne Coleridge, the poet's sister (the only daughter of his father's second marriage), died in March 1791.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet v. MS. O.

[1]

tear] tears MS. O.

[4]

O my sweet sister must thou die MS. O.

[7]

gone] flown MS. O.

[10]

Fated] Destin'd MS. O.

[11]

father] Mother MS. O.

ON SEEING A YOUTH AFFECTIONATELY WELCOMED BY A SISTER[21:1]

I too a sister had! too cruel Death! How sad Remembrance bids my bosom heave! Tranquil her soul, as sleeping Infant's breath; Meek were her manners as a vernal Eve. Knowledge, that frequent lifts the bloated mind, 5 Gave her the treasure of a lowly breast, And Wit to venom'd Malice oft assign'd, Dwelt in her bosom in a Turtle's nest. Cease, busy Memory! cease to urge the dart; Nor on my soul her love to me impress! 10 For oh I mourn in anguish—and my heart Feels the keen pang, th' unutterable distress. Yet wherefore grieve I that her sorrows cease, For Life was misery, and the Grave is Peace!

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[21:1] First published in 1834.

A MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM[21:2]

If Pegasus will let thee only ride him,

Spurning my clumsy efforts to o'erstride him,

Some fresh expedient the Muse will try,

And walk on stilts, although she cannot fly.

 

To the Rev. George Coleridge

Dear Brother,

I have often been surprised that Mathematics, the quintessence of Truth, should have found admirers so few and so languid. Frequent consideration and minute scrutiny have at length unravelled the cause; viz. that though Reason is feasted, Imagination is starved; whilst Reason is luxuriating in its proper Paradise, Imagination is wearily travelling on a dreary desert. To assist Reason by the stimulus of Imagination is the design of the following production. In the execution of it much may be objectionable. The verse (particularly in the introduction of the ode) may be accused of unwarrantable liberties, but they are liberties equally homogeneal with the exactness of Mathematical disquisition, and the boldness of Pindaric daring. I have three strong champions to defend me against the attacks of Criticism: the Novelty, the Difficulty, and the Utility of the work. I may justly plume myself that I first have drawn the nymph Mathesis from the visionary caves of abstracted idea, and caused her to unite with Harmony. The first-born of this Union I now present to you; with interested motives indeed—as I expect to receive in return the more valuable offspring of your Muse.

Thine ever,
S. T. C.

[Christ's Hospital], March 31, 1791.

 

This is now—this was erst, Proposition the first—and Problem the first.

I

On a given finite line Which must no way incline; To describe an equi— —lateral Tri— —A, N, G, L, E.[22:1] 5 Now let A. B. Be the given line Which must no way incline; The great Mathematician Makes this Requisition, 10 That we describe an Equi— —lateral Tri— —angle on it: Aid us, Reason—aid us, Wit!

II

From the centre A. at the distance A. B. 15 Describe the circle B. C. D. At the distance B. A. from B. the centre The round A. C. E. to describe boldly venture.[22:2] (Third postulate see.) And from the point C. 20 In which the circles make a pother Cutting and slashing one another, Bid the straight lines a journeying go. C. A. C. B. those lines will show. To the points, which by A. B. are reckon'd, 25 And postulate the second For Authority ye know. A. B. C. Triumphant shall be An Equilateral Triangle, 30 Not Peter Pindar carp, nor Zoilus can wrangle.

III

Because the point A. is the centre Of the circular B. C. D. And because the point B. is the centre Of the circular A. C. E. 35 A. C. to A. B. and B. C. to B. A. Harmoniously equal for ever must stay; Then C. A. and B. C. Both extend the kind hand To the basis, A. B. 40 Unambitiously join'd in Equality's Band. But to the same powers, when two powers are equal, My mind forbodes the sequel; My mind does some celestial impulse teach, And equalises each to each. 45 Thus C. A. with B. C. strikes the same sure alliance, That C. A. and B. C. had with A. B. before; And in mutual affiance None attempting to soar Above another, 50 The unanimous three C. A. and B. C. and A. B. All are equal, each to his brother, Preserving the balance of power so true: Ah! the like would the proud Autocratrix[23:1] do! 55 At taxes impending not Britain would tremble, Nor Prussia struggle her fear to dissemble; Nor the Mah'met-sprung Wight The great Mussulman Would stain his Divan 60 With Urine the soft-flowing daughter of Fright.

IV

But rein your stallion in, too daring Nine! Should Empires bloat the scientific line? Or with dishevell'd hair all madly do ye run For transport that your task is done? 65 For done it is—the cause is tried! And Proposition, gentle Maid, Who soothly ask'd stern Demonstration's aid, Has proved her right, and A. B. C. Of Angles three 70 Is shown to be of equal side; And now our weary steed to rest in fine, 'Tis rais'd upon A. B. the straight, the given line.

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[21:2] First published in 1834 without a title, but tabulated as 'Mathematical Problem' in 'Contents' 1 [p. xi].

[22:1] Poetice for Angle. Letter, 1791.

[22:2] Delendus 'fere'. Letter, 1791.

[23:1] Empress of Russia.

LINENOTES:

Title] Prospectus and Specimen of a Translation of Euclid in a series of Pindaric Odes, communicated in a letter of the author to his Brother Rev. G. Coleridge [March 17, 1791]. MS. O (c).

[5]

A E N G E E E L E. Letter, 1791.

[36]

A C to C B and C B to C A. Letter, 1791, MS. O (c).

[48]

affiance] alliance Letter, 1791.

[55]

Autocratrix] Autocratorix MS. O (c).

HONOUR[24:1]

O, curas hominum! O, quantum est in rebus inane!

 

The fervid Sun had more than halv'd the day, When gloomy on his couch Philedon lay; His feeble frame consumptive as his purse, His aching head did wine and women curse; His fortune ruin'd and his wealth decay'd, 5 Clamorous his duns, his gaming debts unpaid, The youth indignant seiz'd his tailor's bill, And on its back thus wrote with moral quill: 'Various as colours in the rainbow shown, Or similar in emptiness alone, 10 How false, how vain are Man's pursuits below! Wealth, Honour, Pleasure—what can ye bestow? Yet see, how high and low, and young and old Pursue the all-delusive power of Gold. Fond man! should all Peru thy empire own, 15 For thee tho' all Golconda's jewels shone, What greater bliss could all this wealth supply? What, but to eat and drink and sleep and die? Go, tempt the stormy sea, the burning soil— Go, waste the night in thought, the day in toil, 20 Dark frowns the rock, and fierce the tempests rave— Thy ingots go the unconscious deep to pave! Or thunder at thy door the midnight train, Or Death shall knock that never knocks in vain. Next Honour's sons come bustling on amain; 25 I laugh with pity at the idle train. Infirm of soul! who think'st to lift thy name Upon the waxen wings of human fame,— Who for a sound, articulated breath— Gazest undaunted in the face of death! 30

What art thou but a Meteor's glaring light— Blazing a moment and then sunk in night? Caprice which rais'd thee high shall hurl thee low, Or Envy blast the laurels on thy brow. To such poor joys could ancient Honour lead 35 When empty fame was toiling Merit's meed; To Modern Honour other lays belong; Profuse of joy and Lord of right and wrong, Honour can game, drink, riot in the stew, Cut a friend's throat;—what cannot Honour do? 40 Ah me!—the storm within can Honour still For Julio's death, whom Honour made me kill? Or will this lordly Honour tell the way To pay those debts, which Honour makes me pay? Or if with pistol and terrific threats 45 I make some traveller pay my Honour's debts, A medicine for this wound can Honour give? Ah, no! my Honour dies to make my Honour live. But see! young Pleasure, and her train advance, And joy and laughter wake the inebriate dance; 50 Around my neck she throws her fair white arms, I meet her loves, and madden at her charms. For the gay grape can joys celestial move, And what so sweet below as Woman's love? With such high transport every moment flies, 55 I curse Experience that he makes me wise; For at his frown the dear deliriums flew, And the changed scene now wears a gloomy hue. A hideous hag th' Enchantress Pleasure seems, And all her joys appear but feverous dreams. 60 The vain resolve still broken and still made, Disease and loathing and remorse invade; The charm is vanish'd and the bubble's broke,— A slave to pleasure is a slave to smoke!' Such lays repentant did the Muse supply; 65 When as the Sun was hastening down the sky, In glittering state twice fifty guineas come,— His Mother's plate antique had rais'd the sum. Forth leap'd Philedon of new life possest:— 'Twas Brookes's all till two,—'twas Hackett's all the rest! 70

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[24:1] First published in 1834: included in P. and D. W., 1877-80, and in 1893.

LINENOTES:

No title, but motto as above MS. O.: Philedon, Eds. 1877, 1893.

[34]

Or] And MS. O.

[43-4]

Or will my Honour kindly tell the way To pay the debts

MS. O.

[60]

feverous] feverish MS. O.

[70]

Brookes's, a famous gaming-house in Fleet Street. Hackett's, a brothel under the Covent Garden Piazza. Note MS. O.

ON IMITATION[26:1]

All are not born to soar—and ah! how few In tracks where Wisdom leads their paths pursue! Contagious when to wit or wealth allied, Folly and Vice diffuse their venom wide. On Folly every fool his talent tries; 5 It asks some toil to imitate the wise; Tho' few like Fox can speak—like Pitt can think— Yet all like Fox can game—like Pitt can drink.

? 1791

FOOTNOTES:

[26:1] First published in 1834. In MS. O lines 3, 4 follow lines 7, 8 of the text.

INSIDE THE COACH[26:2]

'Tis hard on Bagshot Heath to try Unclos'd to keep the weary eye; But ah! Oblivion's nod to get In rattling coach is harder yet. Slumbrous God of half-shut eye! 5 Who lovest with limbs supine to lie; Soother sweet of toil and care Listen, listen to my prayer; And to thy votary dispense Thy soporific influence! 10 What tho' around thy drowsy head The seven-fold cap of night be spread, Yet lift that drowsy head awhile And yawn propitiously a smile; In drizzly rains poppean dews 15 O'er the tired inmates of the Coach diffuse; And when thou'st charm'd our eyes to rest, Pillowing the chin upon the breast, Bid many a dream from thy dominions Wave its various-painted pinions, 20 Till ere the splendid visions close We snore quartettes in ecstasy of nose. While thus we urge our airy course, O may no jolt's electric force Our fancies from their steeds unhorse, 25 And call us from thy fairy reign To dreary Bagshot Heath again!

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[26:2] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Ode to sleep. Travelling in the Exeter Coach with three other passengers over Bagshot Heath, after some vain endeavours to compose myself I composed this Ode—August 17, 1791. MS. O.

[12]

Vulgo yclept night-cap MS. O.

[13]

that] thy MS. O.

DEVONSHIRE ROADS[27:1]

The indignant Bard composed this furious ode, As tired he dragg'd his way thro' Plimtree road![27:2] Crusted with filth and stuck in mire Dull sounds the Bard's bemudded lyre; Nathless Revenge and Ire the Poet goad 5 To pour his imprecations on the road.

Curst road! whose execrable way Was darkly shadow'd out in Milton's lay, When the sad fiends thro' Hell's sulphureous roads Took the first survey of their new abodes; 10 Or when the fall'n Archangel fierce Dar'd through the realms of Night to pierce, What time the Bloodhound lur'd by Human scent Thro' all Confusion's quagmires floundering went.

Nor cheering pipe, nor Bird's shrill note 15 Around thy dreary paths shall float; Their boding songs shall scritch-owls pour To fright the guilty shepherds sore, Led by the wandering fires astray Thro' the dank horrors of thy way! 20 While they their mud-lost sandals hunt May all the curses, which they grunt In raging moan like goaded hog, Alight upon thee, damnéd Bog!

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[27:1] First published in 1834.

[27:2] Plymtree Road, August 18, 1791. Note, MS. O. [Plimtree is about 8 miles N. of Ottery St. Mary. S. T. C. must have left the mail coach at Cullompton to make his way home on foot.]

LINENOTES:

No title MS. O.

MUSIC[28:1]

Hence, soul-dissolving Harmony That lead'st th' oblivious soul astray— Though thou sphere-descended be— Hence away!— Thou mightier Goddess, thou demand'st my lay, 5 Born when earth was seiz'd with cholic; Or as more sapient sages say, What time the Legion diabolic Compell'd their beings to enshrine In bodies vile of herded swine, 10 Precipitate adown the steep With hideous rout were plunging in the deep, And hog and devil mingling grunt and yell Seiz'd on the ear with horrible obtrusion;— Then if aright old legendaries tell, 15 Wert thou begot by Discord on Confusion!

What though no name's sonorous power Was given thee at thy natal hour!— Yet oft I feel thy sacred might, While concords wing their distant flight. 20 Such Power inspires thy holy son Sable clerk of Tiverton! And oft where Otter sports his stream, I hear thy banded offspring scream. Thou Goddess! thou inspir'st each throat; 25 'Tis thou who pour'st the scritch-owl note! Transported hear'st thy children all Scrape and blow and squeak and squall; And while old Otter's steeple rings, Clappest hoarse thy raven wings! 30

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[28:1] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Ode on the Ottery and Tiverton Church Music MS. O.

SONNET[29:1]

ON QUITTING SCHOOL FOR COLLEGE

Farewell parental scenes! a sad farewell! To you my grateful heart still fondly clings, Tho' fluttering round on Fancy's burnish'd wings Her tales of future Joy Hope loves to tell. Adieu, adieu! ye much-lov'd cloisters pale! 5 Ah! would those happy days return again, When 'neath your arches, free from every stain, I heard of guilt and wonder'd at the tale! Dear haunts! where oft my simple lays I sang, Listening meanwhile the echoings of my feet, 10 Lingering I quit you, with as great a pang, As when erewhile, my weeping childhood, torn By early sorrow from my native seat, Mingled its tears with hers—my widow'd Parent lorn.

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[29:1] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet on the Same (i. e. 'Absence, A Farewell Ode,' &c.) 1834.

ABSENCE[29:2]

A FAREWELL ODE ON QUITTING SCHOOL FOR JESUS
COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

Where graced with many a classic spoil Cam rolls his reverend stream along, I haste to urge the learnéd toil That sternly chides my love-lorn song: Ah me! too mindful of the days 5 Illumed by Passion's orient rays, When Peace, and Cheerfulness and Health Enriched me with the best of wealth. Ah fair Delights! that o'er my soul On Memory's wing, like shadows fly! 10 Ah Flowers! which Joy from Eden stole While Innocence stood smiling by!— But cease, fond Heart! this bootless moan: Those Hours on rapid Pinions flown Shall yet return, by Absence crown'd, 15 And scatter livelier roses round. The Sun who ne'er remits his fires On heedless eyes may pour the day: The Moon, that oft from Heaven retires, Endears her renovated ray. 20 What though she leave the sky unblest To mourn awhile in murky vest? When she relumes her lovely light, We bless the Wanderer of the Night.

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[29:2] First published in Cambridge Intelligencer, October 11, 1794: included in 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet on Quitting Christ's Hospital MS. O. Absence, A Farewell Ode 1796, 1803.

