But he has not done himself justice in this comparison. Never was a man more beloved by all who approached him. Even his peculiarities, if he had any, were genial and pleasant. One anecdote I happen to know personally. He was invited to a large evening party, at Tavistock House, the residence of Mr. Perry, proprietor of the "Morning Chronicle," a delightful person, where men of all parties met, forgetting their political differences in social pleasure. The guest was so punctual, that only two young inmates were in the room to receive him. "What are we to have to-night?" inquired he of Miss Lunan, Mr. Perry's niece, and Professor Porson's stepdaughter. 66 Music, I suppose,' Catalani is coming!" was the reply; "at least I know that "Ah!" rejoined the poet, "then I shall come another time. You will not miss me. Make my excuses!" and off he ran, laughing at his own dislike to opera singers and bravura songs. Every body has heard the often told story of Coleridge's enlisting in a cavalry regiment under a feigned name, and being detected as a Cambridge scholar in consequence of his writing some Greek lines, or rather, I believe, some Greek words, over the bed of a sick comrade, whom, not knowing how else to dispose of him, he had been appointed to nurse. It has not been stated that the arrangement for his discharge took place at my father's house at Reading. Such, however, was the case. The story was this. Dr. Ogle, Dean of Winchester, was related to the Mitfords, as relationships go in Northumberland, and having been an intimate friend of my maternal grandfather, had no small share in bringing about the marriage between his young cousin and the orphan heiress. He continued to take an affectionate interest in the couple he had brought together, and the 15th Light Dragoons, in which his eldest son had a troop, being quartered in Reading, he came to spend some days at their house. Of course Captain Ogle, between whom and my father the closest friendship subsisted, was invited to meet the Dean, and in the course of the dinner told the story of the learned recruit. It was the beginning of the great war with France; men were procured with difficulty, and if one of the servants waiting at table had not been induced to enlist in his place, there might have been some hesitation in procuring a discharge. Mr. Coleridge never forgot my father's zeal in the cause, for kind and clever as he was, Captain Ogle was so indolent a man, that without a flapper, the matter might have slept in his hands till the Greek kalends. Such was Mr. Coleridge's kind recognition of my father's exertions, that he had the infinite goodness and condescension to look over the proof-sheets of two girlish efforts, "Christina" and Blanch," and to encourage the young writer by gentle strictures and stimulating praise. Ah! I wish she had better deserved this honoring notice ! 66 I add one of his sublimest poems. HYMN BEFORE SUNRISE IN THE VALE OF CHAMOUN Hast thou a charm to stay the Morning Star In his steep course? So long he seems to pause On thy bald awful head, O sovran Blanc ! The Arve and Arveiron at thy base Rave ceaselessly; but thou, most awful form! O dread and silent Mount! I gazed upon thee Till thou, still present to the bodily sense 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, Yea with my life, and life's most secret joy; As in her natural form swelled vast to Heaven! Awake, my soul! not only passive praise Thou first and chief, sole sovran of the vale! Companion of the Morning Star at dawn, 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 Ye living flowers, that skirt the eternal frost! Once more, hoar mount, with thy sky-painting peaks, In adoration, upward from thy base Slow traveling with dim eyes, suffused with tears, To rise before me-Rise, O ever rise; Rise like a cloud of incense from the earth! One can not look too often upon Mr. Wordsworth's charming female portrait : I would add Laodamia," if it were not too long, and the "Yew-trees," if I had not a misgiving that I have somewhere planted those deathless trunks before. In how many ways is a great poet glorious! I met with a few lines taken from that noble poem the other day in the Modern Painters," cited for the landscape : Huge trunks, and each particular trunk a growth Upcoiling and inveterately convolved! Beneath whose shade With sheddings from the pinal umbrage tinged and so forth. Mr. Ruskin cited this fine passage for the picture, I for the personifications: "Ghostly shapes May meet at noontide, Fear and trembling Hope, Silence and Foresight, Death the skeleton, And Time the shadow!" Both quoted the lines for different excellences, and both were right. |