CPW CORRECTIONS (Nov 05): VOLUME I = READING TEXT
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pp 554-5 etc Epigram on a Reader of his Own Verses, Inspired by Wernicke (208)
The surname "Wernike" should be spelled thus -- without a "c" -- here and elsewhere with respect to the following thirteen poems: nos. 230, 305-06, 308-312, 314, 316-9.
(Heidi Thomson)
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p 738 Epigram to my Candle, after Wernike (316)
Correct the opening lines of the Wernike text as follows:
Licht, du erleuchtest mir mein Blatt und meine Sinne:
Indem du abnimmst, werd' ich dass ich abnehm' inne,
(Heidi Thomson)
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p 741 Epigram on Virgil's "Obscuri sub luce maligna", after Wernike (319)
In line 1 of the Wernike text, read "ist" (insert "t"); and in line 6, read "Finsterniss" (double "s" at close).
(Heidi Thomson)
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pp 1088-9 The Netherlands (651)
In the first sentence of the headnote on p 1088, read: "Notebook 40 f 27r (CN V 5922),"
And insert editorial footnote on p 1089:
5. fly-transfixing] EHC, followed by several twentieth-century editors, read "fog-transfixing", but the word looks more like "sky-transfixing" or "fly-transfixing". Kathleen Coburn The Self Conscious Imagination (Oxford 1974) 52 independently read "fly-transfixing".
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CPW CORRECTIONS (Nov 05): VOLUME II = VARIORUM
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p193, following To a Young Ass (84), insert:
84.X1. WRITTEN ON THE NECESSARY HOUSE
AT JESUS COLLEGE
A. DATE
If STC was the author, Sept-Dec 1794? If merely the conduit, May-Jun 1799?
B. TEXT
University College London Library, Special Collections: G. B. Greenough Papers 29/1. A loose leaf removed from a notebook, numbered [pages] 19 and 20, filled with brief verses by various authors on both sides, transcribed by George Bellas Greenough. Transcript in ink in Greenough's hand on p 20, signed "Coleridge." The leaf measures 12.0 x 18.4 cm; no wm; chain-lines 2.8 cm. It is loosely inserted into one of three large copybooks containing verse transcribed by Greenough, this one with paper wm "J RUMP | 1817" and chain lines 2.6 cm. While other verses on the same loose leaf are struck through, signifying that they were re-copied into a larger book, these verses are not struck through.
Though Greenough attributed the lines to STC in exactly the same fashion as he did STC originals, I suppose these came from (were not composed by) STC for the reason that it is a rare bird that fouls its own nest. They are of a kind that visitors to a college leave behind and, while STC did not find undergraduate company in his own college congenial, he appears to have ignored rather than deplored it. The lines might have been recalled in Greenough's company during a discussion of German student graffiti, for example, or at the time STC composed Epigram on the Goslar Ale (201) that is, in May 1799.
The lines are positioned here because, if STC was the author, he was most detached from college society in the period Sept-Dec 1794.
Of head above & tail below
The burden here you vent
But sure 'twould puzzle Sphinx to know
Which is the excrement
title] Greenough transcribes in the form, "Written in the necessary house at Jesus College".
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pp 662-8 The Story of the Mad Ox (177)
The following text should be interpolated between PR 1 and 2, and also incorporated into the collation. It includes many but not all the PR 2 revisions and a full version of the prefatory note that C wrote into his annotated copy, as well as an additional prose note. It has the same number of lines as all other known versions, and is divided into (unnumbered) stanzas in the same way; a couple of readings are unique. Note that the transcript below differs in several particulars from the one printed by Dennis R. Dean (ed) Coleridge and Geology (Ann Arbor 2004) 44-8.
1 University College London Library, Special Collections: G. B. Greenough Papers 29/1. Unnumbered (conjoined) leaves torn from a notebook, each page measuring 11.7 x 18.8 cm; wm PIETER DE VRIES | & | COMP beneath ?shield. The transcript in C's hand, signed "S. T. Coleridge", fills ff 1v-5r: f 5v and subsequent pages contain a transcript in Greenough's hand of Henry Smedley's song, "The Cousins", dated 1799. The leaves are loosely inserted inside the front covers of Greenough's larger copybook titled "MS. Poems" (wm J RUMP | 1817; chain lines 2.6 cm).
