Courtney Ryley Cooper - "The White Desert"

Horace Annesley Vachell - "The Hill"

Coningsby Dawson - "The Glory of the Trenches"

Anthony Hope - "Simon Dale"

Annual Bibliography of Commonwealth Literature 2007
This paper argues that discourses of love in Ghanaian market literature for youth offer a view into complex negotiations of agency and empowerment. Drawing on Deborah Durham's notion of youth as "social `shifters'" and Francis Nyamnjoh's conception of the "interconnectedness" of agency, I take Ghanaian market literature as one specific case of how African literature for youth foregrounds questions of continuity and change as African societies enter into increasingly complex global relations. In this literature for youth, received notions of love, often constructed out of impressions from American pop and hip hop music, carry new notions of agency that compete with existing "domesticated" forms. Authors like Ike Tandoh and Evelyn Tay employ discourses of love to offer youth alternative avenues for empowerment in a context of socio-economic disenfranchizement. In a creative process of "straddling", this writing both reveals and reproduces the contradictions that obtain in youth configurations of agency.

Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey

J >> Joseph Cottle >> Reminiscences of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Southey




You have done excellently well to collect into a permanent substance what
must else have gone into oblivion, for no one else could have exhibited
even a shadow of it. But now, my dear sir, I hope you are prepared with
the philosophy, or by whatever name I should designate the
fortitude,--that can patiently bear the frustration of the main immediate
purpose of your long and earnest labour.--For you may lay your account
that the compiler of the proposed life of Coleridge will admit but a very
minor part of what you have thus furnished at his request:--that
especially he will not admit what you feel to be the most important, as
an emphatic moral lesson, and what it has cost you the most painful
resolution to set faithfully forth.

No, my dear sir, the operator of the work will not, will not, will not,
let the illustrious philosopher, genius, and poet, so appear. He will get
over that stage with a few general expressions, and a few indistinctly
presented facts. And then as to the dreadful tragical parts, he will
promptly decide that it would be utter profanation to expose them to view
in any such unveiled prominence as you have exhibited in your narrative.
And then the solemn warning and example will be nearly kept out of sight.
Quite naturally that this would be the course adopted, unless the
compiler were, like yourself, intent, as his first and highest
obligation, on doing faithful homage to truth, virtue, and religion. How
I despise biography, as the business is commonly managed. I cannot
believe that Coleridge's dreadful letters of confession will be admitted
in their own unmodified form; though they ought to be. Most truly yours,

John Foster."


These combined intimations led me to stipulate that, whatever else was
omitted, the opium letters should be printed verbatim. But this being
promptly refused, I determined to throw my materials into a separate
work.

As this is the last time in which Mr. Southey's name will be mentioned,
it is a debt of justice to subjoin the following honourable testimonials.

As an evidence of the estimation in which Mr. Southey was held,--the
distinctions awarded to his memory have had few parallels. His friends at
Keswick, among whom he resided for thirty years, erected to him in their
Church a noble monument, as a permanent memorial of their respect. His
friends, in London, placed his bust in Westminster Abbey. Whilst another
set of his friends in Bristol (his native city) from respect to his
genius, and in admiration of his character, placed a bust of him in their
own Cathedral.


PRAYER OF S. T. COLERIDGE, WRITTEN IN 1831.

Almighty God, by thy eternal Word, my Creator, Redeemer, and Preserver!
who hast in thy communicative goodness glorified me with the capability
of knowing thee, the only one absolute God, the eternal I Am, as the
author of my being, and of desiring and seeking thee as its ultimate
end;--who when I fell from thee into the mystery of the false and evil
will, didst not abandon me, poor self-lost creature, but in thy
condescending mercy didst provide an access and a return to thyself, even
to the Holy One, in thine only begotten Son, the way and the truth from
everlasting, and who took on himself humanity, yea, became flesh, even
the man Christ Jesus, that for man he might be the life and
resurrection!--O, Giver of all good gifts, who art thyself the only
absolute Good, from whom I have received whatever good I have; whatever
capability of good there is in me, and from thee good alone,--from myself
and my own corrupted will all evil, and the consequences of evil,--with
inward prostration of will, mind, and affections I adore thy infinite
majesty; I aspire to love thy transcendant goodness!

