[18]

trampling] ghastly MS. Letter to Poole, Oct. 3, 1803.

[19]

intolerable] insufferable MS. Letter to Poole.

[20]

those] they MS. Letter to Poole.

Between 22-4

Tempestuous pride, vain-glorious vaunting
 Base men my vices justly taunting

MS. Letter to Poole.

[27]

which] that MS. Letters to Southey and Poole.

[28]

could] might MS. Letters to Southey and Poole.

[30]

For all was Horror, Guilt, and Woe MS. Letter to Southey: For all was Guilt, and Shame, and Woe MS. Letter to Poole.

[33]

So] Thus MS. Letter to Southey.

[34]

coming] boding MS. Letter to Southey.

[35-6]
I fear'd to sleep: sleep seem'd to be
 Disease's worst malignity

MS. Letter to Southey.

[38]

waked] freed MS. Letter to Southey.

[39]

O'ercome by sufferings dark and wild MS. Letter to Southey.

[42]

anguish] Trouble MS. Letter to Southey.

[43]

said] thought MS. Letter to Southey.

[45-6]
Still to be stirring up anew
 The self-created Hell within

MS. Letter to Southey.

[47]

their deeds] the crimes MS. Letter to Southey.

[48]

and] to MS. Letter to Southey.

Between 48-51

With such let fiends make mockery—
 But I—Oh, wherefore this on me?
 Frail is my soul, yea, strengthless wholly,
 Unequal, restless, melancholy.
 But free from Hate and sensual Folly.

MS. Letter to Southey.

[51]

be] live MS. Letter to Southey.

After 52 And etc., etc., etc., etc. MS. Letter to Southey.

THE EXCHANGE[391:1]

We pledged our hearts, my love and I,—
 I in my arms the maiden clasping;
 I could not guess the reason why,
 But, oh! I trembled like an aspen.
Her father's love she bade me gain; 5
 I went, but shook like any reed!
 I strove to act the man—in vain!
 We had exchanged our hearts indeed.

1804.

FOOTNOTES:

[391:1] First published in the Courier, April 16, 1804: included in the Poetical Register for 1804 (1805); reprinted in Literary Souvenir for 1826, p. 408, and in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 59. First collected in 1844.

LINENOTES:

Title] The Exchange of Hearts Courier, 1804.

[2]

Me in her arms Courier, 1804.

[3]

guess] tell Lit. Souvenir, Lit. Rem., 1844.

[5]

Her father's leave Courier, 1804, P. R. 1804, 1893.

[6]

but] and Lit. Souvenir, Lit. Rem., 1844.

AD VILMUM AXIOLOGUM[391:2]

[TO WILLIAM WORDSWORTH]

This be the meed, that thy song creates a thousand-fold echo!
 Sweet as the warble of woods, that awakes at the gale of the morning!
 [392]List! the Hearts of the Pure, like caves in the ancient mountains
 Deep, deep in the Bosom, and from the Bosom resound it,
 Each with a different tone, complete or in musical fragments— 5
 All have welcomed thy Voice, and receive and retain and prolong it!
This is the word of the Lord! it is spoken, and Beings Eternal
 Live and are borne as an Infant; the Eternal begets the Immortal:
 Love is the Spirit of Life, and Music the Life of the Spirit!

? 1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[391:2] First published in P. W., 1893. These lines were found in one of Coleridge's Notebooks (No. 24). The first draft immediately follows the transcription of a series of Dante's Canzoni begun at Malta in 1805. If the Hexameters were composed at the same time, it is possible that they were inspired by a perusal or re-perusal of a MS. copy of Wordsworth's unpublished poems which had been made for his use whilst he was abroad. As Mr. Campbell points out (P. W., p. 614), Wordsworth himself was responsible for the Latinization of his name. A Sonnet on seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams weeping at a tale of distress, which was published in the European Magazine for March, 1787, is signed 'Axiologus'.

