diff options
Diffstat (limited to '4799-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 4799-0.txt | 16602 |
1 files changed, 16602 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/4799-0.txt b/4799-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..952019e --- /dev/null +++ b/4799-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,16602 @@ +*** START OF PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHELLEY'S COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS *** + + + + + + + + +THE COMPLETE + +POETICAL WORKS + +OF + +PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY + +VOLUME 3 + +OXFORD EDITION. +INCLUDING MATERIALS NEVER BEFORE +PRINTED IN ANY EDITION OF THE POEMS. + +EDITED WITH TEXTUAL NOTES + +BY + +THOMAS HUTCHINSON, M. A. +EDITOR OF THE OXFORD WORDSWORTH. + +1914. + + +CONTENTS. + + +TRANSLATIONS. + +HYMN TO MERCURY. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF HOMER. + +HOMER'S HYMN TO CASTOR AND POLLUX. + +HOMER'S HYMN TO THE MOON. + +HOMER'S HYMN TO THE SUN. + +HOMER'S HYMN TO THE EARTH: MOTHER OF ALL. + +HOMER'S HYMN TO MINERVA. + +HOMER'S HYMN TO VENUS. + +THE CYCLOPS: A SATYRIC DRAMA. TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF EURIPIDES. + +EPIGRAMS: + +1. TO STELLA. FROM THE GREEK OF PLATO. + +2. KISSING HELENA. FROM THE GREEK OF PLATO. + +3. SPIRIT OF PLATO. FROM THE GREEK. + +4. CIRCUMSTANCE. FROM THE GREEK. + +FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF ADONIS. FROM THE GREEK OF BION. + +FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF BION. FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS. + +FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS. + +PAN, ECHO, AND THE SATYR. FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS. + +FROM VERGIL'S TENTH ECLOGUE. + +THE SAME. + +FROM VERGIL'S FOURTH GEORGIC. + +SONNET. FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE. + +THE FIRST CANZONE OF THE "CONVITO". FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE. + +MATILDA GATHERING FLOWERS. FROM THE "PURGATORIO" OF DANTE. + +FRAGMENT. ADAPTED FROM THE "VITA NUOVA" OF DANTE. + +UGOLINO. "INFERNO", 33, 22-75, TRANSLATED BY MEDWIN AND CORRECTED BY SHELLEY. + +SONNET. FROM THE ITALIAN OF CAVALCANTI. + +SCENES FROM THE "MAGICO PRODIGIOSO". FROM THE SPANISH OF CALDERON. + +STANZAS FROM CALDERON'S "CISMA DE INGLETERRA". + +SCENES FROM THE "FAUST" OF GOETHE. + +JUVENILIA. + +QUEEN MAB. A PHILOSOPHICAL POEM. +TO HARRIET ******. +QUEEN MAB. +SHELLEY'S NOTES. +NOTE BY MRS. SHELLEY. + +VERSES ON A CAT. + +FRAGMENT: OMENS. + +EPITAPHIUM [LATIN VERSION OF THE EPITAPH IN GRAY'S "ELEGY"]. + +IN HOROLOGIUM. + +A DIALOGUE. + +TO THE MOONBEAM. + +THE SOLITARY. + +TO DEATH. + +LOVE'S ROSE. + +EYES: A FRAGMENT. + +ORIGINAL POETRY BY VICTOR AND CAZIRE. + +1. 'HERE I SIT WITH MY PAPER, MY PEN AND MY INK'. + +2. TO MISS -- -- [HARRIET GROVE] FROM MISS -- -- [ELIZABETH SHELLEY]. + +3. SONG: 'COLD, COLD IS THE BLAST'. + +4. SONG: 'COME [HARRIET]! SWEET IS THE HOUR'. + +5. SONG: DESPAIR. + +6. SONG: SORROW. + +7. SONG: HOPE. + +8. SONG: TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN. + +9. SONG: TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. + +10. THE IRISHMAN'S SONG. + +11. SONG: 'FIERCE ROARS THE MIDNIGHT STORM'. + +12. SONG: TO -- [HARRIET]. + +13. SONG: TO -- [HARRIET]. + +14. SAINT EDMOND'S EVE. + +15. REVENGE. + +16. GHASTA; OR, THE AVENGING DEMON. + +17. FRAGMENT; OR, THE TRIUMPH OF CONSCIENCE. + +POEMS FROM ST. IRVYNE; OR, THE ROSICRUCIAN. + +1. VICTORIA. + +2. 'ON THE DARK HEIGHT OF JURA'. + +3. SISTER ROSA. A BALLAD. + +4. ST. IRVYNE'S TOWER. + +5. BEREAVEMENT. + +6. THE DROWNED LOVER. + +POSTHUMOUS FRAGMENTS OF MARGARET NICHOLSON. + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +WAR. + +FRAGMENT: SUPPOSED TO BE AN EPITHALAMIUM OF +FRANCIS RAVAILLAC AND CHARLOTTE CORDAY. + +DESPAIR. + +FRAGMENT. + +THE SPECTRAL HORSEMAN. + +MELODY TO A SCENE OF FORMER TIMES. + +STANZA FROM A TRANSLATION OF THE MARSEILLAISE HYMN. + +BIGOTRY'S VICTIM. + +ON AN ICICLE THAT CLUNG TO THE GRASS OF A GRAVE. + +LOVE. + +ON A FETE AT CARLTON HOUSE: FRAGMENT. + +TO A STAR. + +TO MARY, WHO DIED IN THIS OPINION. + +A TALE OF SOCIETY AS IT IS: FROM FACTS, 1811. + +TO THE REPUBLICANS OF NORTH AMERICA. + +TO IRELAND. + +ON ROBERT EMMET'S GRAVE. + +THE RETROSPECT: CWM ELAN, 1812. + +FRAGMENT OF A SONNET: TO HARRIET. + +TO HARRIET. + +SONNET: TO A BALLOON LADEN WITH KNOWLEDGE. + +SONNET: ON LAUNCHING SOME BOTTLES FILLED WITH KNOWLEDGE INTO THE +BRISTOL CHANNEL. + +THE DEVIL'S WALK. + +FRAGMENT OF A SONNET: FAREWELL TO NORTH DEVON. + +ON LEAVING LONDON FOR WALES. + +THE WANDERING JEW'S SOLILOQUY. + +EVENING: TO HARRIET. + +TO IANTHE. + +SONG FROM THE WANDERING JEW. + +FRAGMENT FROM THE WANDERING JEW. + +TO THE QUEEN OF MY HEART. + + +EDITOR'S NOTES. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL LIST OF EDITIONS. + + +INDEX OF FIRST LINES. + + +*** + + +TRANSLATIONS. + +[Of the Translations that follow a few were published by Shelley +himself, others by Mrs. Shelley in the "Posthumous Poems", 1824, or the +"Poetical Works", 1839, and the remainder by Medwin (1834, 1847), +Garnett (1862), Rossetti (1870), Forman (1876) and Locock (1903) from +the manuscript originals. Shelley's "Translations" fall between the +years 1818 and 1822.] + + +HYMN TO MERCURY. + +TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF HOMER. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824. This alone of the +"Translations" is included in the Harvard manuscript book. 'Fragments of +the drafts of this and the other Hymns of Homer exist among the Boscombe +manuscripts' (Forman).] + +1. +Sing, Muse, the son of Maia and of Jove, +The Herald-child, king of Arcadia +And all its pastoral hills, whom in sweet love +Having been interwoven, modest May +Bore Heaven's dread Supreme. An antique grove _5 +Shadowed the cavern where the lovers lay +In the deep night, unseen by Gods or Men, +And white-armed Juno slumbered sweetly then. + +2. +Now, when the joy of Jove had its fulfilling, +And Heaven's tenth moon chronicled her relief, _10 +She gave to light a babe all babes excelling, +A schemer subtle beyond all belief; +A shepherd of thin dreams, a cow-stealing, +A night-watching, and door-waylaying thief, +Who 'mongst the Gods was soon about to thieve, _15 +And other glorious actions to achieve. + +3. +The babe was born at the first peep of day; +He began playing on the lyre at noon, +And the same evening did he steal away +Apollo's herds;--the fourth day of the moon _20 +On which him bore the venerable May, +From her immortal limbs he leaped full soon, +Nor long could in the sacred cradle keep, +But out to seek Apollo's herds would creep. + +4. +Out of the lofty cavern wandering _25 +He found a tortoise, and cried out--'A treasure!' +(For Mercury first made the tortoise sing) +The beast before the portal at his leisure +The flowery herbage was depasturing, +Moving his feet in a deliberate measure _30 +Over the turf. Jove's profitable son +Eying him laughed, and laughing thus begun:-- + +5. +'A useful godsend are you to me now, +King of the dance, companion of the feast, +Lovely in all your nature! Welcome, you _35 +Excellent plaything! Where, sweet mountain-beast, +Got you that speckled shell? Thus much I know, +You must come home with me and be my guest; +You will give joy to me, and I will do +All that is in my power to honour you. _40 + +6. +'Better to be at home than out of door, +So come with me; and though it has been said +That you alive defend from magic power, +I know you will sing sweetly when you're dead.' +Thus having spoken, the quaint infant bore, _45 +Lifting it from the grass on which it fed +And grasping it in his delighted hold, +His treasured prize into the cavern old. + +7. +Then scooping with a chisel of gray steel, +He bored the life and soul out of the beast.-- _50 +Not swifter a swift thought of woe or weal +Darts through the tumult of a human breast +Which thronging cares annoy--not swifter wheel +The flashes of its torture and unrest +Out of the dizzy eyes--than Maia's son _55 +All that he did devise hath featly done. + +8. +... +And through the tortoise's hard stony skin +At proper distances small holes he made, +And fastened the cut stems of reeds within, +And with a piece of leather overlaid _60 +The open space and fixed the cubits in, +Fitting the bridge to both, and stretched o'er all +Symphonious cords of sheep-gut rhythmical. + +9. +When he had wrought the lovely instrument, +He tried the chords, and made division meet, _65 +Preluding with the plectrum, and there went +Up from beneath his hand a tumult sweet +Of mighty sounds, and from his lips he sent +A strain of unpremeditated wit +Joyous and wild and wanton--such you may _70 +Hear among revellers on a holiday. + +10. +He sung how Jove and May of the bright sandal +Dallied in love not quite legitimate; +And his own birth, still scoffing at the scandal, +And naming his own name, did celebrate; _75 +His mother's cave and servant maids he planned all +In plastic verse, her household stuff and state, +Perennial pot, trippet, and brazen pan,-- +But singing, he conceived another plan. + +11. +... +Seized with a sudden fancy for fresh meat, _80 +He in his sacred crib deposited +The hollow lyre, and from the cavern sweet +Rushed with great leaps up to the mountain's head, +Revolving in his mind some subtle feat +Of thievish craft, such as a swindler might _85 +Devise in the lone season of dun night. + +12. +Lo! the great Sun under the ocean's bed has +Driven steeds and chariot--the child meanwhile strode +O'er the Pierian mountains clothed in shadows, +Where the immortal oxen of the God _90 +Are pastured in the flowering unmown meadows, +And safely stalled in a remote abode.-- +The archer Argicide, elate and proud, +Drove fifty from the herd, lowing aloud. + +13. +He drove them wandering o'er the sandy way, _95 +But, being ever mindful of his craft, +Backward and forward drove he them astray, +So that the tracks which seemed before, were aft; +His sandals then he threw to the ocean spray, +And for each foot he wrought a kind of raft _100 +Of tamarisk, and tamarisk-like sprigs, +And bound them in a lump with withy twigs. + +14. +And on his feet he tied these sandals light, +The trail of whose wide leaves might not betray +His track; and then, a self-sufficing wight, _105 +Like a man hastening on some distant way, +He from Pieria's mountain bent his flight; +But an old man perceived the infant pass +Down green Onchestus heaped like beds with grass. + +15. +The old man stood dressing his sunny vine: _110 +'Halloo! old fellow with the crooked shoulder! +You grub those stumps? before they will bear wine +Methinks even you must grow a little older: +Attend, I pray, to this advice of mine, +As you would 'scape what might appal a bolder-- _115 +Seeing, see not--and hearing, hear not--and-- +If you have understanding--understand.' + +16. +So saying, Hermes roused the oxen vast; +O'er shadowy mountain and resounding dell, +And flower-paven plains, great Hermes passed; _120 +Till the black night divine, which favouring fell +Around his steps, grew gray, and morning fast +Wakened the world to work, and from her cell +Sea-strewn, the Pallantean Moon sublime +Into her watch-tower just began to climb. _125 + +17. +Now to Alpheus he had driven all +The broad-foreheaded oxen of the Sun; +They came unwearied to the lofty stall +And to the water-troughs which ever run +Through the fresh fields--and when with rushgrass tall, _130 +Lotus and all sweet herbage, every one +Had pastured been, the great God made them move +Towards the stall in a collected drove. + +18. +A mighty pile of wood the God then heaped, +And having soon conceived the mystery _135 +Of fire, from two smooth laurel branches stripped +The bark, and rubbed them in his palms;--on high +Suddenly forth the burning vapour leaped +And the divine child saw delightedly.-- +Mercury first found out for human weal _140 +Tinder-box, matches, fire-irons, flint and steel. + +19. +And fine dry logs and roots innumerous +He gathered in a delve upon the ground-- +And kindled them--and instantaneous +The strength of the fierce flame was breathed around: _145 +And whilst the might of glorious Vulcan thus +Wrapped the great pile with glare and roaring sound, +Hermes dragged forth two heifers, lowing loud, +Close to the fire--such might was in the God. + +20. +And on the earth upon their backs he threw _150 +The panting beasts, and rolled them o'er and o'er, +And bored their lives out. Without more ado +He cut up fat and flesh, and down before +The fire, on spits of wood he placed the two, +Toasting their flesh and ribs, and all the gore _155 +Pursed in the bowels; and while this was done +He stretched their hides over a craggy stone. + +21. +We mortals let an ox grow old, and then +Cut it up after long consideration,-- +But joyous-minded Hermes from the glen _160 +Drew the fat spoils to the more open station +Of a flat smooth space, and portioned them; and when +He had by lot assigned to each a ration +Of the twelve Gods, his mind became aware +Of all the joys which in religion are. _165 + +22. +For the sweet savour of the roasted meat +Tempted him though immortal. Natheless +He checked his haughty will and did not eat, +Though what it cost him words can scarce express, +And every wish to put such morsels sweet _170 +Down his most sacred throat, he did repress; +But soon within the lofty portalled stall +He placed the fat and flesh and bones and all. + +23. +And every trace of the fresh butchery +And cooking, the God soon made disappear, _175 +As if it all had vanished through the sky; +He burned the hoofs and horns and head and hair,-- +The insatiate fire devoured them hungrily;-- +And when he saw that everything was clear, +He quenched the coal, and trampled the black dust, _180 +And in the stream his bloody sandals tossed. + +24. +All night he worked in the serene moonshine-- +But when the light of day was spread abroad +He sought his natal mountain-peaks divine. +On his long wandering, neither Man nor God _185 +Had met him, since he killed Apollo's kine, +Nor house-dog had barked at him on his road; +Now he obliquely through the keyhole passed, +Like a thin mist, or an autumnal blast. + +25. +Right through the temple of the spacious cave _190 +He went with soft light feet--as if his tread +Fell not on earth; no sound their falling gave; +Then to his cradle he crept quick, and spread +The swaddling-clothes about him; and the knave +Lay playing with the covering of the bed _195 +With his left hand about his knees--the right +Held his beloved tortoise-lyre tight. + +26. +There he lay innocent as a new-born child, +As gossips say; but though he was a God, +The Goddess, his fair mother, unbeguiled, _200 +Knew all that he had done being abroad: +'Whence come you, and from what adventure wild, +You cunning rogue, and where have you abode +All the long night, clothed in your impudence? +What have you done since you departed hence? _205 + +27. +'Apollo soon will pass within this gate +And bind your tender body in a chain +Inextricably tight, and fast as fate, +Unless you can delude the God again, +Even when within his arms--ah, runagate! _210 +A pretty torment both for Gods and Men +Your father made when he made you!'--'Dear mother,' +Replied sly Hermes, 'wherefore scold and bother? + +28. +'As if I were like other babes as old, +And understood nothing of what is what; _215 +And cared at all to hear my mother scold. +I in my subtle brain a scheme have got, +Which whilst the sacred stars round Heaven are rolled +Will profit you and me--nor shall our lot +Be as you counsel, without gifts or food, _220 +To spend our lives in this obscure abode. + +29 +'But we will leave this shadow-peopled cave +And live among the Gods, and pass each day +In high communion, sharing what they have +Of profuse wealth and unexhausted prey; _225 +And from the portion which my father gave +To Phoebus, I will snatch my share away, +Which if my father will not--natheless I, +Who am the king of robbers, can but try. + +30. +'And, if Latona's son should find me out, _230 +I'll countermine him by a deeper plan; +I'll pierce the Pythian temple-walls, though stout, +And sack the fane of everything I can-- +Caldrons and tripods of great worth no doubt, +Each golden cup and polished brazen pan, _235 +All the wrought tapestries and garments gay.'-- +So they together talked;--meanwhile the Day + +31. +Aethereal born arose out of the flood +Of flowing Ocean, bearing light to men. +Apollo passed toward the sacred wood, _240 +Which from the inmost depths of its green glen +Echoes the voice of Neptune,--and there stood +On the same spot in green Onchestus then +That same old animal, the vine-dresser, +Who was employed hedging his vineyard there. _245 + +32. +Latona's glorious Son began:--'I pray +Tell, ancient hedger of Onchestus green, +Whether a drove of kine has passed this way, +All heifers with crooked horns? for they have been +Stolen from the herd in high Pieria, _250 +Where a black bull was fed apart, between +Two woody mountains in a neighbouring glen, +And four fierce dogs watched there, unanimous as men. + +33. +'And what is strange, the author of this theft +Has stolen the fatted heifers every one, _255 +But the four dogs and the black bull are left:-- +Stolen they were last night at set of sun, +Of their soft beds and their sweet food bereft.-- +Now tell me, man born ere the world begun, +Have you seen any one pass with the cows?'-- _260 +To whom the man of overhanging brows: + +34. +'My friend, it would require no common skill +Justly to speak of everything I see: +On various purposes of good or ill +Many pass by my vineyard,--and to me _265 +'Tis difficult to know the invisible +Thoughts, which in all those many minds may be:-- +Thus much alone I certainly can say, +I tilled these vines till the decline of day, + +35. +'And then I thought I saw, but dare not speak _270 +With certainty of such a wondrous thing, +A child, who could not have been born a week, +Those fair-horned cattle closely following, +And in his hand he held a polished stick: +And, as on purpose, he walked wavering _275 +From one side to the other of the road, +And with his face opposed the steps he trod.' + +36. +Apollo hearing this, passed quickly on-- +No winged omen could have shown more clear +That the deceiver was his father's son. _280 +So the God wraps a purple atmosphere +Around his shoulders, and like fire is gone +To famous Pylos, seeking his kine there, +And found their track and his, yet hardly cold, +And cried--'What wonder do mine eyes behold! _285 + +37. +'Here are the footsteps of the horned herd +Turned back towards their fields of asphodel;-- +But THESE are not the tracks of beast or bird, +Gray wolf, or bear, or lion of the dell, +Or maned Centaur--sand was never stirred _290 +By man or woman thus! Inexplicable! +Who with unwearied feet could e'er impress +The sand with such enormous vestiges? + +38. +'That was most strange--but this is stranger still!' +Thus having said, Phoebus impetuously _295 +Sought high Cyllene's forest-cinctured hill, +And the deep cavern where dark shadows lie, +And where the ambrosial nymph with happy will +Bore the Saturnian's love-child, Mercury-- +And a delightful odour from the dew _300 +Of the hill pastures, at his coming, flew. + +39. +And Phoebus stooped under the craggy roof +Arched over the dark cavern:--Maia's child +Perceived that he came angry, far aloof, +About the cows of which he had been beguiled; _305 +And over him the fine and fragrant woof +Of his ambrosial swaddling-clothes he piled-- +As among fire-brands lies a burning spark +Covered, beneath the ashes cold and dark. + +40. +There, like an infant who had sucked his fill _310 +And now was newly washed and put to bed, +Awake, but courting sleep with weary will, +And gathered in a lump, hands, feet, and head, +He lay, and his beloved tortoise still +He grasped and held under his shoulder-blade. _315 +Phoebus the lovely mountain-goddess knew, +Not less her subtle, swindling baby, who + +41. +Lay swathed in his sly wiles. Round every crook +Of the ample cavern, for his kine, Apollo +Looked sharp; and when he saw them not, he took _320 +The glittering key, and opened three great hollow +Recesses in the rock--where many a nook +Was filled with the sweet food immortals swallow, +And mighty heaps of silver and of gold +Were piled within--a wonder to behold! _325 + +42. +And white and silver robes, all overwrought +With cunning workmanship of tracery sweet-- +Except among the Gods there can be nought +In the wide world to be compared with it. +Latona's offspring, after having sought _330 +His herds in every corner, thus did greet +Great Hermes:--'Little cradled rogue, declare +Of my illustrious heifers, where they are! + +43. +'Speak quickly! or a quarrel between us +Must rise, and the event will be, that I _335 +Shall hurl you into dismal Tartarus, +In fiery gloom to dwell eternally; +Nor shall your father nor your mother loose +The bars of that black dungeon--utterly +You shall be cast out from the light of day, _340 +To rule the ghosts of men, unblessed as they. + +44. +To whom thus Hermes slily answered:--'Son +Of great Latona, what a speech is this! +Why come you here to ask me what is done +With the wild oxen which it seems you miss? _345 +I have not seen them, nor from any one +Have heard a word of the whole business; +If you should promise an immense reward, +I could not tell more than you now have heard. + +45. +'An ox-stealer should be both tall and strong, _350 +And I am but a little new-born thing, +Who, yet at least, can think of nothing wrong:-- +My business is to suck, and sleep, and fling +The cradle-clothes about me all day long,-- +Or half asleep, hear my sweet mother sing, _355 +And to be washed in water clean and warm, +And hushed and kissed and kept secure from harm. + +46. +'O, let not e'er this quarrel be averred! +The astounded Gods would laugh at you, if e'er +You should allege a story so absurd _360 +As that a new-born infant forth could fare +Out of his home after a savage herd. +I was born yesterday--my small feet are +Too tender for the roads so hard and rough:-- +And if you think that this is not enough, _365 + +47. +I swear a great oath, by my father's head, +That I stole not your cows, and that I know +Of no one else, who might, or could, or did.-- +Whatever things cows are, I do not know, +For I have only heard the name.'--This said _370 +He winked as fast as could be, and his brow +Was wrinkled, and a whistle loud gave he, +Like one who hears some strange absurdity. + +48. +Apollo gently smiled and said:--'Ay, ay,-- +You cunning little rascal, you will bore _375 +Many a rich man's house, and your array +Of thieves will lay their siege before his door, +Silent as night, in night; and many a day +In the wild glens rough shepherds will deplore +That you or yours, having an appetite, _380 +Met with their cattle, comrade of the night! + +49. +'And this among the Gods shall be your gift, +To be considered as the lord of those +Who swindle, house-break, sheep-steal, and shop-lift;-- +But now if you would not your last sleep doze; _385 +Crawl out!'--Thus saying, Phoebus did uplift +The subtle infant in his swaddling clothes, +And in his arms, according to his wont, +A scheme devised the illustrious Argiphont. + +50. +... +... +And sneezed and shuddered--Phoebus on the grass _390 +Him threw, and whilst all that he had designed +He did perform--eager although to pass, +Apollo darted from his mighty mind +Towards the subtle babe the following scoff:-- +'Do not imagine this will get you off, _395 + +51. +'You little swaddled child of Jove and May! +And seized him:--'By this omen I shall trace +My noble herds, and you shall lead the way.'-- +Cyllenian Hermes from the grassy place, +Like one in earnest haste to get away, _400 +Rose, and with hands lifted towards his face +Round both his ears up from his shoulders drew +His swaddling clothes, and--'What mean you to do + +52. +'With me, you unkind God?'--said Mercury: +'Is it about these cows you tease me so? _405 +I wish the race of cows were perished!--I +Stole not your cows--I do not even know +What things cows are. Alas! I well may sigh +That since I came into this world of woe, +I should have ever heard the name of one-- _410 +But I appeal to the Saturnian's throne.' + +53. +Thus Phoebus and the vagrant Mercury +Talked without coming to an explanation, +With adverse purpose. As for Phoebus, he +Sought not revenge, but only information, _415 +And Hermes tried with lies and roguery +To cheat Apollo.--But when no evasion +Served--for the cunning one his match had found-- +He paced on first over the sandy ground. + +54. +... +He of the Silver Bow the child of Jove _420 +Followed behind, till to their heavenly Sire +Came both his children, beautiful as Love, +And from his equal balance did require +A judgement in the cause wherein they strove. +O'er odorous Olympus and its snows _425 +A murmuring tumult as they came arose,-- + +55. +And from the folded depths of the great Hill, +While Hermes and Apollo reverent stood +Before Jove's throne, the indestructible +Immortals rushed in mighty multitude; _430 +And whilst their seats in order due they fill, +The lofty Thunderer in a careless mood +To Phoebus said:--'Whence drive you this sweet prey, +This herald-baby, born but yesterday?-- + +56. +'A most important subject, trifler, this _435 +To lay before the Gods!'--'Nay, Father, nay, +When you have understood the business, +Say not that I alone am fond of prey. +I found this little boy in a recess +Under Cyllene's mountains far away-- _440 +A manifest and most apparent thief, +A scandalmonger beyond all belief. + +57. +'I never saw his like either in Heaven +Or upon earth for knavery or craft:-- +Out of the field my cattle yester-even, _445 +By the low shore on which the loud sea laughed, +He right down to the river-ford had driven; +And mere astonishment would make you daft +To see the double kind of footsteps strange +He has impressed wherever he did range. _450 + +58. +'The cattle's track on the black dust, full well +Is evident, as if they went towards +The place from which they came--that asphodel +Meadow, in which I feed my many herds,-- +HIS steps were most incomprehensible-- _455 +I know not how I can describe in words +Those tracks--he could have gone along the sands +Neither upon his feet nor on his hands;-- + +59. +'He must have had some other stranger mode +Of moving on: those vestiges immense, _460 +Far as I traced them on the sandy road, +Seemed like the trail of oak-toppings:--but thence +No mark nor track denoting where they trod +The hard ground gave:--but, working at his fence, +A mortal hedger saw him as he passed _465 +To Pylos, with the cows, in fiery haste. + +60. +'I found that in the dark he quietly +Had sacrificed some cows, and before light +Had thrown the ashes all dispersedly +About the road--then, still as gloomy night, _470 +Had crept into his cradle, either eye +Rubbing, and cogitating some new sleight. +No eagle could have seen him as he lay +Hid in his cavern from the peering day. + +61. +'I taxed him with the fact, when he averred _475 +Most solemnly that he did neither see +Nor even had in any manner heard +Of my lost cows, whatever things cows be; +Nor could he tell, though offered a reward, +Not even who could tell of them to me.' _480 +So speaking, Phoebus sate; and Hermes then +Addressed the Supreme Lord of Gods and Men:-- + +62. +'Great Father, you know clearly beforehand +That all which I shall say to you is sooth; +I am a most veracious person, and _485 +Totally unacquainted with untruth. +At sunrise Phoebus came, but with no band +Of Gods to bear him witness, in great wrath, +To my abode, seeking his heifers there, +And saying that I must show him where they are, _490 + +63. +'Or he would hurl me down the dark abyss. +I know that every Apollonian limb +Is clothed with speed and might and manliness, +As a green bank with flowers--but unlike him +I was born yesterday, and you may guess _495 +He well knew this when he indulged the whim +Of bullying a poor little new-born thing +That slept, and never thought of cow-driving. + +64. +'Am I like a strong fellow who steals kine? +Believe me, dearest Father--such you are-- _500 +This driving of the herds is none of mine; +Across my threshold did I wander ne'er, +So may I thrive! I reverence the divine +Sun and the Gods, and I love you, and care +Even for this hard accuser--who must know _505 +I am as innocent as they or you. + +65. +'I swear by these most gloriously-wrought portals +(It is, you will allow, an oath of might) +Through which the multitude of the Immortals +Pass and repass forever, day and night, _510 +Devising schemes for the affairs of mortals-- +I am guiltless; and I will requite, +Although mine enemy be great and strong, +His cruel threat--do thou defend the young!' + +66. +So speaking, the Cyllenian Argiphont _515 +Winked, as if now his adversary was fitted:-- +And Jupiter, according to his wont, +Laughed heartily to hear the subtle-witted +Infant give such a plausible account, +And every word a lie. But he remitted _520 +Judgement at present--and his exhortation +Was, to compose the affair by arbitration. + +67. +And they by mighty Jupiter were bidden +To go forth with a single purpose both, +Neither the other chiding nor yet chidden: _525 +And Mercury with innocence and truth +To lead the way, and show where he had hidden +The mighty heifers.