In a deep sense of my unworthiness, and my unfitness to present myself
before thee, of eyes too pure to behold iniquity, and whose light, the
beatitude of spirits conformed to thy will, is a consuming fire to all
vanity and corruptions;--but in the name of the Lord Jesus, of the dear
Son of thy love, in whose perfect obedience thou deignest to behold as
many as have received the seed of Christ into the body of this death;--I
offer this my bounden nightly sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, in
humble trust that the fragrance of my Saviour's righteousness may remove
from it the taint of my mortal corruption. Thy mercies have followed me
through all the hours and moments of my life; and now I lift up my heart
in awe and thankfulness for the preservation of my life through the past
day, for the alleviation of my bodily sufferings and languors, for the
manifold comforts which thou hast reserved for me, yea, in thy fatherly
compassion hast rescued from the wreck of my own sins or sinful
infirmities;--for the kind and affectionate friends thou hast raised up
for me, especially for those of this household, for the mother and
mistress of this family, whose love to me has been great and faithful,
and for the dear friend, the supporter and sharer of my studies and
researches; but above all for the heavenly Friend, the crucified Saviour,
the glorified Mediator, Christ Jesus, and for the heavenly Comforter,
source of all abiding comforts, thy Holy Spirit! that I may with a deeper
faith, a more enkindled love, bless thee, who through thy Son hast
privileged me to call thee Abba Father! O thou who hast revealed thyself
in thy word as a God that hearest prayer; before whose infinitude all
differences cease, of great and small; who like a tender parent
foreknowest all our wants, yet listenest, well-pleased, to the humble
petitions of thy children; who hast not alone permitted, but taught us to
call on thee in all our needs,--earnestly I implore the continuance of
thy free mercy, of thy protecting providence through the coming night.

Thou hearest every prayer offered to thee believingly with a penitent and
sincere heart. For thou in withholding grantest, healest in inflicting
the wound, yea, turnest all to good for as many as truly seek thee
through Christ the Mediator! Thy will be done! But if it be according to
thy wise and righteous ordinances, O shield me this night from the
assaults of disease, grant me refreshment of sleep, unvexed by evil and
distempered dreams; and if the purpose and aspiration of my heart be
upright before thee who alone knowest the heart of man, O, in thy mercy,
vouchsafe me yet in this my decay of life, an interval of ease and
strength, if so,--thy grace disposing and assisting--I may make
compensation to thy church for the unused talents thou hast entrusted to
me, for the neglected opportunities which thy loving-kindness had
provided. O let me be found a labourer in thy vineyard, though of the
late hour, when the Lord and Heir of the vintage, Christ Jesus calleth
for his servant.--_Lit. Rem._

S. T. C."


Mr. Coleridge wrote, in his life-time, his own epitaph, as follows:--

"Stop, Christian passer-by: stop, child of God,
And read, with gentle breast. Beneath this sod
A poet lies, or that which once seemed he--
O, lift a thought in prayer for S. T. C.
That he who many a year with toil of breath
Found death in life, may here find life in death;
Mercy for praise-to be forgiven for fame
He asked, and hoped through Christ. Do thou the same."

A handsome tablet, erected in Highgate New Church, to his memory, bears
the following inscription:--

"Sacred to the Memory of

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE,

Poet, Philosopher, Theologian.
This truly great and good man resided for
The last nineteen years of his life,
In this Hamlet.
He quitted 'the body of his death,'
July 25th, 1834,
In the sixty-second year of his age.
Of his profound learning and discursive genius,
His literary works are an imperishable record.
To his private worth,
His social and Christian virtues,

JAMES AND ANN GILLMAN,

The friends with whom he resided
During the above period, dedicate this tablet.
Under the pressure of a long
And most painful disease,
His disposition was unalterably sweet and angelic.
He was an ever-enduring, ever-loving friend,
The gentlest and kindest teacher,
The most engaging home-companion.

'Oh, framed for calmer times and nobler hearts;
O studious poet, eloquent for _truth!_
Philosopher contemning wealth and death,
Yet docile, child-like, full of life and love.'

HERE,

On this monumental stone, thy friends inscribe thy worth,
Reader, for the world mourn.
A Light has passed away from the earth!
But for this pious and exalted Christian,
'Rejoice, and again I say unto you, rejoice!'"
Ubi
Thesaurus
ibi
Cor.
S. T. C.




APPENDIX

* * * * *

JOHN HENDERSON.

The name of John Henderson having appeared in several parts of the
preceding memoir, and as, from his early death, he is not known in the
Literary World, I here present a brief notice of this extraordinary man,
reduced from the longer account which appeared in my "Malvern Hills," &c.