LINENOTES:

1 foll.

What is the meed of thy song? 'Tis the ceaseless the thousandfold echo,
 Which from the welcoming Hearts of the Pure repeats and prolongs it—
 Each with a different Tone, compleat or in musical fragments.
Or
This be the meed, that thy Song awakes to a thousandfold echo
 Welcoming Hearts; is it their voice or is it thy own?
 Lost! the Hearts of the Pure, like caves in the ancient mountains
 Deep, deep in the bosom, and from the bosom resound it,
 Each with a different tone, compleat or in musical fragments.
 Meet the song they receive, and retain and resound and prolong it!
 Welcoming Souls! is it their voice, sweet Poet, or is it thy own voice?

Drafts in Notebook.

AN EXILE[392:1]

Friend, Lover, Husband, Sister, Brother!
 Dear names close in upon each other!
 Alas! poor Fancy's bitter-sweet—
 Our names, and but our names can meet.

1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[392:1] First published, with title 'An Exile', in 1893. These lines, without title or heading, are inserted in one of Coleridge's Malta Notebooks.

SONNET[392:2]

[TRANSLATED FROM MARINI]

Lady, to Death we're doom'd, our crime the same!
 Thou, that in me thou kindled'st such fierce heat;
 I, that my heart did of a Sun so sweet
 The rays concentre to so hot a flame.
 [393]I, fascinated by an Adder's eye— 5
 Deaf as an Adder thou to all my pain;
 Thou obstinate in Scorn, in Passion I—
 I lov'd too much, too much didst thou disdain.
 Hear then our doom in Hell as just as stern,
 Our sentence equal as our crimes conspire— 10
 Who living bask'd at Beauty's earthly fire,
 In living flames eternal these must burn—
 Hell for us both fit places too supplies—
 In my heart thou wilt burn, I roast before thine eyes.

? 1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[392:2] First published in 1893. For the Italian original, 'Alia Sua Amico,' Sonetto, vide Appendices of this Edition.

PHANTOM[393:1]

All look and likeness caught from earth,
 All accident of kin and birth,
 Had pass'd away. There was no trace
 Of aught on that illumined face,
 Uprais'd beneath the rifted stone 5
 But of one spirit all her own;—
 She, she herself, and only she,
 Shone through her body visibly.

1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[393:1] These lines, without title or heading, are quoted ('vide . . . my lines') in an entry in one of Coleridge's Malta Notebooks, dated Feb. 8, 1805, to illustrate the idea that the love-sense can be abstracted from the accidents of form or person (see Anima Poetae, 1895, p. 120). It follows that they were written before that date. Phantom was first published in 1834, immediately following (ii. 71) Phantom or Fact. A dialogue in Verse, which was first published in 1828, and was probably written about that time. Both poems are 'fragments from the life of dreams'; but it was the reality which lay behind both 'phantom' and 'fact' of which the poet dreamt, having his eyes open. With lines 4, 5 compare the following stanza of one of the MS. versions of the Dark Ladié:—

Against a grey stone rudely carv'd
 The statue of an armed knight,
 She lean'd in melancholy mood
 To watch ['d] the lingering Light.

A SUNSET[393:2]

Upon the mountain's edge with light touch resting,
 There a brief while the globe of splendour sits
 [394]And seems a creature of the earth; but soon
 More changeful than the Moon,
 To wane fantastic his great orb submits, 5
 Or cone or mow of fire: till sinking slowly
 Even to a star at length he lessens wholly.
Abrupt, as Spirits vanish, he is sunk!
 A soul-like breeze possesses all the wood.
 The boughs, the sprays have stood 10
 As motionless as stands the ancient trunk!
 But every leaf through all the forest flutters,
 And deep the cavern of the fountain mutters.

