49

With skill that never Alchemist yet told,Made drossy Lead as ductile as pure Gold.

First published in 1893.

Grant me a Patron, gracious Heaven! whene'erMy unwash'd follies call for Penance drear:But when more hideous guilt this heart infestsInstead of fiery coals upon my Pate,O let atitledPatron be my Fate;—That fierce Compendium of Ægyptian Pests!Right reverend Dean, right honourable Squire,Lord, Marquis, Earl, Duke, Prince,—or if aught higher,However proudly nicknamed, he shall beAnathema Maránatha to me!

First published,Lit. Rem., i. 281.

[988:1]One of the earliest of Coleridge's Notebooks, which fell into the hands of his old schoolfellow, John Mathew Gutch, the printer and proprietor ofFelix Farley's Bristol Journal, was purchased by the Trustees of the British Museum in 1868, and is now included inAdd. MSS.as No. 27901. The fragments of verse contained in the notebook are included inP. W.1893, pp. 453-8. The notebook as a whole was published by Professor A. Brandl in 1896 (S. T. Coleridge's Notizbuch aus den Jahren 1795-1798). Nineteen entries are included by H. N. Coleridge inPoems and Poetical Fragmentspublished inLiterary Remains, 1836, i. 277-80.

[988:2]An incorrect version of the lines was published inLit. Rem., ii. 280.

O'er the raised earth the gales of evening sigh;And, see, a daisy peeps upon its slope!I wipe the dimming waters from mine eye;Even on the cold grave lights the Cherub Hope.[996:2]

? 1787. First published inPoems, 1852 (p. 379, Note 1). First collected 1893.

Sea-ward, white gleaming thro' the busy scudWith arching Wings, the sea-mew o'er my headPosts on, as bent on speed, now passagingEdges the stiffer Breeze, now, yielding, drifts,Now floats upon the air, and sends from farA wildly-wailing Note.

Now first published from an MS. Compare Fragment No.29of Fragments from a Notebook.

The Pleasures sport beneath the thatch;But Prudence sits upon the watch;Nor Dun nor Doctor lifts the latch!

1799. First published from an MS. in 1893. Suggested by Lessing'sSinngedichtNo. 104.

In the lame and limping metre of a barbarous Latin poet—

Est meum et est tuum, amice! at si amborum nequit esse,Sit meum, amice, precor: quia certe sum mage pauper.

'Tis mine and it is likewise yours;But and if this will not do,Let it be mine, because that IAm the poorer of the Two!

Nov. 1, 1801. First published in the Preface toChristabel, 1816. First collected 1893.

Names do not always meet withLove,AndLovewants courage without aname.[997:1]

Dec. 1801. Now first published from an MS.

The Moon, how definite its orb!Yet gaze again, and with a steady gaze—'Tis there indeed,—but where is it not?—It is suffused o'er all the sapphire Heaven,Trees, herbage, snake-like stream, unwrinkled Lake,Whose very murmur does of it partake!

And low and close the broad smooth mountain is more a thing of Heaven than when distinct by one dim shade, and yet undivided from the universal cloud in which it towers infinite in height.

? 1801. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Such love as mourning Husbands haveTo her whose Spirit has been newly givenTo her guardian Saint in Heaven—Whose Beauty lieth in the grave—

(Unconquered, as if the Soul could find no purer Tabernacle, nor place of sojourn than the virgin Body it had before dwelt in, and wished to stay there till the Resurrection)—

Far liker to a Flower now than when alive,Cold to the Touch and blooming to the eye.

Sept. 1803. Now first published from an MS.

I know 'tis but a dream, yet feel more anguishThan if 'twere truth. It has been often so:Must I die under it? Is no one near?Will no one hear these stifled groans and wake me?

? 1803. Now first published from an MS.

Bright clouds of reverence, sufferably bright,That intercept the dazzle, not the Light;That veil the finite form, the boundless power reveal,Itself an earthly sun of pure intensest white.

1803. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Over the broad, the shallow, rapid stream,The Alder, a vast hollow Trunk, and ribb'd—All mossy green with mosses manifold,And ferns still waving in the river-breeze[999]Sent out, like fingers, five projecting trunks—The shortest twice 6 (?) of a tall man's strides.—One curving upward in its middle growthRose straight with grove of twigs—a pollard tree:—The rest more backward, gradual in descent—One in the brook and one befoamed its waters:One ran along the bank in the elk-like headAnd pomp of antlers—

Jan. 1804. Now first published from an MS. (pencil).

