1806.

A CHILD'S EVENING PRAYER1

ERE on my bed my limbs I lay,
God grant me grace my prayers to say:
O God! preserve my mother dear
In strength and health for many a year;
And, O! preserve my father too,

And may I pay him reverence due;
And may I my best thoughts employ
To be my parents' hope and joy;
And O! preserve my brothers both
From evil doings and from sloth,
And may we always love each other
Our friends, our father, and our mother:
And still, O Lord, to me impart
An innocent and grateful heart,
That after my great sleep I may
Awake to thy eternal day! Amen.

METRICAL FEET 2

LESSON FOR A BOY

TROCHEE trips from long to shōrt;
From long to long in solemn sort

Slow Spōndee stalks; strong foot! yet ill able
Evěr to come up with Dactyl trisyllablě.

Iambics march from short to lōng;—

With a leap and à bound the swift Anăpăsts thrōng;

5

First published in 1852. A transcript in the handwriting of

Mrs. S. T. Coleridge is in the possession of the Editor.

2 First published in 1834. The metrical lesson was begun for Hartley Coleridge in 1806 and, afterwards, finished or adapted for the use of his brother Derwent. The Editor possesses the autograph of a metrical rendering of the Greek alphabet, entitled 'A Greek Song set to Music, and sung by Hartley Coleridge, Esq., Graecologian, philometrist and philomelist'.

7-8

5 father] mother MS.

3 mother] father MS.
And may I still my thoughts employ
To be her comfort and her joy MS.

9 O likewise keep MS. 13 But chiefly, Lord MS.

P. W. 1877-80, 1893.

After 16 Our father, &c. MS.

6 him] her M6.

15 great] last

Metrical Feet-Title] The chief and most usual Metrical Feet expressed in metre and addressed to Hartley Coleridge MS. of Lines 1–7.

One syllable long, with one short at each side,
Amphibrǎchys hastes with a stately stride;-

First and last being long, middle short, Amphimăcer
Strikes his thundering hoofs like a proud high-bred Racer.
If Derwent be innocent, steady, and wise,

II

And delight in the things of earth, water, and skies; Tender warmth at his heart, with these metres to show it, With sound sense in his brains, may make Derwent a poet,May crown him with fame, and must win him the love 15 Of his father on earth and his Father above.

My dear, dear child!

Could you stand upon Skiddaw, you would not from its whole ridge

See a man who so loves you as your fond S. T. COLERIDGE.

1806.

FAREWELL TO LOVE1

FAREWELL, Sweet Love! yet blame you not my truth;
More fondly ne'er did mother eye her child
Than I your form: yours were my hopes of youth,
And as you shaped my thoughts I sighed or smiled.

1 First published in the Courier, September 27, 1806, and reprinted in the Morning Herald, October 11, 1806, and in the Gentleman's Magazine for November, 1815, vol. lxxxv, p. 448: included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 280, and in Letters, Conversations, &c., [by T. Allsop], 1836, i. 143. First collected, appendix, 1863. This sonnet is modelled upon and in part borrowed from Lord Brooke's (Fulke Greville) Sonnet LXXIV of Coelica : and was inscribed on the margin of Charles Lamb's copy of Certain Learned and Elegant Works of the Right Honourable Fulke Lord Brooke... 1633, p. 284. 'Calica'. Sonnet lxxiv.

I-2

FAREWELL Sweet Boy, complaine not of my truth;
Thy Mother lov'd thee not with more devotion;
For to thy Boyes play I gave all my youth

Yong Master, I did hope for your promotion.

While some sought Honours, Princes thoughts observing,
Many woo'd Fame, the child of paine and anguish,
Others judg'd inward good a chiefe deserving,

I in thy wanton Visions joy'd to languish.

Farewell my Love! yet blame ye not my Truth;
More fondly never mother ey'd her child MS. 1806.

Sweet power of Love, farewell! nor blame my truth,
More fondly never Mother ey'd her Child Courier, M. H.

4 And as you wove the dream I sigh'd or smil'd MS. 1806: And as you wove my thoughts, I sigh'd or smil'd Courier, M. H.

While most were wooing wealth, or gaily swerving
To pleasure's secret haunts, and some apart
Stood strong in pride, self-conscious of deserving,
To you I gave my whole weak wishing heart.

And when I met the maid that realised

Your fair creations, and had won her kindness, Say, but for her if aught on earth I prized!

Your dreams alone I dreamt, and caught your blindness.

O grief!-but farewell, Love! I will go play me
With thoughts that please me less, and less betray me.

1806.

5

1Ο

TO WILLIAM WORDSWORTH1

COMPOSED ON THE NIGHT AFTER HIS RECITATION OF A POEM ON
THE GROWTH OF AN INDIVIDUAL MIND

FRIEND of the wise! and Teacher of the Good!
Into my heart have I received that Lay

I bow'd not to thy image for succession,
Nor bound thy bow to shoot reformed kindnesse,
The playes of hope and feare were my confession
The spectacles to my life was thy blindnesse :

But Cupid now farewell, I will goe play me,

With thoughts that please me lesse, and lesse betray me.