1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[393:2] First published in 1893. The title 'A Sunset' was prefixed by the Editor. These lines are inscribed in one of Coleridge's Malta Notebooks. The following note or comment is attached:—'These lines I wrote as nonsense verses merely to try a metre; but they are by no means contemptible; at least in reading them I am surprised at finding them so good. 16 Aug., 1805, Malta.

'Now will it be a more English music if the first and fourth are double rhymes and the 5th and 6th single? or all single, or the 2nd and 3rd double? Try.' They were afterwards sent to William Worship, Esq., Yarmouth, in a letter dated April 22, 1819, as an unpublished autograph.

LINENOTES:

[1]

with light touch] all lightly MS.

[4]

the] this MS.

[6]

A distant Hiss of fire MS. alternative reading.

[7]

lessens] lessened MS.

[12]

flutters] fluttered MS.

[13]

mutters] muttered MS.

WHAT IS LIFE?[394:1]

Resembles life what once was deem'd of light,
 Too ample in itself for human sight?
 An absolute self—an element ungrounded—
 All that we see, all colours of all shade
 By encroach of darkness made?— 5
 Is very life by consciousness unbounded?
 And all the thoughts, pains, joys of mortal breath,
 A war-embrace of wrestling life and death?

1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[394:1] First published in Literary Souvenir, 1829: included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 60. First collected in 1844. These lines, 'written in the same manner, and for the same purpose, but of course with more conscious effort than the two stanzas on the preceding leaf,' are dated '16 August, 1805, the day of the Valetta Horse-racing—bells jangling, and stupefying music playing all day'. Afterwards, in 1819, Coleridge maintained that they were written 'between the age of 15 and 16'.

LINENOTES:

[1]

deem'd] held Lit. Souvenir, 1829.

[2]

ample] simple MS.

[6]
 
 
per se (in its own Nature)
Is Life itself MS.

THE BLOSSOMING OF THE SOLITARY DATE-TREE[395:1]

A LAMENT

I seem to have an indistinct recollection of having read either in one
of the ponderous tomes of George of Venice, or in some other compilation
from the uninspired Hebrew writers, an apologue or Rabbinical tradition
to the following purpose:

While our first parents stood before their offended Maker, and the last 5
words of the sentence were yet sounding in Adam's ear, the guileful false
serpent, a counterfeit and a usurper from the beginning, presumptuously
took on himself the character of advocate or mediator, and pretending to
intercede for Adam, exclaimed: 'Nay, Lord, in thy justice, not so! for
the man was the least in fault. Rather let the Woman return at once to 10
the dust, and let Adam remain in this thy Paradise.' And the word of
the Most High answered Satan: 'The tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.
Treacherous Fiend! if with guilt like thine, it had been possible for thee
to have the heart of a Man, and to feel the yearning of a human soul for
its counterpart, the sentence, which thou now counsellest, should have 15
been inflicted on thyself.'

The title of the following poem was suggested by a fact mentioned by
Linnaeus, of a date-tree in a nobleman's garden which year after year
had put forth a full show of blossoms, but never produced fruit, till a
branch from another date-tree had been conveyed from a distance of 20
some hundred leagues. The first leaf of the MS. from which the poem
has been transcribed, and which contained the two or three introductory
stanzas, is wanting: and the author has in vain taxed his memory to
repair the loss. But a rude draught of the poem contains the substance
of the stanzas, and the reader is requested to receive it as the substitute. 25
It is not impossible, that some congenial spirit, whose years do not
exceed those of the Author at the time the poem was written, may find
a pleasure in restoring the Lament to its original integrity by a reduction
of the thoughts to the requisite metre.S. T. C.

[396]1

Beneath the blaze of a tropical sun the mountain peaks are 30
the Thrones of Frost, through the absence of objects to reflect
the rays. 'What no one with us shares, seems scarce our own.'
The presence of a one,

The best belov'd, who loveth me the best,

is for the heart, what the supporting air from within is for the 35
hollow globe with its suspended car. Deprive it of this, and
all without, that would have buoyed it aloft even to the seat
of the gods, becomes a burthen and crushes it into flatness.

