COLERIDGE'S 'CHRIST ABEL' On June 2, 1816, The Examiner published a review of Coleridge's Christabel, as to the authorship of which there has been some discussion. See Notes and Queries, 9th Ser. XI. pp. 171 and 271. Mr. Dykes Campbell (The Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, p. 606) is disposed to attribute the review to Hazlitt. As in the case of the Edinburgh Review notice of Christabel (see vol. x. of the present edition, pp. 411-418), Hazlitt's authorship cannot be regarded as absolutely certain. The review is as follows: The fault of Mr. Coleridge is, that he comes to no conclusion. He is a man of that universality of genius, that his mind hangs suspended between poetry and prose, truth and falsehood, and an infinity of other things, and from an excess of capacity, he does little or nothing. Here are two unfinished poems, and a fragment. Christabel, which has been much read and admired in manuscript, is now for the first time confided to the public. The Vision of Kubla Khan still remains a profound secret; for only a few lines of it ever were written.1 "The poem of Christabel sets out in the following manner : ""Tis the middle of night by the castle clock, And the owls have awaken'd the crowing cock; And hark, again! the crowing cock, How drowsily it crew. Sir Leoline, the Baron rich, Hath a toothless mastiff bitch ; From her kennel beneath the rock She makes answer to the clock, Four for the quarters and twelve for the hour; Ever and aye, moonshine or shower, Sixteen short howls, not over loud; Some say, she sees my lady's shroud." "We wonder that Mr. Murray, who has an eye for things, should suffer this "mastiff bitch" to come into his shop. Is she a sort of Cerberus to fright away the critics? But-gentlemen, she is toothless. "There is a dishonesty as well as affectation in all this. The secret of this pretended contempt for the opinion of the public, is that it is a sorry subterfuge for our self-love. The poet, uncertain of the approbation of his readers, thinks he shews his superiority to it by shocking their feelings at the outset, as a clown, who is at a loss how to behave himself, begins by affronting the company. This is what is called throwing a crust to the critics. If the beauties of Christabel should not be sufficiently admired, Mr. Coleridge may lay it all to two lines which he had too much manliness to omit in complaisance to the bad taste of his contemporaries. 'We the rather wonder at this bold proceeding in the author, as his courage has cooled in the course of the publication, and he has omitted, from mere delicacy, a line which is absolutely necessary to the understanding the whole story. The Lady Christabel, wandering in the forest by moonlight, meets a lady in apparently great distress, to whom she offers her assistance and protection, and takes her home with her to her own chamber. This woman, 1 This opening paragraph is certainly very like Hazlitt. Cf. the review by anticipation of Coleridge's Lay Sermon in Political Essays, vol. 111. pp. 138-142. "beautiful to see, Like a lady of a far countree," is a witch. Who she is else, what her business is with Christabel, upon what motives, to what end her sorceries are to work, does not appear at present; but this much we know, that she is a witch, and that Christabel's dread of her arises from her discovering this circumstance, which is told in a single line, which line, from an exquisite refinement in efficiency, is here omitted. When the unknown lady gets to Christabel's chamber, and is going to undress, it is said— "Then drawing in her breath aloud Like one that shuddered, she unbound "The manuscript runs thus, or nearly thus : "Behold her bosom and half her side Hideous, deformed, and pale of hue." "This line is necessary to make common sense of the first and second part. "It is the keystone that makes up the arch." For that reason Mr. Coleridge left it out. Now this is a greater physiological curiosity than even the fragment of Kubla Khan. "In parts of Christabel there is a great deal of beauty, both of thought, imagery, and versification; but the effect of the general story is dim, obscure, and visionary. It is more like a dream than a reality. The