The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 106

? 1799.

FOOTNOTES:

[309:1] First published in _Sibylline Leaves_, 1817: included in 1828, 1829, and 1834. For the original (_Bei Wilhelm Tells Geburtsstatte im Kanton Uri_) by Count F. L. s...o...b..rg see Appendices of this edition.

There is no evidence as to the date of composition.

LINENOTES:

[28] Slavery] _Slavery_, all editions to 1834.

THE VISIT OF THE G.o.dS[310:1]

IMITATED FROM SCHILLER

Never, believe me, Appear the Immortals, Never alone: Scarce had I welcomed the Sorrow-beguiler, Iacchus! but in came Boy Cupid the Smiler; 5 Lo! Phoebus the Glorious descends from his throne!

They advance, they float in, the Olympians all!

With Divinities fills my Terrestrial hall!

How shall I yield you 10 Due entertainment, Celestial quire?

Me rather, bright guests! with your wings of upbuoyance Bear aloft to your homes, to your banquets of joyance, That the roofs of Olympus may echo my lyre! 15 Hah! we mount! on their pinions they waft up my soul!

O give me the nectar!

O fill me the bowl!

Give him the nectar!

Pour out for the poet, 20 Hebe! pour free!

Quicken his eyes with celestial dew, That Styx the detested no more he may view, And like one of us G.o.ds may conceit him to be!

Thanks, Hebe! I quaff it! Io Paean, I cry! 25 The wine of the Immortals Forbids me to die!

? 1799.

FOOTNOTES:

[310:1] First published in _Sibylline Leaves_, 1817: included in 1828, 1829 ('Vision of the G.o.ds', Contents, vol. i, pp. 322-3 of both editions), and in 1834. For Schiller's original (_Dithyrambe_) see Appendices of this edition.

FROM THE GERMAN[311:1]

Know'st thou the land where the pale citrons grow, The golden fruits in darker foliage glow?

Soft blows the wind that breathes from that blue sky!

Still stands the myrtle and the laurel high!

Know'st thou it well, that land, beloved Friend? 5 Thither with thee, O, thither would I wend!

? 1799.

FOOTNOTES:

[311:1] First published in 1834. For the original ('Mignon's Song') in Goethe's _Wilhelm Meister_ see Appendices of this edition.

WATER BALLAD[311:2]

[FROM THE FRENCH]

'Come hither, gently rowing, Come, bear me quickly o'er This stream so brightly flowing To yonder woodland sh.o.r.e.

But vain were my endeavour 5 To pay thee, courteous guide; Row on, row on, for ever I'd have thee by my side.

'Good boatman, prithee haste thee, I seek my father-land.'-- 10 'Say, when I there have placed thee, Dare I demand thy hand?'

'A maiden's head can never So hard a point decide; Row on, row on, for ever 15 I'd have thee by my side.'

The happy bridal over The wanderer ceased to roam, For, seated by her lover, The boat became her home. 20 And still they sang together As steering o'er the tide: 'Row on through wind and weather For ever by my side.'

? 1799.

FOOTNOTES:

[311:2] First published in _The Athenaeum_, October 29, 1831. First collected in _P. and D. W._, 1877-80. For the original ('Barcarolle de Marie') of Francois Antoine Eugene de Planard see Appendices of this edition.

ON AN INFANT[312:1]

WHICH DIED BEFORE BAPTISM

'Be, rather than be called, a child of G.o.d,'

Death whispered! With a.s.senting nod, Its head upon its mother's breast, The Baby bowed, without demur-- Of the kingdom of the Blest Possessor, not Inheritor.

_April_ 8, 1799.

FOOTNOTES:

[312:1] First published in _P. W._, 1834. These lines were sent in a letter from Coleridge to his wife, dated Gottingen, April 6, 1799:--'Ah, my poor Berkeley!' [b. May 15, 1798, d. Feb. 10, 1799] he writes, 'A few weeks ago an Englishman desired me to write an epitaph on an infant who had died before its Christening. While I wrote it, my heart with a deep misgiving turned my thoughts homeward. "On an Infant", &c. It refers to the second question in the Church Catechism.' _Letters of S. T. C._ 1895, i. 287.