PREFACE
The following collection has been entitled Sibylline Leaves, in allusion to the fragmentary and widely scattered state in which they have been long suffered to remain. It contains the whole of the author's poetical compositions, from 1793 to the present date, with the exception of a few works not yet finished, and those published in the first edition of his juvenile poems, over which he has no controul.[1150:1] They may be divided into three classes: First, A selection from the Poems added to the second and third editions, together with those originally published in the Lyrical Ballads,[1150:2] which after having remained many years out of print, have been omitted by Mr. Wordsworth in the recent collection of all his minor poems, and of course revert to the author. Second, Poems published at very different periods, in various obscure or perishable journals, etc., some with, some without the writer's consent; many imperfect, all incorrect. The third and last class is formed of Poems which have hitherto remained in manuscript. The whole is now presented to the reader collectively, with considerable additions and alterations, and as perfect as the author's judgment and powers could render them.
In my Literary Life, it has been mentioned that, with the exception of this preface, the Sibylline Leaves have been printed almost two years; and the necessity of troubling the reader with the list of errata[1151:1] [forty-seven in number] which follows this preface, alone induces me to refer again to the circumstances, at the risk of ungenial feelings, from the recollection of its worthless causes.[1151:2] A few corrections of later date have been added.—Henceforward the author must be occupied by studies of a very different kind.
Ite hinc, Camœnæ! Vos quoque ite, suaves,
Dulces Camœnæ! Nam (fatebimur verum)
Dulces fuistis!—Et tamen meas chartas
Revisitote: sed pudenter et raro!
Virgil, Catalect. vii.[1151:3]
At the request of the friends of my youth, who still remain my friends, and who were pleased with the wildness of the compositions, I have added two school-boy poems—with a song modernized with some additions from one of our elder poets.[1151:4] Surely, malice itself will scarcely attribute their insertion to any other motive, than the wish to keep alive the recollections from early life.—I scarcely knew what title I should prefix to the first. By imaginary Time,[1151:5] I meant the state of a school-boy's mind when, on his return to school, he projects his being in his day dreams, and lives in his next holidays, six months hence: and this I contrasted with real Time.
CONTENTS
[Poems first published in 1796 and in 1797 are marked with an asterisk. Poems first published in 1817 are italicized. N.B. The volume was issued without any Table of Contents or Index of First Lines.]
XV
קינת ישרון
A Hebrew Dirge, / Chaunted in the Great Synagogue, / St. James's Place, Aldgate, / On the / Day of the Funeral of her Royal Highness / The / Princess Charlotte. / By Hyman Hurwitz, / Master of the Royal Academy, / Highgate: / With a Translation in / English Verse, By S. T. Coleridge, Esq. / London: / Printed by H. Barnett, 2, St. James's Place, Aldgate; / And Sold by T. Boosey, 4, Old Broad Street; / Lackington, Allen, and Co. Finsbury Square; / Briggs and Burton, 156, Leadenhall Street; and / H. Barnett, Hebrew Bookseller, 2, St. James's / Place, Aldgate. / 1817.
[8o.
Collation.—Half-title, קינת ישרון / A Hebrew Dirge. /, pp. [1]-[2]; Title, p. [3]; Text, pp. [4]-13. The text of the translation is printed on pp. 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13.
XVI
Christabel: / Kubla Khan, / A Vision; / The Pains of Sleep. / By / S. T. Coleridge, Esq. / London: Printed For John Murray, Albemarle-Street, / By William Bulmer and Co. Cleveland-Row, / St. James's. / 1816. /
[8o.
Collation.—Half-title, one leaf, Christabel, &c., pp. i-ii; Title, one leaf, pp. iii-iv; Preface, pp. [v]-vii; Second half-title, Christabel. / Part 1, pp. [1]-[2]; Text, pp. [3]-48; 'Kubla Khan / or / A Vision in a Dream': Half-title, one leaf, pp. [49]-[50]; 'Of the / Fragment of Kubla Khan', pp. [51]-54; Text, pp. [55]-58; 'The Pains of Sleep': Half-title, pp. [59]-[60]; Text, pp. 61-61; The Imprint, London: Printed by W. Bulmer and Co. / Cleveland-row, St. James's /, is at the foot of p. 64.
