2

Listened—listened—gaz'd— Sight of a Bird, sound of a voice— 10 It was so well with me, and yet so strange. Heart! Heart! Swell'st thou with joy or smart? But the Bird went away— Adieu! adieu! 15

3

All cloudy the heavens falling and falling— Then said I—Ah! summer again— The swallow, the summer-bird is going, And so will my Beauty fall like the leaves From my pining for his absence, 20 And so will his Love fly away. Away! away! Like the summer-bird, Swift as the Day.

4

But lo! again came the slanting sun-shaft, 25 Close by me pois'd on its wing, The sweet Bird sang again, And looking on my tearful Face Did it not say, 'Love has arisen, 30 True Love makes its summer, In the Heart'?

1845



C

Notebook No. 29, p. 168.

21 Feb. 1825.

MY DEAR FRIEND

I have often amused myself with the thought of a self-conscious Looking-glass, and the various metaphorical applications of such a fancy—and this morning it struck across the Eolian Harp of my Brain that there was something pleasing and emblematic (of what I did not distinctly make out) in two such Looking-glasses fronting, each seeing the other in itself, and itself in the other. Have you ever noticed the Vault or snug little Apartment which the Spider spins and weaves for itself, by spiral threads round and round, and sometimes with strait lines, so that its lurking parlour or withdrawing-room is an oblong square? This too connected itself in my mind with the melancholy truth, that as we grow older, the World (alas! how often it happens that the less we love it, the more we care for it, the less reason we have to value its Shews, the more anxious are we about them—alas! how often do we become more and more loveless, as Love which can outlive all change save a change with regard to itself, and all loss save the loss of its Reflex, is more needed to sooth us and alone is able so to do!) What was I saying? O, I was adverting to the fact that as we advance in years, the World, that spidery Witch, spins its threads narrower and narrower, still closing on us, till at last it shuts us up within four walls, walls of flues and films, windowless—and well if there be sky-lights, and a small opening left for the Light from above. I do not know that I have anything to add, except to remind you, that pheer or phere for Mate, Companion, Counterpart, is a word frequently used by Spencer (sic) and Herbert, and the Poets generally, who wrote before the Restoration (1660), before I say that this premature warm and sunny day, antedating Spring, called forth the following.

* * * * *

Strain in the manner of G. HERBERT, which might be entitled THE ALONE MOST DEAR: a Complaint of Jacob to Rachel as in the tenth year of her service he saw in her or fancied that he saw symptoms of Alienation. [*N.B. The Thoughts and Images being modernized and turned into English.*]

(It was fancy) [Pencil note by Mrs. Gillman.]

All Nature seems at work. [*Snails*] Slugs leave their lair; The Bees are stirring; Birds are on the wing; And WINTER slumb'ring in the open air Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring. And [*But*] I the while, the sole unbusy thing. Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing. Yet well I ken the banks where[1111:1]Amaranths blow Have traced the fount whence Streams of Nectar flow. Bloom, O ye Amaranths! bloom for whom ye may— For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams! away! ? Lip unbrighten'd, wreathless B. With unmoist Lip and wreathless Brow I stroll; And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul? WORK without Hope draws nectar in a sieve; And HOPE without an Object cannot live.

I speak in figures, inward thoughts and woes Interpreting by Shapes and outward shews: { Where daily nearer me with magic Ties, { What time and where, (wove close with magic Ties Line over line, and thickning as they rise) The World her spidery threads on all sides spin Side answ'ring side with narrow interspace, My Faith (say I; I and my Faith are one) Hung, as a Mirror, there! And face to face (For nothing else there was between or near) One Sister Mirror hid the dreary Wall, { bright compeer But that is broke! And with that { only pheere[1111:2] I lost my object and my inmost All—— Faith in the Faith of THE ALONE MOST DEAR! JACOB HODIERNUS.

Ah! me!!

Call the World spider: and at fancy's touch Thought becomes image and I see it such. With viscous masonry of films and threads Tough as the nets in Indian Forests found It blends the Waller's and the Weaver's trades And soon the tent-like Hangings touch the ground A dusky chamber that excludes the day But cease the prelude and resume the lay

FOOTNOTES:

[1111:1] Literally rendered is Flower Fadeless, or never-fading, from the Greek a NOT and marainō to wither.

[1111:2] Mate, Counterpart.



D

Note to Line 34 of the Joan of Arc Book II. 1796, pp. 41, 42.

Line 34. Sir Isaac Newton at the end of the last edition of his Optics supposes that a very subtile and elastic fluid, which he calls aether, is diffused thro' the pores of gross bodies, as well as thro' the open spaces that are void of gross matter: he supposes it to pierce all bodies, and to touch their least particles, acting on them with a force proportional to their number or to the matter of the body on which it acts. He supposes likewise, that it is rarer in the pores of bodies than in open spaces, and even rarer in small pores and dense bodies, than in large pores and rare bodies; and also that its density increases in receding from gross matter; so for instance as to be greater at the 1/100 of an inch from the surface of any body, than at its surface; and so on. To the action of this aether he ascribes the attractions of gravitation and cohoesion, the attraction and repulsion of electrical bodies, the mutual influences of bodies and light upon each other, the effects and communication of heat, and the performance of animal sensation and motion. David Hartley, from whom this account of aether is chiefly borrowed, makes it the instrument of propagating those vibrations or configurative motions which are ideas. It appears to me, no hypothesis ever involved so many contradictions; for how can the same fluid be both dense and rare in the same body at one time? Yet in the Earth as gravitating to the Moon, it must be very rare; and in the Earth as gravitating to the Sun, it must be very dense. For as Andrew Baxter well observes, it doth not appear sufficient to account how the fluid may act with a force proportional to the body to which another is impelled, to assert that it is rarer in great bodies than in small ones; it must be further asserted that this fluid is rarer or denser in the same body, whether small or great, according as the body to which that is impelled is itself small or great. But whatever may be the solidity of this objection, the following seems unanswerable:

If every particle thro' the whole solidity of a heavy body receive its impulse from the particles of this fluid, it should seem that the fluid itself must be as dense as the very densest heavy body, gold for instance; there being as many impinging particles in the one, as there are gravitating particles in the other which receive their gravitation by being impinged upon: so that, throwing gold or any heavy body upward, against the impulse of this fluid, would be like throwing gold thro' gold; and as this aether must be equally diffused over the whole sphere of its activity, it must be as dense when it impels cork as when it impels gold, so that to throw a piece of cork upward, would be as if we endeavoured to make cork penetrate a medium as dense as gold; and tho' we were to adopt the extravagant opinions which have been advanced concerning the progression of pores, yet however porous we suppose a body, if it be not all pore, the argument holds equally, the fluid must be as dense as the body in order to give every particle its impulse.

It has been asserted that Sir Isaac Newton's philosophy leads in its consequences to Atheism: perhaps not without reason. For if matter, by any powers or properties given to it, can produce the order of the visible world and even generate thought; why may it not have possessed such properties by inherent right? and where is the necessity of a God? matter is according to the mechanic philosophy capable of acting most wisely and most beneficently without Wisdom or Benevolence; and what more does the Atheist assert? if matter possess those properties, why might it not have possessed them from all eternity? Sir Isaac Newton's Deity seems to be alternately operose and indolent; to have delegated so much power as to make it inconceivable what he can have reserved. He is dethroned by Vice-regent second causes.

We seem placed here to acquire a knowledge of effects. Whenever we would pierce into the Adyta of Causation, we bewilder ourselves; and all that laborious Conjecture can do, is to fill up the gaps of imagination. We are restless, because invisible things are not the objects of vision—and philosophical systems, for the most part, are received not for their Truth, but in proportion as they attribute to Causes a susceptibility of being seen, whenever our visual organs shall have become sufficiently powerful.



E

DEDICATION[1113:1]

Ode on the Departing Year, 1796, pp. [3]-4.

[Vide ante, p. 160.]

TO THOMAS POOLE, OF STOWEY.

MY DEAR FRIEND—

Soon after the commencement of this month, the Editor of the Cambridge Intelligencer (a newspaper conducted with so much ability, and such unmixed and fearless zeal for the interests of Piety and Freedom, that I cannot but think my poetry honoured by being permitted to appear in it) requested me, by Letter, to furnish him with some Lines for the last day of this Year. I promised him that I would make the attempt; but almost immediately after, a rheumatic complaint seized on my head, and continued to prevent the possibility of poetic composition till within the last three days. So in the course of the last three days the following Ode was produced. In general, when an Author informs the Public that his production was struck off in a great hurry, he offers an insult, not an excuse. But I trust that the present case is an exception, and that the peculiar circumstances which obliged me to write with such unusual rapidity give a propriety to my professions of it: nec nunc eam apud te jacto, sed et ceteris indico; ne quis asperiore lim carmen examinet, et a confuso scriptum et quod frigidum erat ni statim traderem.[1113:2] (I avail myself of the words of Statius, and hope that I shall likewise be able to say of any weightier publication, what he has declared of his Thebaid, that it had been tortured[1113:3] with a laborious Polish.)

For me to discuss the literary merits of this hasty composition were idle and presumptuous. If it be found to possess that impetuosity of Transition, and that Precipitation of Fancy and Feeling, which are the essential excellencies of the sublimer Ode, its deficiency in less important respects will be easily pardoned by those from whom alone praise could give me pleasure: and whose minuter criticisms will be disarmed by the reflection, that these Lines were conceived 'not in the soft obscurities of Retirement, or under the Shelter of Academic Groves, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow'.[1114:1] I am more anxious lest the moral spirit of the Ode should be mistaken. You, I am sure, will not fail to recollect that among the Ancients, the Bard and the Prophet were one and the same character; and you know, that although I prophesy curses, I pray fervently for blessings. Farewell, Brother of my Soul!

——O ever found the same, And trusted and belov'd![1114:2]

Never without an emotion of honest pride do I subscribe myself Your grateful and affectionate friend, S. T. COLERIDGE.

BRISTOL, December 26, 1796.

FOOTNOTES:

[1113:1] Published 4to, 1796: reprinted in P. and D. W., 1877, i. 165-8.

[1113:2] The quotation is from an apology addressed 'Meliori suo', prefixed to the Second Book of the Silvae:—'nec nunc eam (sc. celeritatem) apud te jacto qui nosti: sed et caeteris indico, ne quis asperiore lim carmen examinet et a confuso scriptum, et dolenti datum cum paene sint supervacua sint tarda solatia.' Coleridge has 'adapted' the words of Statius to point his own moral.

[1113:3] Mult cruciata lim [S. T. C.] [SILV. lib. iv. 7, 26.]

[1114:1] From Dr. Johnson's Preface to the Dictionary of the English Language. Works, 1806, ii. 59.

[1114:2] Akenside's Pleasures of the Imagination (Second Version), Bk. I.



F

Preface to the MS. of Osorio.

[Vide ante, p. 519.]

