And watch the glance in Folly's eye;
To toil intense, yet toil in vain,
And feel with what a hollow pain
Pale Disappointment hangs her head
O'er darling Expectation dead!
'The scene is changed and Fortune's gale Shall belly out each prosperous sail.
Yet sudden wealth full well I know
Did never happiness bestow.
That wealth to which we were not born
Dooms us to sorrow or to scorn.
Behold yon flock which long had trod
O'er the short grass of Devon's sod,
To Lincoln's rank rich meads transferr'd,
And in their fate thy own be fear'd;
Through every limb contagions fly,
Deform'd and choked they burst and die.
'When Luxury opens wide her arms,
And smiling wooes thee to those charms,
Whose fascination thousands own,
Shall thy brows wear the stoic frown?
And when her goblet she extends
Which maddening myriads press around,
What power divine thy soul befriends
That thou should'st dash it to the ground?-
No, thou shalt drink, and thou shalt know
Her transient bliss, her lasting woe,
Her maniac joys, that know no measure,
And Riot rude and painted Pleasure ;-
Till (sad reverse!) the Enchantress vile
To frowns converts her magic smile;
Her train impatient to destroy,
Observe her frown with gloomy joy;
On thee with harpy fangs they seize
The hideous offspring of Disease,
Swoln Dropsy ignorant of Rest,
And Fever garb'd in scarlet vest,
Consumption driving the quick hearse,
And Gout that howls the frequent curse,
With Apoplex of heavy head
That surely aims his dart of lead.
41 Deformed, choaked MS. O, MS. 0 (c).
55 magic] wonted MS. O, MS. 0 (c).
brows] brow MS. 0, MS. 0 (c).
57 her frown] the fiend MS. O, MS. 0 (c).
'But say Life's joys unmix'd were given
To thee some favourite of Heaven:
Within, without, tho' all were health-
Yet what e'en thus are Fame, Power, Wealth,
But sounds that variously express,
What's thine already-Happiness!
"Tis thine the converse deep to hold
With all the famous sons of old;
And thine the happy waking dream
While Hope pursues some favourite theme,
As oft when Night o'er Heaven is spread,
Round this maternal seat you tread,
Where far from splendour, far from riot,
In silence wrapt sleeps careless Quiet.
"Tis thine with Fancy oft to talk,
And thine the peaceful evening walk;
And what to thee the sweetest are-
The setting sun, the Evening Star-
The tints, which live along the sky,
And Moon that meets thy raptur'd eye,
Where oft the tear shall grateful start,
Dear silent pleasures of the Heart!
Ah! Being blest, for Heaven shall lend
To share thy simple joys a friend!
Ah! doubly blest, if Love supply
His influence to complete thy joy,
If chance some lovely maid thou find
To read thy visage in thy mind.
68 Without, within MS. O, MS. 0 (c).
76 is] has MS. 0, MS. 0 (c). 77 Note-Christ's Hospital MS. 0: Ottery S. Mary in Devonshire MS. 0 (c).
"Tis thine with faery forms to talk
And thine the philosophic walk.
84 which] that MS. O, MS. 0 (c), Letter, 1794.
86 Where grateful oft the big drops start.
MS. O (c).
90-3
Ah! doubly blest, if Love supply
Lustre to this now heavy eye,
And with unwonted Spirit grace
That fat vacuity of face.
Letter to Southey, 1794.
85 And] The Letter, 1794.
Letter, 1794.
shall] does
Or if e'en Love, the mighty Love
Shall find this change his power above;
Some lovely maid perchance thou'lt find
To read thy visage in thy mind. MS. 0, MS. 0 (c).
*The Author was at this time, aetat. 17, remarkable for a plump face. MS. 0 (c).
'One blessing more demands thy care:
Once more to Heaven address the prayer:
For humble independence pray
The guardian genius of thy way;
Whom (sages say) in days of yore
Meek Competence to Wisdom bore,
So shall thy little vessel glide
With a fair breeze adown the tide,
And Hope, if e'er thou 'ginst to sorrow,
Remind thee of some fair to-morrow,
Till Death shall close thy tranquil eye
While Faith proclaims "Thou shalt not die!"'
WRITTEN IN JESUS WOOD, FEB. 10, 1792
Lo! through the dusky silence of the groves,
Thro' vales irriguous, and thro' green retreats,
With languid murmur creeps the placid stream
And works its secret way.
Awhile meand'ring round its native fields
It rolls the playful wave and winds its flight:
Then downward flowing with awaken'd speed
Embosoms in the Deep!
