one.

work which Coleridge distinctly ad- riously transmogrified from the Darlemits to be translated, not however gung, p. 156. from Schelling, but from a contem. In B.L., p. 146, Coleridge's obserporary writer on the Continent." See vation about the Noumenon of Kant, Biog. Lit., pp. 140, 141, where up- is taken from Schelling's Phil. Schrift. wards of a page and a half are copied pp. 275, 276. His words, here are cer

a (omitting one insignificant interpola- tainly not exactly Schelling's ; but he tion) from Schelling's Darlegung, adds nothing to the original remarks pp. 154, 155. But even here he can- from which his observation is bornot admit his obligation plainly and rowed. For the latter part of his sendirectly; the terms in which he in- tence, see also Transc. Id. p. 114. troduces the extract are exceedingly In B. L., p. 147, we next readcurious, and very much in his usual “ All symbols, of necessity, involve an vein. See Biog. Lit., p. 139, where apparent contradiction.” This is transhe thus writes, in reference to p. 140, lated from the Phil. Schrift. p. 276. 141:-" While I, in part, translate We now pass on to the opening of the following observations from a Chap. X. B. L., p. 157. It commences contemporary writer of the Continent, in italics thus—the introductory words let me be permitted to premise, that I being put into the mouth of an ima. might have transcribed the substance ginary reader : “ Esemplastic!-the from memoranda of my own, which word is not in Johnson, nor have I met were written many years before his with it elsewhere !”.“ Neither have I," pamphlet was given to the world; rejoins the author, Coleridge; “ I conand that I prefer another's words to structed it myself from the Greek my own, partly as a tribute due to words, ss év snartsiy, i. e. to shape into priority of publication, but still more

To this we, taking up the from the pleasure of sympathy in a cause and character of the imaginary case where coincidence (Ital. in orig.) reader, reply—“ We beg your pardon, only was possible.” Now, how Cole- sir ; but you did nothing of the sortridge could reconcile with ordinary you met with it in Schelling's Darlefaith his statement, that a paragraph, gung, p. 61. You there found the consisting of forty-nine lines, to which word In-eins-bildung -“ a shaping his own contribution was six, was only into one"-which Schelling or some in part translated from a foreign other German had literally formwork-how he could outrage common

ed from the Greek, •£15 év TUTTE18, sense, and the capacities of human and you merely translated this word belief, by saying that he might have back into Greek, (a very easy and obtranscribed 6s the substance of it from vious thing to do,) and then you memoranda of his own, written many coined the Greek words into English, years before Schelling's pamphlet was merely altering them from a noun into given to the world "-how he could an adjective. The word is likewise have the cool assurance to tell us that to be met with in Schelling's Vorleshe “ prefers another's words to his ungen, † p. 313. Such, we will lay our own"-not, mark you, because these life upon it, is the history of Colewords belong to that other man, and ridge's neology in the instance of the not to him but as a tribute due to word esemplastic." Readers are priority of publication--and how he generally passive enough mortals in the could take it upon him to say that in hands of writers; but an author who this case nothing more than coinci- ventures upon questionable freaks like dence was possible, (except on the this, must lay his account with someground that it was impossible for any times catching a Tartar among them. human being to write any thing but We now pass on to what is perhaps what he had written before !)_how he the most singular case of plagiarism in could do all these things, entirely the whole book. We find that the baffles our comprehension.

whole of p. 246, and the greater part In B. L., pp. 141-143, are to be of p. 247, B. L., are translated from found two other long sentences, cu- the Phil. Schrift. pp. 327, 328, omit

66

Darlegung des wahren Verhältnisses der Natur-philosophie zu der verbesserten Fichteschen Lehre. Tubingen : 1806.

+ Vorlesungen über die Methode des Academischen Studium.

