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were to be admitted into their number, but tried and incorruptible characters; and he felt quite assured, that he and his friends would be able to realize a state of society, free from the evils and turmoils that then agitated the world, and present an example of the eminence to which men might arrive under the unrestrained influence of sound principles.

"Not too much to discourage the enthusiastic aspirant after happiness, I forebore all reference to the prolific accumulation of difficulties to be surmounted, and merely inquired who were to compose his company? He said that only four had, as yet, absolutely engaged in the enterbridge, (in whom I understood the plan to have prise; Samuel Taylor Coleridge, from Camoriginated;) Robert Southey, and George Burnet from Oxford, and himself. Well, I reVery shortly. I soon expect my friends from plied, when do you set sail?' He answered, the Universities, when all the preliminaries will be adjusted, and we shall joyfully cross the blue waves of the Atlantic.' 'But,' said I, 'to freight a ship, and sail out in the high style of gentlemen agriculturists, will require funds. do you manage this? We all contribute what we can,' said he, and I shall introduce all my dear friends to you, immediately on their arrival in Bristol.'

How

"A short time after the receipt of this invitation, Mr. Coleridge arrived in Bristol from Germany, and as he was about to pay Mr. Wordsworth a visit, he pressed me to accompany him. In this interview with Mr. Wordsworth, the subject of the Lyrical Ballads' was mentioned but once, and that casually, and only to account for its failure! which Mr. W. ascribed to two causes; first, the Ancient Mariner,' which, he said, no one seemed to understand; and 2ndly, the unfavorable notice of most of the Reviews. "On my reaching London, having an account to settle with Messrs. Longman and Rees, the booksellers, of Paternoster Row, I sold them all my copy-rights, which were valued as one lot, by a third party. On my next seeing Mr. Longman, he told me, that in estimating the value of the copy-rights, Fox's 'Achmed,' and Words"One morning, shortly after, Robert Lovell worth's Lyrical Ballads,' were reckoned as called on me, and introduced Robert Southey. nothing. That being the case,' I replied, as Never will the impression be effaced produced both these authors are my personal friends, I should be obliged, i' you would return me again sessing great suavity of manners; an eye piercon me by this young man. Tall, dignified, posthese two copy-rights, that I may have the plea-ing, with a countenance full of genius, kindli sure of presenting them to the respective writers.' ness, and intelligence. I gave him at once Mr. Longman answered, with his accustomed the right hand of fellowship, and, to the preliberality, You are welcome to them.' On my sent moment, it has never, on either side, been reaching Bristol, I gave Mr. Fox his receipt for twenty guineas; and on Mr. Coleridge's return from the north, I gave him Mr. Wordsworth's receipt for his thirty guineas; so that whatever advantage has arisen, subsequently, from the sale of this volume of the Lyrical Ballads,' has pertained exclusively to Mr. W.

withdrawn."

6

"The solicitude I felt, lest these young and ardent geniuses should, in a disastrous hour, and in their mistaken apprehensions, commit themselves in this their desperate undertaking, was happily dissipated, by Mr. Coleridge ap"I have been the more particular in these plying for the loan of a little cash-to pay the voyagers'-freight? or passage ?—No, Lodgstatements, as it furnishes, perhaps, the most ings. They all lodged, at this time, at No. 48, remarkable instance on record, of a volume of College-Street. Never did I lend money with Poems remaining for so long a time, almost such unmingled pleasure, for now I ceased to totally neglected, and afterwards acquiring; be haunted day and night with the spectre of and that almost rapidly, so much deserved the ship! the ship! which was to effect such popularity." incalculable mischief."

We now take leave of Wordsworth, to converse with Southey, whose regular, punctual habits contrast amusingly with the random temperament of Coleridge. We will string together the extracts, selecting those in which Southey is conspicuous.

