STANZAS,

WRITTEN IN MY POCKET COPY OF THOMSON'S CASTLE OF INDOLENCE.

[Composed in the orchard, Town-end, Grasmere, Coleridge living with us much at this time: his son Hartley has said, that his father's character and habits are here preserved in a livelier way than in anything that has been written about him.]

WITHIN our happy Castle there dwelt One
Whom without blame I may not overlook;
For never sun on living creature shone
Who more devout enjoyment with us took:
Here on his hours he hung as on a book,
On his own time here would he float away,

As doth a fly upon a summer brook;

But go to-morrow, or belike to-day,

Seek for him, he is fled; and whither none can say.

Thus often would he leave our peaceful home,

And find elsewhere his business or delight;

Out of our Valley's limits did he roam:

Full many a time, upon a stormy night,

His voice came to us from the neighbouring height:
Oft could we see him 1 driving full in view

1

At mid-day when the sun was shining bright;
What ill was on him, what he had to do,
A mighty wonder bred among our quiet crew.

Ah! piteous sight it was to see this Man
When he came back to us, a withered flower,—
Or like a sinful creature, pale and wan.

1

1836.

II.

Oft did we see him,

1815.

Down would he sit; and without strength or power
Look at the common grass from hour to hour;
And oftentimes, how long I fear to say,
Where apple-trees in blossom made a bower,
Retired in that sunshiny shade he lay;
And, like a naked Indian, slept himself away.

Great wonder to our gentle tribe it was
Whenever from our Valley he withdrew;
For happier soul no living creature has
Than he had, being here the long day through.
Some thought he was a lover, and did woo:

Some thought far worse of him, and judged him wrong;
But verse was what he had been wedded to;

And his own mind did like a tempest strong

Come to him thus, and drove the weary Wight along.

With him there often walked in friendly guise,

Or lay upon the moss by brook or tree,
A noticeable Man with large grey eyes,
And a pale face that seemed undoubtedly
As if a blooming face it ought to be;
Heavy his low-hung lip did oft appear,

Deprest by weight of musing Phantasy;
Profound his forehead was, though not severe;

Yet some did think that he had little business here;

Sweet heaven forefend his was a lawful right;

Noisy he was, and gamesome as a boy;

His limbs would toss about him with delight
Like branches when strong winds the trees annoy.
Nor lacked his calmer hours device or toy
To banish listlessness and irksome care;

He would have taught you how you might employ

Yourself; and many did to him repair,

And certes not in vain; he had inventions rare.

Expedients, too, of simplest sort he tried:

Long blades of grass, plucked round him as he lay,
Made, to his ear attentively applied,

A pipe on which the wind would deftly play;
Glasses he had, that little things display,

The beetle panoplied in gems and gold,
A mailed angel on a battle-day;

The mysteries that cups of flowers enfold,

And all the gorgeous sights which fairies do behold.

He would entice that other Man to hear

His music, and to view his imagery:

And, sooth, these two were each to the other dear: 1
No livelier love in such a place could be: 2
There did they dwell-from earthly labour free,

As happy spirits as were ever seen;

If but a bird, to keep them company,

Or butterfly sate down, they were, I ween,

As pleased as if the same had been a Maiden-queen.

These stanzas require some explanation. The Fenwick note makes it clear that Coleridge is one of the two characters described; but which of the two it is difficult to say. The description, in the fifth stanza, of the

Noticeable man with large grey eyes,

has usually been understood to refer to Coleridge. They are prefixed to Chapter IV. of the Biographical Supplement to the Biographia Literaria as if referring to him. If they do describe Coleridge, then the first four

stanzas of the poem refer to Wordsworth. But there is certainly some incongruity in his thus beginning a poem referring to himself—

Within our happy Castle there dwell One

Whom without blame I may not overlook.

Still more incongruous are the following lines, if applied by Wordsworth to himself

Ah! piteous sight it was to see this Man,

When he came back to us, a withered flower,—

Or like a sinful creature, pale and wan.

And knowing the restless wandering life which Coleridge led, during the early years of the Wordsworth's settlement at Grasmere, the suddenness with which he would appear at Dove Cottage (crossing over without warning from Keswick), and the suddenness with which he would depart, much of the description of these first four stanzas—and notably the three last lines of the fourth stanza-seem specially relevant to him. Then, the description in the fifth stanza

Heavy his low-hung lip did oft appear,

Deprest by weight of musing Phantasy,

is quite applicable to Wordsworth. The "expedients, too, of simple sort,"

To banish listlessness and irksome care,

the pipes made of blades of grass, and the magnifying glasses through which he looked at the glories of the beetle,

A mailed angel on a battle-day,

all seem relevant enough to Wordsworth himself.

But, on the other hand, and as confirming the ordinary opinion that Wordsworth is alluding to himself in the earlier, and to Coleridge in the later stanzas of the poem,-one may compare the lines

Down would he sit; and without strength or power

Look at the common grass from hour to hour,

with the first verse of Expostulation and Reply, written at Alfoxden

Why William, on that old gray stone,

Thus for the length of half a day,

Why William, sit you thus alone,

And dream your time away?

And the description of his lying in the "sunshiny shade" of the orchard at Town-end Cottage, and "sleeping himself away"

Where apple-trees in blossom made a bower,

of his voice coming from the mountains on stormy nights, and his wandering beyond the limits of the valley, his restless restfulness, his

moodiness, the irregularity of his movements, his enjoyment in Nature, and his devotion to Verse all apply significantly enough to Wordsworth ; while, if Coleridge be the "noticeable man with large grey eyes," there is much in the second part of the poem very apposite to him.

Noisy he was, and gamesome as a boy.

Mr Hutchinson tells me he has "often heard his father say that Coleridge was uproarious in his mirth.”

On the whole, I think it most probable that the first four stanzas refer to Wordsworth, and that the fifth, sixth, and seventh describe Coleridge. The Bishop of Lincoln takes this for granted (see Memoirs, vol. i. p. 99): and Miss Wordsworth, writing of Coleridge in 1797, said, "His eye is large . . . and grey. . . . He has a profound forehead."-—ED.

O THOU whose fancies from afar are brought:
Who of thy words dost make a mock apparel,
And fittest to unutterable thought

The breeze-like motion and the self-born carol;
Thou faery voyager! that dost float

In such clear water, that thy boat

May rather seem

To brood on air that on an earthly stream;

Suspended in a stream as clear as sky,

Where earth and heaven do make one imagery;

O blessed vision! happy child!

Thou art so exquisitely wild,

I think of thee with many fears

For what may be thy lot in future years.

I thought of times when Pain might be thy guest,

Lord of thy house and hospitality;

And Grief, uneasy lover! never rest

But when she sate within the touch of thee.

O too industrious folly!

O vain and causeless melancholy!