HAPPINESS[30:1]

On wide or narrow scale shall Man Most happily describe Life's plan? Say shall he bloom and wither there, Where first his infant buds appear; Or upwards dart with soaring force, 5 And tempt some more ambitious course? Obedient now to Hope's command, I bid each humble wish expand, And fair and bright Life's prospects seem. While Hope displays her cheering beam, 10 And Fancy's vivid colourings stream, While Emulation stands me nigh The Goddess of the eager eye. With foot advanc'd and anxious heart Now for the fancied goal I start:— 15 Ah! why will Reason intervene Me and my promis'd joys between! She stops my course, she chains my speed, While thus her forceful words proceed:— Ah! listen, Youth, ere yet too late, 20 What evils on thy course may wait! To bow the head, to bend the knee, A minion of Servility, At low Pride's frequent frowns to sigh, And watch the glance in Folly's eye; 25

To toil intense, yet toil in vain, And feel with what a hollow pain Pale Disappointment hangs her head O'er darling Expectation dead! 'The scene is changed and Fortune's gale 30 Shall belly out each prosperous sail. Yet sudden wealth full well I know Did never happiness bestow. That wealth to which we were not born Dooms us to sorrow or to scorn. 35 Behold yon flock which long had trod O'er the short grass of Devon's sod, To Lincoln's rank rich meads transferr'd, And in their fate thy own be fear'd; Through every limb contagions fly, 40 Deform'd and choked they burst and die. 'When Luxury opens wide her arms, And smiling wooes thee to those charms, Whose fascination thousands own, Shall thy brows wear the stoic frown? 45 And when her goblet she extends Which maddening myriads press around, What power divine thy soul befriends That thou should'st dash it to the ground?— No, thou shalt drink, and thou shalt know 50 Her transient bliss, her lasting woe, Her maniac joys, that know no measure, And Riot rude and painted Pleasure;— Till (sad reverse!) the Enchantress vile To frowns converts her magic smile; 55 Her train impatient to destroy, Observe her frown with gloomy joy; On thee with harpy fangs they seize The hideous offspring of Disease, Swoln Dropsy ignorant of Rest, 60 And Fever garb'd in scarlet vest, Consumption driving the quick hearse, And Gout that howls the frequent curse, With Apoplex of heavy head That surely aims his dart of lead. 65 'But say Life's joys unmix'd were given To thee some favourite of Heaven: Within, without, tho' all were health— Yet what e'en thus are Fame, Power, Wealth, But sounds that variously express, 70 What's thine already—Happiness! 'Tis thine the converse deep to hold With all the famous sons of old; And thine the happy waking dream While Hope pursues some favourite theme, 75

As oft when Night o'er Heaven is spread, Round this maternal seat you tread, Where far from splendour, far from riot, In silence wrapt sleeps careless Quiet. 'Tis thine with Fancy oft to talk, 80 And thine the peaceful evening walk; And what to thee the sweetest are— The setting sun, the Evening Star— The tints, which live along the sky, And Moon that meets thy raptur'd eye, 85 Where oft the tear shall grateful start, Dear silent pleasures of the Heart! Ah! Being blest, for Heaven shall lend To share thy simple joys a friend! Ah! doubly blest, if Love supply 90 His influence to complete thy joy, If chance some lovely maid thou find To read thy visage in thy mind. 'One blessing more demands thy care:— Once more to Heaven address the prayer: 95

For humble independence pray The guardian genius of thy way; Whom (sages say) in days of yore Meek Competence to Wisdom bore, So shall thy little vessel glide 100 With a fair breeze adown the tide, And Hope, if e'er thou 'ginst to sorrow, Remind thee of some fair to-morrow, Till Death shall close thy tranquil eye While Faith proclaims "Thou shalt not die!"' 105

1791.

FOOTNOTES:

[30:1] First published in 1834. The poem was sent to George Coleridge in a letter dated June 22, 1791. An adapted version of ll. 80-105 was sent to Southey, July 13, 1794.

LINENOTES:

Title] Upon the Author's leaving school and entering into Life. MS. O (c).

[6]

tempt] dare MS. O, MS. O (c).

[10]

While] When MS. O, MS. O (c).

Between 11-13

How pants my breast before my eyes While Honour waves her radiant prize. And Emulation, &c.

MS. O, MS. O (c).

[22]

To bend the head, to bow MS. O (c).

[24]

frowns] frown MS. O, MS. O (c).

[25]

in] of MS. O (c).

[41]

Deformed, choaked MS. O, MS. O (c).

[45]

brows] brow MS. O, MS. O (c).

[55]

magic] wonted MS. O, MS. O (c).

[57]

her frown] the fiend MS. O, MS. O (c).

[68]

Without, within MS. O, MS. O (c).

[76]

is] has MS O, MS. O (c).

[77]

Note—Christ's Hospital MS. O: Ottery S. Mary in Devonshire MS. O (c).

[80-1]

'Tis thine with faery forms to talk And thine the philosophic walk.

Letter to Southey, 1794.

[84]

which] that MS. O, MS. O (c), Letter, 1794.

[85]

And] The Letter, 1794.

[86]

Where grateful oft the big drops start. Letter, 1794. shall] does MS. O (c).

[90-3]

Ah! doubly blest, if Love supply Lustre to this now heavy eye, And with unwonted Spirit grace That fat[32:A] vacuity of face. Or if e'en Love, the mighty Love Shall find this change his power above; Some lovely maid perchance thou'lt find To read thy visage in thy mind.

MS. O, MS. O (c).

[32:A] The Author was at this time, aetat. 17, remarkable for a plump face. MS. O (c).

[96-7]

But if thou pour one votive lay For humble, &c.

Letter, 1794.

[96]

Not in Letter.

[101]

adown Life's tide MS. O, MS. O (c).

[102-3]

Not in Letter, 1794.

A WISH[33:1]

WRITTEN IN JESUS WOOD, FEB. 10, 1792

Lo! through the dusky silence of the groves, Thro' vales irriguous, and thro' green retreats, With languid murmur creeps the placid stream And works its secret way.

Awhile meand'ring round its native fields 5 It rolls the playful wave and winds its flight: Then downward flowing with awaken'd speed Embosoms in the Deep!

Thus thro' its silent tenor may my Life Smooth its meek stream by sordid wealth unclogg'd, 10 Alike unconscious of forensic storms, And Glory's blood-stain'd palm!

And when dark Age shall close Life's little day, Satiate of sport, and weary of its toils, E'en thus may slumbrous Death my decent limbs 15 Compose with icy hand!

1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[33:1] First published in 1893, from MS. Letter to Mary Evans, Feb. 13 [1792].

AN ODE IN THE MANNER OF ANACREON[33:2]

As late, in wreaths, gay flowers I bound, Beneath some roses Love I found; And by his little frolic pinion As quick as thought I seiz'd the minion, Then in my cup the prisoner threw, 5 And drank him in its sparkling dew: And sure I feel my angry guest Fluttering his wings within my breast!

1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[33:2] First published in 1893, from MS. Letter, Feb. 13 [1792].

TO DISAPPOINTMENT[34:1]

Hence! thou fiend of gloomy sway, That lov'st on withering blast to ride O'er fond Illusion's air-built pride. Sullen Spirit! Hence! Away!

Where Avarice lurks in sordid cell, 5 Or mad Ambition builds the dream, Or Pleasure plots th' unholy scheme There with Guilt and Folly dwell!

But oh! when Hope on Wisdom's wing Prophetic whispers pure delight, 10 Be distant far thy cank'rous blight, Demon of envenom'd sting.

Then haste thee, Nymph of balmy gales! Thy poet's prayer, sweet May! attend! Oh! place my parent and my friend 15 'Mid her lovely native vales.

Peace, that lists the woodlark's strains, Health, that breathes divinest treasures, Laughing Hours, and Social Pleasures Wait my friend in Cambria's plains. 20

Affection there with mingled ray Shall pour at once the raptures high Of filial and maternal Joy; Haste thee then, delightful May!

And oh! may Spring's fair flowerets fade, 25 May Summer cease her limbs to lave In cooling stream, may Autumn grave Yellow o'er the corn-cloath'd glade;

Ere, from sweet retirement torn, She seek again the crowded mart: 30 Nor thou, my selfish, selfish heart Dare her slow return to mourn!

1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[34:1] First published in Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1895, i. 28, 29. The lines were included in a letter to Mrs. Evans, dated February 13, 1792.

A FRAGMENT FOUND IN A LECTURE-ROOM[35:1]

Where deep in mud Cam rolls his slumbrous stream, And bog and desolation reign supreme; Where all Boeotia clouds the misty brain, The owl Mathesis pipes her loathsome strain. Far, far aloof the frighted Muses fly, 5 Indignant Genius scowls and passes by: The frolic Pleasures start amid their dance, And Wit congeal'd stands fix'd in wintry trance. But to the sounds with duteous haste repair Cold Industry, and wary-footed Care; 10 And Dulness, dosing on a couch of lead, Pleas'd with the song uplifts her heavy head, The sympathetic numbers lists awhile, Then yawns propitiously a frosty smile. . . . [Caetera desunt.]

1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[35:1] First published in Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1895, i. 44. The lines were sent in a letter to the Rev. G. Coleridge, dated April [1792].

LINENOTES:

[1]

slumbrous] reverend MS. E.

[5]

frighted] affrighted MS. E.

[9]

to] at MS. E.

[12]

Sooth'd with the song uprears MS. E.

[13]

The] Its MS. E.

ODE[35:2]

Ye Gales, that of the Lark's repose The impatient Silence break, To yon poor Pilgrim's wearying Woes Your gentle Comfort speak! He heard the midnight whirlwind die, 5 He saw the sun-awaken'd Sky Resume its slowly-purpling Blue: And ah! he sigh'd—that I might find The cloudless Azure of the Mind And Fortune's brightning Hue! 10 Where'er in waving Foliage hid The Bird's gay Charm ascends, Or by the fretful current chid Some giant Rock impends— There let the lonely Cares respire 15 As small airs thrill the mourning Lyre And teach the Soul her native Calm; While Passion with a languid Eye Hangs o'er the fall of Harmony And drinks the sacred Balm. 20

Slow as the fragrant whisper creeps Along the lilied Vale, The alter'd Eye of Conquest weeps, And ruthless War grows pale Relenting that his Heart forsook 25 Soft Concord of auspicious Look, And Love, and social Poverty; The Family of tender Fears, The Sigh, that saddens and endears, And Cares, that sweeten Joy. 30

Then cease, thy frantic Tumults cease, Ambition, Sire of War! Nor o'er the mangled Corse of Peace Urge on thy scythéd Car. And oh! that Reason's voice might swell 35 With whisper'd Airs and holy Spell To rouse thy gentler Sense, As bending o'er the chilly bloom The Morning wakes its soft Perfume With breezy Influence. 40

1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[35:2] These lines, first published in the Watchman (No. IV, March 25, 1796, signed G. A. U. N. T.), were included in the volume of MS. Poems presented to Mrs. Estlin in April, 1795. They were never claimed by Coleridge or assigned to him, and are now collected for the first time.

LINENOTES:

Title] A Morning Effusion Watchman.

[4]

Comfort] solace W.

[13]

fretful] fretting MS. E.

[16]

mourning] lonely W.

[17]

her] its W.

[18]

languid] waning W.

[19]

Hangs] Bends W.

[21-2]

As slow the whisper'd measure creeps Along the steaming Vale.

W.

[24]

grows] turns W.

[31]

Tumults] outrage W.

[32]

Thou scepter'd Demon, War W.

[35]

oh] ah W.

[38]

chilly] flowrets' W.

A LOVER'S COMPLAINT TO HIS MISTRESS[36:1]

WHO DESERTED HIM IN QUEST OF A MORE WEALTHY HUSBAND
IN THE EAST INDIES

The dubious light sad glimmers o'er the sky: 'Tis silence all. By lonely anguish torn, With wandering feet to gloomy groves I fly, And wakeful Love still tracks my course forlorn.

And will you, cruel Julia! will you go? 5 And trust you to the Ocean's dark dismay? Shall the wide wat'ry world between us flow? And winds unpitying snatch my Hopes away?

Thus could you sport with my too easy heart? Yet tremble, lest not unaveng'd I grieve! 10 The winds may learn your own delusive art, And faithless Ocean smile—but to deceive!

1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[36:1] First published in 1893, from MS. Letter, Feb. 13 [1792].

WITH FIELDING'S 'AMELIA'[37:1]

Virtues and Woes alike too great for man In the soft tale oft claim the useless sigh; For vain the attempt to realise the plan, On Folly's wings must Imitation fly. With other aim has Fielding here display'd 5 Each social duty and each social care; With just yet vivid colouring portray'd What every wife should be, what many are. And sure the Parent[37:2] of a race so sweet With double pleasure on the page shall dwell, 10 Each scene with sympathizing breast shall meet, While Reason still with smiles delights to tell Maternal hope, that her loved progeny In all but sorrows shall Amelias be!

? 1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[37:1] First published in 1834.

[37:2] It is probable that the recipient of the Amelia was the mother of Coleridge's first love, Mary Evans.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sent to Mrs. —— with an Amelia. MS. O.

[10]

double] doubled MS. O.

WRITTEN AFTER A WALK BEFORE SUPPER[37:3]

Tho' much averse, dear Jack, to flicker, To find a likeness for friend V—ker, I've made thro' Earth, and Air, and Sea, A Voyage of Discovery! And let me add (to ward off strife) 5 For V—ker and for V—ker's Wife— She large and round beyond belief, A superfluity of beef! Her mind and body of a piece, And both composed of kitchen-grease. 10

In short, Dame Truth might safely dub her Vulgarity enshrin'd in blubber! He, meagre bit of littleness, All snuff, and musk, and politesse; So thin, that strip him of his clothing, 15 He'd totter on the edge of Nothing! In case of foe, he well might hide Snug in the collops of her side.

Ah then, what simile will suit? Spindle-leg in great jack-boot? 20 Pismire crawling in a rut? Or a spigot in a butt? Thus I humm'd and ha'd awhile, When Madam Memory with a smile Thus twitch'd my ear—'Why sure, I ween, 25 In London streets thou oft hast seen The very image of this pair: A little Ape with huge She-Bear Link'd by hapless chain together: An unlick'd mass the one—the other 30 An antic small with nimble crupper——' But stop, my Muse! for here comes supper.

1792.

FOOTNOTES:

[37:3] First published in 1796, and secondly in P. and D. W., 1877-80. These lines, described as 'A Simile', were sent in a letter to the Rev. George Coleridge, dated August 9 [1792]. The Rev. Fulwood Smerdon, the 'Vicar' of the original MS., succeeded the Rev. John Coleridge as vicar of Ottery St. Mary in 1781. He was the 'Edmund' of 'Lines to a Friend', &c., vide post, pp. 74, 75.

LINENOTES:

Title] Epistle iii. Written, &c., 1796.

[1]

dear Jack] at folk Letter, 1792.

[2]

A simile for Vicar Letter, 1792.

[6]

For Vicar and for Vicar's wife Letter, 1792.

[7]

large] gross Letter, 1792.

[12]

enshrin'd] enclos'd

[19]

will] can Letter, 1792.

[23]

I ha'd and hem'd Letter, 1792.

[24]

Madam] Mrs. Letter, 1792.

[28]

huge] large Letter, 1792.

[29]

Link'd] Tied Letter, 1792.

[31]

small] lean Letter, 1792: huge 1796, 1877, 1888, 1893. For Antic huge read antic small 'Errata', 1796 p. [189].

IMITATED FROM OSSIAN[38:1]

The stream with languid murmur creeps, In Lumin's flowery vale: Beneath the dew the Lily weeps Slow-waving to the gale.

'Cease, restless gale!' it seems to say, 5 'Nor wake me with thy sighing! The honours of my vernal day On rapid wing are flying.

'To-morrow shall the Traveller come Who late beheld me blooming: 10 His searching eye shall vainly roam The dreary vale of Lumin.'

With eager gaze and wetted cheek My wonted haunts along, Thus, faithful Maiden! thou shalt seek 15 The Youth of simplest song.

But I along the breeze shall roll The voice of feeble power; And dwell, the Moon-beam of thy soul, In Slumber's nightly hour. 20

1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[38:1] First published in 1796: included in 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The following note was attached in 1796 and 1803:—The flower hangs its [heavy] head waving at times to the gale. 'Why dost thou awake me, O Gale?' it seems to say, 'I am covered with the drops of Heaven. The time of my fading is near, the blast that shall scatter my leaves. Tomorrow shall the traveller come; he that saw me in my beauty shall come. His eyes will search the field, [but] they will not find me. So shall they search in vain for the voice of Cona, after it has failed in the field.'—Berrathon, see Ossian's Poems, vol. ii. [ed. 1819, p. 481].

LINENOTES:

Title] Ode MS. E.

[10]

That erst, &c. MS. E.

[15]

faithful] lovely MS. E.

[16]

simplest] gentle MS. E.

THE COMPLAINT OF NINATHÓMA[39:1]

FROM THE SAME

How long will ye round me be swelling, O ye blue-tumbling waves of the sea? Not always in caves was my dwelling, Nor beneath the cold blast of the tree. Through the high-sounding halls of Cathlóma 5 In the steps of my beauty I strayed; The warriors beheld Ninathóma, And they blesséd the white-bosom'd Maid! A Ghost! by my cavern it darted! In moon-beams the Spirit was drest— 10 For lovely appear the Departed When they visit the dreams of my rest! But disturb'd by the tempest's commotion Fleet the shadowy forms of delight— Ah cease, thou shrill blast of the Ocean! 15 To howl through my cavern by night.

1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[39:1] First published in 1796: included in 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. These lines were included in a letter from Coleridge to Mary Evans, dated Feb. 7, 1793. In 1796 and 1803 the following note was attached:—'How long will ye roll around me, blue-tumbling waters of Ocean. My dwelling is not always in caves; nor beneath the whistling tree. My [The] feast is spread in Torthoma's Hall. [My father delighted in my voice.] The youths beheld me in [the steps of] my loveliness. They blessed the dark-haired Nina-thomà.'—Berrathon [Ossian's Poems, 1819, ii. 484].

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xxx. The Complaint, &c., 1796.

[5]

halls] Hall Letter, 1793.

[8]

white-bosom'd] dark-tressed Letter, 1793.

[8-9]

By my friends, by my Lovers discarded, Like the flower of the Rock now I waste, That lifts her fair head unregarded, And scatters its leaves on the blast.

Letter, 1793.

[13]

disturb'd] dispers'd Letter, 1793.

