

1803. JET. 25.] PROFESSOE DAVY. 333 



Be not alarmed, my dear friend, as to the effect of 

 worldly society on my mind. The age of danger has passed 

 away ; there are in the intellectual being of all men per- 

 manent elements, certain habits and passions that cannot 

 change. I am a lover of nature with an ungratified imagi- 

 nation ; I shall continue to search for untasted charms, for 

 hidden beauties. 



My real, my waking existence is amongst the objects of 

 scientific research; common amusements and enjoyments 

 are necessary to me only as dreams to interrupt the flow of 

 thoughts too nearly analogous to enlighten and to vivify. 

 Coleridge has left London for Keswick. During his stay in 

 town I saw him seldomer than usual ; when I did see him 

 it was generally in the midst of large companies, where he 

 is the image of power and activity. His eloquence is un- 

 impaired ; perhaps it is softer and stronger. His will is 

 probably less than ever commensurate with his ability. 

 Brilliant images of greatness float upon his mind like the 

 images of the morning clouds upon the waters : their forms 

 are changed by the motions of the waves, they are agitated 

 by every breeze, and modified by every sunbeam. He 

 talked in the course of one hour of beginning three works, 

 and he recited the poem of ' Christabel ' unfinished and as 

 I had before heard it. What talent does he not waste 

 in forming visions sublime, but unconnected with the real 

 world ! I have looked to his efforts as the efforts of a 

 creating being, but as yet he has not even laid the founda- 

 tion for the new world of intellectual forms. 



When my agricultural lectures are finished I propose to 

 visit Paris, and perhaps Geneva. 



On May 10 the first lecture was given before the 

 Board of Agriculture, and five others on succeeding 

 Fridays and Tuesdays. They were corrected and 

 published in 1813. 



