Transcriber's Notes: Words in Greek in the original have been transliterated and placed between plus signs. Words in Hebrew in the original have been transliterated and placed between pound signs. Words surrounded by underscores are in italics in the original. Characters superscripted in the original are enclosed in {braces}.

There are diacritical accents in the original. In this text, they are represented as follows:

ă = "a" with a breve ā = "a" with a macron ĕ = "e" with a breve ē = "e" with a macron ĭ = "i" with a breve ī = "i" with a macron ŏ = "o" with a breve ō = "o" with a macron ŭ = "u" with a breve ū = "u" with a macron y = "y" with a breve ȳ = "y" with a macron

[=ae] = "ae" ligature with a macron over both vowels [=ea] = "ea" with a macron over both vowels [=ee] = "ee" with a macron over both vowels [=oo] = "ou" with a macron over both vowels [=ou] = "ou" with a macron over both vowels

Where the diacriticals appear as symbols, they are represented by the name of the symbol or symbols enclosed in brackets as in the following examples:

[breve] [macron] [macron breve] [macron breve macron]

Where the diacritical characters appear above or below a word, they are represented in the following manner:

— indicates a macron [u] indicates a breve

Some words and phrases have a line drawn through them in the original. These struck out words are enclosed in brackets with asterisks like this:

[*these words are struck through*]

Characters printed in a Gothic font are enclosed in brackets with equal signs like this:

[these words are in a Gothic font]

Other Transcriber's Notes follow the text.



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



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and at the same time to furnish the student with an exhaustive summary of various readings derived from published and unpublished sources, viz.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 Ladi', 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 me damne, 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 Ladi', 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 Ladi', 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 Vit. [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 Ninathma. [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 Ladi 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 Ers aei lalthros hetairos 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 Matre 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 Mrosophia, 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 EGENKAIPAN 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 Dmonibus] 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 " " " (Draft II.) [ibid.] 1026 " " " (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 " " (MS. II. 1.) 1085 " " (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 Mhrchen, Adonide 1125 Schiller: Schwindelnd trgt er dich fort auf rastlos strmenden Wogen 1125 Im Hexameter steigt des Springquells flssige Sule 1125 Stolberg: Unsterblicher Jngling! 1126 Seht diese heilige Kapell! 1126 Schiller: Nimmer, das glaubt mir 1127 Goethe: Kennst du das Land, wo die Citronen blhn 1128 Franois-Antoine-Eugne de Planard: 'Batelier, dit Lisette' 1128 German Folk Song: Wenn ich ein Vglein wr 1129 Stolberg: Mein Arm wird stark und gross mein Muth 1129 Lessing: Ich fragte meine Schne 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 Grnden 1132 Anthologia Graeca: Koin par klisi lthargikos de phrenoplx 1132 Battista Guarini: Canti terreni amori 1132 Stolberg: Der blinde Snger 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 wingd Fate Quick bursting from the pitchy clouds between In forkd 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 VIT[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:

Anthem. For the Children, &c.] 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:

Julia, 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 lla 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 fixd 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).

Motto] 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 fixd 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 wingd Warbler oft When Spring-clouds shed their treasures soft Joyous tricks his plumes anew, And flutters in the fost'ring dew.

? 1790.

FOOTNOTES:

[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:

Monody] 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:— 69 'Twas Brookes's all till two,—'twas Hackett's all the rest!