[The pamphlet (1816) was issued 'price 4s. 6d. sewed'. The cover was of brown paper.]
XVII
Christabel, &c. / By S. T. Coleridge, Esq. / Second Edition. / London: / Printed For John Murray, Albemarle-Street, / By William Bulmer and Co. Cleveland-Row, / St. James's. / 1816. /
[8o.
Collation.—Vide No. [XVI].
[The half-title, Christabel, is in Gothic Character.]
XVIII
Christabel, &c. / By / S. T. Coleridge, Esq. / Third Edition. / London: / Printed For John Murray, Albemarle-Street, / By William Bulmer and Co. Cleveland-Row, / St. James's. / 1816. /
[8o.
Collation.—Vide No. [XVI].
[The half-title, Christabel, is in Gothic Character.]
XIX
Zapolya: A / Christmas tale, / In Two Parts: / The Prelude / Entitled / "The Usurpers' Fortune;" And / The Sequel / Entitled / "The Usurper's Fate." / By / S. T. Coleridge, Esq. / London: Printed for Rest Fenner, Paternoster Row. / 1817. /
[8o.
Collation.—Half-title, Zapolya, one leaf; Title, one leaf; Advertisement, one leaf; Characters, one leaf; Four leaves unpaged; Text, Prelude, pp. [1]-31; Additional Characters, p. [34]; Zapolya (headed, Usurpation Ended; / or / She Comes Again. /), pp. [85]-128. The imprint, S. Curtis, Camberwell Press, is at the foot of p. 128. Eight pages of advertisements dated September, 1817, are bound up with the volume as issued in a brown paper cover.
XX
The / Poetical Works / Of / S. T. Coleridge, / Including the Dramas of / Wallenstein, Remorse, and Zapolya. / In three Volumes. / Vol. I. / [Vol. II, &c.] London: / William Pickering. / mdcccxxviii. /
[8o.
Collation.—Vol. I. Half-title, one leaf, The / Poetical Works / of / S. T. Coleridge. / Vol. I. /, p. ; Title, one leaf, p. [iii]; The Imprint, Thomas White, Printer, / Johnson's Court. /, is at the foot of p. [iv]; Contents, Volume I, Volume II, Volume III, pp. [v]-x; Preface, To the First and Second Editions, pp. [1]-6; Half-title, one leaf, Juvenile Poems, p. [7]; Text, pp. [9]-363; The Imprint, Thomas White, Printer, / Crane Court. /, below the figure of a girl watering flowers surmounted by the motto TE FAVENTE VIREBO, is in the centre of p. [554]. [A vignette and double wreath of oak and bay leaves is in the centre of the title-page of Vols. I, II, III.]
Vol. II. Half-title, one leaf; Title, one leaf, with Imprint at the foot of the Reverse, unpaged; Half-title, The Rime / Of / The Ancient Mariner. / In Seven Parts. /, p. [1]; Motto from T. Burnet, in centre of p. [2]; Text, pp. [3]-370; The Imprint, Thomas White, Printer, / Johnson's Court. /, is at the foot of p. 370.
Vol. III. Half-title, one leaf; Title, one leaf; The Imprint, Thomas White, Printer, / Johnson's Court. /, is at the foot of the Reverse, unpaged; Half-title, The / Piccolomini, / Or / The First Part of Wallenstein. / A Drama. / Translated from the German of Schiller /, p. [1]; Preface of the Translator, p. [3]; Text, pp. [5]-428; The Imprint Thomas White, Printer / Johnson's Court. /, is at the foot of p. 428.
[Pp. [1]-6]