First published in Sibylline Leaves, 1817: included in 1828, 1829, 1834. The poem was sent in a Letter to Sir G. Beaumont dated January, 1807, and in this shape was first printed by Professor Knight in Coleorton Letters,

5-7

While some sought Wealth; others to Pleasure swerving,
Many woo'd Fame: and some stood firm apart

13 will]

In joy of pride, self-conscious of deserving MS. 1806, Courier, M. H. 6 haunts] haunt L. R., Letters, &c., 1836, 1863. 8 weak wishing] weak-wishing Courier, M. H. 9 that] who Courier, M. H. must Courier, M. H. To William Wordsworth-Title] To W. Wordsworth. Lines Composed, for the greater part on the Night, on which he finished the recitation of his Poem (in thirteen Books) concerning the growth and history of his own Mind, Jan. 7, 1807, Cole-orton, near Ashby de la Zouch MS. W.: To William Wordsworth. Composed for the greater part on the same night after the finishing of his recitation of the Poem in thirteen Books, on the Growth of his own Mind MS. B: To a Gentleman, &c. S. L. 1828, 1829.

I

O Friend! 0 Teacher! God's great gift to me! MSS. W., B.

More than historic, that prophetic Lay
Wherein (high theme by thee first sung aright)
Of the foundations and the building up
Of a Human Spirit thou hast dared to tell
What may be told, to the understanding mind
Revealable; and what within the mind
By vital breathings secret as the soul
Of vernal growth, oft quickens in the heart
Thoughts all too deep for words!-

Theme hard as high!
Of smiles spontaneous, and mysterious fears
(The first-born they of Reason and twin-birth),
Of tides obedient to external force,

And currents self-determined, as might seem,
Or by some inner Power; of moments awful,
Now in thy inner life, and now abroad,

5

ΤΟ

15

1887, i. 213-18; and as Appendix H, pp. 525-6, of P. W., 1893 (MS. B.). An earlier version of about the same date was given to Wordsworth, and is now in the possession of his grandson, Mr. Gordon Wordsworth (MS. W.). The text of Sibylline Leaves differs widely from that of the original MSS. Lines 11-47 are quoted in a Letter to Wordsworth, dated May 30, 1815 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 646–7), and lines 65-75 at the end of Chapter X of the Biographia Literaria, 1817, i. 220.

Between 5-13 Of thy own Spirit, thou hast lov'd to tell

What may be told, to th' understanding mind
Revealable; and what within the mind

May rise enkindled. Theme as hard as high!
Of Smiles spontaneous and mysterious Fear. MS. W.
Of thy own spirit thou hast loved to tell
What may be told, by words revealable;
With heavenly breathings, like the secret soul
Of vernal growth, oft quickening in the heart,
Thoughts that obey no mastery of words,
Pure self-beholdings! theme as hard as high,
Of smiles spontaneous and mysterious fear. MS. B.

9 By vital breathings like the secret soul S. L. 1828.
interior power MS. W: Or by some central breath MS. Letter, 1815.
inner] hidden MSS. W., B.

Between 17-41

Mid festive crowds, thy Brows too garlanded,
A Brother of the Feast of Fancies fair,
Hyblaean murmurs of pretic Thought,
Industrious in its Joy, by lilied Streams
Native or outland, Lakes and famous Hills!
Of more than Fancy, of the Hope of Man
Amid the tremor of a Realm aglow-

16 Or by

17

When power streamed from thee, and thy soul received
The light reflected, as a light bestowed-
Of fancies fair, and milder hours of youth,
Hyblean murmurs of poetic thought
Industrious in its joy, in vales and glens
Native or outland, lakes and famous hills!
Or on the lonely high-road, when the stars
Were rising; or by secret mountain-streams,
The guides and the companions of thy way!

Of more than Fancy, of the Social Sense
Distending wide, and man beloved as man,
Where France in all her towns lay vibrating
Like some becalméd bark beneath the burst

Of Heaven's immediate thunder, when no cloud
Is visible, or shadow on the main.

20

25

30

For thou wert there, thine own brows garlanded,
Amid the tremor of a realm aglow,

Amid a mighty nation jubilant,

35

When from the general heart of human kind
Hope sprang forth like a full-born Deity!

Of that dear Hope afflicted and struck down,

So summoned homeward, thenceforth calm and sure
From the dread watch-tower of man's absolute self,

40

Where France in all her Towns lay vibrating
Ev'n as a Bark becalm'd on sultry seas

Beneath the voice from Heav'n, the bursting crash

Of Heaven's immediate thunder! when no cloud

Is visible, or Shadow on the Main

Ah! soon night roll'd on night, and every Cloud
Open'd its eye of Fire and Hope aloft

Now flutter'd, and now toss'd upon the storm
Floating! Of Hope afflicted and struck down

Thence summoned homeward-homeward to thy Heart,
Oft from the Watch-tower of Man's absolute self,
With light, &c. MS. W.

27 social sense MS. B.

29-30

30

28 Distending, and of man MS. B.

Even as a bark becalm'd on sultry seas

Quivers beneath the voice from Heaven, the burst MS. B.
Ev'n as a bark becalm'd beneath the burst

33 thine] thy MS. B., MS. Letter, 1815.

MS. B.

38 Of that dear hope afflicted 39 So homeward summoned MS. Letter, 1815. tower MS. B.

MS. Letter, 1815, S. L. 1828. 37 a full-born] an arméd and amazed MS. Letter, 1815. 40 As from the watch