I from the influence of thy Looks receive,Access in every virtue, in thy SightMore wise, more wakeful, stronger, if need wereOf outward strength.—

1804. Now first published from an MS.

What never is, but only is to beThis is not Life:—O hopeless Hope, and Death's Hypocrisy!And with perpetual promise breaks its promises.

1804-5. Now first published from an MS.

The silence of a City, how awful at Midnight!Mute as the battlements and crags and towersThat Fancy makes in the clouds, yea, as muteAs the moonlight that sleeps on the steady vanes.

(or)

The cell of a departed anchoret,His skeleton and flitting ghost are there,Sole tenants—And all the City silent as the MoonThat steeps in quiet light the steady vanesOf her huge temples.

1804-5. Now first published from an MS.

O beauty in a beauteous body dight!Body that veiling brightness, beamest bright;Fair cloud which less we see, than by thee see the light.

1805. First published from an MS. in 1893.

O th' Oppressive, irksome weightFelt in an uncertain state:Comfort, peace, and rest adieuShould I prove at last untrue!Self-confiding wretch, I thoughtI could love thee as I ought,Win thee and deserve to feelAll the Love thou canst reveal,And still I chuse thee, follow still.

1805. First published from an MS. in 1893.

'Twas not a mist, nor was it quite a cloud,But it pass'd smoothly on towards the sea—Smoothly and lightly between Earth and Heaven:So, thin a cloud,It scarce bedimm'd the star that shone behind it:And Hesper nowPaus'd on the welkin blue, and cloudless brink,A golden circlet! while the Star of Jove—That other lovely star—high o'er my headShone whitely in the centre of his Haze. . . one black-blue cloudStretch'd, like the heaven, o'er all the cope of Heaven.

Dec. 1797. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Whom should I choose for my Judge? the earnest, impersonal reader,Who, in the work, forgets me and the world and himself!You who have eyes to detect, and Gall to Chastise the imperfect,Have you the heart, too, that loves,—feels and rewards the Compleat?

1805. Now first published from an MS.

A sumptuous and magnificent Revenge.

March 1806. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Come, come thou bleak December wind,And blow the dry leaves from the tree!Flash, like a love-thought, thro' me, Death!And take a life that wearies me.

Leghorn, June 7, 1806. First published inLetters of S. T. C., 1875, ii. 499, n. 1. Now collected for the first time. Adapted from Percy's version of 'Waly, Waly, Love be bonny', st. 3.

Marti'mas wind when wilt thou blaw,And shake the green leaves aff the tree?O gentle death, when wilt thou cum?For of my life I am wearie.

As some vast Tropic tree, itself a wood,That crests its head with clouds, beneath the floodFeeds its deep roots, and with the bulging flankOf its wide base controls the fronting bank—(By the slant current's pressure scoop'd awayThe fronting bank becomes a foam-piled bay)High in the Fork the uncouth Idol knitsHis channel'd brow; low murmurs stir by fitsAnd dark below the horrid Faquir sits—An Horror from its broad Head's branching wreathBroods o'er the rude Idolatry beneath—

1806-7. Now first published from an MS.

Let Eagle bid the Tortoise sunward soar—As vainly Strength speaks to a broken Mind.[1001:1]

1807. First published inThomas Poole and His Friends, 1888, ii. 195.

The body,Eternal Shadow of the finite Soul,The Soul's self-symbol, its image of itself.Its own yet not itself.

Now first published from an MS.

Or Wren or Linnet,In Bush and Bushet;No tree, but in itA cooing Cushat.

May 1807. Now first published from an MS.

The reed roof'd village still bepatch'd with snowSmok'd in the sun-thaw.

1798. Now first published from an MS. CompareFrost at Midnight, ll. 69-70,ante, p. 242.

1807. Now first published from an MS.

You mould my Hopes you fashion me within:And to the leading love-throb in the heart,Through all my being, through my pulses beat;You lie in all my many thoughts like Light,Like the fair light of Dawn, or summer Eve,On rippling stream, or cloud-reflecting lake;And looking to the Heaven that bends above you,How oft! I bless the lot that made me love you.

1807. Now first published from an MS.

And my heart mantles in its own delight.

Now first published from an MS.

The spruce and limber yellow-hammerIn the dawn of spring and sultry summer,In hedge or tree the hours beguilingWith notes as of one who brass is filing.

