ON THE CHRISTENING OF A FRIEND'S CHILD1

THIS day among the faithful plac'd

And fed with fontal manna,

O with maternal title grac'd,

Dear Anna's dearest Anna!

While others wish thee wise and fair,

A maid of spotless fame,

I'll breathe this more compendious prayer-
May'st thou deserve thy name!

Thy mother's name, a potent spell,
That bids the Virtues hie

From mystic grove and living cell,
Confess'd to Fancy's eye;

ΤΟ

Meek Quietness without offence;
Content in homespun kirtle;

True Love; and True Love's Innocence,
White Blossom of the Myrtle !

Associates of thy name, sweet Child!
These Virtues may'st thou win;

With face as eloquently mild

To say, they lodge within.

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Even thus a lovely rose I've view'd

In summer-swelling pride;

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Nor mark'd the bud, that green and rude
Peep'd at the rose's side.

1 First published in the Supplement to Poems, 1797: reprinted in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 48, 49: included in 1844 and 1852. The lines were addressed to Anna Cruickshank, the wife of John Cruickshank, who was a neighbour of Coleridge at Nether-Stowey.

It chanc'd I pass'd again that way

In Autumn's latest hour,

And wond'ring saw the selfsame spray
Rich with the selfsame flower.

Ah fond deceit! the rude green bud
Alike in shape, place, name,

Had bloom'd where bloom'd its parent stud,
Another and the same!

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1797.

TRANSLATION 1

OF A LATIN INSCRIPTION BY THE REV. W. L. BOWLES IN
NETHER-STOWEY CHURCH

DEPART in joy from this world's noise and strife
To the deep quiet of celestial life!

Depart!-Affection's self reproves the tear

Which falls, O honour'd Parent! on thy bier ;-
Yet Nature will be heard, the heart will swell,
And the voice tremble with a last Farewell!

1797.

[The Tablet is erected to the Memory of Richard Camplin, who died Jan. 20, 1792.

Lætus abi! mundi strepitu curisque remotus;
Lætus abi! cæli quâ vocat alma Quies.

Ipsa fides loquitur lacrymamque incusat inanem,
Quæ cadit in vestros, care Pater, Cineres.
Heu! tantum liceat meritos hos solvere Ritus,
Naturæ et tremulâ dicere Voce, Vale!']

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First published in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 50. First collected in P. and D. W., 1877, ii. 365.

6 Et longum tremulà L. R. 1836.

THIS LIME-TREE BOWER MY PRISON1

[ADDRESSED TO CHARLES LAMB, OF THE
INDIA HOUSE, LONDON]

In the June of 1797 some long-expected friends paid a visit to the author's cottage; and on the morning of their arrival, he met with an accident, which disabled him from walking during the whole time of their stay. One evening, when they had left him for a few hours, he composed the following lines in the garden-bower.2

WELL, they are gone, and here must I remain,
This lime-tree bower my prison! I have lost
Beauties and feelings, such as would have been

1 First published in the Annual Anthology, 1800, reprinted in Mylius' Poetical Classbook, 1810: included in Sibylline Leaves, 1817, in 1828, 1829, and 1834. The poem was sent in a letter to Southey, July 9, 1797, and in a letter to C. Lloyd, [July, 1797]. See Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 225-7 and P. W., 1893, p. 591.

=

2 Ch. and Mary Lamb-dear to my heart, yea, as it were my Heart.— S.T. C. Æt. 63; 1834–1797–1834 37 years!' (Marginal note written by S. T. Coleridge over against the introductory note to 'This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison', in a copy of the Poetical Works, 1834.)

This Lime-Tree, &c.-Title] This Lime-Tree Bower my Prison. A Poem Addressed, &c. An. Anth. : the words 'Addressed to ', &c., are omitted in Sibylline Leaves, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

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Well, they are gone, and here must I remain,
Lam'd by the scathe of fire, lonely and faint,
This lime-tree bower my prison! They, meantime,
My Friends, whom I may never meet again,
On springy heath, along the hill-top edge
Wander delighted, and look down, perchance,
On that same rifted dell, where many an ash
Twists its wild limbs beside the ferny rock
Whose plumy* ferns forever nod and drip
Spray'd by the waterfall. But chiefly thou
My gentle-hearted Charles! thou who had pin'd

MS. Letter to Southey, July 17, 1797.

