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Title: Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey
Author: Joseph Cottle
Release Date: July, 2005 [EBook #8580]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on July 25, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OF COLERIDGE AND SOUTHEY ***
Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Thomas Berger, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
* * * * *
REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AND ROBERT SOUTHEY
by JOSEPH COTTLE
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
It is with a solemnized feeling that I enter on these Reminiscences.
Except one, I have survived all the associates of my earlier days. The
young, with a long life in perspective, (if any life can be called long,
in so brief an existence) are unable to realize the impressions of a man,
nearer eighty than seventy, when the shadows of evening are gathering
around, and, in a retrospective glance, the whole field of past vision
appears, in all its complexities, like the indistinct tumults of a dream.
The acute reasoner--the fiery politician--the eager polemic--the emulous
aspirant after fame; and many such have I known, where are they? and how
mournful, if any one of them should be found, at last, to have directed
his solicitudes, alone, to material objects;--should have neglected to
cultivate his own little plot of earth, more valuable than mines! and
have sown no seeds for eternity. It is not a light motive which could
have prompted me, when this world of "Eye and Ear" is fast receding,
while grander scenes are opening, and so near! to call up almost
long-forgotten associations, and to dwell on the stirring, by-gone
occurrences that tend, in some measure, to interfere with that calm which
is most desirable, and best accords with the feelings of one who holds
life by such slender ties. Yet through the goodness of the Almighty,
being at the present moment exempt from many of the common infirmities of
age, I am willing, as a last act, to make some sacrifice to obtain the
good which I hope this recurrence to the past is calculated to produce.
With respect to Mr. Coleridge, it would be easy and pleasant to sail with
the stream; to admire his eloquence; to extol his genius; and to forget
his failings; but where is the utility, arising out of this homage paid
to naked talent? If the attention of posterity rested here, where were
the lessons of wisdom to be learnt from his example? His path through the
world was marked by strong outlines, and instruction is to be derived
from every feature of his mind, and every portion of his eventful and
chequered life. In all the aspects of his character, he was probably the
most singular man that has appeared in this country during the preceding
century, and the leading incidents of whose life ought to stand fairly on
record. The facts which I have stated are undeniable, the most important
being substantiated by his own letters; but higher objects were intended
by this narrative than merely to elucidate a character, (however
remarkable), in all its vicissitudes and eccentricities. Rising above
idle curiosity, or the desire of furnishing aliment for the
sentimental;--excitement the object, and the moral tendency disregarded,
these pages take a wider range, and are designed for the good of many,
where if there be much to pain the reader, he should moderate his
regrets, by looking through the intermediate to the end.
There is scarcely an individual, whose life, if justly delineated, would
not present much whence others might derive instruction. If this be
applicable to the multitude, how much more essentially true is it, in
reference to the ethereal spirits, endowed by the Supreme with a lavish
portion of intellectual strength, as well as with proportionate
capacities for doing good? How serious therefore is the obligation to
fidelity, when the portraiture of a man is to be presented, like Samuel
Taylor Coleridge, in whom such diversified and contrary qualities
alternately predominated! Yet all the advantages to be derived from him,
and similar instructors of mankind, must result from a faithful
exhibition of the broad features of their earthly conduct and character,
so that they might stand out as landmarks, and pharos-towers, to guide,
or warn, or encourage, all succeeding voyagers on the Ocean of Life.
In preparing the following work, I should gladly have withheld that one
letter of Mr. Coleridge to Mr. Wade, had not the obligation to make it
public been imperative. But concealment would have been injustice to the
living, and treachery to the dead. This letter is the solemnizing voice
of conscience. Can any reflecting mind, deliberately desire the
suppression of this document, in which Mr. Coleridge, for the good of
others, generously forgets its bearing on himself, and makes a full and
voluntary confession of the sins he had committed against "himself, his
friends, his children, and his God?" In the agony of remorse, at the
retrospection, he thus required that this his confession should hereafter
be given to the public. "AFTER MY DEATH, I EARNESTLY ENTREAT, THAT A FULL
AND UNQUALIFIED NARRATIVE OF MY WRETCHEDNESS, AND ITS GUILTY CAUSE, MAY
BE MADE PUBLIC, THAT AT LEAST SOME LITTLE GOOD MAY BE EFFECTED BY THE
DIREFUL EXAMPLE." This is the most redeeming letter Samuel Taylor
Coleridge ever penned. A callous heart could not have written it. A
Christian, awaking from his temporary lethargy, might. While it
powerfully propitiates the reader, it almost converts condemnation into
compassion.
No considerate friend, it might be thought, would have desired the
suppression of this letter, but rather its most extended circulation; and
that, among other cogent reasons, from the immense moral lesson, enforced
by it, in perpetuity, on all consumers of opium; in which they will
behold, as well as in some of the other letters, the "tremendous
consequences," (to use Mr. Coleridge's own expressions) of such
practices, exemplified in his own person; and to which terrible effects,
he himself so often, and so impressively refers. It was doubtless a deep
conviction of the beneficial tendencies involved in the publication, that
prompted Mr. C. to direct publicity to be given to this remarkable
letter, after his decease.
The incidents connected with the lives of Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey,
are so intimately blended, from relationship, association, and kindred
pursuits, that the biography of one, to a considerable extent, involves
that of the other. The following narrative, however, professes to be
annals of, rather than a circumstantial account of these two remarkable
men.
Some persons may be predisposed to misconstrue the motive for giving
publicity to the following letter, but others, it is hoped, will admit
that the sole object has been, not to draw the reader's attention to the
writer, but to confer _credit on Southey_. Many are the individuals who
would have assisted, to a greater extent than myself, two young men of
decided genius, like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey, who
required, at the commencement of their literary career, encouragement,
and a little assistance. Few however, would have exhibited the
magnanimity which Southey displayed, in seasons of improved
circumstances, by referring to slender acts of kindness, long past, and
scarcely remembered but by himself. Few are the men, who, after having
surmounted their difficulties by honourable exertion, would have referred
to past seasons of perplexity, and have desired--that occurrences "might
be seen hereafter," which little minds would sedulously have concealed,
as discredit, rather than as conferring conspicuous honour.
Ten years after the incidents had occurred to which the following letter
refers, in writing to Mr. Southey, among other subjects, I casually
expressed a regret, that when I quitted the business of a bookseller, I
had not returned him the copy-rights of his "Joan of Arc;" of his two
volumes of Poems; and of his letters from Spain and Portugal. The
following was his reply.
"Wednesday evening, Greta Hall, April 28, 1808.
My dear Cottle,
... What you say of my copy-rights affects me very much. Dear Cottle,
set your heart at rest on that subject. It ought to be at rest. They
were yours; fairly bought, and fairly sold. You bought them on the
chance of their success, what no London bookseller would have done;
and had they not been bought, they could not have been published at
all. Nay, if you had not published 'Joan of Arc,' the poem never
would have existed, nor should I, in all probability, ever have
obtained that reputation which is the capital on which I subsist, nor
that power which enables me to support it.
But this is not all. Do you suppose, Cottle, that I have forgotten
those true and most essential acts of friendship which you showed me
when I stood most in need of them? Your house was my house when I had
no other. The very money with which I bought my wedding ring, and
paid my marriage fees, was supplied by you. It was with your sisters
that I left my Edith, during my six months' absence; and for the six
months after my return, it was from you that I received, week by
week, the little on which we lived, till I was enabled to live by
other means. It is not the settling of our cash account that can
cancel obligations like these. You are in the habit of preserving
your letters, and if you were not, _I would entreat you to preserve
this, that it might be seen hereafter_. Sure I am, that there never
was a more generous, nor a kinder heart than yours, and you will
believe me when I add, that there does not live that man upon earth,
whom I remember with more gratitude, and more affection. My heart
throbs, and my eyes burn with these recollections. Good night my dear
old friend and benefactor.
Robert Southey."
Gratitude is a plant indigenous to Heaven. Specimens are rarely found on
Earth. This is one.
Mr. Southey, on previous occasions had advised me to write my
"Recollections of Persons and Things," and it having been understood that
I was about to prepare a memoir of Mr. Coleridge, (1836) Mr. S. renewed
his solicitation, as will appear by the following extracts.
"Keswick, April 14, 1836.
My dear Cottle,
There is I hope, time enough for you to make a very interesting book
of your own 'Recollections,' a book which will be of no little value
to the history of our native city, and the literature of our times.
Your prose has a natural ease which no study could acquire. I am very
confident you could make as delightful a book on this subject as
Isaac Walton has in his way. If you are drawing up your
'Recollections of Coleridge,' you are most welcome to insert anything
of mine which you may think proper. To be employed in such a work,
with the principles and frame of mind wherewith you would engage in
it, is to be instructing and admonishing your fellow-creatures; it is
employing your talents, and keeping up that habitual preparation for
the enduring inheritance in which the greater part of your life has
been spent. Men like us, who write in sincerity, and with the desire
of teaching others so to think, and to feel, as may be best for
themselves and the community, are labouring as much in their vocation
as if they were composing sermons, or delivering them from the
pulpit....
God bless you, my dear old friend. Always yours most affectionately,
Robert Southey."
On another occasion Mr. S. thus wrote.
"My dear Cottle,
I both wish and advise you to draw up your '_Reminiscences_', I
advise you for your own sake, as a valuable memorial, and wish it for
my own, that that part of my life might be faithfully reported by the
person who knows it best...." "You have enough to tell which is
harmless, as well as interesting, and not harmless only, but
instructive, and that ought to be told, _and which only you can
tell._"
It may be proper to notice that the title here adopted, of
"REMINISCENCES" is to be understood as a general, rather than as a
strictly applicable phrase, since the present miscellaneous work is
founded on letters, and various memoranda, that for the most part, have
lain in a dormant state for many years, and which were preserved as
mementos of past scenes, personally interesting, but without, in the
first instance, the least reference to ultimate publication.
I cannot withhold a final remark, with which my own mind is greatly
affected; from revolving on a most unexpected, as it is a singular
fact,--that these brief memorials of Mr. Coleridge, and Mr. Southey,
should be written by the _same individual_ who, more than _half a
century_ before, contributed his humble efforts to assist, and encourage
them, in their first entrance on a literary life. The whole of the events
thus recorded, appear through the dim vista of memory, already with the
scenes before the flood! while all the busy, the aspiring, and the
intellectual spirits here noticed, and once so well known, have been
hurried off our mortal stage!--Robert Lovell!--George Burnet!--Charles
Lloyd!--George Catcott!--Dr. Beddoes!--Charles Danvers!--Amos
Cottle!--William Gilbert!--John Morgan!--Ann Yearsley!--Sir H.
Davy!--Hannah More!--Robert Hall!--Samuel Taylor Coleridge!--Charles
Lamb!--Thomas Poole!--Josiah Wade!--Robert Southey!--and John
Foster!--confirming, with fresh emphasis,
"What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!"
Bristol, April 20, 1847.
J. C.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
Pantisocracy and Robert Lovell
Mr. Southey and Mr. Burnet arrive in Bristol
Mr. Coleridge arrives in Bristol
Fears for the Pantisocritans dissipated
A London bookseller offers Mr. Coleridge six guineas for the
copyright of his Poems
Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey each sells his 1st volume of Poems, for
thirty guineas
Mr. Southey sells his Joan of Arc for fifty guineas
Mr. Coleridge begins his lectures in Bristol
Specimen of Mr. C.'s lecture
Liberty's letter to Famine
Mr. C.'s political lectures, &c.
Death of Robert Lovell
Mr. Southey's course of historical lectures
Mr. Coleridge disappoints his audience
Excursion to Tintern Abbey
Dissension between Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey
Incidents connected with Mr. Coleridge's volume of Poems
Mr. Coleridge married to Miss Sarah Fricker
Household articles required
Notices of Wm. Gilbert, Ann Yearsley, H. More, and Robert Hall
Mr. Coleridge removes, first to Bristol and then to Stowey
--- --------- again to Bristol
--- --------- woeful letter
Mr. Coleridge's Poems now published
--- --------- projects his "Watchman"
--- --------- seven letters, while on his journey to collect
subscribers to the "Watchman"
--- --------- inaugural sermon at Bath
Mr. Lloyd domesticates with Mr. Coleridge
Mr. Coleridge's melancholy letter
Mr. Coleridge's views of Epic Poetry
Quarrel between Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey. Reconciled
Mr. Coleridge's letter to Miss Cruikshanks
--- -------- diagram of the second bottle
--- -------- Theological letter
Mr. Coleridge prepares for a second edition of his Poems
Mr. Coleridge's letter to George Catcott
--- -------- on hexameters, &c.
--- -------- Foster-mother's tale (extract)
--- -------- ludicrous interview with a country woman
--- -------- Poem relating to Burns
--- -------- character of Mr. Wordsworth
Herbert Croft and Chatterton (Note)
Coleridge's character of Thelwall
Letters from Charles Lamb
Mr. Coleridge's lines to Joseph Cottle
Sara's lines to the same
Three Sonnets, by Nehemiah Higginbotham
Coleridge, Lloyd, and Lamb, quarrel
Lamb's sarcastic Theses to Mr. Coleridge
Coleridge goes to Shrewsbury on probation
Mr. Coleridge receives an annuity of £150 from the Messrs. Thomas and
Josiah Wedgewood
Letters from Mr. Wordsworth,--Lyrical Ballads
Mr. Wordsworth caballed against
Disasters attending a dinner with Mr. Wordsworth
Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Wordsworth depart for Germany
Mr. Coleridge's character of Mr. Southey
Mr. Southey marries Miss Edith Fricker
Three letters of Mr. Southey, from Falmouth and Portugal
Sundry letters from Mr. Southey to Joseph Cottle
George Dyer, and a ludicrous incident
Mr. Southey's rhyming letter from Lisbon
Mr. Churchey, and incidents concerning him
Mr. Southey in danger from an enraged author
Mr. Southey and Wat Tyler
Mr. Foster explains how Wat Tyler came to be published
J. Morgan's ruined circumstances. Mr. S.'s proposal for a
subscription
List of Mr. Southey's contributions to the Quarterly
Discovery of first edition of Pilgrim's Progress
Mr. Coleridge's letter on travelling in Germany
Slow sale at first of Mr. Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads
Mr. Humphrey Davy arrives in Bristol
Dr. Beddoe and the Pneumatic Institution
Mr. Davy's dangerous experiments with the gases
Mr. Coleridge's and Mr. Davy's anecdotes
Mr. Coleridge relates his military adventures
Mr. Coleridge's Epigrams from the German
Character of Coleridge, by Professor Wilson, Mr. Sergeant Talfourd,
Dr. Dibdin, Mr. Justice Coleridge, Rev. Archdeacon Hare, Quarterly
Review, Rev. C. V. Le Grice
Mr. Coleridge's letter to Mr. Cottle on his return from Malta, 1807
Rev. J. Foster's letter concerning Coleridge
Mr. Coleridge's singular escape from Italy
--- ----------- letter on the Trinity
--- ----------- views of Unitarianism
--- ----------- character of Sir H. Davy
Sir H. Davy's rebuke of an Infidel
Mr. Coleridge's character of Holcroft, the Atheist
Rev. J. Foster's letter respecting his Essay on Doddridge
Mr. Coleridge's letter to Mr. G. Fricker
Mr. De Quincey presents Mr. Coleridge with £300
Mr. Coleridge's letter on Narrative Poems
Reasons why Mr. Coleridge's opium habits should not be concealed
Mr. Coleridge ill in Bath
Mr. Coleridge engages to Lecture in Bristol, 1814. Disappoints his
Audience, by an excursion into North Wales
Mr. Coleridge's lines for a transparency at the capture of Buonaparte
Mr. Coleridge's approval of Infant Schools
Mr. Cottle's letter of remonstrance respecting opium
Mr. Coleridge's distressing letters in reply
Mr. Coleridge wishes to be placed in an Asylum
Mr. Southey's letters respecting Mr. Coleridge
Mr. Coleridge's contrivance to cheat the doctor
Mr. Coleridge leaves Bristol for Calne
Letters of Mr. Southey respecting Mr. Coleridge
Letter of Mr. Coleridge from Calne
Mr. Coleridge's letter, requiring the truth to be told of his opium
habits, after his death
Mr. Coleridge's letter to his god-son, Kinnaird
Letters from Mr. Southey concerning Mr. Allsop, and the scheme of
Pantisocracy, and Mr. Coleridge
Letters from Mr. Southey concerning "Early Recollections"
Letter from Mr. Southey: his Western journey
Letter from Mr. Southey. Melancholy foreboding
Mr. Southey's mental malady
Letter from Mr. Foster, relating to Mr. Southey
Mr. Cottle's letter to Mr. Foster, respecting Mr. Southey
Sixteen letters from Mr. Coleridge to Thomas and Josiah Wedgewood,
Esqs.
List of works promised by Mr. Coleridge, but not written
Mr. Coleridge sound in health, in 1800
--- --------- his health undermined by opium soon after
Dr. Carlyon, relating to Mr. Coleridge (Note)
Extracts from Mr. Poole's letters, respecting Mr. Coleridge
Dr. Adam's letter to Mr. Gillman, respecting Mr. Coleridge
Mr. Coleridge domesticates with Mr. Gillman
Letter of Mr. Foster, respecting Mr. Coleridge
Prayer of Mr. Coleridge, 1831
Mr. Coleridge's Epitaph on himself
Mr. Coleridge's monument
APPENDIX.
Character of John Henderson
Controversy of Rowley and Chatterton
The Weary Pilgrim, a Poem
* * * * *
REMINISCENCES.
* * * * *
Ten years ago I published "Recollections of S. T. Coleridge." This work I
have revised, and embodied in the present "Reminiscences of S. T.
Coleridge, and Robert Southey." My views and motives have been explained
in the Introduction.
If some Readers should consider that there are occasional documents
introduced into the following work, too unimportant and derogatory to
legitimate biography, I would observe, that it was designed that nothing
should be admitted which was not characteristic of the individual; and
that which illustrates _character_ in a man of genius, cannot well be
esteemed trifling and deserving of rejection.--In preparing those
Reminiscences, some effort has been required. I have endeavoured to
forget the intervening space of forty or fifty years, and, as far as it
was practicable, to enter on the scenes and circumstances described with
all the feelings coincident with that distant period. My primary design
has been to elucidate the incidents referring to the early lives of the
late Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey: yet I purposed, in addition, to
introduce brief notices of some other remarkable characters, known in
Bristol at this time.
To account for my introduction to all the persons subsequently noticed,
it is necessary to apprise the Reader that I was a bookseller in Bristol
from the year 1791 to 1798; from the age of 21 to 28: and having imbibed
from my tutor and friend, the late John Henderson, (one of the most
extraordinary of men) some little taste for literature, I found myself,
during that period, generally surrounded by men of cultivated minds.[1]
With these preliminary remarks I shall commence the narrative.
At the close of the year 1794, a clever young man, of the Society of
Friends, of the name of Robert Lovell, who had married a Miss Fricker,
informed me that a few friends of his from Oxford and Cambridge, with
himself, were about to sail to America, and, on the banks of the
Susquehannah, to form a Social Colony, in which there was to be a
community of property, and where all that was selfish was to be
proscribed. None, he said, were to be admitted into their number, but
tried and incorruptible characters; and he felt quite assured that he and
his friends would be able to realize a state of society free from the
evils and turmoils that then agitated the world, and to present an
example of the eminence to which men might arrive under the unrestrained
influence of sound principles. He now paid me the compliment of saying
that he would be happy to include _me_ in this select assemblage who,
under a state which he called PANTISOCRACY, were, he hoped, to regenerate
the whole complexion of society; and that, not by establishing formal
laws, but by excluding all the little deteriorating passions; injustice,
"wrath, anger, clamour, and evil speaking," and thereby setting an
example of "Human Perfectibility."
Young as I was, I suspected there was an old and intractable leaven in
human nature that would effectually frustrate these airy schemes of
happiness, which had been projected in every age, and always with the
same result. At first the disclosure so confounded my understanding, that
I almost fancied myself transported to some new state of things, while
images of patriarchal and pristine felicity stood thick around, decked in
the rain-bow's colours. A moment's reflection, however, dissolved the
unsubstantial vision, when I asked him a few plain questions.
"How do you go?" said I. My young and ardent friend instantly replied,
"We freight a ship, carrying out with us ploughs, and other implements of
husbandry." The thought occurred to me, that it might be more economical
to purchase such articles in America; but not too much to discourage the
enthusiastic aspirant after happiness, I forebore all reference to the
accumulation of difficulties to be surmounted, and merely inquired who
were to compose his company? He said that only four had as yet absolutely
engaged in the enterprise; Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Cambridge; (in
whom I understood the plan to have originated;) Robert Southey and George
Burnet, from Oxford, and himself. "Well," I replied, "when do you set
sail?" He answered, "Very shortly. I soon expect my friends from the
Universities, when all the preliminaries will be adjusted, and we shall
joyfully cross the blue waves of the Atlantic." "But," said I "to freight
a ship, and sail out in the high style of gentlemen agriculturists, will
require funds. How do you manage this?" "We all contribute what we can,"
said he, "and I shall introduce all my dear friends to you, immediately
on their arrival in Bristol."
Robert Lovell (though inexperienced, and constitutionally sanguine) was a
good specimen of the open frankness which characterizes the well-informed
members of the Society of Friends; and he excited in me an additional
interest, from a warmth of feeling, and an extent of reading, above even
the ordinary standard of the estimable class to which he belonged. He now
read me some of the MS. poems of his two unknown friends, which at once
established their genius in my estimation.[2]
My leisure having been devoted for many years to reading and composition,
and having a small volume of Poems at that time in the press, I
anticipated great pleasure from an introduction to two poets, who
superadded to talents of a high order, all the advantages arising from
learning, and a consequent familiarity with the best models of antiquity.
Independently of which, they excited an interest, and awakened a peculiar
solicitude, from their being about so soon to leave their father land,
and to depart permanently for a foreign shore.
* * * * *
[Illustration: Portrait.]
* * * * *
One morning shortly after, Robert Lovell called on me, and introduced
Robert Southey. Never will the impression be effaced, produced on me by
this young man. Tall, dignified, possessing great suavity of manners; an
eye piercing, with a countenance full of genius, kindliness, and
intelligence, I gave him at once the right hand of fellowship, and to the
moment of his decease, that cordiality was never withdrawn. I had read so
much of poetry, and sympathized so much with poets in all their
eccentricities and vicissitudes, that, to see before me the realization
of a character, which in the abstract most absorbed my regards, gave me a
degree of satisfaction which it would be difficult to express.
I must now make a brief reference to George Burnet, who, in this epidemic
delusion, had given his sanction to, and embarked all his prospects in
life on this Pantisocratical scheme. He was a young man, about the age of
twenty; the son of a respectable Somersetshire farmer, who had bestowed
on him his portion, by giving him an University education as an
introduction to the Church, into which he would probably have entered but
for this his transatlantic pursuit of happiness. His talents were not
conspicuous, but his manners were unpresuming, and honesty was depicted
on his countenance. He possessed also that habitual good temper, and
those accommodating manners, which would prove a desirable accession in
any society; and it soon appeared, without indicating any disrespect,
that his was a subordinate part to act in the new drama, and not the less
valuable for its wanting splendour.
After some considerable delay, it was at length announced, that on the
coming morning Samuel Taylor Coleridge would arrive in Bristol, as the
nearest and most convenient port; and where he was to reside but a short
time before the favouring gales were to waft him and his friends across
the Atlantic. Robert Lovell at length introduced Mr. C. I instantly
descried his intellectual character; exhibiting as he did, an eye, a
brow, and a forehead, indicative of commanding genius. Interviews
succeeded, and these increased the impression of respect. Each of my new
friends read me his productions. Each accepted my invitations, and gave
me those repeated proofs of good opinion, ripening fast into esteem, that
I could not be insensible to the kindness of their manners, which, it may
truly be affirmed, infused into my heart a brotherly feeling, that more
than identified their interests with my own.
I introduced them to several intelligent friends, and their own merits
soon augmented the number, so that their acquaintance became
progressively extended, and their society coveted. Bristol was now found
a very pleasant residence; and though the ship was not engaged, nor the
least preparation made for so long a voyage, still the delights and
wide-spreading advantages of Pantisocracy formed one of their everlasting
themes of conversation; and, considering the barrenness of the subject,
it was in no common degree amusing, to hear these young enthusiasts repel
every objection to the practicability of their scheme, and magnify the
condition to which it was to introduce them; where thorns and briars
were, no doubt, to be expelled, and their couch to be strewed with down
and roses.
It will excite merely an innocent smile in the reader at the extravagance
of a youthful and ardent mind, when he learns that Robert Lovell stated
with great seriousness, that, after the minutest calculation and inquiry
among practical men, the demand on their labour would not exceed two
hours a day; that is, for the production of absolute necessaries. The
leisure still remaining, might be devoted, in convenient fractions, to
the extension of their domain, by prostrating the sturdy trees of the
forest, where "lop and top," without cost, would supply their cheerful
winter fire; and the trunks, when cut into planks, without any other
expense than their own pleasant labour, would form the sties for their
pigs, and the linnies for their cattle, and the barns for their produce;
reserving their choicest timbers for their own comfortable log-dwellings.
But after every claim that might be made on their manual labour had been
discharged, a large portion of time, would still remain for their own
individual pursuits, so that they might read, converse, and even write
books.
Cowper, in an unpublished letter now before me, says, "I know well that
publication is necessary to give an edge to the poetic turn, and that
what we produce in the closet, is never a vigorous birth, if we intend
that it should die there. For my own part I could no more amuse myself
with writing verse, if I did not print it when written, than with the
study of tactics, for which I can never have any real occasion." But our
young and ardent friends seemed to entertain a strong impression that the
mere pleasure of writing, that is, like virtue, writing for its own sake,
was all the mental and rational gratification wise men could desire.
Views and times alter, and these richly-endowed young men, in after life,
were prompt, and amongst the first to confess the fallacious schemes of
their youth; but at this time the pleasurable alone occupied their field
of vision, and confidence never stood more unencumbered with doubt.
If any difficulties were now started, and many such there were, a
profusion of words demonstrated the reasonableness of the whole design;
impressing all who heard, with the conviction that the citadel was too
strong for assault. The Mercury at these times was generally Mr.
Coleridge, who, as has been stated, ingeniously parried every adverse
argument, and after silencing his hardy disputants, announced to them
that he was about to write and publish a quarto volume in defence of
Pantisocracy, in which a variety of arguments would be advanced in
defence of his system, too subtle and recondite to comport with
conversation. It would then, he said, become manifest that he was not a
projector raw from his cloister, but a cool calculating reasoner, whose
efforts and example would secure to him and his friends the permanent
gratitude of mankind.
From the sentiments thus entertained, I shall represent Mr. Coleridge, in
the section of his days which devolves on me to exhibit, just as he was,
and that with a firm belief that by so doing, without injuring his
legitimate reputation, I shall confer an essential benefit on those to
come, who will behold in Mr. C. much to admire and imitate; and certainly
some things to regret. For it should be remembered, Mr. Coleridge, from
universal admission, possessed some of the highest mental endowments, and
many pertaining to the heart; but if a man's life be valuable, not for
the incense it consumes, but for the instruction it affords, to state
even defects, (in one like Mr. C. who can so well afford deduction
without serious loss) becomes in his biographer, not optional, but a
serious obligation.
It is proper additionally to remark, that some apology or propitiation
may be necessary toward those who regard every approximation to poverty,
not as a misfortune, but a crime. Pecuniary difficulties, especially such
as occur in early life, and not ascribable to bad conduct, reflect no
discredit on men of genius. Many of them, subsequently, surmounted their
first embarrassments by meritorious exertion; and some of our first men
(like travellers, after having successfully passed through regions of
privation and peril) delight even to recall their former discouragements,
and, without the shame that luxuriates alone in little minds,
undisguisedly to tell of seasons, indelible in their memories, when, in
the prostration of hope, the wide world appeared one desolate waste! but
they ultimately found, that these seasons of darkness, (however
tenaciously retained by memory) in better times often administer a new
and refreshing zest to present enjoyment. Despair, therefore ill becomes
one who has follies to bewail, and a God to trust in. Johnson and
Goldsmith, with numerous others, at some seasons were plunged deep in the
waters of adversity, but halcyon days awaited them: and even those sons
of merit and misfortune whose pecuniary troubles were more permanent, in
the dimness of retrospection, only stand out invested in softer hues.
Cervantes is not the less read, because the acclamations of praise were
heard by him in his abode of penury. Butler, Otway, Collins, Chatterton,
and Burns, and men like them, instead of suffering in public estimation
from the difficulties they encountered, absolutely challenge in every
generous mind an excess of interest from the very circumstances that
darkened the complexion of their earthly prospects.
In corroboration of this remark, in our own day, the son of Crabbe, who
must have cherished the deepest solicitude for his father's reputation,
has laid bare to general inspection his parent's early perplexities, by
which impartial disclosures we behold the individual in his deepest
depressions; worth enriched by trial, and greatness, by a refining
process, struggling successfully with adversity. Does the example of such
a man nobly bearing up against the pressures that surrounded him inflict
obduracy on our hearts? On the contrary, while we feelingly sympathize
with the poet, and deplore the tardy hand of deliverance, we pause only
to transfer a reflex portion of praise to him whose magnanimous conduct
has furnished so ample a scope for the tenderest emotions of our nature.
This reflection will induce me not to withhold from false delicacy,
occurrences, the disclosure of which none but the inconsiderate will
condemn; and by which all the features of Mr. Coleridge's character will
be exhibited to the inspection of the inquisitive and philosophical mind.
I proceed, therefore, to state that the solicitude I felt lest these
young and ardent geniuses should in a disastrous hour, and in their
mistaken apprehensions, commit themselves in this their desperate
undertaking, was happily dissipated by Mr. Coleridge applying for the
loan of a little cash,--to pay the voyager's freight? or passage?
No,--LODGINGS. They all lodged, at this time, at No. 48, College-Street.
Never did I lend money with such unmingled pleasure, for now I ceased to
be haunted day and night with the spectre of the ship! the ship! which
was to effect such incalculable mischief! The form of the request was the
following:
My dear Sir,
Can you conveniently lend me five pounds, as we want a little more than
four pounds to make up our lodging bill, which is indeed much higher than
we expected; seven weeks, and Burnet's lodging for twelve weeks,
amounting to eleven pounds.
Yours, affectionately,
S. T. COLERIDGE.
Till this time, not knowing what the resources of my young friends were,
I could not wholly divest myself of fear; but now an effectual barrier
manifestly interposed to save them from destruction. And though their
romantic plan might linger in their minds, it was impossible not to be
assured that their strong good sense would eventually dissipate their
delusions.
Finding now that there was a deficiency in that material, deemed of the
first consequence in all civilized states, and remembering Burgh's
feeling lamentation over the improvidence, or rather the indifference
with which many men of genius regard the low thoughts that are merely of
a pecuniary nature, I began to revolve on the means by which the two
poets might advantageously apply their talents.
Soon after, finding Mr. Coleridge in rather a desponding mood, I urged
him to keep up his spirits, and recommended him to publish a volume of
his poems. "Oh," he replied, "that is a useless expedient." He continued:
"I offered a volume of my poems to different booksellers in London, who
would not even look at them! The reply being, 'Sir, the article will not
do.' At length, one, more accommodating than the rest, condescended to
receive my MS. poems, and, after a deliberate inspection, offered me for
the copy-right, six guineas, which sum, poor as I was, I refused to
accept." "Well," said I, "to encourage you, I will give you twenty
guineas." It was very pleasant to observe the joy that instantly diffused
itself over his countenance. "Nay," I continued, "others publish for
themselves, I will chiefly remember you. Instead of giving you twenty
guineas, I will extend it to thirty, and without waiting for the
completion of the work, to make you easy you may have the money as your
occasions require." The silence and the grasped hand, showed that at that
moment one person was happy.
Every incident connected with the lives of literary men, especially at
the commencement of their career, always excites interest. I have been,
therefore, the more particular in detailing this circumstance, (except
for its connexion, of no consequence) and proceed further to state, that
now, meeting Mr. Southey, I said to him, "I have engaged to give Mr.
Coleridge thirty guineas for a volume of his poems; you have poems equal
to a volume, and if you approve of it, I will give you the same." He
cordially thanked me, and instantly acceded to my proposal.
I then said to him, "you have read me several books of your 'Joan of Arc'
which Poem I perceive has great merit. If it meet with your concurrence,
I will give you fifty guineas for this work, and publish it in quarto,
when I will give you, in addition, fifty copies to dispose of amongst
your friends." Without a moment's hesitation, to this proposal also he
acceded.
I could say much of Mr. Southey at this time; of his constitutional
cheerfulness; of the polish of his manners; of his dignified, and at the
same time, of his unassuming deportment; as well as of the general
respect which his talents, conduct, and conversation excited.[3] But
before reference be made to more serious publications, some notice will
be taken of other objects of pursuit.
Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey, now determined by their best efforts, in
other ways than those detailed, to raise money for their projected
expedition. They resolved therefore, to give the citizens of Bristol
individual lectures, or series of lectures, on different subjects. Mr.
Coleridge chose Political and Moral subjects;[4] Mr. Southey chose
History. On examining my old papers, I find most of the notices or
prospectuses relating to these subjects.
Mr. Coleridge's first two lectures were delivered in the Corn Market in
Wine-Street.
Mr. Coleridge's next two lectures were delivered the latter end of
February, 1795, and afterwards were thrown into a small pamphlet, printed
under the title of _"Conciones ad Populum_, or Addresses to the people."
After this he consolidated two other of his lectures, and published them
under the title of "The Plot Discovered." Two detached lectures were
given at the Corn Market, and one at a room in Castle Green. All these
lectures were anti-Pitt-ite.
The next lecture given by Mr. Coleridge was in reprobation of the Slave
Trade. The following was the prospectus:--
"To-morrow evening, June 16th, 1795, S. T. Coleridge, of Jesus
College, Cambridge, will deliver, (by particular desire) a lecture on
the Slave Trade, and the duties that result from its continuance.
To begin at eight o'clock in the evening, at the Assembly Coffee
House, on the Quay. Admission, One shilling."
His next lecture was (it is believed) on the Hair Powder Tax, in which
his audience were kept in good feeling, by the happy union of wit,
humour, and argument. Mr. C.'s lectures were numerously attended, and
enthusiastically applauded.
It may amuse and gratify the reader, to receive a specimen of a
lecture,[5] descriptive of Mr. C.'s composition and reasoning, delivered
at this time, and by which it will appear that his politics were not of
that inflammable description which would set a world in flames.
"... But of the propriety and utility of holding up the distant mark
of attainable perfection, we shall enter more fully toward the close
of this address. We turn with pleasure to the contemplation of that
small but glorious band, whom we may truly distinguish by the name of
thinking and disinterested patriots.[6] These are the men who have
encouraged the sympathetic passions till they have become
irresistible habits, and made their duty a necessary part of their
self-interest, by the long-continued cultivation of that moral taste,
which derives our most exquisite pleasures from the contemplation of
possible perfection.
Accustomed to regard all the affairs of man as a process, they never
hurry, and they never pause. Theirs is not the twilight of political
knowledge, which gives us just light enough to place one foot before
the other: as they advance, the scene still opens upon them, and they
press right onward, with a vast and varied landscape of existence
around them. Calmness and energy mark all their actions. Benevolence
is the silken thread that runs through the pearl-chain of all their
virtues. The unhappy children of vice and folly, whose tempers are
adverse to their own happiness, as well as to the happiness of
others, will at times awaken a natural pang, but he looks forward
with gladdened heart to that glorious period when justice shall have
established the universal fraternity of love. These soul-ennobling
views bestow the virtues which they anticipate. He whose mind is
habitually impressed with them, soars above the present state of
humanity, and may be justly said to dwell in the presence of the Most
High. Regarding every event, as he that ordains it, evil vanishes
from before him, and he views the eternal form of universal beauty."
At one of his lectures, Mr. Coleridge amused his audience by reciting the
following letter from Liberty to his dear friend Famine; the effect of
which was greatly heightened by Mr. C.'s arch manner of recitation. It
should be understood that there was at this time a great scarcity in the
land.
Dear Famine,
You will doubtless be surprised at receiving a petitionary letter
from a perfect stranger, but, _Fas est vel ab hoste_. All whom I once
supposed my unalterable friends, I have found unable, or unwilling to
assist me. I first applied to GRATITUDE, entreating her to whisper
into the ear of Majesty, that it was I who had placed his forefathers
on the throne of Great Britain. She told me that she had frequently
made the attempt, but had as frequently been baffled by FLATTERY:
and, that I might not doubt the truth of her apology, she led me (as
the Spirit did the prophet Ezekiel) "to the door of the COURT, and I
went in and saw--and behold! every form of creeping things." I was
however somewhat consoled, when I heard that RELIGION was high in
favour there, and possessed great influence. I myself had been her
faithful servant, and always found her my best protectress: her
service being indeed perfect freedom. Accordingly, in full confidence
of success, I entered her mansion, but, alas! instead of my kind
mistress, horror-struck, I beheld a painted, patched-up old ----. She
was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and
precious stones and pearls, and on her forehead was written
"MYSTERY." I shrieked, for I knew her to be the dry-nurse of that
detested Imp, DESPOTISM.
I next addressed myself to PRUDENCE, and earnestly besought her to
plead my cause to the Ministers; to urge the distresses of the lower
orders, and my fears lest, so distressed, they should forget their
obedience. For the prophet Isaiah had informed me "that it shall come
to pass, that when the people shall be hungry, they shall fret
themselves and curse the King." The grave matron heard me, and,
shaking her head, learnedly replied, "_Quos Deus vult perdere
dementat._" Again I besought her to speak to the rich men of the
nation, concerning Ministers, of whom it might soon become illegal
even to complain--of long and ruinous wars, and whether _they_ must
not bear the damage. All this quoth PRUDENCE, I have repeatedly
urged, but a sly imposter named EXPEDIENCE has usurped my name, and
struck such a panick of property, as hath steeled the hearts of the
wealthy, and palsied their intellects. Lastly I applied to
CONSCIENCE. She informed me that she was indeed a perfect
ventriloquist, and could throw her voice into any place she liked,
but that she was seldom attended to unless when she spoke out of the
_pocket_.
Thus baffled and friendless, I was about to depart, and stood a
fearful lingerer on the isle which I had so dearly loved--when
tidings were brought me of your approach. I found myself impelled by
a power superior to me to build my last hopes on you. Liberty, the
MOTHER of PLENTY, calls Famine to her aid. O FAMINE, most eloquent
Goddess! plead thou my cause. I in the mean time, will pray fervently
that heaven may unstop the ears of her Vicegerent, so that they may
listen to your _first_ pleadings, while yet your voice is faint and
distant, and your counsels peaceable.
"I remain your distressed suppliant,
LIBERTY.
The following is the prospectus of Mr. Coleridge's series of Political
lectures.
S. T. Coleridge proposes to give, in Six Lectures, a comparative view
of the English Rebellion under Charles the First, and the French
Revolution.
The subjects of the proposed Lectures are,
FIRST. The distinguishing marks of the French and English character,
with their probable causes. The national circumstances precursive
to--1st, the English Rebellion.--2nd, the French Revolution.
SECOND. The Liberty of the Press. Literature; its Revolutionary
powers. Comparison of the English, with the French Political Writers,
at the time of the several Revolutions. Milton. Sydney.
Harrington.--Brissot. Sieyes. Mirabeau. Thomas Paine.
THIRD. The Fanaticism of the first English and French Revolutionists.
English Sectaries. French Parties. Feuillans. Girondists. Faction of
Hebert. Jacobins. Moderants. Royalists.
FOURTH. 1st, Characters of Charles the First, and Louis the
Sixteenth. 2nd, of Louis the Fourteenth and the present Empress of
Russia. 3rd, Life and Character of Essex and Fayette.
FIFTH. Oliver Cromwell, and Robespierre.--Cardinal Mazarine, and
William Pitt.--Dundas, and Barrere.
SIXTH. On Revolution in general. Its moral causes, and probable
effects on the Revolutionary People, and surrounding nations.
It is intended that the Lectures should be given once a week; on
Tuesday Evenings, at eight o'clock, at the Assembly Coffee House, on
the Quay. The First Lecture, on Tuesday, June 23d, 1795. As the
author wishes to ensure an audience adequate to the expenses of the
room, he has prepared subscription tickets for the whole course,
price Six Shillings, which may be had at the Lecture Room, or of Mr.
Cottle, or Mr. Reed, Booksellers.
Mr. Coleridge's Theological lectures succeeded, of which the following is
the prospectus.
Six Lectures will be given by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, on Revealed
Religion, its Corruptions, and its Political Views.
These Lectures are intended for two classes of men, Christians and
Infidels; to the former, that they be able to give a reason for the
hope that is in them; to the latter, that they may not determine
against Christianity, from arguments applicable to its corruptions
only.
The subjects of the FIRST LECTURE, are--The Origin of Evil. The
Necessity of Revelation deduced from the Nature of man. An
Examination and Defence of the Mosaic Dispensation.
SECOND.--The Sects of Philosophy, and the Popular Superstitions of
the Gentile World, from the earliest times to the Birth of Christ.
THIRD.--Concerning the Time of the Appearance of Christ. The Internal
Evidences of Christianity. The External Evidences of Christianity.
FOURTH.--The External Evidences of Christianity continued. Answers to
Popular and Philosophical objections.
FIFTH.--The Corruptions of Christianity, in Doctrines. Political
Application.
SIXTH.--The grand Political Views of Christianity--far beyond other
Religions, and even Sects of Philosophy. The Friend of Civil Freedom.
The probable state of Society and Governments, if all men were
Christians.
Tickets to be had of Mr. Cottle, Bookseller.
Sometimes a single Lecture was given. The following is an Advertisement
of one of them.
To-morrow Evening, Tuesday, June 16th, 1795, S. T. Coleridge will
deliver (by particular desire) a Lecture on the Slave Trade, and the
duties that result from its continuance.
To begin at 8 o'clock, at the Assembly Coffee House, on the Quay.
Admittance, One Shilling.
It may be proper to state that all three of my young friends, in that day
of excitement, felt a detestation of the French war then raging, and a
hearty sympathy with the efforts made in France to obtain political
ameliorations. Almost every young and unprejudiced mind participated in
this feeling; and Muir, and Palmer, and Margarot, were regarded as
martyrs in the holy cause of freedom. The successive enormities, however,
perpetrated in France and Switzerland by the French, tended to moderate
their enthusiastic politics, and progressively to produce that effect on
them which extended also to so many of the soberest friends of rational
freedom. Mr. Coleridge's zeal on these questions was by far the most
conspicuous, as will appear by some of his Sonnets, and particularly by
his Poem of "Fire, Famine, and Slaughter;" though written some
considerable time after. When he read this Poem to me, it was with so
much jocularity as to convince me that, without bitterness, it was
designed as a mere joke.
In conformity with my determination to state occurrences, plainly, as
they arose, I must here mention that strange as it may appear in
Pantisocritans, I observed at this time a marked coolness between Mr.
Coleridge and Robert Lovell, so inauspicious in those about to establish
a "Fraternal Colony;" and, in the result, to renovate the whole face of
society! They met without speaking, and consequently appeared as
strangers. I asked Mr. C. what it meant. He replied, "Lovell, who at
first, did all in his power to promote my connexion with Miss Fricker,
now opposes our union." He continued, "I said to him, 'Lovell! you are a
villain!'" "Oh," I replied, "you are quite mistaken. Lovell is an honest
fellow, and is proud in the hope of having you for a brother-in-law. Rely
on it he only wishes you from prudential motives to delay your union." In
a few days I had the happiness of seeing them as sociable as ever.
This is the last time poor Robert Lovell's name will be mentioned in this
work, as living. He went to Salisbury, caught a fever, and, in eagerness
to reach his family, travelled when he ought to have lain by; reached his
home, and died! We attended his funeral, and dropt a tear over his grave!
Mr. Coleridge, though at this time embracing every topic of conversation,
testified a partiality for a few, which might be called stock subjects.
Without noticing his favorite Pantisocracy, (which was an everlasting
theme of the laudatory) he generally contrived, either by direct
amalgamation or digression, to notice in the warmest encomiastic
language, Bishop Berkeley, David Hartley, or Mr. Bowles; whose sonnets he
delighted in reciting. He once told me, that he believed, by his constant
recommendation, he had sold a whole edition of some works; particularly
amongst the fresh-men of Cambridge, to whom, whenever he found access, he
urged the purchase of three works, indispensable to all who wished to
excel in sound reasoning, or a correct taste;--Simpson's Euclid; Hartley
on Man; and Bowles's Poems.
In process of time, however, when reflection had rendered his mind more
mature, he appeared to renounce the fanciful and brain-bewildering system
of Berkeley; whilst he sparingly extolled Hartley; and was almost silent
respecting Mr. Bowles. I noticed a marked change in his commendation of
Mr. B. from the time he paid that man of genius a visit. Whether their
canons of criticisms were different, or that the personal enthusiasm was
not mutual; or whether there was a diversity in political views; whatever
the cause was, an altered feeling toward that gentleman was manifested
after his visit, not so much expressed by words, as by his subdued tone
of applause.
The reflux of the tide had not yet commenced, and Pantisocracy was still
Mr. Coleridge's favourite theme of discourse, and the banks of the
Susquehannah the only refuge for permanent repose. It will excite great
surprise in the reader to understand that Mr. C.'s cooler friends could
not ascertain that he had received any specific information respecting
this notable river. "It was a grand river;" but there were many other
grand and noble rivers in America; (the Land of Rivers!) and the
preference given to the Susquehannah, seemed almost to arise solely from
its imposing name, which, if not classical, was at least poetical; and it
probably by mere accident became the centre of all his pleasurable
associations. Had this same river been called the Miramichi or the
Irrawaddy, it would have been despoiled of half its charms, and have sunk
down into a vulgar stream, the atmosphere of which might have suited well
enough Russian boors, but which would have been pestiferous to men of
letters.
The strong hold which the Susquehannah had taken on Mr. Coleridge's
imagination may be estimated by the following lines, in his Monody on
Chatterton.
"O, Chatterton! that thou wert yet alive;
Sure thou would'st spread the canvass to the gale,
And love with us the tinkling team to drive
O'er peaceful freedom's UNDIVIDED dale;
And we at sober eve would round thee throng,
Hanging enraptured on thy stately song!
And greet with smiles the young-eyed POSEY
All deftly masked, as hoar ANTIQUITY.
Alas, vain phantasies! the fleeting brood
Of woe self-solaced in her dreamy mood!
Yet I will love to follow the sweet dream,
Where Susquehannah pours his untamed stream,
And on some hill, whose forest-frowning side
Waves o'er the murmurs of his calmer tide;
And I will build a cenotaph to thee,
Sweet harper of time-shrouded minstrelsy!
And there soothed sadly by the dirgeful wind,
Muse on the sore ills I had left behind."
In another poem which appeared only in the first edition, a reference is
again made to the American "undivided dell," as follows:
TO W. J. H.
While playing on his flute.
Hush! ye clamorous cares! be mute.
Again, dear Harmonist! again,
Through the hollow of thy flute,
Breathe that passion-warbled strain:
Till memory each form shall bring
The loveliest of her shadowy throng;
And hope that soars on sky-lark whig,
Carol wild her gladdest song!
O skill'd with magic spell to roll
The thrilling tones, that concentrate the soul!
Breathe through thy flute those tender notes again,
While near thee sits the chaste-eyed maiden mild;
And bid her raise the poet's kindred strain
In soft empassioned voice, correctly wild.
"In freedom's UNDIVIDED DELL
Where toil and health, with mellowed love shall dwell,
Far from folly, far from men,
In the rude romantic glen,
Up the cliff, and through the glade,
Wand'ring with the dear-loved maid,
I shall listen to the lay,
And ponder on thee far away."
Mr. Coleridge had written a note to his Monody on Chatterton, in which he
caustically referred to Dean Milles. On this note being shown to me, I
remarked that Captain Blake, whom he occasionally met, was the son-in-law
of Dean Milles. "What," said Mr. Coleridge, "the man with the great
sword?" "The same," I answered. "Then," said Mr. C. with an assumed
gravity, "I will suppress this note to Chatterton; the fellow might have
my head off before I am aware!" To be sure there was something rather
formidable in his huge dragoon's sword, constantly rattling by his side!
This Captain Blake was a member of the Bristol Corporation, and a
pleasant man, but his sword, worn by a short man, appeared
prodigious!--Mr. C. said, "The sight of it was enough to set half a dozen
poets scampering up Parnassus, as though hunted by a wild mastodon."
In examining my old papers I found this identical note in Mr. Coleridge's
hand writing, and which is here given to the reader; suggesting that this
note, like the Sonnet to Lord Stanhope, was written in that portion of
C.'s life, when it must be confessed, he really was hot with the French
Revolution. Thus he begins:
By far the best poem on the subject of Chatterton, is, "Neglected
Genius, or Tributary Stanzas to the memory of the unfortunate
Chatterton." Written by Rushton, a blind sailor.
Walpole writes thus. "All the House of Forgery are relations,
although it be but just to Chatterton's memory to say, that his
poverty never made him claim kindred with the more enriching
branches; yet he who could so ingeniously counterfeit styles, and the
writer believes, hands, might easily have been led to the more facile
imitation of Prose Promissory Notes!" O, ye who honor the name of
man, rejoice that this Walpole is called a Lord! Milles, too, the
editor of Rowley's Poem's, a priest; who (though only a Dean, in
dulness and malignity was most episcopally eminent) foully
calumniated him.--An Owl mangling a poor dead nightingale! Most
injured Bard!
"To him alone in this benighted age
Was that diviner inspiration given
Which glows in Milton's, and in Shakspeare's page,
The pomp and prodigality of heaven!"
Mr. Southey's course of Historical Lectures, comprised the following
subjects, as expressed in his prospectus.
Robert Southey, of Baliol College, Oxford, proposes to read a course
of Historical Lectures in the following order.
1st. Introductory: on the origin and Progress of Society.
2nd. Legislation of Solon and Lycurgus.
3rd. State of Greece, from the Persian War to the Dissolution
of the Achaian League.
4th. Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Roman Empire.
5th. Progress of Christianity.
6th. Manners and Irruptions of the Northern Nations.
Growth of the European States. Feudal System.
7th. State of the Eastern Empire, to the Capture of
Constantinople by the Turks; including the Rise and
Progress of the Mahommedan Religion, and the Crusades.
8th. History of Europe, to the Abdication of the Empire
by Charles the Fifth.
9th. History of Europe, to the Establishment of the Independence
of Holland.
10th. State of Europe, and more particularly of England,
from the Accession of Charles the First, to the Revolution,
in 1688.
11th. Progress of the Northern States. History of Europe
to the American War.
12th. The American War.
Tickets for the whole course, 10s. 6d. to be had of Mr. Cottle,
bookseller, High-Street.
These Lectures of Mr. Southey were numerously attended, and their
composition was greatly admired; exhibiting as they did a succinct view
of the various subjects commented upon, so as to chain the hearers'
attention. They at the same time evinced great self-possession in the
lecturer; a peculiar grace in the delivery; with reasoning so judicious
and acute, as to excite astonishment in the auditory that so young a man
should concentrate so rich a fund of valuable matter in lectures,
comparatively so brief, and which clearly authorized the anticipation of
his future eminence. From this statement it will justly be inferred, that
no public lecturer could have received stronger proofs of approbation
than Mr. S. from a polite and discriminating audience.
Mr. Coleridge had solicited permission of Mr. Southey, to deliver his
fourth lecture, "On the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Roman Empire,"
as a subject to which he had devoted much attention. The request was
immediately granted, and at the end of the third lecture it was formally
announced to the audience, that the next lecture would be delivered by
Mr. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, of Jesus College, Cambridge.
At the usual hour the room was thronged. The moment of commencement
arrived. No lecturer appeared! Patience was preserved for a quarter,
extending to half an hour!--but still no lecturer! At length it was
communicated to the impatient assemblage, that a circumstance,
exceedingly to be regretted! would prevent Mr. Coleridge from giving his
lecture that evening, as intended. Some few present learned the truth,
but the major part of the company retired not very well pleased, and
under the impression that Mr. C. had either broken his leg, or that some
severe family affliction had occurred. Mr. C's rather habitual absence of
mind, with the little importance he generally attached to engagements,[7]
renders it likely that at this very time he might have been found at No.
48, College-Street; composedly smoking his pipe, and lost in profound
musings on his divine Susquehannah!
Incidents of the most trifling nature must sometimes be narrated; when
they form connecting links with events of more consequence.
Wishing to gratify my two young friends and their ladies elect with a
pleasant excursion, I invited them to accompany me in a visit to the Wye,
including Piercefield and Tintern Abbey; objects new to us all. It so
happened the day we were to set off was that immediately following the
woeful disappointment! but here all was punctuality. It was calculated
that the proposed objects might be accomplished in two days, so as not to
interfere with the Friday evening's lecture, which Mr. Southey had now
wisely determined to deliver himself.
The morning was fine. The party of five all met in high spirits,
anticipating unmingled delight in surveying objects and scenery, scarcely
to be surpassed in the three kingdoms. We proceeded to the Old Passage;
crossed the Severn, and arrived at the Beaufort Arms, Chepstow, time
enough to partake of a good dinner, which one of the company noticed
Homer himself had pronounced to be no bad thing: a sentiment in which we
all concurred, admiring his profound knowledge of human nature! But prior
to our repast, we visited the fine old Castle, so intimately connected
with by-gone days; and as soon as possible we purposed to set off toward
the Abbey, distant about six or seven miles; taking Piercefield in our
way.
Proceeding on my principle of impartial narration, I must here state,
that, after dinner, an unpleasant altercation occurred between--no other
than the two Pantisocritans! When feelings are accumulated in the heart,
the tongue will give them utterance. Mr. Southey, whose regular habits
scarcely rendered it a virtue in him, never to fail in an engagement,
expressed to Mr. Coleridge his deep feelings of regret, that _his_
audience should have been disappointed on the preceding evening;
reminding him that unless he had determined punctually to fulfil his
voluntary engagement he ought not to have entered upon it. Mr. C. thought
the delay of the lecture of little or no consequence. This excited a
remonstrance, which produced a reply. At first I interfered with a few
conciliatory words, which were unavailing; and these two friends, about
to exhibit to the world a glorious example of the effects of concord and
sound principles, with an exemption from all the selfish and unsocial
passions, fell, alas! into the common lot of humanity, and in so doing
must have demonstrated, even to themselves, the rope of sand to which
they had confided their destinies!
In unspeakable concern and surprise I retired to a distant part of the
room, and heard with dismay the contention continued, if not extending;
for now the two young ladies entered into the dispute, (on adverse sides,
as might be supposed) each confirming or repelling the arguments of the
belligerents. A little cessation in the storm afforded me the opportunity
of stepping forward and remarking that, however much the disappointment
was to be regretted, it was an evil not likely again to occur, (Mr. S.
shook his head) and that the wisest way, was to forget the past and to
remember only the pleasant objects before us. In this opinion the ladies
concurred, when placing a hand of one of the dissentients in that of the
other, the hearty salutation went round, and with our accustomed spirits,
we prepared once more for Piercefield and the Abbey.
Being an indifferent walker (from a former dislocation of my ancle,
arising out of a gig accident) I had engaged a horse, while the four
pedestrians set forward, two on each side of my Rosinante. After quitting
the extensive walks of Piercefield, we proceeded toward that part of the
road, where we were to turn off to the right, leading down to Tintern
Abbey. We had been delayed so long at Chepstow, and afterward, by various
enchanting scenes, particularly that from the Wind-cliff, that we were
almost benighted, before we were aware. We recalled all our minute
directions. Every object corresponded. A doubt expressed, at a most
unlucky moment, whether we were to turn to the right, or to the left,
threw ice into some hearts; but at length we all concurred, that it was
to the right, and that this must be the road.
These complicated deliberations, allowed the night rapidly to advance,
but the grand preliminaries being settled, we approached the "road" and
strove to penetrate with our keenest vision into its dark recesses. A
road! this it could not be. It was a gross misnomer! It appeared to our
excited imaginations, a lane, in the tenth scale of consanguinity to a
road; a mere chasm between lofty trees, where the young moon strove in
vain to dart a ray! To go or not to go, that was the question! A new
consultation was determined upon, what proceeding should be adopted in so
painful a dilemma. At length, with an accession of courage springing up
as true courage always does in the moment of extremity, we resolutely
determined to brave all dangers and boldly to enter on the road, lane, or
what it was, where perchance, Cadwallader, or Taliesen, might have
trodden before!
On immerging into the wood, for such it was, extending the whole downward
way to Tintern, we all suddenly found ourselves deprived of sight;
obscurity aggravated almost into pitchy darkness! We could see nothing
distinctly whilst we floundered over stones, embedded as they appeared in
their everlasting sockets, from the days of Noah. The gurgling of the
unseen stream, down in the adjacent gully, (which we perchance might soon
be found, reluctantly to visit!) never sounded so discordant before.
Having some respect for my limbs (with no bone-setter near) I dismounted,
resolving to lead my steed who trembled as though conscious of the
perilous expedition on which he had entered. Mr. Coleridge who had been
more accustomed to rough riding than myself, upon understanding that I
through cowardice had forsaken the saddle, without speaking a word put
his foot in the stirrup and mounting, determined to brave at all hazards,
the dangers of the campaign.
Our General on his charger floundered on before us over channels that the
storms had made, and the upstarting fragments of rocks that seemed
confederated to present an insurmountable barrier to every rash and
roving wight. We were in a forlorn condition! and never before did we so
feelingly sympathize with the poor babes in the wood; trusting, in the
last extremity, (should it occur) a few kind robins with their sylvan
pall, would honour also our obsequies. This kind of calming ulterior hope
might do very well for poets, but it was not quite so consolatory to the
ladies, who with all their admiration of disinterested pity, wished to
keep off the dear tender-hearted robins a little longer.
These desponding thoughts were of short continuance, for whether the moon
had emerged from clouds, or that our sight had become strengthened by
exercise, we rejoiced now in being able to see a little, although it
might be to reveal only sights of woe. Mr. Southey marched on like a
pillar of strength, with a lady pressing on each arm, while the relator
lagged in the rear, without even a pilgrim's staff to sustain his
tottering steps. Our condition might have been more forlorn, had not Mr.
Coleridge from before cheered on his associates in misfortune; and
intrepidity produces intrepidity.
The deepest sorrow often admits of some alleviation, and at present our
source of beguilement was to invent some appropriate name, in designation
of this most[*] horrible channel of communication between man and man.
Various acrimonious epithets were propounded, but they all wanted an
adequate measure of causticity; when Mr. Southey censuring in us our want
of charity, and the rash spirit that loaded with abuse objects which
if beheld in noon-day might be allied even to the picturesque,
proposed that our path-way, whatever it was, should simply be
called--"Bowling-green-lane."
[* Transcriber's note: Corrected from original 'mot'.]
We should have smiled assent, but we had just arrived at a spot that
overshadowed every countenance with ten-fold seriousness! This was no
moment for gratuitous triflings. We had arrived at a spot, where there
was just light enough to descry three roads, in this bosom of the wood,
diverging off in different directions! two of them must be collaterals;
and to fix on the one which was honest, where all had equal claims to bad
pre-eminence, exceeded our divining power. Each awhile ruminated in
silence; reflecting that we were far from the habitations of man, with
darkness only not intense around us! We now shouted aloud, in the faint
hope that some solitary woodman might hear, and come to our relief. The
shrill voices of the ladies, in the stillness of night, formed the
essence of harmony. All was silence! No murmur! No response! The three
lanes lay before us. If we pursued one, it might by the next morning,
conduct us safe back to Chepstow; and if we confided in the other, it
might lead us in due time, half-way toward Ragland Castle! What was to be
done? One in the company now remarked, "Of what service is it to boast a
pioneer, if we do not avail ourselves of his services?" Mr. Coleridge
received the hint, and set off up one of the lanes at his swiftest speed,
namely, a cautious creep; whilst we four stood musing on the wide extent
of human vicissitudes! A few hours before, surrounded by a plethora of
enjoyments, and now desponding and starving in the depth of what appeared
an interminable forest. To augment our trouble, fresh anxieties arose!
From Mr. Coleridge's long absence, we now almost feared whether hard
necessity might not force us to go in search of our way-bewildered or
quagmired companion!
To our great joy, we now faintly heard, in the stillness of night, the
horse's hoofs sliding over the loose stones! The sound drew nearer. Mr.
Coleridge approached and pensively said, that could not be the way, for
it led to an old quarry which the quick sight of his steed discovered
just in time to save both their necks! Mr. C. was next ordered instantly
to explore one of the other two ominous lanes; when like a
well-disciplined orderly man, he set off gallantly on his new commission.
After waiting a time, which in our state of suspense might almost be
called a period, he leisurely returned, significantly saying, that
neither man nor beast could pass that way! rubbing his thorn-smitten
cheek. Now came the use of the syllogism, in its simplest form. "If the
right road must be A, B, or C, and A and B were wrong, then C must be
right." Under this conviction, we marched boldly on, without further
solicitude or exploration,' and at length joyfully reached--Tintern
Abbey!
On arriving at this celebrated place, to which so many travellers resort,
(thanks now to his Grace of Beaufort for a better road than ours) the
first inquiry that hunger taught us to make of a countryman, was for the
hotel. "Hotel! Hotel! Sir? Oh, the sign of the Tobacco Pipe! There it is
over the way." Rusticity and comfort often go together. We entered the
inn, homely as it was, quite certain that any transition must be
paradisaical, compared with our late hopeless condition.
After supper, I proposed to avail ourselves of the darkness, and to
inspect the Abbey by torch-light. This being acceded to, we all set off
to view the beautiful but mouldering edifice, where, by an artificial
light, the ruins might present a new aspect, and, in dim grandeur, assist
the labouring imagination. At the instant the huge doors unfolded, the
horned moon appeared between the opening clouds, and shining through the
grand window in the distance. It was a delectable moment; not a little
augmented by the unexpected green sward that covered the whole of the
floor, and the long-forgotten tombs beneath; whilst the gigantic ivies,
in their rivalry, almost concealed the projecting and dark turrets and
eminences, reflecting back the lustre of the torch below. In this season,
which ought to have been consecrated to reflection and silence, the daws,
nestling in their abodes of desolation, aroused from their repose by the
unusual glare, sailed over our heads in sable multitudes that added depth
to the darkness of the sky, while, in their hoarsest maledictions, they
seemed to warn off the intruders on "their ancient solitary reign."
On returning late to the Inn, I informed my companions, that there was at
no great distance a large iron foundry, never seen to perfection but at
night, and proposed our visiting it. Mr. Coleridge felt downright horror
at the thought of being again moved; considering that he had had quite
enough exercise for one day, and infinitely preferring the fire of his
host to the forge of the Cyclops. The ladies also rather shrunk from
encountering a second night expedition; but Mr. Southey cordially
approved the suggestion, and we ushered forth, in the dreariness of
midnight, to behold this real spectacle of sublimity! Our ardour indeed,
was a little cooled when, by the glimmering of the stars, we perceived a
dark expanse stretched by our path,--an ugly mill-pond, by the side of
which we groped, preserving, as well as we could, a respectful distance,
and entering into a mutual compact that if (after all) one should fall
in, the other should do all that in him lay to pull him out.
But I leave further extraneous impositions on the reader's
attention,--the Wye, and other etceteras, briefly to remark, that we
safely returned the next day, after an excursion where the reality
exceeded the promise: and it may be added, quite in time to enable Mr.
Southey to prepare for, and deliver his Lecture, "on the Rise, Fall, and
Decline of the Roman Empire." Mr. Coleridge was not present.
The publication of Mr. C.'s volume of Poems having been attended with
some rather peculiar circumstances, to detail them a little may amuse the
reader. On my expressing to him a wish to begin the printing as early as
he found it convenient, he sent me the following note.
"My dear friend,
The printer may depend on copy on Monday morning, and if he can work a
sheet a day, he shall have it.
S. T. C."
A day or two after, and before the receipt of the copy, I received from
Mr. C. the following cheerful note.
"Dear Cottle,
By the thick smoke that precedes the volcanic eruptions of Etna,
Vesuvius, and Hecla, I feel an impulse to fumigate, at [now] 25,
College-Street, one pair of stairs room; yea, with our Oronoko, and if
thou wilt send me by the bearer, four pipes, I will write a panegyrical
epic poem upon thee, with as many books as there are letters in thy name.
Moreover, if thou wilt send me "the copy book" I hereby bind myself, by
to-morrow morning, to write out enough copy for a sheet and a half.
God bless you!
July 31st, 1795.
S. T. C."
This promising commencement was soon interrupted by successive and
long-continued delays. The permission I had given to anticipate payment
was remembered and complied with, before the work went to the press.
These delays I little heeded, but they were not quite so acceptable to
the printer, who grievously complained that his types, and his leads, and
his forms, were locked up, week after week, to his great detriment.
Being importuned by the printer, I stated these circumstances to Mr.
Coleridge in a note, expressed in what I thought the mildest possible
way, but which excited, it appeared, uncomfortable feelings in his mind,
never in the least noticed to or by myself, but evidenced to my surprise,
by the following passage in a note to Mr. Wade.
"My very dear Friend,
... Mr. Cottle has ever conducted himself towards me with unbounded
kindness, and one unkind act, no, nor twenty, can obliterate the grateful
remembrance of it. By indolence, and frequent breach of promise, I had
deserved a severe reproof from him, although my present brain-crazing
circumstances, rendered this an improper time for it....
S. T. C."
I continued to see Mr. Coleridge every day, and occasionally said to him,
smiling, "Well, how much copy;" "None, to day," was the general reply,
"but to-morrow you shall have some." To-morrow produced, if any, perhaps
a dozen lines; and, in a favourable state of mind, so much, it might be,
as half a dozen pages: and here I think I can correctly state, that Mr.
C. had repeated to me at different times nearly all the poems contained
in his volume, except the "Religious Musings," which I understood to be
wholly a new poem. It may amuse the reader to receive one or two more of
Mr. C.'s little apologies.
"My dear Friend,
The Printer may depend on copy by to-morrow.
S. T. C."
"My dear Cottle,
The Religious Musings are finished, and you shall have them on Thursday.
S. T. C."
Sometimes sickness interfered.
"Dear Cottle,
A devil, a very devil, has got possession of my left temple, eye, cheek,
jaw, throat, and shoulder. I cannot see you this evening. I write in
agony.
Your affectionate Friend and Brother,
S. T. C."
Sometimes his other engagements were of a pressing nature.
"Dear Cottle,
Shall I trouble you (I being over the mouth and nose, in doing something
of importance, at Lovell's) to send your servant into the market, and buy
a pound of bacon, and two quarts of broad beans; and when he carries it
down to College St. to desire the maid to dress it for dinner, and tell
her I shall be home by three o'clock. Will you come and drink tea with
me, and I will endeavour to get the etc. ready for you.
Yours affectionately,
S. T. C."
Whatever disappointments arose, plausible reasons were always assigned
for them, but when ingenuity was fairly taxed with excuses, worn out, Mr.
C. would candidly admit, that he had very little "finger industry," but
then, he said, his mind was always on "full stretch."--The Herculean
labour now appeared drawing to a close; as will be clear from the
following letter.
"My dear, very dear Cottle,
I will be with you at half past six; if you will give me a dish of tea,
between that time and eleven o'clock at night, I will write out the whole
of the notes, and the preface, as I give you leave to turn the lock and
key upon me.
I am engaged to dine with Michael Castle, but I will not be one minute
past my time. If I am, I permit you to send a note to Michael Castle,
requesting him to send me home to fulfil engagements, like an honest man.
S. T. C."
Well knowing that it was Mr. Coleridge's intention to do all that was
right, but aware at the same time that, however prompt he might be in
resolving, he had to contend, in the fulfilment, with great
constitutional indecision, I had long resolved to leave the completion of
his work wholly to himself, and not to urge him to a speed which would
render that a toil, which was designed to be a pleasure.
But we must instantly leave, alike excuses, and printer, and copy, to
notice a subject of infinitely more importance!
It was now understood that Mr. Coleridge was about to be married. Aware
of his narrow circumstances, and not doubting the anxieties he must
necessarily feel, in the prospect of his altered condition, and to render
his mind as easy in pecuniary affairs, as the extreme case would admit; I
thought it would afford a small relief to tell him that I would give him
one guinea and a-half, (after his volume was completed,) for every
hundred lines he might present to me, whether rhyme or blank verse. This
offer appeared of more consequence in the estimation of Mr. C., than it
did in his who made it; for when a common friend familiarly asked him
"how he was to keep the pot boiling, when married?" he very promptly
answered, that Mr. Cottle had made him such an offer, that he felt no
solicitude on that subject.
Mr. Coleridge, in prospect of his marriage, had taken a cottage at
Clevedon, a village, happily on the banks not of the Susquehannah, but
the Severn. He was married to Miss Sarah Fricker, October the 4th, 1795,
and immediately after set off for his country abode.
The following is a copy of the certificate:--
"ST. MARY REDCLIFFE CHURCH, BRISTOL.
Married,
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, to Sarah Fricker, Oct. 4th, 1795.
Benj. Spry, Vicar.
Witnesses,--Martha Fricker, Josiah Wade."
It happened in this case, as it often does where a duty devolves equally
on two; both neglect it. The cottage at Clevedon, it appeared, had walls,
and doors, and windows; but only such furniture as became a philosopher
who was too well disciplined to covet inordinately, non-essentials.
Beside which there might have been more of system in this deliberate
renunciation of luxury. For would it have been consistent in those who
anticipated a speedy location on the marge of one of the great American
rivers, to intrench themselves in comforts that must so soon be exchanged
for little more than primeval supplies and the rugged privations of the
desert? (For even at this time Mr. C. still fondly dwelt on the joys of
the Susquehannah.)
Two days after his marriage, I received a letter from Mr. Coleridge
(which now lies before me) requesting the kindness of me to send him
down, with all dispatch, the following little articles.
"A riddle slice; a candle box; two ventilators; two glasses for the
wash-hand stand; one tin dust pan; one small tin tea kettle; one pair
of candlesticks; one carpet brush; one flower dredge; three tin
extinguishers; two mats; a pair of slippers; a cheese toaster; two
large tin spoons; a bible; a keg of porter; coffee; raisins;
currants; catsup; nutmegs; allspice; cinnamon; rice; ginger; and
mace."
With the aid of the grocer, and the shoemaker, and the brewer, and the
tinman, and the glassman, and the brazier, &c., I immediately sent him
all that he had required, and more; and the next day rode down to pay my
respects to the new-married couple; being greeted, not with the common,
and therefore vulgar, materials of cake and wine, but with that which
moved the spirit, hearty gratulations!
I was rejoiced to find that the cottage possessed every thing that heart
could desire. The situation also was peculiarly eligible. It was in the
western extremity, not in the centre of the village. It had the benefit
of being but one story high, and as the rent was only five pounds per
ann., and no taxes, Mr. Coleridge had the satisfaction of knowing, that
by fairly "mounting his Pegasus," he could write as many verses in a week
as would pay his rent for a year. There was also a small garden, with
several pretty flowers; and the "tallest rose tree," was not failed to be
pointed out, which "peeped at the chamber window," (and which has been
honoured with some beautiful lines). I observed, however, that the
parlour, from my perverted taste, looked rather awkward in being only
whitewashed, and the same effected in rather the "olden time;" to remedy
which fanciful inconvenience, on my return to Bristol, I sent an
upholsterer[8] down to this retired and happy abode with a few pieces of
sprightly paper, to tarnish the half immaculate sitting-room walls.
Mr. Coleridge being now comfortably settled at Clevedon, I shall there
for the present leave him to write verses on his beloved Sarah, while in
the mean time, I introduce the reader to an ingenious young barrister
whom I had known some years previously under the following peculiar
circumstances.
William Gilbert, author of the "Hurricane," was the son of the eminent
philanthropist, Nathaniel Gilbert, of Antigua, who is usually noticed as
"The excellent Gilbert who first set an example to the planters, of
giving religious instruction to the slaves." In the year 1787, a want of
self-control having become painfully evident, he was placed by his
friends in the Asylum of Mr. Richard Henderson at Hanham, near Bristol,
when I first knew him. He occasionally accompanied John Henderson into
Bristol, on one of which occasions he introduced him to my brother and
myself, as the "Young Counsellor!" I spent an afternoon with them, not
readily to be forgotten. Many and great talkers have I known, but William
Gilbert, at this time, exceeded them all. His brain seemed to be in a
state of boiling effervescence, and his tongue, with inconceivable
rapidity, passed from subject to subject, but with an incoherence that
was to me, at least, marvellous. For two hours he poured forth a verbal
torrent, which was only suspended by sheer physical exhaustion.
John Henderson must have perceived a thousand fallacies in his
impassioned harangue; but he allowed them all to pass uncommented upon,
for he knew there was no fighting with a vapour. He continued in the
Asylum about a year, when his mind being partially restored, his friends
removed him, and he wholly absented himself from Bristol, till the year
1796, when he re-appeared in that city.
Being so interesting a character, I felt pleasure in introducing him to
Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey, with whom he readily coalesced, and they,
I believe, truly respected him, soon however perceiving there was
"something unsound in Denmark;" but still there was so much general and
obvious talent about him, and his manners were so conciliating, that they
liked his company, and tolerated some few peculiarities for the sake of
the much that was good. The deference he paid Mr. C. and Mr. S. was some
evidence that reason had partly reassumed her seat in his mind, for when
before them, he withheld many of his most extravagant notions, and
maintained such a comparative restraint on his tongue, as evidently arose
from the respect with which he was impressed.
At one time he very gravely told me, that to his certain knowledge there
was in the centre of Africa, bordering on Abyssinia, a little to the
south-east, an extensive nation of the Gibberti, or Gilberti, and that
one day or other he intended to visit them, and claim kindred.[9]
One morning, information was brought to us that W. Gilbert, at an early
hour, had departed precipitately from Bristol, without speaking to any
one of his friends. We felt great concern at this unexpected movement,
and by comparing recent conversations, we thought it highly probable
that, in obedience to some astrological monition he had determined,
forthwith, to set off on a visit to his relatives in Africa. So convinced
was Mr. Southey that this long-cherished design had influenced poor
Gilbert in his sudden withdrawment, that he wrote to Mr. Roscoe, at
Liverpool, begging him to interfere, to prevent any African captain from
taking such a person as Mr. S. described. Mr. Roscoe appeared to have
taken much trouble; but after a vigilant inquiry, he replied, by saying
that no such person had sailed from, or appeared in Liverpool. So that we
remained in total uncertainty as to what was become of him; many years
afterwards it appeared he had gone to Charleston, United States, where he
died.
Mr. Southey thus refers to W. Gilbert in his "Life of Wesley."
"In the year 1796, Mr. G. published the 'Hurricane, a Theosophical
and Western Eclogue,' and shortly afterwards placarded the walls of
London with the largest bills that had at that time been seen,
announcing 'the Law of Fire.' I knew him well and look back with a
melancholy pleasure to the hours which I have passed in his society,
when his mind was in ruins. His madness was of the most
incomprehensible kind, as may be seen in the notes to his
'Hurricane;' but the Poem possesses passages of exquisite beauty. I
have among my papers some memorials of this interesting man. They who
remember him (as some of my readers will,) will not be displeased at
seeing him thus mentioned, with the respect and regret which are due
to a noble mind."
Mr. Wordsworth, also at the end of his "Excursion," has quoted the
following note to the "Hurricane," with the remark that it "is one of the
finest passages of modern English prose."
"A man is supposed to improve by going out into the world, by
visiting London. Artificial man does, he extends with his sphere;
but, alas! that sphere is microscopic; it is formed of minutiae, and
he surrenders his genuine vision to the artist, in order to embrace
it in his ken. His bodily senses grow acute, even to barren and
inhuman pruriency; while his mental become proportionally obtuse. The
reverse is the man of mind. He who is placed in the sphere of nature
and of God, might be a mock at Tattersall's and Brookes's, and a
sneer at St. James's: he would certainly be swallowed alive by the
first Pizarro that crossed him; but when he walks along the river of
Amazons; when he rests his eye on the unrivalled Andes: when he
measures the long and watered savannah, or contemplates from a sudden
promontory, the distant, vast Pacific, and feels himself in this vast
theatre, and commanding each ready produced fruit of this wilderness,
and each progeny of this stream--his exaltation is not less than
imperial. He is as gentle too as he is great: his emotions of
tenderness keep pace with his elevation of sentiment; for he says,
'These were made by a good Being, who, unsought by me, placed me here
to enjoy them.' He becomes at once a child and a king. His mind is in
himself; from hence he argues and from hence he acts, and he argues
unerringly, and acts magisterially. His mind in himself is also in
his God; and therefore he loves, and therefore he soars.'"
As these pages are designed, by brief incidental notices, to furnish a
view of the Literature of Bristol during a particular portion of time;
and having introduced the name of Ann Yearsley, I here, in reference to
her, subjoin a few additional remarks.
* * * * *
I was well acquainted with Ann Yearsley, and my friendship for Hannah
More did not blind my eyes to the merits of her opponent. Candour exacts
the acknowledgment that the Bristol Milkwoman was a very extraordinary
individual. Her natural abilities were eminent, united with which, she
possessed an unusually sound masculine understanding; and altogether
evinced, even in her countenance, the unequivocal marks of genius. If her
education and early advantages had been favourable, there is no limiting
the distinction to which she might have attained; and the respect she did
acquire, proves what formidable barriers may be surmounted by native
talent when perseveringly exerted, even in the absence of those
preliminary assistances which are often merely the fret-work, the
entablature, of the Corinthian column.
Ann Yearsley's genius was discoverable in her Poems, but perhaps the
extent of her capacity chiefly appeared in her Novel, "The Man in the
Iron Mask;" in itself a bad subject, from the confined limit it gives to
the imagination; but there is a vigour in her style which scarcely
appeared compatible with a wholly uneducated woman. The late Mr. G.
Robinson, the bookseller, told me that he had given Ann Yearsley two
hundred pounds for the above work, and that he would give her one hundred
pounds for every volume she might produce. This sum, with the profits of
her Poems, enabled her to set up a circulating library, at the Hot Wells.
I remember, in the year 1793, an imposition was attempted to be practised
upon her, and she became also involved in temporary pecuniary
difficulties, when by timely interference and a little assistance I had
the happiness of placing her once more in a state of comfort. From a
grateful feeling she afterwards sent me a handsome copy of verses.
It has been too customary to charge her with ingratitude, (at which all
are ready to take fire,) but without sufficient cause, as the slight
services I rendered her were repaid with a superabundant expression of
thankfulness; what then must have been the feelings of her heart toward
Mrs. Hannah More, to whom her obligations were so surpassing?
The merits of the question involved in the dissension between Ann
Yearsley and Mrs. H. More, lay in a small compass, and they deserve to be
faithfully stated; the public are interested in the refutation of charges
of ingratitude, which, if substantiated, would tend to repress assistance
toward the humbler children of genius. The baneful effects arising from a
charge of ingratitude in Ann Yearsley towards her benefactress, might be
the proximate means of dooming to penury and death some unborn
Chatterton, or of eclipsing the sun of a future Burns.
Hannah More discovered that the woman who supplied her family daily with
milk, was a really respectable poetess. She collected her productions,
and published them for her benefit, with a recommendatory address. The
Poems, as they deserved, became popular; doubtless, in a great degree,
through the generous and influential support of Mrs. H. More, and the
profits of the sale amounted to some hundreds of pounds.
The money, thus obtained, the milkwoman wished, to receive herself: for
the promotion of herself in life, and the assistance of her two promising
sons, who inherited much of their mother's talent. Hannah More on the
contrary, in conjunction with Mrs. Montague, thought it most advisable to
place the money in the Funds, in the joint names of herself and Mrs. M.
as trustees for Ann Yearsley, so that she might receive a small permanent
support through life. In this, Hannah More acted with the purest
intention. If any judicious friend had stated to her that Ann Yearsley,
whom she had so greatly served, was a discreet woman and would not be
likely to squander her little all: that she wanted to educate her two
sons, and to open for herself a circulating library, neither of which
objects could be accomplished without trenching on her capital, no doubt
could have been entertained of her instantly acceding to it.
The great error on the part of the milkwoman, was in not prevailing on
some friend thus to interfere, and calmly to state her case; instead of
which, in a disastrous moment, she undertook to plead her own cause; and,
without the slightest intention of giving offence, called on her
patroness. Both parties meant well, but from the constitution of the
human mind, it was hardly possible for one who had greatly obliged
another in a subordinate station to experience the least opposition
without at least an uncomfortable feeling. There must have existed a
predisposition to misconstrue motives, as well as a susceptibility, in
the closest alliance with offence. And now the experiment commenced.
Here was a strong-minded illiterate woman on one side, impressed with a
conviction of the justice of her cause; and further stimulated by a deep
consciousness of the importance of success to herself and family; and on
the other side, a refined mind, delicately alive to the least
approximation to indecorum, and, not unreasonably, requiring deference
and conciliation. Could such incongruous materials coalesce? Ann
Yearsley's suit, no doubt was urged with a zeal approaching to
impetuosity, and not expressed in that measured language which propriety
might have dictated; and any deficiency in which could not fail to offend
her polished and powerful patroness.
Ann Yearsley obtained her object, but she lost her friend. Her name, from
that moment, was branded with ingratitude; and severe indeed was the
penalty entailed on her by this act of indiscretion! Her good name, with
the rapidity of the eagle's pinion, was forfeited! Her talents, in a
large circle at once became questionable, or vanished away. Her assumed
criminality also was magnified into audacity, in daring to question the
honour, or oppose the wishes of two such women as Mrs. H. More, and Mrs.
Montague! and thus, through this disastrous turn of affairs, a dark veil
was suddenly thrown over prospects, so late the most unsullied and
exhilarating; and the favorite of fortune sunk to rise no more!
Gloom and perplexities in quick succession oppressed the Bristol
milkwoman, and her fall became more rapid than her ascent! The eldest of
her sons, William Cromartie Yearsley, who had bidden fair to be the prop
of her age; and whom she had apprenticed to an eminent engraver, with a
premium of one hundred guineas, prematurely died; and his surviving
brother soon followed him to the grave! Ann Yearsley, now a childless and
desolate widow, retired, heart-broken from the world, on the produce of
her library; and died many years after, in a state of almost total
seclusion, at Melksham. An inhabitant of the town lately informed me that
she was never seen, except when she took her solitary walk in the dusk of
the evening! She lies buried in Clifton church-yard.
In this passing notice of the Bristol milkwoman, my design has been to
rescue her name from unmerited obloquy, and not in the remotest degree to
criminate Hannah More, whose views and impressions in this affair may
have been somewhat erroneous, but whose intentions it would be impossible
for one moment to question.[10]
The reader will not be displeased with some further remarks on Mrs.
Hannah More, whose long residence near Bristol identified her so much
with that city.
Mrs. H. More lived with her four sisters, Mary, Elizabeth, Sarah, and
Martha, after they quitted their school in Park-Street, Bristol, at a
small neat cottage in Somersetshire, called Cowslip Green. The Misses M.
some years afterward built a better house, and called it Barley Wood, on
the side of a hill, about a mile from Wrington. Here they all lived, in
the highest degree respected and beloved: their house the seat of piety,
cheerfulness, literature, and hospitality; and they themselves receiving
the honour of more visits from bishops, nobles, and persons of
distinction, than, perhaps, any private family in the kingdom.
My sisters having been educated by them, and myself having two intimate
friends, who were also the friends of the Misses More; the Rev. James
Newton,[11] and my old tutor, John Henderson, they introduced me to the
family in Park Street, and the acquaintance then commenced was
progressively ripened into respect that continued to the termination of
all their lives. Hannah More gave me unrestricted permission to bring
down to Barley-Wood, any literary or other friend of mine, at any time;
and of which privilege, on various occasions I availed myself.
Many years before, I had taken down, then by express, invitation, Mr.
Southey, to see these excellent ladies; and in the year 1814, I conducted
Mr. Coleridge to Barley Wood, and had the pleasure of introducing him to
Hannah More and her sisters. For two hours after our arrival, Mr. C.
displayed a good deal of his brilliant conversation, when he was listened
to with surprise and delight by the whole circle; but at this time,
unluckily, Lady--was announced, when Mrs. Hannah, from politeness,
devoted herself to her titled visitant, while the little folks retired to
a snug window with one or two of the Misses More, and there had their own
agreeable converse.
Hannah More's eminently useful life manifested itself in nothing more
than the effort she made to instruct the ignorant through the medium of
moral and religious _tracts_, and by the establishment of schools. These
were made blessings on a wide scale, whilst their good effects are
continued to this time, and are likely to be perpetuated.
It is here proper to mention that after superintending these various
schools, either personally or by proxy, for more than a quarter of a
century, and after the decease of her four benevolent and excellent
sisters, Hannah More found it necessary to leave Barley Wood, and to
remove to Clifton. Here her expenses were reduced one half, and her
comforts greatly increased. The house she occupied, No. 4, Windsor
Terrace, Clifton, was even more pleasant than the one she had left, and
the prospects from it much more enlivening. I remember to have called on
her with the late Robert Hall, when she discovered a cheerfulness which
showed that Barley Wood was no longer regretted. She brought us to the
windows of her spacious drawing room, and there, in the expanse beneath,
invited us to behold the new docks, and the merchants' numerous ships,
while the hill of Dundry appeared (at the distance of four miles) far
loftier than her own Mendip, and equally verdant. From the window of her
back room also, directly under her eye, a far more exquisite prospect
presented itself than any Barley Wood could boast; Leigh Woods, St.
Vincent's Rocks, Clifton Down, and, to crown the whole, the winding Avon,
with the continually shifting commerce of Bristol; and we left her with
the impression that the change in her abode was a great accession to her
happiness.
In a letter to Mr. Wilberforce, Hannah More thus rather pleasantly
writes:--
"4, Windsor Terrace, Oct. 29, 1828.
My Very Dear Friend,
... I am diminishing my worldly cares. I have sold Barley Wood. I have
exchanged the eight "pampered minions," for four sober servants. As I
have sold my carriage and horses, I want no coachman: as I have no
garden, I want no gardener. I have greatly lessened my house expenses,
which enables me to maintain my schools, and enlarge my charities. My
schools alone, with clothing, rents, &c., cost me £150 a year."
Mrs. H. More was sometimes liberally assisted in the support of these
schools (as I learned from Miss Martha More,) by three philanthropic
individuals, the late Mr. Henry Thornton, the late Mr. Wilberforce, and
the late Sir W. W. Pepys, Bart.
Mrs. H. More, in a letter to Sir W. W. Pepys, acknowledging the receipt
of one hundred pounds, says, "My most affectionate respects to Lady
Pepys. The young race, of course, have all forgotten me; but I have not
forgotten the energy with which your eldest son, at seven years old, ran
into the drawing room, and said to me, "After all, Ferdinand would never
have sent Columbus to find out America if it had not been for Isabella:
it was entirely her doing." How gratifying it would have been to H. More,
had she lived two or three years longer, to have found in the round of
human things, that this energetic boy of seven years, had become (1837)
the Lord High Chancellor of England! and now again in 1846.
All the paintings, drawings, and prints which covered the walls of the
parlour, on Hannah More's quitting Barley Wood, she gave to her friend,
Sir T. D. Ackland, Bart, with the exception of the portrait, by Palmer,
of John Henderson, which she kindly presented to myself.
* * * * *
As I purposed, in projecting the present work, to allow myself a certain
latitude in commenting on persons of talent connected recently with
Bristol, and with whom Mr. C. and Mr. S. were acquainted, and especially
when those persons are dead, I shall here in addition briefly refer to
the late Robert Hall.
Mr. Hall is universally admitted to have possessed a mind of the first
order. He united qualities, rarely combined, each of which would have
constituted greatness; being a writer of pre-eminent excellence, and a
sacred orator that exceeded all competition.
Posterity will judge of Robert Hall's capacity by his writings alone, but
all who knew him as a preacher, unhesitatingly admit that in his pulpit
exercises (when the absorption of his mind in his subject rendered him
but half sensible to the agony of internal maladies which scarcely knew
cessation, and which would have prostrated a spirit less firm) that in
these exercises, the superiority of his intellect became more undeniably
manifest than even in his deliberate compositions. Here some might
approach, who could not surpass; but, as a preacher, he stood, collected,
in solitary grandeur.
Let the reader who was never privileged to see or hear this extraordinary
man, present to his imagination a dignified figure[12] that secured the
deference which was never exacted; a capacious forehead; an eye, in the
absence of excitement, dark, yet placid, but when warmed with argument,
flashing almost coruscations of light, as the harmonious accompaniments
of his powerful language.
But the pulpit presented a wider field for the display of this
constitutional ardour. Here, the eye, that always awed, progressively
advanced in expression; till warmed with his immortal subject it kindled
into absolute radiance, that with its piercing beams penetrated the very
heart, and so absorbed the spirit that the preacher himself was forgotten
in the magnificent and almost overpowering array of impassioned thoughts
and images. With this exterior, let the reader associate a voice, though
not strong, eminently flexible and harmonious; a mind that felt, and
therefore never erred in its emphasis; alternately touching the chord of
pathos, or advancing with equal ease into the region of argument or
passion; and then let him remember that every sentiment he uttered was
clothed in expressions as mellifluous as perhaps ever fell from the
tongue of man.
Few would dispute the testimony of Dugald Stewart on subjects of
composition; and still fewer would question his authority in ascribing,
as he does, to Robert Hall, the excellencies of Addison, Johnson, and
Burke, without their defects: and to the works of Mr. H. reference will
hereafter doubtless be made, as exhibiting some of the finest specimens
that can be adduced, of the harmony, the elegance, the energy, and
compass of the English tongue.
After noticing the excellencies of Mr. Hall as a Christian advocate, it
appears almost bordering on the anti-climax, to name, that a great
accession to this his distinction as a writer arose from his exquisite
taste in composition, sedulously cultivated through life; and which (as
the reward of so chastened a judgment, attained with such labour) at
length superseded toil in the arrangement of his words,'since every
thought, as it arose in his mind, when expression was given to it,
appeared spontaneously, clothed in the most appropriate language.
