PERSPIRATION. A TRAVELLING ECLOGUE'

THE dust flies smothering, as on clatt'ring wheel
Loath'd Aristocracy careers along;

The distant track quick vibrates to the eye,
And white and dazzling undulates with heat,
Where scorching to the unwary traveller's touch,
The stone fence flings its narrow slip of shade;
Or, where the worn sides of the chalky road
Yield their scant excavations (sultry grots!),
Emblem of languid patience, we behold
The fleecy files faint-ruminating lie.

1794.

[AVE, ATQUE VALE!]2

VIVIT sed mihi non vivit-nova forte marita,
Ah dolor! alterius carà a cervice pependit.
Vos, malefida valete accensae insomnia mentis,
Littora amata valete! Vale, ah! formosa Maria!

1794.

10

ON BALA HILLS

WITH many a weary step at length I gain.
Thy summit, Bala! and the cool breeze plays
Cheerily round my brow-as hence the gaze
Returns to dwell upon the journey'd plain.

'Twas a long way and tedious!-to the eye
Tho' fair th' extended Vale, and fair to view
The falling leaves of many a faded hue
That eddy in the wild gust moaning by!

Ev'n so it far'd with Life! in discontent
Restless thro' Fortune's mingled scenes I went,

5

10

1 First published, Letters of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1895, i. 73, 74. The lines were sent in a letter to Southey, dated July 6, 1794.

? First published, Biog. Lit. 1847, Biog. Supplement, ii. 340. This Latin quatrain was sent in a letter to Southey, dated July 13, 1794.

First published (as Coleridge's) in 1893, from an unsigned autograph MS. found among the Evans Papers. The lines are all but identical with Southey's Sonnet to Lansdown Hill (Sonnet viii), dated 1794, and first published in 1797, and were, probably, his composition. See Athenaeum, January 11, 1896.

On Bala Hill.

2 Bala] Lansdown Poems, 1797.

3 Cheerily] Gratefully Poems, 1797.

Yet wept to think they would return no more!
0 cease fond heart! in such sad thoughts to roam,
For surely thou ere long shalt reach thy home,
And pleasant is the way that lies before.

1794.

LINES1

WRITTEN AT THE KING'S ARMS, ROSS, FORMERLY THE HOUSE of " THE MAN OF ROSS'

RICHER than Miser o'er his countless hoards,

Nobler than Kings, or king-polluted Lords,

Here dwelt the MAN OF Ross! O Traveller, hear!

Departed Merit claims a reverent tear.

Friend to the friendless, to the sick man health,

With generous joy he view'd his modest wealth;

He heard the widow's heaven-breath'd prayer of praise,
He mark'd the shelter'd orphan's tearful gaze,
Or where the sorrow-shrivell'd captive lay,

Pour'd the bright blaze of Freedom's noon-tide ray.

5

10

First published in the Cambridge Intelligencer, September 27, 1794: included in A Pedestrian Tour through North Wales. By J. Hucks, 1795, p. 15: 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

In a letter to Southey dated July 13, 1794, Coleridge writes:-‘At Ross...we took up our quarters at the King's Arms, once the house of Kyrle, the Man of Ross. I gave the window-shutter the following effusion -"Richer than Misers" etc.' J. Hucks, in his Tour, 1795, p. 15, writes to the same effect. There are but slight variations in the text as printed in the Cambridge Intelligencer and in Hucks' Tour. In 1796 lines 5-10 of the text, which were included in A Monody on the Death of Chatterton (1796), are omitted, and the poem numbered only fourteen lines. In 1797 lines 5-10 were restored to the Man of Ross and omitted from the Monody. The poem numbered twenty lines. In 1803 lines 5-10 were again omitted from the Man of Ross, but not included in the Monody. The poem numbered fourteen lines. The text of 1828, 1829 is almost identical with that of 1834. Four MS. versions are extant, (1) the Letter to Southey, July 13, 1794 : 2) the Estlin Copy-book: (3) the Morrison MSS.: (4) the MS. 4° Copy-book.

12 0] But Foems, 1797.

Lines-Title] Written... Mr. Kyrle, 'the Man of Ross'. MS. E.
I Misers o'er their Letter, 1794, J. H., MS. E, 1803.

4 the glistening

tear Letter, 1794: a] the J. H., MS. E. Lines 5-10 are not in MS. 4o, 1796, 1803 in 1797 they follow l. 14 of the text. 5 to the poor man wealth, Morrison MSS. 7 heard] hears 1797, 1828, 1829. 8 mark'd] marks 1797, 1828. 9 And o'er the dowried maiden's glowing cheek, Letter, 1794, Morrison MSS.: virgin's snowy cheek, J. H., MS. E. bridal love suffuse its blushes meek. Letter, 1794, MS. E, Morrison MSS. Pour'd] Pours 1797, 1828, 1829.

10 Bade

Beneath this roof if thy cheer'd moments pass,
Fill to the good man's name one grateful glass:
To higher zest shall Memory wake thy soul,
And Virtue mingle in the ennobled bowl.
But if, like me, through Life's distressful scene
Lonely and sad thy pilgrimage hath been;
And if thy breast with heart-sick anguish fraught,
Thou journeyest onward tempest-tossed in thought;
Here cheat thy cares! in generous visions melt,
And dream of Goodness, thou hast never felt!

1794.

? 1794.

