5 NOVEMBER 1927, Page 20

"SECOND STOREY WORK " OR INSPIRATION ?

[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sra,--The writer of the article, "'Second Storey Work' or Inspiration ?" did not cite one of the most interesting instances in English, Coleridge's Hymn Before Sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni. Most readers undoubtedly, as Dykes Campbell says, think that Coleridge was writing with " impressions of the scenery of the vale fresh on his mind's eye ; but he never saw the place." He borrowed the main part of the poem from German stanzas by Frederike Brun. This De Quincey pointed out and made some defence of it, as did also Coleridge's nephew. The whole matter is considered by Dykes Campbell in the notes to his edition of Coleridge.—I am, Sir, &c.,

Mount Allison University, W. M. TWEEDIE. Sackville, N.B., Canada.