2

The finer the sense for the beautiful and the lovely, and the
fairer and lovelier the object presented to the sense; the more 40
exquisite the individual's capacity of joy, and the more ample
his means and opportunities of enjoyment, the more heavily
will he feel the ache of solitariness, the more unsubstantial
becomes the feast spread around him. What matters it,
whether in fact the viands and the ministering graces are 45
shadowy or real, to him who has not hand to grasp nor arms
to embrace them?

3
Imagination; honourable aims;
 Free commune with the choir that cannot die;
 Science and song; delight in little things, 50
 The buoyant child surviving in the man;
 Fields, forests, ancient mountains, ocean, sky,
 With all their voices—O dare I accuse
 My earthly lot as guilty of my spleen,
 Or call my destiny niggard! O no! no! 55
 It is her largeness, and her overflow,
 Which being incomplete, disquieteth me so!
4
For never touch of gladness stirs my heart,
 But tim'rously beginning to rejoice
 Like a blind Arab, that from sleep doth start 60
 In lonesome tent, I listen for thy voice.
 [397]Belovéd! 'tis not thine; thou art not there!
 Then melts the bubble into idle air,
 And wishing without hope I restlessly despair.
5
The mother with anticipated glee 65
 Smiles o'er the child, that, standing by her chair
 And flatt'ning its round cheek upon her knee,
 Looks up, and doth its rosy lips prepare
 To mock the coming sounds. At that sweet sight
 She hears her own voice with a new delight; 70
 And if the babe perchance should lisp the notes aright,
6
Then is she tenfold gladder than before!
 But should disease or chance the darling take,
 What then avail those songs, which sweet of yore
 Were only sweet for their sweet echo's sake? 75
 Dear maid! no prattler at a mother's knee
 Was e'er so dearly prized as I prize thee:
 Why was I made for Love and Love denied to me?

1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[395:1] First published in 1828: included in 1829 and 1834.

LINENOTES:

[5]

stood] were yet standing 1828.

[8]

mediator] moderator 1828.

[9]

The words 'not so' are omitted in 1828.

[11]

remain here all the days of his now mortal life, and enjoy the respite thou mayest grant him, in this thy Paradise which thou gavest to him, and hast planted with every tree pleasant to the sight of man and of delicious fruitage. 1828.

13 foll. Treacherous Fiend! guilt deep as thine could not be, yet the love of kind not extinguished. But if having done what thou hast done, thou hadst yet the heart of man within thee, and the yearning of the soul for its answering image and completing counterpart, O spirit, desperately wicked! the sentence thou counsellest had been thy own! 1828.

[20]

from a Date tree 1828, 1839.

[48]

Hope, Imagination, &c. 1828.

[53]

With all their voices mute—O dare I accuse 1838.

[55]

Or call my niggard destiny! No! No! 1838.

[61]

thy] thy 1828, 1829.

[77]

thee] thee 1828, 1829.

SEPARATION[397:1]

A sworded man whose trade is blood,
 In grief, in anger, and in fear,
 Thro' jungle, swamp, and torrent flood,
 I seek the wealth you hold so dear!
[398]The dazzling charm of outward form, 5
 The power of gold, the pride of birth,
 Have taken Woman's heart by storm—
 Usurp'd the place of inward worth.
Is not true Love of higher price
 Than outward Form, though fair to see, 10
 Wealth's glittering fairy-dome of ice,
 Or echo of proud ancestry?—
O! Asra, Asra! couldst thou see
 Into the bottom of my heart,
 There's such a mine of Love for thee, 15
 As almost might supply desert!
(This separation is, alas!
 Too great a punishment to bear;
 O! take my life, or let me pass
 That life, that happy life, with her!) 20
[399]The perils, erst with steadfast eye
 Encounter'd, now I shrink to see—
 Oh! I have heart enough to die—
 Not half enough to part from Thee!