John Henderson, was born at Limerick, but came to England early in life
with his parents. From the age of three years, he discovered the presages
of a great mind. Without retracing the steps of his progression, a
general idea may be formed of them, from the circumstance of his having
_professionally_ TAUGHT GREEK and LATIN in a public Seminary[112] at the
age of twelve years.

Some time after, his father commencing a Boarding-school in the
neighbourhood of Bristol, young HENDERSON undertook to teach the
classics; which he did with much reputation, extending, at the same time,
his own knowledge in the sciences and general literature, to a degree
that rendered him a prodigy of intelligence.

At the age of eighteen, by an intensity of application, of which few
persons can conceive, he had not only thoughtfully perused all the
popular English authors, of later date, but taken an extensive survey of
foreign literature. He had also waded through the folios of the
SCHOOLMEN, as well as scrutinized, with the minutest attention, the more
obsolete writers of the last three centuries; preserving, at the same
time, a distinguishing sense of their respective merits, particular
sentiments, and characteristic traits; which, on proper occasions, he
commented upon, in a manner that astonished the learned listener, not
more by his profound remarks, than by his cool and sententious eloquence.

So surprisingly retentive was his memory, that he never forgot what he
had once learned; nor did it appear that he ever suffered even an Image
to be effaced from his mind; whilst the ideas which he had so rapidly
accumulated, existed in his brain, not as a huge chaos, but in clear and
well-organized systems, illustrative of every subject, and subservient to
every call. It was this quality which made him so superior a disputant;
for as his mind had investigated the various sentiments and hypotheses of
men, so had his almost intuitive discrimination stripped them of their
deceptive appendages, and separated fallacies from truth, marshalling
their arguments, so as to elucidate or detect each other. But in all his
disputations, it was an invariable maxim with him never to interrupt the
most tedious or confused opponents, though, from his pithy questions, he
made it evident, that, from the first, he anticipated the train and
consequences of their reasonings.

His favourite studies were, Philology, History, Astronomy, Medicine,
Theology, Logic, and Metaphysics, with all the branches of Natural and
Experimental Philosophy; and that his attainments were not superficial,
will be readily admitted by those who knew him best.--As a Linguist, he
was acquainted with the Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin
languages; together with the French, Spanish, Italian, and German; and he
not only knew their ruling principles and predominant distinctions, so as
to read them with facility, but in the greater part conversed fluently.

About the age of twenty-two, he accidentally met with the acute and
learned Dr. Tucker, Dean of Gloucester, in a stage coach, who soon
discovered the superiority of his companion, and after a reasonable
acquaintance, in which the opinion he had at first entertained of John
Henderson's surprising genius was amply confirmed, he wrote to his
father, urging him to send a young man of such distinguished talents to
an UNIVERSITY, where only they could expand, or be rightly appreciated;
and, in the most handsome way, he accompanied this request with a present
of TWO HUNDRED POUNDS. Such an instance of generosity, will confer
lasting credit on the name of DEAN TUCKER.

On John Henderson's arrival at Oxford, he excited no small degree of
surprise among his tutors, who very naturally inquired his reason for
appearing at that place, and, as might be supposed, were soon contented
to learn, where they had been accustomed to teach.[113]

It might be stated also, the late Edmund Rack, a gentleman possessed of
much general knowledge, and antiquarian research, and whose materials for
the "History of Somersetshire," formed the acknowledged basis of
Collinson's valuable History of that county, thus expressed himself, in
writing to a friend in London.

"My friend, Henderson, has lately paid me a visit, and stayed with me
three weeks. I never spent a three weeks so happily, or so profitably. He
is the only person I ever knew who seems to be a complete master of every
subject in literature, arts, sciences, natural philosophy, divinity; and
of all the books, ancient and modern, that engage the attention of the
learned; but it is still more wonderful, that at the age of twelve, he
should have been master of the Latin and Greek; to which he subsequently
added, the Hebrew, Italian, Spanish, German, Persian, and Syriac
languages; and also, all the ancient rabbinical learning of the Jews, and
the divinity of the fathers; this was, however, the case. The learned DR.
KENNICOTT told me, four years since, 'That the greatest men he ever knew
were mere CHILDREN, compared to HENDERSON.' In company he is ever new.
You never hear a repetition of what he has said before. His memory never
fails, and his fund of knowledge is inexhaustible."

