And drop the tear-as Fancy, at my side,
Deep-sighing, points the fair frail Abra's tomb-

'Like thine, sad Flower, was that poor wanderer's pride! Oh! lost to Love and Truth, whose selfish joy Tasted her vernal sweets, but tasted to destroy!'

1794.

THE OUTCAST1

PALE Roamer through the night! thou poor Forlorn!
Remorse that man on his death-bed possess,
Who in the credulous hour of tenderness

Betrayed, then cast thee forth to Want and Scorn!
The world is pitiless: the chaste one's pride
Mimic of Virtue scowls on thy distress:
Thy Loves and they that envied thee deride:
And Vice alone will shelter Wretchedness!

O! I could weep to think that there should be
Cold-bosom'd lewd ones, who endure to place
Foul offerings on the shrine of Misery,
And force from Famine the caress of Love;
May He shed healing on the sore disgrace,
He, the great Comforter that rules above!

? 1794.

DOMESTIC PEACE 2

[FROM THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE', ACT I, L. 210]
TELL me, on what holy ground
May Domestic Peace be found?
Halcyon daughter of the skies,
Far on fearful wings she flies,
From the pomp of Sceptered State,
From the Rebel's noisy hate.
In a cottag'd vale She dwells,
Listening to the Sabbath bells!

5

ΙΟ

5

First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1884. The first half of Effusion xv was written by the Author of "Joan of Arc", an Epic Poem.' Preface to Poems, 1796, p. xi.

*First published in the Fall of Robespierre, 1795: included (as 'Song',

p. 13) in 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

The Outcast Title] Effusion xv. 1796: Sonnet vii. 1797: Sonnet vi. 1803: Sonnet ix. 1828, 1829, and 1834: An Unfortunate 1893.

7 Thy kindred, when they see thee, turn aside 1803.

1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

10 Men, born of woman 1803.

13-14 Man has no feeling for thy sore Disgrace:

9 O I am sad

Keen blows the Blast upon the moulting Dove. 1803.

13 the] thy 1796, 1797, 1828.

Domestic Peace-Title] Effusion xxv. 1796.

1794.

Still around her steps are seen
Spotless Honour's meeker mien,
Love, the sire of pleasing fears,
Sorrow smiling through her tears,
And conscious of the past employ
Memory, bosom-spring of joy.

ON A DISCOVERY MADE TOO LATE1
THOU bleedest, my poor Heart! and thy distress
Reasoning I ponder with a scornful smile

And probe thy sore wound sternly, though the while
Swoln be mine eye and dim with heaviness.

Why didst thou listen to Hope's whisper bland?
Or, listening, why forget the healing tale,
When Jealousy with feverous fancies pale
Jarr'd thy fine fibres with a maniac's hand?

10

5

Faint was that Hope, and rayless!-Yet 'twas fair
And sooth'd with many a dream the hour of rest:

Thou should'st have lov'd it most, when most opprest,
And nurs'd it with an agony of care,

Even as a mother her sweet infant heir

That wan and sickly droops upon her breast!

1794.

TO THE AUTHOR OF THE ROBBERS'2
SCHILLER! that hour I would have wish'd to die.
If thro' the shuddering midnight I had sent
From the dark dungeon of the Tower time-rent
That fearful voice, a famish'd Father's cry—

10

1 First published in 1796: Selection of Sonnets, Poems 1796: in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. It was sent in a letter to Southey, dated October 21, 1794. (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 92.)

2 First published in 1796: included in Selection of Sonnets, 1796: in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The following Note' (Note 6, pp. 180, 181) was printed in 1796, and appears again in 1797 as a footnote, p. 83: One night in Winter, on leaving a College-friend's room, with

6

On a Discovery-Title] Effusion xix. 1796 (in Contents' To my Heart): Sonnet II. On a Discovery made too late 1797, 1803, and again in P. and D. W., 1877-80: Sonnet xi. 1828, 1829, 1834.

2-4 Doth Reason ponder with an anguish'd smile

Probing thy sore wound sternly, tho' the while

Her eye be swollen and dim with heaviness. Letter, 1794.