"At the close of the year 1794, a clever young quaker, of the name of Robert Lovell, who had married a Miss Fricker, informed me that a few friends of his from Oxford and Cambridge, with himself, were about to sail to America, and on the banks of the Susquehannah to form a 'Social Colony;' in which there was to be a community of property, and where all that was elfish was to be proscribed. None, he said,

"Meeting Mr. Southey, I said to him, 'I have engaged to give Mr. Coleridge thirty guineas equal to a volume, and if you approve of it, I will for a volume of his Poems; you have Poems give you the same.' He cordially thanked me, and instantly acceded to my proposal.

"I then said to him, 'You have read me several books of your Joan of Arc,' which poem I perceive has great merit. If it meet with your concurrence, I will give you fifty guineas for this work, and publish it in quarto, when I will give you, in addition, fifty copies to dispose of amongst your friends." Without a moment's hesitation, to this proposal also he acceded.

"I could say much of Mr. Southey, at this time; of his constitutional cheerfulness; of the polish of his manners; of his dignified, and at the same time, of his unassuming deportment;

as well as of the general respect, which his talents, conduct, and conversation excited."

"I had an opportunity of introducing Mr. Southey, at this time, to the eldest Mrs. More, who invited him down to spend some whole day with her sister Hannah, at their then residence, Cowslip Green. On this occasion, as requested, I accompanied him. The day was full of converse. On my meeting one of the ladies, soon after, I was gratified to learn that Mr. S. equally pleased all five of the sisters. She said he was brim full of Literature, and one of the most elegant and intellectual young men they had seen.'

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"Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey now determined, by their best efforts, in other ways than those detailed, to raise money for their projected expedition. They resolved, therefore, to give the citizens of Bristol individual lectures, or series of lectures, on different subjects. Mr. Coleridge chose Political and Moral subjects; Mr. Southey chose History."

"The lectures of Mr. Southey were numerously attended, and their composition was greatly admired; exhibiting, as they did, a succinct view of the various subjects commented upon, so as to chain the hearer's attention. They, at the same time, evinced great self-possession in the lecturer; a peculiar grace in the delivery; with reasoning so judicious and acute, as to excite astonishment in the auditory, that so young a man should concentrate so rich a fund of valuable matter in lectures, comparatively, so brief, and which clearly authorized the anticipation of his future eminence.

to the Wye, including Piercefield and Tintern Abbey; objects new to us all. It so happened, the day we were to set off, was that immediately following the woeful disappointment! but here, all was punctuality. It was calculated that the proposed objects might be accomplished in two days, so as not to interfere with the Friday evening's lecture, which Mr. Southey had now wisely determined to deliver himself.

"After dinner an unpleasant altercation occurred between the two Pantisocratians! Mr. Southey, whose regular habits scarcely rendered it a virtue in him never to fail in an engagement, expressed to Mr. Coleridge his deep feelings of regret that his audience should have been disappointed on the preceding evening; reminding him that unless he had determined punctually to fulfil his voluntary engagement, he ought not to have entered upon it. Mr. Coleridge thought the delay of the lecture of little or no consequence. This excited a remonstrance, which produced a reply. At first I interfered with a few conciliatory words, which were unavailing; and these two friends, about to exhibit to the world a glorious example of the effects of concord and sound principles, with an exemption from all the selfish and unsocial passions, fell, alas! into the common lot of humanity, and, in so doing, must have demonstrated, even to themselves, the rope of sand to which they had confided their destinies.

"A little cessation in the storm afforded me the opportunity of stepping forward, and remarking, that the wisest way was to forget the past, and to remember only the pleasant objects before us. In this opinion the ladies concurred, when placing a hand of one of the dissentients in that of the other, the hearty salutation went round, and, with our accustomed spirits, we prepared once more for Piercefield and the Abbey."

