Note 131:1 — THE DESTINY OF NATIONS[131:1]

First published, in its entirety, in Sibylline Leaves, 1817: included in 1828, 1829, and 1834. Two hundred and fifty-five lines were included in Book II of Joan of Arc, An Epic Poem, by Robert Southey, Bristol and London, 1796, 4o. The greater part of the remaining 212 lines were written in 1796, and formed part of an unpublished poem entitled The Progress of Liberty or The Vision of the Maid of Orleans, or Visions of the Maid of Orleans, or Visions of the Maid of Arc, or The Vision of the Patriot Maiden. (See letter to Poole, Dec. 13, and letter to J. Thelwall, Dec. 17, 1796, Letters of S. T. C., 1895, i. 192, 206. See, too, Cottle's Early Recollections, 1837, i. 230; and, for Lamb's criticism of a first draft of the poem, his letters to Coleridge, dated Jan. 5 and Feb. 12, 1797.) For a reprint of Joan of Arc, Book the Second (Preternatural Agency), see Cottle's Early Recollections, 1837, ii. 241-62.

The texts of 1828, 1829 (almost but not quite identical) vary slightly from that of the Sibylline Leaves, 1817, and, again, the text of 1834 varies from that of 1828 and 1829. These variants (on a proof-sheet of the edition of 1828) are in Coleridge's own handwriting, and afford convincing evidence that he did take some part in the preparation of the text of his poems for the last edition issued in his own lifetime.