The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 189

The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 189

47

TO EDWARD IRVING

But _you_, honored IRVING, are as little disposed as myself to favor _such_ doctrine! [as that of Mant and D'Oyly on Infant Baptism].

Friend pure of heart and fervent! we have learnt A different lore! We may not thus profane The Idea and Name of Him whose Absolute Will _Is_ Reason--Truth Supreme!--Essential Order!

1824. First published in _Aids to Reflection_, 1825, p. 373. First collected 1893.

48

[LUTHER--DE DaeMONIBUS]

_The devils are in woods, in waters, in wildernesses, and in dark pooly places, ready to hurt and prejudice people, etc._--_Doctoris Martini Lutheri Colloquia Mensalia_--(Translated by Captain Henry Bell. London, 1652, p. 370).

'The angel's like a flea, The devil is a bore;--'

No matter for that! quoth S. T. C., I love him the better therefore.

Yes! heroic Swan, I love thee even when thou gabblest like a goose; for thy geese helped to save the Capitol.

1826. First published in _Lit. Rem._, 1839, iv. 52. First collected _P.

and D. W._, 1877, ii. 367.

49

THE NETHERLANDS

Water and windmills, greenness, Islets green;-- Willows whose Trunks beside the shadows stood Of their own higher half, and willowy swamp:-- Farmhouses that at anchor seem'd--in the inland sky The fog-transfixing Spires-- Water, wide water, greenness and green banks, And water seen--

June 1828. Now first published from an MS.

50

ELISA[1009:1]

TRANSLATED FROM CLAUDIAN

Dulce dona mihi tu mittis semper Elisa!

Et quicquid mittis Thura putare decet.

The above adapted from an Epigram of Claudian [No. lx.x.xii, Ad Maximum Qui mel misit], by subst.i.tuting _Thura_ for _Mella_: the original Distich being in return for a present of Honey.

_Imitation_

Sweet Gift! and always doth Elisa send Sweet Gifts and full of fragrance to her Friend Enough for Him to know they come from HER: Whate'er she sends is Frankincense and Myrrh.

ANOTHER ON THE SAME SUBJECT BY S. T. C. HIMSELF

Semper Elisa! mihi tu suaveolentia donas: Nam quicquid donas, te redolere puto.

_Translation_

Whate'er thou giv'st, it still is sweet to me, For _still_ I find it redolent of thee.

1833, 4. Now first published from an MS.

51

PROFUSE KINDNESS

??p??? ??d? ?sas?? ?s? p???? p???? ??s? p??t??.

HESIOD. [_Works and Days_, l. 40.]

What a spring-tide of Love to dear friends in a shoal!

Half of it to one were worth double the whole!

Undated. First published in _P. W._, 1834.

52

I stand alone, nor tho' my heart should break, Have I, to whom I may complain or speak.

Here I stand, a hopeless man and sad, Who hoped to have seen my Love, my Life.

And strange it were indeed, could I be glad Remembering her, my soul's betrothed wife.

For in this world no creature that has life Was e'er to me so gracious and so good.

Her loss is to my Heart, like the Heart's blood.

? S. T. C. Undated. First published from an MS. in 1893. These lines are inscribed on a fly-leaf of Tom. II of Benedetto Menzini's _Poesie_, 1782.

53

NAPOLEON

The Sun with gentle beams his rage disguises, And, like aspiring Tyrants, temporises-- Never to be endured but when he falls or rises.

? S. T. C. Undated. Now first published from an MS.

54

Thicker than rain-drops on November thorn.

Undated. Now first published from an MS.