178 To Joseph Cottle Pub. Rem. 130, where the text is more complete than in Early Ree. i. 230. [Circa 10 February 1797] 2 My dear Cottle, The lines which I added to my lines in the 'Joan of Are,' have been so little approved by Charles Lamb, to whom I sent them, that although I differ from him in opinion, I have not heart to finish the poem. . . . So much for an 'Ode,' [Departing Year] which some people think superior to the 'Bard' of Gray, and which others think a rant of turgid obscurity; and the latter are the more numerous class. It is not obscure. My 'Religious Musings' I know are, but not this 'Ode.' ____________________ 1 Cottle text supplies Religious Musings in brackets, but Coleridge obviously refers to The Destiny of Nations. 2 On 5 Feb. 1797 Lamb sent Coleridge some severe criticisms on The Destiny of Nations; on 13 Feb., realizing that he had disheartened Coleridge, he acknowledged the justice of some of Coleridge's objections and urged him to go on with the poem. Lamb Letters, i. 92-100. This letter, therefore, must have been written about 10 Feb. 1797. -309-