SONGS OF THE PIXIES[40:1]

The Pixies, in the superstition of Devonshire, are a race of beings invisibly small, and harmless or friendly to man. At a small distance from a village in that county, half-way up a wood-covered hill, is an excavation called the Pixies' Parlour. The roots of old trees form its ceiling; and on its sides are innumerable cyphers, among which the author discovered his own cypher and those of his brothers, cut by the hand of their childhood. At the foot of the hill flows the river Otter.

To this place the Author, during the summer months of the year 1793, conducted a party of young ladies; one of whom, of stature elegantly small, and of complexion colourless yet clear, was proclaimed the Faery Queen. On which occasion the following Irregular Ode was written.

I

Whom the untaught Shepherds call Pixies in their madrigal, Fancy's children, here we dwell: Welcome, Ladies! to our cell. Here the wren of softest note 5 Builds its nest and warbles well; Here the blackbird strains his throat; Welcome, Ladies! to our cell.

II

When fades the moon to shadowy-pale, And scuds the cloud before the gale, 10 Ere the Morn all gem-bedight Hath streak'd the East with rosy light, We sip the furze-flower's fragrant dews Clad in robes of rainbow hues; Or sport amid the shooting gleams 15 To the tune of distant-tinkling teams, While lusty Labour scouting sorrow Bids the Dame a glad good-morrow, Who jogs the accustom'd road along, And paces cheery to her cheering song. 20

III

But not our filmy pinion We scorch amid the blaze of day, When Noontide's fiery-tresséd minion Flashes the fervid ray. Aye from the sultry heat 25 We to the cave retreat O'ercanopied by huge roots intertwin'd With wildest texture, blacken'd o'er with age: Round them their mantle green the ivies bind, Beneath whose foliage pale 30 Fann'd by the unfrequent gale We shield us from the Tyrant's mid-day rage.

IV

Thither, while the murmuring throng Of wild-bees hum their drowsy song, By Indolence and Fancy brought, 35 A youthful Bard, 'unknown to Fame,' Wooes the Queen of Solemn Thought, And heaves the gentle misery of a sigh Gazing with tearful eye, As round our sandy grot appear 40 Many a rudely-sculptur'd name To pensive Memory dear! Weaving gay dreams of sunny-tinctur'd hue, We glance before his view: O'er his hush'd soul our soothing witcheries shed 45 And twine the future garland round his head.

V

When Evening's dusky car Crown'd with her dewy star Steals o'er the fading sky in shadowy flight; On leaves of aspen trees 50 We tremble to the breeze Veil'd from the grosser ken of mortal sight. Or, haply, at the visionary hour, Along our wildly-bower'd sequester'd walk, We listen to the enamour'd rustic's talk; 55 Heave with the heavings of the maiden's breast, Where young-eyed Loves have hid their turtle nest; Or guide of soul-subduing power The glance that from the half-confessing eye Darts the fond question or the soft reply. 60

VI

Or through the mystic ringlets of the vale We flash our faery feet in gamesome prank; Or, silent-sandal'd, pay our defter court, Circling the Spirit of the Western Gale, Where wearied with his flower-caressing sport, 65 Supine he slumbers on a violet bank; Then with quaint music hymn the parting gleam By lonely Otter's sleep-persuading stream; Or where his wave with loud unquiet song Dash'd o'er the rocky channel froths along; 70 Or where, his silver waters smooth'd to rest, The tall tree's shadow sleeps upon his breast.

VII

Hence thou lingerer, Light! Eve saddens into Night. Mother of wildly-working dreams! we view 75 The sombre hours, that round thee stand With down-cast eyes (a duteous band!) Their dark robes dripping with the heavy dew. Sorceress of the ebon throne! Thy power the Pixies own, 80 When round thy raven brow Heaven's lucent roses glow, And clouds in watery colours drest Float in light drapery o'er thy sable vest: What time the pale moon sheds a softer day 85 Mellowing the woods beneath its pensive beam: For mid the quivering light 'tis ours to play, Aye dancing to the cadence of the stream.

VIII

Welcome, Ladies! to the cell Where the blameless Pixies dwell: 90 But thou, Sweet Nymph! proclaim'd our Faery Queen, With what obeisance meet Thy presence shall we greet? For lo! attendant on thy steps are seen Graceful Ease in artless stole, 95 And white-robed Purity of soul, With Honour's softer mien; Mirth of the loosely-flowing hair, And meek-eyed Pity eloquently fair, Whose tearful cheeks are lovely to the view, 100 As snow-drop wet with dew.

IX

Unboastful Maid! though now the Lily pale Transparent grace thy beauties meek; Yet ere again along the impurpling vale, The purpling vale and elfin-haunted grove, 105 Young Zephyr his fresh flowers profusely throws, We'll tinge with livelier hues thy cheek; And, haply, from the nectar-breathing Rose Extract a Blush for Love!

1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[40:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The Songs of the Pixies forms part of the volume of MS. Poems presented to Mrs. Estlin, and of a quarto MS. volume which the poet retained for his own use.

LINENOTES:

This preface appears in all editions. Previous to 1834 the second paragraph read:—To this place the Author conducted a party of young Ladies, during the Summer months of the year 1793, &c.

The Songs of the Pixies, an irregular Ode. The lower orders of the people in Devonshire have a superstition concerning the existence of 'Pixies', a race of beings supposed to be invisibly small, and harmless or friendly to man. At a small village in the county, half-way up a Hill, is a large excavation called the 'Pixies'' Parlour. The roots of the trees growing above it form the ceiling—and on its sides are engraved innumerable cyphers, among which the author descried his own and those of his Brothers, cut by the rude hand of their childhood. At the foot of the Hill flows the River Otter. To this place the Author had the Honour of conducting a party of Young Ladies during the Summer months, on which occasion the following Poem was written. MS. E.

Note. The emendations in ll. 9, 11, 12, 15, 16 are peculiar to the edition of 1834, and are, certainly, Coleridge's own handiwork.

[9]

to] all MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[11]

Ere Morn with living gems bedight MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[12]

Hath streak'd] Purples MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1828, 1829: Streaks 1797, 1803. rosy] streaky MS. E, 1796, 1828, 1829: purple 1797, 1803.

After l. 14 the following lines appear in MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828:

Richer than the deepen'd bloom That glows on Summer's lily-scented (scented 1797, 1803) plume.

[15]

shooting] rosy MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[15-16]

gleam . . . team MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[16]

To the tune of] Sooth'd by the MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[20]

Timing to Dobbin's foot her cheery song. MS. E, MS. 4^o erased.

[21]

our] the MS. E.

[35]

By rapture-beaming Fancy brought MS. E, MS. 4^o erased.

[37]

Oft wooes MS. E: our faery garlands MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[53-5]

Or at the silent visionary hour Along our rude sequester'd walk We list th' enamour'd Shepherd's talk.

MS. E.

Or at the silent

MS. 4^o erased.

[54]

wildly-bower'd] wild 1797, 1803.

[57]

hid] built MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[58]

of] with MS. E.

[59]

The Electric Flash that from the melting eye,

MS. 4^o, MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[60]

or] and MS. E, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[61-5]

Or haply in the flower-embroider'd vale We ply our faery feet in gamesome prank; Or pay our wonted court Circling the Spirits of the Western Gale, Where tir'd with vernal sport

MS. E.

[63]

Or in deft homage pay our silent court

MS. 4^o erased.

[68-70]

By lonely Otter's 'peace-persuading' stream Or where his frothing wave with merry song 'Dash'd o'er the rough rock lightly leaps along'

MS. E.

[68]

peace-persuading stream MS. 4^o erased.

[69-70]

Or where his waves with loud unquiet song Dash'd o'er the rocky channel froth along

MS. 4^o, 1796 ('froths' in text, 'froth' errata).

[70]

froths] froth 1828, 1829.

[75-7]

Mother of wild'ring dreams thy course pursue. With downcast eyes around thee stand The sombre Hours, a duteous band.

MS. E.

[92]

obedience MS. 4^o, 1796: Correction made in Errata.

[94]

For lo! around thy MS. E.

[97]

softer] gentler MS. E.

[99]

meek-eyed] meekest MS. E.

[100]

cheeks are] cheek is MS. E.

[104-5]

Yet ere again the impurpled vale And elfin-haunted grove

MS. 4^o.

[104-6]

Yet ere again the purpling vale And elfin-haunted Grove Young Zephyr with fresh flowrets strews.

MS. 4^o, MS. E.

[108]

nectar-breathing] nectar-dropping MS. E.

[109]

for] of MS. E.

THE ROSE[45:1]

As late each flower that sweetest blows I pluck'd, the Garden's pride! Within the petals of a Rose A sleeping Love I spied.

Around his brows a beamy wreath 5 Of many a lucent hue; All purple glow'd his cheek, beneath, Inebriate with dew.

I softly seiz'd the unguarded Power, Nor scared his balmy rest: 10 And placed him, caged within the flower, On spotless Sara's breast.

But when unweeting of the guile Awoke the prisoner sweet, He struggled to escape awhile 15 And stamp'd his faery feet.

Ah! soon the soul-entrancing sight Subdued the impatient boy! He gazed! he thrill'd with deep delight! Then clapp'd his wings for joy. 20

'And O!' he cried—'Of magic kind What charms this Throne endear! Some other Love let Venus find— I'll fix my empire here.'[46:1]

1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[45:1] First published in 1796, included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. A copy of this poem is written in pencil on the blank page of Langhorne's Collins; a note adds, 'This "Effusion" and "Kisses" were addressed to a Miss F. Nesbitt at Plymouth, whither the author accompanied his eldest brother, to whom he was paying a visit, when he was twenty-one years of age.' In a letter to his brother George, dated July 28, 1793, Coleridge writes, 'presented a moss rose to a lady. Dick Hart [George Coleridge's brother-in-law] asked if she was not afraid to put it in her bosom, as, perhaps, there might be love in it. I immediately wrote the following little ode or song or what you please to call it. [The Rose.] It is of the namby-pamby genus.' Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 54.

[46:1] Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. p. 55.

LINENOTES:

Title] On presenting a moss rose to Miss F. Nesbitt. MS. (pencil). Effusion xxvi. 1796.

[5]

beamy] lucent MS. E: lucid Letter, 1793.

[6]

lucent] changing MS. E: mingled Letter, 1793.

[12]

On lovely Nesbitt's breast. MS. (pencil).

On Angelina's breast. Letter, 1793.

On spotless Anna's breast. MS. E.

[Probably Anna Buclé, afterwards Mrs. Cruikshank.]

[13]

But when all reckless Letter, 1793.

[14]

prisoner] slumberer Letter, 1793.

[16]

faery] angry Letter, 1793.

[21-2]

'And, O', he cried, 'What charms refined This magic throne endear

Letter, 1793, MS. E.

[23]

Another Love may Letter, 1793.

KISSES[46:2]

Cupid, if storying Legends tell aright, Once fram'd a rich Elixir of Delight. A Chalice o'er love-kindled flames he fix'd, And in it Nectar and Ambrosia mix'd: With these the magic dews which Evening brings, 5 Brush'd from the Idalian star by faery wings: Each tender pledge of sacred Faith he join'd, Each gentler Pleasure of th' unspotted mind— Day-dreams, whose tints with sportive brightness glow, And Hope, the blameless parasite of Woe. 10

The eyeless Chemist heard the process rise, The steamy Chalice bubbled up in sighs; Sweet sounds transpired, as when the enamour'd Dove Pours the soft murmuring of responsive Love. The finish'd work might Envy vainly blame, 15 And 'Kisses' was the precious Compound's name. With half the God his Cyprian Mother blest, And breath'd on Sara's lovelier lips the rest.

1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[46:2] First published in 1796: included in 1797 (Supplement), 1803, and 1844. Three MSS. are extant, (1) as included in a letter to George Coleridge, Aug. 5, 1793; (2) as written in pencil in a copy of Langhorne's Collins in 1793; (3) MS. E. Poems, 1796 (Note 7, p. 181), and footnotes in 1797 and 1803, supply the original Latin:

Effinxit quondam blandum meditata laborem Basia lascivâ Cypria Diva manu. Ambrosiae succos occultâ temperat arte, Fragransque infuso nectare tingit opus. Sufficit et partem mellis, quod subdolus olim Non impune favis surripuisset Amor. Decussos violae foliis admiscet odores Et spolia aestivis plurima rapta rosis. Addit et illecebras et mille et mille lepores, Et quot Acidalius gaudia Cestus habet. Ex his composuit Dea basia; et omnia libens Invenias nitidae sparsa per ora Cloës.

Carm[ina] Quad[ragesimalia], vol. ii.

LINENOTES:

Title] Cupid turn'd Chymist Letter, 1793, Pencil. The Compound MS. E: Effusion xxvi. 1796: The Composition of a Kiss 1797: Kisses 1803, 1844, 1852.

[1]

storying] ancient Pencil.

[3]

Chalice] cauldron Letter, 1793.

[[8]

gentler] gentle Pencil.

[9]

Gay Dreams whose tints with beamy brightness glow.

Letter, 1793, MS. E.

[9-10]

And 

 

 

Hopes the blameless parasites of Woe

Fond

Bristol MS.

And Dreams whose tints with beamy brightness glow.

Pencil, Bristol MS.

[11-12]

With joy he view'd his chymic process rise, The steaming cauldron bubbled up in sighs.

Letter, 1793.

[11-12]

the chymic process rise, The steaming chalice

Pencil, MS. E.

[11-12]

the chymic process rise, The charming cauldron

Bristol MS.

[14]

Murmuring] murmurs Letter, 1793.

Cooes the soft murmurs Pencil.

[15]

not Envy's self could blame Letter, 1793, Pencil.  might blame. MS. E.

[17]

With part Letter, 1793, MS. E.

[18]

on Nesbitt's lovely lips the rest. Letter, 1793, Pencil.

on Mary's lovelier lips the rest. MS. E.

on lovely Nesbitt's lovely lips the rest. Bristol MS.

THE GENTLE LOOK[47:1]

Thou gentle Look, that didst my soul beguile, Why hast thou left me? Still in some fond dream Revisit my sad heart, auspicious Smile! As falls on closing flowers the lunar beam: What time, in sickly mood, at parting day 5 I lay me down and think of happier years; Of joys, that glimmer'd in Hope's twilight ray, Then left me darkling in a vale of tears. O pleasant days of Hope—for ever gone! Could I recall you!—But that thought is vain. 10

Availeth not Persuasion's sweetest tone To lure the fleet-wing'd Travellers back again: Yet fair, though faint, their images shall gleam Like the bright Rainbow on a willowy stream.[48:1]

? 1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[47:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The 'four last lines' of the Sonnet as sent to Southey, on Dec. 11, 1794, were written by Lamb. Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 111, 112.

[48:1] Compare ll. 13, 14 with ll. 13, 14 of Anna and Harland and ll. 17, 18 of Recollection. Vide Appendix.

LINENOTES:

Title] Irregular Sonnet MS. E: Effusion xiv. 1796: Sonnet III. 1797, 1803: Sonnet viii. 1828, 1829, 1834: The Smile P. W. 1885: The Gentle Look P. W. 1893.

[1]

Thou] O Letter, 1794.

[9]

gone] flown MS. E.

[10]

you] one Letter, 1794.

[13-14]

Anon they haste to everlasting Night, Nor can a Giant's arm arrest them in their flight Letter, 1794.

On on, &c., MS. E.

SONNET[48:2]

TO THE RIVER OTTER

Dear native Brook! wild Streamlet of the West! How many various-fated years have past, What happy and what mournful hours, since last I skimm'd the smooth thin stone along thy breast, Numbering its light leaps! yet so deep imprest 5 Sink the sweet scenes of childhood, that mine eyes I never shut amid the sunny ray, But straight with all their tints thy waters rise, Thy crossing plank, thy marge with willows grey, And bedded sand that vein'd with various dyes 10 Gleam'd through thy bright transparence! On my way, Visions of Childhood! oft have ye beguil'd Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs: Ah! that once more I were a careless Child!

? 1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[48:2] Lines 2-11 were first published in the Watchman, No. V, April 2, 1796, as lines 17-26 of Recollection. First published, as a whole, in Selection of Sonnets, 1796, included in 1797, 1803, Sibylline Leaves, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet No. IV. To the, &c., 1797, 1803.

[3]

What blissful and what anguish'd hours Watchman, S. S., 1797, 1803.

[7]

ray] blaze Watchman, S. S., 1797, 1803.

[8]

thy] their S. L. Corrected in Errata, p. [xii].

[9]

The crossing plank, and margin's willowy maze Watchman.

Thy crossing plank, thy margin's willowy maze S. S., 1797, 1803.

[11]

On my way] to the gaze Watchman, S. S., 1797, 1803.

[14]

Ah! that I were once more, &c. S. L. Corrected in Errata, p. [xii].