Often has Mr. H. expatiated to me on the subject of style, so as to
manifest the depth and acuteness of his criticisms; as well as to leave a
firm conviction that the superiority he had acquired arose from no lax
endeavour and happy casualty, but from severe and permanent effort,
founded on the best models; at least, in that period of his life when the
structure of his mind was formed, or forming. He said that _Cicero_ had
been his chief model.
This habit of minute and general analysis, combined as it was with his
fine luminous intellect, enabled him with almost intuitive discernment,
to perceive promptly whatever was valuable or defective in the
productions of others; and this faculty being conjoined with solid
learning, extensive reading, a retentive memory, a vast |tore of
diversified knowledge, together with a creative fancy and a logical mind,
gave him at all times, an unobtrusive reliance on himself; with an
inexhaustible mental treasury that qualified him alike to shine in the
friendly circle, or to charm, and astonish, and edify, in the crowded
assembly.
That the same individual should so far excel both as a preacher and a
writer, and at the same time be equally distinguished for his brilliant
conversational talent, is scarcely conceivable, and would be too much
reputation for any man, unless tempered, as it was in Mr. Hall, by no
ordinary measure of Christian humility, and a preference ever expressed,
for the moral over the intellectual character.
It is not meant to imply that Mr. Hall was perfect, (a condition reserved
for another state) but he made gigantic strides towards that point, at
which all should aim. That such rare talents should have been devoted,
through a long and consistent life, to the cause of his Redeemer, must
excite thankfulness in the breast of every Christian, and at the same
time deepen the hue with which he contemplates some others, whose talents
and influences, were, and are, all banefully exercised, from what might
appear a design to corrupt man, and madly to oppose and defy the Supreme
himself!
Some of Mr. Hall's later admirers may resist the idea that there ever was
a period when his ministerial exercises were more eloquent than at the
last; but without hesitation, I adopt a different opinion. The estimate
formed of him in this place is chiefly founded on the earlier part of
life, when, without any opposing influences, a more unbridled range was
given to his imagination; when there was an energy in his manner, and a
felicity and copiousness in his language, which vibrated on the very
verge of human capability.
It is incredible to suppose that intense and almost unceasing pain,
should not partially have unnerved his mind; that he should not have
directed a more undiverted concentration of thought, and revelled with
more freedom and luxuriance of expression, before, rather than during the
ravages of that insidious and fatal disease, under which he laboured for
so many years, and which never allowed him, except when in the pulpit, to
deviate from a recumbent posture. However combated by mental firmness,
such perpetual suffering must have tended in some degree to repress the
vehemence of his intellectual fire; and the astonishment prevails, that
he possessed fortitude enough to contend so long with antagonists so
potent. Except for the power of religion, and the sustaining influence of
faith, nothing could have restrained him from falling back on despondency
or despair. Yet even to his final sermon, he maintained his preeminence;
and in no one discourse of his last years, did he decline into
mediocrity, or fail to remind the elder part of his audience of a period
when his eloquence was almost superhuman.[13]
After allowing, that many humble but sincere preachers of the gospel of
Christ may be as accepted of God, and be made as useful to their
fellow-men as the most prodigally endowed, yet the possession of great
and well-directed talents must not be underrated. Different soils require
different culture, and that which is inoperative on one man may be
beneficial to another, and it is hardly possible for any one to form a
due estimate of the elevation of which pulpit oratory is susceptible who
never heard Robert Hall. This character of his preaching refers more
particularly to the period when his talents were in their most vigorous
exercise; a little before the time when he published his celebrated
sermon on "Infidelity."
This sermon I was so happy as to hear delivered, and have no hesitation
in expressing an opinion that the oral was not only very different from
the printed discourse, but greatly its superior. In the one case he
expressed the sentiments of a mind fully charged with matter the most
invigorating, and solemnly important; but, discarding notes, (which he
once told me always "hampered him") it was not in his power to display
the same language, or to record the same evanescent trains of thought; so
that in preparing a sermon for the press, no other than a general
resemblance could be preserved. In trusting alone to his recollection,
when the stimulus was withdrawn of a crowded and most attentive auditory,
the ardent feeling; the thought that "burned," was liable, in some
measure, to become deteriorated by the substitution of cool philosophical
arrangement and accuracy for the spontaneous effusions of his overflowing
heart; so that what was gained by one course was more than lost by the
other.
During Mr. Hall's last visit to Bristol, (prior to his final settlement
there) I conducted him to view the beautiful scenery in the
neighbourhood, and no one could be more alive to the picturesque than Mr.
H. On former occasions, when beholding the expanse of water before him,
he has said, with a pensive ejaculation, "We have no water in
Cambridgeshire;" and subsequently, in noticing the spreading foliage of
Lord de Clifford's park, he has observed with the same mournful accent;
"Ah, sir, we have no such trees as these in Leicestershire." And when at
this time he arrived at a point which presented the grandest assemblage
of beauty, he paused in silence to gaze on the rocks of St. Vincent, and
the Avon, and the dense woods, and the distant Severn, and the dim blue
mountains of Wales, when with that devotional spirit which accorded with
the general current of his feelings, in an ecstacy he exclaimed; "Oh, if
these outskirts of the Almighty's dominion can, with one glance, so
oppress the heart with gladness, what will be the disclosures of
eternity, when the full revelation shall be made of the things not seen,
and the river of the city of God!"
But "Recollections" of Mr. Hall are not intended, although it may be
named, he stated, in one of these rides, that he had arisen from his bed
two or three times in the course of the night, when projecting his
"Sermon on the Death of the Princess Charlotte" to record thoughts, or to
write down passages that he feared might otherwise escape his memory.
This, at least, showed the intensity of the interest he felt, though a
superabundance of the choicest matter was ever at his command; and if one
idea happened accidentally to be lost, one that was better immediately
supplied its place.
Perhaps this notice may be deemed, by some, too extended, if not
misplaced; but if the present occasion of referring to Mr. Hall, had been
neglected, no other might have occurred. The man whose name is recorded
on high stands in no need of human praise; yet survivors have a debt to
pay, and whilst I disclaim every undue bias on my mind in estimating the
character of one who so ennobled human nature, none can feel surprise
that I should take a favorable retrospect of Mr. H. after an intercourse
and friendship of more than forty years. Inadequate as is the present
offering, some satisfaction is felt at the opportunity presented of
bestowing this small tribute to the memory of one whom I ever venerated,
and, in so doing, of adding another attestation to the merits of so good
and great a man.
* * * * *
The reader after this long digression, will have his attention directed
once more, to Mr. Coleridge, who was left at Clevedon in the possession
of domestic comfort, and with the hope, if not the prospect, of
uninterrupted happiness. It could hardly be supposed, that in the element
of so much excitement, the spirit of inspiration should remain
slumbering. On my next seeing Mr. C. he read me, with more than his
accustomed enthusiasm, those tenderly affectionate lines to his "Sara,"
beginning
"My pensive Sara, thy soft cheek reclined." &c,
Mr. Coleridge now began to console himself with the suspicion, not only
that felicity might be found on this side the Atlantic, but that Clevedon
concentrated the sum of all that Earth had to bestow. He was now even
satisfied that the Susquehannah itself retired into shade before the
superior attractions of his own native Severn. He had, in good truth,
discovered the grand secret; the abode of happiness, after which all are
so sedulously inquiring; and this accompanied with the cheering
assurance, that, by a merely pleasurable intellectual exertion, he would
be able to provide for his moderate expenses, and experience the
tranquillizing joys of seclusion, while the whole country and Europe were
convulsed with war and changes.
Alas, repose was not made for man, nor man for repose! Mr. Coleridge at
this time little thought of the joys and sorrows, the vicissitudes of
life, and revolutions of feeling, with which he was ordained ere long to
contend! Inconveniences connected with his residence at Clevedon, not at
first taken into the calculation, now gradually unfolded themselves. The
place was too far from Bristol. It was difficult of access to friends;
and the neighbours were a little too tattling and inquisitive. And then
again, Mr. Coleridge could not well dispense with his literary
associates, and particularly with his access to that fine institution,
the Bristol City Library; and, in addition, as he was necessitated to
submit to frugal restraints, a walk to Bristol was rather a serious
undertaking; and a return the same day hardly to be accomplished, in the
failure of which, his "Sara," was lonely and uneasy; so that his friends
urged him to return once more to the place he had left; which he did,
forsaking, with reluctance, his rose-bound cottage, and taking up his
abode on Redcliff-hill. There was now some prospect that the printer's
types would be again set in motion, although it was quite proper that
they should remain in abeyance while so many grand events were
transpiring in the region of the domestic hearth. This was late in the
year 1795.
After Mr. Coleridge had been some little time settled in Bristol, he
experienced another removal. To exchange the country, and all the
beauties of nature, for pent-up rooms on Redcliff-hill, demanded from a
poet, sacrifices for which a few advantages would but ill compensate. In
this uneasy state of mind, Mr. C. received an invitation from his friend,
Mr. T. Poole, of Stowey, Somersetshire, to come and visit him in that
retired town, and to which place Mr. and Mrs. Coleridge repaired.
The volume of poems, that, in the presence of so many more important
affairs, had retired into shade, was now about to reappear, as will be
found by the following letter.
"Stowey,
My dear Cottle,
I feel it much, and very uncomfortable, that, loving you as a brother,
and feeling pleasure in pouring out my heart to you, I should so seldom
be able to write a letter to you, unconnected with business, and
uncontaminated with excuses and apologies. I give every moment I can
spare from my garden and the Reviews (i. e.) from my potatoes and meat to
the poem, (Religious Musings) but I go on slowly, for I torture the poem
and myself with corrections; and what I write in an hour, I sometimes
take two or three days in correcting. You may depend on it, the poem and
prefaces will take up exactly the number of pages I mentioned, and I am
extremely anxious to have the work as perfect as possible, and which I
cannot do, if it be finished immediately. The "Religious Musings" I have
altered monstrously, since I read them to you and received your
criticisms. I shall send them to you in my next. The Sonnets I will send
you with the Musings. God love you!
From your affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
Mr. Coleridge at this time meditated the printing of two volumes of his
poems. He thus expresses his intention.
"I mean to have none but large poems in the second volume; none under
three hundred lines; therefore I have crowded all my little pieces into
this."
He speaks in the same letter, of two poems which I never saw. Perhaps
they were composed in his own mind, but never recorded on paper; a
practice which Mr. C. sometimes adopted. He thus writes. "The 'Nativity'
is not quite three hundred lines. It has cost me much labour in
polishing; more than any poem I ever wrote, and I believe deserves it
more. The epistle to Tom. Poole, which will come with the 'Nativity,' is
I think one of my most pleasing compositions."
In a letter of Mr. C. dated from Stowey, Mr. Coleridge also says, "I have
written a Ballad of three hundred lines, and also a plan of general
study." It appeared right to make these statements, and it is hoped the
productions named may still be in existence.
Mr. Coleridge now finding it difficult to superintend the press at so
great a distance as Stowey, and that it interfered also with his other
literary engagements, he resolved once more to remove to Bristol, the
residence of so many friends; and to that city he repaired, the beginning
of 1796. A conviction now also rested on his mind, as there was the
prospect of an increase in his family, that he must bestir himself, and
effectually call his resolutions into exercise. Soon after he was fairly
settled, he sent me the following letter.
"My dear Cottle,
I have this night and to-morrow for you, being alone, and my spirits
calm. I shall consult my poetic honour, and of course your interest, more
by staying at home, than by drinking tea with you. I should be happy to
see my poems out even by next week, and I shall continue in stirrups,
that is, shall not dismount my Pegasus, till Monday morning, at which
time you will have to thank God for having done with
Your affectionate friend always, but author evanescent.
S. T. C."
Except for the serious effect, unintentionally produced, a rather
ludicrous circumstance some time after this occurred, that is, after Mr.
C. had "mounted his Pegasus" for the last time, and, permitted, so long
ago, "the lock and key to be turned upon him."
The promised notes, preface, and some of the text, not having been
furnished, I had determined to make no further application, but to allow
Mr. C. to consult his own inclination and convenience. Having a friend
who wanted an introduction to Mr. Coleridge, I invited him to dinner, and
sent Mr. C. a note, to name the time, and to solicit his company. The
bearer of the note was simply requested to give it to Mr. C. and not
finding him at home, inconsiderately brought it back. Mr. Coleridge
returning home soon after, and learning that I had sent a letter, which
was taken back, in the supposition that it could relate but to _one
subject_, addressed to me the following astounding letter.
"Redcliff-hill, Feb. 22, 1796.
My dear Sir,
It is my duty and business to thank God for all his dispensations, and to
believe them the best possible; but, indeed, I think I should have been
more thankful, if he had made me a journeyman shoemaker, instead of an
author by trade. I have left my friends: I have left plenty; I have left
that ease which would have secured a literary immortality, and have
enabled me to give the public, works conceived in moments of inspiration,
and polished with leisurely solicitude, and alas! for what have I left
them? for--who deserted me in the hour of distress, and for a scheme of
virtue impracticable and romantic! So I am forced to write for bread!
write the flights of poetic enthusiasm, when every minute I am hearing a
groan from my wife. Groans, and complaints, and sickness! The present
hour I am in a quick-set hedge of embarrassment, and whichever way I
turn, a thorn runs into me! The future is cloud, and thick darkness!
Poverty, perhaps, and the thin faces of them that want bread, looking up
to me! Nor is this all. My happiest moments for composition are broken in
upon by the reflection that I must make haste. I am too late! I am
already months behind! I have received my pay beforehand! Oh, wayward and
desultory spirit of genius! Ill canst thou brook a taskmaster! The
tenderest touch from the hand of obligation, wounds thee like a scourge
of scorpions.
I have been composing in the fields this morning, and came home to write
down the first rude sheet of my preface, when I heard that your man had
brought a note from you. I have not seen it, but I guess its contents. I
am writing as fast as I can. Depend on it you shall not be out of pocket
for me! I feel what I owe you, and independently of this, I love you as a
friend; indeed, so much, that I regret, seriously regret, that you have
been my copyholder.
If I have written petulantly, forgive me. God knows I am sore all over.
God bless you, and believe me that, setting gratitude aside, I love and
esteem you, and have your interest at heart full as much as my own.
S. T. Coleridge."
At the receipt of this painful letter, which made me smile and sigh at
the same moment, my first care was to send the young and desponding Bard
some of the precious metal, to cheer his drooping spirits; to inform him
of his mistake; and to renew my invitation; which was accepted, and at
this interview he was as cheerful as ever. He saw no difference in my
countenance, and I perceived none in his. The "thick cloud" and the
"thorn" had completely passed away, whilst his brilliant conversation
charmed and edified the friend for whose sake he had been invited.
At length, Mr. Coleridge's volume of poems was completed. On the blank
leaf of one of the copies, he asked for a pen, and wrote the following:
"Dear Cottle,
On the blank leaf of my poems, I can most appropriately write my
acknowledgments to you, for your too disinterested conduct in the
purchase of them. Indeed, if ever they should acquire a name and
character, it might be truly said, the world owed them to you. Had it not
been for you, none perhaps of them would have been published, and some
not written.
Your, obliged and affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge.
Bristol, April 15, 1796."
The particulars respecting the publication of Mr. Coleridge's volume of
Poems have been continued unbroken, to the exclusion of some antecedent
circumstances, which will now be noticed.
If it were my object to give a fictitious, and not a real character; to
remove, scrupulously, all protuberances that interfered with the polish,
I might withhold the following letter, which merely shows the solicitude
with which Mr. C. at this time, regarded small profits. His purse, soon
after his return to Bristol, being rather low, with the demands on it
increasing, he devised an ingenious, and very innocent plan for
replenishing it, in a small way, as will thus appear.
"My ever dear Cottle,
Since I last conversed with you on the subject, I have been thinking over
again the plan I suggested to you, concerning the application of Count
Rumford's plan to the city of Bristol. I have arranged in my mind the
manner, and matter of the Pamphlet, which would be three sheets, and
might be priced at one shilling.
'Considerations
Addressed to the Inhabitants of Bristol,
on a subject of importance,
(unconnected with Politics.)
BY S. T. C.'
Now I have by me the history of Birmingham, and the history of
Manchester. By observing the names, revenues, and expenditures of their
different charities, I could easily alter the calculations of the
"Bristol Address," and, at a trifling expense, and a few variations, the
same work might be sent to Manchester and Birmingham. "Considerations
addressed to the inhabitants of Birmingham." &c. I could so order it,
that by writing to a particular friend, at both places, the pamphlet
should be thought to have been written _at_ each place, as it certainly
would be _for_ each place. I think therefore 750 might be printed in all.
Now will you undertake this? either to print it and divide the profits,
or (which indeed I should prefer) would you give me three guineas, for
the copy-right? I would give you the first sheet on Thursday, the second
on the Monday following, the third on the Thursday following. To each
pamphlet I would annex the alterations to be made, when the press was
stopped at 250.[14]
God love you!
S. T. C."
Mr. Coleridge used occasionally to regret, with even pungency of feeling,
that he had no relation in the world, to whom, in a time of extremity, he
could apply "for a little assistance." He appeared like a being dropped
from the clouds, without tie or connection on earth; and during the years
in which I knew him, he never once visited any one of his relations, nor
exchanged a letter with them. It used to fill myself and others with
concern and astonishment, that such a man should, apparently, be
abandoned. On some occasions I urged him to break through all
impediments, and go and visit his friends at Ottery; this his high spirit
could not brook. I then pressed him to dedicate his Poems to one of his
relatives, his brother George, of whom he occasionally spoke with
peculiar kindness. He was silent; but some time after, he said in a
letter, "You, I am sure will be glad to learn, that I shall follow your
advice."
In the poem which thus arose, what can be more touching than these lines
in his dedication to his brother? (Second edition.)
"To me the Eternal Wisdom hath dispensed
A different fortune, and more different mind--
Me from the spot where first I sprang to light
Too soon transplanted, ere my soul had fixed
Its first domestic loves; and hence through life
Chasing chance--started friendships. A brief while,
Some have preserved me from life's pelting ills."
In certain features of their character, there was a strong resemblance
between Chatterton and S. T. Coleridge, with a reverse in some points,
for Chatterton was loved and cherished by his family, but neglected by
the world. In the agony of mind which Mr. C. sometimes manifested on this
subject, I have wished to forget those four tender lines in his Monody on
Chatterton.
"Poor Chatterton! farewell! Of darkest hues,
This chaplet cast I on thy unshaped tomb:
But dare no longer on the sad theme muse,
Lest kindred woes persuade a kindred doom!"
Mr. C. would not have felt so much, if his own natural and unshaken
affections had been less ardent.
Before I enter on an important incident in Mr. Coleridge's Bristol life,
I must previously observe, that his mind was in a singular degree
distinguished for the habit of projecting. New projects and plans, at
this time, followed each other in rapid succession, and while the
vividness of the impression lasted, the very completion could scarcely
have afforded more satisfaction than the vague design. To project, with
him, was commonly sufficient. The execution, of so much consequence in
the estimation of others, with him was a secondary point. I remember him
once to have read to me, from his pocket book; a list of eighteen
different works which he had resolved to write, and several of them in
quarto, not one of which he ever effected. At the top of the list
appeared the word "Pantisocracy! 4to." Each of these works, he could have
talked, (for he often poured forth as much as half an 8vo. volume in a
single evening, and that in language sufficiently pure and connected to
admit of publication) but talking merely benefits the few, to the
exclusion of the many. The work that apparently advanced the nearest to
completion, was "Translations of the modern Latin Poets;" two vols. 8vo.
This work, which no man could better have accomplished than himself, he
so far proceeded in, as to allow of the Proposals being issued. It was to
be published by subscription, and he brought with him from Cambridge a
very respectable list of university subscribers. His excuses for not
showing any part of the work, justified the suspicion that he had not
advanced in it further than these said "Proposals."
Another prominent feature in Mr. Coleridge's mind, was procrastination.
It is not to be supposed that he ever made a promise or entered on an
engagement without intending to fulfil it, but none who knew him could
deny that he wanted much of that steady, persevering determination which
is the precursor of success, and the parent of all great actions. His
strongest intentions were feebly supported after the first paroxysms of
resolve, so that any judicious friend would strenuously have dissuaded
him from an undertaking that involved a race with time. Mr. Coleridge,
however, differently regarded his mental constitution, and projected at
this time a periodical miscellany, called "The Watchman."
When the thought of this magazine first suggested itself to his mind, he
convened his chief friends one evening at the Rummer Tavern, to determine
on the size, price, and time of publishing, with all other preliminaries,
essential to the launching this first-rate vessel on the mighty deep.
Having heard of the circumstance the next day, I rather wondered at not
having also been requested to attend, and while ruminating on the
subject, I received from Mr. C. the following communication.
"My dear friend,
I am fearful that you felt hurt at my not mentioning to you the proposed
'Watchman,' and from my not requesting you to attend the meeting. My dear
friend, my reasons were these. All who met were expected to become
subscribers to a fund; I knew there would be enough without you, and I
knew, and felt, how much money had been drawn from you lately.
God Almighty love you!
S. T. C."
In a few days the following prospectus of the new work was circulated far
and near.
"To supply at once the places of a Review, Newspaper, and Annual
Register.
On Tuesday, the 1st of March, 1796, will be published, No. 1, price
fourpence, of a Miscellany, to be continued every eighth day, under
the name of
THE WATCHMAN,
BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE,
This Miscellany will be comprised in two sheets, or thirty-two pages,
closely printed in 8vo. the type, long primer.
ITS CONTENTS.
1st. A History of the Domestic and Foreign Policy of the preceding
days.
2nd. The Speeches in both Houses of Parliament, and during the
recess. Select Parliamentary Speeches, from the commencement of the
reign of Charles the First, to the present Aera, with Notes,
Historical and Biographical.
3rd. Original Essays and Poetry.
4th. Review of interesting and important Publications.
ITS ADVANTAGES.
FIRST. There being no Advertisements, a greater quantity of Original
matter will be given, and the Speeches in Parliament will be less
abridged.
SECOND. From its form, it may be bound up at the end of the year, and
become an Annual Register.
THIRD. This last circumstance may induce men of letters to prefer
this miscellany to more perishable publications as the vehicle of
their effusions.
FOURTH. Whenever the Ministerial and Opposition Prints differ in
their accounts of occurrences, &c. such difference will always be
faithfully stated."
Of all men, Mr. Coleridge was the least qualified to display periodical
industry. Many of his cooler friends entertained from the beginning no
sanguine expectations of success, but now that the experiment was fairly
to be tried, they united with him in making every exertion to secure it.
As a magazine it was worth nothing without purchasers. Bristol was the
strong-hold, where about two hundred and fifty subscribers were obtained
by myself, and one hundred and twenty by Mr. Reed. These were
insufficient. What was to be done? A bold measure was determined upon.
Mr. Coleridge, conceiving that his means of subsistence depended upon the
success of this undertaking, armed himself with unwonted resolution, and
expressed his determination to travel over half England and take the
posse comitatus by storm.
In conformity with such resolution, he obtained letters of introduction
to influential men in the respective towns he meant to visit, and, like a
shrewd calculator, determined to add the parson's avocation to that of
the political pamphleteer. The beginning of Jan. 1796, Mr. Coleridge,
laden with recommendatory epistles, and rich in hope, set out on his
eventful journey, and visited in succession, Worcester, Birmingham,
Nottingham, Lichfield, Derby, Manchester, Sheffield, Liverpool, &c. and
as a crowning achievement, at the last, paid his respects to the great
metropolis; in all which places, by bills, prospectuses, advertisements,
and other expedients, the reading public were duly apprised of the "NEW
REVIEW, NEWSPAPER, and ANNUAL REGISTER," about to be published.
The good people, in all the towns through which Mr. Coleridge passed,
were electrified by his extraordinary eloquence. At this time, and during
the whole of his residence in Bristol, there was, in the strict sense,
little of the true, interchangeable conversation in Mr. C. On almost
every subject on which he essayed to speak, he made an impassioned
harangue of a quarter, or half an hour; so that inveterate talkers, while
Mr. Coleridge was on the wing, generally suspended their own flight, and
felt it almost a profanation to interrupt so impressive and mellifluous a
speaker. This singular, if not happy peculiarity, occasioned even Madame
de Stael to remark of Mr. C. that "He was rich in a Monologue, but poor
in a Dialogue."
From the brilliant volubility before noticed, admiration and astonishment
followed Mr. C. like a shadow, through the whole course of his
peregrinations. This new "Review, Newspaper, and Annual Register," was
largely patronized; for who would not give fourpence every eighth day, to
be furnished, by so competent a man as Mr. Coleridge, with this
quintessence, this concentration of all that was valuable, in Politics,
Criticism, and Literature; enriched in addition, with Poetry of the first
waters, luminous Essays, and other effusions of men of letters? So choice
a morçeau was the very thing that every body wanted; and, in the course
of his journey, subscriptions poured in to the extent of one thousand;
and Mr. C. on his return, after what might be called a triumph,
discovered the elasticity of his spirit; smiling at past depressions, and
now, on solid ground, anticipating ease, wealth, and fame.
The first of March arrived. The "Watchman" was published. Although
deprived of the pleasure of contributing to Mr. Coleridge's fund, I
determined to assist him in other ways, and that far more effectually. On
the publication of the first Number, besides my trouble in sending round
to so many subscribers,--with all the intense earnestness attending the
transaction of the most weighty concerns, it occupied Mr. Coleridge and
myself four full hours to arrange, reckon, (each pile being counted by
Mr. C. after myself, to be quite satisfied that there was no extra 3-1/2
d. one slipped in unawares,) pack up, and write invoices and letters for
the London and country customers, all expressed thus, in the true
mercantile style:
Bristol, March 1st, 1796.
Mr. Pritchard, (Derby)
Dr. to Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
To 73 No. 1 of the Watchman ... 3-1/2 d. ... £1 1 3-1/2
This routine was repeated with every fresh number. My part was zealously
and cheerfully discharged, with the encouraging hope that it would
essentially serve my anxious and valued friend. But all would not do!
A feeling of disappointment prevailed early and pretty generally, amongst
the subscribers. The Prospectus promised too much. In the Review
department, no one article appeared embodying any high order of talent.
The Newspaper section pleased no one, from the confined limits to which
the editor was restricted, independently of which, nearly all the
subscribers had seen the Debates in their length, through other mediums;
and yet this profitless part of the work gave most trouble to the
compiler. Its dulness, I know, fretted Mr. Coleridge exceedingly.[15]
The theory of publishing was delightful; but the exemplification--the
practice, proved, alas! teasing, if not tormenting. One pitiful
subscriber of fourpence, every eighth day, thought his boys did not
improve much under it. Another expected more from his "Annual Register!"
Another wanted more Reviews! Another, more Politics! and those a little
sharper. As the work proceeded, joys decreased, and perplexities
multiplied! added to which, subscribers rapidly fell off, debts were
accumulated and unpaid, till, at the Tenth Number, the Watchman at the
helm cried "Breakers" and the vessel stranded!--It being formally
announced, that "The work did not pay its expenses!"
The "Address to the readers of the Watchman," in the last page, was the
following:
"This is the last Number of the Watchman.--Henceforward I shall cease
to cry the state of the Political atmosphere. While I express my
gratitude to those friends who exerted themselves so liberally in the
establishment of this Miscellany, I may reasonably be expected to
assign some reason for relinquishing it thus abruptly. The reason is
short and satisfactory.--The work does not pay its expences. Part of
my subscribers have relinquished it, because it did not contain
sufficient original composition; and a still larger number, because
it contained too much. Those who took it in as a mere journal of
weekly events, must have been unacquainted with 'FLOWER'S CAMBRIDGE
INTELLIGENCER;' a Newspaper, the style and composition of which would
claim distinguished praise, even among the productions of literary
leisure; while it breathes everywhere the severest morality; fighting
fearlessly the good fight against tyranny, yet never unfaithful to
that religion, whose service is perfect freedom. Those, on the other
hand, who expected from it much and varied original composition, have
naturally relinquished it in favour of the 'NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE;' a
work which has almost monopolized the talent of the country, and with
which I should have continued a course of literary rivalship, with as
much success as might be expected to attend a young recruit, who
should oppose himself to a phalanx of disciplined warriors. Long may
it continue to deserve the support of the patriot and the
philanthropist; and while it teaches its readers NATIONAL LIBERTY,
prepare them for the enjoyment of it; strengthening the intellect by
SCIENCE, and softening our affections by the GRACES! To return to
myself. I have endeavoured to do well: and it must be attributed to
defect of ability, not of inclination or effort, if the words of the
Prophet be altogether applicable to me.
"O, Watchman! thou hast watched in vain."
Many readers will feel a concern in the arrangements and perplexities of
Mr. Coleridge at the time of publishing his "Watchman;" for he had a more
vital interest involved in the success of that work than he had,
individually, in the rise and fall of empires. When he returned from his
northern journey laden with subscribers, and with hope ripened into
confidence, all that had yet been done was the mere scaffolding; the
building was now to be erected. Soon after this time I received from Mr.
Coleridge the following letter.
"1796.
My ever dear Cottle,
I will wait on you this evening at 9 o'clock, till which hour I am on
"Watch." Your Wednesday's invitation I of course accept, but I am rather
sorry that you should add this expense to former liberalities.
Two editions of my Poems would barely repay you. Is it not possible to
get twenty-five, or thirty of the Poems ready by to-morrow, as Parsons,
of Paternoster Row, has written to me pressingly about them. 'People are
perpetually asking after them.' All admire the Poetry in the 'Watchman;'
he says, I can send them with one hundred "of the First Number," which he
has written for. I think if you were to send half a dozen 'Joans of Arc,'
[4to. £1. 1. 0] on sale or return, it would not be amiss. To all the
places in the North, we will send my 'Poems,' my 'Conciones,' and the
'Joans of Arc,' together, per waggon. You shall pay the carriage for the
London and the Birmingham parcels; I for the Sheffield, Derby,
Nottingham, Manchester, and Liverpool.
With regard to the Poems I mean to give away, I wish to make it a common
interest; that is, I will give away a sheet full of Sonnets. One to Mrs.
Barbauld; one to Wakefield; one to Dr. Beddoes: one to Wrangham, (a
College acquaintance of mine, an admirer of me, and a pitier of my
principles!) one to George Augustus Pollen, Esq. one to C. Lamb; one to
Wordsworth; one to my brother G. and one to Dr. Parr. These Sonnets I
mean to write on the blank leaf, respectively, of each copy.[16]
Concerning the paper for the 'Watchman,' I was vexed to hear your
proposal of trusting it to Biggs, who, if he undertook it at all, would
have a profit, which heaven knows, I cannot afford. My plan was, either
that you should write to your paper-maker, saying that you had
recommended him to me, and ordering for me twenty or forty reams, at a
half year's credit; or else, in your own name; in which case I would
transfer to you, Reed's[17] weekly account, amounting to 120 3-1/2 d's,
(or 35 shillings) and the Birmingham monthly account, amounting to £14. a
month.
God bless you,
and S. T. Coleridge."
This letter requires a few explanations. In recommending that Biggs, the
printer, should choose the paper, it was not designed for him to provide
it, which, had he been so requested, he would not have done, but merely
to select one, out of different samples to be submitted to him, as that
which he, as a printer, thought the best. This was explained to Mr. C. It
will be perceived, that Mr. Coleridge's two proposals were virtually one:
as, if I ordered the paper for myself or for another, the responsibility
would rest with me. The plain fact is, I purchased the whole of the paper
for the "Watchman," allowing Mr. C. to have it at prime cost, and
receiving small sums from him occasionally, in liquidation. I became
responsible, also, to Mr. B. for printing the work, by which means I
reduced the price per sheet, as a bookseller, (1000) from fifty shillings
to thirty five shillings. Mr. C. paid me for the paper in fractions, as
he found it convenient, but from the falling off of his own receipts, I
never received the whole. It was a losing concern altogether, and I was
willing to bear, uncomplaining, my proportion of the loss. There is some
difference between this statement, and that of Mr. Coleridge in his
"Biographia Literaria."[18] A defect of memory must have existed, arising
out of the lapse of twenty two years; but my notices, made at that time,
did not admit of mistake.
My loss was also augmented from another cause. Mr. C. states in the above
work, that his London publisher never paid him "one farthing," but "set
him at defiance." I also was more than his equal companion in this
misfortune. The thirty copies of Mr. C.'s poems, and the six "Joans of
Arc" (referred to in the preceding letter) found a ready sale, by this
said "indefatigable London publisher," and large and fresh orders were
received, so that Mr. Coleridge and myself participated in two very
opposite feelings, the one of exultation that our publications had found
_so good a sale_; and the other of _depression_, that the time of
_payment_ never arrived!
All the copies also, of Mr. C.'s Poems, and the "Joan's of Arc," which
were sent to the North, so far as I am concerned, shared the same fate. I
do not know that they were ever paid for. If they were, in combination
with other things, it was my wish that the entanglement should never be
unravelled, for who could take from Mr. C. any portion of his slender
remittances.
The most amusing appendage to this unfortunate "Miscellany," will now be
presented to the reader, in the seven following letters of Mr. Coleridge,
addressed to his friend Mr. Josiah Wade, and written in the progress of
his journey to collect subscribers for the "Watchman."
"Worcester, Jan. 1796.
My dear Wade,
We were five in number, and twenty-five, in quantity. The moment I
entered the coach, I stumbled on a huge projection, which might be called
a belly, with the same propriety that you might name Mount Atlas a
mole-hill. Heavens! that a man should be unconscionable enough to enter a
stage coach, who would want elbow room if he were walking on Salisbury
Plain!
This said citizen was a most violent aristocrat, but a pleasant humourous
fellow in other respects, and remarkably well-informed in agricultural
science; so that the time passed pleasantly enough. We arrived at
Worcester at half-past two: I of course dined at the inn, where I met Mr.
Stevens. After dinner I christianized myself; that is, washed and
changed, and marched in finery and cleanliness to High-Street. With
regard to business, there is no chance of doing any thing at Worcester.
The aristocrats are so numerous, and the influence of the clergy so
extensive, that Mr. Barr thinks no bookseller will venture to publish the
'Watchman.'
P.S. I hope and trust that the young citizeness is well, and also Mrs.
Wade. Give my love to the latter, and a kiss for me to little Miss
Bratinella.
S. T. Coleridge."
"Birmingham, Jan. 1796.
My dear friend,
... My exertions have been incessant, for in whatever company I go, I am
obliged to be the figurante of the circle. Yesterday I preached twice,
and, indeed, performed the whole service, morning and afternoon. There
were about fourteen hundred persons present, and my sermons (great part
extempore) were _preciously peppered with Politics_. I have here, at
least, double the number of subscribers, I had expected...."
"Nottingham, Jan. 7, 1796.
My dear friend,
You will perceive by this letter I have changed my route. From
Birmingham, on Friday last, (four o'clock in the morning) I proceeded to
Derby, stayed there till Monday morning, and am now at Nottingham. From
Nottingham I go to Sheffield; from Sheffield to Manchester; from
Manchester to Liverpool? from Liverpool to London, from London to
Bristol. Ah, what a weary way! My poor crazy ark has been tossed to and
fro on an ocean of business, and I long for the Mount Ararat on which it
is to rest. At Birmingham I was extremely unwell; a violent cold in my
head and limbs confined me for two days. Business succeeded very well;
about a hundred subscribers, I think.
At Derby, also, I succeeded tolerably well. Mr. Strutt, the successor of
Sir Richard Arkwright, tells me, I may count on forty or fifty in Derby.
Derby is full of curiosities; the cotton and silk mills; Wright, the
painter, and Dr. Darwin, the every thing but Christian! Dr. Darwin
possesses, perhaps, a greater range of knowledge than any other man in
Europe, and is the most inventive of philosophical men. He thinks in a
new train on all subjects but religion. He bantered me on the subject of
religion. I heard all his arguments, and told him, it was infinitely
consoling to me--to find that the arguments of so great a man, adduced
against the existence of a God and the evidences of revealed religion,
were such as had startled me at fifteen, but had become the objects of my
smile at twenty. Not one new objection; not even an ingenious one! He
boasted 'that he had never read one book in favour of such stuff! but
that he had read all the works of infidels.'
What would you think, Mr. Wade, of a man, who having abused and ridiculed
you, should openly declare, that he had heard all that your enemies had
to say against you, but had scorned to inquire the truth from any one of
your friends? Would you think him an honest man? I am sure you would not.
Yet such are all the infidels whom I have known. They talk of a subject,
yet are proud to confess themselves profoundly ignorant of it. Dr. Darwin
would have been ashamed to reject 'Hutton's Theory of the Earth,' without
having minutely examined it: yet what is it to us, how the earth was
made, a thing impossible to be known. This system the Dr. did not reject
without having severely studied it; but all at once he makes up his mind
on such important subjects, as, whether we be the outcasts of a blind
idiot, called Nature, or, the children of an All-wise and Infinitely Good
God! Whether we spend a few miserable years on this earth, and then sink
into a clod of the valley; or, endure the anxieties of mortal life, only
to fit us for the enjoyment of immortal happiness. These subjects are
unworthy a philosopher's investigation! He deems that there is a certain
self-evidence in Infidelity, and becomes an Atheist by intuition! Well
did St. Paul say, 'Ye have an evil heart of unbelief.'
... What lovely children Mr. Barr, of Worcester has! After church, in the
evening, they sat round and sung hymns, so sweetly that they overpowered
me. It was with great difficulty that I abstained from weeping aloud! and
the infant, in Mrs. B.'s. arms, leant forward, and stretched his little
arms, and stared, and smiled! It seemed a picture of heaven, where the
different orders of the blessed, join different voices in one melodious
hallelulia! and the babe like a young spirit just that moment arrived in
heaven, startled at the seraphic songs, and seized at once with wonder
and rapture!...
From your affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
"Sheffield, Jan. 1796.
My very dear friend,
I arrived at this place, late last night, by the mail from Nottingham,
where I have been treated with kindness and friendship, of which I can
give you but a faint idea. I preached a charity sermon there last sunday;
I preached in colored clothes. With regard to the gown at Birmingham (of
which you inquire) I suffered myself to be over-persuaded:--first of all,
my sermon being of so political a tendency, had I worn my blue coat, it
would have impugned Edwards. They would have said, he had stuck a
political lecturer in his pulpit. Secondly,--the society is of all sorts.
Unitarians, Arians, Trinitarians, &c.! and I must have shocked a
multitude of prejudices. And thirdly,--there is a difference between an
Inn, and a place of residence. In the first, your example, is of little
consequence; in a single instance only, it ceases to operate as example;
and my refusal would have been imputed to affectation, or an
unaccommodating spirit. Assuredly I would not do it in a place where I
intended to preach often. And even in the vestry at Birmingham, when they
at last persuaded me, I told them, I was acting against my better
knowledge, and should possibly feel uneasy after. So these accounts of
the matter you must consider as reasons and palliations, concluding, 'I
plead guilty my Lord!' Indeed I want firmness. I perceive I do. I have
that within me which makes it difficult to say, No! (repeatedly) to a
number of persons who seem uneasy and anxious....
My kind remembrances to Mrs. Wade. God bless her, and you, and (like a
bad shilling slipped in between two guineas.)
Your faithful and affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
Mr. Coleridge, in the course of his extensive journey, having had to act
the tradesman on rather an extended scale; conferring and settling with
all the booksellers in the respective towns, as to the means of
conveyance, allowance, remittances, &c. he thus wrote in a dejected mood,
to his friend Mr. Wade,--an unpropitious state of mind for a new
enterprise, and very different from those sanguine hopes which he had
expressed on other occasions.
"My dear friend,
... I succeeded very well here at Litchfield. Belcher, bookseller,
Birmingham; Sutton, Nottingham; Pritchard, Derby; and Thomson,
Manchester, are the publishers. In every number of the 'Watchman,' there
be printed these words, 'Published in Bristol, by the Author, S. T.
Coleridge, and sold, &c. &c.'
I verily believe no poor fellow's idea-pot ever bubbled up so vehemently
with fears, doubts and difficulties, as mine does at present. Heaven
grant it may not boil over, and put out the fire! I am almost heartless!
My past life seems to me like a dream, a feverish dream! all one gloomy
huddle of strange actions, and dim-discovered motives! Friendships lost
by indolence, and happiness murdered by mismanaged sensibility! The
present hour I seem in a quickset hedge of embarrassments! For shame! I
ought not to mistrust God! but indeed, to hope is far more difficult than
to fear. Bulls have horns, Lions have talons.
The Fox, and Statesman subtle wiles ensure,
The Cit, and Polecat stink and are secure:
Toads with their venom, Doctors with their drug,
The Priest, and Hedgehog, in their robes are snug!
Oh, Nature! cruel step-mother, and hard,
To thy poor, naked, fenceless child the Bard!
No Horns but those by luckless Hymen worn,
And those, (alas! alas!) not Plenty's Horn!
With naked feelings, and with aching pride,
He bears th' unbroken blast on every side!
Vampire booksellers drain him to the heart,
And Scorpion critics cureless venom dart![19]
S. T. C."
"Manchester, Jan. 7, 1796.
My dear friend,
I arrived at Manchester, last night, from Sheffield, to which place I
shall only send about thirty numbers. I might have succeeded there, at
least, equally well with the former towns, but I should injure the sale
of the 'Iris.' the editor of which Paper (a very amiable and ingenious
young man, of the name of 'James Montgomery') is now in prison, for a
libel on a bloody-minded magistrate there. Of course, I declined publicly
advertising or disposing of the 'Watchman' in that town.
This morning I called on Mr. ---- with H's letter. Mr. ---- received me
as a rider, and treated me with insolence that was really amusing from
its novelty. 'Overstocked with these Articles.' 'People always setting up
some new thing or other.' 'I read the Star and another paper; what can I
want with this paper, which is nothing more.' 'Well, well, I'll consider
of it.' To these entertaining bon mots, I returned the following
repartee,--'Good morning, sir.' ...
God bless you, S. T. C."
"Mosely, near Birmingham, 1796.
My very dear Wade,
Will it be any excuse to you for my silence, to say that I have written
to no one else, and that these are the very first lines I have written?
I stayed a day or two at Derby, and then went on in Mrs. ---- carriage to
see the beauties of Matlock. Here I stayed from Tuesday to Saturday,
which time was completely filled up with seeing the country, eating,
concerts, &c. I was the first fiddle, not in the concerts, but everywhere
else, and the company would not spare me twenty minutes together. Sunday
I dedicated to the drawing up my sketch of education, which I meant to
publish, to try to get a school.
Monday I accompanied Mrs. E. to Oakover, with Miss W.--, to the thrice
lovely valley of Ham; a vale hung by beautiful woods all round, except
just at its entrance, where, as you stand at the other end of the valley,
you see a bare, bleak mountain, standing as it were to guard the
entrance. It is without exception, the most beautiful place I ever
visited, and from thence we proceeded to Dove-Dale, without question
tremendously sublime. Here we dined in a cavern, by the side of a divine
little spring. We returned to Derby, quite exhausted with the rapid
succession of delightful emotions.
I was to have left Derby on Wednesday; but on the Wednesday, Dr.
Crompton, who had been at Liverpool, came home. He called on me, and made
the following offer. That if I would take a house in Derby, and open a
day-school, confining my number to twelve, he would send his three
children. That, till I had completed my number, he would allow me one
hundred a year; and and when I had completed it, twenty guineas a year
for each son. He thinks there is no doubt but that I might have more than
twelve in a very short time, if I liked it. If so, twelve times twenty
guineas is two hundred and forty guineas per annum; and my mornings and
evenings would be my own: the children coming to me from nine to twelve,
and from two to five: the two last hours employed with the writing and
drawing masters, in my presence: so that only four hours would be
thoroughly occupied by them. The plan to commence in November. I agreed
with the Doctor, he telling me, that if, in the mean time, anything more
advantageous offered itself, I was to consider myself perfectly at
liberty to accept it. On Thursday I left Derby for Burton. Prom Burton I
took chaise, slept at Litchfield, and in the morning arrived at my worthy
friend's, Mr. Thomas Hawkes, at Mosely, three miles from Birmingham, in
whose shrubbery I am now writing. I shall stay at Birmingham a week
longer.
I have seen a letter from Mr. William Roscoe, (Author of the life of
Lorenzo the magnificent; a work in two quarto volumes, of which the whole
first edition sold in a month) it was addressed to Mr. Edwards, the
minister here, and entirely related to me. Of me, and my composition, he
writes in terms of high admiration, and concludes by desiring Mr. Edwards
to let him know my situation and prospects, and saying, if I would come
and settle at Liverpool, he thought a comfortable situation might be
procured for me. This day Edwards will write to him.
God love you, and your grateful and affectionate friend, S. T. Coleridge.
N. B. I preached yesterday."
Mr. Coleridge, in the preceding letters, states his having preached
occasionally. There must have been a first sermon. It so happened that I
heard Mr. C. preach his first and also his second sermon, with some
account of which I shall now furnish the reader; and that without
concealment or embellishment. But it will be necessary, as an
illustration of the whole, to convey some previous information, which, as
it regards most men, would be too unimportant to relate.
When Mr. Coleridge first came to Bristol, he had evidently adopted, at
least to some considerable extent, the sentiments of Socinus. By persons
of that persuasion, therefore, he was hailed as a powerful accession to
their cause. From Mr. C.'s voluble utterance, it was even believed that
he might become a valuable Unitarian minister, (of which class of
divines, a great scarcity then existed, with a still more gloomy
anticipation, from most of the young academicians at their chief academy
having recently turned infidels.) But though this presumption in Mr.
Coleridge's favour was confidently entertained, no certainty could exist
without a trial, and how was this difficulty to be overcome? The
Unitarians in Bristol might have wished to see Mr. C. in their pulpit,
expounding and enforcing their faith; but, as they said, "the thing, in
Bristol, was altogether impracticable," from the conspicuous stand which
he had taken in free politics, through the medium of his numerous
lectures.[20]
It was then recollected by some of his anxious and importunate friends,
that Bath was near, and that a good judge of requisite qualifications was
to be found therein in the person of the Rev. David Jardine, with whom
some of Mr. C.'s friends were on terms of intimacy; so that it was
determined that Mr. Coleridge, as the commencement of his brilliant
career, should be respectfully requested to preach his inaugural
discourse in the Unitarian chapel at Bath.
The invitation having been given and accepted, I felt some curiosity to
witness the firmness with which he would face a large and enlightened
audience, and, in the intellectual sense, grace his canonical robes. No
conveyance having been provided, and wishing the young ecclesiastic to
proceed to the place of his exhibition with some decent respectability, I
agreed with a common friend, the late Mr. Charles Danvers, to take Mr. C.
over to Bath in a chaise.
The morning of the important day unfolded, and in due time we arrived at
the place of our destination. When on the way to the chapel, a man
stopped Charles Danvers, and asked him if he could tell where the Rev.
Mr. Coleridge preached. "Follow the crowd," said Danvers, and walked on.
Mr. C. wore his blue coat and white waistcoat; but what was Mr. Jardine's
surprise, when he found that his young probationer peremptorily refused
to wear the hide-all sable gown! Expostulation was unavailing, and the
minister ascended to the pulpit in his coloured clothes!
Considering that it had been announced on the preceding Sunday, that "the
Rev. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Cambridge University" would preach
there on this day, we naturally calculated on an overflowing audience,
but it proved to be the most meagre congregation I had ever seen. The
reader will but imperfectly appreciate Mr. C.'s discourse, without the
previous information that this year (1796) was a year of great scarcity,
and consequent privation, amongst the poor; on which subject the sermon
was designed impressively to bear. And now the long-expected service
commenced.
The prayer, without being intended, was formal, unimpressive, and
undevotional; the singing was languid; but we expected that the sermon
would arouse the inattentive, and invigorate the dull. The moment for
announcing the text arrived. Our curiosity was excited. With little less
than famine in the land, our hearts were appalled at hearing the words,
"When they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their
king, and their God, and look upward." (Isaiah viii. 21.) Mr.
Winterbotham, a little before, had been thrown into prison for the
freedom of his political remarks in a sermon at Plymouth, and we were
half fearful whether in his impetuous current of feeling, some stray
expressions might not subject our friend to a like visitation. Our fears
were groundless. Strange as it may appear in Mr. Coleridge's vigorous
mind, the whole discourse consisted of little more than a Lecture on the
Corn Laws! which some time before he had delivered in Bristol, at the
Assembly Boom.
Returning from our edifying discourse to a tavern dinner, we were
privileged with more luminous remarks on this inexhaustible subject: but
something better (or worse, as the reader's taste may be) is still in
reserve. After dinner, Mr. Coleridge remarked that he should have no
objection to preach another sermon that afternoon. In the hope that
something redeeming might still appear, and the best be retained for the
last, we encouraged his proposal, when he rang the bell, and on the
waiter appearing, he was sent, with Mr. Coleridge's compliments, to the
Rev. Mr. Jardine, to say "If agreeable, Mr. C. would give his
congregation another sermon, this afternoon, on the Hair Powder Tax!"[21]
On the departure of the waiter, I was fully assured that Mr. Jardine
would smile, and send a civil excuse, satisfied that he had had quite
enough of political economy, with blue coat and white waistcoat, in the
morning; but to my great surprise, the waiter returned with Mr. Jardine's
compliments, saying, "he should be happy to hear Mr. Coleridge!"
Now all was hurry lest the concourse should be kept waiting. What
surprise will the reader feel, on understanding that, independently of
ourselves and Mr. Jardine, there were but seventeen persons present,
including men, women, and children! We had, as we expected, a
recapitulation of the old lecture, with the exception of its humorous
appendages, in reprobation of the Hair Powder Tax; and the twice-told
tale, even to the ear of friendship, in truth sounded rather dull!
Two or three times Mr. C. looked significantly toward our seat, when
fearful of being thrown off my guard into a smile, I held down my head,
from which position I was aroused, when the sermon was about half over,
by some gentleman throwing back the door of his pew, and walking out of
the chapel. In a few minutes after, a second individual did the same; and
soon after a third door flew open, and the listener escaped! At this
moment affairs looked so very ominous, that we were almost afraid Mr.
Jardine himself would fly, and that none but ourselves would fairly sit
it out. A little before, I had been in company with the late Robert Hall,
and S. T. Coleridge, when the collision of equal minds elicited light and
heat; both of them ranking in the first class of conversationalists, but
great indeed was the contrast between them in the pulpit. The parlour was
the element for Mr. Coleridge, and the politician's lecture, rather than
the minister's harangue. We all returned to Bristol with the feeling of
disappointment;--Mr. C. from the little personal attention paid to him by
Mr. Jardine; and we, from a dissatisfying sense of a Sunday desecrated.
Although no doubt can be entertained of Mr. Coleridge having, in the
journey before noticed, surpassed his first essay, yet, with every
reasonable allowance, the conviction was so strong on my mind that Mr. C.
had mistaken his talent, that my regard for him was too genuine to
entertain the wish of ever again seeing him in a pulpit.
It is unknown when the following letter was received, (although quite
certain that it was not the evening in which Mr. Coleridge wrote his "Ode
to the Departing Year,") and it is printed in this place at something of
an uncertainty.[22]
"January 1st.
My dear Cottle,
I have been forced to disappoint not only you, but Dr. Beddoes, on an
affair of some importance. Last night I was induced by strong and joint
solicitation, to go to a card-club, to which Mr. Morgan belongs, and,
after the playing was over, to sup, and spend the remainder of the night:
having made a previous compact, that I should not drink; however just on
the verge of twelve, I was desired to drink only one wine glass of punch,
in honour of the departing year; and, after twelve, one other in honour
of the new year. Though the glasses were very small, yet such was the
effect produced during my sleep, that I awoke unwell, and in about twenty
minutes after had a relapse of my bilious complaint. I am just now
recovered, and with care, I doubt not, shall be as well as ever
to-morrow. If I do not see you then, it will be from some relapse, which
I have no reason, thank heaven, to anticipate.
Yours affectionately,
S. T. Coleridge."
In consequence of Mr. Coleridge's journey to the north, to collect
subscribers for the "Watchman," an incident occurred, which produced a
considerable effect on his after life. During Mr. C.'s visit to
Birmingham, an accident had introduced him to the eldest son of Mr.
Lloyd, the eminent banker of that town. Mr. Lloyd had intended his son
Charles to unite with him in the bank, but the monotonous business of the
establishment, ill accorded with the young man's taste, which had taken a
decidedly literary turn. If the object of Charles Lloyd had been to
accumulate wealth, his disposition might have been gratified to the
utmost, but the tedious and unintellectual occupation of adjusting
pounds, shillings, and pence, suited, he thought, those alone who had
never, eagle-like, gazed at the sun, or bathed their temples in the dews
of Parnassus. The feelings of this young man were ardent; his reading and
information extensive; and his genius, though of a peculiar cast,
considerable. His mind appeared, however, subject to something of that
morbid sensibility which distinguished Cowper. The admiration excited in
Mr. L. by Mr. Coleridge's pre-eminent talents, induced him to relinquish
his connexion with the bank; and he had now arrived in Bristol to seek
Mr. C. out, and to improve his acquaintance with him.
To enjoy the enviable privilege of Mr. Coleridge's conversation, Mr.
Lloyd proposed even to domesticate with him; and made him such a
pecuniary offer, that Mr. C. immediately acceded to the proposal; and to
effect this, as an essential preliminary, removed from Redcliff-hill, to
a house on Kingsdown.
In this his new abode, Mr. Coleridge appeared settled and comfortable.
Friends were kind and numerous. Books, of all kinds, were at his command.
Of the literary society now found in Bristol, he expressed himself in
terms of warm approval, and thought, in this feature, that it was
surpassed by no city in the kingdom. His son Hartley, also, was now born;
and no small accession to his comfort arose from his young and
intelligent domestic associate, Charles Lloyd. This looked something like
permanence; but the promise was fallacious, for Mr. Coleridge now
experienced another removal.
His friend, Mr. Thomas Poole, of Nether Stowey, near Bridgwater, was
desirous of obtaining Mr. C. again, as a permanent neighbour, and
recommended him to take a small house at Stowey, then to be let, at seven
pounds a year, which he thought would well suit him. Mr. Poole's personal
worth; his friendly and social manners; his information, and taste for
literature; all this, combined with the prospect of a diminished expense
in his establishment, unitedly, formed such powerful inducements, that
Mr. C. at once decided, and the more so, as Mr. Lloyd had consented to
accompany him. To this place, consequently, the whole party repaired.
On Mr. Coleridge reaching his new abode, I was gratified by receiving
from him the following letter.
"Stowey, 1796.
My dear Cottle,
We arrived safe. Our house is set to rights. We are all--wife, bratling,
and self, remarkably well. Mrs. Coleridge likes Stowey, and loves Thomas
Poole and his mother, who love her. A communication has been made from
our orchard into T. Poole's garden, and from thence to Cruikshank's, a
friend of mine, and a young married man, whose wife is very amiable, and
she and Sara are already on the most cordial terms; from all this you
will conclude we are happy. By-the-bye, what a delightful poem, is
Southey's 'Musings on a Landscape of Gaspar Poussin.' I love it almost
better than his 'Hymn to the Penates.' In his volume of poems. The
following, namely,
'The Six Sonnets on the Slave Trade.--The Ode to the Genius of
Africa.--To my own Miniature Picture.--The Eight
Inscriptions.--Elinor, Botany-bay Eclogue.--Frederick, ditto.--The
Ten Sonnets, (pp. 107-116.) On the death of an Old Spaniel.--The
Soldier's Wife, Dactylics.--The Widow, Sapphics.--The Chapel
Bell.--The Race of Banco. Rudiger.'
All these Poems are worthy the Author of 'Joan of Arc.' And
'The Musings on a Landscape,' &c. and
'The Hymn to the Penates,'
deserve to have been published after 'Joan of Arc,' as proofs of
progressive genius.
God bless you,
S. T. C."
The account of Mr. Coleridge's residence at Stowey, lies in the
department of another; although he occasionally visited Bristol, with
Mrs. C., as engagements or inclination prompted; some notice of which
visits will here be taken.
Mr. Charles Lloyd was subject to fits, to one of which the second
following letter refers. In the above letter Mr. C. pronounces himself
happy, but as no condition, in this changeable world, is either perfect
happiness or misery, so the succeeding letter presents Mr. C.
over-powered, almost, with a feeling of despondency! The calculation of
the course which genius, combined with eccentricity, would be likely to
pursue, must be attended with uncertainty, but the probability is, that
had Mr. C's mind been easy at this time, surrounded by domestic quiet and
comparative seclusion, he might have been equal to any intellectual
achievement; but soon after he settled at Stowey, he was reduced to the
most prostrate state of depression, arising purely from the darkness of
his pecuniary horizon. Happily for the reader, a brief mental respite
succeeded, in which, if trouble existed, the letter which expressed that
trouble, soon exhibits him (half forgetful) expatiating in those
comprehensive surveys of possible excellence which formed the habit of
his mind.
"Stowey, 1796.
My dearest Cottle,
I love and respect you as a brother, and my memory deceives me woefully,
if I have not evidenced, by the animated tone of my conversation when we
have been tete a tete, how much your conversation interested me. But when
last in Bristol, the day I meant to devote to you, was such a day of
sadness, I could do nothing. On the Saturday, the Sunday, and ten days
after my arrival at Stowey, I felt a depression too dreadful to be
described.
So much I felt my genial spirits droop,
My hopes all flat; Nature within me seemed
In all her functions, weary of herself,
Wordsworth's[23] conversation aroused me somewhat, but even now I am not
the man I have been, and I think I never shall. A sort of calm
hopelessness diffuses itself over my heart. Indeed every mode of life
which has promised me bread and cheese, has been, one after another, torn
away from me, but God remains. I have no immediate pecuniary distress,
having received ten pounds from Lloyd. I employ myself now on a book of
morals in answer to Godwin, and on my tragedy.
* * * * *
There are some poets who write too much at their ease, from the facility
with which they please themselves. They do not often enough
'Feel their burdened breast
Heaving beneath incumbent Deity.'
So that to posterity their wreaths will look unseemly. Here, perhaps, an
everlasting Amaranth, and, close by its side, some weed of an hour, sere,
yellow, and shapeless. Their very beauties will lose half their effect,
from the bad company they keep. They rely too much on story and event, to
the neglect of those lofty imaginings that are peculiar to, and definite
of the Poet.
The story of Milton might be told in two pages. It is this which
distinguishes an epic poem from a romance in metre. Observe the march of
Milton; his severe application; his laborious polish; his deep
metaphysical researches; his prayer to God before he began his great
work; all that could lift and swell his intellect, became his daily food.
I should not think of devoting less than twenty years to an epic poem.
Ten years to collect materials and warm my mind with universal science. I
would be a tolerable Mathematician. I would thoroughly understand
Mechanics; Hydrostatics; Optics, and Astronomy; Botany; Metallurgy;
Fossilism; Chemistry; Geology; Anatomy; Medicine; then the mind of man;
then the minds of men, in all Travels, Voyages, and Histories. So I would
spend ten years; the next five in the composition of the poem, and the
five last in the correction of it. So would I write, haply not unhearing
of that divine and nightly-whispering voice, which speaks to mighty
minds, of predestinated garlands, starry and unwithering.[24]
God love you.
S. T. Coleridge.
P. S. David Hartley is well and grows. Sara is well, and desires a
sister's love to you."
In the spirit of impartiality, it now devolves on me to state a temporary
misunderstanding between even the two Pantisocratans; Mr. Coleridge and
Mr. Southey! The affair occurred in the autumn of 1795, but it could not
be noticed at that time, without interrupting the narrative.
It is difficult to assign any other reason for the wild scheme of
Pantisocracy, than the inexperience of youth, acting on sanguine
imaginations. At its first announcement, every reflecting mind saw that
the plan, in its nature, and in the agents who were to carry it into
effect, was liable to insurmountable objections; but the individuals with
whom the design originated, were young, ardent, and enthusiastic, and at
that time entertained views of society erroneous in themselves, and which
experience alone could correct. The fullest conviction was entertained by
their friends, that as reason established itself in their minds, the
delusion would vanish; and they themselves soon smile at extravagances
which none but their own ingenious order of minds could have devised; but
when the dissension occurred, before noticed, at Chepstow, Mr. Southey
must have had conviction flashed on his mind, that the habits of himself
and his friend were so essentially opposed, as to render harmony and
success impossible.
Mr. Southey now informed Mr. Coleridge, that circumstances, and his own
views had so altered, as to render it necessary for him candidly to state
that he must abandon Pantisocracy, and the whole scheme of colonizing in
America; and that he should accept an invitation from his uncle, to
accompany him through Spain to Lisbon. The reader has had cause to
believe that Mr. C. himself had relinquished this wild plan, but it was
by implication, rather than by direct avowal. Perhaps, in the frustration
of so many of his present designs, a latent thought might linger in his
mind, that America, after all, was to be the fostering asylum, where,
alone, unmingled felicity was to be found. The belief is hardly
admissible, and yet the admission, extravagant as it is, derives some
support from the unexpected effect produced on him by the disclosure of
his friend.
On this announcement, or soon after, a tumult of fearful intensity arose
in Mr. Coleridge's mind, which filled the whole circle of their friends
with grief and dismay. This unexpected effect, perhaps, may be ascribed
to the consciousness now first seriously awakened, of the erroneous
principles on which all his calculations had been founded. He perceived
at length, (it may be) that he had been pursuing a phantom; and the
conviction must have been associated with self-upbraidings. It is
commonly found, that the man who is dissatisfied with himself, is seldom
satisfied long with those around him; and these compound and accumulated
feelings must necessarily be directed against some object. At this
brain-crazing moment, the safety-valve of feeling was Mr. Southey.
Being familiar with the whole affair, I completely justified Mr. S. as
having acted with the strictest honour and propriety, and in such a way
as any wise man, under such circumstances, would have acted. The great
surprise with their friends was, that the crisis should not have occurred
earlier, as a result certain to take place, and delayed alone by the
vivid succession of objects that gave, it must be said, a temporary
suspension to the full exercise of their understandings. Justice to Mr.
S. requires it to be stated, that he acted purely on the defensive;
adopting no epithets, and repelling offensive accusations and
expressions, with sober argument and remonstrance alone. I spoke to each
in succession, and laboured to procure a reconciliation; but oil and
water would sooner have united than the accuser and the accused.
This difference occurred only two or three days before Mr. S. set off on
his Spanish and Portuguese expedition. During his absence, the fire lay
smouldering, and on his return to England, in May, 1796, the
conflagration was renewed. Charges of "desertion," flew thick around; of
"dishonourable retraction, in a compact the most binding"--I again spoke
to Mr. Coleridge, and endeavoured to soften his asperity. I also wrote to
Mr. Southey, and expressed a hope, that if he found it impossible at the
present moment to return to cordiality, he would at least consent when he
met Mr. Coleridge, to restrain the indignant look, which was painfully
manifest on both countenances.
The most pleasant part of the narrative will now be unfolded. Mr.
Coleridge and Mr. Southey met at the house of a relation when, without
explanation, the relentings of nature threw them silently into each
other's arms! I knew nothing of this happy reconciliation, the first
intimation of which was their calling on me, arm in arm, after having
taken a pleasant walk together into the country. Each seemed to relish
the surprise and the delight which it was impossible for me to conceal;
and I had reason afterwards to think, that this sprightly scene was a
preconcerted arrangement to heighten the stage-effect. I shall now
withdraw the reader's attention from Mr. Southey, and proceed with the
narrative of Mr. Coleridge.
When Mr. Southey departed for the continent, Mr. Coleridge repaired to
his own calm retreat at Stowey, from which place he sent me the following
letter.
"Stowey, 1796.
Dear Cottle,
I write under great agony of mind, Charles Lloyd being very ill. He has
been seized with his fits three times in the space of seven days: and
just as I was in bed last night, I was called up again; and from twelve
o'clock at night, to five this morning, he remained in one continued
state of agonized delirium. What with bodily toil, exerted in repressing
his frantic struggles, and what with the feelings of agony for his
sufferings, you may suppose that I have forced myself from bed, with
aching temples, and a feeble frame....
We offer petitions, not as supposing we influence the Immutable; but
because to petition the Supreme Being, is the way most suited to our
nature, to stir up the benevolent affections in our hearts. Christ
positively commands it, and in St. Paul you will find unnumbered
instances of prayer for individual blessings; for kings, rulers, &c. &c.
We indeed should all join to our petitions: 'But thy will be done,
Omniscient, All-loving Immortal God!'
Believe me to have towards you, the inward and spiritual gratitude and
affection, though I am not always an adept in the outward and visible
signs.
God bless you,
S. T. C."
A letter written by Mr. Coleridge to Miss Cruikshanks, living near Stowey
during Mr. C.'s residence at that place, exhibits the law of association
in a new light; and shows the facility with which ingenious men can
furnish excuses, at all times, for doing that which they desire.
"Dear Mary,
I wandered on so thought-bewildered, that it is no wonder I became
way-bewildered; however, seeing a road-post, in two places, with the
name, 'Stowey;' one by some water and a stone-bridge, and another on a
tree, at the top of the ascent, I concluded I was only gone a new way,
when coming to a place where four roads met, I turned to my left, merely
because I saw some houses, and found myself at Plansfield. Accordingly, I
turned upward, and as I knew I must pay a farewell visit to Ashhalt, I
dined with the B--s', and arrived at Stowey, just before dark.
I did not lose my way then, though I confess that Mr. B. and myself,
disobedient to the voice of the ladies, had contrived to finish two
bottles of Port between us, to which I added two glasses of mead. All
this was in consequence of conversing about John Cruikshanks' coming
down. Now John Cruikshanks' idea being regularly associated in Mr. B.'s
mind, with a second bottle, and S. T. C. being associated with John
Cruikshanks, the second bottle became associated with the idea, and
afterwards with the body of S. T. C. by necessity of metaphysical law, as
you may see in the annexed figure, or diagram.
[Illustration:
Second Bottle. B
[Image of bottle.]
/\
/ \
/ \
/ \
/ \
J. C./__________\ S. T. C.]
God bless you,
S. T. C."
Miss Cruikshanks has favored me with a letter of Mr. Coleridge to
herself, explanatory of his political principles, when he had receded in
a good measure from the sentiments pervading his "Conciones ad Populum."
This letter was written at a later period, but is made to follow the
preceding, to preserve a continuity of subject.
Miss C. it appears, had lent the first edition of Mr. Coleridge's poems
to Lady Elizabeth Perceval,[25] in some parts of which volume the
sentiments of an earlier day were rather too prominently displayed. To
counteract the effect such parts were calculated to produce, Mr.
Coleridge wrote the following letter, in the hope that by being shown to
her ladyship, it might efface from her mind any unfavorable impression
she might have received. In this letter he also rather tenderly refers to
his American scheme.
(No date, supposed to be 1803.)
"My dear Miss Cruikshanks,
With the kindest intentions, I fear you have done me some little
disservice, in borowing the first edition of my poems from Miss B--. I
never held any principles indeed, of which, considering my age, I have
reason to be ashamed. The whole of my public life may be comprised in
eight or nine months of my 22nd year; and the whole of my political sins
during that time, consisted in forming a plan of taking a large farm in
common, in America, with other young men of my age. A wild notion indeed,
but very harmless.
As to my principles, they were, at all times, decidedly anti-jacobin and
anti-revolutionary, and my American scheme is a proof of this. Indeed at
that time, I seriously held the doctrine of passive obedience, though a
violent enemy of the first war. Afterwards, and for the last ten years of
my life, I have been fighting incessantly in the good cause, against
French ambition, and Trench principles; and I had Mr. Addington's
suffrage, as to the good produced by my Essays, written in the Morning
Post, in the interval of the peace of Amiens, and the second war,
together with my two letters to Mr. Fox.[26]
Of my former errors, I should be no more ashamed, than of my change of
body, natural to increase of age; but in that first edition, there was
inserted (without my consent!) a Sonnet to Lord Stanhope, in direct
contradiction, equally, to my _then_, as to my present principles. A
Sonnet written by me in ridicule and mockery of the bloated style of
French Jacobinical declamation, and inserted by Biggs, (the fool of a
printer,) in order forsooth, that he might send the book, and a letter to
Earl Stanhope; who, to prove that he was not mad in all things, treated
both book and letter with silent contempt.[27] I have therefore sent Mr.
Poole's second edition, and if it be in your power, I could wish you to
read the 'dedication to my brother,' at the beginning, to Lady E.
Perceval, to obtain whose esteem, so far at least as not to be confounded
with the herd of vulgar mob flatterers, I am not ashamed to confess
myself solicitous.
I would I could be with you, and your visitors. Penelope, you know, is
very high in my esteem. With true warmth of heart, she joins more
strength of understanding; and, to steady principle, more variety of
accomplishments, than it has often been my lot to meet with among the
fairer sex. When I praise one woman to another I always mean a compliment
to both. My tenderest regards to your dear mother, whom I really long to
spend a few hours with, and believe me with sincere good wishes, Yours,
&c.
S. T. Coleridge."
Fragment of a Theological letter of Mr. Coleridge, date unknown.
... The declaration that the Deity is "the sole Operant" (Religious
Musings) is indeed far too bold: may easily be misconstrued into
Spinosism; and, therefore, though it is susceptible of a pious and
justifiable interpretation, I should by no means now use such a phrase. I
was very young when I wrote that poem, and my religious feelings were
more settled than my theological notions.
As to eternal punishments, I can only say, that there are many passages
in Scripture, and these not metaphorical, which declare that all flesh
shall be finally saved; that the word _aionios_ is indeed used sometimes
when eternity must be meant, but so is the word 'Ancient of Days,' yet it
would be strange reasoning to affirm, that therefore, the word ancient
must always mean eternal. The literal meaning of '_aionios_' is, 'through
ages;' that is indefinite; beyond the power of imagination to bound. But
as to the effects of such a doctrine, I say, First,--that it would be
more pious to assert nothing concerning it, one way or the other.
Ezra says well, 'My Son, meditate on the rewards of the righteous, and
examine not over-curiously into the fate of the wicked. (This apocryphal
Ezra is supposed to have been written by some Christian in the first age
of Christianity.) Second,--that however the doctrine is now broached, and
publicly preached by a large and increasing sect, it is no longer
possible to conceal it from such persons as would be likely to read and
understand the 'Religious Musings.' Third.--That if the offers of eternal
blessedness; if the love of God; if gratitude; if the fear of punishment,
unknown indeed as to its kind and duration, but declared to be
unimaginably great; if the possibility, nay, the probability, that this
punishment may be followed by annihilation, not final happiness, cannot
divert men from wickedness to virtue; I fear there will be no charm in
the word Eternal.
Fourth, that it is a certain fact, that scarcely any believe eternal
punishment practically with relation to themselves. They all hope in
God's mercy, till they make it a presumptuous watch-word for religious
indifference. And this, because there is no medium in their faith,
between blessedness and misery,--infinite in degree and duration; which
latter they do not practically, and with their whole hearts, believe. It
is opposite to their clearest views of the divine attributes; for God
cannot be vindictive, neither therefore can his punishments be founded on
a vindictive principle. They must be, either for amendment, or warning
for others; but eternal punishment precludes the idea of amendment, and
its infliction, after the day of judgment, when all not so punished shall
be divinely secured from the possibility of falling, renders the notion
of warning to others inapplicable.
The Catholics are far more afraid of, and incomparably more influenced in
their conduct by, the doctrine of purgatory, than Protestants by that of
hell! That the Catholics practise more superstitions than morals, is the
effect of other doctrines. Supererogation; invocation of saints; power of
relics, &c. &c. and not of Purgatory, which can only act as a general
motive, to what must depend on other causes.
Fifth, and lastly.--It is a perilous state in which a christian stands,
if he has gotten no further, than to avoid evil from the fear of hell!
This is no part of the Christian religion, but a preparatory awakening of
the soul: a means of dispersing those gross films which render the eye of
the spirit incapable of any religion, much less of such a faith as that
of the love of Christ.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, but perfect love
shutteth out fear. It is sufficient for the utmost fervour of gratitude
that we are saved from punishments, too great to be conceived; but our
salvation is surely not complete, till by the illumination from above, we
are made to know 'the exceeding sinfulness of sin,' and that horribleness
in its nature, which, while it involves all these frightful consequences,
is yet, of itself more affrightful to a regenerated soul than those
consequences. To him who but for a moment felt the influence of God's
presence, the thought of eternal exclusion from the sense of that
presence, would be the worst hell his imagination could conceive.
N.B. I admit of no right, no claim of a creature on its Creator. I speak
only of hopes and of faith deduced from inevitable reason, the gift of
the Creator; from his acknowledged attributes. Above all, immortality is
a free gift, which we neither do, nor can deserve....
S. T. C."
To descend now to humbler things.
There are persons who will be interested in learning how the bard and his
bookseller managed their great pecuniary affairs. A second edition of Mr.
Coleridge's poems being demanded, I was under no obligation, the
copy-right being mine, in publishing a second edition, to make Mr.
Coleridge any payment, alterations or additions being optional with him:
but in his circumstances, and to show that my desire was to consider Mr.
C. even more than myself, I promised him, on the sale of the second
edition of 500, twenty guineas. The following was his reply: (not viewing
the subject quite in the right light; but this was of little
consequence.)
"Stowey, Oct. 18th, 1796.
My dear Cottle,
I have no mercenary feelings, I verily believe; but I hate bartering at
any time, and with any person; with you it is absolutely intolerable. I
clearly perceive that by giving me twenty guineas, on the sale of the
second edition, you will get little or nothing by the additional poems,
unless they should be sufficiently popular to reach a third edition,
which soars above our wildest expectations. The only advantage you can
derive therefore from the purchase of them on such terms, is, simply,
that my poetry is more likely to sell when the whole may be had in one
volume, price 5s., than when it is scattered in two volumes; the one 4s.,
the other possibly 3s. In short, you will get nothing directly, but only
indirectly, from the probable circumstance, that these additional poems
added to the former, will give a more rapid sale to the second edition
than could otherwise be expected, and cause it possibly to be reviewed at
large. Add to this, that by omitting every thing political, I widen the
sphere of my readers. So much for you. Now for myself. You must see,
Cottle, that whatever money I should receive from you, would result from
the circumstances that would give me the same, or more--if I published
them on my own account. I mean the sale of the poems. I can therefore
have no motive to make such conditions with you, except the wish to omit
poems unworthy of me, and the circumstance that our separate properties
would aid each other by the union; and whatever advantage this might be
to me, it would, of course, be equally so to you. The only difference
between my publishing the poems on my own account, and yielding them up
to you; the only difference I say, independent of the above stated
differences, is, that, in one case, I retain the property for ever, in
the other case, I lose it after two editions.
However, I am not solicitous to have any thing omitted, except the sonnet
to Lord Stanhope and the ludicrous poem; I should like to publish the
best pieces together, and those of secondary splendour, at the end of the
volume, and think this is the best quietus of the whole affair.
Yours affectionately,
S. T. Coleridge."
In consequence of a note received from Mr. Coleridge, I called at the
Bristol Library, where I found Mr. George Catcott, the Sub-Librarian,
much excited. "See," said he, immediately I entered the room, "here is a
letter I have just received from Mr. Coleridge. Pray look at it." I read
it. "Do you mean to give the letter to me, with its ponderous contents?"
I said. "O yes, take it," he replied. This gift enables me to lay the
letter in question before the reader. Mr. George Catcott though of
singular manners, was a person of worth. He was the patron of Chatterton,
and chiefly through his efforts, the Poems of "Rowley" were preserved.
"Stowey, May, 1797.
My dear Cottle,
I have sent a curious letter to George Catcott. He has altogether made me
pay five shillings! for postage, by his letters sent all the way to
Stowey, requiring me to return books to the Bristol Library....
"Mr. Catcott,
I beg your acceptance of all the enclosed letters. You must not think
lightly of the present, as they cost me, who am a very poor man, five
shillings.
With respect to the 'Bruck. Hist. Crit,' although by accident they were
registered on the 23d of March, yet they were not removed from the
Library for a fortnight after; and when I received your first letter, I
had had the books just three weeks. Our learned and ingenious Committee
may read through two quartos, that is, one thousand and four hundred
pages of close printed Latin and Greek, in three weeks, for aught I know
to the contrary. I pretend to no such intenseness of application, or
rapidity of genius.
I must beg you to inform me, by Mr. Cottle, what length of time is
allowed by the rules and customs of our institution for each book.
Whether their contents, as well as their size, are consulted, in
apportioning the time; or whether, customarily, any time at all is
apportioned, except when the Committee, in individual cases, choose to
deem it proper. I subscribe to your library, Mr. Catcott, not to read
novels, or books of quick reading and easy digestion, but to get books
which I cannot get elsewhere,--books of massy knowledge; and as I have
few books of my own, I read with a common-place book, so that if I be not
allowed a longer period of time for the perusal of such books, I must
contrive to get rid of my subscription, which would be a thing perfectly
useless, except so far as it gives me an opportunity of reading your
little expensive notes and letters.
Yours in Christian fellowship,
S. T. Coleridge."
Mr. C. was now preparing for a second edition of his Poems, and had sent
the order in which they were to be printed, with the following letter,
accompanying two new Poems.
"Stowey, Friday Morning.
My dear Cottle.
... If you do not like the following verses, or if you do not think them
worthy of an edition in which I profess to give nothing but my choicest
fish, picked, gutted, and cleaned, please to get some one to write them
out and send them, with my compliments, to the editor of the New Monthly
Magazine. But if you think of them as I do (most probably from parental
dotage for my last born) let them immediately follow 'The Kiss.'
God love you,
S. T. C."
TO AN UNFORTUNATE YOUNG WOMAN.
WHOM I HAD KNOWN IN THE DAYS OF HER INNOCENCE.
Maiden! that with sullen brow,
Sitt'st behind those virgins gay;
Like a scorched, and mildew'd bough,
Leafless mid the blooms of May.
Inly gnawing, thy distresses
Mock those starts of wanton glee;
And thy inmost soul confesses
Chaste Affection's majesty.
Loathing thy polluted lot,
Hie thee, Maiden! hie thee hence!
Seek thy weeping mother's cot,
With a wiser innocence!
Mute the Lavrac[28] and forlorn
While she moults those firstling plumes
That had skimm'd the tender corn,
Or the bean-field's od'rous blooms;
Soon with renovating wing,
Shall she dare a loftier flight,
Upwards to the day-star sing,
And embathe in heavenly light.
ALLEGORICAL LINES ON THE SAME SUBJECT.
Myrtle Leaf, that, ill besped,
Pinest in the gladsome ray,
Soiled beneath the common tread,
Far from thy protecting spray;
When the scythes-man o'er his sheaf,
Caroll'd in the yellow vale,
Sad, I saw thee, heedless leaf,
Love the dalliance of the gale.
Lightly didst thou, poor fond thing!
Heave and flutter to his sighs
While the flatterer on his wing,
Woo'd, and whisper'd thee to rise.
Gaily from thy mother stalk
Wert thou danced and wafted high;
Soon on this unsheltered walk,
Hung to fade, and rot, and die!
The two poems as printed in Mr. Coleridge's edition of 1835, here follow,
which by being compared with the same poems, in their preceding original
form, will exhibit a study, particularly to the Poet.[29]
ON AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN AT THE THEATRE.
_With Mr. Coleridge's last corrections_.
Maiden, that with sullen brow
Sitt'st behind those virgins gay,
Like a scorched and mildew'd bough,
Leafless mid the blooms of May.
Him who lured thee and forsook,
Oft I watch'd with angry gaze,
Fearful saw his pleading look,
Anxious heard his fervid phrase.
Soft the glances of the youth,
Soft his speech, and soft his sigh;
But no sound like simple truth,
But no true love in his eye.
Loathing thy polluted lot,
Hie thee, maiden, hie thee hence!
Seek thy weeping mother's cot,
With a wiser innocence.
Thou hast known deceit and folly,
Thou hast felt that vice is woe;
With a musing melancholy,
Inly armed, go, maiden! go.
Mother, sage of self dominion,
Firm thy steps, O melancholy!
The strongest plume in wisdom's pinion
Is the memory of past folly.
Mute the sky-lark and forlorn
While she moults the firstling plumes,
That had skimm'd the tender corn,
Or the bean-field's odorous blooms.
Soon with renovated wing,
Shall she dare a loftier flight,
Upward to the day-star spring,
And embathe in heavenly light.
ON AN UNFORTUNATE WOMAN,
Whom The Author Had Known In The Days Of Her Innocence.
(_With Mr. Coleridge's last corrections_.)
Myrtle-leaf that ill-besped,
Pinest in the gladsome ray;
Soiled beneath the common tread,
Far from thy protecting spray!
When the partridge o'er the sheaf
Whirred along the yellow vale,
Sad I saw thee, heedless leaf!
Love the dalliance of the gale.
Lightly didst thou, foolish thing!
Heave and flutter to his sighs,
While the flatterer on his wing,
Woo'd and whispered thee to rise.
Gaily from thy mother stalk
Wert thou danced and wafted high--
Soon upon this sheltered walk,
Flung to fade, to rot, and die.
Mr. Coleridge having requested me to decide concerning the introduction
into his volume of the two preceding Poems, I approved of the second,
with certain alterations, (which was accordingly printed,) and rejected
the first, for the reasons assigned in the following letter. This letter
is introduced for the sake of Mr. C.'s reply, and to exhibit the candid
and untenacious quality of his mind. As a mark of Mr. Coleridge's
solicitude to obtain the observations of another, without surrendering
his own ultimate judgment, he always encouraged my remarks on his
compositions. When about to send the second edition of his Poems to the
press, he thus wrote to me.
"My dear Cottle,
... On Thursday morning, by Milton, the Stowey carrier, I shall send you
a parcel, containing the book of my Poems interleaved, with the
alterations, and likewise the prefaces, which I shall send to you, for
your criticisms...."
This is mentioned as an apology for the freedom of the remarks I then
took, for it was always my principle not to spare a friend through
mistaken kindness;--however much I might spare myself.
"Dear Coleridge,
You have referred your two last Poems to my judgment. I do not think your
first, 'Maiden! that with sullen brow,' admissible, without a little more
of your nice picking.
The first verse is happy, but two objections apply to the second. To my
ear, (perhaps too fastidious) 'inly,' and 'inmost,' are too closely
allied for the same stanza; but the first line presents a more serious
objection, in containing a transition verb, (or rather a participle, with
the same government) without an objective:
'Inly gnawing, thy distresses
Mock those starts of sudden glee.'
Gnawing what? surely not distresses; though the bar of a comma can hardly
keep them apart. In order to give it any decent meaning, a tortuous
ellipsis is necessary; to pursue which, gives the reader too much toil.
Rejecting the first horse in the team, the three last are beautiful
animals.
To the last line in the third stanza, I rather object; 'With a wiser
innocence.' The meaning, it appears to me, would be more definite and in
character, if you were to say, as you do not represent her utterly
debased, 'With thy wreck of innocence.' The apostrophe to the 'Weeping
mother's cot,' is then impressive. In the fourth stanza, why do you
introduce the old word 'Lavrac' a word requiring an explanatory note? Why
not say at once, sky-lark? A short poem, _you_ know better than _I_,
should be smooth as oil, and lucid as glass. The two last stanzas, with
their associates, will require a few of your delicate touches, before you
mount them on the nautilus which is to bear them buoyant round the world.
These two last stanzas, about the 'Lavrac' though good in themselves,
(with the exception of one line, which I will not point out, its
roughness absolutely reminds one of 'Bowling-green Lane!') appear to me
to be awkward appendages. The illustration is too much extended. It is
laboured; far-fetched. It is an infelicitous attempt to blend sportive
fancy with fact that has touched the heart, and which, in this its
sobered mood, shrinks from all idle play of imagination. The transition
is too abrupt from truth to fancy. This simile of two stanzas, also, out
of five, is a tail disproportioned to the size of so small a body:--A
thought elongated, ramified, attenuated, till its tendril convolutions
have almost escaped from their parent stem. I would recommend you to let
this Lavrac fly clean away, and to conclude the Poem with the third
affecting stanza, unless you can continue the same train of feeling. This
you might readily effect, by urging the 'unfortunate' in seeking her
'weeping mother's cot' to cheer that mother by moral renovation.
I now come to the second Poem, 'Allegorical lines.' This poem has sound
materials, but it wants some of your hard tinkering. Pardon my
unceremonious language. I do not like that affected old word,
'ill-besped' in the first line. To ascribe human feelings to a leaf, as
you have done through the whole Poem, notwithstanding your authority, as
I conceive, offensively violates reason. There is no analogy; no
conceivable bond of union between thought and inanimate things, and it is
about as rational as though, in sober reasoning, you were to make the
polished shoe remonstrate with its wearer, in being soiled so soon after
it had received its lustre. It is the utmost stretch of human concession,
to grant thought and language to living things;--birds, beasts, and
fishes; rights which the old fablers have rendered inalienable, as
vehicles of instruction; but here, as I should think, the liberty ends.
It is always a pity when sense and poetry cannot go together. They are
excellent arm-in-arm companions, but quarrelsome neighbours, when a stile
separates them. The first line in the second stanza I do not like.
'When the scythesman o'er his sheaf.'
Two objections apply to this line. The word scythesman, for a short poem,
is insufferably rough; and furthermore requires the inhalation of a good
breath, before it can be pronounced; besides which, as the second
objection, by connecting sheaves with scythesman, it shows that the
scythe is cutting wheat, whereas, wheat is cut with a hook or sickle. If
my agricultural knowledge be correct, barley and oats are cut with a
scythe, but these grains are not put into sheaves. Had you not better
substitute rustic, for scythesman?
The first line in the third stanza is not happy. The spondee, in a
compound word, sometimes gives a favourable emphasis; but to my taste,
rarely, when it is formed of a double epithet. It has the appearance of
labour, like tugging against a hill. Would not 'foolish' be simpler and
better than 'poor fond?' I have one other objection, and that,
unfortunately, is in the last line.
'Flung to fade, and rot, and die!'
Surely, if it rots, it must die, or have died.
Query. 'Flung to wither and to die.'
I am astonished at my own temerity. This is reversing the order of
things; the pupil correcting his master. But, candidly speaking, I do
think these two poems the most defective of any I ever saw of yours,
which, usually, have been remarkably free from all angles on which the
race of snarlers can lay hold.
From, &c. &c.,
Joseph Cottle."
Mr. Coleridge's reply to the preceding letter.
"Wednesday morning, 10 o'clock.
My dearest Cottle,
... 'Ill besped' is indeed a sad blotch; but after having tried at least
a hundred ways, before I sent the Poem to you, and often since, I find it
incurable. This first Poem is but a so so composition. I wonder I could
have been so blinded by the ardour of recent composition, as to see
anything in it.
Your remarks are _perfectly just_ on the 'Allegorical lines,' except
that, in this district, corn is as often cut with a scythe, as with a
hook. However, for '_Scythesman_' read _Rustic_. For '_poor fond thing_'
read _foolish thing_, and for '_flung to fade, and rot, and die_,' read
_flung to wither and to die_.[30]
* * * * *
Milton (the carrier) waits impatiently.
S. T. C."
Having once inquired of Mr. Coleridge something respecting a nicety in
hexameters, he asked for a sheet of paper, and wrote the following. These
hexameters appear in the last edition of Mr. C.'s Poems, though in a less
correct form, and without the condensed and well-expressed preliminary
remarks. Two new lines are here also added.
"The Hexameter consists of six feet, or twelve times. These feet, in the
Latin and Greek languages, were always either dactyls, or spondees; the
time of a dactyl, being only that of a spondee. In modern languages,
however, metre being regulated by the emphasis, or intonation of the
syllables, and not by the position of the letters, spondees can scarcely
exist, except in compound words, as dark-red. Our dissyllables are for
the most part, either iambics, as desire; or trochees, as languid. These
therefore, but chiefly the latter, we must admit, instead of spondees.
The four first feet of each line may be dissyllable feet, or dactyls, or
both commingled, as best suits the melody, and requisite variety; but the
two last feet must, with rare exceptions, be uniformly, the former a
dactyl, the latter a dissyllable. The amphimacer may, in English, be
substituted for the dactyl, occasionally.
EXAMPLES.
Oh, what a life is the eye! What a fine and inscrutable essence!
He that is utterly blind, nor glimpses the fire that warms him;
He that never beheld the swelling breast of his mother,
He that smiled at the bosom, the babe that smiles in its slumber,
Even to him it exists. It moves, and stirs in its prison;
Lives with a separate life, and "Is it a spirit?" he murmurs,
Sure it has thoughts of its own, and to see is only a language.
ANOTHER SPECIMEN, DESCRIBING HEXAMETERS IN HEXAMETERS.
Strongly it tilts us along, o'er leaping and limitless billows,
Nothing before, and nothing behind, but the sky and the ocean.
ANOTHER SPECIMEN.
In the Hexameter rises the fountain's silvery column
In the Pentameter still, falling melodious down.
* * * * *
THE ENGLISH DUODECASYLLABLE.
This consists of two dactyls, and three trochees; the two dactyls first;
and the trochees following.
Hear, my beloved! an old Milesian story;
High and embosomed in congregated laurels,
Glimmered a temple, upon a breezy headland
In the dim distance, amid the skyey billows,
Rose a fair island; the God of flocks had blest it:
From the dim shores of this bleak resounding island,
Oft in the moon-light a little boat came floating,
Came to the sea-cave beneath the breezy headland,
Where between myrtles a path-way stole in mazes,
Up to the groves of the high embosomed temple.
There in a thicket of consecrated roses,
Oft did a Priestess, as lovely as a vision,
Pouring her soul to the son of Cytherea,
Pray him to hover around the light canoe boat,
And with invisible pilotage to guide it
Over the dusky waves, till the nightly sailor
Shiv'ring with ecstacy sank upon her bosom.
Now, by the immortals! he was a beauteous stripling,
Worthy to dream the sweet dream of young Endymion."
In the last edition of Mr. Coleridge's poems, (3 vols., 1835) there is a
poem, called "The Destiny of Nations, a Vision;"--a sounding title, with
which the contents but ill accord. No note conveys information to the
reader, what was the origin of this poem; nor does any argument show its
object, or train of thought. Who the maid is, no one can tell, and if
there be a vision respecting the destiny of nations, it is nearly as
confused and incoherent as a true vision of the night; exciting in the
mind some such undefined wonderment, as must have accompanied the descent
of one of Peter Wilkins' winged Aerials.
The reader may here be informed, that the Second book of Mr. Southey's
"Joan of Arc," to line 452, as acknowledged, was written by Mr.
