. C OLE'ID E A A LAKE P E S T G S O T . BY N H ST T Y M. A HON . ER E AR LE COLERIDGE , . , ’ I ONCE had the good fortune to meet at the Authors C ub the t W M t t t t l la e illiam orris , poe , prin er , ar is , t ar t . It t the furnisher , and socialis was owards f the S t was close of his li e , and keen , vigorous piri f t the af ec ed by near approach of mortal sickness , W t but not . I affec ed , changed or weakened hen came up to the table where he was already seated — his face buried in his hands he looked up and greeted me in this wise ' You r grandfather wrote t but h - t a few perfec poems , as for t at old lake poe W w h I w not to the ords ort , he [ ill attempt give — ” exact wordsj he never wrote any poetry at all . I hardly think he c ould have meant what he said abou t Wordsworth ; if so (to adapt a phrase of ’ 'obert Browning s) the less William Morris he . h tt t Bu t he certainly did old , as his Kelmsco edi ion (now worth far more than its weight in silver) ’ f v t t , e w p ro es , ha only a few of Coleridge s poems a t t t the s t gems , are wor h preserving , and ha re may be Th I t t t allowed to perish . is is , hink , a supers i ion of — n dolon c olum nar um t the the moment a ei , a ghos of - m arket . f orm idabl e bu t t t . T ue book , unsubs an ial r t not it is that between Coleridge in his early you h , 2 . L L s T CO ERIDGE A S A AKE POET . e t a t t , y inspired , and Coleridge his bes , or , again between Coleridge as a lyrical and Coleridge as a t t t t fix bu t th e drama ic poe , here is a grea gulf ed ; t t the u t t t t t v ru h , nrhe orical ru h , is ha o er and above the half - dozen gems of the first water there are more than fifty others which have not perished in the h t the c t t . t e dus Take selec ions , handiwork of ri ics ’ t ‘ and poets . Mr . Swinburne s ale of Lyrical and ’ Imaginative P oems numbers 48 Mr . Andrew ’ Lang s Selections from Coleridge numbers 8 3 Mr . ’ S topf ord Brooke s Golden Book of Coleridge con tt ’ t tains 84 ; and Dr . C arne s Poe ry of Samuel Taylor — t Coleridge over 1 00 pieces . A fter I am quo ing tt to t — t from a le er his bro her George , af er he had snapped his squeaking baby - trumpet of ” “ t —or u t it l e t to the sedi ion , as Byron p , ” t its t — to Morning Pos aris ocracy , Coleridge used t t t — t t t — u t main ain ha heads ha is , vo ers m s be not t . I weighed , coun ed Here and now will say t t t but it t t no hing abou vo ers , is undoub edly rue t t t not t ha poems mus be weighed , coun ed ; and it is but to answer the critics according to their criticism that I have laboured this question of — — numbers of quantity rather than quality before asserting that it is only in seven or eight poems that Coleridge betrays the fact that he was a t d the , t t i weller among moun ains ha as Lamb has t, ” he lived in Skiddaw . And ye t he was familiar — with almost the whole of the Lake District second o nly to Wordsworth in a general knowled ge of its the — main features . For few years four or fi ve — at most if his long absences are omitted which he d t ivided be ween Keswick and Grasmere , he read , . OL DG A S L KE O s T C ERI E A A P ET . 3 t t t m t learn , marked , and ook in o his in os soul f t m odific a every ef ec of sunshine or of shade , every t t t t ion of ou line of ridge or peak , every accen ua ion , — t the the every undula ion of foreground moss , t the at t the s ones , puddles his fee , glimmer and the the gloom of silver and ebon on surface of lakes , the t t the t the pagean ry of mis and cloud , ligh , th th t t h e e t e . colour , magic , enchan men of hills t the the He was fulfilled wi h vision , and record — an —t remains unique , a marvellous record, rans bu t t figured , indeed , by genius , , wi h rare and brief t t t t . excep ions , un ransla ed in o song But before I touch upon the Keswick poems I ’ must dwell upon one or two incidents of Coleridge s tt at t e earlier years before he se led Gre a Hall , b fore the t t t t riumvira e Wordswor h , Sou hey , and Coleridge ki t were grouped together and nicknamed L a s s . I t the I can throw no pic ures on screen , have no — magic lantern only the dim and intermittent — bu t t to the d I lantern of speech , , hanks recor , can for a few brief moments bring you within speaking t — t t distance of one who wro e as he spoke ha is , when out — press and publisher were of his ken , and for the sake of the text you must bear with and forgive the commentary . It must be borne in mind that a love of mountain the t t scenery , admira ion for precipi ous crags and wide stretches of barren hillside , was a new fashion , ’ t t t . t hardly as ye a reali y in Coleridge s you h Whi e , “ the of Selborne , describes Sussex Downs as a “ t t n F or chain of majes ic moun ai s , and adds , my own part I think there is something peculiarly sweet and amusing in the shapely figured aspect of 4L . L DG E s T CO ERI E As A LAK POET . t t t chalk hills in preference o hose of s one , which are ’ t t t el e s s . rugged , broken , abrup , and shap Even ha was It w a s the a novel and daring sentiment . champaign —the t t d smiling plain , rich , cul iva ed lan s , park , and — forest which appealed to the lover of the picturesque th t t in e eighteenth century . The firs moun aineer who climbed a dark brow for the sake of climbing I the t t the was , believe , poe Pe rarch , who ascended Mons Veaf ztosus the t I in sou h of France ; and he , if t tt remember arigh , made a considerable splu er over the not t . job , and was impressed by wha he saw Mountains were by no means flattered in the brave t w days of old ; hey ere miscalled cruel, savage , the t t . horrible , perilous abodes of mys ery and error ” v 1 80 7 t “ t E en in , long af er The Bro hers and Michael had appeared in the second edition of the ’ t t Lyrical Ballads , a learned and fashionable poe as er , h t e R . l to the ev Thomas Maurice , appealed successfu ly public taste by his p oem on Richmond Hill ; and it was not till Scott poured forth his romantic poems t and poe ical romances , and Byron , dosed , as he said , f t t t t “ rd r h by Shelley, imi a ed and in erpre ed o sw o t in t t ” t t his magnificen Third Can o of Childe Harold, ha the average Briton yielded to the enchantment of a n d burn and peak , of moor and crag fell . ’ Coleridge s first experience of mountain scenery was the 1 794 t in summer o'f , when , in company wi h a college friend, one oseph Hucks , he made a tour t t the t t t IVal on foo hrough grea er par of Nor h e s . His heart and head were full to overflowing with thoughts and feelings of a vivid and personal nature t t of republican and socialis ic no ions , equality and t t t v fra erni y ; of his los lo e , Mary Evans , whom he . OLE D G As 5 s T C RI E A LAKE POET . t t t at caugh sigh of , he says , acciden ally Wrexham and tt t t t to the his le ers con ain one ribu e , and only one , t h scenery hrough whic he was passing . He was on Ll an unno to B his way from g g ala, and he describes ” the t t It las welve miles as sublimely beautiful . h ot . I t was scorchingly applied my mou h , ever and n to the the t ano , side of rock , and sucked in draugh s t t of wa er cold as ice , and clear as infan diamonds in t heir embryo dew .