July 22. 1854.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



57 



LONDON, SATURDAY. JULY 22, 1854. 

 MANUSCRIPT or COLEEIDGe's I-EtJTURE8 IN 1812. 



I am sorry that an accident prevented the ful- 

 filment of my intention last week, respecting my 

 short-hand notes of Coleridge's Lectures in Nov. 

 and Dec. 1812, and Jan. 1813. I will endeavour 

 now to make up for the deficiency by supplying a 

 few quotations from them, observing, by way of 

 preface, that, although forty years have elapsed 

 since the Lectures were delivered, I have every 

 reason to rely upon the accuracy of what I furnish : 

 of course, my original short- hand memoranda are 

 in the first person, and this form I have observed 

 throughout my transcript ; since, however brief my 

 note, it gives the very words Coleridge employed, 

 although I do not pretend to say that it gives all his 

 ■words. I deeply regret that I was not then im- 

 pressed with the necessity, as far as possible, of 

 taking down the whole of what he uttered. He was 

 not generally a rapid speaker, although continuous 

 and flowing ; and when in the full tide of his sub- 

 ject, v/hen his face was lighted up almost with the 

 appearance of inspiration, it was not easy to follow 

 him ; not so much on account of his volubility, as 

 because I found it extremely difficult to keep my 

 hands to their mechanical employment, and my 

 eyes from becoming fixed upon his glowing coun- 

 tenance. 



It is singular that I have not marked the date 

 of the day on which any lecture was delivered, 

 excepting the first on Monday, Nov. 18, 1812; 

 but as Coleridge was thus to occupy every suc- 

 ceeding Thursday and Monday, and as I am not 

 aware, from note or memory, that he failed, either 

 from health or otherwise, in keeping his engage- 

 ment, it is easy to calculate on what particular 

 day the first, second, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 

 or twelfth lecture (the only ones of which I have 

 yet recovered my notes) was pronounced. 



Lecture I. was chiefly devoted to the causes of 

 false criticism : 



" 1. Accidental, arising out of the particular 

 circumstances of the age in which we live. 



" 2. Permanent, arising out of the general prin- 

 ciples of our nature." 



Into these I shall not now enter farther than to 

 introduce a pleasant anecdote, which I had pre- 

 viously heard him mention in private society. He 

 prefaced it thus : 



" As a third permanent cause of false criticism, 

 ■we may enumerate the vague use of terms ; and 

 here I may take the liberty of impressing upon 

 my hearers the fitness, if not the necessity, of 

 employing the most appropriate words and ex- 

 pressions even in common conversation, and in 



ordinary transactions of life. If you want a sub- 

 stantive, do not take the first that comes into your 

 head, but that which most distinctly and pecu- 

 liarly conveys your meaning : if an adjective, 

 remember the grammatical use of that part of 

 speech, and be careful that it expresses some 

 quality in the substantive that you wish to im- 

 press upon your hearer. Reflect for a moment on 

 the vague and uncertain manner in which the 

 word 'taste' has been often employed; and how 

 such epithets as ' sublime,' 'majestic,' 'grand,' 

 ' striking,' ' picturesque,' &c. have been misap- 

 plied, and how they have been used on the most 

 unworthy and inappropriate occasions. 



" I was admiring one of the falls of the Clyde, 

 and, while ruminating on what descriptive term 

 could be most fitly used with reference to it, I 

 came to the conclusion that the epithet ' majestic' 

 was the most appropriate. While I was still con- 

 templating the scene, a gentleman and lady came 

 up, neither of whose faces bore much of the stamp 

 of superior intelligence ; and the first words the 

 gentleman uttered were, ' It is very majestic' I 

 was pleased to find such a confirmation of my 

 opinion, and I complimented the spectator upon 

 the choice of his epithet, saying, that he had hit 

 upon the best word that could have been selected 

 from our language. ' Yes, Sir (replied the gen- 

 tleman), I say it is very majestic : it is sublime, 

 it is beautiful, it is grand, it is picturesque I* 

 •Aye (added the lady), it is one of the prettiest 

 things I ever saw.' I own that I was not a little 

 disconcerted." 



Coleridge reserved this incident until nearly 

 the conclusion of his lecture ; it occasioned much 

 laughter, and dismissed his auditors (after a few- 

 general observations) in very good humour. He 

 continued tlie subject in his second lecture, iti 

 which lie humorously divided modern readers into 

 four classes : 



"1. Sponges, who absorb all they read, and 

 return it nearly in the same state, only a little 

 dirtied. 



"2. Sand-glasses, who retain nothing, and are 

 content to get through a book for the sake of 

 getting through the time. 



" 3. Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs 

 of what they read. 



" 4. Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, 

 who profit by what they read, and enable others 

 to profit by it also." 



Here it was that he gave us his definition of 

 poetry ; and after explaining it in detail, and en- 

 larging upon it, he thus broke forth : 



" I never shall forget, when in Rome, the acute 

 sensation of pain I experienced on beholding the 

 frescoes of Raphael and Michael Angelo, and on 

 reflecting that they were indebted lor their pre- 



