(Vol. vii., pp. 206. 292; Vol. viii., pp. 11. 111.)
MR. J. S. WARDEN might well express astonishment at the rash and groundless
statement in "Blackwood" (Dec. 1839), that the third part of Christabel
which Dr. Maginn sent to that magazine in 1820 "perplexed the public, _and
pleased even Coleridge_." How far the "discerning public" were imposed upon
I know not; the following extract will show how far the poet-philosopher
was "pleased" with the parody.
"If I should finish 'Christabel,' I shall certainly extend it, and give
new characters, and a greater number of incidents. This the 'reading
public' require, and this is the reason that Sir Walter Scott's poems,
though so loosely written, are pleasing, and interest us by their
picturesqueness. If a genial recurrence of the ray divine should occur
for a few weeks, I shall certainly attempt it. I had the whole of the
two cantos in my mind before I began it; certainly the first canto is
more perfect, has more of the true wild weird spirit than the last. I
laughed heartily at the continuation in 'Blackwood,' which I have been
told is by Maginn. It is in appearance, and in appearance _only_, a
good imitation. I do not doubt but that it gave more pleasure, and to a
greater number, than a continuation by myself in the spirit of the two
first (_sic_) cantos (_qu._ would give)."--_Letters, &c._, Moxon, 1836,
vol. i. pp. 94-5.