"Never, the longest day I have to live" (says
he), "shall I have such another walk as this cold, raw, comfortless one,
in the winter of 1798. When I got there [to the Chapel], the organ was
playing the one hundredth Psalm; and when it was done, Mr. Coleridge rose
and gave out his text--'And he went up into the mountain to pray, HIMSELF
ALONE.' The preacher then launched into his subject, like an eagle
dallying with the wind," &c. Coleridge was at that time only five and
twenty years of age; yet he seems even then to have been able to decide on
many writers in logic and rhetoric, philosophy and poetry. Of course he
was familiar with the works of his friend Wordsworth, of whom he cleverly
observed, in reply to the depreciating opinion of Mackintosh, "He strides
on so far before you, that he dwindles in the distance." [1]
It would be very interesting, were it practicable, to trace with certainty
the sources that supplied Charles Lamb's inspiration. But this must always
be impossible. For inspiration, in all cases, proceeds from many sources,
although there may be one influence predominating. It is clear that a
great Tragedy mainly determined his conduct through life, and operated,
therefore, materially on his thoughts as well as actions.
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