Dr. Kennicott, (before whom nothing superficial could have stood for a
moment,) died in the year 1783, and John Henderson, at the time Dr. K,
passed on him this eulogium, could have been only twenty-three years of
age! One year after he had entered at Oxford.

Though not of the higher order of attainments, it may not be improper to
mention his singular talent for IMITATION. He could not only assume the
dialect of every foreign country, but the particular tone of every
district of England so perfectly, that he might have passed for a native
of either: and of the variations of the human accent in different
individuals his recollection was so acute, and the modulation of his
voice so varied, that, having once conversed with a person, he could most
accurately imitate his gestures and articulation for ever after.[114]

No man had more profoundly traced the workings of the human heart than
himself. A long observation on the causes and effects of moral action,
with their external symbols, had matured his judgment in estimating the
characters of men, and from the fullest evidence, confirmed him in a
belief of the Science of PHYSIOGNOMY.

Though the "Physiognomical Sensation," in a greater or less degree, may
exist in all, yet the data which support it are so obscure, and at all
times so difficult to be defined, that if nature does not make the
Physiognomist, study never will: and to be skilled in this science
requires the combination of such rare talents, that it cannot excite
wonder, either that the unskilful should frequently err, or that the
multitude should despise, what they know they can never attain.

But John Henderson's discrimination qualified him to speak of all
persons, in judging from their countenances, with an almost infallible
certainty: he discovered, in his frequent decisions, not an occasional
development of character, but a clear perception of the secondary as well
as predominant tendencies, of the mind.

"Making his eye the inmate of each bosom."
COLERIDGE.

It would appear like divination, if John Henderson's friends were to
state the various instances they have known of that quick discernment
which he possessed, that, as it were, penetrated the veil of sense, and
unfolded to him the naked and unsophisticated qualities of the soul.
There are many who will cordially admit the fact, when it is said, that,
his eye was scarcely the eye of a man. There was a luminousness in it--a
calm but piercing character, which seemed to partake more of the nature
of spirit than of humanity.

His conversation was such as might have been expected from a man whose
fancy was so creative, whose knowledge omnifarious, and whose
recollection so unbounded. He combined scholastic accuracy with
unaffected ease; condensed and pointed, yet rich and perspicuous. Were it
possible for his numerous friends, by any energy of reminiscence, to
collect his discourse, John Henderson would be distinguished as a
voluminous author, who yet preserved a Spartan frugality of words.

His contemporaries at Oxford well remember, the enthusiasm with which
every company received him; and his friends, in that University,
consisted of all who were eminent for either talent or virtue.

It would be injustice to his memory not to mention the great marks of
attention which were paid him, and the high estimation in which he was
held by the late Edmund Burke and Dr. Johnson; the former of whom
strenuously urged him either to apply to the bar, or to the church, and
told him, that, in that case, it was impossible to doubt, but that he
would become either a judge or a bishop. Such was the great
lexicographer's admiration, also, of John Henderson, that in his annual
visits to Oxford, to whatever company he was invited, he always
stipulated for the introduction of his young friend, John Henderson,[115]
which, in the result, converted a favour into an obligation. It might be
named also, that many of the heads of colleges and other eminent
characters, habitually attended his _evening parties_; an honour unknown
to have been conferred before on any other _under-graduate_.

So great was John Henderson's regard for truth, that he considered it a
crime, of no ordinary magnitude, to confound in any one, even for a
moment, the perceptions of right and wrong; of truth and falsehood; he
therefore never argued in defence of a position which his understanding
did not cordially approve, unless, in some unbending moment, he intimated
to those around him, that he wished to see how far error could be
supported, in which case he would adopt the weakest side of any question,
and there, intrenched, like an intellectual veteran, bid defiance to the
separate or combined attacks of all who approached him.

On these occasions it was highly interesting to remark the felicity of
his illustration, together with his profound logical acuteness, that knew
how to grant or deny, and both, it may be, with reference to some distant
stage of the argument, when the application was made with an unexpected,
but conclusive effect.

From possessing this rare faculty of distinguishing the immediate, as
well as of tracing the remote consequences of every acknowledgment; and,
by his peculiar talent at casuistic subtleties, he has been frequently
known to extort the most erroneous concessions, from men distinguished
for erudition and a knowledge of polemic niceties, necessarily resulting
from premises unguardedly admitted.