6 the] its Letter, 1794.

14 wan] pale Letter, 1794.

7 feverous] feverish 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829.

To the Author of The Robbers'-Title] Effusion xx. To the Author, &c.

Lest in some after moment aught more mean
Might stamp me mortal! A triumphant shout
Black Horror scream'd, and all her goblin rout
Diminish'd shrunk from the more withering scene!
Ah! Bard tremendous in sublimity!
Could I behold thee in thy loftier mood
Wandering at eve with finely-frenzied eye
Beneath some vast old tempest-swinging wood!
Awhile with mute awe gazing I would brood:
Then weep aloud in a wild ecstasy!

? 1794.

MELANCHOLY L

A FRAGMENT

STRETCH'D on a moulder'd Abbey's broadest wall,
Where ruining ivies propp'd the ruins steep-
Her folded arms wrapping her tatter'd pall,

2 Had Melancholy mus'd herself to sleep.

5

ΤΟ

whom I had supped, I carelessly took away with me "The Robbers a drama, the very name of which I had never before heard of:A Winter midnight-the wind high-and "The Robbers" for the first time !-The readers of Schiller will conceive what I felt. Schiller introduces no supernatural beings; yet his human beings agitate and astonish more than all the goblin rout-even of Shakespeare.' See for another account of the midnight reading of 'The Robbers', Letter to Southey, November [6], 1794, Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 96, 97.

one

In the Selection of Sonnets, 1796, this note was reduced to sentence. Schiller introduces no Supernatural Beings.' note is omitted, but a footnote to line 4 is appended: "The Father of In 1803 the Moor in the Play of the Robbers.'

1 First published in the Morning Post, December 12, 1797 (not, as Coleridge says, the Morning Chronicle); included in Sibylline Leaves, 1817 (with an addition), and, again, in P. and D. W., 1877-80, and (in its first shape) in 1828, 1829, 1884, 1852, and 1893. Sent in Letter to Sotheby, Aug. 26, 1802.

Bowles borrowed these lines unconsciously, I doubt not. I had repeated the poem on my first visit [Sept. 1797]. MS. Note, S. T. C. See, too, Letter, Aug. 26, 1802. [Here Melancholy on the pale crags laid, Might muse herself to sleep-Coomb Ellen, written September, 1798.]

[To 'Schiller', Contents] 1796: Sonnet viii. To the Author of "The Robbers' 1797: Sonnet xv. 1803: Sonnet xii. To the Author of the

Robbers 1828, 1829, 1834.

Lines 1-4 are printed in the reverse order (4, 3, 2, 1). Selections. 5-6

That in no after moment aught less vast

Might stamp me human! Selections.

That in no after moment aught less vast
Might stamp me mortal! 1797, 1803.

8 From the more with'ring scene diminish'd past. Selections, 1797, 1803.

Melancholy.

2 Where

ruining] Whose running M. C.
1 Upon a mouldering Letter, Aug. 26, 1802.
propp'd] prop Letter, Aug. 26, 1802.

The fern was press'd beneath her hair,

The dark green Adder's Tongue1 was there; And still as pass'd the flagging sea-gale weak, The long lank leaf bow'd fluttering o'er her cheek. That pallid cheek was flush'd: her eager look Beam'd eloquent in slumber! Inly wrought, Imperfect sounds her moving lips forsook, And her bent forehead work'd with troubled thought. Strange was the dream

? 1794.

5

10

TO A YOUNG ASS 2

ITS MOTHER BEING TETHERED NEAR IT

POOR little Foal of an oppressed race!
I love the languid patience of thy face:
And oft with gentle hand I give thee bread,
And clap thy ragged coat, and pat thy head.
But what thy dulled spirits hath dismay'd,
That never thou dost sport along the glade?