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*The ferns that grow in moist places grow five or six together, and form a complete 'Prince of Wales's Feather'-that is plumy. Letter to Southey.

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Well they are gone, and here I must remain
This lime-tree,. hill-top edge

Delighted wander, and look down, perchance,
On that same rifted dell, where the wet ash
Twists its wild limbs above, who hast pin'd

MS. Letter to Lloyd [July, 1797].

3 Such beauties and such feelings, as had been An. Anth., S. L.

Most sweet to my remembrance even when age
Had dimm'd mine eyes to blindness! They, meanwhile,
Friends, whom I never more may meet again,
On springy heath, along the hill-top edge,
Wander in gladness, and wind down, perchance,
To that still roaring dell, of which I told;
The roaring dell, o'erwooded, narrow, deep,
And only speckled by the mid-day sun;
Where its slim trunk the ash from rock to rock
Flings arching like a bridge;-that branchless ash,
Unsunn'd and damp, whose few poor yellow leaves
Ne'er tremble in the gale, yet tremble still,
Fann'd by the water-fall! and there my friends
Behold the dark green file of long lank weeds,2
That all at once (a most fantastic sight!)
Still nod and drip beneath the dripping edge
Of the blue clay-stone.

Now, my friends emerge

Beneath the wide wide Heaven-and view again
The many-steepled tract magnificent

Of hilly fields and meadows, and the sea,

With some fair bark, perhaps, whose sails light up
The slip of smooth clear blue betwixt two Isles
Of purple shadow! Yes! they wander on
In gladness all; but thou, methinks, most glad,
My gentle-hearted Charles! for thou hast pined
And hunger'd after Nature, many a year,
In the great City pent, winning thy way
With sad yet patient soul, through evil and pain
And strange calamity! Ah! slowly sink
Behind the western ridge, thou glorious Sun!
Shine in the slant beams of the sinking orb,

1 'Elastic, I mean.' MS. Letter to Southey.

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ΤΟ

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2 The Asplenium Scolopendrium, called in some countries the Adder's Tongue, in others the Hart's Tongue, but Withering gives the Adder's Tongue as the trivial name of the Ophioglossum only.

6 My Friends, 20 blue] dim An. Anth.

4 my remembrance] to have remembered An. Anth. whom I may never meet again An. Anth., S. L.

22 tract] track An. Anth., S. L. 1828. 24 bark, perhaps, which lightly 28 hast] had'st An. Anth. 31 patient] bowed 34 beams] heaven MS. Letter to Southey.

touches An. Anth.

MS. Letter to Southey.

Ye purple heath-flowers! richlier burn, ye clouds!
Live in the yellow light, ye distant groves!
And kindle, thou blue Ocean! So my friend
Struck with deep joy may stand, as I have stood,
Silent with swimming sense; yea, gazing round
On the wide landscape, gaze till all doth seem
Less gross than bodily; and of such hues.
As veil the Almighty Spirit, when yet he makes
Spirits perceive his presence.

A delight

Comes sudden on my heart, and I am glad
As I myself were there! Nor in this bower,
This little lime-tree bower, have I not mark'd

Much that has sooth'd me. Pale beneath the blaze
Hung the transparent foliage; and I watch'd
Some broad and sunny leaf, and lov'd to see
The shadow of the leaf and stem above
Dappling its sunshine! And that walnut-tree
Was richly ting'd, and a deep radiance lay
Full on the ancient ivy, which usurps

Those fronting elms, and now, with blackest mass

38 foll. Struck with joy's deepest calm, and gazing round
On the wide view* may gaze till all doth seem
Less gross than bodily; a living thing
That acts upon the mind, and with such hues
As clothe th' Almighty Spirit, when he makes.
MS. Letter to Southey.

*You remember I am a Berkleyan. Note to Letter.

40 wide] wild S. L.

40 (for wild r. wide; and the two following lines thus:
Less gross than bodily; and of such hues
As veil the Almighty Spirit Errata, S. L., p. [xii].)
As veil the Almighty Spirit, when he makes 1828.

41 foll. Less gross than bodily, a living thing

Which acts upon the mind and with such hues
As cloathe the Almighty Spirit, when he makes
An. Anth., S. L.

45 foll. As I myself were there! Nor in the bower
Want I sweet sounds or pleasing shapes. I watch'd
The sunshine of each broad transparent leaf
Broke by the shadows of the leaf or stem
Which hung above it: and that walnut tree

MS. Letter to Southey.

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