? 1805.

FOOTNOTES:

[397:1] First published in 1834. In Pickering's one-volume edition of the issue of 1848 the following note is printed on p. 372:—

'The fourth and last stanzas are adapted from the twelfth and last of Cotton's Chlorinda [Ode]:—

'O my Chlorinda! could'st thou see
 Into the bottom of my heart,
 There's such a Mine of Love for thee,
 The Treasure would supply desert.
Meanwhile my Exit now draws nigh,
 When, sweet Chlorinda, thou shalt see
 That I have heart enough to die,
 Not half enough to part with thee.

'The fifth stanza is the eleventh of Cotton's poem.'

In 1852 (p. 385) the note reads: 'The fourth and last stanzas are from Cotton's Chlorinda, with very slight alteration.'

A first draft of this adaptation is contained in one of Coleridge's Malta Notebooks:—

[I]
Made worthy by excess of Love
 A wretch thro' power of Happiness,
 And poor from wealth I dare not use.
[II]
This separation etc.
[III]
The Pomp of Wealth
 Stores of Gold, the pomp of Wealth
 Nor less the Pride of Noble Birth
 The dazzling charm etc.
 (l. 4)  Supplied the place etc.
[IV]
Is not true Love etc.
[V]
O ΑΣΡΑ! ΑΣΡΑ could'st thou see
 Into the bottom of my Heart!
 There's such a Mine of Love for Thee—
 The Treasure would supply desert.
[VI]
Death erst contemn'd—O ΑΣΡΑ! why
 Now terror-stricken do I see—
 Oh! I have etc.

THE RASH CONJURER[399:1]

Strong spirit-bidding sounds!
 With deep and hollow voice,
 'Twixt Hope and Dread,
 Seven Times I said
 Iohva Mitzoveh 5
 Vohoeen![399:2]
 And up came an imp in the shape of a
 Pea-hen!
 I saw, I doubted,
 And seven times spouted 10
 Johva Mitzoveh
 Yahóevohāen!
 When Anti-Christ starting up, butting
 and bāing,
 In the shape of a mischievous curly 15
 black Lamb—
 With a vast flock of Devils behind
 and beside,
 And before 'em their Shepherdess
 Lucifer's Dam, 20
 Riding astride
 On an old black Ram,
 [400]With Tartary stirrups, knees up to her chin.
 And a sleek chrysom imp to her Dugs muzzled in,—
 'Gee-up, my old Belzy! (she cried, 25
 As she sung to her suckling cub)
 Trit-a-trot, trot! we'll go far and wide
 Trot, Ram-Devil! Trot! Belzebub!'
 Her petticoat fine was of scarlet Brocade,
 And soft in her lap her Baby she lay'd 30
 With his pretty Nubs of Horns a-
 sprouting,
 And his pretty little Tail all curly-twirly—
 St. Dunstan! and this comes of spouting—
 Of Devils what a Hurly-Burly! 35
 'Behold we are up! what want'st thou then?'
 'Sirs! only that'—'Say when and what'—
 You'd be so good'—'Say what and when'
 'This moment to get down again!'
 'We do it! we do it! we all get down! 40
 But we take you with us to swim
 or drown!
 Down a down to the grim Engulpher!'
 'O me! I am floundering in Fire and Sulphur!
 That the Dragon had scrounched you, squeal 45
 and squall—
 Cabbalists! Conjurers! great and small,
 Johva Mitzoveh Evohāen and all!
 Had I never uttered your jaw-breaking words,
 I might now have been sloshing down Junket and Curds, 50
 Like a Devonshire Christian:
 But now a Philistine!
Ye Earthmen! be warned by a judgement so tragic,
 And wipe yourselves cleanly with all books of magic—
 Hark! hark! it is Dives! 'Hold your Bother, you Booby! 55
 I am burnt ashy white, and you yet are but ruby.'

Epilogue.