I asked my fair one happy day,
What I should call her in my lay?
By what sweet name from Rome or Greece:
Lalage, Nesera, Chloris,
Sappho, Lesbia, or Doris,
Arethusa, or Lucrece.
Ah, replied my gentle fair,
Beloved, what are names but air?
Choose thou whatever suits the line;
Call me Sappho, call me Chloris,
Call me Lalage, or Doris,
Only, only, call me thine.
Some time after this, Mr. Coleridge being in an ill state of health,
recollected that a friend of his, Sir John Stoddart, was the Judge at
Malta,[80] and he determined to repair to that island. Here he was
introduced to Sir Alexander Ball, the Governor, who happened at that time
to be in want of a Secretary, and being greatly pleased with Mr.
Coleridge, he immediately engaged him in that capacity.[81]
* * * * *
I shall here for the present leave the narrative of Mr. C. in other and
better hands, and proceed to remark, that Mr. Davy and Mr. Coleridge
continued their friendly feeling toward each other, through life. Mr.
Davy, in a letter to Mr. Poole, (1804.) thus expresses himself:
"I have received a letter from Coleridge within the last three weeks. He
writes from Malta, in good spirits, and as usual, from the depth of his
being. God bless him! He was intended for a great man. I hope and trust
he will, at some period, appear such."
Mr. Davy, after a continuance in Bristol of more than two years, sent me
the following letter, with a copy of "Burns's Life and Works," by Dr.
Currie.
"Dear Cottle,
I have been for the last six weeks so much hurried by business, and the
prospect of a change of situation, that I have not had time to call on
you. I am now on the point of leaving the Hotwells, and had designed to
see you this morning, but engagements have unluckily prevented me. I am
going to the Royal Institution, where, if you come to London, it will
give me much pleasure to see you.
Will you be pleased to accept the copy of 'Burns's Life and Poems,' sent
with this, and when you are reading with delight the effusions of your
brother bard, occasionally think of one who is, with sincere regard and
affection, your friend,
H. Davy.