The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 139

[5] father] mother MS.

[6] him] her MS.

[7-8]

And may I still my thoughts employ To be her comfort and her joy

MS.

[9] O likewise keep MS.

[13] But chiefly, Lord MS.

[15] great] last P. W. 1877-80, 1893.

[After 16] Our father, &c. MS.

METRICAL FEET[401:2]

LESSON FOR A BOY

Trochee trips from long to short; From long to long in solemn sort Slow Spondee stalks; strong fo?ot! yet ill able Ever to come up with Dacty?l tris?llable.

Iambics march from short to long;- 5 With a le?ap and a bo?und the swift Anapae?sts throng; One syllable long, with one short at each side, Amphibrachy?s hastes with a stately? stride;-- First and last being long, middle short, Amphimacer Strikes his thundering ho?ofs like a pro?ud high-bred Racer. 10 If Derwent be innocent, steady, and wise, And delight in the things of earth, water, and skies; Tender warmth at his heart, with these metres to show it, With sound sense in his brains, may make Derwent a poet,-- May crown him with fame, and must win him the love 15 Of his father on earth and his Father above.

My dear, dear child!

Could you stand upon Skiddaw, you would not from its whole ridge See a man who so loves you as your fond S. T. COLERIDGE.

1806.

FOOTNOTES:

[401:2] First published in 1834. The metrical lesson was begun for Hartley Coleridge in 1806 and, afterwards, finished or adapted for the use of his brother Derwent. The Editor possesses the autograph of a metrical rendering of the Greek alphabet, ent.i.tled 'A Greek Song set to Music, and sung by Hartley Coleridge, Esq., Graecologian, philometrist and philomelist'.

LINENOTES:

t.i.tle] The chief and most usual Metrical Feet expressed in metre and addressed to Hartley Coleridge MS. of Lines 1-7.

FAREWELL TO LOVE[402:1]

Farewell, sweet Love! yet blame you not my truth; More fondly ne'er did mother eye her child Than I your form: _yours_ were my hopes of youth, And as _you_ shaped my thoughts I sighed or smiled.

While most were wooing wealth, or gaily swerving 5 To pleasure's secret haunts, and some apart Stood strong in pride, self-conscious of deserving, To you I gave my whole weak wishing heart.

And when I met the maid that realised Your fair creations, and had won her kindness, 10 Say, but for her if aught on earth I prized!

_Your_ dreams alone I dreamt, and caught your blindness.

O grief!--but farewell, Love! I will go play me With thoughts that please me less, and less betray me.

1806.

FOOTNOTES:

[402:1] First published in the _Courier_, September 27, 1806, and reprinted in the _Morning Herald_, October 11, 1806, and in the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for November, 1815, vol. lx.x.xv, p. 448: included in _Literary Remains_, 1836, i. 280, and in _Letters, Conversations, &c._, [by T. Allsop], 1836, i. 143. First collected, appendix, 1863.

This sonnet is modelled upon and in part borrowed from Lord Brooke's (Fulke Greville) Sonnet LXXIV of Coelica: and was inscribed on the margin of Charles Lamb's copy of _Certain Learned and Elegant Works of the Right Honourable Fulke Lord Brooke_ . . . 1633, p. 284.

_'Caelica'. Sonnet lxxiv._

Farewell sweet Boy, complaine not of my truth; Thy Mother lov'd thee not with more devotion; For to thy Boyes play I gave all my youth Yong Master, I did hope for your promotion.

While some sought Honours, Princes thoughts observing, Many woo'd _Fame, the child of paine and anguish_, Others judg'd inward good a chiefe deserving, I in thy wanton Visions joy'd to languish.

I bow'd not to thy image for succession, Nor bound thy bow to shoot reformed kindnesse, The playes of hope and feare were my confession The spectacles to my life was thy blindnesse:

But _Cupid_ now farewell, I will goe play me, With thoughts that please me lesse, and lesse betray me.

For an adaptation of Sonnet XCIV, ent.i.tled 'Lines on a King-and- Emperor-Making King--altered from the 93rd Sonnet of Fulke Greville', vide Appendices of this edition.

LINENOTES:

[1-2]

Farewell my Love! yet blame ye not my Truth; More fondly never mother ey'd her child

MS. 1806.

Sweet power of Love, farewell! nor blame my truth, More fondly never Mother ey'd her Child

Courier, M. H.

[4] And as you wove the dream I sigh'd or smil'd MS. 1806: And as you wove my thoughts, I sigh'd or smil'd Courier, M. H.

[5-7]

While some sought Wealth; others to Pleasure swerving, Many woo'd Fame: and some stood firm apart In joy of pride, self-conscious of deserving

MS. 1806, Courier, M. H.

[6] haunts] haunt L. R., Letters, &c., 1836, 1863.