IMITATED FROM THE WELSH1

IF while my passion I impart,
You deem my words untrue,
O place your hand upon my heart-
Feel how it throbs for you!

Ah no! reject the thoughtless claim
In pity to your Lover!

That thrilling touch would aid the flame
It wishes to discover.

LINES 2

TO A BEAUTIFUL SPRING IN A VILLAGE

15

20

5

ONCE more! sweet Stream! with slow foot wandering near,
I bless thy milky waters cold and clear.

Escap'd the flashing of the noontide hours,
With one fresh garland of Pierian flowers

(Ere from thy zephyr-haunted brink I turn)
My languid hand shall wreath thy mossy urn.

For not through pathless grove with murmur rude
Thou soothest the sad wood-nymph, Solitude;
Nor thine unseen in cavern depths to well,
The Hermit-fountain of some dripping cell!

5

10

1 First published in 1796 included in 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. 2 First published in 1796 : included in Annual Register, 1796: 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834.

II If 'neath this roof thy wine cheer'd moments pass Letter, J. H., MS. E, MS. 4o, 1803. 14 ennobled] sparkling Letter, 1794. 15 me] mine 1803. Imitated, &c.-Title] Song MS. E: Effusion xxxi. Imitated &c., 1796. Lines-Title] Lines addressed to a Spring in Village of Kirkhampton near Bath MS. E.

7 groves in murmurs MS. E.

Pride of the Vale! thy useful streams supply
The scatter'd cots and peaceful hamlet nigh.
The elfin tribe around thy friendly banks
With infant uproar and soul-soothing pranks,
Releas'd from school, their little hearts at rest,
Launch paper navies on thy waveless breast.
The rustic here at eve with pensive look
Whistling lorn ditties leans upon his crook,
Or, starting, pauses with hope-mingled dread
To list the much-lov'd maid's accustom'd tread:
She, vainly mindful of her dame's command,
Loiters, the long-fill'd pitcher in her hand.

Unboastful Stream! thy fount with pebbled falls
The faded form of past delight recalls,
What time the morning sun of Hope arose,
And all was joy; save when another's woes
A transient gloom upon my soul imprest,
Like passing clouds impictur'd on thy breast.
Life's current then ran sparkling to the noon,
Or silvery stole beneath the pensive Moon :

Ah! now it works rude brakes and thorns among,
Or o'er the rough rock bursts and foams along!

1794.

IMITATIONS

AD LYRAM1

(CASIMIR, BOOK II. ODE 3)

THE solemn-breathing air is ended-
Cease, O Lyre! thy kindred lay!
From the poplar-branch suspended
Glitter to the eye of Day!

15

20

25

30

1 First published in the Watchman, No. II, March 9, 1796 included in Literary Remains, 1836, I. 41-3. First collected in 1844.

21-2

And now essays his simple Faith to prove By all the soft solicitudes of Love. MS. E. 30 Or silver'd its smooth course beneath the Moon.

rude] the thorny MS. 4o erased.

For ll. 29-32 But ah! too brief in Youths' enchanting reign,
Ere Manhood wakes th' unweeting heart to pain,
Silent and soft thy silver waters glide:

So glided Life, a smooth and equal Tide.

Sad Change! for now by choking Cares withstood

It hardly bursts its way, a turbid, boist'rous Flood! MS. E.

Ad Lyram—Title] Song. [Note. Imitated from Casimir.] MS. E.

1794.

On thy wires hov'ring, dying,
Softly sighs the summer wind:
I will slumber, careless lying,
By yon waterfall reclin'd.
In the forest hollow-roaring

Hark! I hear a deep'ning sound-
Clouds rise thick with heavy low'ring!
See! th' horizon blackens round!
Parent of the soothing measure,

Let me seize thy wetted string!
Swiftly flies the flatterer, Pleasure,
Headlong, ever on the wing.'

TO LESBIA?

Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque amemus.

CATULLUS.

My Lesbia, let us love and live,
And to the winds, my Lesbia, give

5

10

15

If we except Lucretius and Statius, I know not of any Latin poet, ancient or modern, who has equalled Casimir in boldness of conception, opulence of fancy, or beauty of versification. The Odes of this illustrious Jesuit were translated into English about 150 years ago, by a Thomas Hill, I think. [-by G. H. [G. Hils.] London, 1646. 12mo. Ed. L. R. 1836.] I never saw the translation. A few of the Odes have been translated in a very animated manner by Watts. I have subjoined the third ode of the second book, which, with the exception of the first line, is an effusion of exquisite elegance. In the imitation attempted, I am sensible that I have destroyed the effect of suddenness, by translating inte two stanzas what is one in the original.

AD LYRAM.

Sonori buxi Filia sutilis,
Pendebis alta, Barbite, populo,
Dum ridet aer, et supinas

Solicitat levis aura frondes:
Te sibilantis lenior halitus

Perflabit Euri: me iuvet interim
Collum reclinasse, et virenti
Sic temere iacuisse ripa.
Eheu! serenum quae nebulae tegunt
Repente caelum! quis sonus imbrium !
Surgamus-heu semper fugaci

Gaudia praeteritura passu!

'Advertisement' to Ad Lyram, in Watchman, II, March 9, 1796.

2 First published in the Morning Fost, April 11, 1798: included in Literary Remains, 1836, i. 274. First collected in P. W., 1893.

To Lesbia-Title] Lines imitated from Catullus.

M. P.