Thus thro' its silent tenor may my Life
Smooth its meek stream by sordid wealth unclogg'd,
Alike unconscious of forensic storms,
And Glory's blood-stain'd palm!
And when dark Age shall close Life's little day,
Satiate of sport, and weary of its toils,
F'en thus may slumbrous Death my decent limbs
Compose with icy hand!
AN ODE IN THE MANNER OF ANACREON 2
As late, in wreaths, gay flowers I bound,
Beneath some roses Love I found:
And by his little frolic pinion
As quick as thought I seiz'd the minion,
1 First published in 1893, from MS. Letter to Mary Evans, Feb. 13 [1792].
2 First published in 1893, from MS. Letter, Feb. 13 [1792].
But if thou pour one votive lay
For humble, &c. Letter, 1794.
101 adown Life's tide MS. O, MS. 0 (c).
96 Not in Letter. 102-3 Not in Letter, 1794.
Then in my cup the prisoner threw,
And drank him in its sparkling dew:
And sure I feel my angry guest
Fluttering his wings within my breast!
TO DISAPPOINTMENT1
HENCE! thou fiend of gloomy sway,
That lov'st on withering blast to ride
O'er fond Illusion's air-built pride.
Sullen Spirit! Hence! Away!
Where Avarice lurks in sordid cell,
Or mad Ambition builds the dream,
Or Pleasure plots th' unholy scheme
There with Guilt and Folly dwell!
But oh when Hope on Wisdom's wing
Prophetic whispers pure delight,
Be distant far thy cank'rous blight,
Demon of envenom'd sting.
Then haste thee, Nymph of balmy gales!
Thy poet's prayer, sweet May! attend!
Oh! place my parent and my friend
'Mid her lovely native vales.
Peace, that lists the woodlark's strains,
Health, that breathes divinest treasures,
Laughing Hours, and Social Pleasures
Wait my friend in Cambria's plains.
Affection there with mingled ray
Shall pour at once the raptures high
Of filial and maternal Joy;
Haste thee then, delightful May!
And oh! may Spring's fair flowerets fade,
May Summer cease her limbs to lave
In cooling stream, may Autumn grave
Yellow o'er the corn-cloath'd glade;
Ere, from sweet retirement torn,
She seek again the crowded mart:
Nor thou, my selfish, selfish heart
Dare her slow return to mourn!
First published in Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1895, i. 28, 29. The lines were included in a letter to Mrs. Evans, dated February 18, 1792
A FRAGMENT FOUND IN A LECTURE-ROOM 1 WHERE deep in mud Cam rolls his slumbrous stream, And bog and desolation reign supreme;
Where all Boeotia clouds the misty brain,
The owl Mathesis pipes her loathsome strain.
Far, far aloof the frighted Muses fly,
Indignant Genius scowls and passes by:
The frolic Pleasures start amid their dance,
And Wit congeal'd stands fix'd in wintry trance.
But to the sounds with duteous haste repair
Cold Industry, and wary-footed Care;
And Dulness, dosing on a couch of lead,
Pleas'd with the song uplifts her heavy head,
The sympathetic numbers lists awhile,
Then yawns propitiously a frosty smile.
[Caetera desunt.]
YE Gales, that of the Lark's repose
The impatient Silence break,
To yon poor Pilgrim's wearying Woes
Your gentle Comfort speak!
He heard the midnight whirlwind die,
He saw the sun-awaken'd Sky
Resume its slowly-purpling Blue:
And ah! he sigh'd-that I might find
The cloudless Azure of the Mind
And Fortune's brightning Hue!
Where'er in waving Foliage hid
The Bird's gay Charm ascends,
Or by the fretful current chid
Some giant Rock impends-
There let the lonely Cares respire
As small airs thrill the mourning Lyre
1 First published in Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1895, i. 44. The lines were sent in a letter to the Rev. G. Coleridge, dated April [1792].
These lines, first published in the Watchman (No. IV, March 25, 1796, signed G. A. U. N. T.), were included in the volume of MS. Poems presented to Mrs. Estlin in April, 1795. They were never claimed by Coleridge or assigned to him, and are now collected for the first time.
Fragment. I slumbrous] reverend MS. E.
9 to] at MS. E.
13 The] Its MS. E.
5 frighted] affrighted 12 Sooth'd with the song uprears
Ode-Title] A Morning Effusion Watchman. 13 fretful] fretting MS. E
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