--Hermes, nothing loth, +Obeyed the Aegis-bearer's will--for he +Is able to persuade all easily. _530 + +68. +These lovely children of Heaven's highest Lord +Hastened to Pylos and the pastures wide +And lofty stalls by the Alphean ford, +Where wealth in the mute night is multiplied +With silent growth. Whilst Hermes drove the herd _535 +Out of the stony cavern, Phoebus spied +The hides of those the little babe had slain, +Stretched on the precipice above the plain. + +69. +'How was it possible,' then Phoebus said, +'That you, a little child, born yesterday, _540 +A thing on mother's milk and kisses fed, +Could two prodigious heifers ever flay? +Even I myself may well hereafter dread +Your prowess, offspring of Cyllenian May, +When you grow strong and tall.'--He spoke, and bound _545 +Stiff withy bands the infant's wrists around. + +70. +He might as well have bound the oxen wild; +The withy bands, though starkly interknit, +Fell at the feet of the immortal child, +Loosened by some device of his quick wit. _550 +Phoebus perceived himself again beguiled, +And stared--while Hermes sought some hole or pit, +Looking askance and winking fast as thought, +Where he might hide himself and not be caught. + +71. +Sudden he changed his plan, and with strange skill _555 +Subdued the strong Latonian, by the might +Of winning music, to his mightier will; +His left hand held the lyre, and in his right +The plectrum struck the chords--unconquerable +Up from beneath his hand in circling flight _560 +The gathering music rose--and sweet as Love +The penetrating notes did live and move + +72. +Within the heart of great Apollo--he +Listened with all his soul, and laughed for pleasure. +Close to his side stood harping fearlessly _565 +The unabashed boy; and to the measure +Of the sweet lyre, there followed loud and free +His joyous voice; for he unlocked the treasure +Of his deep song, illustrating the birth +Of the bright Gods, and the dark desert Earth: _570 + +73. +And how to the Immortals every one +A portion was assigned of all that is; +But chief Mnemosyne did Maia's son +Clothe in the light of his loud melodies;-- +And, as each God was born or had begun, _575 +He in their order due and fit degrees +Sung of his birth and being--and did move +Apollo to unutterable love. + +74. +These words were winged with his swift delight: +'You heifer-stealing schemer, well do you _580 +Deserve that fifty oxen should requite +Such minstrelsies as I have heard even now. +Comrade of feasts, little contriving wight, +One of your secrets I would gladly know, +Whether the glorious power you now show forth _585 +Was folded up within you at your birth, + +75. +'Or whether mortal taught or God inspired +The power of unpremeditated song? +Many divinest sounds have I admired, +The Olympian Gods and mortal men among; _590 +But such a strain of wondrous, strange, untired, +And soul-awakening music, sweet and strong, +Yet did I never hear except from thee, +Offspring of May, impostor Mercury! + +76. +'What Muse, what skill, what unimagined use, _595 +What exercise of subtlest art, has given +Thy songs such power?--for those who hear may choose +From three, the choicest of the gifts of Heaven, +Delight, and love, and sleep,--sweet sleep, whose dews +Are sweeter than the balmy tears of even:-- _600 +And I, who speak this praise, am that Apollo +Whom the Olympian Muses ever follow: + +77. +'And their delight is dance, and the blithe noise +Of song and overflowing poesy; +And sweet, even as desire, the liquid voice _605 +Of pipes, that fills the clear air thrillingly; +But never did my inmost soul rejoice +In this dear work of youthful revelry +As now. I wonder at thee, son of Jove; +Thy harpings and thy song are soft as love. _610 + +78. +'Now since thou hast, although so very small, +Science of arts so glorious, thus I swear,-- +And let this cornel javelin, keen and tall, +Witness between us what I promise here,-- +That I will lead thee to the Olympian Hall, _615 +Honoured and mighty, with thy mother dear, +And many glorious gifts in joy will give thee, +And even at the end will ne'er deceive thee.' + +79. +To whom thus Mercury with prudent speech:-- +'Wisely hast thou inquired of my skill: _620 +I envy thee no thing I know to teach +Even this day:--for both in word and will +I would be gentle with thee; thou canst reach +All things in thy wise spirit, and thy sill +Is highest in Heaven among the sons of Jove, _625 +Who loves thee in the fulness of his love. + +80. +'The Counsellor Supreme has given to thee +Divinest gifts, out of the amplitude +Of his profuse exhaustless treasury; +By thee, 'tis said, the depths are understood _630 +Of his far voice; by thee the mystery +Of all oracular fates,--and the dread mood +Of the diviner is breathed up; even I-- +A child--perceive thy might and majesty. + +81. +'Thou canst seek out and compass all that wit _635 +Can find or teach;--yet since thou wilt, come take +The lyre--be mine the glory giving it-- +Strike the sweet chords, and sing aloud, and wake +Thy joyous pleasure out of many a fit +Of tranced sound--and with fleet fingers make _640 +Thy liquid-voiced comrade talk with thee,-- +It can talk measured music eloquently. + +82. +'Then bear it boldly to the revel loud, +Love-wakening dance, or feast of solemn state, +A joy by night or day--for those endowed _645 +With art and wisdom who interrogate +It teaches, babbling in delightful mood +All things which make the spirit most elate, +Soothing the mind with sweet familiar play, +Chasing the heavy shadows of dismay. _650 + +83. +'To those who are unskilled in its sweet tongue, +Though they should question most impetuously +Its hidden soul, it gossips something wrong-- +Some senseless and impertinent reply. +But thou who art as wise as thou art strong _655 +Canst compass all that thou desirest. I +Present thee with this music-flowing shell, +Knowing thou canst interrogate it well. + +84. +'And let us two henceforth together feed, +On this green mountain-slope and pastoral plain, _660 +The herds in litigation--they will breed +Quickly enough to recompense our pain, +If to the bulls and cows we take good heed;-- +And thou, though somewhat over fond of gain, +Grudge me not half the profit.'--Having spoke, _665 +The shell he proffered, and Apollo took; + +85. +And gave him in return the glittering lash, +Installing him as herdsman;--from the look +Of Mercury then laughed a joyous flash. +And then Apollo with the plectrum strook _670 +The chords, and from beneath his hands a crash +Of mighty sounds rushed up, whose music shook +The soul with sweetness, and like an adept +His sweeter voice a just accordance kept. + +86. +The herd went wandering o'er the divine mead, _675 +Whilst these most beautiful Sons of Jupiter +Won their swift way up to the snowy head +Of white Olympus, with the joyous lyre +Soothing their journey; and their father dread +Gathered them both into familiar _680 +Affection sweet,--and then, and now, and ever, +Hermes must love Him of the Golden Quiver, + +87. +To whom he gave the lyre that sweetly sounded, +Which skilfully he held and played thereon. +He piped the while, and far and wide rebounded _685 +The echo of his pipings; every one +Of the Olympians sat with joy astounded; +While he conceived another piece of fun, +One of his old tricks--which the God of Day +Perceiving, said:--'I fear thee, Son of May;-- _690 + +88. +'I fear thee and thy sly chameleon spirit, +Lest thou should steal my lyre and crooked bow; +This glory and power thou dost from Jove inherit, +To teach all craft upon the earth below; +Thieves love and worship thee--it is thy merit _695 +To make all mortal business ebb and flow +By roguery:--now, Hermes, if you dare +By sacred Styx a mighty oath to swear + +89. +'That you will never rob me, you will do +A thing extremely pleasing to my heart.' _700 +Then Mercury swore by the Stygian dew, +That he would never steal his bow or dart, +Or lay his hands on what to him was due, +Or ever would employ his powerful art +Against his Pythian fane. Then Phoebus swore _705 +There was no God or Man whom he loved more. + +90. +'And I will give thee as a good-will token, +The beautiful wand of wealth and happiness; +A perfect three-leaved rod of gold unbroken, +Whose magic will thy footsteps ever bless; _710 +And whatsoever by Jove's voice is spoken +Of earthly or divine from its recess, +It, like a loving soul, to thee will speak, +And more than this, do thou forbear to seek. + +91. +'For, dearest child, the divinations high _715 +Which thou requirest, 'tis unlawful ever +That thou, or any other deity +Should understand--and vain were the endeavour; +For they are hidden in Jove's mind, and I, +In trust of them, have sworn that I would never _720 +Betray the counsels of Jove's inmost will +To any God--the oath was terrible. + +92. +'Then, golden-wanded brother, ask me not +To speak the fates by Jupiter designed; +But be it mine to tell their various lot _725 +To the unnumbered tribes of human-kind. +Let good to these, and ill to those be wrought +As I dispense--but he who comes consigned +By voice and wings of perfect augury +To my great shrine, shall find avail in me. _730 + +93. +'Him will I not deceive, but will assist; +But he who comes relying on such birds +As chatter vainly, who would strain and twist +The purpose of the Gods with idle words, +And deems their knowledge light, he shall have missed _735 +His road--whilst I among my other hoards +His gifts deposit. Yet, O son of May, +I have another wondrous thing to say. + +96. +'There are three Fates, three virgin Sisters, who +Rejoicing in their wind-outspeeding wings, _740 +Their heads with flour snowed over white and new, +Sit in a vale round which Parnassus flings +Its circling skirts--from these I have learned true +Vaticinations of remotest things. +My father cared not. Whilst they search out dooms, _745 +They sit apart and feed on honeycombs. + +95. +'They, having eaten the fresh honey, grow +Drunk with divine enthusiasm, and utter +With earnest willingness the truth they know; +But if deprived of that sweet food, they mutter _750 +All plausible delusions;--these to you +I give;--if you inquire, they will not stutter; +Delight your own soul with them:--any man +You would instruct may profit if he can. + +96. +'Take these and the fierce oxen, Maia's child-- _755 +O'er many a horse and toil-enduring mule, +O'er jagged-jawed lions, and the wild +White-tusked boars, o'er all, by field or pool, +Of cattle which the mighty Mother mild +Nourishes in her bosom, thou shalt rule-- _760 +Thou dost alone the veil from death uplift-- +Thou givest not--yet this is a great gift.' + +97. +Thus King Apollo loved the child of May +In truth, and Jove covered their love with joy. +Hermes with Gods and Men even from that day _765 +Mingled, and wrought the latter much annoy, +And little profit, going far astray +Through the dun night. Farewell, delightful Boy, +Of Jove and Maia sprung,--never by me, +Nor thou, nor other songs, shall unremembered be. _770 + +NOTES: +_13 cow-stealing]qy. cattle-stealing? +_57 stony Boscombe manuscript. Harvard manuscript; strong edition 1824. +_252 neighbouring]neighbour Harvard manuscript. +_336 hurl Harvard manuscript, editions 1839; haul edition 1824. +_402 Round]Roused edition 1824 only. +_488 wrath]ruth Harvard manuscript. +_580 heifer-stealing]heifer-killing Harvard manuscript. +_673 and like 1839, 1st edition; as of edition 1824, Harvard manuscript. +_713 loving]living cj. Rossetti. +_761 from Harvard manuscript; of editions 1824, 1839. +_764 their love with joy Harvard manuscript; them with love and joy, + editions 1824, 1839. +_767 going]wandering Harvard manuscript. + +*** + + +HOMER'S HYMN TO CASTOR AND POLLUX. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition; dated +1818.] + +Ye wild-eyed Muses, sing the Twins of Jove, +Whom the fair-ankled Leda, mixed in love +With mighty Saturn's Heaven-obscuring Child, +On Taygetus, that lofty mountain wild, +Brought forth in joy: mild Pollux, void of blame, _5 +And steed-subduing Castor, heirs of fame. +These are the Powers who earth-born mortals save +And ships, whose flight is swift along the wave. +When wintry tempests o'er the savage sea +Are raging, and the sailors tremblingly _10 +Call on the Twins of Jove with prayer and vow, +Gathered in fear upon the lofty prow, +And sacrifice with snow-white lambs,--the wind +And the huge billow bursting close behind, +Even then beneath the weltering waters bear _15 +The staggering ship--they suddenly appear, +On yellow wings rushing athwart the sky, +And lull the blasts in mute tranquillity, +And strew the waves on the white Ocean's bed, +Fair omen of the voyage; from toil and dread _20 +The sailors rest, rejoicing in the sight, +And plough the quiet sea in safe delight. + +NOTE: +_6 steed-subduing emend. Rossetti; steel-subduing 1839, 2nd edition. + +*** + + +HOMER'S HYMN TO THE MOON. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition; +dated 1818.] + +Daughters of Jove, whose voice is melody, +Muses, who know and rule all minstrelsy +Sing the wide-winged Moon! Around the earth, +From her immortal head in Heaven shot forth, +Far light is scattered--boundless glory springs; _5 +Where'er she spreads her many-beaming wings +The lampless air glows round her golden crown. + +But when the Moon divine from Heaven is gone +Under the sea, her beams within abide, +Till, bathing her bright limbs in Ocean's tide, _10 +Clothing her form in garments glittering far, +And having yoked to her immortal car +The beam-invested steeds whose necks on high +Curve back, she drives to a remoter sky +A western Crescent, borne impetuously. _15 +Then is made full the circle of her light, +And as she grows, her beams more bright and bright +Are poured from Heaven, where she is hovering then, +A wonder and a sign to mortal men. + +The Son of Saturn with this glorious Power _20 +Mingled in love and sleep--to whom she bore +Pandeia, a bright maid of beauty rare +Among the Gods, whose lives eternal are. + +Hail Queen, great Moon, white-armed Divinity, +Fair-haired and favourable! thus with thee _25 +My song beginning, by its music sweet +Shall make immortal many a glorious feat +Of demigods, with lovely lips, so well +Which minstrels, servants of the Muses, tell. + +*** + + +HOMER'S HYMN TO THE SUN. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition; +dated 1818.] + +Offspring of Jove, Calliope, once more +To the bright Sun, thy hymn of music pour; +Whom to the child of star-clad Heaven and Earth +Euryphaessa, large-eyed nymph, brought forth; +Euryphaessa, the famed sister fair _5 +Of great Hyperion, who to him did bear +A race of loveliest children; the young Morn, +Whose arms are like twin roses newly born, +The fair-haired Moon, and the immortal Sun, +Who borne by heavenly steeds his race doth run _10 +Unconquerably, illuming the abodes +Of mortal Men and the eternal Gods. + +Fiercely look forth his awe-inspiring eyes, +Beneath his golden helmet, whence arise +And are shot forth afar, clear beams of light; _15 +His countenance, with radiant glory bright, +Beneath his graceful locks far shines around, +And the light vest with which his limbs are bound, +Of woof aethereal delicately twined, +Glows in the stream of the uplifting wind. _20 +His rapid steeds soon bear him to the West; +Where their steep flight his hands divine arrest, +And the fleet car with yoke of gold, which he +Sends from bright Heaven beneath the shadowy sea. + +*** + + +HOMER'S HYMN TO THE EARTH: MOTHER OF ALL. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition; +dated 1818.] + +O universal Mother, who dost keep +From everlasting thy foundations deep, +Eldest of things, Great Earth, I sing of thee! +All shapes that have their dwelling in the sea, +All things that fly, or on the ground divine _5 +Live, move, and there are nourished--these are thine; +These from thy wealth thou dost sustain; from thee +Fair babes are born, and fruits on every tree +Hang ripe and large, revered Divinity! + +The life of mortal men beneath thy sway _10 +Is held; thy power both gives and takes away! +Happy are they whom thy mild favours nourish; +All things unstinted round them grow and flourish. +For them, endures the life-sustaining field +Its load of harvest, and their cattle yield _15 +Large increase, and their house with wealth is filled. +Such honoured dwell in cities fair and free, +The homes of lovely women, prosperously; +Their sons exult in youth's new budding gladness, +And their fresh daughters free from care or sadness, _20 +With bloom-inwoven dance and happy song, +On the soft flowers the meadow-grass among, +Leap round them sporting--such delights by thee +Are given, rich Power, revered Divinity. + +Mother of gods, thou Wife of starry Heaven, _25 +Farewell! be thou propitious, and be given +A happy life for this brief melody, +Nor thou nor other songs shall unremembered be. + +*** + + +HOMER'S HYMN TO MINERVA. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition; +dated 1818.] + +I sing the glorious Power with azure eyes, +Athenian Pallas! tameless, chaste, and wise, +Tritogenia, town-preserving Maid, +Revered and mighty; from his awful head +Whom Jove brought forth, in warlike armour dressed, _5 +Golden, all radiant! wonder strange possessed +The everlasting Gods that Shape to see, +Shaking a javelin keen, impetuously +Rush from the crest of Aegis-bearing Jove; +Fearfully Heaven was shaken, and did move _10 +Beneath the might of the Cerulean-eyed; +Earth dreadfully resounded, far and wide; +And, lifted from its depths, the sea swelled high +In purple billows, the tide suddenly +Stood still, and great Hyperion's son long time _15 +Checked his swift steeds, till, where she stood sublime, +Pallas from her immortal shoulders threw +The arms divine; wise Jove rejoiced to view. +Child of the Aegis-bearer, hail to thee, +Nor thine nor others' praise shall unremembered be. _20 + +*** + + +HOMER'S HYMN TO VENUS. + +[Published by Garnett, "Relics of Shelley", 1862; dated 1818.] + +[VERSES 1-55, WITH SOME OMISSIONS.] + +Muse, sing the deeds of golden Aphrodite, +Who wakens with her smile the lulled delight +Of sweet desire, taming the eternal kings +Of Heaven, and men, and all the living things +That fleet along the air, or whom the sea, _5 +Or earth, with her maternal ministry, +Nourish innumerable, thy delight +All seek ... O crowned Aphrodite! +Three spirits canst thou not deceive or quell:-- +Minerva, child of Jove, who loves too well _10 +Fierce war and mingling combat, and the fame +Of glorious deeds, to heed thy gentle flame. +Diana ... golden-shafted queen, +Is tamed not by thy smiles; the shadows green +Of the wild woods, the bow, the... _15 +And piercing cries amid the swift pursuit +Of beasts among waste mountains,--such delight +Is hers, and men who know and do the right. +Nor Saturn's first-born daughter, Vesta chaste, +Whom Neptune and Apollo wooed the last, _20 +Such was the will of aegis-bearing Jove; +But sternly she refused the ills of Love, +And by her mighty Father's head she swore +An oath not unperformed, that evermore +A virgin she would live mid deities _25 +Divine: her father, for such gentle ties +Renounced, gave glorious gifts--thus in his hall +She sits and feeds luxuriously. O'er all +In every fane, her honours first arise +From men--the eldest of Divinities. _30 + +These spirits she persuades not, nor deceives, +But none beside escape, so well she weaves +Her unseen toils; nor mortal men, nor gods +Who live secure in their unseen abodes. +She won the soul of him whose fierce delight _35 +Is thunder--first in glory and in might. +And, as she willed, his mighty mind deceiving, +With mortal limbs his deathless limbs inweaving, +Concealed him from his spouse and sister fair, +Whom to wise Saturn ancient Rhea bare. _40 +but in return, +In Venus Jove did soft desire awaken, +That by her own enchantments overtaken, +She might, no more from human union free, +Burn for a nursling of mortality. _45 +For once amid the assembled Deities, +The laughter-loving Venus from her eyes + +Shot forth the light of a soft starlight smile, +And boasting said, that she, secure the while, +Could bring at Will to the assembled Gods _50 +The mortal tenants of earth's dark abodes, +And mortal offspring from a deathless stem +She could produce in scorn and spite of them. +Therefore he poured desire into her breast +Of young Anchises, _55 +Feeding his herds among the mossy fountains +Of the wide Ida's many-folded mountains,-- +Whom Venus saw, and loved, and the love clung +Like wasting fire her senses wild among. + +*** + + +THE CYCLOPS. + +A SATYRIC DRAMA TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK OF EURIPIDES. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824; dated 1819. +Amongst the Shelley manuscripts at the Bodleian there is a copy, +'practically complete,' which has been collated by Mr. C.D. Locock. See +"Examination", etc., 1903, pages 64-70. 'Though legible throughout, and +comparatively free from corrections, it has the appearance of being a +first draft' (Locock).] + +SILENUS. +ULYSSES. +CHORUS OF SATYRS. +THE CYCLOPS. + +SILENUS: +O Bacchus, what a world of toil, both now +And ere these limbs were overworn with age, +Have I endured for thee! First, when thou fled'st +The mountain-nymphs who nursed thee, driven afar +By the strange madness Juno sent upon thee; _5 +Then in the battle of the Sons of Earth, +When I stood foot by foot close to thy side, +No unpropitious fellow-combatant, +And, driving through his shield my winged spear, +Slew vast Enceladus. Consider now, _10 +Is it a dream of which I speak to thee? +By Jove it is not, for you have the trophies! +And now I suffer more than all before. +For when I heard that Juno had devised +A tedious voyage for you, I put to sea _15 +With all my children quaint in search of you, +And I myself stood on the beaked prow +And fixed the naked mast; and all my boys +Leaning upon their oars, with splash and strain +Made white with foam the green and purple sea,-- _20 +And so we sought you, king. We were sailing +Near Malea, when an eastern wind arose, +And drove us to this waste Aetnean rock; +The one-eyed children of the Ocean God, +The man-destroying Cyclopses, inhabit, _25 +On this wild shore, their solitary caves, +And one of these, named Polypheme. has caught us +To be his slaves; and so, for all delight +Of Bacchic sports, sweet dance and melody, +We keep this lawless giant's wandering flocks. _30 +My sons indeed on far declivities, +Young things themselves, tend on the youngling sheep, +But I remain to fill the water-casks, +Or sweeping the hard floor, or ministering +Some impious and abominable meal _35 +To the fell Cyclops. I am wearied of it! +And now I must scrape up the littered floor +With this great iron rake, so to receive +My absent master and his evening sheep +In a cave neat and clean. Even now I see _40 +My children tending the flocks hitherward. +Ha! what is this? are your Sicinnian measures +Even now the same, as when with dance and song +You brought young Bacchus to Althaea's halls? + +NOTE: +_23 waste B.; wild 1824; 'cf. 26, where waste is cancelled for wild' + (Locock). + +CHORUS OF SATYRS: + +STROPHE: +Where has he of race divine _45 +Wandered in the winding rocks? +Here the air is calm and fine +For the father of the flocks;-- +Here the grass is soft and sweet, +And the river-eddies meet _50 +In the trough beside the cave, +Bright as in their fountain wave.-- +Neither here, nor on the dew +Of the lawny uplands feeding? +Oh, you come!--a stone at you _55 +Will I throw to mend your breeding;-- +Get along, you horned thing, +Wild, seditious, rambling! + +EPODE: +An Iacchic melody +To the golden Aphrodite _60 +Will I lift, as erst did I +Seeking her and her delight +With the Maenads, whose white feet +To the music glance and fleet. +Bacchus, O beloved, where, _65 +Shaking wide thy yellow hair, +Wanderest thou alone, afar? +To the one-eyed Cyclops, we, +Who by right thy servants are, +Minister in misery, _70 +In these wretched goat-skins clad, +Far from thy delights and thee. + +SILENUS: +Be silent, sons; command the slaves to drive +The gathered flocks into the rock-roofed cave. + +CHORUS: +Go! But what needs this serious haste, O father? _75 + +SILENUS: +I see a Grecian vessel on the coast, +And thence the rowers with some general +Approaching to this cave.--About their necks +Hang empty vessels, as they wanted food, +And water-flasks.--Oh, miserable strangers! _80 +Whence come they, that they know not what and who +My master is, approaching in ill hour +The inhospitable roof of Polypheme, +And the Cyclopian jaw-bone, man-destroying? +Be silent, Satyrs, while I ask and hear _85 +Whence coming, they arrive the Aetnean hill. + +ULYSSES: +Friends, can you show me some clear water-spring, +The remedy of our thirst? Will any one +Furnish with food seamen in want of it? +Ha! what is this? We seem to be arrived _90 +At the blithe court of Bacchus. I observe +This sportive band of Satyrs near the caves. +First let me greet the elder.--Hail! + +SILENUS: +Hail thou, +O Stranger! tell thy country and thy race. + +ULYSSES: +The Ithacan Ulysses and the king _95 +Of Cephalonia. + +SILENUS: +Oh! I know the man, +Wordy and shrewd, the son of Sisyphus. + +ULYSSES: +I am the same, but do not rail upon me.-- + +SILENUS: +Whence sailing do you come to Sicily? + +ULYSSES: +From Ilion, and from the Trojan toils. _100 + +SILENUS: +How, touched you not at your paternal shore? + +ULYSSES: +The strength of tempests bore me here by force. + +SILENUS: +The self-same accident occurred to me. + +ULYSSES: +Were you then driven here by stress of weather? + +SILENUS: +Following the Pirates who had kidnapped Bacchus. _105 + +ULYSSES: +What land is this, and who inhabit it?-- + +SILENUS: +Aetna, the loftiest peak in Sicily. + +ULYSSES: +And are there walls, and tower-surrounded towns? + +SILENUS: +There are not.--These lone rocks are bare of men. + +ULYSSES: +And who possess the land? the race of beasts? _110 + +SILENUS: +Cyclops, who live in caverns, not in houses. + +ULYSSES: +Obeying whom? Or is the state popular? + +SILENUS: +Shepherds: no one obeys any in aught. + +ULYSSES: +How live they? do they sow the corn of Ceres? + +SILENUS: +On milk and cheese, and on the flesh of sheep. _115 + +ULYSSES: +Have they the Bromian drink from the vine's stream? + +SILENUS: +Ah! no; they live in an ungracious land. + +ULYSSES: +And are they just to strangers?--hospitable? + +SILENUS: +They think the sweetest thing a stranger brings +Is his own flesh. + +ULYSSES: +What! do they eat man's flesh? _120 + +SILENUS: +No one comes here who is not eaten up. + +ULYSSES: +The Cyclops now--where is he? Not at home? + +SILENUS: +Absent on Aetna, hunting with his dogs. + +ULYSSES: +Know'st thou what thou must do to aid us hence? + +SILENUS: +I know not: we will help you all we can. _125 + +ULYSSES: +Provide us food, of which we are in want. + +SILENUS: +Here is not anything, as I said, but meat. + +ULYSSES: +But meat is a sweet remedy for hunger. + +SILENUS: +Cow's milk there is, and store of curdled cheese. + +ULYSSES: +Bring out:--I would see all before I bargain. _130 + +SILENUS: +But how much gold will you engage to give? + +ULYSSES: +I bring no gold, but Bacchic juice. + +SILENUS: +Oh, joy! +Tis long since these dry lips were wet with wine. + +ULYSSES: +Maron, the son of the God, gave it me. + +SILENUS: +Whom I have nursed a baby in my arms. _135 + +ULYSSES: +The son of Bacchus, for your clearer knowledge. + +SILENUS: +Have you it now?--or is it in the ship? + +ULYSSES: +Old man, this skin contains it, which you see. + +SILENUS: +Why, this would hardly be a mouthful for me. + +ULYSSES: +Nay, twice as much as you can draw from thence. _140 + +SILENUS: +You speak of a fair fountain, sweet to me. + +ULYSSES: +Would you first taste of the unmingled wine? + +SILENUS: +'Tis just--tasting invites the purchaser. + +ULYSSES: +Here is the cup, together with the skin. + +SILENUS: +Pour: that the draught may fillip my remembrance. + +ULYSSES: +See! _145 + +SILENUS: +Papaiapax! what a sweet smell it has! + +ULYSSES: +You see it then?-- + +SILENUS: +By Jove, no! but I smell it. + +ULYSSES: +Taste, that you may not praise it in words only. + +SILENUS: +Babai! Great Bacchus calls me forth to dance! +Joy! joy! + +ULYSSES: +Did it flow sweetly down your throat? _150 + +SILENUS: +So that it tingled to my very nails. + +ULYSSES: +And in addition I will give you gold. + +SILENUS: +Let gold alone! only unlock the cask. + +ULYSSES: +Bring out some cheeses now, or a young goat. + +SILENUS: +That will I do, despising any master. _155 +Yes, let me drink one cup, and I will give +All that the Cyclops feed upon their mountains. + +... + +CHORUS: +Ye have taken Troy and laid your hands on Helen? + +ULYSSES: +And utterly destroyed the race of Priam. + +... + +SILENUS: +The wanton wretch! she was bewitched to see _160 +The many-coloured anklets and the chain +Of woven gold which girt the neck of Paris, +And so she left that good man Menelaus. +There should be no more women in the world +But such as are reserved for me alone.-- _165 +See, here are sheep, and here are goats, Ulysses, +Here are unsparing cheeses of pressed milk; +Take them; depart with what good speed ye may; +First leaving my reward, the Bacchic dew +Of joy-inspiring grapes. + +ULYSSES: +Ah me! Alas! _170 +What shall we do? the Cyclops is at hand! +Old man, we perish! whither can we fly? + +SILENUS: +Hide yourselves quick within that hollow rock. + +ULYSSES: +'Twere perilous to fly into the net. + +SILENUS: +The cavern has recesses numberless; _175 +Hide yourselves quick. + +ULYSSES: +That will I never do! +The mighty Troy would be indeed disgraced +If I should fly one man. How many times +Have I withstood, with shield immovable. +Ten thousand Phrygians!--if I needs must die, _180 +Yet will I die with glory;--if I live, +The praise which I have gained will yet remain. + +SILENUS: +What, ho! assistance, comrades, haste, assistance! + +[THE CYCLOPS, SILENUS, ULYSSES; CHORUS.] + +CYCLOPS: +What is this tumult? Bacchus is not here, +Nor tympanies nor brazen castanets. _185 +How are my young lambs in the cavern? Milking +Their dams or playing by their sides? And is +The new cheese pressed into the bulrush baskets? +Speak! I'll beat some of you till you rain tears-- +Look up, not downwards when I speak to you. _190 + +SILENUS: +See! I now gape at Jupiter himself; +I stare upon Orion and the stars. + +CYCLOPS: +Well, is the dinner fitly cooked and laid? + +SILENUS: +All ready, if your throat is ready too. + +CYCLOPS: +Are the bowls full of milk besides? + +SILENUS: +O'er-brimming; _195 +So you may drink a tunful if you will. + +CYCLOPS: +Is it ewe's milk or cow's milk, or both mixed?-- + +SILENUS: +Both, either; only pray don't swallow me. + +CYCLOPS: +By no means.-- +... +What is this crowd I see beside the stalls? _200 +Outlaws or thieves? for near my cavern-home +I see my young lambs coupled two by two +With willow bands; mixed with my cheeses lie +Their implements; and this old fellow here +Has his bald head broken with stripes. + +SILENUS: +Ah me! _205 +I have been beaten till I burn with fever. + +CYCLOPS: +By whom? Who laid his fist upon your head? + +SILENUS: +Those men, because I would not suffer them +To steal your goods. + +CYCLOPS: +Did not the rascals know +I am a God, sprung from the race of Heaven? _210 + +SILENUS: +I told them so, but they bore off your things, +And ate the cheese in spite of all I said, +And carried out the lambs--and said, moreover, +They'd pin you down with a three-cubit collar, +And pull your vitals out through your one eye, _215 +Furrow your back with stripes, then, binding you, +Throw you as ballast into the ship's hold, +And then deliver you, a slave, to move +Enormous rocks, or found a vestibule. + +NOTE: +_216 Furrow B.; Torture (evidently misread for Furrow) 1824. + +CYCLOPS: +In truth? Nay, haste, and place in order quickly +The cooking-knives, and heap upon the hearth, _221 +And kindle it, a great faggot of wood.-- +As soon as they are slaughtered, they shall fill +My belly, broiling warm from the live coals, +Or boiled and seethed within the bubbling caldron. _225 +I am quite sick of the wild mountain game; +Of stags and lions I have gorged enough, +And I grow hungry for the flesh of men. + +SILENUS: +Nay, master, something new is very pleasant +After one thing forever, and of late _230 +Very few strangers have approached our cave. + +ULYSSES: +Hear, Cyclops, a plain tale on the other side. +We, wanting to buy food, came from our ship +Into the neighbourhood of your cave, and here +This old Silenus gave us in exchange _235 +These lambs for wine, the which he took and drank, +And all by mutual compact, without force. +There is no word of truth in what he says, +For slyly he was selling all your store. + +SILENUS: +I? May you perish, wretch-- + +ULYSSES: +If I speak false! _240 + +SILENUS: +Cyclops, I swear by Neptune who begot thee, +By mighty Triton and by Nereus old, +Calypso and the glaucous Ocean Nymphs, +The sacred waves and all the race of fishes-- +Be these the witnesses, my dear sweet master, _245 +My darling little Cyclops, that I never +Gave any of your stores to these false strangers;-- +If I speak false may those whom most I love, +My children, perish wretchedly! + +CHORUS: +There stop! +I saw him giving these things to the strangers. _250 +If I speak false, then may my father perish, +But do not thou wrong hospitality. + +CYCLOPS: +You lie! I swear that he is juster far +Than Rhadamanthus--I trust more in him. +But let me ask, whence have ye sailed, O strangers? _255 +Who are you? And what city nourished ye? + +ULYSSES: +Our race is Ithacan--having destroyed +The town of Troy, the tempests of the sea +Have driven us on thy land, O Polypheme. + +CYCLOPS: +What, have ye shared in the unenvied spoil _260 +Of the false Helen, near Scamander's stream? + +ULYSSES: +The same, having endured a woful toil. + +CYCLOPS: +Oh, basest expedition! sailed ye not +From Greece to Phrygia for one woman's sake? + +ULYSSES: +'Twas the Gods' work--no mortal was in fault. _265 +But, O great Offspring of the Ocean-King, +We pray thee and admonish thee with freedom, +That thou dost spare thy friends who visit thee, +And place no impious food within thy jaws. +For in the depths of Greece we have upreared _270 +Temples to thy great Father, which are all +His homes. The sacred bay of Taenarus +Remains inviolate, and each dim recess +Scooped high on the Malean promontory, +And aery Sunium's silver-veined crag, _275 +Which divine Pallas keeps unprofaned ever, +The Gerastian asylums, and whate'er +Within wide Greece our enterprise has kept +From Phrygian contumely; and in which +You have a common care, for you inhabit _280 +The skirts of Grecian land, under the roots +Of Aetna and its crags, spotted with fire. +Turn then to converse under human laws, +Receive us shipwrecked suppliants, and provide +Food, clothes, and fire, and hospitable gifts; _285 +Nor fixing upon oxen-piercing spits +Our limbs, so fill your belly and your jaws. +Priam's wide land has widowed Greece enough; +And weapon-winged murder leaped together +Enough of dead, and wives are husbandless, _290 +And ancient women and gray fathers wail +Their childless age;--if you should roast the rest-- +And 'tis a bitter feast that you prepare-- +Where then would any turn? Yet be persuaded; +Forgo the lust of your jaw-bone; prefer _295 +Pious humanity to wicked will: +Many have bought too dear their evil joys. + +SILENUS: +Let me advise you, do not spare a morsel +Of all his flesh. If you should eat his tongue +You would become most eloquent, O Cyclops. _300 + +CYCLOPS: +Wealth, my good fellow, is the wise man's God, +All other things are a pretence and boast. +What are my father's ocean promontories, +The sacred rocks whereon he dwells, to me? +Stranger, I laugh to scorn Jove's thunderbolt, _305 +I know not that his strength is more than mine. +As to the rest I care not.--When he pours +Rain from above, I have a close pavilion +Under this rock, in which I lie supine, +Feasting on a roast calf or some wild beast, _310 +And drinking pans of milk, and gloriously +Emulating the thunder of high Heaven. +And when the Thracian wind pours down the snow, +I wrap my body in the skins of beasts, +Kindle a fire, and bid the snow whirl on. _315 +The earth, by force, whether it will or no, +Bringing forth grass, fattens my flocks and herds, +Which, to what other God but to myself +And this great belly, first of deities, +Should I be bound to sacrifice? I well know _320 +The wise man's only Jupiter is this, +To eat and drink during his little day, +And give himself no care. And as for those +Who complicate with laws the life of man, +I freely give them tears for their reward. _325 +I will not cheat my soul of its delight, +Or hesitate in dining upon you:-- +And that I may be quit of all demands, +These are my hospitable gifts;--fierce fire +And yon ancestral caldron, which o'er-bubbling _330 +Shall finely cook your miserable flesh. +Creep in!-- + +... + +ULYSSES: +Ai! ai! I have escaped the Trojan toils, +I have escaped the sea, and now I fall +Under the cruel grasp of one impious man. _335 +O Pallas, Mistress, Goddess, sprung from Jove, +Now, now, assist me! Mightier toils than Troy +Are these;--I totter on the chasms of peril;-- +And thou who inhabitest the thrones +Of the bright stars, look, hospitable Jove, _340 +Upon this outrage of thy deity, +Otherwise be considered as no God! + +CHORUS (ALONE): +For your gaping gulf and your gullet wide, +The ravin is ready on every side, +The limbs of the strangers are cooked and done; _345 +There is boiled meat, and roast meat, and meat from the coal, +You may chop it, and tear it, and gnash it for fun, +An hairy goat's-skin contains the whole. +Let me but escape, and ferry me o'er +The stream of your wrath to a safer shore. _350 +The Cyclops Aetnean is cruel and bold, +He murders the strangers +That sit on his hearth, +And dreads no avengers +To rise from the earth. _355 +He roasts the men before they are cold, +He snatches them broiling from the coal, +And from the caldron pulls them whole, +And minces their flesh and gnaws their bone +With his cursed teeth, till all be gone. _360 +Farewell, foul pavilion: +Farewell, rites of dread! +The Cyclops vermilion, +With slaughter uncloying, +Now feasts on the dead, _365 +In the flesh of strangers joying! + +NOTE: +_344 ravin Rossetti; spelt ravine in B., editions 1824, 1839. + +ULYSSES: +O Jupiter! I saw within the cave +Horrible things; deeds to be feigned in words, +But not to be believed as being done. + +NOTE: +_369 not to be believed B.; not believed 1824. + +CHORUS: +What! sawest thou the impious Polypheme _370 +Feasting upon your loved companions now? + +ULYSSES: +Selecting two, the plumpest of the crowd, +He grasped them in his hands.-- + +CHORUS: +Unhappy man! + +... + +ULYSSES: +Soon as we came into this craggy place, +Kindling a fire, he cast on the broad hearth _375 +The knotty limbs of an enormous oak, +Three waggon-loads at least, and then he strewed +Upon the ground, beside the red firelight, +His couch of pine-leaves; and he milked the cows, +And pouring forth the white milk, filled a bowl _380 +Three cubits wide and four in depth, as much +As would contain ten amphorae, and bound it +With ivy wreaths; then placed upon the fire +A brazen pot to boil, and made red hot +The points of spits, not sharpened with the sickle _385 +But with a fruit tree bough, and with the jaws +Of axes for Aetnean slaughterings. +And when this God-abandoned Cook of Hell +Had made all ready, he seized two of us +And killed them in a kind of measured manner; _390 +For he flung one against the brazen rivets +Of the huge caldron, and seized the other +By the foot's tendon, and knocked out his brains +Upon the sharp edge of the craggy stone: +Then peeled his flesh with a great cooking-knife _395 +And put him down to roast. The other's limbs +He chopped into the caldron to be boiled. +And I, with the tears raining from my eyes, +Stood near the Cyclops, ministering to him; +The rest, in the recesses of the cave, _400 +Clung to the rock like bats, bloodless with fear. +When he was filled with my companions' flesh, +He threw himself upon the ground and sent +A loathsome exhalation from his maw. +Then a divine thought came to me. I filled _405 +The cup of Maron, and I offered him +To taste, and said:--'Child of the Ocean God, +Behold what drink the vines of Greece produce, +The exultation and the joy of Bacchus.' +He, satiated with his unnatural food, _410 +Received it, and at one draught drank it off, +And taking my hand, praised me:--'Thou hast given +A sweet draught after a sweet meal, dear guest.' +And I, perceiving that it pleased him, filled +Another cup, well knowing that the wine _415 +Would wound him soon and take a sure revenge. +And the charm fascinated him, and I +Plied him cup after cup, until the drink +Had warmed his entrails, and he sang aloud +In concert with my wailing fellow-seamen _420 +A hideous discord--and the cavern rung. +I have stolen out, so that if you will +You may achieve my safety and your own. +But say, do you desire, or not, to fly +This uncompanionable man, and dwell _425 +As was your wont among the Grecian Nymphs +Within the fanes of your beloved God? +Your father there within agrees to it, +But he is weak and overcome with wine, +And caught as if with bird-lime by the cup, _430 +He claps his wings and crows in doting joy. +You who are young escape with me, and find +Bacchus your ancient friend; unsuited he +To this rude Cyclops. + +NOTES: +_382 ten cj. Swinburne; four 1824; four cancelled for ten (possibly) B. +_387 I confess I do not understand this.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.] +_416 take]grant (as alternative) B. + +CHORUS: +Oh my dearest friend, +That I could see that day, and leave for ever _435 +The impious Cyclops. + +... + +ULYSSES: +Listen then what a punishment I have +For this fell monster, how secure a flight +From your hard servitude. + +CHORUS: +O sweeter far +Than is the music of an Asian lyre _440 +Would be the news of Polypheme destroyed. + +ULYSSES: +Delighted with the Bacchic drink he goes +To call his brother Cyclops--who inhabit +A village upon Aetna not far off. + +CHORUS: +I understand, catching him when alone _445 +You think by some measure to dispatch him, +Or thrust him from the precipice. + +NOTE: +_446 by some measure 1824; with some measures B. + +ULYSSES: +Oh no; +Nothing of that kind; my device is subtle. + +CHORUS: +How then? I heard of old that thou wert wise. + +ULYSSES: +I will dissuade him from this plan, by saying _450 +It were unwise to give the Cyclopses +This precious drink, which if enjoyed alone +Would make life sweeter for a longer time. +When, vanquished by the Bacchic power, he sleeps, +There is a trunk of olive wood within, _455 +Whose point having made sharp with this good sword +I will conceal in fire, and when I see +It is alight, will fix it, burning yet, +Within the socket of the Cyclops' eye +And melt it out with fire--as when a man _460 +Turns by its handle a great auger round, +Fitting the framework of a ship with beams, +So will I, in the Cyclops' fiery eye +Turn round the brand and dry the pupil up. + +CHORUS: +Joy! I am mad with joy at your device. _465 + +ULYSSES: +And then with you, my friends, and the old man, +We'll load the hollow depth of our black ship, +And row with double strokes from this dread shore. + +CHORUS: +May I, as in libations to a God, +Share in the blinding him with the red brand? _470 +I would have some communion in his death. + +ULYSSES: +Doubtless: the brand is a great brand to hold. + +CHORUS: +Oh! I would lift an hundred waggon-loads, +If like a wasp's nest I could scoop the eye out +Of the detested Cyclops. + +ULYSSES: +Silence now! _475 +Ye know the close device--and when I call, +Look ye obey the masters of the craft. +I will not save myself and leave behind +My comrades in the cave: I might escape, +Having got clear from that obscure recess, _480 +But 'twere unjust to leave in jeopardy +The dear companions who sailed here with me. + +CHORUS: +Come! who is first, that with his hand +Will urge down the burning brand +Through the lids, and quench and pierce _485 +The Cyclops' eye so fiery fierce? + +SEMICHORUS 1 [SONG WITHIN]: +Listen! listen! he is coming, +A most hideous discord humming. +Drunken, museless, awkward, yelling, +Far along his rocky dwelling; _490 +Let us with some comic spell +Teach the yet unteachable. +By all means he must be blinded, +If my counsel be but minded. + +SEMICHORUS 2: +Happy thou made odorous _495 +With the dew which sweet grapes weep, +To the village hastening thus, +Seek the vines that soothe to sleep; +Having first embraced thy friend, +Thou in luxury without end, _500 +With the strings of yellow hair, +Of thy voluptuous leman fair, +Shalt sit playing on a bed!-- +Speak! what door is opened? + +NOTES: +_495 thou cj. Swinburne, Rossetti; those 1824; + 'the word is doubtful in B.' (Locock). +_500 Thou B.; There 1824. + +CYCLOPS: +Ha! ha! ha! I'm full of wine, _505 +Heavy with the joy divine, +With the young feast oversated; +Like a merchant's vessel freighted +To the water's edge, my crop +Is laden to the gullet's top. _510 +The fresh meadow grass of spring +Tempts me forth thus wandering +To my brothers on the mountains, +Who shall share the wine's sweet fountains. +Bring the cask, O stranger, bring! _515 + +NOTE: +_508 merchant's 1824; merchant B. + +CHORUS: +One with eyes the fairest +Cometh from his dwelling; +Some one loves thee, rarest +Bright beyond my telling. +In thy grace thou shinest _520 +Like some nymph divinest +In her caverns dewy:-- +All delights pursue thee, +Soon pied flowers, sweet-breathing, +Shall thy head be wreathing. _525 + +ULYSSES: +Listen, O Cyclops, for I am well skilled +In Bacchus, whom I gave thee of to drink. + +CYCLOPS: +What sort of God is Bacchus then accounted? + +ULYSSES: +The greatest among men for joy of life. + +CYCLOPS: +I gulped him down with very great delight. _530 + +ULYSSES: +This is a God who never injures men. + +CYCLOPS: +How does the God like living in a skin? + +ULYSSES: +He is content wherever he is put. + +CYCLOPS: +Gods should not have their body in a skin. + +ULYSSES: +If he gives joy, what is his skin to you? _535 + +CYCLOPS: +I hate the skin, but love the wine within. + +ULYSSES: +Stay here now: drink, and make your spirit glad. + +NOTE: +_537 Stay here now, drink B.; stay here, now drink 1824. + +CYCLOPS: +Should I not share this liquor with my brothers? + +ULYSSES: +Keep it yourself, and be more honoured so. + +CYCLOPS: +I were more useful, giving to my friends. _540 + +ULYSSES: +But village mirth breeds contests, broils, and blows. + +CYCLOPS: +When I am drunk none shall lay hands on me.-- + +ULYSSES: +A drunken man is better within doors. + +CYCLOPS: +He is a fool, who drinking, loves not mirth. + +ULYSSES: +But he is wise, who drunk, remains at home. _545 + +CYCLOPS: +What shall I do, Silenus? Shall I stay? + +SILENUS: +Stay--for what need have you of pot companions? + +CYCLOPS: +Indeed this place is closely carpeted +With flowers and grass. + +SILENUS: +And in the sun-warm noon +'Tis sweet to drink. Lie down beside me now, _550 +Placing your mighty sides upon the ground. + +CYCLOPS: +What do you put the cup behind me for? + +SILENUS: +That no one here may touch it. + +CYCLOPS: +Thievish One! +You want to drink;--here place it in the midst. +And thou, O stranger, tell how art thou called? _555 + +ULYSSES: +My name is Nobody. What favour now +Shall I receive to praise you at your hands? + +CYCLOPS: +I'll feast on you the last of your companions. + +ULYSSES: +You grant your guest a fair reward, O Cyclops. + +CYCLOPS: +Ha! what is this? Stealing the wine, you rogue! _560 + +SILENUS: +It was this stranger kissing me because +I looked so beautiful. + +CYCLOPS: +You shall repent +For kissing the coy wine that loves you not. + +SILENUS: +By Jupiter! you said that I am fair. + +CYCLOPS: +Pour out, and only give me the cup full. _565 + +SILENUS: +How is it mixed? let me observe. + +CYCLOPS: +Curse you! +Give it me so. + +SILENUS: +Not till I see you wear +That coronal, and taste the cup to you. + +CYCLOPS: +Thou wily traitor! + +SILENUS: +But the wine is sweet. +Ay, you will roar if you are caught in drinking. _570 + +CYCLOPS: +See now, my lip is clean and all my beard. + +SILENUS: +Now put your elbow right and drink again. +As you see me drink--... + +CYCLOPS: +How now? + +SILENUS: +Ye Gods, what a delicious gulp! + +CYCLOPS: +Guest, take it;--you pour out the wine for me. _575 + +ULYSSES: +The wine is well accustomed to my hand. + +CYCLOPS: +Pour out the wine! + +ULYSSES: +I pour; only be silent. + +CYCLOPS: +Silence is a hard task to him who drinks. + +ULYSSES: +Take it and drink it off; leave not a dreg. +Oh that the drinker died with his own draught! _580 + +CYCLOPS: +Papai! the vine must be a sapient plant. + +ULYSSES: +If you drink much after a mighty feast, +Moistening your thirsty maw, you will sleep well; +If you leave aught, Bacchus will dry you up. + +CYCLOPS: +Ho! ho! I can scarce rise. What pure delight! _585 +The heavens and earth appear to whirl about +Confusedly. I see the throne of Jove +And the clear congregation of the Gods. +Now if the Graces tempted me to kiss +I would not--for the loveliest of them all _590 +I would not leave this Ganymede. + +SILENUS: +Polypheme, +I am the Ganymede of Jupiter. + +CYCLOPS: +By Jove, you are; I bore you off from Dardanus. + +... + +[ULYSSES AND THE CHORUS.] + +ULYSSES: +Come, boys of Bacchus, children of high race, +This man within is folded up in sleep, _595 +And soon will vomit flesh from his fell maw; +The brand under the shed thrusts out its smoke, +No preparation needs, but to burn out +The monster's eye;--but bear yourselves like men. + +CHORUS: +We will have courage like the adamant rock, _600 +All things are ready for you here; go in, +Before our father shall perceive the noise. + +ULYSSES: +Vulcan, Aetnean king! burn out with fire +The shining eye of this thy neighbouring monster! +And thou, O Sleep, nursling of gloomy Night, _605 +Descend unmixed on this God-hated beast, +And suffer not Ulysses and his comrades, +Returning from their famous Trojan toils, +To perish by this man, who cares not either +For God or mortal; or I needs must think _610 +That Chance is a supreme divinity, +And things divine are subject to her power. + +NOTE: +_606 God-hated 1824; God-hating (as an alternative) B. + +CHORUS: +Soon a crab the throat will seize +Of him who feeds upon his guest, +Fire will burn his lamp-like eyes _615 +In revenge of such a feast! +A great oak stump now is lying +In the ashes yet undying. +Come, Maron, come! +Raging let him fix the doom, _620 +Let him tear the eyelid up +Of the Cyclops--that his cup +May be evil! +Oh! I long to dance and revel +With sweet Bromian, long desired, _625 +In loved ivy wreaths attired; +Leaving this abandoned home-- +Will the moment ever come? + +ULYSSES: +Be silent, ye wild things! Nay, hold your peace, +And keep your lips quite close; dare not to breathe, _630 +Or spit, or e'en wink, lest ye wake the monster, +Until his eye be tortured out with fire. + +CHORUS: +Nay, we are silent, and we chaw the air. + +ULYSSES: +Come now, and lend a hand to the great stake +Within--it is delightfully red hot. _635 + +CHORUS: +You then command who first should seize the stake +To burn the Cyclops' eye, that all may share +In the great enterprise. + +SEMICHORUS 1: +We are too far; +We cannot at this distance from the door +Thrust fire into his eye. + +SEMICHORUS 2: +And we just now _640 +Have become lame! cannot move hand or foot. + +CHORUS: +The same thing has occurred to us,--our ankles +Are sprained with standing here, I know not how. + +ULYSSES: +What, sprained with standing still? + +CHORUS: +And there is dust +Or ashes in our eyes, I know not whence. _645 + +ULYSSES: +Cowardly dogs! ye will not aid me then? + +CHORUS: +With pitying my own back and my back-bone, +And with not wishing all my teeth knocked out, +This cowardice comes of itself--but stay, +I know a famous Orphic incantation _650 +To make the brand stick of its own accord +Into the skull of this one-eyed son of Earth. + +ULYSSES: +Of old I knew ye thus by nature; now +I know ye better.--I will use the aid +Of my own comrades. Yet though weak of hand _655 +Speak cheerfully, that so ye may awaken +The courage of my friends with your blithe words. + +CHORUS: +This I will do with peril of my life, +And blind you with my exhortations, Cyclops. +Hasten and thrust, _660 +And parch up to dust, +The eye of the beast +Who feeds on his guest. +Burn and blind +The Aetnean hind! _665 +Scoop and draw, +But beware lest he claw +Your limbs near his maw. + +CYCLOPS: +Ah me! my eyesight is parched up to cinders. + +CHORUS: +What a sweet paean! sing me that again! _670 + +CYCLOPS: +Ah me! indeed, what woe has fallen upon me! +But, wretched nothings, think ye not to flee +Out of this rock; I, standing at the outlet, +Will bar the way and catch you as you pass. + +CHORUS: +What are you roaring out, Cyclops? + +CYCLOPS: +I perish! _675 + +CHORUS: +For you are wicked. + +CYCLOPS: +And besides miserable. + +CHORUS: +What, did you fall into the fire when drunk? + +CYCLOPS: +'Twas Nobody destroyed me. + +CHORUS: +Why then no one +Can be to blame. + +CYCLOPS: +I say 'twas Nobody +Who blinded me. + +CHORUS: +Why then you are not blind. _680 + +CYCLOPS: +I wish you were as blind as I am. + +CHORUS: +Nay, +It cannot be that no one made you blind. + +CYCLOPS: +You jeer me; where, I ask, is Nobody? + +CHORUS: +Nowhere, O Cyclops. + +CYCLOPS: +It was that stranger ruined me:--the wretch _685 +First gave me wine and then burned out my eye, +For wine is strong and hard to struggle with. +Have they escaped, or are they yet within? + +CHORUS: +They stand under the darkness of the rock +And cling to it. + +CYCLOPS: +At my right hand or left? _690 + +CHORUS: +Close on your right. + +CYCLOPS: +Where? + +CHORUS: +Near the rock itself. +You have them. + +CYCLOPS: +Oh, misfortune on misfortune! +I've cracked my skull. + +CHORUS: +Now they escape you--there. + +NOTE: +_693 So B.; Now they escape you there 1824. + +CYCLOPS: +Not there, although you say so. + +CHORUS: +Not on that side. + +CYCLOPS: +Where then? + +CHORUS: +They creep about you on your left. _695 + +CYCLOPS: +Ah! I am mocked! They jeer me in my ills. + +CHORUS: +Not there! he is a little there beyond you. + +CYCLOPS: +Detested wretch! where are you? + +ULYSSES: +Far from you +I keep with care this body of Ulysses. + +CYCLOPS: +What do you say? You proffer a new name. _700 + +ULYSSES: +My father named me so; and I have taken +A full revenge for your unnatural feast; +I should have done ill to have burned down Troy +And not revenged the murder of my comrades. + +CYCLOPS: +Ai! ai! the ancient oracle is accomplished; _705 +It said that I should have my eyesight blinded +By your coming from Troy, yet it foretold +That you should pay the penalty for this +By wandering long over the homeless sea. + +ULYSSES: +I bid thee weep--consider what I say; _710 +I go towards the shore to drive my ship +To mine own land, o'er the Sicilian wave. + +CYCLOPS: +Not so, if, whelming you with this huge stone, +I can crush you and all your men together; +I will descend upon the shore, though blind, _715 +Groping my way adown the steep ravine. + +CHORUS: +And we, the shipmates of Ulysses now, +Will serve our Bacchus all our happy lives. + +*** + + +EPIGRAMS. + +[These four Epigrams were published--numbers 2 and 4 without title--by +Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition.] + + +1.