6. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE. " He prayeth well, who loveth well." Reproduced by kind permission of the photographers and engravers, Messrs. Walker & Boutall. The Humane poets. No. I.-SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, 1772-183+. , The Poet in his lone yet genial hour, In unctuous cones of kindly coal, trim bole, Phantoms of sublimity.-COLERIDGE. " The S was a was a soon AMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE worth and their beauty in Nature. critic, poet, and meta- Nightingale,” a conversation poem, physician. He was born at Ottery written in April, 1798, is redolent of St. Mary, in Devonshire. He was tender feeling. But by far the most the youngest son of the vicar of the popular of his writings, and the one place where he was born, and lost his which appeals most, by reason of its father when only nine years of age. He moral, to humanitarians, is the following, sent to Christ's Hospital, where extracted from the" Ancient Mariner " :-Charles Lamb was a pupil at the same Beyond the shadow of the ship, time. Coleridge says of himself at this I watched the water snakes ; period : “ At a very premature age, even They moved in tracks of shining white, before my fifteenth year, I had bewildered And when they reared, the elfish light myself in metaphysics and in theological Fell off in hoary flakes. controversy Nothing else pleased me. History and particular facts lost all Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire; interest in my mind." In 1791 he entered Jesus College, Cambridge, but did not Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, stay to take a degree. At Bristol he They coiled and swam ; and every track associated with Southey, Burnett, and Was a dash of golden fire. Lovell, to found a community in America, Oh! happy living things! no tongue where selfishness was to be proscribed, Their beauty might declare, and all goods were to be held in common A spring of love gushed from my heart, And I blessed them unaware; -a scheme which, however, was abandoned. Through the frendship of Sure my kind saint took pity on me, Joseph Cottle, a bookseller of Bristol, And I blessed them unaware. Coleridge was first enabled, in 1794, to The self-same moment I could pray, publish a volume of poems—the com- And from my neck so free, mencement, as is proved, of an eminent The albatross fell off, and sank literary career. The " Ancient Mariner Like lead into the sea. was written in 1797, and the first part of “ Christabel and the tragedy of Farewell, farewell ; but this I tell " Remorse at nearly the same period. To thee, thou wedding guest : Coleridge died at Highgate. He prayeth well, who loveth well The following description of Coleridge Both bird and man and beast. was written by his friend l'ordsworth in He prayeth best who loveth best, a volume of Thomson's works : All things both great and small; " A noticeable man with large grey eyes, For the dear God Who loveth us, And a pale face that seemed undoubtedly He made and loveth all. As if a blooming face it ought to be. Of quite another type was his “ Address Heavy his low-hung lip did oft appear to a Young Ass,” and we quote it as an Deprest by weight of brooding phantasy; example of the sympathy which, like his l’rofound his forehead was though not friend Wordsworth, he could entertain for severe." even the most despised creatures :Coleridge's poems contain many refer- Poor little foal of an oppressed race ! ences to animal life, and there is plenty of I love the languid patience of thy face ; evidence that he fully appreciated their And oft with gentle hand I give thee bread, * And clap thy ragged coat, and pat thy head. But what thy dulled spirits hath dismay'd That never dost thou sport along the glade ? And (most unlike the nature of things young) hung ? aches takes? Or is thy sad heart thrilled with filial pain To see thy wretched mother's shortened chain ? Chained to a log within a narrow spot, Where the close-eaten grass is scarcely seen, While sweet around her waves the tempt ing green ! Poor ass! thy master should have learnt to show Pity, best taught by fellowship of woe! For ch, I fear me, that he lives like thee, Half famished in a land of luxury ! " And have I then one lorn! I hail thee, brother-spite of the fool's scorn! And fain would take thee with me, in the dell Of peace and mild equality to dwell, Where Toil shall call the charmer Health his bride, some play Our portrait is reproduced from one painted in 1795 by Peter Vandyke for Joseph Cottle, Coleridge's Bristol publisher, and was purchased by the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery in March, 1865. By CANON RAWNSLEY. HE Americans claimed that owing to the killing at sea, of