One would suppose the lines were copied for Greenough at some point during spring-early summer 1799.
prefatory note. The following Fable was written during the Terror of the Invasion,
when Sheridan made that celebrated Anti-gallican Oration, & Tierney voted
with Mr Pitt for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. -- At the
time all the Ministerial Papers were full of Tierney's & Sheridan's Recan
recantation -- & to expose the falsehood of this phrase & the
idea implied in it is the end of the Fable. --
title.
Recantation a Political Fable Allegory --
An Ox long fed with musty hay
And work'd with yoke and chain
Was turn'd out on an April Day
When Fields are in their best array,
And growing Grasses sparkle gay
At once with sun and rain.
[Line-space]
The Grass was sweet, the Sun was bright!
With truth I may aver it,
The Ox
Beast was glad, as well he might,
Thought a green meadow no bad sight,
And frisk'd -- to shew his huge delight --
Much like a Beast of Spirit.
[Line-space]
"Stop, neighbours, stop! why these alarms?
"The Ox is only glad. -- -- --
-- But still they pour from Cots & Farms!
Halloo! -- the Parish is up in arms!
(A *hoaxing Hunt has always charms)
17 fn a Smithfield phrase, for when a mob of Blackguards follow a poor animal under
pretence that he is mad. -- --
Halloo! the Ox is mad!
[Line-space]
The frighten'd Ox scamper'd about,
Plunge! thro' the Hedge he drove.
The Mob pursue with hideous Rout,
A Bulldog fastens on his Snout;
He gores the dog! his Tongue hangs out!
He's mad, he's mad, by Jove!
[Line-space]
Stop, neighbours, stop! aloud did call
A Sage of sober hue --
But all at one on him they fall,
And Women
squeak and Children squawll,
What? would you have him toss us all?
And damme who are You?
[Line-space]
Ah hapless Sage! his Ears they stun
And curse him o'er & o'er.
"You bloody-minded Dog!" cries one --
"To slit your windpipe were good fun!
"'Od blast you for an *impious Son
35fn This fine word, like many others very common at that Time, is borrowed from the Pulpit. So the illiterate Blackguards that belonged to the London Corresponding Society constantly used coerced instead of forced/ and every little Pothouse Church & Statist trundled the words "Gallic Scepticism" as fluently over their Tongues, as if they had understood them.
"Of a Presbyterian Wh --!
[Line-space]
"You'd have him toss the Parish Priest,
"And run against the Altar!
"You Fiend!" -- The Sage his Warnings ceas'd,
And North & South, & West & East,
Halloo! they follow the poor Beast,
Tom, Mat, Dick, Bob, and Walter.
[Line-space]
Old Lewis ('twas his evil day)
Stood trembling in his Shoes.
The Ox was his -- what could he say?
His legs were stiffen'd with dismay --
The Ox ran o'er him mid the Fray
And gave him his Death's Bruise.
[Line-space]
The frighted Ox ran on -- but here
(The Gospel scarce more true is)
My muse stops short in mid career --
Nay, gentle Critic! do not sneer!
I can not chuse but drop a tear,
A tear for good old Lewis!
[Line-space]
The frighted Beast ran thro' the Town,
All follow'd, Boy & Dad --
Bulldog, Parson, Shopman, Clown.
The Publicans rush'd from the Crown --
Halloo! hamstring him, cut him down!
-- They drove the poor Ox mad.
[Line-space]
Should you a rat to madness teaze
Why
ev'n a Rat might tor ?pl plague you.
There's no Philosopher but sees
That Rage & Fear are one Disease;
Tho' this may burn & that may freeze,
They're both alike the Ague!
[Line-space]
And so our Ox in frantic Mood
Fac'd round, like any Bull!
The Mob turn'd Tail, & he pursued,
Till <they> with flight & fear were stew'd;
And not a Chick of all the Brood
But had his belly full.
[Line-space]
"Old Nick's astride the beast, tis clear.
"Old Nicholas to a Tittle! --
But all agree, he'd disappear,
Would but the Parson venture near
And thro' his teeth right o'er the Steer
Squishirt
out some *fasting Spittle.
77 fn
alluding to the fast sermons &c /-- & a to the popular
superstition in Devonshire, according to which if the Devil appears to you, you
may either cut him in half with a Straw; or if it happens before you have eat
anything, i.e. after midnight, you may spit over his Horns, & he will
immediately vanish. -- This superstition was general in the Town where the Poem
was written.