mind, in reading it, is spell-bound. The sorceress seems to act without power-Christabel to yield without resistance. The faculties are thrown into a state of metaphysical suspense and theoretical imbecility. The poet, like the witch in Spenser, is evidently "Busied about some wicked gin."3 But we do not foresee what he will make of it. There is something disgusting at the bottom of his subject, which is but ill glossed over by a veil of Della Cruscan sentiment and fine writing-like moon-beams playing on a charnel-house, or flowers strewed on a dead body. Mr. Coleridge's style is essentially superficial, pretty, ornamental, and he has forced it into the service of a story which is petrific. In the midst of moon-light, and fluttering ringlets, and flitting clouds, and enchanted echoes, and airy abstractions of all sorts, there is one genuine outburst of humanity, worthy of the author, when no dream oppresses him, no spell binds him. We give the passage entire :-' [Here follow 11. 403-430 of Christabel, beginning But when he heard the lady's tale.'] Why does not Mr. Coleridge always write in this manner, that we might always read him? The description of the Dream of Bracy the bard, is also very beautiful and full of power. "The conclusion of the second part of Christabel, about "the little limber elf," is to us absolutely incomprehensible. Kubla Khan, we think, only shews that 1 Query, a misprint for 'delicacy.' 2 Ben Jonson's Underwoods, xxx., 'An Epistle to Sir Edward Sackville. A favourite quotation of Hazlitt's. 3 The Faerie Queene, III. vII. 7. Mr. Coleridge can write better nonsense verses than any man in England. It is not a poem, but a musical composition. "A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw : It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimer she play'd, Singing of Mount Abora." 'We could repeat these lines to ourselves not the less often for not knowing the meaning of them.' In a sketch of Coleridge which appeared in The Examiner for Oct. 21, 1821, Leigh Hunt quotes the lines from Kubla Khan ('A damsel with a dulcimer,' etc.) and says: "We could repeat such verses ... down a green glade, a whole summer's morning'; but in spite of this and a few other verbal similarities, a comparison of the sketch with the review does not support the theory that the latter was written by Leigh Hunt. Possibly he wrote a few lines here and there, but the review as a whole is far more suggestive of Hazlitt. SHAKESPEAR'S FEMALE CHARACTERS No. XLIII. of the Round Table series. Shakespear's Plays. See especially the 179 et seq. and 200 et seq. and notes). PAGE 290. Miss Peggy. See ante, p. 276. Tate. It is partly reproduced in Characters of essays on Cymbeline and Othello (vol. 1. Romeo and Juliet, Act III. Sc. 2. Nahum Tate's King Lear was brought out in 1681. 296. 'Sir, the fairest flowers, etc. A Winter's Tale, Act iv. Sc. 4. SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY OF THE GOOD OLD TIMES Three papers appeared in The Examiner for April 6, April 13, and April 20, 1817, under the heading of 'Sketches of the History of the Good Old Times before the French Revolution, when Kings and Priests did what they pleased, by the grace of God.' In these essays a French anti-Bourbon book, the title of which is not given, is made the text for a most unflattering review of the characters of a number of kings, from Hugh Capet to Louis XVI. The subject would naturally attract Hazlitt, and indeed it may be said that the essays are almost certainly his. As, however, the internal evidence, though very strong, does not prove his authorship to be absolutely certain, it has been thought better not to include the essays in the present edition. MISS O'NEILL'S WIDOW CHEERLY This and the five succeeding theatrical papers from The Examiner of 1817 have been inserted in the text because the internal evidence seems to leave no room for doubt that they were written by Hazlitt. It is clear from A View of the English Stage that he was writing theatrical notices for The Examiner during the whole of the period in question (Jan.