In this sketch of a tragedy, all is imperfect, and much obscure. Among other equally great defects (millstones round the slender neck of its merits) it presupposes a long story; and this long story, which yet is necessary to the complete understanding of the play, is not half told. Albert had sent a letter informing his family that he should arrive about such a time by ship; he was shipwrecked; and wrote a private letter to Osorio, informing him alone of this accident, that he might not shock Maria. Osorio destroyed the letter, and sent assassins to meet Albert. . . Worse than all, the growth of Osorio's character is nowhere explained—and yet I had most clear and psychologically accurate ideas of the whole of it. . . A man, who from constitutional calmness of appetites, is seduced into pride and the love of power, by these into misanthropism, or rather a contempt of mankind, and from thence, by the co-operation of envy, and a curiously modified love for a beautiful female (which is nowhere developed in the play), into a most atrocious guilt. A man who is in truth a weak man, yet always duping himself into the belief that he has a soul of iron. Such were some of my leading ideas.

In short the thing is but an embryo, and whilst it remains in manuscript, which it is destined to do, the critic would judge unjustly who should call it a miscarriage. It furnished me with a most important lesson, namely, that to have conceived strongly, does not always imply the power of successful execution. S. T. C.

[From Early Years and Late Reflections, by Clement Carlyon, M.D., 1856, i. 143-4.]



APPENDIX V

ADAPTATIONS

For a critical study of Coleridge's alterations in the text of the quotations from seventeenth-century poets, which were inserted in the Biographia Literaria (2 vols., 1817), or were prefixed as mottoes to Chapters in the rifacimento of The Friend (3 vols., 1818), see an article by J. D Campbell entitled 'Coleridge's Quotations,' which was published in the Athenum, August 20, 1892, and 'Adaptations', P. W., 1893, pp. 471-4. Most of these textual alterations or garblings were noted by H. N. Coleridge in an edition of The Friend published in 1837; Mr. Campbell was the first to collect and include the mottoes and quotations in a sub-section of Coleridge's Poetical Works. Three poems, (1) 'An Elegy Imitated from Akenside', (2) 'Farewell to Love ', (3) 'Mutual Passion altered and modernized from an Old Poet', may be reckoned as 'Adaptations'. The first and third of these composite productions lay no claim to originality, whilst the second, 'Farewell to Love', which he published anonymously in The Courier, September 27, 1806, was not included by Coleridge in Sibylline Leaves, or in 1828, 1829, 1834. For (1) vide ante, p. 69, and post, Read:—p. 1123; for (2) ante, p. 402; and for (3) vide post, p. 1118.

1

FULKE GREVILLE. LORD BROOKE

God and the World they worship still together, Draw not their lawes to him, but his to theirs, Untrue to both, so prosperous in neither, Amid their owne desires still raising feares; 'Unwise, as all distracted powers be; 5 Strangers to God, fooles in humanitie.'

Too good for great things, and too great for good; Their Princes serve their Priest, &c. A Treatie of Warres, st. lxvi-vii.

MOTTO TO 'A LAY SERMON', 1817

God and the World we worship still together, Draw not our Laws to Him, but His to ours; Untrue to both, so prosperous in neither, The imperfect Will brings forth but barren Flowers! Unwise as all distracted Interests be, 5 Strangers to God, fools in Humanity: Too good for great things and too great for good, While still 'I dare not' waits upon 'I wou'd'! S. T. C.

The same quotation from Lord Brooke is used to illustrate Aphorism xvii, 'Inconsistency,' Aids to Reflection, 1825, p. 93 (with the word 'both', substituted for 'still' in line 1). Line 8 is from Macbeth, Act I, Sc. VII, 'Letting I dare not,' &c. The reference to Lord Brooke was first given in N. and Q., Series VIII, Vol. ii, p. 18.

2

[Vide ante, p. 403]

SONNET XCIV [Coelica]

The Augurs we of all the world admir'd Flatter'd by Consulls, honour'd by the State, Because the event of all that was desir'd They seem'd to know, and keepe the books of Fate: Yet though abroad they thus did boast their wit, 5 Alone among themselves they scornd it.

Mankind that with his wit doth gild his heart Strong in his Passions, but in Goodnesse weake, Making great vices o're the lesse an Art, Breeds wonder, and mouves Ignorance to speake, 10 Yet when his fame is to the highest borne, We know enough to laugh his praise to scorne.

Lines on a King and Emperor-Making-King altered from the 93rd Sonnet of Fulke Greville, the friend of Sir Philip Sydney.

ll. 1-4 The augurs, &c.

l. 5 Abroad they thus did boast each other's wit.

l. 7 Behold yon Corsican with dropsied heart

l. 9 He wonder breeds, makes ignorance to speak

l. 12 TALLEYRAND WILL laugh his Creature's praise to scorn.

First published in the Courier, Sept. 12, 1806. See Editor's note, Athenum, April 25, 1903, p. 531.

3

OF HUMANE LEARNING

STANZA CLX

For onely that man understands indeed, And well remembers, which he well can doe, The Laws live, onely where the Law doth breed Obedience to the workes it bindes us to: And as the life of Wisedome hath exprest, If this ye know, then doe it, and be blest. LORD BROOKE.

Motto to Notes on a Barrister's Hints on Evangelical Preaching, 1810, in Lit. Rem., 1839, iv. 320.

ll. 2, 3

Who well remembers what he well can do; The Faith lives only where the faith doth breed.

4

SIR JOHN DAVIES

ON THE IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL

(Sect. iv. Stanzas 12-14.)

Doubtless, this could not be, but that she turns Bodies to spirits, by sublimation strange; As fire converts to fire the things it burns; As we our meats into our nature change.

From their gross matter she abstracts the forms, 5 And draws a kind of quintessence from things; Which to her proper nature she transforms, To bear them light, on her celestial wings.

This doth she, when, from things particular, She doth abstract the universal kinds, 10 Which bodiless and immaterial are, And can be only lodg'd within our minds.

Stanza 12 Doubtless, &c. l. 2 Bodies to spirit, &c. l. 4. As we our food, &c.

Stanza 13, l. 1 From their gross matter she abstracts their forms.

Stanza 14

Thus doth she, when from individual states She doth abstract the universal kinds; Which then re-clothed in divers names and fates Steal access through our senses to our minds.

Biog. Lit., Cap. xiv, 1817, II, 12; 1847, II, Cap. i, pp. 14-15. The alteration was first noted in 1847.

5

DONNE

ECLOGUE. 'ON UNWORTHY WISDOM'

So reclused Hermits oftentimes do know More of Heaven's glory than a worldly can: As Man is of the World, the Heart of Man Is an Epitome of God's great Book Of Creatures, and Men need no further look.

These lines are quoted by Coleridge in The Friend, 1818, i. 192; 1850, i. 147. The first two lines run thus:

The recluse Hermit oft' times more doth know Of the world's inmost wheels, than worldlings can, &c.

The alteration was first pointed out in an edition of The Friend issued by H. N. Coleridge in 1837.

6

LETTER TO SIR HENRY GOODYERE

Stanzas II, III, IV, and a few words from Stanza V, are prefixed as the motto to Essay XV of The Friend, 1818, i. 179; 1850, i. 136.

For Stanza II, line 3—

But he which dwells there is not so; for he With him who dwells there 'tis not so; for he

For Stanza III—

So had your body her morning, hath her noon, And shall not better, her next change is night: But her fair larger guest, t'whom sun and moon Are sparks, and short liv'd, claims another right.—

The motto reads:

Our bodies had their morning, have their noon, And shall not better—the next change is night, But their fair larger guest, t'whom sun and moon Are sparks and short liv'd, claims another right.

The alteration was first noted in 1837. In 1850 line 3 of Stanza III 'fair' is misprinted 'far'.

7

BEN JONSON

A NYMPH'S PASSION

I love, and he loves me again, Yet dare I not tell who; For if the nymphs should know my swain, I fear they'd love him too; Yet if it be not known, 5 The pleasure is as good as none, For that's a narrow joy is but our own.

I'll tell, that if they be not glad, They yet may envy me; But then if I grow jealous mad, 10 And of them pitied be, It were a plague 'bove scorn, And yet it cannot be forborne, Unless my heart would, as my thought, be torn.

He is, if they can find him, fair, 15 And fresh and fragrant too, As summer's sky or purged air, And looks as lilies do That are this morning blown; Yet, yet I doubt he is not known, 20 And fear much more, that more of him be shown.

But he hath eyes so round and bright, As make away my doubt, Where Love may all his torches light Though hate had put them out; 25 But then, t'increase my fears, What nymph soe'er his voice but hears, Will be my rival, though she have but ears.

I'll tell no more, and yet I love, And he loves me; yet no 30 One unbecoming thought doth move From either heart, I know; But so exempt from blame, As it would be to each a fame, If love or fear would let me tell his name. 35

Underwoods No. V.

MUTUAL PASSION

ALTERED AND MODERNIZED FROM AN OLD POET

I love, and he loves me again, Yet dare I not tell who: For if the nymphs should know my swain, I fear they'd love him too. Yet while my joy's unknown, 5 Its rosy buds are but half-blown: What no one with me shares, seems scarce my own.

I'll tell, that if they be not glad, They yet may envy me: But then if I grow jealous mad, 10 And of them pitied be, 'Twould vex me worse than scorn! And yet it cannot be forborn, Unless my heart would like my thoughts be torn.

He is, if they can find him, fair 15 And fresh, and fragrant too; As after rain the summer air, And looks as lilies do, That are this morning blown! Yet, yet I doubt, he is not known, 20 Yet, yet I fear to have him fully shewn.

But he hath eyes so large, and bright. Which none can see, and doubt That Love might thence his torches light Tho' Hate had put them out! 25 But then to raise my fears, His voice—what maid so ever hears Will be my rival, tho' she have but ears.

I'll tell no more! yet I love him, And ho loves me; yet so, 30 That never one low wish did dim Our love's pure light, I know— In each so free from blame, That both of us would gain new fame, If love's strong fears would let me tell his name! 35

First published in The Courier, September 21, 1811; included in the supplementary sheet to Sibylline Leaves; reprinted in Essays on His Own Times, iii. 995, 996, and in the Appendix to P. W., 1863. It was first pointed out by W. E. Henley that 'Mutual Passion' is an adaptation of 'A Nymph's Passion', No. V of Ben Jonson's Underwoods.

8

UNDERWOODS

No. VI. THE HOUR-GLASS.

Consider this small dust, here in the glass By atoms moved: Could you believe that this the body was Of one that loved; And in his mistress' flame playing like a fly, 5 Was turned to cinders by her eye: Yes; and in death, as life unblest, To have 't exprest, Even ashes of lovers find no rest.

THE HOUR-GLASS

O think, fair maid! these sands that pass In slender threads adown this glass, Were once the body of some swain, Who lov'd too well and lov'd in vain, And let one soft sigh heave thy breast, 5 That not in life alone unblest E'en lovers' ashes find no rest.

First published in The Courier, August 30, 1811; included in Essays on His Own Times, iii. 994. Now collected for the first time.

The original is a translation of a Latin Epigram, 'Horologium Pulvereum, Tumulus Alcippi,' by Girolamo Amaltei.

9

THE POETASTER. Act I, Scene 1.

O my Tibullus, Let us not blame him; for against such chances The heartiest strife of virtue is not proof. We may read constancy and fortitude To other souls; but had ourselves been struck 5 With the like planet, had our loves, like his, Been ravished from us by injurious death, And in the height and heat of our best days, It would have cracked our sinews, shrunk our veins, And made our very heart-strings jar like his. 10

* * * * *

Let us not blame him: for against such chances The heartiest strife of manhood is scarce proof. We may read constancy and fortitude To other souls—but had ourselves been struck Even in the height and heat of our keen wishing, It might have made our heart-strings jar, like his.

