'How seldom, friend! a good great man inherits
Honour or wealth with all his worth and pains!
It sounds like stories from the land of spirits
If any man obtain that which he merits

Or any merit that which he obtains.'

REPLY TO THE ABOVE

FOR shame, dear friend, renounce this canting strain!
What would'st thou have a good great man obtain?
Place? titles? salary? a gilded chain?

Or throne of corses which his sword had slain ?
Greatness and goodness are not means, but ends!
Hath he not always treasures, always friends,

5

10

The good great man? three treasures, LovE, and LIGHT,
And CALM THOUGHTS, regular as infant's breath:
And three firm friends, more sure than day and night, 15
HIMSELF, his MAKER, and the ANGEL DEATH!

1802.

INSCRIPTION FOR A FOUNTAIN ON A HEATH 2

THIS Sycamore, oft musical with bees,

Such tents the Patriarchs loved! O long unharmed
May all its agéd boughs o'er-canopy

The small round basin, which this jutting stone

Keeps pure from falling leaves! Long may the Spring, 5

1 First published in the Morning Post (as an 'Epigram', signed EETHEE), September 23, 1802: reprinted in the Poetical Register for 1802 (1803, p. 246): included in The Friend, No. XIX, December 28, 1809, and in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 53. First collected in 1844.

First published in the Morning Post, September 24, 1802: reprinted in the Poetical Register for 1802 (1803, p. 338): included in Sibylline Leaves, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

The Good, Great Man-Title] Epigram M. P.: Epigrams P. R.: Complaint Lit. Rem., 1844, 1852: The Good, &c. 1893. 6 Reply to the above M. P. :

Reply The Friend, 1809: Reproof Lit. Rem., 1844.

Inscription, &c.—Title] Inscription on a Jutting Stone, over a Spring M. P., P. R.

3 agéd] darksome M. P., P. R.

5 Still may this spring M. P., P. R.

Quietly as a sleeping infant's breath,
Send up cold waters to the traveller
With soft and even pulse! Nor ever cease
Yon tiny cone of sand its soundless dance,'
Which at the bottom, like a Fairy's Page,
As merry and no taller, dances still,

Nor wrinkles the smooth surface of the Fount.
Here Twilight is and Coolness: here is moss,
A soft seat, and a deep and ample shade.
Thou may'st toil far and find no second tree.
Drink, Pilgrim, here; Here rest! and if thy heart
Be innocent, here too shalt thou refresh
Thy spirit, listening to some gentle sound,
Or passing gale or hum of murmuring bees!

1802.

ΤΟ

15

AN ODE TO THE RAIN 2

COMPOSED BEFORE DAYLIGHT, ON THE MORNING APPOINTED FOR THE DEPARTURE OF Α VERY WORTHY, BUT NOT VERY PLEASANT VISITOR, WHOM IT WAS FEARED THE RAIN MIGHT DETAIN

1

I KNOW it is dark; and though I have lain,
Awake, as I guess, an hour or twain,

1 Compare Anima Poetae, 1895, p. 17: 'The spring with the little tiny cone of loose sand ever rising and sinking to the bottom, but its surface without a wrinkle.'

2 First published in the Morning Post (?), Oct. 7, 1802 included in Sibylline Leaves, 1817: in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 54-6. First collected in 1844. In Literary Remains the poem is dated 1809, but in a letter to J. Wedgwood, Oct. 20, 1802, Coleridge seems to imply that the Ode to the Rain had appeared recently in the Morning Post. A MS. note of Mrs. H. N. Coleridge, included in other memoranda intended for publication in Essays on His Own Times, gives the date, 'Ode to Rain, October 7'. The issue for October 7 is missing in the volume for 1802 preserved

7 waters] water P. R. less M. P., P. R.

to] for M. P., P. R. 10 Which] That M. P., P. R.

dwell, and twilight M. P., P. R.

9 soundless] noise13 Here coolness

16 foll. Here, stranger, drink! Here rest! And if thy heart Be innocent, here too may'st thou renew

Thy spirits, listening to these gentle sounds,

The passing gale, or ever-murm'ring bees, M. P., P. R,

I have not once opened the lids of my eyes,
But I lie in the dark, as a blind man lies.
O Rain! that I lie listening to,
You're but a doleful sound at best:
I owe you little thanks, 'tis true,
For breaking thus my needful rest!
Yet if, as soon as it is light,

O Rain! you will but take your flight,
I'll neither rail, nor malice keep,

Though sick and sore for want of sleep.
But only now, for this one day,

Do go, dear Rain! do go away!