1807. Now first published from an MS.

O'erhung with yew, midway the Muses mountFrom thy sweet murmurs far, O Hippocrene!Turbid and black upboils an angry fountTossing its shatter'd foam in vengeful spleen—Phlegethon's rage Cocytus' wailings hoarseAlternate now, now mixt, made known its headlong course:Thither with terror stricken and surprise,(For sure such haunts were ne'er to Muse's choice)Euterpe led me. Mute with asking eyesI stood expectant of her heavenly voice.Her voice entranc'd my terror and made flowIn a rude understrain the maniac fount below.'Whene'er (the Goddess said) abhorr'd of JoveUsurping Power his hands in blood imbrues—

? 1808. Now first published from an MS.

The singing Kettle and the purring Cat,The gentle breathing of the cradled Babe,The silence of the Mother's love-bright eye,And tender smile answering its smile of Sleep.

1803. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Two wedded hearts, if ere were such,Imprison'd in adjoining cells,Across whose thin partition-wallThe builder left one narrow rent,And where, most content in discontent,A joy with itself at strife—Die into an intenser life.

1808. First published from an MS. in 1893.

The builder left one narrow rent,Two wedded hearts, if ere were such,Contented most in discontent,Still there cling, and try in vain to touch![1004]O Joy! with thy own joy at strife,That yearning for the Realm aboveWouldst die into intenser Life,And Union absolute of Love!

1808. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Sole Maid, associate sole, to me beyondCompare all living creatures dear—Thoughts, which have found their harbour in thy heartDearest!methought ofhimto thee so dear!

1809. First published from an MS. in 1893.

No mortal spirit yet had clomb so highAs Kepler—yet his Country saw him dieFor very want! theMindsalone he fed,And so theBodiesleft him without bread.

1799. First published inThe Friend, Nov. 30, 1809 (1818, ii. 95; 1850, ii. 69). First collectedP. and D. W., 1877, ii. 374.

[1]spirit] GeniusMS.

spirit] GeniusMS.

[2]yet] andMS.

yet] andMS.

[3]Minds]SoulsMS. erased.

Minds]SoulsMS. erased.

When Hope but made Tranquillity be felt:A flight of Hope for ever on the wingBut made Tranquillity a conscious thing;And wheeling round and round in sportive coil,Fann'd the calm air upon the brow of Toil.

1810. First published from an MS. in 1893.

I have experiencedThe worst the world can wreak on me—the worstThat can make Life indifferent, yet disturbWith whisper'd discontent the dying prayer—I have beheld the whole of all, whereinMyheart had any interest in this lifeTo be disrent and torn from off my Hopes[1005]That nothing now is left. Why then live on?That hostage that the world had in its keepingGiven by me as a pledge that I would live—That hope of Her, say rather that pure FaithIn her fix'd Love, which held me to keep truceWith the tyranny of Life—is gone, ah! whither?What boots it to reply? 'tis gone! and nowWell may I break this Pact, this league of BloodThat ties me to myself—and break I shall.

1810. First published from an MS. in 1893.

As when the new or full Moon urgesThe high, large, long, unbreaking surgesOf the Pacific main.

1811. First published from an MS. in 1893.

O mercy, O me, miserable man!Slowly my wisdom, and how slowly comesMy Virtue! and how rapidly pass offMy Joys!my Hopes! my Friendships, and my Love!

1811. Now first published from an MS.

A low dead Thunder mutter'd thro' the night,As 'twere a giant angry in his sleep—Nature! sweet nurse, O take me in thy lapAnd tell me of my Father yet unseen,Sweet tales, and true, that lull me into sleepAnd leave me dreaming.

1811. First published from an MS. in 1893.

His own fair countenance, his kingly forehead,His tender smiles, Love's day-dawn on his lips,Put on such heavenly, spiritual light,At the same moment in his steadfast eyeWere Virtue's native crest, th' innocent soul'sUnconscious meek self-heraldry,—to manGenial, and pleasant to his guardian angel.He suffer'd nor complain'd;—though oft with tears[1006]He mourn'd th' oppression of his helpless brethren,—And sometimes with a deeper holier griefMourn'd for the oppressor—but this in sabbath hours—A solemn grief, that like a cloud at sunset,Was but the veil of inward meditationPierced thro' and saturate with the intellectual raysIt soften'd.

1812. First published (with many alterations of the MS.) inLit. Rem., i. 277. First collectedP. and D. W., 1887, ii. 364. Compare Teresa's speech to Valdez,Remorse, Act IV, Sceneii, lines52-63(ante, p.866).

In the two following lines, for instance, there is nothing objectionable, nothing which would preclude them from forming, in their proper place, part of a descriptive poem:—

'Behold yon row of pines, that shorn and bow'dBend from the sea-blast, seen at twilight eve.'

