|
REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AND ROBERT SOUTHEY
REMINISCENCES OF SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE AND ROBERT SOUTHEY JOSEPH COTTLE * * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
It is with a solemnized feeling that I enter on these Reminiscences.
Except one I have survived all the associates of my earlier days. The
young with a long life in perspective (if any life can be called long
in so brief an existence) are unable to realize the impressions of a man
nearer eighty than seventy when the shadows of evening are gathering
around and in a retrospective glance the whole field of past vision
appears in all its complexities like the indistinct tumults of a dream.
The acute reasoner--the fiery politician--the eager polemic--the emulous
aspirant after fame; and many such have I known where are they? and how
mournful if any one of them should be found at last to have directed
his solicitudes alone to material objects;--should have neglected to
cultivate his own little plot of earth more valuable than mines! and
have sown no seeds for eternity. It is not a light motive which could
have prompted me when this world of "Eye and Ear" is fast receding
while grander scenes are opening and so near! to call up almost
long-forgotten associations and to dwell on the stirring by-gone
occurrences that tend in some measure to interfere with that calm which
is most desirable and best accords with the feelings of one who holds
life by such slender ties. Yet through the goodness of the Almighty
being at the present moment exempt from many of the common infirmities of
age I am willing as a last act to make some sacrifice to obtain the
good which I hope this recurrence to the past is calculated to produce.
With respect to Mr. Coleridge it would be easy and pleasant to sail with
the stream; to admire his eloquence; to extol his genius; and to forget
his failings; but where is the utility arising out of this homage paid
to naked talent? If the attention of posterity rested here where were
the lessons of wisdom to be learnt from his example? His path through the
world was marked by strong outlines and instruction is to be derived
from every feature of his mind and every portion of his eventful and
chequered life. In all the aspects of his character he was probably the
most singular man that has appeared in this country during the preceding
century and the leading incidents of whose life ought to stand fairly on
record. The facts which I have stated are undeniable the most important
being substantiated by his own letters; but higher objects were intended
by this narrative than merely to elucidate a character (however
remarkable) in all its vicissitudes and eccentricities. Rising above
idle curiosity or the desire of furnishing aliment for the
sentimental;--excitement the object and the moral tendency disregarded
these pages take a wider range and are designed for the good of many
where if there be much to pain the reader he should moderate his
regrets by looking through the intermediate to the end.
There is scarcely an individual whose life if justly delineated would
not present much whence others might derive instruction. If this be
applicable to the multitude how much more essentially true is it in
reference to the ethereal spirits endowed by the Supreme with a lavish
portion of intellectual strength as well as with proportionate
capacities for doing good? How serious therefore is the obligation to
fidelity when the portraiture of a man is to be presented like Samuel
Taylor Coleridge in whom such diversified and contrary qualities
alternately predominated! Yet all the advantages to be derived from him
and similar instructors of mankind must result from a faithful
exhibition of the broad features of their earthly conduct and character
so that they might stand out as landmarks and pharos-towers to guide
or warn or encourage all succeeding voyagers on the Ocean of Life.
In preparing the following work I should gladly have withheld that one
letter of Mr. Coleridge to Mr. Wade had not the obligation to make it
public been imperative. But concealment would have been injustice to the
living and treachery to the dead. This letter is the solemnizing voice
of conscience. Can any reflecting mind deliberately desire the
suppression of this document in which Mr. Coleridge for the good of
others generously forgets its bearing on himself and makes a full and
voluntary confession of the sins he had committed against "himself his
friends his children and his God?" In the agony of remorse at the
retrospection he thus required that this his confession should hereafter
be given to the public. "AFTER MY DEATH I EARNESTLY ENTREAT THAT A FULL
AND UNQUALIFIED NARRATIVE OF MY WRETCHEDNESS AND ITS GUILTY CAUSE MAY
BE MADE PUBLIC THAT AT LEAST SOME LITTLE GOOD MAY BE EFFECTED BY THE
DIREFUL EXAMPLE." This is the most redeeming letter Samuel Taylor
Coleridge ever penned. A callous heart could not have written it. A
Christian awaking from his temporary lethargy might. While it
powerfully propitiates the reader it almost converts condemnation into
compassion.
No considerate friend it might be thought would have desired the
suppression of this letter but rather its most extended circulation; and
that among other cogent reasons from the immense moral lesson enforced
by it in perpetuity on all consumers of opium; in which they will
behold as well as in some of the other letters the "tremendous
consequences" (to use Mr. Coleridge's own expressions) of such
practices exemplified in his own person; and to which terrible effects
he himself so often and so impressively refers. It was doubtless a deep
conviction of the beneficial tendencies involved in the publication that
prompted Mr. C. to direct publicity to be given to this remarkable
letter after his decease.
The incidents connected with the lives of Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey
are so intimately blended from relationship association and kindred
pursuits that the biography of one to a considerable extent involves
that of the other. The following narrative however professes to be
annals of rather than a circumstantial account of these two remarkable
men.
Some persons may be predisposed to misconstrue the motive for giving
publicity to the following letter but others it is hoped will admit
that the sole object has been not to draw the reader's attention to the
writer but to confer _credit on Southey_. Many are the individuals who
would have assisted to a greater extent than myself two young men of
decided genius like Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey who
required at the commencement of their literary career encouragement
and a little assistance. Few however would have exhibited the
magnanimity which Southey displayed in seasons of improved
circumstances by referring to slender acts of kindness long past and
scarcely remembered but by himself. Few are the men who after having
surmounted their difficulties by honourable exertion would have referred
to past seasons of perplexity and have desired--that occurrences "might
be seen hereafter" which little minds would sedulously have concealed
as discredit rather than as conferring conspicuous honour.
Ten years after the incidents had occurred to which the following letter
refers in writing to Mr. Southey among other subjects I casually
expressed a regret that when I quitted the business of a bookseller I
had not returned him the copy-rights of his "Joan of Arc;" of his two
volumes of Poems; and of his letters from Spain and Portugal. The
following was his reply.
"Wednesday evening Greta Hall April 28 1808.
My dear Cottle
... What you say of my copy-rights affects me very much. Dear Cottle
set your heart at rest on that subject. It ought to be at rest. They
were yours; fairly bought and fairly sold. You bought them on the
chance of their success what no London bookseller would have done;
and had they not been bought they could not have been published at
all. Nay if you had not published 'Joan of Arc' the poem never
would have existed nor should I in all probability ever have
obtained that reputation which is the capital on which I subsist nor
that power which enables me to support it.
But this is not all. Do you suppose Cottle that I have forgotten
those true and most essential acts of friendship which you showed me
when I stood most in need of them? Your house was my house when I had
no other. The very money with which I bought my wedding ring and
paid my marriage fees was supplied by you. It was with your sisters
that I left my Edith during my six months' absence; and for the six
months after my return it was from you that I received week by
week the little on which we lived till I was enabled to live by
other means. It is not the settling of our cash account that can
cancel obligations like these. You are in the habit of preserving
your letters and if you were not _I would entreat you to preserve
this that it might be seen hereafter_. Sure I am that there never
was a more generous nor a kinder heart than yours and you will
believe me when I add that there does not live that man upon earth
whom I remember with more gratitude and more affection. My heart
throbs and my eyes burn with these recollections. Good night my dear
old friend and benefactor.
Robert Southey."
Gratitude is a plant indigenous to Heaven. Specimens are rarely found on
Earth. This is one.
Mr. Southey on previous occasions had advised me to write my
"Recollections of Persons and Things" and it having been understood that
I was about to prepare a memoir of Mr. Coleridge (1836) Mr. S. renewed
his solicitation as will appear by the following extracts.
"Keswick April 14 1836.