First Draft

AN EFFUSION AT EVENING

WRITTEN IN AUGUST, 1792

Imagination, Mistress of my Love! Where shall mine Eye thy elfin haunt explore? Dost thou on yon rich Cloud thy pinions bright Embathe in amber-glowing Floods of Light? Or, wild of speed, pursue the track of Day 5 In other worlds to hail the morning Ray? 'Tis time to bid the faded shadowy Pleasures move On shadowy Memory's wings across the Soul of Love; And thine o'er Winter's icy plains to fling Each flower, that binds the breathing Locks of Spring, 10 When blushing, like a bride, from primrose Bower She starts, awaken'd by the pattering Shower!

Now sheds the setting Sun a purple gleam, Aid, lovely Sorc'ress! aid the Poet's dream. With faery wand O bid my Love arise, 15 The dewy brilliance dancing in her Eyes; As erst she woke with soul-entrancing Mien The thrill of Joy extatic yet serene, When link'd with Peace I bounded o'er the Plain And Hope itself was all I knew of Pain! 20

Propitious Fancy hears the votive sigh—

The absent Maiden flashes on mine Eye!

When first the matin Bird with startling Song

Salutes the Sun his veiling Clouds among,

I trace her footsteps on the 

 

 

accustom'd

steaming Lawn,

25

I view her glancing in the gleams of Dawn!

When the bent Flower beneath the night-dew weeps

And on the Lake the silver Lustre sleeps,

Amid the paly Radiance soft and sad

She meets my lonely path in moonbeams clad.

30

With

her

along the streamlet's brink I rove;

With

her

I list the warblings of the Grove;

And seems in each low wind

her

voice to float,

Lone-whispering Pity in each soothing Note!

As oft in climes beyond the western Main 35

Where boundless spreads the wildly-silent Plain,

The savage Hunter, who his drowsy frame

Had bask'd beneath the Sun's unclouded Flame,

Awakes amid the tempest-troubled air,

The Thunder's Peal and Lightning's lurid glare— 40

Aghast he hears the rushing Whirlwind's Sweep,

And sad recalls the sunny hour of Sleep!

So lost by storms along Life's wild'ring Way

Mine Eye reverted views that cloudless Day,

When, ——! on thy banks I joy'd to rove 45

While Hope with kisses nurs'd the infant Love!

Sweet ——! where Pleasure's streamlet glides Fann'd by soft winds to curl in mimic tides; Where Mirth and Peace beguile the blameless Day; And where Friendship's fixt star beams a mellow'd Ray; 50 Where Love a crown of thornless Roses wears; Where soften'd Sorrow smiles within her tears; And Memory, with a Vestal's meek employ, Unceasing feeds the lambent flame of Joy! No more thy Sky Larks less'ning from my sight 55 Shall thrill th' attunéd Heartstring with delight; No more shall deck thy pensive Pleasures sweet With wreaths of sober hue my evening seat! Yet dear to [My] Fancy's Eye thy varied scene Of Wood, Hill, Dale and sparkling Brook between: 60 Yet sweet to [My] Fancy's Ear the warbled song, That soars on Morning's wing thy fields among!

Scenes of my Hope! the aching Eye ye leave, Like those rich Hues that paint the clouds of Eve! Tearful and saddening with the sadden'd Blaze 65 Mine Eye the gleam pursues with wistful Gaze— Sees Shades on Shades with deeper tint impend, Till chill and damp the moonless Night descend!

1792.

LINES[51:1]

ON AN AUTUMNAL EVENING

O thou wild Fancy, check thy wing! No more Those thin white flakes, those purple clouds explore! Nor there with happy spirits speed thy flight Bath'd in rich amber-glowing floods of light; Nor in yon gleam, where slow descends the day, 5 With western peasants hail the morning ray! Ah! rather bid the perish'd pleasures move, A shadowy train, across the soul of Love! O'er Disappointment's wintry desert fling Each flower that wreath'd the dewy locks of Spring, 10 When blushing, like a bride, from Hope's trim bower She leapt, awaken'd by the pattering shower.

Now sheds the sinking Sun a deeper gleam, Aid, lovely Sorceress! aid thy Poet's dream! With faery wand O bid the Maid arise, 15 Chaste Joyance dancing in her bright-blue eyes; As erst when from the Muses' calm abode I came, with Learning's meed not unbestowed; When as she twin'd a laurel round my brow, And met my kiss, and half return'd my vow, 20 O'er all my frame shot rapid my thrill'd heart, And every nerve confess'd the electric dart.

O dear Deceit! I see the Maiden rise, Chaste Joyance dancing in her bright-blue eyes! When first the lark high-soaring swells his throat, 25 Mocks the tir'd eye, and scatters the loud note, I trace her footsteps on the accustom'd lawn, I mark her glancing mid the gleam of dawn. When the bent flower beneath the night-dew weeps And on the lake the silver lustre sleeps, 30 Amid the paly radiance soft and sad, She meets my lonely path in moon-beams clad. With her along the streamlet's brink I rove; With her I list the warblings of the grove; And seems in each low wind her voice to float 35 Lone-whispering Pity in each soothing note!

Spirits of Love! ye heard her name! Obey The powerful spell, and to my haunt repair. Whether on clust'ring pinions ye are there, Where rich snows blossom on the Myrtle-trees, 40 Or with fond languishment around my fair Sigh in the loose luxuriance of her hair; O heed the spell, and hither wing your way, Like far-off music, voyaging the breeze!

Spirits! to you the infant Maid was given 45 Form'd by the wond'rous Alchemy of Heaven! No fairer Maid does Love's wide empire know, No fairer Maid e'er heav'd the bosom's snow. A thousand Loves around her forehead fly; A thousand Loves sit melting in her eye; 50 Love lights her smile—in Joy's red nectar dips His myrtle flower, and plants it on her lips. She speaks! and hark that passion-warbled song— Still, Fancy! still that voice, those notes prolong. As sweet as when that voice with rapturous falls 55 Shall wake the soften'd echoes of Heaven's Halls! [52:1]O (have I sigh'd) were mine the wizard's rod, Or mine the power of Proteus, changeful God! A flower-entangled Arbour I would seem To shield my Love from Noontide's sultry beam: 60 Or bloom a Myrtle, from whose od'rous boughs My Love might weave gay garlands for her brows. When Twilight stole across the fading vale, To fan my Love I'd be the Evening Gale; Mourn in the soft folds of her swelling vest, 65 And flutter my faint pinions on her breast! On Seraph wing I'd float a Dream by night, To soothe my Love with shadows of delight:— Or soar aloft to be the Spangled Skies, And gaze upon her with a thousand eyes! 70

As when the Savage, who his drowsy frame Had bask'd beneath the Sun's unclouded flame, Awakes amid the troubles of the air, The skiey deluge, and white lightning's glare— Aghast he scours before the tempest's sweep, 75 And sad recalls the sunny hour of sleep:— So tossed by storms along Life's wild'ring way, Mine eye reverted views that cloudless day, When by my native brook I wont to rove, While Hope with kisses nurs'd the Infant Love. 80

Dear native brook! like Peace, so placidly Smoothing through fertile fields thy current meek! Dear native brook! where first young Poesy Stared wildly-eager in her noontide dream! Where blameless pleasures dimple Quiet's cheek, 85 As water-lilies ripple thy slow stream! Dear native haunts! where Virtue still is gay, Where Friendship's fix'd star sheds a mellow'd ray, Where Love a crown of thornless Roses wears, Where soften'd Sorrow smiles within her tears; 90 And Memory, with a Vestal's chaste employ, Unceasing feeds the lambent flame of joy! No more your sky-larks melting from the sight Shall thrill the attunéd heart-string with delight— No more shall deck your pensive Pleasures sweet 95 With wreaths of sober hue my evening seat. Yet dear to Fancy's eye your varied scene Of wood, hill, dale, and sparkling brook between! Yet sweet to Fancy's ear the warbled song, That soars on Morning's wing your vales among. 100

Scenes of my Hope! the aching eye ye leave Like yon bright hues that paint the clouds of eve! Tearful and saddening with the sadden'd blaze Mine eye the gleam pursues with wistful gaze: Sees shades on shades with deeper tint impend, 105 Till chill and damp the moonless night descend

1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[51:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829 and 1834. In Social Life at the English Universities, by Christopher Wordsworth, M.A., 1874, it is recorded that this poem was read by Coleridge to a party of college friends on November 7, 1793.

[52:1] Note to line 57. Poems, 1796, pp. 183-5:—I entreat the Public's pardon for having carelessly suffered to be printed such intolerable stuff as this and the thirteen following lines. They have not the merit even of originality: as every thought is to be found in the Greek Epigrams. The lines in this poem from the 27th to the 36th, I have been told are a palpable imitation of the passage from the 355th to the 370th line of the Pleasures of Memory Part 3. I do not perceive so striking a similarity between the two passages; at all events I had written the Effusion several years before I had seen M^r Rogers' Poem.—It may be proper to remark that the tale of Florio in the 'Pleasures of Memory' is to be found in Lochleven, a poem of great merit by Michael Bruce.—In M^r Rogers' Poem[52:A] the names are Florio and Julia; in the Lochleven Lomond and Levina—and this is all the difference. We seize the opportunity of transcribing from the Lochleven of Bruce the following exquisite passage, expressing the effects of a fine day on the human heart.

Fat on the plain, and mountain's sunny side Large droves of oxen and the fleecy flocks Feed undisturb'd; and fill the echoing air With Music grateful to their [the] Master's ear. The Traveller stops and gazes round and round O'er all the plains [scenes] that animate his heart With mirth and music. Even the mendicant Bow-bent with age, that on the old gray stone Sole-sitting suns him in the public way, Feels his heart leap, and to himself he sings.

[Poems by Michael Bruce, 1796, p. 94.]

[52:A] For Coleridge's retractation of the charge of plagiarism and apology to Rogers see 'Advertisement to Supplement of 1797', pp. 244, 245.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xxxvi. Written in Early Youth, The Time, An Autumnal Evening 1796: Written in etc. 1803: An Effusion on an Autumnal Evening. Written in Early Youth 1797 (Supplement).

A first draft, headed 'An Effusion at Evening, Written in August, 1792' is included in the MS. volume presented to Mrs. Estlin in April, 1795 (vide ante, pp. 49, 50).

[28]

gleam] gleams 1796, 1797,

1803

, 1893.

[51-3]

in Joy's bright nectar dips The flamy rose, and plants it on her lips! Tender, serene, and all devoid of guile, Soft is her soul, as sleeping infants' smile. She speaks, &c.

1796, 1803.

[54]

still those mazy notes 1796, 1803.

[55-6]

Sweet as th' angelic harps, whose rapturous falls Awake the soften'd echoes of Heaven's Halls.

1796, 1803.

[86]

thy] a 1796, 1803.

TO FORTUNE[54:1]

To the Editor of the 'Morning Chronicle'

Sir,—The following poem you may perhaps deem admissible into your journal—if not, you will commit it

εἰς ἱερὸν μένος Ἡφαίστοιο

.—I am, with more respect and gratitude than I ordinarily feel for Editors of Papers, your obliged, &c.,

Cantab.—S. T. C.

To Fortune

On buying a Ticket in the Irish Lottery

Composed during a walk to and from the Queen's Head, Gray's Inn Lane, Holborn, and Hornsby's and Co., Cornhill.

Promptress of unnumber'd sighs, O snatch that circling bandage from thine eyes! O look, and smile! No common prayer Solicits, Fortune! thy propitious care! For, not a silken son of dress, 5 I clink the gilded chains of politesse, Nor ask thy boon what time I scheme Unholy Pleasure's frail and feverish dream; Nor yet my view life's dazzle blinds— Pomp!—Grandeur! Power!—I give you to the winds! 10 Let the little bosom cold Melt only at the sunbeam ray of gold— My pale cheeks glow—the big drops start— The rebel Feeling riots at my heart! And if in lonely durance pent, 15 Thy poor mite mourn a brief imprisonment— That mite at Sorrow's faintest sound Leaps from its scrip with an elastic bound! But oh! if ever song thine ear Might soothe, O haste with fost'ring hand to rear 20 One Flower of Hope! At Love's behest, Trembling, I plac'd it in my secret breast: And thrice I've view'd the vernal gleam, Since oft mine eye, with Joy's electric beam, Illum'd it—and its sadder hue 25 Oft moisten'd with the Tear's ambrosial dew! Poor wither'd floweret! on its head Has dark Despair his sickly mildew shed! But thou, O Fortune! canst relume Its deaden'd tints—and thou with hardier bloom 30 May'st haply tinge its beauties pale, And yield the unsunn'd stranger to the western gale!

1793.

FOOTNOTES:

[54:1] First published, Morning Chronicle, Nov. 7, 1793. First collected 1893.

PERSPIRATION. A TRAVELLING ECLOGUE[56:1]

The dust flies smothering, as on clatt'ring wheel Loath'd Aristocracy careers along; The distant track quick vibrates to the eye, And white and dazzling undulates with heat, Where scorching to the unwary traveller's touch, 5 The stone fence flings its narrow slip of shade; Or, where the worn sides of the chalky road Yield their scant excavations (sultry grots!), Emblem of languid patience, we behold The fleecy files faint-ruminating lie. 10

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[56:1] First published, Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1895, i. 73, 74. The lines were sent in a letter to Southey, dated July 6, 1794.

[AVE, ATQUE VALE!][56:2]

Vivit sed mihi non vivit—nova forte marita, Ah dolor! alterius carâ a cervice pependit. Vos, malefida valete accensae insomnia mentis, Littora amata valete! Vale, ah! formosa Maria!

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[56:2] First published, Biog. Lit. 1847, Biog. Supplement, ii. 340. This Latin quatrain was sent in a letter to Southey, dated July 13, 1794.

ON BALA HILL[56:3]

With many a weary step at length I gain Thy summit, Bala! and the cool breeze plays Cheerily round my brow—as hence the gaze Returns to dwell upon the journey'd plain.

'Twas a long way and tedious!—to the eye 5 Tho' fair th' extended Vale, and fair to view The falling leaves of many a faded hue That eddy in the wild gust moaning by!

Ev'n so it far'd with Life! in discontent Restless thro' Fortune's mingled scenes I went, 10 Yet wept to think they would return no more! O cease fond heart! in such sad thoughts to roam, For surely thou ere long shalt reach thy home, And pleasant is the way that lies before.

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[56:3] First published (as Coleridge's) in 1893, from an unsigned autograph MS. found among the Evans Papers. The lines are all but identical with Southey's Sonnet to Lansdown Hill (Sonnet viii), dated 1794, and first published in 1797, and were, probably, his composition. See Athenaeum, January 11, 1896.

LINENOTES:

[2]

Bala] Lansdown Poems, 1797.

[3]

Cheerily] Gratefully Poems, 1797.

[12]

O] But Poems, 1797.

LINES[57:1]

WRITTEN AT THE KING'S ARMS, ROSS, FORMERLY THE HOUSE
OF THE 'MAN OF ROSS'

Richer than Miser o'er his countless hoards, Nobler than Kings, or king-polluted Lords, Here dwelt the Man of Ross! O Traveller, hear! Departed Merit claims a reverent tear. Friend to the friendless, to the sick man health, 5 With generous joy he view'd his modest wealth; He heard the widow's heaven-breath'd prayer of praise, He mark'd the shelter'd orphan's tearful gaze, Or where the sorrow-shrivell'd captive lay, Pour'd the bright blaze of Freedom's noon-tide ray. 10 Beneath this roof if thy cheer'd moments pass, Fill to the good man's name one grateful glass: To higher zest shall Memory wake thy soul, And Virtue mingle in the ennobled bowl. But if, like me, through Life's distressful scene 15

Lonely and sad thy pilgrimage hath been; And if thy breast with heart-sick anguish fraught, Thou journeyest onward tempest-tossed in thought; Here cheat thy cares! in generous visions melt, And dream of Goodness, thou hast never felt! 20

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[57:1] First published in the Cambridge Intelligencer, September 27, 1794: included in A Pedestrian Tour through North Wales. By J. Hucks, 1795, p. 15: 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

In a letter to Southey dated July 13, 1794, Coleridge writes:—'At Ross . . . we took up our quarters at the King's Arms, once the house of Kyrle, the Man of Ross. I gave the window-shutter the following effusion—"Richer than Misers" etc.' J. Hucks, in his Tour, 1795, p. 15, writes to the same effect. There are but slight variations in the text as printed in the Cambridge Intelligencer and in Hucks' Tour. In 1796 lines 5-10 of the text, which were included in A Monody on the Death of Chatterton (1796), are omitted, and the poem numbered only fourteen lines. In 1797 lines 5-10 were restored to the Man of Ross and omitted from the Monody. The poem numbered twenty lines. In 1803 lines 5-10 were again omitted from the Man of Ross, but not included in the Monody. The poem numbered fourteen lines. The text of 1828, 1829 is almost identical with that of 1834.

Four MS. versions are extant, (1) the Letter to Southey, July 13, 1794; (2) the Estlin Copy-book; (3) the Morrison MSS.; (4) the MS. 4^o Copy-book.

LINENOTES:

Title] Written . . . Mr. Kyrle, 'the Man of Ross'. MS. E.

[1]

Misers o'er their Letter, 1794, J. H., MS. E, 1808.

[4]

the glistening tear Letter, 1794: a] the J. H., MS. E. Lines 5-10 are not in MS. 4^o, 1796, 1803: in 1797 they follow l. 14 of the text.

[5]

to the poor man wealth, Morrison MSS.

[7]

heard] hears 1797, 1828, 1829.

[8]

mark'd] marks 1797, 1828.

[9]

And o'er the dowried maiden's glowing cheek, Letter, 1794, Morrison MSS.: virgin's snowy cheek, J. H., MS. E.

[10]

Bade bridal love suffuse its blushes meek. Letter, 1794, MS. E, Morrison MSS. Pour'd] Pours 1797, 1828, 1829.

[11]

If 'neath this roof thy wine cheer'd moments pass Letter, J. H., MS. E, MS. 4^o, 1803.

[14]

ennobled] sparkling Letter, 1794.

[15]

me] mine 1803.

IMITATED FROM THE WELSH[58:1]

If while my passion I impart, You deem my words untrue, O place your hand upon my heart— Feel how it throbs for you!

Ah no! reject the thoughtless claim 5 In pity to your Lover! That thrilling touch would aid the flame It wishes to discover.

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[58:1] First published in 1796: included in 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Song MS. E: Effusion xxxi. Imitated &c., 1796.

LINES[58:2]

TO A BEAUTIFUL SPRING IN A VILLAGE

Once more! sweet Stream! with slow foot wandering near, I bless thy milky waters cold and clear. Escap'd the flashing of the noontide hours, With one fresh garland of Pierian flowers (Ere from thy zephyr-haunted brink I turn) 5 My languid hand shall wreath thy mossy urn. For not through pathless grove with murmur rude Thou soothest the sad wood-nymph, Solitude; Nor thine unseen in cavern depths to well, The Hermit-fountain of some dripping cell! 10 Pride of the Vale! thy useful streams supply The scatter'd cots and peaceful hamlet nigh. The elfin tribe around thy friendly banks With infant uproar and soul-soothing pranks, Releas'd from school, their little hearts at rest, 15 Launch paper navies on thy waveless breast. The rustic here at eve with pensive look Whistling lorn ditties leans upon his crook, Or, starting, pauses with hope-mingled dread To list the much-lov'd maid's accustom'd tread: 20

She, vainly mindful of her dame's command, Loiters, the long-fill'd pitcher in her hand.

Unboastful Stream! thy fount with pebbled falls The faded form of past delight recalls, What time the morning sun of Hope arose, 25 And all was joy; save when another's woes A transient gloom upon my soul imprest, Like passing clouds impictur'd on thy breast. Life's current then ran sparkling to the noon, Or silvery stole beneath the pensive Moon: 30 Ah! now it works rude brakes and thorns among, Or o'er the rough rock bursts and foams along!

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[58:2] First published in 1796: included in Annual Register, 1796: 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Lines addressed to a Spring in Village of Kirkhampton near Bath MS. E.

[7]

groves in murmurs MS. E.

[21-2]

And now essays his simple Faith to prove By all the soft solicitudes of Love.

MS. E.

For ll. 29-32

But ah! too brief in Youths' enchanting reign, Ere Manhood wakes th' unweeting heart to pain, Silent and soft thy silver waters glide: So glided Life, a smooth and equal Tide. Sad Change! for now by choking Cares withstood It hardly bursts its way, a turbid, boist'rous Flood!

MS. E.

[30]

Or silver'd its smooth course beneath the Moon. MS. 4^o.

[31]

rude] the thorny MS. 4^o erased.

IMITATIONS
AD LYRAM[59:1]

(CASIMIR, BOOK II. ODE 3)

The solemn-breathing air is ended— Cease, O Lyre! thy kindred lay! From the poplar-branch suspended Glitter to the eye of Day!

On thy wires hov'ring, dying, 5 Softly sighs the summer wind: I will slumber, careless lying, By yon waterfall reclin'd.

In the forest hollow-roaring Hark! I hear a deep'ning sound— 10 Clouds rise thick with heavy low'ring! See! th' horizon blackens round!

Parent of the soothing measure, Let me seize thy wetted string! Swiftly flies the flatterer, Pleasure, 15 Headlong, ever on the wing.[60:1]

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[59:1] First published in the Watchman, No. II, March 9, 1796: included in Literary Remains, 1836, I. 41-3. First collected in 1844.

[60:1] If we except Lucretius and Statius, I know not of any Latin poet, ancient or modern, who has equalled Casimir in boldness of conception, opulence of fancy, or beauty of versification. The Odes of this illustrious Jesuit were translated into English about 150 years ago, by a Thomas Hill, I think, [—by G. H. [G. Hils.] London, 1646. 12mo. Ed. L. R. 1836. I never saw the translation. A few of the Odes have been translated in a very animated manner by Watts. I have subjoined the third ode of the second book, which, with the exception of the first line, is an effusion of exquisite elegance. In the imitation attempted, I am sensible that I have destroyed the effect of suddenness, by translating into two stanzas what is one in the original.

Ad Lyram.

Sonori buxi Filia sutilis, Pendebis alta, Barbite, populo, Dum ridet aer, et supinas Solicitat levis aura frondes: Te sibilantis lenior halitus Perflabit Euri: me iuvet interim Collum reclinasse, et virenti Sic temere iacuisse ripa. Eheu! serenum quae nebulae tegunt Repente caelum! quis sonus imbrium! Surgamus—heu semper fugaci Gaudia praeteritura passu!

'Advertisement' to Ad Lyram, in Watchman, II, March 9, 1796.

LINENOTES:

Title] Song. [Note. Imitated from Casimir.] MS. E.

TO LESBIA[60:2]

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus.
Catullus.

My Lesbia, let us love and live, And to the winds, my Lesbia, give Each cold restraint, each boding fear Of age and all her saws severe. Yon sun now posting to the main 5

Will set,—but 'tis to rise again;— But we, when once our mortal light Is set, must sleep in endless night. Then come, with whom alone I'll live, A thousand kisses take and give! 10 Another thousand!—to the store Add hundreds—then a thousand more! And when they to a million mount, Let confusion take the account,— That you, the number never knowing, 15 May continue still bestowing— That I for joys may never pine, Which never can again be mine!

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[60:2] First published in the Morning Post, April 11, 1798: included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 274. First collected in P. W., 1893.

LINENOTES:

Title] Lines imitated from Catullus. M. P.

[4]

her] its L. R.

[7]

mortal] little L. R.

[18]

signed Mortimer M. P.

THE DEATH OF THE STARLING[61:1]

Lugete, O Veneres, Cupidinesque.—Catullus.

Pity! mourn in plaintive tone The lovely starling dead and gone! Pity mourns in plaintive tone The lovely starling dead and gone. Weep, ye Loves! and Venus! weep 5 The lovely starling fall'n asleep! Venus sees with tearful eyes— In her lap the starling lies! While the Loves all in a ring Softly stroke the stiffen'd wing. 10

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[61:1] First published, Literary Remains, 1836, i. 274. First collected, P. W., 1893. The titles 'Lesbia' and 'The Death of the Starling' first appear in 1893.

LINENOTES:

[7]

sees] see L. R.

MORIENS SUPERSTITI[61:2]

The hour-bell sounds, and I must go; Death waits—again I hear him calling;— No cowardly desires have I, Nor will I shun his face appalling. I die in faith and honour rich— 5 But ah! I leave behind my treasure In widowhood and lonely pain;— To live were surely then a pleasure!

My lifeless eyes upon thy face Shall never open more to-morrow; 10 To-morrow shall thy beauteous eyes Be closed to Love, and drown'd in Sorrow; To-morrow Death shall freeze this hand, And on thy breast, my wedded treasure, I never, never more shall live;— 15 Alas! I quit a life of pleasure.

FOOTNOTES:

[61:2] First published in the Morning Post, May 10, 1798, with a prefatory note:—'The two following verses from the French, never before published, were written by a French Prisoner as he was preparing to go to the Guillotine': included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 275. First collected P. W., 1893.

MORIENTI SUPERSTES

Yet art thou happier far than she Who feels the widow's love for thee! For while her days are days of weeping, Thou, in peace, in silence sleeping, In some still world, unknown, remote, 5 The mighty parent's care hast found, Without whose tender guardian thought No sparrow falleth to the ground.

? 1794.

THE SIGH[62:1]

When Youth his faery reign began Ere Sorrow had proclaim'd me man; While Peace the present hour beguil'd, And all the lovely Prospect smil'd; Then Mary! 'mid my lightsome glee 5 I heav'd the painless Sigh for thee.

And when, along the waves of woe, My harass'd Heart was doom'd to know The frantic burst of Outrage keen, And the slow Pang that gnaws unseen; 10 Then shipwreck'd on Life's stormy sea I heaved an anguish'd Sigh for thee!

But soon Reflection's power imprest A stiller sadness on my breast; And sickly Hope with waning eye 15 Was well content to droop and die: I yielded to the stern decree, Yet heav'd a languid Sigh for thee!

And though in distant climes to roam, A wanderer from my native home, 20 I fain would soothe the sense of Care, And lull to sleep the Joys that were! Thy Image may not banish'd be— Still, Mary! still I sigh for thee.

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[62:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829. Coleridge dated the poem, June 1794, but the verses as sent to Southey, in a letter dated November, 1794 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 100, 101), could not have taken shape before the August of that year, after the inception of Pantisocracy and his engagement to Sarah Fricker.

LINENOTES:

Title] Ode MS. E: Song Letter, Nov. 1794, Morrison MSS.: Effusion xxxii: The Sigh 1796.

[7]

along th'] as tossed on 1803. waves] wilds Letter, 1794, MS. E.

[9]

of] the 1803.

[13]

power] hand Letter, Nov. 1794, MS. E.

[18]

a] the Letter, 1794.

[21-2]

I fain would woo a gentle Fair To soothe the aching sense of Care

Letter, Nov. 1794.

[21]

sense of] aching MS. E.

Below l. 24 June 1794 Poems, 1796.

THE KISS[63:1]

One kiss, dear Maid! I said and sigh'd— Your scorn the little boon denied. Ah why refuse the blameless bliss? Can danger lurk within a kiss?

Yon viewless wanderer of the vale, 5 The Spirit of the Western Gale, At Morning's break, at Evening's close Inhales the sweetness of the Rose, And hovers o'er the uninjur'd bloom Sighing back the soft perfume. 10 Vigour to the Zephyr's wing Her nectar-breathing kisses fling; And He the glitter of the Dew Scatters on the Rose's hue. Bashful lo! she bends her head, 15

And darts a blush of deeper Red!

Too well those lovely lips disclose The triumphs of the opening Rose; O fair! O graceful! bid them prove As passive to the breath of Love. 20 In tender accents, faint and low, Well-pleas'd I hear the whisper'd 'No!' The whispered 'No'—how little meant! Sweet Falsehood that endears Consent! For on those lovely lips the while 25 Dawns the soft relenting smile, And tempts with feign'd dissuasion coy The gentle violence of Joy.

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[63:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Ode MS. E: Effusion xxviii 1796: The Kiss 1797, 1828, 1829, 1834: To Sara 1803. MSS. of The Kiss are included in the Estlin volume and in S. T. C.'s quarto copy-book.

[11-15]

Vigor to his languid wing The Rose's fragrant kisses bring, And He o'er all her brighten'd hue Flings the glitter of the dew. See she bends her bashful head.

MS. E.

[13-14]

And He o'er all her brighten'd hue Sheds the glitter of the dew.

MS. 4^o erased.

[18]

The fragrant triumphs of the Rose. MS. E.

[26]

Dawns] Dawn'd MS. E.

[27]

And] That MS. E.

TO A YOUNG LADY[64:1]

WITH A POEM ON THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

Much on my early youth I love to dwell, Ere yet I bade that friendly dome farewell, Where first, beneath the echoing cloisters pale, I heard of guilt and wonder'd at the tale! Yet though the hours flew by on careless wing, 5 Full heavily of Sorrow would I sing. Aye as the Star of Evening flung its beam In broken radiance on the wavy stream, My soul amid the pensive twilight gloom Mourn'd with the breeze, O Lee Boo![64:2] o'er thy tomb. 10 Where'er I wander'd, Pity still was near, Breath'd from the heart and glisten'd in the tear: No knell that toll'd but fill'd my anxious eye, And suffering Nature wept that one should die![65:1]

Thus to sad sympathies I sooth'd my breast, 15 Calm, as the rainbow in the weeping West: When slumbering Freedom roused by high Disdain With giant Fury burst her triple chain! Fierce on her front the blasting Dog-star glow'd; Her banners, like a midnight meteor, flow'd; 20 Amid the yelling of the storm-rent skies! She came, and scatter'd battles from her eyes! Then Exultation waked the patriot fire And swept with wild hand the Tyrtaean lyre: Red from the Tyrant's wound I shook the lance, 25 And strode in joy the reeking plains of France!

Fallen is the Oppressor, friendless, ghastly, low, And my heart aches, though Mercy struck the blow. With wearied thought once more I seek the shade, Where peaceful Virtue weaves the Myrtle braid. 30 And O! if Eyes whose holy glances roll, Swift messengers, and eloquent of soul; If Smiles more winning, and a gentler Mien Than the love-wilder'd Maniac's brain hath seen Shaping celestial forms in vacant air, 35

If these demand the empassion'd Poet's care— If Mirth and soften'd Sense and Wit refined, The blameless features of a lovely mind; Then haply shall my trembling hand assign No fading wreath to Beauty's saintly shrine. 40 Nor, Sara! thou these early flowers refuse— Ne'er lurk'd the snake beneath their simple hues; No purple bloom the Child of Nature brings From Flattery's night-shade: as he feels he sings.

September 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[64:1] First published in The Watchman, No. I, March 1, 1796: included in 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Three MSS. are extant: (1) the poem as sent to Southey in a letter dated Oct. 21, 1794 (see Letters of S. T. C., 1855, i. 94, 95); (2) the Estlin volume; (3) the MS. 4^o copy-book.

[64:2] Lee Boo, the son of Abba Thule, Prince of the Pelew Islands, came over to England with Captain Wilson, died of the small-pox, and is buried in Greenwich churchyard. See Keate's Account of the Pelew Islands. 1788.

[65:1] And suffering Nature, &c. Southey's Retrospect.

'When eager patriots fly the news to spread Of glorious conquest, and of thousands dead; All feel the mighty glow of victor joy—

       *       *       *       *       *

But if extended on the gory plain, And, snatch'd in conquest, some lov'd friend be slain, Affection's tears will dim the sorrowing eye, And suffering Nature grieve that one should die.'

From the Retrospect by Robert Southey, published by Dilly [1795, pp. 9, 10]. MS. 4^o.

LINENOTES:

Title] Verses addressed to a Lady with a poem relative to a recent event in the French Revolution MS. E.

[2]

friendly] guardian MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.

[3]

cloisters] cloister MS. E.

[5]

careless] rosy MS. E.

[9]

My pensive soul amid the twilight gloom MS. Letter, 1794.

[10]

Boo] Bo MS. E.

[12]

glisten'd] glitter'd MS. Letter, 1794.

[13]

anxious] anguish'd MS. Letter, 1794.

[16]

Calm] Bright MS. E.

[17]

by] with 1829.

[23]

waked] woke MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.

[24]

with wilder hand th' empassion'd lyre MS. Letter, 1794: with wilder hand th' Alcaean lyre MS. 4^o, MS. E, Watchman, 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[25]

wound] wounds MS. Letter, 1794.

[27]

In ghastly horror lie th' Oppressors low MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E, MS. 4^o, 1796, Watchman.

[29]

With sad and wearied thought I seek the shade MS. E: With wearied thought I seek the amaranth shade MS. Letter, 1794.

[30]

the] her MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.

[32]

The eloquent messengers of the pure soul MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E, MS. 4^o, Watchman, 1796.

[33]

winning] cunning MS. Letter, 1794.

[36]

empassion'd] wond'ring MS. Letter, 1794.

[40]

wreath] flowers MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.

[41-4]

Nor, Brunton! thou the blushing-wreath refuse, Though harsh her notes, yet guileless is my Muse. Unwont at Flattery's Voice to plume her wings, A Child of Nature, as she feels she sings.

MS. Letter, 1794.

Nor——! thou the blushing wreath refuse Tho' harsh her song, yet guileless is the Muse. Unwont &c.

MS. E.

[42-4]

No Serpent lurks beneath their simple hues. No purple blooms from Flattery's nightshade brings, The Child of Nature—as he feels he sings.

MS. 4^o erased.

[43-4]

Nature's pure Child from Flatt'ry's night-shade brings No blooms rich-purpling: as he feels he sings.

MS. 4^o.

Below l. 44 September, 1794 1797, 1803: September 1792 1828, 1829, 1834.

TRANSLATION[66:1]

OF WRANGHAM'S 'HENDECASYLLABI AD BRUNTONAM
E GRANTA EXITURAM' [KAL. OCT. MDCCXC]

Maid of unboastful charms! whom white-robed Truth Right onward guiding through the maze of youth, Forbade the Circe Praise to witch thy soul, And dash'd to earth th' intoxicating bowl: Thee meek-eyed Pity, eloquently fair, 5 Clasp'd to her bosom with a mother's care; And, as she lov'd thy kindred form to trace, The slow smile wander'd o'er her pallid face.

For never yet did mortal voice impart Tones more congenial to the sadden'd heart: 10 Whether, to rouse the sympathetic glow, Thou pourest lone Monimia's tale of woe; Or haply clothest with funereal vest The bridal loves that wept in Juliet's breast. O'er our chill limbs the thrilling Terrors creep, 15 Th' entrancéd Passions their still vigil keep; While the deep sighs, responsive to the song, Sound through the silence of the trembling throng.

But purer raptures lighten'd from thy face, And spread o'er all thy form an holier grace, 20 When from the daughter's breasts the father drew The life he gave, and mix'd the big tear's dew. Nor was it thine th' heroic strain to roll With mimic feelings foreign from the soul: Bright in thy parent's eye we mark'd the tear; 25 Methought he said, 'Thou art no Actress here! A semblance of thyself the Grecian dame, And Brunton and Euphrasia still the same!'

O soon to seek the city's busier scene, Pause thee awhile, thou chaste-eyed maid serene, 30 Till Granta's sons from all her sacred bowers With grateful hand shall weave Pierian flowers To twine a fragrant chaplet round thy brow, Enchanting ministress of virtuous woe!

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[66:1] First published in Poems, by Francis Wrangham, London, 1795, pp. 79-83. First collected in P. and D. W., 1880, ii. 360* (Supplement).

TO MISS BRUNTON[67:1]

WITH THE PRECEDING TRANSLATION

That darling of the Tragic Muse, When Wrangham sung her praise, Thalia lost her rosy hues, And sicken'd at her lays:

But transient was th' unwonted sigh; 5 For soon the Goddess spied A sister-form of mirthful eye, And danc'd for joy and cried:

'Meek Pity's sweetest child, proud dame, The fates have given to you! 10 Still bid your Poet boast her name; I have my Brunton too.'

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[67:1] First published in Poems, by Francis Wrangham, 1795, p. 83. First collected in P. and D. W., 1880, ii. 362* (Supplement).

EPITAPH ON AN INFANT[68:1]

Ere Sin could blight or Sorrow fade, Death came with friendly care: The opening Bud to Heaven convey'd, And bade it blossom there.

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[68:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, September 23, 1794: included in The Watchman, No. IX, May 5, 1796, Poems 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. These well-known lines, which vexed the soul of Charles Lamb, were probably adapted from 'An Epitaph on an Infant' in the churchyard of Birchington, Kent (A Collection of Epitaphs, 1806, i. 219):—

Ah! why so soon, just as the bloom appears, Drops the fair blossom in the vale of tears? Death view'd the treasure in the desart given And claim'd the right of planting it in Heav'n.

In MS. E a Greek version (possibly a rejected prize epigram) is prefixed with the accompanying footnote.

Ηλυες εἰς αιδην, καὶ δή τυ ποθεῦσι τοκηες

:

Ηλυες αδυ βρεφος! τοι βραχυ δυνε φαος

.

Ομμα μεν εις σεο σῆμα Πατηρ πικρον ποτιβαλλει

Ευσεβεης δε Θεῳ δωρα διδωσιν ἑα

![68:A]

[68:A] Translation of the Greek Epitaph. 'Thou art gone down into the Grave, and heavily do thy Parents feel the Loss. Thou art gone down into the Grave, sweet Baby! Thy short Light is set! Thy Father casts an Eye of Anguish towards thy Tomb—yet with uncomplaining Piety resigns to God his own Gift!'

Equal or Greater simplicity marks all the writings of the Greek Poets.—The above [i. e. the Greek] Epitaph was written in Imitation of them. [S. T. C.]

PANTISOCRACY[68:2]

No more my visionary soul shall dwell On joys that were; no more endure to weigh The shame and anguish of the evil day, Wisely forgetful! O'er the ocean swell Sublime of Hope, I seek the cottag'd dell 5

Where Virtue calm with careless step may stray, And dancing to the moonlight roundelay, The wizard Passions weave an holy spell. Eyes that have ach'd with Sorrow! Ye shall weep Tears of doubt-mingled joy, like theirs who start 10 From Precipices of distemper'd sleep, On which the fierce-eyed Fiends their revels keep, And see the rising Sun, and feel it dart New rays of pleasance trembling to the heart.

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[68:2] First published in the Life and Correspondence of R. Southey, 1849, i. 224. First collected 1852 (Notes). Southey includes the sonnet in a letter to his brother Thomas dated Oct. 19, 1794, and attributes the authorship to Coleridge's friend S. Favell, with whom he had been in correspondence. He had already received the sonnet in a letter from Coleridge (dated Sept. 18, 1794), who claims it for his own and apologizes for the badness of the poetry. The octave was included (ll. 129-36) in the second version of the Monody on the Death of Chatterton, first printed in Lancelot Sharpe's edition of the Poems of Chatterton published at Cambridge in 1794. Mrs. H. N. Coleridge (Poems, 1852, p. 382) prints the sonnet and apologizes for the alleged plagiarism. It is difficult to believe that either the first eight or last six lines of the sonnet were not written by Coleridge. It is included in the MS. volume of Poems which Coleridge presented to Mrs. Estlin in 1795. The text is that of Letter Sept. 18, 1794.

LINENOTES:

Title] Sonnet MS. E.

[1]

my] the MS. E.

[8]

Passions weave] Passion wears Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852.

[9]

Sorrow] anguish Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852.

[10]

like theirs] as those Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852: as they, MS. E.

[12]

feel] find Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852.

[14]

pleasance] pleasure Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852.

ON THE PROSPECT OF ESTABLISHING
A PANTISOCRACY IN AMERICA[69:1]

Whilst pale Anxiety, corrosive Care, The tear of Woe, the gloom of sad Despair, And deepen'd Anguish generous bosoms rend;— Whilst patriot souls their country's fate lament; Whilst mad with rage demoniac, foul intent, 5 Embattled legions Despots vainly send To arrest the immortal mind's expanding ray Of everlasting Truth;—I other climes Where dawns, with hope serene, a brighter day Than e'er saw Albion in her happiest times, 10 With mental eye exulting now explore, And soon with kindred minds shall haste to enjoy (Free from the ills which here our peace destroy) Content and Bliss on Transatlantic shore.

1795.

FOOTNOTES:

[69:1] First published in the Co-operative Magazine and Monthly Herald, March 6, 1826, and reprinted in the Athenæum, Nov. 5, 1904. First collected in 1907. It has been conjectured, but proof is wanting, that the sonnet was written by Coleridge.

ELEGY[69:2]

IMITATED FROM ONE OF AKENSIDE'S BLANK-VERSE INSCRIPTIONS [(No.) III.]

Near the lone pile with ivy overspread, Fast by the rivulet's sleep-persuading sound, Where 'sleeps the moonlight' on yon verdant bed— O humbly press that consecrated ground!

For there does Edmund rest, the learnéd swain! 5 And there his spirit most delights to rove: Young Edmund! fam'd for each harmonious strain, And the sore wounds of ill-requited Love.

Like some tall tree that spreads its branches wide, And loads the West-wind with its soft perfume, 10 His manhood blossom'd; till the faithless pride Of fair Matilda sank him to the tomb.

But soon did righteous Heaven her Guilt pursue! Where'er with wilder'd step she wander'd pale, Still Edmund's image rose to blast her view, 15 Still Edmund's voice accus'd her in each gale.

With keen regret, and conscious Guilt's alarms, Amid the pomp of Affluence she pined; Nor all that lur'd her faith from Edmund's arms Could lull the wakeful horror of her mind. 20

Go, Traveller! tell the tale with sorrow fraught: Some tearful Maid perchance, or blooming Youth, May hold it in remembrance; and be taught That Riches cannot pay for Love or Truth.

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[69:2] First published in the Morning Chronicle, September 23, 1794: included in The Watchman, No. III, March 17, 1794: in Sibylline Leaves, 1817: 1828, 1829, and 1834, but omitted in 1852 as of doubtful origin. The elegy as printed in the Morning Chronicle is unsigned. In The Watchman it is signed T.

LINENOTES:

Title] An Elegy Morning Chronicle, Watchman.

[1]

the] yon M. C.

[6]

And there his pale-eyed phantom loves to rove M. C.

[10]

West-wind] Zephyr M. C.

[11]

till] ere M. C.

[12]

Lucinda sunk M. C.

[13]

Guilt] crime M. C.

[14]

step] steps M. C.

[17]

remorse and tortur'd Guilt's M. C.

[20]

Could soothe the conscious horrors of her mind M. C. horror] horrors The Watchman.

[22]

tearful] lovely M. C.

THE FADED FLOWER[70:1]

Ungrateful he, who pluck'd thee from thy stalk, Poor faded flow'ret! on his careless way; Inhal'd awhile thy odours on his walk, Then onward pass'd and left thee to decay. Ah! melancholy emblem! had I seen 5 Thy modest beauties dew'd with Evening's gem, I had not rudely cropp'd thy parent stem, But left thee, blushing, 'mid the enliven'd green And now I bend me o'er thy wither'd bloom, And drop the tear—as Fancy, at my side, 10 Deep-sighing, points the fair frail Abra's tomb— 'Like thine, sad Flower, was that poor wanderer's pride! Oh! lost to Love and Truth, whose selfish joy Tasted her vernal sweets, but tasted to destroy!'

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[70:1] First published in the Monthly Magazine, August, 1836. First collected in P. W., 1893.

THE OUTCAST[71:1]

Pale Roamer through the night! thou poor Forlorn! Remorse that man on his death-bed possess, Who in the credulous hour of tenderness Betrayed, then cast thee forth to Want and Scorn! The world is pitiless: the chaste one's pride 5 Mimic of Virtue scowls on thy distress: Thy Loves and they that envied thee deride: And Vice alone will shelter Wretchedness! O! I could weep to think that there should be Cold-bosom'd lewd ones, who endure to place 10 Foul offerings on the shrine of Misery, And force from Famine the caress of Love; May He shed healing on the sore disgrace, He, the great Comforter that rules above!

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[71:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. 'The first half of Effusion xv was written by the Author of "Joan of Arc", an Epic Poem.' Preface to Poems, 1796, p. xi.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xv. 1796: Sonnet vii. 1797: Sonnet vi. 1803: Sonnet ix. 1828, 1829, and 1834: An Unfortunate 1893.

[7]

Thy kindred, when they see thee, turn aside 1803.

[9]

O I am sad 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[10]

Men, born of woman 1803.

[13-14]

Man has no feeling for thy sore Disgrace: Keen blows the Blast upon the moulting Dove.

1803.

[13]

the] thy 1796, 1797, 1828.

DOMESTIC PEACE[71:2]

[FROM 'THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE', ACT I, L. 210]

Tell me, on what holy ground May Domestic Peace be found? Halcyon daughter of the skies, Far on fearful wings she flies, From the pomp of Sceptered State, 5 From the Rebel's noisy hate.

In a cottag'd vale She dwells, Listening to the Sabbath bells! Still around her steps are seen Spotless Honour's meeker mien, 10 Love, the sire of pleasing fears, Sorrow smiling through her tears, And conscious of the past employ Memory, bosom-spring of joy.

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[71:2] First published in the Fall of Robespierre, 1795: included (as 'Song', p. 13) in 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xxv. 1796.

ON A DISCOVERY MADE TOO LATE[72:1]

Thou bleedest, my poor Heart! and thy distress Reasoning I ponder with a scornful smile And probe thy sore wound sternly, though the while Swoln be mine eye and dim with heaviness. Why didst thou listen to Hope's whisper bland? 5 Or, listening, why forget the healing tale, When Jealousy with feverous fancies pale Jarr'd thy fine fibres with a maniac's hand? Faint was that Hope, and rayless!—Yet 'twas fair And sooth'd with many a dream the hour of rest: 10 Thou should'st have lov'd it most, when most opprest, And nurs'd it with an agony of care, Even as a mother her sweet infant heir That wan and sickly droops upon her breast!

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[72:1] First published in 1796: Selection of Sonnets, Poems 1796: in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. It was sent in a letter to Southey, dated October 21, 1794. (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 92.)

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xix. 1796 (in 'Contents' To my Heart): Sonnet II. On a Discovery made too late 1797, 1803, and again in P. and D. W., 1877-80: Sonnet xi. 1828, 1829, 1834.

[2-4]

Doth Reason ponder with an anguish'd smile Probing thy sore wound sternly, tho' the while Her eye be swollen and dim with heaviness.

Letter, 1794.

[6]

the] its Letter, 1794.

[7]

feverous] feverish 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

[14]

wan] pale Letter, 1794.

TO THE AUTHOR OF 'THE ROBBERS'[72:2]

Schiller! that hour I would have wish'd to die, If thro' the shuddering midnight I had sent From the dark dungeon of the Tower time-rent That fearful voice, a famish'd Father's cry— Lest in some after moment aught more mean 5

Might stamp me mortal! A triumphant shout Black Horror scream'd, and all her goblin rout Diminish'd shrunk from the more withering scene! Ah! Bard tremendous in sublimity! Could I behold thee in thy loftier mood 10 Wandering at eve with finely-frenzied eye Beneath some vast old tempest-swinging wood! Awhile with mute awe gazing I would brood: Then weep aloud in a wild ecstasy!

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[72:2] First published in 1796: included in Selection of Sonnets, 1796: in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The following 'Note' (Note 6, pp. 180, 181) was printed in 1796, and appears again in 1797 as a footnote, p. 83:—'One night in Winter, on leaving a College-friend's room, with whom I had supped, I carelessly took away with me "The Robbers", a drama, the very name of which I had never before heard of:—A Winter midnight—the wind high—and "The Robbers" for the first time!—The readers of Schiller will conceive what I felt. Schiller introduces no supernatural beings; yet his human beings agitate and astonish more than all the goblin rout—even of Shakespeare.' See for another account of the midnight reading of 'The Robbers', Letter to Southey, November [6], 1794, Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 96, 97.

In the Selection of Sonnets, 1796, this note was reduced to one sentence. 'Schiller introduces no Supernatural Beings.' In 1803 the note is omitted, but a footnote to line 4 is appended: 'The Father of Moor in the Play of the Robbers.'

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion xx. To the Author, &c. [To 'Schiller', Contents] 1796: Sonnet viii. To the Author of 'The Robbers' 1797: Sonnet xv. 1803: Sonnet xii. To the Author of the Robbers 1828, 1829, 1834.

Lines 1-4 are printed in the reverse order (4, 3, 2, 1). Selections.

[5-6]

That in no after moment aught, less vast Might stamp me human!

Selections.

That in no after moment aught less vast Might stamp me mortal!

1797, 1803.

[8]

From the more with'ring scene diminish'd past. Selections, 1797, 1803.

MELANCHOLY[73:1]

A FRAGMENT

Stretch'd on a moulder'd Abbey's broadest wall, Where ruining ivies propp'd the ruins steep— Her folded arms wrapping her tatter'd pall, [73:2]Had Melancholy mus'd herself to sleep. The fern was press'd beneath her hair, 5

The dark green Adder's Tongue[74:1] was there; And still as pass'd the flagging sea-gale weak, The long lank leaf bow'd fluttering o'er her cheek.

That pallid cheek was flush'd: her eager look Beam'd eloquent in slumber! Inly wrought, 10 Imperfect sounds her moving lips forsook, And her bent forehead work'd with troubled thought. Strange was the dream——

? 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[73:1] First published in the Morning Post, December 12, 1797 (not, as Coleridge says, the Morning Chronicle); included in Sibylline Leaves, 1817 (with an addition), and, again, in P. and D. W., 1877-80, and (in its first shape) in 1828, 1829, 1834, 1852, and 1893. Sent in Letter to Sotheby, Aug. 26, 1802.

[73:2] Bowles borrowed these lines unconsciously, I doubt not. I had repeated the poem on my first visit [Sept. 1797]. MS. Note, S. T. C. See, too, Letter, Aug. 26, 1802. [Here Melancholy on the pale crags laid, Might muse herself to sleep—Coomb Ellen, written September, 1798.]