First published as a quotation in the Historie and Gestes of Maxilian contributed to Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, January, 1822. Reprinted as Fragment No. 59, P. W., 1893, p. 460.

10

SAMUEL DANIEL

EPISTLE TO SIR THOMAS EGERTON, KNIGHT

Stanza 5

Must there be still some discord mix'd among, The harmony of men; whose mood accords Best with contention, tun'd t' a note of wrong? That when war fails, peace must make war with words, And b' armed unto destruction ev'n as strong 5 As were in ages past our civil swords: Making as deep, although unbleeding wounds; That when as fury fails, wisdom confounds.

Stanza 14

Seeing ev'n injustice may be regular; And no proportion can there be betwixt 10 Our actions, which in endless motion are, And th' ordinances, which are always fix'd: Ten thousand laws more cannot reach so far But malice goes beyond, or lives immix'd So close with goodness, as it ever will 15 Corrupt, disguise, or counterfeit it still.

Stanza 15

And therefore did those glorious monarchs (who Divide with God the style of majesty, &c.

Stanza 5

Must there be still some discord mix'd among The harmony of men; whose mood accords Best with contention tun'd to notes of wrong? That when War fails, Peace must make war with words, With words unto destruction arm'd more strong 5 Than ever were our foreign Foeman's swords; Making as deep, tho' not yet bleeding wounds? What War left scarless, Calumny confounds.

Stanza 14

Truth lies entrapp'd where Cunning finds no bar: Since no proportion can there be betwixt 10 Our actions, which in endless motion are, And ordinances, which are always fixt. Ten thousand Laws more cannot reach so far But Malice goes beyond, or lives commixt So close with Goodness, that, it ever will 15 Corrupt, disguise, or counterfeit it still.

Stanza 15

And therefore would our glorious Alfred, who Join'd with the King's the good man's Majesty, Not leave Law's labyrinth without a clue— Gave to deep skill its just authority,— 20

* * * * *

But the last Judgement (this his Jury's plan)— Left to the natural sense of Work-day Man

Adapted from an elder Poet.

Motto to The Friend, Essay xiii, 1818, i. 149; 1850, i. 113. Coleridge's alteration of, and addition to the text of Daniel's poem were first pointed out in an edition of The Friend, issued by H. N. Coleridge in 1837.

11

MUSOPHILUS

STANZA CXLVII.

Who will not grant, and therefore this observe, No state stands sure, but on the grounds of right, Of virtue, knowledge, judgment to preserve, And all the powers of learning requisite? Though other shifts a present turn may serve, Yet in the trial they will weigh too light.

* * * * *

Blind is that soul which from this truth can swerve No state stands sure, &c.

Motto to Essay xvi of The Friend, 1818, i. 190; 1850, i. 145. The alteration was first noted in 1837.

12

STANZAS XXVII, XXIX, XXX.

Although the stronger constitution shall Wear out th' infection of distemper'd days, And come with glory to out-live this fall, Recov'ring of another spring of praise, &c.

For these lines are the veins and arteries And undecaying life-strings of those hearts, That still shall pant, and still shall exercise The motion, spir't and nature both imparts, And shall with those alive so sympathize, As nourish'd with stern powers, enjoy their parts.

O blessed letters! that combine in one All ages past, and make one live with all: By you we do confer with who are gone, And the dead-living unto council call: By you the unborn shall have communion Of what we feel, and what does us befall.

* * * * *

O blessed letters, &c.

Since Writings are the Veins, the Arteries, And undecaying Life-strings of those Hearts, They still shall pant and still shall exercise Their mightiest powers when Nature none imparts: And the strong constitution of their Praise Wear out the infection of distemper'd days

Motto to 'The Landing-Place', Essay i, The Friend, 1818, i. 215; 1850, 165. The piecing together of the lines in the second stanza of the motto was first noted by J. D. Campbell, in The Athenum, art. 'Coleridge's Quotations,' Aug. 20, 1892.

13

CHRISTOPHER HARVEY

THE SYNAGOGUE

THE NATIVITY OR CHRISTMAS DAY.

Unfold thy face, unmask thy ray, Shine forth, bright sun, double the day; Let no malignant misty fume Nor foggy vapour, once presume To interpose thy perfect sights, 5 This day which makes us use thy lights For ever better that we could That blessed object once behold, Which is both the circumference And centre of all excellence, &c. 10

Substitute the following for the fifth to the eighth line.

To sheath or blunt one happy ray, That wins new splendour from the day,— This day that gives thee power to rise, And shine on hearts as well as eyes: This birth-day of all souls, when first On eyes of flesh and blood did burst That primal great lucific light, That rays to thee, to us gave sight. [S. T. C.]

First published in 'Notes on Harvey's Synagogue', Notes and Lectures, &c., 1849, ii. 263. Now first collected.

Coleridge's notes to The Synagogue, including these original lines, were reprinted in the notes to The Complete Poems of Christopher Harvey, 1874, p. 47.

14

MARK AKENSIDE

BLANK VERSE INSCRIPTIONS

No. III.

[For Elegy Imitated from one of Akenside's 'Blank Verse Inscriptions', vide ante, p. 69.]

Whoe'er thou art whose path in Summer lies Through yonder village, turn thee where the Grove Of branching oaks a rural palace old Embosoms—there dwells Albert, generous lord Of all the harvest round. And onward thence 5 A low plain chapel fronts the morning light Fast by a silent rivulet. Humbly walk, O stranger, o'er the consecrated ground; And on that verdant Hillock, which thou seest Beset with osiers, let thy pious hand 10 Sprinkle fresh water from the brook, and strew Sweet-smelling flowers—for there doth Edmund rest, The learned shepherd; for each rural art Famed, and for songs harmonious, and the woes Of ill-requited love. The faithless pride 15 Of fair Matilda sank him to the grave In manhood's prime. But soon did righteous Heaven With tears, with sharp remorse, and pining care Avenge her falsehood. Nor could all the gold And nuptial pomp, which lured her plighted faith 20 From Edmund to a loftier husband's home, Relieve her breaking heart, or turn aside The strokes of death. Go, traveller, relate The mournful story. Haply some fair maid May hold it in remembrance, and be taught 25 That riches cannot pay for truth or love.

15

W. L. BOWLES

——I yet remain To mourn the hours of youth (yet mourn in vain) That fled neglected: wisely thou hast trod The better path—and that high meed which God Assign'd to virtue, tow'ring from the dust, 5 Shall wait thy rising, Spirit pure and just!

O God! how sweet it were to think, that all Who silent mourn around this gloomy ball Might hear the voice of joy;—but 'tis the will Of man's great Author, that thro' good and ill 10 Calm he should hold his course, and so sustain His varied lot of pleasure, toil and pain!

1793

['These lines,' which 'were found in Mr. Coleridge's handwriting in one of the Prayer Books in the Chapel of Jesus College, Cambridge,' were first published in Lit. Rem., 1836, i. 34. They were first collected in P. W., 1885, i. 127. The first six lines are (see P. W., 1893, p. 474) taken from Bowles's elegy 'On the Death of Henry Headley'. J. D. Campbell surmised that the last six lines 'practically belonged to the same poem', but of this there is no evidence. The note of the elegy is a lament for the 'untimely sorrow' which had befallen an innocent sufferer, and the additional lines, which Coleridge composed or quoted, moralized the theme.

Note. Bowles wrote, I, alas, remain (l. 1), and 'Ordain'd for virtue' (l. 5).]

16

NAPOLEON

Then we may thank ourselves, Who spell-bound by the magic name of Peace Dream golden dreams. Go, warlike Britain, go, For the grey olive-branch change thy green laurels: Hang up thy rusty helmet, that the bee 5 May have a hive, or spider find a loom! Instead of doubling drum and thrilling fife Be lull'd in lady's lap with amorous flutes: But for Napoleon, know, he'll scorn this calm: The ruddy planet at his birth bore sway, 10 Sanguine adust his humour, and wild fire His ruling element. Rage, revenge, and cunning Make up the temper of this Captain's valour.

Adapted from an old Play.

First published in The Friend, 1818, ii. 115. In later editions the word 'Adapted' was omitted. First collected in 1893.

J. D. Campbell (P. W., 1893, p. 473) suggests that the 'calm' was, probably, the 'Peace of Amiens'.



APPENDIX VI

ORIGINALS OF TRANSLATIONS

A

[Vide ante, p. 307]

MILESISCHES MHRCHEN

Ein milesisches Mhrchen, Adonide: Unter heiligen Lorbeerwipfeln glnzte Hoch auf rauschendem Vorgebirg ein Tempel. Aus den Fluthen erhub, von Pan gesegnet, In Gedfte der Ferne sich ein Eiland. 5 Oft, in mondlicher Dmmrung, schwebt' ein Nachen Vom Gestade des heerdenreichen Eilands, Zur umwaldeten Bucht, wo sich ein Steinpfad Zwischen Mirten zum Tempelhain emporwand. Dort im Rosengebsch, der Huldgttinnen 10 Marmorgruppe geheiligt, fleht' oft einsam Eine Priesterin, reizend wie Apelles Seine Grazien malt, zum Sohn Cytherens, Ihren Kallias freundlich zu umschweben Und durch Wogen und Dunkel ihn zu leiten, 15 Bis der nchtliche Schiffer, wonneschauernd, An den Busen ihr sank.

The German original of the translation was published in Poems, 1852, Notes, pp. 387-9.

B

[Vide ante, p. 307]

SCHILLER

DER EPISCHE HEXAMETER

Schwindelnd trgt er dich fort auf rastlos strmenden Wogen; Hinter dir siehst du, du siehst vor dir nur Himmel und Meer.

DAS DISTICHON

Im Hexameter steigt des Springquells flssige Sule; Im Pentameter drauf fllt sie melodisch herab.

See Poems, 1844, p. 372.

C

[Vide ante, p. 308]

STOLBERG

ON A CATARACT

Unsterblicher Jngling! Du strmest hervor Aus der Felsenkluft. Kein Sterblicher sah Die Wiege des Starken; 5 Es hrte kein Ohr Das Lallen des Edlen im sprudelnden Quell.

Dich kleidet die Sonne In Strahlen des Ruhmes! Sie malet mit Farben des himmlischen Bogens 10 Die schwebenden Wolken der stubenden Fluth.

See Poems, 1844, pp. 371-2.

D

[Vide ante, p. 309]

STOLBERG

BEI WILHELM TELLS GEBURTSSTTTE IM KANTON URI

Seht diese heilige Kapell! Hier ward geboren Wilhelm Tell, Hier wo der Altar Gottes steht Stand seiner Eltern Ehebett!

Mit Mutterfreuden freute sich 5 Die liebe Mutter inniglich, Die gedachte nicht an ihren Schmerz Und hielt das Knblein an ihr Herz.

Sie flehte Gott: er sei dein Knecht, Sei stark und muthig und gerecht. 10 Gott aber dachte: ich thu' mehr Durch ihn als durch ein ganzes Heer.

Er gab dem Knaben warmes Blut, Des Rosses Kraft, des Adlers Muth, Im Felsennacken freien Sinn, 15 Des Falken Aug' und Feuer drin!

