The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1857-11-20
OPIUM AND LITERATURE.

There are TWO PERSONS who stand forth con-
spicuously among ;he literary men of the pre-
sent century, distinguished alike for their splen-
did intellectual endowments, their ideal crea-
tions aud their love of drug which sends the
Imagination, ''aoywhere, everywhere, out Of the
world" ot-actIon. These are Samuel TAYLOR
CoIpridge and Thomas DE- Quincv.
The author Of thesAncieut Mariner'' was
metaphysical, poetcal, congregational wonder.
Perhaps no man ever lived who run through
the whole gamut Of colloquatousic with such
charming effect. Like the bero Of the great
sRime'-a hero who spell-bound The Wed
ding Guest, and towhom the genius Of The au-
thor has impaired asliylng personality Cole
ridge held bis listener under the spell of his
gIitterlng eye. wallefa tire-toTrent of his won
drous eloquence puFed from his tongue.
1t has been Observed of Coieridge that his
s'inttIlectual and acia existence were as dis
tinct as two parallel streams running side by
side, but never joaIug." The one flowed pure,
strong and matlIc. the other crppt lazily a
long rejoicing IL its muddy impnritv. He
whose inirlIectua life was strangely beautiful,
geniuS-iIlumned knew not ths mraning oflhe
sanclity OF bis wad, nor the rapture Of that So
ciaI circle which asIom Campbell would have
it, 'splighted loy- rndears' -
In his golden outhhood, we find bin ex-
claiming. "My applest moments for compost
ton are broken alto by the reflection that
must make haste / am too late am al
ready months bend. have received my pay
before hand ," I'D banking God for the gifts
bestowed upon In, but conieSSing that he would
have been more than kful to Heaven had he
been born shonaker instead of poetl
In that same oldsn youthhood, We find him
reckless Of ob,ations, mproyident, and de-
ceiv;ng Cottle the bookseller, with literary
promises whchle failed to perform. IA
In that same oldsn youhhood, too, be pfaed
for the vast wiarness and the grandeur OF A
merican scener because vastneSS and grandeur
were akin TO 5 nature. The spirit Of the
man rose, like = Angel of the Resurrection,
whte-winged, loyant and resprndent with
the glorrs of TT majestic inner life which al
lies genius to t. CREATIVE energy aud power of
the Maker of IeStars. While the spirit Of
intellectual betty breathed into his immortal
verse the breatoflife until it became living
thing, the sade, baser, earthier man preSeni led
melancholy nffast.
Thus greatss and littleness clashed and
contrasted SONG genius and Parvenu mean
ness stood idby side. He reared a grand
temple to the asrs, with airy pillars, irescord
dome and spndid proportions, wherein he
! might WOO thfrFaph Nine with the Majesty OF
( god. But tworld was stronger than the
Castillian sists and so CoIerdgr too often
kissed and pad wllh the beautiful MUSES., and
rushed into tihell Of English temptation.-
There were Fsyren Tipped AsPasias in the
great world oction that dragged him away
from his Idea emple, but the inherent faultI-
ness of the M the sad want of moral stamina
and an unaptsible appetite for opium, which,
while ii dpaI his mind with magnificent and
gorgeous visa, destroyed truth, honor and jus
tice.
Yet the us3f The drug which thus laid pros
trate the not traits Of humanity-ior b1 it
known 10 all the earth earthly, that genius is
not Of humars, but of God, bring that loltirr
attribute Of n that speaks Of the Ideal as the
ReaI-broue fJrth from the soul Of the SPlrn-
did dreamer : dreamest Of oriental dreams,
the ouainte and most rythnicaliy muSi-
cal OF mod prnductloas. We beg par
don of the reader, who, loving Sue and
Reynolds b.r than Coieridge and Shelley,
look with W staring eyes at quotation from
a standard a1or. We crave pardon-but we
mean Kublaihan. Thus dteamrd the poet
while his Nj onFoIpd itself, and the winged
thoughts ong one few out, all "radiant with
JOY"