, and in one or two other works.
Of the
Christabel
, as now published, Coleridge says, "The first part was composed in 1797." This was the
Annus Mirabilis
of this great man; in it he was in his best and strongest health. He returned from Germany in 1799, and in the year following wrote the
second
part, in the preface to which he observes, "Till very lately my poetic powers have been in a state of suspended animation." The subject indeed remained present to his mind, though from bad health and other causes, it was left as a mere fragment of his poetic power. When in health he sometimes said, "This poem comes upon me with all the loveliness of a vision;" and he declared, that though contrary to the advice of his friends, he should finish it: At other times when his bodily powers failed him, he would then say, "I am reserved for other works than making verse."
In the preface to the
Christabel