Dem Worte sein' und der Natur Vertraute Gott das Knblein nur; Wo sich der Felsenstrom ergeusst Erhub sich frh des Helden Geist. 20

Das Ruder und die Gemsenjagd Hatt' seine Glieder stark gemacht; Er scherzte frh mit der Gefahr Und wusste nicht wie gross er war.

Er wusste nicht dass seine Hand, 25 Durch Gott gestrkt, sein Vaterland Erretten wrde von der Schmach Der Knechtschaft, deren Joch er brach.

FRIEDRICH LEOPOLD GRAF ZU STOLBERG, 1775

The German original is supplied in the Notes to P. W., 1893, pp. 618, 619.

E

[Vide ante, p. 310]

SCHILLER

DITHYRAMBE

Nimmer, das glaubt mir, Erscheinen die Gtter, Nimmer allein. Kaum dass ich Bacchus, den Lustigen, habe, Kommt auch schon Amor, der lchelnde Knabe, 5 Phbus, der Herrliche, findet sich ein! Sie nahen, sie kommen— Die Himmlischen alle, Mit Gttern erfllt sich Die irdische Halle. 10

Sagt, wie bewirth' ich, Der Erdegeborne, Himmlischen Chor? Schenket mir euer unsterbliches Leben, Gtter! Was kann euch der Sterbliche geben? 15 Hebet zu eurem Olymp mich empor. Die Freude, sie wohnt nur In Jupiters Saale; O fllet mit Nektar, O reicht mir die Schale! 20

Reich' ihm die Schale! Schenke dem Dichter, Hebe, nur ein! Netz' ihm die Augen mit himmlischem Thaue, Dass er den Styx, den verhassten, nicht schaue, 25 Einer der Unsern sich dnke zu seyn. Sie rauschet, sie perlet, Die himmlische Quelle: Der Busen wird ruhig, Das Auge wird helle. 30

The German original is printed in the Notes to P. W., 1893, p. 619.

F

[Vide ante, p. 311]

GOETHE

Wilhelm Meister, Bk. III, Cap. 1.—Smmtliche Werke, 1860, iii, p. 194.

Kennst du das Land, wo die Citronen blhn, Im dunkeln Laub die Goldorangen glhn, Ein sanfter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht, Die Myrte still und hoch der Lorbeer steht Dahin! Dahin 5 Mcht' ich mit dir, o mein Geliebter, ziehn.

G

[Vide ante, p. 311]

FRANOIS-ANTOINE-EUGNE DE PLANARD

'BATELIER, DIT LISETTE'

Marie, opra-comique en trois actes, 1826, p. 9.

SUSETTE, assise dans la barque.

Batelier, dit Lisette, Je voudrais passer l'eau, Mais je suis bien pauvrette Pour payer le bateau: —Venez, venez, toujours . . . 5 Et vogue la nacelle Qui porte mes amours!

(Ils abordent. Lubin reste sur la rive attacher sa barque.)

SUSETTE, s'avancant en scne.

Je m'en vais chez mon pre, Dit Lisette Colin. —Eh bien! Crois-tu, ma chre, 10 Qu'il m'accorde ta main? —Ah! rpondit la belle, Osez, osez toujours. —Et vogue la nacelle Qui porte mes amours! 15

LUBIN et SUSETTE

Aprs le mariage, Toujours dans son bateau Colin fut le plus sage Des maris du hameau. A sa chanson fidle, 20 Il rpte toujours: Et vogue la nacelle Qui porte mes amours!

H

[Vide ante, p. 313]

DES KNABEN WUNDERHORN

Wenn ich ein Vglein wr Und auch zwei Flglein htt', Flg' ich zu dir; Weil's aber nicht kann sein, Weil's aber nicht kann sein, 5 Bleib' ich allhier.

Bin ich gleich weit von dir, Bin ich doch im Schlaf bei dir Und red' mit dir; Wenn ich erwachen thu', 10 Wenn ich erwachen thu', Bin ich allein.

Es vergeht keine Stund' in der Nacht Da mein Herz nicht erwacht Und an dich gedenkt. 15 Wie du mir viel tausendmal, Wie du mir viel tausendmal, Dein Herz geschenkt.

I

STOLBERG

Lied eines deutschen Knaben.—Gesammelte Werke, Hamburg, 1827, i. 42.

Mein Arm wird stark und gross mein Muth, Gieb, Vater, mir ein Schwert! Verachte nicht mein junges Blut; Ich bin der Vter werth!

Ich finde frder keine Ruh 5 Im weichen Knabenstand! Ich strb', O Vater, stolz, wie du, Den Tod fr's Vaterland!

Schon frh in meiner Kindheit war Mein tglich Spiel der Krieg! 10 Im Bette trumt' ich nur Gefahr Und Wunden nur und Sieg.

Mein Feldgeschrei erweckte mich Aus mancher Trkenschlacht; Noch jngst ein Faustschlag, welchen ich 15 Dem Bassa zugedacht!

Da neulich unsrer Krieger Schaar Auf dieser Strasse zog, Und, wie ein Vogel, der Husar Das Haus vorberflog, 20

Da gaffte starr und freute sich Der Knaben froher Schwarm: Ich aber, Vater, hrmte mich, Und prfte meinen Arm!

Mein Arm ist stark und gross mein Muth, 25 Gieb, Vater, mir ein Schwert! Verachte nicht mein junges Blut; Ich bin der Vter werth!

The German original is printed in the Notes to P. W., 1893, pp. 617, 618.

J

[Vide ante, p. 318]

LESSING

Smmtliche Schriften, vol. i, p. 50, ed. Lachmann-Maltzahn, Leipzig, 1853.

DIE NAMEN.

Ich fragte meine Schne: Wie soll mein Lied dich nennen? Soll dich als Dorimana, Als Galathee, als Chloris, Als Lesbia, als Doris, 5 Die Welt der Enkel kennen? Ach! Namen sind nur Tne; Sprach meine holde Schne, Whl' selbst. Du kannst mich Doris, Und Galathee und Chloris 10 Und —— wie du willst mich nennen: Nur nenne mich die deine.

The German original is printed in the Notes to P. W., 1893, pp. 619, 620.

K

[Vide ante, p. 327]

STOLBERG

HYMNE AN DIE ERDE.

Erde, du Mutter zahlloser Kinder, Mutter und Amme! Sei mir gegrsst! Sei mir gesegnet im Feiergesange! Sieh, O Mutter, hier lieg' ich an deinen schwellenden Brsten! Lieg', O Grngelockte, von deinem wallenden Haupthaar Sanft umsuselt und sanft geksst von thauenden Lften! 5 Ach, du suselst Wonne mir zu, und thauest mir Wehmuth In das Herz, dass Wehmuth und Wonn' aus schmelzender Seele Sich in Thrnen und Dank und heiligen Liedern ergiessen! Erde, du Mutter zahlloser Kinder, Mutter und Amme! Schwester der allesfreuenden Sonne, des freundlichen Mondes 10 Und der strahlenden Stern', und flammenbeschweiften Kometen, Eine der jngsten Tchter der allgebrenden Schpfung, Immer blhendes Weib des segentrufelnden Himmels! Sprich, O Erde, wie war dir als du am ersten der Tage Deinen heiligen Schooss dem buhlenden Himmel enthlltest? 15 Dein Errthen war die erste der Morgenrthen, Als er im blendenden Bette von weichen schwellenden Wolken Deine grtende Binde mit siegender Strke dir lste! Schauer durchbebten die stille Natur und tausend und tausend Leben keimten empor aus der mchtigen Liebesumarmung. 20 Freudig begrssten die Fluthen des Meeres neuer Bewohner Mannigfaltige Schaaren; es staunte der werdende Wallfisch Ueber die steigenden Strme die seiner Nasen entbrausten; Junges Leben durchbrllte die Auen, die Wlder, die Berge, Irrte blkend im Thal, und sang in blhenden Stauden. 25

The German original is printed in the Notes to P. W., 1893, p. 615.



L

[Vide ante, p. 376]

FRIEDERIKE BRUN

CHAMOUNY BEYM SONNENAUFGANGE

(Nach Klopstock.)

'Aus tiefem Schatten des schweigenden Tannenhains Erblick' ich bebend dich, Scheitel der Ewigkeit, Blendenden Gipfel, von dessen Hhe Ahndend mein Geist ins Unendliche schwebet!

'Wer senkte den Pfeiler tief in der Erde Schooss, 5 Der, seit Jahrtausenden, fest deine Masse sttzt? Wer thrmte hoch in des Aethers Wlbung Mchtig und khn dein umstrahltes Antlitz?

'Wer goss Euch hoch aus des ewigen Winters Reich, O Zackenstrme, mit Donnergets' herab? 10 Und wer gebietet laut mit der Allmacht Stimme: "Hier sollen ruhen die starrenden Wogen"?

'Wer zeichnet dort dem Morgensterne die Bahn? Wen krnzt mit Blthen des ewigen Frostes Saum? Wem tnt in schrecklichen Harmonieen, 15 Wilder Arveiron, dein Wogengetmmel?

'Jehovah! Jehovah! Kracht's im berstenden Eis: Lawinendonner rollen's die Kluft hinab: Jehovah Rauscht's in den hellen Wipfeln, Flstert's an rieselnden Silberbchen.' 20

See Poems, 1844, p. 572.

M

[Vide ante, p. 392]

Opere del Cavalier Giambattista Marino, with introduction by Giuseppe Zirardini. Napoli, 1861, p. 550.

ALLA SUA AMICA

Sonetto.

Donna, siam rei di morte. Errasti, errai; Di perdon non son degni i nostri errori, Tu che avventasti in me s fieri ardori Io che le fiamme a s bel sol furai.

Io che una fiera rigida adorai, 5 Tu che fosti sord' aspra a' miei dolori; Tu nell' ire ostinata, io negli amori: Tu pur troppo sdegnasti, io troppo amai.

Or la pena laggi nel cieco Averno Pari al fallo n'aspetta. Arder poi, 10 Chi visse in foco, in vivo foco eterno.

Quivi: se Amor fia giusto, amboduo noi, All' incendio dannati, avrem l' inferno, Tu nel mio core, ed io negli occhi tuoi.

The Italian original is printed in the Notes to P. W., 1893, p. 632.

N

[Vide ante, p. 409]

In diesem Wald, in diesen Grnden Herrscht nichts, als Freyheit, Lust und Ruh. Hier sagen wir der Liebe zu, Im dichtsten Schatten uns zu finden: Da find' ich dich, mich findest du. 5

The German original is translated from an MS. Notebook of ? 1801.

O

[Vide ante, p. 414]

THE MADMAN AND THE LETHARGIST

Koin par klisi lthargikos de phrenoplx keimenoi, allln nouson apeskedasan. exethore klins gar ho tolmeis hypo lysss, kai ton anaisthton pantos etypte melous. plgai d' amphoterois egenont' akos, hais ho men autn 5 egreto, ton d' hypn poulys eripse kopos.

Anthologia Grca, Lib. 1, Cap. 45.

See Lessing's 'Zerstreute Anmerkungen ber das Epigramm', Smmtliche Werke, 1824, ii. 22.

P

[Vide ante, p. 427]

MADRIGALI DEL SIGNOR CAVALIER GUARINI

DIALOGO

FEDE, SPERANZA, CARIT.

