Chapter XLII: Canto II (8)

[469:1] First published in 1834. The date of composition cannot be ascertained. The MS., an early if not a first draft, is certainly of late date. The water-marks of the paper (Bath Post) are 1822 and 1828. There is a second draft (_MS. b_) of lines 97-112. Line 37, 'Dan Ovid's mazy tale of loves,' may be compared with line 100 of _The Garden of Boccaccio_, 'Peers Ovid's Holy Book of Love's sweet smart,' and it is probable that _Alice Du Clos_ was written about the same time, 1828-9. In line 91 'Ellen' is no doubt a slip of the pen for 'Alice'.

LINENOTES:

Title] Alice Du Clos: or &c. MS.

[19-25]

Her sires had chosen for their Crest
A star atwixt its brow,
For she, already up and drest
Sate in the garden bower below.
For she enwrapt in }
Enwrapt in robe of } Maiden white
{ face half drooping
Her { [*visage drooping*] from the sight
A snow-drop in a tuft of snow
Ere the first lark had left the nest
Sate in the garden bower below.

MS. erased.

[48] Go tell him I am well at home MS. erased.

[49] speed] fly MS. erased.

[50] stronger] sweeter MS. erased.

[51] gentler] lovelier MS. erased.

[53] reel'd] pass'd MS. erased.

[54-7]

{ [*stormy*]
Like a [*tall Wave that*] { [*huge and dark*]
Reels sideway from a toiling Bark
Toil'd in the deep sea-trough
Is traversed by }
[*Catches askance*] } the Lightning flash

_or_

Like a huge Billow, rude and dark
{ as it falls off from a Bark
That { [*tumbling mainward from*]
Toil'd in the deep Sea-trough

MS. erased.

[56] shouldering] wheeling MS. erased.

[61] A moment's pause MS. erased.

[65]

Yon May-thorn tree dimly--

_or_

O fairly flower yon may-thorn tree

MS. erased.

[69] lightsome] glittering MS.

[71] With] The MS.

[76] Lord Julian in the Greenwood stays MS. erased.

[87] With buskins and with quiver MS. erased.

[100] huntsmen] huntsman MS. b.

[104] He sought in vain twixt shame and pride MS. b.

[107] He look'd far round MS. b.

[110] sore] sair MS. b, MS. erased.

[111] Tho' names too seldom MS. b.

[122] With all his gay hunt round MS.

[126] When] And MS.

[128] And dark of Brow, without a word MS.

[135] stifled] muttering MS. erased.

[136] And Look askance MS.: Yet not unheard MS. erased.

[153-7]

{ Lord Julian cry'd
God's wrath! speak out! { What mean'st thou man?
{ Recoiling with a start
{ Cried Julian with a start.
{ well-feign'd anger
With { feign'd resentment blunt and rude
Sir Hugh his deep revenge pursued
Why scowl at me? Command my skill.

MS. erased (_first draft_).

[159] She bade me tell you MS. erased.

[167] For as she clos'd her scoffing phrase MS. erased.

[173-4]

And who from twixt those opening Trees
Pricks on with laughing cheer

MS. erased (_first draft_).

LOVE'S BURIAL-PLACE[475:1]

_Lady._ If Love be dead--
_Poet._ And I aver it!
_Lady._ Tell me, Bard! where Love lies buried?
_Poet._ Love lies buried where 'twas born:
Oh, gentle dame! think it no scorn 5
If, in my fancy, I presume
To call thy bosom poor Love's Tomb.
And on that tomb to read the line:--
'Here lies a Love that once seem'd mine,
But caught a chill, as I divine, 10
And died at length of a Decline.'

1828.

FOOTNOTES:

[475:1] First published in 1828: included in the _Amulet_, 1833, as the first of 'Three Scraps', and in 1852. The present text is that of the _Amulet_, 1833.

LINENOTES:

Title] The Alienated Mistress: A Madrigal (From an unfinished Melodrama) 1828, 1852.

[1-3]

_Lady._ If Love be dead (and you aver it!)
Tell me Bard! where Love lies buried.

1828, 1852.

[5] Ah faithless nymph 1828, 1852.

[7] call] name 1828, 1852.

[9] seem'd] was 1828, 1852.

[10] caught] took 1828, 1852.