[74:1] A Plant found on old walls and in wells and mois[t] [h]edges.—It is often called the Hart's Tongue. M. C. Asplenium Scolopendrium, more commonly called Hart's Tongue. Letter, 1802. A botanical mistake. The plant I meant is called the Hart's Tongue, but this would unluckily spoil the poetical effect. Cedat ergo Botanice. Sibylline Leaves, 1817. A botanical mistake. The plant which the poet here describes is called the Hart's Tongue, 1828, 1829, 1852.

LINENOTES:

[1]

Upon a mouldering Letter, Aug. 26, 1802.

[2]

Where ruining] Whose running M. C. propp'd] prop Letter, Aug. 26, 1802.

[7]

pass'd] came Letter, 1802. sea-gale] sea-gales M. C., Letter, 1802.

[8]

The] Her Letter, 1802.

[9]

That] Her Letter, 1802.

[13]

Not in Letter 1802.

[13]

Strange was the dream that fill'd her soul, Nor did not whisp'ring spirits roll A mystic tumult, and a fateful rhyme, Mix'd with wild shapings of the unborn time!

M. C., Sibylline Leaves, 1817.

TO A YOUNG ASS[74:2]

ITS MOTHER BEING TETHERED NEAR IT

Poor little Foal of an oppresséd race! I love the languid patience of thy face: And oft with gentle hand I give thee bread, And clap thy ragged coat, and pat thy head. But what thy dulled spirits hath dismay'd, 5 That never thou dost sport along the glade? And (most unlike the nature of things young) That earthward still thy moveless head is hung? Do thy prophetic fears anticipate, Meek Child of Misery! thy future fate? 10

The starving meal, and all the thousand aches 'Which patient Merit of the Unworthy takes'? Or is thy sad heart thrill'd with filial pain To see thy wretched mother's shorten'd chain? And truly, very piteous is her lot— 15 Chain'd to a log within a narrow spot, Where the close-eaten grass is scarcely seen, While sweet around her waves the tempting green!

Poor Ass! thy master should have learnt to show Pity—best taught by fellowship of Woe! 20 For much I fear me that He lives like thee, Half famish'd in a land of Luxury! How askingly its footsteps hither bend? It seems to say, 'And have I then one friend?' Innocent foal! thou poor despis'd forlorn! 25 I hail thee Brother—spite of the fool's scorn! And fain would take thee with me, in the Dell Of Peace and mild Equality to dwell, Where Toil shall call the charmer Health his bride, And Laughter tickle Plenty's ribless side! 30 How thou wouldst toss thy heels in gamesome play, And frisk about, as lamb or kitten gay! Yea! and more musically sweet to me Thy dissonant harsh bray of joy would be, Than warbled melodies that soothe to rest 35

The aching of pale Fashion's vacant breast!

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[74:2] First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 30, 1794: included in 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. A MS. version, dated October 24, 1794 (see P. W., 1893, pp. 477, 488), was presented by Coleridge to Professor William Smyth, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, 1807-49; a second version was included in a letter to Southey, dated December 17, 1794 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 119, 120).

LINENOTES:

Title] Monologue to a Young Jack Ass in Jesus Piece. Its mother near it chained to a log MS. Oct. 24, 1794: Address to a Young Jack-Ass and its Tether'd mother MS. Dec. 17, 1794: Address, &c. In familiar verse Morning Chronicle, Dec. 30, 1794: Effusion xxxiii. To a Young Ass, &c. 1796.

[3]

gentle] friendly MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.

[4]

pat] scratch MS. Oct. 1794, M. C.

[5]

spirits] spirit MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794, M. C.

[6]

along] upon MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.

[8]

That still to earth thy moping head is hung MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794, M. C.

[9]

Doth thy prophetic soul MS. Oct. 1794.

[12]

Which] That MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794.

[14]

shorten'd] lengthen'd MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.

[16]

within] upon MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794, M. C.

[19]

thy] her 1796.

[21]

For much I fear, that He lives e'en as she, 1796.

[23]

footsteps hither bend] steps toward me tend MS. Oct. 1794: steps towards me bend MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.: footsteps t'ward me bend 1796.

[25]

despised and forlorn MS. Oct. 1794.

[27]

would] I'd MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794. in] to MS. Oct. 1794.

[28]

Of high-soul'd Pantisocracy to dwell MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.

28 foll.

Where high-soul'd Pantisocracy shall dwell! Where Mirth shall tickle Plenty's ribless side,[75:A] And smiles from Beauty's Lip on sunbeams glide, Where Toil shall wed young Health that charming Lass! And use his sleek cows for a looking-glass— Where Rats shall mess with Terriers hand-in-glove And Mice with Pussy's Whiskers sport in Love

MS. Oct. 1794.

[75:A] This is a truly poetical line of which the author has assured us that he did not mean it to have any meaning. Note by Ed. of MS. Oct. 1794.

[35-6]

Than Handel's softest airs that soothe to rest The tumult of a scoundrel Monarch's Breast.

MS. Oct. 1794.

Than Banti's warbled airs that sooth to rest The tumult &c.

MS. Dec. 1794.

[36]

The tumult of some Scoundrel Monarch's breast.

M. C. 1796.

LINES ON A FRIEND[76:1]

WHO DIED OF A FRENZY FEVER INDUCED BY CALUMNIOUS REPORTS

Edmund! thy grave with aching eye I scan, And inly groan for Heaven's poor outcast—Man! 'Tis tempest all or gloom: in early youth If gifted with th' Ithuriel lance of Truth We force to start amid her feign'd caress 5 Vice, siren-hag! in native ugliness; A Brother's fate will haply rouse the tear, And on we go in heaviness and fear! But if our fond hearts call to Pleasure's bower Some pigmy Folly in a careless hour, 10 The faithless guest shall stamp the enchanted ground, And mingled forms of Misery rise around: Heart-fretting Fear, with pallid look aghast, That courts the future woe to hide the past; Remorse, the poison'd arrow in his side, 15 And loud lewd Mirth, to Anguish close allied: Till Frenzy, fierce-eyed child of moping Pain, Darts her hot lightning-flash athwart the brain.

Rest, injur'd shade! Shall Slander squatting near Spit her cold venom in a dead man's ear? 20 'Twas thine to feel the sympathetic glow In Merit's joy, and Poverty's meek woe; Thine all, that cheer the moment as it flies, The zoneless Cares, and smiling Courtesies. Nurs'd in thy heart the firmer Virtues grew, 25 And in thy heart they wither'd! Such chill dew Wan Indolence on each young blossom shed; And Vanity her filmy net-work spread, With eye that roll'd around in asking gaze, And tongue that traffick'd in the trade of praise. 30 Thy follies such! the hard world mark'd them well! Were they more wise, the Proud who never fell? Rest, injur'd shade! the poor man's grateful prayer On heaven-ward wing thy wounded soul shall bear.

As oft at twilight gloom thy grave I pass, 35 And sit me down upon its recent grass, With introverted eye I contemplate Similitude of soul, perhaps of—Fate! To me hath Heaven with bounteous hand assign'd Energic Reason and a shaping mind, 40 The daring ken of Truth, the Patriot's part, And Pity's sigh, that breathes the gentle heart— Sloth-jaundic'd all! and from my graspless hand Drop Friendship's precious pearls, like hour-glass sand. I weep, yet stoop not! the faint anguish flows, 45 A dreamy pang in Morning's feverous doze.

Is this piled earth our Being's passless mound? Tell me, cold grave! is Death with poppies crown'd? Tired Sentinel! mid fitful starts I nod, And fain would sleep, though pillowed on a clod! 50

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[76:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Four MS. versions are extant, (1) in Letter to Southey, Nov. [6], 1794 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 98, 99): (2) in letter to George Coleridge, Nov. 6, 1794: (3) in the Estlin copy-book: (4) in the MS. 4^o. The Friend was the Rev. Fulwood Smerdon, vicar of Ottery St. Mary, who died in August 1794.

LINENOTES:

Title] On the Death of a Friend who died of a Frenzy Fever brought on by anxiety MS. E.

[1]

——! thy grave MS. Letter to R. S.: Smerdon! thy grave MS. Letter to G. C.

[3]

early] earliest MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E.

[5]

We] He MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E, MS. 4^o, 1796.

[7]

will] shall MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E.

[8]

And on he goes MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E, 1796: Onward we move 1803.

[9]

his fond heart MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E, 1796.

[11]

quick stamps MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E, MS. 4^o.

[12]

threaten round MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C.

[17]

fierce-eyed] frantic MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E erased [See Lamb's Letter to Coleridge, June 10, 1796].

[19]

squatting] couching MS Letter to G. C., MS. E [See Lamb's Letter, June 10, 1796].

[23]

cheer] cheers MS. E.

[25]

firmer] generous MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C.: manly MS. E.

[29]

roll'd] prowl'd MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E.

[33-4]

the poor man's prayer of praise On heavenward wing thy wounded soul shall raise.

1796.

[35]

As oft in Fancy's thought MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C.

[39]

bounteous] liberal MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E.

[41]

ken] soul MS. Letter to R. S.

[46]

feverous] feverish all MSS. and Eds. 1796-1829.

[47]

this] that MS. Letters to R. S. and G. C., MS. E. passless] hapless Letter to G. C.

[49]

Sentinel] Centinel all MSS. and Eds. 1796-1829. mid] with Letters to R. S. and G. C.

Below l. 50 the date (November 1794) is affixed in 1796, 1797, and 1803.

TO A FRIEND[78:1]

[Charles Lamb]

TOGETHER WITH AN UNFINISHED POEM

Thus far my scanty brain hath built the rhyme Elaborate and swelling: yet the heart Not owns it. From thy spirit-breathing powers I ask not now, my friend! the aiding verse, Tedious to thee, and from thy anxious thought 5 Of dissonant mood. In fancy (well I know) From business wandering far and local cares, Thou creepest round a dear-lov'd Sister's bed With noiseless step, and watchest the faint look, Soothing each pang with fond solicitude, 10 And tenderest tones medicinal of love. I too a Sister had, an only Sister— She lov'd me dearly, and I doted on her! To her I pour'd forth all my puny sorrows (As a sick Patient in a Nurse's arms) 15 And of the heart those hidden maladies That e'en from Friendship's eye will shrink asham'd. O! I have wak'd at midnight, and have wept, Because she was not!—Cheerily, dear Charles! Thou thy best friend shalt cherish many a year: 20

Such warm presages feel I of high Hope. For not uninterested the dear Maid I've view'd—her soul affectionate yet wise, Her polish'd wit as mild as lambent glories That play around a sainted infant's head. 25 He knows (the Spirit that in secret sees, Of whose omniscient and all-spreading Love Aught to implore[79:1] were impotence of mind) That my mute thoughts are sad before his throne, Prepar'd, when he his healing ray vouchsafes, 30 Thanksgiving to pour forth with lifted heart, And praise Him Gracious with a Brother's Joy!

1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[78:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, and, again, in 1844. Lines 12-19 ('I too a sister . . . Because she was not') are published in 1834 (i. 35) under the heading 'The Same', i. e. the same as the preceding poem, 'On seeing a Youth affectionately welcomed by a Sister.' The date, December 1794, affixed in 1797 and 1803, is correct. The poem was sent in a letter from Coleridge to Southey, dated December 1794. (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 128.) The 'Unfinished Poem' was, certainly, Religious Musings, begun on Christmas Eve, 1794. The text is that of 1844.

[79:1] I utterly recant the sentiment contained in the lines—

'Of whose omniscient and all-spreading Love Aught to implore were impotence of mind,'

it being written in Scripture, 'Ask, and it shall be given you,' and my human reason being moreover convinced of the propriety of offering petitions as well as thanksgivings to Deity. [Note of S. T. C., in Poems, 1797 and 1803.]

LINENOTES:

Title] To C. Lamb MS. Letter, Dec. 1794: Effusion xxii. To a Friend, &c. 1796: To Charles Lamb with an unfinished Poem 1844.

[1-3]

Thus far my sterile brain hath fram'd the song Elaborate and swelling: but the heart Not owns it. From thy spirit-breathing power

MS. Letter, Dec. 1794.

[7]

Not in MS. Letter, Dec. 1794.

Between 13 and 14

On her soft bosom I reposed my cares And gain'd for every wound a healing tear.

MS. Letter, 1794.

[15]

a] his MS. Letter, 1794, 1796, 1797, 1803.

[17]

That shrink asham'd from even Friendship's eye. MS. Letter, 1794, 1796, 1797.

[18]

wak'd] woke MS. Letter, 1794, 1796, 1797, 1803.

[21]

warm] high: high] warm MS. Letter, 1794. presages] presagings 1803.

[25]

sainted] holy MS. Letter, 1794.

[26]

that] who MS. Letter, 1794.

[31]

To pour forth thanksgiving MS. Letter, 1794, 1796, 1797, 1803.

SONNETS ON EMINENT CHARACTERS

CONTRIBUTED TO THE 'MORNING CHRONICLE' IN DECEMBER 1794
AND JANUARY 1795

[The Sonnets were introduced by the following letter:—

'Mr. Editor—If, Sir, the following Poems will not disgrace your poetical department, I will transmit you a series of Sonnets (as it is the fashion to call them) addressed like these to eminent Contemporaries.

'Jesus College, Cambridge.'

S. T. C.]

I[79:2]

TO THE HONOURABLE MR. ERSKINE

When British Freedom for an happier land Spread her broad wings, that flutter'd with affright, Erskine! thy voice she heard, and paus'd her flight Sublime of hope, for dreadless thou didst stand (Thy censer glowing with the hallow'd flame) 5

A hireless Priest before the insulted shrine, And at her altar pour the stream divine Of unmatch'd eloquence. Therefore thy name

Her sons shall venerate, and cheer thy breast With blessings heaven-ward breath'd. And when the doom 10 Of Nature bids thee die, beyond the tomb Thy light shall shine: as sunk beneath the West

Though the great Summer Sun eludes our gaze, Still burns wide Heaven with his distended blaze.[80:A]

December 1, 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[79:2] First published in the Morning Chronicle, Dec. 1, 1794: included in 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

[80:A] 'Our elegant correspondent will highly gratify every reader of taste by the continuance of his exquisitely beautiful productions. No. II. shall appear on an early day.'

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion v. 1796: Sonnet x. 1803: Sonnet iv. 1828, 1829, 1834.

[4]

for dreadless] where fearless M. C. Dec. 1, 1794.

[6]

A] An M. C., 1796-1803, 1828, 1829. the insulted] her injur'd M. C.

[7]

pour] pour'dst M. C., 1796, 1803.

[8]

unmatch'd] matchless M. C.

[10]

With heav'n-breath'd blessings; and, when late the doom M. C.

[11]

die] rise 1803.

[13-14]

Though the great Sun not meets our wistful gaze Still glows wide Heaven

M. C.

Below l. 14 Jesus College Cambridge M. C.

II[80:1]

BURKE

As late I lay in Slumber's shadowy vale, With wetted cheek and in a mourner's guise, I saw the sainted form of Freedom rise: She spake! not sadder moans the autumnal gale—

'Great Son of Genius! sweet to me thy name, 5 Ere in an evil hour with alter'd voice Thou bad'st Oppression's hireling crew rejoice Blasting with wizard spell my laurell'd fame.

'Yet never, Burke! thou drank'st Corruption's bowl![80:2] Thee stormy Pity and the cherish'd lure 10 Of Pomp, and proud Precipitance of soul Wilder'd with meteor fires. Ah Spirit pure!

'That Error's mist had left thy purgéd eye: So might I clasp thee with a Mother's joy!'

December 9, 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[80:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, Dec. 9, 1794: included in 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. This Sonnet was sent in a letter to Southey, dated December 11, 1794. Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 118.

[80:2]

Yet never, Burke! thou dran'kst Corruption's bowl!

When I composed this line, I had not read the following paragraph in the Cambridge Intelligencer (of Saturday, November 21, 1795):—

'When Mr. Burke first crossed over the House of Commons from the Opposition to the Ministry, he received a pension of £1200 a year charged on the Kings Privy Purse. When he had completed his labours, it was then a question what recompense his service deserved. Mr. Burke wanting a present supply of money, it was thought that a pension of £2000 per annum for forty years certain, would sell for eighteen years' purchase, and bring him of course £36,000. But this pension must, by the very unfortunate act, of which Mr. Burke was himself the author, have come before Parliament. Instead of this Mr. Pitt suggested the idea of a pension of £2000 a year for three lives, to be charged on the King's Revenue of the West India 4-1/2 per cents. This was tried at the market, but it was found that it would not produce the £36,000 which were wanted. In consequence of this a pension of £2500 per annum, for three lives on the 4-1/2 West India Fund, the lives to be nominated by Mr. Burke, that he may accommodate the purchasers is finally granted to this disinterested patriot. He has thus retir'd from the trade of politics, with pensions to the amount of £3700 a year.' 1796, Note, pp. 177-9.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion ii. 1796: Sonnet vii. 1803: Sonnet ii. 1828, 1829, 1834.