FEDE.

Canti terreni amori Chi terreno h il pensier, terreno il zelo; Noi Celesti Virt cantiam del Cielo.

CARIT.

M chi fia, che vi ascolti Fuggir i nostri accenti orecchia piena 5 De le lusinghe di mortal Sirena?

SPERANZA.

Cantiam pur, che raccolti Saran ben in virt di chi li move; E suoneran nel Ciel, se non altrove.

FE. SP. CA.

Spirane dunque, eterno Padre, il canto, 10 Che gi festi al gran Cantor Ebreo, Che poi tant' alto feo Suonar la gloria del tuo nomine santo.

CA. FE.

Noi siam al Ciel rapite E pur lo star in terra nostra cura, 15 A ricondur Dio l' alme smarrite.

FE. SP.

Cos facciamo, e 'n questa valle oscura L' una sia scorta al sol d' l' intelletto, L' altra sostegno al vacillante affetto.

CA.

E com' senz' amor l' anima viva? 20

SP. FE.

Come stemprata cetra, Che suona s, m di concento priva.

CA. SP.

Amor' quel, ch' ogni gran dono impetra.

FE.

M tempo , che le genti Odan l' alta virt de' nostri accenti. 25

FE. SP. CA.

O mondo—eco la via; Chi vuol salir' al Ciel, creda, ami, e spetti. O flici pensieri Di chi, per far in Dio santa armonia E per ogn' altro suon l'anima h sorda, 30 FEDE, SPERANZA, e CARITATE accenda.

Il Pastor Fido

Con le Rime del Signor Cavalier Battista Guarini In Amstelodami

Madrigali 138, 139. 1663 or 9.

Q

[Vide ante, p. 435]

STOLBERG

'An das Meer.'

Der blinde Snger stand am Meer, Die Wogen rauschten um ihn her, Und Riesenthaten goldner Zeit Umrauschten ihn im Feierkleid.

Es kam zu ihm auf Schwanenschwung 5 Melodisch die Begeisterung, Und Iliad und Odyssee Entsteigen mit Gesang der See.

The German original is printed in the Notes to P. W., 1893, p. 639. See, too, Prefatory Memoir to the Tauchnitz edition of Coleridge's Poems, by P. Freiligrath (1852).



BIBLIOGRAPHY

OF THE

POETICAL WORKS OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

1794-1834

I

The / FALL / of / ROBESPIERRE. / An / HISTORIC DRAMA. / By S. T. COLERIDGE, / Of Jesus College, Cambridge. / [Cambridge]: / Printed by Benjamin Flower, / For W. H. Lunn, and J. and J. Merrill; and Sold / By J. March, Norwich. / 1794. / [Price One Shilling.] [8{o}.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, p. [i], [Dedication] To H. Martin, Esq., Of Jesus College, Cambridge (dated, September 22. 1794), p. [3]; Text, pp. [5]-37.

II

POEMS / on / VARIOUS SUBJECTS, /By S. T. COLERIDGE, / Late of Jesus College, Cambridge. / Felix curarum, cui non Heliconia cordi / Serta, nec imbelles Parnassi e vertice laurus! / Sed viget ingenium, et magnos accinctus in usus / Fert animus quascunque vices.—Nos tristia vitae / Solamur cantu. / STAT. Silv. Lib. iv. 4.[1135:1] / LONDON: / Printed for G. G. and J. Robinsons, and / J. Cottle, Bookseller, Bristol. / 1796. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Half-title, Poems / on Various Subjects, / By / S. T. Coleridge, / Late / Of Jesus College, Cambridge. /, one leaf, p. [i]; Title, one leaf, p. [iii]; Preface, pp. [v]-xi; Contents, pp. [xiii]-xvi; Text, pp. [1]-168; Notes on Religious Musings, pp. [169]-175; Notes, pp. [177]-188; Errata, p. [189].[1135:2]

Contents.—

PREFACE

Poems on various subjects written at different times and prompted by very different feelings; but which will be read at one time and under the influence of one set of feelings—this is an heavy disadvantage: for we love or admire a poet in proportion as he developes our own sentiments and emotions, or reminds us of our own knowledge.

Compositions resembling those of the present volume are not unfrequently condemned for their querulous egotism. But egotism is to be condemned then only when it offends against time and place, as in an History or an Epic Poem. To censure it in a Monody or Sonnet is almost as absurd as to dislike a circle for being round. Why then write Sonnets or Monodies? Because they give me pleasure when perhaps nothing else could. After the more violent emotions of Sorrow, the mind demands solace and can find it in employment alone; but full of its late sufferings it can endure no employment not connected with those sufferings. Forcibly to turn away our attention to other subjects is a painful and in general an unavailing effort.

"But O how grateful to a wounded heart The tale of misery to impart; From others' eyes bid artless sorrows flow And raise esteem upon the base of woe!"[1136:1]

The communicativeness of our nature leads us to describe our own sorrows; in the endeavor to describe them intellectual activity is exerted; and by a benevolent law of our nature from intellectual activity a pleasure results which is gradually associated and mingles as a corrective with the painful subject of the description. True! it may be answered, but how are the PUBLIC interested in your sorrows or your description? We are for ever attributing a personal unity to imaginary aggregates. What is the PUBLIC but a term for a number of scattered individuals of whom as many will be interested in these sorrows as have experienced the same or similar?

"Holy be the Lay, Which mourning soothes the mourner on his way!"

There is one species of egotism which is truly disgusting; not that which leads us to communicate our feelings to others, but that which would reduce the feelings of others to an identity with our own. The Atheist, who exclaims "pshaw!" when he glances his eye on the praises of Deity, is an Egotist; an old man, when he speaks contemptuously of love-verses, is an Egotist; and your sleek favourites of Fortune are Egotists, when they condemn all "melancholy discontented" verses.

Surely it would be candid not merely to ask whether the Poem pleases ourselves, but to consider whether or no there may not be others to whom it is well-calculated to give an innocent pleasure. With what anxiety every fashionable author avoids the word I!—now he transforms himself into a third person,—"the present writer"—now multiplies himself and swells into "we"—and all this is the watchfulness of guilt. Conscious that this said I is perpetually intruding on his mind and that it monopolizes his heart, he is prudishly solicitous that it may not escape from his lips.

This disinterestedness of phrase is in general commensurate with selfishness of feeling: men old and hackneyed in the ways of the world are scrupulous avoiders of Egotism.

Of the following Poems a considerable number are styled "Effusions," in defiance of Churchill's line

"Effusion on Effusion pour away."[1136:2]

I could recollect no title more descriptive of the manner and matter of the Poems—I might indeed have called the majority of them Sonnets—but they do not possess that oneness of thought which I deem indispensible (sic) in a Sonnet—and (not a very honorable motive perhaps) I was fearful that the title "Sonnet" might have reminded my reader of the Poems of the Rev. W. L. Bowles—a comparison with whom would have sunk me below that mediocrity, on the surface of which I am at present enabled to float.

Some of the verses allude to an intended emigration to America on the scheme of an abandonment of individual property.

The Effusions signed C. L. were written by Mr. CHARLES LAMB, of the India House—independently of the signature their superior merit would have sufficiently distinguished them. For the rough sketch of Effusion XVI, I am indebted to Mr. FAVELL. And the first half of Effusion XV was written by the Author of "Joan of Arc", an Epic Poem.

NOTES ATTACHED TO A FIRST DRAFT OF THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION [MS. R]

(i)

I cannot conclude the Preface without expressing my grateful acknowledgments to Mr. Cottle, Bristol, for the liberality with which (with little probability I know of remuneration from the sale) he purchased the poems, and the typographical elegance by which he endeavoured to recommend them, (or)—the liberal assistance which he afforded me, by the purchase of the copyright with little probability of remuneration from the sale of the Poems.

[This acknowledgement, which was omitted from the Preface to the First Edition, was rewritten and included in the 'Advertisement' to the 'Supplement' to the Second Edition.]

(ii)

To EARL STANHOPE

A man beloved of Science and of Freedom, these Poems are respectfully inscribed by The Author.

[In a letter to Miss Cruikshank (? 1807) (Early Recollections, 1837, i. 201), Coleridge maintains that the 'Sonnet to Earl Stanhope', which was published in Poems, 1796 (vide ante, pp. 89, 90), 'was inserted by the fool of a publisher [Cottle prints 'inserted by Biggs, the fool of a printer'] in order, forsooth, that he might send the book and a letter to Earl Stanhope; who (to prove that he is not mad in all things) treated both book and letter with silent contempt.' In a note Cottle denies this statement, and maintains that the 'book (handsomely bound) and the letter were sent to Lord S. by Mr. C. himself'. It is possible that before the book was published Coleridge had repented of Sonnet, Dedication, and Letter, and that the 'handsomely bound' volume was sent by Cottle and not by Coleridge, but the 'Dedication' is in his own handwriting and proves that he was, in the first instance at least, particeps criminis. See Note by J. D. Campbell, P. W., 1893, pp. 575, 576.]

CONTENTS

PAGE Monody to Chatterton 1 To the Rev. W. J. H. 12 Songs of the Pixies 15 Lines on the Man of Ross 26 Lines to a beautiful Spring 28 Epitaph on an Infant 31 Lines on a Friend 32 To a Young Lady with a Poem 36 Absence, a Farewell Ode 40 Effusion 1, to Bowles 45 Effusion 2, to Burke 46 Effusion 3, to Mercy 47 Effusion 4, to Priestley 48 Effusion 5, to Erskine 49 Effusion 6, to Sheridan 50 Effusion 7, to Siddons [signed 'C. L.'] 51 Effusion 8, to Kosciusco 52 Effusion 9, to Fayette 53 Effusion 10, to Earl Stanhope 54 Effusion 11 ['Was it some sweet device'—'C. L.'] 55 Effusion 12 ['Methinks how dainty sweet'—'C. L.'] 56 Effusion 13, written at Midnight ['C. L.'] 57 Effusion 14 59 Effusion 15 60 Effusion 16, to an Old Man 61 Effusion 17, to Genevieve 62 Effusion 18, to the Autumnal Moon 63 Effusion 19, to my own heart 64 Effusion 20, to Schiller 65 Effusion 21, on Brockley Coomb 66 [Effusion 22,] To a Friend with an unfinished Poem 68 Effusion 23, to the Nightingale 71 Effusion 24, in the manner of Spencer 73 Effusion 25, to Domestic Peace 77 Effusion 26, on a Kiss 78 Effusion 27 80 Effusion 28 82 Effusion 29, Imitated from Ossian 84 Effusion 30, Complaint of Ninathoma 86 Effusion 31, from the Welsh 88 Effusion 32, The Sigh 89 Effusion 33, to a Young Ass 91 Effusion 34, to an Infant 94 Effusion 35, written at Clevedon 96 Effusion 36, written in Early Youth 101 Epistle 1, written at Shurton Bars 111 Epistle 2, to a Friend in answer to a Melancholy Letter 119 Epistle 3, written after a Walk 122 Epistle 4, to the Author of Poems published in Bristol 125 Epistle 5, from a Young Lady 129 Religious Musings 139

III

[A SHEET OF SONNETS.]

Collation.—No title; Introduction, pp. [1]-2; Text (of Sonnets Nos. i-xxviii), pp. 3-16. Signatures A. B. B{2}. [1796.] [8{o}.

