1793.

'And O!' he cried-'Of magic kind
What charms this Throne endear!
Some other Love let Venus find-
I'll fix my empire here."1

KISSES 2

CUPID, if storying Legends tell aright,
Once fram'd a rich Elixir of Delight.
A Chalice o'er love-kindled flames he fix'd,
And in it Nectar and Ambrosia mix'd:

With these the magic dews which Evening brings,
Brush'd from the Idalian star by faery wings:
Each tender pledge of sacred Faith he join'd,
Each gentler Pleasure of th' unspotted mind—

1 Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. p. 55.

5

2 First published in 1796: included in 1797 (Supplement), 1803, and 1844. Three MSS. are extant, (1) as included in a letter to George Coleridge, Aug. 5, 1793; (2) as written in pencil in a copy of Langhorne's Collins in 1793; (3) MS. E. Poems, 1796 (Note 7, p. 181), and footnotes

in 1797 and 1803, supply the original Latin:

Effinxit quondam blandum meditata laborem
Basia lascivà Cypria Diva manu.
Ambrosiae succos occultâ temperat arte,
Fragransque infuso nectare tingit opus.
Sufficit et partem mellis, quod subdolus olim
Non impune favis surripuisset Amor.
Decussos violae foliis admiscet odores

Et spolia aestivis plurima rapta rosis.
Addit et illecebras et mille et mille lepores,
Et quot Acidalius gaudia Cestus habet.
Ex his composuit Dea basia; et omnia libens
Invenias nitidae sparsa per ora Cloës,

Carm[ina] Quad[ragesimalia], vol. ii.

21-2

'And, O', he cried, 'What charms refined
This magic throne endear Letter, 1798, MS. E.

23 Another Love may Letter, 1793.

Kisses-Title] Cupid turn'd Chymist Leller, 1793, Pencil.

The Compound

MS. E: Effusion xxvi. 1796: The Composition of a Kiss 1797: Kisses 1803, 1844, 1852.

I storying] ancient Pencil. gentler] gentle Pencil.

3 Chalice] cauldron Letter, 1793.

8

Day-dreams, whose tints with sportive brightness glow,
And Hope, the blameless parasite of Woe.
The eyeless Chemist heard the process rise,
The steamy Chalice bubbled up in sighs;

Sweet sounds transpired, as when the enamour'd Dove
Pours the soft murmuring of responsive Love.
The finish'd work might Envy vainly blame,
And 'Kisses' was the precious Compound's name.
With half the God his Cyprian Mother blest,
And breath'd on Sara's lovelier lips the rest.

1793.

10

15

THE GENTLE LOOK1

THOU gentle Look, that didst my soul beguile,
Why hast thou left me? Still in some fond dream
Revisit my sad heart, auspicious Smile!

As falls on closing flowers the lunar beam :

What time, in sickly mood, at parting day

I lay me down and think of happier years;

5

1 First published in 1796: included in 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. The four last lines' of the Sonnet as sent to Southey, on Dec. 11, 1794, were written by Lamb. Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 111, 112.

11-12

11-12

11-12

And Dreams whose tints with beamy brightness glow.

Pencil, Bristol MS.

With joy he view'd his chymic process rise,
The steaming cauldron bubbled up in sighs. Letter, 1793.
the chymic process rise,

The steaming chalice Pencil, MS. E.

the chymic process rise,

The charming cauldron Bristol MS.
Murmuring] murmurs Letter, 1793.
Cooes the soft murmurs Pencil.

not Envy's self could blame Letter, 1793, Pencil.
might blame. MS. E.

14

15

77

With part Letter, 1793, MS. E.

18

on Nesbitt's lovely lips the rest. Letter, 1793, Pencil. on Mary's lovelier lips the rest. MS. E.

on lovely Nesbitt's lovely lips the rest. Bristol MS.

The Gentle Look-Title] Irregular Sonnet MS. E: Effusion xiv. 1796 : Sonnet III. 1797, 1803: Sonnet viii. 1828, 1829, 1834: The Smile P. W. 1885: The Gentle Look P. W. 1893.

1 Thou] O Letter, 1794.

Of joys, that glimmer'd in Hope's twilight ray,
Then left me darkling in a vale of tears.
O pleasant days of Hope-for ever gone!

Could I recall you!-But that thought is vain.
Availeth not Persuasion's sweetest tone

To lure the fleet-wing'd Travellers back again : Yet fair, though faint, their images shall gleam Like the bright Rainbow on a willowy stream.'

? 1793.

SONNET 2

TO THE RIVER OTTER

DEAR native Brook! wild Streamlet of the West!
How many various-fated years have past,

What happy and what mournful hours, since last
I skimm'd the smooth thin stone along thy breast,
Numbering its light leaps! yet so deep imprest
Sink the sweet scenes of childhood, that mine eyes
I never shut amid the sunny ray,

But straight with all their tints thy waters rise,

Thy crossing plank, thy marge with willows grey,
And bedded sand that vein'd with various dyes
Gleam'd through thy bright transparence! On my way,
Visions of Childhood! oft have ye beguil'd

Lone manhood's cares, yet waking fondest sighs:
Ah! that once more I were a careless Child!

