16

And how he cross'd the Woodman's paths,
Thro' briars and swampy mosses beat;
How boughs rebounding scourg'd his limbs,
And low stubs gor'd his feet.

17

How sometimes from the savage den, [65]
And sometimes from the darksome shade,
And sometimes starting up at once,
In green and sunny glade;

18

There came and look'd him in the face
An Angel beautiful and bright, [70]
And how he knew it was a Fiend,
This mis'rable Knight!

19

And how, unknowing what he did,
He leapt amid a lawless band,
And sav'd from outrage worse than death [75]
The Ladie of the Land.

20

And how she wept, and clasp'd his knees,
And how she tended him in vain,
And meekly strove to expiate
The scorn that craz'd his brain; 80

21

And how she nurs'd him in a cave;
And how his madness went away,
When on the yellow forest leaves
A dying man he lay;

22

His dying words—but when I reach'd [85]
That tenderest strain of all the ditty,
My fault'ring voice and pausing harp
Disturb'd her soul with pity.

23

All impulses of soul and sense
Had thrill'd my guiltless Genevieve— [90]
The music and the doleful tale,
The rich and balmy eve;

24

And hopes and fears that kindle hope,
An undistinguishable throng;
And gentle wishes long subdu'd, [95]
Subdu'd and cherish'd long.

25

She wept with pity and delight—
She blush'd with love and maiden shame,
And like the murmurs of a dream,
I heard her breathe my name. [100]

26

I saw her bosom heave and swell,
Heave and swell with inward sighs—
I could not choose but love to see
Her gentle bosom rise.

27

Her wet cheek glow'd; she stept aside, [105]
As conscious of my look she stept;
Then suddenly, with tim'rous eye,
She flew to me, and wept;

28

She half-inclos'd me with her arms—
She press'd me with a meek embrace; [110]
And, bending back her head, look'd up,
And gaz'd upon my face.

29

'Twas partly love, and partly fear,
And partly 'twas a bashful art,
That I might rather feel than see, [115]
The swelling of her heart.

30

I calm'd her fears, and she was calm,
And told her love with virgin pride;
And so I won my Genevieve,
My bright and beaut'ous bride. [120]

31

And now once more a tale of woe,
A woeful tale of love, I sing:
For thee, my Genevieve! it sighs,
And trembles on the string.

32

When last I sang the cruel scorn [125]
That craz'd this bold and lonely Knight,
And how he roam'd the mountain woods,
Nor rested day or night;

33

I promis'd thee a sister tale
Of Man's perfidious cruelty: [130]
Come, then, and hear what cruel wrong
Befel the Dark Ladie.

End of the Introduction.

FOOTNOTES:

[1052:1] Published in the Morning Post, Dec. 21, 1799. Collated with two MSS.—MS. (1); MS. (2)—in the British Museum [Add. MSS. 27,902]. See Coleridge's Poems, A Facsimile of the Proofs, &c., edited by the late James Dykes Campbell, 1899. MS. 1 consists of thirty-two stanzas (unnumbered), written on nine pages: MS. 2 (which begins with stanza 6, and ends with stanza 30) of fourteen stanzas (unnumbered) written on four pages.

LINENOTES:

[Title]—The Dark Ladiè. MS. B. M. (1).

[[2]]

Rose upon] Rose-bud on MS. B. M. (1).

[[3]]

fair] dear erased MS. (1).

[[7]]

mournfully] sad and sweet MS. (1).

[[8]]

in] to MS. (1).

[[16]]

Ladie] Ladié MS. (2).

[[20]]

The song that makes her grieve. MS. (1).

[[21-4]]

Each thought, each feeling of the Soul,
All lovely sights, each tender, name,
All, all are ministers of Love,
That stir our mortal frame.

MS. (1).

[[22]]

All, all that stirs this mortal frame MS. B. M. (2).

[[24]]

feed] fan MS. (2).

[[25]]

O ever in my lonely walk

erased MS. (1).

In lonely walk and noontide dreams

MS. (1).

O ever when I walk alone

erased MS. (1).

[[26]]

I feed upon that blissful hour

MS. (1).

I feed upon that hour of Bliss

erased MS. (1).

That ruddy eve that blissful hour

erased MS. (1).

[[26]]

dwell] feed MS. (2).

[[27]]

we sate
When midway on the mount I stood

MS. (1).

When we too stood upon the Hill

erased MS. (1).

[[29]]

The Moonshine stole upon the ground

erased MS. (1).

The Moon be blended on the ground

MS. (1).

[[30]]

Had] And erased MS. (1).

[[31]]

was there] stood near (was there erased) MS. (1).

[[33-6]]

Against a grey stone rudely carv'd,
The statue of an armed Knight,
in
She lean'd the melancholy mood,
And To watch'd the lingering Light

MS. (1).

[[33-4]]

She lean'd against a chissold stone
tall
The statue of a

MS. (1).

[[34]]

the] an MS. (1) [Stanza 10, revised.]

[[37]]

sad] soft MSS. (1, 2).

doleful] mournful erased MS. (1).

[[39]]

An] And MS. (2).

rude] wild erased MS. (1).

