No More Learning

I of those fears of mine am much ashamed. 1803. ]


[Variant 3.

1845.

But dearly do I prize thee for I find
In thee a bulwark of the cause of men; 1803.

But dearly must we prize thee; we who find 1807.

. . . for the cause of men; 1827.

Most dearly 1838.

The text of 1840 returns to that of 1827. ]


* * * * *

FOOTNOTE ON THE TEXT

[Footnote A: But printed previously in 'The Morning Post', September 17,
1803, under the title 'England', and signed W. L. D.
Also, see
Coleridge's 'Poems on Political Events', 1828-9. --Ed. ]





* * * * *





COMPOSED AFTER A JOURNEY ACROSS THE HAMBLETON HILLS, [A] YORKSHIRE


Composed October 4, 1802. --Published 1807


[Composed October 4th, 1802, after a journey over the Hambleton Hills,
on a day memorable to me--the day of my marriage. The horizon commanded
by those hills is most magnificent. The next day, while we were
travelling in a post-chaise up Wensleydale, we were stopped by one of
the horses proving restive, and were obliged to wait two hours in a
severe storm before the post-boy could fetch from the inn another to
supply its place. The spot was in front of Bolton Hall, where Mary Queen
of Scots was kept prisoner, soon after her unfortunate landing at
Workington. The place then belonged to the Scroops, and memorials of her
are yet preserved there. To beguile the time I composed a Sonnet. The
subject was our own confinement contrasted with hers; but it was not
thought worthy of being preserved. --I. F. ]

One of the "Miscellaneous Sonnets. "--Ed.




Dark and more dark the shades of evening fell;
The wished-for point was reached--but at an hour
When little could be gained from that rich dower [1]
Of prospect, whereof many thousands tell.
Yet did the glowing west with marvellous power 5
Salute us; there stood Indian citadel,
Temple of Greece, and minster with its tower
Substantially expressed--a place for bell
Or clock to toll from!