But with a small alteration of rhythm, the same words would be equally in their place in a book of topography, or in a descriptive tour. The same image will rise into a semblance of poetry if thus conveyed:—

'Yon row of bleak and visionary pines,By twilight-glimpse discerned, mark! how they fleeFrom the fierce sea-blast, all their tresses wildStreaming before them.'

1815. First published inBiog. Lit., 1817, ii. 18; 1847, ii. 20. First collected 1893.

'As nearly as possible word for word.'

Ye harp-controlling hymns!(or)Ye hymns the sovereigns of harps!What God? what Hero?What Man shall we celebrate?Truly Pisa indeed is of Jove,But the Olympiad (or, the Olympic games) did Hercules establish,The first-fruits of the spoils of war.But Theron for the four-horsed car[1007]That bore victory to him,It behoves us now to voice aloud:The Just, the Hospitable,The Bulwark of Agrigentum,Of renowned fathersThe Flower, even himWho preserves his native city erect and safe.

1815. First published inBiog. Lit., 1817, ii. 90; 1847, ii. 93. First collected 1893.

O! Superstition is the giant shadowWhich the solicitude of weak mortality,Its back toward Religion's rising sun,Casts on the thin mist of th' uncertain future.

1816. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Not hersTo win the sense by words of rhetoric,Lip-blossoms breathing perishable sweets;But by the power of the informing WordRoll sounding onward through a thousand yearsHer deep prophetic bodements.

1816. First published inLit. Rem., iii. 418, 419. First collectedP. and D. W., 1877, ii. 367.

Truth I pursued, as Fancy sketch'd the way,And wiser men than I went worse astray.

First published as Motto to Essay II,The Friend, 1818, ii. 37; 1850, ii. 27. First collected 1893.

(Nubes315, 317.)

μεγάλαι θεαὶ ἀνδράσιν ἀργοῖς,αἵπερ γνώμην καὶ διάλεξιν καὶ νοῦν ἡμῖν παρέχουσικαὶ τερατείαν καὶ περίλεξιν καὶ κροῦσιν καὶ καταληψιν.

For the ancients . . . had their glitteringvapors, which (as the comic poet tells us) fed a host of sophists.

Great goddesses are they to lazy folks,Who pour down on us gifts of fluent speech,Sense most sententious, wonderful fineeffect,And how to talk about it and about it,Thoughts brisk as bees, and pathos soft and thawy.

1817. First published inThe Friend, 1818, iii. 179; 1850, iii. 138. First collected 1893.

Let clumps of earth, however glorified,Roll round and round and still renew their cycle—Man rushes like a winged Cherub throughThe infinite space, and that which has beenCan therefore never be again——

1820. First published from an MS. in 1893.

Butyou, honoredIrving, are as little disposed as myself to favorsuchdoctrine! [as that of Mant and D'Oyly on Infant Baptism].

Friend pure of heart and fervent! we have learntA different lore! We may not thus profaneThe Idea and Name of Him whose Absolute WillIsReason—Truth Supreme!—Essential Order!

1824. First published inAids to Reflection, 1825, p. 373. First collected 1893.

The devils are in woods, in waters, in wildernesses, and in dark pooly places, ready to hurt and prejudice people, etc.—Doctoris Martini Lutheri Colloquia Mensalia—(Translated by Captain Henry Bell. London, 1652, p. 370).

'The angel's like a flea,The devil is a bore;—'No matter for that! quoth S. T. C.,I love him the better therefore.

Yes! heroic Swan, I love thee even when thou gabblest like a goose; for thy geese helped to save the Capitol.

1826. First published inLit. Rem., 1839, iv. 52. First collectedP. and D. W., 1877, ii. 367.

Water and windmills, greenness, Islets green;—Willows whose Trunks beside the shadows stoodOf their own higher half, and willowy swamp:—Farmhouses that at anchor seem'd—in the inland skyThe fog-transfixing Spires—Water, wide water, greenness and green banks,And water seen—

June 1828. Now first published from an MS.

Dulce dona mihi tu mittis semper Elisa!Et quicquid mittis Thura putare decet.

The above adapted from an Epigram of Claudian [No. lxxxii, Ad Maximum Qui mel misit], by substitutingThuraforMella: the original Distich being in return for a present of Honey.

Imitation

Sweet Gift! and always doth Elisa sendSweet Gifts and full of fragrance to her FriendEnough for Him to know they come fromHer:Whate'er she sends is Frankincense and Myrrh.

Semper Elisa! mihi tu suaveolentia donas:Nam quicquid donas, te redolere puto.

Translation

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