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If Smiles more winning, and a gentler Mien
Than the love-wilder'd Maniac's brain hath seen
Shaping celestial forms in vacant air,

If these demand the empassion'd Poet's care-—
If Mirth and soften'd Sense and Wit refined,
The blameless features of a lovely mind;
Then haply shall my trembling hand assign
No fading wreath to Beauty's saintly shrine.
Nor, Sara! thou these early flowers refuse-
Ne'er lurk'd the snake beneath their simple hues;
No purple bloom the Child of Nature brings
From Flattery's night-shade: as he feels he sings.
September 1794.

TRANSLATION1

OF WRANGHAM'S HENDECASYLLABI AD BRUNTONAM
E GRANTA EXITURAM' [KAL. OCT. MDCCXC]

MAID of unboastful charms! whom white-robed Truth
Right onward guiding through the maze of youth,

Forbade the Circe Praise to witch thy soul,
And dash'd to earth th' intoxicating bowl:
Thee meek-eyed Pity, eloquently fair,
Clasp'd to her bosom with a mother's care;
And, as she lov'd thy kindred form to trace,
The slow smile wander'd o'er her pallid face.
For never yet did mortal voice impart
Tones more congenial to the sadden'd heart:
Whether, to rouse the sympathetic glow,

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1 First published in Poems, by Francis Wrangham, London, 1795, First collected in P. and D. W., 1880, ii. 360* (Supplement).

pp. 79-83.
33 winning] cunning MS. Letter, 1794.
MS. Letter, 1794.

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42-4

36 empassion'd] wond'ring
40 wreath] flowers MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.
Nor, Brunton! thou the blushing wreath refuse,
Though harsh her notes, yet guileless is my Muse.
Unwont at Flattery's Voice to plume her wings,

A Child of Nature, as she feels she sings. MS. Letter, 1794.
Nor- - thou the blushing wreath refuse

Tho' harsh her song, yet guileless is the Muse.

Unwont &c. MS. E.

No Serpent lurks beneath their simple hues.

No purple blooms from Flattery's nightshade brings, The Child of Nature-as he feels he sings. MS. 4° erased. Nature's pure Child from Flatt'ry's night-shade brings No blooms rich-purpling: as he feels he sings. MS. 4o. Below 1. 44 September, 1794 1797, 1803: September 1792 1828, 1829, 1834.

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Thou pourest lone Monimia's tale of woe;
Or haply clothest with funereal vest
The bridal loves that wept in Juliet's breast.
O'er our chill limbs the thrilling Terrors creep,
Th' entranced Passions their still vigil keep;
While the deep sighs, responsive to the song,
Sound through the silence of the trembling throng.
But purer raptures lighten'd from thy face,
And spread o'er all thy form an holier grace,
When from the daughter's breasts the father drew
The life he gave, and mix'd the big tear's dew.
Nor was it thine th' heroic strain to roll
With mimic feelings foreign from the soul:
Bright in thy parent's eye we mark'd the tear;
Methought he said, 'Thou art no Actress here!
A semblance of thyself the Grecian dame,
And Brunton and Euphrasia still the same!'

O soon to seek the city's busier scene,
Pause thee awhile, thou chaste-eyed maid serene,
Till Granta's sons from all her sacred bowers
With grateful hand shall weave Pierian flowers
To twine a fragrant chaplet round thy brow,
Enchanting ministress of virtuous woe!

1794.

TO MISS BRUNTON1

WITH THE PRECEDING TRANSLATION

THAT darling of the Tragic Muse,
When Wrangham sung her praise,

Thalia lost her rosy hues,

And sicken'd at her lays:

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But transient was th' unwonted sigh;

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For soon the Goddess spied

A sister-form of mirthful eye,

1794.

And danc'd for joy and cried:

'Meek Pity's sweetest child, proud dame,
The fates have given to you!

Still bid your Poet boast her name;

I have my Brunton too.'

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1 First published in Poems, by Francis Wrangham, 1795, p. 83. First collected in P. and D. W., 1880, ii. 362* (Supplement).

1794.

EPITAPH ON AN INFANT1

ERE Sin could blight or Sorrow fade,
Death came with friendly care:
The opening Bud to Heaven convey'd,
And bade it blossom there.

PANTISOCRACY 2

No more my visionary soul shall dwell
On joys that were; no more endure to weigh
The shame and anguish of the evil day,
Wisely forgetful! O'er the ocean swell

1 First published in the Morning Chronicle, September 28, 1794: included in The Watchman, No. IX, May 5, 1796, Poems 1796, 1797, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. These well-known lines, which vexed the soul of Charles Lamb, were probably adapted from An Epitaph on an Infant' in the churchyard of Birchington, Kent (A Collection of Epitaphs, 1806, i. 219) :Ah! why so soon, just as the bloom appears, Drops the fair blossom in the vale of tears? Death view'd the treasure in the desart given And claim'd the right of planting it in Heav'n.

In MS. E a Greek version (possibly a rejected prize epigram) is prefixed with the accompanying footnote.

Ηλυθες εἰς αιδην, καὶ δή τυ ποθεῦσι τοκηες•

Ηλυθες αδυ βρεφος ! του βραχυ δυνε φαος.

Ομμα μεν εις σεο σημα Πατηρ πικρον ποτιβαλλει
Ευσεβεης δε Θεῳ δωρα διδωσιν έα ! *

* Translation of the Greek Epitaph. Thou art gone down into the Grave, and heavily do thy Parents feel the Loss. Thou art gone down into the Grave, sweet Baby! Thy short Light is set! Thy Father casts an Eye of Anguish towards thy Tomb-yet with uncomplaining Piety resigns to God his own Gift!'