"No public lecturer could have received stronger proofs of approbation than Mr. Southey, from a polite and discriminating audience. Mr. Coleridge solicited permission of Mr. Southey, to deliver his fourth lecture, On the Rise, Progress, and Decline of the Roman Empire,' as a subject to which he had devoted much atten- "In the spirit of impartiality, it now devolves tion.' The request was immediately granted, on me to state a temporary misunderstanding and at the end of the third lecture, it was for- between the two Pantisocratians themselves, in mally announced to the audience, that the next the autumn of 1795. It is difficult to assign any lecture would be delivered by Mr. Samuel other reason for the wild scheme of PantisoTaylor Coleridge, of Jesus College, Cambridge.' cracy, than the inexperience of youth, acting on At the usual hour the room was thronged. The sanguine imaginations. At its first announcemoment of commencement had arrived. No ment, every reflecting mind saw that the plan, lecturer appeared! Patience was preserved for in its nature, and in the agents who were to a quarter, extending to half an hour!-but carry it into effect, was obnoxious to insurstill no lecturer! At length it was commu-mountable objections; but the individuals with nicated to the impatient assemblage, that a circumstance, exceedingly to be regretted! would prevent Mr. Coleridge from giving his lecture that evening, as intended.' Some few present learned the truth, but the major part of the company retired, not very well pleased, and under the impression that Mr. C. had either broken his leg, or that som severe family affliction had occurred. Mr. C.'s rather habitual absence of mind, with the little importance he generally attached to engagements, renders it likely, that, at this very time he might have been found, at No. 48 College Street, composedly smoking his pipe, and lost in profound musings on his divine Susquehannah !

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whom the design originated, were young, ardent, and enthusiastic, and at that time entertained views of society erroneous in themselves, and which experience only could correct. The fullest conviction was entertained by their friends, that, as reason established itself in their minds, the delusion would vanish; and that they themselves would soon smile at extravagances which none but their own ingenious order of minds could have devised: but when the dissension occurred, before noticed, at Chepstow, Mr. Southey must have had conviction flash on his mind, that the habits of himself and his friend were so essentially opposed as to render harmony and success impossible. "Wishing to gratify my two young friends "Mr. Southey now addressed a temperate (and their ladies elect) with a pleasant excur-letter to Mr. Coleridge, stating that circumsion, I invited them to accompany me, in a visit stances and his own views had so altered, as to

render it necessary in him candidly to state, that he must abandon Pantisocracy, and the whole scheme of colonizing in America.

"On the receipt of Mr. Southey's letter, a tumult and re-action were excited in Mr. Coleridge's spirit, that filled the whole circle of their mutual friends with grief and dismay. This unexpected effect, perhaps, may be ascribed to the consciousness, first seriously awakened in Mr. Coleridge's mind, of the erroneous principles on which all his calculations had been founded. He perceived at length (it may be) that he had been pursuing a phantom; and the conviction must have been associated with selfupbraidings. Charges of desertion' flew thick around of a want of principle;' of' dishonor. able retraction, in a compact the most solemn and binding.'

"Mr. Southey acted with the strictest honor and propriety, and in such a way as any wise man, under such circumstances, would have acted. The great surprise with their friends was, that the crisis should not earlier have occurred.

"Mr. Southey, a day or two after this unhappy difference, set off on his Spanish and Portuguese expedition. On his return to Bristol, in the next year, as the whole misunderstanding between himself and Mr. Coleridge was the effect of transient feeling, that extended not to the heart, on their meeting, an easy reconciliation was effected."

6

dog, and he will probably bite you; the cat will come if you call her 'Meeth-tha,' but 'puss' is an outlandish phrase she has not been accustomed to. Last night I went to supper to the fleas, and an excellent supper they made; and the cats serenaded me with their execrable Spanish: to lie all night in Bowling-green Lane, (a rough road near Tintern, which he thus ironically named,) would be to enjoy the luxury of soft and smooth lying.

"At sight of land a general shaving took place; no subject could be better for Bunbury, than a packet cabin taken at such a moment. For me, I am as yet whiskered, for I would not venture to shave on board, and have had no razor on shore till this evening. Custom-house officers are more troublesome here than in England, I have however got every thing at last. You may form some idea of the weather we endured, thirty fowls over-head were drowned; the ducks got loose and ran with a party of half-naked Dutchmen into our cabin; 'twas a precious place, eight men lying on a shelf much like a coffin.