LINES[476:1]

TO A COMIC AUTHOR, ON AN ABUSIVE REVIEW

What though the chilly wide-mouth'd quacking chorus
From the rank swamps of murk Review-land croak:
So was it, neighbour, in the times before us,
When Momus, throwing on his Attic cloak,
Romp'd with the Graces; and each tickled Muse 5
(That Turk, Dan Phœbus, whom bards call divine,
Was married to--at least, he kept--all nine)
Fled, but still with reverted faces ran;
Yet, somewhat the broad freedoms to excuse,
They had allured the audacious Greek to use, 10
Swore they mistook him for their own good man.
This Momus--Aristophanes on earth
Men call'd him--maugre all his wit and worth,
Was croak'd and gabbled at. How, then, should you,
Or I, friend, hope to 'scape the skulking crew? 15
No! laugh, and say aloud, in tones of glee,
'I hate the quacking tribe, and they hate me!'

? 1825.

FOOTNOTES:

[476:1] First published in _Friendship's Offering_, 1834, as No. III of 'Lightheartednesses in Rhyme': included in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] To a Comic Author on an abusive review of his Aristophanes MS.

[1 foll.]

They fled;--
Friend yet unknown! What tho' a brainless rout
_Usurp the sacred title of the Bard_--
What tho' the chilly wide-mouth'd chorus
From Styx or Lethe's oozy Channel croak:
So was it, Peter, in the times before us
When Momus throwing on his Attic cloak
Romp'd with the Graces and each tickled Muse
The plighted coterie of Phœbus he bespoke
And laughing with reverted faces ran,
And somewhat the broad freedom to excuse
They had allow'd the audacious Greek to use
Swore they mistook him for their own good man!
If the good dulness be the home of worth
Duller than Frogs co-ax'd, or Jeffrey writ
We, too, will Aristoff (_sic_) and welcome it--

_First draft_ MS. B. M.

[7] kept] _kept_ F. O. 1834.

COLOGNE[477:1]

In Köhln[477:2], a town of monks and bones[477:3],
And pavements fang'd with murderous stones
And rags, and hags, and hideous wenches;
I counted two and seventy stenches,
All well defined, and several stinks! 5
Ye Nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks,
The river Rhine, it is well known,
Doth wash your city of Cologne;
But tell me, Nymphs, what power divine
Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine[477:4]? 10

1828.

FOOTNOTES:

[477:1] First published in _Friendship's Offering_, 1834, as No. IV of 'Lightheartednesses in Rhyme'. It follows the lines 'On my joyful Departure', &c., and is headed 'Expectoration the Second'. First collected in 1834.

[477:2] Köhln Coln _F. O._ The German Name of Cologne. _F. O._]

[477:3] Of the eleven thousand virgin Martyrs. _F. O._

[477:4] As Necessity is the mother of Invention, and extremes beget each other, the facts above recorded may explain how this _ancient_ town (which, alas! as sometimes happens with venison, _has been kept too long_), _came to be the birthplace of the most fragrant of spirituous fluids, the_ EAU DE COLOGNE. _F. O._

ON MY JOYFUL DEPARTURE[477:5]

FROM THE SAME CITY

As I am a Rhymer[477:6],
And now at least a merry one,
Mr. Mum's Rudesheimer[477:7]
And the church of St. Geryon
Are the two things alone 5
That deserve to be known
In the body-and-soul-stinking town of Cologne.

1828.

FOOTNOTES:

[477:5] First published in _Friendship's Offering_, 1834, with the heading 'An Expectoration, or Splenetic Extempore, on my joyful departure from the City of Cologne'. First collected in 1834.

[477:6] As I am Rhymer, _F. O._, _P. W._, 1834, 1893. The 'a' is inserted by Coleridge on a page of _F. O._, 1834; the correction was not adopted in _P. W._, 1834.

[477:7] The _apotheosis_ of Rhenish wine.

THE GARDEN OF BOCCACCIO[478:1]

Or late, in one of those most weary hours,
When life seems emptied of all genial powers,
A dreary mood, which he who ne'er has known
May bless his happy lot, I sate alone;
And, from the numbing spell to win relief, 5
Call'd on the Past for thought of glee or grief.
In vain! bereft alike of grief and glee,
I sate and cow'r'd o'er my own vacancy!
And as I watch'd the dull continuous ache,
Which, all else slumb'ring, seem'd alone to wake; 10
O Friend[478:2]! long wont to notice yet conceal,
And soothe by silence what words cannot heal,
I but half saw that quiet hand of thine
Place on my desk this exquisite design.
Boccaccio's Garden and its faery, 15
The love, the joyaunce, and the gallantry!
An Idyll, with Boccaccio's spirit warm,
Framed in the silent poesy of form.

Like flocks adown a newly-bathed steep
Emerging from a mist: or like a stream 20
Of music soft that not dispels the sleep,
But casts in happier moulds the slumberer's dream,
Grazed by an idle eye with silent might
The picture stole upon my inward sight.
A tremulous warmth crept gradual o'er my chest, 25
As though an infant's finger touch'd my breast.
And one by one (I know not whence) were brought
All spirits of power that most had stirr'd my thought
In selfless boyhood, on a new world tost
Of wonder, and in its own fancies lost; 30
Or charm'd my youth, that, kindled from above,
Loved ere it loved, and sought a form for love;
Or lent a lustre to the earnest scan
Of manhood, musing what and whence is man!
Wild strain of Scalds, that in the sea-worn caves 35
Rehearsed their war-spell to the winds and waves;
Or fateful hymn of those prophetic maids,
That call'd on Hertha in deep forest glades;
Or minstrel lay, that cheer'd the baron's feast;
Or rhyme of city pomp, of monk and priest, 40
Judge, mayor, and many a guild in long array,
To high-church pacing on the great saint's day:
And many a verse which to myself I sang,
That woke the tear, yet stole away the pang
Of hopes, which in lamenting I renew'd: 45
And last, a matron now, of sober mien,
Yet radiant still and with no earthly sheen,
Whom as a faery child my childhood woo'd
Even in my dawn of thought--Philosophy;
Though then unconscious of herself, pardie, 50
She bore no other name than Poesy;
And, like a gift from heaven, in lifeful glee,
That had but newly left a mother's knee,
Prattled and play'd with bird and flower, and stone,
As if with elfin playfellows well known, 55
And life reveal'd to innocence alone.

Thanks, gentle artist! now I can descry
Thy fair creation with a mastering eye,
And all awake! And now in fix'd gaze stand,
Now wander through the Eden of thy hand; 60
Praise the green arches, on the fountain clear
See fragment shadows of the crossing deer;
And with that serviceable nymph I stoop,
The crystal, from its restless pool, to scoop.
I see no longer! I myself am there, 65
Sit on the ground-sward, and the banquet share.
'Tis I, that sweep that lute's love-echoing strings,
And gaze upon the maid who gazing sings:
Or pause and listen to the tinkling bells
From the high tower, and think that there she dwells.
With old Boccaccio's soul I stand possest, 71
And breathe an air like life, that swells my chest.
The brightness of the world, O thou once free,
And always fair, rare land of courtesy!
O Florence! with the Tuscan fields and hills 75
And famous Arno, fed with all their rills;
Thou brightest star of star-bright Italy!
Rich, ornate, populous,--all treasures thine,
The golden corn, the olive, and the vine.
Fair cities, gallant mansions, castles old, 80
And forests, where beside his leafy hold
The sullen boar hath heard the distant horn,
And whets his tusks against the gnarled thorn;
Palladian palace with its storied halls;
Fountains, where Love lies listening to their falls; 85
Gardens, where flings the bridge its airy span,
And Nature makes her happy home with man;
Where many a gorgeous flower is duly fed
With its own rill, on its own spangled bed,
And wreathes the marble urn, or leans its head, 90
A mimic mourner, that with veil withdrawn
Weeps liquid gems, the presents of the dawn;--
Thine all delights, and every muse is thine;
And more than all, the embrace and intertwine
Of all with all in gay and twinkling dance! 95
Mid gods of Greece and warriors of romance,
See! Boccace sits, unfolding on his knees
The new-found roll of old Maeonides;[480:1]
But from his mantle's fold, and near the heart,
Peers Ovid's Holy Book of Love's sweet smart![480:2] 100
O all-enjoying and all-blending sage,
Long be it mine to con thy mazy page,
Where, half conceal'd, the eye of fancy views
Fauns, nymphs, and wingéd saints, all gracious to thy muse!

Still in thy garden let me watch their pranks, 105
And see in Dian's vest between the ranks
Of the trim vines, some maid that half believes
The vestal fires, of which her lover grieves,
With that sly satyr peeping through the leaves!

1828.

FOOTNOTES:

[478:1] First published in _The Keepsake_ for 1829, to accompany a plate by Stothard: included in 1829 and 1834. The variant of lines 49-56, probably a fragment of some earlier unprinted poem, is inserted in one of Coleridge's Notebooks.

[478:2] Mrs. Gillman.

[480:1] Boccaccio claimed for himself the glory of having first introduced the works of Homer to his countrymen.

