In ev'ry style that Man has e'er design'd To charm the fancy, or improve the mind! 810 When German schools, th' Historic Muse shall own, When liberal Britons could endure to lose A woman's hand† redeem'd the with'ring bays, 815 *The West Indian. NOTES. † Miss Baillie, Authoress of " Plays on the Passions:" for the rest, let Mr. Scott speak: "6 She, the bold enchantress, came, With fearless hand and heart on flame! Yes, it was thine, O Baillie! to unfold What Truth had rescued from the Bigot's hold; 820 Yet, ere destroying Time shall end thy page, "Still," cry the learn'd, "a Tragic Bard survives, And Cumberland in classic Coleridge lives; NOTES. From the pale willow snatch'd the treasure, And swept it with a kindred measure, Till Avon's swans, while rung the grove With Montfort's hate and Basil's love, Deemed their own Shakspeare lived again.” MARMION, Introd. to Canto 3. For genius, spirit, harmony, and force, What modern Tragedy can match " Remorse* ?” NOTES. Ever ready to acknowledge improvement where it is to be found, I congratulate Mr. Coleridge on his return, in part, to the plain-beaten road of Common Sense. But where all has been done, much still remains to be undone. Remorse is far, very far from a perfect tragedy. It possesses the same faults that Johnson complains of in the Odes of Gray. "The images are magnified by affectation; the language is labored into harshness. The mind of the writer seems to work with unnatural violence. 'Double, double toil and trouble.' He has a kind of strutting dignity; and is tall by walking on tip-toe. His art and his struggle are too visible; and there is too little appearance of ease and nature." The construction of the plot is very injudicious. The want of incident renders it deficient in stage effect, and the imagination receives no stimulus from a Tale, whose denouement is anticipated long before the proper period for disclosure. The character of Alvar throughout bears a very close resemblance to Cumberland's St. Valori; but how differently do they express their feelings! Never was the superiority of nature over art more evident! Without meaning any invidious compa If labor'd verse can recompense for ease, If" oh's" can move, and affectation please,- 830 NOTES. rison, for between Cumberland and Coleridge there can exist none, I will extract a few lines from each; where Alvar discovers himself to his mistress, and St. Valori to his wife.→ ALVAR. [A pause, then presses her forehead.] -O 'tis lost again This dull confused pain― [A pause, she gazes at ALVAR.] Methinks I can not fear thee: for thine eye Doth swim with love and pity-Well! Ordonio Oh my foreboding heart! and he suborned thee, And thou didst spare his life? Blessings shower on thee, In the fond faithful heart of his Teresa! ..I can endure no more. The Moorish Sorcerer That picture If scribblers, throwing Incident away, Can out of nothing still produce a Play, NOTES. TERESA. [Advances towards him.] Ha! speak on! ALVAR. • Beloved Teresa ! It told but half the truth. O let this portrait Thy much deceived but ever faithful Alvar. Remorse, act v. scene 1. ST. VALORI. [In the disguise of a Carmelite, and labouring under the impression of MATILDA's infidelity.] MATILDA. Deep was the stroke that dire assassin gave, ...... The bravest Captain of the Cross enslaved by barbarous ST. VAL. Tedious years he suffered Of hard captivity——— |