But long time passed not, ere that brighter cloud
Returned more bright; along the plain it swept ;
And soon from forth its bursting sides emerged
A dazzling form, broad-bosomed, bold of eye,
And wild her hair, save where with laurels bound.
Not more majestic stood the healing God,'
When from his bow the arrow sped that slew
Huge Python. Shriek'd Ambition's giant throng,

And with them hissed the locust-fiends that crawled

And glittered in Corruption's slimy track.

430

435

Great was their wrath, for short they knew their reign; 440
And such commotion made they, and uproar,

As when the mad Tornado bellows through
The guilty islands of the western main,

What time departing from their native shores,2
Eboe, or Koromantyn's plain of palms,
The infuriate spirits of the murdered make
Fierce merriment, and vengeance ask of Heaven.

445

Warmed with new influence, the unwholesome plain
Sent up its foulest fogs to meet the morn:
The Sun that rose on Freedom, rose in Blood!

450

'Maiden beloved, and Delegate of Heaven!

(To her the tutelary Spirit said)

Soon shall the Morning struggle into Day,
The stormy Morning into cloudless Noon.
Much hast thou seen, nor all canst understand-
But this be thy best omen--Save thy Country!'
Thus saying, from the answering Maid he passed,
And with him disappeared the heavenly Vision.

'Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven! All-conscious Presence of the Universe!

The Apollo Belvedere.

455

460

2 The Slaves in the West-India Islands consider Death as a passport to their native country. The Sentiment is thus expressed in the Introduction to a Greek Prize Ode on the Slave-Trade, of which

434 with] by 4o.

437-8

Shriek'd AMBITION'S ghastly throng And with them those the locust Fiends that crawl'd * 4o. —if Locusts how could they shriek? I must have caught the contagion of unthinkingness.

S. T. C. 4o.

458 heavenly] goodly 4o.

Nature's vast ever-acting Energy!!

In will, in deed, Impulse of All to All!
Whether thy Love with unrefracted ray
Beam on the Prophet's purgéd eye, or if
Diseasing realms the Enthusiast, wild of thought,
Scatter new frenzies on the infected throng,
Thou both inspiring and predooming both,

465

the Ideas are better than the Language or Metre, in which they are conveyed :

o before ( ought to have been made long ; δοις ὑπὸζ is an Amphimacer not (as the metre here requires) a Dactyl. S. T. 0.

LITERAL TRANSLATION.

Leaving the gates of Darkness, O Death! hasten thou to a Race yoked to Misery! Thou wilt not be received with lacerations of Cheeks, nor with funereal ululation, but with circling Dances and the joy of Songs. Thou art terrible indeed, yet thou dwellest with LIBERTY, stern GENIUS! Borne on thy dark pinions over the swelling of Ocean they return to their native country. There by the side of fountains beneath Citron groves, the Lovers tell to their Beloved, what horrors, being Men, they had endured

from Men.

But

1 Tho' these Lines may bear a sane sense, yet they are easily, and more naturally interpreted with a very false and dangerous one. I was at that time one of the Mongrels, the Josephidites [Josephides = the Son of Joseph], a proper name of distinction from those who believe in, as well as believe Christ the only begotten Son of the Living God before all Time. MS. Note by S. T. C.

463 Love] Law 4o.

Fit instruments and best, of perfect end:
Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!'

And first a landscape rose
More wild and waste and desolate than where
The white bear, drifting on a field of ice,
Howls to her sundered cubs with piteous rage
And savage agony.

1796.

VER PERPETUUM1

FRAGMENT

From an unpublished poem.

THE early Year's fast-flying vapours stray
In shadowing trains across the orb of day:
And we, poor Insects of a few short hours,
Deem it a world of Gloom.

Were it not better hope a nobler doom,
Proud to believe that with more active powers

On rapid many-coloured wing

We thro' one bright perpetual Spring

Shall hover round the fruits and flowers,

470

5

Screen'd by those clouds and cherish'd by those showers! 10

1796.

ON OBSERVING A BLOSSOM ON THE FIRST

OF FEBRUARY 17962

SWEET flower! that peeping from thy russet stem
Unfoldest timidly, (for in strange sort

This dark, frieze-coated, hoarse, teeth-chattering month

1 First published without title (From an unpublished poem') in The Watchman, No. iv, March 25, 1796, and reprinted in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 44, with an extract from the Essay in the Watchman in which it was included: In my calmer moments I have the firmest faith that all things work together for good. But alas! it seems a long and dark process. First collected with extract only in Appendix to 1863. First entitled 'Fragment from an Unpublished Poem' in 1893, and 'Ver Perpetuum' in 1907.