"The bookseller's shop was a great comfort; the Consul here has paid me particular attentions, and I am to pass to-morrow morning with him, when he will give me some directions concerning Spanish literature. He knows the chief literary men in England, and did know Brissot and Petion. Good night, they are going to supper. Oh, their foul oils and wines.

I

"It was mentioned that Mr. Southey was the "Tuesday morning-I have heard of hearts first to abandon the scheme of American colon- as hard as rocks, and stones, and adamants, but ization; and that, in confirmation, towards the if ever I write upon a hard heart, my simile conclusion of 1795, he accompanied his uncle, shall be as inflexible as a bed in a Spanish Pothe Rev. Herbert Hill, (Chaplain to the English sada; we had beef-steaks for supper last night, factory at Lisbon,) through some parts of and a sad libel upon beef-steaks they were. Spain and Portugal; of which occurrence, Mr wish you could see our room; a bed in an open Southey's entertaining Letters' from those recess, one just moved from the other corner. countries are the result; bearing testimony to Raynsford packing his trunk; Maber shaving his rapid accumulation of facts, and the accu- himself; tables and chairs; looking-glass hung racy of his observations on persons and things. even too high for a Patagonian; the four evanMr. Southey having sent me a letter from Co-gelists, &c., the floor beyond all filth most runna, and another from Lisbon, I shall here (with his permission) gratify the reader by presenting them for his perusal. (The following are the chief passages):

"Corunna, Dec. 15th, 1795. "Indeed, my dear friend, it is strange that you are reading a letter from me at this time, and not an account of our shipwreck. We left Falmouth on Tuesday mid-day; the wind was fair till the next night, so fair that we were within twelve hours sail of Corunna; it then turned round, blew a tempest, and continued so till the middle of Saturday. Our dead lights were up fifty hours, and I was in momentary expectation of death. You know what a situation this is. I forgot my sickness, and though I thought much of the next world, thought more of those at Bristol, who would daily expect letters; daily be disappointed, and at last learn from the newspapers that the Lauzarotte had never been heard of.

filthy.

"Adieu,

"ROBERT SOUTHEY."

"Lisbon, Feb. 1st, 1796. "Certainly I shall hear from Mr. Cottle, by the first packet,' said I.-Now I say, 'Probably I may hear by the next,' so does experience abate the sanguine expectations of man. What, could you not write one letter? and here am I writing not only to all my friends in Bristol, but, to all in England. Indeed I should have been vexed, but the packet brought a letter from Edith, and the pleasure that gave me allowed no feeling of vexation. What of 'Joan? Mr. Coates tells me it gains upon the public, but authors seldom hear the plain truth. I am anxious that it should reach a second edition, that I may write a new preface, and enlarge the last book. I shall omit all in the second book which Coleridge wrote.

"Bristol deserves panegyric instead of satire. I know of no mercantile place so literary. Here "Of all things it is most difficult to under-I am spending my mornings so pleasantly, as stand the optimism of this difference of lan- books, only books, can make them, and sitting guage; the very beasts of the country do not at evening the silent spectator of card-playing understand English. Say 'poor fellow' to a land dancing. The English here unite the spirit

of commerce, with the frivolous amusements of high life. One of them who plays every night, (Sundays are not excepted here,) will tell you how closely he attends to profit. I never pay a porter for bringing a burthen till the next day, (says he,) for while the fellow feels his back ache with the weight, he charges high; but when he comes the next day the feeling is gone, and he asks only half the money.' And the author of this philosophical scheme is worth 200,000 pounds!!