5

A Plant found on old walls and in wells and mois[t] [h]edges.—It is often called the Hart's Tongue. M. C. Asplenium Scolopendrium, more commonly called Hart's Tongue. Letter, 1802. A botanical mistake. The plant I meant is called the Hart's Tongue, but this would unluckily spoil the poetical effect. Cedat ergo Botanice. Sibylline Leaves, 1817. A botanical mistake. The plant which the poet here describes is called the Hart's Tongue, 1828, 1829, 1852.

2 First published in the Morning Chronicle, December 30, 1794: included in 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. A MS. version, dated October 24, 1794 (see P. W., 1893, pp. 477, 488), was presented by Coleridge to Professor William Smyth, Professor of Modern History at Cambridge, 1807-49; a second version was included in a letter to Southey, dated December 17, 1794 (Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 119, 120).

7 pass'd] came Letter, 1802.

sea-gale] sea-gales M. C., Letter, 1802. 8 The] Her Letter, 1802. 9 That] Her Letter, 1802. 13 Not in Letter 1802.

13

Strange was the dream that fill'd her soul,
Nor did not whisp'ring spirits roll

A mystic tumult, and a fateful rhyme,
Mix'd with wild shapings of the unborn time!

M. C., Sibylline Leaves, 1817.

To a Young Ass-Title] Monologue to a Young Jack Ass in Jesus Piece. Its mother near it chained to a log MS. Oct. 24, 1794: Address to a Young Jack-Ass and its Tether'd mother MS. Dec. 17, 1794: Address, &c. In familiar verse Morning Chronicle, Dec. 30, 1794: Effusion xxxiii. To a Young Ass, &c. 1796.

3 gentle] friendly MS. Dec. 1794, M. C. 5 spirits] spirit MSS Oct. Dec. 1794, M. C.

4 pat] scratch MS. Oct. 1794, M. C. 6 along] upon MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.

And (most unlike the nature of things young)
That earthward still thy moveless head is hung?
Do thy prophetic fears anticipate,

Meek Child of Misery! thy future fate?

The starving meal, and all the thousand aches
'Which patient Merit of the Unworthy takes'?
Or is thy sad heart thrill'd with filial pain
To see thy wretched mother's shorten'd chain?
And truly, very piteous is her lot-
Chain'd to a log within a narrow spot,
Where the close-eaten grass is scarcely seen,

While sweet around her waves the tempting green!

Poor Ass! thy master should have learnt to show
Pity-best taught by fellowship of Woe!
For much I fear me that He lives like thee,
Half famish'd in a land of Luxury!
How askingly its footsteps hither bend?

It seems to say, 'And have I then one friend?'
Innocent foal! thou poor despis'd forlorn!

I hail thee Brother-spite of the fool's scorn!
And fain would take thee with me, in the Dell
Of Peace and mild Equality to dwell,

Where Toil shall call the charmer Health his bride,
And Laughter tickle Plenty's ribless side!

8 That still to earth thy moping head is hung MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794, M. C. 9 Doth thy prophetic soul MS. Oct. 1794.

12 Which] That MSS.

14 shorten'd] lengthen'd MS. Dec. 1794, M. C. 19 thy] her 1796.

21

Oct. Dec. 1794. 16 within] upon MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794, M. C. For much I fear, that He lives e'en as she, 1796. 23 footsteps hither bend] steps toward me tend MS. Oct. 1794: steps towards me bend MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.: footsteps t'ward me bend 1796. 25 despised and forlorn MS. Oct. 1794. 27 would] I'd MSS. Oct. Dec. 1794. in] to MS. Oct. 1794. 28 Of high-soul'd Pantisocracy to dwell MS. Dec. 1794, M. C.

28 foll. Where high-soul'd Pantisocracy shall dwell!

Where Mirth shall tickle Plenty's ribless side,*
And smiles from Beauty's Lip on sunbeams glide,
Where Toil shall wed young Health that charming Lass!
And use his sleek cows for a looking-glass-

Where Rats shall mess with Terriers hand-in-glove

And Mice with Pussy's Whiskers sport in Love MS. Oct. 1794.

*This is a truly poetical line of which the author has assured us that he did not mean it to have any meaning. Note by Ed. of MS. Oct. 1794.