II

O Rain! with your dull two-fold sound,
The clash hard by, and the murmur all round!
You know, if you know aught, that we,
Both night and day, but ill agree:
For days and months, and almost years,
Have limped on through this vale of tears,
Since body of mine, and rainy weather,
Have lived on easy terms together.
Yet if, as soon as it is light,

O Rain! you will but take your flight,

Though you should come again to-morrow,

And bring with you both pain and sorrow;

Though stomach should sicken and knees should swell

I'll nothing speak of you but well.

But only now for this one day,

Do go, dear Rain! do go away!

15

20

25

30

III

Dear Rain! I ne'er refused to say
You're a good creature in your way;
Nay, I could write a book myself,
Would fit a parson's lower shelf,
Showing how very good you are.—

35

in the British Museum, and it may be presumed that it was in that number the Ode to the Rain first appeared. It is possible that the Ode' was written on the morning after the unexpected arrival of Charles and Mary Lamb at Greta Hall in August, 1802.

What then? sometimes it must be fair
And if sometimes, why not to-day?
Do go, dear Rain! do go away!

IV

Dear Rain! if I've been cold and shy,
Take no offence! I'll tell you why.
A dear old Friend e'en now is here,
And with him came my sister dear;
After long absence now first met,
Long months by pain and grief beset-

40

We three dear friends! in truth, we groan
Impatiently to be alone.

45

We three, you mark! and not one more!

The strong wish makes my spirit sore.
We have so much to talk about,
So many sad things to let out;
So many tears in our eye-corners,
Sitting like little Jacky Horners-
In short, as soon as it is day,
Do go, dear Rain! do go away.

5༠

And this I'll swear to you, dear Rain!
Whenever you shall come again,

55

1802.

Be you as dull as e'er you could
(And by the bye 'tis understood,
You're not so pleasant as you're good),
Yet, knowing well your worth and place,
I'll welcome you with cheerful face;
And though you stayed a week or more,
Were ten times duller than before;
Yet with kind heart, and right good will,
I'll sit and listen to you still;

Nor should you go away, dear Rain!
Uninvited to remain.

But only now, for this one day,

Do go, dear Rain! do go away.

60

65

45 We] With L. R. 1844, 1852. [The text was amended in P. W., 1877Bo.]

A DAY-DREAM1

My eyes make pictures, when they are shut:
I see a fountain, large and fair,

A willow and a ruined hut,

And thee, and me and Mary there.

O Mary! make thy gentle lap our pillow!

Bend o'er us, like a bower, my beautiful green willow!

A wild-rose roofs the ruined shed,

And that and summer well agree:

And lo! where Mary leans her head,

Two dear names carved upon the tree!

And Mary's tears, they are not tears of sorrow :

Our sister and our friend will both be here to-morrow.

5

10

'Twas day! but now few, large, and bright, The stars are round the crescent moon!

And now it is a dark warm night,

The balmiest of the month of June!

A glow-worm fall'n, and on the marge remounting

15

Shines, and its shadow shines, fit stars for our sweet fountain.

O ever-ever be thou blest!

For dearly, Asra! love I thee!

This brooding warmth across my breast,
This depth of tranquil bliss-ah, me!

Fount, tree and shed are gone, I know not whither,

But in one quiet room we three are still together.

The shadows dance upon the wall,

By the still dancing fire-flames made;

And now they slumber, moveless all!

And now they melt to one deep shade!

But not from me shall this mild darkness steal thee:

20

25

I dream thee with mine eyes, and at my heart I feel thee! 30

First published in the Bijou for 1828: included in 1828, 1829, and 1834. Asra is Miss Sarah Hutchinson; 'Our Sister and our Friend,' William and Dorothy Wordsworth. There can be little doubt that these lines were written in 1801 or 1802.

17 on] in Bijou, 1828. 28 one] me Bijou, 1828.

8 well] will Bijou, 1828. dearly Bijou, 1828.

COLERIDGE

20 For Asra,