"This is a comfortless place, and the only pleasure I find in it is in looking to my departure. Three years ago I might have found a friend, Count Leopold Berchtold. This man (foster-brother of the Emperor Joseph) is one of those rare characters who spend their lives in doing good. It is his custom in every country he visits, to publish books in its language, on some subject of practical utility; these he gives away. I have now lying before me the two which he printed in Lisbon: the one is an Essay on the means of preserving life, in the various dangers to which men are daily exposed. The other an Essay on extending the limits of benevolence, not only towards men, but towards animals. His age was about twenty-five; his person and his manners the most polished. My uncle saw more of him than any one, for he used his library; and this was the only house he called at; he was only seen at dinner, the rest of the day was constantly given to study. They who lived in the same house with him believed him to be the wandering Jew. He spoke all the European languages, had written in all, and was master of the Arabic. From thence he went to Cadiz, and thence to Barbary; no more is known of him.

"We felt an earthquake the morning after our arrival here. These shocks alarm the Portuguese dreadfully; and indeed it is the most terrifying sensation you can conceive. One man jumped out of bed and ran down to the stable, to ride off almost naked as he was. Another, more considerately put out his candle, 'because I know (said he) the fire does more harm than the earthquake.' The ruins of the great earthquake are not yet removed entirely. "The city is a curious place: a straggling plan; built on the most uneven ground, with heaps of ruins in the middle, and large open places. The streets filthy beyond all English ideas of filth, for they throw every thing into the streets, and nothing is removed. Dead animals annoy you at every corner; and such is the indolence and nastiness of the Portuguese, that 1 verily believe they would let each other rot, in the same manner, if the priests did not get something by burying them. Some of the friars are vowed to wear their clothes without changing for a year; and this is a comfort to them: you will not wonder, therefore, that I always keep to the windward of these reverend perfumers.

"The streets are very agreeable in wet weather. If you walk under the houses, you are drenched by the water spouts. If you at tempt the middle, there is a river. If you would go between both, there is a dunghill The

rains here are very violent, and the streams in the streets, on a declivity, so rapid as to throw down men; and sometimes to overset carriages. A woman was drowned, some years ago, in one of the most frequented streets in Lisbon.

"Lisbon is plagued with a very small species of red ant, that swarms over every thing in the house. Their remedy for this is to send for the priest, and exorcise them. The drain from the new convent opens into the middle of the street. An English pigsty is cleaner than the metropolis of Portugal.

"To-night I shall see the procession of 'Our Lord of the Passion.' This image is a very celebrated one, and with great reason, for one night he knocked at the door of St. Roque's church, and there they would not admit him. After this he walked to the other end of the town, to the church of St. Grace, and there they took him in; but a dispute now arose between the two churches, to which the image belonged; whether to the church which he first chose, or the church that first chose him. The matter was compromised. One church has him, and the other fetches him for their processions, and he sleeps with the latter the night preceding. The better mode for deciding it, had been to place the gentleman between both, and let him walk to which he liked best. What think you of this story being believed in 1796!!!

"The power of the Inquisition still exists, though they never exercise it, and thus the Jews save their bacon. Fifty years ago it was the greatest delight of the Portuguese to see a Jew burnt. Geddes, the then chaplain, was present at one of these detestable Auto de Fé's. He says, 'The transports expressed by all ages, and both sexes, whilst the miserable sufferers were shrieking and begging mercy, for God's sake, formed a scene more horrible than any out of hell! He adds, that this barbarity is not their national character, for no people sympathize so much at the execution of a criminal; but it is the damnable nature of their religion, and the most diabolical spirit of their priests; their celibacy deprives them of the affections of men, and their creed gives them the ferocity of devils.' Geddes saw one man gagged, because, immediately he came out of the Inquisition gates, he looked up at the sun, whose light for many years had never visited him, and exclaimed, 'How is it possible for men who behold that glorious orb to worship any being but Him who created it!" My blood runs cold when I pass that accursed building; and though they do not exercise their power, it is a reproach to human nature, that the building should exist.

"The climate here is delightful, and the air so clear, that when the moon is young I can often distinguish the whole circle thus: O. You and Robert may look for this some fine night, but I do not remember ever to have observed it in England. The stars appear more brilliant here, but I often look up at the Pleiades and remember how much happier I was when I saw them in Bristol. Fare you well. Let me know that my friends remember me.