[Line-space]
Achilles was a warrior fleet,
The Trojans he could worry:
Our Parson too was swift of feet,
But shew'd it chiefly in Retreat!
The Victor Ox drove down the Street,
The Mob fled hurry-skurry!
[Line-space]
Thro' Gardens, Lanes, & Fields new-plough'd,
Thro' his Hedge & thro' her Hedge
He plung'd & toss'd & bellow'd loud,
Till in his Madness he grew proud
To see this helter-skelter Crowd
That had more zeal than Courage. --
[Line-space]
But
Alas! to mend the Breaches wide
He made for these poor Ninnies,
They all must work, whate'er betide,
Both days & months, & pay beside
(Sad news for Avarice & for Pride)
A sight of golden Guineas!
[Line-space]
But now once more to view did pop
The Sage that kept his Senses --
And now he cry'd -- "Stop, Neighbours, stop!
"The Ox is Mad! I would not swap
"No, not a schoolboy's farthing Top,
"For all your Parish Fences!
[Line-space]
"The Ox is Mad! Ho! Tom, Dick, Mat!
"What means this coward Fuss!
"Ho! stretch this rope across that Plat:
"Twill trip him up / or if not that,
"Why, damme! we must lay him flat --
"See, here's my Blunderbuss.
[Line-space]
A lying Dog! just now he said,
The Ox was only glad.
Let's break his Presbyterian Head!
-- Hush! quoth the Sage / You've been misled.
No Quarrels now! Let's all make head!
You drove the poor Ox mad!
[Line-space]
Thus as I sat in careless chat, --
With the morning's wet newspaper
?AIn
eager Haste without his Hat
As blind & blund'ring as a Bat
In rush'd our
fat <that fierce> Aristocrat
The
Our pursy Woolen Draper.
[Line-space]
And so my Muse perforce drew bit,
And in he rush'd & panted.
"Well, have you heard? -- No! not a whit.
"What, han't you heard? -- Come out with it. --
"That Tierney votes for Mr Pitt,
"And Sheridan's recanted. --
17fn. "Hoaxing", a new-coined word, was more university slang than demotic.
35fn. The word "is" in the first sentence may be deleted; and, at the beginning of the second sentence, "So" may have originally been written "so". The solidus following "forced" may have been intended to cancel a period when "and", perhaps, was inserted.
77fn. There is no reason to suppose the poem was written in a town in Devonshire. Was C hinting at his brother James's devotion to King and Country politics -- and therefore fast sermons -- in Ottery?
119, 120. The substitutions are written in a lighter shade of ink than the body of the text.
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pp 719-20 etc Epigram on a Reader of his Own Verses, Inspired by Wernicke (208)
The surname "Wernike" should be spelled thus -- without a "c" -- here and with respect to the following thirteen poems: nos. 230, 305-06, 308-312, 314, 316-9.
(Heidi Thomson)
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pp 780-1 Epigram on the Speed with Which Jack Writes Verses, after von Halem (240)
The following text should be interpolated between MSS 1 and 2, and also incorporated into the collation:
University College London Library, Special Collections: G. B. Greenough Papers 29/1. A loose leaf removed from a notebook, unnumbered, filled with brief verses by various authors on both sides, transcribed by George Bellas Greenough. Transcript in ink in Greenough's hand, signed "Coleridge."; the transcript struck through, signifying that it was copied again into a larger book. The leaf measures 11.6 x 18.6 cm; no wm; chain-lines 2.6 cm. It is loosely inserted into one of three large copybooks containing verse transcribed by Greenough, this one with paper wm "J RUMP | 1817" and chain lines 2.6 cm. Greenough copied the verses onto f 20r of a larger book of "Miscellaneous Poetry" -- same shelfmark: the same that also contained his transcript of Fancy in Nubibus (540) --, again signing them "Coleridge".
Thirsis writes verses with more speed
Than all the printers' boys can set 'em
Full twice as fast as we can read
And only not so fast as we -- forget 'em
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pp 1152 Fancy in Nubibus (540)
Add to close of description of PR 1:
George Bellas Greenough copied this version into a large copybook headed "Miscellaneous Poetry" (wm JOHN HALL | 1822 and Britannia in oval surmounted by crown; chain lines 2.6 cm), f 22r (University College London Library, Special Collections: G. B. Greenough Papers 29/1).
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