--TO STELLA. + +FROM THE GREEK OF PLATO. + +Thou wert the morning star among the living, +Ere thy fair light had fled;-- +Now, having died, thou art as Hesperus, giving +New splendour to the dead. + + +2.--KISSING HELENA. + +FROM THE GREEK OF PLATO. + +Kissing Helena, together +With my kiss, my soul beside it +Came to my lips, and there I kept it,-- +For the poor thing had wandered thither, +To follow where the kiss should guide it, _5 +Oh, cruel I, to intercept it! + + +3.--SPIRIT OF PLATO. + +FROM THE GREEK. + +Eagle! why soarest thou above that tomb? +To what sublime and star-ypaven home +Floatest thou?-- +I am the image of swift Plato's spirit, +Ascending heaven; Athens doth inherit _5 +His corpse below. + +NOTE: +_5 doth Boscombe manuscript; does edition 1839. + + +4.--CIRCUMSTANCE. + +FROM THE GREEK. + +A man who was about to hang himself, +Finding a purse, then threw away his rope; +The owner, coming to reclaim his pelf, +The halter found; and used it. So is Hope +Changed for Despair--one laid upon the shelf, _5 +We take the other. Under Heaven's high cope +Fortune is God--all you endure and do +Depends on circumstance as much as you. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF ADONIS. + +PROM THE GREEK OF BION. + +[Published by Forman, "Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1876.] + +I mourn Adonis dead--loveliest Adonis-- +Dead, dead Adonis--and the Loves lament. +Sleep no more, Venus, wrapped in purple woof-- +Wake violet-stoled queen, and weave the crown +Of Death,--'tis Misery calls,--for he is dead. _5 + +The lovely one lies wounded in the mountains, +His white thigh struck with the white tooth; he scarce +Yet breathes; and Venus hangs in agony there. +The dark blood wanders o'er his snowy limbs, +His eyes beneath their lids are lustreless, _10 +The rose has fled from his wan lips, and there +That kiss is dead, which Venus gathers yet. + +A deep, deep wound Adonis... +A deeper Venus bears upon her heart. +See, his beloved dogs are gathering round-- _15 +The Oread nymphs are weeping--Aphrodite +With hair unbound is wandering through the woods, +'Wildered, ungirt, unsandalled--the thorns pierce +Her hastening feet and drink her sacred blood. +Bitterly screaming out, she is driven on _20 +Through the long vales; and her Assyrian boy, +Her love, her husband, calls--the purple blood +From his struck thigh stains her white navel now, +Her bosom, and her neck before like snow. + +Alas for Cytherea--the Loves mourn-- _25 +The lovely, the beloved is gone!--and now +Her sacred beauty vanishes away. +For Venus whilst Adonis lived was fair-- +Alas! her loveliness is dead with him. +The oaks and mountains cry, Ai! ai! Adonis! _30 +The springs their waters change to tears and weep-- +The flowers are withered up with grief... + +Ai! ai! ... Adonis is dead +Echo resounds ... Adonis dead. +Who will weep not thy dreadful woe. O Venus? _35 +Soon as she saw and knew the mortal wound +Of her Adonis--saw the life-blood flow +From his fair thigh, now wasting,--wailing loud +She clasped him, and cried ... 'Stay, Adonis! +Stay, dearest one,... _40 +and mix my lips with thine-- +Wake yet a while, Adonis--oh, but once, +That I may kiss thee now for the last time-- +But for as long as one short kiss may live-- +Oh, let thy breath flow from thy dying soul _45 +Even to my mouth and heart, that I may suck +That...' + +NOTE: +_23 his Rossetti, Dowden, Woodberry; her Boscombe manuscript, Forman. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT OF THE ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF BION. + +FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS. + +[Published from the Hunt manuscripts by Forman, "Poetical Works of P. B. +S.", 1876.] + +Ye Dorian woods and waves, lament aloud,-- +Augment your tide, O streams, with fruitless tears, +For the beloved Bion is no more. +Let every tender herb and plant and flower, +From each dejected bud and drooping bloom, _5 +Shed dews of liquid sorrow, and with breath +Of melancholy sweetness on the wind +Diffuse its languid love; let roses blush, +Anemones grow paler for the loss +Their dells have known; and thou, O hyacinth, _10 +Utter thy legend now--yet more, dumb flower, +Than 'Ah! alas!'--thine is no common grief-- +Bion the [sweetest singer] is no more. + +NOTE: +_2 tears]sorrow (as alternative) Hunt manuscript. + +*** + + +FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS. + +[Published with "Alastor", 1816.] + +Tan ala tan glaukan otan onemos atrema Balle--k.t.l. + +When winds that move not its calm surface sweep +The azure sea, I love the land no more; +The smiles of the serene and tranquil deep +Tempt my unquiet mind.--But when the roar +Of Ocean's gray abyss resounds, and foam _5 +Gathers upon the sea, and vast waves burst, +I turn from the drear aspect to the home +Of Earth and its deep woods, where, interspersed, +When winds blow loud, pines make sweet melody. +Whose house is some lone bark, whose toil the sea, _10 +Whose prey the wandering fish, an evil lot +Has chosen.--But I my languid limbs will fling +Beneath the plane, where the brook's murmuring +Moves the calm spirit, but disturbs it not. + +*** + + +PAN, ECHO, AND THE SATYR. + +FROM THE GREEK OF MOSCHUS. + +[Published (without title) by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824. +There is a draft amongst the Hunt manuscripts.] + +Pan loved his neighbour Echo--but that child +Of Earth and Air pined for the Satyr leaping; +The Satyr loved with wasting madness wild +The bright nymph Lyda,--and so three went weeping. +As Pan loved Echo, Echo loved the Satyr, _5 +The Satyr, Lyda; and so love consumed them.-- +And thus to each--which was a woful matter-- +To bear what they inflicted Justice doomed them; +For, inasmuch as each might hate the lover, +Each, loving, so was hated.--Ye that love not _10 +Be warned--in thought turn this example over, +That when ye love, the like return ye prove not. + +NOTE: +_6 so Hunt manuscript; thus 1824. +_11 So 1824; This lesson timely in your thoughts turn over, The moral of + this song in thought turn over (as alternatives) Hunt manuscript. + +*** + + +FROM VERGIL'S TENTH ECLOGUE. + +[VERSES 1-26.] + +[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870, +from the Boscombe manuscripts now in the Bodleian. Mr. Locock +("Examination", etc., 1903, pages 47-50), as the result of his collation +of the same manuscripts, gives a revised and expanded version which we +print below.] + +Melodious Arethusa, o'er my verse +Shed thou once more the spirit of thy stream: +Who denies verse to Gallus? So, when thou +Glidest beneath the green and purple gleam +Of Syracusan waters, mayst thou flow _5 +Unmingled with the bitter Doric dew! +Begin, and, whilst the goats are browsing now +The soft leaves, in our way let us pursue +The melancholy loves of Gallus. List! +We sing not to the dead: the wild woods knew _10 +His sufferings, and their echoes... +Young Naiads,...in what far woodlands wild +Wandered ye when unworthy love possessed +Your Gallus? Not where Pindus is up-piled, +Nor where Parnassus' sacred mount, nor where _15 +Aonian Aganippe expands... +The laurels and the myrtle-copses dim. +The pine-encircled mountain, Maenalus, +The cold crags of Lycaeus, weep for him; +And Sylvan, crowned with rustic coronals, _20 +Came shaking in his speed the budding wands +And heavy lilies which he bore: we knew +Pan the Arcadian. + +... + +'What madness is this, Gallus? Thy heart's care +With willing steps pursues another there.' _25 + +*** + + +THE SAME. + +(As revised by Mr. C.D. Locock.) + +Melodious Arethusa, o'er my verse +Shed thou once more the spirit of thy stream: + +(Two lines missing.) + +Who denies verse to Gallus? So, when thou +Glidest beneath the green and purple gleam +Of Syracusan waters, mayest thou flow _5 +Unmingled with the bitter Dorian dew! +Begin, and whilst the goats are browsing now +The soft leaves, in our song let us pursue +The melancholy loves of Gallus. List! +We sing not to the deaf: the wild woods knew _10 +His sufferings, and their echoes answer... +Young Naiades, in what far woodlands wild +Wandered ye, when unworthy love possessed +Our Gallus? Nor where Pindus is up-piled, +Nor where Parnassus' sacred mount, nor where _15 +Aonian Aganippe spreads its... + +(Three lines missing.) + +The laurels and the myrtle-copses dim, +The pine-encircled mountain, Maenalus, +The cold crags of Lycaeus weep for him. + +(Several lines missing.) + +'What madness is this, Gallus? thy heart's care, _20 +Lycoris, mid rude camps and Alpine snow, +With willing step pursues another there.' + +(Some lines missing.) + +And Sylvan, crowned with rustic coronals, +Came shaking in his speed the budding wands +And heavy lilies which he bore: we knew _25 +Pan the Arcadian with.... +...and said, +'Wilt thou not ever cease? Love cares not. +The meadows with fresh streams, the bees with thyme, +The goats with the green leaves of budding spring _30 +Are saturated not--nor Love with tears.' + +*** + + +FROM VERGIL'S FOURTH GEORGIC. + +[VERSES 360 ET SEQ.] + +[Published by Locock, "Examination", etc., 1903.] + +And the cloven waters like a chasm of mountains +Stood, and received him in its mighty portal +And led him through the deep's untrampled fountains + +He went in wonder through the path immortal +Of his great Mother and her humid reign _5 +And groves profaned not by the step of mortal + +Which sounded as he passed, and lakes which rain +Replenished not girt round by marble caves +'Wildered by the watery motion of the main + +Half 'wildered he beheld the bursting waves _10 +Of every stream beneath the mighty earth +Phasis and Lycus which the ... sand paves, + +[And] The chasm where old Enipeus has its birth +And father Tyber and Anienas[?] glow +And whence Caicus, Mysian stream, comes forth _15 + +And rock-resounding Hypanis, and thou +Eridanus who bearest like empire's sign +Two golden horns upon thy taurine brow + +Thou than whom none of the streams divine +Through garden-fields and meads with fiercer power, _20 +Burst in their tumult on the purple brine + +*** + + +SONNET. + +FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE. + +[Published with "Alastor", 1816; reprinted, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.] + +DANTE ALIGHIERI TO GUIDO CAVALCANTI: + +Guido, I would that Lapo, thou, and I, +Led by some strong enchantment, might ascend +A magic ship, whose charmed sails should fly +With winds at will where'er our thoughts might wend, +So that no change, nor any evil chance _5 +Should mar our joyous voyage; but it might be, +That even satiety should still enhance +Between our hearts their strict community: +And that the bounteous wizard then would place +Vanna and Bice and my gentle love, _10 +Companions of our wandering, and would grace +With passionate talk, wherever we might rove, +Our time, and each were as content and free +As I believe that thou and I should be. + +_5 So 1824; And 1816. + +*** + + +THE FIRST CANZONE OF THE CONVITO. + +FROM THE ITALIAN OF DANTE. + +[Published by Garnett, "Relics of Shelley", 1862; dated 1820.] + +1. +Ye who intelligent the Third Heaven move, +Hear the discourse which is within my heart, +Which cannot be declared, it seems so new. +The Heaven whose course follows your power and art, +Oh, gentle creatures that ye are! me drew, _5 +And therefore may I dare to speak to you, +Even of the life which now I live--and yet +I pray that ye will hear me when I cry, +And tell of mine own heart this novelty; +How the lamenting Spirit moans in it, _10 +And how a voice there murmurs against her +Who came on the refulgence of your sphere. + +2. +A sweet Thought, which was once the life within +This heavy heart, man a time and oft +Went up before our Father's feet, and there _15 +It saw a glorious Lady throned aloft; +And its sweet talk of her my soul did win, +So that I said, 'Thither I too will fare.' +That Thought is fled, and one doth now appear +Which tyrannizes me with such fierce stress, _20 +That my heart trembles--ye may see it leap-- +And on another Lady bids me keep +Mine eyes, and says--Who would have blessedness +Let him but look upon that Lady's eyes, +Let him not fear the agony of sighs. _25 + +3. +This lowly Thought, which once would talk with me +Of a bright seraph sitting crowned on high, +Found such a cruel foe it died, and so +My Spirit wept, the grief is hot even now-- +And said, Alas for me! how swift could flee _30 +That piteous Thought which did my life console! +And the afflicted one ... questioning +Mine eyes, if such a Lady saw they never, +And why they would... +I said: 'Beneath those eyes might stand for ever _35 +He whom ... regards must kill with... +To have known their power stood me in little stead, +Those eyes have looked on me, and I am dead.' + +4. +'Thou art not dead, but thou hast wandered, +Thou Soul of ours, who thyself dost fret,' _40 +A Spirit of gentle Love beside me said; +For that fair Lady, whom thou dost regret, +Hath so transformed the life which thou hast led, +Thou scornest it, so worthless art thou made. +And see how meek, how pitiful, how staid, _45 +Yet courteous, in her majesty she is. +And still call thou her Woman in thy thought; +Her whom, if thou thyself deceivest not, +Thou wilt behold decked with such loveliness, +That thou wilt cry [Love] only Lord, lo! here _50 +Thy handmaiden, do what thou wilt with her. + +5. +My song, I fear that thou wilt find but few +Who fitly shall conceive thy reasoning +Of such hard matter dost thou entertain. +Whence, if by misadventure chance should bring _55 +Thee to base company, as chance may do, +Quite unaware of what thou dost contain, +I prithee comfort thy sweet self again, +My last delight; tell them that they are dull, +And bid them own that thou art beautiful. _60 + +NOTE: +C5. Published with "Epispychidion", 1821.--ED. + +*** + + +MATILDA GATHERING FLOWERS. + +FROM THE PURGATORIO OF DANTE, CANTO 28, LINES 1-51. + +[Published in part (lines 1-8, 22-51) by Medwin, "The Angler in Wales", +1834, "Life of Shelley", 1847; reprinted in full by Garnett, "Relics of +Shelley", 1862.] + +And earnest to explore within--around-- +The divine wood, whose thick green living woof +Tempered the young day to the sight--I wound + +Up the green slope, beneath the forest's roof, +With slow, soft steps leaving the mountain's steep, _5 +And sought those inmost labyrinths, motion-proof + +Against the air, that in that stillness deep +And solemn, struck upon my forehead bare, +The slow, soft stroke of a continuous... + +In which the ... leaves tremblingly were _10 +All bent towards that part where earliest +The sacred hill obscures the morning air. + +Yet were they not so shaken from the rest, +But that the birds, perched on the utmost spray, +Incessantly renewing their blithe quest, _15 + +With perfect joy received the early day, +Singing within the glancing leaves, whose sound +Kept a low burden to their roundelay, + +Such as from bough to bough gathers around +The pine forest on bleak Chiassi's shore, _20 +When Aeolus Sirocco has unbound. + +My slow steps had already borne me o'er +Such space within the antique wood, that I +Perceived not where I entered any more,-- + +When, lo! a stream whose little waves went by, _25 +Bending towards the left through grass that grew +Upon its bank, impeded suddenly + +My going on. Water of purest hue +On earth, would appear turbid and impure +Compared with this, whose unconcealing dew, _30 + +Dark, dark, yet clear, moved under the obscure +Eternal shades, whose interwoven looms +The rays of moon or sunlight ne'er endure. + +I moved not with my feet, but mid the glooms +Pierced with my charmed eye, contemplating _35 +The mighty multitude of fresh May blooms + +Which starred that night, when, even as a thing +That suddenly, for blank astonishment, +Charms every sense, and makes all thought take wing,-- + +A solitary woman! and she went _40 +Singing and gathering flower after flower, +With which her way was painted and besprent. + +'Bright lady, who, if looks had ever power +To bear true witness of the heart within, +Dost bask under the beams of love, come lower _45 + +Towards this bank. I prithee let me win +This much of thee, to come, that I may hear +Thy song: like Proserpine, in Enna's glen, + +Thou seemest to my fancy, singing here +And gathering flowers, as that fair maiden when _50 +She lost the Spring, and Ceres her, more dear. + +NOTES: +_2 The 1862; That 1834. +_4, _5 So 1862; +Up a green slope, beneath the starry roof, +With slow, slow steps-- 1834. +_6 inmost 1862; leafy 1834. +_9 So 1862; The slow, soft stroke of a continuous sleep cj. Rossetti, 1870. +_9-_28 So 1862; + Like the sweet breathing of a child asleep: + Already I had lost myself so far + Amid that tangled wilderness that I + Perceived not where I ventured, but no fear + Of wandering from my way disturbed, when nigh + A little stream appeared; the grass that grew + Thick on its banks impeded suddenly + My going on. 1834. +_13 the 1862; their cj. Rossetti, 1870. +_26 through]the cj. Rossetti. +_28 hue 1862; dew 1834. +_30 dew 1862; hue 1834. +_32 Eternal shades 1862; Of the close boughs 1834. +_33 So 1862; No ray of moon or sunshine would endure 1834. +_34, _35 So 1862; + My feet were motionless, but mid the glooms + Darted my charmed eyes--1834. +_37 Which 1834; That 1862. +_39 So 1834; Dissolves all other thought...1862. +_40 So 1862; Appeared a solitary maid--she went 1834. +_46 Towards 1862; Unto 1834. +_47 thee, to come 1862; thee O come 1834. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT. + +ADAPTED FROM THE VITA NUOVA OF DANTE. + +[Published by Forman, "Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1876.] + +What Mary is when she a little smiles +I cannot even tell or call to mind, +It is a miracle so new, so rare. + +*** + + +UGOLINO. + +(Published by Medwin, "Life of Shelley", 1847, with Shelley's +corrections in italics [''].--ED.) + +INFERNO 33, 22-75. + +[Translated by Medwin and corrected by Shelley.] + +Now had the loophole of that dungeon, still +Which bears the name of Famine's Tower from me, +And where 'tis fit that many another will + +Be doomed to linger in captivity, +Shown through its narrow opening in my cell _5 +'Moon after moon slow waning', when a sleep, + +'That of the future burst the veil, in dream +Visited me. It was a slumber deep +And evil; for I saw, or I did seem' + +To see, 'that' tyrant Lord his revels keep _10 +The leader of the cruel hunt to them, +Chasing the wolf and wolf-cubs up the steep + +Ascent, that from 'the Pisan is the screen' +Of 'Lucca'; with him Gualandi came, +Sismondi, and Lanfranchi, 'bloodhounds lean, _15 + +Trained to the sport and eager for the game +Wide ranging in his front;' but soon were seen +Though by so short a course, with 'spirits tame,' + +The father and 'his whelps' to flag at once, +And then the sharp fangs gored their bosoms deep. _20 +Ere morn I roused myself, and heard my sons, + +For they were with me, moaning in their sleep, +And begging bread. Ah, for those darling ones! +Right cruel art thou, if thou dost not weep + +In thinking of my soul's sad augury; _25 +And if thou weepest not now, weep never more! +They were already waked, as wont drew nigh + +The allotted hour for food, and in that hour +Each drew a presage from his dream. When I +'Heard locked beneath me of that horrible tower _30 + +The outlet; then into their eyes alone +I looked to read myself,' without a sign +Or word. I wept not--turned within to stone. + +They wept aloud, and little Anselm mine, +Said--'twas my youngest, dearest little one,-- _35 +"What ails thee, father? Why look so at thine?" + +In all that day, and all the following night, +I wept not, nor replied; but when to shine +Upon the world, not us, came forth the light + +Of the new sun, and thwart my prison thrown _40 +Gleamed through its narrow chink, a doleful sight, +'Three faces, each the reflex of my own, + +Were imaged by its faint and ghastly ray;' +Then I, of either hand unto the bone, +Gnawed, in my agony; and thinking they _45 + +Twas done from sudden pangs, in their excess, +All of a sudden raise themselves, and say, +"Father! our woes, so great, were yet the less + +Would you but eat of us,--twas 'you who clad +Our bodies in these weeds of wretchedness; _50 +Despoil them'." Not to make their hearts more sad, + +I 'hushed' myself. That day is at its close,-- +Another--still we were all mute. Oh, had +The obdurate earth opened to end our woes! + +The fourth day dawned, and when the new sun shone, _55 +Outstretched himself before me as it rose +My Gaddo, saying, "Help, father! hast thou none + +For thine own child--is there no help from thee?" +He died--there at my feet--and one by one, +I saw them fall, plainly as you see me. _60 + +Between the fifth and sixth day, ere twas dawn, +I found 'myself blind-groping o'er the three.' +Three days I called them after they were gone. + +Famine of grief can get the mastery. + +*** + + +SONNET. + +FROM THE ITALIAN OF CAVALCANTI. + +GUIDO CAVALCANTI TO DANTE ALIGHIERI: + +[Published by Forman (who assigns it to 1815), "Poetical Works of P. B. +S.", 1876.] + +Returning from its daily quest, my Spirit +Changed thoughts and vile in thee doth weep to find: +It grieves me that thy mild and gentle mind +Those ample virtues which it did inherit +Has lost. Once thou didst loathe the multitude _5 +Of blind and madding men--I then loved thee-- +I loved thy lofty songs and that sweet mood +When thou wert faithful to thyself and me +I dare not now through thy degraded state +Own the delight thy strains inspire--in vain _10 +I seek what once thou wert--we cannot meet +And we were wont. Again and yet again +Ponder my words: so the false Spirit shall fly +And leave to thee thy true integrity. + +*** + + +SCENES FROM THE MAGICO PRODIGIOSO. + +FROM THE SPANISH OF CALDERON. + +[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824; dated March, 1822. +There is a transcript of Scene 1 among the Hunt manuscripts, which has +been collated by Mr. Buxton Forman.] + +SCENE 1: + +ENTER CYPRIAN, DRESSED AS A STUDENT; +CLARIN AND MOSCON AS POOR SCHOLARS, WITH BOOKS. + +CYPRIAN: +In the sweet solitude of this calm place, +This intricate wild wilderness of trees +And flowers and undergrowth of odorous plants, +Leave me; the books you brought out of the house +To me are ever best society. _5 +And while with glorious festival and song, +Antioch now celebrates the consecration +Of a proud temple to great Jupiter, +And bears his image in loud jubilee +To its new shrine, I would consume what still _10 +Lives of the dying day in studious thought, +Far from the throng and turmoil. You, my friends, +Go, and enjoy the festival; it will +Be worth your pains. You may return for me +When the sun seeks its grave among the billows _15 +Which, among dim gray clouds on the horizon, +Dance like white plumes upon a hearse;-- and here +I shall expect you. + +NOTES: +_14 So transcr.; Be worth the labour, and return for me 1824. +_16, _17 So 1824; +Hid among dim gray clouds on the horizon +Which dance like plumes--transcr., Forman. + +MOSCON: +I cannot bring my mind, +Great as my haste to see the festival +Certainly is, to leave you, Sir, without _20 +Just saying some three or four thousand words. +How is it possible that on a day +Of such festivity, you can be content +To come forth to a solitary country +With three or four old books, and turn your back _25 +On all this mirth? + +NOTES: +_21 thousand transcr.; hundred 1824. +_23 be content transcr.; bring your mind 1824. + +CLARIN: +My master's in the right; +There is not anything more tiresome +Than a procession day, with troops, and priests, +And dances, and all that. + +NOTE: +_28 and priests transcr.; of men 1824. + +MOSCON: +From first to last, +Clarin, you are a temporizing flatterer; _30 +You praise not what you feel but what he does;-- +Toadeater! + +CLARIN: +You lie--under a mistake-- +For this is the most civil sort of lie +That can be given to a man's face. I now +Say what I think. + +CYPRIAN: +Enough, you foolish fellows! _35 +Puffed up with your own doting ignorance, +You always take the two sides of one question. +Now go; and as I said, return for me +When night falls, veiling in its shadows wide +This glorious fabric of the universe. _40 + +NOTE: +_36 doting ignorance transcr.; ignorance and pride 1824. + +MOSCON: +How happens it, although you can maintain +The folly of enjoying festivals, +That yet you go there? + +CLARIN: +Nay, the consequence +Is clear:--who ever did what he advises +Others to do?-- + +MOSCON: +Would that my feet were wings, _45 +So would I fly to Livia. + +[EXIT.] + +CLARIN: +To speak truth, +Livia is she who has surprised my heart; +But he is more than half-way there.--Soho! +Livia, I come; good sport, Livia, soho! + +[EXIT.] + +CYPRIAN: +Now, since I am alone, let me examine _50 +The question which has long disturbed my mind +With doubt, since first I read in Plinius +The words of mystic import and deep sense +In which he defines God. My intellect +Can find no God with whom these marks and signs _55 +Fitly agree. It is a hidden truth +Which I must fathom. + +[CYPRIAN READS; +THE DAEMON, DRESSED IN A COURT DRESS, ENTERS.] + +NOTE: +_57 Stage Direction: So transcr. Reads. Enter the Devil as a fine + gentleman 1824. + +DAEMON: +Search even as thou wilt, +But thou shalt never find what I can hide. + +CYPRIAN: +What noise is that among the boughs? Who moves? +What art thou?-- + +DAEMON: +'Tis a foreign gentleman. _60 +Even from this morning I have lost my way +In this wild place; and my poor horse at last, +Quite overcome, has stretched himself upon +The enamelled tapestry of this mossy mountain, +And feeds and rests at the same time. I was _65 +Upon my way to Antioch upon business +Of some importance, but wrapped up in cares +(Who is exempt from this inheritance?) +I parted from my company, and lost +My way, and lost my servants and my comrades. _70 + +CYPRIAN: +'Tis singular that even within the sight +Of the high towers of Antioch you could lose +Your way. Of all the avenues and green paths +Of this wild wood there is not one but leads, +As to its centre, to the walls of Antioch; _75 +Take which you will, you cannot miss your road. + +DAEMON: +And such is ignorance! Even in the sight +Of knowledge, it can draw no profit from it. +But as it still is early, and as I +Have no acquaintances in Antioch, _80 +Being a stranger there, I will even wait +The few surviving hours of the day, +Until the night shall conquer it. I see +Both by your dress and by the books in which +You find delight and company, that you _85 +Are a great student;--for my part, I feel +Much sympathy in such pursuits. + +NOTE: +_87 in transcr.; with 1824. + +CYPRIAN: +Have you +Studied much? + +DAEMON: +No,--and yet I know enough +Not to be wholly ignorant. + +CYPRIAN: +Pray, Sir, +What science may you know?