"ROBERT SOUTHEY."

as

TO WORKS OF ART.

From Fraser's Magazine.

The above notices of such a man as ON ESTHETICAL CRITICISM AS APPLIED Southey may be found interesting; nor will they be without practical value if they shall lead young persons of ardent imagination to beware of romantic projects and vagrant As many of our readers may not underhabits of life, and early to betake them- stand the meaning of the word asthetics, selves to a settled calling. What were since it has not been commonly used in Mr. Southey's religious opinions in his this country many years, we shall follow younger days we cannot ascertain. We the good old rule of first defining our term. shall rejoice, if, when an authentic memoir The word is taken from the Greek acconcis, of his life is published, it shall appear that perception. Baumgarten, a professor in in after years he both clearly understood the university of Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and felt practically the infinite value of the first used this term to designate a branch Gospel, the power of God unto sal- of philosophy by which to establish corvation." The cloud that shaded his latter rect principles of criticism in relation to days precluded all intercourse with him on the beautiful. Germany, France, Italy, and this or any other subject. Though a pros- lately England, have used the word-not perous man, and as much loved as lauded, always correctly. Criticism on art is at he had not found the world to be a home the lowest ebb in this country, consisting or rest. In a letter which we received of very little more than the application of from him in 1835, adverting to his "Pil- a catalogue of cant terms and phrases, grimage to Waterloo," written twenty many of them conveying no definite ideas, years before, he mentions the loss of two of his children, whose names will be familiar to those who recollect that affecting effusion of a father's heart. He also lost his beloved wife; though his latter years were supported by a second partner, a daughter of the venerable Canon Bowles, the poet, who devoted herself to his comfort, and watched over him with affectionate anxiety when his mind had sunk beneath its long-sustained labors. We will copy, with a slight omission, the letter to which we have alluded:

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Keswick, 2nd Sept. 1835. "Dear Sir, I am much obliged to you for your [naming a little volume of verses, chiefly of a domestic character]. They have only been long enough in my possession for me to glance at their contents in cutting open the leaves; but I see enough to perceive that the book will be often in my hands.

.

"That family picture which pleased you in 1815-which it was hoped would please such as you-is to me the most mournful of all my poems. The studious boy,' who welcomed his father's return so joyfully, was laid in his grave before the book was published; and my 'sweet Isabel' was laid beside him in the fourteenth year of her age. It pleased God to give me another son after all likelihood of such an event had ceased. He is now sixteen, and by God's mercy promises to be all that I could wish him. But I know too feelingly the instability of human life and human happiness, not to possess the blessings which are still left me, in fear.

"If any opportunity offers in which I can give
your little volume that sort of shove which
poetry, however light its bulk, requires in these
days to set it in motion, I will not let it pass.
"Farewell, Dear Sir,

And believe me yours very truly,
"ROBERT SOUTHEY."

VOL. III. No. I.

8

and but few of them distinctly understood by those who use them most frequently. The general taste in pictorial art is almost as low as the criticism. There are exceptions, just numerous enough to prove the rule. Italy retains a morbid feeling for what is really high and expressive of the uses of this great department of intellectuality, and vents in apostrophes, phrases redolent of superlatives, and in sickly admiration, her moribund recollections, without producing one worthy supporter of her Medicien days. France shines in affectation, bombast, and supposititious analysis; and her exhibitions give no promise that the fine collection of the Louvre will make any impression on her artists. Germany gives promises both in art and in criticism; and the study of asthetics among her stu dents has raised the whole standard of her taste-her sculpture and painting. In accordance with their prevailing love for has been carried into a terra incognita. mysticism, the criticism of the Germans The esoterical æsthetical doctrines have been worried by them into depths darker than Erebus, and the bewildered and benighted reader is remorselessly made to follow,

"O'er bog or steep, through strait, rough, dense, or

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