Henderson's chief strength in disputation seemed to consist in this clear
view in which he beheld the diversified bearings of every argument, with
its precise congruity to the question in debate; and which, whilst it
demonstrated the capacity of his own mind, conferred on him, on all
occasions, a decided and systematic superiority. It must, however, be
granted, that when contending for victory, or rather for the mere
sharpening of his faculties, instead of convincing, he not unfrequently
confounded his opponent; but whenever he had thus casually argued, and
had obtained an acknowledged confutation, like an ingenious mechanic, he
never failed to organize the discordant materials and to do homage to
truth, by pointing out his own fallacies, or otherwise, by formally
re-confuting his antagonist.

It might be expected that, by such a conduct, an unpleasant impression
would sometimes be left on the mind of an unsuccessful disputant, but
this effect is chiefly produced when the power of the combatants is held
nearly in equilibrium; no one, however, considered it a degradation to
yield to John Henderson, and the peculiar delicacy of his mind was
manifested in nothing more than in the graceful manner with which he
indulged in these coruscations of argument. He obtained a victory without
being vain, or even, from his perfect command of countenance, appearing
sensible of it; and, unless he happened to be disputing with pedantry and
conceit, with a dignified consciousness of strength, he never pursued an
enemy who was contented to fly, by which means a defeat was often
perceived rather than felt, and the vanquished forgot his own humiliation
in applauding the generosity of the conqueror.

In all companies he led the conversation; yet though he was perpetually
encircled by admirers, his steady mind decreased not its charms, by a
supercilious self-opinion of them; nor did he assume that as a right,
which the wishes of his friends rendered a duty. He led the conversation;
for silence or diminished discourse, in him, would have been deservedly
deemed vanity, as though he had desired to make his friends feel the
value of his instructions from the temporary loss of them. But in no
instance was his superiority oppressive; calm, attentive, and cheerful,
he confuted more gracefully than others compliment; the tone of dogmatism
and the smile of contempt were equally unknown to him. Sometimes indeed
he raised himself stronger and more lofty in his eloquence, then chiefly,
when, fearful for his weaker brethren, he opposed the arrogance of the
illiterate deist, or the worse jargon of sensual and cold-blooded
atheism. He knew that the clouds of ignorance which enveloped their
understandings, steamed up from the pollutions of their hearts, and,
crowding his sails, he bore down upon them with salutary violence.

But the qualities which most exalted John Henderson in the estimation of
his friends, were, his high sense of honour, and the great benevolence of
his heart; not that honour which originates in a jealous love of the
world's praise, nor that benevolence which delights only in publicity of
well-doing. His honour was the anxious delicacy of a christian, who
regarded his soul as a sacred pledge, that must some time be re-delivered
to the Almighty lender; his benevolence, a circle, in which self indeed
might be the centre, but, all that lives was the circumference. This
tribute of respect to thy name and virtues, my beloved Henderson! is paid
by one, who was once proud to call thee tutor and friend, and who will do
honour to thy memory, till his spirit rests with thine.

Those who were unacquainted with John Henderson's character, may
naturally ask, "What test has he left the world of the distinguished
talents thus ascribed to him?"--None!--He cherished a sentiment, which,
whilst it teaches humility to the proud, explains the cause of that
silence so generally regretted. Upon the writer of this brief notice once
expressing to him some regret at his not having benefited mankind by the
result of his deep and varied investigations--he replied, "More men
become writers from ignorance, than from knowledge, not knowing that they
have been anticipated by others. Let us decide with caution, and write
late." Thus the vastness and variety of his acquirements, and the
diffidence of his own mental maturity alike prevented him from
illuminating mankind, till death called him to graduate in a sphere more
favourable to the range of his soaring and comprehensive mind.--He died
on a visit to Oxford, in November, 1788, in the 32nd year of his age.

Few will doubt but that the possession of pre-eminent colloquial talents,
to a man like John Henderson, in whom so amply dwelt the spirit of
originality, must be considered, on the whole, as a misfortune, and as
tending to subtract from the permanency of his reputation; he wisely
considered posthumous fame as a vain and undesirable bubble, unless
founded on utility, but when it is considered that no man was better
qualified than himself to confound vice and ennoble virtue; to unravel
the mazes of error, or vindicate the pretensions of truth, it must
generally excite a poignant regret, that abilities like his should have
been dissipated on one generation, which, by a different application,
might have charmed and enlightened futurity.

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