commencement of his madness. He was refused admittance into the house; upon this, in a fit of half anger and half derangement, he broke the windows, and was (little to Sir Joshua's honour) sent to Newgate. Some weeks after this had happened, Jackson went to London, and one of his first enquiries was for Bampfylde. Lady B., his mother, said, she knew little or nothing about him,-that she had got him out of Newgate, and he was now in some beggarly place. 'Where?' 'In King's Street, Holborn,' she believed, but she did not know the number of the house.' Away went Jackson, and knocked at every door, till he found the right. It was a truly miserable place: the woman of the house was one of the worst class of women in London. She knew that Bampfylde had no money, and that at that time he had been three days without food. When Jackson saw him, there was all the levity of madness in his manners, his shirt was ragged, and black as a coal-heaver's; and his beard of a two months' growth. Jackson sent out for food, said, he was come to breakfast with him, and turned aside to a harpsichord in the room, literally, he said, to let him gorge himself without being noticed. He removed him from hence, and, after giving his mother a severe lecture, obtained for him a decent allowance; and left him, when he himself quitted town, in decent lodgings, earnestly begging him to write. "But he never wrote: The next news was, that he was in à private mad-house, and I never saw him more.' Almost the last time they met, he shewed him several poems,among others a Ballad on the Murder of David Rizzio-' such a ballad!' said he. He came that day to dine with Jackson, and was asked for copies. 'I burned them,' was the reply: 'I wrote them, to please you: you did not seem to like them; so I threw them in the fire.' After twenty years' confinement, he recovered his senses, but not till he was dying of a consumption. The apothecary urged him to leave Sloane Street, (where he had been always as kindly treated as he could be), and go into his own country, saying, that his friends in Devonshire would be very glad to see him. But he hid his face, and answered, 'No, sir! they, who knew me what I was, shall never see me what I am!' Some of these facts I should have inserted in the Specimens, had not Coleridge mislaid the letter in which I had written them down; and it was not found till too late." (Here is a chasm in the copy of Dr. Southey's letter: it goes on): "He read the preface to me. I remember that it dwelt much upon his miraculous genius for music, and even made it intelligible to me, who am no musician. He knew nothing of the science :-but would sit down to the harpsichord, and produce combinations so wild that no composer would have ventured to think of, and yet so beautiful in their effect, that Jackson (an enthusiast concerning music) spoke of them, after the lapse of twenty years, with astonishment and tears." Sonnets by Charlotte Smith, p. 151-159.] In which softly-coloured description and touching sentiment are most happily combined-from Elegiac Sonnets, seventh edition, 1795. The earliest edition of the work (which, however, does not contain some of the pieces I have given) was in 1784. Sonnet by Sir Egerton Brydges, p. 160.] This highly imaginative Sonnet was first published among the author's Poems, 1785. About the end of that century, it was by mistake attributed to Henry Brooke (author of Gustavus Vasa, &c.) in a small collection of Sonnets privately printed by Mr. Coleridge.-In 1825, Sir Egerton inserted it in his Recollections of Foreign Travel, from which it is now given. The great labours of Sir Egerton Brydges in the cause of English literature will be duly appreciated by posterity. For some years past, he has resided at Geneva, where he still devotes himself to his favourite pursuits with an enthusiasm, which neither age nor sickness can subdue. Sonnets by Thomas Russell, p. 161-164.] From ́Sonnets and Miscellaneous Poems, 1789. Whether the author (who died in his 26th year, 1788,) intended his compositions for publication, is uncertain; that he was gifted with no ordinary genius, the magnificent Sonnet on Philoctetes (p. 164) is an incontestable proof. Sonnets by William Lisle Bowles, p. 165–171.] The four first are a portion of Fourteen Sonnets, 1789: the others are found in enlarged editions of that publication. I have followed the improved text in the ed. of 1805. Sonnet by Helen Maria Williams, p. 172.] From Julia, a Novel, interspersed with some Poetical Pieces, 2 vols. 1790.— In a note on this Sonnet, in her Poems, 1823, the authoress observes, "I commence the Sonnets with that to Hope, from a predilection in its favour, for which I have a proud reason: it is that of Mr. Wordsworth, who lately honoured me with his visits while at Paris, having repeated it to me from memory, after a lapse of many years." Sonnet by William Mason, p. 173.] From his Poems, vol. iii. Now first published, 1797. Sonnets by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, p. 174-175.] The former first appeared in the author's Poems, 1796; the latter in the second edition of his Poems, 1797.-They are now printed from his Poetical Works, 3 vols. 1829. Sonnet by Charles Lamb, p. 176.] First published in the second edition of Mr. Coleridge's Poems, 1797, is now given from Mr. Lamb's Works, 2 vols. 1818. Sonnets by Anna Seward, p. 177-184.] From Original Sonnets, &c., 1799; which are less encumbered by ornament than her other writings. Sonnet by Robert Southey, p. 185.] First printed in the second vol. of The Annual Anthology, 1800, is now given, as corrected by the author, from his Minor Poems, 3 vols. 1815. Sonnet by William Cowper, p. 186.] First printed in the sec. vol. of his Life by Hayley, 1803-from his Poems, 3 vols. 1817. Sonnet by William Crowe, p. 187.] From the third edition of Lewesdon Hill, with other Poems, 1804. Sonnets by Henry Kirke White, p. 188-189.] These affecting pieces (first published in the fifth vol. of the Censura Literaria, 1807) are from his Remains, 2 vols. 4th ed. 1810. Sonnets by William Wordsworth, p. 190-204.] In power and poetic feeling superior to all similar compositions in the language, save those of Shakespeare and Milton, appeared originally in Mr. Wordsworth's Poems, 2 vols. 1807, with the exception of three, (p. p. 193, 203, 204,) which have been more recently published. They are now given, with the author's last corrections, from his Poetical Works, 4 vols., 1832. Sonnet by John Keats, p. 205.] From Poems, 1817, -the earliest publication of this extraordinary young man, whose genius must be acknowledged even by those readers, who are not satisfied with the correctness of his taste. |