[[41-4]]

With flitting Blush and downcast eyes,
In modest melancholy grace
The Maiden stood: perchance I gaz'd
Too fondly on her face.

Erased MS. (1).

[[45-8]]

om. MS. (1).

[[49]]

I gaz'd and when I sang of love MS. (1).

[[53-6]]

With flitting Blush and downcast eyes
and
With downcast eyes in modest grace
for
She listen'd; and perchance I gaz'd
Too fondly on her face.

MS. (1).

[[55]]

And] Yet MS. (1).

[[57]]

told] sang MS. (1).

[[59]]

roam'd] cross'd MS. (1).

[[60]]

or] nor MS. (1).

[[61-4]]

om. MS. (1).

[[65]]

How sometimes from the hollow Trees MS. (1).

[[69-72]]

look'd
There came and star'd him in the face
An[d] Angel beautiful and bright,
And how he knew it was a fiend
And yell'd with strange affright.

MS. (1).

[[74]]

lawless] murderous MS. (1).

[[77]]

clasp'd] kiss'd MS. (1).

[[79]]

meekly] how she MS. (1).

[[87]]

fault'ring] trembling MS. (1) erased.

[[90]]

guiltless] guileless MS. (1).

Between [96] and 97

And while midnight
While Fancy like the nuptial Torch
That bends and rises in the wind
Lit up with wild and broken lights
The Tumult of her mind.

MS. (1) erased.

[[99]]

And like the murmur of a dream

MSS. (1, 2).

And in a murmur faint and sweet

MS. (1) erased.

[[100]]

She half pronounced my name.
She breathed her Lover's name.

MS. (1) erased.

[[101-4]]

I saw her gentle Bosom heave
Th' inaudible and frequent sigh;
modest
And ah! the bashful Maiden mark'd
The wanderings of my eye

MS. (1) erased.

[[105-8]]

om. MS. (1).

[[105]]

cheek] cheeks MS. (2).

[[108]]

flew] fled MS. (2).

[[109-16]]

side
And closely to my heart she press'd
And ask'd me with her swimming eyes
might
That I would rather feel than see
Her gentle Bosom rise.—

Or

side
And closely to my heart she press'd
And closer still with bashful art—
That I might rather feel than see
The swelling of her Heart.

MS. (1) erased.

[[111]]

And] Then MS. (2) erased.

[[117]]

And now serene, serene and chaste
But soon in calm and solemn tone

MS. (1) erased.

[[118]]

And] She MS. (1) erased.

virgin] maiden MSS. (1, 2).

[[120]]

bright] dear MS. (1) erased.

beaut'ous] lovely MS. (1) erased.

[[125-8]]

When last I sang of Him whose heart
Was broken by a woman's scorn—
And how he cross'd the mountain woods
All frantic and forlorn

MS. (1).

[[129]]

sister] moving MS. (1).

[[131]]

wrong] wrongs MS. (1).

[[132]]

Ladie] Ladié MS. (2).

After [132] The Dark Ladiè. MS. (1).

I

THE TRIUMPH OF LOYALTY.[1060:1]

[Vide ante, p. [421].]

AN HISTORIC DRAMA

IN

FIVE ACTS.

FIRST PERFORMED WITH UNIVERSAL APPLAUSE AT THE

THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE, ON SATURDAY,

FEBRUARY THE 7TH, 1801.

Apoecides.
Quis hoc scit factum?

Epidicus.
Ego ita esse factum dico.

Periphanes.
Scin' tu istuc?

Epidicus.
Scio.

Periphanes.
Qui tu scis?

Epidicus.
Quia ego vidi.

Periphanes.

[Ipse vidistine [Tragediam?] Nimis factum bene!

Epidicus.

Sed vestita, aurata, ornata, ut lepide! ut concinne! ut nove! [Proh Dii immortales! tempestatem (plausuum Populus) nobis nocte hac misit!][1060:2]

(Plaut. Epidicus. Act 2. Scen. 2, ll. 22 sqq.)

LONDON.

PRINTED FOR T. N. LONGMAN AND REES,
PATERNOSTER-ROW.

1801.

FOOTNOTES:

[1060:1] Now first published from an MS. in the British Museum (Add. MSS. 34,225). The Triumph of Loyalty, 'a sort of dramatic romance' (see Letter to Poole, December 5, 1800; Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 343), was begun and left unfinished in the late autumn of 1800. An excerpt (ll. 277-358) was revised and published as 'A Night Scene. A Dramatic Fragment,' in Sibylline Leaves (1817), vide ante, pp. [421-3]. The revision of the excerpt (ll. 263-349) with respect to the order and arrangement of its component parts is indicated by asterisks, which appear to be contemporary with the MS. I have, therefore, in printing the MS., followed the revised and not the original order of these lines. Again, in the hitherto unpublished portion of the MS. (ll. 1-263) I have omitted rough drafts of passages which were rewritten, either on the same page or on the reverse of the leaf.

[1060:2] The words enclosed in brackets are not to be found in the text. They were either invented or adapted by Coleridge ad hoc. The text of the passage as a whole has been reconstructed by modern editors.