-May, 1817). PAGE 297. The best actress. . . with one great exception, etc. For this comparison of Miss O'Neill with Mrs. Siddons, cf. vol. viii. p. 198, and for Miss O'Neill's failure in comedy, ibid. p. 291. PAGE 297. The Soldier's Daughter. By Andrew Cherry, produced in 1804. 298. The insipid levelling morality, etc. See Lamb's footnote to Middleton and Rowley's A Fair Quarrel. Hazlitt quotes the passage elsewhere. ་ PENELOPE AND THE DANSOMANIE 299. Like to see the unmerited fall, etc. Cf. Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France (Select Works, ed. Payne, 11. 164). 300. The Gentleman who is understood, etc. William Ayrton (1777-1858), who "Such were the joys, etc. Bickerstaffe, Love in a Village, Act 11. Sc. 1. The notice concludes with a long quotation from Colley Cibber, introduced by OROONOKO This tragedy by Thomas Southerne (1660-1746) was produced in 1696. See post, note to p. 303 (on Imogine), for conclusive proof of Hazlitt's authorship of this notice. PAGE 301. The success of his Richard II. This passage, though the conclusion drawn by Hazlitt is somewhat different, may be compared with his notice of Kean's Richard 11. (vol. VIII. p. 223). 'The melting mood.' Othello, Act v. Sc. 2. 302. The devil has not, etc. Cf. Macbeth, Act v. Sc 3. 303. Imogine. In Maturin's Bertram. Cf. the notice of that play in A View of the English Stage (vol. vi. p. 307). In one of Hazlitt's theatrical papers in The London Magazine (ibid. p. 391), he says of Miss Somerville's (Mrs. Bunn's) voice that it resembles the deep murmur of a hive of bees in spring-tide, and the words drop like honey from her lips.' Cf. Othello, Act 1. Sc. 3. The music of her honey-vows.' Cf. 'That suck'd the honey of his music vows.' letter to Horace Walpole, September, 1737 THE PANNEL AND THE RAVENS A comparison of this paper with A View of the English Stage and the other dramatic essays in vol. viii., makes it perfectly clear that Hazlitt is the writer. 304. The Pannel. By John Philip Kemble, produced at Drury Lane in 1788. 'Balsam of fierabras. Described by Don Quixote. See Don Quixote, I. 1. 2. PAGE 304. The howling of the rabble. The Regent had been attacked on his return to St. James's Palace after opening Parliament on March 28, 1817. The wax figures at Mrs. Salmon's. See ante, p. 175. 'Circe and the Sirens three.' Comus, 253. Miss Stephens. Hazlitt had noticed her first appearance. 192. See vol. VIII. P. Mr. Fawcett. John Fawcett (1768-1837) was manager of Covent Garden theatre. Till Miss O'Neill is tired, etc. "The ravens are hoarse,' etc. See vol. viii. note to p. 308. Toujours perdrix. See vol. iv. (The Spirit of The Age), p. 275 and note. The Ravens, etc. See vol. VIII. note to p. 353. The Maid and Magpie, etc. See vol. viii. pp. 244 and 279. "And choughs, etc. Cf. Macbeth, Act III. Sc. 4. The Maid of Palisseau. The Magpie, or the Maid of Palaiseau, a version attributed to T. J. Dibdin of La Pie Voleuse, produced at Dury Lane, Sept. 12, 1815. Reminded us of her mother's. Mrs. Alsop was daughter of Mrs. Jordan. 306. The turnpike men, etc. JOHN GILPIN John Gilpin, St. 63. lbid. St. 29 and 30. Cf. Paradise Lost, v. 165. Quoted by Hazlitt That ligament,' etc. Hazlitt elsewhere quotes this passage from Tristram 307. Mrs. Hill. From Belfast,' her first appearance. DON GIOVANNI AND KEAN'S EUSTACE DE ST. PIERRE With this notice compare Hazlitt's article on Don Juan in A View of the English Stage, vol. vin. pp. 362-366. PAGE 307. Spenser's description of Belphebe. In his former notice Hazlitt had compared Madame Fodor with Spenser's Belphebe. See vol. viii. p. 364 and note. 308. The Surrender of Calais. By George Colman, Junior, originally produced at the Haymarket in 1791, and described by Genest as a jumble of Tragedy, Comedy, and Opera.' 'A clout upon that head,' etc. "Though we have seen this, etc. "Thunder, nothing but thunder. Hamlet, Act. 11. Sc. 2. Ibid. Measure for Measure, Act 11. Sc. 2. CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY PEOPLE The internal evidence of Hazlitt's authorship of this paper is overwhelmingly strong. Some of the main points are referred to in the following notes. The essay was probably written at Winterslow. PAGE 309. Here be truths.' This is a saying, not of Dogberry, but of Pompey, in Measure for Measure, Act 11. Sc. I. |