The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 38

XI[87:2]

TO RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN, ESQ.

It was some Spirit, SHERIDAN! that breath'd O'er thy young mind such wildly-various power!

My soul hath mark'd thee in her shaping hour, Thy temples with Hymettian[88:1] flow'rets wreath'd:

And sweet thy voice, as when o'er LAURA'S bier 5 Sad Music trembled thro' Vauclusa's glade; Sweet, as at dawn the love-lorn Serenade That wafts soft dreams to SLUMBER'S listening ear.

Now patriot Rage and Indignation high Swell the full tones! And now thine eye-beams dance 10 Meanings of Scorn and Wit's quaint revelry!

Writhes inly from the bosom-probing glance

The Apostate by the brainless rout ador'd, As erst that elder Fiend beneath great Michael's sword.

_January_ 29, 1795.

FOOTNOTES:

[87:2] First published in the _Morning Chronicle_, January 29, 1795: included in 1796, 1803, 1828, 1829, and 1834. Two MS. versions are extant; one in a letter to Southey, dated December 9, 1794 (_Letters of S. T. C._, 1895, i. 118), and a second in the Estlin copy-book. In 1796 a note to line 4 was included in Notes, p. 179, and in 1797 and 1803 affixed as a footnote, p. 95:--'Hymettian Flowrets. Hymettus, a mountain near Athens, celebrated for its honey. This alludes to Mr. Sheridan's cla.s.sical attainments, and the following four lines to the exquisite sweetness and almost _Italian_ delicacy of his poetry. In Shakespeare's _Lover's Complaint_ there is a fine stanza almost prophetically characteristic of Mr. Sheridan.

So on the tip of his subduing tongue All kind of argument and question deep, All replication prompt and reason strong For his advantage still did wake and sleep, To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep: He had the dialect and different skill Catching all pa.s.sions in his craft of will; That he did in the general bosom reign Of young and old.'

[88:1] Hymettus, a mountain of Attica famous for honey. _M. C._

LINENOTES:

t.i.tle] To Sheridan MS. E: Effusion vi. 1796: Sonnet xi. 1803: Sonnet v.

1828, 1829, 1834.

[1-5]

Some winged Genius, Sheridan! imbreath'd His _various_ influence on thy natal hour: My fancy bodies forth the Guardian power, His temples with Hymettian flowrets wreath'd And sweet his voice

MS. Letter, Dec. 9, 1794.

[1-2]

Was it some Spirit, SHERIDAN! that breath'd His _various_ &c.

M. C.

[1-3]

Some winged Genius, Sheridan! imbreath'd O'er thy young Soul a wildly-various power!

My Fancy meets thee in her shaping hour

MS. E.

[8] wafts] bears MS. Letter, 1794, M. C., MS. E.

[9] Rage] Zeal MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E, M. C.

[10] thine] his Letter, 1794, M. C.

[12]

While inly writhes from the Soul-probing glance

M. C.

[12-14]

Th' Apostate by the brainless rout ador'd Writhes inly from the bosom-probing glance As erst that n.o.bler Fiend

MS. Letter, 1794, MS. E.

[14] elder] other M. C.

TO LORD STANHOPE[89:1]

ON READING HIS LATE PROTEST IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS

['MORNING CHRONICLE,' JAN. 31, 1795]

STANHOPE! I hail, with ardent Hymn, thy name!

Thou shalt be bless'd and lov'd, when in the dust Thy corse shall moulder--Patriot pure and just!

And o'er thy tomb the grateful hand of FAME

Shall grave:--'Here sleeps the Friend of Humankind!' 5 For thou, untainted by CORRUPTION'S bowl, Or foul AMBITION, with undaunted soul Hast spoke the language of a Free-born mind

Pleading the cause of Nature! Still pursue Thy path of Honour!--To thy Country true, 10

Still watch th' expiring flame of Liberty!

O Patriot! still pursue thy virtuous way, As holds his course the splendid Orb of Day, Or thro' the stormy or the tranquil sky!

ONE OF THE PEOPLE.

1795.

FOOTNOTES:

[89:1] First collected in 1893. Mr. Campbell a.s.signed the authorship of the Sonnet to Coleridge, taking it to be 'the original of the one to Stanhope printed in the _Poems_ of 1796 and 1803'. For 'Corruption's bowl' (l. 6) see _Sonnet to Burke_, line 9 (_ante_, p. 80).