Coleridge, with the intermixture of 97 lines, written by Mr. Southey, in
which there are noble sentiments, expressed in the loftiest poetical
diction; and in which also there is a tutelary spirit introduced to
instruct and counsel the Maid of Orleans. In the second edition of "Joan
of Arc," Mr. Southey omitted the whole of these lines, and intimated to
Mr. C. his intention so to do, as early as the autumn of 1795. I advised
Mr. Coleridge, from the intrinsic merit of the lines, to print them in
the second edition of his poems. To this he assented, but observed, that
he must greatly extend them.
Some considerable time after, he read me the poem in its enlarged state,
calling it "The Progress of Liberty, or the Visions of the Maid of
Orleans." After hearing it read, I at once told him, it was all very
fine, but what it was all about, I could not tell: that it wanted, I
thought, an obvious design, a definite purpose, a cohesion of parts, so
as to make it more of a whole, instead of its being, as it then was,
profuse, but detached splendour, and exhibiting in the management,
nothing like construction. Thus improved, I told him the poem would be
worthy of him. Mr. C. was evidently partial to the lines, and said, "I
shall consider of what you say, and speak again about them."
Amongst my papers I find two or three notes from Mr. C. on this subject,
subsequently received.
"Stowey.
My dear Cottle,
If you delay the press it will give me the opportunity I so much wish, of
sending my "Visions of the Maid of Arc" to Wordsworth, who lives[31] not
above twenty miles from this place; and to Charles Lamb, whose taste and
judgment, I see reason to think more correct and philosophical than my
own, which yet I place pretty high...."
In a succeeding letter Mr. Coleridge says,
"My dear Cottle,
The lines which I added to my lines in the 'Joan of Arc' have been so
little approved by Charles Lamb, to whom I sent them, that although I
differ from him in opinion, I have not heart to finish the poem." Mr.
Coleridge in the same letter, thus refers to his "Ode to the Departing
Year."
"... So much for an 'Ode,' which some people think superior to the 'Bard'
of Gray, and which others think a rant of turgid obscurity; and the
latter are the more numerous class. It is not obscure. My 'Religious
Musings' I know are, but not this 'Ode.'"
Mr. C. still retained a peculiar regard for these lines of the "Visions"
and once meant to remodel the whole, as will appear from the following
letter.
"Stowey, 1797.
My dear Cottle,
I deeply regret, that my anxieties and my slothfulness, acting in a
combined ratio, prevented me from finishing my 'Progress of Liberty, or
Visions of the Maid of Orleans' with that Poem at the head of the volume,
with the 'Ode' in the middle, and the 'Religious Musings' at the end.
... In the 'Lines on the Man of Ross' immediately after these lines,
'He heard the widow's heaven-breathed prayer of praise,
He mark'd the shelter'd orphan's tearful gaze.'
Please to add these two lines.
'And o'er the portioned maiden's snowy cheek,
Bade bridal love suffuse its blushes meek.'
And for the line,
'Beneath this roof, if thy cheer'd moments pass.'
I should be glad to substitute this,
'If near this roof thy wine-cheer'd moments pass.'
These emendations came too late for admission in the second edition; nor
have they appeared in the last edition. They will remain therefore for
insertion in any future edition of Mr. Coleridge's Poems.[32]
"Stowey, 1797.
My dear Cottle,
... Public affairs are in strange confusion. I am afraid that I shall
prove, at least, as good a Prophet as Bard. Oh, doom'd to fall, my
country! enslaved and vile! But may God make me a foreboder of evils
never to come!
I have heard from Sheridan, desiring me to write a tragedy. I have no
genius that way; Robert Southey has. I think highly of his 'Joan of Arc'
and cannot help prophesying, that he will be known to posterity, as
Shakspeare's great grandson. I think he will write a tragedy or
tragedies.
Charles Lloyd has given me his Poems, which I give to you, on condition
that you print them in this Volume, after Charles Lamb's Poems; the title
page, 'Poems, by S. T. Coleridge. Second Edition; to which are added
Poems, by C. Lamb, and C. Lloyd.' C. Lamb's poems will occupy about forty
pages; C. Lloyd's at least one hundred, although only his choice fish.
P. S. I like your 'Lines on Savage.'[33]
God bless you,
S. T. Coleridge."
In a letter received from Mr. Coleridge soon after, he says, "I shall now
stick close to my tragedy (called Osorio,) and when I have finished it,
shall walk to Shaftesbury to spend a few days with Bowles. From thence I
go to Salisbury, and thence to Christchurch, to see Southey."
This letter, as was usual, has no date, but a letter from Mr. Wordsworth
determines about the time when Mr. C. had nearly finished his Tragedy.
"September 13, 1797.
... Coleridge is gone over to Bowles with his Tragedy, which he has
finished to the middle of the 5th Act. He set off a week ago."
Mr. Coleridge, in the summer of 1797 presented me with an extract from
his "Osorio," which is here given to the reader, from Mr. C.'s own
writing.
FOSTER-MOTHER'S TALE.
_Scene, Spain._
FOSTER-MOTHER.
Now blessings on the man, whoe'er he be,
That joined your names with mine! O my sweet lady
As often as I think of those dear times,
When you two little ones would stand, at eve,
On each side of my chair, and make me learn
All you had learnt in the day, and how to talk
In gentle phrase, then bid me sing to you--
'Tis more like heaven to come than what _has_ been.
MARIA.
O my dear mother! this strange man has left us,
Troubled with wilder fancies than the moon
Breeds in the love-sick maid who gazes at it,
Till lost in inward vision, with wet eye
She gazes idly!--But that _entrance_, Mother!
FOSTER-MOTHER.
Can no one hear? It is a perilous tale!
MARIA.
No one.
FOSTER-MOTHER.
My husband's father told it me,
Poor Old Leoni--Angels rest his soul!
He was a woodman, and could fell and saw
With lusty arm. You know that huge round beam
Which props the hanging wall of the old Chapel.
Beneath that tree, while yet it was a tree
He found a baby wrapt in mosses, lined
With thistle beards, and such small locks of wool
As hang on brambles. Well, he brought him home,
And reared him at the then Lord Velez' cost.
And so the babe grew up a pretty boy,
A pretty boy but most unteachable--
And never learnt a prayer nor told a bead,
But knew the names of birds, and mocked their notes,
And whistled, as he were a bird himself.
And all the autumn 'twas his only play
To get the seeds of wild flowers and to plant them
With earth and water on the stumps of trees.
A Friar who gathered simples in the wood,
A grey-haired man--he loved this little boy,
The boy loved him--and, when the Friar taught him,
He soon could write with the pen; and from that time
Lived chiefly at the Convent or the Castle.
So he became a very learned man.
But O! poor youth!--he read, and read, and read,
'Till his brain turned--and ere his twentieth year,
He had unlawful thoughts of many things:
And though he prayed, he never loved to pray
With holy men, nor in a holy place--
But yet his speech, it was so soft and sweet,
The late Lord Velez ne'er was wearied with him.
And once as by the north side of the Chapel
They stood together, chained in deep discourse,
The earth heaved under them with such a groan,
That the wall tottered, and had well-nigh fallen
Right on their heads. My Lord was sorely frightened:
A fever seized the youth; and he made confession
Of all the heretical and lawless talk
Which brought this judgment: so the youth was seized,
And cast into that hole. My husband's father
Sobbed like a child--it almost broke his heart:
And once, as he was working in the cellar,
He heard a voice distinctly; 'twas the youth's,
Who sung a doleful song about green fields,
How sweet it were on lake or wild savannah
To hunt for food, and be a naked man,
And wander up and down at liberty.
He always doated on the youth, and now
His love grew desperate; and defying death,
He made that cunning _entrance_ I described:
And the young man escaped.
MARIA.
'Tis a sweet tale:
Such as would lull a listening child to sleep,
His rosy face besoiled with unwiped tears.
And what became of him?
FOSTER-MOTHER.
He went on ship-board
With those bold voyagers, who made discovery
Of golden lands: Leoni's younger brother
Went likewise, and when he returned to Spain,
He told Leoni, that the poor mad youth,
Soon after they arrived in that new world,
In spite of his dissuasion, seized a boat,
And all alone set sail by silent moonlight,
Up a great river, great as any sea,
And ne'er was heard of more: but 'tis supposed,
He lived and died among the savage men.
The following letter of Mr. C. was in answer to a request for some
long-promised copy, and for which the printer importuned.
"Stowey, 1797.
My dear, dear Cottle,
Have patience, and everything shall be done. I think now entirely of your
brother:[34] in two days I will think entirely for you. By Wednesday next
you shall have Lloyd's other Poems, with all Lamb's, &c. &c....
S. T. C."
A little before this time, a singular occurrence happened to Mr. C.
during a pedestrian excursion into Somersetshire, as detailed in the
following letter to Mr. Wade.
"My dear friend,
I am here after a most tiresome journey; in the course of which, a woman
asked me if I knew one Coleridge, of Bristol, I answered, I had heard of
him. 'Do you know, (quoth she) that that vile jacobin villain drew away a
young man of our parish, one Burnet' &c. and in this strain did the woman
continue for near an hour; heaping on me every name of abuse that the
parish of Billingsgate could supply. I listened very particularly;
appeared to approve all she said, exclaiming, 'dear me!' two or three
times, and, in fine, so completely won the woman's heart by my
civilities, that I had not courage enough to undeceive her....
S. T. Coleridge.
P. S. You are a good prophet. Oh, into what a state have the scoundrels
brought this devoted kingdom. If the House of Commons would but melt down
their faces, it would greatly assist the copper currency--we should have
brass enough."
To refer now to another subject. Robert Burns had died in 1796. Finding
that his family had little more than their father's fame to support them,
I consulted with Mr. Coleridge, whether it would not be possible to add
to the fund then being raised, by promoting a subscription in Bristol, in
furtherance of such design. It being deemed feasible, while Mr. C.
undertook to write a Poem on the subject for a Bristol paper, I sent the
following advertisement to the same vehicle.
TO THE CITIZENS OF BRISTOL.
It will doubtless afford much pleasure to the liberal portion of the
inhabitants of this city, to understand that a subscription has been
set on foot in different parts of the kingdom, for the wife and five
small children of poor Burns, the Scotch poet. There has already been
subscribed--
At Dumfries (where the Bard lived) £104 12 0
At Edinburgh ... ... ... 64 16 0
At Liverpool ... ... ... 67 10 0
Whoever, in Bristol, from their admiration of departed genius, may
wish to contribute, in rescuing from distress the family of Robert
Burns, will be pleased to leave their donations with Mr. Cottle,
High-Street. Mr. Nichol, of Pall-Mall, London, will publicly
acknowledge the receipt of all monies subscribed in this city.
The sum we transmitted to the general fund, did credit to the liberality
of Bristol.
Mr. Coleridge had often, in the keenest terms, expressed his contemptuous
indignation at the Scotch patrons of the poet, in making him an
exciseman! so that something biting was expected.
The Poem was entitled, "To a Friend, who had declared his intention of
writing no more Poetry." In reading the Poem immediately after it was
written, the rasping force which Mr. C. gave to the following concluding
lines was inimitable.
"Is thy Burns dead?
And shall he die unwept, and sink to earth,
Without the meed of one melodious tear?
Thy Burns, and nature's own beloved Bard,
Who to 'the illustrious of his native land,'[35]
So properly did look for patronage.
Ghost of Maecenas! hide thy blushing face!
They took him from the sickle and the plough--
To guage ale firkins!
O, for shame return!
On a bleak rock, midway the Aonian Mount,
There stands a lone and melancholy tree,
Whose aged branches to the midnight blast
Make solemn music, pluck its darkest bough,
Ere yet th' unwholesome night dew be exhaled,
And weeping, wreath it round thy Poet's tomb:
Then in the outskirts, where pollutions grow,
Pick stinking henbane, and the dusky flowers
Of night-shade, or its red and tempting fruit;
These, with stopped nostril, and glove-guarded hand,
Knit in nice intertexture, so to twine
Th' illustrious brow of Scotch Nobility!"
If Mr. C.'s nature had been less benevolent, and he had given full vent
to the irascible and satirical, the restrained elements of which abounded
in his spirit, he would have obtained the least enviable of all kinds of
pre-eminence, and have become the undisputed modern Juvenal.
Mr. George Burnet resided sometimes with his relations, sometimes with
Mr. Coleridge, at Stowey. Mr. and Mrs. C. happened to be now in Bristol,
when the former was summoned home on account of Burnet's sudden and
serious illness. On reaching Stowey, Mr. C. sent me the following letter.
"Stowey.
My dear friend,
I found George Burnet ill enough, heaven knows, Yellow Jaundice,---the
introductory symptoms very violent. I return to Bristol on Thursday, and
shall not leave till _all be done._
Remind Mrs. Coleridge of the kittens, and tell her that George's brandy
is just what smuggled spirits might be expected to be, execrable! The
smack of it remains in my mouth, and I believe will keep me most horribly
temperate for half a century. He (Burnet) was bit, but I caught the
Brandiphobia.[36] [obliterations ...]--scratched out, well knowing that
you never allow such things to pass, uncensured. A good joke, and it
slipped out most impromptu--ishly.
The mice play the very devil with us. It irks me to set a trap. By all
the whiskers of all the pussies that have mewed plaintively, or
amorously, since the days of Whittington, it is not fair. 'Tis telling a
lie. 'Tis as if you said, 'Here is a bit of toasted cheese; come little
mice! I invite you!' when, oh, foul breach of the rites of hospitality! I
mean to assassinate my too credulous guests! No, I cannot set a trap, but
I should vastly like to make a Pitt--fall. (Smoke the Pun!). But
concerning the mice, advise thou, lest there be famine in the land. Such
a year of scarcity! Inconsiderate mice! Well, well, so the world wags.
Farewell, S. T. C.
P. S. A mad dog ran through our village, and bit several dogs. I have
desired the farmers to be attentive, and to-morrow shall give them, in
writing, the first symptoms of madness in a dog.
I wish my pockets were as yellow as George's phiz!"[37]
The preceding letter is about a fair example of that playful and
ebullient imagination for which Mr. Coleridge, at this time, was
distinguished. Subjects high and low received the same embellishment.
Figure crowded on figure, and image on image, in new and perpetual
variety.
He was once reprobating the introduction of all bull and bear similes
into poetry. "Well," I replied, "whatever your antipathies may be to
bulls and bears, you have no objection to wolves." "Yes," he answered, "I
equally abominate the whole tribe of lion, bull, bear, boar, and wolf
similes. They are more thread-bare than a beggar's cast-off coat. From
their rapid transition from hand to hand, they are now more hot and
sweaty than halfpence on a market day. I would as soon meet a wolf in the
open field, as in a friend's poem." I then rejoined, "Your objection,
once at least, to wolf similes, was not quite so strong, seeing you
prevailed on Mr. Southey to throw into the first book of "Joan of Arc," a
five-line flaming wolf simile of yours. One could almost see the wolf
leap, he was so fierce!" "Ah" said Mr. C. "but the discredit rests on
him, not on me."
The simile, in question, if not a new subject, is at least, perhaps, as
energetically expressed as any five lines in Mr. Coleridge's writings.
As who, through many a summer night serene
Had hover'd round the fold with coward wish;
Horrid with brumal ice, the fiercer wolf,
From his bleak mountain and his den of snows
Leaps terrible and mocks the shepherd's spear.
Book 1. L. 47.
"June, 1796.
My dear Cottle,
I am sojourning for a few days at Racedown, Dorset, the mansion of our
friend Wordsworth; who presents his kindest respects to you....
Wordsworth admires my tragedy, which gives me great hopes. Wordsworth has
written a tragedy himself. I speak with heartfelt sincerity, and I think,
unblinded judgment, when I tell you that I feel myself a little man by
his side, and yet I do not think myself a less man than I formerly
thought myself. His drama is absolutely wonderful. You know I do not
commonly speak in such abrupt and unmingled phrases, and therefore will
the more readily believe me. There are, in the piece, those profound
touches of the human heart, which I find three or four times in the
"Robbers" of Schiller, and often in Shakspeare, but in Wordsworth there
are no inequalities....
God bless you, and eke,
S. T. Coleridge."
Respecting this tragedy of Mr. W.'s, parts of which I afterwards heard
with the highest admiration, Mr. Coleridge in a succeeding letter gave me
the following information. "I have procured for Wordsworth's tragedy, an
introduction to Harris, the manager of Covent Garden, who has promised to
read it attentively, and give his answer immediately; and if he accepts
it, to put it in preparation without an hour's delay.
This tragedy may or may not have been deemed suitable for the stage.
Should the latter prove the case, and the closet be its element, the
public after these intimations, will importunately urge Mr. W. to a
publication of this dramatic piece, so calculated still to augment his
high reputation.
There is a peculiar pleasure in recording the favorable sentiments which
one poet and man of genius entertains of another, I therefore state that
Mr. Coleridge says, in a letter received from him March 8th, 1798, "The
Giant Wordsworth-God love him! When I speak in the terms of admiration
due to his intellect, I fear lest these terms should keep out of sight
the amiableness of his manners. He has written near twelve hundred lines
of blank verse, superior, I hesitate not to aver, to any thing in our
language which any way resembles it."
And in a letter received from Mr. Coleridge, 1807, he says--speaking of
his friend Mr. W. "He is one, whom God knows, I love and honour as far
beyond myself, as both morally and intellectually he is above me."
"Stowey, 1797.
My dear Cottle,
Wordsworth and his exquisite sister are with me. She is a woman indeed!
in mind I mean, and heart; for her person is such, that if you expected
to see a pretty woman, you would think her rather ordinary; if you
expected to see an ordinary woman, you would think her pretty! but her
manners are simple, ardent, impressive. In every motion, her most
innocent soul outbeams so brightly, that who saw would say,
"Guilt was a thing impossible in her."
Her information various. Her eye watchful in minutest observation of
nature; and her taste, a perfect electrometer. It bends, protrudes, and
draws in, at subtlest beauties, and most recondite faults.
She and W. desire their kindest respects to you.
Your ever affectionate friend.
S. T. C."
"Stowey, Sept. 1797.
My very dear Cottle,
Your illness afflicts me, and unless I receive a full account of you by
Milton, I shall be very uneasy, so do not fail to write.
Herbert Croft is in Exeter gaol! This is unlucky. Poor devil! He must now
be unpeppered.[39] We are all well. Wordsworth is well. Hartley sends a
grin to you? He has another tooth!
In the wagon, there was brought from Bath, a trunk, in order to be
forwarded to Stowey, directed, 'S. T. Coleridge, Stowey, near
Bridgwater.' This, we suppose, arrived in Bristol on Tuesday or
Wednesday, last week.
It belonged to Thelwall. If it be not forwarded to Stowey, let it be
stopped, and not sent.
Give my kind love to your brother Robert, and _ax_ him to put on his hat,
and run, without delay to the inn, or place, by whatever bird, beast,
fish, or man distinguished, where Parsons's Bath wagon sets up.
From your truly affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
A letter, written, at this time, by Mr. Coleridge to Mr. Wade, more
particularly refers to Mr. Thelwall's visit at Stowey.
"Stowey, 1797.
My very dear friend,
... John Thelwall is a very warm-hearted, honest man; and disagreeing as
we do, on almost every point of religion, of morals, of politics, and
philosophy, we like each other uncommonly well. He is a great favorite
with Sara. Energetic activity of mind and of heart, is his master
feature. He is prompt to conceive, and still prompter to execute; but I
think he is deficient in that patience of mind which can look intensely
and frequently at the same subject. He believes and disbelieves with
impassioned confidence. I wish to see him doubting, and doubting. He is
intrepid, eloquent, and honest. Perhaps, the only acting democrat that is
honest, for the patriots are ragged cattle; a most execrable herd.
Arrogant because they are ignorant, and boastful of the strength of
reason, because they have never tried it enough to know its weakness. Oh!
my poor country! The clouds cover thee. There is not one spot of clear
blue in the whole heaven!
My love to all whom you love, and believe me, with brotherly affection,
with esteem and gratitude, and every warm emotion of the heart,
Your faithful
S. T. Coleridge."
"London, 1797.
Dear Cottle,
If Mrs. Coleridge be in Bristol, pray desire her to write to me
immediately, and I beg you, the moment you receive this letter, to send
to No. 17, Newfoundland Street to know whether she be there. I have
written to Stowey, but if she be in Bristol, beg her to write to me of it
by return of post, that I may immediately send down some cash for her
travelling expenses, &c. We shall reside in London for the next four
months. God bless you, Cottle, I love you,
S. T. Coleridge."
P. S. The volume (second edition, Coleridge, Lloyd, and Lamb) is a most
beautiful one. You have determined that the three Bards shall walk up
Parnassus, in their best bib and tucker.
"Stowey, June 29th, 1797.
My very dear Cottle,
... Charles Lamb will probably be here in about a fortnight. Could you
not contrive to put yourself in a Bridgwater coach, and T. Poole would
fetch you in a one-horse chaise to Stowey. What delight would it not give
us....
It was not convenient at this time to accept Mr. C.'s invitation, but
going to Stowey two or three weeks afterwards, I learnt how pleasantly
the interview had been between Charles Lamb and himself. It is
delightful, even at the present moment, to recal the images connected
with my then visit to Stowey, (which those can best understand, who, like
myself, have escaped from severe duties to a brief season of happy
recreation). Mr. Coleridge welcomed me with the warmest cordiality. He
talked with affection of his old school-fellow, Lamb, who had so recently
left him; regretted he had not an opportunity of introducing me to one
whom he so highly valued. Mr. C. took peculiar delight in assuring me (at
least, at that time) how happy he was; exhibiting successively, his
house, his garden, his orchard, laden with fruit; and also the
contrivances he had made to unite his two neighbours' domains with his
own.
After the grand circuit had been accomplished, by hospitable contrivance,
we approached the "Jasmine harbour," when to our gratifying surprise, we
found the tripod table laden with delicious bread and cheese, surmounted
by a brown mug of true Taunton ale. We instinctively took our seats; and
there must have been some downright witchery in the provisions which
surpassed all of its kind; nothing like it on the wide terrene, and one
glass of the Taunton, settled it to an axiom. While the dappled sun-beams
played on our table, through the umbrageous canopy, the very birds seemed
to participate in our felicities, and poured forth their selectest
anthems. As we sat in our sylvan hall of splendour, a company of the
happiest mortals, (T. Poole, C. Lloyd, S. T. Coleridge, and J. C.) the
bright-blue heavens; the sporting insects; the balmy zephyrs; the
feathered choristers; the sympathy of friends, all augmented the
pleasurable to the highest point this side the celestial! Every
interstice of our hearts being filled with happiness, as a consequence,
there was no room for sorrow, exorcised as it now was, and hovering
around at unapproachable distance. With our spirits thus entranced,
though we might weep at other moments, yet joyance so filled all within
and without, that, if, at this juncture, tidings had been brought us,
that an irruption of the ocean had swallowed up all our brethren of
Pekin; from the pre-occupation of our minds, "poor things," would have
been our only reply, with anguish put off till the morrow. While thus
elevated in the universal current of our feelings, Mrs. Coleridge
approached, with her fine Hartley; we all smiled, but the father's eye
beamed transcendental joy! "But, all things have an end." Yet, pleasant
it is for memory to treasure up in her choicest depository, a few such
scenes, (these sunny spots in existence!) on which the spirit may repose,
when the rough, adverse winds shake and disfigure all besides.
Although so familiar with the name and character of Charles Lamb, through
the medium of S. T. Coleridge, yet my intercourse (with the exception of
one casual visit) commenced with him in the year 1802, during a residence
of many months in London, when we often met. After this period, from my
residing permanently in Bristol, our acquaintance was intermitted, till
1819, when he requested the loan of a portrait, for the purpose expressed
in the following letter.
"Dear Sir,
It is so long since I have seen or heard from you, that I fear that you
will consider a request I have to make, as impertinent. About three years
since, when I was in Bristol, I made an effort to see you, by calling at
Brunswick Square, but you were from home. The request I have to make, is,
that you would very much oblige me, if you have any small portrait of
yourself, by allowing me to have it copied, to accompany a selection, of
the likenesses of 'Living Bards,' which a most particular friend of mine
is making. If you have no objection, and would oblige me by transmitting
such portrait, I will answer for taking the greatest care of it, and for
its safe return. I hope you will pardon the liberty,
From an old friend and well wisher,
Charles Lamb."
In consequence of this application, I sent Charles Lamb a portrait, by
Branwhite, and enclosed for his acceptance, the second part of my
"Messiah." When the portrait was returned, it was accompanied with the
following letter, containing a few judicious remarks, such as might have
been expected from one whose judgment Mr. Coleridge so highly estimated.
"Dear Sir,
My friend, whom you have obliged by the loan of your picture, has had it
very nicely copied (and a very spirited drawing it is; so every one
thinks who has seen it.) The copy is not much inferior to yours, done by
a daughter of Joseph's, R. A.
I accompany the picture with my warm thanks, both for that, and your
better favour the 'Messiah' which I assure you I have read through with
great pleasure. The verses have great sweetness, and a New Testament
plainness about them which affected me very much. I could just wish that
in page 63, you had omitted the lines 71 and 72, and had ended the period
with,
The willowy brook was there, but that sweet sound--
When to be heard again on earthly ground!"
Two very sweet lines, and the sense perfect.
And in page 154, line 68,
He spake, 'I come, ordain'd a world to save,
To be baptis'd by thee in Jordan's wave."
These words are hardly borne out by the story, and seem scarce accordant
with the modesty with which our Lord came to take his common portion
among the baptismal candidates. They also anticipate the beauty of John's
recognition of the Messiah, and the subsequent confirmation by the Voice
and Dove.
You will excuse the remarks of an old brother bard, whose career, though
long since pretty well stopped, was coeval in its beginning with your
own, and who is sorry his lot has been always to be so distant from you.
It is not likely that C. L. will see Bristol again, but if J. C. should
ever visit London, he will be a most welcome visitor to C. L. My sister
joins in cordial remembrances.
Dear sir, Yours truly,
Charles Lamb."
Having always entertained for Charles Lamb a very kind feeling,
independently of my admiration of his wit and genius, I requested his
acceptance of my poem of the "Fall of Cambria," to which he sent the
following characteristic reply.
"London, India House, May 26, 1829.
My dear Sir,
I am quite ashamed of not having acknowledged your kind present earlier,
but that unknown something which was never yet discovered, though so
often speculated upon, which stands in the way of lazy folks' answering
letters, has presented its usual obstacle. It is not forgetfulness, nor
disrespect, nor incivility, but terribly like all these bad things.
I have been in my time a great Epistolatory scribbler, but the passion,
and with it the facility, at length wears out, and it must be pumped up
again by the heavy machinery of duty or gratitude, when it should run
free. I have read your 'Fall of Cambria' with as much pleasure as I did
your 'Messiah.' Your Cambrian Poem I shall be tempted to repeat oftenest,
as human poems take me in a mood more frequently congenial than divine.
The character of Llewellyn pleases me more than anything else perhaps;
and then some of the Lyrical pieces are fine varieties.
It was quite a mistake that I could dislike anything you should write
against Lord Byron, for I have a thorough aversion to his character, and
a very moderate admiration of his genius; he is great in so little a way.
To be a poet is to be the man; not a petty portion of occasional low
passion worked up into a permanent form of humanity. Shakspeare has
thrust such rubbishly feelings into a corner--the dark dusky heart of Don
John, in the 'Much Ado about Nothing.' The fact is, I have not seen your
'Expostulatory Epistle' to him. I was not aware, till your question, that
it was out. I shall inquire and get it forthwith.
Southey is in town, whom I have seen slightly. Wordsworth expected, whom
I hope to see much of. I write with accelerated motion, for I have two or
three bothering clerks and brokers about me, who always press in
proportion as you seem to be doing something that is not business. I
could exclaim a little profanely, but I think you do not like swearing.
I conclude, begging you to consider that I feel myself much obliged by
your kindness, and shall be most happy at any and at all times to hear
from you.
Dear Sir, yours truly,
Charles Lamb."
Mr. Coleridge, in the second edition of his poems, transferred some of
the poems which appeared in the first, to a supplement, and, amongst
others, some verses addressed to myself, with the following notice.
"The first in order of these verses which I have thus endeavoured to
reprieve from immediate oblivion, was originally addressed "To the Author
of Poems published anonymously at Bristol." A second edition of these
poems has lately appeared with the author's name prefixed: (Joseph
Cottle) and I could not refuse myself the gratification of seeing the
name of that man amongst my poems, without whose kindness, they would
probably have remained unpublished; and to whom I know myself greatly,
and variously obliged, as a poet, a man, and a Christian.
LINES ADDRESSED TO JOSEPH COTTLE.
My honor'd friend! whose verse concise, yet clear,
Tunes to smooth melody unconquer'd sense,
May your fame fadeless live, "as never seer"
The ivy wreathes yon oak, whose broad defence
Embow'rs me from noon's sultry influence!
For like that nameless riv'let stealing by,
Your modest verse to musing quiet dear
Is rich with tints heaven-borrow'd, the charm'd eye
Shall gaze undazzled there, and love the soften'd sky.
Circling the base of the poetic mount
A stream there is, which rolls in lazy flow;
Its cold-black waters from oblivion's fount;
The vapour poison'd birds that fly too low,
Fall with dead swoop, and to the bottom go.
Escaped that heavy stream on pinion fleet,
Beneath the mountain's lofty frowning brow,
Ere aught of perilous ascent you meet,
A mead of mildest charm delays the unlab'ring feet.
Not there the cloud-climb rock, sublime and vast,
That like some giant king, o'er-glooms the hill;
Nor there the pine-grove to the midnight blast
Makes solemn music! But the unceasing rill
To the soft wren or lark's descending trill
Murmurs sweet under-song 'mid jasmine bowers.
In this same pleasant meadow at your will,
I ween, you wander'd--there collecting flow'rs
Of sober tint, and herbs of medicinal powers!
There for the monarch-murder'd soldier's tomb
You wove the unfinish'd[40] wreath of saddest hues,
And to that holier[41] chaplet added bloom
Besprinkling it with Jordan's cleansing dews.
But lo! your[42] Henderson awakes the Muse--
His spirit beckon'd from the mountain's height!
You left the plain and soar'd mid richer views!
So nature mourn'd, when sank the first day's light,
With stars, unseen before, spangling her robe of night!
Still soar my friend those richer views among,
Strong, rapid, fervent, flashing fancy's beam!
Virtue and truth shall love your gentler song:
But Poesy demands th' impassion'd theme:
Wak'd by heaven's silent dews at Eve's mild gleam
What balmy sweets Pomona breathes around?
But if the vex'd air rush a stormy stream,
Or autumn's shrill gust moan in plaintive sound
With fruits and flowers she loads the tempest honor'd ground."
While the first edition of Mr. Coleridge's poems was in the press, I
received from him the following letter.
"My dear Sir,
... There is a beautiful little poetic epistle of Sara's, which I mean to
print here. What if her epistle to you were likewise printed, so as to
have two of her poems? It is remarkably elegant, and would do honour to
any volume of poems."
The first epistle I never received. The second was printed in the first
edition of Mr. C.'s poems, and in no other. On account of its merit it is
here inserted.
"THE PRODUCTION OF A YOUNG LADY,[43] ADDRESSED TO HER FRIEND, J.
COTTLE.
* * * * *
She had lost her thimble, and her complaint being accidentally
overheard by her friend, he immediately sent her four others to take
her choice from.
* * * * *
As oft mine eye, with careless glance,
Has gallop'd o'er some old romance,
Of speaking birds, and steeds with wings,
Giants and dwarfs, and fiends, and kings:
Beyond the rest, with more attentive care,
I've loved to read of elfin-favor'd fair--
How if she longed for aught beneath the sky,
And suffered to escape one votive sigh,
Wafted along on viewless pinions airy,
It kid itself obsequious at her feet:
Such things I thought we might not hope to meet,
Save in the dear delicious land of fairy!
But now (by proof I know it well)
There's still some peril in free wishing--
Politeness is a licensed spell,
And you, dear sir, the arch-magician.
You much perplexed me by the various set:
They were indeed an elegant quartette!
My mind went to and fro, and wavered long;
At length I've chosen (Samuel thinks me wrong)
That around whose azure brim,
Silver figures seem to swim,
Like fleece-white clouds, that on the skyey blue,
Waked by no breeze, the self-same shapes retain;
Or ocean nymphs, with limbs of snowy hue,
Slow floating o'er the calm cerulean plain.
Just such a one, mon cher ami
(The finger-shield of industry,)
The inventive gods, I deem, to Pallas gave,
What time the vain Arachne, madly brave,
Challenged the blue-eyed virgin of the sky
A duel in embroidered work to try.
And hence the thimbled finger of grave Pallas,
To th' erring needle's point was more than callous.
But, ah, the poor Arachne! she, unarmed,
Blund'ring, through hasty eagerness, alarmed
With all a rival's hopes, a mortal's fears,
Still miss'd the stitch, and stained the web with tears.
Unnumbered punctures, small, yet sore,
Full fretfully the maiden bore,
Till she her lily finger found
Crimson'd with many a tiny wound,
And to her eyes, suffused with watery woe,
Her flower-embroidered web danced dim, I wist,
Like blossom'd shrubs, in a quick-moving mist;
Till vanquish'd, the despairing maid sank low.
O, Bard! whom sure no common muse inspires,
I heard your verse that glows with vestal fires;
And I from unwatch'd needle's erring point
Had surely suffered on each finger joint,
Those wounds, which erst did poor Arachne meet;
While he, the much-loved object of my choice,
(My bosom thrilling with enthusiast heat)
Pour'd on my ear, with deep impressive voice,
How the great Prophet of the desert stood,
And preach'd of penitence by Jordan's flood:
On war; or else the legendary lays,
In simplest measures hymn'd to Alla's praise;
Or what the Bard from his heart's inmost stores,
O'er his friend's grave in loftier numbers pours:
Yes, Bard polite! you but obey'd the laws
Of justice, when the thimble you had sent;
What wounds your thought-bewildering muse might cause,
'Tis well, your finger-shielding gifts prevent.
SARA."
"Dear Cottle,
I have heard nothing of my Tragedy, except some silly remarks of
Kemble's, to whom a friend showed it; it does not appear to me that there
is a shadow of probability that it will be accepted. It gave me no pain,
and great pleasure, in finding that it gave me no pain.
I had rather hoped than believed that I was possessed of so much
philosophical capability. Sheridan most certainly has not used me with
common justice. The proposal came from himself, and although this
circumstance did not bind him to accept the tragedy, it certainly bound
him to every, and that the earliest, attention to it. I suppose it is
snugly in his green bag, if it have not emigrated to the kitchen.
I sent to the Monthly Magazine, (1797) three mock Sonnets, in ridicule of
my own Poems, and Charles Lloyd's, and Lamb's, &c. &c. exposing that
affectation of unaffectedness, of jumping and misplaced accent, in
common-place epithets, flat lines forced into poetry by italics,
(signifying how well and mouthishly the author would read them) puny
pathos, &c. &c. the instances were almost all taken from myself, and
Lloyd, and Lamb.
I signed them 'Nehemiah Higginbotham.' I think they may do good to our
young Bards.
God love you,
S. T. C."
P. S. I am translating the 'Oberon' of Wieland; it is a difficult
language, and I can translate at least as fast as I can construe. I have
made also a very considerable proficiency in the French language, and
study it daily, and daily study the German; so that I am not, and have
not been idle....
SONNETS.
ATTEMPTED IN THE MANNER OP CONTEMPORARY WRITERS.
* * * * *
SONNET I.
Pensive, at eve, on the hard world I mus'd,
And my poor heart was sad: so at the moon
I gazed, and sigh'd, and sigh'd! for ah! how soon
Eve darkens into night! Mine eye perus'd
With tearful vacancy the dampy grass,
Which wept and glitter'd in the paly ray:
And I did pause me on my lonely way,
And muse me on those wretched ones, who pass
O'er the black heath of sorrow. But alas!
Most of MYSELF I thought: when it befel
That the sooth SPIRIT of the breezy wood
Breath'd in mine ear--"All this is very well;
But much of _one_ thing is for _no-thing_ good."
Ah! my poor heart's inexplicable swell!
NEHEMIAH HIGGINBOTHAM.
SONNET II.
TO SIMPLICITY.
O! I do love thee, meek simplicity!
For of thy lays, the lulling simpleness
Goes to my heart, and soothes each small distress,
Distress, though small, yet haply great to me!
'Tis true, on lady fortune's gentlest pad,
I amble on; yet, though I know not why,
So sad I am!--but should a friend and I
Grow cool and miff, oh, I am very sad!
And then with sonnets, and with sympathy.
My dreamy bosom's mystic woes I pall;
Now of my false friend 'plaining plaintively,
Now raving at mankind in gener-al
But whether sad or fierce, 'tis simple all,
All very simple, meek SIMPLICITY!
NEHEMIAH HIGGINBOTHAM.
SONNET III.
ON A RUINED HOUSE WHICH JACK BUILT.
And this reft house is that, the which he built,
Lamented Jack! and here his malt he piled,
Cautious in vain! These rats that squeak'd so wild,
Squeak, not unconscious of their fathers' guilt.
Did ye not see her gleaming through the glade?
Belike 'twas she, the Maiden all forlorn.
What though she milk no cow with crumpled horn,
Yet, aye she haunts the dale where erst she stray'd:
And, aye beside her stalks her amorous knight!
Still on his thighs his wonted brogues are worn,
And through those brogues, still tatter'd and betorn,
His hindward charms gleam an unearthly white;
As when through broken clouds, at night's high moon.
Peeps in fair fragments forth--the full-orb'd harvest moon!
NEHEMIAH HIGGINBOTHAM.[44]
The moralist rightly says, "There is nothing permanent in this uncertain
world;" and even most friendships do not partake of the "Munition of
Rocks."
Alas! the spirit of impartiality now compels me to record, that the
inseparable Trio; even the three "Groscolliases" themselves, had, somehow
or other, been touched with the negative magnet, and their particles, in
opposition, flew off "as far as from hence to the utmost pole." I never
rightly understood the cause of this dissension, but shrewdly suspected
that that unwelcome and insidious intruder, Mr. Nehemiah Higginbotham,
had no inconsiderable share in it.
Mr. C. even determined in his third projected edition, (1798) that the
production of his two late friends should be excluded. The three next
letters refer to this unpleasant affair. It is hardly necessary to add,
that the difference was of short continuance.
The Latin motto, prefixed to the second edition of Mr. C.'s poems,
puzzled everybody to know from what author it was derived. One and
another inquired of me, to no purpose, and expressed a wish that Mr. C.
had been clearer in his citation, as "no one could understand it." On my
naming this to Mr. Coleridge, he laughed heartily, and said, "It was all
a hoax." "Not meeting" said he, "with a suitable motto, I invented one,
and with references purposely obscure," as will be explained in the next
letter.[45]
"March 8th, 1798.
My dear Cottle,
I have been confined to my bed for some days, through a fever occasioned
by the stump of a tooth, which baffled chirurgical efforts to eject, and
which, by affecting my eye, affected my stomach, and through that my
whole frame. I am better, but still weak, in consequence of such long
sleeplessness and wearying pains; weak, very weak. I thank you, my dear
friend, for your late kindness, and in a few weeks will either repay you
in money, or by verses, as you like. "With regard to Lloyd's verses, it
is curious that I should be applied to, 'to be persuaded to resign' and
in hopes that I might 'consent to give up' (unknown by whom) a number of
poems which were published at the earnest request of the author, who
assured me, that the circumstance was of 'no trivial import to his
happiness'!
Times change and people change; but let us keep our souls in quietness! I
have no objection to any disposal of Lloyd's poems except that of their
being republished with mine. The motto which I had prefixed--"Duplex,
&c." from Groscollias, has placed me in a ridiculous situation, but it
was a foolish and presumptuous start of affectionateness, and I am not
unwilling to incur the punishment due to my folly. By past experiences we
build up our moral being. God bless you,
S. T. Coleridge."
A reference to this "stump of a tooth." was more particularly made, in
the following letter to Mr. Wade.
"March 21st, 1798.
My very dear friend,
I have even now returned from a little excursion that I have taken for
the confirmation of my health, which had suffered a rude assault from the
anguish of the stump of a tooth which had baffled the attempts of our
surgeon here, and which confined me to my bed. I suffered much from the
disease, and more from the doctor; rather than again put my mouth into
his hands, I would put my hands into a lion's mouth. I am happy to hear
of, and should be most happy to see, the plumpness and progression of
your dear boy; but-yes, my dear Wade, it must be a but, much as I hate
the word but. Well,--but I cannot attend the chemical lectures. I have
many reasons, but the greatest, or at least the most ostensible reason,
is, that I cannot leave Mrs. C. at that time; our house is an
uncomfortable one; our surgeon may be, for aught I know, a lineal
descendant of Esculapius himself, but if so, in the repeated transfusion
of life from father to son, through so many generations, the wit and
knowledge, being subtle spirits, have evaporated....
Ever your grateful and affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
"1798.
My dear Cottle,
I regret that aught should have disturbed our tranquillity; respecting
Lloyd, I am willing to believe myself in part mistaken, and so let all
things be as before. I have no wish respecting these poems, either for or
against re-publication with mine. As to the third edition, if there be
occasion for it immediately, it must be published with some alterations,
but no additions or omissions. The Pixies, Chatterton, and some dozen
others, shall be printed at the end of the volume, under the title of
Juvenile Poems, and in this case I will send you the volume immediately.
But if there be no occasion for the volume to go to press for ten weeks,
at the expiration of that time, I would make it a volume worthy of me,
and omit utterly near one-half of the present volume--a sacrifice to
pitch black oblivion.[46]
Whichever be the case, I will repay you the money you have paid for me,
in money, and in a few weeks; or if you should prefer the latter
proposal, i. e. the not sending me to the press for ten weeks, I should
insist on considering the additions, however large, as my payment to you
for the omissions, which, indeed, would be but strict justice.
I am requested by Wordsworth, to put to you the following questions. What
could you, conveniently and prudently, and what would you give
for--first, our two Tragedies, with small prefaces, containing an
analysis of our principal characters? Exclusive of the prefaces, the
tragedies are, together, five thousand lines; which, in printing, from
the dialogue form, and directions respecting actors and scenery, are at
least equal to six thousand. To be delivered to you within a week of the
date of your answer to this letter; and the money which you offer, to be
paid to us at the end of four months from the same date; none to be paid
before, all to be paid then.
Second.--Wordsworth's 'Salisbury Plain,' and 'Tale of a Woman'; which two
poems, with a few others which he will add, and the notes, will make a
volume. This to be delivered to you within three weeks of the date of
your answer, and the money to be paid as before, at the end of four
months from the present date.
Do not, my dearest Cottle, harass yourself about the imagined great merit
of the compositions, or be reluctant to offer what you can prudently
offer, from an idea that the poems are worth more. But calculate what you
can do, with reference simply to yourself, and answer as speedily as you
can; and believe me your sincere, grateful, and affectionate friend and
brother,
S. T. Coleridge."
I offered Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Wordsworth, thirty guineas each, as
proposed, for their two tragedies; but which, after some hesitation, was
declined, from the hope of introducing one, or both, on the stage. The
volume of Poems was left for some future arrangement.
"My dear Cottle,
I never involved you in the bickering, and never suspected you, in any
one action of your life, of practising guile against any human being,
except yourself.
Your letter supplied only one in a link of circumstances, that informed
me of some things, and perhaps deceived me in others. I shall write
to-day to Lloyd. I do not think I shall come to Bristol for these
lectures of which you speak.[47] I ardently wish for the knowledge, but
Mrs. Coleridge is within a month of her confinement, and I cannot, I
ought not to leave her; especially as her surgeon is not a John Hunter,
nor my house likely to perish from a plethora of comforts. Besides, there
are other things that might disturb that evenness of benevolent feeling,
which I wish to cultivate.
I am much better, and at present at Allfoxden, and my new and tender
health is all over me like a voluptuous feeling. God bless you,
S. T. Coleridge."
When the before noticed dissension occurred, Charles Lamb and Charles
Lloyd, between whom a strong friendship had latterly sprung up, became
alienated from Mr. Coleridge, and cherished something of an indignant
feeling. Strange as it may appear, C. Lamb determined to desert the
inglorious ground of neutrality, and to commence active operations
against his late friend; but the arrows were taken from his own peculiar
armoury; tipped, not with iron, but wit. He sent Mr. Coleridge the
following letter. Mr. Coleridge gave me this letter, saying, "These young
visionaries will do each other no good." The following is Charles Lamb's
letter to Mr. C.
"THESES QUAEDAM THEOLOGICAE.
1st. Whether God loves a lying angel better than a true man?
2nd. Whether the archangel Uriel could affirm an untruth, and if he
could, whether he would?
3rd. Whether honesty be an angelic virtue, or not rather to be
reckoned among those qualities which the school-men term 'Virtutes
minus splendidae'?
4th. Whether the higher order of Seraphim illuminati ever sneer?
5th. Whether pure intelligences can love?
6th. Whether the Seraphim ardentes do not manifest their virtues, by
the way of vision and theory; and whether practice be not a
sub-celestial and merely human virtue?
7th. Whether the vision beatific be anything more or less than a
perpetual representment, to each individual angel, of his own present
attainments, and future capabilities, somehow in the manner of mortal
looking-glasses, reflecting a perpetual complacency and self
satisfaction?
8th. and last. Whether an immortal and amenable soul may not come to
be condemned at last, and the man never suspect it beforehand?
Learned Sir, my friend,
Presuming on our long habits of friendship, and emboldened further by
your late liberal permission to avail myself of your correspondence, in
case I want any knowledge, (which I intend to do, when I have no
Encyclopedia, or Ladies Magazine at hand to refer to, in any matter of
science,) I now submit to your enquiries the above theological
propositions, to be by you defended or oppugned, or both, in the schools
of Germany, whither, I am told, you are departing, to the utter
dissatisfaction of your native Devonshire, and regret of universal
England; but to my own individual consolation, if, through the channel of
your wished return, learned sir, my friend, may be transmitted to this
our island, from those famous theological wits of Leipsic and Gottingen,
any rays of illumination, in vain to be derived from the home growth of
our English halls and colleges. Finally wishing, learned sir, that you
may see Schiller, and swing in a wood, (vide poems) and sit upon a tun,
and eat fat hams of Westphalia,
I remain,
Your friend and docile pupil, to instruct,
Charles Lamb."
Mr. Coleridge, at first, appeared greatly hurt at this letter; an
impression which I endeavoured to counteract, by considering it as a
slight ebullition of feeling that would soon subside; and which happily
proved to be the case. I also felt concern, not only that there should be
a dissension between old friends, but lest Mr. Coleridge should be
inconvenienced in a pecuniary way by the withdrawal of C. Lloyd from his
domestic roof. To restore and heal, therefore, I wrote a conciliatory
letter to Charles Lloyd, to which he thus replied.
"Birmingham, 7th June, 1798.
My dear Cottle,
I thank you many times for your pleasing intelligence respecting
Coleridge. I cannot think that I have acted with, or from, passion
towards him. Even my solitary night thoughts have been easy and calm when
they have dwelt on him.... I love Coleridge, and can forget all that has
happened.
At present, I could not well go to Stowey. I could scarcely excuse so
sudden a removal from my parents. Lamb quitted me yesterday, after a
fortnight's visit. I have been much interested in his society. I never
knew him so happy in my life. I shall write to Coleridge today.
God bless you, my dear friend,
C. Lloyd, Jun."
Mr. C. up to this day, Feb. 18th, 1798, held, though laxly, the doctrines
of Socinus. On the Rev. Mr. Rowe, of Shrewsbury, the Unitarian minister,
coming to settle in Bristol, Mr. Coleridge was strongly recommended by
his friends of that persuasion, to offer himself as Mr. R.'s successor;
and he accordingly went on probation to Shrewsbury.
It is proper here to mention, in order that this subject may be the
better understood, that Mr. Poole, two or three years before, had
introduced Mr. Coleridge to Mr. Thomas Wedgewood. This gentleman formed a
high opinion of Mr. C.'s talents, and felt an interest in his welfare. At
the time Mr. Coleridge was hesitating whether or not he should persist in
offering himself to the Shrewsbury congregation, and so finally settle
down into an Unitarian minister, Mr. T. Wedgewood having heard of the
circumstance, and fearing that a pastoral engagement might operate
unfavourably on his literary pursuits, interfered, as will appear by the
following letter of Mr. Coleridge to Mr. Wade.
"Stowey,
My very dear friend,
This last fortnight has been very eventful. I received one hundred pounds
from Josiah Wedgewood, in order to prevent the necessity of my going into
the ministry. I have received an invitation from Shrewsbury, to be
minister there; and after fluctuations of mind, which have for nights
together robbed me of sleep, and I am afraid of health, I have at length
returned the order to Mr. Wedgwood, with a long letter, explanatory of my
conduct, and accepted the Shrewsbury invitation...."
Mr. T. Wedgewood still adhering to his first opinion that Mr. Coleridge's
acceptance of the proposed engagement, would seriously obstruct his
literary efforts; sent Mr. C. a letter, in which himself and his brother,
Mr. Josiah Wedgwood, promised, conjointly, to allow him for his life, one
hundred and fifty pounds a year. This decided Mr. Coleridge to reject the
Shrewsbury invitation. He was oppressed with grateful emotions to these
his liberal benefactors, and always spoke, in particular, of the late Mr.
Thomas Wedgewood as being one of the best talkers, and as possessing one
of the acutest minds, of any man he had known.
The following is Mr. Coleridge's hasty reply to Mr. Wedgewood.
"Shrewsbury, Friday night, 1798.
My dear sir,
I have this moment received your letter, and have scarcely more than a
moment to answer it by return of post. If kindly feeling can be repaid by
kindly feeling, I am not your debtor. I would wish to express the, same
thing which is big at my heart, but I know not how to do it without
indelicacy. As much abstracted from personal feeling as possible, I honor
and esteem you for that which you have done.
I must of necessity stay here till the close of Sunday next. On Monday
morning I shall leave it, and on Tuesday will be with you at Cote-House.
Very affectionately yours,
S. T. Coleridge.
T. Wedgewood, Esq."
While the affair was in suspense, a report was current in Bristol, that
Mr. Coleridge had rejected the Messrs. Wedgewoods' offer, which the
Unitarians in both towns ardently desired. Entertaining a contrary wish,
I addressed a letter to Mr. C. stating the report, and expressing a hope
that it had no foundation. The following satisfactory answer was
immediately returned.
"My very dear Cottle,
The moment I received Mr. T. Wedgewood's letter, I accepted his offer.
How a contrary report could arise, I cannot guess....
I hope to see you at the close of next week. I have been respectfully and
kindly treated at Shrewsbury. I am well, and now, and ever,
Your grateful and affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
In the year 1798, Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Wordsworth determined upon
visiting Germany. A knowledge of this fact will elucidate some of the
succeeding letters.
"Feb. 18, 1798.
My dear Cottle,
I have finished my Ballad, it is 340 lines; I am going on with my
'Visions': altogether (for I shall print two scenes of my Tragedy, as
fragments) I can add 1500 lines; now what do you advise? Shall I add my
Tragedy, and so make a second volume? or shall I pursue my first
intention of inserting 1500 in the third edition? If you should advise a
second volume, should you wish, i. e. find it convenient, to be the
purchaser? I ask this question, because I wish you to know the true state
of my present circumstances. I have received nothing yet from the
Wedgewoods, and my money is utterly expended.
A friend of mine wanted five guineas for a little while, which I borrowed
of Poole, as for myself, I do not like therefore to apply to him. Mr.
Estlin has some little money I believe in his hands, but I received from
him before I went to Shrewsbury, fifteen pounds, and I believe that this
was an anticipation of the five guinea presents, which my friends would
have made in March. But (this affair of the Messrs. Wedgewoods turning
out) the money in Mr. Estlin's hand must go towards repaying him that sum
which he suffered me to anticipate. Meantime I owe Biggs £5. which is
heavy on my thoughts, and Mrs. I has not been paid her last quarter which
is still heavier. As to myself, I can continue to go on here, but this
£10 I must pay somehow, that is £5 to Biggs, and £5 to Mrs. F....
God bless you,
S. T. Coleridge."
P.S. This week I purpose offering myself to the Bridgwater Socinian
congregation, as assistant minister, without any salary, directly, or
indirectly; but of this say not a word to any one, unless you see Mr.
Estlin.
A visit to Mr. Coleridge at Stowey, had been the means of my introduction
to Mr. Wordsworth, who read me many of his Lyrical Pieces, when I
immediately perceived in them extraordinary merit, and advised him to
publish them, expressing a belief that they would be well received. I
further said he should be at no risk; that I would give him the same sum
which I had given to Mr. Coleridge and to Mr. Southey, and that it would
be a gratifying circumstance to me, to have been the publisher of the
first volumes of three such poets, as Southey, Coleridge, and Wordsworth;
such a distinction might never again occur to a Provincial bookseller.
To the idea of publishing he expressed a strong objection, and after
several interviews, I left him, with an earnest wish that he would
reconsider his determination.
Soon after Mr. Wordsworth sent me the following letter.
"Allfoxden, 12th April, 1798.
My dear Cottle,
... You will be pleased to hear that I have gone on very rapidly adding
to my stock of poetry. Do come and let me read it to you, under the old
trees in the park. We have a little more than two months to stay in this
place. Within these four days the season has advanced with greater
rapidity than I ever remember, and the country becomes almost every hour
more lovely. God bless you,
Your affectionate friend,
W. Wordsworth."
A little time after, I received an invitation from Mr. Coleridge to pay
himself and Mr. Wordsworth another visit. At about the same time, I
received the following corroborative invitation from Mr. Wordsworth.
"Dear Cottle, We look for you with great impatience. We will never
forgive you if you do not come. I say nothing of the 'Salisbury Plain'
till I see you. I am determined to finish it, and equally so that you
shall publish.
I have lately been busy about another plan, which I do not wish to
mention till I see you; let this be very, very soon, and stay a week if
possible; as much longer as you can. God bless you, dear Cottle,
Yours sincerely,
W. Wordsworth.
Allfoxden, 9th May, 1798."
The following letter also on this subject, was received from Mr.
Coleridge.
"My dear Cottle,
Neither Wordsworth nor myself could have been otherwise than
uncomfortable, if any but yourself had received from us the first offer
of our Tragedies, and of the volume of Wordsworth's Poems. At the same
time, we did not expect that you could with prudence and propriety,
advance such a sum as we should want at the time we specified. In short,
we both regard the publication of our Tragedies as an evil. It is not
impossible but that in happier times, they may be brought on the stage:
and to throw away this chance for a mere trifle, would be to make the
present moment act fraudulently and usuriously towards the future time.
My Tragedy employed and strained all my thoughts and faculties for six or
seven months; Wordsworth consumed far more time, and far more thought,
and far more genius. We consider the publication of them an evil on any
terms; but our thoughts were bent on a plan for the accomplishment of
which, a certain sum of money was necessary, (the whole) at that
particular time, and in order to this we resolved, although reluctantly,
to part with our Tragedies: that is, if we could obtain thirty guineas
for each, and at less than thirty guineas Wordsworth will not part with
the copy-right of his volume of Poems. We shall offer the Tragedies to no
one, for we have determined to procure the money some other way. If you
choose the volume of Poems, at the price mentioned, to be paid at the
time specified, i. e. thirty guineas, to be paid sometime in the last
fortnight of July, you may have them; but remember, my dear fellow! I
write to you now merely as a bookseller, and intreat you, in your answer,
to consider yourself only; as to us, although money is necessary to our
plan, [that of visiting Germany] yet the plan is not necessary to our
happiness; and if it were, W. could sell his Poems for that sum to some
one else, or we could procure the money without selling the Poems. So I
entreat you, again and again, in your answer, which must be immediate,
consider yourself only.
Wordsworth has been caballed against _so long and so loudly_, that he has
found it impossible to prevail on the tenant of the Allfoxden estate, to
let him the house, after their first agreement is expired, so he must
quit it at Midsummer; whether we shall be able to procure him a house and
furniture near Stowey, we know not, and yet we must: for the hills, and
the woods, and the streams, and the sea, and the shores, would break
forth into reproaches against us, if we did not strain every nerve, to
keep their poet among them. Without joking, and in serious sadness, Poole
and I cannot endure to think of losing him.
At all events, come down, Cottle, as soon as you can, but before
Midsummer, and we will procure a horse easy as thy own soul, and we will
go on a roam to Linton and Limouth, which, if thou comest in May, will be
in all their pride of woods and waterfalls, not to speak of its august
cliffs, and the green ocean, and the vast Valley of Stones, all which
live disdainful of the seasons, or accept new honours only from the
winter's snow. At all events come down, and cease not to believe me much
and affectionately your friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
In consequence of these conjoint invitations, I spent a week with Mr. C.
and Mr. W. at Allfoxden house, and during this time, (beside the reading
of MS. poems) they took me to Limouth, and Linton, and the Valley of
Stones. This beautiful and august scenery, might suggest many remarks, as
well as on our incidents upon the way, but I check the disposition to
amplify, from recollecting the extent to which an unconstrained
indulgence in narrative had formerly led me, in the affair of Tintern
Abbey.
At this interview it was determined, that the volume should be published
under the title of "Lyrical ballads," on the terms stipulated in a former
letter: that this volume should not contain the poem of "Salisbury
Plain," but only an extract from it; that it should not contain the poem
of "Peter Bell," but consist rather of sundry shorter poems, and, for the
most part, of pieces more recently written. I had recommended two
volumes, but one was fixed on, and that to be published anonymously. It
was to be begun immediately, and with the "Ancient Mariner;" which poem I
brought with me to Bristol. A day or two after I received the following.
"My dear Cottle,
You know what I think of a letter, how impossible it is to argue in it.
You must therefore take simple statements, and in a week or two, I shall
see you, and endeavour to reason with you.
Wordsworth and I have duly weighed your proposal, and this is an answer.
He would not object to the publishing of 'Peter Bell,' or the 'Salisbury
Plain' singly; but to the publishing of his poems in two volumes, he is
decisively repugnant and oppugnant.
He deems that they would want variety, &c. &c. If this apply in his case,
it applies with ten-fold more force to mine. We deem that the volumes
offered to you, are, to a certain degree, one work in kind, though not in
degree, as an ode is one work; and that our different poems are, as
stanzas, good, relatively rather than absolutely: mark you, I say in
kind, though not in degree. As to the Tragedy, when I consider it in
reference to Shakspeare's, and to one other Tragedy, it seems a poor
thing, and I care little what becomes of it. When I consider it in
comparison with modern dramatists, it rises: and I think it too bad to be
published, too good to be squandered. I think of breaking it up; the
planks are sound, and I will build a new ship of the old materials.
The dedication to the Wedgewoods, which you recommend, would be
indelicate and unmeaning. If, after four or five years, I shall have
finished some work of importance, which could not have been written, but
in an unanxious seclusion, to them I will dedicate it; for the public
will have owed the work to them who gave me the power of that unanxious
seclusion.
As to anonymous publications, depend on it, you are deceived.
Wordsworth's name is nothing to a large number of persons; mine stinks.
The 'Essay on Man,' the 'Botanic Garden,' the 'Pleasures of Memory,' and
many other most popular works, were published anonymously. However, I
waive all reasoning, and simply state it as an unaltered opinion, that
you should proceed as before, with the 'Ancient Mariner.'
The picture shall be sent.[48] For your love gifts and book-loans accept
our hearty love. The 'Joan of Arc' is a divine book; it opens lovelily. I
hope that you will take off some half dozen of our Poems on great paper,
even as the 'Joan of Arc.'
Cottle, my dear Cottle, I meant to have written you an Essay on the
Metaphysics of Typography, but I have not time. Take a few hints, without
the abstruse reasons for them, with which I mean to favour you. 18 lines
in a page, the line closely printed, certainly more closely printed than
those of the 'Joan;'[49] ('Oh, by all means, closer, _W. Wordsworth_')
equal ink, and large margins; that is beauty; it may even, under your
immediate care, mingle the sublime! And now, my dear Cottle, may God love
you and me, who am, with most unauthorish feelings,
Your true friend,
S. T. Coleridge.
P. S. I walked to Linton the day after you left us, and returned on
Saturday. I walked in one day, and returned in one."
A reference is made by Mr. Coleridge, in a letter (p. 177 [Letter
starting with "Neither Wordsworth nor myself...." Transcriber.]) to the
"caballing, long and loud" against Mr. Wordsworth, and which occasioned
him to remove from Somersetshire. To learn the nature of this annoyance,
may furnish some little amusement to the reader, while Mr. W. himself
will only smile at trifling incidents, that are now, perhaps, scarcely
remembered.
Mr. W. had taken the Allfoxden House, near Stowey, for one year, (during
the minority of the heir) and the reason why he was refused a
continuance, by the ignorant man who had the letting of it, arose, as Mr.
Coleridge informed me, from a whimsical cause, or rather a series of
causes. The wiseacres of the village had, it seemed, made Mr. W. the
subject of their serious conversation. One said that "He had seen him
wander about by night, and look rather strangely at the moon! and then,
he roamed over the hills, like a partridge." Another said, "He had heard
him mutter, as he walked, in some outlandish brogue, that nobody could
understand!" Another said, "It's useless to talk, Thomas, I think he is
what people call a 'wise man.'" (a conjuror!) Another said, "You are
every one of you wrong. I know what he is. We have all met him, tramping
away toward the sea. Would any man in his senses, take all that trouble
to look at a parcel of water! I think he carries on a snug business in
the smuggling line, and, in these journies, is on the look out for some
wet cargo!" Another very significantly said, "I know that he has got a
private still in his cellar, for I once passed his house, at a little
better than a hundred yards distance, and I could smell the spirits, as
plain as an ashen fagot at Christmas!" Another said, "However that was,
he is sure_ly_ a desperd French jacobin, for he is so silent and dark,
that nobody ever heard him say one word about politics!" And thus these
ignoramuses drove from their village, a greater ornament than will ever
again be found amongst them.
In order to continue the smile on the reader's countenance, I may be
allowed to state a trifling circumstance, which at this moment forces
itself on my recollection.
A visit to Mr. Coleridge, at Stowey, in the year 1797, had been the means
of my introduction to Mr. Wordsworth. Soon after our acquaintance had
commenced, Mr. W. happened to be in Bristol, and asked me to spend a day
or two with him at Allfoxden. I consented, and drove him down in a gig.
We called for Mr. Coleridge, Miss Wordsworth, and the servant, at Stowey,
and they walked, while we rode on to Mr. W.'s house at Allfoxden, distant
two or three miles, where we purposed to dine. A London alderman would
smile at our prepation, or bill of fare. It consisted, of philosophers'
viands; namely, a bottle of brandy, a noble loaf, and a stout piece of
cheese; and as there were plenty of lettuces in the garden, with all
these comforts we calculated on doing very well.
Our fond hopes, however, were somewhat damped, by finding, that our
"stout piece of cheese" had vanished! A sturdy _rat_ of a beggar, whom we
had relieved on the road, with his olfactories all alive, no doubt,
_smelt_ our cheese, and while we were gazing at the magnificent clouds,
contrived to abstract our treasure! Cruel tramp! An ill return for our
pence! We both wished the rind might not choke him! The mournful fact was
ascertained a little before we drove into the courtyard of the house. Mr.
Coleridge bore the loss with great fortitude, observing, that we should
never starve with a loaf of bread, and a bottle of brandy. He now, with
the dexterity of an adept, admired by his friends around, unbuckled the
horse, and, putting down the shafts with a jerk, as a triumphant
conclusion of his work, lo! the bottle of brandy that had been placed
most carefully behind us on the seat, from the force of gravity, suddenly
rolled down, and before we could arrest this spirituous avalanche,
pitching right on the stones, was dashed to pieces. We all beheld the
spectacle, silent and petrified! We might have collected the broken
fragments of glass, but the brandy! that was gone! clean gone![50]
One little untoward thing often follows another, and while the rest stood
musing, chained to the place, regaling themselves with the Cogniac
effluvium, and all miserably chagrined, I led the horse to the stable,
when a fresh perplexity arose. I removed the harness without difficulty,
but after many strenuous attempts, I could not get off the collar. In
despair, I called for assistance, when aid soon drew near. Mr. Wordsworth
first brought his ingenuity into exercise, but after several unsuccessful
efforts, he relinquished the achievement, as a thing altogether
impracticable. Mr. Coleridge now tried his hand, but showed no more
grooming skill than his predecessors; for after twisting the poor horse's
neck almost to strangulation, and to the great danger of his eyes, he
gave up the useless task, pronouncing that the horse's head must have
grown, (gout or dropsy!) since the collar was put on! for, he said, it
was a downright impossibility for such a huge Os Frontis to pass through
so narrow a collar! Just at this instant the servant girl came near, and
understanding the cause of our consternation, "La, Master," said she,
"you do not go about the work in the right way. You should do like as
this," when turning the collar completely upside down, she slipped it off
in a moment, to our great humiliation and wonderment; each satisfied,
afresh, that there were heights of knowledge in the world, to which we
had not yet attained.
We were now summoned to dinner, and a dinner it was, such as every
_blind_ and starving man in the three kingdoms would have rejoiced to
_behold_. At the top of the table stood a superb brown loaf. The centre
dish presented a pile of the true coss lettuces, and at the bottom
appeared an empty plate, where the "stout piece of cheese" _ought_ to
have stood! (cruel mendicant!) and though the brandy was "clean gone,"
yet its place was well, if not _better_ supplied by an abundance of fine
sparkling Castalian champagne! A happy thought at this time started into
one of our minds, that some condiment would render the lettuces a little
more palatable, when an individual in the company, recollected a
question, once propounded by the most patient of men, "How can that which
is unsavoury be eaten without _salt?_" and asked for a little of that
valuable culinary article. "Indeed, sir," Betty replied, "I quite forgot
to buy salt." A general laugh followed the announcement, in which our
host heartily joined. This was nothing. We had plenty of other good
things, and while crunching our succulents, and munching our crusts, we
pitied the far worse condition of those, perchance as hungry as
ourselves, who were forced to dine, off aether alone. For our next meal,
the mile-off village furnished all that could be desired, and these
trifling incidents present the sum and the result of half the little
passing disasters of life.
The "Lyrical Ballads" were published about Midsummer, 1798. In September
of the same year, Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Wordsworth left England for
Germany, and I quitted the business of a bookseller. Had I not once been
such, this book would never have appeared.
* * * * *
The narrative of Mr. Coleridge being concluded to the time when he left
Bristol, with Mr. Wordsworth, to visit Germany, I shall now, for the
present, leave him; and direct the reader's attention to Mr. Southey, by
introducing a portion of his long-continued correspondence with myself;
but it may not be inappropriate to offer a few preliminary remarks:--
The following letters will exhibit the genuine character of Mr. Southey
through the whole of his literary life. In the earlier periods, a playful
hilarity will be found; but this buoyancy of spirit, when prevailing to
excess, (in the constitutionally cheerful, such as was Mr. S.) is
generally modified, if not subdued, by the sobering occurrences of after
life. Letters, like the present, possess some peculiar advantages.
Whenever, as in this instance, epistles are written through a series of
years, to one person, the writer's mind is presented, under different
aspects, while the identity is preserved. This benefit is greatly
diminished, when, in a promiscuous correspondence, letters are addressed
to a diversity of persons; often of different habits, and pursuits, where
the writer must be compelled, occasionally, to moderate his expressions;
to submit in some measure to mental restraint, by the necessity he is
under to curb the flow of his spontaneous feeling. Besides this freedom
from comparative bondage, one other advantage is derived from these
continuous, and unconstrained letters to a single friend. A writer, in
all his letters, from addressing one, for the most part, of congenial
sympathies, expresses himself with less reserve; with more of the
interior poured out; and consequently he maintains a freedom from that
formality of essay-like sentences, which often resemble beautiful
statues, fair, but cold and wanting life.
When, during the Revolutionary war, disgusted with the excesses of the
Trench, Mr. Southey saw it right, from a Foxite, to become a Pittite,
some who did not know him, ascribed his change of sentiment to unworthy
motives; of this number was my esteemed friend the late Rev. John Foster,
who whilst freely admitting Mr. Southey's great attainments and
distinguished genius, regarded his mind as injuriously biassed. He
thought Mm a betrayer of his political friends. No countervailing effect
was produced by affirming his uprightness, and the temperance with which
he still spake of those from whom he was compelled to differ. He was told
that Mr. Southey was no blind political partisan, but an honest
vindicator of what, in his conscience, he believed to be right--that no
earthly consideration could have tempted him to swerve from the plain
paths of truth and justice. An appeal was made to his writings, which
manifested great moderation: and as it respected the Church, the London,
and the Baptist Missionary Societies, it might be said, that he
courageously stood forth to vindicate them in the Quarterly, at a
critical time, when those Societies had been assailed by Sydney Smith, in
the Edinburgh Review. All proved unavailing. At length I submitted to Mr.
Foster's inspection, Mr. Southey's correspondence for more than forty
years, where, in the disclosure of the heart's deepest recesses, the
undisguised character distinctly appears. He read, he admired, he
recanted. In a letter to myself on returning the MS. he thus wrote: "The
letters exhibit Southey as a man of sterling worth,--of sound
principles;--faithfulness to old friendship, generosity, and, I trust I
may say, genuine religion." And Mr. F. ever after expressed the same
sentiments to his friends. It is confidently hoped that similar instances
of unfavourable prepossession, may be corrected by the same means.
In his "Friend" Mr. Coleridge thus refers to his early schemes of
Pantisocracy.
"Truth I pursued, as fancy led the way
And wiser men than I went worse astray."
"From my earliest manhood I perceived that if the people at large
were neither ignorant nor immoral, there could be no motive for a
sudden and violent change of Government; and if they were, there
could be no hope but a change for the worse. My feelings and
imagination did not remain unkindled in this general conflagration
(the French Revolution) and I confess I should be more inclined to be
ashamed than proud of myself if they had. I was a sharer in the
general vortex, though my little world described the path of its
revolution in an orbit of its own. What I dared not expect from
constitutions of Government and whole nations, I hoped from religion,
and a small company of chosen individuals, formed a plan, as harmless
as it was extravagant, of trying the experiment of human
perfectibility on the banks of the Susquehannah; where our little
society, in its second generation, was to have combined the innocence
of the patriarchal age with the knowledge and genuine refinements of
European culture; and where I dreamt that in the sober evening of my
life, I should behold the cottages of Independence in the undivided
dale of liberty,
'And oft, soothed sadly by the dirgeful wind
Muse on the sore ills I had left behind.'
Strange fancies! and as vain as strange! Yet to the intense interest
and impassioned zeal, which called forth and strained every faculty
of my intellect for the organization and defence of this scheme, I
owe much of whatever I at present possess,--my clearest insight into
the nature of individual man, and my most comprehensive views of his
social relations, of the true uses of trade and commerce, and how far
the wealth and relative power of nations promote or impede their
inherent strength."
The following is Mr. Coleridge's estimate of Mr. Southey.
"Southey stands second to no man, either as an historian or as a
bibliographer; and when I regard him as a popular essayist, I look in
vain for any writer who has conveyed so much information, from so
many and such recondite sources, with so many just and original
reflections, in a style so lively and poignant, yet so uniformly
classical and perspicuous; no one, in short, who has combined so much
wisdom, with so much wit; so much truth and knowledge, with so much
life and fancy. His prose is always intelligible, and always
entertaining. It is Southey's almost unexampled felicity, to possess
the best gifts of talent and genius, free from all their
characteristic defects. As son, brother, husband, father, master,
friend, he moves with firm, yet light steps, alike unostentatious,
and alike exemplary. As a writer he has uniformly made his talents
subservient to the best interests of humanity, of public virtue, and
domestic piety; his cause has ever been the cause of pure religion,
and of liberty, of national independence, and of national
illumination."--_Bio. Lit._
The reader has several times heard of Pantisocracy; a scheme perfectly
harmless in itself, though obnoxious to insuperable objections. The
ingenious devisers of this state of society, gradually withdrew from it
their confidence; not in the first instance without a struggle; but cool
reflection presented so many obstacles, that the plan, of itself, as the
understanding expanded, gradually dissolved into "thin air." A friend had
suggested the expediency of first trying the plan in Wales, but even this
less exceptionable theatre of experiment was soon abandoned, and sound
sense obtained its rightful empire.
It was mentioned in a former part, that Mr. Southey was the first to
abandon the scheme of American colonization; and that, in confirmation,
towards the conclusion of 1795, he accompanied his uncle, the Rev.
Herbert Hill, Chaplain to the English factory at Lisbon, through some
parts of Spain and Portugal; of which occurrence, Mr. S.'s entertaining
"Letters" from those countries are the result; bearing testimony to his
rapid accumulation of facts, and the accuracy of his observations on
persons and things.
The very morning on which Mr. Southey was married to Miss Edith
Fricker,[51] he left his wife in the family of kind friends, and set off
with his Uncle, to pass through Spain to Lisbon. But this procedure marks
the delicacy and the noble character of his mind; as will appear from the
following letter, received from him, just before he embarked.
"Falmouth, 1795.
My dear friend,
I have learnt from Lovell the news from Bristol, public and private, and
both of an interesting nature. My marriage is become public. You know
that its publicity can give me no concern. I have done my duty. Perhaps
you may think my motives for marrying (at that time) not sufficiently
strong. One, and that to me of great weight, I believe was not mentioned
to you. There might have arisen feelings of an unpleasant nature, at the
idea of receiving support from one not legally a husband; and (do not
show this to Edith) should I perish by shipwreck, or any other casualty,
I have relations whose prejudices would then yield to the anguish of
affection, and who would then love and cherish, and yield all possible
consolation to my widow. Of such an evil there is but a possibility, but
against possibility it was my duty to guard.[52]
Farewell,
Yours sincerely,
Robert Southey."
Mr. Southey having sent me two letters from the Peninsula, they are here
presented to the reader.
"Corunna, Dec. 15th, 1795.
Indeed my dear friend, it is strange that you are reading a letter from
me now, and not an account of our shipwreck. We left Falmouth on Tuesday
mid-day; the wind was fair till the next night, so fair that we were
within twelve hours' sail of Corunna; it then turned round, blew a
tempest, and continued so till the middle of Saturday. Our dead lights
were up fifty hours, and I was in momentary expectation of death. You
know what a situation this is. I forgot my sickness, and though I thought
much of the next world, thought more of those at Bristol, who would daily
expect letters; daily be disappointed, and at last learn from the
newspapers, that the Lauzarotte had never been heard of.
Of all things it is most difficult to understand the optimism of this
difference of language; the very beasts of the country do not understand
English. Say "poor fellow" to a dog, and he will probably bite you; the
cat will come if you call her "Meeth-tha," but "puss" is an outlandish
phrase she has not been accustomed to; last night I went to supper to the
fleas, and an excellent supper they made; and the cats serenaded me with
their execrable Spanish: to lie all night in _Bowling-Green Lane_,[53]
would be to enjoy the luxury of soft and smooth lying.
At sight of land a general shaving took place; no subject could be better
for Bunbury than a Packet cabin taken at such a moment. For me, I am as
yet whiskered, for I would not venture to shave on board, and have had no
razor on shore till this evening. Custom-house officers are more
troublesome here than in England, I have however got everything at last;
you may form some idea of the weather we endured; thirty fowls over our
head were drowned; the ducks got loose, and ran with a party of half
naked Dutchmen into our cabin: 'twas a precious place, eight men lying on
a shelf much like a coffin. Mr. Wahrendoff, a Swede, was the whole time
with the bason close under his nose.
The bookseller's shop was a great comfort; the Consul here has paid me
particular attentions, and I am to pass to-morrow morning with him, when
he will give me some directions concerning Spanish literature. He knows
the chief literary men in England, and did know Brissot and Petion. Of
the dramatic poet whom Coates's friend Zimbernatt mentioned as rivalling
Shakspeare, I hear nothing; that young Spaniard seems to exaggerate or
rather to represent things like a warm-hearted young man, who believes
what he wishes. The father-in-law of Tallien is a banker, what you call a
clever fellow; another word, says the most sensible man here, for a
cheat; the court and the clergy mutually support each other, and their
combined despotism is indeed dreadful, yet much is doing; Jardine is very
active; he has forwarded the establishment of schools in the Asturias
with his Spanish friends. Good night, they are going to supper. Oh, their
foul oils and wines!
Tuesday morning. I have heard of hearts as hard as rocks, and stones, and
adamants, but if ever I write upon a hard heart, my simile shall be, as
inflexible as a bed in a Spanish Posada; we had beef steaks for supper
last night, and a sad libel upon beef steaks they were. I wish you could
see our room; a bed in an open recess, one just moved from the other
corner. Raynsford packing his trunk; Maber shaving himself; tables and
chairs; looking-glass hung too high even for a Patagonian, the four
evangelists, &c. &c. the floor beyond all filth, most filthy.
I have been detained two hours since I began to write, at the custom
house. Mr. Cottle, if there be a custom house to pass through, to the
infernal regions, all beyond must be, comparatively, tolerable....
Adieu,
Robert Southey."
"Lisbon, February 1st, 1796.
'Certainly, I shall hear from Mr. Cottle, by the first packet' said I.
Now I say, 'probably I may hear by the next,' so does experience abate
the sanguine expectations of man. What, could you not write one letter?
and here am I writing not only to all my friends in Bristol, but to all
in England. Indeed I should have been vexed, but that the packet brought
a letter from Edith, and the pleasure that gave me, allowed no feeling of
vexation. What of 'Joan?' Mr. Coates tells me it gains upon the public,
but authors seldom hear the plain truth. I am anxious that it should
reach a second edition, that I may write a new preface, and enlarge the
last book. I shall omit all in the second book which Coleridge wrote.
Bristol deserves panegyric instead of satire. I know of no mercantile
place so literary. Here I am among the Philistines, spending my mornings
so pleasantly, as books, only books, can make them, and sitting at
evening the silent spectator of card playing and dancing. The English
here unite the spirit of commerce, with the frivolous amusements of high
life. One of them who plays every night (Sundays are not excepted here)
will tell you how closely he attends to profit. 'I never pay a porter for
bringing a burthen till the next day,' says he, 'for while the fellow
feels his back ache with the weight, he charges high; but when he comes
the next day the feeling is gone, and he asks only half the money.' And
the author of this philosophical scheme is worth £200,000!
This is a comfortless place, and the only pleasure I find in it, is in
looking on to my departure. Three years ago I might have found a friend,
Count Leopold Berchtold. This man (foster brother of the Emperor Joseph)
is one of those rare characters, who spend their lives in doing good. It
is his custom in every country he visits, to publish books in its
language, on some subject of practical utility; these he gave away. I
have now lying before me the two which he printed in Lisbon; the one is
an Essay on the means of preserving life, in the various dangers to which
men are daily exposed. The other an Essay on extending the limits of
benevolence, not only towards men, but towards animals. His age was about
twenty-five; his person and his manners the most polished. My uncle saw
more of him than any one, for he used his library; and this was the only
house he called at; he was only seen at dinner, the rest of the day was
constantly given to study. They who lived in the same house with him,
believed him to be the wandering Jew. He spoke all the European
languages, had written in all, and was master of the Arabic. From thence
he went to Cadiz, and thence to Barbary; no more is known of him.
We felt a smart earthquake the morning after our arrival here. These
shocks alarm the Portuguese dreadfully; and indeed it is the most
terrifying sensation you can conceive. One man jumped out of bed and ran
down to the stable, to ride off almost naked as he was. Another, more
considerately put out his candle, 'because I know,' said he 'the fire
does more harm than the earthquake.' The ruins of the great earthquake
are not yet removed entirely.
The city is a curious place; a straggling plan; built on the most uneven
ground, with heaps of ruins in the middle, and large open places. The
streets filthy beyond all English ideas of filth, for they throw
everything into the streets, and nothing is removed. Dead animals annoy
you at every corner; and such is the indolence and nastiness of the
Portuguese, that I verily believe they would let each other rot, in the
same manner, if the priests did not get something by burying them. Some
of the friars are vowed to wear their clothes without changing for a
year; and this is a comfort to them: you will not wonder, therefore, that
I always keep to the windward of these reverend perfumers.
The streets are very disagreeable in wet weather. If you walk under the
houses you are drenched by the waterspouts; if you attempt the middle,
there is a river; if you would go between both, there is the dunghill.
The rains here are very violent, and the streams in the streets, on a
declivity, so rapid as to throw down men; and sometimes to overset
carriages. A woman was drowned some years ago, in one of the most
frequented streets of Lisbon. But to walk home at night is the most
dangerous adventure, for then the chambermaids shower out the filth into
the streets with such profusion, that a Scotchman might fancy himself at
Edinburgh. You cannot conceive what a cold perspiration it puts me in, to
hear one dashed down just before me; as Thomson says, with a little
alteration:
"Hear nightly dashed, amid the perilous street,
The fragrant stink pot."
This furnishes food for innumerable dogs, that belong to nobody, and
annoy everybody. If they did not devour it, the quantities would breed a
pestilence. In a moonlight night, we see dogs and rats feeding at the
same dunghill.
Lisbon is plagued with a very small species of red ant, that swarm over
everything in the house. Their remedy for this is, to send for the
priest, and exorcise them. The drain from the new convent opens into the
middle of the street. An English pigsty is cleaner than the metropolis of
Portugal.
To-night I shall see the procession of 'Our Lord of the Passion.' This
image is a very celebrated one, and with great reason, for one night he
knocked at the door of St Roque's church, and there they would not admit
him. After this he walked to the other end of the town, to the church of
St. Grace, and there they took him in: but a dispute now arose between
the two churches, to which the image belonged; whether to the church
which he first chose, or the church that first chose him. The matter was
compromised. One church has him, and the other fetches him for their
processions, and he sleeps with the latter the night preceding. The
better mode for deciding it, had been to place the gentleman between
both, and let him walk to which he liked best. What think you of this
story being believed in 1796!!!
The power of the Inquisition still exists, though they never exercise it,
and thus the Jews save their bacon. Fifty years ago it was the greatest
delight of the Portuguese to see a Jew burnt. Geddes, the then chaplain,
was present at one of these detestable Auto da Fe's. He says, 'the
transports expressed by all ages, and all sexes, whilst the miserable
sufferers were shrieking and begging mercy for God's sake, formed a scene
more horrible than any out of hell!' He adds, that 'this barbarity is not
their national character, for no people sympathize so much at the
execution of a criminal; but it is the damnable nature of their religion,
and the most diabolical spirit of their priests; their celibacy deprives
them of the affections of men, and their creed gives them the ferocity of
devils.' Geddes saw one man gagged, because, immediately he came out of
the Inquisition gates, he looked up at the sun, whose light for many
years had never visited him, and exclaimed, 'How is it possible for men
who behold that glorious orb, to worship any being but him who created
it!' My blood runs cold when I pass that accursed building; and though
they do not exercise their power, it is a reproach to human nature that
the building should exist.
It is as warm here as in May with you; of course we broil in that month
at Lisbon; but I shall escape the hot weather here, as I did the cold
weather of England, and quit this place the latter end of April. You will
of course see me the third day after my landing at Falmouth, or, if I can
get companions in a post-chaise, sooner. This my resolution is like the
law of the Medes and Persians, that altereth not. Be so good as to
procure for me a set of Coleridge's 'Watchman,' with his Lectures and
Poems. I want to write a tragedy here, but can find no leisure to begin
it.
Portugal is much plagued with robbers, and they generally strip a man,
and leave him to walk home in his birth-day suit. An Englishman was
served thus at Almeyda, and the Lisbon magistrates, on his complaint,
took up the whole village, and imprisoned them all. Contemplate this
people in what light you will, you can never see them in a good one. They
suffered their best epic poet to perish for want: and they burned to
death their best dramatic writer, because he was a Jew.
Pombal, whose heart was bad, though he made a good minister, reduced the
church during his administration. He suffered no persons to enter the
convents, and, as the old monks and nuns died, threw two convents into
one, and sold the other estates. By this means, he would have annihilated
the whole generation of vermin; but the king died, and the queen, whose
religion has driven her mad, undid, through the influence of the priests,
all that Pombal had done. He escaped with his life, but lived to see his
bust destroyed, and all his plans for the improvement of Portugal
reversed. He had the interest of his country at heart, and the
punishment, added to the regret of having committed so many crimes to
secure his power, must almost have been enough for this execrable
marquis.
The climate here is delightful, and the air so clear, that when the moon
is young, I can often distinguish the whole circle, thus; O. You and
Robert may look for this some fine night, but I do not remember ever to
have observed it in England. The stars appear more brilliant here, but I
often look up at the Pleiades, and remember how much happier I was when I
saw them in Bristol. Fare you well. Let me know that my friends remember
me....
Robert Southey."
After the complete reconciliation had taken place with Mr. Coleridge, Mr.
Southey in the autumn of 1796, settled in London, and purposed to study
the law. From London he sent me the following letter.
"London, Nov. 1796.
My dear friend,
I am now entering on a new way of life which will lead me to
independence. You know that I neither lightly undertake any scheme, nor
lightly abandon what I have undertaken. I am happy because I have no
want, and because the independence I labour to attain, and of attaining
which, my expectations can hardly be disappointed, will leave me nothing
to wish. I am indebted to you, Cottle, for the comforts of my later time.
In my present situation I feel a pleasure in saying thus much.
Thank God! Edith comes on Monday next. I say Thank God, for I have never
since my return from Portugal, been absent from her so long before, and
sincerely hope and intend never to be so again. On Tuesday we shall be
settled, and on Wednesday my legal studies begin in the morning, and I
shall begin with 'Madoc' in the evening. Of this it is needless to
caution you to say nothing; as I must have the character of a lawyer; and
though I can and will unite the two pursuits, no one would credit the
possibility of the union. In two years the Poem shall be finished, and
the many years it must lie by will afford ample time for correction.
I have declined being a member of a Literary Club, which meet at the
Chapter Coffee House, and of which I had been elected a member. Surely a
man does not do his duty who leaves his wife to evenings of solitude; and
I feel duty and happiness to be inseparable. I am happier at home than
any other society can possibly make me. With Edith I am alike secure from
the wearisomeness of solitude, and the disgust which I cannot help
feeling at the contemplation of mankind, and which I do not wish to
suppress.
Here is a great deal about myself, and nothing about those whom I have
seen in London, and of whom we have all heard in the country. I will make
a report upon them in my next letter. God bless you.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Southey."
Letter from Robert Southey, to Amos Cottle, Magdalen College, Cambridge.
"London, Feb. 28, 1797.
20, Prospect Place, Newington Butts.
... Here I am travelling on in the labyrinth of the law; and though I had
rather make books myself than read the best lawyer's composition, I am
getting on cheerfully, and steadily, and well.
While you are amusing yourself with mathematics, and I lounging over the
law, the political and commercial world are all in alarm and confusion. I
cannot call myself a calm witness of all this, for I sit by the fireside,
hear little about it, think less, and see nothing; 'all hoping, and
expecting all in patient faith.' Tranquillity of mind is a blessing too
valuable to sacrifice for all the systems man has ever established. My
day of political enthusiasm is over. I know what is right, and as I see
that everything is wrong, care more about the changing of the wind, lest
it should make the chimney smoke, than for all the empires of Europe...."
"London, 1797.
My dear friend,
... I physiognomise everything, even the very oysters may be accurately
judged by their shells. I discovered this at Lisbon, where they are all
deformed, hump-backed, and good for nothing. Is it not possible by the
appearance of a river to tell what fish are in it? In the slow sluggish
stream you will find the heavy chub. In the livelier current, the trout
and the pike. If a man loves prints you have an excellent clue to his
character; take for instance, the inventory of mine at College:--Four
views of the ruins at Rome; Charles Fox; Belisarius; Niobe; and four
Landscapes of Poussin; and Claude Lorraine. These last are of constant
source of pleasure. I become acquainted with the inhabitants in every
house, and know every inch of ground in the prospect. They have formed
for me many a pleasant day-dream. I can methodise these into a little
poem. I am now settled; my books are organised; and this evening I set
off on my race.
We have a story of a ghost here, who appears to the watchman,--the spirit
of a poor girl, whose life was abandoned, and her death most horrible. I
am in hopes it may prove _true!_ as I have a great love for apparitions.
They make part of the poetical creed. Fare you well.
Sincerely yours,
To Joseph Cottle.
Robert Southey."
"London, March 6, 1797.
... I am inclined to complain heavily of you, Cottle. Here am I
committing grand larceny on my time, in writing to you; and you, who
might sit at your fire, and write me huge letters, have not found time to
fill even half a sheet. As you may suppose, I have enough of employment.
I work like a negro at law, and therefore neglect nothing else, for he
who never wastes time has always time enough.
I have to see many of the London lions, or literati, George Dyer is to
take me to Mary Hayes, Miss Christal, and Taylor, the Pagan, my near
neighbour. You shall have my physiognomical remarks upon them. I hate
this city more and more, although I see little of it. You do not know
with what delight I anticipate a summer in Wales, and I hope to spend the
summer of the next year there, and to talk Welsh most gutturally. I shall
see Meirion this week, whose real name is William Owen. He is the author
of the new Welsh dictionary, a man of uncommon erudition, and who ought
to esteem me for Madoc's sake. Fare you well. Remember me to all friends.
God bless you.
Yours sincerely,
Robert Southey."
"... Perhaps you will be surprised to hear, that of all the lions of
literati that I have seen here, there is not one whose countenance has
not some unpleasant trait. Mary Imlay is the best, infinitely the best.
The only fault in it, is an expression somewhat similar to what the
prints of Horne Tooke display; an expression indicating superiority, not
haughtiness, not conceit, not sarcasm, in Mary Imlay, but still it is
unpleasant. Her eyes are light brown, and though the lid of one of them
is affected by a slight paralysis, they are the most meaning I ever saw.
Her complexion is dark, sun-burnt, and her skin a little cracked, for she
is near forty, and affliction has borne harder on her than years; but her
manners are the most pleasing I ever witnessed, they display warm
feeling, and strong understanding; and the knowledge she has acquired of
men and manners, ornaments, not disguises, her own character. I have
given an unreserved opinion of Mrs. Barbauld to Charles Danvers.
