(Vol. vii., p. 206.).
Your correspondent S. Y. ought not to have charged the editors of
Coleridge's _Poems_ with negligence, until he had shown that the lines he
quotes were inserted in the original edition of _Christabel_. They have not
the musical flow of Coleridge's versification, but rather the dash and
vivacity of Scott. At all events, they are not to be found in the second
edition of _Christabel_ (1816), nor in any subsequent edition. Indeed, I do
not think that Coleridge made any alteration in the poem since its
composition in 1797 and 1800. I referred to two reviews of Coleridge's
_Poems_ published in Blackwood in 1819 and 1834; but found no trace of S.
Y.'s lines. "An old volume of Blackwood" is rather a vague mode of
reference. It is somewhat curious that, previous to the publication of
_Christabel_, there appeared a _conclusion_ to that splendid fragment. It
was entitled "Christobell, a Gothic Tale," and was published in the
_European Magazine_ for April, 1815. It is dated "March, 1815," and signed
"V.;" and was reprinted in _Fraser's Magazine_ for January, 1835. It is
stated to be "written as a sequel to a beautiful legend of a fair lady and
her father, deceived by a witch in {293} the guise of a noble knight's
daughter." It commences thus:
"Whence comes the wavering light which falls
On Langdale's lonely chapel-walls?
The noble mother of Christobell
Lies in that lone and drear chapelle."
The writer of the review in Blackwood (Dec. 1839) of Mr. Tupper's lame and
impotent conclusion to _Christabel_, remarks that--
"Mr. Tupper does not seem to know that _Christabel_ was continued many
years ago, in a style that perplexed the public, and pleased even
Coleridge. The ingenious writer meant it for a mere _jeu d'esprit_."