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[Illustration: Portrait.]
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by JOSEPH COTTLE
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It is with a solemnized feeling that I enter on these Reminiscences.Except one, I have survived all the associates of my earlier days. Theyoung, with a long life in perspective, (if any life can be called long,in so brief an existence) are unable to realize the impressions of a man,nearer eighty than seventy, when the shadows of evening are gatheringaround, and, in a retrospective glance, the whole field of past visionappears, in all its complexities, like the indistinct tumults of a dream.The acute reasoner—the fiery politician—the eager polemic—the emulousaspirant after fame; and many such have I known, where are they? and howmournful, if any one of them should be found, at last, to have directedhis solicitudes, alone, to material objects;—should have neglected tocultivate his own little plot of earth, more valuable than mines! andhave sown no seeds for eternity. It is not a light motive which couldhave prompted me, when this world of "Eye and Ear" is fast receding,while grander scenes are opening, and so near! to call up almostlong-forgotten associations, and to dwell on the stirring, by-goneoccurrences that tend, in some measure, to interfere with that calm whichis most desirable, and best accords with the feelings of one who holdslife by such slender ties. Yet through the goodness of the Almighty,being at the present moment exempt from many of the common infirmities ofage, I am willing, as a last act, to make some sacrifice to obtain thegood which I hope this recurrence to the past is calculated to produce.
With respect to Mr. Coleridge, it would be easy and pleasant to sail withthe stream; to admire his eloquence; to extol his genius; and to forgethis failings; but where is the utility, arising out of this homage paidto naked talent? If the attention of posterity rested here, where werethe lessons of wisdom to be learnt from his example? His path through theworld was marked by strong outlines, and instruction is to be derivedfrom every feature of his mind, and every portion of his eventful andchequered life. In all the aspects of his character, he was probably themost singular man that has appeared in this country during the precedingcentury, and the leading incidents of whose life ought to stand fairly onrecord. The facts which I have stated are undeniable, the most importantbeing substantiated by his own letters; but higher objects were intendedby this narrative than merely to elucidate a character, (howeverremarkable), in all its vicissitudes and eccentricities. Rising aboveidle curiosity, or the desire of furnishing aliment for thesentimental;—excitement the object, and the moral tendency disregarded,these pages take a wider range, and are designed for the good of many,where if there be much to pain the reader, he should moderate hisregrets, by looking through the intermediate to the end.
There is scarcely an individual, whose life, if justly delineated, wouldnot present much whence others might derive instruction. If this beapplicable to the multitude, how much more essentially true is it, inreference to the ethereal spirits, endowed by the Supreme with a lavishportion of intellectual strength, as well as with proportionatecapacities for doing good? How serious therefore is the obligation to