While I was with George Dyer one morning last week, Mary Hayes and Miss
Christal entered, and the ceremony of introduction followed. Mary Hayes
writes in the New Monthly Magazine, under the signature of M. H., and
sometimes writes nonsense there about Helvetius. She has lately published
a novel, 'Emma Courtney,' a book much praised and much abused. I have not
seen it myself, but the severe censure passed on it by persons of narrow
mind, have made me curious, and convinced me that it is at least an
uncommon book. Mary Hayes is an agreeable woman and a Godwinite. Now if
you will read Godwin's book with attention, we will determine between us,
in what light to consider that sectarian title. As for Godwin himself, he
has large noble eyes, and a nose,--oh, most abominable nose! Language is
not vituperative enough to express the effect of its downward elongation.
He loves London, literary society, and talks nonsense about the collision
of mind, and Mary Hayes echoes him.
But Miss Christal, have you seen her Poems? A fine, artless, sensible
girl. Now, Cottle, that word sensible must not be construed here in its
dictionary acceptation. Ask a Frenchman what it means, and he will
understand it, though, perhaps, he can by no circumlocution explain its
French meaning. Her heart is alive. She loves poetry. She loves
retirement. She loves the country. Her verses are very incorrect, and the
literary circle say, she has no genius, but she has genius, Joseph
Cottle, or there is no truth in physiognomy. Gilbert Wakefield came in
while I was disputing with Mary Hayes upon the moral effects of towns. He
has a most critic-like voice, as if he had snarled himself hoarse. You
see I like the women better than the men. Indeed they are better animals
in general, perhaps because more is left to nature in their education.
Nature is very good, but God knows there is very little of it left.
I wish you were within a morning's walk, but I am always persecuted by
time and space. Robert Southey, and law, and poetry, make up an odd kind
of tri-union. We jog on easily together, and I advance with sufficient
rapidity in Blackstone, and 'Madoc.' I hope to finish my poem, and to
begin my practice in about two years.
God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"... I am running a race with the printers again: translating a work from
the French: 'Necker on the French Revolution,' vol. II. Dr. Aikin and his
son translate the 1st volume. My time is wholly engrossed by the race,
for I run at the rate of sixteen pages a day; as hard going as sixteen
miles for a hack horse. About sixteen days more will complete it.
There is no necessity for my residing in London till the close of the
autumn. Therefore after keeping the next term, which may be kept the
first week in May, I intend to go into the country for five months;
probably near the sea, at the distance of one day's journey from London,
for the convenience of coming up to keep the Trinity Term. This will not
increase my expenses, though it will give me all the pleasure of
existence which London annihilates. God bless you,
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"My dear Cottle,
... George Dyer gave me what he calls his 'Crotchet,' and what I call an
indifferent poem. Said he to me, 'I could not bring in Wordsworth, and
Lloyd, and Lamb, but I put them in a note.' That man is all benevolence.
If, which is probable, we go to Hampshire, I shall expect to see you
there. It is an easy day's ride from Bristol to Southampton; but I shall
lay before you a correct map of the road when all is settled.
I have seen your Dr. Baynton's book. It is vilely written; but the
theory, seems good, (that of bandaging wounded legs) My friend Carlisle
means to try it at the Westminster Hospital. I was somewhat amused at
seeing a treatise on sore legs, printed on wove paper, and hot pressed.
I met Townsend, the Spanish traveller, a few days since at Carlisle's. He
flattered me most unpleasantly on 'Joan of Arc.' Townsend is much taller
than I am, and almost as thin. He invited me to Pewsey, and I shall
breakfast with him soon. He is engaged in a work of immense labour; the
origin of languages. I do not like him; he is too polite to be sincere.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
The late George Dyer, referred to by Mr. Southey, was an University man
who exercised his talents chiefly in writing for the Periodicals. His
chief work was "The History of the Halls and Colleges of Cambridge." He
published also several small works. The Poem, referred to above, was
complimentary, in which he noticed most of his literary friends. The way
in which he "brought in" the author of the "Pleasures of Memory" was,
very properly putting wit before wealth,
"Was born a banker, and then rose a bard,"
George Dyer was sincere, and had great simplicity of manners, so that he
was a favourite with all his friends. No man in London encouraged so much
as he did, Bloomfield, the author of the "Farmer's Boy;" and he was
equally prepared with kind offices for every body. He had some odd
fancies, one of which was, that men ought to live more sparingly and
drink plenty of water-gruel. By carrying this wholesome precept on one
occasion, rather too far, he unhappily reduced himself to death's door.
Charles Lamb told me, that having once called on him, at his room in
Clifford's Inn, he found a little girl with him, (one of his nieces) whom
he was teaching to sing hymns.
Mr. Coleridge related to me a rather ludicrous circumstance concerning
George Dyer, which Charles Lamb had told him, the last time he passed
through London. Charles Lamb had heard that George Dyer was very ill, and
hastened to see him. He found him in an emaciated state, shivering over a
few embers. "Ah!" said George, as Lamb entered, "I am glad to see you.
You wont have me here long. I have just written this letter to my young
nephews and nieces, to come immediately and take a final leave of their
uncle." Lamb found, on inquiry, that he had latterly been living on
water-gruel, and a low starving diet, and readily divined the cause of
his maladies. "Come," said Lamb, "I shall take you home immediately to my
house, and I and my sister will nurse you." "Ah!" said George Dyer, "it
wont do." The hackney coach was soon at the door, and as the sick man
entered it, he said to Lamb, "Alter the address, and then send the letter
with all speed to the poor children." "I will," said Lamb, "and at the
same time call the doctor."
George Dyer was now seated by Charles Lamb's comfortable fire, while Lamb
hastened to his medical friend, and told him that a worthy man was at his
house who had almost starved himself on water-gruel. "You must come,"
said he, "directly, and prescribe some kitchen stuff, or the poor man
will be dead. He wont take any thing from me; he says, 'tis all useless."
Away both the philanthropists hastened, and Charles Lamb, anticipating
what would be required, furnished himself, on the road, with a pound of
beef steaks. The doctor now entered the room, and advancing towards his
patient, felt his pulse, and asked him a few questions; when, looking
grave, he said, "Sir, you are in a very dangerous way," "I know it Sir, I
know it Sir," said George Dyer. The Dr. replied, "Sir, yours is a very
peculiar case, and if you do not implicitly follow my directions, you
will die of atrophy before to-morrow morning. It is the only possible
chance of saving your life. You must directly make a good meal off
beef-steaks, and drink the best part of a pot of porter." "Tis too late,"
said George, but "I'll eat, I'll eat." The doctor now withdrew, and so
nicely had Lamb calculated on results, that the steaks were all this time
broiling on the fire! and, as though by magic, the doctor had scarcely
left the room, when the steaks and the porter were both on the table.
Just as George Dyer had begun voraciously to feast on the steaks, his
young nephews and nieces entered the room crying. "Good bye, my dears,"
said George, taking a deep draught of the porter. "You wont see me much
longer." After a few mouthfuls of the savoury steak, he further said, "be
good children, when I am gone." Taking another draught of the porter, he
continued, "mind your books, and don't forget your hymns." "We wont,"
answered a little shrill silvery voice, from among the group, "we wont,
dear Uncle." He now gave them all a parting kiss; when the children
retired in a state of wonderment, that "sick Uncle" should be able to eat
and drink so heartily. "And so," said Lamb, in his own peculiar
phraseology "at night, I packed up his little nipped carcass snug in bed,
and, after stuffing him for a week, sent him home as plump as a
partridge."
"April, 26, 1797.
"... I have finished Necker this morning, and return again to my regular
train of occupation. Would that digging potatoes were amongst them! and
if I live a dozen years, you shall eat potatoes of my digging: but I must
think now of the present.
Some Mr. ---- sent me a volume of his poems, last week. I read his book:
it was not above mediocrity. He seems very fond of poetry and even to a
superstitious reverence of Thompson's 'old table,' and even of Miss
Seward, whose MS. he rescued from the printer. I called on him to thank
him, and was not sorry to find him not at home. But the next day a note
arrived with more praise. He wished my personal acquaintance, and 'trusts
I shall excuse the frankness which avows, that it would gratify his
feelings to receive a copy of 'Joan of Arc, from the author.' I thought
this, to speak tenderly, not a very modest request, but there is a
something in my nature which prevents me from silently displaying my
sentiments, if that display can give pain, and so I answered his note,
and sent him the book. He writes sonnets to Miss Seward, and Mr. Hayley;
enough to stamp him 'blockhead.'
Carlisle and I, instead of our neighbours' 'Revolutionary Tribunal,' mean
to erect a physiognomical one, and as transportation is to be the
punishment, instead of guillotining, we shall put the whole navy in
requisition to carry off all ill-looking fellows, and then we may walk
London streets without being jostled. You are to be one of the Jury, and
we must get some good limner to take down the evidence. Witnesses will be
needless. The features of a man's face will rise up in judgment against
him; and the very voice that pleads 'Not Guilty,' will be enough to
convict the raven-toned criminal.
I sapped last night with Ben. Flower, of Cambridge, at Mr. P.'s, and
never saw so much coarse strength in a countenance. He repeated to me an
epigram on the dollars which perhaps you may not have seen.
To make Spanish dollars with Englishmen pass,
Stamp the head of a fool, on the tail of an ass.[54]
This has a coarse strength rather than a point. Danvers tells me that you
have written to Herbert Croft. Give me some account of your letter. Let
me hear from you, and tell me how you all are, and what is going on in
the little world of Bristol. God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey.
"... We dine with Mary Wolstoncroft (now Godwin) to-morrow. Oh! he has a
foul nose! I never see it without longing to cut it off. By the by, Dr.
Hunter (the murderer of St. Pierre) [55] told me that I had exactly
Lavater's nose, to my no small satisfaction, for I did not know what to
make of that protuberance, or promontory of mine. I could not compliment
him. He has a very red drinking face: little good humoured eyes, with the
skin drawn up under them, like cunning and short-sightedness united. I
saw Dr. Hunter again yesterday. I neither like him, nor his wife, nor his
son, nor his daughter, nor any thing that is his. To night I am to meet
Opie. God bless you. Edith's love.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"May, 1797.
My dear Cottle,
... Opie indeed is a very extraordinary man. I have now twice seen him.
Without any thing of politeness, his manners are pleasing, though their
freedom is out of the common; and his conversation, though in a
half-uttered, half-Cornish, half-croak, is interesting. There is a
strange contrast between his genius, which is not confined to painting,
and the vulgarity of his appearance, --his manners, and sometimes of his
language. You will however easily conceive that a man who can paint like
Opie, must display the same taste on other subjects. He is very fond of
Spenser. No author furnishes so many pictures, he says. You may have seen
his 'Britomart delivering Amoret.' He has begun a picture from
Spenser,--which he himself thinks his best design, but it has remained
untouched for three years. The outline is wonderfully fine. It is the
delivery of Serena from the Salvages, by Calepine. You will find the
story in the 6th book of the 'Fairy Queen.' The subject has often struck
me as being fit for the painter.
I saw Dr. Gregory (Biographer of Chatterton) to-day; a very brown-looking
man, of most pinquescent, and full-moon cheeks. There is much tallow in
him. I like his wife, and perhaps him too, but his Christianity is of an
intolerant order, and he affects a solemnity when talking of it, which
savours of the high priest. When he comes before the physiognomical
tribunal, we must melt him down. He is too portly. God bless you....
Yours truly,
Robert Southey."
May, 1797.
"... I fancy you see no hand-writing so often as mine. I have been much
pleased with your letter to Herbert Croft. I was at Dr. Gregory's last
night. He has a nasal twang, right priestly in its note. He said he would
gladly abridge his life of Chatterton, if I required it. But it is a bad
work, and Coleridge should write a new one, or if he declines it, let it
devolve on me.[56] They knew Miss Wesley, daughter of Charles Wesley,
with whom I once dined at your house. She told them, had he not
prematurely died, that she was going to be married to John Henderson. Is
this true?[57]
I have a treasure for you. A 'Treatise on Miracles,' written by John
Henderson, your old tutor, for Coleridge's brother George, and given to
me by a pupil of his, John May, a Lisbon acquaintance, and a very
valuable one. John May is anxious for a full life of John Henderson. You
should get Agutter's papers. You ought also to commit to paper all you
know concerning him, and all you can collect, that the documents may
remain, if you decline it. If the opportunity pass, he will die without
his fame.
I have lost myself in the bottomless profundity of Gilbert's papers.
Fire, and water, and cubes, and sybils, and Mother Church, &c. &c. Poor
fellow. I have been introduced to a man, not unlike him in his
ideas,--Taylor the Pagan, a most devout Heathen! who seems to have some
hopes of me. He is equally unintelligible, but his eye has not that
inexpressible wildness, which sometimes half-terrified us in Gilbert."
"Christ Church, June 14, 1797.
"... I am in a place I like: the awkwardness of introduction over, and
the acquaintance I have made here pleasant.... Your letter to Herbert
Croft has made him some enemies here. I wish much to see you on that
business. Bad as these times are for literature, a subscription might be
opened now with great success, for Mrs. Newton (Chatterton's sister) and
the whole statement of facts ought to be published in the prospectus.
Time gallops with me. I am at work now for the Monthly Magazine, upon
Spanish poetry. If we are unsuccessful here (in suiting ourselves with a
house) I purpose writing to Wordsworth, and asking him if we can get a
place in his neighbourhood. If not, down we go to Dorsetshire. Oh, for a
snug island in the farthest of all seas, surrounded by the highest of all
rocks, where I and some ten or twelve more might lead the happiest of all
possible lives, totally secluded from the worst of all possible monsters,
man...."
"Christ Church, June 18, 1797.
"... The main purport of my writing is to tell you that we have found a
house for the next half year. If I had a mind to affect the pastoral
style, I might call it a cottage; but, in plain English, it is exactly
what it expresses. We have got a sitting-room, and two bed-rooms, in a
house which you may call a cottage if you like it, and that one of these
bed-rooms is ready for you, and the sooner you take possession of it the
better. You must let me know when you come that I may meet you.
So you have had Kosciusco with you, (in Bristol) and bitterly do I regret
not having seen him. If he had remained one week longer in London, I
should have seen him; and to have seen Kosciusco would have been
something to talk of all the rest of one's life.
We have a congregation of rivers here, the clearest you ever saw: plenty
of private boats too. We went down to the harbour on Friday, in Mr.
Rickman's;[58] a sensible young man, of rough, but mild manners, and very
seditious. He and I rowed, and Edith was pilot.
God bless you.
Yours affectionately.
Robert Southey."
Mr. Rickman afterwards acquired some celebrity. He became private
secretary to the prime minister, Mr. Perceval, and afterwards for many
years, was one of the clerks of the House of Commons. He published also,
in 4to, a creditable Life of Telford, the great engineer, and officially
conducted the first census, (1800) a most laborious undertaking. The
second census, (1810) was conducted in a very efficient way, by Mr.
Thomas Poole, whose name often appears in this work, appointed through
the influence of Mr. Rickman.
"London, Dec. 14, 1797.
My dear Cottle,
I found your parcel on my return from a library belonging to the
Dissenters, (Dr. Williams's Library) in Redcross-street, from which, by
permission of Dr. Towers, I brought back books of great importance for my
'Maid of Orleans.' A hackney coach horse turned into a field of grass,
falls not more eagerly to a breakfast which lasts the whole day, than I
attacked the old folios, so respectably covered with dust. I begin to
like dirty rotten binding, and whenever I get among books, pass by the
gilt coxcombs, and disturb the spiders. But you shall hear what I have
got. A latin poem in four long books; on 'Joan of Arc;' very bad, but it
gives me a quaint note or two, and Valerandus Valerius is a fine name for
a quotation. A small 4to, of the 'Life of the Maid', chiefly extracts
from forgotten authors, printed at Paris, 1712, with a print of her on
horseback. A sketch of her life by Jacobus Philippus Bergomensis,--bless
the length of his erudite name.
John May, and Carlisle, (surgeon) were with me last night, and we struck
out a plan, which, if we can effect it, will be of great use. It is to be
called the 'Convalescent Asylum'; and intended to receive persons who are
sent from the hospitals; as the immediate return to unwholesome air, bad
diet, and all the loathsomeness of poverty, destroys a very great number.
The plan is to employ them in a large garden, and it is supposed in about
three years, the institution would pay itself, on a small scale for forty
persons. The success of one, would give birth to many others. C. W. W.
Wynn enters heartily into it. We meet on Saturday again, and as soon as
the plan is at all digested, Carlisle means to send it to Dr. Beddoes,
for his inspection. We were led to this by the circumstance of finding a
poor woman, almost dying for want, who is now rapidly recovering in the
hospital, under Carlisle.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"1798.
My dear Cottle,
In the list of the killed and wounded of the 'Mars,' you saw the name of
Bligh, a midshipman. I remember rejoicing at the time, that it was not a
name I knew. Will you be surprised that the object of this letter is to
require your assistance in raising some little sum for the widow of this
man.
I cannot express to you how deep and painful an interest I take in the
history of this man. My brother Tom, an officer in the same ship, loved
him; and well he might, for poor Bligh was a man, who, out of his
midshipman's pay, allowed his wife and children thirteen pounds a year.
He wished to be made master's mate, that he might make the sum twenty
pounds, and then he said they would be happy. He was a man about
thirty-five years of age; an unlettered man, of strong natural powers,
and of a heart, of which a purer, and a better, never lived. I could tell
you anecdotes of him that would make your eyes overflow, like mine.
Surely, Cottle, there will be no difficulty in sending his poor wife some
little sum. Five guineas would be much to her. We will give one, and I
will lay friends in London under contribution. God bless you.
Yours truly,
Robert Southey."
"Hereford, 1798.
My dear Cottle,
My time here has been completely occupied in riding about the country. I
have contrived to manufacture one eclogue, and that is all; but the
exercise of riding has jostled a good many ideas into my brain, and I
have plans enough for long leisure. You know my tale of the 'Adite' in
the garden of Irem. I have tacked it on to an old plan of mine upon the
destruction of the Domdanyel, and made the beginning, middle, and end.
There is a tolerable skeleton formed. It will extend to ten or twelve
books, and they appear to me to possess much strong conception in the
Arabian manner. It will at least prove that I did not reject machinery in
my Epics, because I could not wield it. This only forms part of a
magnificent project, which I do not despair of one day completing, in the
destruction of the 'Domdanyel.' My intention is, to show off all the
splendor of the Mohammedan belief. I intend to do the same to the Runic,
and Oriental systems; to preserve the costume of place as well as of
religion.
I have been thinking that though we have been disappointed of our Welsh
journey, a very delightful pilgrimage is still within our reach. Suppose
you were to meet me at Boss. We go thence down the Wye to Monmouth. On
the way are Goodrich castle, the place where Henry V. was nursed; and
Arthur's cavern. Then there is Ragland Castle somewhere thereabout, and
we might look again at Tintern. I should like this much. The Welsh mail
from Bristol, comes every day through Boss; we can meet there. Let me
hear from you, and then I will fix the day, and we will see the rocks and
woods in all their beauty. God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"Exeter, Sept. 22, 1799.
My dear Cottle,
... You will, I hope, soon have a cargo to send me of your own, for the
second volume of the 'Anthology' and some from Davy. If poor Mrs.
Yearsley were living I should like much to have her name there. As yet I
have only Coleridge's pieces, and my own, amounting to eighty or one
hundred pages. 'Thalaba, the Destroyer' is progressing.
There is a poem called 'Geber' of which I know not whether my review of
it, in the Critical' be yet printed, but in that review you will find
some of the most exquisite poetry in the language. The poem is such as
Gilbert, if he were only half as mad as he is, could have written. I
would go a hundred miles to see the (anonymous) author.[59]
There are some worthies in Exeter, with whom I have passed some pleasant
days, but the place is miserably bigoted. Would you believe that there
are persons here who still call the Americans 'the Rebels' Exeter is the
filthiest town in England; a gutter running down the middle of every
street and lane. We leave on Monday week. I shall rejoice to breathe
fresh air. Exeter, however, has the best collection of old books for
sale, of any town out of London.[60]
I have lately made up my mind to undertake one great historical work, the
'History of Portugal,' but for this, and for many other noble plans, I
want uninterrupted leisure; time wholly my own, and not frittered away by
little periodical employments. My working at such work is Columbus
serving before the mast. God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"Falmouth, 1800.
My dear Cottle,
Our journey here was safe, but not without accidents. We found the
packet, by which we were to sail, detained by the wind, and we are
watching it with daily anxiety.[61]
A voyage is a serious thing, and particularly an outward-bound voyage.
The hope of departure is never an exhilarating hope. Inns are always
comfortless, and the wet weather that detains us at Falmouth, imprisons
us. Dirt, noise, restlessness, expectation, impatience,--fine cordials
for the spirits!
Devonshire is an ugly county. I have no patience with the cant of
travellers, who so bepraise it. They have surely slept all the way
through Somersetshire. Its rivers are beautiful, very beautiful, but
nothing else. High hills, all angled over with hedges, and no trees. Wide
views, and no object. I have heard a good story of our friend, Charles
Fox. When his house, at this place, was on fire, he found all effort to
save it useless, and being a good draughtsman, he went up the next hill
to make a drawing of the fire! the best instance of philosophy I ever
heard.
I have received letters from Rickman and Coleridge. Coleridge talks of
flaying Sir Herbert Croft. This may not be amiss. God bless you. I shake
you mentally by the hand, and when we shake hands bodily, trust that you
will find me a repaired animal, with a head fuller of knowledge, and a
trunk full of manuscripts. Tell Davy this Cornwall is such a vile county,
that nothing but its merit, as his birth-place, redeems it from utter
execration. I have found in it nothing but rogues, restive horses, and
wet weather; and neither Pilchards, White-ale, or Squab-pie, were to be
obtained! Last night I dreamt that Davy had killed himself by an
explosion. Once more, God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey.
Mr. Southey, in this second visit to Lisbon, sent me the following
poetical letter, which, for ease, vivacity, and vigorous description,
stands at the head of that class of compositions. A friendly vessel,
mistaken for a French privateer, adds to the interest. In one part, the
poet conspicuously bursts forth.
"Lisbon, May 9th, 1800.
Dear Cottle, d'ye see,
In writing to thee,
I do it in rhyme,
That I may save time,
Determin'd to say,
Without any delay,
Whatever comes first,
Whether best or worst.
Alack for me!
When I was at sea,
For I lay like a log,
As sick as a dog,
And whoever this readeth,
Will pity poor Edith:
Indeed it was shocking,
The vessel fast rocking,
The timbers all creaking,
And when we were speaking,
It was to deplore
That we were not on shore,
And to vow we would never go voyaging more.
The fear of our fighting,
Did put her a fright in,
And I had alarms
For my legs and my arms.
When the matches were smoking,
I thought 'twas no joking,
And though honour and glory
And fame were before me,
'Twas a great satisfaction,
That we had not an action,
And I felt somewhat bolder,
When I knew that my head might remain on my shoulder.
But O! 'twas a pleasure,
Exceeding all measure,
On the deck to stand,
And look at the land;
And when I got there,
I vow and declare,
The pleasure was even
Like getting to heaven!
I could eat and drink,
As you may think;
I could sleep at ease,
Except for the fleas,
But still the sea-feeling,--
The drunken reeling,
Did not go away
For more than a day:
Like a cradle, the bed
Seemed to rock my head,
And the room and the town,
Went up and down.
My Edith here,
Thinks all things queer,
And some things she likes well;
But then the street
She thinks not neat,
And does not like the smell.
Nor do the fleas
Her fancy please
Although the fleas like her;
They at first vie w
Fell merrily too,
For they made no demur.
But, O, the sight!
The great delight!
From this my window, west!
This view so fine,
This scene divine!
The joy that I love best!
The Tagus here,
So broad and clear,
Blue, in the clear blue noon--
And it lies light,
All silver white,
Under the silver moon!
Adieu, adieu,
Farewell to you,
Farewell, my friend so dear,
Write when you may,
I need not say,
How gladly we shall hear.
I leave off rhyme,
And so next time,
Prose writing you shall see;
But in rhyme or prose,
Dear Joseph knows
The same old friend in me,
Robert Southey."
* * * * *
[Illustration: Portrait of Robert Southey, Esq. Poet Laurate.]
* * * * *
"Portugal, Cintra, July, 1800.
My dear Cottle,
I write at a five minutes' notice. The unforeseen and unlucky departure
of my only friend gives me occasion for this letter, and opportunity to
send it. It is Miss Barker Congreve. She is a woman of uncommon talents,
with whom we have been wandering over these magnificent mountains, till
she made the greatest enjoyment of the place. I feel a heavier depression
of spirits at losing her than I have known since Tom left me at Liskard.
We are at Cintra: I am well and active, in better health than I have long
known, and till to-day, in uninterrupted gaiety at heart. I am finishing
the eleventh book of 'Thalaba' and shall certainly have written the last
before this reaches you. My Bristol friends have neglected me. Danvers
has not written, and Edith is without a line from either of her sisters.
My desk is full of materials for the literary history which will require
only the labour of arrangement and translation, on my return. I shall
have the knowledge for the great work; and my miscellaneous notes will
certainly swell into a volume of much odd and curious matter. Pray write
to me. You know not how I hunger and thirst for Bristol news. I long to
be among you. If I could bring this climate to Bristol, it would make me
a new being: but I am in utter solitude of all rational society; in a
state of mental famine, save that I feed on rocks and woods, and the
richest banquet nature can possibly offer to her worshippers. God bless
you.
Abuse Danvers for me. Remember me to Davy, and all friendly inquirers.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey.
P. S.--.... The zeal of the Methodists and their itinerant preachers, has
reprieved for half a century the system; but you must be aware, that
sooner or later, the Church of England will absorb all those sects that
differ only in discipline. The comfortable latitude that takes in the
Calvinist and the Arminian, must triumph. The Catholic system will
perhaps, last the longest; and bids fair to continue as a political
establishment, when all its professors shall laugh at its absurdity.
Destroy its monastic orders, and marry the priests, and the rest is a
pretty puppet-show, with the idols, and the incense, and the polytheism,
and the pomp of paganism. God bless you.
R. S."
"Bristol, Aug. 1802.
Dear Cottle,
Well done good and faithful editor. I suspect that it is fortunate for
the edition of Chatterton, that its care has devolved upon you.
The note with which you preface 'Burgum's Pedigree' need not come to me,
as the M.S. is yours, whatever inferences may be drawn from it, will be
by you. Add your name at the end to give it the proper authority. I shall
know how to say enough, in the preface, about all other aiders and
abetters, but it will not be easy to mention such a ringleader as
yourself in words of adequate acknowledgment.
What you have detected in the 'Tournament' I have also observed in
Barrett, in the omission of a passage of bombast connected with one of
the accounts of the Bristol churches. Your copy of the 'Tournament' being
in Chatterton's own hand-writing is surely the best authority. We are now
of one opinion, that Chatterton and Rowley are one.
I am glad to hear that you have discovered anything worth printing in the
British Museum. Doubtless, if you think it worth printing, others will do
the same, and it is not our fault, if it be dull or an imperfect work. I
transcribed page after page of what would have been worth little if
genuine, and not being genuine, is worth nothing. This refers only to the
local antiquities, and false deeds of gift, &c. I made a catalogue, and
left it with you. Why say, 'I hope you will not take it amiss.' I am as
ready to thank you for supplying any negligence of mine, as any one else
can be. I should have wished for more engravings, but we have gone to the
bounds of expense and trouble, in this gratuitous, but pleasant effort to
benefit the family of Bristol's most illustrious bard. Why did you not
sign your notes? I can now only say, that much, indeed most of the
trouble has devolved on yon. J. C. at the end of each note, would have
showed how much.
I have seen Cattcott.[62] Chatterton had written to Clayfield that he
meant to destroy himself. Clayfield called on Barrett to communicate his
uneasiness about the young lad. 'Stay,' said Barrett, 'and hear what he
will say to me.' Chatterton was sent for. Barrett talked to him on the
guilt and folly of suicide. Chatterton denied any intention of the kind,
or any conversation to that import. Clayfield came from the closet with
the letter in his hand, and asked, 'Is not this your hand-writing?'
Chatterton then, in a state of confusion, fell upon his knees, and heard
in sullen silence, the suitable remarks on his conduct. God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"Bristol, Sept. 1802.
Dear Cottle,
I was from home, looking out for a habitation[63] in Wales, when your
letter arrived. My journey was so far successful, that I am in treaty for
a house, eight miles from Neath, in the mountains, a lovely spot, exactly
such as will suit my wishes...."
In a letter received from Mr. Southey, Aug. 25, 1805, he says, "I have
neither seen, nor heard, of 'Foster's Essays'; nor do I remember to have
heard you mention him. Certainly, on your recommendation, I shall either
buy or borrow the work. But no new book ever reaches these mountains,
except such as come to me to be killed off."
Mr. Southey mentioned to me the last time I saw him, the jeopardy in
which he had recently been placed, through his 'killing off'; and from
which danger he was alone saved by his anonymous garb. He said he had
found it necessary in reviewing a book, written by a native of the
emerald isle, to treat it with rather unwonted severity, such as it
richly deserved. A few days after the critique had appeared, he happened
to call on a literary friend, in one of the inns of court. They were
conversing on this work, and the incompetence of the writer, when the
author, a gigantic Irishman entered the room, in a great rage, and vowing
vengeance against the remorseless critic. Standing very near Mr. Southey,
he raised his huge fist, and exclaimed, "And, if I knew who it was, I'd
hate him!" Mr. S. observed a very profound silence, and not liking the
vicinity of a volcano, quietly retired, reserving his laugh for a less
hazardous occasion.
Mr. Southey in a letter, June 18, 1807, thus expresses himself. "...
Beyond the fascinations of poetry, there is a calmer and steadier
pleasure in acquiring and communicating the knowledge of what has been,
and of what is. I am passionately fond of history, even when I have been
delighted with the act of poetical composition. The recollection that all
was fable in the story with which I have exerted myself, frequently
mingled with the delight. I am better pleased in rendering justice to the
mighty dead; with the holding up to the world, of kings, conquerors,
heroes, and saints, not as they have been usually held up, but as they
really are, good or evil, according to the opinion formed of them, by one
who has neither passion, prejudice, nor interest, of any kind to mislead
his mind.
There is a delight in recording great actions, and, though of a different
kind, in execrating bad ones, beyond anything which Poetry can give, when
it departs from historical truth. There is also a sense of power, even
beyond what the poet, creator as he is, can exercise. It is before _my_
earthly tribunal, that these mighty ones are brought for judgment.
Centuries of applause, trophies, and altars, or canonizations, or
excommunications, avail nothing with me. No former sentences are
cognizable in my court. The merits of the case are all I look to, and I
believe I have never failed to judge of the actions by themselves, and of
the actor by his motives; and to allow manners, opinions, circumstances,
&c., their full weight in extenuation. What other merit my historical
works may have, others must find out for themselves, but this will I
vouch for, that never was the heart of any historian fuller of purer
opinions; and that never any one went about his work with more thorough
industry, or more thorough good-will.
Your account of Churchey is very amusing, I should like to see the
pamphlet of which you speak.[64] God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"Keswick, March 16, 1810.
My dear Cottle,
I cannot express to you how much it has affected me to hear of your
affliction, [a long continued inflammation of the eyes, subdued
ultimately, after bleeding, blistering, and cupping, by Singleton's eye
ointment,] for though I am sure there is no one who would bear any
sufferings with which it should please God to visit him, more patiently
and serenely, than yourself, this nevertheless, is an affliction of the
heaviest kind. It is very far from being the habit of my mind to indulge
in visionary hopes, but from what I recollect of the nature of your
complaint, it is an inveterate inflammation, and this I believe to be
completely within the reach of art...."
In the year 1814, after an hemorrhage from the lungs, and consequent
debility, I relieved my mind by writing a kind, serious, and faithful
letter to my friend Southey, under an apprehension that it might be my
last; to which Mr. Southey returned the following reply.
"Keswick, May 13, 1814.
My dear Cottle,
I have seen so dreadful a case of hemorrhage from the lungs terminate
favorably, that your letter alarms me less than otherwise it would have
done. Basil Montague the younger, continued to bleed at intervals for six
weeks, in January and February last, and he has this day left Keswick
without any dangerous symptoms remaining upon him. Two other instances
have occurred within my knowledge, I will therefore hope for a favorable
termination. Your letter comes upon me when I am like a broken reed, so
deeply has the loss of Danvers wounded me. Were I to lose you also, I
should never have heart to visit Bristol again.
What answer shall I make to your exhortations? We differ, if indeed there
be a difference, more in appearance than reality; more in the form than
in the substance of our belief. I have already so many friends on the
other side of the grave, that a large portion of my thoughts and
affections are in another world, and it is only the certainty of another
life, which could make the changes and insecurity of this life endurable.
May God bless you, and restore you, my dear old friend, is the sincere
prayer of
Your affectionate
Robert Southey."
In the year 1816, Mr. Southey sustained a great loss in the death of his
youngest son, a boy of promising talent, and endued with every quality
which could attach a father's heart. Mr. S. thus announced the melancholy
tidings.
"Keswick, May 23, 1816.
My dear Cottle,
I know not whether the papers may have informed you of the severe
affliction with which we have been visited,--the death of my son; a boy
who was in all things after my own heart. You will be gratified to hear,
however, that this sorrow produces in both our cases, that beneficial
purpose for which such visitations were appointed: and in subtracting so
large a portion of our earthly happiness, fixes our hearts and hopes with
more earnestness on the life to come. Nothing else I am well assured,
could have supported me, though I have no ordinary share of fortitude.
But I know where to look for consolation, and am finding it where only it
can be found. My dear Cottle, the instability of human prospects and
enjoyments! You have read my proem to the 'Pilgrimage,' and before the
book was published, the child of whom I had thus spoken, with such
heartfelt delight, was in his grave! But of this enough. We have many
blessings left, abundant all, and of this, which was indeed the flower of
all our blessings, we are deprived for a time, and that time must needs
be short...."
In the year 1817, Mr. Southey's juvenile drama of "Wat Tyler," was
surreptitiously published; written during the few months of his political
excitement, when the specious pretensions of the French, carried away,
for a brief period, so many young and ardent minds. He thus noticed the
circumstance.
"My dear Cottle,
You will have seen by the papers, that some villain, after an interval of
three and twenty years, has published my old uncle, 'Wat Tyler.' I have
failed in attempting to obtain an injunction, because a false oath has
been taken, for the purpose of defeating me....
I am glad to see, and you will be very glad to hear, that this business
has called forth Coleridge, and with the recollections of old times,
brought back something like old feelings. He wrote a very excellent paper
on the subject in the 'Courier,' and I hope it will be the means of his
rejoining us ere long; so good will come out of evil, and the devil can
do nothing but what he is permitted.[65]
I am well in health, and as little annoyed by this rascality as it
becomes me to be. The only tiling that has vexed me, is the manner in
which my counsel is represented in talking about my being ashamed of the
work as a wicked performance! "Wicked! My poor 'old uncle' has nothing
wicked about him. It was the work of a right-honest enthusiast, as you
can bear witness; of one who was as upright in his youth as he has been
in his manhood, and is now in the decline of his life; who, blessed be
God, has little to be ashamed before man, of any of his thoughts, words,
or actions, whatever cause he may have for saying to his Maker, 'God be
merciful to me a sinner.' God bless you, my old and affectionate friend,
Robert Southey.
I am writing a pamphlet, in the form of a letter, to Wm. Smith. Fear not,
but that I shall make my own cause good, and set my foot on my enemies.
This has been a wicked transaction. It can do me no other harm than the
expense to which it has put me."
"Keswick, Sept. 2, 1817.
My dear Cottle,
... I have made a long journey on the continent, accompanied with a
friend of my own age, and with Mr. Nash, the architect, who gave me the
drawings of Waterloo. We went by way of Paris to Besançon, into
Switzerland: visited the Grand Chartreuse, crossed Mont Cenis; proceeded
to Turin, and Milan, and then turned back by the lakes Como, Lugano, and
Maggiore, and over the Simplon. Our next business was to see the
mountainous parts of Switzerland. From Bern we sent our carriage to
Zurich, and struck off what is called the Oberland (upper-land.) After
ten days spent thus, in the finest part of the country, we rejoined our
carriage, and returned through the Black Forest. The most interesting
parts of our homeward road were Danaustrugen, where the Danube rises.
Friburg, Strasburg, Baden, Carlsruhe, Heidelburg, Manheim, Frankfort,
Mentz, Cologne, and by Brussels and Lisle, to Calais.
I kept a full journal, which might easily be made into an amusing and
useful volume, but I have no leisure for it. You may well suppose what an
accumulation of business is on my hands after so long an absence of four
months. I have derived great advantage both in knowledge and health. God
bless you, my dear Cottle.
Yours most affectionately,
Robert Southey.
P.S.--Hartley Coleridge has done himself great credit at Oxford. He has
taken what is called a second class, which, considering the disadvantages
of his school education, is as honourable for him as a first class for
any body else. In all the higher points of his examination, he was
excellent, and inferior only in those minuter points, wherein he had not
been instructed. He is on the point of taking his degree."
"Keswick, Nov. 26,1819.
My dear Cottle,
Last night I received a letter from Charles Lamb, telling me to what a
miserable condition poor John Morgan is reduced: not by any extravagance
of his own, but by a thoughtless generosity, in lending to men who have
never repaid him, and by ----, who has involved him in his own ruin; and
lastly by the visitation of providence. Every thing is gone!
In such a case, what is to be done? 'but to raise some poor annuity
amongst his friends.' It is not likely to be wanted long. He has an
hereditary disposition to a liver complaint, a disease of all others,
induced by distress of mind, and he feels the whole bitterness of his
situation. The palsy generally comes back to finish what it has begun.
Lamb will give ten pounds a year. I will do the same, and we both do
according to our means, rather tham our will. I have written to Michael
Castle to exert himself; and if you know where his friend Porter is, I
pray you communicate this information to him. We will try what can be
done in other quarters...."[66]
"Keswick, June 25, 1823.
My dear Cottle,
... I must finish my 'Book of the Church.' Under this title a sketch of
our ecclesiastical history is designed. One small volume was intended,
and behold it will form two 8vos. The object of the book is, to give
those who come after us a proper bias, by making them feel and
understand, how much they owe to the religious institutions of their
country.
Besides this, I have other works in hand, and few things would give me
more pleasure than to show you their state of progress, and the
preparations I have made for them. If you would bring your sister to pass
a summer with us, how joyfully and heartily you would be welcomed, I
trust you both well know. Our friendship is now of nine and twenty years'
standing, and I will venture to say, for you, or for us, life cannot have
many gratifications in store greater than this would prove. Here are
ponies accustomed to climb these mountains which will carry you to the
summit of Skiddaw, without the slightest difficulty, or danger. And here
is my boat, the 'Royal Noah,' in the lake, in which you may exercise your
arms when you like. Within and without I have much to show you. You would
like to see my children; from Edith May, who is taller than her mother,
down to Cuthbert, who was four years old in February last. Then there are
my books, of which I am as proud as you are of your bones.[67] They are
not indeed quite so old, but then they are more numerous, and I am sure
Miss C. will agree with me that they are much better furniture, and much
pleasanter companions.
Not that I mean to depreciate your fossil remains. Forbid it all that is
venerable. I should very much like to see your account of them. You gave
me credit for more than is my due, when you surmised that the paper in
the Quarterly (on the presumed alteration in the plane of the ecliptic)
might have been mine. I write on no subject on which I have not bestowed
considerable time and thought; and on all points of science, I confess
myself to be either very superficially informed, or altogether ignorant.
Some day I will send you a list of all my papers in that Journal, that
you may not impute to me any thing which is not mine; and that, if you
have at any time such a desire, you may see what the opinions are that I
have there advanced. Very few I believe in which you would not entirely
accord with me. God bless you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"Keswick, April 7, 1825.
My dear Cottle,
You have indeed had a severe loss,[68] I know not how the heart could
bear, if it were not for the prospect of eternity, and the full sense of
the comparative nothingness of time, which that prospect produces. If I
look on the last thirty years, things seem as but yesterday; and when I
look forward, the end of this mortal journey must be near, though the
precise point where it will terminate is not in sight. Yet were you under
my roof, as I live in hope that one day you will be, you would recognize
just as much of the original Robert Southey as you would wish to see
remaining;--though the body is somewhat the worse for wear.
I thought I had written to thank you for your 'Strictures on the Plymouth
Antinomians;' which were well deserved, and given in a very proper
spirit. Ultra-Calvinism is as little to my liking as it is to yours. It
may be, and no doubt is held by many good men, upon whom it produces no
worse effects than that of narrowing charity. But Dr. Hawker, and such as
the Hawkers, only push it to its legitimate consequences.
At present I am engaged in a war with the Roman Catholics, a war in which
there will be much ink shed, though not on my part, for when my
'Vindiciae' are finished, I shall leave the field. When you see that
book, you will be surprised at the exposure of sophistries,
disingenuousness, and downright falsehoods, which it will lay before the
world; and you will see the charge of systematic imposture proved upon
the papal church.
I must leave my home by the middle of next month, and travel for some
weeks, in the hope of escaping an annual visitation of Catarrh, which now
always leaves cough behind it, and a rather threatening hold of the
chest. I am going therefore to Holland, to see that country, and to look
for certain ecclesiastical books, which I shall be likely to obtain at
Brussels, or Antwerp, or on the way thither.
A young friend, in the Colonial office, is to be one of my companions,
and I expect that Neville White will be the other. It is a great effort
to go from home at any time, and a great inconvenience, considering the
interruption which my pursuits must suffer; still it is a master of duty
and of economy to use every means for averting illness. If I can send
home one or two chests of books, the pleasure of receiving them on my
return is worth some cost.
How you would like to see my library, and to recognize among them some
volumes as having been the gift of Joseph Cottle, seven or eight and
twenty years ago. I have a great many thousand volumes, of all sorts,
sizes, languages, and kinds, upon all subjects, and in all sorts of
trims; from those which are displayed in 'Peacock Place,' to the ragged
inhabitants of 'Duck Row.' The room in which I am now writing contains
two thousand four hundred volumes, all in good apparel; many of them of
singular rarity and value. I have another room full, and a passage full;
book-cases in both landing places, and from six to seven hundred volumes
in my bed-room. You have never seen a more cheerful room than my study;
this workshop, from which so many works have proceeded, and in which
among other things, I have written all those papers of mine, in the
Quarterly Review, whereof you have a list below.[69]
The next month will have a paper of mine on the 'Chuch Missionary
Society,' and the one after, upon the 'Memoir of the Chevalier Bayard,'
which Sarah Coleridge, daughter of S. T. Coleridge, has translated.
Write to me oftener, as your letters will always have a reply, let whose
may go unanswered. God bless you, my dear old friend.
Yours most affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"Keswick, Feb. 26, 1826.
My dear Cottle,
I have sent you my Vindication of the 'Book of the Church,' in which
though scarcely half of what was intended to be comprised, enough is done
to prove the charge of superstition, impostures, and wickedness, upon the
Romish Church. Whether I shall pursue the subject, in that form, depends
on circumstances. I have employment enough in other ways, and would
rather present my historical recollections in any form than that of
controversy.... The revelations of sister Nativity are mentioned in my
'Vindiciae.' You will see an account of this impious Romish imposture in
the next Quarterly. Such an exposure ought to open the eyes of those who
are duped with the belief that the Roman Catholic religion is become
innocent and harmless.
Have I written to you since I was bug-bitten in France, and laid up in
consequence, under a surgeon's hands in Holland? This mishap brought with
it much more immediate good than evil. Bilderdyk, whose wife translated
'Don Roderic' into Dutch, and who is himself confessedly the best poet,
and the most learned man in that country, received me into his house,
where I was nursed for three weeks by two of the very best people in the
world. But the effects of the accident remain. On my way home, owing
perhaps to the intense heat of the weather, erysipelas showed itself on
the wounded part. The foot also has been in a slight degree swollen, and
there is just enough sense of uneasiness to show that something is amiss.
My last year's journey succeeded in cutting short the annual catarrh,
which had for so many years laid me up during the summer months. I shall
try the same course as soon as the next summer commences.
Will you never come and visit me, and see how that hair looks, which I
doubt not keeps its colour so well in Vandyke's portrait? now it is three
parts grey, but curling still as strong as in youth. I look at your
portrait every day and see you to the life, as you were thirty years ago!
What a change should we see in each other now, and yet how soon should we
find that the better part remains unchanged.
The day before yesterday I received your two volumes of 'Malvern Hills,
Poems, and Essays,' fourth edition, forwarded to me from Sheffield, by
James Montgomery. You ask my opinion on your ninth essay (on the supposed
alteration in the planes of the equator and the ecliptic suggested by an
hypothesis in the Quarterly). I am too ignorant to form one. The
reasoning seems conclusive, taking the scientific part for granted, but
of that science, or any other, I know nothing. This I can truly say, that
the essays in general please me very much. That I am very glad to see
those concerning Chatterton introduced there;--and very much admire, the
manner, and the feeling, with which you have treated Psalmanazar's story.
You tell me things respecting Chatterton which were new to me, and of
course interested me much. It may be worth while, when you prepare a copy
for republication, to corroborate the proof of his insanity, by stating
that there was a constitutional tendency to such a disease, which places
the fact beyond all doubt....
Thank you, for the pains you have taken about 'Bunyan.' The first edition
we cannot find, nor even ascertain its date. The first edition of the
Second part we have found. An impudent assertion, I learn from
'Montgomery's Essay,' was published, that the 'Pilgrim's Progress' was a
mere translation from the Dutch. I have had the Dutch book, and have read
it, which he who made this assertion could not do. The charge of
plagiarism is utterly false, not having the slightest foundation. When
you and I meet in the next world, we will go and see John Bunyan, and
tell him how I have tinkered the fellow, for tinker him I will, who has
endeavoured to pick a hole in his reputation. God bless you, my dear old
friend,
Robert Southey.
P. S. There are two dreams that may be said to haunt me, they recur so
often. The one is, that of being at Westminster school again, and not
having my books. The other is, that I am at Bristol, and have been there
some indefinite time; and unaccountably, have never been to look for you
in Brunswick Square, for which I am troubled in conscience. Come to us,
and I will pledge myself to visit you in return when next I travel to the
south."
In a letter to Mr. Southey, I mentioned that a relation of Wm. Gilbert
had informed me that he was hurt with Mr. S. for having named him, in his
'Life of Wesley,' as being tinctured with insanity; a fact notorious. Mr.
G. had often affirmed that there was a nation of the Gilbertians in the
centre of Africa, and expressed a determination of one day visiting them.
In the year 1796, he suddenly left Bristol, without speaking to any one
of his friends; and the inference drawn, was that he was about to
commence his African expedition. I had also mentioned that Sir James
Mackintosh had expressed an opinion that Mr. Southey had formed his style
on the model of Horace Walpole. These preliminary remarks are necessary
to the understanding of the following letter.
"Keswick, Feb. 26.
My dear Cottle,
What you say about poor Gilbert has surprised me. You know we lost sight
of him after he left Bristol, with, according to our apprehension, the
design of going to Liverpool, and from thence to procure a passage to
Africa. On that occasion, after consulting with Danvers, and I think with
you, I wrote to Roscoe, apologizing, as a stranger, for the liberty,
requesting him to caution any captain of a ship, bound to the African
coast, from taking a person in his state of mind on board. Roscoe replied
very courteously, and took the desired precaution, but Gilbert never
appeared at Liverpool. Some time afterward it was told me that he was
dead, and believing him so to be, I mentioned him in the life of Wesley,
(Vol. 2. p. 467.) speaking of him as I had ever felt, with respect and
kindness, but in a way which I should not have done if I had not been
fully persuaded of his death.
Mackintosh's notice, as you inform me, that my style is founded on Horace
Walpole, is ridiculous. It is founded on nobody's. I say what I have to
say as plainly as I can, without thinking of the style, and this is the
whole secret. I could tell by what poets my poetry has successively been
leavened, but not what prose writers have ever in the same manner
influenced me. In fact, I write as you may always have remarked, such as
I always converse, without effort, and without aiming at display.
... Poor Morgan, you know, was latterly supported by a subscription,
which Charles Lamb set on foot, and which was to have been annual, but he
died within the year.
Just now I am pressed for time to finish the 'Life of Cowper.' This Life
will interest you, not merely because you (I know) would read with
partial interest anything of mine, but because many circumstances are
there stated which have never before been made public.
You may have heard that a new edition of my 'Life of Wesley' is promised.
Such an accumulation of materials has been poured upon me by a Mr.
Marriott, well known among the Methodists, that I shall have to add a
fourth, or perhaps, a third part of new matter, besides making many
corrections and alterations. I have also got possession of the remaining
papers of Mr. Powley, who married Miss Unwin. His widow died last year;
and thus they became accessible. There were in the collection a good many
letters of Mr. Newton, whose letters to Mr. Thornton, I have had before,
and made great use of them in the 1st vol. of Cowper. From these papers I
shall learn much concerning the first proceedings of the evangelical
clergy, and expect to collect some materials for the 'Biographical
Notes,' which must accompany 'Cowper's Letters'; and still more for the
religious history of 'Wesley's Times,' as connected with the progress of
Methodism. God bless you, my dear old friend,
Robert Southey."
"Keswick, Nov. 4, 1828.
My dear Cottle,
Shame on me that your last friendly letter should have remained so long
unanswered, and that the direct motive for writing now should be a
selfish one; one however, in which I know you will take some interest, on
more accounts than one.
Major, in Fleet Street, is about to publish an edition of the Pilgrim's
Progress, for which I have undertaken to write an introductory life of
the author. You need not be told how dearly I love John Bunyan. Now he
has made inquiries among public and private libraries for the first
edition, and can nowhere discover a copy. It has occurred to me that it
may be in the Bristol Baptist Library, and if you will make this inquiry
for me, and in case it be there, ascertain whether it differs from the
folio edition of Bunyan's works, you will do me a great kindness[70]....
That I should be somewhat the worse for the wear was to be expected, but
I am not more so than you would look to see me; still active, cheerful,
with a good appetite for books, and not an ill one for work. Some things
I shall have to send you both in prose and verse, before the winter
passes away....
Remember me in the kindest manner to ----, and to ----, and to ----. When
I think of you all, old times return with the freshness of a dream. In
less time than has elapsed since we were all young together, we shall be
together again, and have dropped the weight of years and mortality on the
way.
If my old acquaintance, Isaac James be living, remember me to him with
cordial good will. God bless you, my dear old friend.
Robert Southey."
"Keswick, March 22, 1831.
My dear Cottle,
Your package arrived safely yesterday afternoon. I shall get the books
with which you presented me furbished up, and write in each that it was
your gift;--a pleasant memorandum which is found in others on these
shelves. I like to give books this incidental value, and write therefore,
the date, and place, in every fresh acquisition. Many recollections do
they call up, which otherwise would have passed away. You who have known
me from the beginning of my authorial life, ought to see this library of
mine. As I think no man ever made more use of his books, so I am sure
that no man ever took more delight in them. They are the pride of my
eyes, and the joy of my heart; an innocent pride, I trust, and a
wholesome joy."
* * * * *
The reader's attention will now be directed to Mr. Coleridge, by
introducing a letter from Mr. C. to Mr. Wade, who had written to him for
advice respecting a meditated excursion to Germany.
"March 6, 1801.
My very dear friend,
I have even now received your letter. My habits of thinking and feeling,
have not hitherto inclined me to personify commerce in any such shape, so
as to tempt me to tarn pagan, and offer vows to the goddess of our isle.
But when I read that sentence in your letter, 'The time will come I
trust, when I shall be able to pitch my tent in your neighbourhood,' I
was most potently commanded to a breach of the second commandment, and on
my knees, to entreat the said goddess, to touch your bank notes and
guineas with her magical multiplying wand. I could offer such a prayer
for you, with a better conscience than for most men, because I know that
you have never lost that healthy common sense, which regards money only
as the means of independence, and that you would sooner than most men cry
out, enough! enough! To see one's children secured against want, is
doubtless a delightful thing; but to wish to see them begin the world as
rich men, is unwise to ourselves, for it permits no close of our labours,
and is pernicious to them; for it leaves no motive to their exertions,
none of those sympathies with the industrious and the poor, which form at
once the true relish and proper antidote of wealth.
... Is not March rather a perilous month for the voyage from Yarmouth to
Hamburg? danger there is very little, in the packets, but I know what
inconvenience rough weather brings with it; not from my own feelings, for
I am never sea-sick, but always in exceeding high spirits on board ship,
but from what I see in others. But you are an old sailor. At Hamburgh I
have not a shadow of acquaintance. My letters of introduction produced
for me, with one exception, viz., Klopstock, the brother of the poet, no
real service, but merely distant and ostentatious civility. And Klopstock
will by this time have forgotten my name, which indeed he never properly
knew, for I could speak only English and Latin, and he only French and
German. At Ratzeburgh, 35 English miles N. E. from Hamburgh, on the road
to Lubec, I resided four months; and I should hope, was not unbeloved by
more than one family, but this is out of your route. At Gottingen I
stayed near five months, but here I knew only students, who will have
left the place by this time, and the high learned professors, only one of
whom could speak English; and they are so wholly engaged in their
academical occupations, that they would be of no service to you. Other
acquaintance in Germany I have none, and connexion I never had any. For
though I was much entreated by some of the Literati to correspond with
them, yet my natural laziness, with the little value I attach to literary
men, as literary men, and with my aversion from those letters which are
to be made up of studied sense, and unfelt compliments, combined to
prevent me from availing myself of the offer. Herein, and in similar
instances, with English authors of repute, I have ill consulted the
growth of my reputation and fame. But I have cheerful and confident hopes
of myself. If I can hereafter do good to my fellow-creatures as a poet,
and as a metaphysician, they will know it; and any other fame than this,
I consider as a serious evil, that would only take me from out the number
and sympathy of ordinary men, to make a coxcomb of me. As to the inns or
hotels at Hamburgh, I should recommend you to some German inn. Wordsworth
and I were at the 'Der Wilde Man,' and dirty as it was, I could not find
any inn in Germany very much cleaner, except at Lubec. But if you go to
an English inn, for heaven's sake, avoid the 'Shakspeare,' at Altona, and
the 'King of England,' at Hamburgh. They are houses of plunder rather
than entertainment. 'The Duke of York' hotel, kept by Seaman, has a
better reputation, and thither I would advise you to repair; and I advise
you to pay your bill every morning at breakfast time: it is the only way
to escape imposition. What the Hamburgh merchants may be I know not, but
the tradesmen are knaves. Scoundrels, with yellow-white phizzes, that
bring disgrace on the complexion of a bad tallow candle. Now as to
carriage, I know scarcely what to advise; only make up your mind to the
very worst vehicles, with the very worst horses, drawn by the very worst
postillions, over the very worst roads, and halting two hours at each
time they change horses, at the very worst inns; and you have a fair,
unexaggerated picture of travelling in North Germany. The cheapest way is
the best; go by the common post wagons, or stage coaches. What are called
extraordinaries, or post-chaises, are little wicker carts, uncovered,
with moveable benches or forms in them, execrable in every respect. And
if you buy a vehicle at Hamburgh, you can get none decent under thirty or
forty guineas, and very, probably it will break to pieces on the infernal
roads. The canal boats are delightful, but the porters everywhere in the
United Provinces, are an impudent, abominable, and dishonest race. You
must carry as little luggage as you well can with you, in the canal
boats, and when you land, get recommended to an inn beforehand, and
bargain with the porters first of all, and never lose sight of them, or
you may never see your portmanteau or baggage again.
My Sarah desires her love to you and yours. God bless your dear little
ones! Make haste and get rich, dear friend! and bring up the little
creatures to be playfellows and school-fellows with my little ones!
Again and again, sea serve you, wind speed you, all things turn out good
to you! God bless you,
S. T. Coleridge."
As a curious literary fact, I might mention that the sale of the first
edition of the "Lyrical Ballads," was so slow, and the severity of most
of the reviews so great, that their progress to oblivion, notwithstanding
the merit which I was quite sure they possessed, seemed ordained to be as
rapid as it was certain. I had given thirty guineas for the copyright, as
detailed in the preceding letters; but the heavy sale induced me at
length, to part with, at a loss, the largest proportion of the
impression of five hundred, to Mr. Arch, a London bookseller. After this
transaction had occurred, I received a letter from Mr. Wordsworth,
written the day before he set sail for the continent, requesting me to
make over my interest in the "Lyrical Ballads" to Mr. Johnson, of St
Paul's Churchyard. This I could not have done, had I been so disposed, as
the engagement had been made with Mr. Arch.
On Mr. W.'s return to England, I addressed a letter to him, explaining
the reasons why I could not comply with his request, to which he thus
replied:
"My dear Cottle,
I perceive that it would have been impossible for you to comply with my
request, respecting the 'Lyrical Ballads,' as you had entered into a
treaty with Arch. How is the copyright to be disposed of when you quit
the bookselling business? We were much amused with the 'Anthology,' Your
poem of the 'Killcrop' we liked better than any; only we regretted that
you did not save the poor little innocent's life, by some benevolent art
or other. You might have managed a little pathetic incident, in which
nature, appearing forcibly in the child, might have worked in some way or
other, upon its superstitious destroyer.
We have spent our time pleasantly enough in Germany, but we are right
glad to find ourselves in England, for we have learnt to know its value.
We left Coleridge well at Gottingen, a month ago....
God bless you, my dear Cottle,
Your affectionate friend,
W. Wordsworth."
Soon after the receipt of the above, I received another letter from Mr.
W. kindly urging me to pay him a visit in the north, in which, as an
inducement, he says,
"... Write to me beforehand, and I will accompany you on a tour. You will
come by Greta-bridge, which is about twenty miles from this place,
(Stockburn); and after we have seen all the curiosities of that
neighbourhood, I will accompany you into Cumberland and Westmoreland....
God bless you, dear Cottle,
W. W."
A short time after the receipt of this invitation, Mr. Coleridge arrived
in Bristol from Germany, and as he was about to pay Mr. Wordsworth a
visit, he pressed me to accompany him. I had intended a journey to
London, and now determined on proceeding with so agreeable a companion,
and on so pleasant a journey and tour; taking the metropolis on my
return. To notice the complicated incidents which occurred on this tour,
would occupy a large space. I therefore pass it all over, with the
remark, that in this interview with Mr. Wordsworth, the subject of the
"Lyrical Ballads" was mentioned but once, and that casually, and only to
account for its failure! which Mr. W. ascribed to two causes; first the
"Ancient Mariner," which, he said, no one seemed to understand; and
secondly, the unfavorable notice of most of the reviews.
On my reaching London, having an account to settle with Messrs. Longman
and Rees, the booksellers of Paternoster Row, I sold them all my
copyrights, which were valued as one lot, by a third party. On my next
seeing Mr. Longman, he told me, that in estimating the value of the
copyrights, Fox's "Achmed," and Wordsworth's "Lyrical Ballads," were
"reckoned _as nothing_." "That being the case," I replied, "as both these
authors are my personal friends, I should be obliged, if you would return
me again these two copyrights, that I may have the pleasure of presenting
them to the respective writers." Mr. Longman answered, with his
accustomed liberality, "You are welcome to them." On my reaching Bristol,
I gave Mr. Fox his receipt for twenty guineas; and on Mr. Coleridge's
return from the north, I gave him Mr. Wordsworth's receipt for his thirty
guineas; so that whatever advantage has arisen, subsequently, from the
sale of this volume of the "Lyrical Ballads," I am happy to say, has
pertained exclusively to Mr. W.
I have been the more particular in these statements, as it furnishes,
perhaps, the most remarkable instance on record, of a volume of Poems
remaining for so long a time, almost totally neglected, and afterwards
acquiring, and that in a rapid degree, so much deserved popularity.[71]
A month or two after Mr. Coleridge had left Bristol for Germany, Dr.
Beddoes told me of a letter he had just received from his friend, Davies
Giddy, (afterward with the altered name of Gilbert, President of the
Royal Society) recommending a very ingenious young chemist, of Penzance,
in Cornwall, to assist him in his Pneumatic Institution, at the Hotwells.
"The character is so favourable," said the Dr. "I think I shall engage
him;" handing me the letter. I read it, and replied, "You cannot err in
receiving a young man thus recommended." Two or three weeks after, Dr. B.
introduced me to no other than Mr. afterwards Sir. Humphrey Davy. (Mr.
Giddy little thought that this "young chemist of Penzance," was destined
to precede himself, in occupying the chair of Newton.)
This Pneumatic Institution, for ascertaining how far the different gases,
received into the lungs, were favourable, or not, to certain diseases,
has often been referred to; but its origin, that I am aware of, has never
been stated. It has erroneously been supposed, to have depended for its
establishment and support, exclusively on Dr. Beddoes. But being
acquainted with the circumstances of the case, it is right to mention,
that this Gaseous Institution resulted from the liberality of the late
Mr. Lambton, (father of the late Earl of Durham). When Mr. L. heard from
Dr. Beddoes an opinion expressed, that Medical science might be greatly
assisted by a fair and full examination of the effects of factitious airs
on the human constitution, particularly in reference to consumption; to
obtain this "fair and full examination," Mr. Lambton immediately
presented Dr. B. with the munificent sum of fifteen hundred pounds. One
other individual also, contributed handsomely toward the same
object,--the late Mr. Thomas Wedgewood, who presented Dr. B. with one
thousand pounds, for the furtherance of this design.[72]
It might be here mentioned, that a few months after this, two
intelligent-looking boys were often seen with Dr. B. with whom they were
domesticated. The Dr. was liberally remunerated for superintending their
education, (with suitable masters;) and this he did at the dying request
of their father, who had recently deceased in Italy. Dr. Beddoes took
great pains with these boys, so that when they entered at Eton, they were
found quite equal to other boys of their own age in classical
attainments, and greatly their superiors in general knowledge. The father
was the above Mr. Lambton, and one of the two boys, was the late Earl of
Durham. One of the precepts strongly inculcated on these youths, was,
"Never be idle, boys. Let energy be apparent in all you do. If you play,
play heartily, and at your book, be determined to excel. Languor is the
bane of intellect."
I remember to have seen Mr. Lambton at Dr. B.'s. He had a fine
countenance, but it betrayed the hue of consumption. After having been
for some time under the care of Dr. Beddoes, the Dr. recommended his
patient to try a warmer climate, when Mr. L. departed for Italy. Mr.
Lambton's health still declining, and considering that his only chance
for life depended on the skill of his own experienced physician, he wrote
to Dr. Beddoes, urging him, without delay to set off, I think, for
Naples. This I received from Dr. B. himself, who said, at the same time,
"On Monday morning I shall set off for Italy." But before Monday, the
tidings arrived that Mr. Lambton was dead!
The two young Lambtons had the additional privilege of living under the
same roof with Mr. Davy, and on various occasions through life, the Earl
of Durham and his brother have testified a deep sense of respect and
friendship for the illustrious chemist who so enlivened and edified their
younger days.
When Dr. Beddoes introduced to me young Mr. Davy, (being under twenty) I
was much struck with the intellectual character of his face. His eye was
piercing, and when not engaged in converse, was remarkably introverted,
amounting to absence, as though his mind had been pursuing some severe
trains of thought, scarcely to be interrupted by external objects; and
from the first interview also, his ingenuousness impressed me as much as
his mental superiority. Mr. D. having no acquaintance in Bristol, I
encouraged and often received his visits, and he conferred an obligation
on me, by often passing his afternoons in my company. During these
agreeable interviews, he occasionally amused me by relating anecdotes of
himself; or detailing his numerous chemical experiments: or otherwise by
repeating his poems, several of which he gave me (still retained); and it
was impossible to doubt, that if he had not shone as a philosopher, he
would have become conspicuous as a poet.[73]
I must now refer again to the Pneumatic Institution, to which the medical
world looked with some anxiety, and which excited much conversation in
the circle where I happened to be placed. Dr. Beddoes early in the year
1798, had given an admirable course of Lectures in Bristol, on the
principles and practice of Chemistry, and which were rendered popular by
a great diversity of experiments; so that, with other branches of the
science, the gases, had become generally familiar. The establishment of
the Pneumatic Institution immediately following, the public mind was
prepared, in some measure, to judge of its results; and a very
considerable increase of confidence was entertained, from the
acknowledged talents of the young superintendant; so that all which could
be accomplished was fully calculated upon. The funds also which supported
the Institution being ample, the apparatus corresponded, and a more
persevering and enthusiastic experimentalist than Mr. Davy, the whole
kingdom could not have produced; an admission which was made by all who
knew him, before the profounder parts of his character had been
developed. No personal danger restrained him from determining facts, as
the data of his reasoning; and if Fluxions, or some other means, had not
conveyed the information, such was his enthusiasm, he would almost have
sprung from the perpendicular brow of St. Vincent to determine his
precise time, in descending from the top to the bottom.
I soon learnt from Mr. D. himself the course of his experiments; many of
which were in the highest degree hazardous, when, with friendly
earnestness, I warned him against his imminent perils. He seemed to act,
as if in case of sacrificing one life, he had two or three others in
reserve on which he could fall back in case of necessity. He occasionally
so excited my fears that I half despaired of seeing him alive the next
morning. He has been known sometimes to breathe a deadly gas, with his
finger on his pulse, to determine how much could be borne, before a
serious declension occurred in the vital action. The great hazards to
which he exposed himself may be estimated by the following slight detail.
Dr. Mitchell, as well as Dr. Priestley, had stated the fatal effects on
animal life, of the gazeous oxide of azote; Mr. Davy, on the contrary,
for reasons which satisfied himself, thought it respirable in its pure
state; at least, that a single inspiration of this gas might neither
destroy, nor materially injure the powers of life. He tried one
inspiration. No particularly injurious effects followed. He now breathed,
out of his _green bag_, three quarts of this nitrous oxide (gazeous oxide
of azote,) when it was attended with a degree of giddiness, great fulness
in the head, and with loss of distinct sensation and voluntary power,
analogous to intoxication. Not being able fully to determine whether the
gas was "stimulant" or "depressing," he now breathed four quarts of it
from his _green bag_, when an irresistible propensity to action followed,
with motions, various and violent. Still, not being satisfied, he
proceeded in his experiments, and at length found that he could breathe
nine quarts for three minutes, and twelve quarts for rather more than
four, but never for five minutes, without the danger of fatal
consequences, as before five minutes had expired, the mouth-piece
generally dropped from his unclosed lips. By breathing from six to seven
quarts only, muscular motions were produced, and he manifested the
pleasure it excited, by stamping, laughing, dancing, shouting, &c.
At another time, having ascertained that his pure nitrous oxide, was
eminently stimulant, he wanted to determine whether the system, in a high
state of stimulation, would then be susceptible of a proportionate
accession of stimulus from his new gas; like that which would be
experienced by the man, who after taking one bottle of wine, drank a
second; and to acquire demonstration on this nice subject, (although he
was a confirmed water-drinker) to form the basis of his experiment, he
drank off with all despatch a whole bottle of wine, the consequence of
which was, that he first reeled, and then fell down insensibly drunk.
After lying in this state for two or three hours, he awoke with a sense
of nausea, head-ache, and the usual effects of intoxication. At the first
return of recollection, however, undaunted by the past, the young
enthusiastic philosopher called out for the _green bag_, when he breathed
twelve quarts of nitrous oxide, for three or four minutes. The
consequence of this was, he became a second time intoxicated, though in a
less degree, when he strode across the room, and by stamping, laughing,
dancing, and vociferation, found that the same effects followed, which
attended his former experiment, without any increase of stimulus from the
wine.
All the gases that had hitherto been the subject of investigation, sunk
in importance before this nitrous oxide, which the perseverance of Mr.
Davy had now obtained in its pure state, in any quantity and consequently
divested of that foreign admixture which rendered it usually so
destructive. He had also ascertained the quantity which might safely be
admitted into the lungs. Dr. Beddoes was sanguine as to its medical
qualities, and conceived that, if not a specific, it might prove highly
advantageous in paralysis, and pulmonary affections; and, in conjunction
with these benefits he well knew it would confer importance on his own
Pneumatic Institution. As Dr. B. meditated a publication expressly on
this subject, he was desirous of collecting the testimony of others, for
which purpose, he persuaded several of his friends to breathe this
innocent, but exhilarating nitrous oxide, while they described, and he
recorded their sensations.
Mr. Southey, Mr. Clayfield, Mr. Tobin, and others inhaled the new air.
One, it made dance, another laugh, while a third, in his state of
excitement, being pugnaciously inclined, very uncourteously, struck Mr.
Davy rather violently with his fist. It became now an object with Dr. B.
to witness the effect this potent gas might produce on one of the softer
sex, and he prevailed on a courageous young lady, (Miss ----) to breathe
out of his pretty _green bag_, this delightful nitrous oxide. After a few
inspirations, to the astonishment of every body, the young lady dashed
out of the room and house, when, racing down Hope-square, she leaped over
a great dog in her way, but being hotly pursued by the fleetest of her
friends, the fair fugitive, or rather the temporary maniac, was at length
overtaken and secured, without further damage.
Dr. Beddoes now expressed a wish to record my testimony also, and
presented me his _green bag_; but being satisfied with the effects
produced on others, I begged to decline the honour. The Pneumatic
Institution, at this time, from the laughable and diversified effects
produced by this new gas on different individuals, quite exorcised
philosophical gravity, and converted the laboratory into the region of
hilarity and relaxation. The young lady's feats, in particular, produced
great merriment, and so intimidated the ladies, that not one, after this
time, could be prevailed upon to look at the _green bag_, or hear of
nitrous oxide, without horror!
But more perilous experiments must now be noticed. Mr. Davy having
succeeded so well with the Nitrous Oxide, determined even to hazard a
trial with the deadly Nitrous Gas. For this purpose he placed in a bag,
"one hundred and fourteen cubic inches of nitrous gas," and knowing that
unless he exhausted his lungs of the atmospheric air, its oxygen would
unite with the nitrous gas, and produce in his lungs _aqua-fortis_, he
wisely resolved to expel if possible, the whole of the atmospheric air
from his lungs, by some contrivance of his own. For this purpose, in a
second bag, he placed seven quarts of nitrous oxide, and made from it
three inspirations, and three expirations, and then instantly transferred
his mouth to the nitrous gas bag, and turning the stop-cock, took one
inspiration. This gas, in passing through his mouth and fauces, burnt his
throat, and produced such a spasm in the epiglottis, as to cause him
instantly to desist, when, in breathing the common air, aqua-fortis was
really formed in his mouth, which burnt his tongue, palate, and injured
his teeth. Mr. D. says, "I never design again to repeat so rash an
experiment."
But though this experiment might not be repeated, there was one other
nearly as dangerous, to which Mr. Davy's love of science prompted him to
resort; not by trying it on another but, generously, on himself.
Mr. Davy wished to determine whether the carburetted hydrogen gas, was so
destructive to animal life as had been represented. In its pure state,
one inspiration of this gas was understood to destroy life, but Mr. D.
mixed three quarts of the gas, with two quarts of the atmospheric air,
and then breathed the whole for nearly a minute. This produced only
slight effects, (nothing to an experimental chemist;) merely "giddiness,
pain in the head, loss of voluntary power," &c.
The spirit of inquiry not being to be repressed by these trifling
inconveniences, Mr. Davy was now emboldened to introduce into his green
bag, four quarts of carburetted hydrogen gas, nearly pure. After
exhausting his lungs in the usual way, he made two inspirations of this
gas. The first inspiration produced numbness and loss of feeling in the
chest. After the second, he lost all power of perceiving external things,
except a terrible oppression on his chest, and he seemed sinking fast to
death! He had just consciousness enough to remove the mouth-piece from
his unclosed lips, when he became wholly insensible. After breathing the
common air for some time, consciousness was restored, and Mr. Davy
faintly uttered, as a consolation to his then attendant, Mr. John Tobin,
"I do not think I shall die."
Such are some of the appalling hazards encountered by M. Davy, in his
intrepid investigation of the gases. These destructive experiments,
during his residence at Bristol, probably, produced those affections of
the chest, to which he was subject through life, and which, beyond all
question, shortened his days. Nothing at this moment so excites my
surprise, as that Mr. D.'s life should have been protracted, with all his
unparalleled indifference concerning it, to the vast age, for him, of
fifty years.
I cannot here withhold an ungracious piece of information. In the
prospect of this establishment, great expectations had been raised, and
the afflicted of all descriptions, were taught to expect a speedy cure;
so that when the doors were opened, no less than seventy or eighty
patients, progressively applied for the gratuitous alleviation of their
maladies. But it is too great a tax on human patience, when cures are
always promised, but never come. No one recovery, in an obstinate case,
had occurred: in consequence of which, many patients became dissatisfied,
and remitted their attendance. Independently of which, an idea had become
prevalent amongst the crowd of afflicted, that they were merely made the
subjects of experiment, which thinned the ranks of the old applicants,
and intimidated new. It might be said, that patients after a certain
period had so ominously declined, that the very fire was likely to become
extinguished for want of fuel. In order that the trials might be
deliberately proceeded in, a fortunate thought occurred to Dr. Beddoes;
namely, not to _bribe_, but to _reward_ all persevering patients; for Mr.
Davy informed me, that, before the Pneumatic Institution was broken up,
they allowed every patient sixpence per diem; so that when all hopes of
cure had subsided, it became a mere pecuniary calculation with the
sufferers, whether, for a parish allowance of three shillings a week,
they should submit or not, to be drenched with these nauseous gases.
This Pneumatic Institution, though long in a declining state, protracted
its existence for more than two years, till the departure from Bristol of
Mr. D., and then by its failure, it established the useful negative fact,
however mortifying, that medical science was not to be improved through
the medium of factitious airs.
I happened to be present when Mr. W. Coates casually named to Mr. Davy,
then just turned of twenty, that his boy the preceding evening, had
accidentally struck one piece of cane against another, in the dark, and
which produced light. It was quite impressive to notice the intense
earnestness with which Mr. D. heard this fact which, by others, might
have been immediately forgotten. Mr. D. on the contrary, without
speaking, appeared lost in meditation. He subsequently commenced his
experiments on these canes, and thus communicated the results to his
friend Mr. Giddy, (now Gilbert).
"My dear friend,
... I have now just room to give you an account of the experiments I have
lately been engaged in.
_First_. One of Mr. Coates's children accidentally discovered that two
bonnet-canes rubbed together produced a faint light. The novelty of this
experiment induced me to examine it, and I found that the canes, on
collision, produced sparks of light, as brilliant as those from flint and
steel.
_Secondly_. On examining the epidermis, I found, when it was taken off,
that the canes no longer gave light on collision.
_Thirdly_. The epidermis, subjected to chemical analysis, had all the
properties of silex.
_Fourthly_, The similar appearance of the epidermis of reeds, corn, and
grasses, induced me to suppose that they also contained silex. By burning
them carefully and analyzing their ashes, I found that they contained it
in rather larger proportions than the canes.
_Fifthly_. The corn and grasses contain sufficient potash to form glass
with their flint. A very pretty experiment may be made on these plants
with the blowpipe. If you take a straw of wheat, barley, or hay, and burn
it, beginning at the top, and heating the ashes with a blue flame, you
will obtain a perfect globule of hard glass, fit for microscopic
discovery."
The circumstance, that all canes, as well as straws and hollow grasses,
have an epidermis of silex, is one of the most singular facts in nature.
Mr. Davy, in another place, has stated the advantages arising to this
class of vegetables, from their stony external concretion: namely, "the
defence it offers from humidity; the shield which it presents to the
assaults of insects; and the strength and stability that it administers
to plants, which, from being hollow, without this support, would be less
perfectly enabled to resist the effect of storms.
Those canes which are not hollow, are long and slender, and from wanting
the power to sustain themselves, come usually in contact with the ground,
when they would speedily decay, from moisture, but from the impenetrable
coat of mail with which nature has furnished them. But questions still
arise for future investigators. How came the matter of flint to invest
those plants which most need it, and not others? Whence does this silex
come? Is it derived from the air, or from water, or from the earth? That
it emanates from the atmosphere is wholly inadmissible. If the silex
proceed from water, where is the proof? and how is the superficial
deposit effected? Also, as silex is not a constituent part of water, if
incorporated at all, it can be held only in solution. By what law is this
solution produced, so that the law of gravity should be suspended? If the
silex be derived from the earth, by what vessels is it conveyed to the
surface of the plants? and, in addition, if earth be its source, how is
it that earth-seeking, and hollow plants, with their epidermis of silex,
should arise in soils that are not silicious? being equally predominant,
whether the soil be calcareous, argillaceous, or loamy. The decomposition
of decayed animal and vegetable substances, doubtless composes the
richegt superficial mould; but this soil, so favorable for vegetation,
gives the reed as much silex, but no more, in proportion to the size of
the stalk, than the same plants growing in mountainous districts, and
primitive soils. It is to be regretted, that the solution of these
questions, with others that might be enumerated, had not occupied the
profoundly investigating spirit of Mr. Davy; but which subjects now offer
an ample scope for other philosophical speculators.
It is a demonstrative confirmation of the accuracy of Mr. Davy's
reasoning, that a few years ago, after the burning of a large mow, in the
neighbourhood of Bristol, a stratum of pure, compact, vitrified silex
appeared at the bottom, forming one continuous sheet, nearly an inch in
thickness. I secured a portion, which, with a steel, produced an
abundance of bright sparks.
Upon Mr. Coleridge's return from the north, to Bristol, where he meant to
make some little stay, I felt peculiar pleasure in introducing him to
young Mr. Davy. The interview was mutually agreeable, and that which does
not often occur, notwithstanding their raised expectations, each,
afterward, in referring to the other, expressed to me the opinion, that
his anticipations had been surpassed. They frequently met each other
under my roof, and their conversations were often brilliant; intermixed,
occasionally, with references to the scenes of their past lives.
Mr. Davy told of a Cornish young man, of philosophical habits, who had
adopted the opinion that a firm mind might endure in silence, any degree
of pain: showing the supremacy of "mind over matter." His theory once met
with an unexpected confutation. He had gone one morning to bathe in
Mount's Bay, and as he bathed, a crab griped his toe, when the young
philosopher roared loud enough to be heard at Penzance.[74]
Mr. Coleridge related the following occurrence, which he received from
his American friend, Mr. Alston, illustrating the effect produced on a
young man, at Cambridge University, near Boston, from a fancied
apparition. "A certain youth," he said, "took it into his head to convert
a Tom-Painish companion of his, by appearing as a ghost before him. He
accordingly dressed himself in the usual way, having previously extracted
the ball from the pistol which always lay near the head of his friend's
bed. Upon first awaking and seeing the apparition, A. the youth who was
to be frightened, suspecting a trick, very coolly looked his companion,
the ghost, in the face, and said, 'I know you. This is a good joke, but
you see I am not frightened. Now you may vanish.' The ghost stood still.
'Come,' said A. 'that is enough. I shall get angry. Away!' Still the
ghost moved not. Exclaimed A. 'If you do not in one minute go away, I
will shoot you.' He waited the time, deliberately levelled his pistol,
fired, and with a scream at the motionless immobility of the figure, was
convinced it was a real ghost--became convulsed, and from the fright,
afterwards died."
Mr. Coleridge told also of his reception at an Hessian village, after his
visit to the Hartz mountains, and the Brocken. Their party consisted of
himself, Mr. Carlyon, and the two Mr. Parrys. (sons of Dr. Parry, of
Bath--one of them the Arctic explorer). The four pedestrians entered the
village late of an evening, and repaired to the chief ale-house, wearied
with a hard day's journey, in order to be refreshed and to rest for the
night. The large room contained many of the neighbouring peasants. "What
can we have to eat?" said Mr. Coleridge. "Nothing," was the reply. "Can
we have beds?" "No," answered the master of the house. "Can we have some
straw on which to lie?" "None, none," was the reply. On which Mr.
Coleridge cried out, "Are the Hessians Christians?" To have their
Christianity doubted, was an insufferable insult, and to prove their
religion, one man in a rage, hurled a log of wood at Mr. C., which, if it
had struck him, would have laid him prostrate! But more effectually to
prove that they were Christians, "good and true," the men, in fierce
array, now marched up, and roughly drove the saucy Englanders out of the
house, to get lodgings where they could. From the extreme wrath of the
insulted peasants, the travellers were apprehensive of some worse
assault; and hurrying out of the village, weary, and hunger-smitten,
bivouacked under a tree, determined never again to question a Hessian's
Christianity, even under the gallows.
On one occasion, Mr. Coleridge entered into some of his college scenes,
to one of which I may here refer. He said that, perhaps, it was culpable
in him not to have paid more attention to his dress than he did when at
the University, but the great excluded the little. He said that he was
once walking through a street in Cambridge, leaning on the arms of two
_silk gowns_, when his own habiliments formed rather a ludicrous
contrast. His cap had the merit of having once been new; and some
untoward rents in his gown, which he had a month before intended to get
mended, left a strong tendency, in some of its posterior parts, to trail
along the ground in the form, commonly called "tatters." The three
friends were settling the exact site of Troy, or some other equally
momentous subject, when they were passed by two spruce gownsmen, one of
whom said to the other, which just caught the ear of Mr. C., "That sloven
thinks he can hide his ribbons by the gowns of his companions." Mr. C.
darted an appalling glance at him, and passed on. He now learned the
name, and acquired some particulars respecting the young man who had
offended him, and hastened home to exercise his Juvenallian talent.
The next day he gave his satire to a friend, to show it to the young man,
who became quite alarmed at the mistake he had made, and also at the
ominous words, "He who wrote this can write more." The cauldron might
boil over with fresh "bubble, bubble, toil and trouble." There was no
time to lose. He therefore immediately proceeded to Mr. C.'s chambers;
apologized for his inconsiderate expressions; thought him to have been
some "rough colt," from the country, again begged his pardon, and
received the hand of reconciliation. This young, miscalculating
Cantabrigian, now became one of Mr. C.'s warmest friends, and rose to
eminence.[75]
The satire was singularly cutting. I can recall but two unconnected
lines:
"With eye that looks around with asking gaze,
And tongue that traffics in the trade of praise."[76]
Mr. Coleridge now told us of the most remarkable of his Cambridge
eccentricities, that of his having enlisted as a soldier. He had
previously stated to me many of the following particulars, yet not the
whole; but (having taken a deep interest in this singular adventure,) in
addition to that which I heard from Mr. C., who never told all the
incidents of his military life to any one person, but on the contrary,
detailed some few to one, and some few to another, I made a point of
collecting from different friends, every scattered fact I could obtain,
and shall now throw the whole into one narrative.
But before I proceed, I must take some notice of a statement on this
subject, communicated to the public, by Mr. Bowles, wherein his account
appears to clash with mine. Of this gentleman (with whose name and
writings I have connected so many pleasant remembrances, from early
life,) I wish to speak with the utmost respect; but the truth Mr. B.
himself will be glad to learn.
Mr. Bowles states a circumstance relating to what he calls, "The most
correct, sublime, chaste, and beautiful of Mr. Coleridge's poems; the
'Religious Musings;'" namely, that "it was written, non inter sylvas
academi, but in the tap-room at Reading." This information could not have
been received from Mr. C. but perhaps was derived from the imperfect
recollection of Captain O.; but whoever the informant may have been, the
assertion has not the merit of being founded on a shadow of accuracy. The
poem of the "Religious Musings" was not written "in the tap-room at
Reading," nor till long after Mr. C. had quitted his military life. It
was written partly at Stowey; partly on Redcliff Hill; and partly in my
parlour, where both Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey occasionally wrote
their verses. This will have sufficiently appeared by Mr. C.'s own
letters; to which I could add other decisive evidence, if the subject
were of more consequence.
I now proceed with the narrative of Mr. Coleridge's military adventures,
chiefly collected from himself, but not inconsiderably from the
information of other of his more intimate friends; particularly R.
Lovell; although I must apprise the reader that after a lapse of forty
years, I cannot pledge myself for every individual word: a severity of
construction which neither my memoranda nor memory would authorize. In
order not to interrupt the reader, by stating that this was derived from
one source, and that from another, (at this time hardly to be separated
in my own mind) I shall narrate it as though Mr. Coleridge had related
the whole at once, to Mr. Davy and myself.
* * * * *
Mr. Coleridge now told us of one of his Cambridge eccentricities which
highly amused us. He said that he had paid his addresses to a Mary Evans,
who, rejecting his offer, he took it so much in dudgeon, that he withdrew
from the University to London, when, in a reckless state of mind, he
enlisted in the 15th, Elliot's Light Dragoons. No objection having been
taken to his height or age, he was asked his name. He had previously
determined to give one that was thoroughly Kamschatkian, but having
noticed that morning over a door in Lincoln's Inn Fields, (or the Temple)
the name of "Cumberbatch," (not Comberback) he thought this word
sufficiently outlandish, and replied "Silas Tomken Cumberbatch,"[77] and
such was the entry in the regimental book.
Here, in his new capacity, laborious duties devolved on Mr. C. He
endeavoured to think on Caesar, and Epaminondas, and Leonidas, with other
ancient heroes, and composed himself to his fate; remembering, in every
series, there must be a commencement: but still he found confronting him
no imaginary inconveniences. Perhaps he who had most cause for
dissatisfaction, was the drill sergeant, who thought his professional
character endangered; for after using his utmost efforts to bring his raw
recruit into something like training, he expressed the most serious
fears, from his unconquerable awkwardness, that he never should be able
to make _a soldier of him!_
Mr. C. it seemed, could not even rub down his own horse, which, however,
it should be known, was rather a restive one, who, like Cowper's hare,
"would bite if he could," and in addition, kick not a little. We could
not suppose that these predispositions in the martial steed were at all
aggravated by the unskilful jockeyship to which he was subjected, but the
sensitive quadruped did rebel a little in the stable, and wince a little
in the field! Perhaps the poor animal was something in the state of the
horse that carried Mr. Wordsworth's "Idiot Boy," who, in his sage
contemplations, "wondered"--"What he had got upon his back!" This rubbing
down his horse was a constant source of annoyance to Mr. C., who thought
that the most rational way was,--to let the horse rub himself down,
shaking himself clean, and so to shine in all his native beauty; but on
this subject there were two opinions, and his that was to decide carried
most weight. If it had not been for the foolish and fastidious taste of
the ultra precise sergeant, this whole mass of trouble might be avoided,
but seeing the thing must be done, or punishment! he set about the
herculean task with the firmness of a Wallenstein; but lo! the paroxysm
was brief, in the necessity that called it forth. Mr. C. overcame this
immense difficulty, by bribing a young man of the regiment to perform the
achievement for him; and that on very easy terms; namely, by writing for
him some "Love Stanzas," to send to his sweetheart!
Mr. Coleridge, in the midst of all his deficiencies, it appeared, was
liked by the men, although he was the butt of the whole company; being
esteemed by them as next of kin to a natural, though of a peculiar
kind--a talking natural. This fancy of theirs was stoutly resisted by the
love-sick swain, but the regimental logic prevailed; for, whatever they
could do, with masterly dexterity, he could not do at all, ergo, must he
not be a natural? There was no man in the regiment who met with so many
falls from his horse, as Silas Tomken Cumberbatch! He often calculated
with so little precision his due equilibrium, that, in mounting on one
side, (perhaps the wrong stirrup) the probability was, especially if his
horse moved a little, that he lost his balance, and, if he did not roll
back on this side, came down ponderously on the other! when the laugh
spread amongst the men, "Silas is off again!" Mr. C. had often heard of
campaigns, but he never before had so correct an idea of hard service.
Some mitigation was now in store for Mr. C. arising out of a whimsical
circumstance. He had been placed as a sentinel, at the door of a
ball-room, or some public place of resort, when two of his officers,
passing in, stopped for a moment, near Mr. C., talking about Euripides,
two lines from whom, one of them repeated. At the sound of Greek, the
sentinel instinctively turned his ear, when he said, with all deference,
touching his lofty cap, "I hope your honour will excuse me, but the lines
you have repeated are not quite accurately cited. These are the lines,"
when he gave them in their more correct form. "Besides," said Mr. C.,
"instead of being in Euripides, the lines will be found in the second
antistrophe of the 'Aedipus of Sophocles.'" "Why, man, who are you?" said
the officer, "old Faustus ground young again?" "I am your honour's humble
sentinel," said Mr. C., again touching his cap.
The officers hastened into the room, and inquired of one and another,
about that "odd fish," at the door; when one of the mess, (it is
believed, the surgeon) told them, that he had his eye upon him, but he
would neither tell where he came from, nor anything about his family of
the Cumberbatches; "but," continued he, "instead of his being an 'odd
fish,' I suspect he must be a 'stray bird' from the Oxford or Cambridge
aviary." They learned also, the laughable fact, that he was bruised all
over, by frequent falls from his horse. "Ah," said one of the officers,
"we have had, at different times, two or three of these 'University
birds' in our regiment." This suspicion was confirmed by one of the
officers, Mr. Nathaniel Ogle, who observed that he had noticed a line of
Latin, chalked under one of the men's saddles, and was told, on inquiring
whose saddle it was, that it was "Cumberbatch's."
The officers now kindly took pity on the 'poor scholar' and had Mr. C.
removed to the medical department, where he was appointed assistant in
the regimental hospital. This change was a vast improvement in Mr. C.'s
condition; and happy was the day, also, on which it took place, for the
sake of the sick patients; for Silas Tomken Cumberbatch's amusing
stories, they said, did them more good than all the doctor's physic! Many
ludicrous dialogues sometimes occurred between Mr. C. and his new
disciples; particularly with one who was "the geographer." The following
are some of these dialogues.
If he began talking to one or two of his comrades; for they were all on a
perfect equality, except that those who went through their exercise the
best, stretched their necks a little above the "awkward squad;" in which
ignoble class Mr. C. was placed, as the preeminent member, almost by
acclamation; if he began to speak, notwithstanding, to one or two, others
drew near, increasing momently, till by-and-bye the sick-beds were
deserted, and Mr. C. formed the centre of a large circle.
On one occasion, he told them of the Peloponnesian war, which lasted
twenty-seven years, "There must have been famous promotion there," said
one poor fellow, haggard as a death's head. Another, tottering with
disease, ejaculated, "Can you tell, Silas, how many rose from the ranks?"
He now still more excited their wonderment, by recapitulating the feats
of Archimedes. As the narrative proceeded, one restrained his scepticism,
till he was almost ready to burst, and then vociferated, "Silas, that's a
lie!" "D'ye think so?" said Mr. C. smiling, and went on with his story.
The idea, however, got amongst them, that Silas's fancy was on the
stretch, when Mr. C. finding that this tact would not do, changed his
subject, and told them of a famous general, called Alexander the Great.