a

ting three interpolations, which rather translating and appropriating the Gerdetract from than add to the sense of man's ? Besides, if a reader had writthe paragraph. The whole paragraph ten to the Continent for this work, is occupied with a description of the under the title here given to it, it is kind of mind which is unfitted for next to impossible that he could ever philosophical speculations; and con- have procured it. For this title decludes (B. L., p. 247) in these terms: notes à tract buried among a good “ To remain unintelligible to such a many others in Schelling's Phil. mind (exclaims Schelling on a like oc- Schrift., which is the name that ought casion) is honour and a good name be- to have been given to the work refore God and man." Exclaims Schel. ferred to, if the reader was to derive ling on a like occasion !-why, this is any benefit from the information, or the very occasion upon which Schelling was to be put in the way of consulting utters that exclamation the whole the original source. passage (with the slight exceptions Another very long translation from mentioned) being a verbatim transla- Schelling commences near the foot of tion from him !! Can any thing beat p. 254, B. L., and is continued through that ?- this is surely plagiarism out- pp. 255, 256, 257, 258, 259, 260, 261. plagiarised. Coleridge puts forth cer- Throughout these, six interpolations tain remarks as his own, and clenches and variations occur ; but they are so and corroborates them by an exclama- very unimportant that we may say the tion said to be uttered by Schelling up: whole of the pages are faithfully tranon a like occasion. It is then discovered scribed from the Transc. Id., p. to that not only the clenching clause, but p. 9. In continuation of his translathat the whole paragraph to which it tion, left off near the foot of p. 261, refers, is Schelling's ; and that this is B.L., Coleridge, without a break, coprecisely the occasion, upon which, pies the remainder of this page and by way of adding force to his own re. pp. 262, 263, as far as the word " enmarks, he gives vent to the exclama- tities," from the Phil. Schrift., pp. tion quoted. What can this mean?- 273, 274. We must remark, however, is it humour, is it irony, is it dishon- that a pretty long interpolation of his esty, or is it simple carelessness on the occurs in p. 262, B. L. We have also part of Coleridge? These are questions to remark, that the quotation in p. 263,

admitting of a wide solution," and B. L., Doctrina per tot manus tradita yet well worthy the attention of any tandem in vappam desiit, is employed student of the eccentricities of human by Schelling in Phil. Schrift., p. 212. nature.

At p. 264, et seq., B. L., certain Passing on to the middle of p. 250, Theses occur, which are mainly taken B. L., we fall in with translations from from Schelling, though here the senSchelling of much greater bulk than tences of the original are so garbled, any that we have yet met with. At mutilated, and transposed, as to be in this place Coleridge thinks “it expe- general quite unintelligible. Some of

. dient to make some preliminary re- the smaller dispecta membra have promarks on the introduction of POSTU- bably escaped us: but we may partiLATES into philosophy.” Accordingly, cularize the second sentence of p. 268, he makes these remarks—and every B. L., as occurring in the Transc. Id., word of them, running through pp.

Then the whole of Theses 250, 251, 252, 253, and part of 254, vii. viii. (B. L., pp. 269, 270, 271) are is taken verbatim from Schelling, with taken bodily from Phil. Schrift., pp. the exception of the last sentence, (top 223, 224, 225, with some slight variaof p. 254,) which is somewhat altered tions that add nothing to the sense. from the original : vide Phil. Schrift., In Thesis ix., the first and fifth senpp. 329, 330, 331, 332, It must be tences are copied nearly verbatim from admitted that at the beginning of this Transc. Id., pp. 26, 27. Two full extract Coleridge introduces the pa- pages of Thesis x. aré copied from renthesis (“see Schell. Abhandl. zur Transc. Id., pp. 27, 28, 29—a few alErlaüter. des Id. der Wissenschafs- terations being introduced, which we lehre.") But would not a reader na- may say, in Hibernian fashion, are deturally deduce, from this reference, cidedly improvements for the worse. merely the inference that Coleridge The last instance, with which we conwas here referring to Schelling in sup- clude this strange catalogue of plaport of his own views, and not literally giarisms from Schelling, occurs in B,

L.,

.., p. 279, the greater part of which was not at all in consequence of the page is to be found in the Phil. considerations conveyed in this letter Schrift., pp. 203, 204.

that he stopped short. The way in On looking back over the result of which we account for the stoppage is our researches, we perceive that we this. Interspersed throughout the have traced the palpable presence of works of Schelling, glimpses and inSchelling in thirty-three of Coleridge's dications are to be found of some stupages. From these we will deduct pendous theory on the subject of the two-rather more than the quantity be imagination. These shadowy intimaadmits to have been translated in part tions, we think, Coleridge expected to from a “contemporary writer of the be able to catch and unriddle; but Continent;"_thus leaving thirty-one after proceeding a certain length in pages faithfully transcribed, either his work, he found himself unable to wholly or partially, from Schelling. do so. When he came to try, he found We perceive that the continuous whole himself incompetent to think out the pages so transcribed, amount to thir- theory which the German philosoteen ; that the continuous half-pages pher had left enveloped in shadows, so transcribed amount to six ; and that and yawning with many hiatuses; and the smaller passages under half a page not being able to swim in transceninterspersed throughout the work, dental depths without Schelling's amount to twelve. These latter may bladders, and Schelling's bladders not be calculated, on a very moderate being sufficiently inflated to support computation, at three pages. So that him here, he had nothing else for it we have the extraordinary number of but to abandon his work altogether, nineteen full pages, copied almost ver- and leave his readers in the lurch. batim from the works of the German That is our explanation of the matphilosopher, without one distinct word ter. Had Schelling been more exof acknowledgment on the part of the plicit and tangible on the subtranscriber-man event in the history of ject of the imagination, Coleridge literature altogether unprecedented, we would have been so too. Had Schelbelieve ; and in reference to the party ling fully worked out his theory, chiefly concerned, we think we may Coleridge would have done the same; add, quite unsuspected until now. and we should have had the discovery