-- + +DAEMON: +Many. + +CYPRIAN: +Alas! _90 +Much pains must we expend on one alone, +And even then attain it not;--but you +Have the presumption to assert that you +Know many without study. + +DAEMON: +And with truth. +For in the country whence I come the sciences _95 +Require no learning,--they are known. + +NOTE: +_95 come the sciences]come sciences 1824. + +CYPRIAN: +Oh, would +I were of that bright country! for in this +The more we study, we the more discover +Our ignorance. + +DAEMON: +It is so true, that I +Had so much arrogance as to oppose _100 +The chair of the most high Professorship, +And obtained many votes, and, though I lost, +The attempt was still more glorious, than the failure +Could be dishonourable. If you believe not, +Let us refer it to dispute respecting _105 +That which you know the best, and although I +Know not the opinion you maintain, and though +It be the true one, I will take the contrary. + +NOTE: +_106 the transcr.; wanting, 1824. + +CYPRIAN: +The offer gives me pleasure. I am now +Debating with myself upon a passage _110 +Of Plinius, and my mind is racked with doubt +To understand and know who is the God +Of whom he speaks. + +DAEMON: +It is a passage, if +I recollect it right, couched in these words +'God is one supreme goodness, one pure essence, _115 +One substance, and one sense, all sight, all hands.' + +CYPRIAN: +'Tis true. + +DAEMON: +What difficulty find you here? + +CYPRIAN: +I do not recognize among the Gods +The God defined by Plinius; if he must +Be supreme goodness, even Jupiter _120 +Is not supremely good; because we see +His deeds are evil, and his attributes +Tainted with mortal weakness; in what manner +Can supreme goodness be consistent with +The passions of humanity? + +DAEMON: +The wisdom _125 +Of the old world masked with the names of Gods +The attributes of Nature and of Man; +A sort of popular philosophy. + +CYPRIAN: +This reply will not satisfy me, for +Such awe is due to the high name of God _130 +That ill should never be imputed. Then, +Examining the question with more care, +It follows, that the Gods would always will +That which is best, were they supremely good. +How then does one will one thing, one another? _135 +And that you may not say that I allege +Poetical or philosophic learning:-- +Consider the ambiguous responses +Of their oracular statues; from two shrines +Two armies shall obtain the assurance of _140 +One victory. Is it not indisputable +That two contending wills can never lead +To the same end? And, being opposite, +If one be good, is not the other evil? +Evil in God is inconceivable; _145 +But supreme goodness fails among the Gods +Without their union. + +NOTE: +_133 would transcr.; should 1824. + +DAEMON: +I deny your major. +These responses are means towards some end +Unfathomed by our intellectual beam. +They are the work of Providence, and more _150 +The battle's loss may profit those who lose, +Than victory advantage those who win. + +CYPRIAN: +That I admit; and yet that God should not +(Falsehood is incompatible with deity) +Assure the victory; it would be enough _155 +To have permitted the defeat. If God +Be all sight,--God, who had beheld the truth, +Would not have given assurance of an end +Never to be accomplished: thus, although +The Deity may according to his attributes _160 +Be well distinguished into persons, yet +Even in the minutest circumstance +His essence must be one. + +NOTE: +_157 had transcr.; wanting, 1824. + +DAEMON: +To attain the end +The affections of the actors in the scene +Must have been thus influenced by his voice. _165 + +CYPRIAN: +But for a purpose thus subordinate +He might have employed Genii, good or evil,-- +A sort of spirits called so by the learned, +Who roam about inspiring good or evil, +And from whose influence and existence we _170 +May well infer our immortality. +Thus God might easily, without descent +To a gross falsehood in his proper person, +Have moved the affections by this mediation +To the just point. + +NOTE: +_172 descent transcr.; descending 1824. + +DAEMON: +These trifling contradictions _175 +Do not suffice to impugn the unity +Of the high Gods; in things of great importance +They still appear unanimous; consider +That glorious fabric, man,--his workmanship +Is stamped with one conception. + +CYPRIAN: +Who made man _180 +Must have, methinks, the advantage of the others. +If they are equal, might they not have risen +In opposition to the work, and being +All hands, according to our author here, +Have still destroyed even as the other made? _185 +If equal in their power, unequal only +In opportunity, which of the two +Will remain conqueror? + +NOTE: +_186 unequal only transcr.; and only unequal 1824. + +DAEMON: +On impossible +And false hypothesis there can be built +No argument. Say, what do you infer _190 +From this? + +CYPRIAN: +That there must be a mighty God +Of supreme goodness and of highest grace, +All sight, all hands, all truth, infallible, +Without an equal and without a rival, +The cause of all things and the effect of nothing, _195 +One power, one will, one substance, and one essence. +And, in whatever persons, one or two, +His attributes may be distinguished, one +Sovereign power, one solitary essence, +One cause of all cause. + +NOTE: +_197 And]query, Ay? + +[THEY RISE.] + +DAEMON: +How can I impugn _200 +So clear a consequence? + +NOTE: +_200 all cause 1824; all things transcr. + +CYPRIAN: +Do you regret +My victory? + +DAEMON: +Who but regrets a check +In rivalry of wit? I could reply +And urge new difficulties, but will now +Depart, for I hear steps of men approaching, _205 +And it is time that I should now pursue +My journey to the city. + +CYPRIAN: +Go in peace! + +DAEMON: +Remain in peace!--Since thus it profits him +To study, I will wrap his senses up +In sweet oblivion of all thought but of _210 +A piece of excellent beauty; and, as I +Have power given me to wage enmity +Against Justina's soul, I will extract +From one effect two vengeances. + +[ASIDE AND EXIT.] + +NOTE: +_214 Stage direction So transcr.; Exit 1824. + +CYPRIAN: +I never +Met a more learned person. Let me now _215 +Revolve this doubt again with careful mind. + +[HE READS.] + +[FLORO AND LELIO ENTER.] + +LELIO: +Here stop. These toppling rocks and tangled boughs, +Impenetrable by the noonday beam, +Shall be sole witnesses of what we-- + +FLORO: +Draw! +If there were words, here is the place for deeds. _220 + +LELIO: +Thou needest not instruct me; well I know +That in the field, the silent tongue of steel +Speaks thus,-- + +[THEY FIGHT.] + +CYPRIAN: +Ha! what is this? Lelio,--Floro, +Be it enough that Cyprian stands between you, +Although unarmed. + +LELIO: +Whence comest thou, to stand _225 +Between me and my vengeance? + +FLORO: +From what rocks +And desert cells? + +[ENTER MOSCON AND CLARIN.] + +MOSCON: +Run! run! for where we left +My master. I now hear the clash of swords. + +NOTES: +_228 I now hear transcr.; we hear 1824. +_227-_229 lines of otherwise arranged, 1824. + +CLARIN: +I never run to approach things of this sort +But only to avoid them. Sir! Cyprian! sir! _230 + +CYPRIAN: +Be silent, fellows! What! two friends who are +In blood and fame the eyes and hope of Antioch, +One of the noble race of the Colalti, +The other son o' the Governor, adventure +And cast away, on some slight cause no doubt, _235 +Two lives, the honour of their country? + +NOTE: +_233 race transcr.; men 1824. Colalti]Colatti 1824. + +LELIO: +Cyprian! +Although my high respect towards your person +Holds now my sword suspended, thou canst not +Restore it to the slumber of the scabbard: +Thou knowest more of science than the duel; _240 +For when two men of honour take the field, +No counsel nor respect can make them friends +But one must die in the dispute. + +NOTE: +_239 of the transcr.; of its 1824. +_242 No counsel nor 1839, 1st edition; + No [...] or 1824; No reasoning or transcr. +_243 dispute transcr. pursuit 1824. + +FLORO: +I pray +That you depart hence with your people, and +Leave us to finish what we have begun _245 +Without advantage.-- + +CYPRIAN: +Though you may imagine +That I know little of the laws of duel, +Which vanity and valour instituted, +You are in error. By my birth I am +Held no less than yourselves to know the limits _250 +Of honour and of infamy, nor has study +Quenched the free spirit which first ordered them; +And thus to me, as one well experienced +In the false quicksands of the sea of honour, +You may refer the merits of the case; _255 +And if I should perceive in your relation +That either has the right to satisfaction +From the other, I give you my word of honour +To leave you. + +NOTE: +_253 well omit, cj. Forman. + +LELIO: +Under this condition then +I will relate the cause, and you will cede _260 +And must confess the impossibility +Of compromise; for the same lady is +Beloved by Floro and myself. + +FLORO: +It seems +Much to me that the light of day should look +Upon that idol of my heart--but he-- _265 +Leave us to fight, according to thy word. + +CYPRIAN: +Permit one question further: is the lady +Impossible to hope or not? + +LELIO: +She is +So excellent, that if the light of day +Should excite Floro's jealousy, it were _270 +Without just cause, for even the light of day +Trembles to gaze on her. + +CYPRIAN: +Would you for your +Part, marry her? + +FLORO: +Such is my confidence. + +CYPRIAN: +And you? + +LELIO: +Oh! would that I could lift my hope +So high, for though she is extremely poor, _275 +Her virtue is her dowry. + +CYPRIAN: +And if you both +Would marry her, is it not weak and vain, +Culpable and unworthy, thus beforehand +To slur her honour? What would the world say +If one should slay the other, and if she _280 +Should afterwards espouse the murderer? + +[THE RIVALS AGREE TO REFER THEIR QUARREL TO CYPRIAN; WHO IN CONSEQUENCE +VISITS JUSTINA, AND BECOMES ENAMOURED OF HER; SHE DISDAINS HIM, AND HE +RETIRES TO A SOLITARY SEA-SHORE.] + + +SCENE 2. + +CYPRIAN: +O memory! permit it not +That the tyrant of my thought +Be another soul that still +Holds dominion o'er the will, +That would refuse, but can no more, _5 +To bend, to tremble, and adore. +Vain idolatry!--I saw, +And gazing, became blind with error; +Weak ambition, which the awe +Of her presence bound to terror! _10 +So beautiful she was--and I, +Between my love and jealousy, +Am so convulsed with hope and fear, +Unworthy as it may appear;-- +So bitter is the life I live, _15 +That, hear me, Hell! I now would give +To thy most detested spirit +My soul, for ever to inherit, +To suffer punishment and pine, +So this woman may be mine. _20 +Hear'st thou, Hell! dost thou reject it? +My soul is offered! + +DAEMON (UNSEEN): +I accept it. + +[TEMPEST, WITH THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.] + +CYPRIAN: +What is this? ye heavens for ever pure, +At once intensely radiant and obscure! +Athwart the aethereal halls _25 +The lightning's arrow and the thunder-balls +The day affright, +As from the horizon round, +Burst with earthquake sound, +In mighty torrents the electric fountains;-- _30 +Clouds quench the sun, and thunder-smoke +Strangles the air, and fire eclipses Heaven. +Philosophy, thou canst not even +Compel their causes underneath thy yoke: +From yonder clouds even to the waves below _35 +The fragments of a single ruin choke +Imagination's flight; +For, on flakes of surge, like feathers light, +The ashes of the desolation, cast +Upon the gloomy blast, _40 +Tell of the footsteps of the storm; +And nearer, see, the melancholy form +Of a great ship, the outcast of the sea, +Drives miserably! +And it must fly the pity of the port, _45 +Or perish, and its last and sole resort +Is its own raging enemy. +The terror of the thrilling cry +Was a fatal prophecy +Of coming death, who hovers now _50 +Upon that shattered prow, +That they who die not may be dying still. +And not alone the insane elements +Are populous with wild portents, +But that sad ship is as a miracle _55 +Of sudden ruin, for it drives so fast +It seems as if it had arrayed its form +With the headlong storm. +It strikes--I almost feel the shock,-- +It stumbles on a jagged rock,-- _60 +Sparkles of blood on the white foam are cast. + +[A TEMPEST.] + +ALL EXCLAIM [WITHIN]: +We are all lost! + +DAEMON [WITHIN]: +Now from this plank will I +Pass to the land and thus fulfil my scheme. + +CYPRIAN: +As in contempt of the elemental rage +A man comes forth in safety, while the ship's _65 +Great form is in a watery eclipse +Obliterated from the Oceans page, +And round its wreck the huge sea-monsters sit, +A horrid conclave, and the whistling wave +Is heaped over its carcase, like a grave. _70 + +[THE DAEMON ENTERS, AS ESCAPED FROM THE SEA.] + +DAEMON [ASIDE]: +It was essential to my purposes +To wake a tumult on the sapphire ocean, +That in this unknown form I might at length +Wipe out the blot of the discomfiture +Sustained upon the mountain, and assail _75 +With a new war the soul of Cyprian, +Forging the instruments of his destruction +Even from his love and from his wisdom.--O +Beloved earth, dear mother, in thy bosom +I seek a refuge from the monster who _80 +Precipitates itself upon me. + +CYPRIAN: +Friend, +Collect thyself; and be the memory +Of thy late suffering, and thy greatest sorrow +But as a shadow of the past,--for nothing +Beneath the circle of the moon, but flows _85 +And changes, and can never know repose. + +DAEMON: +And who art thou, before whose feet my fate +Has prostrated me? + +CYPRIAN: +One who, moved with pity, +Would soothe its stings. + +DAEMON: +Oh, that can never be! +No solace can my lasting sorrows find. _90 + +CYPRIAN: +Wherefore? + +DAEMON: +Because my happiness is lost. +Yet I lament what has long ceased to be +The object of desire or memory, +And my life is not life. + +CYPRIAN: +Now, since the fury +Of this earthquaking hurricane is still, _95 +And the crystalline Heaven has reassumed +Its windless calm so quickly, that it seems +As if its heavy wrath had been awakened +Only to overwhelm that vessel,--speak, +Who art thou, and whence comest thou? + +DAEMON: +Far more _100 +My coming hither cost, than thou hast seen +Or I can tell. Among my misadventures +This shipwreck is the least. Wilt thou hear? + +CYPRIAN: +Speak. + +DAEMON: +Since thou desirest, I will then unveil +Myself to thee;--for in myself I am _105 +A world of happiness and misery; +This I have lost, and that I must lament +Forever. In my attributes I stood +So high and so heroically great, +In lineage so supreme, and with a genius _110 +Which penetrated with a glance the world +Beneath my feet, that, won by my high merit, +A king--whom I may call the King of kings, +Because all others tremble in their pride +Before the terrors of His countenance, _115 +In His high palace roofed with brightest gems +Of living light--call them the stars of Heaven-- +Named me His counsellor. But the high praise +Stung me with pride and envy, and I rose +In mighty competition, to ascend _120 +His seat and place my foot triumphantly +Upon His subject thrones. Chastised, I know +The depth to which ambition falls; too mad +Was the attempt, and yet more mad were now +Repentance of the irrevocable deed:-- _125 +Therefore I chose this ruin, with the glory +Of not to be subdued, before the shame +Of reconciling me with Him who reigns +By coward cession.--Nor was I alone, +Nor am I now, nor shall I be alone; _130 +And there was hope, and there may still be hope, +For many suffrages among His vassals +Hailed me their lord and king, and many still +Are mine, and many more, perchance shall be. +Thus vanquished, though in fact victorious, _135 +I left His seat of empire, from mine eye +Shooting forth poisonous lightning, while my words +With inauspicious thunderings shook Heaven, +Proclaiming vengeance, public as my wrong, +And imprecating on His prostrate slaves _140 +Rapine, and death, and outrage. Then I sailed +Over the mighty fabric of the world,-- +A pirate ambushed in its pathless sands, +A lynx crouched watchfully among its caves +And craggy shores; and I have wandered over _145 +The expanse of these wide wildernesses +In this great ship, whose bulk is now dissolved +In the light breathings of the invisible wind, +And which the sea has made a dustless ruin, +Seeking ever a mountain, through whose forests _150 +I seek a man, whom I must now compel +To keep his word with me. I came arrayed +In tempest, and although my power could well +Bridle the forest winds in their career, +For other causes I forbore to soothe _155 +Their fury to Favonian gentleness; +I could and would not; +[ASIDE.] +(thus I wake in him +A love of magic art). Let not this tempest, +Nor the succeeding calm excite thy wonder; +For by my art the sun would turn as pale _160 +As his weak sister with unwonted fear; +And in my wisdom are the orbs of Heaven +Written as in a record; I have pierced +The flaming circles of their wondrous spheres +And know them as thou knowest every corner _165 +Of this dim spot. Let it not seem to thee +That I boast vainly; wouldst thou that I work +A charm over this waste and savage wood, +This Babylon of crags and aged trees, +Filling its leafy coverts with a horror _170 +Thrilling and strange? I am the friendless guest +Of these wild oaks and pines--and as from thee +I have received the hospitality +Of this rude place, I offer thee the fruit +Of years of toil in recompense; whate'er _175 +Thy wildest dream presented to thy thought +As object of desire, that shall be thine. + +... + +And thenceforth shall so firm an amity +'Twixt thee and me be, that neither Fortune, +The monstrous phantom which pursues success, _180 +That careful miser, that free prodigal, +Who ever alternates, with changeful hand, +Evil and good, reproach and fame; nor Time, +That lodestar of the ages, to whose beam +The winged years speed o'er the intervals _185 +Of their unequal revolutions; nor +Heaven itself, whose beautiful bright stars +Rule and adorn the world, can ever make +The least division between thee and me, +Since now I find a refuge in thy favour. _190 + +NOTES: +_146 wide glassy wildernesses Rossetti. +_150 Seeking forever cj. Forman. +_154 forest]fiercest cj. Rossetti. + + +SCENE 3. + +THE DAEMON TEMPTS JUSTINA, WHO IS A CHRISTIAN. + +DAEMON: +Abyss of Hell! I call on thee, +Thou wild misrule of thine own anarchy! +From thy prison-house set free +The spirits of voluptuous death, +That with their mighty breath _5 +They may destroy a world of virgin thoughts; +Let her chaste mind with fancies thick as motes +Be peopled from thy shadowy deep, +Till her guiltless fantasy +Full to overflowing be! _10 +And with sweetest harmony, +Let birds, and flowers, and leaves, and all things move +To love, only to love. +Let nothing meet her eyes +But signs of Love's soft victories; _15 +Let nothing meet her ear +But sounds of Love's sweet sorrow, +So that from faith no succour she may borrow, +But, guided by my spirit blind +And in a magic snare entwined, _20 +She may now seek Cyprian. +Begin, while I in silence bind +My voice, when thy sweet song thou hast began. + +NOTE: +_18 she may]may she 1824. + +A VOICE [WITHIN]: +What is the glory far above +All else in human life? + +ALL: +Love! love! _25 + +[WHILE THESE WORDS ARE SUNG, +THE DAEMON GOES OUT AT ONE DOOR, +AND JUSTINA ENTERS AT ANOTHER.] + +THE FIRST VOICE: +There is no form in which the fire +Of love its traces has impressed not. +Man lives far more in love's desire +Than by life's breath, soon possessed not. +If all that lives must love or die, _30 +All shapes on earth, or sea, or sky, +With one consent to Heaven cry +That the glory far above +All else in life is-- + +ALL: +Love! oh, Love! + +JUSTINA: +Thou melancholy Thought which art _35 +So flattering and so sweet, to thee +When did I give the liberty +Thus to afflict my heart? +What is the cause of this new Power +Which doth my fevered being move, _40 +Momently raging more and more? +What subtle Pain is kindled now +Which from my heart doth overflow +Into my senses?-- + +NOTE: +_36 flattering Boscombe manuscript; fluttering 1824. + +ALL: +Love! oh, Love! + +JUSTINA: +'Tis that enamoured Nightingale _45 +Who gives me the reply; +He ever tells the same soft tale +Of passion and of constancy +To his mate, who rapt and fond, +Listening sits, a bough beyond. _50 + +Be silent, Nightingale--no more +Make me think, in hearing thee +Thus tenderly thy love deplore, +If a bird can feel his so, +What a man would feel for me. _55 +And, voluptuous Vine, O thou +Who seekest most when least pursuing,-- +To the trunk thou interlacest +Art the verdure which embracest, +And the weight which is its ruin,-- _60 +No more, with green embraces, Vine, +Make me think on what thou lovest,-- +For whilst thus thy boughs entwine +I fear lest thou shouldst teach me, sophist, +How arms might be entangled too. _65 + +Light-enchanted Sunflower, thou +Who gazest ever true and tender +On the sun's revolving splendour! +Follow not his faithless glance +With thy faded countenance, _70 +Nor teach my beating heart to fear, +If leaves can mourn without a tear, +How eyes must weep! O Nightingale, +Cease from thy enamoured tale,-- +Leafy Vine, unwreathe thy bower, _75 +Restless Sunflower, cease to move,-- +Or tell me all, what poisonous Power +Ye use against me-- + +NOTES: +_58 To]Who to cj. Rossetti. +_63 whilst thus Rossetti, Forman, Dowden; whilst thou thus 1824. + +ALL: +Love! Love! Love! + +JUSTINA: +It cannot be!--Whom have I ever loved? +Trophies of my oblivion and disdain, _80 +Floro and Lelio did I not reject? +And Cyprian?-- +[SHE BECOMES TROUBLED AT THE NAME OF CYPRIAN.] +Did I not requite him +With such severity, that he has fled +Where none has ever heard of him again?-- +Alas! I now begin to fear that this _85 +May be the occasion whence desire grows bold, +As if there were no danger. From the moment +That I pronounced to my own listening heart, +'Cyprian is absent!'--O me miserable! +I know not what I feel! +[MORE CALMLY.] +It must be pity _90 +To think that such a man, whom all the world +Admired, should be forgot by all the world, +And I the cause. +[SHE AGAIN BECOMES TROUBLED.] +And yet if it were pity, +Floro and Lelio might have equal share, +For they are both imprisoned for my sake. _95 +[CALMLY.] +Alas! what reasonings are these? it is +Enough I pity him, and that, in vain, +Without this ceremonious subtlety. +And, woe is me! I know not where to find him now, +Even should I seek him through this wide world. _100 + +NOTE: +_89 me miserable]miserable me editions 1839. + +[ENTER DAEMON.] + +DAEMON: +Follow, and I will lead thee where he is. + +JUSTINA: +And who art thou, who hast found entrance hither, +Into my chamber through the doors and locks? +Art thou a monstrous shadow which my madness +Has formed in the idle air? + +DAEMON: +No. I am one _105 +Called by the Thought which tyrannizes thee +From his eternal dwelling; who this day +Is pledged to bear thee unto Cyprian. + +JUSTINA: +So shall thy promise fail. This agony +Of passion which afflicts my heart and soul _110 +May sweep imagination in its storm; +The will is firm. + +DAEMON: +Already half is done +In the imagination of an act. +The sin incurred, the pleasure then remains; +Let not the will stop half-way on the road. _115 + +JUSTINA: +I will not be discouraged, nor despair, +Although I thought it, and although 'tis true +That thought is but a prelude to the deed:-- +Thought is not in my power, but action is: +I will not move my foot to follow thee. _120 + +DAEMON: +But a far mightier wisdom than thine own +Exerts itself within thee, with such power +Compelling thee to that which it inclines +That it shall force thy step; how wilt thou then +Resist, Justina? + +NOTE: +_123 inclines]inclines to cj. Rossetti. + +JUSTINA: +By my free-will. + +DAEMON: +I _125 +Must force thy will. + +JUSTINA: +It is invincible; +It were not free if thou hadst power upon it. + +[HE DRAWS, BUT CANNOT MOVE HER.] + +DAEMON: +Come, where a pleasure waits thee. + +JUSTINA: +It were bought +Too dear. + +DAEMON: +'Twill soothe thy heart to softest peace. + +JUSTINA: +'Tis dread captivity. + +DAEMON: +'Tis joy, 'tis glory. _130 + +JUSTINA: +'Tis shame, 'tis torment, 'tis despair. + +DAEMON: +But how +Canst thou defend thyself from that or me, +If my power drags thee onward? + +JUSTINA: +My defence +Consists in God. + +[HE VAINLY ENDEAVOURS TO FORCE HER, AND AT LAST RELEASES HER.] + +DAEMON: +Woman, thou hast subdued me, +Only by not owning thyself subdued. _135 +But since thou thus findest defence in God, +I will assume a feigned form, and thus +Make thee a victim of my baffled rage. +For I will mask a spirit in thy form +Who will betray thy name to infamy, _140 +And doubly shall I triumph in thy loss, +First by dishonouring thee, and then by turning +False pleasure to true ignominy. + +[EXIT.] + +JUSTINA: I +Appeal to Heaven against thee; so that Heaven +May scatter thy delusions, and the blot _145 +Upon my fame vanish in idle thought, +Even as flame dies in the envious air, +And as the floweret wanes at morning frost; +And thou shouldst never--But, alas! to whom +Do I still speak?--Did not a man but now _150 +Stand here before me?--No, I am alone, +And yet I saw him. Is he gone so quickly? +Or can the heated mind engender shapes +From its own fear? Some terrible and strange +Peril is near. Lisander! father! lord! _155 +Livia!-- + +[ENTER LISANDER AND LIVIA.] + +LISANDER: +Oh, my daughter! What? + +LIVIA: +What! + +JUSTINA: +Saw you +A man go forth from my apartment now?-- +I scarce contain myself! + +LISANDER: +A man here! + +JUSTINA: +Have you not seen him? + +LIVIA: +No, Lady. + +JUSTINA: I saw him. + +LISANDER: 'Tis impossible; the doors _160 +Which led to this apartment were all locked. + +LIVIA [ASIDE]: +I daresay it was Moscon whom she saw, +For he was locked up in my room. + +LISANDER: +It must +Have been some image of thy fantasy. +Such melancholy as thou feedest is _165 +Skilful in forming such in the vain air +Out of the motes and atoms of the day. + +LIVIA: +My master's in the right. + +JUSTINA: +Oh, would it were +Delusion; but I fear some greater ill. +I feel as if out of my bleeding bosom _170 +My heart was torn in fragments; ay, +Some mortal spell is wrought against my frame; +So potent was the charm that, had not God +Shielded my humble innocence from wrong, +I should have sought my sorrow and my shame _175 +With willing steps.--Livia, quick, bring my cloak, +For I must seek refuge from these extremes +Even in the temple of the highest God +Where secretly the faithful worship. + +LIVIA: +Here. + +NOTE: +_179 Where Rossetti; Which 1824. + +JUSTINA [PUTTING ON HER CLOAK]: +In this, as in a shroud of snow, may I _180 +Quench the consuming fire in which I burn, +Wasting away! + +LISANDER: +And I will go with thee. + +LIVIA: +When I once see them safe out of the house +I shall breathe freely. + +JUSTINA: +So do I confide +In thy just favour, Heaven! + +LISANDER: +Let us go. _185 + +JUSTINA: +Thine is the cause, great God! turn for my sake, +And for Thine own, mercifully to me! + +*** + + +STANZAS FROM CALDERON'S CISMA DE INGLATERRA. + +TRANSLATED BY MEDWIN AND CORRECTED BY SHELLEY. + +[Published by Medwin, "Life of Shelley", 1847, +with Shelley's corrections in ''.] + +1. +Hast thou not seen, officious with delight, +Move through the illumined air about the flower +The Bee, that fears to drink its purple light, +Lest danger lurk within that Rose's bower? +Hast thou not marked the moth's enamoured flight _5 +About the Taper's flame at evening hour; +'Till kindle in that monumental fire +His sunflower wings their own funereal pyre? + +2. +My heart, its wishes trembling to unfold. +Thus round the Rose and Taper hovering came, _10 +'And Passion's slave, Distrust, in ashes cold. +Smothered awhile, but could not quench the flame,'-- +Till Love, that grows by disappointment bold, +And Opportunity, had conquered Shame; +And like the Bee and Moth, in act to close, _15 +'I burned my wings, and settled on the Rose.' + +*** + + +SCENES FROM THE FAUST OF GOETHE. + +[Published in part (Scene 2) in "The Liberal", No. 1, 1822; +in full, by Mrs. Shelley, "Posthumous Poems", 1824.] + +SCENE 1.--PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN. + +THE LORD AND THE HOST OF HEAVEN. + +ENTER THREE ARCHANGELS. + +RAPHAEL: +The sun makes music as of old +Amid the rival spheres of Heaven, +On its predestined circle rolled +With thunder speed: the Angels even +Draw strength from gazing on its glance, _5 +Though none its meaning fathom may:-- +The world's unwithered countenance +Is bright as at Creation's day. + +GABRIEL: +And swift and swift, with rapid lightness, +The adorned Earth spins silently, _10 +Alternating Elysian brightness +With deep and dreadful night; the sea +Foams in broad billows from the deep +Up to the rocks, and rocks and Ocean, +Onward, with spheres which never sleep, _15 +Are hurried in eternal motion. + +MICHAEL: +And tempests in contention roar +From land to sea, from sea to land; +And, raging, weave a chain of power, +Which girds the earth, as with a band.-- _20 +A flashing desolation there, +Flames before the thunder's way; +But Thy servants, Lord, revere +The gentle changes of Thy day. + +CHORUS OF THE THREE: +The Angels draw strength from Thy glance, _25 +Though no one comprehend Thee may;-- +Thy world's unwithered countenance +Is bright as on Creation's day. + +NOTE: +_28 (RAPHAEL: +The sun sounds, according to ancient custom, +In the song of emulation of his brother-spheres. +And its fore-written circle +Fulfils with a step of thunder. +Its countenance gives the Angels strength +Though no one can fathom it. +The incredible high works +Are excellent as at the first day. + +GABRIEL: +And swift, and inconceivably swift +The adornment of earth winds itself round, +And exchanges Paradise-clearness +With deep dreadful night. +The sea foams in broad waves +From its deep bottom, up to the rocks, +And rocks and sea are torn on together +In the eternal swift course of the spheres. + +MICHAEL: +And storms roar in emulation +From sea to land, from land to sea, +And make, raging, a chain +Of deepest operation round about. +There flames a flashing destruction +Before the path of the thunderbolt. +But Thy servants, Lord, revere +The gentle alternations of Thy day. + +CHORUS: +Thy countenance gives the Angels strength, +Though none can comprehend Thee: +And all Thy lofty works +Are excellent as at the first day. + +Such is a literal translation of this astonishing chorus; it is +impossible to represent in another language the melody of the +versification; even the volatile strength and delicacy of the ideas +escape in the crucible of translation, and the reader is surprised to +find a caput mortuum.