As by a magic spell, the flagging attention was revived, and several, at
the same moment, to testify their eagerness, called out, "The general!
The general!" "I'll tell you all about him," said Mr. C. when impatience
marked every countenance. He then told them whose son this Alexander the
Great was; no less than Philip of Macedon. "I never heard of him," said
one. "I think I have," said the "geographer," ashamed of being thought
ignorant, "Silas, was'nt he a Cornish man? I knew one of the Alexanders
at Truro!"
Mr. C. now went on describing to them, in glowing colours, the valour,
and the wars, and the conquests of this famous general. "Ah," said one
man, whose open mouth had complimented the speaker, for the preceding
half hour; "Ah," said he, "Silas, this Alexander must have been as great
a man as our Colonel!"
Mr. C. now told them of the "Retreat of the Ten Thousand." "I don't like
to hear of retreat," said one. "Nor I," said a second: "I'm for marching
on." Mr. C. now told of the incessant conflicts of these brave warriors,
and of the virtues of the "square." "They were a parcel of crack men,"
said one. "Yes," said another, "their bayonets fixed, and sleeping on
their arms day and night." "I should like to know," said a fourth, "what
rations were given with all that hard fighting;" on which an Irishman
replied, "to be sure, every time the sun rose, two pounds of good ox
beef, and plenty of whiskey."
At another time he told them of the invasion of Xerxes, and his crossing
the _wide_ Hellespont. "Ah," said a young recruit, a native of an obscure
village in Kent, who had acquired a decent smattering of
geography,--knowing well that the world was round, and that the earth was
divided into land and water, and, furthermore, that there were more
countries on the globe than England, and who now wished to raise his
pretensions a little before his comrades; said this young man of Kent;
"Silas, I know where that 'Helspont' is. I think it must be the mouth of
the Thames, for _'tis_ very wide."
Mr. C. now told them of the herces of Thermopylae, when the geographer
interrupted him, by saying, "Silas, I think I know, too, where that
'Thermopple' is; isn't it somewhere up in the north?" "You are quite
right, Jack," said Mr. C. "it is to the north of the Line." A conscious
elevation marked his countenance, and he rose at once, five degrees in
the estimation of his friends.
In one of these interesting conversaziones, when Mr. C. was sitting at
the foot of a bed, surrounded by his gaping comrades, who were always
solicitous of, and never wearied with, his stories, the door suddenly
burst open, and in came two or three gentlemen, (his friends) looking for
some time, in vain, amid the uniform dresses, for their man. At length,
they pitched on Mr. C. and taking him by the arm, led him, in silence,
out of the room, (a picture indeed, for a Wilkie!) As the supposed
_deserter_ passed the threshold, one of the astonished auditors uttered,
with a sigh, "poor Silas! I wish they may let him off with a cool five
hundred!" Mr. C.'s ransom was soon joyfully adjusted by his friends, and
now the wide world once more lay before him.[78]
A very old friend of Mr. Coleridge has recently furnished me with the two
following anecdotes of Mr. C. which were also new to me.
The inspecting officer of his regiment, on one occasion, was examining
the guns of the men, and coming to one piece which was rusty, he called
out in an authoritative tone, "Whose rusty gun[79] is this?" when Mr.
Coleridge said, "is it _very_ rusty, Sir?" "Yes Cumberbatch, it _is_"
said the officer, sternly. "Then, Sir," replied Mr. C. "it must be mine!"
The oddity of the reply disarmed the officer, and the poor scholar
escaped without punishment.
Mr. Coleridge was a remarkably awkward horseman, so much so, as generally
to attract notice. Some years after this, he was riding along the
turnpike road, in the county of Durham, when a wag, approaching him,
noticed his peculiarity, and (quite mistaking his man) thought the rider
a fine subject for a little sport; when, as he drew near, he thus
accosted Mr. C. "I say, young man, did you meet a _tailor_ on the road?"
"Yes," replied Mr. C. (who was never at a loss for a rejoinder) "I did;
and he told me, if I went a little further I should meet a _goose!_" The
assailant was struck dumb, while the traveller jogged on.
Mr. C. gave me these, his translations from the German.
ON A BAD READER OF HIS OWN VERSES.
Hoarse Maevius reads his hobbling verse
To all, and at all times,
And deems them both divinely smooth,
His voice, as well as rhymes.
But folks say Maevius is no ass!
But Maevius makes it clear,
That he's a monster of an ass,
An ass without an ear.
* * * * *
If the guilt of all lying consists in deceit,
Lie on--'tis your duty, sweet youth!
For believe me, then only we find you a cheat,
When you cunningly tell us the truth.
"As Dick and I at Charing Cross were walking,
Whom should we see on t'other side pass by,
But INFORMATOR with a stranger talking,
So I exclaimed--"O, what a lie!"
Quoth Dick, "What, can you hear him?" Stuff!
I saw him open his mouth--an't that enough?"
* * * * *
ON OBSERVING A LADY LICKING HER LAP-DOG,
Thy Lap-dog Rufa, is a dainty beast;
It don't surprise me in the least,
To see thee lick so dainty clean a beast,
But that so dainty clean a beast licks thee--
Yes--that surprises me.
* * * * *
Jack writes his verses with more speed
Than the printer's boy can set 'em;
Quite as fast as we can read,
But only--not so fast as we forget 'em.
Mr. Coleridge accompanied these epigrams with the translation of one of
LESSING'S pieces, where the felicity of the expression, in its English
form, will excite in most readers a suspicion, that no German original,
could equal the poem in its new dress.
MY LOVE.
I ask'd my love, one happy day,
What I should call her in my lay!
By what sweet name from Rome or Greece;
Iphigenia, Clelia, Chloris,
Laura, Lesbia, or Doris,
Dorimene, or Lucrece?
Ah! replied my gentle fair,
Beloved! what are names but air!
Take whatever suits the line:
Call me Clelia, call me Chloris,
Laura, Lesbia, or Doris,
Only, only, call me thine.
Mr. C. told me that he intended to translate the whole of Lessing. I
smiled. Mr. C. understood the symbol, and smiled in return.
The above poem is thus printed in the last edition of 1835, by which the
two may be compared, and the reader will perhaps think that the
alterations are not improvements.
NAMES.
I asked my fair one happy day,
What I should call her in my lay?
By what sweet name from Rome or Greece:
Lalage, Nesera, Chloris,
Sappho, Lesbia, or Doris,
Arethusa, or Lucrece.
Ah, replied my gentle fair,
Beloved, what are names but air?
Choose thou whatever suits the line;
Call me Sappho, call me Chloris,
Call me Lalage, or Doris,
Only, only, call me thine.
Some time after this, Mr. Coleridge being in an ill state of health,
recollected that a friend of his, Sir John Stoddart, was the Judge at
Malta,[80] and he determined to repair to that island. Here he was
introduced to Sir Alexander Ball, the Governor, who happened at that time
to be in want of a Secretary, and being greatly pleased with Mr.
Coleridge, he immediately engaged him in that capacity.[81]
* * * * *
I shall here for the present leave the narrative of Mr. C. in other and
better hands, and proceed to remark, that Mr. Davy and Mr. Coleridge
continued their friendly feeling toward each other, through life. Mr.
Davy, in a letter to Mr. Poole, (1804.) thus expresses himself:
"I have received a letter from Coleridge within the last three weeks. He
writes from Malta, in good spirits, and as usual, from the depth of his
being. God bless him! He was intended for a great man. I hope and trust
he will, at some period, appear such."
Mr. Davy, after a continuance in Bristol of more than two years, sent me
the following letter, with a copy of "Burns's Life and Works," by Dr.
Currie.
"Dear Cottle,
I have been for the last six weeks so much hurried by business, and the
prospect of a change of situation, that I have not had time to call on
you. I am now on the point of leaving the Hotwells, and had designed to
see you this morning, but engagements have unluckily prevented me. I am
going to the Royal Institution, where, if you come to London, it will
give me much pleasure to see you.
Will you be pleased to accept the copy of 'Burns's Life and Poems,' sent
with this, and when you are reading with delight the effusions of your
brother bard, occasionally think of one who is, with sincere regard and
affection, your friend,
H. Davy.
March 9th, 1801."
In a letter of Sir H. Davy, addressed to his friend Mr. Poole, 1803, he
thus writes of S. T. C.
"Coleridge has left London for Keswick. During his stay in town, I saw
him seldomer than usual; when I did see him, it was generally in the
midst of large companies, where he is the image of power and activity.
His eloquence is unimpaired; perhaps it is softer and stronger. His will
is less than ever commensurate with his ability. Brilliant images of
greatness float upon his mind, like images of the morning clouds on the
waters. Their forms are changed by the motion of the waves, they are
agitated by every breeze, and modified by every sun-beam. He talked in
the course of an hour, of beginning three works; and he recited the poem
of Christabel unfinished, and as I had before heard it. What talent does
he not waste in forming visions, sublime, but unconnected with the real
world! I have looked to his efforts, as to the efforts of a creating
being; but as yet he has not laid the foundation for the new world of
intellectual forms."
In the following letter received by me from Sir H. Davy, so late as June,
1823, he refers to Mr. Coleridge.
"My dear Sir,
... I have often thought on the subject of the early history of our
planet, and have some peculiar views, but I have some reserve in talking
here about it, as all our knowledge on such matter is little more than
ignorance.
What I stated to the Royal Society, in awarding the medal to Professor
Buckland, has not been correctly given in the Journals. I merely said
that the facts lately brought forward, proved the occurrence of that
great catastrophe which had been recorded in sacred and profane history,
and of which traditions were current, even amongst the most barbarous
nations. I did not say they proved the truth of the Mosaic account of the
deluge, that is to say, of the history of the Ark of Noah, and the
preservation of animal life. This is revelation; and no facts, that I
know of, have been discovered in science that bear upon this question,
and the sacred history of the race of Shem. My idea was to give to Caesar
what belonged to Caesar, &c. &c., and not to blend divine truths with the
fancies of men.
I met Coleridge this morning, looking very well. I had not seen him for
years. He has promised to dine with me on Monday....
Very sincerely yours,
H. Davy.
June 11th, 1823."
Sir H. Davy was the chief agent in prevailing on Mr. Coleridge to give a
course of lectures on Shakspeare, at the Royal Institution, which he did,
eighteen in number, in the year 1808. Sir H. D. in writing to Mr. Poole,
this year, thus refers to him.
"Coleridge, after disappointing his audience twice from illness, is
announced to lecture again this week. He has suffered greatly from
excessive sensibility, the disease of genius. His mind is a wilderness,
in which the cedar and the oak, which might aspire to the skies, are
stunted in their growth by underwood, thorns, briars, and parasitical
plants. With the most exalted genius, enlarged views, sensitive heart,
and enlightened mind, he will be the victim of want of order, precision,
and regularity. I cannot think of him without experiencing the mingled
feelings of admiration, regard, and pity."
To this testimony in confirmation of Mr. Coleridge's intellectual
eminence, some high and additional authorities will be added; such as to
entitle him to the name of the Great Conversationalist. Professor Wilson
thus writes:
"If there be any man of great and original genius alive at this
moment, in Europe, it is S. T. Coleridge. Nothing can surpass the
melodious richness of words, which he heaps around his images; images
that are not glaring in themselves, but which are always affecting to
the very verge of tears, because they have all been formed and
nourished in the recesses of one of the most deeply musing spirits,
that ever breathed forth its inspirations, in the majestic language
of England."
"Not less marvellously gifted, though in a far different manner, is
Coleridge, who by a strange error has usually been regarded of the
same (lake) school. Instead, like Wordsworth, of seeking the sources
of sublimity and beauty in the simplest elements of humanity, he
ranges through all history and science, investigating all that has
really existed, and all that has had foundation only in the wildest,
and strangest minds, combining, condensing, developing and
multiplying the rich products of his research with marvellous
facility and skill; now pondering fondly over some piece of exquisite
loveliness, brought from an unknown recess, now tracing out the
hidden germ of the eldest, and most barbaric theories, and now
calling fantastic spirits from the vasty deep, where they have slept
since the dawn of reason. The term 'myriad-minded' which he has
happily applied to Shakspeare, is truly descriptive of himself. He is
not one, but legion, 'rich with the spoils of time,' richer in his
own glorious imagination and sportive fantasy. There is nothing more
wonderful than the facile majesty of his images, or rather of his
world of imagery, which, whether in his poetry or his prose, start up
before us, self-raised, and all perfect, like the palace of Aladdin.
He ascends to the sublimest truths by a winding track of sparkling
glory, which can only be described in his own language.
'The spirit's ladder
That from this gross and visible world of dust,
Even to the starry world, with thousand rounds
Builds itself up; on which the unseen powers
Move up and down on heavenly ministries--
The circles in the circles, that approach
The central sun from ever narrowing orbit.'
In various beauty of versification he has never been exceeded.
Shakspeare doubtless in liquid sweetness and exquisite continuity,
and Milton in pure majesty and classic grace--but this, in one
species of verse only; and taking all his trials of various metres,
the swelling harmony of his blank verse, the sweet breathing of his
gentle odes, and the sybil-like flutter, with the murmuring of his
wizard spells, we doubt if even these great masters have so fully
developed the sources of the English tongue. He has yet completed no
adequate memorial of his Genius, yet it is most unjust to say he has
done little or nothing.
To refute this assertion, there are his 'Wallenstein;' his love poems
of intensest beauty; his 'Ancient Mariner,' with his touches of
profoundest tenderness amidst the wildest and most bewildering
terrors; his holy and sweet tale of 'Christabel,' with its
enchantments, and richer humanities; the depths, the sublimities, and
the pensive sweetness of his 'Tragedy;' the heart-dilating sentiments
scattered through his 'Friend;' and the stately imagery which breaks
upon us at every turn of the golden paths of his metaphysical
labyrinth. And if he has a power within him mightier than that which
even these glorious creations indicate, shall he be censured because
he has deviated from the ordinary course of the age in its
development, and instead of committing his imaginative wisdom to the
press, has delivered it from his living lips? He has gone about in
the true spirit of an old Greek bard, with a noble carelessness of
self, giving fit utterance to the divine spirit within, him. Who that
has ever heard can forget him? His mild benignity, the unbounded
variety of his knowledge, the fast succeeding products of his
imagination, the child-like simplicity with which he rises from the
dryest and commonest theme into the wildest magnificence of thought,
pouring on the soul a stream of beauty and wisdom to mellow and
enrich it for ever? The seeds of poetry, the materials for thinking,
which he has thus scattered will not perish. The records of his fame
are not in books only, but on the fleshly tablets of young hearts,
who will not suffer it to die even in the general ear, however base
and unfeeling criticism may deride their gratitude."--_Mr. Sergeant
Talfourd._
Dr. Dibdin has given an animated description of Coleridge's lecturing and
conversation, which concurs with the universal opinion.
"I once came from Kensington in a snow-storm to hear Mr. Coleridge
lecture on Shakspeare, I might have sat as wisely, and more
comfortably by my own fire-side--for no Coleridge appeared.----I
shall never forget the effect his conversation made upon me at the
first meeting, at a dinner party. It struck me as something not only
quite out of the ordinary course of things, but an intellectual
exhibition altogether matchless. The viands were unusually costly,
and the banquet was at once rich and varied; but there seemed to be
no dish like Coleridge's conversation to feed upon--and no
information so instructive as his own. The orator rolled himself up
as it were in his chair, and gave the most unrestrained indulgence to
his speech; and how fraught with acuteness and originality was that
speech, and in what copious and eloquent periods did it flow. The
auditors seemed to be wrapt in wonder and delight, as one
conversation, more profound or clothed in more forcible language than
another, fell from his tongue. He spoke nearly for two hours with
unhesitating and uninterrupted fluency. As I returned homewards, to
Kensington, I thought a second Johnson had visited the earth, to make
wise the sons of men; and regretted that I could not exercise the
powers of a second Boswell to record the wisdom and the eloquence
that fell from the orator's lips.
The manner of Coleridge was emphatic rather than dogmatic, and thus
he was generally and satisfactorily listened to. It might be said of
Coleridge, as Cowper has so happily said of Sir Philip Sidney, that
he was 'the warbler of poetic prose.' There was always this
characteristic feature in his multifarious conversation,--it was
always delicate, reverend, and courteous. The chastest ear could
drink in no startling sound; the most serious believer never had his
bosom ruffled by one sceptical or reckless assertion. Coleridge was
eminently simple in his manner. Thinking and speaking were his
delight; and he would sometimes seem, during the more fervid
movements of discourse, to be abstracted from all, and everything
around and about him, and to be basking in the sunny warmth of his
own radiant imagination."--_Dr. Dibdin_.
"Last Thursday, my Uncle, S. T. C. dined with us; and ---- and ----
came to meet him. I have heard him more brilliant, but he was very
fine, and delighted both, ---- and ---- very much. It is impossible
to carry off, or commit to paper, his long trains of argument; indeed
it is not possible to understand them, he lays the foundation so
deep, and views every question in so original a manner. Nothing can
be finer than the principles which he lays down in morals and
religion. His deep study of scripture is very astonishing; ---- and
---- were but as children in his hands, not merely in general views
of theology, but in minute criticism.... Afterwards in the
drawing-room, he sat down by Professor Rigaud, with whom he entered
into a discussion of 'Kant's system of Metaphysics.' The little knots
of the company were speedily silent. Mr. Coleridge's voice grew
louder; and, abstruse as the subject was, yet his language was so
ready, so energetic, and eloquent, and his illustrations so very apt
and apposite, that the ladies even paid him the most solicitous, and
respectful attention.... This is nearly all I recollect of our
meeting with this most interesting, most wonderful man. Some of his
topics and arguments I have enumerated, but the connexion and the
words are lost. And nothing that I can say can give any notion of his
eloquence and manner."--_Mr. Justice Coleridge.--Table Talk_.
"To the honoured memory of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the Christian
Philosopher, who through dark and winding paths of speculation was
led to the light, in order that others by his guidance might reach
that light, without passing through the darkness, these sermons on
the work of the spirit are dedicated with deep thankfulness and
reverence by one of the many pupils whom his writings have helped to
discern the sacred concord and unity of human and Divine truth.
"Of recent English writers, the one with whose sanction I have
chiefly desired whenever I could, to strengthen my opinions, is the
great religious philosopher to whom the mind of our generation in
England owes more than to any other man. My gratitude to him I have
endeavoured to express by dedicating the following sermons to his
memory; and the offering is so far at least appropriate, in that the
main work of his life was to spiritualize, not only our philosophy,
but our theology; to raise them both above the empiricism into which
they had long been dwindling, and to set them free from the technical
trammels of logical systems. Whether he is as much studied by the
genial young men of the present day, as he was twenty or thirty years
ago, I have no adequate means of judging: but our theological
literature teems with errors, such as could hardly have been
committed by persons whose minds had been disciplined by his
philosophical method, and had rightly appropriated his principles. So
far too as my observation has extended, the third and fourth volumes
of his 'Remains,' though they were hailed with delight by Arnold on
their first appearance, have not yet produced their proper effect on
the intellect of the age. It may be that the rich store of profound
and beautiful thought contained in them has been weighed down, from
being mixed with a few opinions on points of Biblical criticism,
likely to be very offensive to persons who know nothing about the
history of the Canon. Some of these opinions, to which Coleridge
himself ascribed a good deal of importance, seem to me of little
worth; some to be decidedly erroneous. Philological criticism, indeed
all matters requiring a laborious and accurate investigation of
details were alien from the bent and habits of his mind; and his
exegetical studies, such as they were, took place at a period when he
had little better than the meagre Rationalism of Eichhorn and
Bertholdt to help him. Of the opinions which he imbibed from them,
some abode with him through life. These however, along with
everything else that can justly be objected to in the 'Remains,' do
not form a twentieth part of the whole, and may easily be separated
from the remainder. Nor do they detract in any way from the sterling
sense, the clear and far-sighted discernment, the power of tracing
principles in their remotest operations, and of referring all things
to their first principles, which are manifested in almost every page,
and from which we might learn so much. There may be some indeed, who
fancy that Coleridge's day is gone by, and that we have advanced
beyond him. I have seen him numbered, along with other persons who
would have been no less surprised at their position and company,
among the pioneers who prepared the way for our new theological
school. This fathering of Tractarianism, as it is termed, upon
Coleridge, well deserves to rank beside the folly which would father
Rationalism upon Luther. Coleridge's far-reaching vision did indeed
discern the best part of the speculative truths which our new school
has laid hold on, and exaggerated and perverted. But in Coleridge's
field of view they were comprised along with the complimental truths
which limit them, and in their conjunction and co-ordination with
which alone they retain the beneficent power of truth. He saw what
our modern theologians see, though it was latent from the vulgar eyes
in his days; but he also saw what they do not see, what they have
closed their eyes on; and he saw far beyond them, because he saw
things in their universal principles and laws."--_Rev. Archdeacon
Charles Hare's "Mission of the Comforter."--Preface, pp. 13, 15. Two
Vols. 8vo_.
These various testimonies to the conversational eminence of Mr.
Coleridge, and from men the best qualified to decide, must satisfy every
mind, that in this one quality he scarcely ever had a superior, or
perhaps an equal. In the 103rd No. of the "Quarterly Review," there is a
description of his conversation, evidently written by one competent to
judge, and who well knew the subject of his praise; but though the
writer's language is highly encomiastic, corresponding with his
eloquence, yet to all who knew Coleridge, it will not be considered as
exceeding the soberest truth. When and where are such descriptions as the
preceding and the following to be found?
"Perhaps our readers may have heard repeated a saying of Mr.
Wordsworth, 'that many men of his age had done wonderful _things_, as
Davy, Scott, Cuvier, &c.; but that Coleridge was the only wonderful
_man_ he ever knew.' Something of course must be allowed in this, as
in all other such cases, for the antithesis; but we believe the fact
really to be, that the greater part of those who have occasionally
visited Mr. Coleridge, have left him with the feeling akin to the
judgment indicated in the above remark. They admire the man more than
his works, or they forget the works in the absorbing impression made
by the living author; and no wonder. Those who remember him in his
more vigorous days, can bear witness to the peculiarity and
transcendant power of his conversational eloquence. It was unlike
anything that could be heard elsewhere; the kind was different, the
degree was different, the manner was different. The boundless range
of scientific knowledge, the brilliancy and exquisite nicety of
illustration, the deep and ready reasoning, the strangeness and
immensity of bookish lore, were not all; the dramatic story, the
joke, the pun, the festivity, must be added; and with these, the
clerical looking dress, the thick waving silver hair, the youthful
coloured cheek, the indefinable mouth and lips, the quick yet steady
and penetrating greenish grey eye, the slow and continuous
enunciation, and the everlasting music of his tones,--all went to
make up the image, and to constitute the living presence of the man.
Even now his conversation is characterized by all the essentials of
its former excellence; there is the same individuality, the same
unexpectedness, the same universal grasp; nothing is too high,
nothing too low for it--it glances from earth to heaven, from heaven
to earth, with a speed and a splendour, an ease and a power, which
almost seemed inspired."
* * * * *
As a conclusion to these honourable testimonies, it may be added, the
wish has often been expressed, that more were known respecting Mr.
Coleridge's school and college life, so briefly detailed in his
"Biographia." There was one friend of whom he often used to talk, and
always with a kind feeling, who sat next to him at Christ Church School,
and who afterwards accompanied him to Cambridge, where their friendship
was renewed, and their intercourse uninterrupted. This gentleman was the
Rev. C. V. Le Grice, the respected and erudite incumbent of a living near
Penzance. Mr. Le G. might contribute largely toward the elucidation of
Mr. Coleridge's school and college life; but as the much has been denied,
we must be thankful for the little. The following are Mr. Le Grice's
brief, but interesting notices of his friend:
"Mr. Urban,
In the various and numerous memoirs, which have been published of the
late Mr. Coleridge, I have been surprised at the accuracy in many
respects, and at the same time their omission of a very remarkable,
and a very honourable anecdote in his history. In the memoir of him
in your last number, you do not merely omit, but you give an
erroneous account of this very circumstance, to which I mean to
allude. You assert that he did not obtain, and indeed did riot aim to
obtain, the honours of the University. So far is this from the fact,
that in his Freshman's year he won the gold medal for the Greek Ode;
and in his second year he became a candidate for the Craven
scholarship, a University scholarship, for which undergraduates of
any standing are entitled to become candidates. This was in the
winter of 1792. Out of sixteen or eighteen competitors a selection of
four was made to contend for the prize, and these four were Dr.
Butler, now the Head Master of Shrewsbury; Dr. Keate, the late Head
Master of Eton; Mr. Bethell, the late Member for Yorkshire; and S. T.
Coleridge. Dr. Butler was the successful candidate.
Pause a moment in Coleridge's history, and think of him at this
period! Butler! Keate! Bethell! and Coleridge!! How different the
career of each in future life! O Coleridge; through what strange
paths did the meteor of genius lead thee! Pause a moment, ye
distinguished men! and deem it not the least bright spot in your
happier career, that you and Coleridge were once rivals, and for a
moment running abreast in the pursuit of honour. I believe that his
disappointment at this crisis damped his ardour. Unfortunately, at
that period there was no classical Tripos; so that if a person did
not obtain the classical medal, he was thrown back among the totally
undistinguished; and it was not allowable to become a candidate for
the classical medal, unless you had taken a respectable degree in
mathematics. Coleridge had not the least taste for these, and here
his case was hopeless; so that he despaired of a Fellowship, and gave
up, what in his heart he coveted, college honours, and a college
life. He had seen his schoolfellow and dearest friend, Middleton,
(late Bishop of Calcutta) quit Pembroke under similar circumstances.
Not _quite_ similar, because Middleton studied mathematics so as to
take a respectable degree, and to enable him to try for the medal;
but he failed, and therefore all hopes failed of a Fellowship--most
fortunately, as it proved in after life, for Middleton, though he
mourned at the time most deeply, and exclaimed, 'I am Middleton,
which is another name for Misfortune!'
'There is a Providence which shapes our ends,
Rough hew them how you will.'
That, which Middleton deemed a misfortune, drew him from the cobwebs
of a college library to the active energies of a useful and honoured
life. But to return to Coleridge. When he quitted College, which he
did before he had taken a degree, in a moment of mad caprice--it was
indeed an inauspicious hour! 'In an inauspicious hour I left the
friendly cloisters, and the happy grove of quiet, ever honoured Jesus
College, Cambridge.' Short, but deep and heart-felt reminiscence! In
a literary Life of himself this short memorial is all that Coleridge
gives of his happy days at college. Say not, that he did not obtain,
and did not wish to obtain classical honours! He did obtain them, and
was eagerly ambitious of them; but he did not bend to that discipline
which was to qualify him for the whole course. He was very studious,
but his reading was desultory and capricious. He took little exercise
merely for the sake of exercise; but he was ready at any time to
unbend his mind in conversation, and for the sake of this, his room
(the ground-floor room on the right hand of the staircase facing the
great gate) was a constant rendezvous of conversation loving friends,
I will not call them loungers, for they did not call to kill time,
but to enjoy it. What evenings have I spent in those rooms! What
little suppers, or _sizing_, as they were called, have I enjoyed;
when Aeschylus, and Plato, and Thucydides, were pushed aside, with a
pile of lexicons, &c., to discuss the pamphlets of the day. Ever and
anon, a pamphlet issued from the pen of Burke. There was no need of
having the book before us. Coleridge had read it in the morning; and
in the evening he would repeat whole pages verbatim. Freud's trial
was then in progress. Pamphlets swarmed from the press. Coleridge had
read them all; and in the evening, with our negus, we had them _viva
voce_ gloriously. O Coleridge! it was indeed an inauspicious hour,
when you quitted the friendly cloisters of Jesus. The epithet
'friendly' implied what you were thinking of, when you thought of
college. To you, Coleridge, your contemporaries were indeed friendly,
and I believe, that in your literary life you have passed over your
college life so briefly, because you wished to banish from your view
the 'visions of long-departed joys.' To enter into a description of
your college days would have called up too sadly to your memory 'the
hopes which once shone bright,' and would have made your heart sink.
Yours, &c.,
C. V. Le Grice.
P. S.--I was a witness to the breathless delight with which he
hastened to give his friends intelligence of his success. The
following lines, in his "Verses written in Early Youth," are a
memorial of the pleasure, which he felt in the sympathy of one who
was then most dear to him:--
"With faery wand, O bid the maid arise,
Chaste joyance dancing in her bright blue eyes,
As erst, when, from the Muse's calm abode,
I came with learning's meed not unbestowed."
See Poems, Edit. 1805, p. 34.
He wrote, to my certain knowledge, for the prize in the ensuing year;
but it was most deservedly given to Keate's beautiful Ode. The
subject Laus Astronomiae. No one was more convinced of the propriety
of the decision than Coleridge himself. He used to repeat Ramsden's
Greek Ode on Gibraltar, and Smith's Latin one on Mare Liberum, with
incessant rapture. It would have been his glory to have caught their
spirit,--he was absorbed in these things. A Classical Tripos would
have changed Coleridge's destiny."--_Gentleman's Magazine_, Dec.
1834.
* * * * *
The reader's attention will now be directed to Mr. Coleridge, after he
left Malta, when he visited Bristol, in the year 1807. I accidentally
learned that Mr. C. had returned to England, not in good health, and that
he was at Mr. Poole's, when I addressed a letter to him, expressing a
hope that his health would soon allow him to pay me a visit, in Bristol.
To this letter he thus replied:
"Dear Cottle,
On my return to Bristol, whenever that may be, I will certainly give you
the right hand of old fellowship; but, alas! you will find me the
wretched wreck of what you knew me, rolling, rudderless. My health is
extremely bad. Pain I have enough of, but that is indeed to me, a mere
trifle, but the almost unceasing, overpowering sensations of
wretchedness: achings in my limbs, with an indescribable restlessness,
that makes action to any available purpose, almost impossible: and worst
of all, the sense of blighted utility, regrets, not remorseless. But
enough; yea, more than enough; if these things produce, or deepen the
conviction of the utter powerlessness of ourselves, and that we either
perish, or find aid from something that passes understanding.
Affectionately,
S. T. C."
The preceding letter of Mr. Coleridge led me to anticipate a worse state
of health, on his arrival in Bristol, than appearances authorized. I knew
nothing of opium, and was pleased to notice the clearness of his
understanding, as well as much struck with the interesting narratives he
gave of Malta, Italy, and his voyage to England. I knew that Mr. C. was
somewhat in the habit of accommodating his discourse to the sentiments of
the persons with whom he was conversing; but his language was now so
pious and orthodox, that the contrast between his past and present
sentiments was most noticeable. He appeared quite an improved character,
and was about, I thought, to realise the best hopes of his friends. I
found him full of future activity, projecting new works, and particularly
a 'New Review,' of which he himself was to be the Editor! At this time
not one word was said about opium, Colerton, Ottery, or Mrs. Coleridge,
and I thought the prospect never appeared so cheering.
In my state of exultation, I invited Mr. Foster to come to Bristol, from
Frome, to renew his acquaintance with the improved and travelled Mr.
Coleridge. Mr. Tester's reply is here given.
"Frome, June, 1807.
My dear sir,
I am very unfortunate in having made an engagement, two or three weeks
back, to go just at this time on a very particular occasion, to a distant
place in this county, and therefore being deprived of the very high
luxury to which you so kindly invite me. I shall be unavoidably detained,
for a very considerable time, and my imagination will strongly represent
to me the pleasure and advantage of which an inevitable necessity
deprives me. But I will indulge the hope, that I shall sometime be known
to Mr. Coleridge, under more favourable circumstances, in a literary
respect, than I can at present, after a regular application to the
severer order of studies shall in some measure have retrieved the
consequences of a very loose and indolent intellectual discipline, and
shall have lessened a certain feeling of imbecility which always makes me
shrink from attempting to gain the notice of men whose talents I admire.
No man can feel a more animated admiration of Mr. Coleridge than I have
retained ever since the two or three times that I was a little while in
his company; and during his absence in the south and the east, I have
very often thought with delight of the immense acquisitions which he
would at length bring back to enrich the works, which I trust the public
will in due time receive from him, and to which it has an imperious
claim. And still I trust he will feel the solemn duty of making his very
best and continued efforts to mend as well as delight mankind, now that
he has attained the complete mastery and expansion of his admirable
powers. You do not fail, I hope, to urge him to devote himself
strenuously to literary labour. He is able to take a station amongst the
most elevated ranks, either of the philosophers or the poets. Pray tell
me what are his immediate intentions, and whether he has any important
specific undertaking in hand. For the sake of elegant literature, one is
very glad, that he has had the opportunity of visiting those most
interesting scenes and objects which you mention. Will you express to him
in the strongest terms, my respect and my animated wishes for his health,
his happiness, and his utility. You can inform me what is the nature of
that literary project to which you allude. Tell me also, what is the
state and progress of your own literary projects, and, I hope I may say,
labours. I behaved shabbily about some slight remarks which I was to have
ventured on Mr. Southey's 'Madoc,' in the 'Eclectic Review.' On reading
the critiques in the 'Edinburgh Review,' on 'Thalaba' and 'Madoc,' I
found what were substantially my own impressions, so much better
developed than I could have done, that I instantly threw my remarks away.
Let me hear from you when you have half an hour of leisure, and believe
me to be, with every kind remembrance to your most excellent, family, my
dear sir,
Most cordially yours,
John Foster.
To Joseph Cottle."
Some weeks after, Mr. Coleridge called on me; when, in the course of
conversation, he entered into some observations on his own character,
that made him appear unusually amiable. He said that he was naturally
very arrogant; that it was his easily besetting sin; a state of mind
which he ascribed to the severe subjection to which he had been exposed,
till he was fourteen years of age, and from which, his own consciousness
of superiority made him revolt. He then stated that he had renounced all
his Unitarian sentiments; that he considered Unitarianism as a heresy of
the worst description; attempting in vain, to reconcile sin and holiness;
the world and heaven; opposing the whole spirit of the Bible; and
subversive of all that truly constituted christianity. At this interview
he professed his deepest conviction of the truth of Revelation; of the
Fall of Man; of the Divinity of Christ, and redemption alone through his
blood. To hear these sentiments so explicitly avowed, gave me unspeakable
pleasure, and formed a new, and unexpected, and stronger bond of union.
A long and highly interesting theological conversation; followed, in
which Mr. C. proved, that, however weak his body, the intellectual vigour
of his mind was unimpaired. He exhibited, also, more sobriety of manner
than I had before noticed in him, with an improved and impressive
maturity in his reflections, expressed in his happiest language; and
which, could it have been accurately recorded, would have adorned the
most splendid of his pages;--so rare and pre-eminent was the powerful and
spontaneous utterance with which this gifted son of genius was endowed.
Mr. Coleridge, at his next visit, related to me some of his Italian
adventures; one or two of which I here introduce.
After quitting Malta, he had landed in Sicily, and visited Etna; his
ascent up whose side, to the crater, he graphically described, with some
striking features; but as this is a subject proverbially enlarged upon by
all travellers, I waive further notice, and proceed to state, that Mr. C.
after leaving Sicily passed over to the south of Italy, and journeyed on
to Rome.
Shortly after Mr. Coleridge had arrived in this city, he attracted some
notice amongst the literati, as an English "Man of Letters." Cardinal
Fesch, in particular, was civil, and sought his company; but that which
was more remarkable, Jerome Buonaparte was then a resident at Rome, and
Mr. C.'s reputation becoming known to him, he sent for him, and after
showing him his palace, pictures, &c. thus generously addressed him:
"Sir, I have sent for you to give you a little candid advice. I do not
know that you have said, or written anything against my brother Napoleon,
but as an Englishman, the supposition is not unreasonable. If you have,
my advice is, that you leave Italy as soon as you possibly can!"
This hint was gratefully received, and Mr. Coleridge soon after quitted
Rome, in the suite of Cardinal Fesch. From his anxiety to reach England,
he proceeded to Leghorn, where a circumstance occurred which will excite
every reader's sympathy. Mr. Coleridge had journeyed to this port, where
he rather hoped, than expected to find some conveyance, through the
medium of a neutral, that should waft him to the land, "more prised than
ever." The hope proved delusive. The war was now raging between England
and France, and Buonaparte being lord of the ascendant in Italy, Mr.
Coleridge's situation became insecure, and even perilous. To obtain a
passport was impossible; and as Mr. C. had formerly rendered himself
obnoxious to the great Captain by some political papers, he was in daily
and hourly expectation of being incarcerated in an Italian prison, which
would have been the infallible road to death!
In half despair of ever again seeing his family and friends, and under
the constant dread of apprehension by the emissaries of the Tuscan
government, or French spies; he went out one morning to look at some
ruins in the neighbourhood of Leghorn, in a state of despondency, where,
certainty, however terrible, would have been almost preferable to
suspense. While musing on the ravages of time, he turned his eye, and
observed at a little distance, a seafaring looking man, musing in
silence, like himself, on the waste around. Mr. Coleridge advanced
towards him, supposing, or at least deeming it possible, that he also
might be mourning his captivity, and commenced a discourse with him; when
he found that the stranger was an American captain, whose ship was then
in the harbour, and on the point of sailing for England.
This information sent joy into his heart; but he testified no emotion,
determined to obtain the captain's good will, by showing him all the
civilities in his power, as a preliminary to any future service the
captain might be disposed to render him, whether the power were united
with the disposition or not. This showed adroitness, with great knowledge
of human nature; and more winning and captivating manners than those of
Mr. C. when called forth, were never possessed by mortal! In conformity
with this almost forlorn hope, Mr. Coleridge explained to the American
captain the history of the ruin; read to him some of the half defaced
Latin and Italian inscriptions, and concluded with extolling General
Washington, and predicting the stability of the Union. The right keys,
treble and tenor, were touched at the same moment. "Pray young man," said
the captain, "who are you?" Mr. C. replied, "I am a poor unfortunate
Englishman, with a wife and family at home; but I am afraid I shall never
see them more! I have no _passport_, nor means of escape; and, to
increase my sorrow, I am in daily dread of being thrown into jail, when
those I love will not have the last pleasure of _knowing_ that I am
dead!" The captain's heart was touched. He had a wife and family at a
distance. "My young man," said he, "what is your name?" The reply was,
"Samuel Taylor Coleridge." "Poor young man," answered the captain. "You
meet me at this place to-morrow morning, exactly at ten o'clock." So
saying, the captain withdrew, Mr. C. stood musing on the singular
occurrence, in which there was something _inexplicable_. His discernment
of the stranger's character convinced him there existed no _under plot_,
but still there was a wide space between _probability_ and _certainty_.
On a balance of circumstances, he still thought _all fair_, and, at the
appointed hour, repaired to the interior of the ruins.
No captain was there; but in a few minutes he appeared, and, hastening up
to Mr. Coleridge, exclaimed exultingly, "I have got your passport!" "How!
What!" said Mr. C. almost overpowered by his feelings. "Ask me no
questions," replied the captain; "you are my _steward_, and you shall
sail away with me to-morrow morning!" He continued, giving him his
address, "You come to my house to-morrow early, when I will provide you
with a _jacket_ and _trowsers_, and you shall follow me to the ship with
a _basket of vegetables_" In short, thus accoutred, he _did_ follow the
captain to the ship the next morning; and in three hours fairly sailed
out of Leghorn harbour, triumphantly on his course to England!
As soon as the ship had cleared the port, Mr. Coleridge hastened down to
the cabin, and cried, "my dear captain, tell me how you obtained my
passport?" Said the captain, very gravely, "Why, I went to the
authorities, and _swore_ that you were an _American_, and my steward! I
_swore_ also, that I knew your father and mother; that they lived in a
red-brick house, about half a mile out of New York, on the road to
Boston!"
It is gratifying to add, that this benevolent little-scrupulous captain
refused to accept any thing from Mr. C. for his passage to England; and,
behaved in many other respects, with the same uniform kindness. During
the voyage, Mr. Coleridge told me, he was attacked with a dangerous
illness, when he thought he should have _died_, but for the "_good
captain_," who attended him with the solicitude of a father. Mr. C. also
said, had he known what the captain was going to _swear_, whatever the
consequences might have been, he would have prevented him.[82]
The following long letter will be read with interest.
"Bristol, 1807.
Dear Cottle,
To pursue our last conversation. Christians expect no outward or sensible
miracles from prayer. Its effects, and its fruitions are spiritual, and
accompanied says that _true Divine_, Archbishop Leighton, 'not by reasons
and arguments, but by an inexpressible kind of evidence, which they only
know who have it.'
To this I would add, that even those who, like me I fear, have not
attained it, yet may presume it. First, because reason itself, or rather
mere human nature, in any dispassionate moment, feels the necessity of
religion, but if this be not true there is no religion, no religation, or
binding over again; nothing added to reason, and therefore _Socinianism_,
misnamed _Unitarianism_, is not only not _Christianity_, it is not even
_religion_, it does not _religate_; does not bind anew. The first outward
and sensible result of prayer is, a penitent resolution, joined with a
consciousness of weakness in effecting it, yea even a dread, too well
grounded, lest by breaking and falsifying it, the soul should add guilt
to guilt; by the very means it has taken to escape from guilt; so
pitiable is the state of unregenerate man.
Are you familiar with Leighton's Works? He resigned his archbishoprick,
and retired to voluntary poverty on account of the persecutions of the
Presbyterians, saying, 'I should not dare to introduce christianity
itself with such cruelties, how much less for a surplice, and the name of
a bishop.' If there could be an intermediate space between inspired, and
uninspired writings, that space would be occupied by Leighton. No show of
learning, no appearance, or ostentatious display of eloquence, and yet
both may be shown in him, conspicuously and holily. There is in him
something that must be felt, even as the scriptures must be felt.
You ask me my views of the _Trinity_. I accept the doctrine, not as
deduced from human reason, in its grovelling capacity for comprehending
spiritual things, but as the clear revelation of Scripture. But perhaps
it may be said, the Socinians do not admit this doctrine as being taught
in the bible. I know enough of their shifts and quibbles, with their
dexterity at explaining away all they dislike, and that is not a little,
but though beguiled once by them, I happily for my own peace of mind,
escaped from their sophistries, and now hesitate not to affirm, that
Socinians would lose all character for honesty, if they were to explain
their neighbour's will with the same latitude of interpretation, which
they do the Scriptures.
I have in my head some floating ideas on the _Logos_, which I hope,
hereafter, to mould into a consistent form; but it is a gross perversion
of the truth, in Socinians, to declare that we believe in _three gods_;
and they know it to be false. They might, with equal justice affirm that
we believe in _three suns_. The meanest peasant, who has acquired the
first rudiments of christianity, would shrink back from a thing so
monstrous. Still the Trinity has its difficulties. It would be strange if
otherwise. A _Revelation_ that revealed nothing, not within the grasp of
human reason!--no religation, no binding over again, as before said; but
these difficulties are shadows, contrasted with the substantive and
insurmountable obstacles, with which _they_ contend who admit the _Divine
authority of Scripture_, with the _superlative excellence of Christ_, and
yet undertake to prove that these Scriptures teach, and that Christ
taught his own _pure humanity_.
If Jesus Christ was merely a man, if he was not God as well as man, be it
considered, he could not have been even a _good man_. There is no medium.
The SAVIOUR _in that case_ was absolutely _a deceiver!_ one,
transcendantly _unrighteous!_ in advancing pretensions to miracles, by
the 'Finger of God,' which he never performed; and by asserting claims,
(as a man) in the most aggravated sense, blasphemous. These consequences,
Socinians, to be consistent, must allow, and which impious arrogation of
Divinity in Christ, according to their faith, as well as his false
assumption of a community of 'glory' with the Father, 'before the world
was,' even they will be necessitated completely to admit the exoneration
of the Jews, according to their law, in crucifying one, who 'being a
man,' 'made himself God!' But in the Christian, rather than in the
_Socinian_, or _Pharisaic_ view, all these objections vanish, and harmony
succeeds to inexplicable confusion. If Socinians hesitate in ascribing
_unrighteousness_ to Christ, the inevitable result of their principles,
they tremble, as well they might, at their avowed creed, and virtually
renounce what they profess to uphold.
The Trinity, as Bishop Leighton has well remarked, is 'a doctrine of
faith, not of demonstration,' except in a _moral_ sense. If the New
Testament declare it, not in an insulated passage, but through the whole
breadth of its pages, rendering, with any other admission, the book which
is the christian's anchor-hold of hope, dark and contradictory, then it
is not to be rejected, but on a penalty that reduces to an atom, all the
sufferings this earth can inflict.
Let the grand question be determined.--Is, or is not the bible
_inspired_? No one book has ever been subjected to so rigid an
investigation as the Bible, by minds the most capacious, and in the
result, which has so triumphantly repelled all the assaults of infidels.
In the extensive intercourse which I have had with this class of men, I
have seen their prejudices surpassed only by their ignorance. This I
found particularly the case in Dr. Darwin, (p. 1-85.) the prince of their
fraternity. Without therefore, stopping to contend on what all
dispassionate men must deem undebatable ground, I may assume inspiration
as admitted; and equally so, that it would be an insult to man's
understanding, to suppose any other revelation from God than the
christian scriptures. If these Scriptures, impregnable in their strength,
sustained in their pretensions, by undeniable prophecies and miracles,
and by the experience of the _inner man_, in all ages, as well as by a
concatenation of arguments, all bearing upon one point, and extending
with miraculous consistency, through a series of fifteen hundred years;
if all this combined proof does not establish their validity, nothing can
be proved under the sun; but the world and man must be abandoned, with
all its consequences, to one universal scepticism! Under such sanctions,
therefore, if these scriptures, as a fundamental truth, _do_ inculcate
the doctrine of the _Trinity_; however surpassing human comprehension;
then I say, we are bound to admit it on the strength of _moral
demonstration_.
The supreme Governor of the world and the Father of our spirits, has seen
fit to disclose to us much of his will, and the whole of his natural and
moral perfections. In some instances he has given his _word_ only, and
demanded our _faith_; while on other momentous subjects, instead of
bestowing full revelation, like the _Via Lactea_, he has furnished a
glimpse only, through either the medium of inspiration, or by the
exercise of those rational faculties with which he has endowed us. I
consider the Trinity as substantially resting on the first proposition,
yet deriving support from the last.
I recollect when I stood on the summit of Etna, and darted my gaze down
the crater; the immediate vicinity was discernible, till, lower down,
obscurity gradually terminated in total darkness. Such figures exemplify
many truths revealed in the Bible. We pursue them, until, from the
imperfection of our faculties, we are lost in impenetrable night. All
truths, however, that are essential to faith, _honestly_ interpreted; all
that are important to human conduct, under every diversity of
circumstance, are manifest as a blazing star. The promises also of
felicity to the righteous in the future world, though the precise nature
of that felicity may not be defined, are illustrated by every image that
can swell the imagination; while the misery of the _lost_, in its
unutterable intensity, though the language that describes it is all
necessarily figurative, is there exhibited as resulting chiefly, if not
wholly, from the withdrawment of the _light of God's countenance_, and a
banishment from his _presence!_ best comprehended in this world by
reflecting on the desolations, which would instantly follow the loss of
the sun's vivifying and universally diffused _warmth_.
You, or rather _all_, should remember that some truths from their nature,
surpass the scope of man's limited powers, and stand as the criteria of
_faith_, determining by their rejection, or admission, who among the sons
of men can confide in the veracity of heaven. Those more ethereal truths,
of which the Trinity is conspicuously the chief, without being
circumstantially explained, may be faintly illustrated by material
objects. The eye of man cannot discern the satellites of Jupiter, nor
become sensible of the multitudinous stars, whose rays have never reached
our planet, and consequently garnish not the canopy of night; yet are
they the less real, because their existence lies beyond man's unassisted
gaze? The tube of the philosopher, and the _celestial telescope_,--the
unclouded visions of heaven will confirm the one class of truths, and
irradiate the other.
The _Trinity_ is a subject on which analogical reasoning may
advantageously be admitted, as furnishing, at least a glimpse of light,
and with this, for the present, we must be satisfied. Infinite Wisdom
deemed clearer manifestations inexpedient; and is man to dictate to his
Maker? I may further remark, that where we cannot behold a desirable
object distinctly, we must take the best view we can; and I think you,
and every candid enquiring mind, may derive assistance from such
reflections as the following.
Notwithstanding the arguments of Spinosa, and Des Cartes, and other
advocates of the _Material system_, or, in more appropriate language, the
_Atheistical system!_ it is admitted by all men, not prejudiced, not
biased by sceptical prepossessions, that _mind_ is distinct from
_matter_. The mind of man, however, is involved in inscrutable darkness,
(as the profoundest metaphysicians well know) and is to be estimated, if
at all, alone by an inductive process; that is, by its _effects_. Without
entering on the question, whether an extremely circumscribed portion of
the mental process, surpassing instinct, may or may not be extended to
quadrupeds, it is universally acknowledged, that the mind of man alone,
regulates all the actions of his corporeal frame. Mind, therefore, may be
regarded as a distinct genus, in the scale ascending above brutes, and
including the whole of intellectual existences; advancing from _thought_,
that mysterious thing! in its lowest form, through all the gradations of
sentient and rational beings, till it arrives at a Bacon, a Newton; and
then, when unincumbered by matter, extending its illimitable sway through
Seraph and Archangel, till we are lost in the GREAT INFINITE!
Is it not deserving of notice, as an especial subject of meditation, that
our _limbs_, in all they do or can accomplish, implicitly obey the
dictation of the _mind_? that this operating power, whatever its name,
under certain limitations, exercises a sovereign dominion not only over
our limbs, but over our intellectual pursuits? The mind of every man is
evidently the fulcrum, the moving force,--which alike regulates all his
limbs and actions: and in which example, we find a strong illustration of
the subordinate nature of mere _matter_. That alone which gives direction
to the organic parts of our nature, is wholly _mind_; and one mind if
placed over a thousand limbs, could, with undiminished ease, control and
regulate the whole.
This idea is advanced on the supposition that _one mind_ could command an
unlimited direction over any given number of _limbs_, provided they were
all connected by _joint_ and _sinew_. But suppose, through some occult
and inconceivable means, these limbs were dis-associated, as to all
material connexion; suppose, for instance, one mind with unlimited
authority, governed the operations of _two_ separate persons, would not
this substantially, be only _one person_, seeing the directing principle
was one? If the truth here contended for, be admitted, that _two
persons_, governed by _one mind_, is incontestably _one person_; the same
conclusion would be arrived at, and the proposition equally be justified,
which affirmed that, _three_, or otherwise _four_ persons, owning also
necessary and essential subjection to _one mind_, would only be so many
diversities or modifications of that _one mind_, and therefore, the
component parts virtually collapsing into _one whole_, the person would
be _one_. Let any man ask himself, whose understanding can both reason
and become the depository of truth, whether, if _one mind_ thus regulated
with absolute authority, _three_, or otherwise _four_ persons, with all
their congeries of material parts, would not these parts inert in
themselves, when subjected to one predominant mind, be in the most
logical sense, _one person_? Are ligament and exterior combination
indispensable pre-requisites to the sovereign influence of mind over
mind? or mind over matter?
But perhaps it may be said, we have no instance of one mind governing
more than one body. This may be, but the argument remains the same. With
a proud spirit, that forgets its own contracted range of thought, and
circumscribed knowledge, who is to limit the sway of Omnipotence? or
presumptuously to deny the possibility of _that_ Being, who called light
out of darkness, so to exalt the dominion of _one mind_, as to give it
absolute sway over other dependant minds, or (indifferently) over
detached, or combined portions of organized matter? But if this
superinduced quality be conferable on any order of created beings, it is
blasphemy to limit the power of God, and to deny _his_ capacity to
transfuse _his own_ Spirit, when and to whom he will.
This reasoning may now be applied in illustration of the Trinity. We are
too much in the habit of viewing our Saviour Jesus Christ, through the
medium of his body. 'A body was prepared for him,' but this body was mere
matter; as insensible in itself as every human frame when deserted by the
soul. If therefore the Spirit that was in Christ, was the Spirit of the
Father; if no thought, no vibration, no spiritual communication, or
miraculous display, existed in, or proceeded from Christ, not immediately
and consubstantially identified with Jehovah, the Great First cause; if
all these operating principles were thus derived, in consistency alone
with the conjoint divine attributes; if this Spirit of the Father ruled
and reigned in Christ as his own manifestation, then in the strictest
sense, Christ exhibited 'the Godhead bodily,' and was undeniably '_one_
with the Father;' confirmatory of the Saviour's words: 'Of myself, (my
body) I can do nothing, the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the
works.'
But though I speak of the body as inert in itself, and necessarily allied
to matter, yet this declaration must not be understood as militating
against the christian doctrine of the _resurrection of the body_. In its
grosser form, the thought is not to be admitted, for 'flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God,' but that the body, without losing its
consciousness and individuality, may be subjected by the illimitable
power of omnipotence, to a sublimating process, so as to be rendered
compatible with spiritual association, is not opposed to reason, in its
severe abstract exercises, while in attestation of this _exhilarating
belief_, there are many remote analogies in nature exemplifying the same
truth, while it is in the strictest accordance with that final
dispensation, which must, as christians, regulate all our speculations. I
proceed now to say, that
If the postulate be thus admitted, that one mind influencing two bodies,
would only involve a diversity of operations, but in reality be one in
essence; or otherwise as an hypothetical argument, illustrative of truth,
if one preeminent mind, or spiritual subsistence, unconnected with
matter, possessed an undivided and sovereign dominion over two or more
disembodied minds, so as to become the exclusive source of all their
subtlest volitions and exercises, the _unity_, however complex the modus
of its manifestation, would be fully established; and this principle
extends to Deity itself, and shows the true sense, as I conceive, in
which Christ and the Father are one.
In continuation of this reasoning, if God who is light, the Sun of the
moral world, should in his union of infinite wisdom, power, and goodness,
and from all eternity, have ordained that an emanation from himself,--for
aught we know, an essential emanation, as light is inseparable from the
luminary of day--should not only have existed in his Son, in the fulness
of time to be united to a mortal body, but that a like emanation from
himself, also perhaps essential, should have constituted the Holy Spirit,
who, without losing his ubiquity, was more especially sent to this lower
earth, _by_ the Son, _at_ the impulse of the Father, then in the most
comprehensive sense, God, and his Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost,
are ONE. 'Three persons in one God,' and thus form the true Trinity in
Unity.
To suppose that more than one independent power, or governing mind,
exists in the whole universe, is absolute Polytheism, against which the
denunciations of all the Jewish and Christian canonical books were
directed. And if there be but ONE directing MIND, that mind is God!
operating however, in three persons, according to the direct and uniform
declarations of that inspiration which 'brought life and immortality to
light.' Yet this divine doctrine of the Trinity is to be received, not
because it is or can be clear to finite apprehension, but, in reiteration
of the argument, because the Scriptures, in their unsophisticated
interpretation expressly state it. The Trinity, therefore, from its
important aspects, and biblical prominence, is the grand article of
faith, and the foundation of the whole christian system.
Who can say, as Christ and the Holy Ghost proceeded from, and are still
one with the Father, and as all the disciples of Christ derive their
fulness from him, and, in spirit, are inviolately united to him as a
branch is to the vine, who can say, but that in one view, what was once
mysteriously separated, may as mysteriously, be re-combined, and, without
interfering with the everlasting Trinity, and the individuality of the
spiritual and seraphic orders, the Son at the consummation of all things,
deliver up his mediatorial kingdom to the Father, and God, in some
peculiar and infinitely sublime sense, become all in all! God love you,
S. T. Coleridge."[83]
In a former page, Mr. Coleridge has been represented as entertaining
sentiments in early life, approaching to, though not identified with,
those of Unitarians; on his return to Bristol, in the year 1807, a
complete reverse had taken place in his theological tenets. Reflection
and reading, particularly the bible, had taught him, as he said, the
unstable foundation on which Unitarians grounded their faith; and in
proportion as orthodox sentiments acquired an ascendancy in his mind, a
love of truth compelled him to oppose his former errors, and stimulated
him, by an explicit declaration of his religious views, to counteract
those former impressions, which his cruder opinions had led him once so
strenuously to enforce on all around.
The editor of Mr. Coleridge's "Table Tails," has conferred an important
benefit on the public, by preserving so many of his familiar
conversations, particularly those on the important subject of
Unitarianism. Few men ever poured forth torrents of more
happily-expressed language, the result of more matured reflection, in his
social intercourse, than Mr. Coleridge; and at this time, the
recollection is accompanied with serious regret, that I allowed to pass
unnoticed so many of his splendid colloquies, which, could they be
recalled, would exhibit his talents in a light equally favourable with
his most deliberately-written productions.
I did indeed take notes of one of his conversations, on his departure
from a supper party, and which I shall subjoin, because the confirmed
general views, and individual opinions of so enlarged a mind must command
attention; especially when exercised on subjects intrinsically important.
I however observe, that my sketch of the conversation must be understood
as being exceedingly far from doing _justice_ to the original.
At this time I was invited to meet Mr. Coleridge with a zealous Unitarian
minister. It was natural to conclude, that such uncongenial, and, at the
same time, such inflammable materials would soon ignite. The subject of
Unitarianism having been introduced soon after dinner, the minister
avowed his sentiments, in language that was construed into a challenge,
when Mr. Coleridge advanced at once to the charge, by saying "Sir, you
give up so much, that the little you retain of Christianity is not worth
keeping." We looked in vain for a reply. After a manifest internal
conflict, the Unitarian minister very prudently allowed the gauntlet to
remain undisturbed. Wine he thought more pleasant than controversy.
Shortly after this occurrence, Mr. Coleridge supped with the writer, when
his well known conversational talents were eminently displayed; so that
what Pope affirmed of Bolingbroke, that "his usual conversation, taken
down verbatim, from its coherence and accuracy, would have borne
printing, without correction," was fully, and perhaps, more justly
applicable to Mr. C.
Some of his theological observations are here detailed. He said, he had
recently had a long conversation with an Unitarian minister, who
declared, that, he could discover nothing in the New Testament which in
the _least_ favoured the Divinity of Christ, to which Mr. C. replied that
it appeared to him impossible for any man to read the New Testament, with
the common exercise of an unbiassed understanding, without being
convinced of the Divinity of Christ, from the testimony almost of every
page.
He said it was evident that different persons might look at the same
object with very opposite feelings. For instance, if Sir Isaac Newton
looked at the planet Jupiter, he would view him with his revolving moons,
and would be led to the contemplation of his being inhabited, which
thought would open a boundless field to his imagination: whilst another
person, standing perhaps at the side of the great philosopher, would look
at Jupiter with the same set of feelings that he would at a silver
sixpence. So some persons were wilfully blind, and did not seek for that
change, that preparation of the heart and understanding, which would
enable them to see clearly the gospel truth.
He said that Socinians believed no more than St. Paul did before his
conversion: for the Pharisees believed in a Supreme Being, and a future
state of rewards and punishments. St. Paul thought he ought to do many
things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. The saints he shut up
in prison, having received authority from the High Priest, and when they
were put to death, he gave his voice against them. But after his
conversion, writing to the Romans, he says, 'I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation unto every man
that believeth: to the Jew first, and also to the Gentiles.'
He then referred to the dreadful state of the literati in London, as it
respects religion, and of their having laughed at him, and believed him
to be in jest, when he professed his belief in the Bible.
Having introduced Mr. Davy to Mr. C. some years before, I inquired for
him with some anxiety, and expressed a hope that he was not tinctured
with the prevailing scepticism since his removal from Bristol to London.
Mr. C. assured me that he was not: that _his_ heart and understanding
were not the _soil_ for _infidelity_.[84] I then remarked, "During your
stay in London, you doubtless saw a great many of what are called 'the
cleverest men,' how do you estimate Davy, in comparison with these?" Mr.
Coleridge's reply was strong, but expressive. "Why, Davy could eat them
all! There is an energy, an elasticity in his mind, which enables him to
seize on, and analyze, all questions, pushing them to their legitimate
consequences. Every subject in Davy's mind has the principle of vitality.
Living thoughts spring up like the turf under his feet." With equal
justice, Mr. Davy entertained the same exalted opinion of Mr. Coleridge.
Mr. C. now changed the subject, and spoke of Holcroft; who he said was a
man of but small powers, with superficial, rather than solid talents, and
possessing principles of the most horrible description; a man who at the
very moment he denied the existence of a Deity, in his heart believed and
trembled. He said that Holcroft, and other Atheists, reasoned with so
much fierceness and vehemence against a God, that it plainly showed they
were inwardly conscious there _was_ a GOD to reason against; for, a
nonentity would never excite passion.
He said that in one of his visits to London, he accidentally met Holcroft
in a public office without knowing his name, when he began, stranger as
he was, the enforcement of some of his diabolical sentiments! which, it
appears, he was in the habit of doing, at all seasons, and in all
companies; by which he often corrupted the principles of those simple
persons who listened to his shallow, and worn-out impieties. Mr. C.
declared himself to have felt indignant at conduct so infamous, and at
once closed with the "prating atheist," when they had a sharp encounter.
Holcroft then abruptly addressed him, "I perceive you have _mind_, and
know what you are talking about. It will be worth while to make a convert
of _you_. I am engaged at present, but if you vrill call on me to-morrow
morning, giving him his card, I will engage, in half an hour, to convince
you there is no God!"
Mr. Coleridge called on him the next morning, when the discussion was
renewed, but none being present except the disputants, no account is
preserved of this important conversation; but Mr. C. affirmed that he
beat all his arguments to atoms; a result that none who knew him could
doubt. He also stated that instead of _his_ being converted to atheism,
the atheist himself, after his manner, was converted; for the same day he
sent Mr. C. a letter, saying his reasoning was so clear and satisfactory,
that he had changed his views and was now "_a theist_." The next sun
probably beheld him an atheist again; but whether he _called_ himself
this or that, his character was the same.
Soon after the foregoing incident, Mr. Coleridge said, he found himself
in a large party, at the house of a man of letters, amongst whom to his
surprise, he saw Mr. and Mrs. Holcroft, when, to incite to a renewal of
their late dispute, and before witnesses, (in the full consciousness of
strength) Mr. C. enforced the propriety of teaching children, as soon as
they could articulate, to lisp the praises of their Maker; "for," said
he, "though they can, form no correct idea of God, yet they entertain a
high opinion of their _father_, and it is an easy introduction to the
truth, to tell them that their Heavenly Father is stronger, and wiser,
and better, than their _earthly_ father."
The whole company looked at Mr. Holcroft, implying that _now_ was the
time for him to meet a competent opponent, and justify sentiments which
he had so often triumphantly advanced. They looked in vain. He
maintained, to their surprise, a total silence, well remembering the
severe castigation he had so recently received. But a very different
effect was produced on Mrs. Holcroft. She indignantly heard, and giving
vent to her passion and her _tears_, said, she was quite surprised at Mr.
Coleridge talking in that way before her, when he knew that both herself
and Mr. Holcroft were atheists!
Mr. C. spoke of the unutterable horror he felt, when Holcroft's son, a
boy eight years of age, came up to him and said, "There is no God!" So
that these wretched parents, alike father and mother, were as earnest in
inculcating atheism on their children, as christian parents are in
inspiring their offspring with respect for religious truth.
Actions are often the best illustration of principles. Mr. Coleridge also
stated the following circumstance, notorious at the time, as an evidence
of the disastrous effects of atheism. Holcroft's tyrannical conduct
toward his children was proverbial. An elder son, with a mind embued with
his father's sentiments, from extreme severity of treatment, had run away
from his paternal roof, and entered on board a ship. Holcroft pursued his
son, and when the fugitive youth saw his father in a boat, rowing toward
the vessel, rather than endure his frown and his chastisement, he seized
a pistol, and blew his brains out![85]
An easy transition having been made to the Bible, Mr. C. spoke of our
Saviour with an utterance so sublime and reverential, that none could
have heard him without experiencing an accession of love, gratitude, and
adorations to the Great Author of our salvation. He referred to the
Divinity of Christ, as a truth, incontestable to all who admitted the
inspiration, and consequent authority of Scripture. He particularly
alluded to the 6th of John, v. 15. "When Jesus perceived that they would
come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into a
mountain '_alone_.'" He said it characterized the low views, and
worldly-mindedness of the Jews, that, after they had seen the miracles of
Jesus Christ, and heard his heavenly doctrine, and had been told that his
kingdom was not of this world, they should think of conferring additional
honour on him, by making him their King! He departed from these little
views and scenes, _by night_, to a neighbouring mountain, and there, in
the spirit of _prescience_, meditated on his approaching crucifixion; on
that attendant guilt, which would bring on the Jews, wrath to the
uttermost, and terminate their impieties, by one million of their race
being swept from the face of the earth.
Mr. C. noticed Doddridge's works with great respect, particularly his
"Rise and Progress of Religion."[86] He thought favourably of Lord
Rochester's conversion as narrated by Burnet; spoke of Jeremy Taylor in
exalted terms, and thought the compass of his mind discovered itself in
none of his works more than in his "Life of Christ," extremely
miscellaneous as it was. He also expressed the strongest commendation of
Archbishop Leighton, whose talents were of the loftiest description, and
which were, at the same time, eminently combined with humility. He
thought Bishop Burnet's high character of Leighton justly deserved, and
that his whole conduct and spirit were more conformed to his Divine
Master, than almost any man on record.
I now proceed to say, it was with extreme reluctance that the Unitarians
in Bristol resigned their champion, especially as other defections had
recently occurred in their community, and that among the more
intellectual portion of their friends. Although the expectation might be
extravagant, they still cherished the hope, however languid, that Mr. C.
after some oscillations, would once more bestow on them his suffrage; but
an occurrence took place, which dissipated the last vestige of this hope,
and formed between them a permanent wall of separation.
Mr. Coleridge was lecturing in Bristol, surrounded by a numerous
audience, when, in referring to the "Paradise Regained," he said that
Milton had clearly represented Satan, as a "sceptical Socinian." This was
regarded as a direct and undisguised declaration of war. It so happened
that indisposition prevented me from attending that lecture, but I
received from Mr. C. directly after, a letter, in which he thus writes:
"... Mr. ---- I find is raising the city against me, as far as he and his
friends can, for having stated a mere matter of fact; viz. that Milton
had represented Satan as a sceptical Socinian; which is the case; and I
could not have explained the excellence of the sublimest single passage
in all his writings, had I not previously informed the audience, that
Milton had represented Satan, as knowing the Prophetic and Messianic
character of Christ, but was sceptical as to any higher claims. And what
other definition could Mr. ---- himself give of a sceptical Socinian?
(with this difference indeed, that Satan's faith somewhat exceeded that
of Socinians.) Now that Satan has done so, will you consult 'Paradise
Regained,' Book IV. from line 196, and the same Book, from line 500."
It is of consequence that Mr. Coleridge's _later_ sentiments on the
subject of Socinianism should be given; but as I had no opportunity of
ascertaining what those sentiments were, it was satisfactory to learn
from the testimony of Mr. C.'s "Table Talk,"[87] that his last and
maturest opinions were, to the fullest, confirmatory of those expressed
by him in these pages.
The following letter was written by Mr. Coleridge, to Mr. George Fricker,
his brother-in-law; it is believed in 1807. Mr. F. died 1828; pious and
respected.
"Saturday afternoon.
My dear young friend,
I am sorry that you should have felt any delicacy in disclosing to me
your religious feelings, as rendering it inconsistent with your
tranquillity of mind to spend the Sunday evening with me. Though I do not
find in that book, which we both equally revere, any command, either
express, or which I can infer, which leads me to attach any criminality
to cheerful and innocent social intercourse on the Lord's day; though I
do not find that it was in the least degree forbidden to the Jews on
their Sabbath; and though I have been taught by Luther, and the great
founders of the Church of England, that the Sabbath was a part of the
ceremonial and transitory parts of the law given by heaven to Moses; and
that our Sunday is binding on our consciences, chiefly from its manifest
and most awful usefulness, and indeed moral necessity; yet I highly
commend your firmness in what you think right, and assure you solemnly,
that I esteem you greatly for it. I would much rather that you should
have too much, than an atom too little. I am far from surprised that,
having seen what you have seen, and suffered what you have suffered, you
should have opened your soul to a sense of our fallen nature; and the
incapability of man to heal himself. My opinions may not be in all points
the same as yours; but I have experienced a similar alteration. I was for
many years a Socinian; and at times almost a Naturalist, but sorrow, and
ill health, and disappointment in the only deep wish I had ever
cherished, forced me to look into myself; I read the New Testament again,
and I became fully convinced, that Socinianism was not only not the
doctrine of the New Testament, but that it scarcely deserved the name of
a religion in any sense. An extract from a letter which I wrote a few
months ago to a sceptical friend, who had been a Socinian, and of course
rested all the evidences of christianity on miracles, to the exclusion of
grace and inward faith, will perhaps, surprise you, as showing you how
much nearer our opinions are than what you must have supposed. 'I fear
that the mode of defending christianity, adopted by Grotius first; and
latterly, among many others, by Dr. Paley, has increased the number of
infidels;--never could it have been so great, if thinking men had been
habitually led to look into their own souls, instead of always looking
out, both of themselves, and of their nature. If to curb attack, such as
yours on miracles, it had been answered:--"Well, brother! but granting
these miracles to have been in part the growth of delusion at the time,
and of exaggeration afterward, yet still all the doctrines will remain
untouched by this circumstance, and binding on thee. Still mast thou
repent and be regenerated, and be crucified to the flesh; and this not by
thy own mere power; but by a mysterious action of the moral Governor on
thee; of the Ordo-ordinians, the Logos, or Word. Still will the eternal
filiation, or Sonship of the Word from the Father; still will the Trinity
of the Deity, the redemption, and the thereto necessary assumption of
humanity by the Word, 'who is with God, and is God,' remain truths: and
still will the vital head-and-heart FAITH in these truths, be the living
and only fountain of all true virtue. Believe all these, and with the
grace of the spirit consult your own heart, in quietness and humility,
they will furnish you with proofs, that surpass all understanding,
because they are felt and known; believe all these I say, so as that thy
faith shall be not merely real in the acquiescence of the intellect; but
actual, in the thereto assimilated affections; then shalt thou KNOW from
God, whether or not Christ be of God. But take notice, I only say, the
miracles are extra essential; I by no means deny their importance, much
less hold them useless, or superfluous. Even as Christ did, so would I
teach; that is, build the miracle on the faith, not the faith on the
miracle."
May heaven bless you, my dear George, and
Your affectionate friend,
S. T. C."
In the intervening time, between the receipt of Mr. C.'s last letter, and
his calling on me, I received a note from a lady, an old friend, begging
permission to introduce to me, a clever young man of her acquaintance,
whom she even so honoured as to call "A little John Henderson;"
concerning whom, this young man wished to make inquiries. An invitation
immediately followed, and the lady introduced to me, young Mr. De
Quincey. Several interviews followed, each exhibiting his talents in a
more favourable view, till I was satisfied he would either shine in
literature, or, with steady perseverance, acquire eminence in either of
the professions.
He made many inquiries respecting John Henderson, of whose learning, and
surprising attainments, he had heard much. After conversing long on this
subject, Mr. De Q. asked me if I knew any thing of Mr. Coleridge's
pecuniary affairs. I replied, "I am afraid he is a legitimate son of
genius." He asked if I thought he would accept a hundred or two pounds. I
answered, I could not tell, but that I expected shortly to see him, when,
if he seriously desired to learn, I would ascertain what the state of his
finances was, and let him know. This he said, was his particular wish.
When Mr. Coleridge called on me, and the extended conversation had
occurred, before stated, I asked him concerning his circumstances. He
confessed that he had some present difficulties, which oppressed his
mind. He said that all the money he had received from his office in
Malta, as secretary to Sir Alexander Ball, had been expended in Italy,
and on his way home. I then told him, that a young man of fortune, who
admired his talents, had inquired of me, if I thought he would accept the
present of a hundred or two pounds, "and I now ask you," said I, "that
question, that I may return an answer." Mr. Coleridge rose from his seat.
He appeared much oppressed, and agitated, and, after a short silence, he
turned to me, and said. "Cottle I will write to you. We will change the
subject." The next day I received from Mr. C. the following letter.
"My dear Cottle,
Independent of letter-writing, and a dinner engagement with C. Danvers, I
was the whole of yesterday till evening, in a most wretched restlessness
of body and limbs, having imprudently discontinued some medicines, which
are now my anchor of hope. This morning I dedicate to certain distant
calls on Dr. Beddoes and Colston, at Clifton, not so much for the calls
themselves, as for the necessity of taking brisk exercise.
But no unforeseen accident intervening, I shall spend the evening with
you from seven o'clock.
I will now express my sentiments on the important subject communicated to
you. I need not say it has been the cause of serious meditation.
Undoubtedly, calamities have so thickened on me for the last two years,
that the pecuniary pressures of the moment, are the only serious
obstacles at present to my completion of those works, which, if
completed, would make me easy. Besides these, I have reason for belief
that a Tragedy of mine will be brought on the stage this season, the
result of which is of course only one of the possibilities of life, on
which I am not fool enough to calculate.
Finally therefore, if you know that any unknown benefactor is in such
circumstances, that, in doing what he offers to do, he transgresses no
duty of morals, or of moral prudence, and does not do that from feeling,
which after reflection might perhaps discountenance, I shall gratefully
accept it, as an unconditional loan, which I trust I shall be able to
restore at the close of two years. This however, I shall be able to know
at the expiration of one year, and shall then beg to know the name of my
benefactor, which I should then only feel delight in knowing, when I
could present to him some substantial proof, that I have employed the
tranquillity of mind, which his kindness has enabled me to enjoy, in
sincere desires to benefit my fellow men. May God bless you.
S. T. C."
Soon after the receipt of this letter, (on my invitation) Mr. De Quincey
called on me. I said, I understood from Mr. Coleridge himself, that he
laboured under embarrassments. "Then" said he, "I will give him five
hundred pounds." "Are you serious?" I said. He replied, "I am." I then
inquired, "Are you of age?" He said "I am." I then asked, "Can you afford
it?" He answered, "I can," and continued, "I shall not feel it." I
paused. "Well" I said, "I can know nothing of your circumstances but from
your own statement, and not doubting its accuracy, I am willing to become
an agent, in any way you prescribe." Mr. De Quincey then said, "I
authorise you, to ask Mr. Coleridge, if he will accept from a gentleman,
who admires his genius, the sum of five hundred pounds, but remember, he
continued, I absolutely prohibit you from naming to him, the source
whence it was derived." I remarked; "To the latter part of your
injunction, if you require it, I will accede, but although I am deeply
interested in Mr. Coleridge's welfare, yet a spirit of equity compels me
to recommend you, in the first instance, to present Mr. C. with a smaller
sum, and which, if you see it right, you can at any time, augment." Mr.
De Quincey then replied, "Three hundred pounds, I _will_ give him, and
you will oblige me by making this offer of mine to Mr. Coleridge." I
replied, "I will." I then gave him Mr. Coleridge's letter, requesting him
to put it in his pocket, and read it at his leisure. Soon after, I
received the following communication from Mr. De Quincey.
"My dear Sir,
I will write for the three hundred pounds to-morrow. I am not able to say
anything farther at present, but will endeavour to call on you in a day
or two. I am very sincerely, and with many thanks for your trouble in
this affair,
Yours,
Thomas De Quincey."
In a day or two, Mr. De Quincey enclosed me the three hundred pounds,
when I received from Mr. Coleridge, the following receipt, which I still
retain.
"November 12, 1807. Received from Mr. Joseph Cottle, the sum of three
hundred pounds, presented to me, through him, by an unknown friend.
Bristol.
S. T. Coleridge."
I have been thus particular in detailing the whole of this affair, so
honourable to Mr. De Quincey; and, as I was the communicating agent, I
thought it right, on this occasion, to give publicity to the transaction,
on the principle of doing justice to all. Notwithstanding the
prohibition, some indirect notices from myself, could have left no doubt
with Mr. C. of the source of this handsome gift.
It is singular, that a little before this time, (1807) Mr. Coleridge had
written to his friend Mr. Wade a melancholy letter, detailing his
embarrassed circumstances; so that Mr. De Quincey's £300 must have been
received at an acceptable time!
* * * * *
No date determines when the following letter was written: supposed, 1807.
"My dear Cottle,
... The common end of all narrative, nay, of all poems is, to convert a
series into a whole, to make those events, which, in real or imagined
history, move on in a straight line, assume to our understandings a
circular motion--the snake with its tail in its mouth. Hence, indeed, the
almost flattering and yet appropriate term, Poesy, i. e.
Poieses--_making_. Doubtless, to His eye, which alone comprehends all
past and all future, in one eternal, what to our short sight appears
straight, is but a part of the great cycle, just as the calm sea to us
appears level, though it be indeed only a part of the globe. Now what the
globe is in geography, miniaturing in order to manifest the truth, such
is a poem to that image of God, which we were created into, and which
still seeking that unity, or revelation of the one, in and by the many,
which reminds it, that though in order to be an individual being, it must
go farther from God; yet as the receding from him, is to proceed toward
nothingness and privation, it must still at every step turn back toward
him, in order to be at all. A straight line continually retracted, forms
of necessity a circular orbit. Now God's will and word CANNOT be
frustrated. His fiat was, with ineffable awfulness, applied to man, when
all things, and all living things, and man himself, (as a mere animal)
included, were called forth by the Universal, 'Let there be,' and then
the breath of the Eternal superadded, to make an immortal
spirit--immortality being, as the author of the 'Wisdom of Soloman'
profoundly expresses it, 'the only possible reflex, or image of
eternity.' The immortal finite is the contracted shadow of the eternal
Infinite. Therefore nothingness, or death, to which we move, as we recede
from God and from the Word, cannot be nothing; but that tremendous medium
between nothing and true being, which Scripture and inmost reason present
as most, most horrible!
Affectionately,
S. T. C."
The following letter to Mr. Wade has no date.
"Tuesday night, i. e. Wednesday morning.
My best and dearest friend,
I have barely time to scribble a few lines, so as not to miss the post,
for here as every where, there are charitable people, who, taking for
granted that you have no business of your own, would save from the pain
of vacancy, by employing you in theirs.
As to the letter you propose to write to a man who is unworthy even of a
rebuke from you, I might most unfeignedly object to some parts of it,
from a pang of conscience forbidding me to allow, even from a dear
friend, words of admiration, which are inapplicable in exact proportion
to the power given to me of having deserved them, if I had done my duty.
It is not of comparative utility I speak: for as to what has been
actually done, and in relation to useful effects produced, whether on the
minds of individuals, or of the public, I dare boldly stand forward, and
(let every man have his own, and that be counted mine which, but for, and
through me, would not have existed) will challenge the proudest of my
literary contemporaries to compare proofs with me, of usefulness in the
excitement of reflection, and the diffusion of original or forgotten,
yet necessary and important truths and knowledge; and this is not the
less true, because I have suffered others to reap all the advantages.
But, O dear friend, this consciousness, raised by insult of enemies, and
alienated friends, stands me in little stead to my own soul, in how
little then, before the all-righteous Judge! who, requiring back the
talents he had entrusted, will, if the mercies of Christ do not
intervene, not demand of me what I have done, but why I did not do more;
why, with powers above so many, I had sunk in many things below most! But
this is too painful, and in remorse we often waste the energy which
should be better employed in reformation--that essential part, and only
possible proof, of sincere repentance....
May God bless you, and your affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
Toward the end of 1807, Mr. Coleridge left Bristol, and I saw nothing
more of him for another seven years, that is, till 1814. All the leading
features in Mr. Coleridge's life, during these two septennial periods,
will no doubt, be detailed by others. My undertaking recommences in 1814.
Some preliminary remarks must precede the narrative, which has now
arrived at an important part.[88]
Neither to clothe the subject of biography with undeserved applause, nor
unmerited censure, but to present an exact portraiture, is the object
which ought scrupulously to be aimed at by every impartial writer. Is it
expedient; is it lawful; to give publicity to Mr. Coleridge's practice of
inordinately taking opium? which, to a certain extent, at one part of his
life, inflicted on a heart naturally cheerful, the stings of conscience,
and sometimes almost the horrors of despair? Is it right, in reference to
one who has passed his ordeal, to exhibit sound principles, habitually
warring with inveterate and injurious habits; producing for many years,
an accumulation of bodily suffering, that wasted the frame; poisoned the
sources of enjoyment; entailed, in the long retinue of ills, dependence
and poverty, and with all these, associated that which was far less
bearable, an intolerable mental load, that scarcely knew cessation?
In the year 1814, all this, I am afflicted to say, applied to Mr.
Coleridge. The question to be determined is, whether it be best or not,
to obey the first impulse of benevolence, and to throw a mantle over
these dark and appalling occurrences, and, since the sufferer has left
this stage of existence, to mourn in secret, and consign to oblivion the
aberrations of a frail mortal? This was my first design, but other
thoughts arose. If the individual were alone concerned, the question
would be decided; but it might almost be said, that the world is
interested in the disclosures connected with this part of Mr. Coleridge's
life. His example forms one of the most impressive memorials the pen ever
recorded; so that thousands hereafter, may derive instruction from
viewing in Mr. C. much to approve, and in other features of his
character, much also to regret and deplore. Once Mr. Coleridge expressed
to me, with indescribable emotion, the joy he should feel, if he could
collect around him all who were "beginning to tamper with the lulling,
but fatal draught;" so that he might proclaim as with a trumpet, "the
worse than death that opium entailed." I must add, if he could now speak
from his grave, retaining his earthly, benevolent solicitude for the good
of others, with an emphasis that penetrated the heart, he would doubtless
utter, "Let my example be a warning!"
This being my settled conviction, it becomes in me a duty, with all
practicable mildness, to give publicity to the following facts; in which
censure will often be suspended by compassion, and every feeling be
absorbed in that of pity; in which, if the veil be removed, it will only
be, to present a clear and practical exemplification of the consequences
that progressively follow indulgences in, what Mr. Coleridge latterly
denominated, "the accursed drug!"
To soften the repugnance which might, pardonably, arise in the minds of
some of Mr. G.'s friends, it is asked, whether it be not enough to move a
breast of adamant, to behold a man of Mr. Coleridge's genius, spell-bound
by his narcotic draughts? deploring, as he has done, in his letters to
myself, the destructive consequences of opium; writhing under its
effects,--so injurious to mind, body, and estate; submitting to the
depths of humiliation and poverty, and all this for a season at least,
accompanied with no effectual effort to burst his fetters, and assume the
station in society which became his talents; but on the contrary,
submitting patiently to dependence, and grovelling where he ought to
soar!
Another powerful reason, which should reconcile the friends of Mr.
Coleridge to this detail of his destructive habits, arises from the
recollection that the pain given to their minds, is present and
temporary. They should wisely consider that, though they regret, their
regrets, like themselves, as time rolls on, are passing away! but the
example,--this clear, full, incontestable example, _remains!_ And who can
estimate the beneficial consequences of this undisguised statement to
numerous succeeding individuals? It is consolatory to believe, that had I
written nothing else, this humble but unflinching narrative would be an
evidence that I had not lived in vain.
When it is considered also, how many men of high mental endowments, have
shrouded their lustre, by a passion for this stimulus, and thereby,
prematurely, become fallen spirits: would it not be a criminal concession
to unauthorized feelings, to allow so impressive an exhibition of this
subtle species of intemperance to escape from public notice; and, that no
discredit might attach to the memory of the individual we love, to
conceal an example, fraught with so much instruction, brought out into
full display? In the exhibition here made, the inexperienced, in future,
may learn a memorable lesson, and be taught to shrink from opium, as they
would from a scorpion; which, before it destroys, invariably expels peace
from the mind, and excites the worst species of conflict, that of setting
a man at war with himself.
The most expressive and pungent of all Mr. Coleridge's self-upbraidings,
is that, in which he thrills the inmost heart, by saying, with a
sepulchral solemnity, "I have learned what a sin is against an infinite,
imperishable being, such as is the soul of man!" And yet, is this, and
such as this, to be devoted to forgetfulness, and all be sacrificed, lest
some friend, disdaining utility, should prefer flattery to truth? A
concession to such advice would be treachery and pusillanimity combined,
at which none would so exult as the spirits of darkness.
If some of the preceding language should be deemed too strong, by those
who take but a contracted view of the subject, and who would wish to
screen the dead, rather than to improve the living, let them judge what
their impressions would be, in receiving, like myself, at this time, the
communications from Mr. C. which will subsequently appear, and then
dispassionately ask themselves, whether such impressive lessons of
instruction ought to be doomed to oblivion.
* * * * *
The following letter to Mr. Wade, has no date, but the post-mark
determines it to have been Dec. 8, 1813.
"... Since my arrival at the Greyhound, Bath, I have been confined to my
bed-room, almost to my bed. Pray for my recovery, and request Mr.
Roberts's[89] prayers, for my infirm, wicked heart; that Christ may
mediate to the Father, to lead me to Christ, and give me a _living_
instead of a _reasoning_ faith! and for my health, so far only as it may
be the condition of my improvement, and final redemption.
My dear affectionate friend, I am your obliged, and grateful, and
affectionate, friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
I now proceed further to notice Mr. Coleridge's reappearance in Bristol.
Mr. C. had written from London in the year 1814, to a friend in Bristol,
to announce that he was coming down to give a course of Lectures on
Shakspeare, such as he had delivered at the Royal Institution, London,
and expressing a hope that his friends would obtain for him as many
subscribers as they could. Great efforts were made to obtain these
subscribers, and the lectures were accordingly advertised, to commence at
the time appointed by the lecturer, and the place specified with the day
and hour; of the whole of which arrangement Mr. C. had received due
notice, and expressed his approval.
On the morning on which the lectures were to begin, a brother of Mr.
George Cumberland, (a gentleman well known in the literary world,
residing in Bristol,) arrived in this city from London, on a visit to his
brother, and casually said to him, "I came as far as Bath with one of the
most amusing men I ever met with. At the White Horse, Piccadilly, he
entered the coach, when a jew boy came up with pencils to sell. This
amusing gentleman asked the boy a few questions, when his answers being
what he thought unusually acute, the gentleman said, 'that boy is not
where he ought to be. He has talent, and if I had not an important
engagement at Bristol to-morrow, I would not mind the loss of my fare,
but would stay a day or two in London to provide some better condition
for him.' He then called the waiter; wrote to a gentleman in the
neighbourhood, with a pencil, urging him to patronize the bearer; gave
the boy five shillings, and sent him, with the waiter, according to the
address of the note."
This same gentleman, he said, talked incessantly for thirty miles out of
London, in the most entertaining way, and afterwards, with little
intermission, till they arrived about Marlborough, when he discovered
that the lady who was in the coach with them, was the sister of a
particular friend of his. "On our arrival at Bath," said the brother,
"this entertaining gentleman observed to me, 'I must here quit you, as I
am determined not to leave this lady, who is going into North Wales, till
I have seen her safe at her brother's door;' so here the amusing
gentleman left us."
"Why" said Mr. Cumberland, "I should not be surprised if that were
Coleridge, and yet that cannot be, for he has an appointment this day in
Bristol." "That is the very name," said his brother. Mr. G. C. remarked,
"This Mr. Coleridge is coming to Bristol, to give us a course of lectures
on Shakspeare, and this evening he has appointed for his first lecture,
at the Great Boom, White Lion." "Whatever the engagement may be," replied
the brother, "rely upon it you will have no lecture this evening. Mr. C.
at the present moment is posting hard towards North Wales!" The great
business now was for those who had interested themselves in the sale of
tickets for the course, to hasten round to the purchasers, to announce
that Mr. C. would be prevented from giving the lectures till further
notice.
In two or three days, Mr. Coleridge presented himself in Bristol, after a
right true journey into North Wales; and then, another day was appointed
to begin the course. The day arrived. His friends met in the afternoon,
full of anxiety, lest a second disappointment should take place. Not one
of them had seen Mr. C. in the course of that day, and they could not
tell where he had dined. They then set off, to find out this intricate
point, and having discovered him, after some difficulty, hurried him from
the bottle, and the argument, to fulfil his less important, or at least,
his less pleasing engagement.
He arrived at the lecture-room, just one hour after all the company had
impatiently awaited him. Apologizing for an unavoidable interruption! Mr.
C. commenced his lecture on Hamlet. The intention is not entertained of
pursuing this subject, except to remark, that no other important delay
arose, and that the lectures gave great satisfaction. I forbear to make
further remarks, because these lectures will form part of the London
narrative.
After this course had been terminated, and one or more friends had given
him five pounds for his ticket, so rich a mine was not to be abandoned.
Another printed proposal was sent round for a course of six lectures,
which was well attended. After this, a proposal came for four lectures,
which were but indifferently attended. Not discouraged, Mr. C. now issued
proposals on a new subject, which he hoped would attract the many; but
alas, although the subject of the lectures was on no less a theme than
that of Homer, only a few of his old staunch friends attended; the public
were wearied out, and the plan of lecturing now ceased, for these latter
lectures scarcely paid the expenses.
I should here mention, that Mr. Coleridge's lectures bore but a small
resemblance to the polished compositions of Sir James Mackintosh. They
were all of a conversational character, and were little other than the
earnest harangues, with which on all possible occasions, he indulged his
friends, so that there was little of the toil of preparation with him,
and if the demand had been equal to the supply, he might have lectured
continuously. But if there was little of formal and finished composition
in Mr. C.'s lectures, there were always racy and felicitous passages,
indicating deep thought, and indicative of the man of genius; so that if
polish was not always attained, as one mark of excellence, the attention
of his hearers never flagged, and his large dark eyes, and his
countenance, in an excited state, glowing with intellect, predisposed his
audience in his favor.
It may here be mentioned, that in the year 1814, when Buonaparte was
captured and sent to Elba, the public, expression of joy burst forth in a
general illumination; when Mr. Josiah Wade, wishing to display a large
transparency, applied to his friend Mr. Coleridge, then residing with
him, for a subject, as a guide to his ingenious painter, of which the
following is a copy, from Mr. C.'s original.
The four lines were chosen, of which the two last have something of a
prophetic aspect.
"On the right side of the transparency, a rock with the word Elba on
it: chained to this by one leg, put a vulture with the head of
Napoleon Buonaparte; then a female genius, representing BRITANNIA, in
a bending posture, with one hand holding out one wing of the vulture,
and with the other clipping it with a large pair of shears; on the
one half of which appears either the word 'WELLINGTON,' or the word
'ARMY,' and on the other, either 'NELSON,' or else 'NAVY;' I should
prefer WELLINGTON and NELSON, but that I fear Wellington may be a
word of too many letters. Behind Britannia, and occupying the right
side of the transparency, a slender gilded column, with 'TRADE' on
its base, and the cap of liberty on its top; and on one side, leaning
against it, a trident laurelled, and on the other a laurelled sword.
