The Complete Poetical Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge Volume II Part 171

33

ON THE ABOVE

As long as ere the life-blood's running, Say, what can stop a Punster's punning?

He dares bepun even thee, O Death!

To _pun_ish him, Stop thou his breath.

? 1800. Now first published from MS.

34

EPITAPH

ON A BAD MAN

Of him that in this gorgeous tomb doth lie, This sad brief tale is all that Truth can give-- He lived like one who never thought to die, He died like one who dared not hope to live![961:1]

First published in _Morning Post_, Sept. 22, 1801. First collected _P.

and D. W._, 1877, ii. 168.

ANOTHER VERSION

Under this stone does Walter Harcourt lie, Who valued nought that G.o.d or man could give; He lived as if he never thought to die; He died as if he dared not hope to live![962:1]

[The name Walter Harcourt has been supplied by the editor.--S. C.]

_OBIIT_ SAt.u.r.dAY, SEPT. 10, 1830.

W. H. _EHEU_!

Beneath this stone does William Hazlitt lie, Thankless of all that G.o.d or man could give.

He lived like one who never thought to die, He died like one who dared not hope to live.

35

TO A CERTAIN MODERN NARCISSUS

Do call, dear Jess, whene'er my way you come; My looking-gla.s.s will always be at home.

First published in _Morning Post_, Dec. 16, 1801. Included in _Essays, &c._, iii. 978. First collected in 1893.

36

TO A CRITIC

WHO EXTRACTED A Pa.s.sAGE FROM A POEM WITHOUT ADDING A WORD RESPECTING THE CONTEXT, AND THEN DERIDED IT AS UNINTELLIGIBLE.

Most candid critic, what if I, By way of joke, pull out your eye, And holding up the fragment, cry, 'Ha! ha! that men such fools should be!

Behold this shapeless Dab!--and he Who own'd it, fancied it could _see_!'

The joke were mighty a.n.a.lytic, But should you like it, candid critic?

First published in _Morning Post_, Dec. 16, 1801: included in _Keepsake_, 1829, and in _Essays, &c._, iii. 977-8. First collected in _P. and D. W._, 1877, ii. 167.

37

ALWAYS AUDIBLE

Pa.s.s under Jack's window at twelve at night You'll hear him still--he's roaring!

Pa.s.s under Jack's window at twelve at noon, You'll hear him still--he's snoring!

First published in _Morning Post_, Dec. 19, 1801. First collected 1893.

38

PONDERE NON NUMERO

Friends should be _weigh'd_, not _told_; who boasts to have won A _mult.i.tude_ of friends, he ne'er had _one_.

First published in _Morning Post_, Dec. 26, 1801. Included in _Essays, &c._, iii. 978. First collected in 1893. Adapted from Friedrich von Logan's _Sinngedicht_ (Lessing's edition, Bk. II, No. 65).

'Freunde muss man sich erwahlen Nur nach Wagen, nicht nach Zahlen.'

Cf. also Logan, Book II, No. 30.

39

THE COMPLIMENT QUALIFIED

To wed a fool, I really cannot see Why thou, Eliza, art so very loth; Still on a par with other pairs you'd be, Since thou hast wit and sense enough for both.

First published in _Morning Post_, Dec. 26, 1801. First collected 1893.

The t.i.tle referred to an epigram published in _M. P._ Dec. 24, 1801.

40

[The twenty-one 'Original Epigrams' following were printed in the _Morning Post_, in September and October, 1802, over the signature '?S??S?'. They were included in _Essays, &c._, iii. 978-86, and were first collected in _P. and D. W._, 1877, ii. 171-8.]

What is an Epigram? a dwarfish whole, Its body brevity, and wit its soul.

First published in _Morning Post_, Sept. 23, 1802. Included in _Poetical Register_, 1802 (1803), ii. 253; and in _The Friend_, No. 12, Nov. 9, 1809. Cf. Wernicke's _Beschaffenheit der uberschriften_ (i. e. The Nature of the epigram), Bk. I, No. 1.