SUPPLEMENT. MONODY ON THE DEATH OF CHATTERTON. (ORIGINAL VERSION.)* [This poem has since appeared in print, much altered, whether for the better I doubt. This was, I believe, written before the Author went to College. (Note by J. T. C.)] NOW prompts the Muse poetic lays, And high my bosom beats with love of praise, But, Chatterton ! methinks I hear thy name, For cold my fancy grows, and dead each hope of Fame. When Want and cold Neglect had chill'd thy soul, Athirst for Death I see thee drain the bowl, Thy corse of many a livid hue On the bare ground I view, * This original draught of Coleridge's Monody on Chatterton appears to have been produced at Christ's Hospital as a school exercise, together with the two following Poems. It is derived from a note-book in the handwriting of the late Sir John Taylor Coleridge, the nephew of the poet, kept at Eton College in 1807, which has been kindly placed at the publisher's disposal by his son, the present Lord Coleridge, of Ottery St. Mary. While various passions all my mind engage : Darts through the tear that glistens in my eye. Is this the land of liberal heart? Is this the land where Genius ne'er in vain Which can the generous Briton ever hear From vales, where Avon sports, the minstrel came. He meditates the future song, And while Fancy in the air Paints him many a vision fair, His eyes dance rapture, and his bosom glows! He listens to many a widow's prayers, * Sic in MS. Qy. "lists."-Ed. |