At the top of the transparency, and quite central, a dove, with an
olive branch, may be hovering over the bending figure of Britannia.
N. B.--The trident to be placed with the points upwards, the sword
with its hilt upwards.
We've conquer'd us a PEACE, like lads true metall'd:
And bankrupt NAP.'S accompts seem all now settled.
OR THUS.
We've fought for peace, and conquer'd it at last,
The rav'ning vulture's leg seems fetter'd fast!
Britons, rejoice! and yet be wary too;
The chain may break, the clipt wing sprout anew."
Returning now to the lectures. During their delivery it was remarked by
many of Mr. C.'s friends, with great pain, that there was something
unusual and strange in his look and deportment. The true cause was known
to few, and least of all to myself. At one of the lectures, meeting Mr.
Coleridge at the inn door, he said, grasping my hand with great
solemnity, "Cottle, this day week I shall not be alive!" I was alarmed,
and speaking to another friend, he replied, "Do not be afraid. It is only
one of Mr. C.'s odd fancies." After another of the lectures, he called me
on one side, and said, "My dear friend, a dirty fellow has threatened to
arrest me for ten pounds." Shocked at the idea, I said, "Coleridge, you
shall not go to gaol while I can help it," and immediately gave him the
ten pounds.
The following two letters were sent me, I believe, at or about this time.
They have no date.
"My dear Cottle,
An erysipelatous complaint, of all alarming nature, has rendered me
barely able to attend and go through with my lectures, the receipts of
which, have almost paid the expenses of the room, advertisements, &c.[90]
Whether this be to my discredit, or that of the good citizens of Bristol,
it is not for me to judge. I have been persuaded to make another trial,
by advertising three lectures, on the rise, and progress, and conclusion
of the French Revolution, with a critique on the proposed constitution,
but unless fifty names are procured, not a lecture give I.
Even so the two far, far more important lectures, for which I have long
been preparing myself, and have given more thought to, than to any other
subject, viz.: those on female education, from infancy to womanhood
practically systematized, I shall be (God permitting) ready to give the
latter end of the week after next, but upon condition that I am assured
of sixty names. Why as these are lectures that I must write down, I could
sell them as a _recipe_ for twice the sum at least.
If I can walk out, I will be with you on Sunday. Has Mr. Wade called on
you? Mr. Le Breton, a near neighbour of your's, in Portland Square,
would, if you sent a note to him, converse with you on any subject
relative to my interest, with congenial sympathy; but indeed I think your
idea one of those Chimeras, which kindness begets upon an unacquaintance
with mankind.[91]
'Harry! thy wish was father to that thought.'
God bless you,
S. T. C."
"My dear Cottle,
I have been engaged three days past, to dine with the sheriff, at
Merchant's Hall to-morrow. As they will not wield knife and fork till
near six, I cannot of course attend the meeting, [for the establishment
of an Infant School] but should it be put off, and you will give me a
little longer notice, I will do my best to make my humble talents
serviceable in their proportion to a cause in which I take no common
interest, which has always my best wishes, and not seldom my prayers. God
bless you, and your affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge.
P. S. To you who know I prefer a roast potatoe and salt to the most
splendid public dinner, the very sight of which always offends my infant
appetite, I need not say that I am actuated solely by my pre-engagement,
and by the impropriety of disappointing the friend whom I am to
accompany, and to whom probably I owe the unexpected compliment of the
sheriff's invitation.
I have read two-thirds of Dr. Pole's[92] pamphlet on Infant Schools, with
great interest. Thoughts on thoughts, feelings on feelings, crowded upon
my mind and heart during the perusal, and which I would fain, God
willing, give vent to! I truly honor and love the orthodox dissenters,
and appreciate with heart-esteem their works of love. I have read, with
much pleasure, the second preface to the second edition of your 'Alfred.'
It is well written."
Mr. Coleridge's health appeared, at this time, increasingly precarious;
one complaint rapidly succeeding another; as will appear by the three
following notes.
"1814.
My dear Cottle,
On my return home yesterday, I continued unwell, so as to be obliged to
lie down for the greater part of the evening, and my indisposition
keeping me awake during the whole night, I found it necessary to take
some magnesia and calomel, and I am at present very sick. I have little
chance of being able to stir out this morning, but if I am better I will
see you in the evening. God bless you,
Mr. Wade's, Queen Square.
S. T. Coleridge."
Written on a card.
"1814.
My dear Cottle,
The first time I have been out of the house, save once at meeting; and
the very first call I have made. I will be with you to-morrow by noon, if
I have no relapse. This is the third morning, that, thank heaven, I have
been free from vomiting...."
Mr. Coleridge having designed to attend Broadmead meeting, I sent him a
note to inquire if he would allow me to call and take him up; he sent me
the following reply.
"1814.
My dear Cottle,
It was near ten before the maid got up, or waked a soul in the house. We
are all in a hurry, for we had all meant to go to Broadmead. As to
dining, I have not five minutes to spare to the family below, at meals.
Do not call, for, if possible, I shall meet you at the Meeting.
S. T. Coleridge.
Mr. Wade's, Queen Square."
I must now enter on a subject of profound interest. I had often spoken to
Hannah More of S. T. Coleridge, and proceeded with him, one morning to
Barley Wood, her residence, eleven miles from Bristol. The interview was
mutually agreeable, nor was there any lack of conversation; but I was
struck with something singular in Mr. Coleridge's eye. I expressed to a
friend, the next day, my concern at having beheld him, during his visit
to Hannah More, so extremely paralytic, his hands shaking to an alarming
degree, so that he could not take a glass of wine without spilling it,
though one hand supported the other! "That," said he, "arises from the
immoderate quantity of OPIUM he takes."
It is remarkable, that this was the first time the melancholy fact of Mr.
Coleridge's excessive indulgence in opium had come to my knowledge. It
astonished and afflicted me. Now the cause of his ailments became
manifest. On this subject, Mr. C. may have been communicative to others,
but to me he was silent. I now saw it was mistaken kindness to give him
money, as I had learned that he indulged in his potions according to the
extent of his means, so that to be temperate, it was expedient that he
should be poor.
I ruminated long upon this subject, with indescribable sorrow; and having
ascertained from others, not only the existence of the evil, but its
extent, so as to render doubt impossible, such was the impression of duty
on my mind, I determined, however hazardous, to write to Mr. Coleridge,
and that faithfully, otherwise, I considered myself not a friend, but an
enemy. At the end of his course, therefore, I addressed to him the
following letter, under the full impression that it was a case of "life
and death," and that if some strong effort were not made to arouse him
from his insensibility, speedy destruction must inevitably follow..
Nothing but so extreme a case, could have prompted, or could justify,
such a letter as the following.
"Bristol, April 25, 1814.
Dear Coleridge,
I am conscious of being influenced by the purest motives in addressing to
you the following letter. Permit me to remind you that I am the oldest
friend you have in Bristol, that I was such when my friendship was of
more consequence to you than it is at present, and that at that time, you
were neither insensible of my kindnesses, nor backward to acknowledge
them. I bring these things to your remembrance, to impress on your mind,
that it is still a _friend_ who is writing to you; one who ever has been
such, and who is now going to give you the most decisive evidence of his
sincerity.
When I think of Coleridge, I wish to recall the image, of him, such as he
appeared in past years; now, how has the baneful use of opium thrown a
dark cloud over you and your prospects. I would not say anything
needlessly harsh or unkind, but I must be _faithful_. It is the
irresistible voice of conscience. Others may still flatter you, and hang
upon your words, but I have another, though a less gracious duty to
perform. I see a brother sinning a sin unto death, and shall I not warn
him? I see him perhaps on the borders of eternity, in effect, despising
his Maker's law, and yet indifferent to his perilous state!
In recalling what the expectations concerning you once were, and the
excellency with which, seven years ago, you wrote and spoke on religious
truth, my heart bleeds to see how you are now fallen; and thus to notice,
how many exhilarating hopes are almost blasted by your present habits.
This is said, not to wound, but to arouse you to reflection.
I know full well the evidences of the pernicious drug! You cannot be
unconscious of the effects, though you may wish to forget the cause. All
around you behold the wild eye! the sallow countenance! the tottering
step! the trembling hand! the disordered frame! and yet will you not be
awakened to a sense of your danger, and I must add, your guilt? Is it a
small thing, that one of the finest of human understandings should be
lost! That your talents should be buried! That most of the influences to
be derived from your present example, should be in direct opposition to
right and virtue! It is true you still talk of religion, and profess the
warmest admiration of the church and her doctrines, in which it would not
be lawful to doubt your sincerity; but can you be unaware, that by your
unguarded and inconsistent conduct, you are furnishing arguments to the
infidel; giving occasion for the enemy to blaspheme; and (amongst those
who imperfectly know you) throwing suspicion over your religious
profession! Is not the great test in some measure against you, 'By their
fruits ye shall know them?' Are there never any calm moments, when you
impartially judge of your own actions by their consequences?
Not to reflect on you; not to give you a moment's _needless_ pain, but,
in the spirit of friendship, suffer me to bring to your recollection,
some of the sad effects of your undeniable intemperance.
I know you have a correct love of honest independence, without which,
there can be no true nobility of mind; and yet for opium, you will sell
this treasure, and expose yourself to the liability of arrest, by some
'dirty fellow,' to whom you choose to be indebted for 'ten pounds!' You
had, and still have, an acute sense of moral right and wrong, but is not
the feeling sometimes overpowered by self-indulgence? Permit me to remind
you, that you are not more suffering in your mind than you are in your
body, while you are squandering largely your money in the purchase of
opium, which, in the strictest equity, should receive _a different
direction._
I will not again refer to the mournful effects produced on your own
health from this indulgence in opium, by which you have undermined your
strong constitution; but I must notice the injurious consequences which
this passion for the narcotic drug has on your literary efforts. What you
have already done, excellent as it is, is considered by your friends and
the world, as the bloom, the mere promise of the harvest. Will you suffer
the fatal draught, which is ever accompanied by sloth, to rob you of your
fame, and, what to you is a higher motive, of your power of doing good;
of giving fragrance to your memory, amongst the worthies of future years,
when you are numbered with the dead?
[And now I would wish in the most delicate manner, to remind you of the
injurious effects which these habits of yours produce on your family.
From the estimation in which, you are held by the public, I am clear in
stating, that a small daily exertion on your part, would be sufficient to
obtain for you and them, honour, happiness, and independence. You are
still comparatively, a young man, and in such a cause, labour is sweet.
Can you withhold so small a sacrifice? Let me sincerely advise you to
return home, and live in the circle once more, of your wife and family.
There may have been faults on one, possibly on both sides; but calumny
itself has never charged criminality. Let all be forgotten, a small
effort for the Christian. If I can become a mediator, command me. If you
could be prevailed on to adopt this plan, I will gladly defray your
expenses to Keswick, and I am sure, with better habits, you would be
hailed by your family, I was almost going to say, as an angel from
heaven. It will also look better in the eyes of the world, who are always
prompt with their own constructions, and these constructions are rarely
the most charitable. It would also powerfully promote your own peace of
mind.
There is this additional view, which ought to influence you, as it would
every generous mind. Your wife and children are domesticated with
Southey. He has a family of his own, which by his literary labour, he
supports, to his great honour; and to the extra provision required of him
on your account, he cheerfully submits; still, will you not divide with
him the honour? You have not extinguished in your heart the Father's
feelings. Your daughter is a sweet girl. Your two boys are promising; and
Hartley, concerning whom you once so affectionately wrote, is eminently
clever. These want only a father's assistance to give them credit and
honourable stations in life. Will you withhold so equitable and small a
boon. Your eldest son will soon be qualified for the university, where
your name would inevitably secure him patronage, but without your aid,
how is he to arrive there; and afterward, how is he to be supported?
Revolve on these things, I entreat you, calmly, on your pillow.][93]
And now let me conjure you, alike by the voice of friendship, and the
duty you owe yourself and family: above all, by the reverence you feel
for the cause of Christianity; by the fear of God, and the awfulness of
eternity, to renounce from this moment opium and spirits, as your bane!
Frustrate not the great end of your existence. Exert the ample abilities
which God has given you, as a faithful steward; so will you secure your
rightful pre-eminence amongst the sons of genius; recover your
cheerfulness; your health; I trust it is not too late! become reconciled
to yourself; and through the merits of that Saviour, in whom you profess
to trust, obtain, at last, the approbation of your Maker! My dear
Coleridge, be wise before it be too late! I do hope to see you a
renovated man! and that you will still burst your inglorious fetters, and
justify the best hopes of your friends.
Excuse the freedom with which I write. If at the first moment it should
offend, on reflection, you will approve at least of the motive, and,
perhaps, in a better state of mind, thank and bless me. If all the good
which I have prayed for, should not be effected by this letter, I have at
least discharged an imperious sense of duty. I wish my manner were less
exceptionable, as I do that the advice through the blessing of the
Almighty, might prove effectual. The tear which bedims my eye, is an
evidence of the sincerity with which I subscribe myself
Your affectionate friend,
Joseph Cottle."
The following is Mr. Coleridge's reply.
"April 26th, 1814.
You have poured oil in the raw and festering wound of an old friend's
conscience, Cottle! but it is _oil of vitriol!_ I but barely glanced at
the middle of the first page of your letter, and have seen no more of
it--not from resentment, God forbid! but from the state of my bodily and
mental sufferings, that scarcely permitted human fortitude to let in a
new visitor of affliction.
The object of my present reply, is, to state the case just as it
is--first, that for ten years the anguish of my spirit has been
indescribable, the sense of my danger staring, but the consciousness of
my GUILT worse--far worse than all! I have prayed, with drops of agony on
my brow; trembling, not only before the justice of my Maker, but even
before the mercy of my Redeemer. 'I gave thee so many talents, what hast
thou done with them?' Secondly overwhelmed as I am with a sense of my
direful infirmity, I have never attempted to disguise or conceal the
cause. On the contrary, not only to friends, have I stated the whole case
with tears, and the very bitterness of shame; but in two instances, I
have warned young men, mere acquaintances, who had spoken of having taken
laudanum, of the direful consequences, by an awful exposition of its
tremendous effects on myself.
Thirdly, though before God I cannot lift up my eyelids, and only do not
despair of his mercy, because to despair would be adding crime to crime,
yet to my fellow-men, I may say, that I was seduced into the ACCURSED
habit ignorantly. I had been almost bed-ridden for many months, with
swellings in my knees. In a medical Journal, I unhappily met with an
account of a cure performed in a similar case, or what appeared to me so,
by rubbing in of Laudanum, at the same time taking a given dose
internally. It acted like a charm, like a miracle! I recovered the use of
my limbs, of my appetite, of my spirits, and this continued for near a
fortnight. At length the unusual stimulus subsided, the complaint
returned,--the supposed remedy was recurred to--but I cannot go through
the dreary history.
Suffice it to say, that effects were produced which acted on me by terror
and cowardice, of pain and sudden death, not (so help me God!) by any
temptation of pleasure, or expectation, or desire of exciting pleasurable
sensations. On the very contrary, Mrs. Morgan and her sister will bear
witness so far, as to say, that the longer I abstained, the higher my
spirits were, the keener my enjoyments--till the moment, the direful
moment arrived, when my pulse began to fluctuate, my heart to palpitate,
and such falling abroad, as it were, of my whole frame, such intolerable
restlessness, and incipient bewilderment, that in the last of my several
attempts to abandon the dire poison, I exclaimed in agony, which I now
repeat in seriousness and solemnity, 'I am too poor to hazard this.' Had
I but a few hundred pounds, but £200,--half to send to Mrs. Coleridge,
and half to place myself in a private mad house, where I could procure
nothing but what a physician thought proper, and where a medical
attendant could be constantly with me for two or three months, (in less
than that time, life or death would be determined) then there might be
hope. Now there is none!! O God! how willingly would I place myself under
Dr. Fox, in his establishment; for my case is a species of madness, only
that it is a derangement, an utter impotence of the volition, and not of
the intellectual faculties. You bid me rouse myself: go bid a man
paralytic in both arms, to rub them briskly together, and that will cure
him. 'Alas!' he would reply, 'that I cannot move my arms, is my complaint
and my misery.' May God bless you, and
Your affectionate, but most afflicted,
S. T. Coleridge."
On receiving this full and mournful disclosure, I felt the deepest
compassion for Mr. C.'s state, and sent him the following letter.
(Necessary to be given, to understand Mr. Coleridge's reply.)
"Dear Coleridge,
I am afflicted to perceive that Satan is so busy with you, but God is
greater than Satan. Did you ever hear of Jesus Christ? That he came into
the world to save sinners? He does not demand, as a condition, any merit
of your own, he only says, 'Come and be healed!' Leave your idle
speculations: forget your vain philosophy. Come as you are. Come and be
healed. He only requires you to be sensible of your need of him, to give
him your heart, to abandon with penitence, every evil practice, and he
has promised that whosoever thus comes, he will in no wise cast out. To
such as you Christ ought to be precious, for you see the hopelessness of
every other refuge. He will add strength to your own ineffectual efforts.
For your encouragement, I express the conviction, that such exercises as
yours, are a conflict that must ultimately prove successful. You do not
cloak your sins. You confess and deplore them. I believe that you will
still be as 'a brand plucked from the burning,' and that you (with all
your wanderings) will be restored, and raised up, as a chosen instrument,
to spread a Saviour's name. Many a 'chief of sinners,' has been brought,
since the days of 'Saul of Tarsus,' to sit as a little child, at the
Redeemer's feet. To this state you, I am assured, will come. Pray! Pray
earnestly, and you will be heard by your Father, which is in Heaven. I
could say many things of duty and virtue, but I wish to direct your views
at once to Christ, in whom is the alone balm for afflicted souls.
May God ever bless you,
Joseph Cottle.
P. S. If my former letter appeared unkind, pardon me! It was not
intended. Shall I breathe in your ear?--I know one, who is a stranger to
these throes and conflicts, and who finds 'Wisdom's ways to be ways of
pleasantness, and her paths, paths of peace."
To this letter I received the following reply.
"O dear friend! I have too much to be forgiven, to feel any difficulty in
forgiving the cruellest enemy that ever trampled on me: and you I have
only to _thank!_ You have no conception of the dreadful hell of my mind,
and conscience, and body. You bid me pray. O, I do pray inwardly to be
able to pray; but indeed to pray, to pray with a faith to which a
blessing is promised, this is the reward of faith, this is the gift of
God to the elect. Oh! if to feel how infinitely worthless I am, how poor
a wretch, with just free-will enough to be deserving of wrath, and of my
own contempt, and of none to merit a moment's peace, can make a part of a
Christian's creed; so far I am a Christian.
April 26, 1814."
S. T. C.
At this time Mr. Coleridge was indeed in a pitiable condition. His
passion for opium had so completely subdued his _will_, that he seemed
carried away, without resistance, by an overwhelming flood. The
impression was fixed on his mind, that he should inevitably die, unless
he were placed under _constraint_, and that constraint he thought could
be alone effected in an _asylum!_ Dr. Fox, who presided over an
establishment of this description in the neighbourhood of Bristol,
appeared to Mr. C. the individual, to whose subjection he would most like
to submit. This idea still impressing his imagination, he addressed to me
the following letter.
"Dear Cottle,
I have resolved to place myself in any situation, in which I can remain
for a month or two, as a child, wholly in the power of others. But, alas!
I have no money! Will you invite Mr. Hood, a most dear and affectionate
friend to worthless me; and Mr. Le Breton, my old school-fellow, and,
likewise, a most affectionate friend: and Mr. Wade, who will return in a
few days: desire them to call on you, any evening after seven o'clock,
that they can make convenient, and consult with them whether any thing of
this kind can be done. Do you know Dr. Fox?
Affectionately,
S. T. C.
I have to prepare my lecture. Oh! with how blank a spirit!"[94]
I _did_ know the late Dr. Fox, who was an opulent and liberal-minded man;
and if I had applied to him, or any friend had so done, I cannot doubt
but that he would instantly have received Mr. Coleridge gratuitously; but
nothing could have induced me to make the application, but that extreme
case, which did not then appear fully to exist. My sympathy for Mr. C. at
this time, was so excited, that I should have withheld no effort, within
my power, to reclaim, or to cheer him; but this recurrence to an asylum,
I strenuously opposed.
Mr. Coleridge knew Dr. Fox himself, eighteen years before, and to the
honour of Dr. E. I think it right to name, that, to my knowledge, in the
year 1796, Dr. Fox, in admiration of Mr. C.'s talents, presented him with
FIFTY POUNDS!
It must here be, noticed, that, fearing I might have exceeded the point
of discretion, in my letter to Mr. C. and becoming alarmed, lest I had
raised a spirit that I could not lay, as well as to avoid an unnecessary
weight of responsibility, I thought it best to consult Mr. Southey, and
ask him, in these harassing circumstances, what I was to do; especially
as he knew more of Mr. C.'s latter habits than myself, and had proved his
friendship by evidences the most substantial.
The years 1814 and 1815, were the darkest periods in Mr. Coleridge's
life. However painful the detail, it is presumed that the reader would
desire a knowledge of the undisguised truth. This cannot be obtained
without introducing the following letters of Mr. Southey, received from
him, after having sent him copies of the letters which passed between Mr.
Coleridge and myself.
"Keswick, April, 1814.
My dear Cottle,
You may imagine with what feelings I have read your correspondence with
Coleridge. Shocking as his letters are, perhaps the most mournful thing
they discover is, that while acknowledging the guilt of the habit, he
imputes it still to morbid bodily causes, whereas after every possible
allowance is made for these, every person who has witnessed his habits,
knows that for the greater, infinitely the greater part, inclination and
indulgence are its motives.
It seems dreadful to say this, with his expressions before me, but it is
so, and I know it to be so, from my own observation, and that of all with
whom he has lived. The Morgans, with great difficulty and perseverance,
_did_ break him of the habit, at a time when his ordinary consumption of
laudanum was, from _two quarts a week_, to _a pint a day!_ He suffered
dreadfully during the first abstinence, so much so, as to say it was
better for him to die than to endure his present feelings. Mrs. Morgan
resolutely replied, it was indeed better that he should die, than that he
should continue to live as he had been living. It angered him at the
time, but the effort was persevered in.
To what then was the relapse owing? I believe to this cause--that no use
was made of renewed health and spirits; that time passed on in idleness,
till the lapse of time brought with it a sense of neglected duties, and
then relief was again sought for _a self-accusing mind_;--in bodily
feelings, which when the stimulus ceased to act, added only to the load
of self-accusation. This Cottle, is an insanity which none but the soul's
physician can cure. Unquestionably, restraint would do as much for him as
it did when the Morgans tried it, but I do not see the slightest reason
for believing it would be more permanent. This too I ought to say, that
all the medical men to whom Coleridge has made his confession, have
uniformly ascribed the evil, not to bodily disease, but indulgence. The
restraint which alone could effectually cure, is that which no person can
impose upon him. Could he be compelled to a certain quantity of labour
every day, _for his family_, the pleasure of having done it would make
his heart glad, and the sane mind would make the body whole.
I see nothing so advisable for him, as that he should come here to Greta
Hall. My advice is, that he should visit T. Poole for two or three weeks,
to freshen himself and recover spirits, which new scenes never fail to
give him. When there, he may consult his friends at Birmingham and
Liverpool, on the fitness of lecturing at those two places, at each of
which he has friends, and would, I should think beyond all doubt be
successful. He must be very unfortunate if he did not raise from fifty to
one hundred pounds at the two places. But whether he can do this or not,
here it is that he ought to be. He knows in what manner he would be
received;--by his children with joy; by his wife, not with tears, if she
can control them--certainly not with reproaches;--by myself only with
encouragement.
He has sources of direct emolument open to him in the '_Courier_,' and in
the '_Eclectic Review_.'--These for his immediate wants, and for
everything else, his pen is more rapid than mine, and would be paid as
well. If you agree with me, you had better write to Poole, that he may
press him to make a visit, which I know he has promised. His great object
should be, to get out a play, and appropriate the whole produce to the
support of his son Hartley, at College. Three months' pleasurable
exertion would effect this. Of some such fit of industry I by no means
despair; of any thing more than fits, I am afraid I do. But this of
course I shall never say to him. From me he shall never hear ought but
cheerful encouragement, and the language of hope.
You ask me if you did wrong in writing to him. A man with your feelings
and principles never does wrong. There are parts which would have been
expunged had I been at your elbow, but in all, and in every part it is
strictly applicable.
I hope your next will tell me that he is going to T. Poole's--I have
communicated none of your letters to Mrs. Coleridge, who you know resides
with us. Her spirits and health are beginning to sink under it. God bless
you.
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
After anxious consideration, I thought the only effectual way of
benefitting Mr. Coleridge, would be, to renew the object of an annuity,
by raising for him, amongst his friends, one hundred, or, if possible,
one hundred and fifty pounds a year; purposing through a committee of
three, to pay for his comfortable board, and all necessaries, but not of
giving him the disposition of any part, till it was hoped, the correction
of his bad habits, and the establishment of his better principles, might
qualify him for receiving it for his own distribution. It was difficult
to believe that his subjection to opium could much longer resist the
stings of his own conscience, and the solicitations of his friends, as
well as the pecuniary destitution to which his _opium habits_ had reduced
him. The proposed object was named to Mr. C. who reluctantly gave his
consent.
I now drew up a letter, intending to send a copy to all Mr. Coleridge's
old and steady friends, (several of whom approved of the design) but
before any commencement was made, I transmitted a copy of my proposed
letter to Mr. Southey, to obtain his sanction. The following is his
reply.
"April 17, 1814.
Dear Cottle,
I have seldom in the course of my life felt it so difficult to answer a
letter, as on the present occasion. There is however no alternative. I
must sincerely express what I think, and be thankful that I am writing to
one who knows me thoroughly.
Of sorrow and humiliation I will say nothing. Let me come at once to the
point. On what grounds can such a subscription as you propose raising for
Coleridge be solicited? The annuity to which your intended letter refers,
(£150) _was_ given him by the Wedgewoods. Thomas, by his will, settled
his portion on Coleridge, for his life. Josiah withdrew his about three
years ago. The half still remaining amounts, when the Income Tax is
deducted, to £67 10s. That sum Mrs. C. receives at present, and it is all
which she receives for supporting herself, her daughter, and the two boys
at school:--the boys' expenses amounting to the whole. No part of
Coleridge's embarrassment arises from his wife and children,--except that
he has insured his life for a thousand pounds, and pays the annual
premium. He never writes to them, and never opens a letter from them![95]
In truth, Cottle, his embarrassments, and his miseries, of body and mind,
all arise from one accursed cause--excess in _opium_, of which he
habitually takes more than was ever known to be taken by any person
before him. The Morgans, with great effort, succeeded in making him leave
it off for a time, and he recovered in consequence _health_ and
_spirits_. He has now taken to it again. Of this indeed I was too sure
before I heard from you--that his looks bore testimony to it. Perhaps you
are not aware of the costliness of this drug. In the quantity which C.
takes, it would consume _more_ than the whole which you propose to raise.
A frightful consumption of _spirits_ is added. In this way bodily
ailments are produced; and the wonder is that he is still alive.
There are but two grounds on which a subscription of this nature can
proceed: either when the, object is disabled from exerting himself; or
when his exertions are unproductive. Coleridge is in neither of these
predicaments. Proposals after proposals have been made to him by the
booksellers, and he repeatedly closed with them. He is at this moment as
capable of exertion as I am, and would be paid as well for whatever he
might be pleased to do. There are two Reviews,--the 'Quarterly,' and the
'Eclectic,' in both of which he might have employment at ten guineas a
sheet. As to the former I could obtain it for him; in the latter, they
are urgently desirous of his assistance. _He promises, and does nothing._
I need not pursue this subject. What more can I say? He may have new
friends who would subscribe to this plan, but they cannot be many; but
among all those who know him, his habits are known also.
Do you as you think best. My own opinion is, that Coleridge ought to come
here, and employ himself, collecting money by the way by lecturing at
Birmingham and Liverpool. Should you proceed in your intention, my name
must not be mentioned. _I subscribe enough._ Here he may employ himself
without any disquietude about immediate subsistence. Nothing is wanting
to make him easy in circumstances, and happy in himself, but to leave off
opium, and to direct a certain portion of his time to the discharge of
_his duties_. Four hours a day would suffice. Believe me, my dear Cottle,
very affectionately
Your old friend,
Robert Southey."
The succeeding post brought me the following letter.
"Keswick, April 18, 1814.
My dear Cottle,
I ought to have slept upon your letter before I answered it. In thinking
over the subject (for you may be assured it was not in my power to get
rid of the thought) the exceeding probability occurred to me....
When you talked, in the proposed letter you sent me, of Coleridge
producing valuable works if his mind were relieved by the certainty of a
present income, you suffered your feelings to overpower your memory.
Coleridge _had_ that income for many years. It was given him expressly
that he might have leisure for literary productions; and to hold out the
expectation that he would perform the same conditions, if a like contract
were renewed, is what experience will not warrant.
You will probably write to Poole on this subject. In that case, state to
him distinctly what my opinion is: that Coleridge should return home to
Keswick, raising a supply for his present exigencies, by lecturing at
Birmingham, and Liverpool, and then, if there be a necessity, as I fear
there _will be_ (arising solely and wholly from his own most culpable
habits of sloth and self-indulgence) of calling on his friends to do that
which _he can_ and _ought to do_,--for _that_ time the humiliating
solicitation should be reserved....
God bless you,
Robert Southey."
No advantage would arise from recording dialogues with Mr. Coleridge, it
is sufficient to state that Mr. C.'s repugnance to visit Greta Hall, and
to apply his talents in the way suggested by Mr. Southey, was invincible;
neither would he visit T. Poole, nor lecture at Birmingham nor Liverpool.
Just at this time I was afflicted with the bursting of a blood vessel,
occasioned, probably, by present agitations of mind, which reduced me to
the point of death; when the intercourse of friends, and even speaking,
were wholly prohibited.
During my illness, Mr. Coleridge sent my sister the following letter; and
the succeeding one to myself.
"13th May, 1814.
Dear Madam,
I am uneasy to know how my friend, J. Cottle, goes on. The walk I took
last Monday to enquire, in person, proved too much for my strength, and
shortly after my return, I was in such a swooning way, that I was
directed to go to bed, and orders were given that no one should interrupt
me. Indeed I cannot be sufficiently grateful for the skill with which
_the surgeon treats me._ But it must be a slow, and occasionally, an
interrupted progress, after a sad retrogress of nearly twelve years. To
God all things are possible. I intreat your prayers, your brother has a
share in mine.
What an astonishing privilege, that a sinner should be permitted to cry,
'Our Father!' Oh, still more stupendous mercy, that this poor ungrateful
sinner should be exhorted, invited, nay, commanded, to pray--to pray
importunately. That which great men most detest, namely, importunacy; to
_this_ the GIVER and the FORGIVER ENCOURAGES _his_ sick petitioners!
I will not trouble you except for one verbal answer to this note. How is
your brother?
With affectionate respects to yourself and your sister,
S. T. Coleridge.
To Miss Cottle, Brunswick Square."
"Friday, 27th May, 1814.
My dear Cottle,
Gladness be with you, for your convalescence, and equally so, at the hope
which has sustained and tranquillized you through your imminent peril.
Far otherwise is, and hath been, my state; yet I too am grateful; yet I
cannot rejoice. I feel, with an intensity, unfathomable by words, my
utter nothingness, impotence, and worthlessness, in and for myself. I
have learned what a sin is, against an infinite imperishable being, such
as is the soul of man.
I have had more than a glimpse of what is meant by death and outer
darkness, and the worm that dieth not--and that all the _hell_ of the
reprobate, is no more inconsistent with the love of God, than the
blindness of one who has occasioned loathsome and guilty diseases to eat
out his eyes, is inconsistent with the light of the sun. But the
consolations, at least, the sensible sweetness of hope, I do not possess.
On the contrary, the temptation which I have constantly to fight up
against, is a fear, that if _annihilation_ and the _possibility_ of
_heaven_, were offered to my choice, I should choose the former.
This is, perhaps, in part, a constitutional idiosyncracy, for when a mere
boy, I wrote these lines:
Oh, what a wonder seems the fear of death,
Seeing how gladly we all sink to sleep;
Babes, children, youths and men,
Night following night, for three-score years and ten.[96]
And in my early manhood, in lines descriptive of a gloomy solitude, I
disguised my own sensations in the following words:
Here wisdom might abide, and here remorse!
Here too, the woe-worn man, who weak in soul,
And of this busy human heart aweary,
Worships the spirit of _unconscious life_,
In tree, or wild-flower. Gentle lunatic!
If so he might not wholly cease to BE,
He would far rather not be that he is;
But would be something that he knows not of,
In woods, or waters, or among the rocks.'
My main comfort, therefore, consists in what the divines call the faith
of adherence, and no spiritual effort appears to benefit me so much as
the one earnest, importunate, and often, for hours, momently repeated
prayer: 'I believe, Lord help my unbelief! Give me faith, but as a
mustard seed, and I shall remove this mountain! Faith, faith, faith! I
believe, O give me faith! O, for my Redeemer's sake, give me faith in my
Redeemer.'
In all this I justify God, for I was accustomed to oppose the preaching
of the terrors of the gospel, and to represent it as debasing virtue, by
the admixture of slaving selfishness.
I now see that what is spiritual, can only be spiritually apprehended.
Comprehended it cannot.
Mr. Eden gave you a too flattering account of me. It is true, I am
restored, as much beyond my expectations almost, as my deserts; but I am
exceedingly weak. I need for myself, solace and refocillation of animal
spirits, instead of being in a condition of offering it to others. Yet,
as soon as I may see you, I will call on you.
S. T. Coleridge.
P. S. It is no small gratification to me, that I have seen and conversed
with Mrs. Hannah More. She is, indisputably, the first literary female I
ever met with. In part, no doubt, because she is a Christian. Make my
best respects when you write."
The serious expenditure of money, resulting from Mr. C.'s consumption of
opium, was the least evil, though very great, and which must have
absorbed all the produce of Mr. C.'s lectures, and all the liberalities
of his friends. It is painful to record such circumstances as the
following, but the picture would be incomplete without it.
Mr. Coleridge, in a late letter, with something it is feared, if not of
duplicity, of self-deception, extols the skill of his surgeon, in having
gradually lessened his consumption of laudanum, it was understood, to
twenty drops a day. With this diminution, the habit was considered as
subdued, and at which result, no one appeared to rejoice more than Mr.
Coleridge himself. The reader will be surprised to learn, that,
notwithstanding this flattering exterior, Mr. C. while apparently
submitting to the directions of his medical adviser, was secretly
indulging in his usual overwhelming quantities of opium! Heedless of his
health, and every honourable consideration, he contrived to obtain
surreptitiously, the fatal drug, and, thus to baffle the hopes of his
warmest friends.
Mr. Coleridge had resided, at this time, for several months, with his
kind friend, Mr. Josiah Wade, of Bristol, who, in his solicitude for his
benefit, had procured for him, so long as it was deemed necessary, the
professional assistance, stated above. The surgeon on taking leave, after
the cure had been _effected_, well knowing the expedients to which opium
patients would often recur, to obtain their proscribed draughts; at
least, till the habit of temperance was fully established, cautioned Mr.
W. to prevent Mr. Coleridge, by all possible means, from obtaining that
by stealth, from which he was openly debarred. It reflects great credit
on Mr. Wade's humanity, that to prevent all access to opium, and thus, if
possible, to rescue his friend from destruction, he engaged a respectable
old decayed tradesman, constantly to attend Mr. C. and, to make that
which was sure, doubly certain, placed him even in his bed-room; and this
man always accompanied him whenever he went out. To such surveillance Mr.
Coleridge cheerfully acceded, in order to show the promptitude with which
he seconded the efforts of his friends. It has been stated that every
precaution was unavailing. By some unknown means and dexterous
contrivances, Mr. C. afterward confessed that he still obtained his usual
lulling potions.
As an example, amongst others of a similar nature, one ingenious
expedient, to which he resorted, to cheat the doctor, he thus disclosed
to Mr. Wade, from whom I received it. He said, in passing along the quay,
where the ships were moored, he noticed, by a side glance, a druggist's
shop, probably an old resort, and standing near the door, he looked
toward the ships, and pointing to one at some distance, he said to his
attendant, "I think that's an American." "Oh, no, that I am sure it is
not," said the man. "I think it is," replied Mr. C. "I wish you would
step over and ask, and bring me the particulars." The man accordingly
went; when as soon as his back was turned, Mr. C. stepped into the shop,
had his portly bottle filled with laudanum, which he always carried in
his pocket, and then expeditiously placed himself in the spot where he
was left. The man now returned with the particulars, beginning, "I told
you, sir, it was not an American, but I have learned all about her." "As
I am mistaken, never mind the rest," said Mr. C. and walked on.[97]
Every bad course of conduct (happily for the good of social order) leads
to perplexing, and generally, to disastrous results. The reader will soon
have a practical illustration, that Mr. Coleridge was not exempt from the
general law.
A common impression prevailed on the minds of his friends, that it was a
desperate case, that paralyzed all their efforts: that to assist Mr. C.
with money, which, under favourable circumstances, would have been most
promptly advanced, would now only enlarge his capacity to obtain the
opium which was consuming him. We at length learnt that Mr. Coleridge was
gone to reside with his friend Mr. John Morgan, in a small house, at
Calne, in Wiltshire. So gloomy were our apprehensions, that even the
death of Mr. C. was mournfully expected at no distant period! for his
actions at this time, were, we feared, all indirectly of a suicidal
description.
In a letter from Mr. Southey, dated Oct. 27, 1814, he thus writes:--
"My dear Cottle,
It is not long since I heard of you from Mr. De Quincey: but I wish you
would sometimes let me hear from you. There was a time when scarcely a
day passed without my seeing you, and in all that time, I do not remember
that there was a passing cloud of coolness between us. The feeling I am
sure continues: do not then let us be so entirely separated by distance,
which in cases of correspondence may almost be considered as a mere
abstraction....
Can you tell me anything of Coleridge? We know that he is with the
Morgans at Calne. What is to become of him? He may find men who will give
him board and lodging for the sake of his conversation, but who will pay
his other expenses? He leaves his family to chance, and charity. With
good feelings, good principles, as far as the understanding is concerned,
and an intellect as clear, and as powerful, as was ever vouchsafed to
man, he is the slave of degrading sensuality, and sacrifices everything
to it. The case is equally deplorable and monstrous....
Believe me, my dear Cottle,
Ever your affectionate old friend,
Robert Southey."
Of Mr. Coleridge, I now heard nothing, but, in common with all his
friends, felt deep solicitude concerning his future course; when, in
March, 1815, I received from him the following letter:--
"Calne, March 7, 1815.
Dear Cottle, You will wish to know something of myself. In health, I am
not worse than when at Bristol I was best; yet fluctuating, yet unhappy!
in circumstances 'poor indeed!' I have collected my scattered, and my
manuscript poems, sufficient to make one volume. Enough I have to make
another. But till the latter is finished, I cannot without great loss of
character, publish the former on account of the arrangement, besides the
necessity of correction. For instance, I earnestly wish to begin the
volumes, with what has never been seen by any, however few, such as a
series of Odes on the different sentences of the Lord's Prayer, and more
than all this, to finish my greater work on 'Christianity, considered as
Philosophy, and as the only Philosophy.' All the materials I have in no
small part, reduced to form, and written, but, oh me! what can I do, when
I am so poor, that in having to turn off every week, from these to some
mean subject for the newspapers, I distress myself, and at last neglect
the greater, wholly to do little of the less. If it were in your power to
receive my manuscripts, (for instance what I have ready for the press of
my poems) and by setting me forward with _thirty_ or _forty_ pounds,
taking care that what I send, and would make over to you, would more than
secure you from loss, I am sure you would do it. And I would die (after
my recent experience of the cruel and insolent spirit of calumny,) rather
than subject myself, as a slave, to a club of subscribers to my poverty.
If I were to say I am easy in my conscience, I should add to its pains by
a lie; but this I can truly say, that my embarrassments have not been
occasioned by the bad parts, or selfish indulgences of my nature. I am at
present five and twenty pounds in arrear, my expenses being at £2 10s.
per week. You will say I ought to live for less, and doubtless I might,
if I were to alienate myself from all social affections, and from all
conversation with persons of the same education. Those who severely blame
me, never ask, whether at any time in my life, I had for myself and my
family's wants, £50 beforehand.
Heaven knows of the £300 received, through you, what went to myself.[98]
No! bowed down under manifold infirmities, I yet dare to appeal to God
for the truth of what I say; I have remained poor by always having been
poor, and incapable of pursuing any one great work, for want of a
competence beforehand.
S. T. Coleridge."
This was precisely the termination I was prepared to expect. I had never
before, through my whole life refused Mr. C. an application for money;
yet I now hesitated: assured that the sum required, was not meant for the
discharge of board, (for which he paid nothing) but for the purchase of
opium, the expense of which, for years, had amounted nearly to the two
pounds ten shillings per week. Under this conviction, and after a painful
conflict, I sent Mr. C. on the next day, a friendly letter, declining his
request in the kindest manner I could, but enclosing a five pound note.
It happened that my letter to Mr. Coleridge passed on the road, another
letter from him to myself, far more harrowing than the first. This was
the _last_ letter ever received from Mr. C.
The following is Mr. Coleridge's second letter.
"Calne, Wiltshire, March 10, 1815.
My dear Cottle,
I have been waiting with the greatest uneasiness for a letter from you.
My distresses are impatient rather than myself: inasmuch as for the last
five weeks, I know myself to be a burden on those to whom I am under
great obligations: who would gladly do all for me; _but who have done all
they can!_ Incapable of any exertion in this state of mind, I have now
written to Mr. Hood, and have at length bowed my heart down, to beg that
four or five of those, who I had reason to believe, were interested in my
welfare, would raise the sum I mentioned, between them, should you not
find it convenient to do it. Manuscript poems, equal to one volume of 230
to 300 pages, being sent to them immediately. If not, I must instantly
dispose of all my poems, fragments and all, for whatever I can get from
the first rapacious bookseller, that will give anything--and then try to
get my livelihood where I am, by receiving, or waiting on day-pupils,
children, or adults, but even this I am unable to wait for without some
assistance: for I cannot but with consummate baseness, throw the expenses
of my lodging and boarding for the last five or six weeks on those, who
must injure and embarrass themselves in order to pay them. The 'Friend'
has been long out of print, and its re-publication has been called for by
numbers.
Indeed from the manner in which it was first circulated, it is little
less than a new work. To make it a complete and circular work, it needs
but about eight or ten papers. This I could, and would make over to you
at once in full copy-right, and finish it outright, with no other delay
than that of finishing a short and temperate Treatise on the Corn Laws,
and their national and moral effects; which had I even twenty pounds only
to procure myself a week's ease of mind, I could have printed before the
bill had passed the Lords. At all events let me hear by return of post. I
am confident that whether you take the property of my Poems, or of my
Prose Essays, in pledge, you cannot eventually lose the money.
As soon as I can, I shall leave Calne for Bristol, and if I can procure
any day pupils, shall immediately take cheap lodgings near you. My plan
is to have twenty pupils, ten youths or adults, and ten boys. To give the
latter three hours daily, from eleven o'clock to two, with exception of
the usual school vacations, in the Elements of English, Greek, and Latin,
presenting them exercises for their employment during the rest of the
day, and two hours every evening to the adults (that is from sixteen and
older) on a systematic plan of general knowledge; and I should hope that
£15 a year, would not be too much to ask from each, which excluding
Sundays and two vacations, would be little more than a shilling a day, or
six shillings a week, for forty-two weeks.
To this I am certain I could attend with strictest regularity, or indeed
to any thing mechanical.
But composition is no voluntary business. The very necessity of doing it
robs me of the power of doing it. Had I been possessed of a tolerable
competency, I should have been a voluminous writer. But I cannot, as is
feigned of the Nightingale, sing with my breast against a thorn. God
bless you,
Saturday, Midnight.
S. T. Coleridge."
The receipt of this letter filled me with the most poignant grief; much
for the difficulties to which Mr. C. was reduced, but still more for the
cause. In one letter, indignantly spurning the contributions of his "club
of subscribers to his poverty;" and in his next, (three days afterwards)
earnestly soliciting this assistance! The victorious bearer away of
University prizes, now bent down to the humiliating desire of keeping a
day school, for a morsel of bread! The man, whose genius has scarcely
been surpassed, proposing to "attend" scholars, "children or adults," and
to bolster up his head, at night, in "cheap lodgings!" Oppressed with
debt, contracted by expending that money on opium, which should have been
paid to his impoverished friend; and this, at a moment, when, for the
preceding dozen years, if he had called his mighty intellect into
exercise, the "world" would have been "all before him, where to choose
his place of rest." But at this time he preferred, to all things else,
the Circean chalice!
These remarks have reluctantly been forced from me; and never would they
have passed the sanctuary of my own breast, but to call on every consumer
of the narcotic poison, who fancies, perchance, that in the taking of
opium there is pleasure only and no pain, to behold in this memorable
example, the inevitable consequences, which follow that "accursed
practice!" Property consumed! health destroyed! independence bartered;
respectability undermined; family concord subverted! that peace
sacrificed, which forms so primary an ingredient in man's cup of
happiness!--a deadly war with conscience! and the very mind of the
unhappy votary, (whilst the ethereal spirit of natural affection
_generally escapes!_ despoiled of its best energies).
I venture the more readily on these reflections, from the hope of
impressing some young delinquents, who are beginning to sip the "deadly
poison;" little aware that no habit is so progressive, and that he who
begins with the little, will rapidly pass on to the much! I am also
additionally urged to these mournful disclosures, from their forming one
portion only, of Mr. Coleridge's life. It has been my unenviable lot, to
exhibit my friend in his lowest points of depression; conflicting with
unhallowed practices, and, as the certain consequence, with an accusing
conscience.
Most rejoiced should I have been, had my opportunities and acquaintance
with Mr. Coleridge continued, to have traced the gradual development into
action, of those better principles which were inherent in his mind. This
privilege is reserved for a more favoured biographer; and it now remains
only for me, in a closing remark, to state, that, had I been satisfied
that the money Mr. C. required, would have been expended in lawful
purposes, I would have supplied him, (without being an affluent man) to
the utmost of his requirements, and not by dividing the honour with
others, or receiving his writings in pledge! But, knowing that whatever
monies he received would, assuredly, be expended in opium, COMPASSION
STAYED MY HAND.
In my reply to his second letter, by "return of post," I enclosed Mr. C.
another five pounds: urged him in a kind letter, to come immediately to
Bristol, where myself and others, would do all that could be done, to
advise and assist him. I told him at the same time, that, when I declined
the business of a bookseller, I for ever quitted publishing, so that I
could not receive his MSS. valuable as they doubtless were; but I
reminded him, that as his merits were _now_ appreciated by the public,
the London booksellers would readily enter into a treaty, and remunerate
him liberally. Mr. Coleridge returned no answer to my letter; came not to
Bristol, but went in the next spring to London, as I learned indirectly:
and I now await a narrative of the latter periods of Mr. C.'s life, and
particularly the perusal of his "posthumous works," with a solicitude
surpassed by none.
I mentioned before that from my intimate knowledge of Mr. Coleridge's
sentiments and character, no doubt could be entertained by me, of its
being Mr. C.'s earnest wish, in order to exhibit to his successors the
pernicious consequences of opium, that, when called from this world, the
fullest publicity should be given to its disastrous effects on himself.
But whatever confidence existed in my own mind, it might be, I well knew,
no easy task, to inspire, with the same assurance, some of his surviving
friends; so that I have been compelled to argue the point, and to show,
to those who shrunk from such disclosures, that Mr. Coleridge's example
was intimately combined with general utility, and that none ought to
regret a faithful narration of, (unquestionably) _the great bane of his
life_, since it presented a conspicuous example, which might arrest the
attention, and operate as a warning to many others.
From a conviction of the tender ground on which I stood, and entertaining
a latent suspicion that some, whom I could wish to have pleased, would
still censure, as unjustifiable exposure, what with me was the result of
conscience; I repeat, with all these searching apprehensions, the reader
will judge what my complicated feelings must have been, of joy and
sorrow; a momentary satisfaction, succeeded by the deepest pungency of
affliction, when, (after all the preceding was written) Mr. Josiah Wade,
presented to me the following mournful and touching letter, addressed to
him by Mr. Coleridge, in the year 1814, which, whilst it relieved my mind
from so onerous a burden, fully corroborated all that I had presumed, and
all that I had affirmed. Mr. W. handed this letter to me, that it might
be made public, in conformity with his departed friend's injunction.
"Bristol, June 26th, 1814.
Dear sir,
For I am unworthy to call any good man friend--much less you, whose
hospitality and love I have abused; accept, however, my intreaties for
your forgiveness, and for your prayers.
Conceive a poor miserable wretch, who for many years has been attempting
to beat off pain, by a constant recurrence to the vice that reproduces
it. Conceive a spirit in bell, employed in tracing out for others the
road to that heaven, from which his crimes exclude him! In short,
conceive whatever is most wretched, helpless, and hopeless, and you will
form as tolerable a notion of my state, as it is possible for a good man
to have.
I used to think the text in St. James that 'he who offended in one point,
offends in all,' very harsh: but I now feel the awful, the tremendous
truth of it. In the one crime of OPIUM, what crime have I not made myself
guilty of!--Ingratitude to my Maker! and to my benefactors--injustice!
_and unnatural cruelty to my poor children!_--self-contempt for my
repeated promise--breach, nay, too often, actual falsehood!
After my death, I earnestly entreat, that a full and unqualified
narration of my wretchedness, and of its guilty cause, may be made
public, that at least, some little good may be effected by the direful
example.
May God Almighty bless you, and have mercy on your still affectionate,
and in his heart, grateful--
S. T. Coleridge."
This is indeed a redeeming letter. We here behold Mr. Coleridge in the
lowest state of human depression, but his condition is not hopeless. It
is not the insensibility of final impenitence; it is not the slumber of
the grave. A gleam of sunshine bursts through the almost impenetrable
gloom; and the virtue of that prayer "May God Almighty have mercy!" in a
penitent heart, like his, combined as we know it was, with the
recognition of Him, who is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life," authorizes
the belief, that a spirit thus exercised, had joys in reserve, and was to
become the recipient of the best influences that can illumine regenerate
man.
No individual ever effected great good in the moral world, who had not
been subjected to a long preliminary discipline; and he who knows what is
in man; who often educes good from evil, can best apportion the exact
kind and degree, indispensable to each separate heart. Mr. Coleridge,
after this time, lived twenty years. A merciful providence, though with
many mementos of decay, preserved his body, and in all its vigor
sustained his mind. Power was given him, it is presumed, and fervently
hoped, to subdue his former pernicious practices. The season of solemn
reflection it is hoped arrived, that his ten talents were no longer
partially buried, but that the lengthened space extended to him, was
consecrated by deep reflection, and consequent qualification, to
elucidate and establish the everlasting principles of Christian truth.
Under such advantages, we are authorized in forming the highest
expectations from his Great Posthumous Work. Nothing which I have
narrated of Mr. Coleridge, will in the least subtract from the merit, or
the impression of that production, effected in his mature manhood, when
his renovated faculties sent forth new corruscations, and concentrated
the results of all his profound meditations. The very process to which he
had been exposed, so unpropitious as it appeared, may have been the most
favourable for giving consistency to his intellectual researches. He may
have thought in channels the more refined, varied, and luminous, from the
ample experience he had acquired, that the only real evil in this world,
was the frown of the Almighty, and His favor the only real good; so that
the grand work, about to appear, may add strength to the strong, and give
endurance to the finished pediment of his usefulness and his fame.
But although all these cheering anticipations should be fully realized,
regrets will still exist. It will ever be deplored, that Mr. Coleridge's
system of Christian Ethics, had not yet been deliberately recorded by
himself. This feeling, however natural, is still considerably moderated,
by reflecting on the ample competence of the individual on whom the
distinction of preparing this system has devolved; a security that it
will be both well and faithfully executed, and which, in the same
proportion that it reflects credit on the editor, will embalm with
additional honours, the memory of SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE; a genius, who
in the opulence of his imagination, and his rich and inexhaustible
capabilities, as a poet, a logician, and a metaphysician, has not perhaps
been surpassed since the days of Milton.
The following letter of Mr. Coleridge, was written a short time before
his death, to a young friend. This deliberate exposition of his faith,
and at such a season, cancels every random word or sentence, Mr. C. may
ever have expressed or written, of an opposing tendency. In thoughtless
moments Mr. C. may sometimes have expressed himself unguardedly,
attended, on reflection, no doubt with self-accusation, but here in the
full prospect of dissolution, he pours forth the genuine and ulterior
feelings of his soul.
"To Adam Steinmetz Kinnaird,
My dear godchild,--I offer up the same fervent prayer for you now, as I
did kneeling before the altar, when you were baptized into Christ, and
solemnly received as a living member of his spiritual body, the church.
Years must, pass before you will be able to read with an understanding
heart what I now write. But I trust that the all-gracious God, the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, who, by his
only-begotten Son, (all mercies in one sovereign mercy!) has redeemed you
from evil ground, and willed you to be born out of darkness, but into
light; out of death, but into life; out of sin, but into righteousness;
even into 'the Lord our righteousness;' I trust that he will graciously
hear the prayers of your dear parents, and be with you as the spirit of
health and growth, in body and in mind. My dear godchild, you received
from Christ's minister, at the baptismal font, as your Christian name,
the name of a most dear friend of your father's, and who was to me even
as a son, the late Adam Steinmetz, whose fervent aspirations, and
paramount aim, even from early youth, was to be a Christian in thought,
word, and deed; in will, mind, and affections. I too, your godfather,
have known what the enjoyment and advantages of this life are, and what
the more refined pleasures which learning and intellectual power can
give; I now, on the eve of my departure, declare to you, and earnestly
pray that you may hereafter live and act on the conviction, that health
is a great blessing; competence, obtained by honourable industry, a great
blessing; and a great blessing it is, to have kind, faithful, and loving
friends and relatives; but that the greatest of all blessings, as it is
the most ennobling of all privileges, is to be indeed a Christian. But I
have been likewise, through a large portion of my later life, a sufferer,
sorely affected with bodily pains, languor, and manifold infirmities, and
for the last three or four years have, with few and brief intervals, been
confined to a sick room, and at this moment, in great weakness and
heaviness, write from a sick bed, hopeless of recovery, yet without
prospect of a speedy removal. And I thus, on the brink of the grave,
solemnly bear witness to you, that the Almighty Redeemer, most gracious
in his promises to them that truly seek him, is faithful to perform what
he has promised; and has reserved, under all pains and infirmities, the
peace that passeth all understanding, with the supporting assurance of a
reconciled God, who will not withdraw his spirit from me in the conflict,
and in his own time will deliver me from the evil one. O my dear
godchild! eminently blessed are they who begin _early_ to seek, fear, and
love, their God, trusting wholly in the righteousness and mediation of
their Lord, Redeemer, Saviour, and everlasting High Priest, Jesus Christ.
Oh, preserve this as a legacy and bequest from your unseen godfather and
friend,
S. T. Coleridge.
July 13th, 1834, Grove, Highgate."
Is the writer of this epistle the man, who twenty years before, even
coveted annihilation! Is this the man, who so long preferred, to all
things else, the "Circean chalice!" Is this he, who at one time, learned
to his unutterable dismay, what a sin was, "against an imperishable
being, such as is the soul of man." Is this he, whose will was once
extinguished by an unhallowed passion, and he himself borne along toward
perdition by a flood of intemperance! Is this the man who resisted the
light, till darkness entered his mind, and with it a "glimpse of outer
darkness!" Is this he, who feared that his own inveterate and aggravated
crimes would exclude him, from that heaven, the road to which he was
tracing out for others! Is this he, that through successive years,
contended with the severest mental and bodily afflictions; who knew the
cause, but rejected the remedy?--who, in 1807, declared himself "rolling
rudderless," "the wreck of what he once was," "with an unceasing
overwhelming sensation of wretchedness?" and in 1814, who still
pronounced himself the endurer of all that was "wretched, helpless, and
hopeless?" Samuel Taylor Coleridge is the man on whom all these charges
and fearful anticipations once rested: but he it is fervently hoped, was
changed; that he was renovated; that, when refuge failed, an unseen power
subdued the rebellious, and softened the hard; and that he approached the
verge of life in the serenity of faith and hope.
Before the effect of this letter, the eccentricities of S. T.
Coleridge--his indiscretions, his frailties, vanish away. There is in it
a mellowed character, accordant with a proximity to the eternal state,
when alone the objects of time assume their true dimensions; when, earth
receding; eternity opening; the spirit, called to launch its untried bark
on the dark and stormy waters that separate both worlds, descries _light_
afar, and leans, as its only solace, on the hope of the christian.
Checkered indeed was the life of this great but imperfect man. His dawn
was not without promise. Hopes and blessings attended him in his course,
but mists obscured his noon, and tempests long followed him; yet he set,
it is hoped, serene and in splendor, looking on, through faith in his
Redeemer, to that cloudless morning, where his sun shall no more go down.
* * * * *
The attention of the reader will now be directed to letters of Mr.
Southey, briefly relating to Mr. Coleridge, and to circumstances
connected with the publication of the "Early Recollections of S. T.
Coleridge," 1837;--with a reference to the distressing malady with which
Mrs. Southey was afflicted.
"Keswick, Feb. 26, 1836.
My dear Cottle,
... I never go out but for regular exercise. Constant occupation; a daily
walk whatever the weather may be; constitutional buoyancy of spirits; the
comfort I have in my daughters and son; the satisfaction of knowing that
nothing is neglected for my dear Edith, which can be done by human care
and dutiful attention; above all, a constant trust in God's mercy, and
the certainty that whatever he appoints for us is best; these are my
supports, and I have as much cause to be thankful for present
consolation, as for past happiness.
... If this domestic affliction had not fallen upon us, it was my
intention to have seen you in October 1834, and have brought my son
Cuthbert with me; and if it please God that I should ever be able to
leave home for a distant journey, this I still hope to do, and if you are
not then in a better place than Bedminster, I am selfish enough to wish
you may stay there till we meet; and indeed for the sake of others, that
it may be to the utmost limits which may be assigned us. I would give a
great deal to pass a week with you in this world. When I called on your
brother Robert, in London, four years ago, he did not recollect me, and
yet I was the least changed of the two.
I should very much like to show you the correspondence which once passed
between Shelley and myself. Perhaps you are not acquainted with half of
his execrable history. I know the whole, and as he gave me a fit
opportunity, I read him such a lecture upon it as he deserved.
God bless you, my dear old friend,
Robert Southey."
I shall now refer to some incidental subjects relating to Mr. Southey,
which could not be well introduced in an earlier stage.
In drawing up my "Early Recollections of S. T. Coleridge," so many
references had been made to Mr. Southey, that, notwithstanding his
general permission, I deemed it proper to transmit him the MS., with a
request that he would, without hesitation, draw his pen across any
portions to which he either objected, or thought it might be better to
omit. A further benefit also was anticipated by such inspection, as any
error which might inadvertently have crept in, as to facts and dates,
would infallibly be detected by Mr. Southey's more retentive memory. Mr.
S. thus replied:
"Keswick, March 6, 1836.
My dear Cottle,
You will see that I have drawn my pen across several passages in your MS.
of "Early Recollections."[99] The easiest way of showing you those small
inaccuracies, will be by giving you a slight summary of the facts, most
of them antecedent to my introduction to you.
Since your manuscript has arrived, I have received from London, two
volumes of 'Letters and Conversations of S. T. Coleridge,' published
anonymously by one of his later friends, Mr. Alsop, by name, a person of
whom I never heard before. Mr. Moxon, the publisher, writes to me thus
concerning it: 'In many respects I regret that I undertook the
publication of the work, for though at my earnest solicitation, many
objectionable passages respecting both yourself and Mr. Wordsworth were
left out, yet much I fear still remains that ought not to have been
published; and yet if I had refused the work, it would most likely have
been published by some other bookseller, with more in it to offend than
there is at present.'
Now there is nothing in this work relating to myself of the slightest
consequence, but the worst enemy of S. T. C. could not have done so much
injury to his character as this injudicious friend has done; who, be it
observed, was also a friend of Cobbet's. He calls on Mr. Green, his
presumed editor, not to conceal Coleridge's real opinions from the
public, and certainly represents those opinions as being upon most, if
not all subjects, as lax as his own. Coleridge's nephews,--the Bishop and
Judge--are wantonly insulted by this person, and contemptuous speeches of
his are reported concerning dead and living individuals, for whom he
professed friendship, and from whom he had received substantial proofs of
kindness. Heaven preserve me from such a friend as Mr. Alsop! But I never
could have admitted such a person to my friendship, nor, if I had, would
he have any such traits of character to record....
Now then to your narrative, or rather to mine; referring to incidents
which took place before Coleridge's and my own acquaintance with
yourself; by which you will perceive on what small points you were
misinformed, and in what your memory has deceived you.
In the summer of 1794, S. T. Coleridge and Hucks came to Oxford, on their
way into Wales on a pedestrian tour. Allen introduced them to me, and the
scheme of _Pantisocracy_ was introduced _by them_; talked of, by no means
determined on. It was subsequently talked into shape by Burnet and
myself, at the commencement of the long vacation. We separated from
Coleridge and Hucks: they making for Gloucester; Burnet and I proceeding
on foot to Bath.
After some weeks, Coleridge returning from his tour, came to Bristol on
his way, and stopped there. (I being there.) Then it was that we resolved
on going to America, and S. T. C., and I walked into Somersetshire to see
Burnet, and on that journey it was that we first saw Poole. Coleridge
made his engagement with Miss Fricker, on our return from this journey,
at my mother's house in Bath;--not a little to my astonishment, for he
had talked of being deeply in love with a certain _Mary Evans_. I had
been previously engaged to her sister, my poor Edith!--_whom it would
make your heart ache to see at this time!_
We remained at Bristol till the close of the vacation; several weeks.
During that time we again talked of America. The funds were to be what
each could raise. Coleridge, by his _projected work_, 'Specimens of
Modern Latin Poems,' for which he had printed proposals, and obtained a
respectable list of Cambridge subscribers, before I knew him: I by 'Joan
of Arc,' and what else I might publish. I had no rich relations, except
one, my uncle, John Southey, of Taunton, who took no notice of his
brother's family; nor any other expectation. He hoped to find companions
with money.
Coleridge returned to Cambridge, and then published 'The Fall of
Robespierre;' while Lovell (who had married one of the Miss Frickers) and
I, published a thin volume of poems at Bath. My first transaction with
you was for 'Joan of Arc,' and this was before Coleridge's arrival at
Bristol, and soon after Lovell had introduced me to you. Coleridge did
not come back again to Bristol till January 1795, nor would he I believe
_have come back at all_, if I had not gone to London to look for him, for
having got there from Cambridge at the beginning of winter, there he
remained without writing either to Miss Fricker or myself.
At last I wrote to Favell (a Christ's Hospital boy, whose name I knew as
one of his friends, and whom he had set down as one of our companions) to
inquire concerning him, and learnt in reply, that S. T. Coleridge was at
'The Cat and Salutation,' in Newgate Street. [100] Thither I wrote. He
answered my letter, and said, that _on such a day_ he should set off for
Bath by the _waggon_. Lovell and I walked from Bath to meet him. Near
Marlborough we met with the appointed waggon; but _no S. T. Coleridge was
therein!_ A little while afterward, I went to London, and not finding him
at 'The Cat and Salutation,' called at Christ's Hospital, and was
conducted by Favell to 'The Angel Inn, Butcher Hall street,' whither
Coleridge had shifted his quarters. I brought him then to Bath, and in a
few days to Bristol.
In the intermediate time between his leaving Bristol, and returning to
it, the difficulties of getting to America became more and more apparent.
Wynne wrote to press upon me the expedience of trying our scheme of
Pantisocracy in Wales, knowing how impracticable it would be _any where_;
knowing also, that there was no hope of convincing me of its
impracticability, _at that time_. In our former plan we were all agreed,
and expected that what the earth failed to produce for us, the pen would
supply. Such were our views in January 1795; when S. T. Coleridge gave
his first and second lectures in the Corn Market, and his third in a
vacant house in Castle Green. These were followed by my lectures, and you
know the course of our lives till the October following, when we parted.
By that time I had seen that _no dependence_ could be placed on
Coleridge. No difference took place between us when I communicated to him
my intention of going with my uncle to Lisbon, nor even a remonstrance on
his part; nor had I the slightest suspicion that he intended to quarrel
with me, till ----'s insolence made it apparent; and I then learnt from
Mrs. Morgan (poor John Morgan's mother) in what manner he was speaking of
me. This was in October. From that time to my departure for Lisbon you
know my history. Lovell did not die till six months afterward. The
'Watchman' was not projected till I was on my way to Lisbon.
Poor Burnet's history would require a letter of itself. He became
deranged on one point, which was that of _hatred to me_, whom he accused
of having jealously endeavoured to suppress his talents! This lasted
about six months, in the year 1802, and it returned again in the last
year of his life. The scheme of Pantisocracy proved his ruin; but he was
twice placed in situations where he was well provided for. I had the
greatest regard for him, and would have done, and indeed, as far as was
in my power, did my utmost to serve him God bless you, my dear old
friend,
Yours most affectionately,
Robert Southey."
"Keswick, 14 April, 1836.
My dear Cottle,
If you are drawing up your 'Recollections of Coleridge,' for separate
publication, you are most welcome to insert anything of mine which you
might think proper; but it is my wish that nothing of mine may go into
the hands of any person concerned in bringing forward Coleridge's MSS.
I know that Coleridge at different times of his life never let pass an
opportunity of speaking ill of me. Both Wordsworth and myself have often
lamented the exposure of duplicity which must result from the publication
of his letters, and by what he has delivered by word of mouth to the
worshippers by whom he was always surrounded. To Wordsworth and to me, it
matters little. Coleridge received from us such substantial services as
few men have received from those whose friendship they had forfeited.
This indeed was not the case with Wordsworth, as it was with me, for he
knew not in what manner Coleridge had latterly spoken of him. But I
continued all possible offices of kindness to his children, long after I
regarded his own conduct with that _utter disapprobation_ which alone it
can call forth from all who had any sense of duty and moral obligation.
Poole[101] from whom I had a letter by the same post with yours, thinks,
from what you have said concerning Coleridge's habit of taking opium,
that it would operate less to deter others from the practice, than it
would lead them to flatter themselves in indulging in it, by the example
of so great a man. That there is some probability in this I happen to
know from the effect of Mr. De Quincey's book; one who had never taken a
drop of opium before, but took so large a dose, for the sake of
experiencing the sensations which had been described, that a very little
addition to the dose might have proved fatal. There, however, the
mischief ended, for he never repeated the experiment. But I apprehend if
you send what you have written, about Coleridge and opium, it will not be
made use of, and that Coleridge's biographer will seek to find excuses
for his abuse of that drug. Indeed in Mr. Alsop's book, it is affirmed
that the state of his heart, and other appearances in his chest, showed
the habit to have been brought on by the pressure of disease in those
parts:--the more likely inference is, that the excess brought on the
disease.
I am much pleased with your "_Predictions_." Those who will not be
convinced by such scriptural proofs, if they pretend to admit any
authority in the Scriptures, would not, though one rose from the dead.
God bless you, my dear old friend. Whenever I can take a journey, I will,
if you are living, come to Bedminster. There is no other place in the
world which I remember with such feelings as that village.[102]
Believe me always yours most affectionately,
Robert Southey."
In answer to an invitation, Mr. Southey thus replied.
"Keswick, August 16, 1836.
My dear Cottle,
... Be assured, whenever it may seem fitting for me to take so long a
journey, I shall come to you with as cordial a feeling of unchanged and
unabated friendship as that with which you I know will receive me. It is
very much my wish to do so, to show Cuthbert my son (who will accompany
me) the scenes of my boyhood and youth, and the few friends who are left
to me in the West of England. There is an urgent reason why I should go
to London before the last volume of Cowper is brought forth, if domestic
circumstances can be so arranged as to admit of this, and I would fain
hope it may be; I shall then certainly proceed to the West.
Longman has determined to print my poetical works in ten monthly parts,
and I have to prepare accordingly for the press. No one will take more
interest than yourself in this arrangement. I have much to correct, much
to alter, and not a little to add: among other things, a general preface,
tracing the circumstances which contributed to determine my course as a
poet.
I can say nothing which would give you pleasure to hear on a subject[103]
which concerns me so nearly. We have continued variations of better and
worse, with no tendency to amendment; and according to all human
foresight, no hope of recovery. We entertain no guests, and admit no
company whom it is possible to exclude. God bless you, my dear old
friend, and believe me always
Yours most affectionately,
Robert Southey."
I now refer to an occurrence that gave me some uneasiness. It appears,
from the following letter that the family of Mr. Coleridge felt uneasy at
learning that I intended to disclose to the public, the full extent of
Mr. C.'s subjection to opium.
"September 30, 1836.
My dear Cottle,
... Coleridge's relations are uneasy at what they hear of your intention
to publish an account of him. Yesterday I learnt personally, from an
influential member of the family, what their objections particularly
were. He specified as points on which they were uncomfortable,
Coleridge's own letter, or letters, respecting _opium_, and the
circumstances of a gift of three hundred pounds from Mr. De Quincey.
The truth is, that Coleridge's relations are placed in a most
uncomfortable position. They cannot say that any one of themselves will
bring out a full and authentic account of C. because they know how much
there is, which all who have any regard for Coleridge's memory, would
wish to be buried with him. But we will talk over the subject when we
meet. Meantime I have assured ---- that your feelings toward Coleridge
are, what they have ever been, friendly in the highest degree.
How like a dream does the past appear! through the last years of my life
more than any other part. All hope of recovery, or even of amendment, is
over! In all reason I am convinced of this; and yet at times when Edith
speaks and looks like herself, I am almost ready to look for what, if it
occurred, would be a miracle. _It is quite necessary that I should be
weaned from this constant object of solicitude_; so far at least as to
refresh myself, and recruit for another period of confinement. Like all
other duties, it brings with it its reward: and when I consider with how
many mercies this affliction has been tempered, I have cause indeed to be
thankful. Believe me always, my dear Cottle,
Yours most affectionately,
Robert Southey."
A few days after I received the following letter from Mr. Southey:--
"Keswick, Oct. 10, 1836.
My dear Cottle,
I have long foreseen that poor S. T. Coleridge would leave a large
inheritance of uneasiness to his surviving friends, and those who were
the most nearly connected with him.
The _Head of the Family_ being in these parts, I have heard more
concerning the affair of _your Memoir_, as it respects the feelings of
that family than I should otherwise. He is a thoroughly good man; mild,
unassuming, amiable, and judicious beyond most men. This matter interests
him greatly, on account of his brother having married Mr. S. T.
Coleridge's daughter. Indeed it is in consequence of a letter from the
---- that I am now writing. He cared nothing when a gross and wanton
insult was offered to him in that ... book, but on this occasion he is
much concerned.
A few omissions (one letter in particular, respecting the habit of taking
opium,) would spare them great pain, and leave your book little the
poorer, rich as your materials are. Wilfully I am sure you never gave
pain to any human being, nor any living creature.... You are not like a
witness who is required to tell all which he knows. In those cases the
moral law requires us to tell nothing but the truth, but does not demand
the whole truth, unless the suppression of any part of it should be
tantamount to falsehood.
Of this indeed you are fully aware. You have enough to tell that is
harmless as well as interesting, and not only harmless, but valuable and
instructive, and that _ought_ to be told, and which _no one but yourself
can tell_. Strike out only.... I will read over the Memoir when we meet.
You have abundance of materials; and many things may come to mind which
may supply the place of what should be withdrawn. _You will understand my
motive in pressing this upon you._ God bless you, my dear old friend.
Your's most affectionately,
Robert Southey."
As I determined to publish nothing relating to Mr. Coleridge, without Mr.
Southey's sanction, my first impression, on the receipt of this letter,
was, wholly to _withdraw the work_;--but as I expected soon to see Mr.
S., I resolved to suspend my determination till he had an opportunity of
inspecting the MS. once more, when his specific objections might be
better understood.
Two or three weeks after receiving the former letter, Mr. S. addressed to
me the following hasty line:--
"Friday, Nov. 1, 1836, Pipe Hayes.
My dear Cottle,
Here we are, six miles from Birmingham. Our places are taken for Thursday
morning, in the coach which starts from the Hen and Chickens, Birmingham.
To what Inn it comes in Bristol, I forgot to ask. So, if on our arrival,
we do not find your vehicle, we shall pack ourselves, and our luggage, in
a hackney-coach, without delay, and drive to Carlton Villa. So on
Thursday evening I hope to see you.
God bless you, my dear old friend,
Robert Southey."
P.S. "I saw Wordsworth on my way, and mentioned your wish about engraving
his portrait. He referred it entirely to my opinion of its
likeness."[104]
On his arrival, Mr. Southey deliberately re-read the whole of my MS., and
objected alone to a few trifles, which were expunged. He read the series
of _opium letters_ with a mind evidently affected, but no part did he
interdict. He now arrived at, and read the solemn _Testamentary
Letter_,(p. 394 [Letter dating "Bristol, June 26th, 1814. Transcriber.]).
I said to him, "Southey shall I, or shall I not, omit this letter." He
paused for a few moments, and then distinctly said. "You must print it.
It is your authority for what you have done." He then continued, "You
must print it also, for the sake of faithful biography, and for the
beneficial effect this, and the other opium letters must inevitably
produce." This unqualified approval determined me to publish the whole of
the opium letters.
I here give the next letter I received from Mr. Southey, when he had
returned home, after his long excursion to Bristol, and the West of
England, by which it will be perceived that no after inclination existed
in Mr. S.'s mind to alter the opinion he had given.
"Keswick, May 9, 1837.
My dear Cottle,
It is scarcely possible that a day should pass, in which some
circumstance, some object, or train of recollection, does not bring you
to my mind. You may suppose then how much I thought of you during the
employment I recently got through of correcting "_Joan of Arc_" for the
last time....
Our journey, after we left your comfortable house, was as prosperous as
it could be at that time of the year. We have reason, indeed, to be
thankful, that travelling so many hundred miles, in all sorts of ways,
and over all kinds of roads, we met with no mischief of any kind; nor any
difficulties greater than what served for matter of amusement. During the
great hurricane, we were at Dawlish, in a house on the beach, from which
we saw the full effect of its force on the sea.
The great snow-storm caught us at Tavistock, and rendered it impossible
for us to make our intended excursion on Dartmoor. Cuthbert and I parted
company at my friend, Miss Caroline Bowles's, near Lymington, he going to
his brother-in-law, (at Terring, where he is preparing for the
University,) I, the next day, to London. I joined him again at Terring,
three weeks afterward; and, after a week, made the best of my way home.
The objects of my journey were fully accomplished. Cuthbert has seen most
of the spots which I desired to show him, and has been introduced to the
few old friends whom I have left in the West of England. I had much
pleasure, but not unmingled with pain, in visiting many places which
brought back vividly the remembrance of former days; but to Cuthbert, all
was pure pleasure.
God bless you, my dear old friend,
Yours affectionately,
Robert Southey."
In a previous letter Mr. Southey had said in a contemplative mood,
"... Little progress is made in my 'Life of George Fox' but considerable
preparation. This, and some sketches of Monastic history, will probably
complete the ecclesiastical portion of my labours. Alas! I have
undertaken more than there is any reasonable likelihood of completing. My
head will soon be white, and I feel a disposition to take more thought
for the morrow than I was wont to do; not as if distrusting providence,
which has hitherto supported me, _but my own powers of exertion!_"
I pass over the intervening period between this, and my old friend's
mental affliction, as more properly belonging to Mr. Southey's regular
biographer, but this much I may observe.
Having heard, with the deepest concern, that Mr. Southey's mind was
affected, I addressed a kind letter to him, to inquire after his health,
and requested only one line from him, to relieve my anxiety, if only the
signing of his name. I received a letter in reply, from his kindest
friend, of which the following is an extract.
"... With deep and affectionate interest he read and re-read your letter,
and many times in the course of the evening he received it I observed
tears in his eyes. 'I will write to Cottle,' he has often repeated since,
but alas! the purpose remains unfulfilled, and from me, dear sir, you
must receive the explanation of his silence...."
On communicating this melancholy intelligence to my old and valued
friend, Mr. Foster, he thus replied.
"My dear sir,
I am obliged for your kind note, and the letter, which I here return. I
can well believe that you must feel it a mournful communication. A friend
in early life: a friend ever since; a man highly, and in considerable
part, meritoriously conspicuous in the literature of the age; and now at
length prostrated, and on the borders of the grave; for there can be no
doubt the bodily catastrophe will soon follow the mental one. It is a
most wonderful career that he has run in literary achievement, and it is
striking to see such a man disabled at last, even to write a letter to an
old friend! It is interesting to myself, as it must be to every one
accustomed to contemplate the labours and productions of mind, to see
such a spirit finally resigning its favourite occupations, and retiring
from its fame!..."
Mr. Foster, referring to the death of his friends, thus afterwards wrote.
"Stapleton, June 22, 1842.
My dear sir,
... How our old circle is narrowing around us. Going back just three
years and a-half, I was recounting yesterday eleven persons departed
within that space of time; three-fourths of those who had formed, till
then, the list of my old friends and acquaintance, leaving just a few,
how few, of those who are my coevals, or approaching to that standard.
You are within one, and he at a great distance, whom I may never see
again, the oldest in both senses, of the almost solitary remainder. Our
day is not far off. Oh, may we be prepared to welcome its arrival...."
The following is an extract from another letter of Mr. Foster's
containing the same train of thought.
"My dear sir,
... My thoughts are often pensively turning on the enumeration of those I
may call my coevals; and many of them of long acquaintance who have been
called away within these few years. An old, and much valued friend at
Worcester, Mr. Stokes, from whose funeral I returned little more than in
time to attend that of our estimable friend, your brother-in-law, Mr.
Hare; since then, your excellent sister Mary. Mr. Coles, of Bourton,
known and esteemed almost forty years. Mr. Addington. Lately in Scotland,
the worthy Mr. Dove; and now last of all, so unexpectedly, Mr. Roberts. I
dined with him at Mr. Wade's, perhaps not more than ten days before his
death....
With friendly regards, I remain, my dear sir,
Most truly yours,
John Foster."
A letter of mine to Mr. Foster, referring chiefly to Mr. Southey, may not
inappropriately be here introduced.
"July 6, 1842.
To the Rev. John Foster,
My dear Sir,--I sympathize with you on the comparatively recent loss of
so large a proportion of your early friends and acquaintance. I can, to a
great extent, participate in similar feelings. Yourself and Mr.
Wordsworth are the only two survivors, of all with whom in early life I
joined in familiar intercourse, for poor dear Southey since I last wrote
to you concerning him, is worse than dead. Mr. W., who dined with me last
summer, told me that he does not now know his own children. He said, he
had a short time previously called upon him, and he fancied that a slight
glimpse of remembrance crossed his mind, when, in a moment, he silently
passed to his library, and taking down a book, (from mechanical habit)
turned over the pages, without reading, or the power of reading. Pardon
prolixity, where the heart is so full. Surely the world does not present
a more melancholy, or a more humiliating sight, than the prostration of
so noble a mind as that of my old and highly-prized friend, Robert
Southey. When I first knew him, he had all that Westminster and Oxford
could give him. He was, as the Mores said, to whom I had introduced him,
'brimfull of literature:' decisive and enthusiastic in all his
sentiments, and impetuous in all his feelings, whether of approval or
dislike. I never knew one more uncompromising in what he believed either
to be right, or wrong; thereby marking the integrity of his mind, which
ever shrunk from the most distant approximation to duplicity or meanness.
This disposition manifested itself almost in infancy, for his mother, an
acute and very worthy woman, told me, in the year 1798, that whenever any
mischief or accident occurred amongst the children, which some might wish
to conceal, she always applied to Robert, who never hesitated, or
deviated from the truth, though he himself might have been implicated.
And in after life, whatever sentiments he avowed, none who knew the
confirmed fidelity of his mind, could possibly doubt that they were the
genuine dictates of his heart.
There was in Southey, alas! his sun is set!--I must, write in the third
person!--one other quality which commands admiration; an habitual
delicacy in his conversation, evidencing that cheerfulness and wit might
exist without ribaldry, grossness, or profanation. He neither violated
decorum himself, nor tolerated it in others. I have been present when a
trespasser of the looser class, has received, a rebuke, I might say a
castigation, well deserved, and not readily forgotten. His abhorrence
also of injustice, or unworthy conduct, in its diversified shapes, had
all the decision of a Roman censor; while this apparent austerity was
associated, when in the society he liked, with so bland and playful a
spirit, that it abolished all constraint, and rendered him one of the
most agreeable, as well as the most intelligent of companions.
It must occasionally have been exemplified in your experience, that some
writers who have acquired a transient popularity, perchance, more from
adventitious causes, than sterling merit, appear at once to occupy an
increased space, and fancy that he who fills his own field of vision,
occupies the same space in the view of others. This disposition will
almost invariably be found in those who most readily depreciate those
whom they cannot excel; as if every concession to the merits of another
subtracted from their own claims. Southey was eminently exempt from this
little feeling. He heartily encouraged genius, wherever it was
discoverable; whether, 'with all appliances,' the jewel shone forth from
academic bowers, or whether the gem was incrusted with extraneous matter,
and required the toil of polishing; indifferent to him, it met with the
encouraging smile, and the fostering care.
It may be truly said, Mr. Southey exacted nothing, and consequently his
excellencies were the more readily allowed; and this merit was the
greater, since, as Mr. Coleridge remarked, "he had written on so many
subjects, and so well on all." Although his company was sought by men of
the first rank and talent, from whom he always received that
acknowledgment, if not deference, which is due to great attainments and
indisputable genius, yet such honours excited no plebeian pride. It
produced none of that morbid inflation, which, wherever found,
instinctively excites a repulsive feeling. It was this unassuming air,
this suavity of deportment, which so attached Southey to his friends, and
gave such permanence to their regard.
It seems almost invidious to single out one distinguishing quality in his
mind, when so many deserve notice, but I have often been struck with the
quickness of his perception; the promptitude with which he discovered
whatever was good or bad in composition, either in prose or verse. When
reading the production of another, the tones of his voice became a
_merit-thermometer_, a sort of _Aeolian-harp-test_; in the flat parts his
voice was unimpassioned, but if the gust of genius swept over the wires,
his tones rose in intensity, till his own energy of feeling and
expression kindled in others a sympathetic impulse, which the dull were
forced to feel, whilst his animated recitations threw fresh meaning into
the minds of the more discerning.
What an emblem of human instability! The idea of Robert Southey's altered
state can hardly force itself on my imagination. The image of one lately
in full vigour, who appeared, but as yesterday, all thought and
animation, whose mind exhibited a sort of rocky firmness, and seemed made
almost for perpetuity; I say it is hard to conceive of faculties so
strong and richly matured, reduced now even to imbecility! The image of
death I could withstand, for it is the lot of mortals, but the spectacle
of such a mind associated with living extinction, appears incongruous,
and to exceed the power of possible combination. Those who witnessed the
progressive advances of this mournful condition were prepared for the
event by successive changes, but with my anterior impressions, if in his
present state I were to be abruptly presented to Robert Southey, and met
the vacant and cold glance of indifference, the concussion to my feelings
would so overwhelm, that--merciful indeed would be the power which
shielded me from a like calamity.
Southey spent a week with me, four or five years ago, when he manifested
the same kind and cordial behaviour, which he had uniformly displayed for
nearly half a century, and which had never during that long period been
interrupted for a moment. Nor was steadfastness in friendship one of his
least excellencies. From the kindliness of his spirit, he excited an
affectionate esteem in his friends, which they well knew no
capriciousness on his part would interrupt: to which, it might be added,
his mind was well balanced, presenting no unfavourable eccentricities,
and but few demands for the exercise of charity. Justly also, may it be
affirmed, that he was distinguished for the exemplary discharge of all
the social and relative virtues; disinterestedly generous, and
scrupulously conscientious, presenting in his general deportment,
courteousness without servility, and dignity without pride. There was in
him so much kindliness and sincerity, so much of upright purpose, and
generous feeling, that the belief is forced on the mind, that, through
the whole range of biographical annals, few men, endowed with the higher
order of intellect, have possessed more qualities commanding esteem than
Robert Southey; who so happily blended the great with the amiable, or
whose memory will become more permanently fragrant to the lovers of
genius, or the friends of virtue. Nor would Southey receive a fair
measure of justice by any display of personal worth, without noticing the
application of his talents. His multifarious writings, whilst they embody
such varied excellence, display wherever the exhibition was demanded, or
admissible, a moral grandeur, and reverence of religion, which indirectly
reflects on some, less prodigally endowed, who do, and have, corrupted by
their prose, or disseminated their pollutions through the sacred, but
desecrated medium of song.
It was always a luxury with Southey to talk of old times, places, and
persons; and Bristol, with its vicinities, he thought the most beautiful
city he had ever seen. When a boy he was almost a resident among St.
Vincent's rocks, and Leigh Woods. The view, from the Coronation Road, of
the Hotwells, with Clifton, and its triple crescents, he thought
surpassed any view of the kind in Europe. He loved also to extol his own
mountain scenery, and, at his last visit, upbraided me for not paying him
a visit at Greta Hall, where, he said, he would have shown me the glories
of the district, and also have given me a sail on the lake, in his own
boat, 'The Royal Noah.' After dwelling on his entrancing water-scenes,
and misty eminences, he wanted much, he said to show me his library,
which at that time consisted of fourteen thousand volumes, which he had
been accumulating all his life, from the rare catalogues of all nations:
but still, he remarked, he had a list of five hundred other volumes to
obtain, and after possessing these, he said, he should be satisfied.
Alas! he little knew, how soon the whole would appear to him--less than
the herbage of the desert!
At this time, Mr. S. mentioned a trifling occurrence, arising out of what
happened to be the nature of our conversation, although it is hardly
worth naming to you, who so lightly esteem human honours. He said, some
years before, when he chanced to be in London, he accepted an invitation
to dine with the Archbishop of Canterbury but, subsequently, he received
an invitation for the same day, from the Duchess of Kent, to dine at
Kensington Palace; and as invitations from Royalty supersede all others,
he sent an apology to the Archbishop, and dined with more Lords and
Ladies than he could remember. At the conclusion of the repast, before
the Ladies retired, _she_ who was destined to receive _homage_, on proper
occasions, had learnt to pay _respect_, for the young Princess (our
present gracious Queen Victoria) came up to him, and curtseying, very
prettily said, 'Mr. Southey, I thank you for the pleasure I have received
in reading your Life of Lord Nelson.'
I must mention one other trait in Southey, which did him peculiar honour,
I allude to the readiness with which he alluded to any little acts of
kindness which he might have received from any of his friends, in past
years. To the discredit of human nature, there is in general a laborious
endeavour to bury all such remembrances in the waters of Lethe: Southey's
mind was formed on a different model.
The tear which dims my eye, attests the affection which I still bear to
poor dear Southey. Few knew him better than myself, or more highly
estimated the fine qualities of his head and heart; and still fewer can
be oppressed with deeper commiseration for his present forlorn and
hopeless condition.... My dear sir,
Most truly yours,
Joseph Cottle.
Rev. John Foster."
I have now to present the Reader with a series of letters from Mr.
Coleridge to the late Josiah and Thomas Wedgewood, Esqrs.; obligingly
communicated to me by Francis Wedgewood, Esq., of Etruria, son of Mr.
Josiah Wedgewood.
"May 21st, 1799. Gottingen.
My dear sir,
I have lying by my side six huge letters, with your name on each of them,
and all, excepting one, have been written for these three months. About
this time Mr. Hamilton, by whom I send this and the little parcel for my
wife, was, as it were, setting off for England; and I seized the
opportunity of sending them by him, as without any mock-modesty I really
thought that the expense of the postage to me and to you would be more
than their worth. Day after day, and week after week, was Hamilton going,
and still delayed. And now that it is absolutely settled that he goes
to-morrow, it is likewise absolutely settled that I shall go this day
three weeks, and I have therefore sent only this and the picture by him,
but the letters I will now take myself, for I should not like them to be
lost, as they comprize the only subject on which I have had an
opportunity of making myself thoroughly informed, and if I carry them
myself, I can carry them without danger of their being seized at
Yarmouth, as all my letters were, yours to ---- excepted, which were,
luckily, not sealed. Before I left England, I had read the book of which
you speak. I must confess that it appeared to me exceedingly illogical.
Godwin's and Condorcet's extravagancies were not worth confuting; and yet
I thought that the Essay on 'Population' had not confuted them. Professor
Wallace, Derham, and a number of German statistic, and
physico-theological writers had taken the same ground, namely, that
population increases in a geometrical, but the accessional nutriment only
in arithmetical ratio--and that vice and misery, the natural consequences
of this order of things, were intended by providence as the counterpoise.
I have here no means of procuring so obscure a book, as Rudgard's; but to
the best of my recollection, at the time that the Fifth Monarchy
enthusiasts created so great a sensation in England, under the
Protectorate, and the beginning of Charles the Second's reign, Rudgard,
or Rutgard (I am not positive even of the name) wrote an Essay to the
same purpose, in which he asserted, that if war, pestilence, vice, and
poverty, were wholly removed, the world could not exist two hundred
years, &c. Seiffmilts, in his great work concerning the divine order and
regularity in the destiny of the human race, has a chapter entitled a
confutation of this idea; I read it with great eagerness, and found
therein that this idea militated against the glory and goodness of God,
and must therefore be false,--but further confutation found I none!--This
book of Seiffmilts has a prodigious character throughout Germany; and
never methinks did a work less deserve it. It is in three huge octavos,
and wholly on the general laws that regulate the population of the human
species--but is throughout most unphilosophical, and the tables, which he
has collected with great industry, prove nothing. My objections to the
Essay on Population you will find in my sixth letter at large--but do
not, my dear sir, suppose that because unconvinced by this essay, I am
therefore convinced of the contrary. No, God knows, I am sufficiently
sceptical, and in truth more than sceptical, concerning the possibility
of universal plenty and wisdom; but my doubts rest on other grounds. I
had some conversation with you before I left England, on this subject;
and from that time I had purposed to myself to examine as thoroughly as
it was possible for me, the important question. Is the march of the human
race progressive, or in cycles? But more of this when we meet.
