n 1791, where he
read much, but desultorily, and got into debt. The troubles arising
thence and also, apparently, a disappointment in love, led to his going
to London and enlisting in the 15th Dragoons under the name of Silas
Tomkyn Comberbacke. He could not, however, be taught to ride, and through
some Latin lines written by him on a stable door, his real condition was
discovered, his friends communicated with, and his release accomplished,
his brothers buying him off. After this escapade he returned (1794) to
Camb. He had by this time imbibed extreme democratic or, as he termed
them, pantisocratic principles, and on leaving Camb. in the same year he
visited Oxf., where he made the acquaintance of Southey, and discussed
with him a project of founding a "pantisocracy" on the banks of the
Susquehanna, a scheme which speedily fell through, owing firstly to want
of funds, and secondly to the circumstance of the two projectors falling
in love simultaneously with two sisters, Sarah and Edith Fricker, of whom
the former became, in 1795, the wife of C., and the latter of Southey. C.
had spent one more term at Camb., and there in Sept. 1794 his first work,
_The Fall of Robespierre_, a drama, to which Southey contributed two
acts, the second and third, was _pub._ After his marriage he settled
first at Clevedon, and thereafter at Nether Stowey, Somerset, where he
had Wordsworth for a neighbour, with whom he formed an intimate
association. About 1796 he fell into the fatal habit of taking laudanum,
which had such disastrous effects upon his character and powers of will.
In the same year _Poems on various Subjects_ appeared, and a little later
_Ode to the Departing Year_. While at Nether Stowey he was practically
supported by Thomas Poole, a tanner, with whom he had formed a
friendship. Here he wrote _The Ancient Mariner_, the first part of
_Christabel_ and _Kubla Khan_, and here he joined with Wordsworth in
producing the _Lyrical Ballads_. Some time previously he had become a
Unitarian, and was much engaged as a preacher in that body, and for a
short time acted as a minister at Shrewsbury. Influenced by Josiah and
Thomas Wedgwood, who each in 1798 gave him an annuity of L75 on
condition of his devoting himself to literature, he resigned this
position, and soon afterwards went to Germany, where he remained for over
a year, an experience which profoundly influenced the future development
of his intellect. On his return he made excursi