breeding females, vast numbers of seal pups were left to starve on the islands near Saghalien. They believed that as many as 30,000 perished in this way. The British Commis sioners who have reported, state that on Robben Island and the Pribylof Isles 20,000 dead pups were counted. They think that 10,000 of these had been killed by overcrowding before the pelagic sealing commenced. They say the remaining 10,000 died later in the season ; but one is not convinced by this statement. Dead seal-pups tell no tales. Round Robben Isle the happy sea-birds fly To bring their callow nestlings joy and food, But never more above the shining flood The very waves are red with shame and blood, There on the barren beach, a multitude Go home, too happy, warm, and blest to feel, H. D. RawNSLEY. tento 16Notice. -A large number of letters and other communications are with great regret held over, but will appear in our next issue. Correspondents must be as brief as possible, and preference will always be given to letters for insertion which bear the writer's name. American correspon: dents will oblige by ensuring that their letters are not overweight.-Ed. A. F. Aajidaumo–Friend and Squirrel. To By MRS. LAURENCE Pike. [Illustrated with Original Photographs, by Mr. Laurence Pike.-Copyright. Up the oak tree close beside him, " And the squirrel, Adjidaumo, Sprang the squirrel, Adjida umo, Frisked and chattered very gaily, Toiled and tugged with Hiawatha O, my little friend, the squirrel, Bravely have you toiled to help me: "On the boughs, with tail erected, Take the thanks of Hiawatha, Sat the squirrel, Adjidaumo: And the name which now he gives you, In his fur the breeze of morning For hereafter and for ever Played as in the prairie grasses. Boys shall call you Adjidaumo." LONGFELLOW. 10 begin with, my squirrels are free as flattened and rubbed, and his poor little air ! They are FRIENDS ! not hands, instead of being soft and smooth PRISONERS ! They live in the trees in the palms, as a baby's (as are my WILD surrounding the house, and they squirrels' hands), are rough and scarred, come daily to call on me of their own with corns and sores, from constantly sweet wills. In the summer, when I sit climbing about his rough galvanized-wire out of doors, they climb up and sit on my covered box. Poor little brown prisoner! shoulders, rubbing their He was taken from his soft furry cheeks against happy home in a tall pine my face. In the winter tree in the New Forest, they come into the house and now he is in prison, to look for me. There is not even allowed water to nearly always a squirrel drink, “because he makes or two to be found on his cage damp !” said his the doorstep or on the (kind?) gaoler, when I rewindow-ledges, and as soon monstrated. I was calling as a door or window is at the house, and asked to opened, in they patter. I see the squirrel. So he am thankful to say that was let out of his cage. I have only known three He ran to the window, and captive squirrels. They, where a single drop of poor little beings, were water had fallen on the much too sad and miser sill, lapped it crazily. able to make friends with insisted on his having anyone. Two of these some water given him, captives lived in a large cage and oh! it made my heart in a garden, where they ADJIDAUMO II. ache to see how madly were constantly teazed by thirsty he was, and then to seeing their free brothers swinging and hear that he was not allowed to drink ! playing in the trees. One of these free The last news I have heard of him is that ones used to come and tug at the wires, he has had a paralytic stroke, so I suppose trying, I suppose, to release his com- the end is not far off. panions ; these unhappy ones were very It is only those who have become acfierce, and would bite anyone who tried quainted with these quaint little beings to stroke them. Poor little creatures! who can imagine how pretty their ways All they wanted was freedom ; and that are and how affectionate. By becoming being denied them, they would not make acquainted I do not mean penning these friends with their tormentors and gaolers. restless little spirits in a wretched cage ; I The third captive I knew is still alive, mean going out into the woods and and is kept in a most wretched little box becoming friends with them there. This in a town house. His mistress is supposed friendship can be begun in the summer, to "love" him very much ! but she keeps when it is a joy and refreshment to wander him in a tiny cage many sizes too small in the woods far from the haunts of men. for him, so that his limbs are cramped, If you make squirrel and bird friends in and his tail, once full and bushy, is the woods in the summer you will find |
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