What have I done in Germany? I have learned the language, both high and
low German, I can read both, and speak the former so fluently, that it
must be a fortune for a German to be in my company, that is, I have words
enough and phrases enough, and I arrange them tolerably; but my
pronunciation is hideous. 2ndly, I can read the oldest German, the
Frankish, and the Swabian. 3rdly, I have attended the lectures on
Physiology, Anatomy, and Natural History, with regularity, and have
endeavoured to understand these subjects. 4thly, I have read and made
collections for a history of the. 'Belles Lettres,' in Germany, before
the time of Lessing: and 5thly, very large collections for a 'Life of
Lessing;' to which I was led by the miserably bad and unsatisfactory
biographies that have been hitherto given, and by my personal
acquaintance with two of Lessing's friends. Soon after I came into
Germany, I made up my mind fully not to publish anything concerning my
travels, as people call them; yet I soon perceived that with all possible
economy, my expenses would be greater than I could justify, unless I did
something that would to a moral certainty repay them. I chose the 'Life
of Lessing' for the reasons above assigned, and because it would give me
an opportunity of conveying under a better name than my own ever will be,
opinions which I deem of the highest importance. Accordingly, my main
business at Gottingen, has been to read all the numerous controversies in
which Lessing was engaged, and the works of all those German poets before
the time of Lessing, which I could not afford to buy. For these last four
months, with the exception of last week, in which I visited the Hartz, I
have worked harder than I trust in God Almighty, I shall ever have
occasion to work again: this endless transcription is such a
body-and-soul-wearying purgatory. I shall have bought thirty pounds'
worth of books, chiefly metaphysics, and with a view to the one work, to
which I hope to dedicate in silence, the prime of my life; but I believe
and indeed doubt not, that before Christmas I shall have repaid myself.
I never, to the best of my recollection, felt the fear of death but once;
that was yesterday when I delivered the picture to Hamilton. I felt, and
shivered as I felt it, that I should not like to die by land or water
before I see my wife and the little one; that I hope yet remains to me.
But it was an idle sort of feeling, and I should not like to have it
again. Poole half mentioned, in a hasty way, a circumstance that
depressed my spirits for many days:--that you and Thomas were on the
point of settling near Stowey, but had abandoned it. "God Almighty! what
a dream of happiness it held out to me!" writes Poole. I felt
disappointment without having had hope.
In about a month I hope to see you. Till then may heaven bless and
preserve us! Believe me, my dear sir, with every feeling of love, esteem,
and gratitude,
Your affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge.
Josiah Wedgewood, Esq."
"21, Buckingham Street, Strand, January, 1800.
My dear sir,
I am sitting by a fire in a rug great coat. Your room is doubtless to a
greater degree air tight than mine, or your notions of Tartarus would
veer round to the Greenlander's creed. It is most barbarously cold, and
you, I fear, can shield yourself from it, only by perpetual imprisonment.
If any place in the southern climates were in a state of real quiet, and
likely to continue so, should you feel no inclination to migrate? Poor
Southey, from over great industry, as I suspect, the industry too of
solitary composition, has reduced himself to a terrible state of
weakness, and is determined to leave this country as soon as he has
finished the poem on which he is now employed. 'Tis a melancholy thing
that so young a man, and one whose life has ever been so simple and
self-denying....
O, for a peace, and the south of France! I could almost wish for a
Bourbon king, if it were only that Sieyes and Buonaparte might finish
their career in the old orthodox way of hanging. Thank God, _I have my
health perfectly_, and I am working hard; yet the present state of human
affairs presses on me for days together, so as to deprive me of all my
cheerfulness. It is probable that a man's private and personal connexions
and interests ought to be uppermost in his daily and hourly thoughts, and
that the dedication of much hope and fear to subjects which are perhaps
disproportionate to our faculties and powers, is a disease. But I have
had this disease so long, and my early education was so undomestic, that
I know not how to get rid of it; or even to wish to get rid of it. Life
were so flat a thing without enthusiasm, that if for a moment it leaves
me, I have a sort of stomach sensation attached to all my thoughts, _like
those which succeed to the pleasurable operations of a dose of opium._
Now I make up my mind to a sort of heroism in believing the
progressiveness of all nature, during the present melancholy state of
humanity, and on this subject _I am now writing_; and no work on which I
ever employed myself makes me so happy while I am writing.
I shall remain in London till April. The expenses of my last year made it
necessary for me to exert my industry, and many other good ends are
answered at the same time. Where I next settle I shall, continue, and
that must be in a state of retirement and rustication. It is therefore
good for me to have a run of society, and that, various, and consisting
of marked characters. Likewise, by being obliged to write without much
elaboration, I shall greatly improve myself in naturalness and facility
of style, and the particular subjects on which I write for money are
nearly connected with my future schemes. My mornings I give to
compilations which I am sure cannot be wholly useless, and for which, by
the beginning of April I shall have earned nearly £150. My evenings to
the _Theatres_, as I am to conduct a sort of Dramaterye or series of
Essays on the Drama, both its general principles, and likewise in
reference to the present state of the English Theatres. This I shall
publish in the 'Morning Post.' My attendance on the theatres costs me
nothing, and Stuart, the Editor, covers my expenses in London. Two
mornings, and one whole day, I dedicate to these Essays on the possible
progressiveness of man, and on the principles of population. In April I
retire to my greater works,--'The Life of Lessing.' My German chests are
arrived, but I have them not yet, but expect them from Stowey daily; when
they come I shall send a letter.
I have seen a good deal of Godwin, who has just published a Novel. I like
him for thinking so well of Davy. He talks of him every where as the most
extraordinary of human beings he had ever met with. I cannot say that,
for I know _one_ whom I feel to be the superior, but I never met with so
extraordinary a _young man_. I have likewise dined with Horne Tooke. He
is a clear-headed old man, as every man must needs be who attends to the
real import of words, but there is a sort of charlatanry in his manner
that did not please me. He makes such a mystery out of plain and palpable
things, and never tells you any thing without first exciting, and
detaining your curiosity. But it were a bad heart that could not pardon
worse faults than these in the author of 'The Diversions of Purley.'
Believe me, my dear sir, with much affection
Yours,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood, Esq."
"21, Buckingham Street, Feb. 1800.
My dear sir,
Your brother's health [Mr. Thomas Wedgewood] outweighs all other
considerations. Beyond a doubt he has made himself acquainted with the
degree of heat which he is to experience there [the West Indies]. The
only objections that I see are so obvious, that it is idle in me to
mention them: the total want of men with whose pursuits your brother can
have a fellow feeling: the length and difficulty of the return, in case
of a disappointment; and the necessity of sea-voyages to almost every
change of scenery. I will not think of the yellow fever; that I hope is
quite out of all probability. Believe me, my dear friend, I have some
difficulty in suppressing all that is within me of affection and grief.
God knows my heart, wherever your brother is, I shall follow him in
spirit; follow him with my thoughts and most affectionate wishes.
I read your letter, and did as you desired me. ---- is very cool to me.
Whether I have still any of the leaven of the _Citizen_, and visionary
about me--too much for his present zeal, or whether he is incapable of
attending.... As to his views, he is now gone to Cambridge to canvass for
a Fellowship in Trinity Hall. Mackintosh has kindly written to Dr.
Lawrence, who is very intimate with the Master, and he has other
interest. He is also trying hard, and in expectation of a
Commissionership of Bankruptcy, and means to pursue the law with all
ardour and steadiness. As to the state of his mind, it is that which it
was and will be. God love him! He has a most incurable forehead. ----
called on him and looking on his table, saw by accident a letter directed
to himself. Said he, 'Why ---- what letter is this for me? and from
----,' 'Yes I have had it some time.' 'Why did you not give it me?' 'Oh,
it wants some explanation first. You must not read it now, for I can't
give you the explanation now.' And ----, who you know is a right
easy-natured man, has not been able to get his own letter from him to
this hour! Of his success at Cambridge, Caldwell, is doubtful, or more
than doubtful....
So much of ----. All that I know, and all I suspect that is to be known.
A kind, gentlemanly, affectionate hearted man, possessed of an absolute
talent for industry. Would to God, he had never heard of Philosophy!
I have been three times to the House of Commons; each time earlier than
the former; and each time hideously crowded. The two first days the
debate was put off. Yesterday I went at a quarter before eight, and
remained till three this morning, and then sat writing and correcting
other men's writing till eight--a good twenty four hours of unpleasant
activity! I have not felt myself sleepy yet. Pitt and Fox completely
answered my pre-formed ideas of them. The elegance and high finish of
Pitt's periods, even in the most sudden replies, is _curious_, but that
is all. He argues but so so, and does not reason at all. Nothing is
rememberable of what he says. Fox possesses all the full and overflowing
eloquence of a man of clear head, clear heart, and impetuous feelings. He
is to my mind a great orator; all the rest that spoke were mere
creatures. I could make a better speech myself than any that I heard,
except Pitt and Fox. I reported that part of Pitt's which I have enclosed
in brackets, not that I report ex-officio, but my curiosity having led me
there, I did Stuart a service by taking a few notes.
I work from morning to night, but in a few weeks I shall have completed
my purpose, and then adieu to London for ever. We newspaper scribes are
true galley-slaves. When the high winds of events blow loud and frequent
then the sails are hoisted, or the ship drives on of itself. When all is
calm and sunshine then to our oars. Yet it is not unflattering to a man's
vanity to reflect that what he writes at twelve at night, will before
twelve hours are over, have perhaps, five or six thousand readers! To
trace a happy phrase, good image, or new argument, running through the
town and sliding into all the papers. Few wine merchants can boast of
creating more sensation. Then to hear a favorite and often-urged
argument, repeated almost in your own particular phrases, in the House of
Commons; and, quietly in the silent self-complacence of your own heart,
chuckle over the plagiarism, as if you were monopolist of all good
reasons. But seriously, considering that I have newspapered it merely as
means of subsistence, while I was doing other things, I have been very
lucky. 'The New Constitution'; 'The Proposal for Peace'; 'The Irish
Union'; &c. &c.; they are important in themselves, and excellent vehicles
for general truths. I am not ashamed of what I have written.
I desired Poole to send you all the papers antecedent to your own; I
think you will like the different analyses of the French constitution. I
have attended Mackintosh's lectures regularly; he was so kind as to send
me a ticket, and I have not failed to profit by it.
I remain, with grateful and most affectionate esteem,
Your faithful friend
S. T. Coleridge.
Josiah Wedgewood, Esq."
"July 24, 1800.
My dear sir,
I find your letter on my arrival at Grasmere, namely, dated on the 29th
of June, since which time to the present, with the exception of the last
few days, I have been more unwell than I have ever been since I left
school. For many days I was forced to keep my bed, and when released from
that incarceration, I suffered most grievously from a brace of swollen
eyelids, and a head into which, on the least agitation, the blood was
felt as rushing in and flowing back again, like the raking of the tide on
a coast of loose stones. However, thank God, I am now coming about again.
That Tom receives such pleasure from natural scenery strikes me as it
does you. The total incapability which I have found in myself to
associate any but the most languid feelings, with the God-like objects
which have surrounded me, and the nauseous efforts to impress my
admiration into the service of nature, has given me a sympathy with his
former state of health, which I never before could have had. I wish, from
the bottom of my soul, that he may be enjoying similar pleasures with
those which I am now enjoying with all that newness of sensation; that
voluptuous correspondence of the blood and flesh about me with breeze and
sun-heat, which makes convalescence more than repay one for disease.
I parted from Poole with pain and dejection, for him, and for myself in
him. I should have given Stowey a decided preference for a residence. It
was likewise so conveniently situated, that I was in the way of almost
all whom I love and esteem. But there was no suitable house, and no
prospect of a suitable house.
... These things would have weighed as nothing, could I have remained at
Stowey, but now they come upon me to diminish my regret. Add to this,
Poole's determination to spend a year or two on the continent, in case of
a peace and his mother's death. God in heaven bless her! I am sure she
will not live long. This is the first day of my arrival at Keswick. My
house is roomy, situated on an eminence, a furlong from the town; before
it an enormous garden, more than two-thirds of which is rented is a
garden for sale articles; but the walks are ours. Completely behind the
house are shrubberies, and a declivity planted with flourishing trees of
ten or fifteen years' growth, at the bottom of which is a most delightful
shaded walk, by the river Greta, a quarter of a mile in length. The room
in which I sit commands from one window the Bassenthwaite lake, woods,
and mountains. From the opposite, the Derwentwater and fantastic
mountains of Borrowdale. Straight before is a wilderness of mountains,
catching and streaming lights and shadows at all times. Behind the house,
and entering into all our views, is Skiddaw.
My acquaintances here are pleasant, and at some distance is Sir Guilfred
Lawson's seat, with a very large and expensive library, to which I have
every reason to hope that I shall have free access. But when I have been
settled here a few days longer, I will write you a minute account of my
situation. Wordsworth lives twelve miles distant. In about a year's time
he will probably settle at Keswick likewise. It is no small advantage
here, that for two-thirds of the year we are in complete retirement. The
other third is alive and swarms with tourists of all shapes, and sizes,
and characters. It is the very place I would recommend to a novelist or
farce writer. Besides, at that time of the year there is always hope that
a friend may be among the number and miscellaneous crowd, whom this place
attracts. So much for Keswick.
Have you seen my translation of Wallenstein. It is a dull heavy play, but
I entertain hopes that you will think the language for the greater part,
natural, and good common sense English; to which excellence, if I can lay
fair claim in any work of poetry or prose, I shall be a very singular
writer, at least. I am now working at my 'Introduction of the Life of
Lessing,' which I trust will be in the press before Christmas, that is,
the 'Introduction,' which will be published first. God bless you,
S. T. Coleridge.
Josiah Wedgewood, Esq."
"Keswick, Nov. 1, 1800.
My dear Sir,
I would fain believe that the experiment which your brother has made in
the West Indies is not wholly a discouraging one. If a warm climate did
nothing but only prevented him from getting worse, it surely evidenced
some power; and perhaps a climate equally favorable in a country of more
various interest, Italy, or the South of France, may tempt your brother
to make a longer trial. If (disciplining myself into silent cheerfulness)
I could be of any comfort to him by being his companion and attendant,
for two or three months, on the supposition that he should wish to
travel, and was at a loss for a companion more fit, I would go with him
with a willing affection. You will easily see, my dear friend, that I say
this only to increase the range of your brother's choice--for even in
choosing there is some pleasure.
There happen frequently little odd coincidences in time, that recall
momentary faith in the notion of sympathies acting in absence. I heard of
your brother's return, for the first time, on Monday last, the day on
which your letter is dated, from Stoddart. Had it rained on my naked skin
I could not have felt more strangely. The 300 or 400 miles that are
between us seemed converted into a moral distance; and I knew that the
whole of this silence I was myself accountable for; for I ended my last
letter by promising to follow it with a second and longer one, before you
could answer the first. But immediately on my arrival in this country I
undertook to finish a poem which I had begun, entitled 'Christabel,' for
a second volume of the 'Lyrical Ballads.' I tried to perform my promise,
but the deep unutterable disgust which I had suffered in the translation
of the accursed Wallenstein, seemed to have stricken me with barrenness;
for I tried and tried, and nothing would come of it. I desisted with a
deeper dejection than I am willing to remember. The wind from the Skiddaw
and Borrowdale was often as loud as wind need be, and many a walk in the
clouds in the mountains did I take; but all would not do, till one day I
dined out at the house of a neighbouring clergyman, and some how or other
drank so much wine, that I found some effort and dexterity requisite to
balance myself on the hither edge of sobriety. The next day my
verse-making faculties returned to me, and I proceeded successfully, till
my poem grew so long, and in Wordsworth's opinion so impressive, that he
rejected it from his volume, as disproportionate both in size and merit,
and as discordant in its character. In the mean time I had gotten myself
entangled in the old sorites of the old sophist,--procrastination. I had
suffered my necessary businesses to accumulate so terribly, that I
neglected to write to any one, till the pain I suffered from not writing
made me waste as many hours in dreaming about it as would have sufficed
for the letter writing of half a life. But there is something beside time
requisite for the writing of a letter--at least with me. My situation
here is indeed a delightful situation; but I feel what I have lost--feel
it deeply--it recurs more often and more painfully than I had
anticipated, indeed so much so, that I scarcely ever feel myself
impelled, that is to say, pleasurably impelled to write to Poole. I used
to feel myself more at home in his great windy parlour than in my own
cottage. We were well suited to each other--my animal spirits corrected
his inclination to melancholy; and there was something both in his
understanding and in his affections, so healthy and manly, that my mind
freshened in his company, and my ideas and habits of thinking acquired
day after day more of substance and reality. Indeed, indeed, my dear sir,
with tears in my eyes, and with all my heart and soul, I wish it were as
easy for us all to meet as it was when you lived at Upcott. Yet when I
revise the step I have taken, I know not how I could have acted otherwise
than I did act. Everything I promised myself in this country has answered
far beyond my expectation. The room in which I write commands six
distinct landscapes--the two lakes, the vale, the river and mountains,
and mists, and clouds and sunshine, make endless combinations, as if
heaven and earth were for ever talking to each other. Often when in a
deep study, I have walked to the window and remained there looking
without seeing; all at once the lake of Keswick and the fantastic
mountains of Borrowdale, at the head of it, have entered into my mind,
with a suddenness as if I had been snatched out of Cheapside and placed
for the first time, in the spot where I stood--and that is a delightful
feeling--these fits and trances of novelty received from a long known
object. The river Greta flows behind our house, roaring like an untamed
son of the hills, then winds round and glides away in the front, so that
we live in a peninsula. But besides this etherial eye-feeding we have
very substantial conveniences. We are close to the town, where we have
respectable and neighbourly acquaintance, and a most sensible and truly
excellent medical man. Our garden is part of a large nursery garden,
which is the same to us and as private as if the whole had been our own,
and thus too we have delightful walks without passing our garden gates.
My landlord who lives in the sister house, for the two houses are built
so as to look like one great one, is a modest and kind man, of a singular
character. By the severest economy he raised himself from a carrier into
the possession of a comfortable independence. He was always very fond of
reading, and has collected nearly 500 volumes, of our most esteemed
modern writers, such as Gibbon, Hume, Johnson, &c. &c. His habits of
economy and simplicity, remain with him, and yet so very disinterested a
man I scarcely ever knew. Lately, when I wished to settle with him about
the rent of our house, he appeared much affected, told me that my living
near him, and the having so much of Hartley's company were great comforts
to him and his housekeeper, that he had no children to provide for, and
did not mean to marry; and in short, that he did not want any rent at all
from me. This of course I laughed him out of; but he absolutely refused
to receive any rent for the first half-year, under the pretext that the
house was not completely furnished. Hartley quite lives at the house, and
it is as you may suppose, no small joy to my wife to have a good
affectionate motherly woman divided from her only by a wall. Eighteen
miles from our house lives Sir Guilfred Lawson, who has a princely
library, chiefly of natural history--a kind and generous, but weak and
ostentatious sort of man, who has been abundantly civil to me. Among
other raree shows, he keeps a wild beast or two, with some eagles, &c.
The master of the beasts at the Exeter 'Change, sent him down a large
bear,--with it a long letter of directions, concerning the food &c. of
the animal, and many solicitations respecting the agreeable quadrupeds
which he was desirous to send to the baronet, at a moderate price, and
concluding in this manner: 'and remain your honour's most devoted humble
servant, J. P. Permit me, sir Guilfred, to send you a buffalo and a
rhinoceros.' As neat a postscript as I ever heard--the tradesmanlike
coolness with which these pretty little animals occurred to him just at
the finishing of his letter! You will in three weeks see the letters on
the 'Rise and Condition of the German Boors.' I found it convenient to
make up a volume out of my journey, &c. in North Germany--and the letters
(your name of course erased) are in the printer's hands. I was so weary
of transcribing and composing, that when I found those more carefully
written than the rest, I even sent them off as they were....
My littlest one is a very stout boy indeed. He is christened by the name
of 'Derwent,'--a sort of sneaking affection you see for the poetical and
novelist, which I disguised to myself under the show, that my brothers
had so many children Johns, Jameses, Georges, &c. &c., that a handsome
christian-like name was not to be had except by encroaching on the names
of my little nephews. If you are at Gunville at Christmas, I hold out
hopes to myself that I shall be able to pass a week with you there. I
mentioned to you at Upcott a kind of comedy that I had committed to
writing in part. This is in the wind.
Wordsworth's second vol. of the 'Lyrical Ballads' will I hope, and almost
believe, afford you as unmingled pleasure as is in the nature of a
collection of very various poems to afford to one individual mind.
Sheridan has sent to him too--requests him to write a tragedy for Drury
Lane. But W. will not be diverted by any thing from the prosecution of
his great work.
Southey's 'Thalaba,' in twelve books, is going to the press.
Remember me with great affection to your brother, and present my kindest
respects to Mrs. Wedgwood. Your late governess wanted one thing, which
where there is health is I think indispensable in the moral character of
a young person--a light and cheerful heart. She interested me a good
deal. She appears to me to have been injured by going out of the common
way without any of that imagination, which if it be a Jack o' Lanthern to
lead us that out way, is however, at the same time a torch to light us
whither we are going. A whole essay might be written on the danger of
thinking without images. God bless you, my dear sir, and him who is with
grateful and affectionate esteem,
Yours ever,
S. T. Coleridge.
Josiah Wedgewood."
"Keswick, Oct. 20, 1802.
My dear sir,
This is my birthday, my thirtieth. It will not appear wonderful to you,
when I tell you, that before the arrival of your letter, I had been
thinking with a great weight of different feelings, concerning you, and
your dear brother, for I have good reason to believe, that I should not
now have been alive, if in addition to other miseries, I had had
immediate poverty pressing upon me. I will never again remain silent so
long. It has not been altogether indolence, or my habit of
procrastination which have kept me from writing, but an eager wish,--I
may truly say, a thirst of spirit, to have something honourable to tell
you of myself.
At present I must be content to tell you something cheerful. My health is
very much better. I am stronger in every respect, and am not injured by
study, or the act of sitting at my writing desk; but my eyes suffer if at
any time I have been intemperate in the use of candle light. This account
supposes another, namely, that my mind is calm, and more at ease. My dear
sir, when I was last with you at Stowey, my heart was often full, and I
could scarcely keep from communicating to you the tale of my distresses,
but could I add to your depression, when you were low? or how interrupt,
or cast a shade on your good spirits, that were so rare, and so precious
to you?
* * * * *
I found no comfort but in the direct speculations;--in the 'Ode to
Dejection,' which you were pleased with. These lines, in the original,
followed the line 'My shaping spirit of imagination,'--
'For not to think of what I needs must feel,
But to be still and patient, all I can,
And haply by abstruse research to steal
From my own nature all the natural man;
This was my sole resource, my only plan
And that which suits a part infests the whole,
And now is almost grown the temple of my soul.'
I give you these lines for the spirit, and not for the poetry.
* * * * *
But better days are arrived, and are still to come, I have had
visitations of--that I may yet be something of which those who love me
may be proud.
I cannot write that without recalling dear Poole. I have heard twice, and
written twice, and I fear by a strange fatality, one of the letters will
have missed him. Leslie[105] was here some time ago. I was very much
pleased with him. And now I will tell you what I am doing. I dedicate
three days in the week to the 'Morning Post,' and shall hereafter write,
for the far greater part, such things as will be of a permanent interest
as any thing I can hope to write; and you will shortly see a little essay
of mine, justifying the writing in a newspaper.
My comparison of the French with the Roman Empire was very favourably
received. The poetry which I have sent is merely the emptying out of my
desk. The epigrams are wretched indeed, but they answered Stewart's
purpose, better than better things. I ought not to have given any
signature to them whatsoever. I never dreamt of acknowledging, either
them, or the Ode to the 'Rain.' As to feeble expressions, and unpolished
lines--there is the rub! Indeed, my dear sir, I do value your opinion
very highly. I think your judgment in the sentiment, the imagery, the
flow of a poem, decisive; at least, if it differed from my own, and if
after frequent consideration mine remained different, it would leave me
at least perplexed. For you are a perfect electrometer in these
things--but in point of poetic diction, I am not so well satisfied that
you do not require a certain aloofness from the language of real life,
which I think deadly to poetry.
Very soon however I shall present you from the press with my opinions
full on the subject of style, both in prose and verse; and I am confident
of one thing, that I shall convince you that I have thought much and
patiently on the subject, and that I understand the whole strength of my
antagonist's cause. For I am now busy on the subject, and shall in a very
few weeks go to press with a volume on the prose writings of Hall,
Milton, and Taylor; and shall immediately follow it up with an essay on
the writings of Dr. Johnson and Gibbon, and in these two volumes I
flatter myself I shall present a fair history of English Prose. If my
life and health remain, and I do but write half as much, and as regularly
as I have done during the last six weeks, this will be finished by
January next; and I shall then put together my memorandum-book on the
subject of Poetry. In both I have endeavoured sedulously to state the
facts and the differences clearly and accurately; and my reasons for the
preference of one style to another are secondary to this.
Of this be assured, that I will never give any thing to the world in
_propriae personae_ in my own name which I have not tormented with the
file. I sometimes suspect that my foul copy would often appear to general
readers more polished than my fair copy. Many of the feeble and
colloquial expressions have been industriously substituted for others
which struck me as artificial, and not standing the test; as being
neither the language of passion, nor distinct conceptions. Dear sir,
indulge me with looking still further on in my literary life.
1 have, since my twentieth year, meditated an heroic poem on the 'Siege
of Jerusalem,' by Titus. This is the pride and the stronghold of my hope,
but I never think of it except in my best moods. The work to which I
dedicate the ensuing years of my life, is one which highly pleased
Leslie, in prospective, and my paper will not let me prattle to you about
it. I have written what you more wished me to write, all about myself.
Our climate (in the north) is inclement, and our houses not as compact as
they might be, but it is a stirring climate, and the worse the weather,
the more unceasingly entertaining are my study windows, and the month
that is to come is the glory of the year with us. A very warm bedroom I
can promise you, and one at the same time which commands the finest lake
and mountain view. If Leslie could not go abroad with you, and I could in
any way mould my manners and habits to suit you, I should of all things
like to be your companion. Good nature, an affectionate disposition, and
so thorough a sympathy with the nature of your complaint, that I should
feel no pain, not the most momentary, at being told by you what your
feelings require at the time in which they required it; this I should
bring with me. But I need not say that you may say to me,--'You don't
suit me,' without inflicting the least mortification. Of course this
letter is for your brother, as for you; but I shall write to him soon.
God bless you,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood, Esq."
"Keswick, November 3, 1802.
Dear Wedgewood,
It is now two hours since I received your letter; and after the necessary
consultation, Mrs. Coleridge herself is fully of opinion that to lose
time is merely to lose spirits. Accordingly I have resolved not to look
the children in the face, (the parting from whom is the downright bitter
in the thing) but to go to London by to-morrow's mail. Of course I shall
be in London, God permitting, on Saturday morning. I shall rest that day,
and the next, and proceed to Bristol by the Monday night's mail. At
Bristol I will go to _Cote-House_.[106] At all events, barring serious
illness, serious fractures, and the et cetera of serious unforeseens, I
shall be at Bristol, Tuesday noon, November 9.
You are aware that my whole knowledge of French does not extend beyond
the power of limping slowly, not without a dictionary crutch, or an easy
French book: and that as to pronunciation, all my organs of speech, from
the bottom of the Larynx to the edge of my lips, are utterly and
naturally anti-Gallican. If only I shall have been any comfort, any
alleviation to you I shall feel myself at ease--and whether you go abroad
or no, while I remain with you, it will greatly contribute to my comfort,
if I know you will have no hesitation, nor pain, in telling me what you
wish me to do, or not to do.
I regard it among the blessings of my life, that I have, never lived
among men whom I regarded as my artificial superiors: that all the
respect I have at any time paid, has been wholly to supposed goodness, or
talent. The consequence has been that I have no alarms of pride; no
_cheval de frise_ of independence. I have always lived among equals. It
never occurs to me, even for a moment, that I am otherwise. If I have
quarrelled with men, it has been as brothers, or as school-fellows
quarrel. How little any man can give me, or take from me, save in matters
of kindness and esteem, is not so much a thought or conviction with me,
or even a distinct feeling, as it is my very nature. Much as I dislike
all formal declarations of this kind, I have deemed it well to say this.
I have as strong feelings of gratitude as any man. Shame upon me if in
the sickness and the sorrow which I have had, and which have been kept
unaggravated and supportable by your kindness, and your brother's (Mr.
Josiah Wedgewood) shame upon me if I did not feel a kindness, not unmixed
with reverence towards you both. But yet I never should have had my
present impulses to be with you, and this confidence, that I may become
an occasional comfort to you, if, independently of all gratitude, I did
not thoroughly esteem you; and if I did not appear to myself to
understand the nature of your sufferings; and within the last year, in
some slight degree to have felt myself, something of the same.
Forgive me, my dear sir, if I have said too much. It is better to write
it than to say it, and I am anxious in the event of our travelling
together that you should yourself be at ease with me, even as you would
with a younger brother, to whom, from his childhood you had been in the
habit of saying, 'Do this Col.' or 'don't do that.'
All good be with you,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood. Esq."
"Keswick, January 9, 1803.
My dear Wedgewood,
I send you two letters, one from your dear sister, the second from Sharp,
by which you will see at what short notice I must be off, if I go to the
_Canaries_. If your last plan continue in full force, I have not even the
phantom of a wish thitherward struggling, but if aught have happened to
you, in the things without, or in the world within, to induce you to
change the place, or the plan, relatively to me, I think I could raise
the money. But I would a thousand-fold rather go with you whithersoever
you go. I shall be anxious to hear how you have gone on since I left you.
You should decide in favour of a better climate somewhere or other. The
best scheme I can think of, is to go to some part of Italy or Sicily,
which we both liked. I would look out for two houses. Wordsworth and his
family would take the one, and I the other, and then you might have a
home either with me, or if you thought of Mr. and Mrs. Luff, under this
modification, one of your own; and in either case you would have
neighbours, and so return to England when the home sickness pressed heavy
upon you, and back to Italy when it was abated, and the climate of
England began to poison your comforts. So you would have abroad in a
genial climate, certain comforts of society among simple and enlightened
men and women; and I should be an alleviation of the pang which you will
necessarily feel, as often as you quit your own family.
I know no better plan: for travelling in search of objects is at best a
dreary business, and whatever excitement it might have had, you must have
exhausted it. God bless you, my dear friend. I write with dim eyes, for
indeed, indeed, my heart is very full of affectionate sorrowful thoughts
toward you.
I write with difficulty, with all the fingers but one of my right hand
very much swollen. Before I was half up the _Kirkstone_ mountain, the
storm had wetted me through and through, and before I reached the top it
was so wild and outrageous, that it would have been unmanly to have
suffered the poor woman (guide) to continue pushing on, up against such a
torrent of wind and rain: so I dismounted and sent her home with the
storm in her back. I am no novice in mountain mischiefs, but such a storm
as this was, I never witnessed, combining the intensity of the cold, with
the violence of the wind and rain. The rain drops were pelted or slung
against my face by the gusts, just like splinters of flint, and I felt as
if every drop cut my flesh. My hands were all shrivelled up like a
washerwoman's, and so benumbed that I was obliged to carry my stick under
my arm. O, it was a wild business! Such hurry skurry of clouds, such
volleys of sound! In spite of the wet and the cold, I should have had
some pleasure in it, but for two vexations; first, an almost intolerable
pain came into my right eye, a smarting and burning pain; and secondly,
in consequence of riding with such cold water under my seat, extremely
uneasy and burthensome feelings attacked my groin, so that, what with the
pain from the one, and the alarm from the other, I had _no enjoyment at
all!_
Just at the brow of the hill I met a man dismounted, who could not sit on
horse-back. He seemed quite scared by the uproar, and said to me, with
much feeling, 'O sir, it is a perilous buffeting, but it is worse for you
than for me, for I have it at my back.' However I got safely over, and
immediately all was calm and breathless, as if it was some mighty
fountain put on the summit of Kirkstone, that shot forth its volcano of
air, and precipitated huge streams of invisible lava down the road to
Patterdale.
I went on to Grasmere.[107] I was not at all unwell, when I arrived
there, though wet of course to the skin. My right eye had nothing the
matter with it, either to the sight of others, or to my own feelings, but
I had a bad night, with distressful dreams, chiefly about my eye; and
waking often in the dark I thought it was the effect of mere
recollection, but it appeared in the morning that my right eye was
blood-shot, and the lid swollen. That morning however I walked home, and
before I reached Keswick, my eye was quite well, but _I felt unwell all
over_. Yesterday I continued unusually unwell all over me till eight
o'clock in the evening. I took no _laudanum or opium_, but at eight
o'clock, unable to bear the stomach uneasiness, and achings of my limbs,
I took two large tea-spoons full of Ether in a wine-glass of camphorated
gum-water, and a third tea-spoon full at ten o'clock, and I received
complete relief; my body calmed; my sleep placid; but when I awoke in the
morning, my right hand, with three of the fingers was swollen and
inflamed. The swelling in the hand is gone down, and of two of the
fingers somewhat abated, but the middle finger is still twice its natural
size, so that I write with difficulty. This has been a very rough attack,
but though I am much weakened by it, and look sickly and haggard, yet I
am not out of heart. Such a _bout_; such a 'periless buffetting' was
enough to have hurt the health of a strong man. Few constitutions can
bear to be long wet through in intense cold I fear it will tire you to
death to read this prolix scrawled story.
Affectionately dear friend, Yours ever,
S. T. Coleridge."
"November 12,1800.
My dear sir,
I received your kind letter, with the £20. My eyes are in such a state of
inflammation that I might as well write blindfold, they are so blood-red.
I have had leeches twice, and have now a blister behind my right ear. How
I caught the cold, in the first instance, I can scarcely guess; but I
improved it to its present glorious state, by taking long walks all the
mornings, spite of the wind, and writing late at night, while my eyes
were weak.
I have made some rather curious observations on the rising up of spectra
in the eye, in its inflamed state, and their influence on ideas, &c., but
I cannot see to make myself intelligible to you. Present my kindest
remembrance to Mrs. W. and your brother. Pray did you ever pay any
particular attention to the first time of your little ones smiling and
laughing? Both I and Mrs. C. have carefully watched our little one, and
noticed down all the circumstances, under which he smiled, and under
which he laughed, for the first six times, nor have we remitted our
attention; but I have not been able to derive the least confirmation of
Hartley's or Darwin's Theory. You say most truly, my dear sir, that a
pursuit is necessary. Pursuit, for even praiseworthy employment, merely
for good, or general good, is not sufficient for happiness, nor fit for
man.
I have not at present made out how I stand in pecuniary ways, but I
believe that I have anticipated on the next year to the amount of Thirty
or Forty pounds, probably more. God bless you, my dear sir, and your
sincerely
Affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge.
Josiah Wedgewood, Esq."
"Friday night, Jan. 14, 1803.
Dear Friend,
I was glad at heart to receive your letter, and still more gladdened by
the reading of it. The exceeding kindness which it breathed was literally
medicinal to me, and I firmly believe, cured me of a nervous rheumatic
affection, the acid and the oil, very completely at Patterdale; but by
the time it came to Keswick, the oil was all atop.
You ask me, 'Why, in the name of goodness, I did not return when I saw
the state of the weather?' The true reason is simple, though it may be
somewhat strange. The thought never once entered my head. The cause of
this I suppose to be, that (I do not remember it at least) I never once
in my whole life turned back in fear of the weather. Prudence is a plant,
of which I no doubt, possess some valuable specimens, but they are always
in my hothouse, never out of the glasses, and least of all things would
endure the climate of the mountains. In simple earnestness, I never find
myself alone, within the embracement of rocks and hills, a traveller up
an alpine road, but my spirit careers, drives, and eddies, like a leaf in
autumn; a wild activity of thoughts, imaginations, feelings, and impulses
of motion rises up from within me; a sort of bottom wind, that blows to
no point of the compass, comes from I know not whence, but agitates the
whole of me; my whole being is filled with waves that roll and stumble,
one this way, and one that way, like things that have no common master. I
think that my soul must have pre-existed in the body of a chamois chaser.
The simple image of the old object has been obliterated, but the
feelings, and impulsive habits, and incipient actions, are in me, and the
old scenery awakens them.
The further I ascend from animated nature, from men, and cattle, and the
common birds of the woods and fields, the greater becomes in me the
intensity of the feeling of life. Life seems to me then an universal
spirit, that neither has, nor can have an opposite. 'God is everywhere' I
have exclaimed, and works everywhere, and where is there room for death?
In these moments it has been my creed, that death exists only because
ideas exist; that life is limitless sensation; that death is a child of
the organic senses, chiefly of the sight; that feelings die by flowing
into the mould of the intellect becoming ideas, and that ideas passing
forth into action, reinstate themselves again in the world of life. And I
do believe that truth lies in these loose generalizations. I do not think
it possible that any bodily pains could eat out the love of joy, that is
so substantially part of me, towards hills, and rocks, and steep waters;
and I have had some trial.
On Monday night I had an attack in my stomach and right side, which in
pain, and the length of its continuance, appeared to me by far the
severest I ever had. About one o'clock the pain passed out of my stomach,
like lightning from a cloud, into the extremities of my right foot. My
toe swelled and throbbed, and I was in a state of delicious ease, which
the pain in my toe did not seem at all to interfere with. On Tuesday I
was uncommonly well all the morning, and ate an excellent dinner; but
playing too long and, too rompingly with Hartley and Derwent, I was very
unwell that evening. On Wednesday I was well, and after dinner wrapped
myself up warm, and walked with Sarah Hutchinson, to Lodore. I never
beheld anything more impressive than the wild outline of the black masses
of mountain over Lodore, and so on to the gorge of Borrowdale. Even
through the bare twigs of a grove of birch trees, through which the road
passes; and on emerging from the grove a red planet, so very red that I
never saw a star so red, being clear and bright at the same time. It
seemed to have sky behind it. It started, as it were from the heavens,
like an eye-ball of fire. I wished aloud at that moment that you had been
with me.
The walk appears to have done me good, but I had a wretched night;
shocking pains in my head, occiput, and teeth, and found in the morning
that I had two blood-shot eyes. But almost immediately after the receipt
and perusal of your letter the pains left me, and I am bettered to this
hour; and am now indeed as well as usual saving that my left eye is very
much blood-shot. It is a sort of duty with me, to be particular
respecting parts that relate to my health. I have retained a good sound
appetite through the whole of it, without any craving after exhilarants
or narcotics, and I have got well as in a moment. Rapid recovery is
constitutional with me; but the former circumstances, I can with
certainty refer to the system of diet, abstinence from vegetables, wine,
spirits, and beer, which I have adopted by your advice.
I have no dread or anxiety respecting any fatigue which either of us is
likely to undergo, even in continental travelling. Many a healthy man
would have been laid up with such a bout of thorough wet, and intense
cold at the same time, as I had at Kirkstone. Would to God that also for
your sake I were a stronger man, but I have strong wishes to be with you.
I love your society, and receiving much comfort from you, and believing
likewise that I receive much improvement, I find a delight very great, my
dear friend! indeed it is, when I have reason to imagine that I am in
return an alleviation to your destinies, and a comfort to you. I have no
fears and am ready to leave home at a two days' warning. For myself I
should say two hours, but bustle and hurry might disorder Mrs. Coleridge.
She and the three children are quite well.
I grieve that there is a lowering in politics. The 'Moniteur' contains
almost daily some bitter abuse of our minister and parliament, and in
London there is great anxiety and omening. I have dreaded war from the
time that the disastrous fortunes of the expedition to Saint Domingo,
under Le Clerc, was known in France. Write me one or two lines, as few as
you like.
I remain, my dear Wedgewood, with most affectionate esteem, and grateful
attachment,
Your sincere friend,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood, Esq."
"Nether Stowey, Feb. 10, 1803.
Dear Wedgewood,
Last night Poole and I fully expected a few lines from you. When the
newspaper came in, without your letter, we felt as if a dull neighbour
had been ushered in after a knock at the door which had made us rise up
and start forward to welcome some long absent friend. Indeed in Poole's
case, this simile is less over-swollen than in mine, for in contempt of
my convictions and assurance to the contrary, Poole, passing off the
Brummagem coin of his wishes for sterling reasons, had persuaded himself
fully that he should see you in _propria persona._ The truth is, we had
no right to expect a letter from you, and I should have attributed your
not writing to your having nothing to write, to your bodily dislike of
writing, or, though with reluctance, to low spirits, but that I have been
haunted with the fear that your sister is worse, and that you are at
Cote-House, in the mournful office of comforter to your brother. God keep
us from idle dreams. Life has enough of real pains.
I wrote to Captain Wordsworth to get me some Bang. The captain in an
affectionate letter answers me: 'The Bang if possible shall be sent. If
any country ship arrives I shall certainly get it. We have not got
anything of the kind in our China ships.' If you would rather wait till
it can be brought by Captain Wordsworth himself from China, give me a
line that I may write and tell him. We shall hope for a letter from you
to-night. I need not say, dear Wedgewood, how anxious I am to hear the
particulars of your health and spirits.
Poole's account of his conversations, &c., in Prance, are very
interesting and instructive. If your inclination lead you hither you
would be very comfortable here. But I am ready at an hour's warning;
ready in heart and mind, as well as in body and moveables.
I am, dear Wedgewood, most truly yours,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood, Esq."
"Stowey, Feb. 10, 1803.
My dear Wedgewood,
With regard to myself and my accompanying you, let me say thus much. My
health is not worse than it was in the North; indeed it is much better. I
have no fears. But if you fear that, my health being what you know it to
be, the inconveniences of my being with you will be greater than the
advantages; (I feel no reluctance in telling you so) it is so entirely an
affair of spirits and feeling that the conclusion must be made by you,
not in your reason, but purely in your spirit and feeling. Sorry indeed
should I be to know that you had gone abroad with one, to whom you were
comparatively indifferent. Sorry if there should be no one with you, who
could with fellow-feeling and general like-mindedness, yield you sympathy
in your sunshiny moments. Dear Wedgewood, my heart swells within me as it
were. I have no other wish to accompany you than what arises immediately
from my personal attachment, and a deep sense in my own heart, that let
us be as dejected as we will, a week together cannot pass in which a mind
like yours would not feel the want of affection, or be wholly torpid to
its pleasurable influences. I cannot bear to think of your going abroad
with a mere travelling companion; with one at all influenced by salary,
or personal conveniences. You will not suspect me of flattering you, but
indeed dear Wedgewood, you are too good and too valuable a man to deserve
to receive attendance from a hireling, even for a month together, in your
present state.
If I do not go with you, I shall stay in England only such time as may be
necessary for me to raise the travelling money, and go immediately to the
south of France. I shall probably cross the Pyrennees to Bilboa, see the
country of Biscay, and cross the north of Spain to Perpignan, and so on
to the north of Italy, and pass my next winter at Nice. I have every
reason to believe that I can live, even as a traveller, as cheap as I can
in England. God bless you. I will repeat no professions, even in the
superscription of a letter. You know me, and that it is my serious,
simple wish, that in everything respecting me, you would think altogether
of yourself, and nothing of me, and be assured that no resolve of yours,
however suddenly adopted, or however nakedly communicated, will give me
any pain, any at least arising from my own bearings. Yours ever,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood, Esq.
P. S. Perhaps Leslie will go with you."
"Poole's, Feb. 17, 1803.
My dear Wedgewood,
I do not know that I have anything to say that justifies me in troubling
you with the postage and perusal of this scrawl. I received a short and
kind letter from Josiah last night. He is named the sheriff. Poole, who
has received a very kind invitation from your brother John, in a letter
of last Monday, and which was repeated in last night's letter, goes with
me, I hope in the full persuasion that you will be there (at Cote-House)
before he be under the necessity of returning home. Poole is a very, very
good man, I like even his incorrigibility in little faults and
deficiencies. It looks like a wise determination of nature to let well
alone.
Are you not laying out a scheme which will throw your travelling in
Italy, into an unpleasant and unwholesome part of the year? From all I
can gather, you ought to leave this country at the first of April at the
latest. But no doubt you know these things better than I. If I do not go
with you, it is very probable we shall meet somewhere or other. At all
events you will know where I am, and I can come to you if you wish it.
And if I go with you, there will be this advantage, that you may drop me
where you like, if you should meet any Frenchman, Italian, or Swiss, whom
you liked, and who would be pleasant and profitable to you. But this we
can discuss at Gunville.
As to ----, I never doubted that he means to fulfil his engagements with
you, but he is one of those weak moralled men, with whom the meaning to
do a thing means nothing. He promises with ninety parts out of a hundred
of his whole heart, but there is always a stock of cold at the core that
transubstantiates the whole resolve into a lie.
I remain in comfortable health,--warm rooms, an old friend, and
tranquillity, are specifics for my complaints. With all my ups and downs
I have a deal of joyous feeling, and I would with gladness give a good
part of it to you, my dear friend. God grant that spring may come to you
with healing on her wings.
God bless you, my dear Wedgewood. I remain with most affectionate esteem,
and regular attachment, and good wishes. Yours ever,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood, Esq.
P. S. If Southey should send a couple of bottles, one of the red
sulphate, and one of the compound acids for me, will you be so good as to
bring them with you?"
"Stowey, Feb. 17, 1803.
My dear Wedgewood,
Last night I received a four ounce parcel letter, by the post, which
Poole and I concluded was the mistake or carelessness of the servant, who
had put the letter into the post office, instead of the coach office. I
should have been indignant, if dear Poole had not set me laughing. On
opening it, it contained my letter from Gunville, and a small parcel of
'Bang,' from Purkis. I will transcribe the parts of his letter which
relate to it.
'Brentford, Feb. 7, 1803.
My dear Coleridge,
I thank you for your letter, and am happy to be the means of obliging
you. Immediately on the receipt of yours, I wrote to Sir Joseph Banks,
who I verily believe is one of the most excellent and useful men of this
country, requesting a small quantity of Bang, and saying it was for the
use of Mr. T. Wedgewood. I yesterday received the parcel which I now
send, accompanied with a very kind letter, and as part of it will be
interesting to you and your friend, I will transcribe it. 'The Bang you
ask for is the powder of the leaves of a kind of hemp that grows in the
hot climates. It is prepared, and I believe used, in all parts of the
east, from Morocco to China. In Europe it is found to act very
differently on different constitutions. Some it elevates in the extreme;
others it renders torpid, and scarcely observant of any evil that may
befall them. In Barbary it is always taken, if it can be procured, by
criminals condemned to suffer amputation, and it is said, to enable those
miserables to bear the rough operations of an unfeeling executioner, more
than we Europeans can the keen knife of our most skilful chirurgeons.
This it may be necessary to have said to my friend Mr. T. Wedgewood, whom
I respect much, as his virtues deserve, and I know them well. I send a
small quantity only as I possess but little. If however, it is found to
agree, I will instantly forward the whole of my stock, and write without
delay to Barbary, from whence it came, for more.
Sir Joseph adds, in a postscript: 'It seems almost beyond a doubt, that
the Nepenthe was a preparation of the Bang, known to the Ancients'
* * * * *
Now I had better take the small parcel with me to Gunville; if I send it
by the post, besides the heavy expense, I cannot rely on the Stowey
carriers, who are a brace of as careless and dishonest rogues as ever had
claims on that article of the hemp and timber trade, called the gallows.
Indeed I verily believe that if all Stowey, Ward excepted, does not go to
hell, it will be by the supererogation of Poole's sense of
honesty.--Charitable!
We will have a fair trial of Bang. Do bring down some of the Hyoscyamine
pills, and I will give a fair trial of Opium, Henbane, and Nepenthe.
By-the-by I always considered Homer's account of the Nepenthe as a
_Banging_ lie.
God bless you, my dear friend, and
S. T. Coleridge."
"Keswick, September 16, 1803.
My dear Wedgewood,
I reached home on yesterday noon. William Hazlitt, is a thinking,
observant, original man; of great power as a painter of
character-portraits, and far more in the manner of the old painters than
any living artist, but the objects must be before him. He has no
imaginative memory; so much for his intellectuals. His manners are to
ninety nine in one hundred singularly repulsive; brow-hanging;
shoe-contemplating--strange. Sharp seemed to like him, but Sharp saw him
only for half an hour, and that walking. He is, I verily believe,
kindly-natured: is very fond of, attentive to, and patient with children,
but he is jealous, gloomy, and of an irritable pride. With all this there
is much good in him. He is disinterested; an enthusiastic lover of the
great men who have been before us. He says things that are his own, in a
way of his own: and though from habitual shyness, and the outside of bear
skin, at least of misanthropy, he is strangely confused and dark in his
conversation, and delivers himself of almost all his conceptions with a
_Forceps_, yet he _says_ more than any man I ever knew (you yourself only
excepted) of that which is his own, in a way of his own: and often times
when he has wearied his mind, and the juice is come out, and spread over
his spirits, he will gallop for half an hour together, with real
eloquence. He sends well-feathered thoughts straight forward to the mark
with a twang of the bow-string. If you could recommend him as a portrait
painter, I should be glad. To be your companion, he is, in my opinion
utterly unfit. His own health is fitful.
I have written as I ought to do: to you most freely. You know me, both
head and heart, and I will make what deductions your reasons may dictate
to me. I can think of no other person [for your travelling
companion]--what wonder? For the last years, I have been shy of all new
acquaintance.
'To live beloved is all I need,
And when I love, I love indeed.'
I never had any ambition, and now, I trust I have almost as little
vanity.
For five months past my mind has been strangely shut up. I have taken the
paper with the intention to write to you many times, but it has been one
blank feeling;--one blank idealess feeling. I had nothing to say;--could
say nothing. How dearly I love you, my very dreams make known to me. I
will not trouble you with the gloomy tale of my health. When I am awake,
by patience, employment, effort of mind, and walking, I can keep the
Fiend at arm's length, but the night is my Hell!--sleep my tormenting
Angel. Three nights out of four, I fall asleep, struggling to lie awake,
and my frequent night-screams have almost made me a nuisance in my own
house. Dreams with me are no shadows, but the very calamities of my
life....
In the hope of drawing the gout, if gout it should be, into my feet, I
walked previously to my getting into the coach at Perth, 263 miles, in
eight days, with no unpleasant fatigue; and if I could do you any service
by coming to town, and there were no coaches, I would undertake to be
with you, on foot in seven days. I must have strength somewhere. My head
is equally strong: my limbs too are strong: but acid or not acid, gout or
not gout, something there is in my stomach....
To diversify this dusky letter, I will write an _Epitaph_, which I
composed in my sleep for myself while dreaming that I was dying. To the
best of my recollection I have not altered a word.
'Here sleeps at length poor Col. and without screaming
Who died, as he had always lived, a dreaming:
Shot dead, while sleeping, by the gout within,
Alone, and all unknown, at E'nbro' in an Inn.'
It was Tuesday night last, at the 'Black Bull,' Edinburgh. Yours, dear
Wedgewood, gratefully, and
Most affectionately,
S. T. Coleridge.
Thomas Wedgewood, Esq."
"16, Abingdon Street, Westminster, Jan. 1804.
My dear friend,
Some divines hold, that with God to think, and to create, are one and the
same act. If to think, and even to compose had been the same as to write
with me, I should have written as much too much as I have written too
little. The whole truth of the matter is, that I have been very, very
ill. Your letter remained four days unread, I was so ill. What effect it
had upon me I cannot express by words. It lay under my pillow day after
day. I should have written forty times, but as it often and often happens
with me, my heart was too full, and I had so much to say that I said
nothing. I never received a delight that lasted longer upon me--'Brooded
on my mind and made it pregnant,' than (from) the six last sentences of
your last letter,--which I cannot apologize for not having answered, for
I should be casting calumnies against myself; for the last six or seven
weeks, I have both thought and felt more concerning you, and relating to
you, than of all other men put together.
Somehow or other, whatever plan I determined to adopt, my fancy,
good-natured pander of our wishes, always linked you on to it; or I made
it your plan, and linked myself on. I left my home, December 20, 1803,
intending to stay a day and a half at Grasmere, and then to walk to
Kendal, whither I had sent all my clothes and viatica; from thence to go
to London, and to see whether or no I could arrange my pecuniary matters,
so as leaving Mrs. Coleridge all that was necessary to her comforts, to
go myself to Madeira, having a persuasion, strong as the life within me,
that one winter spent in a really warm, genial climate, would completely
restore me. Wordsworth had, as I may truly say, forced on me a hundred
pounds, in the event of my going to Madeira; and Stewart had kindly
offered to befriend me. During the days and affrightful nights of my
disease, when my limbs were swollen, and my stomach refused to retain the
food--taken in in sorrow, then I looked with pleasure on the scheme: but
as soon as dry frosty weather came, or the rains and damps passed off,
and I was filled with elastic health, from crown to sole, then the
thought of the weight of pecuniary obligation from so many people
reconciled me; but I have broken off my story.
I stayed at Grasmere (Mr. Wordsworth's) a month; three fourths of the
time bed-ridden;--and deeply do I feel the enthusiastic kindness of
Wordsworth's wife and sister, who sat up by me, one or the other, in
order to awaken me at the first symptoms of distressful feeling; and even
when they went to rest, continued often and often to weep and watch for
me even in their dreams. I left them January the 14th, and have spent a
very pleasant week at Dr. Crompton's, at Liverpool, and arrived in
London, at Poole's lodgings, last night at eight o'clock.
Though my right hand is so much swollen that I can scarcely keep my pen
steady between my thumb and finger, yet my stomach is easy, and my
breathing comfortable, and I am eager to hope all good things of my
health. That gained, I have a cheering, and I trust prideless confidence
that I shall make an active, and perseverant use of the faculties and
requirements that have been entrusted to my keeping, and a fair trial of
their height, depth, and width.[108] Indeed I look back on the last four
months with honest pride, seeing how much I have done, with what steady
attachment of mind to the same subject, and under what vexations and
sorrows, from without, and amid what incessant sufferings. So much of
myself. When I know more, I will tell you more.
I find you are still at Cote-house. Poole tells me you talk of Jamaica as
a summer excursion. If it were not for the voyage, I would that you would
go to Madeira, for from the hour I get on board the vessel, to the time
that I once more feel England beneath my feet, I am as certain as past
and present experience can make me, that I shall be in health, in high
health; and then I am sure, not only that I should be a comfort to you,
but that I should be so without diminution of my activity, or
professional usefulness. Briefly, dear Wedgewood! I truly and at heart
love you, and of course it must add to my deeper and moral happiness to
be with you, if I can be either assistance or alleviation. If I find
myself so well that I defer my Madeira plan, I shall then go forthwith to
Devonshire to see my aged mother, once more before she dies, and stay two
or three months with my brothers.[109] But, wherever I am, I never suffer
a day, (except when I am travelling) to pass without doing something.
Poole made me promise that I would leave one side for him. God bless him!
He looks so worshipful in his office, among his clerks, that it would
give you a few minutes' good spirits to look in upon him. Pray you as
soon as you can command your pen, give me half a score lines, and now
that I am _loose,_ say whether or no I can be any good to you.
S. T. Coleridge."
"16, Abingdon Street, Westminster, Jan. 28, 1804.
My dear friend,
It is idle for me to say to you, that my heart and very soul ache with
the dull pain of one struck down and stunned. I write to you, for my
letter cannot give you unmixed pain, and I would fain say a few words to
dissuade you. What good can possibly come of your plan? Will not the very
chairs and furniture of your room be shortly more, far more intolerable
to you than new and changing objects! more insufferable reflectors of
pain and weariness of spirit? Oh, most certainly they will! You must
hope, my dearest Wedgewood; you must act as if you hoped. Despair itself
has but that advice to give you. Have you ever thought of trying large
doses of opium, a hot climate, keeping your body open by grapes, and the
fruits of the climate?[110]
Is it possible that by drinking freely, you might at last produce the
gout, and that a violent pain and inflammation in the extremities might
produce new trains of motion and feeling in your stomach, and the organs
connected with the stomach, known and unknown? Worse than what you have
decreed for yourself cannot well happen. Say but a word and I will come
to you, will be with you, will go with you to Malta, to Madeira, to
Jamaica, or (if the climate, of which, and its strange effects, I have
heard wonders, true or not) to Egypt.
At all events, and at the worst even, if you do attempt to realize the
scheme of going to and remaining at Gunville, for God's sake, my dear
dear friend, do keep up a correspondence with one or more; or if it were
possible for you, with several. I know by a little what your sufferings
are, and that to shut the eyes, and stop up the ears, is to give one's
self up to storm and darkness, and the lurid forms and horrors of a
dream. I scarce know why it is; a feeling I have, and which I can hardly
understand. I could not endure to live if I had not a firm faith that
the life within you will pass forth out of the furnace, for that
you have borne what you have borne, and so acted beneath such
pressure--constitutes you an awful moral being. I am not ashamed to pray
aloud for you.
Your most affectionate friend,
S. T. Coleridge."
"March, 1804.
My dear friend,
Though fearful of breaking in upon you after what you have written to me,
I could not have left England without having written both to you and your
brother, at the very moment I received a note from Sharp, informing me
that I must instantly secure a place in the Portsmouth mail for Tuesday,
and if I could not, that I must do so in the light coach for Tuesday's
early coach.
I am agitated by many things, and only write now because you desired an
answer by return of post. I have been dangerously ill, but the illness is
going about, and not connected with my immediate ill health, however it
may be with my general constitution. It was the cholera-morbus. But for a
series of the merest accidents I should have been seized in the streets,
in a bitter east wind, with cold rain; at all events have walked through
it struggling. It was Sunday-night.
I have suffered it at Tobin's; Tobin sleeping out at Woolwich. No fire,
no wine or spirits, or medicine of any kind, and no person being within a
call, but luckily, perhaps the occasion would better suit the word
providentially, Tuffin, calling, took me home with him.... I tremble at
every loud sound I myself utter. But this is rather a history of the past
than of the present. I have only enough for memento, and already on
Wednesday I consider myself in clear sunshine, without the shadow of the
wings of the destroying angel.
What else relates to myself, I will write on Monday. Would to heaven you
were going with me to Malta, if it were but for the voyage! With all
other things I could make the passage with an unwavering mind. But
without cheerings of hope, let me mention one thing; Lord Cadogan was
brought to absolute despair, and hatred of life, by a stomach complaint,
being now an old man. The symptoms, as stated to me, were strikingly like
yours, excepting the nervous difference of the two characters; the
flittering fever, &c. He was advised to reduce lean beef to a pure jelly,
by Papin's digester, with as little water as could secure it from
burning, and of this to take half a wine glass 10 or 14 times a day. This
and nothing else. He did so. Sir George Beaumont saw, within a few weeks
a letter from himself to Lord St. Asaph, in which he relates the
circumstance of his perseverance in it, and rapid amelioration, and final
recovery. 'I am now,' he says, 'in real good health; as good, and in as
cheerful spirits as I ever was when a young man.'
May God bless you, even here,
S. T. Coleridge."
Mr. Coleridge, in the preceding letters, refers to the different states
of his health. In the letter dated January, 1800, he observed, "I have my
health perfectly;" and in the same letter he clearly indicates that he
was no stranger to opium, by remarking, "I have a stomach sensation
attached to all my thoughts, like those which succeed to the pleasurable
operations of a dose of opium." I can testify, that during the four or
five years in which Mr. C. resided in or near Bristol, no young man could
enjoy more robust health. Dr. Carlyon[111] also, verbally stated that Mr.
C; both at Cambridge, and at Gottingen, "possessed sound health." From
these premises the conclusion is fair, that Mr. Coleridge's unhappy use
of narcotics, which commenced thus early, was the true cause of all his
maladies, his languor, his acute and chronic pains, his indigestion, his
swellings, the disturbances of his general corporeal system, his
sleepless nights, and his terrific dreams!
* * * * *
Extracts, concerning Mr. Coleridge, from letters of the late Thomas
Poole, Esq., to the late Thomas Wedgewood, Esq.
"Stowey, Nov. 14, 1801.
... I expect Coleridge here in a week or ten days. He has promised to
spend two or three months with me. I trust this air will re-establish his
health, and that I shall restore him to his family and his friends a
perfect man."
"Stowey, Nov. 24, 1801.
I now expect daily to see Coleridge. He is detained I fear, by a thorn,
which he unfortunately took in his heel a day or two before he wrote to
me his last letter. He comes alone. As soon as he is here he shall write
to you."
"Stowey, Nov. 27, 1799.
... Coleridge went hence to Bristol as you know, to collect material for
his 'School-book.' (Qy.) There he received a letter concerning
Wordsworth's health, which he said agitated him deeply. He set off
immediately for Yorkshire. He has since been to the lakes. I suppose we
shall soon see him.
T. P."
"Stowey, March 15, 1804.
... Coleridge is still here with Tobin. He has taken his passage for
Malta and paid half the money, so I conclude his going is fixed. They are
waiting for convoy--the 'Lapwing' frigate.
T. P."
"16, Abingdon Street, April 3, 1804.
My dear Sir,
... Poor _Col_. left London, as I suppose you know, and is now at
Portsmouth, waiting for convoy. He was in a miserable state of health
when he left town. Heaven grant that this expedition may establish him,
body and mind. Northcote has been painting his picture for Sir George
Beaumont. I am told it is a great likeness. Davy is gone to Hungerford
for the holiday's fishing....
T. Poole.
T. Wedgewood, Esq."
Mr. Coleridge remarks, in his letter to Mr. T. Wedgewood, dated "16,
Abingdon Street, London:" "Poole looks so worshipful in his office among
his clerks, that it would give you a few minutes' good spirits to look in
upon him." The following letter will explain this allusion.
"Stowey, Sept. 14, 1803.
My dear Sir,
... I thank you heartily for your kindness, and I will tell you all about
my going to London. I became acquainted with Rickman, whom you saw, when
you set off from Cote-house with Coleridge and myself, to London, to hear
Davy's lectures at the Royal Institution. It was last January
twelvemonths. I liked Rickman, and if I may judge from his conduct since,
he liked me. I saw him frequently when I was in London in May and June
last. We often talked about the poor laws, the sin of their first
principle, their restraints, their contradictions, their abuses, their
encouragement to idleness, their immense burdens to those who pay, and
their degradation to those who receive. On this subject also some letters
have passed between us.
I have long imagined that the principles of benefit societies may be
extended and modified, so as to remedy the greater part of those evils,
and I have long had a plan in my mind which attempted something of this
sort, and which as soon as I had leisure I meant to detail in writing,
and perhaps to publish. I mentioned this to Coleridge when he was last
with me. He mentioned it to Rickman, who wrote to me on the subject.
Soon after this Sir George Eose introduced a bill into parliament for
obtaining information from the overseers of every parish, concerning the
poor, benefit societies, &c. He applied to Rickman to assist him in
framing the bill; and finally requested him to get some one to make an
abstract, to present to parliament, of the returns made by the overseers.
This office Rickman has desired me to undertake. He states to me a
variety of inducements; such as my being in London, getting much
information on a subject which interests me; and in short, I have agreed
to undertake it. Rickman says it will take me three months. I am to have
eight clerks under me, or more if I can employ them. He says there will
be twenty thousand returns. He proposes that my expenses should be paid
with a douceur of three or otherwise four hundred pounds. I stipulated
for the former, but told him the douceur would be the pleasure, I
trusted, of being useful to the poor....
T. P."
This was a rare instance of noble disinterestedness, especially in
respect of government transactions.
"London, 16, Abingdon Street, May 24, 1804.
I saw a letter this morning from Coleridge. It was written to Lamb, from
Gibraltar. He says his health and spirits are much improved, yet still he
feels alarming symptoms about him. He made the passage from England in
eleven days. If the wind permitted, they were to sail in two days for
Malta. He says he is determined to observe a strict regimen, as to eating
and drinking. He has drunk lately only lemonade, with a very small
quantity of bottled porter. He anticipates better health than he has
enjoyed for many years.
I heard by accident that Giddy was at Davy's. I have not seen Davy for
some time.
T. P."
* * * * *
[Illustration: Portrait of S. T. Coleridge]
* * * * *
If the public "bide their time," there is one memorial, resembling the
following, which will infallibly, if not soon, be attached to the busiest
and the most celebrated name.
"On Sept. 8, 1837, died at Nether Stowey, Somersetshire, Thomas
Poole, Esq. He was one of the magistrates for that county, the duties
of which station he discharged through a long course of years with
distinguished reputation. In early life the deceased was intimately
associated with Coleridge, Lamb, Sir H. Davy, Wordsworth, Southey,
and other men of literary endowments, who occasionally made long
sojournments at his hospitable residence, and in whose erudite and
philosophical pursuits he felt a kindred delight. His usefulness and
benevolence have been long recognized, and his loss will be
deplored."--_Exeter Paper_.
It appears that in the spring of 1816, Mr. Coleridge left Mr. Morgan's
house at Calne, and, in a desolate state of mind, repaired to London;
when the belief remaining strong on his mind, that his opium habits would
never be effectually subdued till he had subjected himself to medical
restraint, he called on Dr. Adams, an eminent physician, and disclosed to
him the whole of his painful circumstances, stating what he conceived to
be his only remedy. The doctor being a humane man, sympathized with his
patient, and knowing a medical gentleman who resided three or four miles
from town, who would be likely to undertake the charge, he addressed the
following letter to Mr. Gillman.
"Hatton Garden, April 9, 1816.
Dear sir,
A very learned, but in one respect an unfortunate gentleman, has applied
to me on a singular occasion. He has for several years been in the habit
of taking large quantities of opium. For some time past he has been
endeavouring to break himself of it. It is apprehended his friends are
not firm enough, from a dread, lest he should suffer by suddenly leaving
it off, though he is conscious of the contrary; and has proposed to me to
submit himself to any regimen, however severe. With this view he wishes
to fix himself in the house of some medical gentleman, who will have
courage to refuse him any laudanum, and under whose assistance, should he
be the worse for it, he may be relieved. As he is desirous of retirement,
and a garden, I could think of no one so readily as yourself. Be so good
as to inform me whether such a proposal is inconsistent with your family
arrangements. I should not have proposed it, but on account of the great
importance of the character, as a literary man. His communicative temper
will make his society very interesting, as well as useful. Have the
goodness to favor me with an immediate answer, and believe me, dear sir,
Your faithful humble servant,
Joseph Adams."
The next day Mr. Coleridge called on Mr. Gillman, who was so much pleased
with his visitor, that it was agreed he should come to Highgate the
following day. A few hours before his arrival, he sent Mr. G. a long
letter; the part relating to pecuniary affairs was the following: "With
respect to pecuniary remuneration, allow me to say, I must not at least
be suffered to make any addition to your family expenses, though I cannot
offer anything that would be in any way adequate to my sense of the
service; for that indeed there could not be a compensation, as it must be
returned in kind by esteem and grateful affection."
This return of esteem and grateful affection for his lodging and board,
was generously understood and acceded to, by Mr. Gillman, which, to a
medical man in large practice, was a small consideration. Mr. G.'s
admiration of Mr. Coleridge's talents soon became so enthusiastic,
equally creditable to both parties, that he provided Mr. Coleridge with a
comfortable home for nineteen years, even unto his death.
My original intention was, to prepare a memoir as a contribution to Mr.
Gillman's "Life of Mr. Coleridge." On my sending the MS. to Mr. Southey,
he observed, in his reply, "I apprehend if you send what you have written
about Coleridge and opium, it will not be made use of, and that
Coleridge's biographer will seek to find excuse for the abuse of that
drug."
I afterwards sent the MS. to my friend Mr. Foster, who had ever taken a
deep interest in all that concerns Mr. Coleridge. On returning it he thus
wrote.
"Stapleton, Dec. 19, 1835.
My dear sir,
I have read through your MS. volume, very much to the cost of my eyes,
but it was impossible to help going on, and I am exceedingly obliged to
you for favouring me with it;--the more so as there is no prospect of
seeing any large proportion of it in print. It is I think about as
melancholy an exhibition as I ever contemplated. Why was such a sad
phenomenon to come in sight on earth? Was it to abase the pride of human
intellect and genius?
You have done excellently well to collect into a permanent substance what
must else have gone into oblivion, for no one else could have exhibited
even a shadow of it. But now, my dear sir, I hope you are prepared with
the philosophy, or by whatever name I should designate the
fortitude,--that can patiently bear the frustration of the main immediate
purpose of your long and earnest labour.--For you may lay your account
that the compiler of the proposed life of Coleridge will admit but a very
minor part of what you have thus furnished at his request:--that
especially he will not admit what you feel to be the most important, as
an emphatic moral lesson, and what it has cost you the most painful
resolution to set faithfully forth.
No, my dear sir, the operator of the work will not, will not, will not,
let the illustrious philosopher, genius, and poet, so appear. He will get
over that stage with a few general expressions, and a few indistinctly
presented facts. And then as to the dreadful tragical parts, he will
promptly decide that it would be utter profanation to expose them to view
in any such unveiled prominence as you have exhibited in your narrative.
And then the solemn warning and example will be nearly kept out of sight.
Quite naturally that this would be the course adopted, unless the
compiler were, like yourself, intent, as his first and highest
obligation, on doing faithful homage to truth, virtue, and religion. How
I despise biography, as the business is commonly managed. I cannot
believe that Coleridge's dreadful letters of confession will be admitted
in their own unmodified form; though they ought to be. Most truly yours,
John Foster."
These combined intimations led me to stipulate that, whatever else was
omitted, the opium letters should be printed verbatim. But this being
promptly refused, I determined to throw my materials into a separate
work.
As this is the last time in which Mr. Southey's name will be mentioned,
it is a debt of justice to subjoin the following honourable testimonials.
As an evidence of the estimation in which Mr. Southey was held,--the
distinctions awarded to his memory have had few parallels. His friends at
Keswick, among whom he resided for thirty years, erected to him in their
Church a noble monument, as a permanent memorial of their respect. His
friends, in London, placed his bust in Westminster Abbey. Whilst another
set of his friends in Bristol (his native city) from respect to his
genius, and in admiration of his character, placed a bust of him in their
own Cathedral.
PRAYER OF S. T. COLERIDGE, WRITTEN IN 1831.
Almighty God, by thy eternal Word, my Creator, Redeemer, and Preserver!
who hast in thy communicative goodness glorified me with the capability
of knowing thee, the only one absolute God, the eternal I Am, as the
author of my being, and of desiring and seeking thee as its ultimate
end;--who when I fell from thee into the mystery of the false and evil
will, didst not abandon me, poor self-lost creature, but in thy
condescending mercy didst provide an access and a return to thyself, even
to the Holy One, in thine only begotten Son, the way and the truth from
everlasting, and who took on himself humanity, yea, became flesh, even
the man Christ Jesus, that for man he might be the life and
resurrection!--O, Giver of all good gifts, who art thyself the only
absolute Good, from whom I have received whatever good I have; whatever
capability of good there is in me, and from thee good alone,--from myself
and my own corrupted will all evil, and the consequences of evil,--with
inward prostration of will, mind, and affections I adore thy infinite
majesty; I aspire to love thy transcendant goodness!
In a deep sense of my unworthiness, and my unfitness to present myself
before thee, of eyes too pure to behold iniquity, and whose light, the
beatitude of spirits conformed to thy will, is a consuming fire to all
vanity and corruptions;--but in the name of the Lord Jesus, of the dear
Son of thy love, in whose perfect obedience thou deignest to behold as
many as have received the seed of Christ into the body of this death;--I
offer this my bounden nightly sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, in
humble trust that the fragrance of my Saviour's righteousness may remove
from it the taint of my mortal corruption. Thy mercies have followed me
through all the hours and moments of my life; and now I lift up my heart
in awe and thankfulness for the preservation of my life through the past
day, for the alleviation of my bodily sufferings and languors, for the
manifold comforts which thou hast reserved for me, yea, in thy fatherly
compassion hast rescued from the wreck of my own sins or sinful
infirmities;--for the kind and affectionate friends thou hast raised up
for me, especially for those of this household, for the mother and
mistress of this family, whose love to me has been great and faithful,
and for the dear friend, the supporter and sharer of my studies and
researches; but above all for the heavenly Friend, the crucified Saviour,
the glorified Mediator, Christ Jesus, and for the heavenly Comforter,
source of all abiding comforts, thy Holy Spirit! that I may with a deeper
faith, a more enkindled love, bless thee, who through thy Son hast
privileged me to call thee Abba Father! O thou who hast revealed thyself
in thy word as a God that hearest prayer; before whose infinitude all
differences cease, of great and small; who like a tender parent
foreknowest all our wants, yet listenest, well-pleased, to the humble
petitions of thy children; who hast not alone permitted, but taught us to
call on thee in all our needs,--earnestly I implore the continuance of
thy free mercy, of thy protecting providence through the coming night.
Thou hearest every prayer offered to thee believingly with a penitent and
sincere heart. For thou in withholding grantest, healest in inflicting
the wound, yea, turnest all to good for as many as truly seek thee
through Christ the Mediator! Thy will be done! But if it be according to
thy wise and righteous ordinances, O shield me this night from the
assaults of disease, grant me refreshment of sleep, unvexed by evil and
distempered dreams; and if the purpose and aspiration of my heart be
upright before thee who alone knowest the heart of man, O, in thy mercy,
vouchsafe me yet in this my decay of life, an interval of ease and
strength, if so,--thy grace disposing and assisting--I may make
compensation to thy church for the unused talents thou hast entrusted to
me, for the neglected opportunities which thy loving-kindness had
provided. O let me be found a labourer in thy vineyard, though of the
late hour, when the Lord and Heir of the vintage, Christ Jesus calleth
for his servant.--_Lit. Rem._
S. T. C."
Mr. Coleridge wrote, in his life-time, his own epitaph, as follows:--
"Stop, Christian passer-by: stop, child of God,
And read, with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seemed he--
O, lift a thought in prayer for S. T. C.
That he who many a year with toil of breath
Found death in life, may here find life in death;
Mercy for praise-to be forgiven for fame
He asked, and hoped through Christ. Do thou the same."
A handsome tablet, erected in Highgate New Church, to his memory, bears
the following inscription:--
"Sacred to the Memory of
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE,
Poet, Philosopher, Theologian.
This truly great and good man resided for
The last nineteen years of his life,
In this Hamlet.
He quitted 'the body of his death,'
July 25th, 1834,
In the sixty-second year of his age.
Of his profound learning and discursive genius,
His literary works are an imperishable record.
To his private worth,
His social and Christian virtues,
JAMES AND ANN GILLMAN,
The friends with whom he resided
During the above period, dedicate this tablet.
Under the pressure of a long
And most painful disease,
His disposition was unalterably sweet and angelic.
He was an ever-enduring, ever-loving friend,
The gentlest and kindest teacher,
The most engaging home-companion.
'Oh, framed for calmer times and nobler hearts;
O studious poet, eloquent for _truth!_
Philosopher contemning wealth and death,
Yet docile, child-like, full of life and love.'
HERE,
On this monumental stone, thy friends inscribe thy worth,
Reader, for the world mourn.
A Light has passed away from the earth!
But for this pious and exalted Christian,
'Rejoice, and again I say unto you, rejoice!'"
Ubi
Thesaurus
ibi
Cor.
S. T. C.
APPENDIX
* * * * *
JOHN HENDERSON.
The name of John Henderson having appeared in several parts of the
preceding memoir, and as, from his early death, he is not known in the
Literary World, I here present a brief notice of this extraordinary man,
reduced from the longer account which appeared in my "Malvern Hills," &c.
John Henderson, was born at Limerick, but came to England early in life
with his parents. From the age of three years, he discovered the presages
of a great mind. Without retracing the steps of his progression, a
general idea may be formed of them, from the circumstance of his having
_professionally_ TAUGHT GREEK and LATIN in a public Seminary[112] at the
age of twelve years.
Some time after, his father commencing a Boarding-school in the
neighbourhood of Bristol, young HENDERSON undertook to teach the
classics; which he did with much reputation, extending, at the same time,
his own knowledge in the sciences and general literature, to a degree
that rendered him a prodigy of intelligence.
At the age of eighteen, by an intensity of application, of which few
persons can conceive, he had not only thoughtfully perused all the
popular English authors, of later date, but taken an extensive survey of
foreign literature. He had also waded through the folios of the
SCHOOLMEN, as well as scrutinized, with the minutest attention, the more
obsolete writers of the last three centuries; preserving, at the same
time, a distinguishing sense of their respective merits, particular
sentiments, and characteristic traits; which, on proper occasions, he
commented upon, in a manner that astonished the learned listener, not
more by his profound remarks, than by his cool and sententious eloquence.
So surprisingly retentive was his memory, that he never forgot what he
had once learned; nor did it appear that he ever suffered even an Image
to be effaced from his mind; whilst the ideas which he had so rapidly
accumulated, existed in his brain, not as a huge chaos, but in clear and
well-organized systems, illustrative of every subject, and subservient to
every call. It was this quality which made him so superior a disputant;
for as his mind had investigated the various sentiments and hypotheses of
men, so had his almost intuitive discrimination stripped them of their
deceptive appendages, and separated fallacies from truth, marshalling
their arguments, so as to elucidate or detect each other. But in all his
disputations, it was an invariable maxim with him never to interrupt the
most tedious or confused opponents, though, from his pithy questions, he
made it evident, that, from the first, he anticipated the train and
consequences of their reasonings.
His favourite studies were, Philology, History, Astronomy, Medicine,
Theology, Logic, and Metaphysics, with all the branches of Natural and
Experimental Philosophy; and that his attainments were not superficial,
will be readily admitted by those who knew him best.--As a Linguist, he
was acquainted with the Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin
languages; together with the French, Spanish, Italian, and German; and he
not only knew their ruling principles and predominant distinctions, so as
to read them with facility, but in the greater part conversed fluently.
About the age of twenty-two, he accidentally met with the acute and
learned Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, in a stage coach, who soon
discovered the superiority of his companion, and after a reasonable
acquaintance, in which the opinion he had at first entertained of John
Henderson's surprising genius was amply confirmed, he wrote to his
father, urging him to send a young man of such distinguished talents to
an UNIVERSITY, where only they could expand, or be rightly appreciated;
and, in the most handsome way, he accompanied this request with a present
of TWO HUNDRED POUNDS. Such an instance of generosity, will confer
lasting credit on the name of DEAN TUCKER.
On John Henderson's arrival at Oxford, he excited no small degree of
surprise among his tutors, who very naturally inquired his reason for
appearing at that place, and, as might be supposed, were soon contented
to learn, where they had been accustomed to teach.[113]
It might be stated also, the late Edmund Rack, a gentleman possessed of
much general knowledge, and antiquarian research, and whose materials for
the "History of Somersetshire," formed the acknowledged basis of
Collinson's valuable History of that county, thus expressed himself, in
writing to a friend in London.
"My friend, Henderson, has lately paid me a visit, and stayed with me
three weeks. I never spent a three weeks so happily, or so profitably. He
is the only person I ever knew who seems to be a complete master of every
subject in literature, arts, sciences, natural philosophy, divinity; and
of all the books, ancient and modern, that engage the attention of the
learned; but it is still more wonderful, that at the age of twelve, he
should have been master of the Latin and Greek; to which he subsequently
added, the Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, German, Persian, and Syriac
languages; and also, all the ancient rabbinical learning of the Jews, and
the divinity of the fathers; this was, however, the case. The learned DR.
KENNICOTT told me, four years since, 'That the greatest men he ever knew
were mere CHILDREN, compared to HENDERSON.' In company he is ever new.
You never hear a repetition of what he has said before. His memory never
fails, and his fund of knowledge is inexhaustible."
Dr. Kennicott, (before whom nothing superficial could have stood for a
moment,) died in the year 1783, and John Henderson, at the time Dr. K,
passed on him this eulogium, could have been only twenty-three years of
age! One year after he had entered at Oxford.
Though not of the higher order of attainments, it may not be improper to
mention his singular talent for IMITATION. He could not only assume the
dialect of every foreign country, but the particular tone of every
district of England so perfectly, that he might have passed for a native
of either: and of the variations of the human accent in different
individuals his recollection was so acute, and the modulation of his
voice so varied, that, having once conversed with a person, he could most
accurately imitate his gestures and articulation for ever after.[114]
No man had more profoundly traced the workings of the human heart than
himself. A long observation on the causes and effects of moral action,
with their external symbols, had matured his judgment in estimating the
characters of men, and from the fullest evidence, confirmed him in a
belief of the Science of PHYSIOGNOMY.
Though the "Physiognomical Sensation," in a greater or less degree, may
exist in all, yet the data which support it are so obscure, and at all
times so difficult to be defined, that if nature does not make the
Physiognomist, study never will: and to be skilled in this science
requires the combination of such rare talents, that it cannot excite
wonder, either that the unskilful should frequently err, or that the
multitude should despise, what they know they can never attain.
But John Henderson's discrimination qualified him to speak of all
persons, in judging from their countenances, with an almost infallible
certainty: he discovered, in his frequent decisions, not an occasional
development of character, but a clear perception of the secondary as well
as predominant tendencies, of the mind.
"Making his eye the inmate of each bosom."
COLERIDGE.
It would appear like divination, if John Henderson's friends were to
state the various instances they have known of that quick discernment
which he possessed, that, as it were, penetrated the veil of sense, and
unfolded to him the naked and unsophisticated qualities of the soul.
There are many who will cordially admit the fact, when it is said, that,
his eye was scarcely the eye of a man. There was a luminousness in it--a
calm but piercing character, which seemed to partake more of the nature
of spirit than of humanity.
His conversation was such as might have been expected from a man whose
fancy was so creative, whose knowledge omnifarious, and whose
recollection so unbounded. He combined scholastic accuracy with
unaffected ease; condensed and pointed, yet rich and perspicuous. Were it
possible for his numerous friends, by any energy of reminiscence, to
collect his discourse, John Henderson would be distinguished as a
voluminous author, who yet preserved a Spartan frugality of words.
His contemporaries at Oxford well remember, the enthusiasm with which
every company received him; and his friends, in that University,
consisted of all who were eminent for either talent or virtue.
It would be injustice to his memory not to mention the great marks of
attention which were paid him, and the high estimation in which he was
held by the late Edmund Burke and Dr. Johnson; the former of whom
strenuously urged him either to apply to the bar, or to the church, and
told him, that, in that case, it was impossible to doubt, but that he
would become either a judge or a bishop. Such was the great
lexicographer's admiration, also, of John Henderson, that in his annual
visits to Oxford, to whatever company he was invited, he always
stipulated for the introduction of his young friend, John Henderson,[115]
which, in the result, converted a favour into an obligation. It might be
named also, that many of the heads of colleges and other eminent
characters, habitually attended his _evening parties_; an honour unknown
to have been conferred before on any other _under-graduate_.
So great was John Henderson's regard for truth, that he considered it a
crime, of no ordinary magnitude, to confound in any one, even for a
moment, the perceptions of right and wrong; of truth and falsehood; he
therefore never argued in defence of a position which his understanding
did not cordially approve, unless, in some unbending moment, he intimated
to those around him, that he wished to see how far error could be
supported, in which case he would adopt the weakest side of any question,
and there, intrenched, like an intellectual veteran, bid defiance to the
separate or combined attacks of all who approached him.
On these occasions it was highly interesting to remark the felicity of
his illustration, together with his profound logical acuteness, that knew
how to grant or deny, and both, it may be, with reference to some distant
stage of the argument, when the application was made with an unexpected,
but conclusive effect.
From possessing this rare faculty of distinguishing the immediate, as
well as of tracing the remote consequences of every acknowledgment; and,
by his peculiar talent at casuistic subtleties, he has been frequently
known to extort the most erroneous concessions, from men distinguished
for erudition and a knowledge of polemic niceties, necessarily resulting
from premises unguardedly admitted.
Henderson's chief strength in disputation seemed to consist in this clear
view in which he beheld the diversified bearings of every argument, with
its precise congruity to the question in debate; and which, whilst it
demonstrated the capacity of his own mind, conferred on him, on all
occasions, a decided and systematic superiority. It must, however, be
granted, that when contending for victory, or rather for the mere
sharpening of his faculties, instead of convincing, he not unfrequently
confounded his opponent; but whenever he had thus casually argued, and
had obtained an acknowledged confutation, like an ingenious mechanic, he
never failed to organize the discordant materials and to do homage to
truth, by pointing out his own fallacies, or otherwise, by formally
re-confuting his antagonist.
It might be expected that, by such a conduct, an unpleasant impression
would sometimes be left on the mind of an unsuccessful disputant, but
this effect is chiefly produced when the power of the combatants is held
nearly in equilibrium; no one, however, considered it a degradation to
yield to John Henderson, and the peculiar delicacy of his mind was
manifested in nothing more than in the graceful manner with which he
indulged in these coruscations of argument. He obtained a victory without
being vain, or even, from his perfect command of countenance, appearing
sensible of it; and, unless he happened to be disputing with pedantry and
conceit, with a dignified consciousness of strength, he never pursued an
enemy who was contented to fly, by which means a defeat was often
perceived rather than felt, and the vanquished forgot his own humiliation
in applauding the generosity of the conqueror.
In all companies he led the conversation; yet though he was perpetually
encircled by admirers, his steady mind decreased not its charms, by a
supercilious self-opinion of them; nor did he assume that as a right,
which the wishes of his friends rendered a duty. He led the conversation;
for silence or diminished discourse, in him, would have been deservedly
deemed vanity, as though he had desired to make his friends feel the
value of his instructions from the temporary loss of them. But in no
instance was his superiority oppressive; calm, attentive, and cheerful,
he confuted more gracefully than others compliment; the tone of dogmatism
and the smile of contempt were equally unknown to him. Sometimes indeed
he raised himself stronger and more lofty in his eloquence, then chiefly,
when, fearful for his weaker brethren, he opposed the arrogance of the
illiterate deist, or the worse jargon of sensual and cold-blooded
atheism. He knew that the clouds of ignorance which enveloped their
understandings, steamed up from the pollutions of their hearts, and,
crowding his sails, he bore down upon them with salutary violence.
But the qualities which most exalted John Henderson in the estimation of
his friends, were, his high sense of honour, and the great benevolence of
his heart; not that honour which originates in a jealous love of the
world's praise, nor that benevolence which delights only in publicity of
well-doing. His honour was the anxious delicacy of a christian, who
regarded his soul as a sacred pledge, that must some time be re-delivered
to the Almighty lender; his benevolence, a circle, in which self indeed
might be the centre, but, all that lives was the circumference. This
tribute of respect to thy name and virtues, my beloved Henderson! is paid
by one, who was once proud to call thee tutor and friend, and who will do
honour to thy memory, till his spirit rests with thine.
Those who were unacquainted with John Henderson's character, may
naturally ask, "What test has he left the world of the distinguished
talents thus ascribed to him?"--None!--He cherished a sentiment, which,
whilst it teaches humility to the proud, explains the cause of that
silence so generally regretted. Upon the writer of this brief notice once
expressing to him some regret at his not having benefited mankind by the
result of his deep and varied investigations--he replied, "More men
become writers from ignorance, than from knowledge, not knowing that they
have been anticipated by others. Let us decide with caution, and write
late." Thus the vastness and variety of his acquirements, and the
diffidence of his own mental maturity alike prevented him from
illuminating mankind, till death called him to graduate in a sphere more
favourable to the range of his soaring and comprehensive mind.--He died
on a visit to Oxford, in November, 1788, in the 32nd year of his age.
Few will doubt but that the possession of pre-eminent colloquial talents,
to a man like John Henderson, in whom so amply dwelt the spirit of
originality, must be considered, on the whole, as a misfortune, and as
tending to subtract from the permanency of his reputation; he wisely
considered posthumous fame as a vain and undesirable bubble, unless
founded on utility, but when it is considered that no man was better
qualified than himself to confound vice and ennoble virtue; to unravel
the mazes of error, or vindicate the pretensions of truth, it must
generally excite a poignant regret, that abilities like his should have
been dissipated on one generation, which, by a different application,
might have charmed and enlightened futurity.
It is however by no means to be concluded that he would not have written,
and written extensively, if he had attained the ordinary age of man, but
he whose sentiments are considered as oracular, whose company is
incessantly sought by the wise and honourable, and who never speaks but
to obtain immediate applause, often sacrifices the future to the present,
and evaporates his distinguished talents in the single morning of life.
But whilst we ascribe attributes to John Henderson, which designate the
genius, or illustrate the scholar, we must not forget another quality
which he eminently possessed, which so fundamentally contributes to give
stability to friendship, and to smooth the current of social life. A
suavity of manner, connected with a gracefulness of deportment, which
distinguished him on all occasions.
His participation of the feelings of others, resulting from great native
sensibility, although it never produced in his conduct undue complacency,
yet invariably suggested to him that nice point of propriety in behaviour
which was suitable to different characters, and appropriate to the
various situations in which he might be placed. Nor was his sense of
right a barren perception. What the soundness of his understanding
instructed him to approve, the benevolence of his heart taught him to
practise. In his respectful approaches to the peer, he sustained his
dignity; and in addressing the beggar, he remembered he was speaking to a
man.
It would be wrong to close this brief account of John Henderson, without
naming two other excellencies with which he was eminently endowed. First,
the ascendancy he had acquired over his temper. There are moments, in
which most persons are susceptible of a transient irritability; but the
oldest of his friends never beheld him otherwise than calm and collected.
It was a condition he retained under all circumstances,[116] and which,
to those over whom he had any influence, he never failed forcibly to
inculcate, together with that unshaken firmness of mind which encounters
the unavoidable misfortunes of life without repining, and that from the
noblest principle, a conviction that they are regulated by Him who cannot
err, and who in his severest allotments designs only our ultimate good.
In a letter from Oxford, to my brother Amos, his late pupil, for whom
John Henderson always entertained the highest esteem, he thus expresses
himself: "See that you govern your passions. What should grieve us, but
our infirmities? What make us angry, but our own faults? A man who knows
he is mortal, and that all the world will pass away, and by-and-by, seem
only like a tale--a sinner who knows his sufferings are all less than his
sins, and designed to break him from them--one who knows that everything
in this world is a seed that will have its fruit in eternity--that GOD is
the best, the only good friend--that in him is all we want--that
everything is ordered for the best--so that it could not be better,
however we take it; he who believes this in his heart is happy. Such be
you--may you always fare well, my dear Amos,--be the friend of GOD!
again, farewell."
