[315:1] First published in the Morning Post, September 17, 1799: included in the Annual Anthology (1800) [signed C.], in Sibylline Leaves, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The lines were sent in a letter from Coleridge to his wife, dated May 17, 1799. Part of the letter was printed in the Amulet, 1829, and the whole in the Monthly Magazine for October, 1835. A long extract is given in Gillman's Life of S. T. C., 1838, pp. 125-38.
[315:2] The highest Mountain in the Harz, and indeed in North Germany.
surging] surging M. P.
Heavily] Wearily MS. Letter.
heaves] mov'd MS. Letter.
a] an all editions to 1834.
breeze] gale MS. Letter.
waterfall] waterbreak MS. Letter.
'mid] on MS. Letter.
With low and languid thought, for I had found MS. Letter.
That grandest scenes have but imperfect charms MS. Letter, M. P., An. Anth.
One spot with which the heart associates MS. Letter, M. P., An. Anth.
eye] eyes MS. Letter.
O native land M. P., An. Anth.
I] I MS. Letter.
family] brother-hood MS. Letter.
? 1799.
[317:1] First published in the Morning Post, August 24, 1799: included in the Annual Anthology for 1800: reprinted in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 276, in the Gentleman's Magazine, 1848. ('Communicated to the Bath Herald during the Volunteer Frenzy of 1803') (N. S. xxix, p. 60), and in Essays on His Own Times, iii. 988-9. First collected in P. W., 1877-80, ii. 200-1. The MS. is preserved in the British Museum. The text follows that of the Annual Anthology, 1800, pp. 173-4. For the original by Count F. L. Stolberg (Lied eines deutschen Knaben) see Appendices of this edition.
Title] The Stripling's War-Song. Imitated from the German of Stolberg MS. The Stripling's, &c. Imitated from Stolberg L. R. The British Stripling's War Song M. P., An. Anth., Essays, &c. The Volunteer Stripling. A Song G. M.
Yes] My MS., L. R.
Since] When G. M. which] that MS., L. R. our] your M. P., Essays, &c.
Ah! give me the sabre [Falchion] that
[which L. R.] MS., Essays, &c.
O despise MS., L. R., Essays, &c.
march] move MS., L. R.
would] could Essays, &c. native land] fatherland L. R.
fight] sight G. M.
sound] shrill [sound] MS., L. R. a]
the M. P., Essays, &c.
Amid tumults [tumult L. R.] and perils MS. 'mid] and Essays, &c. Mid battle and bloodshed G. M.
| My own shout of onset, |
|
in the heat of my trance G. M., 1893. |
visions] dreams full MS., L. R. How oft it has wak'd G. M.
When I dreamt that I rush'd G. M.
breathless] deathless L. R. pale, breathless G. M.
city] town G. M.
|
with bannerets streaming |
|||
| To [And L. R.] the music | ||||
scimitars] scymetar MS., L.R., Essays, &c., G. M.: scymeter M. P.
Between 20-1
that] which L. R.
For my soul MS. erased.
I hurl'd my MS., L. R., Essays, &c. objectless] mind-peopled G. M.
Since] When G. M.
Ah! give me the falchion MS., L. R.
1799.
[318:1] First published in the Morning Post: reprinted in the Poetical Register for 1803 (1805) with the signature Harley. Philadelphia, in the Keepsake for 1829, in Cottle's Early Recollections (two versions) 1837, ii. 67, and in Essays on His Own Times, iii. 990, 'As it first appeared' in the Morning Post. First collected in 1834. For the original (Die Namen) see Appendices of this edition.
Title] Song from Lessing M. P., Essays, &c.: From the German of Lessing P. R.: Epigram Keepsake, 1829, Cottle's Early Recollections.
fair] love Cottle, E. R.
Dorimene, or Lucrece, MS. 1799, M. P., Cottle, E. R., P. R., Keepsake.