? 1793.

5

ΤΟ

1 Compare 11. 13, 14 with II. 13, 14 of Anna and Harland and 11. 17, 18 of Recollection. Vide Appendix.

2 Lines 2-11 were first published in the Watchman, No. V, April 2, 1796, as lines 17-26 of Recollection. First published, as a whole, in Selection of Sonnets, 1796, included in 1797, 1803, Sibylline Leaves, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

9 gone] flown MS. E.

10 you] one Letter, 1794.

13-14 Anon they haste to everlasting Night,

Nor can a Giant's arm arrest them in their flight Letter, 1794.
On on, &c., MS. E.

Sonnet-Title] Sonnet No. IV. To the, &c., 1797, 1803.

3 What blissful and what anguish'd hours Watchman, S. S., 1797, 1803. 7 ray] blaze Watchman, S. S., 1797, 1803. 8 thy] their S. L. Correced in Errata, p. [xii].

9

The crossing plank, and margin's willowy maze Watchman.
Thy erossing plank, thy margin's willowy maze

S. S., 1797, 1803.

11 On my way] to the gaze Watchman, S. S., 1797, 1803. that I were once more, &c. S. L. Corrected in Errata, p. [xii].

14 Ah!

FIRST DRAFT

AN EFFUSION AT EVENING

WRITTEN IN AUGUST, 1792

IMAGINATION, Mistress of my Love!

Where shall mine Eye thy elfin haunt explore ?
Dost thou on yon rich Cloud thy pinions bright
Embathe in amber-glowing Floods of Light?
Or, wild of speed, pursue the track of Day
In other worlds to hail the morning Ray?

'Tis time to bid the faded shadowy Pleasures move

On shadowy Memory's wings across the Soul of Love; And thine o'er Winter's icy plains to fling

Each flower, that binds the breathing Locks of Spring, 10 When blushing, like a bride, from primrose Bower

She starts, awaken'd by the pattering Shower!

Now sheds the setting Sun a purple gleam,
Aid, lovely Sorc'ress! aid the Poet's dream.

5

With faery wand O bid my Love arise,
The dewy brilliance dancing in her Eyes;
As erst she woke with soul-entrancing Mien
The thrill of Joy extatic yet serene,

When link'd with Peace I bounded o'er the Plain
And Hope itself was all I knew of Pain!

Propitious Fancy hears the votive sigh-
The absent Maiden flashes on mine Eye!
When first the matin Bird with startling Song
Salutes the Sun his veiling Clouds among,

faccustom'd

I trace her footsteps on the steaming Lawn,
I view her glancing in the gleams of Dawn!
When the bent Flower beneath the night-dew weeps
And on the Lake the silver Lustre sleeps,
Amid the paly Radiance soft and sad

She meets my lonely path in moonbeams clad.
With her along the streamlet's brink I rove;
With her I list the warblings of the Grove;
And seems in each low wind her voice to float,
Lone-whispering Pity in each soothing Note!

15

20

25

30

As oft in climes beyond the western Main
Where boundless spreads the wildly-silent Plain,
The savage Hunter, who his drowsy frame
Had bask'd beneath the Sun's unclouded Flame,
Awakes amid the tempest-troubled air,

The Thunder's Peal and Lightning's lurid glare-
Aghast he hears the rushing Whirlwind's Sweep,
And sad recalls the sunny hour of Sleep!
So lost by storms along Life's wild'ring Way
Mine Eye reverted views that cloudless Day,
When, ! on thy banks I joy'd to rove
While Hope with kisses nurs'd the infant Love!

35

40

45

Sweet ! where Pleasure's streamlet glides
Fann'd by soft winds to curl in mimic tides;
Where Mirth and Peace beguile the blameless Day;
And where Friendship's fixt star beams a mellow'd Ray; 50
Where Love a crown of thornless Roses wears;
Where soften'd Sorrow smiles within her tears;
And Memory, with a Vestal's meek employ,
Unceasing feeds the lambent flame of Joy!
No more thy Sky Larks less'ning from my sight
Shall thrill th' attunéd Heartstring with delight;
No more shall deck thy pensive Pleasures sweet
With wreaths of sober hue my evening seat!
Yet dear to [My] Fancy's Eye thy varied scene
Of Wood, Hill, Dale and sparkling Brook between:
Yet sweet to [My] Fancy's Ear the warbled song,
That soars on Morning's wing thy fields among!

Scenes of my Hope! the aching Eye ye leave,
Like those rich Hues that paint the clouds of Eve!
Tearful and saddening with the sadden'd Blaze
Mine Eye the gleam pursues with wistful Gaze-
Sees Shades on Shades with deeper tint impend,
Till chill and damp the moonless Night descend!

1792.

55

60

65