[40] War, a Fragment.
[41] John the Baptist, a Poem.
[42] Monody on John Henderson.
[43] Miss Sarah Fricker, afterwards, Mrs. Coleridge.
[44] Relating to these Sonnets, chiefly satirising himself, Mr. C. has
said, in his "Biographia;" "So general at that time, and so decided was
the opinion concerning the characteristic vices of my style, that a
celebrated physician, (Dr. Beddoes) speaking of me, in other respects,
with his usual kindness, to a gentleman who was about to meet me at a
dinner party, could not however resist giving him a hint not to mention,
in my presence, 'The House that Jack Built' for that I was as sore as a
boil about that sonnet, he not knowing that I myself was the author of
it."
Mr. Coleridge had a singular taste for satirising himself. He has spoken
of another ludicrous consequence arising out of this indulgence.
"An amateur performer in verse, expressed to a common friend, a strong
desire to be introduced to me, but hesitated in accepting my friend's
immediate offer, on the score that 'he was, he must acknowledge, the
author of a confounded severe epigram on Mr. C.'s 'Ancient Mariner,'
which had given him great pain.' I assured my friend, that if the epigram
was a good one, it would only increase my desire to become acquainted
with the author, and begged to hear it recited; when, to my no less
surprise than amusement, it proved to be one which I had myself, sometime
before, written and inserted in the Morning Post."