--[SHELLEY'S NOTE.]) + +[ENTER MEPHISTOPHELES.] + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +As thou, O Lord, once more art kind enough +To interest Thyself in our affairs, _30 +And ask, 'How goes it with you there below?' +And as indulgently at other times +Thou tookest not my visits in ill part, +Thou seest me here once more among Thy household. +Though I should scandalize this company, _35 +You will excuse me if I do not talk +In the high style which they think fashionable; +My pathos certainly would make You laugh too, +Had You not long since given over laughing. +Nothing know I to say of suns and worlds; _40 +I observe only how men plague themselves;-- +The little god o' the world keeps the same stamp, +As wonderful as on creation's day:-- +A little better would he live, hadst Thou +Not given him a glimpse of Heaven's light _45 +Which he calls reason, and employs it only +To live more beastlily than any beast. +With reverence to Your Lordship be it spoken, +He's like one of those long-legged grasshoppers, +Who flits and jumps about, and sings for ever _50 +The same old song i' the grass. There let him lie, +Burying his nose in every heap of dung. + +NOTES: +_38 certainly would editions 1839; would certainly 1824. +_47 beastlily 1824; beastily editions 1839. + +THE LORD: +Have you no more to say? Do you come here +Always to scold, and cavil, and complain? +Seems nothing ever right to you on earth? _55 + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +No, Lord! I find all there, as ever, bad at best. +Even I am sorry for man's days of sorrow; +I could myself almost give up the pleasure +Of plaguing the poor things. + +THE LORD: +Knowest thou Faust? + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +The Doctor? + +THE LORD: +Ay; My servant Faust. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +In truth _60 +He serves You in a fashion quite his own; +And the fool's meat and drink are not of earth. +His aspirations bear him on so far +That he is half aware of his own folly, +For he demands from Heaven its fairest star, _65 +And from the earth the highest joy it bears, +Yet all things far, and all things near, are vain +To calm the deep emotions of his breast. + +THE LORD: +Though he now serves Me in a cloud of error, +I will soon lead him forth to the clear day. _70 +When trees look green, full well the gardener knows +That fruits and blooms will deck the coming year. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +What will You bet?--now am sure of winning-- +Only, observe You give me full permission +To lead him softly on my path. + +THE LORD: +As long _75 +As he shall live upon the earth, so long +Is nothing unto thee forbidden--Man +Must err till he has ceased to struggle. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Thanks. +And that is all I ask; for willingly +I never make acquaintance with the dead. _80 +The full fresh cheeks of youth are food for me, +And if a corpse knocks, I am not at home. +For I am like a cat--I like to play +A little with the mouse before I eat it. + +THE LORD: +Well, well! it is permitted thee. Draw thou _85 +His spirit from its springs; as thou find'st power +Seize him and lead him on thy downward path; +And stand ashamed when failure teaches thee +That a good man, even in his darkest longings, +Is well aware of the right way. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Well and good. _90 +I am not in much doubt about my bet, +And if I lose, then 'tis Your turn to crow; +Enjoy Your triumph then with a full breast. +Ay; dust shall he devour, and that with pleasure, +Like my old paramour, the famous Snake. _95 + +THE LORD: +Pray come here when it suits you; for I never +Had much dislike for people of your sort. +And, among all the Spirits who rebelled, +The knave was ever the least tedious to Me. +The active spirit of man soon sleeps, and soon _100 +He seeks unbroken quiet; therefore I +Have given him the Devil for a companion, +Who may provoke him to some sort of work, +And must create forever.--But ye, pure +Children of God, enjoy eternal beauty;-- _105 +Let that which ever operates and lives +Clasp you within the limits of its love; +And seize with sweet and melancholy thoughts +The floating phantoms of its loveliness. + +[HEAVEN CLOSES; THE ARCHANGELS EXEUNT.] + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +From time to time I visit the old fellow, _110 +And I take care to keep on good terms with Him. +Civil enough is the same God Almighty, +To talk so freely with the Devil himself. + + +SCENE 2.--MAY-DAY NIGHT. + +THE HARTZ MOUNTAIN, A DESOLATE COUNTRY. + +FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Would you not like a broomstick? As for me +I wish I had a good stout ram to ride; +For we are still far from the appointed place. + +FAUST: +This knotted staff is help enough for me, +Whilst I feel fresh upon my legs. What good _5 +Is there in making short a pleasant way? +To creep along the labyrinths of the vales, +And climb those rocks, where ever-babbling springs, +Precipitate themselves in waterfalls, +Is the true sport that seasons such a path. _10 +Already Spring kindles the birchen spray, +And the hoar pines already feel her breath: +Shall she not work also within our limbs? + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Nothing of such an influence do I feel. +My body is all wintry, and I wish _15 +The flowers upon our path were frost and snow. +But see how melancholy rises now, +Dimly uplifting her belated beam, +The blank unwelcome round of the red moon, +And gives so bad a light, that every step _20 +One stumbles 'gainst some crag. With your permission, +I'll call on Ignis-fatuus to our aid: +I see one yonder burning jollily. +Halloo, my friend! may I request that you +Would favour us with your bright company? _25 +Why should you blaze away there to no purpose? +Pray be so good as light us up this way. + +IGNIS-FATUUS: +With reverence be it spoken, I will try +To overcome the lightness of my nature; +Our course, you know, is generally zigzag. _30 + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Ha, ha! your worship thinks you have to deal +With men. Go straight on, in the Devil's name, +Or I shall puff your flickering life out. + +NOTE: +_33 shall puff 1824; will blow 1822. + +IGNIS-FATUUS: +Well, +I see you are the master of the house; +I will accommodate myself to you. _35 +Only consider that to-night this mountain +Is all enchanted, and if Jack-a-lantern +Shows you his way, though you should miss your own, +You ought not to be too exact with him. + +FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, AND IGNIS-FATUUS, IN ALTERNATE CHORUS: +The limits of the sphere of dream, _40 +The bounds of true and false, are past. +Lead us on, thou wandering Gleam, +Lead us onward, far and fast, +To the wide, the desert waste. + +But see, how swift advance and shift _45 +Trees behind trees, row by row,-- +How, clift by clift, rocks bend and lift +Their frowning foreheads as we go. +The giant-snouted crags, ho! ho! +How they snort, and how they blow! _50 + +Through the mossy sods and stones, +Stream and streamlet hurry down-- +A rushing throng! A sound of song +Beneath the vault of Heaven is blown! +Sweet notes of love, the speaking tones _55 +Of this bright day, sent down to say +That Paradise on Earth is known, +Resound around, beneath, above. +All we hope and all we love +Finds a voice in this blithe strain, _60 +Which wakens hill and wood and rill, +And vibrates far o'er field and vale, +And which Echo, like the tale +Of old times, repeats again. + +To-whoo! to-whoo! near, nearer now _65 +The sound of song, the rushing throng! +Are the screech, the lapwing, and the jay, +All awake as if 'twere day? +See, with long legs and belly wide, +A salamander in the brake! _70 +Every root is like a snake, +And along the loose hillside, +With strange contortions through the night, +Curls, to seize or to affright; +And, animated, strong, and many, _75 +They dart forth polypus-antennae, +To blister with their poison spume +The wanderer. Through the dazzling gloom +The many-coloured mice, that thread +The dewy turf beneath our tread, _80 +In troops each other's motions cross, +Through the heath and through the moss; +And, in legions intertangled, +The fire-flies flit, and swarm, and throng, +Till all the mountain depths are spangled. _85 + +Tell me, shall we go or stay? +Shall we onward? Come along! +Everything around is swept +Forward, onward, far away! +Trees and masses intercept _90 +The sight, and wisps on every side +Are puffed up and multiplied. + +NOTES: +_48 frowning]fawning 1822. +_70 brake 1824; lake 1822. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Now vigorously seize my skirt, and gain +This pinnacle of isolated crag. +One may observe with wonder from this point, _95 +How Mammon glows among the mountains. + +FAUST: +Ay-- +And strangely through the solid depth below +A melancholy light, like the red dawn, +Shoots from the lowest gorge of the abyss +Of mountains, lightning hitherward: there rise _100 +Pillars of smoke, here clouds float gently by; +Here the light burns soft as the enkindled air, +Or the illumined dust of golden flowers; +And now it glides like tender colours spreading; +And now bursts forth in fountains from the earth; _105 +And now it winds, one torrent of broad light, +Through the far valley with a hundred veins; +And now once more within that narrow corner +Masses itself into intensest splendour. +And near us, see, sparks spring out of the ground, _110 +Like golden sand scattered upon the darkness; +The pinnacles of that black wall of mountains +That hems us in are kindled. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Rare: in faith! +Does not Sir Mammon gloriously illuminate +His palace for this festival?--it is _115 +A pleasure which you had not known before. +I spy the boisterous guests already. + +FAUST: +How +The children of the wind rage in the air! +With what fierce strokes they fall upon my neck! + +NOTE: +_117 How 1824; Now 1822. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Cling tightly to the old ribs of the crag. _120 +Beware! for if with them thou warrest +In their fierce flight towards the wilderness, +Their breath will sweep thee into dust, and drag +Thy body to a grave in the abyss. +A cloud thickens the night. _125 +Hark! how the tempest crashes through the forest! +The owls fly out in strange affright; +The columns of the evergreen palaces +Are split and shattered; +The roots creak, and stretch, and groan; _130 +And ruinously overthrown, +The trunks are crushed and shattered +By the fierce blast's unconquerable stress. +Over each other crack and crash they all +In terrible and intertangled fall; _135 +And through the ruins of the shaken mountain +The airs hiss and howl-- +It is not the voice of the fountain, +Nor the wolf in his midnight prowl. +Dost thou not hear? _140 +Strange accents are ringing +Aloft, afar, anear? +The witches are singing! +The torrent of a raging wizard song +Streams the whole mountain along. _145 + +NOTE: +_132 shattered]scattered Rossetti. + +CHORUS OF WITCHES: +The stubble is yellow, the corn is green, +Now to the Brocken the witches go; +The mighty multitude here may be seen +Gathering, wizard and witch, below. +Sir Urian is sitting aloft in the air; _150 +Hey over stock! and hey over stone! +'Twixt witches and incubi, what shall be done? +Tell it who dare! tell it who dare! + +NOTE: +_150 Urian]Urean editions 1824, 1839. + +A VOICE: +Upon a sow-swine, whose farrows were nine, +Old Baubo rideth alone. _155 + +CHORUS: +Honour her, to whom honour is due, +Old mother Baubo, honour to you! +An able sow, with old Baubo upon her, +Is worthy of glory, and worthy of honour! +The legion of witches is coming behind, _160 +Darkening the night, and outspeeding the wind-- + +A VOICE: +Which way comest thou? + +A VOICE: +Over Ilsenstein; +The owl was awake in the white moonshine; +I saw her at rest in her downy nest, +And she stared at me with her broad, bright eyne. _165 + +NOTE: +_165 eyne 1839, 2nd edition; eye 1822, 1824, 1839, 1st edition. + +VOICES: +And you may now as well take your course on to Hell, +Since you ride by so fast on the headlong blast. + +A VOICE: +She dropped poison upon me as I passed. +Here are the wounds-- + +CHORUS OF WITCHES: +Come away! come along! +The way is wide, the way is long, _170 +But what is that for a Bedlam throng? +Stick with the prong, and scratch with the broom. +The child in the cradle lies strangled at home, +And the mother is clapping her hands.-- + +SEMICHORUS OF WIZARDS 1: +We glide in +Like snails when the women are all away; _175 +And from a house once given over to sin +Woman has a thousand steps to stray. + +SEMICHORUS 2: +A thousand steps must a woman take, +Where a man but a single spring will make. + +VOICES ABOVE: +Come with us, come with us, from Felsensee. _180 + +NOTE: +_180 Felsensee 1862 ("Relics of Shelley", page 96); + Felumee 1822; Felunsee editions 1824, 1839. + +VOICES BELOW: +With what joy would we fly through the upper sky! +We are washed, we are 'nointed, stark naked are we; +But our toil and our pain are forever in vain. + +NOTE: +_183 are editions 1839; is 1822, 1824. + +BOTH CHORUSES: +The wind is still, the stars are fled, _185 +The melancholy moon is dead; +The magic notes, like spark on spark, +Drizzle, whistling through the dark. Come away! + +VOICES BELOW: +Stay, Oh, stay! + +VOICES ABOVE: +Out of the crannies of the rocks _190 +Who calls? + +VOICES BELOW: +Oh, let me join your flocks! +I, three hundred years have striven +To catch your skirt and mount to Heaven,-- +And still in vain. Oh, might I be +With company akin to me! _195 + +BOTH CHORUSES: +Some on a ram and some on a prong, +On poles and on broomsticks we flutter along; +Forlorn is the wight who can rise not to-night. + +A HALF-WITCH BELOW: +I have been tripping this many an hour: +Are the others already so far before? _200 +No quiet at home, and no peace abroad! +And less methinks is found by the road. + +CHORUS OF WITCHES: +Come onward, away! aroint thee, aroint! +A witch to be strong must anoint--anoint-- +Then every trough will be boat enough; _205 +With a rag for a sail we can sweep through the sky, +Who flies not to-night, when means he to fly? + +BOTH CHORUSES: +We cling to the skirt, and we strike on the ground; +Witch-legions thicken around and around; +Wizard-swarms cover the heath all over. _210 + +[THEY DESCEND.] + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +What thronging, dashing, raging, rustling; +What whispering, babbling, hissing, bustling; +What glimmering, spurting, stinking, burning, +As Heaven and Earth were overturning. +There is a true witch element about us; _215 +Take hold on me, or we shall be divided:-- +Where are you? + +NOTE: +_217 What! wanting, 1822. + +FAUST [FROM A DISTANCE]: +Here! + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +What! +I must exert my authority in the house. +Place for young Voland! pray make way, good people. +Take hold on me, doctor, an with one step _220 +Let us escape from this unpleasant crowd: +They are too mad for people of my sort. +Just there shines a peculiar kind of light-- +Something attracts me in those bushes. Come +This way: we shall slip down there in a minute. _225 + +FAUST: +Spirit of Contradiction! Well, lead on-- +'Twere a wise feat indeed to wander out +Into the Brocken upon May-day night, +And then to isolate oneself in scorn, +Disgusted with the humours of the time. _230 + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +See yonder, round a many-coloured flame +A merry club is huddled altogether: +Even with such little people as sit there +One would not be alone. + +FAUST: +Would that I were +Up yonder in the glow and whirling smoke, _235 +Where the blind million rush impetuously +To meet the evil ones; there might I solve +Many a riddle that torments me. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Yet +Many a riddle there is tied anew +Inextricably. Let the great world rage! _240 +We will stay here safe in the quiet dwellings. +'Tis an old custom. Men have ever built +Their own small world in the great world of all. +I see young witches naked there, and old ones +Wisely attired with greater decency. _245 +Be guided now by me, and you shall buy +A pound of pleasure with a dram of trouble. +I hear them tune their instruments--one must +Get used to this damned scraping. Come, I'll lead you +Among them; and what there you do and see, _250 +As a fresh compact 'twixt us two shall be. +How say you now? this space is wide enough-- +Look forth, you cannot see the end of it-- +An hundred bonfires burn in rows, and they +Who throng around them seem innumerable: _255 +Dancing and drinking, jabbering, making love, +And cooking, are at work. Now tell me, friend, +What is there better in the world than this? + +NOTE: +_254 An 1824; A editions 1839. + +FAUST: +In introducing us, do you assume +The character of Wizard or of Devil? _260 + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +In truth, I generally go about +In strict incognito; and yet one likes +To wear one's orders upon gala days. +I have no ribbon at my knee; but here +At home, the cloven foot is honourable. _265 +See you that snail there?--she comes creeping up, +And with her feeling eyes hath smelt out something. +I could not, if I would, mask myself here. +Come now, we'll go about from fire to fire: +I'll be the Pimp, and you shall be the Lover. _270 +[TO SOME OLD WOMEN, WHO ARE SITTING ROUND A HEAP OF GLIMMERING COALS.] +Old gentlewomen, what do you do out here? +You ought to be with the young rioters +Right in the thickest of the revelry-- +But every one is best content at home. + +NOTE: +_264 my wanting, 1822. + +General. +Who dare confide in right or a just claim? _275 +So much as I had done for them! and now-- +With women and the people 'tis the same, +Youth will stand foremost ever,--age may go +To the dark grave unhonoured. + +NOTE: +_275 right editions 1824, 1839; night 1822. + +MINISTER: +Nowadays +People assert their rights: they go too far; _280 +But as for me, the good old times I praise; +Then we were all in all--'twas something worth +One's while to be in place and wear a star; +That was indeed the golden age on earth. + +PARVENU: +We too are active, and we did and do _285 +What we ought not, perhaps; and yet we now +Will seize, whilst all things are whirled round and round, +A spoke of Fortune's wheel, and keep our ground. + +NOTE: +_285 Parvenu: (Note) A sort of fundholder 1822, editions 1824, 1839. + +AUTHOR: +Who now can taste a treatise of deep sense +And ponderous volume? 'tis impertinence _290 +To write what none will read, therefore will I +To please the young and thoughtless people try. + +NOTE: +_290 ponderous 1824; wonderous 1822. + +MEPHISTOPHELES [WHO AT ONCE APPEARS TO HAVE GROWN VERY OLD]: +I +find the people ripe for the last day, +Since I last came up to the wizard mountain; +And as my little cask runs turbid now, _295 +So is the world drained to the dregs. + +PEDLAR-WITCH: +Look here, +Gentlemen; do not hurry on so fast; +And lose the chance of a good pennyworth. +I have a pack full of the choicest wares +Of every sort, and yet in all my bundle _300 +Is nothing like what may be found on earth; +Nothing that in a moment will make rich +Men and the world with fine malicious mischief-- +There is no dagger drunk with blood; no bowl +From which consuming poison may be drained _305 +By innocent and healthy lips; no jewel, +The price of an abandoned maiden's shame; +No sword which cuts the bond it cannot loose, +Or stabs the wearer's enemy in the back; +No-- + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Gossip, you know little of these times. _310 +What has been, has been; what is done, is past, +They shape themselves into the innovations +They breed, and innovation drags us with it. +The torrent of the crowd sweeps over us: +You think to impel, and are yourself impelled. _315 + +FAUST: +What is that yonder? + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Mark her well. It is +Lilith. + +FAUST: +Who? + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Lilith, the first wife of Adam. +Beware of her fair hair, for she excels +All women in the magic of her locks; +And when she winds them round a young man's neck, _320 +She will not ever set him free again. + +FAUST: +There sit a girl and an old woman--they +Seem to be tired with pleasure and with play. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +There is no rest to-night for any one: +When one dance ends another is begun; _325 +Come, let us to it. We shall have rare fun. + +[FAUST DANCES AND SINGS WITH A GIRL, AND +MEPHISTOPHELES WITH AN OLD WOMAN.] + +FAUST: +I had once a lovely dream +In which I saw an apple-tree, +Where two fair apples with their gleam +To climb and taste attracted me. _330 + +NOTES: +_327-_334 So Boscombe manuscript ("Westminster Review", July, 1870); + wanting, 1822, 1824, 1839. + +THE GIRL: +She with apples you desired +From Paradise came long ago: +With you I feel that if required, +Such still within my garden grow. + +... + +PROCTO-PHANTASMIST: +What is this cursed multitude about? _335 +Have we not long since proved to demonstration +That ghosts move not on ordinary feet? +But these are dancing just like men and women. + +NOTE: +_335 Procto-Phantasmist]Brocto-Phantasmist editions 1824, 1839. + +THE GIRL: +What does he want then at our ball? + +FAUST: +Oh! he +Is far above us all in his conceit: _340 +Whilst we enjoy, he reasons of enjoyment; +And any step which in our dance we tread, +If it be left out of his reckoning, +Is not to be considered as a step. +There are few things that scandalize him not: _345 +And when you whirl round in the circle now, +As he went round the wheel in his old mill, +He says that you go wrong in all respects, +Especially if you congratulate him +Upon the strength of the resemblance. + +PROCTO-PHANTASMIST: +Fly! _350 +Vanish! Unheard-of impudence! What, still there! +In this enlightened age too, since you have been +Proved not to exist!--But this infernal brood +Will hear no reason and endure no rule. +Are we so wise, and is the POND still haunted? _355 +How long have I been sweeping out this rubbish +Of superstition, and the world will not +Come clean with all my pains!--it is a case +Unheard of! + +NOTE: +_355 pond wanting in Boscombe manuscript. + +THE GIRL: +Then leave off teasing us so. + +PROCTO-PHANTASMIST: +I tell you, spirits, to your faces now, _360 +That I should not regret this despotism +Of spirits, but that mine can wield it not. +To-night I shall make poor work of it, +Yet I will take a round with you, and hope +Before my last step in the living dance _365 +To beat the poet and the devil together. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +At last he will sit down in some foul puddle; +That is his way of solacing himself; +Until some leech, diverted with his gravity, +Cures him of spirits and the spirit together. _370 +[TO FAUST, WHO HAS SECEDED FROM THE DANCE.] +Why do you let that fair girl pass from you, +Who sung so sweetly to you in the dance? + +FAUST: +A red mouse in the middle of her singing +Sprung from her mouth. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +That was all right, my friend: +Be it enough that the mouse was not gray. _375 +Do not disturb your hour of happiness +With close consideration of such trifles. + +FAUST: +Then saw I-- + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +What? + +FAUST: +Seest thou not a pale, +Fair girl, standing alone, far, far away? +She drags herself now forward with slow steps, _380 +And seems as if she moved with shackled feet: +I cannot overcome the thought that she +Is like poor Margaret. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Let it be--pass on-- +No good can come of it--it is not well +To meet it--it is an enchanted phantom, _385 +A lifeless idol; with its numbing look, +It freezes up the blood of man; and they +Who meet its ghastly stare are turned to stone, +Like those who saw Medusa. + +FAUST: +Oh, too true! +Her eyes are like the eyes of a fresh corpse _390 +Which no beloved hand has closed, alas! +That is the breast which Margaret yielded to me-- +Those are the lovely limbs which I enjoyed! + +NOTE: +_392 breast editions 1839; heart 1822, 1824. + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +It is all magic, poor deluded fool! +She looks to every one like his first love. _395 + +FAUST: +Oh, what delight! what woe! I cannot turn +My looks from her sweet piteous countenance. +How strangely does a single blood-red line, +Not broader than the sharp edge of a knife, +Adorn her lovely neck! + +MEPHISTOPHELES: +Ay, she can carry _400 +Her head under her arm upon occasion; +Perseus has cut it off for her. These pleasures +End in delusion.--Gain this rising ground, +It is as airy here as in a... +And if I am not mightily deceived, _405 +I see a theatre.--What may this mean? + +ATTENDANT: +Quite a new piece, the last of seven, for 'tis +The custom now to represent that number. +'Tis written by a Dilettante, and +The actors who perform are Dilettanti; _410 +Excuse me, gentlemen; but I must vanish. +I am a Dilettante curtain-lifter. + +*** + + +JUVENILIA. + + +QUEEN MAB. + +A PHILOSOPHICAL POEM, WITH NOTES. + +[An edition (250 copies) of "Queen Mab" was printed at London in the +summer of 1813 by Shelley himself, whose name, as author and printer, +appears on the title-page (see "Bibliographical List"). Of this edition +about seventy copies were privately distributed. Sections 1, 2, 8, and 9 +were afterwards rehandled, and the intermediate sections here and there +revised and altered; and of this new text sections 1 and 2 were +published by Shelley in the "Alastor" volume of 1816, under the title, +"The Daemon of the World". The remainder lay unpublished till 1876, when +sections 8 and 9 were printed by Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B., from a +printed copy of "Queen Mab" with Shelley's manuscript corrections. See +"The Shelley Library", pages 36-44, for a description of this copy, +which is in Mr. Forman's possession. Sources of the text are (1) the +editio princeps of 1813; (2) text (with some omissions) in the "Poetical +Works" of 1839, edited by Mrs. Shelley; (3) text (one line only wanting) +in the 2nd edition of the "Poetical Works", 1839 (same editor). + +"Queen Mab" was probably written during the year 1812--it is first heard +of at Lynmouth, August 18, 1812 ("Shelley Memorials", page 39)--but the +text may be assumed to include earlier material.] + +ECRASEZ L'INFAME!--Correspondance de Voltaire. + +Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante +Trita solo; juvat integros accedere fonteis; +Atque haurire: juvatque novos decerpere flores. + +... + +Unde prius nulli velarint tempora musae. +Primum quod magnis doceo de rebus; et arctis +Religionum animos nodis exsolvere pergo.--Lucret. lib. 4. + +Dos pon sto, kai kosmon kineso.