New-York daily tribune., 1843-06-23
THE TRIB UNE.
ro1e,i1oc and his Detractors.

more at length the paragraph IN the June
amber Of the Knickerbockcr, in reply to our pre-
,,s remarks upon CoLER1DcE: but we giadiy
/ go our design, to make room for the following
4 ,,estinp letter from an esteemed friend IN bos-
:. we trust he will excuse the liberty we take
,saking public what pcrchance' he intended
.cor o,r private reading: its pertlnence and
.,sst must be our excuse. The hnickerbockcr
,,5!v asserts that multitudes Of literary men
r,,ishmen and Americans,-men of emlnence
! worth, whose opinions would carry with
m the weight of authority, know full well that
aye1pGE, in conversation, was "a portcntous
-, An assertion so sweeping is easily made:
4;fit be true, it certainly seems surprising that
one Of thcm--that no one save the Editor of the
,,;ckcrbockcr-has ever ycntured publicly to ex-
IS the opinion they are all alleged to entertain.
gsventurc to predict that the knickcrbocker will
no continue, in this particular, to stand alone
BosroS, May 1913.
Dear r.: acknowledge, with much pleasure,
n receipt Of your Editorial structures upon Mr..
Ivs GAYLORD CLARKE, in the matter OF COLE
,nsr. To be sure, it ought in the first instance
= isa matter of modification that there should
!, any occasion among us at this day for vin-
e.,hon Of CoLERlDGE's fame. 1t is a little
rTias TO look back and sec how the detractors
that man have perscvcrcd, after being driven
I'M their successive grounds of attack. First
4 spoetcal powers were called TO naught, and
4aght fit for nothing but ridicule; but even
aMagazincs have come 10 know that now the
:i,ue would lie in thinking it any longer
sater of controversy. But CoLERIDGE wrote
Ecsophy as well us Poetry-a happy chance
fthe Writings to get the laugh on their side
,an. So they have insisted upon saying over
i lan TO the rising generation about his Philoso-
Il 1r, all that had been said before about his
hary This went on toerablv well for
1 rhh-for he must be a very dull fellow that
annot crack Jokes upon metaphysics hero
rery man is ready to laugh who is slow to un-
asiand. But the laughter here again has turned
q! 10 be the cracking of thorns under pot =
ihas gone out; and the present opposition to
ColERDGE as philosopher has all the sobllety
Of that inimtablc kind of dislike known as the
Dlpm the0logicum.
The attacks upon CoLERIDCE in his private
liihave been such as were to be expected from
men who had done their best 10 crush hun IN
both the characters in which he was known to
The public. and had found themselves rchuked IN
10th attempts. To be sure, CoLERIDGE might
BE- poet. or even philosopher, if the world
would have It so; but the world should know
hat this poet and philosopher had chewcd opium
md did not live happily with his wife. How
ing and how virulently this honorable sort OF
tarIopo hon mar
Gtain, from the very nature of the charges,
muld not make them matters of public appeal,
sknown 10 the disgrace Of the esprit dm corps
dauthors by profession. And it is also known
aleast among those who have the means and the
endor to inform thcmseives-tlat OF the thou-
sands of all classes who have indulged IN smilar
Hncious habits, CoLERIDGE slnncd under as
mat temptation and with Is thorough remorse
nd reformation as any man who, like him, has
I'D the strength of nerve and religious character
rreform at all. And as to CoLERiDGE's rela-
ms to his wife, II is known, from thu admissions
Sthose most intimate with them, that he was
tuned before marriage that he was deceived In
h wonan's character, and that il would be lm-
msibe for any man to live happily with her
n her own family had been unable to do so.
GoLERIDGE,' Mr.. ALLsToN once said to me, l
hre seen constantly and under all circumstances;
nd though dislike the apparent exaggeratlon oil
ae expression, must say that he had the temper
dan angel SO much Tor his private character
Now, after all this, comes Mr.. Lewis Gaylord
larke, and thinks there is one point oil attack IN
Vi. CoLERIDGE's character that has not been
aaiGenily taken advantage OF. All that has
sen said has not prevented HIM from being
icSd up 10 as great poet and philosopher !;
adt turns out, too, that his private character,
qM beng wholly known, increases his claim to
'sm.aton and reverence. HAzLrrT accused him
ghaying done nothing in Literature. 1t Is found
as he has published, with one or two exceptions.
anach as any of the literary men OF his day, and
nth greater effect than they. As it has Jared so
with HazGtt'S complaint that he did not write
esolgh, Nlr. Clark has improved upon 1t, and COM
PANS that he talked loo much; in short, that ne
as bore. II boring be 4 matter of quantity
SIMPLY without regard to quality, there IS no
ssd 10 answer; for, by the same rule, Spenser
equally as 'poftentous bore as Sir Richard
saesmorc, and Lord Brougham q greater than
u feier Borthwick. 1t seems to have been
misfortune of the distinguished gentleman
1 @a aofoad,' that from an inability to distln-
sSa By the character of what was said, he
ssa only Judge By the length of time the dis
~ ssss continued. You have almost done the
s-1aid and his hacker too much honor in bring
: aa sach weight of intellect and eloquence of
= tssis5c TO teach them something OF the quality
!, ,."aversatlon as a standard of estimating 1t.
uua 1t seemed TO me, in reading the eX-
eS you have given, that it was sufficient cvi-
se OF CoLERlDGG's power as 4 converser that
SUBJECT seems to have inspired all those who
s,c ~ Written about it with something beyond even
~ usual felicity Of thought and expression.
fought not to have forgotten that it was TO YOU
vas writing all this about CoLERlpGE; bu. II
snip such load Of Goals to Newcastle again.
Yours, &c.
$: :aSolGRR REVOLUTIONARY PATRIOT GoNE.-
tgea, IN White Creek, Wash Co. n. Y. on the
sS.R sS Rss. JAMES McklE, in the eighty third year