4
weightier publication, what he has declared of his Thebaid, that it had been tortured[1] with a laborious Polish.)
For me to discuss the literary merits of this hasty composition, were idle and presumptuous. If it be found to possess that Impetuosity of Transition, and that Precipitation of Fancy and Feeling, which are the essential excellencies of the sublimer Ode, its deficiency in less important respects will be easily pardoned by those, from whom alone praise could give me pleasure: and whose minuter criticisms will be disarmed by the reflection, that these Lines were conceived "not in the soft obscurities of Retirement, or under the Shelter of Academic Groves, but amidst inconvenience and distraction, in sickness and in sorrow." I am more anxious, lest the moral spirit of the Ode should be mistaken. You, I am sure, will not fail to recollect, that among the Ancients, the Bard and the Prophet were one and the same character; and you know, that although I prophesy curses, I pray fervently for blessings.
Farewell, Brother of my Soul!
O ever found the same,
And trusted and belov'd!
Never without an emotion of honest pride do I subscribe myself
Your grateful and affectionate Friend,
BRISTOL, S. T. COLERIDGE.
December 26, 1796.
- ↑ Multá cruciata limâ.