--Archimedes. + + +TO HARRIET *****. + +Whose is the love that gleaming through the world, +Wards off the poisonous arrow of its scorn? +Whose is the warm and partial praise, +Virtue's most sweet reward? + +Beneath whose looks did my reviving soul _5 +Riper in truth and virtuous daring grow? +Whose eyes have I gazed fondly on, +And loved mankind the more? + +HARRIET! on thine:--thou wert my purer mind; +Thou wert the inspiration of my song; _10 +Thine are these early wilding flowers, +Though garlanded by me. + +Then press into thy breast this pledge of love; +And know, though time may change and years may roll, +Each floweret gathered in my heart _15 +It consecrates to thine. + + +QUEEN MAB. + +1. + +How wonderful is Death, +Death and his brother Sleep! +One, pale as yonder waning moon +With lips of lurid blue; +The other, rosy as the morn _5 +When throned on ocean's wave +It blushes o'er the world: +Yet both so passing wonderful! + +Hath then the gloomy Power +Whose reign is in the tainted sepulchres _10 +Seized on her sinless soul? +Must then that peerless form +Which love and admiration cannot view +Without a beating heart, those azure veins +Which steal like streams along a field of snow, _15 +That lovely outline, which is fair +As breathing marble, perish? +Must putrefaction's breath +Leave nothing of this heavenly sight +But loathsomeness and ruin? _20 +Spare nothing but a gloomy theme, +On which the lightest heart might moralize? +Or is it only a sweet slumber +Stealing o'er sensation, +Which the breath of roseate morning _25 +Chaseth into darkness? +Will Ianthe wake again, +And give that faithful bosom joy +Whose sleepless spirit waits to catch +Light, life and rapture from her smile? _30 + +Yes! she will wake again, +Although her glowing limbs are motionless, +And silent those sweet lips, +Once breathing eloquence, +That might have soothed a tiger's rage, _35 +Or thawed the cold heart of a conqueror. +Her dewy eyes are closed, +And on their lids, whose texture fine +Scarce hides the dark blue orbs beneath, +The baby Sleep is pillowed: _40 +Her golden tresses shade +The bosom's stainless pride, +Curling like tendrils of the parasite +Around a marble column. + +Hark! whence that rushing sound? _45 +'Tis like the wondrous strain +That round a lonely ruin swells, +Which, wandering on the echoing shore, +The enthusiast hears at evening: +'Tis softer than the west wind's sigh; _50 +'Tis wilder than the unmeasured notes +Of that strange lyre whose strings +The genii of the breezes sweep: +Those lines of rainbow light +Are like the moonbeams when they fall _55 +Through some cathedral window, but the tints +Are such as may not find +Comparison on earth. + +Behold the chariot of the Fairy Queen! +Celestial coursers paw the unyielding air; _60 +Their filmy pennons at her word they furl, +And stop obedient to the reins of light: +These the Queen of Spells drew in, +She spread a charm around the spot, +And leaning graceful from the aethereal car, _65 +Long did she gaze, and silently, +Upon the slumbering maid. + +Oh! not the visioned poet in his dreams, +When silvery clouds float through the 'wildered brain, +When every sight of lovely, wild and grand _70 +Astonishes, enraptures, elevates, +When fancy at a glance combines +The wondrous and the beautiful,-- +So bright, so fair, so wild a shape +Hath ever yet beheld, _75 +As that which reined the coursers of the air, +And poured the magic of her gaze +Upon the maiden's sleep. + +The broad and yellow moon +Shone dimly through her form-- _80 +That form of faultless symmetry; +The pearly and pellucid car +Moved not the moonlight's line: +'Twas not an earthly pageant: +Those who had looked upon the sight, _85 +Passing all human glory, +Saw not the yellow moon, +Saw not the mortal scene, +Heard not the night-wind's rush, +Heard not an earthly sound, _90 +Saw but the fairy pageant, +Heard but the heavenly strains +That filled the lonely dwelling. + +The Fairy's frame was slight, yon fibrous cloud, +That catches but the palest tinge of even, _95 +And which the straining eye can hardly seize +When melting into eastern twilight's shadow, +Were scarce so thin, so slight; but the fair star +That gems the glittering coronet of morn, +Sheds not a light so mild, so powerful, _100 +As that which, bursting from the Fairy's form, +Spread a purpureal halo round the scene, +Yet with an undulating motion, +Swayed to her outline gracefully. + +From her celestial car _105 +The Fairy Queen descended, +And thrice she waved her wand +Circled with wreaths of amaranth: +Her thin and misty form +Moved with the moving air, _110 +And the clear silver tones, +As thus she spoke, were such +As are unheard by all but gifted ear. + +FAIRY: +'Stars! your balmiest influence shed! +Elements! your wrath suspend! _115 +Sleep, Ocean, in the rocky bounds +That circle thy domain! +Let not a breath be seen to stir +Around yon grass-grown ruin's height, +Let even the restless gossamer _120 +Sleep on the moveless air! +Soul of Ianthe! thou, +Judged alone worthy of the envied boon, +That waits the good and the sincere; that waits +Those who have struggled, and with resolute will _125 +Vanquished earth's pride and meanness, burst the chains, +The icy chains of custom, and have shone +The day-stars of their age;--Soul of Ianthe! +Awake! arise!' + +Sudden arose _130 +Ianthe's Soul; it stood +All beautiful in naked purity, +The perfect semblance of its bodily frame. +Instinct with inexpressible beauty and grace, +Each stain of earthliness _135 +Had passed away, it reassumed +Its native dignity, and stood +Immortal amid ruin. + +Upon the couch the body lay +Wrapped in the depth of slumber: _140 +Its features were fixed and meaningless, +Yet animal life was there, +And every organ yet performed +Its natural functions: 'twas a sight +Of wonder to behold the body and soul. _145 +The self-same lineaments, the same +Marks of identity were there: +Yet, oh, how different! One aspires to Heaven, +Pants for its sempiternal heritage, +And ever-changing, ever-rising still, _150 +Wantons in endless being. +The other, for a time the unwilling sport +Of circumstance and passion, struggles on; +Fleets through its sad duration rapidly: +Then, like an useless and worn-out machine, _155 +Rots, perishes, and passes. + +FAIRY: +'Spirit! who hast dived so deep; +Spirit! who hast soared so high; +Thou the fearless, thou the mild, +Accept the boon thy worth hath earned, _160 +Ascend the car with me.' + +SPIRIT: +'Do I dream? Is this new feeling +But a visioned ghost of slumber? +If indeed I am a soul, +A free, a disembodied soul, _165 +Speak again to me.' + +FAIRY: +'I am the Fairy MAB: to me 'tis given +The wonders of the human world to keep: +The secrets of the immeasurable past, +In the unfailing consciences of men, _170 +Those stern, unflattering chroniclers, I find: +The future, from the causes which arise +In each event, I gather: not the sting +Which retributive memory implants +In the hard bosom of the selfish man; _175 +Nor that ecstatic and exulting throb +Which virtue's votary feels when he sums up +The thoughts and actions of a well-spent day, +Are unforeseen, unregistered by me: +And it is yet permitted me, to rend _180 +The veil of mortal frailty, that the spirit, +Clothed in its changeless purity, may know +How soonest to accomplish the great end +For which it hath its being, and may taste +That peace, which in the end all life will share. _185 +This is the meed of virtue; happy Soul, +Ascend the car with me!' + +The chains of earth's immurement +Fell from Ianthe's spirit; +They shrank and brake like bandages of straw _190 +Beneath a wakened giant's strength. +She knew her glorious change, +And felt in apprehension uncontrolled +New raptures opening round: +Each day-dream of her mortal life, _195 +Each frenzied vision of the slumbers +That closed each well-spent day, +Seemed now to meet reality. + +The Fairy and the Soul proceeded; +The silver clouds disparted; _200 +And as the car of magic they ascended, +Again the speechless music swelled, +Again the coursers of the air +Unfurled their azure pennons, and the Queen +Shaking the beamy reins _205 +Bade them pursue their way. + +The magic car moved on. +The night was fair, and countless stars +Studded Heaven's dark blue vault,-- +Just o'er the eastern wave _210 +Peeped the first faint smile of morn:-- +The magic car moved on-- +From the celestial hoofs +The atmosphere in flaming sparkles flew, +And where the burning wheels _215 +Eddied above the mountain's loftiest peak, +Was traced a line of lightning. +Now it flew far above a rock, +The utmost verge of earth, +The rival of the Andes, whose dark brow _220 +Lowered o'er the silver sea. + +Far, far below the chariot's path, +Calm as a slumbering babe, +Tremendous Ocean lay. +The mirror of its stillness showed _225 +The pale and waning stars, +The chariot's fiery track, +And the gray light of morn +Tinging those fleecy clouds +That canopied the dawn. _230 +Seemed it, that the chariot's way +Lay through the midst of an immense concave, +Radiant with million constellations, tinged +With shades of infinite colour, +And semicircled with a belt _235 +Flashing incessant meteors. + +The magic car moved on. +As they approached their goal +The coursers seemed to gather speed; +The sea no longer was distinguished; earth _240 +Appeared a vast and shadowy sphere; +The sun's unclouded orb +Rolled through the black concave; +Its rays of rapid light +Parted around the chariot's swifter course, _245 +And fell, like ocean's feathery spray +Dashed from the boiling surge +Before a vessel's prow. + +The magic car moved on. +Earth's distant orb appeared _250 +The smallest light that twinkles in the heaven; +Whilst round the chariot's way +Innumerable systems rolled, +And countless spheres diffused +An ever-varying glory. _255 +It was a sight of wonder: some +Were horned like the crescent moon; +Some shed a mild and silver beam +Like Hesperus o'er the western sea; +Some dashed athwart with trains of flame, _260 +Like worlds to death and ruin driven; +Some shone like suns, and, as the chariot passed, +Eclipsed all other light. + +Spirit of Nature! here! +In this interminable wilderness _265 +Of worlds, at whose immensity +Even soaring fancy staggers, +Here is thy fitting temple. +Yet not the lightest leaf +That quivers to the passing breeze _270 +Is less instinct with thee: +Yet not the meanest worm +That lurks in graves and fattens on the dead +Less shares thy eternal breath. +Spirit of Nature! thou! _275 +Imperishable as this scene, +Here is thy fitting temple. + +2. + +If solitude hath ever led thy steps +To the wild Ocean's echoing shore, +And thou hast lingered there, +Until the sun's broad orb +Seemed resting on the burnished wave, _5 +Thou must have marked the lines +Of purple gold, that motionless +Hung o'er the sinking sphere: +Thou must have marked the billowy clouds +Edged with intolerable radiancy _10 +Towering like rocks of jet +Crowned with a diamond wreath. +And yet there is a moment, +When the sun's highest point +Peeps like a star o'er Ocean's western edge, _15 +When those far clouds of feathery gold, +Shaded with deepest purple, gleam +Like islands on a dark blue sea; +Then has thy fancy soared above the earth, +And furled its wearied wing _20 +Within the Fairy's fane. + +Yet not the golden islands +Gleaming in yon flood of light, +Nor the feathery curtains +Stretching o'er the sun's bright couch, _25 +Nor the burnished Ocean waves +Paving that gorgeous dome, +So fair, so wonderful a sight +As Mab's aethereal palace could afford. +Yet likest evening's vault, that faery Hall! _30 +As Heaven, low resting on the wave,it spread +Its floors of flashing light, +Its vast and azure dome, +Its fertile golden islands +Floating on a silver sea; _35 +Whilst suns their mingling beamings darted +Through clouds of circumambient darkness, +And pearly battlements around +Looked o'er the immense of Heaven. + +The magic car no longer moved. _40 +The Fairy and the Spirit +Entered the Hall of Spells: +Those golden clouds +That rolled in glittering billows +Beneath the azure canopy _45 +With the aethereal footsteps trembled not: +The light and crimson mists, +Floating to strains of thrilling melody +Through that unearthly dwelling, +Yielded to every movement of the will. _50 +Upon their passive swell the Spirit leaned, +And, for the varied bliss that pressed around, +Used not the glorious privilege +Of virtue and of wisdom. + +'Spirit!' the Fairy said, _55 +And pointed to the gorgeous dome, +'This is a wondrous sight +And mocks all human grandeur; +But, were it virtue's only meed, to dwell +In a celestial palace, all resigned _60 +To pleasurable impulses, immured +Within the prison of itself, the will +Of changeless Nature would be unfulfilled. +Learn to make others happy. Spirit, come! +This is thine high reward:--the past shall rise; _65 +Thou shalt behold the present; I will teach +The secrets of the future.' + +The Fairy and the Spirit +Approached the overhanging battlement.-- +Below lay stretched the universe! _70 +There, far as the remotest line +That bounds imagination's flight, +Countless and unending orbs +In mazy motion intermingled, +Yet still fulfilled immutably _75 +Eternal Nature's law. +Above, below, around, +The circling systems formed +A wilderness of harmony; +Each with undeviating aim, _80 +In eloquent silence, through the depths of space +Pursued its wondrous way. + +There was a little light +That twinkled in the misty distance: +None but a spirit's eye _85 +Might ken that rolling orb; +None but a spirit's eye, +And in no other place +But that celestial dwelling, might behold +Each action of this earth's inhabitants. _90 +But matter, space and time +In those aereal mansions cease to act; +And all-prevailing wisdom, when it reaps +The harvest of its excellence, o'er-bounds +Those obstacles, of which an earthly soul _95 +Fears to attempt the conquest. + +The Fairy pointed to the earth. +The Spirit's intellectual eye +Its kindred beings recognized. +The thronging thousands, to a passing view, _100 +Seemed like an ant-hill's citizens. +How wonderful! that even +The passions, prejudices, interests, +That sway the meanest being, the weak touch +That moves the finest nerve, _105 +And in one human brain +Causes the faintest thought, becomes a link +In the great chain of Nature. + +'Behold,' the Fairy cried, +'Palmyra's ruined palaces!-- _110 +Behold! where grandeur frowned; +Behold! where pleasure smiled; +What now remains?--the memory +Of senselessness and shame-- +What is immortal there? _115 +Nothing--it stands to tell +A melancholy tale, to give +An awful warning: soon +Oblivion will steal silently +The remnant of its fame. _120 +Monarchs and conquerors there +Proud o'er prostrate millions trod-- +The earthquakes of the human race; +Like them, forgotten when the ruin +That marks their shock is past. _125 + +'Beside the eternal Nile, +The Pyramids have risen. +Nile shall pursue his changeless way: +Those Pyramids shall fall; +Yea! not a stone shall stand to tell _130 +The spot whereon they stood! +Their very site shall be forgotten, +As is their builder's name! + +'Behold yon sterile spot; +Where now the wandering Arab's tent _135 +Flaps in the desert-blast. +There once old Salem's haughty fane +Reared high to Heaven its thousand golden domes, +And in the blushing face of day +Exposed its shameful glory. _140 +Oh! many a widow, many an orphan cursed +The building of that fane; and many a father; +Worn out with toil and slavery, implored +The poor man's God to sweep it from the earth, +And spare his children the detested task _145 +Of piling stone on stone, and poisoning +The choicest days of life, +To soothe a dotard's vanity. +There an inhuman and uncultured race +Howled hideous praises to their Demon-God; _150 +They rushed to war, tore from the mother's womb +The unborn child,--old age and infancy +Promiscuous perished; their victorious arms +Left not a soul to breathe. Oh! they were fiends: +But what was he who taught them that the God _155 +Of nature and benevolence hath given +A special sanction to the trade of blood? +His name and theirs are fading, and the tales +Of this barbarian nation, which imposture +Recites till terror credits, are pursuing _160 +Itself into forgetfulness. + +'Where Athens, Rome, and Sparta stood, +There is a moral desert now: +The mean and miserable huts, +The yet more wretched palaces, _165 +Contrasted with those ancient fanes, +Now crumbling to oblivion; +The long and lonely colonnades, +Through which the ghost of Freedom stalks, +Seem like a well-known tune, _170 +Which in some dear scene we have loved to hear, +Remembered now in sadness. +But, oh! how much more changed, +How gloomier is the contrast +Of human nature there! _175 +Where Socrates expired, a tyrant's slave, +A coward and a fool, spreads death around-- +Then, shuddering, meets his own. +Where Cicero and Antoninus lived, +A cowled and hypocritical monk _180 +Prays, curses and deceives. + +'Spirit, ten thousand years +Have scarcely passed away, +Since, in the waste where now the savage drinks +His enemy's blood, and aping Europe's sons, _185 +Wakes the unholy song of war, Arose a stately city, +Metropolis of the western continent: +There, now, the mossy column-stone, +Indented by Time's unrelaxing grasp, _190 +Which once appeared to brave +All, save its country's ruin; +There the wide forest scene, +Rude in the uncultivated loveliness +Of gardens long run wild, _195 +Seems, to the unwilling sojourner, whose steps +Chance in that desert has delayed, +Thus to have stood since earth was what it is. +Yet once it was the busiest haunt, +Whither, as to a common centre, flocked _200 +Strangers, and ships, and merchandise: +Once peace and freedom blessed +The cultivated plain: +But wealth, that curse of man, +Blighted the bud of its prosperity: _205 +Virtue and wisdom, truth and liberty, +Fled, to return not, until man shall know +That they alone can give the bliss +Worthy a soul that claims +Its kindred with eternity. _210 + +'There's not one atom of yon earth +But once was living man; +Nor the minutest drop of rain, +That hangeth in its thinnest cloud, +But flowed in human veins: _215 +And from the burning plains +Where Libyan monsters yell, +From the most gloomy glens +Of Greenland's sunless clime, +To where the golden fields _220 +Of fertile England spread +Their harvest to the day, +Thou canst not find one spot +Whereon no city stood. + +'How strange is human pride! _225 +I tell thee that those living things, +To whom the fragile blade of grass, +That springeth in the morn +And perisheth ere noon, +Is an unbounded world; _230 +I tell thee that those viewless beings, +Whose mansion is the smallest particle +Of the impassive atmosphere, +Think, feel and live like man; +That their affections and antipathies, _235 +Like his, produce the laws +Ruling their moral state; +And the minutest throb +That through their frame diffuses +The slightest, faintest motion, _240 +Is fixed and indispensable +As the majestic laws +That rule yon rolling orbs.' + +The Fairy paused. The Spirit, +In ecstasy of admiration, felt _245 +All knowledge of the past revived; the events +Of old and wondrous times, +Which dim tradition interruptedly +Teaches the credulous vulgar, were unfolded +In just perspective to the view; _250 +Yet dim from their infinitude. +The Spirit seemed to stand +High on an isolated pinnacle; +The flood of ages combating below, +The depth of the unbounded universe _255 +Above, and all around +Nature's unchanging harmony. + +3. + +'Fairy!' the Spirit said, +And on the Queen of Spells +Fixed her aethereal eyes, +'I thank thee. Thou hast given +A boon which I will not resign, and taught _5 +A lesson not to be unlearned. I know +The past, and thence I will essay to glean +A warning for the future, so that man +May profit by his errors, and derive +Experience from his folly: _10 +For, when the power of imparting joy +Is equal to the will, the human soul +Requires no other Heaven.' + +MAB: +'Turn thee, surpassing Spirit! +Much yet remains unscanned. _15 +Thou knowest how great is man, +Thou knowest his imbecility: +Yet learn thou what he is: +Yet learn the lofty destiny +Which restless time prepares _20 +For every living soul. + +'Behold a gorgeous palace, that, amid +Yon populous city rears its thousand towers +And seems itself a city. Gloomy troops +Of sentinels, in stern and silent ranks, _25 +Encompass it around: the dweller there +Cannot be free and happy; hearest thou not +The curses of the fatherless, the groans +Of those who have no friend? He passes on: +The King, the wearer of a gilded chain _30 +That binds his soul to abjectness, the fool +Whom courtiers nickname monarch, whilst a slave +Even to the basest appetites--that man +Heeds not the shriek of penury; he smiles +At the deep curses which the destitute _35 +Mutter in secret, and a sullen joy +Pervades his bloodless heart when thousands groan +But for those morsels which his wantonness +Wastes in unjoyous revelry, to save +All that they love from famine: when he hears _40 +The tale of horror, to some ready-made face +Of hypocritical assent he turns, +Smothering the glow of shame, that, spite of him, +Flushes his bloated cheek. +Now to the meal +Of silence, grandeur, and excess, he drags _45 +His palled unwilling appetite. If gold, +Gleaming around, and numerous viands culled +From every clime, could force the loathing sense +To overcome satiety,--if wealth +The spring it draws from poisons not,--or vice, _50 +Unfeeling, stubborn vice, converteth not +Its food to deadliest venom; then that king +Is happy; and the peasant who fulfils +His unforced task, when he returns at even, +And by the blazing faggot meets again _55 +Her welcome for whom all his toil is sped, +Tastes not a sweeter meal. +Behold him now +Stretched on the gorgeous couch; his fevered brain +Reels dizzily awhile: but ah! too soon +The slumber of intemperance subsides, _60 +And conscience, that undying serpent, calls +Her venomous brood to their nocturnal task. +Listen! he speaks! oh! mark that frenzied eye-- +Oh! mark that deadly visage.' + +KING: +'No cessation! +Oh! must this last for ever? Awful Death, _65 +I wish, yet fear to clasp thee!--Not one moment +Of dreamless sleep! O dear and blessed peace! +Why dost thou shroud thy vestal purity +In penury and dungeons? wherefore lurkest +With danger, death, and solitude; yet shunn'st _70 +The palace I have built thee? Sacred peace! +Oh visit me but once, but pitying shed +One drop of balm upon my withered soul.' + +THE FAIRY: +'Vain man! that palace is the virtuous heart, +And Peace defileth not her snowy robes _75 +In such a shed as thine. Hark! yet he mutters; +His slumbers are but varied agonies, +They prey like scorpions on the springs of life. +There needeth not the hell that bigots frame +To punish those who err: earth in itself _80 +Contains at once the evil and the cure; +And all-sufficing Nature can chastise +Those who transgress her law,--she only knows +How justly to proportion to the fault +The punishment it merits. +Is it strange _85 +That this poor wretch should pride him in his woe? +Take pleasure in his abjectness, and hug +The scorpion that consumes him? Is it strange +That, placed on a conspicuous throne of thorns, +Grasping an iron sceptre, and immured _90 +Within a splendid prison, whose stern bounds +Shut him from all that's good or dear on earth, +His soul asserts not its humanity? +That man's mild nature rises not in war +Against a king's employ? No--'tis not strange. _95 +He, like the vulgar, thinks, feels, acts and lives +Just as his father did; the unconquered powers +Of precedent and custom interpose +Between a KING and virtue. Stranger yet, +To those who know not Nature, nor deduce _100 +The future from the present, it may seem, +That not one slave, who suffers from the crimes +Of this unnatural being; not one wretch, +Whose children famish, and whose nuptial bed +Is earth's unpitying bosom, rears an arm +To dash him from his throne! _105 +Those gilded flies +That, basking in the sunshine of a court, +Fatten on its corruption!--what are they? +--The drones of the community; they feed +On the mechanic's labour: the starved hind _110 +For them compels the stubborn glebe to yield +Its unshared harvests; and yon squalid form, +Leaner than fleshless misery, that wastes +A sunless life in the unwholesome mine, +Drags out in labour a protracted death, _115 +To glut their grandeur; many faint with toil, +That few may know the cares and woe of sloth. + +'Whence, think'st thou, kings and parasites arose? +Whence that unnatural line of drones, who heap +Toil and unvanquishable penury _120 +On those who build their palaces, and bring +Their daily bread?--From vice, black loathsome vice; +From rapine, madness, treachery, and wrong; +From all that 'genders misery, and makes +Of earth this thorny wilderness; from lust, _125 +Revenge, and murder...And when Reason's voice, +Loud as the voice of Nature, shall have waked +The nations; and mankind perceive that vice +Is discord, war, and misery; that virtue +Is peace, and happiness and harmony; _130 +When man's maturer nature shall disdain +The playthings of its childhood;--kingly glare +Will lose its power to dazzle; its authority +Will silently pass by; the gorgeous throne +Shall stand unnoticed in the regal hall, _135 +Fast falling to decay; whilst falsehood's trade +Shall be as hateful and unprofitable +As that of truth is now. +Where is the fame +Which the vainglorious mighty of the earth +Seek to eternize? Oh! the faintest sound _140 +From Time's light footfall, the minutest wave +That swells the flood of ages, whelms in nothing +The unsubstantial bubble. Ay! today +Stern is the tyrant's mandate, red the gaze +That flashes desolation, strong the arm _145 +That scatters multitudes. To-morrow comes! +That mandate is a thunder-peal that died +In ages past; that gaze, a transient flash +On which the midnight closed, and on that arm +The worm has made his meal. +The virtuous man, _150 +Who, great in his humility, as kings +Are little in their grandeur; he who leads +Invincibly a life of resolute good, +And stands amid the silent dungeon depths +More free and fearless than the trembling judge, _155 +Who, clothed in venal power, vainly strove +To bind the impassive spirit;--when he falls, +His mild eye beams benevolence no more: +Withered the hand outstretched but to relieve; +Sunk Reason's simple eloquence, that rolled _160 +But to appal the guilty. Yes! the grave +Hath quenched that eye, and Death's relentless frost +Withered that arm: but the unfading fame +Which Virtue hangs upon its votary's tomb; +The deathless memory of that man, whom kings _165 +Call to their mind and tremble; the remembrance +With which the happy spirit contemplates +Its well-spent pilgrimage on earth, +Shall never pass away. + +'Nature rejects the monarch, not the man; _170 +The subject, not the citizen: for kings +And subjects, mutual foes, forever play +A losing game into each other's hands, +Whose stakes are vice and misery. The man +Of virtuous soul commands not, nor obeys. _175 +Power, like a desolating pestilence, +Pollutes whate'er it touches; and obedience, +Bane of all genius, virtue, freedom, truth, +Makes slaves of men, and, of the human frame, +A mechanized automaton. +When Nero, _180 +High over flaming Rome, with savage joy +Lowered like a fiend, drank with enraptured ear +The shrieks of agonizing death, beheld +The frightful desolation spread, and felt +A new-created sense within his soul _185 +Thrill to the sight, and vibrate to the sound; +Think'st thou his grandeur had not overcome +The force of human kindness? and, when Rome, +With one stern blow, hurled not the tyrant down, +Crushed not the arm red with her dearest blood _190 +Had not submissive abjectness destroyed +Nature's suggestions? +Look on yonder earth: +The golden harvests spring; the unfailing sun +Sheds light and life; the fruits, the flowers, the trees, +Arise in due succession; all things speak _195 +Peace, harmony, and love. The universe, +In Nature's silent eloquence, declares +That all fulfil the works of love and joy,-- +All but the outcast, Man. He fabricates +The sword which stabs his peace; he cherisheth _200 +The snakes that gnaw his heart; he raiseth up +The tyrant, whose delight is in his woe, +Whose sport is in his agony. Yon sun, +Lights it the great alone? Yon silver beams, +Sleep they less sweetly on the cottage thatch _205 +Than on the dome of kings? Is mother Earth +A step-dame to her numerous sons, who earn +Her unshared gifts with unremitting toil; +A mother only to those puling babes +Who, nursed in ease and luxury, make men _210 +The playthings of their babyhood, and mar, +In self-important childishness, that peace +Which men alone appreciate? + +'Spirit of Nature! no. +The pure diffusion of thy essence throbs _215 +Alike in every human heart. +Thou, aye, erectest there +Thy throne of power unappealable: +Thou art the judge beneath whose nod +Man's brief and frail authority _220 +Is powerless as the wind +That passeth idly by. +Thine the tribunal which surpasseth +The show of human justice, +As God surpasses man. _225 + +'Spirit of Nature! thou +Life of interminable multitudes; +Soul of those mighty spheres +Whose changeless paths through +Heaven's deep silence lie; +Soul of that smallest being, _230 +The dwelling of whose life +Is one faint April sun-gleam;-- +Man, like these passive things, +Thy will unconsciously fulfilleth: +Like theirs, his age of endless peace, _235 +Which time is fast maturing, +Will swiftly, surely come; +And the unbounded frame, which thou pervadest, +Will be without a flaw +Marring its perfect symmetry. _240 + +4. + +'How beautiful this night! the balmiest sigh, +Which vernal zephyrs breathe in evening's ear, +Were discord to the speaking quietude +That wraps this moveless scene. Heaven's ebon vault, +Studded with stars unutterably bright, _5 +Through which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls, +Seems like a canopy which love had spread +To curtain her sleeping world. Yon gentle hills, +Robed in a garment of untrodden snow; +Yon darksome rocks, whence icicles depend, _10 +So stainless, that their white and glittering spires +Tinge not the moon's pure beam; yon castled steep, +Whose banner hangeth o'er the time-worn tower +So idly, that rapt fancy deemeth it +A metaphor of peace;--all form a scene _15 +Where musing Solitude might love to lift +Her soul above this sphere of earthliness; +Where Silence undisturbed might watch alone, +So cold, so bright, so still. +The orb of day, +In southern climes, o'er ocean's waveless field _20 +Sinks sweetly smiling: not the faintest breath +Steals o'er the unruffled deep; the clouds of eve +Reflect unmoved the lingering beam of day; +And vesper's image on the western main +Is beautifully still. To-morrow comes: _25 +Cloud upon cloud, in dark and deepening mass, +Roll o'er the blackened waters; the deep roar +Of distant thunder mutters awfully; +Tempest unfolds its pinion o'er the gloom +That shrouds the boiling surge; the pitiless fiend, _30 +With all his winds and lightnings, tracks his prey; +The torn deep yawns,--the vessel finds a grave +Beneath its jagged gulf. +Ah! whence yon glare +That fires the arch of Heaven!