thrice their original cost." The writer considers that when the proprietor has received dividends equalling in amount the sum originally invested, that he then should reckon his capital as having been returned to him; and on this argument he proceeds to show that a shareholder, in such a case happening, would really have lost nothing if the company were then to fail. In reply, we say that interest received on the sum originally paid cannot be considered as a return of the principal, however long it may have been coming in. Again, if the dividends should only have been at the rate of five per cent. for twenty years, as supposed by R. S., the holder would most probably have to sell his shares at a discount instead of for twice or thrice the amount he had given for them.

The great utility of joint-stock companies, in the promotion of desirable undertakings of all descriptions, has been well pointed out by B. M. B., and we forbear, therefore, to enlarge on that part of the subject.

To the future of the principle of limited liability in public companies we look forward with confidence, believing that, with a wise administration, it will be appreciated, and rear and establish a solid R. R.

commerce.

En Memoriam.

THE RIGHT HON. & MOST REV. ARCHBISHOP WHATELY, D.D.,

LORD ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN.

BORN FEBRUARY 1ST, 1787; DIED OCTOBER 8TH, 1863.

"THE mourners go about the streets," for one
Whom truth, and honesty, and holy zeal,
Wisdom and love for the whole Commonweal,
Great thoughts forth-shed, and noble labours done
For God's true glory, and in man's behalf,

Distinguished; who was gifted above most,
To winnow Heaven's own wheat from the world's chaff,
And steer o'er seas of doubt the tempest-tossed.

Well could he wield, in Church or Parliament,
In Letters' realm, or Logic's strict domain,
Or where the Pulpit holds her higher reign,
The weighty might of skilful argument.

WHATELY! thy works and fame are the world's share
Of thine immortal part of which the Heaven is heir!

N.

The Essayist.

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE.

"Stop, Christian passer by! stop, child of God!
And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seemed he;
Oh! lift a thought in prayer for S. T. C.
That he, who many a year, with toil of breath,
Found death in life, may here find life in death!
Mercy for praise, to be forgiven for fame,

He asked and hoped through Christ,-do thou the same."

WE have selected Coleridge for the subject of this essay, because we consider him a good study for earnest young men, on account of his life, and of his philosophy. We think a notice of these matters suited to the pages of a magazine whose distinguishing feature is debate, and whose readers do not venture to decide on any question except after proper consideration. Coleridge's Aids to Reflection can never be out of place where men are desirous of learning to think, and anxious for self-improvement; for by them they can be led from the first beginnings of thought to matured habits of thinking wisely and well.

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Samuel Taylor Coleridge, "logician, metaphysician, bard," was born Oct. 21st, 1772, at Ottery St. Mary, in Devonshire. His father was vicar of the parish, and the parish school had the honour of educating the boy, until he went to Christ's Hospital. Here he made the acquaintance of Charles Lamb, and that school friendship lasted through life. Coleridge was known as a day-dreamer, void of ambition, listless, playless. "How often," says Charles Lamb, "have I seen the casual passer through the cloisters stand still, entranced with admiration to hear thee unfold in thy deep and sweet intonations the mysteries of Iamblicus or Plotinus, or reciting Homer in his Greek, or Pindar, while the walls of the old Grey Friars echoed to the accents of the inspired charity-boy!" He was a voracious reader, and perused all that came in his way; so that when a mere boy his knowledge was most varied and his ignorance most profound. He managed, however, to secure some honour, and left Christ's Hospital as head scholar, having an exhibition to Jesus' College, Cambridge.

He was now nineteen years of age, and became affected by the general spirit of his time. It was an age when men looked upon change as the order of the day. The French revolution caused a 1863. 2 B

general agitation, not on the surface alone, but deep down in men's minds. Whether men were willing or unwilling, they were compelled by the political and social changes around them to think more deeply than they were accustomed to do. On such a genius as that of Coleridge the French revolution could not fail to exert a very powerful influence. He became a very enthusiast in the cause of freedom, and yet the moral tone of his genius remained uninjured.

During his first year at Cambridge he gained the prize for a Greek ode, and in his second year tried for, but lost, the Craven scholarship, being defeated by Dr. Butler, late Bishop of Lichfield. This failure may have been one of three causes for a fit of dejection which seized upon his mind at this time, and drove him from Cambridge in 1793, without taking a degree. He had also incurred several debts, after the manner of university men in general; and although the amount (something under £100) was not up to the average of such debts, it seems to have weighed upon the mind of Coleridge, and depressed his spirits. The last reason that may be assigned for his sudden departure from a tolerably successful college career is, that the authorities disapproved of his "attachment to the principles of the French revolution." Now either of these alleged reasons would be sufficient to account for the effect produced on the mind of Coleridge. To a thoroughly sensitive nature a disappointment in a race is sufficient to throw it into gloom; debts, much more so; and to a still greater degree would the displeasure of superiors work in the same manner. A conspiracy of all three, however, seems as probable as any other solution of the difficulty. Be this as it may, during his second year at college he suddenly left in a fit of despondency, and went up to London.

When a lad, he was for engaging in the vocation of St. Crispin by apprenticing himself to a shoemaker; now, in his fit of melancholy, he enlisted as a common soldier, under the cumbersome name of Comberbach. He did not distinguish himself as a soldier, being glad to write letters for his uneducated comrades in return for having his horse and accoutrements attended to. In four months he was bought out of the service, or bartered rather, by another man enlisting in his place.

