New-York tribune., 1907-09-23
SOMERSET COMBES.
Glim pses of Coleridge's Cottage and
Words1corth's Home at Alforden.
Neither Stowey. September

orfor5 with his cousin but his father was not
willing to spoil a good tanner 0y overeducatinS
him. and left him to get a smatterinS or Latin
and French by himself and to cultfvate liter
arv acouaintances. He met Southey and Cole
ridge at Marsh Mills when they visited hts cousin
after a walking tour I'm Wales, and shocked
ere~y..,ay 20 .hs village by their tributes -
Hobespierre He induced Coler1dgo 10 take
house in Neither Stowey, and the Wordsworths
came for a happy year to Alfoxden. Charles
Lamb Hazlitt Sir Humphry Davy. southey.
DE Ouiucey and other worthless were his friends
and guests Wordsworth loved and honored
him Coleridge left wife and children under his
friends charge when he went to Germany. and
he frequently returned 20 the Village to havs
long walks and talks with the sympathetic tan
ner. Neither Stowey for a few years a century
ago was a cradle OF letters The only outward
signs of it's former celebrity Inscription
on the neglected Coleridgs cottage and ths
names Of four Of Poole's most famous friends on
a memorial tablet in the parish church Ths
four huge elns clustering around Poole's
hospitable mansion from which a path led into
Coleridge's garden, have disappeared. The
house itself has degenerated into shop. A
group of frs still marks Of the poets favor
ite Iounging places toward Over Stowey and his
portrait hangs in the gabed house Of Marsh
Mills where he and Southey talked with
French Revolution. The sundiaI erected BY Sir
Humphry Davy has gone. and the crumbling
village cross has been replaced by htdeous
clock tower. Neither Stowey is shabby and COM
nonplace There is tumble OF dingy cottages
and shops with tiled or thatched roofs on two
cobblestone streets, and a brook. half covered
and half exposed, IS little better than a shiny
gutter huge fir beside the church wraps its
dark green cloak closely around Poole's grave
though to screen it from balefui influences OF
deterioration in his old home
Coleridge's cottage at the end Of the village
on the Minehead road. Is forlorn and wretched
The thatched roof has been replaced with red
tiles and a clumsy addition has been made AZ
the side. which deprives the cottage OF what
ever rustic simplicity it originally possessed.
An iron bar at the corner. the fixture OF a dis
used inn sign. is a melancholy reminder that the
poets home was recently pothouse- The four
square windows and~the hooded doorway are
unchanged. and the tablet behind the stone wall
records the date Of his residence-1I97-1st1-
This : the house which has been purchased by
subscriptions IN England and America. and Is to
be converted into CoIeridss museum and VII
Iage library. A good many alterations will oe
required before II be restored TO its original
state and the ugly annex viii have 10 be re-
moved The garden Of and half acres,
now neglected and bare, will be replanted with
trees and flowers and made more slightly than
II ever was in Coleridge's time. although ne
took the cottage with view to ehins out his
income by raising fruit ard vegetables The
committee having charge Of the Improvements
may work wonders in restoring the cottage; but
they cannot remove the public house, whtcA
tostIes rudely against It across the road. nor
can they transform the village from uglness
and squaIor into picturesque beauty IN accord
with the graceful sweep OF ferny Quantocks be-
hind It. Instinctively the sensitive visitor rurns
away in disappointment from the house where
THE Ancient Mariner" the first part OF Chris
"a beI' and '"rhe Nightingale were written. and
hastens UP the road toward Alfoxden. with trees
scattered in the fields behind high hedgerows
and massed on the crests OF the hills and IN
deep combes. and with streaks Of silver in the
West. where there are gIimpses OF the Severn
Sea This IS the road along which Wordsworth
composed one of his contemplatfve night pieces
after visiting the COleridges. and beyond hol-
ford. IoveIiest of Somerset villages. II leads TO
the romantic combe which Is still known oy
his name.
A well known English author said TO ne be-
fore left London: You viii find the Netner
Stowey cottage unspeakably dismal and WIN
out a suggestion OF poetic inspiration. Go over
10 Alfoxden. follow the beautiful 6iens % 'he
sea and YOU will see where the poetry was writ
+A1 That house should have been purchased
for the nation and not the disreputaole hover
in Neither Stowey-' I followed my frisrds sd
vice and ranbled among the conlbes near tne
sea I mounted the ridges where The Thorn
and The WhirI Blast among the holles were
written: 7 found the chosen resort with the
brook Gashins over a rock where the Lines II
Early Spring" were inspired; I halted IN 'he
village where the simple incidents or the earS
lyrical ballads were observed. and passed tne
cotrc
fore exploring the beautiful ravines and groves
os kIfoxden poetfcaIly described In Ruth
These Wild and sornbre glens. with the voooed
beirbts above them. lack the variety IN the
shapiug Of mountain masses and the Wealth u
color I'm the verdant glades OF turr ana DahAS VI
bracken and fern which are found IN "hat MI
Lowell called wordsworthshire; yet theE nave
: +r,,,,,,r Ioveliness and sombre majesty which
must have fascinated the poet and MS sister
rofr Of night hawks winging their fight from
,oa1, 20 neak. If Dove Cottage had not been
nurchssed in the North and presented to tno
rotio, AIfoxden would have been an appro-
pirate but highly costly memorial 20 his genius
- ,,o,,,d not have been associated closely with
Coleridge for while he was often in the glehS
,tb :bc Wordsworths read his verses 10 Them
10 the accompa nirnent of the purling BROOKS anu
r,,s+1in, frs and planned The Ancient Mariner
IN n walk toward Watchet. Alfoxden ana rs
cor,bas never overpowered his Imagination ana
forced him TO render homage TO them 1Ho
simple life OF close companionshlp WIFE H"tuo
was not for him Inspiration may have COINS
from, the congenial society OF the WordSwoT'n>
hut not from the wild Quantock hills
The cottaee at Neither Stowey was Colerlose
hone during his happiest and most nopetuI
wears. He settled there about year ai.o'