The other excellence referred to, was the simplicity and condescension of
his manners. From the gigantic stature of his understanding, he was
prepared to trample down his pigmy competitors, and qualified at all
times to enforce his unquestioned pre-eminence; but his mind was
conciliating, his behaviour unassuming, and his bosom the receptacle of
all the social affections.
It is these virtues alone which can disarm superiority of its terrors,
and make the eye which is raised in wonder, beam at the same moment with
affection. There have been intellectual, as well as civil despots, whose
motto seems to have been, "Let them hate, provided they fear." Such men
may triumph in their fancied distinctions; but they will never, as was
John Henderson, be followed by the child, loved by the ignorant, and yet
emulated by the wise....
J. C.
ROWLEY AND CHATTERTON
The following is an extract from the extended view of the question
between Rowley and Chatterton, which appeared in my "Malvern Hills," &c.
(Vol. 1. p. 273.)
"... Whoever examines the conduct of Chatterton, will find that he was
pre-eminently influenced by one particular disposition of mind, which
was, through an excess of ingenuity, to impose on the credulity of
others. This predominant quality elucidates his character, and is
deserving of minute regard by all who wish to form a correct estimate of
the Rowleian controversy. A few instances of it are here recapitulated.
1st. The Rev. Mr. Catcott once noticed to Chatterton the inclined
position of Temple church, in the city of Bristol. A few days after, the
blue-coat boy brought him an old poem, transcribed, as he declared, from
Rowley, who had noticed the same peculiarity in his day, and had moreover
written a few stanzas on the very subject.
2ndly. A new bridge is just completed over the river Avon, at Bristol,
when Chatterton sends to the printer a genuine description, in antiquated
language, of the passing over the old bridge, for the first time, in the
thirteenth century, on which occasion two songs are chanted, by two
saints, of whom nothing was known, and expressed in language precisely
the same as Rowley's, though he lived two hundred years after this event.
3rdly. Mr. Burgham, the pewterer, is credulous, and, from some whimsical
caprice in his nature, is attached to heraldic honours. Chatterton, who
approaches every man on his blind side, presents him with his pedigree,
consecutively traced from the time of William the Conqueror, and coolly
allies him to some of the noblest houses in the kingdom!
4thly. Mr. Burgham, with little less than intuitive discernment, is one
of the first persons who expresses a firm opinion of the authenticity and
excellence of Rowley's Poems. Chatterton, pleased with this first blossom
of success, and from which he presaged an abundant harvest, with an
elated and grateful heart, presents him (together with other
testimonials,) with the 'Romaunte of the Cnyghte,' a poem written by John
De Burgham, one of his own illustrious ancestors, who was the great
ornament of a period, four hundred and fifty years antecedent; and the
more effectually to exclude suspicion, he accompanies it with the same
poem, modernized by himself!
5thly. Chatterton wishes to obtain the good opinion of his relation, Mr.
Stephens, leather-breeches maker of Salisbury, and, from some quality,
which it is possible his keen observation had noticed in this Mr.
Stephens, he deems it the most effectual way, to flatter his vanity, and
accordingly tells him, with great gravity, that he traces his descent
from Fitz-Stephen, son of Stephen, Earl of Ammerle, who was son of Od,
Earl of Bloys, and Lord of Holderness, who flourished about A.D. 1095!
6thly. The late Mr. George Catcott, (to whom the public are so much
indebted for the preservation of Rowley,) is a very worthy and religious
man, when Chatterton, who has implements for all work, and commodities
for all customers, like a skilful engineer, adapts the style of his
attack to the nature of the fortress, and presents him with the fragment
of a sermon, on the divinity of the Holy Spirit, as 'wroten by Thomas
Rowley.'
7thly. Mr. Barrett is zealous to establish the antiquity of Bristol. As a
demonstrable evidence, Chatterton presents him with an escutcheon (on the
authority of the same Thomas Rowley) borne by a Saxon, of the name of
Ailward, who resided in Bristow, A.D. 718!
8thly. Mr. Barrett is also writing a comprehensive History of Bristol,
and is solicitous to obtain every scrap of information relating to so
important a subject. In the ear of Chatterton he expressed his anxiety,
and suggested to him the propriety of his examining all Rowley's
multifarious manuscripts with great care for an object of such weight.
Soon after this, the blue-coat boy came breathless to Mr. Barrett,
uttering, like one of old, 'I have found it!' He now presented the
historian with two or three notices, (in _his own hand-writing_, copied,
as _he declared_, faithfully from the originals,) of some of the ancient
Bristol churches; of course, wholly above suspicion, for they were in the
true old English style. These communications were regarded as of
inestimable value, and the lucky finder promised to increase his
vigilance, in ransacking the whole mass of antique documents for fresh
disclosures. It was not long before other important scraps were
discovered, conveying just the kind of information which Mr. Barrett
wanted, till, ultimately, Chatterton furnished him with many curious
particulars concerning the castle, and every church and chapel in the
city of Bristol! and these are some of the choicest materials of Mr.
Barrett's otherwise, valuable history!
9thly. Public curiosity and general admiration are excited by poems,
affirmed to be from the Erse of Ossian. Chatterton, with characteristic
promptitude, instantly publishes, not imitations, but a succession of
genuine translations from the Saxon and Welsh, with precisely the same
language and imagery, though the Saxon and Welsh were derived from
different origins, the Teutonic and Celtic; (which bishop Percy has most
satisfactorily shown in his able and elaborate preface to 'Mallet's
Northern Antiquities,') and whose poetry, of all their writings, was the
most dissimilar; as will instantly appear to all who compare Taliessin,
and the other Welsh bards, with the Scandinavian Edda of Saemond.
10thly. Mr. Walpole is writing the history of British painters;
Chatterton, (who, to a confidential friend, had expressed an opinion that
it was possible, by dexterous management, to deceive even this master in
antiquities,) with full confidence of success, transmits to him 'An
Account of eminent Carvellers and Peyncters who flourished in Bristol,
and other parts of England, three hundred years ago, collected for Master
Canynge, by Thomas Rowley!'
Chatterton's communication furnishes an amusing specimen of the quaint
language with which this beardless boy deceived the old antiquarian. It
commences thus:
'Peyncteynge ynn Englande, haveth of ould tyme bin in use; for sayeth the
Roman wryters, the Brytonnes dyd depycte themselves yn soundry wyse, of
the fourmes of the sonne and moone, wythe the hearbe woade: albeytte I
doubt theie were no skylled carvellers,' &c. &c.
Mr. Walpole was so completely imposed upon, that, in his reply, without
entertaining the slightest suspicion of the authenticity of the document,
he reasons upon it as valid, and says, 'You do not point out the exact
time when Rowley lived, which I wish to know, as I suppose it was long
before John al Ectry's discovery of oil painting; if so, it confirms what
I have guessed, and have hinted in my anecdotes, that oil painting was
known here much earlier than that discovery, or revival.'
Another important argument, may be adduced from the following reflection:
all the poets who thus owe their existence to Chatterton, write in the
same harmonious style, and display the same tact and superiority of
genius. Other poets living in the same, or different ages, exhibit a wide
diversity in judgment, fancy, and the higher creative faculty of
imagination, so that a discriminating mind can distinguish an individual
character in almost every separate writer; but here are persons living in
different ages; moving in different stations; exposed to different
circumstances; and expressing different sentiments; yet all of whom
betray the same peculiar habits, with the same talents and facilities of
composition. This is evidenced, whether it be--
The Abbatte John, living in the year - - 1186
Seyncte Baldwin - - - - - - 1247
Seyncte Warburgie - - - - - - 1247
John De Burgham - - - - - - 1320
The Rawfe Cheddar Chappmanne - - - - 1356
Syr Thybbot Gorges - - - - - - 1440
Syr Wm. Canynge - - - - - - 1469
Thomas Rowley - - - - - - 1479
Carpenter, Bishoppe of Worcester
Ecca, Bishoppe of Hereforde
Elmar, Bishoppe of Selseie
John Ladgate, or,
Mayster John à Iscam.
And the whole of these poets, with the exception of Ladgate, completely
unknown to the world, till called from their dormitory by Chatterton!
Such a fact would be a phenomenon unspeakably more inexplicable than that
of ascribing Rowley to a youth of less than sixteen, who had made
'Antique Lore' his peculiar study, and who was endued with precocious,
and almost unlimited genius.
Those who are aware of the transitions and fluctuation, which our
language experienced in the intermediate space comprised between Chaucer
and Sir Thomas More; and still greater between Robert of Gloucester,
1278, and John Trevisa, or his contemporary Wickliffe, who died 1384,
know, to a certainty, that the writers enumerated by Chatterton, without
surmounting a physical impossibility, could not have written in the same
undeviating style.
Perhaps it may be affirmed that numerous old parchments were obtained
from the Muniment Room or elsewhere. This fact is undeniable; but they
are understood to consist of ancient ecclesiastical deeds, as unconnected
with poetry, as they were with galvanism.
Let the dispassionate enquirer ask himself, whether he thinks it possible
for men, living in distant ages, when our language was unformed, and
therefore its variations the greater, to write in the same style? Whether
it was possible for the Abbatte John, composing in the year 1186, when
the amalgamation of the Saxon and the Norman formed an almost
inexplicable jargon, to write in a manner, as to its construction,
intimately resembling that now in vogue. On the contrary, how easy is the
solution, when we admit that the person who wrote the first part of the
"Battle of Hastings," and the death of "Syr Charles Bawdin," wrote also
the rest.
Does it not appear marvellous, that the learned advocates of Rowley
should not have regarded the ground on which they stood as somewhat
unstable, when they found Chatterton readily avow that he wrote the first
part of the "Battle of Hastings," and discovered the second, as composed
three hundred years before, by Thomas Rowley? This was indeed an
unparalleled coincidence. A boy writes the commencement of a narrative
poem, and then finds in the Muniment-Room, the second part, or a
continuation, by an old secular priest, with the same, characters,
written in the same style, and even in the same metre!
Another extraordinary feature in the question, is the following; there
are preserved in the British Museum, numerous deeds and proclamations, by
Thomas Rowley, in Chatterton's writing, relating to the antiquities of
Bristol, all in modern English, designed no doubt, by the young bard, for
his friend Mr. Barrett; but the chrysalis had not yet advanced to its
winged state.
One of the proclamations begins thus:
"To all Christian people to whom this indented writing shall come,
William Canynge, of Bristol, merchant, and Thomas Rowley, priest, send
greeting: Whereas certain disputes have arisen between," &c., &c.
Who does not perceive that these were the first rough sketches of genuine
old documents that _were to be?_
In an account of "St. Marie Magdalene's Chapele, by Thomas Rowley,"
deposited also in the British Museum, there is the following sentence,
which implies much: "Aelle, the founder thereof, was a manne myckle
stronge yn vanquysheynge the Danes, as yee maie see ynne mie unwordie
Entyrlude of Ella!"
It is Rome or Carthage. It is Rowley or Chatterton: and a hope is
cherished that the public, from this moment, will concur in averring that
there is neither internal nor external evidence, to authorize the belief
that a single line of either the prose or the verse, attributed to
Rowley, or the rest of his apocryphal characters, was written by any
other than that prodigy of the eighteenth century, Thomas Chatterton.
The opinion entertained by many, that Chatterton found part of Rowley,
and invented the rest, is attended with insurmountable objections, and is
never advanced but in the deficiency of better argument; for in the first
place, those who favor this supposition, have never supported it by the
shadow of proof, or the semblance even of fair inferential reasoning; and
in the second place, he who wrote half, could have written the whole; and
in the third, and principal place, there are no inequalities in the
poems; no dissimilar and incongruous parts, but all is regular and
consistent, and without, in the strict sense of the word, bearing any
resemblance to the writers of the period when Rowley is stated to have
lived.
Whoever examines the beautiful tragedy of Ella, will find an accurate
adjustment of plan, which precludes the possibility of its having been
conjointly written by different persons, at the distance of centuries.
With respect, also, to the structure of the language, it is
incontrovertibly modern, as well as uniform with itself, and exhibits the
most perfect specimens of harmony; which cannot be interrupted by slight
orthographical redundancies, nor by the sprinkling of a few uncouth and
antiquated words.
The structure of Rowley's verse is so unequivocally modern, that by
substituting the present orthography for the past, and changing two or
three of the old words, the fact must become obvious, even to those who
are wholly unacquainted with the barbarisms of the "olden time." As a
corroboration of this remark, the first verse of the song to Aella may be
adduced.
"O thou, or what remains of thee,
Aella, thou darling of futurity.
Let this, my song, bold as thy courage be,
As everlasting--to posterity."
But, perhaps, the most convincing proof of this modern character of
Rowley's verse, may be derived from the commencement of the chorus in
Godwin.
"When Freedom, dress'd in blood-stain'd vest,
To every knight her war-song sung,
Upon her head wild weeds were spread,
A gory anlace by her hung.
She danced on the heath;
She heard the voice of death;
Pale-eyed Affright, his heart of silver hue,
In vain essay'd his bosom to acale, [freeze]
She heard, enflamed, the shivering voice of woe,
And sadness in the owlet shake the dale.
She shook the pointed spear;
On high she raised her shield;
Her foemen all appear,
And fly along the field.
Power, with his head exalted to the skies,
His spear a sun-beam, and his shield a star,
Round, like two flaming meteors, rolls his eyes,
Stamps with his iron foot, and sounds to war:
She sits upon a rock,
She bends before his spear;
She rises from the shock,
Wielding her own in air.
Hard as the thunder doth she drive it on,
And, closely mantled, guides it to his crown,
His long sharp spear, his spreading shield, is gone;
He falls, and falling, rolleth thousands down."
Every reader must be struck with the modern character of these extracts,
nor can he fail to have noticed the lyrical measure, so eminently
felicitous, with which the preceding ode commences; together with the
bold image of freedom triumphing over power. If the merits of the
Rowleian Controversy rented solely on this one piece, it would be
decisive; for no man, in the least degree familiar with our earlier
metrical compositions, and especially if he were a poet, could hesitate a
moment in assigning this chorus to a recent period.
It is impossible not to believe that the whole of Rowley was written at
first in modern English, and then the orthographical metamorphose
commenced; and to one who had prepared himself, like Chatterton, with a
dictionary, alternately modern and old, and old and modern, the task of
transformation was not difficult, even to an ordinary mind. It should be
remembered also, that Chatterton furnished a complete glossary to the
whole of Rowley. Had he assumed ignorance, it might have checked, without
removing suspicion, but at present it appears inexplicable, that our sage
predecessors should not have been convinced that one who could write, in
his own person, with such superiority as Chatterton indisputably did,
would be quite competent to give words to another, the meaning of which
he so well understood himself.
But the thought will naturally arise, what could have prompted
Chatterton, endued as he was, with so much original talent, to renounce
his own personal aggrandizement, and to transfer the credit of his
opulence to another. It is admitted to be an improvident expenditure of
reputation, but no inference advantageous to Rowley can be deduced from
this circumstance. The eccentricities and aberrations of genius, have
rarely been restricted by line and plummet, and the present is a
memorable example of perverted talent; but all this may be conceded,
without shaking the argument here contended for.
There is a process in all our pursuits, and the nice inspector of
associations can almost uniformly trace his predilections to some
definite cause. This, doubtless, was the case with Chatterton. He found
old parchments early in life. In the first instance, it became an object
of ambition to decipher the obscure. One difficulty surmounted,
strengthened the capacity for conquering others; perseverance gave
facility, till at length his vigorous attention was effectually directed
to what he called "antique lore:" and this confirmed bias of his mind,
connected as it was, with his inveterate proneness to impose on others,
and supported by talents which have scarcely been equalled, reduces the
magnified wonder of Rowley, to a plain, comprehensible question.
Dean Milles, in his admiration of Rowley, appeared to derive pleasure
from depreciating Chatterton, who had avowed himself the writer of that
inimitable poem, "The Death of Syr Charles Bawdin," but well knowing the
consequences which would follow on this admission, he laboured hard to
impeach the veracity of our bard, and represented him as one who, from
vanity, assumed to himself the writing of another! Dean Milles affirms,
that of this "Death of Syr Charles Bawdin," "A greater variety of
internal proofs may be produced, for its authenticity, than for that of
any other piece in the whole collection!" This virtually, was abandoning
the question; for since we know that Chatterton did write "The Death of
Syr Charles Bawdin," we know that he wrote that which had stronger proofs
of the authenticity of Rowley than all the other pieces in the
collection!
The numerous proofs adduced of Chatterton's passion for fictitious
statements; of his intimate acquaintance with antiquated language; of the
almost preternatural maturity of his mind; of the dissimilitude of
Rowley's language to contemporaneous writers; and of the obviously modern
structure of all the compositions which the young bard produced, as the
writings of Rowley and others, form, it is presumed, a mass of
Anti-Rowleian evidence, which proves that Chatterton possessed that
peculiar disposition, as well as those pre-eminent talents, the union of
which was both necessary and equal to the great production of Rowley...."
J. C.
THE WEARY PILGRIM
Weary Pilgrim, dry thy tear,
Look beyond these realms of night;
Mourn not, with redemption near,
Faint not, with the goal in sight.
Grief and pain are needful things,
Sent to chasten, not to slay;
And if pleasures have their wings,
Sorrows quickly pass away.
Where are childhood's sighs and throes?
Where are youth's tumultuous fears?
Where are manhood's thousand woes?
Lost amidst the lapse of years!
There are treasures which to gain,
Might a seraph's heart inspire;
There are joys which will remain
When the world is wrapt in fire.
Hope, with her expiring beam,
May illume our last delight;
But our trouble soon will seem,
Like the visions of the night.
We too oft remit our pace,
And at ease in slumbers dwell;
We are loiterers in our race,
And afflictions break the spell.
Woe to him, whoe'er he be,
Should (severest test below!)
All around him like a sea,
Health, and wealth, and honors, flow!
When unclouded suns we hail,
And our cedars proudly wave;
We forget their tenure frail,
With the bounteous hand that gave.
We on dangerous paths are bound,
Call'd to battle and to bleed;
We have hostile spirits round,
And the warrior's armour need.
We, within, have deadlier foes,
Wills rebellious, hearts impure;
God, the best physician, knows
What the malady will cure.
Earth is lovely! dress'd in flowers!
O'er her form luxuriant thrown,
But a lovelier world is ours,
Visible to faith alone.
Here the balm and spicy gales,
For a moment fill the air;
Here the mutable prevails,
Permanence alone is there.
Heaven to gain is worth our toil!
Angels call us to their sphere;
But to time's ignoble soil
We are bound, and will not hear.
Heaven attracts not! On we dream;
Cast like wrecks upon the shore
Where perfection reigns supreme,
And adieus are heard no more.
What is life? a tale! a span!
Swifter than the eagle's flight;
What the boasted age of man?
Vanishing beneath the sight.
Yet, our ardours and desires
Centred, circumscribed by earth;
Whilst eternity retires--
As an object nothing worth!
Oh, the folly of the proud!
Oh, the madness of the vain!
After every toy to crowd,
And unwithering crowns disdain!
Mighty men in grand array,
Magnates of the ages past,
Kings and conquerors, where are they?
Once whose frown a world o'ercast?
Faded! yet by fame enroll'd,
With their busts entwined with bays;
But if God his smile withhold,
Pitiful is human praise.
With what sadness and surprise,
Must Immortals view our lot;--
Eager for the flower that dies,
And the Amaranth heeding not.
May we from our dreams awake,
Love the truth, the truth obey;
On our night let morning break--
Prelude of a nobler day.
Harmony prevails above,
Where all hearts together blend;
Let the concords sweet of love,
Now begin and never end.
Have we not one common sire?
Have we not one home in sight?
Let the sons of peace conspire
Not to sever, but unite.
Hence, forgetful of the past,
May we all as brethren own,
Whom we hope to meet at last--
Round the everlasting throne.
Father! source of blessedness,
In thy strength triumphant ride;
Let the world thy Son confess,
And thy name be magnified!
Let thy word of truth prevail,
Scattering darkness, errors, lies;
Let all lands the treasure hail--
Link that binds us to the skies.
Let thy spirit, rich and free,
Copious shed his power divine,
Till (Creation's Jubilee!)
All Earth's jarring realms are thine!
Saints who once on earth endured--
Beating storm and thorny way,
Have the prize they sought secured,
And have enter'd perfect day.
Wiser taught,--with vision clear,
(Kindled from the light above)
Now their bitterest woes appear--
Charged with blessings, fraught with love:--
For, as earthly scenes withdrew,
In their false, but flattering guise,
They, rejoicing, fix'd their view--
On the mansions in the skies.
Art thou fearful of the end?
Dread not Jordan's swelling tide;
With the Saviour for thy friend!
With the Spirit for thy guide!
Why these half subdued alarms--
At the prospect of thy flight?
Has thy Father's house no charms?--
There to join the Saints in Light?
Terrors banish from thy breast,
Hope must solace, faith sustain;
Thou art journeying on to rest,
And with God shalt live and reign.
Then, fruition, like the morn,
Will unlock her boundless store;--
Roses bloom without a thorn,
And the day-star set no more.
But, an ocean lies between--
Stormy, to be cross'd alone;
With no ray to intervene--
O'er the cold and dark unknown!
Lo! a soft and soothing voice
Steals like music on my ears;--
"Let the drooping heart rejoice;
See! a glorious dawn appears!"
"When thy parting hours draw near,
And thou trembling view'st the last;
Christ and only Christ can cheer,
And o'er death a radiance cast!"
Weary Pilgrim, dry thy tear,
Look beyond these shades of night;
Mourn not with Redemption near,
Faint not with the goal in sight.
J. C.
_Bristol, March 9, 1846._
Footnotes:
[1] The reader will bear in mind that the present work consists of
Autobiography, and therefore, however repugnant to the writer's feelings,
the apparent egotism has been unavoidable.
[2] Robert Lovell, himself was a poet, as will appear by the following
being one of his Sonnets.
STONEHENGE.
Was it a spirit on yon shapeless pile?
It wore, methought, a holy Druid's form,
Musing on ancient days! The dying storm
Moan'd in his lifted locks. Thou, night! the while
Dost listen to his sad harp's wild complaint,
Mother of shadows! as to thee he pours
The broken strain, and plaintively deplores
The fall of Druid fame! Hark! murmurs faint
Breathe on the wavy air! and now more loud
Swells the deep dirge; accustomed to complain
Of holy rites unpaid, and of the crowd
Whose ceaseless steps the sacred haunts profane.
O'er the wild plain the hurrying tempest flies,
And, mid the storm unheard, the song of sorrow dies.
[3] I had an opportunity of introducing Mr. Southey at this time, to the
eldest Mrs. More, who invited him down to spend some whole day with her
sister Hannah, at their then residence, Cowslip Green. On this occasion,
as requested, I accompanied him. The day was full of converse. On my
meeting one of the ladies soon after, I was gratified to learn that Mr.
S. equally pleased all five of the sisters. She said he was "brim full of
literature, and one of the most elegant, and intellectual young men they
had seen."
[4] It might he intimated, that, for the establishment of these lectures,
there was, in Mr. Coleridge's mind, an interior spring of action. He
wanted to "build up" a provision for his speedy marriage with Miss Sarah
Fricker: and with these grand combined objects before him, no effort
appeared too vast to be accomplished by his invigorated faculties.
[5] Copied from his MS. as delivered, not from his "Conciones ad Populum"
as printed, where it will be found in a contracted state.
[6] Muir, Palmer, and Margarot.
[7] An eminent medical man in Bristol, who greatly admired Mr.
Coleridge's conversation and genius, on one occasion, invited Mr. C. to
dine with him, on a given day. The invitation was accepted, and this
gentleman, willing to gratify his friends with an introduction to Mr. C.
invited a large assemblage, for the express purpose of meeting him, and
made a splendid entertainment, anticipating the delight which would be
universally felt from Mr. C. a far-famed eloquence. It unfortunately
happened that Mr. Coleridge had forgotten all about it! and the
gentleman, [with his guests, after waiting till the hot became cold]
under his mortification consoled himself by the resolve, never again to
subject himself to a like disaster. No explanation or apology on my part
could soothe the choler of this disciple of Glen. A dozen subscribers to
his lectures fell off from this slip of his memory.
"Sloth jaundiced all! and from my graspless hand
Drop friendship's precious perls, like hour-glass sand.
I weep, yet stoop not! the faint anguish flows,
A dreamy pang in morning's feverish doze,"
[8] This honest upholsterer, (a Mr. W. a good little weak man) attended
the preaching of the late eloquent Robert Hall. At one time an odd fancy
entered his mind, such as would have occurred to none other; namely, that
he possessed ministerial gifts; and with this notion uppermost in his
head, he was sorely perplexed, to determine whether he ought not to
forsake the shop, and ascend the pulpit.
In this uncertainty, he thought his discreetest plan would be to consult
his Minister; in conformity with which, one morning he called on Mr.
Hall, and thus began. "I call on you this morning, Sir, on a very
important business!" "Well Sir." "Why you must know, Sir--I can hardly
tell how to begin." "Let me hear, Sir." "Well Sir, if I must tell you,
for these two months past I have had a strong persuasion on my mind, that
I possess ministerial talents."--Mr. Hall (whose ideas were high of
ministerial requisites) saw his delusion, and determined at once to check
it. The Upholsterer continued: "Though a paper-hanger by trade, yet, sir,
I am now satisfied that I am called to give up my business, and attend to
something better; for you know, Mr. Hall, I should not bury my talents in
a napkin." "O Sir," said Mr. H. "you need not use a napkin, a
pocket-handkerchief will do."
This timely rebuke kept the good man to his paper-hangings for the
remainder of his days, for whenever he thought of the ministry, this same
image of the pocket-handkerchief, always damped his courage.
[9] Gilbert's derangement was owing to the loss of a naval cause at
Portsmouth, in which he was concerned as an Advocate. Among other
instances, one time when at his lodgings, he interpreted those words of
Christ personally, "Sell all that thou hast and distribute to the poor,"
when, without the formality of selling, he thought the precept might be
more summarily fulfilled, and therefore, one morning he tumbled every
thing he had in his room, through the window, into the street, that the
poor might help themselves; bed, bolsters, blankets, sheets, chairs! &c.,
&c, but unfortunately, it required at that season a higher exercise of
the clear reasoning process than he possessed, to distinguish accurately
between his own goods and chattels and those of his landlady!
He had all the volubility of a practised advocate, and seemed to delight
in nothing so much as discussion, whether on the unconfirmed parallactic
angle of Sirius, or the comparative weight of two straws. Amid the circle
in which he occasionally found himself, ample scope was often given him
for the exercise of this faculty. I once invited him, for the first time,
to meet the late Robert Hall. I had calculated on some interesting
discourse, aware that each was peculiarly susceptible of being aroused by
opposition. The anticipations entertained on this occasion were
abundantly realized. Their conversation, for some time, was mild and
pleasant, each, for each, receiving an instinctive feeling of respect;
but the subject happened to be started, of the contra-distinguishing
merits of Hannah More and Ann Yearsley. By an easy transition, this led
to the quarrel that some time before had taken place between these two
remarkable females; the one occupying the summit, and the other moving in
about the lowest grade of human society; but in genius, compeers. They at
once took opposite sides. One argument elicited another, till at length
each put forth his utmost strength, and such felicitous torrents of
eloquence could rarely have been surpassed; where on each side ardour was
repelled with fervency, and yet without the introduction of the least
indecorous expression.
Gilbert was an astrologer; and at the time of a person's birth, he would
with undoubting confidence predict all the leading events of his future
life, and sometimes (if he knew anything of his personal history) even
venture to declare the past. The caution with which he usually touched
the second subject, formed a striking contrast with the positive
declarations concerning the first.
I was acquainted at this time with a medical man of enlarged mind and
considerable scientific attainments; and accidentally mentioning to him
that a friend of mine was a great advocate for this sublime science, he
remarked, "I should like to see him, and one half hour would be
sufficient to despoil him of his weapons, and lay him prostrate in the
dust." I said, "if you will sup with me I will introduce you to the
astrologer, and if you can beat this nonsense out of his head, you will
benefit him and all his friends." When the evening arrived, it appeared
fair to apprise William Gilbert that I was going to introduce him to a
doctor, who had kindly and gratuitously undertaken to cure him of all his
astrological maladies. "Will he?" said Gilbert. "The malady is on his
side. Perhaps I may cure him."
Each having a specific business before him, there was no hesitation or
skirmishing, but at first sight they both, like tried veterans, in good
earnest addressed themselves to war. On one side, there was a
manifestation of sound sense and cogent argument; on the other, a
familiarity with all those arguments, combined with great subtlety in
evading them; and this sustained by new and ingenious sophisms. My
medical friend, for some time stood his ground manfully, till, at length,
he began to quail, apparently from the verbal torrent with which he was
so unexpectedly assailed. Encountered thus by so fearful and consummate a
disputant, whose eyes flashed fire in unison with his oracular tones and
empassioned language, the doctor's quiver unaccountably became exhausted,
and his spirit subdued. He seemed to look around for some mantle in which
to hide the mortification of defeat; and the more so from his previous
confidence. Never was a more triumphant victory, as it would
superficially appear, achieved by ingenious volubility in a bad cause,
over arguments, sound, but inefficiently wielded in a cause that was
good. A fresh instance of the man of sense vanquished by the man of
words.
[10] I would here subjoin, that when money, in future, may thus be
collected for ingenious individuals, it might be the wisest procedure to
transfer the full amount, at once, to the beneficiary, (unless under very
peculiar circumstances.) This is felt to be both handsome and generous,
and the obligation is permanently impressed on the mind. If the money
then be improvidently dissipated, he who acts thus ungratefully to his
benefactors, and cruelly to himself, reflects on his own folly alone. But
when active and benevolent agents, who have raised subscriptions, will
entail trouble on themselves, and with a feeling almost paternal, charge
themselves with a disinterested solicitude for future generations,
without a strong effort of the reasoning power, the favour is reduced to
a fraction. Dissatisfaction almost necessarily ensues, and the accusation
of ingratitude is seldom far behind.
[11] The Rev. James Newton, was Classical Tutor at the Bristol Baptist
Academy, in conjunction with the late Dr. Caleb Evans, and, for a short
season, the late Robert Hall. He was my most revered and honoured friend,
who lived for twenty years an inmate in my Father's family, and to whom I
am indebted in various ways, beyond my ability to express. His learning
was his least recommendation. His taste for elegant literature; his fine
natural understanding, his sincerity, and conciliating manners justified
the eulogium expressed by Dr. Evans in preaching his Funeral Sermon,
1789, when he said (to a weeping congregation), that "He never made an
enemy, nor lost a friend."
Mr. Newton was on intimate terms with the late Dean Tucker, and the Rev.
Sir James Stonehouse, the latter of whom introduced him to Hannah More,
who contracted for him, as his worth and talents became more and more
manifest, a sincere and abiding friendship. Mr. Newton had the honour of
teaching Hannah More Latin. The time of his instructing her did not
exceed ten months. She devoted to this one subject the whole of her time,
and all the energies of her mind. Mr. Newton spoke of her to me as
exemplifying how much might be attained in a short time by talent and
determination combined; and he said, for the limited period of his
instruction, she surpassed in her progress all others whom he had ever
known. H. More was in the habit of submitting her MSS. to Mr. N.'s
judicious remarks, and by this means, from living in the same house with
him, I preceded the public in inspecting some of her productions;
particularly her MS. Poem on the "Slave Trade," and her "Bas Bleu." When
a boy, many an evening do I recollect to have listened in wonderment to
colloquisms and disputations carried on in Latin between Mr. Newton and
John Henderson. It gives me pleasure to have borne this brief testimony
of respect toward one on whom memory so often and so fondly reposes! Best
of men, and kindest of friends, "farewell till we do meet
again!"-(Bowles.)
[12] From his natural unassumed dignity, Mr. Foster used to call Mr. Hall
"_Jupiter_."
[13] Mr. Hall broke down all distinction of sects and parties. On one of
his visits to Bristol, when preaching at the chapel in Broadmead, a
competent individual noticed in the thronged assembly an Irish Bishop, a
Dean, and thirteen Clergymen. The late Dr. Parr was an enthusiastic
admirer of Mr. Hall. He said to a friend of the writer, after a warm
eulogium on the eloquence of Mr. H. "In short, sir, the man is inspired."
Hannah More has more than once said to the writer, "There was no man in
the church, nor out of it, comparable in talents to Robert Hall."
[14] I presented Mr. C. with the three guineas, but forbore the
publication.
[15] I received a note, at this time, from Mr. Coleridge, evidently
written in a moment of perturbation, apologising for not accepting an
invitation of a more congenial nature, on account of his "Watch
drudgery." At another time, he was reluctantly made a prisoner from the
same cause, as will appear by the following note.
"April, 1796.
My dear Cottle,
My eye is so inflamed that I cannot stir out. It is alarmingly inflamed.
In addition to this, the Debates which Burnet undertook to abridge for
me, he has abridged in such a careless, slovenly manner, that I was
obliged to throw them into the fire, and am now doing them myself!...
S. T. C."
[16] This "sheet" of Sonnets never arrived.
[17] A late worthy bookseller of Bristol, who by his exertions obtained
one hundred and twenty subscribers for Mr. C.
[18] "My Bristol printer of the Watchman refused to wait a month for his
money, and threatened to throw me into jail for between _eighty_ and
_ninety_ pounds; when the money was paid by a friend."--_Biographia
Literaria_. Mr. C.'s memory was here grievously defective. The fact is,
Biggs the printer (a worthy man) never threatened nor even importuned for
his Money. Instead also of _nine_ numbers of the Watchman, there were
_ten_; and the printing of these ten numbers, came but to _thirty five_
pounds. The whole of the Paper (which cost more than the Printing) was
paid for by the Writer.
[19] It is evident Mr. C. must have had cause of complaint against one or
more of the booksellers before named. It could not apply to myself, as I
invariably adhered to a promise I had at the commencement given Mr.
Coleridge, not to receive any allowance for what copies of the 'Watchman'
I might be so happy as to sell for him.
[20] In all Mr. Coleridge's lectures, he was a steady opposer of Mr.
Pitt, and the then existing war; and also an enthusiastic admirer of Pox,
Sheridan, Grey, &c., &c., but his opposition to the reigning politics
discovered little asperity; it chiefly appeared by wit and sarcasm, and
commonly ended in that which was the speaker's chief object, a laugh.
Few attended Mr. C.'s lectures but those whose political views were
similar to his own; but on one occasion, some gentlemen of the opposite
party came into the lecture-room, and at one sentiment they heard,
testified their disapprobation by the only easy and safe way in their
power; namely, by a hiss. The auditors were startled at so unusual a
sound, not knowing to what it might conduct; but their noble leader soon
quieted their fears, by instantly remarking with great coolness, "I am
not at all surprised, when the red-hot prejudices of aristocrats are
suddenly plunged iuto the cool water of reason, that they should go off
with a hiss!" The words were electric. The assailants felt as well as
testified, their confusion, and the whole company confirmed it by immense
applause! There was no more hissing.
[21] A law just then passed.
[22] It is this general absence of the dates to Mr. C.'s letters, which
may have occasioned me, in one or two instances, to err in the
arrangement.
[23] Mr. Wordsworth, at this time resided at Allfoxden House, two or
three miles from Stowey.
[24] How much is it to be deplored, that one whose views were so enlarged
as those of Mr. Coleridge, and his conceptions so Miltonic, should have
been satisfied with theorizing merely; and that he did not, like his
great Prototype, concentrate all his energies, so as to produce some one
august poetical work, which should become the glory of his country.
[25] Sister of the Premier.
[26] It appears from Sir James Macintosh's Life, published by his son,
that a diminution of respect towards Sir James was entertained by Mr.
For, arising from the above two letters of Mr. Coleridge, which appeared
in the Morning Post. Some enemy of Sir James had informed Mr. Fox that
these two letters were written by Macintosh, and which exceedingly
wounded his mind. Before the error could be corrected, Mr. Fox died. This
occurrence was deplored by Sir James, in a way that showed his deep
feeling of regret, but which, as might be supposed, did not prevent him
from bearing the amplest testimony to the social worth and surpassing
talents of that great statesman.
Mr. Coleridge's Bristol friends will remember that once Mr. Fox was
idolized by him as the paragon of political excellence; and Mr. Pitt
depressed in the same proportion.
[27] The following is the Sonnet to Lord Stanhope, in the first edition,
now omitted.
"Not STANHOPE! with the _patriot's_ doubtful name
I mock thy worth, FRIEND OF THE HUMAN RACE!
Since, scorning faction's low and partial aim,
Aloof thou wendest in thy stately pace,
Thyself redeeming from that leprous stain--
NOBILITY! and, aye unterrified,
Pourest thy Abdiel warnings on the train
That sit complotting with rebellious pride
'Gainst her, who from th' Almighty's bosom leapt,
With whirlwind arm, fierce minister of love!
Wherefore, ere virtue o'er thy tomb hath wept.
Angels shall lead thee to the throne above,
And thou from forth its clouds shalt hear the voice--
Champion of FREEDOM, and her God, rejoice!
[28] The Skylark.
[29] It is to be regretted that Mr. C. in his emendations, should have
excluded from the second verse of the first poem, the two best lines in
the piece.
"And thy inmost soul confesses
Chaste Affection's majesty."
[30] Mr. C. afterward requested that the "allegorical lines" might alone
be printed in his second edition, with this title: "To an Unfortunate
Woman, whom the Author had known in the days of her innocence." The first
Poem, "Maiden, that with sullen brow," &c. he meant to re-write, and
which he will be found to have done, with considerable effect.
[31] Mr. Wordsworth lived at Racedown, before he removed to Allfoxden.
[32] Mr. C. after much hesitation, had intended to begin his second
edition with this Poem from the "Joan of Arc," in its enlarged, but
imperfect state, and even sent it to the press; but the discouraging
remarks, which he remembered, of one and another, at the last moment,
shook his resolution, and occasioned him to withdraw it wholly. He
commenced his volume with the "Ode to the Departing Year."
[33] WRITTEN, (1793) WITH A PENCIL, ON THE WALL OP THE ROOM IN BRISTOL
NEWGATE, WHERE SAVAGE DIED.
Here Savage lingered long, and here expired!
The mean--the proud--the censored--the admired!
If, wandering o'er misfortune's sad retreat,
Stranger! these lines arrest thy passing feet,
And recollection urge the deeds of shame
That tarnish'd once an unblest Poet's fame;
Judge not another till thyself art free,
And hear the gentle voice of charity.
"No friend received him, and no mother's care
Sheltered his infant innocence with prayer;
No father's guardian hand his youth maintained,
Call'd forth his virtues, or from vice restrain'd."
Reader! hadst thou been to neglect consign'd,
And cast upon the mercy of mankind;
Through the wide world, like Savage, forced to stray,
And find, like him, one long and stormy day;
Objects less noble might thy soul have swayed,
Or crimes around thee cast a deeper shade.
While poring o'er another's mad career,
Drop for thyself the penitential tear;
Though prized by friends, and nurs'd in innocence,
How oft has folly wrong'd thy better sense:
But if some virtues in thy breast there be,
Ask, if they sprang from _circumstance_, or _thee!_
And ever to thy heart the precept bear,
When thine own conscience smites, a wayward brother spare!
J. C.
[34] My brother, when at Cambridge, had written a Latin poem for the
prize: the subject, "Italia, Vastata," and sent it to Mr. Coleridge, with
whom he was on friendly terms, in MS. requesting the favor of his
remarks; and this he did about six weeks before it was necessary to
deliver it in. Mr. C. in an immediate letter, expressed his approbation
of the Poem, and cheerfully undertook the task; but with a little of his
procrastination, he returned the MS. with his remarks, just one day after
it was too late to deliver the poem in!
[35] Verbatim, from Burns's dedication of his Poems to the nobility and
gentry of the Caledonian Hunt.
[36] It appears that Mr. Burnet had been prevailed upon by smugglers to
buy some prime cheap brandy, but which Mr. Coleridge affirmed to be a
compound of Hellebore, kitchen grease, and Assafoetida! or something as
bad.
[37] Mr. George Burnet died at the age of thirty-two, 1807.
[38] The reader will have observed a peculiarity in most of Mr.
Coleridge's conclusions to his letters. He generally says, "God bless
you, and, or eke, S. T. C." so as to involve a compound blessing.
[39] Mrs. Newton, Chatterton's sister, had complained to me of the
dishonorable conduct of a gentleman, who, some years prior, had called on
her, expressing an enthusiastic admiration of her brother's genius, and
requesting the melancholy pleasure of seeing all the letters, then in her
and her mother's possession. The gentleman appeared quite affected when
he saw her brother's writings, and begged to be allowed to take them to
his inn, that he might read them at leisure; the voice of sympathy
disarmed suspicion, and the timely present of a guinea and a half induced
them to trust him with the MSS., under the promise of their being
returned in half an hour. They were never restored, and some months
afterwards the whole were incorporated and published in a pamphlet,
entitled "Love and Madness," by Mr. Herbert Croft. Mrs. Chatterton felt
the grievous wrong that had been done her by this publication for the
benefit of another, as she often received presents from strangers who
called to see her son's writings; she remonstrated with Mr. Croft on the
subject, and received £10 with expressions of his regard.
Here the affair rested, till 1796, when Mrs. Newton was advised to write
to Mr. Croft, for further remuneration. To this letter, no answer was
returned. Mrs. N. then wrote again, intimating that, acting by the advice
of some respectable friends, if no attention was paid to this letter,
some public notice would he taken of the manner in which he had obtained
her brother's papers. Upon this he replied, "The sort of threatening
letter which Mrs. Newton's is, will never succeed with me ... but if the
clergyman of the parish will do me the favour to write me word, through
Mrs. Newton, what Chatterton's relations consist of, and, _what
characters they bear!_ I will try by everything in my power, to serve
them; yet certainly not, if any of them pretend to have the smallest
_claim_ upon me."
During Mr. Southey's residence in Bristol, I informed him of this
discreditable affair, and accompanied him to Mrs. Newton, who confirmed
the whole of the preceding statement. We inquired if she still possessed
any writings of her brother's? Her reply was, "Nothing. Mr. Croft had
them all," with the exception of one precious relic of no value as a
publication, which she meant to retain till death.--The identical pocket
book, which Chatterton took with him to London, and in which he had
entered his cash account while there, with a list of his political
letters to the Lord Mayor, and the first personages in the laud. I now
wrote to Mr. Croft, pointing out Mrs. Newton's reasonable chums, and
urging him, by a timely concession, to prevent that publicity which,
otherwise, would follow. I received no answer. Mr. Southey then
determined to print by subscription, all Chatterton's works, including
those ascribed to Rowley, for the benefit of Mrs. Newton and her
daughter. He sent "Proposals" to the Monthly Magazine, in which he
detailed the whole case between Mrs. Newton and Mr. Croft, and published
their respective letters. The public sympathized rightly on the occasion,
for a handsome subscription followed. Mr. Croft, at that time resided at
Copenhagen, when having heard of Mr. S.'s exposure, he published a
pamphlet, with the following title.
"Chatterton, and Love and Madness. A Letter from Denmark, respecting an
unprovoked attack made upon the writer, during his absence from England,
&c." By the Rev. Sir Herbert Croft, Bart. In this he says:--
"I cannot be expected, by any man of honour! or feeling, to descend to
answer a scurrilous person, signing himself Robert Southey.
"I have ever reverenced the little finger of Chatterton, more than Mr.
Southey knows how to respect the poor boy's whole body.
"I learn so much of Mr. Southey's justice from his abuse, that I should
be ashamed of myself, were this person ever to disgrace me by his praise;
which might happen, did he wish to gain money, or fame! by becoming the
officious editor of MY WORKS!
"Innocence would less often fall a prey to villany, if it boldly met the
whole of a nefarious accusation!
"The great Mr. Southey writes prose somewhat like bad poetry, and poetry
somewhat like bad prose.
"Chatterton was the glory of that Bristol which I hope Mr. S. will not
farther disgrace.
"Mr. Southey, not content with trying to 'filch from me my good name,' in
order to enrich himself, (conduct agreeable enough to what I have heard
of BRISTOL Pantisocracy,) but condescends to steal from me my humble
prose!" &c. &c.
This edition of Chatterton's works was published in three volumes, 8vo.
during a ten months' residence of mine, in London, in the year 1802. Mr.
Southey allowed me to make what observations I thought proper in the
course of the work, provided that I affixed to them my initials; and,
with the generosity which was natural to him, thus wrote in the preface:
"The editors (for so much of the business has devolved on Mr. Cottle,
that the plural term is necessary) have to acknowledge," &c. &c. "They
have felt peculiar pleasure, as natives of the same city, in performing
this act of justice to Chatterton's fame, and to the interests of his
family."
The result of our labours was, that Mrs. Newton, received more than three
hundred pounds, as the produce of her brother's works. This money
rendered comfortable the last days of herself and daughter, and Mr
Southey and myself derived no common satisfaction in having contributed
to so desirable an end.
In this edition Mr. Southey arranged all the old materials, and the
consideration of the authenticity of Rowley, I regret to say, devolved
exclusively on me. Mr. S. would doubtless have been more successful in
his investigations at the Bristol Museum and Herald's College than
myself. I however did not spare my best efforts, and was greatly assisted
by the late Mr. Haslewood, who had collected one copy of every work that
had been published in the Controversy. And as I had obtained much new
documentary evidence since that period, besides knowing many of
Chatterton's personal friends, I condensed the arguments in his favor
into four essays, distinguished by the initials, "J. C."
In the year 1829, having received still an accession of fresh matter, I
enlarged these Essays, and printed them in the fourth edition of "Malvern
Hills, Poems, and Essays." I thought the subject worthy a full
discussion, and final settlement; and to this point I believe it now to
be brought.
Higher authority than that of Mr. Wordsworth could hardly be adduced, who
on being presented by me with a copy of the above work thus replied,
"My dear sir,
I received yesterday, through the hands of Mr. Southey, a very agreeable
mark of your regard, in a present of two volumes of your miscellaneous
works, for which accept my sincere thanks. I have read a good deal of
your volumes with much pleasure, and, in particular, the 'Malvern Hills,'
which I found greatly improved. I have also read the 'Monody on
Henderson,' both favorites of mine. And I have renewed my acquaintance
with your observations on Chatterton, which I always thought very highly
of, _as being conclusive on the subject of the forgery_....
With many thanks, I remain, my dear Mr. Cottle,
Your old and affectionate friend,
William Wordsworth.
Patterdale, August 2nd, 1829."
[40] War, a Fragment.
[41] John the Baptist, a Poem.
[42] Monody on John Henderson.
[43] Miss Sarah Fricker, afterwards, Mrs. Coleridge.
[44] Relating to these Sonnets, chiefly satirising himself, Mr. C. has
said, in his "Biographia;" "So general at that time, and so decided was
the opinion concerning the characteristic vices of my style, that a
celebrated physician, (Dr. Beddoes) speaking of me, in other respects,
with his usual kindness, to a gentleman who was about to meet me at a
dinner party, could not however resist giving him a hint not to mention,
in my presence, 'The House that Jack Built' for that I was as sore as a
boil about that sonnet, he not knowing that I myself was the author of
it."
Mr. Coleridge had a singular taste for satirising himself. He has spoken
of another ludicrous consequence arising out of this indulgence.
"An amateur performer in verse, expressed to a common friend, a strong
desire to be introduced to me, but hesitated in accepting my friend's
immediate offer, on the score that 'he was, he must acknowledge, the
author of a confounded severe epigram on Mr. C.'s 'Ancient Mariner,'
which had given him great pain.' I assured my friend, that if the epigram
was a good one, it would only increase my desire to become acquainted
with the author, and begged to hear it recited; when, to my no less
surprise than amusement, it proved to be one which I had myself, sometime
before, written and inserted in the Morning Post."
TO THE AUTHOR OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.
Your Poem must eternal be,
Dear Sir, it cannot fail,
For 'tis incomprehensible,
And without head or tail."
[45] The motto was the following:
Duplex nobis vinculum, et amicitae et similium junctarumque Camoenarum;
quod utinam neque mors solvat, neque temporis longinquitas!--_Groscoll.
Epist. ad Car. Utenhov. et Ptol. Lux. Tast._
[46] Eminent writers, particularly poets, should ever remember, they
wield a mighty engine for evil or for good. An author, like Mr.
Coleridge, may confidently talk of consigning to "pitch black oblivion,"
writings which he deems immoral, or calculated to disparage his genius;
but on works once given to the world, the public lay too tenacious a
hold, to consult even the wishes of writers themselves. Improve they may,
but withdraw they cannot! So much the more is circumspection required.
[47] Chemical Lectures, by Dr. Beddoes, delivered at the Red Lodge.
[48] A portrait of Mr. Wordsworth, correctly and beautifully executed, by
an artist then at Stowey; now in my possession.
[49]Joan of Arc, 4to. first edition, had twenty lines in a page.
[50] Did the report of the "still," in the former page, originate in this
broken bottle of brandy?
[51] "Robert Southey and Edith Pricker were married, in St. Mary
Redcliffe Church, in the City of Bristol, the 14th day of November, 1795,
as appears by the Register of the Parish.
George Campbell, Curate.
Witnesses--Joseph Cottle, Sarah Cottle."
[52] At the instant Mr. Southey was about to set off on his travels, I
observed he had no stick, and lent him a stout holly of my own. In the
next year, on his return to Bristol, "Here" said Mr. S. "Here is the
holly you were kind enough to lend me!"--I have since then looked with
additional respect on my old igneous traveller, and remitted a portion of
his accustomed labour. It was a source of some amusement, when, in
November of 1836, Mr. Southey, in his journey to the West, to my great
gratification, spent a few days with me, and in talking of Spain and
Portugal, I showed him his companion, the Old Holly! Though somewhat bent
with age, the servant (after an interval of forty years) was immediately
recognised by his master, and with an additional interest, as this stick,
he thought, on one occasion, had been the means of saving his purse, if
not his life, from the sight of so efficient an instrument of defence
having intimidated a Spanish robber.
[53] See page 32 [Paragraph starting with "The deepest sorrow often
admits...." Transcriber.].
[54] During the French war, Spanish dollars received the impression of
the King's head, and then passed as the current coin at 4s 6d.
[55] Dr. Hunter, translated St. Pierre.
[56] Dr. Gregory's life was prefixed entire the collection of
Chatterton's works, 8 vols. 8vo. Mr. Southey never fulfilled his
intention of writing a life Shatterton. The able review of this week, in
the Edinburgh was written by Sir Walter Scott.
[57] It was not true, but a vain fancy; causelessly entertained, by, at
least, four other ladies, under the same delusion as Miss. W.
[58] On visiting Mr. Southey, at Christ-Church, he introduced to me this
Mr. Rickman, whom I found sensible enough, and blunt enough, and
seditions enough; that is, simply anti-ministerial. The celebrated Sir G.
Rose, had his seat in the vicinity. Sir George was a sort of King of the
district. He was also Colonel of a regiment of volunteers. Mr. Rickman
told me that the great man had recently made a feast for the officers of
his regiment, about a dozen of them, the substantial yeomen of the
neighbourhood. After the usual bumper had uproariously been offered to
the "King and Constitution; and confusion to all Jacobins," the Colonel,
Sir G. called on the Lieutenant-Colonel, after the glasses were duly
charged, for a lady-toast. "I'll give you," he replied, "Lady Rose." This
being received with all honours, the Major was now applied to for his
lady-toast "I can't mend it," he replied, "I'll give Lady Rose." A
Captain was now called on; said he, "I am sure I can't mend it, Lady
Rose." So that the whole of these military heroes, concurred in drinking
good Lady Rose's health.
One of the officers, it appeared, was a bit of a poet, and had composed a
choice song for this festive occasion, and which was sung in grand
chorus, the Right Honourable Colonel himself, heartily joining. The whole
ditty was supremely ludicrous. I remember only the last verse.
"Sir George Rose is our Commander,
He's as great as Alexander;
He'll never flinch, nor stir back an inch,
He loves fire like a Salamander.
CHORUS--He loves fire like a Salamander."
[59] Walter Savage Landor.
[60] The character of Exeter has been completely changed since the period
when this letter was written; and from a town, the least attractive, for
improvements of every description it may now vie with any town in
England.
[61] Mr. Southey paid this second visit to Lisbon, accompanied by Mrs.
Southey.
[62] By comparing Mr. Cattcott's copy with the original, it appeared that
Mr. C. had very generally altered the orthography so as to give the
appearance of greater antiquity, as 'lette' or 'let,' and 'onne' for
'on,' &c.
[63] The home of an 'Ap (son of) Griffiths, ap Jones, ap Owen, ap
Thomas.' Some of the old Welsh families carry their Apping pedigrees down
to Noah, when the progress is easy to Adam. Mr. Coleridge noticed how
little diversity there was in the Welsh names. Thus in the list of
subscribers to 'Owen's Welsh Dictionary,' to which none but Welshmen
would subscribe, he found of
The letter D, of 31 names, 21 were Davis or Davies
E, 30 16 ... ... Evans
G, 30 two-thirds ... ... Griffiths
H, all Hughes and Howell
I, 66 all ... ... Jones
L, all Lloyds, except 4 Lewises, and 1 Llewellyn
M, four-fiths ... ... Morgans
O, all ... ... Owen
R, all Roberts, or Richards
T, all ... ... Thomases
V, all ... ... Vaughans
W, 64 56 ... ... Williams
Mr. Southey felt great satisfaction when he had found a house in Wales
that exactly suited him. It was half way up one of the Glamorganshire
mountains; well wooded; the immediate scenery fine; the prospect
magnificent. The rent was approved, the time of entrance arranged, when,
before the final settlement, Mr. S. thought, on a second survey, that a
small additional kitchen was essential to the comfort of the house, and
required it of the proprietor, preparatory to his taking a lease. To so
reasonable a request the honest Welshman stoutly objected; and on this
slight occurrence, depended whether the Laurent should take up, perhaps,
his permanent residence in the Principality, or wend his way northward,
and spend the last thirty years of his life in sight of Skiddaw.
[64] Wm. Churchey was a very honest worthy lawyer, of Brecon, who
unfortunately adopted the notion that he was a poet, and to substantiate
his claim published the most remarkable book the world ever saw! It was a
poem called 'Joseph,' with other poems, in 4to, and of a magnitude really
awful! a mountain among the puny race of modern books. The only copy I
ever saw was af an old book stall, and I have regretted that I did not
purchase it, and get some stout porter to carry it home. Wm. Churchey was
a friend of John Wesley. His prodigious 4to was published by
subscription, and given away at the paltry sum of one guinea. I have an
autograph letter of John Wesley, to his friend Churchey, in which he
says,
"My dear brother,
... I have procured one hundred guineas, and hope to procure fifty more.
John Wesley."
Mr. Churchey's pamphlet is thus entitled, "An Apology, by Wm. Churchey,
for his public appearance as a Poet. Printed at Trevecca, Breconshire, by
Hughes and Co., 1805; and sold by the author, at Brecon, price 6d."
The first paragraph in the 'Apology,' begins thus, the italics the
author's own.
"The author has been ostracised from Parnassus by some tribe of the
critics on his former work of _Weight_, if not _Merit_, one set of whom
--the most ancient, the wisest of them all--condemned it in the _lump_. A
whole volume of ten thousand lines, in _one_ paragraph of their _Monthly
Catalogue_, for which they were _paid--nothing!_ without quoting _one_
line! Whereas a _score (!)_ out of some idle _sonnet_, or some
_wire-drawn_ Cibberian ode, shall be _held up_ out of the _mud_ with a
placid grin of applause. The author _has_ forgiven them, and keeps,
therefore, the _name_ of their pamphlet in the back ground, in the
_charitable_ hope of their having fifteen years ago, _repented_ of that
_injustice_' This ponderous work however, to which the author alludes,
was his 'Poems and Imitations of the British Poets, in one _large_ vol.
in 4to, price only £1 1s. on _excellent_ paper and print! The same price
as even 'Jeffrey Gambado's _Gambol of Horsemanship_' went off as current,
at the same time. He _out-jockied_ me; I always was a bad Horseman." &c.,
&c.
As illustrating one of the extreme points of human nature, I may casually
mention that, after Mr. Churchey's death, which soon succeeded the
issuing of his 'Apology,' from understanding that his widow was in
straitened circumstances, and meeting with a gentleman who was going to
Brecon, I requested the favour of him to convey to her a guinea, as a
small present. A week after, I received a letter from the widow, thanking
me for my kind remembrance, but she said that she was not benefited by
it, as Mr. ---- said to her, 'This is a guinea, sent to you from Mr.
Cottle, of Bristol, but as your husband owed me money, I shall carry it
to the credit of his account'; when, buttoning his pocket, he walked
away.' I immediately sent another guinea, and requested her not to name
so disreputable an action, in one, from whom I had hoped better conduct.
This gentleman, till the period of his death, twenty years after, always
shunned me! At the time the abstraction took place, he was a wealthy man,
and kept his carriage; but from that time he declined in prosperity, and
died in indigence.
[65] In a better sent to me by Mr. Foster, dated June 22, 1843, he thus
explains the mysterious circumstances, relating to the publication of
"Wat Tyler."
"My dear sir,
... I wonder if Mr. Southey ever did get at the secret history of that
affair. The story as I heard it was, that Southey visited Winterbottom in
prison, and just as a token of kindness, gave him the M.S. of 'Wat
Tyler.' It was no fault of Winterbottom that it was published. On a visit
to some friends at Worcester, he had the piece with him; meaning I
suppose, to afford them a little amusement, at Southey's expense, he
being held in great reproach, even contempt, as a turn-coat. At the
house where Winterbottom was visiting, two persons, keeping the piece in
their reach at bed-time, sat up all night transcribing it, of course
giving him no hint of the manoeuvre. This information I had from one of
the two operators....
[66] Poor John Morgan was the only child of a retired spirit merchant of
Bristol, who left him a handsome independence. He was a worthy
kind-hearted man, possessed of more than an average of reading and good
sense; generally respected, and of unpresuming manners. He was a great
friend and admirer of Mr. Coleridge; deploring his habits, and labouring
to correct them. Except Mr. Gillman, there was no individual, with whom
Mr. Coleridge lived gratuitously so much, during Mr. M's. residence in
London, extending to a domestication of several years. When Mr. Morgan
removed to Calne, in Wiltshire, for a long time, he gave Mr. C. an
asylum, and till his affairs, through the treachery of others, became
involved, Mr. Coleridge, through him, never wanted a home. That so
worthy, and generous a minded man should have been thus reduced, or
rather ruined in his circumstances, was much deplored by all who knew
him, and marked the instability of human possessions and prospects, often
little expected by industrious parents.
[67] A large collection of animal bones, many of them in fossil state,
consisting of the jaws and other bones, of tigers, hyenas, wolves, foxes,
the horse, the bos, &c., the whole obtained by me, in the year 1822, from
the Oreston caves, near Plymouth. The number of bones amounted to nearly
two thousand. Many of the specimens were lent to Professor Buckland, to
get engraved, for a new geological work of his. The major part of the
collection I presented to the Bristol Philosophical Institution.
[68] The decrease of the remarkable young lady, Sarah Saunders, my niece,
to whom the later Mr. Foster addressed a series of letters, during her
illness. These letters are printed in Mr. F's. "Life and Correspondence."
[69] LIST OF ARTICLES WRITTEN BY ROBERT SOUTHEY IN THE QUARTERLY REVIEW,
TO APRIL, 1825.
No.
1 Baptist Mission in India
2 Portuguese Literature
3 South Sea Missions
-- Lord Valentia's Travels
4 American Annals
5 Life of Nelson
6 Season at Tongataboo
-- Graham's Georgics
7 Observador Portuguez
8 Feroe Islands
-- On the Evangelical Sects
11 Bell and Lancaster
12 The Inquisition
-- Montgomery's Poems
13 Iceland
14 French Revolutionists
15 Count Julian
-- Calamities of Authors
16 Manufacturing system and the Poor
19 Bogue and Bennett's History of the Dissenters
21 Nicobar Islands
-- Montgomery's World before the Flood
22 23 British Poets
23 Oriental Memoirs
24 Lewis and Clark's Travels
-- Barrè Roberts
25 Miot's Expedition to Egypt
25 Life of Wellington
26 do. do.
28 Alfieri
29 Me. La Roche Jacqueline
-- The Poor
30 Ali Bey's Travels
-- Foreign Travellers in England
31 Parliamentary Reform
32 Porter's Travels
-- Rise and Progress of Disaffection
33 Tonga Islands
35 Lope de Vega
37 Evelyn on the means of Improving the People
41 Copy-Right Act
42 Cemeteries
43 Monastic Institutions
45 Life of Marlborough
46 New Churches
48 Life of Wm. Huntington, S.S.
50 Life of Cromwell
52 Dobrizhoffer
53 Camoens
55 Gregorie's Religious Sects
56 Infidelity
57 Burnett's Own Times
59 Dwight's Travels
62 Hayley
-- Mrs. Baillie's Lisbon
Mr. Southey expressed an intention of sending me a list of all his
remaining papers, in the "Quarterly," which intention was not fulfilled.
Presuming on the accuracy of the present list, from Mr. S. himself, there
must be some mistakes in the account of Mr. Southey's contributions, as
stated in that old and valuable periodical, the "Gentleman's Magazine,"
for 1844 and 1845.
[70] Every effort was made by me both by advertising and inquiry, but no
tidings of the first edition of Bunyan could be obtained in these parts.
Very recently I learnt that the first edition had been discovered, and
that the particulars might be learned of E. B. Underhill, Esq., Newmarket
House, near Nailsworth, Gloucestershire. Upon my writing to this
gentleman he politely favoured me with the following gratifying reply.
"Feb. 27, 1847.
Dear Sir,
In answer to your inquiry, the first edition of the first part of the
Pilgrim's Progress is the property of J. S. Holford, Esq., a gentleman of
large possessions in this county. It was first made known I believe, by
the Art Union, that this unique volume was in existence. Some time last
summer I applied to Mr. H. for liberty to inspect it, and if agreeable to
him, to reprint it. This he at once most liberally granted, and at the
request of the council of the Hanserd Knollys' Society, George Offer,
Esq., one of our members undertook the task of editor. The book is in a
high state of preservation; both the paper and binding being as fresh as
they left the hands of the binder. Mr. Offer has most laboriously
collated it with subsequent editions, and has found many curious and
singular discrepancies.
I remain, yours most truly,
Edwd. B. Underhill.
Jos. Cottle."
In this publication will be found all the desired information on this
interesting subject.
Letter from Mr. Offer to Mr. Cottle, on transmitting to him Mr. O.'s
correspondence with Mr. Southey, relating to a charge of Plagiarism in
John Bunyan.
"Hackney, March 6, 1847.
Dear sir,
Enclosed I send you copies of the correspondence relative to 'Bunyan's
Pilgrim's Progress,' with Mr. Southey.
About the year 1825, two gentlemen called to see my book rarities, and
among them a copy of 'Duyfken's ande Willemynkyns Pilgrimagee,' with five
cuts by Bolswert, published at Antwerp, 1627, the year before Bunyan's
birth. The first plate represents a man asleep--a pilgrim by his
bed-side--in the perspective two pilgrims walking together, they are then
seen on the ground by some water--in the extreme distance the sun
setting. Another plate represents the two pilgrims in a fair, Punch and
Judy, &c. A third, one pilgrim under a rock, within a circle of candles,
a magician with his wand, smoke and demons over the dismayed pilgrim's
head. A fourth, two pilgrims ascending a steep hill, one of them falling
head-long down. From a glance of a few moments at this curious book,
there shortly afterwards appeared in a newspaper in the North, an account
of Banyan's having borrowed some of his plot from this work. This was
answered by Mr. Montgomery, and others. Upon Mr. Southey not being able
to find the book, when he had undertaken to write the 'Life and Times of
Bunyan,' he addressed a letter to his publisher, Mr. Major, in which he
says, 'Can you give me Mr. Donce's direction, that I may ask him for some
account of the French poem? Cottle refers me to 'Dunlop's History of
Fiction,' for an account of a German book, which is of the same
character. Bunyan I am sure knew nothing either of the one or the other.
If the allegory was not an extension of the most common and obvious of
all similitudes--the _germ_ of it might be found in his own works.' Major
asked my advice, and I shewed him the book and gave him some little
account of it; and soon after I received from Dr. Southey the following
letter.
'Keswick, 16 April, 1829.
Sir,--Mr. Major has favoured me with your account of the Dutch work in
your possession, which in many parts bears a remarkable resemblance to
the 'Pilgrim's Progress.' It would require the strongest possible
evidence to convince me, against my will, that Bunyan is not an original
writer. The book we know he could not have read in the original; and if
there had been a translation of it, it is hardly likely that it should
have remained undiscovered till this time; it being almost impossible
that it should come into the hands of any one who had not read the
Pilgrim's Progress. This is possible, that Bunyan may have heard an
account of the book from some Dutch baptist in England, or some English
one who had seen it in Holland. I do not think that his obligations to it
can have been more than this; but of this I can better judge when I have
perused the book, which my knowledge of the language enables me to do, if
you favor me with it.
Great men have sometimes been plagiarists; a grave charge of this kind
has recently been proved upon Lord Bacon,--no less than that of having
taken the fundamental principle of his philosophy from his name-sake,
Roger, and claimed it as his own. Bunyan, I am fully persuaded, was too
honest and too righteous a man to be guilty of any such baseness. He was
in a beaten path of Allegory,--a name, a hint he may have taken, but I
think nothing more. You will judge from this, sir, how very far from my
intentions or inclination, it would be, in the slightest respect, to
depreciate John Bunyan, whose book I have loved from my childhood. And
whatever his obligations to the Dutchman may have been, if any there
should prove to be, it is surely better that they should be stated by one
who loves and honours his memory, than brought forward hereafter by some
person in a different spirit; for nothing of this kind can long escape
discovery now. My present persuasion is, that he owes nothing to it
directly. Something perhaps, indirectly, but not much. And I promise you
that I will do him no wrong.
Should you favor me by entrusting me with the book, I shall of course
make due mention of the obligation you have conferred.
I remain, sir, yours with respect,
Robert Southey.
To George Offer, Esq.'
The book was immediately sent, and shortly returned with the following
note and letter.
'Keswick, 25 April, 1829.
Sir,--Your book has been four and twenty hours in my possession, and I
return it with many thanks, having perused it carefully, made notes from
it, and satisfied myself most completely, that there is not the slightest
reason for supposing Bunyan had ever heard of it, nor that he could ever
have taken even a hint from it, if he had read it.
I remain, sir, yours truly,
Robert Southey.
To George Offer, Esq.'
The following letter was addressed to Mr. Major.
'Keswick, April 25,1829.
Dear Sir,
You will perceive by the return of one of your treasures, that the
precious parcel arrived safely. I have read through the 'Dutch Original,'
and made notes from it;--there is not the slightest resemblance in it to
anything in the 'Pilgrim's Progress. The three striking circumstances
which you mentioned of the 'Hill of Difficulty,' the 'Slough of Despond,'
and 'Vanity Fair,' do not afford any ground for supposing that Bunyan had
ever heard of this book; or that even if he had read it, he should have
taken one hint from it. Here the incidents are, 1st that the wilful
Pilgrim stops in a village crowd to see some juggler's tricks at a fair,
and certain vermin in consequence shift their quarters from some of the
rabble close to her, to her person. 2nd. That by following a cow's track
instead of keeping the high road, she falls into a ditch. And 3rd. That
going up a hill at the end of their journey, from whence Jerusalem is in
sight, she climbs too high in a fit of presumption, is blown down, and
falls into the place whence there is no deliverance. I am very glad to
have had an opportunity of comparing it with the French translation, in
which, as you may suppose, every thing which is national, and peculiar,
and racy, is lost.
The author's name is not to be found in 'Poppen's Bibliotheca Belgica.'
Another and larger bible of the same country, ought to be on its way to
me from Brussels at this time, and there I shall no doubt find an account
of him. But the inquiry is not worth much trouble, seeing how completely
all imitation or even resemblance will be disproved by an account of the
book. By the by, it cannot be very rare in its own country, seeing it was
popular enough for a French translation to be _re_-printed more than a
hundred years after its first appearance. Believe me, dear sir,
Yours faithfully,
Robert Southey.'
The volume contains 294 pages in Dutch. Read, analysed, and a very
correct account of it completed in 24 hours!!
I am, my dear sir, yours truly,
George Offer.
Joseph Cottle."
[71] Mr. Southey in a letter to me, dated May 13, 1799, thus writes:
"Arch, who purchased of you the first edition of Wordsworth's 'Lyrical
Ballads,' tells me, that he expects to lose by them!"
It reflects credit on Hannah More, to whom I had presented the first
volume, that she immediately perceived the merits of the "Lyrical
Ballads." On my visiting Barley Wood soon after, she said to me, "Your
young friend Wordsworth, surpasses all your other young friends," when
producing the book, she requested me to read several of the poems, which
I did, to the great amusement of the ladies. On concluding, she said, "I
must hear 'Harry Gill,' once more." On coming to the words, "O, may he
never more be warm!" she lifted up her hands, in smiling horror.
[72] The house of the Pneumatic Institution was situated in Dowry Square,
Hotwells; the house in the corner, forming the north-east angle of the
Square.
[73] Mr. Davy often asked me to attend his experiments, at the Wells, and
as an evidence of the zeal with which he wished to induce as many as he
could to pursue his favourite chemistry, in consequence of my taking
great interest in his proceedings, he urged me to pursue chemistry, as a
science. To prove that he was in earnest, he bought for me a box of
chemical tests, acids, alkalies, glass tubes, retorts, blow-pipe, trough,
&c. &c. and assisted me in some of my first experiments. The trough I
occasionally use at the present time.
[74] This young Philosopher was suspected to be Mr. Davy, himself.
[75] The late Archdeacon Wrangham.
[76] Afterwards incorporated in another poem.
[77] These three initials would be the proper S. T. C. affixed to his
garments.
[78] This account of Mr. Coleridge's military life, I read to Mr. Wade,
who remarked that the greater part of what he had heard, Mr. Coleridge
had, at different times, repeated to him. Mr. W. having been an old and
steady friend of Mr. C. I expressed a desire that, he would read the
whole MS. Memoir thoughtfully, in my presence, on successive mornings,
and, without hesitation, dissent, if he thought it needful, from any of
my statements. He afterwards remarked, "I have read deliberately the
whole manuscript with intense interest, as all who knew Coleridge will,
and, I think, those who knew him not. It is Coleridge himself,
undisguised. All the statements I believe to be correct. Most of them I
know to be such. There is nothing in this Memoir of our friend to which I
object; nothing which I could wish to see omitted." He continued, "With
respect to those letters relating to opium, I think you would be
unfaithful, if you were to suppress them: but that letter addressed to
me, must be published, (according to Mr. Coleridge's solemn injunction,)
either by you, or myself. The instruction to be derived from this and his
penitential letters addressed to you, is incalculable. All my friends
unite with me in this opinion."
Mr. W. related, at this time, one circumstance, received by him from Mr.
Coleridge, which was new to me, and which is as follows. One of the men
in Mr. C.'s company, had, it appeared a bad case of the small pox, when
Mr. C. was appointed to be his _nurse_, night and day. The fatigue and
anxiety, and various inconveniences, involved in the superintendence on
this his sorely diseased comrade, almost sickened him of hospital
service; so that one or two more such cases would have reconciled him to
the ranks, and have made him covet, once more, the holiday play of
rubbing down his horse.
[79] At the time Mr. Coleridge belonged to the 15th Light Dragoons, the
men carried carbines, in addition to swords and pistols. More recently, a
shorter gun has been substituted, called a fusce.
[80] Mr. Stoddart was a gentleman of whom he often talked, and spoke
feelingly of Mr. S.'s chagrin, in the earlier part of his professional
career. Briefs were then scarce, yet one evening an attorney called with
the object of his desire, but Mr. S. was not at home, and the urgency of
the case required it to be placed in other hands. This was long a subject
of lamentation to the young barrister, and also to his friends; but
success followed.
[81] Mr. Coleridge sustained one serious loss, on quitting Malta, which
he greatly deplored. He had packed in a large case, all his books and
MSS. with all the letters received by him during his residence on the
island. His directions were, to be forwarded to England, by the first
ship; with Bristol, as its ultimate destination. It was never received,
nor could he ever learn what became of it. It may be lying at this moment
in some custom-house wareroom, waiting for the payment of the duty! Of
which Mr. C. probably was not aware.
[82] It was a remarkable quality in Mr. Coleridge's mind, that _edifices_
excited little interest in him. On his return from Italy, and after
having resided for some time in _Rome_, I remember his describing to me
the state of society; the characters of the Pope and Cardinals; the
gorgeous ceremonies, with the superstitions of the people, but not one
word did he utter concerning St. Peter's, the Vatican, or the numerous
_antiquities_ of the place. As a further confirmation, I remember to have
been with Mr. Coleridge at York on our journey into Durham, to see Mr.
Wordsworth, when, after breakfast at the inn, perceiving Mr. C. engaged,
I went out alone, to see the York Minster, being, in the way, detained in
a bookseller's shop. In the mean time, Mr. C. having missed me, he set
off in search of his companion. Supposing it _probable_ that I was gone
to the _Minster_, he went up to _the door_ of that magnificent structure,
and inquired of the porter, whether such an individual as myself had gone
in there. Being answered in the negative, he had _no further curiosity_,
not even _looking_ into the _interior_, but turned away to pursue his
search! so that Mr. C. left York, without beholding, or wishing to
behold, the chief attraction of the city, or being at all conscious that
he had committed by his neglect, _high treason against all architectural
beauty!_ This deficiency in his regard for edifices, while he was
feverishly alive to all the operations of _mind_, and to all intellectual
inquiries, formed a striking and _singular_ feature in Mr. Coleridge's
mental constitution worthy of being noticed.
[83] It was a favourite citation with Mr. Coleridge, "I in them, and thou
in me, that they all may he one in us."
[84] In corroboration of this remark, an occurrence might be cited, from
the Life of Sir Humphry, by his brother, Dr. Davy.--Sir Humphry, in his
excursion to Ireland, at the house of Dr. Richardson, met a large party
at dinner, amongst whom, were the Bishop of Raphoe, and another
Clergyman. A Gentleman, one of the company, in his zeal for Infidelity,
began an attack on Christianity, (no very gentlemanly conduct) not
doubting but that Sir H. Davy, as a Philosopher, participated in his
principles, and he probably anticipated, with so powerful an auxiliary,
an easy triumph over the cloth. With great confidence he began his
flippant sarcasms at religion, and was heard out by his audience, and by
none with more attention than by Sir Humphry. At the conclusion of his
harangue, Sir H. Davy, instead of lending his _aid_, entered on a
comprehensive defence of Christianity, 'in so fine a tone of eloquence'
that the Bishop stood up from an impulse similar to that which sometimes
forced a whole congregation to rise at one of the impassioned bursts of
Massillon.
The Infidel was struck dumb with mortification and astonishment, and
though a guest for the night, at the assembling of the company the next
morning at breakfast, it was found that he had taken _French leave_, and
at the earliest dawn had set off for his own home.
[85] The father's remark on the occasion was, "There's an end of him! A
fine high-spirited fellow!"
[86] Perhaps, the most valuable production of Mr. Foster, as to style and
tendency, is the Essay which he prefixed to the Glasgow edition of
Doddridge's "Rise and Progress of Religion." Mr. F. having sent me a
letter relating to the above Essay, just as it was completed, it may not
be unacceptable to the Reader; where he will behold a fresh instance of
the complex motives, in which the best of human productions often
originate.
"Sept. 10, 1825.
My dear sir,
I am truly sorry not to have seen you, excepting on one short evening for
so long a time, and as I expect to go on Monday next to Lyme, I cannot be
content without leaving for you a line or two, as a little link of
continuity, if I may so express it, in our friendly communications. The
preventive cause of my not seeing you, has been the absolute necessity of
keeping myself uninterruptedly employed to finish a literary task which
had long hung as a dead weight on my hands.
Dr. Chalmers some three years since started a plan of reprinting in a
neat form a number of respectable religious works, of the older date,
with a preliminary Essay to each, relating to the book, or to any
analagous topic, at the writer's discretion. The Glasgow booksellers,
Chalmers and Collins, the one the Doctor's brother, and the other his
most confidential friend, have accordingly reprinted a series of perhaps
now a dozen works, with essays, several by Dr. C.; several by Irving; one
by Wilberforce; one by Daniel Wilson, &c. &c. I believe Hall, and
Cunningham promised their contributions. I was inveigled into a similar
promise, more than two years since. The work strongly urged on me for
this service, in the first instance, was "Doddridge's Rise and Progress,"
and the contribution was actually promised to be furnished with the least
possible delay, on the strength of which the book was immediately printed
off--and has actually been lying in their warehouse as dead stock these
two years. I was admonished and urged again and again, but in spite of
the mortification, and shame, which I could not but feel, at these
occasioning the publisher a positive loss, my horror of writing, combined
with ill health, invincibly prevailed, and not a paragraph was written
till toward the end of last year, when I did summon resolution for the
attempt. When I had written but a few pages, the reluctant labour was
interrupted, and suspended, by the more interesting one of writing those
letters to our dear young friend, your niece. (Miss Saunders.) Not of
course that this latter employment did not allow me time enough for the
other, but by its more lively interest it had the effect of augmenting my
disinclination to the other. Soon after her removal, I resumed the task,
and an ashamed to acknowledge such a miserable and matchless slowness of
mental operation, that the task has held me confined ever since, till
actually within these few days. I believe that nothing but a strong sense
of the duty of fulfilling my engagement, and of not continuing to do a
real injury to the publishers, could have constrained me to so much time
and toil. The article is indeed of the length of nearly one half of
Doddridge's book, but many of my contemporary makers of sentences, would
have produced as much with one fifth part of the time and labour. I have
aimed at great correctness and condensation, and have found the labour of
revisal and transcription not very much less than that of the substantial
composition. The thing has been prolonged, I should say spun out to three
times the length which was at first intended, or was required. It has
very little reference to the book which it accompanies; has no special
topic, and is merely a serious inculcation of the necessity of Religion
on young persons, and men of the world. In point of merit, (that you know
is the word in such matters) I rate it very moderately, except in respect
to correctness, and clearness of expression. If it do not possess this
quality, a vast deal of care and labour has been sadly thrown away. I
suppose the thing is just about now making up to be sent from the
publishers' warehouse. I shall have a little parcel of copies, and shall
presume to request the acceptance of one in Dighton Street.
My dear sir, I am absolutely ashamed to have been led into this length of
what is no better than egotism, when I was meaning just in five lines, to
tell what has detained me from the pleasure of seeing you.... My dear
sir.
Yours most truly,
John Foster."
[87] "I think Priestley must be considered the author of modern
Unitarianism. I owe, under God, my return to the faith, to my having gone
much farther than the Unitarians, and so having come round to the other
side. I can truly say, I never falsified the scriptures. I always told
them that their interpretations of scripture were intolerable, on any
principles of sound criticism; and that, if they were to offer to
construe the will of their neighbour, as they did that of their Maker,
they would be scouted out of society. I said, plainly and openly, that it
was clear enough, John and Paul were not Unitarians.
I make the greatest difference between 'ans' and 'isms.' I should deal
insincerely, if I said, that I thought _Unitarianism_ was Christianity.
No, as I believe, and have faith in the doctrine, it is not the truth in
Jesus Christ. By-the-by, what do you (Unitarians) mean, by exclusively
assuming the title of Unitarians? As if Trio-Unitarians were not
necessarily Unitarians, as much (pardon, the illustration) as an
apple-pie, must of course be a pie! The schoolmen would perhaps have
called you _Unicists_, but your proper name is _Psilanthropists_,
believers in the mere human nature of Christ.... Unitarianism, is in
effect, the worst of one kind of Atheism, joined to one of the worst
kinds of Calvinism. It has no covenant with God, and it looks upon prayer
as a sort of self-magnetizing;--a getting of the body and temper into a
certain _status_, desirable, _per se_, but having no covenanted reference
to the Being to whom the prayer is addressed.
The _pet_ texts of Socinians are quite enough for their confutation with
acute thinkers. If Christ had been a mere man, it would have been
ridiculous in him to call himself the 'Son of Man;' but being God and
_man_, it then became, in his own assumption, a peculiar and mysterious
title. So, if Christ had been a mere man, his saying, 'My father is
greater than I,' (John xv. 28.) would have been as unmeaning. It would be
laughable, for example, to hear me say, my 'Remorse' succeeded indeed,
but Shakspeare is a greater dramatist than I,' But how immeasurably more
foolish, more monstrous, would it not be for a man, however honest, good,
or wise, to say 'But Jehovah is greater than I.'
"Either we have an immortal soul, or we have not. If we have not, we are
beasts; the first and wisest of beasts it may be, but still true beasts.
We shall only differ in degree, and not in kind; just as the elephant
differs from the slug. But by the concession of all the materialists, of
all the schools, or almost all, we are not of the same kind as beasts;
and this also we say, from our own consciousness. Therefore, methinks, it
must be the possession of a soul within us, that makes the difference.
"Read the first chapter of the Book of Genesis without prejudice, and you
will be convinced at once. After the narrative of the creation of the
earth and brute animals, Moses seems to pause, and says, 'And God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.' And in the next
chapter, he repeats the narrative.--'And the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;'
and then he adds these words, 'and man became a living soul.' Materialism
will never explain these last words."
[88] The following notice of Mr. C.'s opium habits, with the reasons for
disclosing them, were prefixed to the "Early Recollections," ten years
ago, but the arguments are equally applicable at this time, 1847.
[89] A Dissenting minister of Bristol.
[90] It is apprehended that this must be a mistake. I sent Mr. Coleridge
five guineas for my Shakespeare ticket, and entertain no doubt but that
some others did the same. But his remark may refer to some succeeding
lecture, of which I have no instinct recollection.
[91] A request of permission from Mr. Coleridge, to call on a few of his
known friends, to see if we could not raise an annuity for him of one
hundred a year, that he might pursue his literary objects without
pecuniary distractions.
[92] A worthy medical Friend of Bristol, who first in that city,
interested himself in the establishment of infant schools.
[93] This long sentence, between brackets, was struck out by Mr. Southey,
in perusing the MS., through delicacy, as it referred to himself; but the
present occasion it is restored.
[94] Some supplemental lecture.
[95] Mr. Coleridge, in his "Church and State," speaks of employing a
drawer in which were "too many of my _unopened letters._"
[96] These four lines in the edition of Mr. C.'s Poems, published after
his death, are oddly enough thrown into the "Monody on Chatterton," and
form the four opening lines. Many readers may concur with myself in
thinking, that the former commencement was preferable; namely;--
"when faint and sad o'er sorrow's desert wild,
Slow journeys onward poor misfortune's child;" &c.
[97] This man must hare been just the kind of vigilant superintendent Mr.
C. desired; ready to fetch a book, or a box of snuff, &c., at command.
The preceding occurrence would not have been introduced, but to
illustrate the supreme ascendancy which opium exercises over its unhappy
votaries.
[98] This statement requires an explanation, which none now can give. Was
the far larger proportion of this £300 appropriated to the discharge of
Opium debts? This does not seem unlikely, as Mr. C. lived with friends,
and he could contract few other debts.
[99] Such were omitted in the published work.
[100] When Coleridge dwelt at the 'Oat and Salutation,' in Newgate
Street, and talked of leaving it, his conversation had brought so many
customers to the house, that the landlord offered him _free-quarters_ if
he would only stay and continue to talk.
[101] Mr. Poole, who requested it as a favour, came all the way from
Stowey to peruse my MS. "Recollections of Coleridge," and who I have good
reason to believe, without any unkind intention, communicated a report to
_C.'s relations._
[102] Mr. Southey's grandfather lived in the old manor-house at
Bedminster, where, in his younger days. Mr. S. passed many of his
happiest hours. When spending a week with me at Bedminster, with a year
of the date of this letter, he went to the old house, and requested
permission of the strangers who inhabited his grandfather's mansion, to
walk round the garden, and renew his acquaintance with the old trees
which he used to climb nearly six years before; a request which was
readily granted. The revival of such interesting associations, had they
occurred at a former period, would doubtless have produced some exquisite
poetical record.
[103] The illness of Mrs. Edith Southey.
[104] Mr. S. deemed it an admirable likeness of Mr. W. as he appeared in
younger life; and said that it bore at the present time, a striking
resemblance to Mr. W.'s son.
[105] The eminent Edinburgh Professor. For three years the private tutor
of Mr. T. Wedgewood.
[106] Westbury, near Bristol, the then residence of Mr. John Wedgewood,
Esq.
[107] The then residence of Mr. Wordsworth.
[108] List of Works and Poems which Mr. Coleridge _intended_ to write,
with the pages in which they are noticed.
[Transcriber's note: After the page number the starting words of the
matching paragraph are given.]
Poem on the Nativity (800 lines), p. 66 ["He speaks in the same
letter"]
Plan of General Study, p. 66 ["In a letter of Mr. C. dated"]
Pantisocracy, 4to., p. 73 ["Before I enter on an important"]
17 other works, p. 73 [See previous.]
Translations of Modern Latin Poets 2 vols. 8vo., p. 73 [See
previous.]
8 Sonnets, p. 81 ["With regard to the Poems I mean to"]
A book on Morals, in answer to Godwin, p. 102 ["Wordsworth's
conversation aroused me"]
Oberon of Wieland (Trans.), p. 160 ["P. S. I am translating the"]
Ballad. 340 lines, p. 173 ["I have finished my Ballad, it is"]
3 Works, promised, p. 292 ["Coleridge has left London for
Keswick"]
New Review, p. 306 ["The preceding letter of Mr. Coleridge led"]
Lectures on Female Education, p. 357 ["Even so the two far, far
more"]
Odes on the different sentences of the Lord's Prayer, p. 387
["You will wish to know something of myself"]
Treatise on the Corn Laws, p. 390 ["Indeed from the manner in
which it"]
Hist. of German Belles Lettres, p. 427 ["What have I done in
Germany"]
Life of Lessing, p. 427 [See previous.]
Introduction to Lessing's Life, p. 437 ["Have you seen my
translation"]
Progressiveness of all Nature, p. 430 ["Now I make up my mind to
a sort"]
Principles of Population, p. 431 ["I shall remain in London till
April"]
Finishing of Christabel, p. 438 ["There happen frequently little
odd"]
Letters and condition of German Boors, p. 442 [See previous.]
A Comedy, p. 442 ["My littlest one is a very stout boy"]
Essay on writing in Newspapers, p. 445 ["I cannot write that
without"]
Essay on Style in Prose and Verse, p. 446 ["Very soon however I
shall present"]
Essay on Hall, Milton, and Taylor, p. 446 [See previous.]
Essay on Johnson and Gibbon, p. 446 [See previous.]
Book on the subject of Poetry, p. 446 [See previous.]
Heroic Poem on the Siege of Jerusalem, p. 447 ["I have, since my
twentieth year"]
[109] An intention not fulfilled.
[110] Mr. Thomas Wedgewood visited the continent in 1803, with Mr.
Underwood as his travelling companion. He purposed to have proceeded to
the continent in 1804; but his disorders increasing, he retired to his
seat, near Blandford, and died July 10, 1805, aged 34. Mr. Coleridge, in
vain, recommended a continental journey.
Josiah Wedgewood, Esq., died July 13, 1843, aged 74.
[111] Mr. Coleridge, when at the University of Gottingen, found pleasant
English society. With several gentlemen (students) whom he there met,
(Dr. Parry, the present eminent physician of Bath; Dr. Carlyon, the no
less eminent physician of Truro; Captain Parry, the North Pole Navigator;
and Mr. Chester.) They together made an excursion to the Hartz mountains.
Many striking incidents respecting this pedestrian excursion are before
the public, in Mr. C.'s own letters; and it may here be added, Dr.
Carlyon has published a work, entitled "Early Years and Late
Reflections," which gives among other valuable matter, many additional
particulars connected with this visit to the Brockhen, as well as
interesting notices concerning Mr. Coleridge, during his residence in
Germany. Dr. C. has more recently published a second volume, with able
dissertations, chiefly on Medical Science.
[112] Trevecka, a college established by Lady Huntingdon.
[113] After JOHN HENDERSON'S acquaintance and friendship had been matured
with Dean Tucker, he informed a particular friend, the Rev. James Newton,
"that whenever he was in the company of young Henderson, he considered
himself as a Scholar in the presence of his Tutor." The late Robert Hall
also well knew John Henderson, and in the latter part of his life,
referring to him, told me, that he considered John Henderson to have been
a Prodigy, and that, when in his company, he always considered himself as
a pupil.
[114] A German at Oxford was once much frightened by coming into the room
while JOHN HENDERSON was exercising his mimicry, for, as he protested, he
thought he heard himself talking at a distance. No person needed to have
gone out of HENDERSON'S company to have heard and almost seen Dr.
Johnson. During one of the Doctor's annual visits to Oxford, HENDERSON
and he one evening, for several hours, amused those around them, by
conversing expressly in hard words. It was generally admitted that JOHN
HENDERSON discovered the greater talent at this verbal forgery. And to
meet the Doctor on his own ground, was indeed a presumptuous thing. Their
conversations, in Latin, (often extending through a whole evening,) were
deemed splendid, as they were classically chaste. Dr. Adams, it was said,
was the only man in Oxford who approximated toward an equality with JOHN
HENDERSON in Latin colloquisms.
[115] His rooms, at Pembroke College, were those which had been occupied
by _Dr Johnson_.
[116] As a proof of his self-command, the following incident may be
adduced. During his residence at Oxford, a student of a neighbouring
college, proud of his logical acquirements, was solicitous of a private
disputation with the renowned Henderson; some mutual friends introduced
him, and having chosen his subject, they conversed for some time with
equal candour and moderation; but at length Henderson's antagonist,
perceiving his confutation inevitable, in the height of passion, threw a
full glass of wine in John Henderson's face. J. H. without altering his
features or changing his position, gently wiped his face, and then coolly
replied, "This, sir, is a digression; now for the argument." It is hardly
necessary to add, the insult was resented by the company turning the
aggressor out of the room.
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