The Devil’s Walk: a Poem

1830

de Beer Eb 1830 C

London: Marsh and Miller; Edinburgh: Constable and Co.

In June 1794, Samuel Taylor Coleridge met Robert Southey and a fast friendship was formed. With a shared vision of pantisocracy (equal government by all), collaboration was in the air. They co-wrote a play called The Fall of Robespierre (1795), and dabbled in political propaganda, and lectures on politics and history. Although their relationship fell apart, they did reconcile some years later. One fruit of this renewed friendship was The Devil’s Walk: A Poem (1830), published under the guise of ‘Professor Porson’. An additional plus to this 1830s satire are the illustrations by Richard Cruikshank (1789-1856), caricaturist, portrait miniaturist, and brother of artist George Cruikshank.