Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey | Page 9

Coleridge thirty guineas for a volume of his poems; you have poems
equal to a volume, and if you approve of it, I will give you the same."
He cordially thanked me, and instantly acceded to my proposal.
I then said to him, "you have read me several books of your 'Joan of
Arc' which Poem I perceive has great merit. If it meet with your
concurrence, I will give you fifty guineas for this work, and publish it
in quarto, when I will give you, in addition, fifty copies to dispose of
amongst your friends." Without a moment's hesitation, to this proposal
also he acceded.
I could say much of Mr. Southey at this time; of his constitutional
cheerfulness; of the polish of his manners; of his dignified, and at the
same time, of his unassuming deportment; as well as of the general
respect which his talents, conduct, and conversation excited.[3] But
before reference be made to more serious publications, some notice will
be taken of other objects of pursuit.
Mr. Coleridge and Mr. Southey, now determined by their best efforts,
in other ways than those detailed, to raise money for their projected
expedition. They resolved therefore, to give the citizens of Bristol
individual lectures, or series of lectures, on different subjects. Mr.
Coleridge chose Political and Moral subjects;[4] Mr. Southey chose

History. On examining my old papers, I find most of the notices or
prospectuses relating to these subjects.
Mr. Coleridge's first two lectures were delivered in the Corn Market in
Wine-Street.
Mr. Coleridge's next two lectures were delivered the latter end of
February, 1795, and afterwards were thrown into a small pamphlet,
printed under the title of _"Conciones ad Populum_, or Addresses to
the people." After this he consolidated two other of his lectures, and
published them under the title of "The Plot Discovered." Two detached
lectures were given at the Corn Market, and one at a room in Castle
Green. All these lectures were anti-Pitt-ite.
The next lecture given by Mr. Coleridge was in reprobation of the
Slave Trade. The following was the prospectus:--
"To-morrow evening, June 16th, 1795, S. T. Coleridge, of Jesus
College, Cambridge, will deliver, (by particular desire) a lecture on the
Slave Trade, and the duties that result from its continuance.
To begin at eight o'clock in the evening, at the Assembly Coffee House,
on the Quay. Admission, One shilling."
His next lecture was (it is believed) on the Hair Powder Tax, in which
his audience were kept in good feeling, by the happy union of wit,
humour, and argument. Mr. C.'s lectures were numerously attended,
and enthusiastically applauded.
It may amuse and gratify the reader, to receive a specimen of a
lecture,[5] descriptive of Mr. C.'s composition and reasoning, delivered
at this time, and by which it will appear that his politics were not of that
inflammable description which would set a world in flames.
"... But of the propriety and utility of holding up the distant mark of
attainable perfection, we shall enter more fully toward the close of this
address. We turn with pleasure to the contemplation of that small but
glorious band, whom we may truly distinguish by the name of thinking
and disinterested patriots.[6] These are the men who have encouraged
the sympathetic passions till they have become irresistible habits, and
made their duty a necessary part of their self-interest, by the
long-continued cultivation of that moral taste, which derives our most
exquisite pleasures from the contemplation of possible perfection.
Accustomed to regard all the affairs of man as a process, they never
hurry, and they never pause. Theirs is not the twilight of political

knowledge, which gives us just light enough to place one foot before
the other: as they advance, the scene still opens upon them, and they
press right onward, with a vast and varied landscape of existence
around them. Calmness and energy mark all their actions. Benevolence
is the silken thread that runs through the pearl-chain of all their virtues.
The unhappy children of vice and folly, whose tempers are adverse to
their own happiness, as well as to the happiness of others, will at times
awaken a natural pang, but he looks forward with gladdened heart to
that glorious period when justice shall have established the universal
fraternity of love. These soul-ennobling views bestow the virtues which
they anticipate. He whose mind is habitually impressed with them,
soars above the present state of humanity, and may be justly said to
dwell in the presence of the Most High. Regarding every event, as he
that ordains it, evil vanishes from before him, and he views the eternal
form of universal beauty."
At one of his lectures, Mr. Coleridge amused his audience by reciting
the following letter from Liberty to his dear friend Famine; the effect