But long time passed not, ere that brighter cloud And with them hissed the locust-fiends that crawled And glittered in Corruption's slimy track. 430 435 Great was their wrath, for short they knew their reign; 440 As when the mad Tornado bellows through What time departing from their native shores,2 445 Warmed with new influence, the unwholesome plain 450 'Maiden beloved, and Delegate of Heaven! (To her the tutelary Spirit said) Soon shall the Morning struggle into Day, 'Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven! All-conscious Presence of the Universe! The Apollo Belvedere. 455 460 2 The Slaves in the West-India Islands consider Death as a passport to their native country. The Sentiment is thus expressed in the Introduction to a Greek Prize Ode on the Slave-Trade, of which 434 with] by 4o. 437-8 Shriek'd AMBITION'S ghastly throng And with them those the locust Fiends that crawl'd * 4o. —if Locusts how could they shriek? I must have caught the contagion of unthinkingness. S. T. C. 4o. 458 heavenly] goodly 4o. Nature's vast ever-acting Energy!! In will, in deed, Impulse of All to All! 465 the Ideas are better than the Language or Metre, in which they are conveyed : o before ( ought to have been made long ; δοις ὑπὸζ is an Amphimacer not (as the metre here requires) a Dactyl. S. T. 0. LITERAL TRANSLATION. Leaving the gates of Darkness, O Death! hasten thou to a Race yoked to Misery! Thou wilt not be received with lacerations of Cheeks, nor with funereal ululation, but with circling Dances and the joy of Songs. Thou art terrible indeed, yet thou dwellest with LIBERTY, stern GENIUS! Borne on thy dark pinions over the swelling of Ocean they return to their native country. There by the side of fountains beneath Citron groves, the Lovers tell to their Beloved, what horrors, being Men, they had endured from Men. But 1 Tho' these Lines may bear a sane sense, yet they are easily, and more naturally interpreted with a very false and dangerous one. I was at that time one of the Mongrels, the Josephidites [Josephides = the Son of Joseph], a proper name of distinction from those who believe in, as well as believe Christ the only begotten Son of the Living God before all Time. MS. Note by S. T. C. 463 Love] Law 4o. Fit instruments and best, of perfect end: And first a landscape rose 1796. VER PERPETUUM1 FRAGMENT From an unpublished poem. THE early Year's fast-flying vapours stray Were it not better hope a nobler doom, On rapid many-coloured wing We thro' one bright perpetual Spring Shall hover round the fruits and flowers, 470 5 Screen'd by those clouds and cherish'd by those showers! 10 1796. ON OBSERVING A BLOSSOM ON THE FIRST OF FEBRUARY 17962 SWEET flower! that peeping from thy russet stem This dark, frieze-coated, hoarse, teeth-chattering month 1 First published without title (From an unpublished poem') in The Watchman, No. iv, March 25, 1796, and reprinted in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 44, with an extract from the Essay in the Watchman in which it was included: In my calmer moments I have the firmest faith that all things work together for good. But alas! it seems a long and dark process. First collected with extract only in Appendix to 1863. First entitled 'Fragment from an Unpublished Poem' in 1893, and 'Ver Perpetuum' in 1907. 2 First published in The Watchman, No. vi, April 11, 1796: included in 1797, 1803, Sibylline Leaves, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834. For lines 470-74 vide ante var. of lines 130 foll. On observing, &c.-Title] Lines on observing, &c., Written near Sheffield, Watchman, 1797, 1803. Hath borrow'd Zephyr's voice, and gazed upon thee The attempered organ, that even saddest thoughts 1796. TO A PRIMROSE 2 THE FIRST SEEN IN THE SEASON Nitens et roboris expers Turget et insolida est: et spe delectat. 1Ο 15 20 25 OVID, Metam. [xv. 203]. THY smiles I note, sweet early Flower, 1 Chatterton. 2 First published in The Watchman, No. viii, April 27, 1796: reprinted in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 47. First collected in Appendix to 1863. 5 With 'blue voluptuous eye' 1803. Between 13 and 14 Blooming mid Poverty's drear wintry waste Watchman, 1797, 1803, S. L., 1817, 1828. 16 hope] hopes, Watchman. 21 From black anxiety that gnaws my heart. For her who droops far off on a sick bed. Watchman, 1797, 1803. 24 Th' attempered brain, that ev'n the saddest thoughts Watchman, 1797, 1803. To a Primrose.-Motto: et] at L. R., App. 1863. But, tender blossom, why so pale? Such the wan lustre Sickness wears And sweeter far the early blow, Are full-blown joys and Pleasure's gaudy bloom. 1796. 5 10 15 20 VERSES1 ADDRESSED TO J. HORNE TOOKE AND THE COMPANY WHO MET ON JUNE 28TH, 1796, TO CELEBRATE HIS POLL AT THE WEST MINSTER ELECTION BRITONS! When last ye met, with distant streak So faintly promis'd the pale Dawn to break; 5 10 1 First printed in the Transactions of the Philobiblon Society. First published in P. W., 1893. The verses (without the title) were sent by Coleridge in a letter to the Rev. J. P. Estlin, dated July 4, [1796]. 17-20 om. L. R., App. 1863. |