[480:2] I know few more striking or more interesting proofs of the overwhelming influence which the study of the Greek and Roman classics exercised on the judgments, feelings, and imaginations of the literati of Europe at the commencement of the restoration of literature, than the passage in the _Filocopo_ of Boccaccio, where the sage instructor, Racheo, as soon as the young prince and the beautiful girl Biancofiore had learned their letters, sets them to study the Holy Book, Ovid's Art of Love. 'Incominciò Racheo a mettere il suo [officio] in esecuzione con intera sollecitudine. E loro, in breve tempo, insegnato a conoscer le lettere, fece leggere il santo libro d'Ovvidio, [!! _S. T. C._] nel quale il sommo poeta mostra, come i santi fuochi di Venere si debbano ne' freddi cuori con sollecitudine accendere.' ['Deeply interesting--but observe, p. 63, ll. 33-5 [_loc. cit._], The _holy Book_--Ovid's Art of Love!! This is not the result of mere Immorality:--

Multum, Multum
Hic jacet sepultum.'

MS. note on the fly-leaf of S. T. C.'s copy of vol. i of Boccaccio's _Opere_, 1723.]

LINENOTES:

[49-56]

And there was young Philosophy
Unconscious of herself, pardie;
And now she hight poesy,
And like a child in playful glee
Prattles and plays with flower and stone,
As youth's fairy playfellows
Revealed to Innocence alone.

MS. S. T. C.

[59] all] _all_ Keepsake, 1829.

[108] vestal] _vestal_ Keepsake, 1829.

LOVE, HOPE, AND PATIENCE IN EDUCATION[481:1]

O'er wayward childhood would'st thou hold firm rule,
And sun thee in the light of happy faces;
Love, Hope, and Patience, these must be thy graces,
And in thine own heart let them first keep school.
For as old Atlas on his broad neck places 5
Heaven's starry globe, and there sustains it;--so
Do these upbear the little world below
Of Education,--Patience, Love, and Hope.
Methinks, I see them group'd in seemly show,
The straiten'd arms upraised, the palms aslope, 10
And robes that touching as adown they flow,
Distinctly blend, like snow emboss'd in snow.

O part them never! If Hope prostrate lie,
Love too will sink and die.
But Love is subtle, and doth proof derive 15
From her own life that Hope is yet alive;
And bending o'er, with soul-transfusing eyes,
And the soft murmurs of the mother dove,
Woos back the fleeting spirit, and half supplies;--
Thus Love repays to Hope what Hope first gave to Love.

Yet haply there will come a weary day, 21
When overtask'd at length
Both Love and Hope beneath the load give way.
Then with a statue's smile, a statue's strength,
Stands the mute sister, Patience, nothing loth, 25
And both supporting does the work of both.

1829.

FOOTNOTES:

[481:1] First published in _The Keepsake_ for 1830: included in _P. W._, 1834, iii. 381. An MS. version was forwarded to W. Sotheby in an unpublished letter of July 12, 1829. A second MS., dated July 1, 1829, is inscribed in an album now in the Editor's possession, which belonged to Miss Emily Trevenen (the author of _Little Derwent's Breakfast_, 1839). With regard to the variant of ll. 24-6, vide _infra_, Coleridge writes (Letter of July 12, 1829):--'They were struck out by the author, not because he thought them bad lines in themselves (quamvis Delia Cruscam fortasse nimis redolere videantur), but because they diverted and retarded the stream of the thought, and injured the organic unity of the composition. _Più nel uno_ is Francesco de Sallez' brief and happy definition of the beautiful, and the shorter the poem the more indispensable is it that the _Più_ should not overlay the _Uno_, that the unity should be evident. But to sacrifice the _gratification_, the sting of _pleasure_, from a fine _passage_ to the _satisfaction_, the sense of _complacency_ arising from the contemplation of a symmetrical _Whole_ is among the last conquests achieved by men of genial powers.'

LINENOTES:

Title] Lines in a Lady's Album in answer to her question respecting the accomplishments most desirable in the Mistress or Governess of a Preparatory School Letter, July 1829: The Poet's Answer, To a Lady's Question respecting the accomplishments most desirable in an instructress of Children Keepsake, 1830.

[2] And] Yet Letter, 1829.

[3] thy] _thy_ Keepsake.

[4] keep school] _keep school_ Keepsake.

[9-11]

Methinks I see them now, the triune group,
With straiten'd arms uprais'd, the Palms aslope
Robe touching Robe beneath, and blending as they flow.

Letter, July 1829.

[15] doth] will Keepsake, 1833.

