134 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLKRIDGE. 



" Eheu ! quam infortunii miseriiinnm est fuisse felicem ! " 

 Being struck with the circumstance, and himself a scholar, 

 Captain Ogle enquired of a soldier to whom the saddle belonged. 

 "Please your honour, to Comberback" (the name assumed by 

 Coleridge when he enlisted) answered the dragoon. *• Comber- 

 back ?" said the captain, " send him to me." Comberback pre- 

 sented himself, with the inside of his hand in front of his cap. 

 His officer mildly said, " Comberback, did you write the Latin 

 sentence whicb I have just read under your saddle? " " Please 

 your honour," answered the soldier, " I wrote it." " Then, my 

 lad, you are not what you appear to be, I shall speak to the 

 commanding officer, and you may depend on fhy speaking as a 

 friend." The commanding officer was spoken to, and Coleridge 

 was soon dischargeil, from respect to his friends and station. As 

 a soldier, lie was remarkably orderly and obedient, though he 

 never could rub down his own horse. 



llis friends having been informed of his situation, a chaise was 

 soon at the door of the Bear inn, Reading; and the officers of the 

 15th cordially shaking his hands, particularly the officer who had 

 been the means of his discharge, he drove off, whilst his old 

 comrades gave him three hearty cheers. 



It should be mentioned, that by far the most correct, sublime, 

 chaste, and beautiful of his poems, "Religious Musings," was 

 written in the tap room of the Bear inn, Reading. 



In 1794, he published a small volume of poems, and, in con- 

 junction with Southey, wrote " The fall of Robespierre, an historic 

 drama ;" they commenced it at seven o'clock one evening, and it 

 was finished by 12 next day. In the winter of this year, he de- 

 livered a course of lectures, on the French revolution, at Bristol. 

 On leaving the University, Coleridge was full of enthusiasm 

 in the cause of liberty ; and, with the coadjutorship of Southey 

 and I.ovell, proposed schemes for regenerating the world ; they 

 promulgnted their plans in Bristol, where they received much 

 applause from several inhabitants. In this town Coleridge pub- 

 lished (in 1795) two pamphlets, " Conciones ad Populum," and 

 '* A protest against certain bills (then pending) for suppressing 

 seditious meetings." 



The scheme of regeneration was called " Pantisocracy ;" as 

 property was to be in common, and every man a legislator. But 

 in the midst of their plans, the three philosophers fell in love with 

 three sisters of Bristol, named Fricker, and married them ; which 

 circumstance had the effect of putting an end to their golden 

 dreams of human renovation. 