Are our rea aware how the first of the German thinker paraded, for upvolume of the Biographia Literaria wards of twenty years, as a specimen ends? They must understand that the of the wonderful powers of the English whole of it is intended to stand merely philosopher. as an introduction to some grand the- Before taking leave of the Biogra. ory of the “Imagination,” discovered phia, we must plead, in a very few and to be propounded by Mr Cole. words, the cause of another German ridge. Near the end of the volume, philosopher, pointed out to us by a however, when our curiosity is on the friend, as having been very scurpoint, as we imagine, of being grati- vily treated by Coleridge. "In Vol. . fied, the work suddenly breaks down I., p. 107, we find the in the middle of a sentence, in conse- “ Maasse" (Maasz, it should be) once quence of Coleridge's receipt of a letter mentioned by Coleridge, without howfrom a friend-evidently written by ever any commentary, upon it, or any himself-informing him that the world hint that he lay under the smallest is not yet ripe for his discovery ; that obligation to the philosopher of that his - Freatise on Real-idealism,

(the

On looking, however, into very name by which Schelling's sys- this author's work,* we find that all tem is known,) “ holding the same re- the real information and learning put lation in abstruseness to Plotinus, as forth in Biog. Lit., Chap. V., is Plotinus does to Plato," would be too stolen bodily from him. In B.L., pp. much for ordinary readers ; and ac- 100, 101, et seq., a considerable show cordingly, “ in consequence of this of learning is exhibited on the subvery judicious letter," Coleridge al- ject of the association of ideas; and lows his work to break down as we of course the reader's impression is, have said. Now, our view is, that it that Coleridge is indebted for the

name

learning here displayed to nothing but in which the Plastic Arts stand to Nahis own researches. But no such thing ture,” (vide Phil. Schrift., 343, et seq.) - he is indebted for it entirely to What will Coleridge's admirers say, upMaasz. : He found all the quotations, on finding it thus proved that even his and nearly all the observations con- notions upon poetry and the fine arts nected with them, ready-made to his in general are mainly drawn from the hand in the pages of that philosopher. profound wells of the German philo. “Long before,” says Coleridge, p. 100, sopher--that his diamonds, no less “ either Hobbes or Des Cartes, the law than his fuel, are dug up from Schelof association had been defined, and ling's inexhaustible mines! its important functions set forth by We have seen, then, that Coleridge Melanchthon, Amerbach, and Ludovi. is indebted to Schelling for most of cus Vives, more especially the last.” his philosophy, and for some of his Maasz says precisely the same thing, profoundest views on the subject of the p. 343. Then follows (p. 101) Cole- great art in which he most excelled ridge's account of the distinction which the art of poetry ; but to whom is he Vives makes between Imaginatio and indebted for some of the brightest Phantasia. This distinction is dis

gems in his poetic wreath itself? We tinctly pointed out by Maasz, p. 344. answer, that among other sources he Then follow four quotations from Vives is indebted in particular to Schiller -all of which are to be found in Maasz, and to Christian Count Stolberg, some pp. 344, 345. In a word, all Cole- of whose most exquisite productions ridge's learning bearing upon Me- he has appropriated without one word lanchthon, Amerbach, and Vives, is of acknowledgement. His obligations to be found in Maasz. Passing on to Frederica Brun for many of the to Coleridge's remarks on what Aris- leading ideas of his “ Hymn before totle says on the subject of association, Sunrise in the vale of Chamouni,” we find that here, too, his coinci. have been already pointed out elsedences with Maasz are a good deal where, and are admitted, (see Preface more than coincidences. In B. L., to his Table Talk, p. L.,) and therep. 102, we read that “ Aristotle's po- fore we need say no more on that subsitions on this subject (the association ject. We proceed to particularize of ideas) are unmixed with fiction.” three other instances of the grossest Maasz, p. 345, tells us that Aristotle plagiarism committed upon the works is (ganz aufs reine gekommen) “as of the two authors just mentioned ; pure as possible” in his doctrines which cases have never, we believe, upon this point. Then Coleridge's ob- been exposed till now-a very extraservation (p. 103) respecting Aristo- ordinary circumstance, in so far, at tle's use of the word xinois, in which least, as Schiller is concerned. he informs us that Aristotle uses this When we first read, a good many word “to express what we call ideas

years ago, (we think in an annual,) or representations ;” and that when he these verses of Coleridge's in which uses it to denote o material motion," he at once describes and exemplifies he invariably annexes to it “ the the Homeric hexameter and the Ovi-' words εν τοπο or κατα τοπον.” – all this dian elegiac metre, we remember beis to be found distinctly brought for- ing quite petrified with astonishment ward by Maasz, pp. 321, 324 ; and and delight. It appeared to us that

, finally, a good deal of what follows in words-particularly in the instance of B. L., pp. 103, 104, may be traced to the hexameter and pentameter distich Maasz, p. 325, et seq.