The next bubble in our hero's life was a plan of emigration to America. Six young hopefuls, about one age, agreed to marry and go to the New World, to cultivate their taste for literature and poetry, while their wives cooked and attended to household matters. Coleridge, Southey, Lovell, Burnett, Allen, Seaward,—these six were to found a pantisocracy, in which their own wills might be their law. Happy for them that this wayward fancy bore no fruit. The want of money compelled them to abandon the scheme.

Coleridge attempted to conduct a periodical called The Watchman, but he was too tedious in his theories and philosophies to please such readers as had then the kindness or courage to patronize him.

He was not more successful in any of his pamphlets written at this time. In 1795 he married a Miss Fricker, from Bristol, and went to reside at Nether Stowey, in Somersetshire. Here, beneath the Quantock Hills, he cultivated his poetical talent, which hitherto had been allowed to lie fallow. During the three years he remained here most of his principal poems were composed, viz., "The Ancient Mariner," "Christabel" (Part I.), "Fears in Solitude," ""Ode on France," &c. In the composition of these he seems to have been happy, and this was perhaps the most propitious part of his career. I mention his "Ode on France" last, to draw special attention to it, as embodying some of the best emotions which those terrible years at the end of the eighteenth century called forth. Although his hopes as to the results of the French revolution were blighted when he saw tyranny and bloodshed supplant freedom, he could not forsake his original and much cherished theme. He afterwards acknowledged his disappointment at the results of the movement, and this ode embodies his "first flush of enthusiasm for the French cause, sorrow for England's adverseness to it; clinging to the cause in spite of first misgivings; the recantation and plea for forgiveness when the cause proved an unworthy one; France assailing freedom in her ancient mountain home of Switzerland;" and the close, in the same style as the beginning, addresses liberty in the elements, as tokens of what is wild and free.

His boyish enthusiasm was gradually taking a calmer tone, and he began to form his mind, to make himself his study, to search for truth. This became his life-work, this was his pervading aim--a thirst after truth. While at Nether Stowey he ministered among the people as a Unitarian clergyman, and numbers flocked to hear his eloquence. Hazlitt once walked ten miles to hear him, and concludes his account with saying, "For myself, I could not have been more delighted if I had heard the music of the spheres." He exemplified in his own person a spirit of free discussion, and an unwillingness to receive anything into his mind which he could not bring down to the level of his own understanding. Men had thrown off their regard for established doctrines and usages; they had learned to disrespect and underrate the doctrines and authors whom their forefathers had admired. They threw aside all laws, all form of government; the authority of Church and State was alike disregarded; and men began a new course for themselves. Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Southey were enamoured of the new principles, and all three had their turn at Unitarianism; and the opinions of this body of people exercised a great power over the mind of Coleridge. He was, however, uneasy; he had been brought up in a different faith, and he could not rest till he had discovered the foundations on which the doctrines in which he should trust rested.

In 1798 he left his rural retreat to travel in Germany. Messrs.. Wedgwood, of Staffordshire, placed at his disposal a sum of money,

which enabled him to visit Ratzeburg and Göttingen, where he acquired a sound knowledge of German literature.

This journey was in part shared by Wordsworth, who had visited Coleridge, and at last gone to reside in Somersetshire, near him. At Hamburg they separated, Wordsworth proceeding to Goslar with his sister, Coleridge going to Ratzeburg. Here Coleridge became confirmed in a leaning to metaphysics and philosophy, which had seized upon him during his inquiries and self-searchings at Nether Stowey. He considered philosophy to be the one great purpose to which he conceived his mind must be dedicated; and this he endeavoured to reconcile with the Christian religion. "As God hears me," he said, "the originating, continuing, and sustaining wish and design of my heart was to exalt the glory of His name, and, which is the same thing in other words, to promote the improvement of mankind." But he was not spared to complete his plans.

He returned to England in 1800, and went to live with his old friend Southey, who resided at Keswick,-Wordsworth then living at Grasmere. Here Coleridge continued to employ himself in the struggle between error and truth, and attempted to conquer error. He returned to the belief of his childhood, as a wandering sheep to its fold. He had been a Jacobin, he became a Royalist; he was a Unitarian, now he believed firmly in the Holy Trinity. He supported his mother church as ardently as he had till lately opposed her. The course of reading he now adopted lay among the old divines, his guide throughout being the Thirty-nine Articles; and though he was neither clergyman nor theologian exactly, his reading was chiefly confined to the great theological works of the country. Such a process as he thus passed through was useful, not to himself alone, but also to those who will either read and ponder upon his restless life, or upon his works.

He had much difficulty in procuring a livelihood. Writer for the Morning Post, secretary for nine months to the Governor of Malta, editor of the Friend-nothing succeeded. These years constituted a campaign in which he continually battled with bad habits. He was dilatory, dreamy, and indolent, and-an opium-eater. Poor, tender-hearted, wayward, frail but pure genius! long and passionate were your struggles for mastery over this infirmity! And when at last the victory was awarded, what martial conqueror could boast a brighter or more lasting crown than thou couldst? Although he was thus unsuccessful in any regular employment, his name was already known in literary circles. In 1800, Wordsworth's "Lyrical Ballads," Vol. II., contained four pieces by "an anonymous friend;" these were- The Ancient Mariner," "Foster-mother's Tale," "The Nightingale," and "Love." His name became linked, henceforth, with the Lake Poets, who from their mountain homes sent across the country those musical songs, sonnets, and ballads, which have earned them a lasting fame. He could get engaged on no permanent occupation; he was deficient in all those habits of regularity which command respect, and can make a man happy in independence.

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