COLERIDGE S OPIUM-EATING. 



" I was once riding with Brady, 

 titular Bishop of Ardagh, when he 

 observed to me, ' Ma foy ! Best, 

 this huge overgrown bush is 

 mightily in the way ; I will order 

 it to be cut down.' ' What, sir ! ' 

 said I, ' cut down Goldsmith's haw- 

 thorn bush, that supplies so beauti- 

 ful an image in the Deserted Vil- 

 lage ? ' l Ma foy ! ' exclaimed the 

 bishop, ' is that the hawthorn bush 1 

 Then ever let it be sacred from the 

 edge of the axe, and evil to him 

 that would cut from it a branch.' " 



TIT FOR TAT. 



Campbell, the poet, and Turner, 

 the artist, were dining together 

 with a large party, a few years ago. 

 The poet was called upon for a toast, 

 and, by way of a joke upon the 

 great professor of the sister art, 

 gave, " The Painters and Glaziers." 

 After the laughter had subsided, 

 the artist was of course summoned 

 to propose a toast also. He rose, 

 and, with admirable tact and ready 

 wit, discharged the debt of his craft 

 to the author of the Pleasures of 

 Hope, by giving the " Paper-stain- 

 ers." 



COLERIDGE'S YOUTH. 



" From eight to fourteen I was a 

 playless dreamer," he observes, "a 

 helluo librarum, my appetite for 

 which was indulged by a singular 

 incident : a stranger, who was struck 

 by my conversation, made me free 

 of a circulating library in King 

 Street, Cheapside." 



"This incident," says Gilman, 

 " was indeed singular. Going down 

 the Strand in one of his day-dreams, 

 fancying himself swimming the 

 Hellespont, thrusting his hands be- 

 fore him as in the act of swimming, 

 one hand came in contact with a 

 gentleman's pocket. The gentleman 

 seized his hand : turning round, he 

 looked at him with some auger, ex- 

 claiming, ' What, so young, and so 

 wicked!' at the same time accus- 



ing him of an attempt to pick his 

 pocket. 



" The frightened boy sobbed out 

 his denial of the intention, and ex- 

 plained to him how he thought him- 

 self Leander trying to swim the 

 Hellespont. 



" The gentleman was so struck 

 and delighted with the novelty of 

 the thing, and with the simplicity 

 and intelligence of the boy, that he 

 subscribed, as before stated, to the 

 library ; in consequence of which, 

 Coleridge was further enabled to in- 

 dulge his love of reading. It is 

 stated that at this school he laid 

 the foundation of those bodily suf- 

 ferings, which made his life one of 

 sickness and torture, and occasioned 

 his melancholy resort to opium. He 

 greatly injured his health, it is said, 

 and reduced his strength, by his 

 bathing excursions ; but is it not 

 quite as likely that the deficiency 

 of food, and those holidays when he- 

 was turned out to starvation, had 

 quite as much to do with it ? " 



COLERIDGE'S OPIUM-EATING. 



One of the most melancholy facts 

 in the history of Coleridge is his in- 

 dulgence in the use of opium. It 

 had been continued for a long time, 

 and had begun to weaken and ob- 

 scure his vigorous and brilliant 

 intellect before his friend Cottle be- 

 came aware that he used it. 



In 1814, Cottle wrote to him a 

 very faithful letter, full of dissua- 

 sives against the habit ; and in 

 Coleridge's reply occur the follow- 

 ing affecting paragraphs : 



"For ten years the anguish of 

 my spirit has been indescribable, 

 the sense of my danger staring, but 

 the consciousness of my guilt worse 

 far worse than all. I 1 1 ; * v < ] > rayed, 

 with drops of agony on my brow ; 

 trembling, not only before the justice 

 of my Maker, but. even before the 

 mercy of my Redeemer. ' I gave 

 thee so many talents ; what hast 

 thou done with them 1 ' 



