by the quarrymen, passed within eighty yards to the west; while it is certain that the brook below, when swollen by winter rains, might be loud enough to be heard from the copse. This crag is known as Coldwell or Caudwell Crag, and is situated about half a mile eastsouth-east of the High Crag. "It has this much in its favour, that a wall of considerable age crests its summit, and one can whilst sitting down on a rock close behind it be sheltered from the north and east, and yet obtain an extensive view of the subadjacent country. If it were certain that the ponies when they got to Pullwyke did not go up towards Water Barngates, and so to Hawkshead, then there is no crag in the district which would so thoroughly answer to all the needs of the boys, and to all the points of description the poet has placed on record. "But it is just this IF that makes me decide on the Pullwyke Crag-the one first described-as being the actual spot to which, scout-like, the schoolboys clomb, on that eventful 'eve of their dear holidays;' while, at the same time, it is my firm conviction that Wordsworth—as he painted the memories of that event-had also before his mind's eye the scene as viewed from Coldwell and High Crag." NOTE VIII.-COLERIDGE'S LINES TO WORDSWORTH ON HEARING "THE PRELUDE" RECITED AT COLEORTON IN 1806. The following is a copy of a version of these Lines, sent by Coleridge to Sir George Beaumont, at Dunmow, Essex, in January, 1807. The variations, both in the title and in the text, from that which Coleridge finally adopted, are interesting in many ways: LINES To William Wordsworth: Composed for the greater part on the same night after the finishing of his recitation of the Poem, in Thirteen Books, on the growth of his own mind. O FRIEND! O Teacher! God's great Gift to me! Into my Heart have I received that Lay More than historic, that prophetic Lay Wherein (high theme by thee first sung aright) Of the foundations and the building up The first born they of Reason and twin birth! And currents self-determin'd, as might seem, When power stream'd from thee, and thy soul receiv'd Of fancies fair, and milder hours of youth, For thou wert there, thy own brows garlanded, Amid a mighty nation jubilant ! When from the general Heart of Human Kind Of that dear Hope afflicted and struck down, So summon'd homeward; thenceforth calm and sure, As from the Watch-tower of Man's absolute Self, Far on-herself a Glory to behold, The Angel of the Vision! Then (last strain) Action and Joy !-an Orphic Tale indeed, A great Bard! Ere yet the last strain dying awed the air, And to be plac'd, as they, with gradual fame Among the Archives of Mankind, thy Work Of Truth profound a sweet continuous Song To me how more than dearest! Me, on whom As a dear Woman's Voice to one cast forth,* O Friend! too well thou know'st, of what sad years And Tears self-will'd, that shunn'd the eye of Hope, That way no more! and ill beseems it me, To wander back on such unhealthful road Strew'd before thy advancing! Thou too, Friend! Of thy Communion with my nobler mind * Different reading on same MS.— "To one cast forth, whose Hope had seem'd to die." By pity or grief, already felt too long! Nor let my words import more blame than needs. Eve following Eve Dear tranquil Time, when the sweet sense of Home * Into the Darkness; now a tranquil Sea, And when-O Friend! my Comforter! my Guide! Jany. 1807. S. T. COLERIDGE. It may also be interesting to record, in this connection, that in a MS. copy of Dejection, An Ode, copied out for Sir George Beaumont on the 4th of April 1802, and sent to Sir George, then living with Lord Lowther at Lowther Hall, there is evidence that the poem was originally addressed to Wordsworth. * I annex as an illustrative note the descriptive passage in Satyrane's first Letter; THE FRIEND, p. 220, 1. 13. “A beautiful white cloud of foam," &c. + Different reading on same MS., "my." Different reading on same MS., "and." The following lines occur in this copy which can be compared with those finally adopted "O dearest William ! in this heartless mood, "O William, we receive but what we give: "Yes, dearest William! Yes! There was a time when though my Path was rough This Joy within me dallied with distress." The MS. copy is described by Coleridge as "imperfect ;" and it breaks off abruptly at the lines "Suspends what Nature gave me at my birth My shaping spirit of Imagination." And he continues "I am so weary of this doleful poem, that I must leave off. Another MS. copy of this poem, amongst the Coleorton papers, is signed "S. T. Coleridge To William Wordsworth.” ED. TURNBULL AND SPEARS, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. HS |