[24-6]

Then like a Statue with a Statue's strength,
And with a Smile, the Sister Fay of those
Who at meek Evening's Close
To teach our Grief repose,
Their freshly-gathered store of Moonbeams wreath
On Marble Lips, a Chantrey has made breathe.

Letter, July 1829.

TO MISS A. T.[482:1]

Verse, pictures, music, thoughts both grave and gay,
Remembrances of dear-loved friends away,
On spotless page of virgin white displayed,
Such should thine Album be, for such art thou, sweet maid!

1829.

FOOTNOTES:

[482:1] First published in _Essays on His Own Times_, 1850, iii, 998 with the title 'To Miss A. T.' First collected in 1893, with the title 'In Miss E. Trevenen's Album'. 'Miss A. T.' may have been a misprint for Miss E. T., but there is no MS. authority for the title prefixed in 1893.

LINES[483:1]

WRITTEN IN COMMONPLACE BOOK OF MISS BARBOUR, DAUGHTER OF THE MINISTER OF THE U.S.A. TO ENGLAND

Child of my muse! in Barbour's gentle hand
Go cross the main: thou seek'st no foreign land:
'Tis not the clod beneath our feet we name
Our country. Each heaven-sanctioned tie the same,
Laws, manners, language, faith, ancestral blood, 5
Domestic honour, awe of womanhood:--
With kindling pride thou wilt rejoice to see
Britain with elbow-room and doubly free!
Go seek thy countrymen! and if one scar
Still linger of that fratricidal war, 10
Look to the maid who brings thee from afar;
Be thou the olive-leaf and she the dove,
And say, I greet thee with a brother's love!
S. T. COLERIDGE.

GROVE, HIGHGATE, _August_ 1829.

FOOTNOTES:

[483:1] First published in the _New York Mirror_ for Dec. 19, 1829: reprinted in _The Athenaeum_, May 3, 1884: first collected in 1893.

LINENOTES:

Title] lines written . . . daughter of the late Minister to England. Athenaeum 1884.

SONG, _ex improviso_[483:2]

ON HEARING A SONG IN PRAISE OF A LADY'S BEAUTY

'Tis not the lily-brow I prize,
Nor roseate cheeks, nor sunny eyes,
Enough of lilies and of roses!
A thousand-fold more dear to me
The gentle look that Love discloses,-- 5
The look that Love alone can see!

_Keepsake_, 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[483:2] First published in _The Keepsake_ for 1830: included in _Essays on His Own Times_, 1850, iii. 997. First collected in _P. and D. W._, 1877-80.

LINENOTES:

Title] To a Lady Essays, &c. 1850.

[5-6]

The look that gentle Love discloses,--
That look which Love alone can see.

Essays, &c. 1850.

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP OPPOSITE[484:1]

Her attachment may differ from yours in degree,
Provided they are both of one kind;
But Friendship, how tender so ever it be,
Gives no accord to Love, however refined.
Love, that meets not with Love, its true nature revealing, 5
Grows ashamed of itself, and demurs:
If you cannot lift hers up to your state of feeling,
You must lower down your state to hers.

? 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[484:1] First published as No. ii of 'Lightheartednesses in Rhyme' in _Friendship's Offering_ for 1834: included in _P. W._, 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] In Answer To A Friend's Question F. O.

[1] in degree] _in degree_ F. O.

[2] kind] _kind_ F. O.

NOT AT HOME[484:2]

That Jealousy may rule a mind
Where Love could never be
I know; but ne'er expect to find
Love without Jealousy.

She has a strange cast in her ee, 5
A swart sour-visaged maid--
But yet Love's own twin-sister she
His house-mate and his shade.

Ask for her and she'll be denied:--
What then? they only mean 10
Their mistress has lain down to sleep,
And can't just then be seen.

? 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[484:2] First published in 1834.

PHANTOM OR FACT[484:3]

A DIALOGUE IN VERSE

AUTHOR

A lovely form there sate beside my bed,
And such a feeding calm its presence shed,
A tender love so pure from earthly leaven,
That I unnethe the fancy might control,
'Twas my own spirit newly come from heaven, 5
Wooing its gentle way into my soul!
But ah! the change--It had not stirr'd, and yet--
Alas! that change how fain would I forget!
That shrinking back, like one that had mistook!
That weary, wandering, disavowing look! 10
'Twas all another, feature, look, and frame,
And still, methought, I knew, it was the same!

FRIEND

This riddling tale, to what does it belong?
Is't history? vision? or an idle song?
Or rather say at once, within what space 15
Of time this wild disastrous change took place?

AUTHOR

Call it a moment's work (and such it seems)
This tale's a fragment from the life of dreams;
But say, that years matur'd the silent strife,
And 'tis a record from the dream of life. 20

? 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[484:3] First published in 1834.

DESIRE[485:1]

Where true Love burns Desire is Love's pure flame;
It is the reflex of our earthly frame,
That takes its meaning from the nobler part,
And but translates the language of the heart.

? 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[485:1] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

[1-4]

Desire of pure Love born, itself the same;
A pulse that animates the outer frame,
And takes the impress of the nobler part,
It but repeats the Life, that of the Heart.

MS. S. T. C.

CHARITY IN THOUGHT[486:1]

To praise men as good, and to take them for such,
Is a grace which no soul can mete out to a tittle;--
Of which he who has not a little too much,
Will by Charity's gauge surely have much too little.

? 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[486:1] First published in 1834.

HUMILITY THE MOTHER OF CHARITY[486:2]

Frail creatures are we all! To be the best,
Is but the fewest faults to have:--
Look thou then to thyself, and leave the rest
To God, thy conscience, and the grave.

? 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[486:2] First published in 1834.

[COELI ENARRANT][486:3]

The stars that wont to start, as on a chace,
Mid twinkling insult on Heaven's darken'd face,
Like a conven'd conspiracy of spies
Wink at each other with confiding eyes!
Turn from the portent--all is blank on high, 5
No constellations alphabet the sky:
The Heavens one large Black Letter only shew,
And as a child beneath its master's blow
Shrills out at once its task and its affright--[486:4]
The groaning world now learns to read aright, 10
And with its Voice of Voices cries out, O!

? 1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[486:3] Now first published from a MS. of uncertain date. 'I wrote these lines in imitation of Du Bartas as translated by our Sylvester.' _S. T. C._

[486:4] Compare Leigh Hunt's story of Boyer's reading-lesson at Christ's Hospital:--'_Pupil._--(. . . never remembering the stop at the word "Missionary"). "_Missionary_ Can you see the wind?" (Master gives him a slap on the cheek.) _Pupil._--(Raising his voice to a cry, and still forgetting to stop.) "_Indian_ No."' _Autobiography of Leigh Hunt_, 1860, p. 68.

REASON[487:1]

['Finally, what is Reason? You have often asked me: and this
is my answer':--]

Whene'er the mist, that stands 'twixt God and thee,
Defecates to a pure transparency,
That intercepts no light and adds no stain--
There Reason is, and then begins her reign!

But alas! 5
----'tu stesso, ti fai grosso
Col falso immaginar, sì che non vedi
Ciò che vedresti, se l'avessi scosso.'
Dante, _Paradiso_, Canto i.

1830.

FOOTNOTES:

[487:1] First published as the conclusion of _On the Constitution of the Church and State_, 1830, p. 227. First collected, _P. and D. W._, 1877-80, ii. 374.

SELF-KNOWLEDGE[487:2]

--E coelo descendit γνῶθι σεαυτόν.--JUVENAL, xi. 27.

Γνῶθι σεαυτόν!--and is this the prime
And heaven-sprung adage of the olden time!--
Say, canst thou make thyself?--Learn first that trade;--
Haply thou mayst know what thyself had made.
What hast thou, Man, that thou dar'st call thine own?-- 5
What is there in thee, Man, that can be known?--
Dark fluxion, all unfixable by thought,
A phantom dim of past and future wrought,
Vain sister of the worm,--life, death, soul, clod--
Ignore thyself, and strive to know thy God! 10

1832.

FOOTNOTES:

[487:2] First published in 1834.

LINENOTES:

Title] The heading 'Self-knowledge' appears first in 1893.

FORBEARANCE[488:1]

Beareth all things.--1 COR. xiii. 7.

Gently I took that which ungently came,[488:2]
And without scorn forgave:--Do thou the same.
A wrong done to thee think a cat's-eye spark
Thou wouldst not see, were not thine own heart dark.
Thine own keen sense of wrong that thirsts for sin, 5
Fear that--the spark self-kindled from within,
Which blown upon will blind thee with its glare,
Or smother'd stifle thee with noisome air.
Clap on the extinguisher, pull up the blinds,
And soon the ventilated spirit finds 10
Its natural daylight. If a foe have kenn'd,
Or worse than foe, an alienated friend,
A rib of dry rot in thy ship's stout side,
Think it God's message, and in humble pride
With heart of oak replace it;--thine the gains-- 15
Give him the rotten timber for his pains!

? 1832.

FOOTNOTES:

[488:1] First published in 1834.

[488:2] Compare Spenser's _Shepherd's Calendar_ (Februarie):--

'Ne ever was to Fortune foeman,
But gently took that ungently came.'

LINENOTES:

Title] The heading 'Forbearance' appears first in 1893.

LOVE'S APPARITION AND EVANISHMENT[488:3]

AN ALLEGORIC ROMANCE

Like a lone Arab, old and blind,
Some caravan had left behind,
Who sits beside a ruin'd well,
Where the shy sand-asps bask and swell;
And now he hangs his agéd head aslant, 5
And listens for a human sound--in vain!
And now the aid, which Heaven alone can grant,
Upturns his eyeless face from Heaven to gain;--
Even thus, in vacant mood, one sultry hour,
Resting my eye upon a drooping plant, 10
With brow low-bent, within my garden-bower,
I sate upon the couch of camomile;
And--whether 'twas a transient sleep, perchance,
Flitted across the idle brain, the while
I watch'd the sickly calm with aimless scope, 15
In my own heart; or that, indeed a trance,
Turn'd my eye inward--thee, O genial Hope,
Love's elder sister! thee did I behold,
Drest as a bridesmaid, but all pale and cold,
With roseless cheek, all pale and cold and dim, 20
Lie lifeless at my feet!
And then came Love, a sylph in bridal trim,
And stood beside my seat;
She bent, and kiss'd her sister's lips,
As she was wont to do;-- 25
Alas! 'twas but a chilling breath
Woke just enough of life in death
To make Hope die anew.

L'ENVOY

In vain we supplicate the Powers above;
There is no resurrection for the Love 30
That, nursed in tenderest care, yet fades away
In the chill'd heart by gradual self-decay.

1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[488:3] Lines 1-28 were first published in _Friendship's Offering_ for 1834, signed and dated 'S. T. Coleridge, August 1833': included in _P. W._, 1834. Lines 29-32 were first added as 'L'Envoy' in 1852. J. D. Campbell in a note to this poem (1893, p. 644) prints an expanded version of these lines, which were composed on April 24, 1824, 'as Coleridge says, "without taking my pen off the paper"'. The same lines were sent in a letter to Allsop, April 27, 1824 (_Letters, &c._, 1836, ii. 174-5) with a single variant (line 3) 'uneclips'd' for 'unperturb'd'. In the draft of April 24, four lines were added, and of these an alternative version was published in _P. W._, 1834, with the heading 'Desire' (vide _ante_, p. 485). For an earlier draft in S. T. C.'s handwriting vide Appendices of this edition.

LINENOTES:

[4] Where basking Dipsads[489:A] hiss and swell F. O. 1834.

[489:A] The Asps of the sand-desert, anciently named Dipsads.

[7] And now] Anon F. O. 1834.

[14] Flitting across the idle sense the while F. O. 1834.

[27] That woke enough F. O. 1834.

[29-32]

Idly we supplicate the Powers above:
There is no resurrection for a Love
That uneclips'd, unshadow'd, wanes away
In the chill'd heart by inward self-decay.
Poor mimic of the Past! the love is o'er
That must _resolve_ to do what did itself of yore.
Letter, April 27, 1824.

TO THE YOUNG ARTIST[490:1]

KAYSER OF KASERWERTH

Kayser! to whom, as to a second self,
Nature, or Nature's next-of-kin, the Elf,
Hight Genius, hath dispensed the happy skill
To cheer or soothe the parting friend's 'Alas!'
Turning the blank scroll to a magic glass, 5
That makes the absent present at our will;
And to the shadowing of thy pencil gives
Such seeming substance, that it almost lives.

Well hast thou given the thoughtful Poet's face!
Yet hast thou on the tablet of his mind 10
A more delightful portrait left behind--
Even thy own youthful beauty, and artless grace,
Thy natural gladness and eyes bright with glee!
Kayser! farewell!
Be wise! be happy! and forget not me.

1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[490:1] First published in 1834. The original of Kayser's portrait of S. T. C., a pencil-sketch, is in the possession of the Editor. In 1852 Kaserwerth is printed Kayserwerth. The modern spelling is Kaiserswerth.

