WOKDSWOKTII, COLERIDGE, AND COTTLE. 



151 



ever, Henry Kirke White saw his 

 error in time to reach that higher, 

 purer motive, which combines with 

 feelings of regret and sorrow, the 

 hopes and aspirations of the Chris- 

 tian. 



WORDSWORTH, COLERIDGE, AND 

 COTTLE. 



Coleridge had met with Words- 

 worth's Descriptive Sketches in 1794, 

 and discerned amid the faults of 

 an immature understanding the 

 promise of an original poetic genius. 

 He, on his part, needed no other 

 voucher for the possession of the 

 richest intellectual gifts than what 

 proceeded from his own most elo- 

 quent tongue. His mind, as yet 

 undimmed by the fumes of opium, 

 was now in its fullest and freshest 

 bloom. Transcendental metaphy- 

 sics had not monopolized his 

 thoughts. His sympathies had a 

 wider range than afterwards, and, 

 if his discourse sometimes lost itself 

 in clouds, they were clouds which 

 glowed with gorgeous hues. All 

 who saw him in his early prime are 

 agreed that his finest works convey 

 a feeble notion of the profusion of 

 ideas, the brilliancy of imagery, the 

 subtlety of speculation, the sweep 

 of knowledge, which then distin- 

 guished his inexhaustible colloquial 

 displays. Each poet had traversed 

 regions of thought to which the 

 other was comparatively a stranger: 

 Wordsworth full of original con- 

 templations upon nature Cole- 

 ridge more conversant with systems 

 of philosophy, and all the varieties 

 of general literature. Coleridge 

 was astonished to find a man who, 

 out of the common appearances of 

 the world, could evolve new and 

 unexpected feelings Wordsworth 

 was dazzled with the splendour of 

 apparently boundless intellectual 

 hoards. There sprang up between 

 them on the instant the strongest 

 sentiments of admiration and aifec- 

 tiou. " I feel myself," writes Cole- 



ridge, "a little man by his side." 

 Of Miss Wordsworth he speaks 

 with equal enthusiasm. " His ex- 

 quisite sister is a woman indeed ! 

 in mind, I mean, and heart ; for her 

 person is such that, if you expected 

 to see a pretty woman, you would 

 think her rather ordinary if you 

 expected to see an ordinary woman, 

 you would think her pretty ! Her 

 manners are simple, ardent, impres- 

 sive. In every motion her most 

 innocent soul outbeams so brightly 

 that who saw would say 



' Guilt was a thing impossible in her.' 



Her information varies; her eye 

 watchful in minutest observation 

 of nature, and her taste a perfect 

 electrometer it bends, protrudes, 

 and draws in at subtlest beauties 

 and most recondite faults." What 

 Wordsworth thought of his guest 

 may be summed up in his well- 

 known saying, that other men of 

 the age had done wonderful things, 

 but Coleridge was the only won- 

 derful man he had ever known. 



Here is an anecdote of these two 

 poets and their publisher Cottle : 



" The publisher has preserved no 

 memorials of his professional visit ; 

 but some particulars he has re- 

 corded of a former jaunt afford an 

 amusing glimpse of the simplicity 

 of living, and ignorance of common 

 things, which then distinguished, 

 the gifted pair. Cottle drove 

 Wordsworth from Bristol to Allfox- 

 den in a gig, calling at Stowey by 

 the way to summon Coleridge and 

 Miss Wordsworth, who followed 

 swiftly on foot. The Allfoxden 

 pantry was empty so they carried 

 with them bread and cheese, and a 

 bottle of brandy. A beggar stole 

 the cheese, which set Coleridge ex- 

 patiating on the superior virtues 

 of brandy. It was he that, with 

 thirsty impatience, took out the 

 horse ; but as he let down the 

 shafts, the theme of his eloquence 

 rolled from the seat, and was dashed 



