The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume I Part 170

[7] fear] dread F. O.

[9-10]

Let Sea, and Earth and Sky Wage war against me! On my front I show

F. O.

[11] they] _they_ F. O.

[12] that] who F. O.

[14] his . . . there] _his . . . there_ F. O.

EPITAPH[491:1]

Stop, Christian pa.s.ser-by!--Stop, child of G.o.d, And read with gentle breast. Beneath this sod A poet lies, or that which once seem'd he.

O, lift one thought in prayer for S. T. C.; That he who many a year with toil of breath 5 Found death in life, may here find life in death!

Mercy for praise--to be forgiven for fame[492:1]

He ask'd, and hoped, through Christ. Do thou the same!

_9th November_, 1833.

FOOTNOTES:

[491:1] First published in 1834. Six MS. versions are extant:--(_a_) in a letter to Mrs. Aders of 1833 (_Letters of S. T. C._, 1895, ii. 770); (_b_) in a letter to J. G. Lockhart; (_c_) in a letter to J. H. Green of October 29, 1833: (_d_ _e_) in a copy of Grew's _Cosmologia Sacra_, annotated by Coleridge in 1833; (_f_) in a copy of the _Todtentanz_, which belonged to Thomas Poole.

[492:1] N.B. 'for' in the sense of 'instead of'. ?st? ?e?ta?

??ast?se?--stet.i.t: restat: resurget. ?S??S?. _Letter to J. G. Lockhart, 1833._

LINENOTES:

t.i.tle or Heading] (_a_) 'Epitaph on a Poet little known, yet better known by the Initials of his name than by the Name Itself.' S. T. C.

Letter to Mrs. Aders: (_b_) 'Epitaph on a Writer better known by the Initials of his Name than by the name itself. Suppose an upright tombstone.' S. T. C. Letter to J. G. Lockhart: (_c_) 'On an author not wholly unknown; but better known by the initials of his name than by the name itself, which he partly Graecized, Hic jacet qui stet.i.t, restat, resurget--on a Tombstone.' Letter to J. H. Green: (_d_) 'Epitaph in Hornsey Churchyard. Hic jacet S. T. C. Grew (1): (_e_) 'Etesi's (_sic_) Epitaph,' (and below (_e_)) 'Inscription on the Tombstone of one not unknown; yet more commonly known by the Initials of his Name than by the Name itself.' Grew (2): (_f_) 'Esteese's a?t?ep?taf???.' Note in Poole's Todtentanz.

From the letter to Mrs. Aders it appears that Coleridge did not contemplate the epitaph being inscribed on his tombstone, but that he intended it to be printed 'in letters of a distinctly visible and legible size' on the outline of a tomb-stone to be engraved as a vignette to be published in a magazine, or to ill.u.s.trate the last page of his 'Miscellaneous Poems' in the second volume of his Poetical Works.

It would seem that the artist, Miss Denman, had included in her sketch of the vignette the figure of a Muse, and to this Coleridge objects:--'A rude old yew-tree, or a mountain ash, with a grave or two, or any other characteristic of a village church-yard,--such a hint of a landscape was all I meant; but if any figure rather that of an elderly man, thoughtful with quiet tears upon his cheek.' Letters of S. T. C., 1895, ii. 770.

For the versions inscribed in Grew's _Cosmologia Sacra_, and in Poole's copy of the _Todtentanz_, vide Appendices of this work.

[2] breast] heart MS. Letters to Mrs. Aders, J. G. Lockhart, J. H.

Green.

[3] seem'd he] was he MS. Letter to J. H. Green.

[5] toil of] toilsome MS. Letter to Mrs. Aden.

[7] to be forgiven] _to be forgiven_ MS. Letters to Mrs. Aders and J. H.

Green.