[There is no imprint. In a letter to John Thelwall, dated December 17, 1796 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i, 206), Coleridge writes, 'I have sent you . . . Item, a sheet of sonnets collected by me, for the use of a few friends, who payed the printing.' The 'sheet' is bound up with a copy of 'Sonnets and Other poems, by The Rev. W. L. Bowles A. M. Bath, printed by R. Cruttwell: and sold by C. Dilly, Poultry, London, MDCCXCVI. Fourth Edition,' which was presented to Mrs. Thelwall, Dec. 18, 1796. At the end of the 'Sonnets' a printed slip (probably a cutting from a newspaper) is inserted, which contains the lines 'To a FRIEND who had declared his intention of Writing no more Poetry' (vide ante, pp. 158, 159). This volume is now in the Dyce Collection, which forms part of the Victoria and Albert Museum. See P. and D. W., 1877, ii, pp. 375-9, and P. W., 1893, p. 544.]

Contents.—

[INTRODUCTION]

The composition of the Sonnet has been regulated by Boileau in his Art / of Poetry, and since Boileau, by William Preston, in the elegant preface / to his Amatory Poems: the rules, which they would establish, are founded / on the practice of Petrarch. I have never yet been able to discover either / sense, nature, or poetic fancy in Petrarch's poems; they appear to me all / one cold glitter of heavy conceits and metaphysical abstractions. How/ever, Petrarch, although not the inventor of the Sonnet, was the first / who made it popular; and his countrymen have taken his poems as the / model. Charlotte Smith and Bowles are they who first made the Sonnet / popular among the present English: I am justified therefore by analogy / in deducing its laws from their compositions.

The Sonnet then is a small poem, in which some lonely feeling is de/veloped. It is limited to a particular number of lines, in order that the / reader's mind having expected the close at the place in which he finds it, / may rest satisfied; and that so the poem may acquire, as it were, a Totality,/—in 15 plainer phrase, may become a Whole. It is confined to fourteen lines, / because as some particular number is necessary, and that particular / number must be a small one, it may as well be fourteen as any other / number. When no reason can be adduced against a thing, Custom is a / sufficient reason for it. Perhaps, if the Sonnet were comprized in less / than fourteen lines, it would become a serious Epigram; if it extended to / more, it would encroach on the province of the Elegy. Poems, in which / no lonely feeling is developed, are not Sonnets because the Author has / chosen to write them in fourteen lines; they should rather be entitled / Odes, or Songs, or Inscriptions. The greater part of Warton's Sonnets are / severe and masterly likenesses of the style of the Greek epigrammata.

In a Sonnet then we require a developement of some lonely feeling, by / whatever cause it may have been excited; but those Sonnets appear to me / the most exquisite, in which moral Sentiments, Affections, or Feelings, / are deduced from, and associated with, the scenery of Nature. Such / compositions generate a habit of thought highly favourable to delicacy of / character. They create a sweet and indissoluble union between the / intellectual and the material world. Easily remembered from their briefness, / and interesting alike to the eye and the affections, these are the poems / which we can "lay up in our heart, and our soul," and repeat them "when / we walk by the way, and when we lie down, and when we rise up". / Hence the Sonnets of Bowles derive their marked superiority over all / other Sonnets; hence they domesticate with the heart, and become, as it / were, a part of our identity.

Respecting the metre of a Sonnet, the Writer should consult his own / convenience.—Rhymes, many or few, or no rhymes at all—whatever the / chastity of his ear may prefer, whatever the rapid expression of his / feelings will permit;—all these things are left at his own disposal. A same/ness in the final sound of its words is the great and grievous defect of the / Italian language. That rule, therefore, which the Italians have estab/lished, of exactly four different sounds in the Sonnet, seems to have arisen / from their wish to have as many, not from any dread of finding more. But / surely it is ridiculous to make the defect of a foreign language a reason for / our not availing ourselves of one of the marked excellencies of our own. / "The Sonnet (says Preston,) will ever be cultivated by those who write on / tender, pathetic subjects. It is peculiarly adapted to the state of a man / violently agitated by a real passion, and wanting composure and vigor of / mind to methodize his thought. It is fitted to express a momentary burst / of Passion" etc. Now, if there be one species of composition more difficult / and artificial than another, it is an English Sonnet on the Italian Model. / Adapted to the agitations of a real passion! Express momentary bursts / of feeling in it! I should sooner expect to write pathetic Axes or pour / forth Extempore Eggs and Altars![1140:1] But the best confutation of such idle rules / is to be found in the Sonnets of those who have observed them, in their / inverted sentences, their quaint phrases, and incongruous mixture of / obsolete and Spenserian words: and when, at last, the thing is toiled and / hammered into fit shape, it is in general racked and tortured Prose rather / than any thing resembling Poetry. Miss Seward, who has perhaps / succeeded the best in these laborious trifles and who most dogmatically / insists on what she calls "the sonnet-claim," has written a very in/genious although unintentional burlesque on her own system, in the / following lines prefixed to the Poems of a Mr. Carey.

"Prais'd be the Poet, who the sonnet-claim, Severest of the orders that belong Distinct and separate to the Delphic song 70 Shall reverence, nor its appropriate name Lawless assume: peculiar is its frame— From him derived, who spurn'd the city throng, And warbled sweet the rocks and woods among, Lonely Valclusa! and that heir of Fame, 75 Our greater Milton, hath in many a lay Woven on this arduous model, clearly shewn That English verse may happily display Those strict energic measures which alone Deserve the name of Sonnet, and convey 80 A spirit, force, and grandeur, all their own! "ANNE SEWARD."

"A spirit, force, and grandeur, all their own!!"—EDITOR.[1140:2]

[SONNETS]

SONNET

I. TO A FRIEND

'Bereave me not of these delightful Dreams.'—W. L. BOWLES.[1141:1]

II. 'With many a weary step at length I gain.'—R. SOUTHEY.

III. TO SCOTLAND

'Scotland! when thinking on each heathy hill.'—C. LLOYD.

IV. TO CRAIG-MILLAR CASTLE IN WHICH MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS WAS CONFINED.

'This hoary labyrinth, the wreck of Time.'—C. LLOYD.

V. TO THE RIVER OTTER

'Dear native Brook! wild Streamlet of the West.'—S. T. COLERIDGE.

VI. 'O Harmony! thou tenderest Nurse of Pain.'—W. L. BOWLES.

VII. TO EVENING

'What numerous tribes beneath thy shadowy wing.'—BAMFIELD.

VIII. ON BATHING

'When late the trees were stript by winter pale'.—T. WARTON.

IX. 'When eddying Leaves begun in whirls to fly.'—HENRY BROOKS, (the Author of the Fool of Quality.)

X. 'We were two pretty Babes, the younger she'.—CHARLES LAMB.

[Note]. Innocence which while we possess it is playful as a babe, becomes AWFUL, when it departs from us. That is the sentiment of the line, a fine sentiment, and nobly expressed.—THE EDITOR.

XI. 'I knew a gentle maid I ne'er shall view.'—W. SOTHEBY.

XII. 'Was it some sweet device of faery land.'—CHARLES LAMB.

XIII. 'When last I rov'd these winding wood-walks green.'—CHARLES LAMB.

XIV. ON A DISCOVERY MADE TOO LATE.

'Thou bleedest, my poor HEART! and thy distress.'—S. T. COLERIDGE.

XV. 'Hard by the road, where on that little mound.'—ROBERT SOUTHEY.

XVI. THE NEGRO SLAVE

'Oh he is worn with toil! the big drops run.'—ROBERT SOUTHEY.

XVII. 'Sweet Mercy! how my very heart has bled.'—S. T. COLERIDGE.

XVIII. 'Could then the babes from yon unshelter'd cot.'—THOMAS RUSSEL.

XIX. 'Mild arch of promise on the evening sky.'—ROBERT SOUTHEY.

XX. 'Oh! She was almost speechless nor could hold.'—CHARLES LLOYD.

XXI. 'When from my dreary Home I first mov'd on'—CHARLES LLOYD.

XXII. 'In this tumultuous sphere for thee unfit.'—CHARLOTTE SMITH.

XXIII. 'I love the mournful sober-suited NIGHT.'—CHARLOTTE SMITH.

XXIV. 'Lonely I sit upon the silent shore.'—THOMAS DERMODY.

XXV. 'Oh! I could laugh to hear the midnight wind.'—CHARLES LAMB.

XXVI. 'Thou whose stern spirit loves the awful storm.'—W. L. BOWLES.

XXVII. 'INGRATITUDE, how deadly is thy smart.'—ANNA SEWARD.

XXVIII. TO THE AUTHOR OF THE "ROBBERS"

'That fearful voice, a famish'd Father's cry.'—S. T. COLERIDGE.

[At the foot of l. 14. S. T. C. writes—

'I affirm, John Thelwall! that the six last lines of this Sonnet to Schiller are strong and fiery; and you are the only one who thinks otherwise.—There's! a spurt of Author-like Vanity for you!']

IV

ODE / ON THE / DEPARTING YEAR. / BY S. T. COLERIDGE. / +Iou, iou, kaka, Yp' au me deinos orthomanteias ponos+ / +Strobei, tarassn phroimiois ephmiois+, / . . . . . / +to mellon xei; kai sy mn tachei parn / +Agan g' althomantin m' ereis+. / SCHYL. AGAMEM. 1225. / BRISTOL; Printed by N. Biggs, / and sold by J. Parsons, Paternoster Row, London. / 1796. / [4{o}.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, p. [1]; Dedication, To Thomas Poole of Stowey, pp. [3]-4; Text, pp. [5]-15; LINES Addressed to a Young Man of Fortune who abandoned himself to an indolent and causeless Melancholy (signed) [S. T. Coleridge], p. 16. [Signatures—B (p. 5)—D (p. 13).]

V

POEMS, / By / S. T. COLERIDGE, / Second Edition. / To which are now added / POEMS / By CHARLES LAMB, / And / CHARLES LLOYD. / Duplex nobis vinculum, et amicitiae et similium / junctarumque Camoenarum; quod utinam neque mors / solvat, neque temporis longinquitas! / Groscoll. Epist. ad Car. Utenhov. et Ptol. Lux. Tast. / Printed by N. Biggs, / For J. Cottle, BRISTOL, and Messrs. / Robinsons, London. / 1797. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Title-page, one leaf, p. [i]; Half-title, one leaf, [Poems] / by / [S. T. Coleridge] / [followed by Motto as in No. II], pp. [iii]-[iv]; Contents, pp. [v]-vi; DEDICATION, To the Reverend GEORGE COLERIDGE of OTTERY St. MARY, / DEVON. Notus in frates animi paterni. Hor. Carm. Lib. II. 2. /, pp. [vii]-xii; Preface to the First Edition, pp. [xiii]-xvi; Preface to the Second Edition, pp. [xvii]-xx; Half-title, [Ode] / on the / [Departing Year] [with motto (5 lines) from Aeschy. Agamem. 1225], one leaf, pp. [1]-[2]; Argument, pp. [3]-[4]; Text, pp. [5]-278; Errata (four lines) at the foot of p. 278.

