quotations from these poems, which is seldom a satisfactory mode of doing justice to an author, but must leave them for your quiet enjoyment when time and opportunity serve; the present object being rather to point out the wide field which was covered by the genius of Coleridge, and the excellence he attained therein.

While speaking on this subject two pieces will at once have occurred to the recollection of every one— Christabel and the Ancient Mariner, on which it is necessary to say but little, as they are so generally known. It may, however, be well to know the object which the writer had in view in composing these productions. By an arrangement with Wordsworth, who proposed as his object to give the charm of novelty to the things of every day, drawing his subjects from ordinary life, and taking such characters and incidents as are to be found in every village and its vicinity, Coleridge undertook the contribution of some poems in which the incidents and agents were to be, in part at least, supernatural, or at least romantic, and the affections were to be interested by the dramatic truth of just emotions thus excited. The result of this arrangement was the production of these two poems, which have established for themselves a permanent place in our literature, and are sufficient for the fame of the author. Each one will remember the spell exercised over him by the first perusal of the Ancient Mariner, which loses none of its freshness by familiarity, and none of its interest by repetition. Christabel is a beautiful fragment, though incomplete, and must be regarded in the light of a fairy dream, where much is left vague and indistinct for the express purpose of raising the imagination and exciting curiosity. It were vain to inquire the source of the influence which the Lady Geraldine exercises over the beautiful Christabel, or to seek to know who she was and whence she came. Enough that she appears on the scene, and in some myste

rious way has power to move the "lovely Lady Christabel." Time will not allow for more to be said of these two exquisite productions, and it can scarcely be needed; it was, however, impossible to omit all reference to them.

In addition to his own original contributions to poetry, Coleridge is well known as a translator from the German of the dramas of Schiller, Piccolomini and The Death of Wallenstein. These productions, which are regarded in Germany as among the master-pieces of German literature, have by this means been rendered familiar to most English readers, and have afforded delight and instruction to many. There are those among us well qualified to judge of the fidelity of the translation and the justice which has been done to the original author. Even those who cannot so judge may well infer, from the charm found in the translation, that either a faithful rendering is given of a genuine work of art, or that the translator himself has manifested genius of no common order. These translations are ranked among the very best we possess in our language of any works of modern Continental literature, and have had their influence in promoting the study of the original language wherein such compositions have been written.

This faint outline of the range of Coleridge's genius will, in some respect, enable us now to judge of the position he holds in the world of letters, and the influence he has exercised over later writers. The main object of this Paper will have been served, if some assistance has been rendered in the solution of a question which is often asked, viz., Has the influence of Coleridge on modern thought been extensively beneficial? The conclusion, one would think, cannot be other than in the affirmative. When we regard the scope and objects of the teaching of Coleridge,—the

firm grasp of first principles which he possessed,-the extent and variety of his learning, the acuteness and subtlety of his mind, we cannot but recognise him as one of the master spirits of the age; and when we review the service he has rendered in the various departments of Metaphysics, Theology, Politics, Criticism and Poetry, we can scarcely dissent from the conclusion, that the influence of Coleridge on these great questions has been beneficial to mankind to an extent which has hardly been exceeded by any of his cotemporaries.

FOURTEENTH ORDINARY MEETING,

ROYAL INSTITUTION, April 30th, 1866.

Dr. NEVINS, V. P., in the Chair.

Ladies were present at this meeting on the invitation of the Council.

The minutes of the last meeting were read and signed.

Dr. Praag was duly elected an ordinary member. Cuthbert Collingwood, M.A. and M.B, Oxon., F.L.S., &c., was duly elected an honorary member.

Mr. T. J. MOORE exhibited and made some remarks upon the mounted skeleton of the Dodo, formed from the series of bones from Mauritius collected by Mr. Harry P. Higginson, and presented by him (through the kind offices of Mr. James P. Higginson) to the Derby Museum, and which in their dismounted state were brought before a recent meeting of the society. The skeleton needed only the hinder part of the cranium, the toe bones, and a few ribs and vertebræ to make it perfect. The furculum and a few other bones had been lent to Professor Owen, to aid him in the preparation of his forthcoming monograph on this extinct bird.

The following note was received with these valuable and most interesting remains:

"MAHEBOURG, MAURITIUS,

"November 5th, 1865.

"The accompanying bones, belonging without doubt to

the Dodo, were found in a peat bog, within a mile of the sea

coast, and owe their wonderful state of preservation, I fancy, to the well known preserving qualities of peat.

"These bones must be at least two hundred years old, as I believe the Dodo has been extinct for that length of time.

"Though once the Dodo was to be found anywhere in Mauritius, no bones have ever been found up to within the last five weeks. They were found in the following manner:

"Mr. Du Bissy, the owner of the bog (called the Mare des Songes) in which the bones were found, had a lot of the peat soil taken out for manure; some bones having been found, Mr. Clarke's attention was called to them. They proved to be the bones of a species of Turtle, now extinct in Mauritius. He prosecuted a fresh search, and found the bones of the Dodo, which have, I believe, been sent to the British Museum. I had men searching for them in conjunction with him, and succeeded in finding a great many bones that were still wanting to complete a skeleton.

(Signed)

“HARRY P. HIGGINSON.”

Dr. GINSBURG then read the following paper-on "The English Versions of the Bible, in their connexion with the Ancient Translations."