-had never before been made to perTo return for one moment to Schel- form so exquisite and miraculous a feat. ling. On looking through Coleridge's This, thought we, is certainly absolute Literary Remains, we find that he perfection in the kind of thing which is is not contented with purloining attempted. The lines are these : Schelling's philosophy, but he must also plunder him of his Aesthetics. Lecture XIII., “ On Poesy or Art," (vide L. R., vol. i. p. 216, et seq.,) is “ Strongly it bears us along, in swelling closely copied, and many parts of it and limitless billows: are translated from Schelling's very Nothing before, and nothing behind but eloquent“Discourse upon the Relation the sky and the ocean.

THE HOMERIC HEXAMETER DE

SCRIBED AND EXEMPLIFIED.

TIE OVIDIAN ELEGIAC METRE DE

SCRIBED AND EXEMPLIFIED.

" TO A CATARACT.

Unperishing youth ! « In the hexameter rises the fountain's Thou leapest from forth silvery column;

The cell of thy hidden nativity! In the pentameter aye falling in melody

Never mortal saw back.

The cradle of the strong one; What was our surprise and mortifi Never mortal heard cation, when, some years afterwards, The gathering of his voiceswe found that, in both instances, these The deep-murmur'd charm of the son of lines had been copied verbatim from

the rock, Schiller. We confess we even felt

Which is lisp'd evermore at his slumbersomewhat indignant at the imposition

less fountain. that had been played off upon us; and

There's a cloud at the portal, a spray

woven veil besides, we thought it very shameful that Schiller should have been de

At the shrine of his ceaseless renewing:

It embosoms the roses of dawn; frauded of his own property, and of

It entangles the shafts of the noon; his own proper honours. As a trans.

And into the bed of its stillness lation, Coleridge's verses are certainly

The moonshine sinks down as in slumbervery admirable, because, tallying al.

That the sun of the rock-that the nursmost word for word with the original,

ling of heaven they preserve exactly the effect which

May be born in a holy twilight." it produces : but that is no justifi. cation of his concealment. Perhaps The Quarterly Review informs us he thought that he had improved so that Mr Coleridge recited these lines much upon the original that he was as a specimen of lyric rhythm, which entitled to claim the verses as his own. he thought might satisfy the ear withBut this we deny ;—his lines on the out rhyme;"—and he certainly estabHomeric metre are not quite so good lishes his point—nothing can be more as Schiller's; his lines on the Ovidian exquisite than the versification here distich are as good, (with the excep- presented to us, and the ideas, too, are tion of the word “ silvery,” which is good; but we are under the necessity inferior to “ flüssige,") but not one of adding this qualification-alas! he whit better than Schiller's. But that establishes his point, only by closely German readers may judge of this for adopting the metre, the language, and themselves, we subjoin the original the thoughts of another man. He is

Coleridge's translation may but the shadow-a glorified shadow, be seen in his own Works, vol. ii. p. perhaps—but here is the substance 146, Ed. 1836.

from which it is thrown, presented We first read the following verses in before us in the person of Count Stolthe Quarterly Review, vol. li. p. 26; berg. This coincidence was pointed they are now embodied in Coleridge's out to us by a friend some time ago. Works, vol. ii. p. 131, Ed. 1836. We thus translate, word for word, the

66

* verses.

Der epische Hexameter :

“ Schwindelnd trägt er dich fort auf rastlos strömenden Wogen :

Hinter dir siehst du, du siehst vor dir nur Himmel und Meer.” Das Distichon

“ Im Hexameter steigt des Spring-quells flüssige Säule :

Im Pentameter drauf fällt sie melodisch herab." -Schiller’s Werke, Vol. I., p. 262. Ed : Stuttgart und Tubingen : 1827. Let the classical reader take up Ovid's Heroides or Tristia, and he will find in every page illustrations of the manner in which the hexameter breaks, as it were, and falls back in the pentameter--thereby adding a most exquisite grace to the rhythm. The secret genius of the metre appears to consist in this play. Here are one or two instances taken from Penelope's Letter to Ulysses :

“ Troja jacet certe, Danais invisa puellis.

Vix Priamus tanti totaque Troja fuit.” Again

" Quando ego non timui graviora pericula veris ?

Res est solliciti plena timoris amor. Again

“ Sive quis Antilochum narrabat ab Hectore victum

Antilochus nostri causa timoris erat."