[Carolus Utenhovius (Utenhove, or Uyttenhove) and Ptolomoeus Luxius Tasteus were scholar friends of the Scottish poet and historian George Buchanan (1506-1582), who prefixes some Iambics 'Carolo Utenhovio F. S.' to his Hexameters 'Franciscanus et Fratres'. In some Elegiacs addressed to Tasteus and Tevius, in which he complains of his sufferings from gout and kindred maladies, he tells them that Groscollius (Professor of Medicine at the University of Paris) was doctoring him with herbs and by suggestion:—'Et spe languentem consilioque juvat'. Hence the three names. In another set of Iambics entitled 'Mutuus Amor' in which he celebrates the alliance between Scotland and England he writes:—

Non mortis hoc propinquitas Non temporis longinquitas Solvet, fides quod nexuit Intaminata vinculum.

Hence the wording of the motto. Groscollius is, of course, a mot double entente. It is a name and a nickname. The interpretation of the names and the reference to Buchanan's Hexameters were first pointed out by Mr. T. Hutchinson in the Athenaeum, Dec. 10, 1898.]

CONTENTS

[Titles of poems not in 1796 are printed in italics.]

POEMS by S. T. COLERIDGE.

PAGE Dedication vii Preface to the First Edition xiii Preface to the Second Edition xvii Ode to the New Year 1 Monody on Chatterton 17 Songs of the Pixies 29 The Rose 41 The Kiss 43 To a young Ass 45 Domestic Peace 48 The Sigh 49 Epitaph on an Infant 51 Lines on the Man of Ross 52 —— to a beautiful Spring 54 —— on the Death of a Friend 57 To a Young Lady 61 To a Friend, with an unfinished Poem 65

SONNETS.

[Introduction to the Sonnets 71-74] To W. L. Bowles 75 On a Discovery made too late 76 On Hope 77 To the River Otter 78 On Brockly Comb 79 To an old Man 81 Sonnet 82 To Schiller 83 On the Birth of a Son 85 On first seeing my Infant 87 Ode to Sara 88 Composed at Clevedon 96 On leaving a Place of Residence 100 On an unfortunate Woman 105 On observing a Blossom 107 The Hour when we shall meet again 109 Lines to C. Lloyd 110 Religious Musings 117

[Poems] by CHARLES LLOYD. pp. [151]-189. Second Edition. [Poems] on The Death of PRISCILLA FARMER, By her GRANDSON CHARLES LLOYD, pp. [191]-213. Sonnet ['The piteous sobs that choak the Virgin's breath', signed S. T. Coleridge], p. 193. [Poems] by CHARLES LAMB of the India-House. pp. [215]-240.

SUPPLEMENT.

Advertisement 243 Lines to Joseph Cottle, by S. T. Coleridge 246 On an Autumnal Evening, by ditto, 249 In the manner of Spencer (sic), by ditto, 256 The Composition of a Kiss, by ditto, 260 To an Infant, by Ditto 264 On the Christening of a Friend's Child, by ditto, 264 To the Genius of Shakespeare, by Charles Lloyd, 267 Written after a Journey into North Wales, by ditto, 270 A Vision of Repentance, by Charles Lamb, 273

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

[Pp. [xiii]-xvi.]

Compositions resembling those of the present volume are not unfre/quently condemned for their querulous Egotism. But Egotism is to be / condemned then only when it offends against Time and Place, as in an / History or an Epic Poem. To censure it in a Monody or Sonnet is almost / as absurd as to dislike a circle for being round. Why then write Sonnets / or Monodies? Because they give me pleasure when perhaps nothing else / could. After the more violent emotions of Sorrow, the mind demands / amusement, and can find it in employment alone; but full of its late / sufferings, it can endure no employment not in some measure connected / with them. Forcibly to turn away our attention to general subjects is / a painful and most often an unavailing effort:

But O! how grateful to a wounded heart The tale of Misery to impart— From others' eyes bid artless sorrows flow, And raise esteem upon the base of woe! 15 SHAW.

The communicativeness of our Nature leads us to describe our own / sorrows; in the endeavour to describe them, intellectual activity is exerted; / and from intellectual activity there results a pleasure, which is gradually / associated, and mingles as a corrective, with the painful subject of the / description. "True!" (it may be answered) "but how are the PUBLIC / interested in your Sorrows or your Description?" We are for ever / attributing personal Unities to imaginary Aggregates.—What is the PUBLIC, / but a term for a number of scattered Individuals? Of whom as many / will be interested in these sorrows, as have experienced the same or / similar.

"Holy be the lay, Which mourning soothes the mourner on his way."

If I could judge of others by myself, I should not hesitate to affirm, that / the most interesting passages in our most interesting Poems are those, in / which the Author developes his own feelings. The sweet voice of Cona[1144:1] / never sounds so sweetly as when it speaks of itself; and I should almost / suspect that man of an unkindly heart, who could read the opening of the / third book of the Paradise Lost without peculiar emotion. By a law of / our Nature, he, who labours under a strong feeling, is impelled to seek for / sympathy; but a Poet's feelings are all strong. Quicquid amet valde amat. / Akenside therefore speaks with philosophical accuracy, when he classes / Love and Poetry, as producing the same effects:

"Love and the wish of Poets when their tongue Would teach to others' bosoms, what so charms 40 Their own."—PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION.

There is one species of Egotism which is truly disgusting; not that / which leads us to communicate our feelings to others, but that which / would reduce the feelings of others to an identity with our own. The / Atheist, who exclaims, "pshaw!" when he glances his eye on the praises / of Deity, is an Egotist: an old man, when he speaks contemptuously of / Love-verses is an Egotist: and the sleek Favorites of Fortune are / Egotists, when they condemn all "melancholy, discontented" verses. / Surely, it would be candid not merely to ask whether the poem pleases / ourselves but to consider whether or no there may not be others to whom / it is well-calculated to give an innocent pleasure.

I shall only add that each of my readers will, I hope, remember that / these Poems on various subjects, which he reads at one time and under / the influence of one set of feelings, were written at different times and / prompted by very different feelings; and therefore that the supposed / inferiority of one Poem to another may sometimes be owing to the temper / of mind, in which he happens to peruse it.

[Pp. [xvii]-xx.]

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

I return my acknowledgments to the different Reviewers for the / assistance, which they have afforded me, in detecting my poetic deficien/cies. I have endeavoured to avail myself of their remarks: one third of / the former Volume I have omitted, and the imperfections of the republished / part must be considered as errors of taste, not faults of carelessness. My / poems have been rightly charged with a profusion of double-epithets, and / a general turgidness. I have pruned the double-epithets with no sparing / hand; and used my best efforts to tame the swell and glitter both of / thought and diction. This latter fault however had insinuated itself / into my Religious Musings with such intricacy of union, that sometimes / I have omitted to disentangle the weed from the fear of snapping the / flower. A third and heavier accusation has been brought against me, that / of obscurity; but not, I think, with equal justice. An Author is obscure / when his conceptions are dim and imperfect, and his language incorrect, / or unappropriate, or involved. A poem that abounds in allusions, / like the Bard of Gray, or one that impersonates high and abstract / truths, like Collins's Ode on the poetical character, claims not to be / popular—but should be acquitted of obscurity. The deficiency is in the / Reader. But this is a charge which every poet, whose imagination is / warm and rapid, must expect from his contemporaries. Milton did not / escape it; and it was adduced with virulence against Gray and Collins. / We now hear no more of it; not that their poems are better understood / at present, than they were at their first publication; but their fame is / established; and a critic would accuse himself of frigidity or inattention, / who should profess not to understand them. But a living writer is yet / sub judice; and if we cannot follow his conceptions or enter into his / feelings, it is more consoling to our pride to consider him as lost beneath, / than as soaring above, us. If any man expect from my poems the same / easiness of style which he admires in a drinking-song, for him I have not / written. Intelligibilia, non intellectum adfero.

I expect neither profit nor general fame by my writings; and I consider / myself as having been amply repayed without either. Poetry has been to / me its own[1146:1] "exceeding great reward": it has soothed my afflictions: it / has multiplied and refined my enjoyments; it has endeared solitude; / and it has given me the habit of wishing to discover the Good and the / Beautiful in all that meets and surrounds me.

There were inserted in my former Edition, a few Sonnets of my Friend / and old School-fellow, CHARLES LAMB. He has now communicated to me / a complete Collection of all his Poems; quae qui non prorsus amet, illum / omnes et Virtutes et Veneres odere. My friend CHARLES LLOYD has / likewise joined me; and has contributed every poem of his, which he / deemed worthy of preservation. With respect to my own share of the / Volume, I have omitted a third of the former Edition, and added almost / an equal number. The Poems thus added are marked in the Contents by / Italics. S. T. C. STOWEY, May, 1797.

MS. Notes attached to proof sheets of the second Edition.

(a) As neither of us three were present to correct the Press, and as my handwriting is not eminently distinguished for neatness or legibility, the Printer has made a few mistakes. The Reader will consult equally his own convenience, and our credit if before he peruses the volume he will scan the Table of Errata and make the desired alterations. S. T. Coleridge. Stowey, May 1797.

(b) Table of Contents. (N.B. of my Poems)—and let it be printed in the same manner as Southey's Table of Contents—take care to mark the new poems of the Edition by Italics.

Dedication.

Preface to the first Edition. Refer to the Second Edition. Ode on the departing Year. Monody on the death of Chatterton, etc., etc.—

[MS. R.]

P. [69].

[Half-title] [Sonnets], / Attempted in the Manner / Of The / Rev. W. L. Bowles. / Non ita certandi cupidus, quam propter amorem / Quod te IMITARI aveo. / LUCRET.

[Pp. 71-74.]

INTRODUCTION TO THE SONNETS

For lines 1-63 vide ante, No. III, The Introduction to the 'Sheet of Sonnets'. Lines 64 to the end are omitted, and the last paragraph runs thus:

The Sonnet has been ever a favourite species of composition with me; but I am conscious that I have not succeeded in it. From a large number I have retained ten only, as seemed not beneath mediocrity. Whatever more is said of them, ponamus lucro. S. T. COLERIDGE.

[Note. In a copy of the Edition of 1797, now in the Rowfant Library, S. T. C. comments in a marginal note on the words 'I have never yet been able to discover sense, nature, or poetic fancy in Petrarch's poems,' &c.—'A piece of petulant presumption, of which I should be more ashamed if I did not flatter myself that it stands alone in my writings. The best of the joke is that at the time I wrote it, I did not understand a word of Italian, and could therefore judge of this divine Poet only by bald translations of some half-dozen of his Sonnets.']

[Pp. 243-245.]

ADVERTISEMENT

I have excepted the following Poems from those, which I had determined to omit. Some intelligent friends particularly requested it, observing, that what most delighted me when I was "young in writing poetry, would probably best please those who are young in reading poetry: and a man must learn to be pleased with a subject, before he can yield that attention to it, which is requisite in order to acquire a just taste." I however was fully convinced, that he, who gives to the press what he does not thoroughly approve in his own closet, commits an act of disrespect, both against himself and his fellow-citizens. The request and the reasoning would not, therefore, have influenced me, had they not been assisted by other motives. The first in order of these verses, which I have thus endeavoured to reprieve from immediate oblivion, was originally addressed "To the Author of Poems published anonymously, at Bristol." A second edition of these poems has lately appeared with the Author's name prefixed; and I could not refuse myself the gratification of seeing the name of that man among my poems, without whose kindness they would probably have remained unpublished; and to whom I know myself greatly and variously obliged, as a Poet, a Man and a Christian.