Equal or Greater simplicity marks all the writings of the Greek Poets.— The above [i.e. the Greek] Epitaph was written in Imitation of them. [S. T. C.]

2 First published in the Life and Correspondence of R. Southey, 1849, i. 224. First collected 1852 (Notes). Southey includes the sonnet in a letter to his brother Thomas dated Oct. 19, 1794, and attributes the authorship to Coleridge's friend S. Favell, with whom he had been in correspondence. He had already received the sonnet in a letter from Coleridge (dated Sept. 18, 1794), who claims it for his own and apologizes for the badness of the poetry. The octave was included (11. 129-36) in the second version of the Monody on the Death of Chatterton, first printed in Lancelot Sharpe's edition of the Poems of Chatterton published at Cambridge in 1794. Mrs. H. N. Coleridge (Poems, 1852, p. 382) prints the sonnet and apologizes for the alleged plagiarism. It is difficult to believe that either the first eight or last six lines of the sonnet were not written by Coleridge. It is included in the MS. volume of Poems which Coleridge presented to Mrs. Estlin in 1795. The text is that of Letter Sept. 18, 1794.

Pantisocracy-Title] Sonnet MS. E.

I my] the MS, E.

Sublime of Hope, I seek the cottag'd dell
Where Virtue calm with careless step may stray,
And dancing to the moonlight roundelay,
The wizard Passions weave an holy spell.

Eyes that have ach'd with Sorrow! Ye shall weep
Tears of doubt-mingled joy, like theirs who start
From Precipices of distemper'd sleep,

On which the fierce-eyed Fiends their revels keep,
And see the rising Sun, and feel it dart

New rays of pleasance trembling to the heart.

1794.

ON THE PROSPECT OF ESTABLISHING
A PANTISOCRACY IN AMERICA 1

WHILST pale Anxiety, corrosive Care,
The tear of Woe, the gloom of sad Despair,
And deepen'd Anguish generous bosoms rend ;-
Whilst patriot souls their country's fate lament;
Whilst mad with rage demoniac, foul intent,
Embattled legions Despots vainly send
To arrest the immortal mind's expanding ray
Of everlasting Truth ;-I other climes
Where dawns, with hope serene, a brighter day
Than e'er saw Albion in her happiest times,
With mental eye exulting now explore,

And soon with kindred minds shall haste to enjoy (Free from the ills which here our peace destroy) Content and Bliss on Transatlantic shore.

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1794.

ELEGY 2

IMITATED FROM ONE OF AKENSIDE'S BLANK-VERSE

INSCRIPTIONS [(No.) III.]

NEAR the lone pile with ivy overspread,

Fast by the rivulet's sleep-persuading sound,

1 First published in the Co-operative Magazine and Monthly Herald, March 6, 1826, and reprinted in the Athenæum, Nov. 5, 1904. First collected in 1907. It has been conjectured, but proof is wanting, that the sonnet was written by Coleridge.

2 First published in the Morning Chronicle, September 23, 1794: included in The Watchman, No. III, March 17, 1794 in Sibylline Leaves, 1817: 1828, 1829, and 1834, but omitted in 1852 as of doubtful origin.

Pantisocracy. 8 Passions weave] Passion wears Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852. 9 Sorrow] anguish Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852. Io like theirs] as those Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852: as they, MS. E. 13 feel] find Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 14 pleasance] pleasure Letter, Oct. 19 1794, 1852. Elegy—Title] An Elegy Morning Chronicle, Watchman. I the] yon M. C.

1852.

Where 'sleeps the moonlight' on yon verdant bed-
O humbly press that consecrated ground!

For there does Edmund rest, the learned swain!
And there his spirit most delights to rove:
Young Edmund! fam'd for each harmonious strain,
And the sore wounds of ill-requited Love.
Like some tall tree that spreads its branches wide,
And loads the West-wind with its soft perfume,
His manhood blossom'd; till the faithless pride
Of fair Matilda sank him to the tomb.
But soon did righteous Heaven her Guilt pursue!
Where'er with wilder'd step she wander'd pale,
Still Edmund's image rose to blast her view,
Still Edmund's voice accus'd her in each gale.
With keen regret, and conscious Guilt's alarms,
Amid the pomp of Affluence she pined;
Nor all that lur'd her faith from Edmund's arms
Could lull the wakeful horror of her mind.
Go, Traveller! tell the tale with sorrow fraught:
Some tearful Maid perchance, or blooming Youth,
May hold it in remembrance; and be taught

That Riches cannot pay for Love or Truth.

? 1794.

THE FADED FLOWER1

UNGRATEFUL he, who pluck'd thee from thy stalk,
Poor faded flow'ret! on his careless way;
Inhal'd awhile thy odours on his walk,
Then onward pass'd and left thee to decay.
Ah! melancholy emblem! had I seen

Thy modest beauties dew'd with Evening's gem,
I had not rudely cropp'd thy parent stem,
But left thee, blushing, 'mid the enliven'd green,
And now I bend me o'er thy wither'd bloom,

The elegy as printed in the Morning Chronicle is unsigned.
Watchman it is signed T.

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1 First published in the Monthly Magazine, August, 1836. First collected in P. W., 1893.

6 And there his pale-eyed phantom loves to rove M. C. IO West-wind] Zephyr M. C.

crime M. C.

12 Lucinda sunk M. C. 13 Guilt] 17 remorse and tortur'd Guilt's M. C

I till] ere M. C.

14 step] steps M. C.

22 tearful] lovely M. C.

20 Could soothe the conscious horrors of her mind M. C. horror] horrors The Watchman.

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