[1]

As late I roam'd through Fancy's shadowy vale MS. Letter, Dec. 11, 1794.

[4]

She] He MS. Letter, 1794.

[12]

Urg'd on with wild'ring fires MS. Letter, Dec. 17, 1794, M. C.

Below l. 14 Jesus College M. C.

III[81:1]

PRIESTLEY

Though rous'd by that dark Vizir Riot rude Have driven our Priestley o'er the Ocean swell; Though Superstition and her wolfish brood Bay his mild radiance, impotent and fell; Calm in his halls of brightness he shall dwell! 5 For lo! Religion at his strong behest Starts with mild anger from the Papal spell, And flings to Earth her tinsel-glittering vest, Her mitred State and cumbrous Pomp unholy; And Justice wakes to bid th' Oppressor wail 10 Insulting aye the wrongs of patient Folly; And from her dark retreat by Wisdom won Meek Nature slowly lifts her matron veil To smile with fondness on her gazing Son!

December 11, 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[81:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 11, 1794: included in 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. In all editions prior to 1852, 'Priestley' is spelled 'Priestly'. The Sonnet was sent to Southey in a letter dated December 17, 1794.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion iv. 1796: Sonnet ix. 1803: Sonnet iii. 1828, 1829, 1834.

[1-2]

Tho' king-bred rage with lawless uproar rude Hath driv'n

M. C.

Tho' king-bred rage with lawless tumult rude Have driv'n

MS. Letter, Dec. 17, 1794.

[7]

Disdainful rouses from the Papal spell, M. C., MS. Letter, 1794.

[11]

That ground th' ensnared soul of patient Folly. M. C., MS. Letter, 1794.

IV[82:1]

LA FAYETTE

As when far off the warbled strains are heard That soar on Morning's wing the vales among; Within his cage the imprison'd Matin Bird Swells the full chorus with a generous song:

He bathes no pinion in the dewy light, 5 No Father's joy, no Lover's bliss he shares, Yet still the rising radiance cheers his sight— His fellows' Freedom soothes the Captive's cares!

Thou, Fayette! who didst wake with startling voice Life's better Sun from that long wintry night, 10 Thus in thy Country's triumphs shalt rejoice And mock with raptures high the Dungeon's might:

For lo! the Morning struggles into Day, And Slavery's spectres shriek and vanish from the ray![82:2]

December 15, 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[82:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 15, 1794: included in 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

[82:2] The above beautiful sonnet was written antecedently to the joyful account of the Patriot's escape from the Tyrant's Dungeon. [Note in M. C.]

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion ix. 1796: Sonnet xiii. 1803: Sonnet vii. 1828, 1829, 1834.

V[82:3]

KOSKIUSKO

O what a loud and fearful shriek was there, As though a thousand souls one death-groan pour'd! Ah me! they saw beneath a Hireling's sword Their Koskiusko fall! Through the swart air (As pauses the tir'd Cossac's barbarous yell 5

Of Triumph) on the chill and midnight gale Rises with frantic burst or sadder swell The dirge of murder'd Hope! while Freedom pale Bends in such anguish o'er her destin'd bier, As if from eldest time some Spirit meek 10 Had gather'd in a mystic urn each tear That ever on a Patriot's furrow'd cheek Fit channel found; and she had drain'd the bowl In the mere wilfulness, and sick despair of soul!

December 16, 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[82:3] First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 16, 1794: included in 1796, 1828, 1829, 1834. The Sonnet was sent to Southey in a letter dated December 17, 1794. Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 117.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion viii. 1796: Sonnet vi. 1828, 1829, 1834.

[3-4]

Great Kosciusko 'neath an hireling's sword The warriors view'd! Hark! through the list'ning air

MS. Letter, Dec. 17, 1794.

Great Kosciusko 'neath an Hireling's sword His country view'd. Hark through the list'ning air

M. C.

Ah me! they view'd beneath an hireling's sword Fall'n Kosciusko! Thro' the burthened air

1796, 1828, 1829.

[5]

As] When M. C., MS. Letter, Dec. 17, 1794.

[8]

The 'dirge of Murder'd Hope' MS. Letter, Dec. 17, 1794.

[12]

That ever furrow'd a sad Patriot's cheek MS. Letter, 1794, M. C., 1796.

[13-14]

And she had drench'd the sorrows of the bowl E'en till she reel'd intoxicate of soul

MS. Letter, 1794, M. C.

And she had drain'd the sorrows of the bowl E'en till she reel'd, &c.

1796.

VI[83:1]

PITT

Not always should the Tear's ambrosial dew Roll its soft anguish down thy furrow'd cheek! Not always heaven-breath'd tones of Suppliance meek Beseem thee, Mercy! Yon dark Scowler view, Who with proud words of dear-lov'd Freedom came— 5 More blasting than the mildew from the South! And kiss'd his country with Iscariot mouth (Ah! foul apostate from his Father's fame!)[83:2] Then fix'd her on the Cross of deep distress, And at safe distance marks the thirsty Lance 10 Pierce her big side! But O! if some strange trance The eye-lids of thy stern-brow'd Sister[83:3] press, Seize, Mercy! thou more terrible the brand, And hurl her thunderbolts with fiercer hand!

December 23, 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[83:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 23, 1794, and, secondly, in The Watchman, No. V, April 2, 1796; included in 1796, 1803, and in 1852, with the following note:—'This Sonnet, and the ninth, to Stanhope, were among the pieces withdrawn from the second edition of 1797. They reappeared in the edition of 1803, and were again withdrawn in 1828, solely, it may be presumed, on account of their political vehemence. They will excite no angry feelings, and lead to no misapprehensions now, and as they are fully equal to their companions in poetical merit, the Editors have not scrupled to reproduce them. These Sonnets were originally entitled "Effusions".'

[83:2] Earl of Chatham.

[83:3] Justice.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion iii. 1796: To Mercy Watchman: Sonnet viii. 1803: Sonnet iii. 1852.

[8]

Staining most foul a Godlike Father's name M. C., Watchman.

[13]

Seize thou more terrible th' avenging brand M. C.

VII[84:1]

TO THE REV. W. L. BOWLES[84:2]

[FIRST VERSION, PRINTED IN 'MORNING CHRONICLE',
DECEMBER 26, 1794]

My heart has thank'd thee, Bowles! for those soft strains, That, on the still air floating, tremblingly Wak'd in me Fancy, Love, and Sympathy! For hence, not callous to a Brother's pains

Thro' Youth's gay prime and thornless paths I went; 5 And, when the darker day of life began, And I did roam, a thought-bewilder'd man! Thy kindred Lays an healing solace lent,

Each lonely pang with dreamy joys combin'd, And stole from vain Regret her scorpion stings; 10 While shadowy Pleasure, with mysterious wings, Brooded the wavy and tumultuous mind,

Like that great Spirit, who with plastic sweep Mov'd on the darkness of the formless Deep!

FOOTNOTES:

[84:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 26, 1794. First collected, P. and D. W., 1877, i. 138. The sonnet was sent in a letter to Southey, dated December 11, 1794. Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 111.

[84:2] Author of Sonnets and other Poems, published by Dilly. To Mr. Bowles's poetry I have always thought the following remarks from Maximus Tyrius peculiarly applicable:—'I am not now treating of that poetry which is estimated by the pleasure it affords to the ear—the ear having been corrupted, and the judgment-seat of the perceptions; but of that which proceeds from the intellectual Helicon, that which is dignified, and appertaining to human feelings, and entering into the soul.'—The 13th Sonnet for exquisite delicacy of painting; the 19th for tender simplicity; and the 25th for manly pathos, are compositions of, perhaps, unrivalled merit. Yet while I am selecting these, I almost accuse myself of causeless partiality; for surely never was a writer so equal in excellence!—S. T. C. [In this note as it first appeared in the Morning Chronicle a Greek sentence preceded the supposed English translation. It is not to be found in the Dissertations of Maximus Tyrius, but the following passage which, for verbal similitudes, may be compared with others (e. g. 20, 8, p. 243: 21, 3, p. 247; 28, 3, p. 336) is to be found in Davies and Markland's edition (Lips. 1725), vol. ii, p. 203:—

Οὔ τί τοι λέγω τὴν δἰ' αὐλῶν καὶ ᾠδῶν

καὶ χορῶν καὶ ψαλμάτων

,

ἄνευ λόγου ἐπὶ τῇ ψυχῇ ἰοῦσαν

,

τῷ τερπνῷ τῆς ἀκοῆς τιμηθεῖσαν

. . .

τὴν ἀληθῆ καὶ ἐκ τοῦ Ἑλικῶνος μοῦσαν

. . . .]

LINENOTES:

[3]

Wak'd] Woke MS. Letter, Dec. 11, 1794.

[SECOND VERSION][85:1]

My heart has thank'd thee, Bowles! for those soft strains Whose sadness soothes me, like the murmuring Of wild-bees in the sunny showers of spring! For hence not callous to the mourner's pains

Through Youth's gay prime and thornless paths I went: 5 And when the mightier Throes of mind began, And drove me forth, a thought-bewilder'd man, Their mild and manliest melancholy lent

A mingled charm, such as the pang consign'd To slumber, though the big tear it renew'd; 10 Bidding a strange mysterious Pleasure brood Over the wavy and tumultuous mind,

As the great Spirit erst with plastic sweep Mov'd on the darkness of the unform'd deep.

FOOTNOTES:

[85:1] First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion i. 1796: Sonnet i. 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, 1834.

[6-7]

And when the darker day of life began And I did roam, &c.

1796, 1797, 1803.

[9]

such as] which oft 1797, 1803.

[11]

a] such 1797, 1803.

[13-14]

As made the soul enamour'd of her woe: No common praise, dear Bard! to thee I owe.

1797, 1803.

VIII[85:2]

MRS. SIDDONS

As when a child on some long Winter's night Affrighted clinging to its Grandam's knees With eager wond'ring and perturb'd delight Listens strange tales of fearful dark decrees Muttered to wretch by necromantic spell; 5

Or of those hags, who at the witching time Of murky Midnight ride the air sublime, And mingle foul embrace with fiends of Hell:

Cold Horror drinks its blood! Anon the tear More gentle starts, to hear the Beldame tell 10 Of pretty Babes, that lov'd each other dear. Murder'd by cruel Uncle's mandate fell:

Even such the shiv'ring joys thy tones impart, Even so thou, Siddons! meltest my sad heart!

December 29, 1794.

FOOTNOTES:

[85:2] First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 29, 1794, under the signature, S. T. C.: included in 1796 (as C. L.'s) and in 1797 as Charles Lamb's, but reassigned to Coleridge in 1803. First collected, P. and D. W., 1877, i. 140, 141. This sonnet may have been altered by Coleridge, but was no doubt written by Lamb and given by him to Coleridge to make up his tale of sonnets for the Morning Chronicle. In 1796 and 1797 Coleridge acknowledged the sonnet to be Lamb's; but in 1803, Lamb, who was seeing that volume through the press, once more handed it over to Coleridge.

LINENOTES:

Title] Effusion vii. 1796: Sonnet viii. 1797, p. 224: Sonnet xii. 1803.

[4]

dark tales of fearful strange decrees M. C.

[6]

Of Warlock Hags that M. C.

IX

TO WILLIAM GODWIN[86:1]

AUTHOR OF 'POLITICAL JUSTICE'

O form'd t' illume a sunless world forlorn, As o'er the chill and dusky brow of Night, In Finland's wintry skies the Mimic Morn[86:2] Electric pours a stream of rosy light,

Pleas'd I have mark'd Oppression, terror-pale, 5 Since, thro' the windings of her dark machine, Thy steady eye has shot its glances keen— And bade th' All-lovely 'scenes at distance hail'.

Nor will I not thy holy guidance bless, And hymn thee, Godwin! with an ardent lay; 10 For that thy voice, in Passion's stormy day, When wild I roam'd the bleak Heath of Distress,

Bade the bright form of Justice meet my way— And told me that her name was Happiness.

January 10, 1795.

FOOTNOTES:

[86:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, January 10, 1795. First collected, P. and D. W., 1877, i. 143. The last six lines were sent in a letter to Southey, dated December 17, 1794. Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 117.

[86:2] Aurora Borealis.

X[87:1]

TO ROBERT SOUTHEY

OF BALIOL COLLEGE, OXFORD, AUTHOR OF THE 'RETROSPECT',
AND OTHER POEMS

Southey! thy melodies steal o'er mine ear Like far-off joyance, or the murmuring Of wild bees in the sunny showers of Spring— Sounds of such mingled import as may cheer

The lonely breast, yet rouse a mindful tear: 5 Wak'd by the Song doth Hope-born Fancy fling Rich showers of dewy fragrance from her wing, Till sickly Passion's drooping Myrtles sear

Blossom anew! But O! more thrill'd, I prize Thy sadder strains, that bid in Memory's Dream 10 The faded forms of past Delight arise; Then soft, on Love's pale cheek, the tearful gleam

Of Pleasure smiles—as faint yet beauteous lies The imag'd Rainbow on a willowy stream.

January 14, 1795.

FOOTNOTES:

[87:1] First published in the Morning Chronicle, January 14, 1795. First collected, P. and D. W., 1877, i. 142. This sonnet was sent in a letter to Southey, dated December 17, 1794. Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 120.

XI[87:2]

TO RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, ESQ.

It was some Spirit, Sheridan! that breath'd O'er thy young mind such wildly-various power! My soul hath mark'd thee in her shaping hour, Thy temples with Hymettian[88:1] flow'rets wreath'd:

And sweet thy voice, as when o'er Laura's bier 5 Sad Music trembled thro' Vauclusa's glade; Sweet, as at dawn the love-lorn Serenade That wafts soft dreams to Slumber's listening ear.

Now patriot Rage and Indignation high Swell the full tones! And now thine eye-beams dance 10 Meanings of Scorn and Wit's quaint revelry! Writhes inly from the bosom-probing glance

The Apostate by the brainless rout ador'd, As erst that elder Fiend beneath great Michael's sword.

January 29, 1795.

FOOTNOTES:

[87:2] First published in the Morning Chronicle, January 29, 1795: included in 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Two MS. versions are extant; one in a letter to Southey, dated December 9, 1794 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 118), and a second in the Estlin copy-book. In 1796 a note to line 4 was included in Notes, p. 179, and in 1797 and 1803 affixed as a footnote, p. 95:—'Hymettian Flowrets. Hymettus, a mountain near Athens, celebrated for its honey. This alludes to Mr. Sheridan's classical attainments, and the following four lines to the exquisite sweetness and almost Italian delicacy of his poetry. In Shakespeare's Lover's Complaint there is a fine stanza almost prophetically characteristic of Mr. Sheridan.

So on the tip of his subduing tongue All kind of argument and question deep, All replication prompt and reason strong For his advantage still did wake and sleep, To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep: He had the dialect and different skill Catching all passions in his craft of will; That he did in the general bosom reign Of young and old.'

[88:1] Hymettus, a mountain of Attica famous for honey. M. C.

LINENOTES:

Title] To Sheridan MS. E: Effusion vi. 1796: Sonnet xi. 1803: Sonnet v. 1828, 1829, 1834.

[1-5]

Some winged Genius, Sheridan! imbreath'd His various influence on thy natal hour: My fancy bodies forth the Guardian power, His temples with Hymettian flowrets wreath'd And sweet his voice

MS. Letter, Dec. 9, 1794.

[1-2]

Was it some Spirit, Sheridan! that breath'd His various &c.

M. C.

[1-3]

Some winged Genius, Sheridan! imbreath'd O'er thy young Soul a wildly-various power! My Fancy meets thee in her shaping hour

MS. E.

[8]

wafts] bears MS. Letter, 1794, M. C., MS. E.

[9]

Rage] Zeal MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E, M. C.

[10]

thine] his Letter, 1794, M. C.

[12]

While inly writhes from the Soul-probing glance

M. C.

[12-14]

Th' Apostate by the brainless rout ador'd Writhes inly from the bosom-probing glance As erst that nobler Fiend

MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.

[14]

elder] other M. C.

TO LORD STANHOPE[89:1]

ON READING HIS LATE PROTEST IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS

['MORNING CHRONICLE,' JAN. 31, 1795]

Stanhope! I hail, with ardent Hymn, thy name! Thou shalt be bless'd and lov'd, when in the dust Thy corse shall moulder—Patriot pure and just! And o'er thy tomb the grateful hand of Fame

Shall grave:—'Here sleeps the Friend of Humankind!' 5 For thou, untainted by Corruption's bowl, Or foul Ambition, with undaunted soul Hast spoke the language of a Free-born mind

Pleading the cause of Nature! Still pursue Thy path of Honour!—To thy Country true, 10

Still watch th' expiring flame of Liberty! O Patriot! still pursue thy virtuous way, As holds his course the splendid Orb of Day, Or thro' the stormy or the tranquil sky!

One of the People.

1795.

FOOTNOTES: