SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE was born in 1772, at Ottery St. Mary, in Devonshire, of which parish his father was vicar. He received his education at Christ's Hospital, and at Jesus College, Cambridge, where he addicted himself to the study of poetry and metaphysics. His opinions not being at this time of the most orthodox kind, he fled from the university to London, where he enlisted as a trooper in the 15th Regiment, Elliot's Light Dragoons. He was discovered, in spite of a euphonious alias which he had adopted, whilst the troop to which he belonged was quartered at Reading, and sent back to Cambridge, which he left, however, without a degree. His "Religious Musings" were written in a tap-room, at Reading, on Christmas Eve, 1794. Coleridge associated himself with Southey and Lovel in the projection of a state of pure freedom, to be established under the title of a Pantisocracy on the banks of the Susquehannah, and only the want of funds prevented. the magnificent scheme from being carried out. During a considerable portion of his life, Coleridge was a slave to the practice of taking opium, against which habit conscience and religion seemed alike powerless. In 1816 he placed himself under the charge of Mr. Gilman (who afterwards became one of his biographers) at Highgate. Here his conversational powers were a marvel and a delight to crowds of auditors, and here he regained equability of mind and orthodoxy of religious opinion. He died in 1834. Most of his works are of a fragmentary nature; they are "The Friend;" "Lay Sermons ;" "Biographia Literaria;" "Aids to Reflection," and others. Amongst his poetry, with some drawbacks, stands pre-eminent his " Ancient Mariner," and the hymn to Mount Blanc, which is quoted below. HYMN BEFORE SUNRISE IN THE VALE OF Hast thou a charm to stay the morning star Rave ceaselessly; but thou, most awful form! O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee, Didst vanish from my thought; entranced in prayer, Yet, like some sweet beguiling melody, So sweet we know not we are listening to it, Thou, the meanwhile, wast blending with my thought, Awake, my soul! not only passive praise Thou first and chief, sole sovran of the vale! Or when they climb the sky, or when they sink! And you, ye five wild torrents, fiercely glad! Your strength, your speed, your fury, and your joy, And who commanded (and the silence came), Ye ice-falls! ye that from the mountain's brow Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven God! let the torrents, like a shout of nations, Ye living flowers that skirt the eternal frost! Utter forth God, and fill the hills with praise! Once more, hoar Mount! with thy sky-pointing peaks, Oft from whose feet the avalanche unheard, Shoots downward, glittering through the pure serene, Slow travelling with dim eyes suffused with tears, ROBERT SOUTHEY was born at Bristol in 1774. He was early a friend of Coleridge, and shared with him and Lovel, the dream of a Pantisocracy, which he relinquished upon the occasion of his marriage. After successive residences in Lisbon, London, and Dublin, he settled down, on the banks of the Greta, near Keswick, to a laborious literary life, which some time before his death in 1843, had the effect of prostrating his intellectual energies. 66 Southey was made poet laureate in 1813. His chief poetical works are "Joan of Arc; Thalaba;"" Madoc;" the "Curse of Kehama," from which the stanzas en titled "Love are extracted; and innumerable ballads. The fire of Southey has generally been kept in check by his precision; his spontaneity suffered from his varied. scholarship. LOVE. They sin who tell us love can die, In heaven ambition cannot dwell, But love is indestructible. Its holy flame for ever burneth, From heaven it came, to heaven returneth; At times deceived, at times opprest, Then hath in heaven its perfect rest: Hath she not then, for pains and fears, THE HOLLY TREE. Oh, Reader! hast thou ever stood to sec The Holly Tree? The eye that contemplates it well perceives Its glossy leaves, Ordered by an intelligence so wise As might confound the Atheist's sophistrics. |