The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 82

I bade thee hence!' The bard obeyed; And turning from his own sweet maid, The aged knight, Sir Leoline, Led forth the lady Geraldine! 655

1800.

THE CONCLUSION TO PART II

A little child, a limber elf, Singing, dancing to itself, A fairy thing with red round cheeks, That always finds, and never seeks, Makes such a vision to the sight 660 As fills a father's eyes with light; And pleasures flow in so thick and fast Upon his heart, that he at last Must needs express his love's excess With words of unmeant bitterness. 665 Perhaps 'tis pretty to force together Thoughts so all unlike each other; To mutter and mock a broken charm, To dally with wrong that does no harm.

Perhaps 'tis tender too and pretty 670 At each wild word to feel within A sweet recoil of love and pity.

And what, if in a world of sin (O sorrow and shame should this be true!) Such giddiness of heart and brain 675 Comes seldom save from rage and pain, So talks as it's most used to do.

1801.

FOOTNOTES:

[213:1] First published, together with _Kubla Khan_ and _The Pains of Sleep_, 1816: included in 1828, 1829, and 1834. Three MSS. of _Christabel_ have pa.s.sed through my hands. The earliest, which belonged to Wordsworth, is partly in Coleridge's handwriting and partly in that of Mary Hutchinson (Mrs. Wordsworth). The probable date of this MS., now in the possession of the poet's grandson, Mr. Gordon Wordsworth, is April-October, 1800. Later in the same year, or perhaps in 1801, Coleridge made a copy of the First Part (or Book), the Conclusion to the First Book, and the Second Book, and presented it to Mrs. Wordsworth's sister, Sarah Hutchinson. A facsimile of the MS., now in the possession of Miss Edith Coleridge, was issued in collotype in the edition of _Christabel_ published in 1907, under the auspices of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1801, or at some subsequent period (possibly not till 1815), Miss Hutchinson transcribed Coleridge's MS. The water-mark of the paper is 1801. Her transcript, now in the possession of Mr. A. H. Hallam Murray, was sent to Lord Byron in October, 1815. It is possible that this transcription was the 'copy' for the First Edition published in 1816; but, if so, Coleridge altered the text whilst the poem was pa.s.sing through the press.

The existence of two other MSS. rests on the authority of John Payne Collier (see _Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton_. By S. T.

Coleridge, 1856, pp. x.x.xix-xliii).

The first, which remained in his possession for many years, was a copy in the handwriting of Sarah Stoddart (afterwards Mrs. Hazlitt). J. P.

Collier notes certain differences between this MS., which he calls the 'Salisbury Copy', and the text of the First Edition. He goes on to say that before _Christabel_ was published Coleridge lent him an MS. in his own handwriting, and he gives two or three readings from the second MS.

which differ from the text of the 'Salisbury Copy' and from the texts of those MSS. which have been placed in my hands.

The copy of the First Edition of _Christabel_ presented to William Stewart Rose's valet, David Hinves, on November 11, 1816, which Coleridge had already corrected, is now in the possession of Mr. John Murray. The emendations and additions inscribed on the margin of this volume were included in the collected edition of Coleridge's _Poetical Works_, published by William Pickering in 1828. The editions of 1829 and 1834 closely followed the edition of 1828, but in 1834 there was in one particular instance (Part I, lines 6-10) a reversion to the text of the First Edition. The MS. of the 'Conclusion of Part II' forms part of a letter to Southey dated May 6, 1801. (_Letters of S. T. C._, 1895, i.

355.) The following abbreviations have been employed to note the MSS.

and transcriptions of Christabel:--

1. The Wordsworth MS., partly in Coleridge's (lines 1-295), and partly in Mary Hutchinson's (lines 295-655) handwriting = _MS. W_.

2. The Salisbury MS., copied by Sarah Stoddart = _S. T. C. (a)_.

3. The MS. lent by Coleridge to Payne Collier = _S. T. C. (b)_.

4. Autograph MS. in possession of Miss Edith Coleridge (reproduced in facsimile in 1907) = _S. T. C. (c)_.

5. Transcription made by Sarah Hutchinson = _S. H._

6. Corrections made by Coleridge in the Copy of the First Edition presented to David Hinves = _H. 1816_.

[215:1] Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron.

[215:2] The 'Latin hexameters', 'in the lame and limping metre of a barbarous Latin poet', ran thus:

'Est meum et est tuum, amice! at si amborum nequit esse, Sit meum, amice, precor: quia certe sum magi' pauper.'

It is interesting to note that Coleridge translated these lines in November, 1801, long before the 'celebrated poets' in question had made, or seemed to make, it desirable to 'preclude a charge of plagiarism'.

LINENOTES:

PREFACE] Prefixed to the three issues of 1816, and to 1828, 1829, 1834.

_Christabel_--Preface. 2 The year one thousand seven hundred and ninety seven 1816, 1828, 1829.

[3, 4] The year one thousand eight hundred 1816, 1828, 1829.

[4] _after_ 'c.u.mberland'] Since the latter date, my poetic powers have been, till very lately, in a state of suspended animation. But as, in my very first conception of the tale, I had the whole present to my mind, with the wholeness, no less than the liveliness of a vision; I trust that I shall be able to embody in verse the three parts yet to come, in the course of the present year. _It is probable_, &c. 1816, 1828, 1829: om. 1834.

[23] doggrel 1816, 1828, 1829.

PART I] Book the First MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H.: _Part the First_ 1828, 1829.

[3] Tu-u-whoo! Tu-u-whoo! MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H.

[6-7]

Sir Leoline the Baron [*bold*]

Hath a toothless mastiff old

H. 1816.

Sir Leoline, the Baron rich, Hath a toothless mastiff which

H. 1816, 1828, 1829, 1893.

[9] She makes MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H., First Edition: Maketh H.

1816, 1828, 1829.

[11] moonshine or shower MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H., First Edition: by shine or shower H. 1816.

[Between 28-9]

Dreams, that made her moan and leap, As on her bed she lay in sleep.

First Edition: Erased H. 1816: Not in any MS.

[32] The breezes they were whispering low S. T. C. (a): The breezes they were still also MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H., First Edition.

[34] But the moss and misletoe MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H.

[35] kneels] knelt MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H.

[37] sprang] leaps MS. W., S. T. C. (c), S. H., First Edition.

[39] can] could H. 1816.

[45-7] om. MS. W.