Preface
Preface
Mr. Coleridge by his will, dated in September, 1829,
authorized his executor, if he should think it expedient, to
publish any of the notes or writing made by him (Mr. C.) in his
books, or any other of his manuscripts or writings, or any
letters which should thereafter be collected from, or supplied
by, his friends or correspondents. Agreeably to this authority,
an arrangement was made, under the superintendence of Mr. Green,
for the collection of Coleridge's literary remains; and at the
same time the preparation for the press of such part of the
materials as should consist of criticism and general literature,
was entrusted to the care of the present Editor. The volumes now
offered to the public are the first results of that arrangement.
They must in any case stand in need of much indulgence from the
ingenuous reader;- multa sunt condonanda in opere postumo;
but a short statement of the difficulties attending the
compilation may serve to explain some apparent anomalies, and to
preclude some unnecessary censure.
The materials were fragmentary in the extreme Sibylline
leaves; notes of the lecturer, memoranda of the
investigator, out-pourings of the solitary and self-communing
student. The fear of the press was not in them. Numerous as they
were, too, they came to light, or were communicated, at different
times, before and after the printing was commenced; and the
dates, the occasions, and the references, in most instances
remained to be discovered or conjectured. To give to such
materials method and continuity, as far as might be, to set
them forth in the least disadvantageous manner which the
circumstances would permit, was a delicate and perplexing
task; and the Editor is painfully sensible that he could bring
few qualifications for the undertaking, but such as were involved
in a many years' intercourse with the author himself, a patient
study of his writings, a reverential admiration of his genius,
and an affectionate desire to help in extending its beneficial
influence.
The contents of these volumes are drawn from a portion only of
the manuscripts entrusted to the Editor: the remainder of the
collection, which, under favourable circumstances, he hopes may
hereafter see the light, is at least of equal value with what is
now presented to the reader as a sample. In perusing the
following pages, the reader will, in a few instances, meet with
disquisitions of a transcendental character, which, as a general
rule, have been avoided: the truth is, that they were sometimes
found so indissolubly intertwined with the more popular matter
which preceded and followed, as to make separation impracticable.
There are very many to whom no apology will be necessary in this
respect; and the Editor only adverts to it for the purpose of
obviating, as far as may be, the possible complaint of the more
general reader. But there is another point to which, taught by
past experience, he attaches more importance, and as to which,
therefore, he ventures to put in a more express and particular
caution. In many of the books and papers, which have been used in
the compilation of these volumes, passages from other writers,
noted down by Mr. Coleridge as in some way remarkable, were mixed
up with his own comments on such passages, or with his
reflections on other subjects, in a manner very embarrassing to
the eye of a third person undertaking to select the original
matter, after the lapse of several years. The Editor need not say
that he has not knowingly admitted any thing that was not genuine
without an express declaration, as in Vol. I. p. 1; and in
another instance, Vol. II. p. 379, he has intimated his own
suspicion: but, besides these, it is possible that some cases of
mistake in this respect may have occurred. There may be one or
two passages they cannot well be more printed in
these volumes, which belong to other writers; and if such there
be, the Editor can only plead in excuse, that the work has been
prepared by him amidst many distractions, and hope that, in this
instance at least, no ungenerous use will be made of such a
circumstance to the disadvantage of the author, and that persons
of greater reading or more retentive memories than the Editor,
who may discover any such passages, will do him the favour to
communicate the fact.
The Editor's motive in publishing the few poems and fragments
included in these volumes, was to make a supplement to the
collected edition of Coleridge's poetical works. In these
fragments the reader will see the germs of several passages in
the already published poems of the author, but which the Editor
has not thought it necessary to notice more particularly. The
Fall of Robespierre, a joint composition, has been so long in
print in the French edition of Coleridge's poems, that,
independently of such merit as it may possess, it seemed natural
to adopt it upon the present occasion, and to declare the true
state of the authorship.
To those who have been kind enough to communicate books and
manuscripts for the purpose of the present publication, the
Editor and, through him, Mr. Coleridge's executor return their
grateful thanks. In most cases a specific acknowledgement has
been made. But, above and independently of all others, it is to
Mr. and Mrs. Gillman, and to Mr. Green himself, that the public
are indebted for the preservation and use of the principal part
of the contents of these volumes. The claims of those respected
individuals on the gratitude of the friends and admirers of
Coleridge and his works are already well known, and in due season
those claims will receive additional confirmation.
With these remarks, sincerely conscious of his own inadequate
execution of the task assigned to him, yet confident withal of
the general worth of the contents of the following pages
the Editor commits the reliques of a great man to the indulgent
consideration of the Public.
Lincoln's Inn, August 11, 1836.
L'Envoy.
He was one who with long and large arm still collected precious armfulls in whatever direction he pressed forward, yet still took up so much more than he could keep together, that those who followed him gleaned more from his continual droppings than he himself brought home; nay, made stately corn-ricks therewith, while the reaper himself was still seen only with a strutting armful of newly-cut sheaves. But I should misinform you grossly if I left you to infer that his collections were a heap of incoherent miscellanea. No! the very contrary. Their variety, conjoined with the too great coherency, the too great both desire and power of referring them in systematic, nay, genetic subordination, was that which rendered his schemes gigantic and impracticable, as an author, and his conversation less instructive as a man.
Auditorem inopem ipsa copia fecit.
Too much was given, all so weighty and brilliant as to preclude a chance of its being all received, so that it not seldom passed over the hearer's mind like a roar of many waters.
Contents