MY BAPTISMAL BIRTH-DAY[490:2]

God's child in Christ adopted,--Christ my all,--
What that earth boasts were not lost cheaply, rather
Than forfeit that blest name, by which I call
The Holy One, the Almighty God, my Father?--
Father! in Christ we live, and Christ in Thee-- 5
Eternal Thou, and everlasting we.
The heir of heaven, henceforth I fear not death:
In Christ I live! in Christ I draw the breath
Of the true life!--Let then earth, sea, and sky
Make war against me! On my heart I show 10
Their mighty master's seal. In vain they try
To end my life, that can but end its woe.--
Is that a death-bed where a Christian lies?--
Yes! but not his--'tis Death itself there dies.

1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[490:2] First published in _Friendship's Offering_ for 1834: included in _P. W._, 1834. Emerson heard Coleridge repeat an earlier version of these lines on Aug. 5, 1833.

LINENOTES:

Title] Lines composed on a sick-bed, under severe bodily suffering, on my spiritual birthday, October 28th. F. O.

[1] Born unto God in Christ--in Christ, my All! F. O.

[3] I] we F. O.

[4] my] our F. O.

[7] fear] dread F. O.

[9-10]

Let Sea, and Earth and Sky
Wage war against me! On my front I show

F. O.

[11] they] _they_ F. O.

[12] that] who F. O.

[14] his . . . there] _his . . . there_ F. O.

EPITAPH[491:1]

Stop, Christian passer-by!--Stop, child of God,
And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he.
O, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.;
That he who many a year with toil of breath 5
Found death in life, may here find life in death!
Mercy for praise--to be forgiven for fame[492:1]
He ask'd, and hoped, through Christ. Do thou the same!

_9th November_, 1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[491:1] First published in 1834. Six MS. versions are extant:--(_a_) in a letter to Mrs. Aders of 1833 (_Letters of S. T. C._, 1895, ii. 770); (_b_) in a letter to J. G. Lockhart; (_c_) in a letter to J. H. Green of October 29, 1833: (_d_ _e_) in a copy of Grew's _Cosmologia Sacra_, annotated by Coleridge in 1833; (_f_) in a copy of the _Todtentanz_, which belonged to Thomas Poole.

[492:1] N.B. 'for' in the sense of 'instead of'. ἔστη κεῖται ἀναστήσει--stetit: restat: resurget. ΕΣΤΗΣΕ. _Letter to J. G. Lockhart, 1833._

LINENOTES:

Title or Heading] (_a_) 'Epitaph on a Poet little known, yet better known by the Initials of his name than by the Name Itself.' S. T. C. Letter to Mrs. Aders: (_b_) 'Epitaph on a Writer better known by the Initials of his Name than by the name itself. Suppose an upright tombstone.' S. T. C. Letter to J. G. Lockhart: (_c_) 'On an author not wholly unknown; but better known by the initials of his name than by the name itself, which he partly Graecized, Hic jacet qui stetit, restat, resurget--on a Tombstone.' Letter to J. H. Green: (_d_) 'Epitaph in Hornsey Churchyard. Hic jacet S. T. C. Grew (1): (_e_) 'Etesi's (_sic_) Epitaph,' (and below (_e_)) 'Inscription on the Tombstone of one not unknown; yet more commonly known by the Initials of his Name than by the Name itself.' Grew (2): (_f_) 'Esteese's αυτοεπιταφιον.' Note in Poole's Todtentanz.

From the letter to Mrs. Aders it appears that Coleridge did not contemplate the epitaph being inscribed on his tombstone, but that he intended it to be printed 'in letters of a distinctly visible and legible size' on the outline of a tomb-stone to be engraved as a vignette to be published in a magazine, or to illustrate the last page of his 'Miscellaneous Poems' in the second volume of his Poetical Works. It would seem that the artist, Miss Denman, had included in her sketch of the vignette the figure of a Muse, and to this Coleridge objects:--'A rude old yew-tree, or a mountain ash, with a grave or two, or any other characteristic of a village church-yard,--such a hint of a landscape was all I meant; but if any figure rather that of an elderly man, thoughtful with quiet tears upon his cheek.' Letters of S. T. C., 1895, ii. 770.

For the versions inscribed in Grew's _Cosmologia Sacra_, and in Poole's copy of the _Todtentanz_, vide Appendices of this work.

[2] breast] heart MS. Letters to Mrs. Aders, J. G. Lockhart, J. H. Green.

[3] seem'd he] was he MS. Letter to J. H. Green.

[5] toil of] toilsome MS. Letter to Mrs. Aden.

[7] to be forgiven] _to be forgiven_ MS. Letters to Mrs. Aders and J. H. Green.

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. II: DRAMATIC WORKS AND APPENDICES

OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1912

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

CONTENTS OF VOL. II

DRAMATIC WORKS

1794 PAGE
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