Belovéd.] Dear one Keepsake.
Choose thou] Take thou M. P., P. R.: Take Cottle, E. R.
Call me Laura, call me Chloris MS. 1799, Keepsake.
1799.
[319:1] First published in the Morning Post, September 6, 1799: included in 1828, 1829, and 1834. It is printed separately as the Devil's Walk, a Poem, By Professor Porson, London, Marsh and Miller, &c., 1830. In 1827, by way of repudiating Porson's alleged authorship of The Devil's Thoughts, Southey expanded the Devil's Thoughts of 1799 into a poem of fifty-seven stanzas entitled The Devil's Walk. See P. W., 1838, iii. pp. 87-100. In the Morning Post the poem numbered fourteen stanzas; in 1828, 1829 it is reduced to ten, and in 1834 enlarged to seventeen stanzas. Stanzas iii and xiv-xvi of the text are not in the M. P. Stanzas iv and v appeared as iii, iv; stanza vi as ix; stanza vii as v; stanza viii as x; stanza ix as viii; stanza x as vi; stanza xi as vii; stanza xvii as xiv. In 1828, 1829, the poem consists of stanzas i-ix of the text, and of the concluding stanzas stanza xi ('Old Nicholas', &c.) of the M. P. version was not reprinted. Stanzas xiv-xvi of the text were first acknowledged by Coleridge in 1834.
[320:1] And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, Rev. vi. 8. M. P.
[321:1] This anecdote is related by that most interesting of the Devil's Biographers, Mr. John Milton, in his Paradise Lost, and we have here the Devil's own testimony to the truth and accuracy of it. M. P.
The allegory here is so apt, that in a catalogue of various readings obtained from collating the MSS. one might expect to find it noted, that for 'Life' Cod. quid. habent, 'Trade.' Though indeed the trade, i. e. the bibliopolic, so called κατ' ἐξοχήν, may be regarded as Life sensu eminentiori; a suggestion, which I owe to a young retailer in the hosiery line, who on hearing a description of the net profits, dinner parties, country houses, etc., of the trade, exclaimed, 'Ay! that's what I call Life now!'—This 'Life, our Death,' is thus happily contrasted with the fruits of Authorship.—Sic nos non nobis mellificamus Apes.
Of this poem, which with the 'Fire, Famine, and Slaughter' first appeared in the Morning Post [6th Sept. 1799], the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 9th, and 16th stanzas[321:A] were dictated by Mr. Southey. See Apologetic Preface [to Fire, Famine and Slaughter]. [Between the ninth and the concluding stanza, two or three are omitted, as grounded on subjects which have lost their interest—and for better reasons. 1828, 1829.]
If any one should ask who General —— meant, the Author begs leave to inform him, that he did once see a red-faced person in a dream whom by the dress he took for a General; but he might have been mistaken, and most certainly he did not hear any names mentioned. In simple verity, the author never meant any one, or indeed any thing but to put a concluding stanza to his doggerel.
[321:A] The three first stanzas, which are worth all the rest, and the ninth 1828, 1829.
[323:1] In a MS. copy in the B. M. and in some pirated versions the blank is filled up by the word 'Gascoigne's'; but in a MS. copy taken at Highgate, in June, 1820, by Derwent Coleridge the line runs 'General Tarleton's', &c.
switched] swish'd M. P., 1828, 1829.
switches] swishes M. P., 1828, 1829.
Not in M. P.
On the dunghill beside his stable M. P.: On a dung-heap beside his stable 1828, 1829.
his] his 1828, 1829.
He . . . on] An Apothecary on M. P.: A Pothecary on 1828, 1829.
Ride] Rode M.P., 1828, 1829. vocations] vocation M. P.
Revelations] Revelation M. P.
saw] past M. P.
And he grinn'd at the sight, for his favourite vice M. P.
peep'd] went M. P., 1828, 1829.
sate myself] myself sate 1828, 1829.