The second is entitled "An Effusion on an Autumnal Evening; written in early youth." In a note to this poem I had asserted that the tale of Florio in Mr. Rogers' "Pleasures of Memory" was to be found in the Lochleven of Bruce. I did (and still do) perceive a certain likeness between the two stories; but certainly not a sufficient one to justify my assertion. I feel it my duty, therefore, to apologize to the Author and the Public, for this rashness; and my sense of honesty would not have been satisfied by the bare omission of the note. No one can see more clearly the littleness and futility of imagining plagiarisms in the works of men of Genius; but nemo omnibus horis sapit; and my mind, at the time of writing that note, was sick and sore with anxiety, and weakened through much suffering. I have not the most distant knowledge of Mr. Rogers, except as a correct and elegant Poet. If any of my readers should know him personally, they would oblige me by informing him that I have expiated a sentence of unfounded detraction, by an unsolicited and self-originating apology.

Having from these motives re-admitted two, and those the longest of the poems I had omitted, I yielded a passport to the three others, [pp. 256, 262, 264] which were recommended by the greatest number of votes. There are some lines too of Lloyd's and Lamb's in this Appendix. They had been omitted in the former part of the volume, partly by accident; but I have reason to believe that the Authors regard them, as of inferior merit; and they are therefore rightly placed, where they will receive some beauty from their vicinity to others much worse.

VI

FEARS IN SOLITUDE, / Written in 1798, during the Alarm of an Invasion. / To which are added, / France, an Ode; / And / Frost at Midnight. / By S. T. COLERIDGE. / London: / Printed for J. Johnson, in St. Paul's Churchyard. / 1798. / [4{o}.

Collation.—Half-title, Fears in Solitude, . . . Frost at Midnight, (six lines) [Price ONE SHILLING and SIXPENCE.], one leaf, unpaged; Title, one leaf, unpaged; Text, pp. [1]-23; Advertisement of 'Poems, by W. Cowper', p. [24].

VII

The / PICCOLOMINI, / or the / First Part of WALLENSTEIN, / A Drama / In Five Acts. / Translated From The German Of / Frederick Schiller / By / S. T. COLERIDGE. / LONDON: / Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees, Paternoster Row. / 1800. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Half-title, Translation from a Manuscript Copy attested by the Author / THE PICCOLOMINI, or the First Part of WALLENSTEIN. / Printed by G. Woodfall, Pater-noster Row /, one leaf, unpaged; Title, one leaf, unpaged; Preface of the Translator, pp. [i]-ii; two pages of Advertisements commencing with: Plays just published, etc.; one leaf unpaged; on the reverse Dramatis Personae; Text, pp. [1]-214; In the Press, and speedily will be published, From the German of Schiller, THE DEATH OF WALLENSTEIN; Also WALLENSTEIN'S CAMP, a Prelude of One Act to the former Dramas; with an Essay on the GENIUS OF SCHILLER. By S. T. COLERIDGE. N.B. The Drama will be embellished with an elegant Portrait of WALLENSTEIN, engraved by CHAPMAN, pp. [215]-[216].

VIII

The / DEATH / of / WALLENSTEIN. A Tragedy / In Five Acts. / Translated from the German of / FREDERICK SCHILLER, / By / S. T. COLERIDGE. / LONDON: / Printed for T. N. Longman and O. Rees, Paternoster Row, / By G. Woodfall, No. 22, Paternoster-Row. / 1800. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, unpaged; General Title, Wallenstein. / A Drama / In Two Parts. / Translated, &c., ut supra, one leaf, unpaged; Preface of the Translator, two leaves, unpaged; on reverse of second leaf Dramatis Personae; Text, pp. [1]-157; The Imprint, Printed by G. Woodfall, No. 22, Paternoster-Row, London, is at the foot of p. 157; Advertisement of 'Books printed by T. N. Longman', &c., p. [158].

[The Frontispiece (sometimes attached to No. VII) is an engraving in stipple of Wallenstein, by J. Chapman.]

IX

[Poems], / By / S. T. COLERIDGE. / Felix curarum, &c. (six lines as on title of No. II). Third edition. / LONDON: / Printed by N. Biggs, Crane-Court, Fleet-street, / For T. N. Longman and O. Rees, Pater- / Noster-Row. / 1803. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, p. [i]; Contents, pp. [iii]-[iv]; Preface, pp. [v]-xi; Text, pp. [1]-202; The Imprint, Biggs, Printer, Crane-Court, Fleet-street, is at the foot of p. 202.

[The Preface consists of the Preface to the First and Second Editions as reprinted in No. IV, with the following omissions from that to the Second Edition, viz. Lines 1-5, and Lines 37-45. The Preface to the First Edition (pp. [v]-viii) is signed S. T. C. The Preface to the Second Edition (pp. ix-xi) has no heading, but is marked off by a line from the Preface to the First Edition.

The Third Edition contains all the poems published in the First and Second Editions except (1) To the Rev. W. J. H. (1796); (2) Sonnet to Kosciusko (1796); (8) Written after a Walk (1796); (4) From a Young Lady (1796); (5) On the Christening of a Friend's Child (1797); (6) Introductory Sonnet to C. Lloyd's 'Poems on the Death of Priscilla Farmer' (1797). The half-title to the Sonnets, p. [79], omits the words 'Attempted in the Manner, &c. (see No. V).

The Introduction to the Sonnets is reprinted on pp. 81-4, verbatim from the Second Edition.]

X

POEMS, / By / S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Half-title (as above), one leaf, p. [1]; The Imprint, Law and Gilbert, Printers, St. John's Square, London, is at the foot of p. [2]; Text, pp. [3]-16; The Imprint, Printed by Law and Gilbert, St. John's Square, London, is at the foot of p. 16 [n. d. ? 1812].

Contents.—

Fears in Solitude, pp. [3]-9: France, an Ode, pp. 10-13: Frost at Midnight, pp. 14-16.

[The three poems which form the contents of the Pamphlet were included in the Poetical Register for 1808-1809 which was reissued in 1812. The publishers were F. G. and S. Rivington, the printers Law and Gilbert, St. John's Square, Clerkenwell. The type of the pamphlet is the type of the Poetical Register, but the poems were set up and reprinted as a distinct issue. There is no record of the transaction, or evidence that the pamphlet was placed on the market. It was probably the outcome of a private arrangement between the author and the publisher of the Poetical Register.]

XI

REMORSE. / A Tragedy, / In Five Acts. / By S. T. COLERIDGE. / Remorse is as the heart, in which it grows: / If that be gentle, it drops balmy dews / Of true repentance; but if proud and gloomy, / It is a poison-tree, that pierced to the inmost / Weeps only tears of poison! / Act I. Scene I. / LONDON: / Printed for W. Pople, 67, Chancery Lane. / 1813. / Price Three Shillings. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, pp. [i]-[ii]; The Imprint, W. Pople, Printer, 67, Chancery Lane, is at the foot of the Reverse; Preface, pp. [iii]-viii; Prologue, pp. [ix]-[x]; Dramatis Personae, p. [xi]; Text, pp. [1]-72; The Imprint, W. Pople, Printer, 67, Chancery Lane, London, is at the foot of p. 72.

XII

REMORSE, &c. (as in No. XI); [Second Edition.] / LONDON: / Printed for W. Pople, 67, Chancery Lane. / 1813. / Price Three Shillings. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Title, one leaf, pp. [i]-[ii]; The Imprint, W. Pople, Printer, 67, Chancery Lane, is at the foot of p. [ii]; Preface, pp. [iii]-vi; Prologue, pp. [vii]-[viii]; Dramatis Personae, p. [ix]; Text, pp. [1]-73; Appendix, pp. [75]-78; The Imprint, W. Pople, Printer, 67, Chancery Lane, London, is at the foot of p. 78.

XIII

Remorse, &c. (as in No. XI); [Third Edition.] / London: Printed for W. Pople, 67, Chancery Lane. / 1813. / [8{o}.

For collation vide supra, No. XII.

XIV

SIBYLLINE LEAVES: / A / [Collection of Poems.] / By / S. T. COLERIDGE, Esq. / LONDON: / Rest Fenner, 23, Paternoster Row. / 1817. / [8{o}.

Collation.—Half-title, one leaf, [Sibylline Leaves.] / By / S. T. Coleridge Esq. /, unpaged; Title, one leaf, unpaged; The Imprint, S. Curtis, Printer, Camberwell, is at the foot of the Reverse of the Title; Preface, pp. [i]-iii; 'Time, Real and Imaginary,' 'The Raven,' 'Mutual Passion,' pp. v-x; Errata, pp. [xi]-[xii]; Half-title, THE RIME / Of The / ANCIENT MARINER / In Seven Parts, p. [1]; Motto from T. Burnet, Archol. Phil., p. 68, p. [2]; Text, pp. 3-303; The Imprint, Printed by John Evans & Co. St. John-Street, Bristol, is at the foot of p. [304].

[Signatures B-U are marked Vol. ii, i. e. Vol. ii of the Biographia Literaria. The printer's bills, which are in my possession, show that in the first instance the Poems were reckoned as Volume ii, and that, in 1816, when the prose work had grown into a second volume, as Volume iii. The entire text of the second volume, afterwards entitled Sibylline Leaves, with the exception of the preliminary matter, pp. [i]-[xii], was printed by John Evans & Co. of Bristol—signatures B-G in November-December 1814, and signatures H-U between January and July 1815. The unbound sheets, which were held as a security for the cost of printing &c., and for money advanced, by W. Hood of Bristol, John Matthew Gutch, and others, were redeemed in May 1817 by a London publisher, Rest Fenner, and his partner the Rev. Samuel Curtis of Camberwell. The Biographia Literaria was published in July and Sibylline Leaves in August, 1817. See note by J. D. Campbell in P. W., 1893, pp. 551, 552.]

PREFACE

The following collection has been entitled SIBYLLINE LEAVES, in allusion to the fragmentary and widely scattered state in which they have been long suffered to remain. It contains the whole of the author's poetical compositions, from 1793 to the present date, with the exception of a few works not yet finished, and those published in the first edition of his juvenile poems, over which he has no controul.[1150:1] They may be divided into three classes: First, A selection from the Poems added to the second and third editions, together with those originally published in the LYRICAL BALLADS,[1150:2] which after having remained many years out of print, have been omitted by Mr. Wordsworth in the recent collection of all his minor poems, and of course revert to the author. Second, Poems published at very different periods, in various obscure or perishable journals, etc., some with, some without the writer's consent; many imperfect, all incorrect. The third and last class is formed of Poems which have hitherto remained in manuscript. The whole is now presented to the reader collectively, with considerable additions and alterations, and as perfect as the author's judgment and powers could render them.

In my Literary Life, it has been mentioned that, with the exception of this preface, the SIBYLLINE LEAVES have been printed almost two years; and the necessity of troubling the reader with the list of errata[1151:1] [forty-seven in number] which follows this preface, alone induces me to refer again to the circumstances, at the risk of ungenial feelings, from the recollection of its worthless causes.[1151:2] A few corrections of later date have been added.—Henceforward the author must be occupied by studies of a very different kind.