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 Since Mr. Southey went to court, he has changed his tone. Asinos asinina decent. Is that Mr. Coleridge's political logic?

4. That Mr. Southey did not express his real opinions, even at that time, in Wat Tyler, which is a dramatic poem, in which mob-orators and rioters figure, with appropriate sentiments, as Jack Cade may do in Shakespear.

Answer. This allusion to the dramatic characters of Shakespear is certainly unfortunate, and Mr. Coleridge himself hints as much. Rioters and mob-preachers are not the only persons who appear in "the Wat Tyler." The King and the Archbishop come forward in their own persons, according to Mr. Coleridge, with appropriate sentiments, labelled and put into their mouths. For example:—

Philpot. Every moment brings Fresh tidings of our peril. King. It were well To yield them what they ask. Archbishop, Aye, that my liege Were politic. Go boldly forth to meet them. Grant all they ask—however wild and ruinous;— Meantime, the troops you have already summoned Will gather round them. Then my Christian power Absolves you of your promise. Walworth. Were but their ringleaders cut off, the rabble Would soon disperse.