My dear Cottle
There is I hope time enough for you to make a very interesting book
of your own 'Recollections' a book which will be of no little value
to the history of our native city and the literature of our times.
Your prose has a natural ease which no study could acquire. I am very
confident you could make as delightful a book on this subject as
Isaac Walton has in his way. If you are drawing up your
'Recollections of Coleridge' you are most welcome to insert anything
of mine which you may think proper. To be employed in such a work
with the principles and frame of mind wherewith you would engage in
it is to be instructing and admonishing your fellow-creatures; it is
employing your talents and keeping up that habitual preparation for
the enduring inheritance in which the greater part of your life has
been spent. Men like us who write in sincerity and with the desire
of teaching others so to think and to feel as may be best for
themselves and the community are labouring as much in their vocation
as if they were composing sermons or delivering them from the
pulpit....
God bless you my dear old friend. Always yours most affectionately
Robert Southey."
On another occasion Mr. S. thus wrote.
"My dear Cottle
I both wish and advise you to draw up your '_Reminiscences_' I
advise you for your own sake as a valuable memorial and wish it for
my own that that part of my life might be faithfully reported by the
person who knows it best...." "You have enough to tell which is
harmless as well as interesting and not harmless only but
instructive and that ought to be told _and which only you can
tell._"
It may be proper to notice that the title here adopted of
"REMINISCENCES" is to be understood as a general rather than as a
strictly applicable phrase since the present miscellaneous work is
founded on letters and various memoranda that for the most part have
lain in a dormant state for many years and which were preserved as
mementos of past scenes personally interesting but without in the
first instance the least reference to ultimate publication.
I cannot withhold a final remark with which my own mind is greatly
affected; from revolving on a most unexpected as it is a singular
fact--that these brief memorials of Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey
should be written by the _same individual_ who more than _half a
century_ before contributed his humble efforts to assist and encourage
them in their first entrance on a literary life. The whole of the events
thus recorded appear through the dim vista of memory already with the
scenes before the flood! while all the busy the aspiring and the
intellectual spirits here noticed and once so well known have been
hurried off our mortal stage!--Robert Lovell!--George Burnet!--Charles
Lloyd!--George Catcott!--Dr. Beddoes!--Charles Danvers!--Amos
Cottle!--William Gilbert!--John Morgan!--Ann Yearsley!--Sir H.
Davy!--Hannah More!--Robert Hall!--Samuel Taylor Coleridge!--Charles
Lamb!--Thomas Poole!--Josiah Wade!--Robert Southey!--and John
Foster!--confirming with fresh emphasis
"What shadows we are and what shadows we pursue!"
Bristol April 20 1847.
J. C.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
Pantisocracy and Robert Lovell
Mr. Southey and Mr. Burnet arrive in Bristol
Mr. Coleridge arrives in Bristol
Fears for the Pantisocritans dissipated
A London bookseller offers Mr. Coleridge six guineas for the
copyright of his Poems
Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey each sells his 1st volume of Poems for
thirty guineas
Mr. Southey sells his Joan of Arc for fifty guineas
Mr. Coleridge begins his lectures in Bristol
Specimen of Mr. C.'s lecture
Liberty's letter to Famine
Mr. C.'s political lectures &c.
Death of Robert Lovell
Mr. Southey's course of historical lectures
Mr. Coleridge disappoints his audience
Excursion to Tintern Abbey
Dissension between Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey
Incidents connected with Mr. Coleridge's volume of Poems
Mr. Coleridge married to Miss Sarah Fricker
Household articles required
Notices of Wm. Gilbert Ann Yearsley H. More and Robert Hall
Mr. Coleridge removes first to Bristol and then to Stowey
--- --------- again to Bristol
--- --------- woeful letter
Mr. Coleridge's Poems now published
--- --------- projects his "Watchman"
--- --------- seven letters while on his journey to collect
subscribers to the "Watchman"
--- --------- inaugural sermon at Bath
Mr. Lloyd domesticates with Mr. Coleridge
Mr. Coleridge's melancholy letter
Mr. Coleridge's views of Epic Poetry
Quarrel between Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey. Reconciled
Mr. Coleridge's letter to Miss Cruikshanks
--- -------- diagram of the second bottle
--- -------- Theological letter
Mr. Coleridge prepares for a second edition of his Poems
Mr. Coleridge's letter to George Catcott
--- -------- on hexameters &c.
--- -------- Foster-mother's tale (extract)
--- -------- ludicrous interview with a country woman
--- -------- Poem relating to Burns
--- -------- character of Mr. Wordsworth
Herbert Croft and Chatterton (Note)
Coleridge's character of Thelwall
Letters from Charles Lamb
Mr. Coleridge's lines to Joseph Cottle
Sara's lines to the same
Three Sonnets by Nehemiah Higginbotham
Coleridge Lloyd and Lamb quarrel
Lamb's sarcastic Theses to Mr. Coleridge
Coleridge goes to Shrewsbury on probation
Mr. Coleridge receives an annuity of L150 from the Messrs. Thomas and
Josiah Wedgewood
Letters from Mr. Wordsworth--Lyrical Ballads
Mr. Wordsworth caballed against
Disasters attending a dinner with Mr. Wordsworth
Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Wordsworth depart for Germany
Mr. Coleridge's character of Mr. Southey
Mr. Southey marries Miss Edith Fricker
Three letters of Mr. Southey from Falmouth and Portugal
Sundry letters from Mr. Southey to Joseph Cottle
George Dyer and a ludicrous incident
Mr. Southey's rhyming letter from Lisbon
Mr. Churchey and incidents concerning him
Mr. Southey in danger from an enraged author
Mr. Southey and Wat Tyler
Mr. Foster explains how Wat Tyler came to be published
J. Morgan's ruined circumstances. Mr. S.'s proposal for a
subscription
List of Mr. Southey's contributions to the Quarterly
Discovery of first edition of Pilgrim's Progress
Mr. Coleridge's letter on travelling in Germany
Slow sale at first of Mr. Wordsworth's Lyrical Ballads
Mr. Humphrey Davy arrives in Bristol
Dr. Beddoe and the Pneumatic Institution
Mr. Davy's dangerous experiments with the gases
Mr. Coleridge's and Mr. Davy's anecdotes
Mr. Coleridge relates his military adventures
Mr. Coleridge's Epigrams from the German
Character of Coleridge by Professor Wilson Mr. Sergeant Talfourd
Dr. Dibdin Mr. Justice Coleridge Rev. Archdeacon Hare Quarterly
Review Rev. C. V. Le Grice
Mr. Coleridge's letter to Mr. Cottle on his return from Malta 1807
Rev. J. Foster's letter concerning Coleridge
Mr. Coleridge's singular escape from Italy
--- ----------- letter on the Trinity
--- ----------- views of Unitarianism
--- ----------- character of Sir H. Davy
Sir H. Davy's rebuke of an Infidel
Mr. Coleridge's character of Holcroft the Atheist
Rev. J. Foster's letter respecting his Essay on Doddridge
Mr. Coleridge's letter to Mr. G. Fricker
Mr. De Quincey presents Mr. Coleridge with L300
Mr. Coleridge's letter on Narrative Poems
Reasons why Mr. Coleridge's opium habits should not be concealed
Mr. Coleridge ill in Bath
Mr. Coleridge engages to Lecture in Bristol 1814. Disappoints his
Audience by an excursion into North Wales
Mr. Coleridge's lines for a transparency at the capture of Buonaparte
Mr. Coleridge's approval of Infant Schools
Mr. Cottle's letter of remonstrance respecting opium
Mr. Coleridge's distressing letters in reply
Mr. Coleridge wishes to be placed in an Asylum
Mr. Southey's letters respecting Mr. Coleridge
...
|