2 First published in The Watchman, No. vi, April 11, 1796: included in 1797, 1803, Sibylline Leaves, 1817, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

For lines 470-74 vide ante var. of lines 130 foll.

On observing, &c.-Title] Lines on observing, &c., Written near Sheffield, Watchman, 1797, 1803.

Hath borrow'd Zephyr's voice, and gazed upon thee
With blue voluptuous eye) alas, poor Flower!
These are but flatteries of the faithless year.
Perchance, escaped its unknown polar cave,
Even now the keen North-East is on its way.
Flower that must perish! shall I liken thee
To some sweet girl of too too rapid growth
Nipp'd by consumption mid untimely charms?
Or to Bristowa's bard,' the wondrous boy!
An amaranth, which earth scarce seem'd to own,
Till disappointment came, and pelting wrong
Beat it to earth? or with indignant grief
Shall I compare thee to poor Poland's hope,
Bright flower of hope killed in the opening bud?
Farewell, sweet blossom! better fate be thine
And mock my boding! Dim similitudes
Weaving in moral strains, I've stolen one hour
From anxious Self, Life's cruel taskmaster!
And the warm wooings of this sunny day
Tremble along my frame and harmonize

The attempered organ, that even saddest thoughts
Mix with some sweet sensations, like harsh tunes
Played deftly on a soft-toned instrument.

1796.

TO A PRIMROSE 2

THE FIRST SEEN IN THE SEASON

Nitens et roboris expers

Turget et insolida est: et spe delectat.

1Ο

15

20

25

OVID, Metam. [xv. 203].

THY smiles I note, sweet early Flower,
That peeping from thy rustic bower
The festive news to earth dost bring,
A fragrant messenger of Spring.

1 Chatterton.

2 First published in The Watchman, No. viii, April 27, 1796: reprinted in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 47. First collected in Appendix to 1863.

5 With 'blue voluptuous eye' 1803. Between 13 and 14 Blooming mid Poverty's drear wintry waste Watchman, 1797, 1803, S. L., 1817, 1828. 16 hope] hopes, Watchman.

21 From black anxiety that gnaws my heart.

For her who droops far off on a sick bed.

Watchman, 1797, 1803.

24 Th' attempered brain, that ev'n the saddest thoughts Watchman, 1797, 1803.

To a Primrose.-Motto: et] at L. R., App. 1863.

But, tender blossom, why so pale?
Dost hear stern Winter in the gale?
And didst thou tempt the ungentle sky
To catch one vernal glance and die?

Such the wan lustre Sickness wears
When Health's first feeble beam appears;
So languid are the smiles that seek
To settle on the care-worn cheek,
When timorous Hope the head uprears,
Still drooping and still moist with tears,
If, through dispersing grief, be seen
Of Bliss the heavenly spark serene.

And sweeter far the early blow,
Fast following after storms of Woe,
Than (Comfort's riper season come)

Are full-blown joys and Pleasure's gaudy bloom.

1796.

5

10

15

20

VERSES1

ADDRESSED TO J. HORNE TOOKE AND THE COMPANY WHO MET ON

JUNE 28TH, 1796, TO CELEBRATE HIS POLL AT THE WEST

MINSTER ELECTION

BRITONS! When last ye met, with distant streak

So faintly promis'd the pale Dawn to break;
So dim it stain'd the precincts of the Sky
E'en Expectation gaz'd with doubtful Eye.
But now such fair Varieties of Light
O'ertake the heavy sailing Clouds of Night;
Th' Horizon kindles with so rich a red,
That tho' the Sun still hides his glorious head
Th' impatient Matin-bird, assur'd of Day,
Leaves his low nest to meet its earliest ray;
Loud the sweet song of Gratulation sings,
And high in air claps his rejoicing wings!
Patriot and Sage! whose breeze-like Spirit first
The lazy mists of Pedantry dispers'd

5

10

1 First printed in the Transactions of the Philobiblon Society. First published in P. W., 1893. The verses (without the title) were sent by Coleridge in a letter to the Rev. J. P. Estlin, dated July 4, [1796].

17-20 om. L. R., App. 1863.