CHAPTER V
STOWEY
Learning, power, and time,
(Too much of all) thus wasting in vain war
Of fervid colloquy. "Sickness,'tis true,
'Whole years of weary days, besieged him close,
Even to the gates and inlets of his life!'
But it is true, no less, that strenuous, firm,
And with a natural gladness, he maintained
The citadel unconquered, and in joy
Was strong to follow the delightful Muse."
With the letter of Nov. 5, [1] the biographical sketch left by Mr. Coleridge's late Editor comes to an end, and at the present time I can carry it no further than to add, that in January, 1797, my Father removed with his wife and child, the latter then four months' old, to a cottage at Stowey, which was his home for three years; that from that home, in company with Mr. and Miss Wordsworth, he went, in September, 1798, to Germany, and that he spent fourteen months in that country, during which period the Letters called Satyrane's were written.
[Footnote 1: No. 43. Sara Coleridge now continues the narrative for ten lines.]
Cottle, in his 'Reminiscences', says Mr. Coleridge sent him the following letter from Stowey: