Race after race their honours yield, But this small flower, to Nature dear, It smiles upon the lap of May, The purple heath and golden broom, But this bold floweret climbs the hill, Within the garden's cultured round The lambkin crops its crimson gem; On waste and woodland, rock and plain, Its humble buds unheeded rise; The rose has but a summer reign; -00-0 [SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, the son of the vicar of Ottery St. Mary, Devonshire, was born on the 20th of October, 1772. He received his education in Christ's Hospital, where Charles Lamb was his schoolfellow. From Christ's Hospital he went to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he remained from 1791 to 1793. He left college abruptly, and enlisted as a soldier in the 15th-Elliot's Light Dragoons. Discovered by his friends, he returned for a short time to college. Coleridge, at this time, was a Socinian and a Republican; and, in conjunction with three other poetical enthusiasts - Wordsworth, Southey, and Lloyd-he resolved to emigrate to America, and found a Pantisocracy, or republic of pure freedom. This idea was not realized; afterwards Coleridge, Southey, and Lloyd married three sisters-the Misses Fricker of Bristol. Coleridge took up his abode among the northern lakes, where he wrote many poetical pieces, the most popular of which is "The Ancient Mariner,” and some prose works on theology, history, and politics. Opium-eating, to which he had at first recourse from its medicinal effects, disturbed his mental powers; and he found an asylum at the house of Mr. James Gilman, surgeon, at Highgate. He lived here for nineteen years, delighting his friends by his wonderful powers of conversation. He died on the 28th of July, 1834.] FACILE credo, plures esse Naturas invisibiles quam visibiles in rerum universitate. Sed horum omnium familiam quis nobis enarrabit, et gradus et cognationes et discrimina et singulorum munera? Quid agunt? Quæ loca habitant? Harum rerum notitiam semper ambivit ingenium humanum, nunquam attigit. Juvat, interea, non diffiteor, quandoque in animo, tanquam in tabulâ, majoris et melioris mundi imaginem contemplari: ne mens assuefacta hodiernæ vitæ minutiis se contrahat nimis, et tota subsidat in pusillas cogitationes. Sed veritati interea invigilandum est, modusque servandus, ut certa ab incertis, diem a nocte, distinguamus. T. BURNET. ARCHEOL. PHIL. p. 68. PART I. T is an ancient Mariner, IT And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, And I am next of kin; The guests are met, the feast is set: May'st hear the merry din." He holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he. "Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!" Eftsoons his hand dropt he. He holds him with his glittering eye- An ancient Mari- The WeddingGuest is spellbound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained to hear his tale. The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: The bright-eyed Mariner. "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. "The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right "Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, The Bride hath paced into the hall, Nodding their heads before her goes with a good wind and fair weather till it reached the Line. The WeddingGuest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale. |