[299:1] First published in the Morning Post for July 30, 1798, with the following title and introduction:—'Original Poetry. A Tale. The following amusing Tale gives a very humourous description of the French Revolution, which is represented as an Ox': included in Annual Anthology, 1800, and Sibylline Leaves, 1817; reprinted in Essays on His Own Times, 1880, iii 963-9. First collected in P. and D. W., 1877-80. In a copy of the Annual Anthology of 1800 Coleridge writes over against the heading of this poem, 'Written when fears were entertained of an invasion, and Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Tierney were absurdly represented as having recanted because to [The French Revolution (?)] in its origin they, [having been favourable, changed their opinion when the Revolutionists became unfaithful to their principles (?)].' See Note to P. W., 1893.
The text is that of Sibylline Leaves and Essays on his Own Times.
[300:1] One of the many fine words which the most uneducated had about this time a constant opportunity of acquiring, from the sermons in the pulpit and the proclamations on [in S. L.] the —— corners. An. Anth., S. L.
[302:1] According to the common superstition there are two ways of fighting with the Devil. You may cut him in half with a straw, or he will vanish if you spit over his horns with a fasting spittle. Note by S. T. C. in M. P. According to the superstition of the West-Countries, if you meet the Devil, you may either cut him in half with a straw, or force him to disappear by spitting over his horns. An. Anth., S. L.
turn'd out] loosen'd M. P.
ox] beast M. P.
beast] ox M. P.
fastens] fasten'd M. P.
'You cruel dog!' at once they bawl. M. P.
Oh] Ah! M. P., An. Anth.
om. Essays, &c.
run] drive M. P.
fiend] rogue M. P.
Mat, Tom, Bob, Dick M. P.
The baited ox drove on M. P., An. Anth.
No . . . print] The Gospel scarce M. P., An. Anth.
cannot] could M. P.
The ox drove on, right through the town M. P.
may] might M. P., An. Anth.
any] a mad M. P.
heat and fright] flight and fear M. P., An. Anth.
this] the M. P.
beast] ox M. P.
agree] agreed M. P.
scour'd] drove M. P.
Alas] Alack M. P.
cried] bawl'd M. P.
Tom! Walter! Mat! M. P.
lying] bare-faced M. P.
But lo! to interrupt my chat M. P.
In came] In rush'd M. P.
And he rush'd in M. P.
I forget the beginning of the line:
There was a great deal more, which I have forgotten. . . . The last line which I wrote, I remember, and write it for the truth of the sentiment, scarcely less true in company than in pain and solitude:—
1798-9.
[304:1] First published in Memoirs of W. Wordsworth, 1851, i. 139-41: reprinted in Life by Prof. Knight, 1889, i. 185. First collected as a whole in P. W. [ed. T. Ashe], 1885. lines 30-6, 'O what a life is the eye', &c., were first published in Friendship's Offering, and are included in P. W., 1834. They were reprinted by Cottle in E. R., 1837, i. 226. The 'Hexameters' were sent in a letter, written in the winter of 1798-9 from Ratzeburg to the Wordsworths at Goslar.
[304:2] False metre. S. T. C.
[304:3] 'Still flying onwards' were perhaps better. S. T. C.
[305:1] False metre. S. T. C.
strange] fine Letter, 1798-9, Cottle, 1837.
Him] He Cottle, 1837.
Him] He Cottle, 1837.
Him that ne'er smiled at the bosom as babe Letter, 1798-9: He that smiled at the bosom, the babe Cottle, 1837.
Even to him it exists, it stirs and moves Letter, 1798-9: Even to him it exists, it moves and stirs Cottle, 1837.
a Spirit] the Spirit Letter, 1798-9.
a] its Letter, 1798-9.
[This paraphrase, written about the time of Charlemagne, is by no means deficient in occasional passages of considerable poetic merit. There is a flow and a tender enthusiasm in the following lines which even in the translation will not, I flatter myself, fail to interest the reader. Ottfried is describing the circumstances immediately following the birth of our Lord. Most interesting is it to consider the effect when the feelings are wrought above the natural pitch by the belief of something mysterious, while all the images are purely natural. Then it is that religion and poetry strike deepest. Biog. Lit., 1817, i. 203-4.[306:1]]
? 1799.
[306:1] First published as a footnote to Chapter X of the Biographia Literaria (ed. 1817, i. 203-4). First collected in 1863 (Appendix, pp. 401-2). The translation is from Otfridi Evang., lib. i, cap. xi, ll. 73-108 (included in Schilter's Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum, pp. 50-1, Biog. Lit., 1847, i. 213). Otfrid, 'a monk at Weissenburg in Elsass', composed his Evangelienbuch about 870 a.d. (Note by J. Shawcross, Biog. Lit., 1907, ii. 259). As Coleridge says that 'he read through Ottfried's metrical paraphrase of the Gospel' when he was at Göttingen, it may be assumed that the translation was made in 1799.
Saviour infant] infant Saviour 1863.
? 1799.
[307:1] First published in 1834. These lines, which are not 'Hendecasyllables', are a translation of part of Friedrich von Matthisson's Milesisches Mährchen. For the original see Note to Poems, 1852, and Appendices of this edition. There is no evidence as to the date of composition. The emendations in lines 5 and 6 were first printed in P. W., 1893.
blest] plac'd 1834, 1844, 1852.
bleat-resounding] bleak-resounding 1834, 1852.
nightly] mighty 1834, 1844.
? 1799.
[307:2] First published (together with the 'Ovidian Elegiac Metre', &c.) in Friendship's Offering, 1834: included in P. W., 1834. An acknowledgement that these 'experiments in metre' are translations from Schiller was first made in a Note to Poems, 1844, p. 371. The originals were given on p. 372. See Appendices of this edition. There is no evidence as to the date of composition.
? 1799.
? 1799.
[308:1] First published in 1834. For the original (Unsterblicher Jüngling) by Count F. L. Stolberg see Note to Poems, 1844, pp. 371-2, and Appendices of this edition.
Title] Improved from Stolberg. On a Cataract, &c. 1844, 1852.
Between 7 and 13.
Below thee the cliff inaccessible MS. S. T. C.
? 1799.
[309:1] First published in Sibylline Leaves, 1817: included in 1828, 1829, and 1834. For the original (Bei Wilhelm Tells Geburtsstätte im Kanton Uri) by Count F. L. Stolberg see Appendices of this edition. There is no evidence as to the date of composition.
Slavery] Slavery, all editions to 1834.
? 1799.
[310:1] First published in Sibylline Leaves, 1817: included in 1828, 1829 ('Vision of the Gods', Contents, vol. i, pp. 322-3 of both editions), and in 1834. For Schiller's original (Dithyrambe) see Appendices of this edition.
? 1799.
[311:1] First published in 1834. For the original ('Mignon's Song') in Goethe's Wilhelm Meister see Appendices of this edition.
? 1799.
[311:2] First published in The Athenaeum, October 29, 1831. First collected in P. and D. W., 1877-80. For the original ('Barcarolle de Marie') of François Antoine Eugène de Planard see Appendices of this edition.