Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 2.djvu/106

 82

NOTES AND QUERIES. [io s. n. JULY ao,

word " heath " in A is followed by a comma, I The separately-printed pamphlet possesses- and in B by a full stop ;* and in line 89 we some bibliographical value, because, though have " war-whoop " in A and " war whoop " not a,princeps, it contains the first expression B. of the author's maturer thoughts. The fol-

3. Under, and forming part of, the title of lowing note occurs ^at p. 530, ' Frost at Mid- each of the three poems in A, we find the night/ in ' The Poetical Register ' : words, *' By S. T. Coleridge, Esq." These " This poem, which was first published with words are omitted from the titles of the 'Fears in Solitude, and 'France an Ode,' has been Doems in B since en .l ar S ed & nd corrected, and with the other

A TK^ fi".of TVOO-O T9971 rf  Coleridge." tude in A has the signature O 2, while the mi . ..

first page of this poemln B has the signature Th T ls * ot V s nofc tSP^*} ^ th Pamphlet, jj In dealing with the flocci and nauci of

Now if the type of ' The Poetical Register ' bibliography another point in connexion with had been left standing, all these corrections Coleridge may be noticed. In 1795 he pub- and alterations might have been made with- 8. hed a ]l P a A m P% fc, entltl ed 'The Plot out difficulty before an offprint was taken. Discovered; or, An Address to the People Much more extensive changes are frequently against Ministerial Treason. So far as I made during the correction of proof-sheets, k "^, only ^ wo c . ? ies , of thls P u ai PWet, and the text of 'The Poetical Register,' so stitched m the original wrapper, have sur- long as the type was not distributed, might v . lved > ,ne of them being in my own posses- have been regarded as a proof. It required, t n . andthe ^ er m thafc <? f a Y ell ^ nown therefore, a closer scrutiny before I could find bibliophile. This wrapper is valuable, he- grounds for thinking that the text of the aus e the upper leaf bears the half-title,.

pamphlet was reset.

The Athenaeum reviewer asserted that the type of the pamphlet was that of ' The Poetical Register.' On this point he is pro- bably correct ; but granting the fact, it is apparently set closer, and is much more worn. A careful measurement will show that the lines in the pamphlet are slightly shorter than those of ' The Poetical Register.' This is especially noticeable in ' Fears in Solitude. Line 8 of this poem begins with the word "Bath'd." In A the final letter d is perfect,

A Protest against Certain Bills. Bristol : Printed for .the Author, November 28, 1795." This description was given in 'The Biblio- graphy of Coleridge,' 1900, p. 9. The friend to whom I was indebted for the account of the pamphlet of * Poems,' which I have cited at the beginning of this note, informed me there was not a colon after "Bristol," but a semicolon, basing his assertion on the authority of the other copy. As a close in- spection convinced me that I was right, I became curious to see the copy in question,.

-LJCliVLl V* JLJ.J. J-i. Vllls U*MM AWVVWA ^V J.O fSV&AWV^ 7. -i n, 1 T 1_ 1

but in B it is broken, the upper portion of and shortly afterwards I had an opportunity the long stroke inclining to the left. The ^ n xamin ? lo proved not

nl

last word in line 19 of the poem is "best." In A the word is normally printed, while in B the letter s seems to have been turned topsy-turvy, and therefore fails in regularity. The last word of line "preach'd." In A this is properly printed, while in B the apostrophe has dropped, and the word appears as " preach d." It may

both I and my friend were right, but that while in my copy the word " Bristol " was printed in roman capitals, in the other lineal I ^ was P rinte( ^ in italic capitals. The wavy i s lines at the head and foot of the inscription' were also of different lengths in the two copies. At this distance of time it is im- possible to say why there should have been


 * UV n\S&VI C*l_f|^_/C*l. O C*O K/l V>C*V1.J. \A* JLV LUO> \ I jj P j_l * i* 1 1

also be observed as a small, but not un- a resetting of the inscription, or which copy

1 was the earlier one, but the fact remains as a warning against any dogmatism or "cock- sureness " in matters of bibliography.

W. F. PEIDEAUX..

important detail, that underneath the title of each poem there are two lines, one thick and one thin. In 'The Poetical Register' the thicker line is uppermost, but in the p&.mphlet the thinner.

These considerations lead to the conclusion tuat ' Fears in Solitude ' may have been rt-set. About 'France' and 'Frost at Mid- n'ght' I feel a little doubtful. But it is really a question for a practical printer to decide.

broken comma.
 * I am not, however, sure that this is not

LETTERS OF WILLIAM COWPER. (See ante, pp. 1, 42.)

Pp. 43-44 :

Letter 4.

August 10, 1767.

I send you an extract from a friend of mine at

Bristol, giving an account of the death of a child at Clifton, about a mile from Bristol, the son of the clerk of that parish ; he died aged 8 years and