--that dark red smoke +Blotting the silver moon? The stars are quenched _35 +In darkness, and the pure and spangling snow +Gleams faintly through the gloom that gathers round! +Hark to that roar, whose swift and deaf'ning peals +In countless echoes through the mountains ring, +Startling pale Midnight on her starry throne! _40 +Now swells the intermingling din; the jar +Frequent and frightful of the bursting bomb; +The falling beam, the shriek, the groan, the shout, +The ceaseless clangour, and the rush of men +Inebriate with rage:--loud, and more loud _45 +The discord grows; till pale Death shuts the scene, +And o'er the conqueror and the conquered draws +His cold and bloody shroud.--Of all the men +Whom day's departing beam saw blooming there, +In proud and vigorous health; of all the hearts _50 +That beat with anxious life at sunset there; +How few survive, how few are beating now! +All is deep silence, like the fearful calm +That slumbers in the storm's portentous pause; +Save when the frantic wail of widowed love _55 +Comes shuddering on the blast, or the faint moan +With which some soul bursts from the frame of clay +Wrapped round its struggling powers. +The gray morn +Dawns on the mournful scene; the sulphurous smoke +Before the icy wind slow rolls away, _60 +And the bright beams of frosty morning dance +Along the spangling snow. There tracks of blood +Even to the forest's depth, and scattered arms, +And lifeless warriors, whose hard lineaments _65 +Death's self could change not, mark the dreadful path +Of the outsallying victors: far behind, +Black ashes note where their proud city stood. +Within yon forest is a gloomy glen-- +Each tree which guards its darkness from the day, +Waves o'er a warrior's tomb. +I see thee shrink, _70 +Surpassing Spirit!--wert thou human else? +I see a shade of doubt and horror fleet +Across thy stainless features: yet fear not; +This is no unconnected misery, +Nor stands uncaused, and irretrievable. _75 +Man's evil nature, that apology +Which kings who rule, and cowards who crouch, set up +For their unnumbered crimes, sheds not the blood +Which desolates the discord-wasted land. +From kings, and priests, and statesmen, war arose, _80 +Whose safety is man's deep unbettered woe, +Whose grandeur his debasement. Let the axe +Strike at the root, the poison-tree will fall; +And where its venomed exhalations spread +Ruin, and death, and woe, where millions lay _85 +Quenching the serpent's famine, and their bones +Bleaching unburied in the putrid blast, +A garden shall arise, in loveliness +Surpassing fabled Eden. +Hath Nature's soul, +That formed this world so beautiful, that spread _90 +Earth's lap with plenty, and life's smallest chord +Strung to unchanging unison, that gave +The happy birds their dwelling in the grove, +That yielded to the wanderers of the deep +The lovely silence of the unfathomed main, _95 +And filled the meanest worm that crawls in dust +With spirit, thought, and love; on Man alone, +Partial in causeless malice, wantonly +Heaped ruin, vice, and slavery; his soul +Blasted with withering curses; placed afar _100 +The meteor-happiness, that shuns his grasp, +But serving on the frightful gulf to glare, +Rent wide beneath his footsteps? +Nature!--no! +Kings, priests, and statesmen, blast the human flower +Even in its tender bud; their influence darts _105 +Like subtle poison through the bloodless veins +Of desolate society. The child, +Ere he can lisp his mother's sacred name, +Swells with the unnatural pride of crime, and lifts +His baby-sword even in a hero's mood. _110 +This infant-arm becomes the bloodiest scourge +Of devastated earth; whilst specious names, +Learned in soft childhood's unsuspecting hour, +Serve as the sophisms with which manhood dims +Bright Reason's ray, and sanctifies the sword _115 +Upraised to shed a brother's innocent blood. +Let priest-led slaves cease to proclaim that man +Inherits vice and misery, when Force +And Falsehood hang even o'er the cradled babe +Stifling with rudest grasp all natural good. _120 +'Ah! to the stranger-soul, when first it peeps +From its new tenement, and looks abroad +For happiness and sympathy, how stern +And desolate a tract is this wide world! +How withered all the buds of natural good! _125 +No shade, no shelter from the sweeping storms +Of pitiless power! On its wretched frame, +Poisoned, perchance, by the disease and woe +Heaped on the wretched parent whence it sprung +By morals, law, and custom, the pure winds _130 +Of Heaven, that renovate the insect tribes, +May breathe not. The untainting light of day +May visit not its longings. It is bound +Ere it has life: yea, all the chains are forged +Long ere its being: all liberty and love _135 +And peace is torn from its defencelessness; +Cursed from its birth, even from its cradle doomed +To abjectness and bondage! + +'Throughout this varied and eternal world +Soul is the only element: the block _140 +That for uncounted ages has remained +The moveless pillar of a mountain's weight +Is active, living spirit. Every grain +Is sentient both in unity and part, +And the minutest atom comprehends _145 +A world of loves and hatreds; these beget +Evil and good: hence truth and falsehood spring; +Hence will and thought and action, all the germs +Of pain or pleasure, sympathy or hate, +That variegate the eternal universe. _150 +Soul is not more polluted than the beams +Of Heaven's pure orb, ere round their rapid lines +The taint of earth-born atmospheres arise. + +'Man is of soul and body, formed for deeds +Of high resolve, on fancy's boldest wing _155 +To soar unwearied, fearlessly to turn +The keenest pangs to peacefulness, and taste +The joys which mingled sense and spirit yield. +Or he is formed for abjectness and woe, +To grovel on the dunghill of his fears, _160 +To shrink at every sound, to quench the flame +Of natural love in sensualism, to know +That hour as blessed when on his worthless days +The frozen hand of Death shall set its seal, +Yet fear the cure, though hating the disease. _165 +The one is man that shall hereafter be; +The other, man as vice has made him now. + +'War is the statesman's game, the priest's delight, +The lawyer's jest, the hired assassin's trade, +And, to those royal murderers, whose mean thrones _170 +Are bought by crimes of treachery and gore, +The bread they eat, the staff on which they lean. +Guards, garbed in blood-red livery, surround +Their palaces, participate the crimes +That force defends, and from a nation's rage _175 +Secure the crown, which all the curses reach +That famine, frenzy, woe and penury breathe. +These are the hired bravos who defend +The tyrant's throne--the bullies of his fear: +These are the sinks and channels of worst vice, _180 +The refuse of society, the dregs +Of all that is most vile: their cold hearts blend +Deceit with sternness, ignorance with pride, +All that is mean and villanous, with rage +Which hopelessness of good, and self-contempt, _185 +Alone might kindle; they are decked in wealth, +Honour and power, then are sent abroad +To do their work. The pestilence that stalks +In gloomy triumph through some eastern land +Is less destroying. They cajole with gold, _190 +And promises of fame, the thoughtless youth +Already crushed with servitude: he knows +His wretchedness too late, and cherishes +Repentance for his ruin, when his doom +Is sealed in gold and blood! _195 +Those too the tyrant serve, who, skilled to snare +The feet of Justice in the toils of law, +Stand, ready to oppress the weaker still; +And right or wrong will vindicate for gold, +Sneering at public virtue, which beneath _200 +Their pitiless tread lies torn and trampled, where +Honour sits smiling at the sale of truth. + +'Then grave and hoary-headed hypocrites, +Without a hope, a passion, or a love, +Who, through a life of luxury and lies, _205 +Have crept by flattery to the seats of power, +Support the system whence their honours flow... +They have three words:--well tyrants know their use, +Well pay them for the loan, with usury +Torn from a bleeding world!--God, Hell, and Heaven. _210 +A vengeful, pitiless, and almighty fiend, +Whose mercy is a nickname for the rage +Of tameless tigers hungering for blood. +Hell, a red gulf of everlasting fire, +Where poisonous and undying worms prolong _215 +Eternal misery to those hapless slaves +Whose life has been a penance for its crimes. +And Heaven, a meed for those who dare belie +Their human nature, quake, believe, and cringe +Before the mockeries of earthly power. _220 + +'These tools the tyrant tempers to his work, +Wields in his wrath, and as he wills destroys, +Omnipotent in wickedness: the while +Youth springs, age moulders, manhood tamely does +His bidding, bribed by short-lived joys to lend _225 +Force to the weakness of his trembling arm. + +'They rise, they fall; one generation comes +Yielding its harvest to destruction's scythe. +It fades, another blossoms: yet behold! +Red glows the tyrant's stamp-mark on its bloom, _230 +Withering and cankering deep its passive prime. +He has invented lying words and modes, +Empty and vain as his own coreless heart; +Evasive meanings, nothings of much sound, +To lure the heedless victim to the toils _235 +Spread round the valley of its paradise. + +'Look to thyself, priest, conqueror, or prince! +Whether thy trade is falsehood, and thy lusts +Deep wallow in the earnings of the poor, +With whom thy Master was:--or thou delight'st _240 +In numbering o'er the myriads of thy slain, +All misery weighing nothing in the scale +Against thy short-lived fame: or thou dost load +With cowardice and crime the groaning land, +A pomp-fed king. Look to thy wretched self! _245 +Ay, art thou not the veriest slave that e'er +Crawled on the loathing earth? Are not thy days +Days of unsatisfying listlessness? +Dost thou not cry, ere night's long rack is o'er, +"When will the morning come?" Is not thy youth _250 +A vain and feverish dream of sensualism? +Thy manhood blighted with unripe disease? +Are not thy views of unregretted death +Drear, comfortless, and horrible? Thy mind, +Is it not morbid as thy nerveless frame, _255 +Incapable of judgement, hope, or love? +And dost thou wish the errors to survive +That bar thee from all sympathies of good, +After the miserable interest +Thou hold'st in their protraction? When the grave _260 +Has swallowed up thy memory and thyself, +Dost thou desire the bane that poisons earth +To twine its roots around thy coffined clay, +Spring from thy bones, and blossom on thy tomb, +That of its fruit thy babes may eat and die? _265 + +NOTE: +_176 Secures edition 1813. + +5. + +'Thus do the generations of the earth +Go to the grave, and issue from the womb, +Surviving still the imperishable change +That renovates the world; even as the leaves +Which the keen frost-wind of the waning year _5 +Has scattered on the forest soil, and heaped +For many seasons there--though long they choke, +Loading with loathsome rottenness the land, +All germs of promise, yet when the tall trees +From which they fell, shorn of their lovely shapes, _10 +Lie level with the earth to moulder there, +They fertilize the land they long deformed, +Till from the breathing lawn a forest springs +Of youth, integrity, and loveliness, +Like that which gave it life, to spring and die. _15 +Thus suicidal selfishness, that blights +The fairest feelings of the opening heart, +Is destined to decay, whilst from the soil +Shall spring all virtue, all delight, all love, +And judgement cease to wage unnatural war _20 +With passion's unsubduable array. +Twin-sister of religion, selfishness! +Rival in crime and falsehood, aping all +The wanton horrors of her bloody play; +Yet frozen, unimpassioned, spiritless, _25 +Shunning the light, and owning not its name, +Compelled, by its deformity, to screen, +With flimsy veil of justice and of right, +Its unattractive lineaments, that scare +All, save the brood of ignorance: at once _30 +The cause and the effect of tyranny; +Unblushing, hardened, sensual, and vile; +Dead to all love but of its abjectness, +With heart impassive by more noble powers +Than unshared pleasure, sordid gain, or fame; _35 +Despising its own miserable being, +Which still it longs, yet fears to disenthrall. + +'Hence commerce springs, the venal interchange +Of all that human art or nature yield; +Which wealth should purchase not, but want demand, _40 +And natural kindness hasten to supply +From the full fountain of its boundless love, +For ever stifled, drained, and tainted now. +Commerce! beneath whose poison-breathing shade +No solitary virtue dares to spring, _45 +But Poverty and Wealth with equal hand +Scatter their withering curses, and unfold +The doors of premature and violent death, +To pining famine and full-fed disease, +To all that shares the lot of human life, _50 +Which poisoned, body and soul, scarce drags the chain, +That lengthens as it goes and clanks behind. + +'Commerce has set the mark of selfishness, +The signet of its all-enslaving power +Upon a shining ore, and called it gold: _55 +Before whose image bow the vulgar great, +The vainly rich, the miserable proud, +The mob of peasants, nobles, priests, and kings, +And with blind feelings reverence the power +That grinds them to the dust of misery. _60 +But in the temple of their hireling hearts +Gold is a living god, and rules in scorn +All earthly things but virtue. + +'Since tyrants, by the sale of human life, +Heap luxuries to their sensualism, and fame _65 +To their wide-wasting and insatiate pride, +Success has sanctioned to a credulous world +The ruin, the disgrace, the woe of war. +His hosts of blind and unresisting dupes +The despot numbers; from his cabinet _70 +These puppets of his schemes he moves at will, +Even as the slaves by force or famine driven, +Beneath a vulgar master, to perform +A task of cold and brutal drudgery;-- +Hardened to hope, insensible to fear, _75 +Scarce living pulleys of a dead machine, +Mere wheels of work and articles of trade, +That grace the proud and noisy pomp of wealth! + +'The harmony and happiness of man +Yields to the wealth of nations; that which lifts _80 +His nature to the heaven of its pride, +Is bartered for the poison of his soul; +The weight that drags to earth his towering hopes, +Blighting all prospect but of selfish gain, +Withering all passion but of slavish fear, _85 +Extinguishing all free and generous love +Of enterprise and daring, even the pulse +That fancy kindles in the beating heart +To mingle with sensation, it destroys,-- +Leaves nothing but the sordid lust of self, _90 +The grovelling hope of interest and gold, +Unqualified, unmingled, unredeemed +Even by hypocrisy. +And statesmen boast +Of wealth! The wordy eloquence, that lives +After the ruin of their hearts, can gild _95 +The bitter poison of a nation's woe, +Can turn the worship of the servile mob +To their corrupt and glaring idol, Fame, +From Virtue, trampled by its iron tread, +Although its dazzling pedestal be raised _100 +Amid the horrors of a limb-strewn field, +With desolated dwellings smoking round. +The man of ease, who, by his warm fireside, +To deeds of charitable intercourse, +And bare fulfilment of the common laws _105 +Of decency and prejudice, confines +The struggling nature of his human heart, +Is duped by their cold sophistry; he sheds +A passing tear perchance upon the wreck +Of earthly peace, when near his dwelling's door _110 +The frightful waves are driven,--when his son +Is murdered by the tyrant, or religion +Drives his wife raving mad. But the poor man, +Whose life is misery, and fear, and care; +Whom the morn wakens but to fruitless toil; _115 +Who ever hears his famished offspring's scream, +Whom their pale mother's uncomplaining gaze +For ever meets, and the proud rich man's eye +Flashing command, and the heart-breaking scene +Of thousands like himself;--he little heeds _120 +The rhetoric of tyranny; his hate +Is quenchless as his wrongs; he laughs to scorn +The vain and bitter mockery of words, +Feeling the horror of the tyrant's deeds, +And unrestrained but by the arm of power, _125 +That knows and dreads his enmity. + +'The iron rod of Penury still compels +Her wretched slave to bow the knee to wealth, +And poison, with unprofitable toil, +A life too void of solace to confirm _130 +The very chains that bind him to his doom. +Nature, impartial in munificence, +Has gifted man with all-subduing will. +Matter, with all its transitory shapes, +Lies subjected and plastic at his feet, _135 +That, weak from bondage, tremble as they tread. +How many a rustic Milton has passed by, +Stifling the speechless longings of his heart, +In unremitting drudgery and care! +How many a vulgar Cato has compelled _140 +His energies, no longer tameless then, +To mould a pin, or fabricate a nail! +How many a Newton, to whose passive ken +Those mighty spheres that gem infinity +Were only specks of tinsel, fixed in Heaven _145 +To light the midnights of his native town! + +'Yet every heart contains perfection's germ: +The wisest of the sages of the earth, +That ever from the stores of reason drew +Science and truth, and virtue's dreadless tone, _150 +Were but a weak and inexperienced boy, +Proud, sensual, unimpassioned, unimbued +With pure desire and universal love, +Compared to that high being, of cloudless brain, +Untainted passion, elevated will, _155 +Which Death (who even would linger long in awe +Within his noble presence, and beneath +His changeless eyebeam) might alone subdue. +Him, every slave now dragging through the filth +Of some corrupted city his sad life, _160 +Pining with famine, swoln with luxury, +Blunting the keenness of his spiritual sense +With narrow schemings and unworthy cares, +Or madly rushing through all violent crime, +To move the deep stagnation of his soul,-- _165 +Might imitate and equal. +But mean lust +Has bound its chains so tight around the earth, +That all within it but the virtuous man +Is venal: gold or fame will surely reach +The price prefixed by selfishness, to all _170 +But him of resolute and unchanging will; +Whom, nor the plaudits of a servile crowd, +Nor the vile joys of tainting luxury, +Can bribe to yield his elevated soul +To Tyranny or Falsehood, though they wield _175 +With blood-red hand the sceptre of the world. + +'All things are sold: the very light of Heaven +Is venal; earth's unsparing gifts of love, +The smallest and most despicable things +That lurk in the abysses of the deep, _180 +All objects of our life, even life itself, +And the poor pittance which the laws allow +Of liberty, the fellowship of man, +Those duties which his heart of human love +Should urge him to perform instinctively, _185 +Are bought and sold as in a public mart +Of undisguising selfishness, that sets +On each its price, the stamp-mark of her reign. +Even love is sold; the solace of all woe +Is turned to deadliest agony, old age _190 +Shivers in selfish beauty's loathing arms, +And youth's corrupted impulses prepare +A life of horror from the blighting bane +Of commerce; whilst the pestilence that springs +From unenjoying sensualism, has filled _195 +All human life with hydra-headed woes. + +'Falsehood demands but gold to pay the pangs +Of outraged conscience; for the slavish priest +Sets no great value on his hireling faith: +A little passing pomp, some servile souls, _200 +Whom cowardice itself might safely chain, +Or the spare mite of avarice could bribe +To deck the triumph of their languid zeal, +Can make him minister to tyranny. +More daring crime requires a loftier meed: _205 +Without a shudder, the slave-soldier lends +His arm to murderous deeds, and steels his heart, +When the dread eloquence of dying men, +Low mingling on the lonely field of fame, +Assails that nature, whose applause he sells _210 +For the gross blessings of a patriot mob, +For the vile gratitude of heartless kings, +And for a cold world's good word,--viler still! + +'There is a nobler glory, which survives +Until our being fades, and, solacing _215 +All human care, accompanies its change; +Deserts not virtue in the dungeon's gloom, +And, in the precincts of the palace, guides +Its footsteps through that labyrinth of crime; +Imbues his lineaments with dauntlessness, _220 +Even when, from Power's avenging hand, he takes +Its sweetest, last and noblest title--death; +--The consciousness of good, which neither gold, +Nor sordid fame, nor hope of heavenly bliss +Can purchase; but a life of resolute good,-- _225 +Unalterable will, quenchless desire +Of universal happiness, the heart +That beats with it in unison, the brain, +Whose ever wakeful wisdom toils to change +Reason's rich stores for its eternal weal. _230 + +'This commerce of sincerest virtue needs +No mediative signs of selfishness, +No jealous intercourse of wretched gain, +No balancings of prudence, cold and long; +In just and equal measure all is weighed, _235 +One scale contains the sum of human weal, +And one, the good man's heart. +How vainly seek +The selfish for that happiness denied +To aught but virtue! Blind and hardened, they, +Who hope for peace amid the storms of care, _240 +Who covet power they know not how to use, +And sigh for pleasure they refuse to give,-- +Madly they frustrate still their own designs; +And, where they hope that quiet to enjoy +Which virtue pictures, bitterness of soul, _245 +Pining regrets, and vain repentances, +Disease, disgust, and lassitude, pervade +Their valueless and miserable lives. + +'But hoary-headed Selfishness has felt +Its death-blow, and is tottering to the grave: _250 +A brighter morn awaits the human day, +When every transfer of earth's natural gifts +Shall be a commerce of good words and works; +When poverty and wealth, the thirst of fame, +The fear of infamy, disease and woe, _255 +War with its million horrors, and fierce hell +Shall live but in the memory of Time, +Who, like a penitent libertine, shall start, +Look back, and shudder at his younger years.' + +6. + +All touch, all eye, all ear, +The Spirit felt the Fairy's burning speech. +O'er the thin texture of its frame, +The varying periods painted changing glows, +As on a summer even, _5 +When soul-enfolding music floats around, +The stainless mirror of the lake +Re-images the eastern gloom, +Mingling convulsively its purple hues +With sunset's burnished gold. _10 + +Then thus the Spirit spoke: +'It is a wild and miserable world! +Thorny, and full of care, +Which every fiend can make his prey at will. +O Fairy! in the lapse of years, _15 +Is there no hope in store? +Will yon vast suns roll on +Interminably, still illuming +The night of so many wretched souls, +And see no hope for them? _20 +Will not the universal Spirit e'er +Revivify this withered limb of Heaven?' + +The Fairy calmly smiled +In comfort, and a kindling gleam of hope +Suffused the Spirit's lineaments. _25 +'Oh! rest thee tranquil; chase those fearful doubts, +Which ne'er could rack an everlasting soul, +That sees the chains which bind it to its doom. +Yes! crime and misery are in yonder earth, +Falsehood, mistake, and lust; _30 +But the eternal world +Contains at once the evil and the cure. +Some eminent in virtue shall start up, +Even in perversest time: +The truths of their pure lips, that never die, _35 +Shall bind the scorpion falsehood with a wreath +Of ever-living flame, +Until the monster sting itself to death. + +'How sweet a scene will earth become! +Of purest spirits a pure dwelling-place, _40 +Symphonious with the planetary spheres; +When man, with changeless Nature coalescing, +Will undertake regeneration's work, +When its ungenial poles no longer point +To the red and baleful sun _45 +That faintly twinkles there. + +'Spirit! on yonder earth, +Falsehood now triumphs; deadly power +Has fixed its seal upon the lip of truth! +Madness and misery are there! _50 +The happiest is most wretched! Yet confide, +Until pure health-drops, from the cup of joy, +Fall like a dew of balm upon the world. +Now, to the scene I show, in silence turn, +And read the blood-stained charter of all woe, _55 +Which Nature soon, with re-creating hand, +Will blot in mercy from the book of earth. +How bold the flight of Passion's wandering wing, +How swift the step of Reason's firmer tread, +How calm and sweet the victories of life, _60 +How terrorless the triumph of the grave! +How powerless were the mightiest monarch's arm, +Vain his loud threat, and impotent his frown! +How ludicrous the priest's dogmatic roar! +The weight of his exterminating curse _65 +How light! and his affected charity, +To suit the pressure of the changing times, +What palpable deceit!--but for thy aid, +Religion! but for thee, prolific fiend, +Who peoplest earth with demons, Hell with men, _70 +And Heaven with slaves! + +'Thou taintest all thou look'st upon!--the stars, +Which on thy cradle beamed so brightly sweet, +Were gods to the distempered playfulness +Of thy untutored infancy: the trees, _75 +The grass, the clouds, the mountains, and the sea, +All living things that walk, swim, creep, or fly, +Were gods: the sun had homage, and the moon +Her worshipper. Then thou becam'st, a boy, +More daring in thy frenzies: every shape, _80 +Monstrous or vast, or beautifully wild, +Which, from sensation's relics, fancy culls +The spirits of the air, the shuddering ghost, +The genii of the elements, the powers +That give a shape to Nature's varied works, _85 +Had life and place in the corrupt belief +Of thy blind heart: yet still thy youthful hands +Were pure of human blood. Then manhood gave +Its strength and ardour to thy frenzied brain; +Thine eager gaze scanned the stupendous scene, _90 +Whose wonders mocked the knowledge of thy pride: +Their everlasting and unchanging laws +Reproached thine ignorance. Awhile thou stoodst +Baffled and gloomy; then thou didst sum up +The elements of all that thou didst know; _95 +The changing seasons, winter's leafless reign, +The budding of the Heaven-breathing trees, +The eternal orbs that beautify the night, +The sunrise, and the setting of the moon, +Earthquakes and wars, and poisons and disease, _100 +And all their causes, to an abstract point +Converging, thou didst bend and called it God! +The self-sufficing, the omnipotent, +The merciful, and the avenging God! +Who, prototype of human misrule, sits _105 +High in Heaven's realm, upon a golden throne, +Even like an earthly king; and whose dread work, +Hell, gapes for ever for the unhappy slaves +Of fate, whom He created, in his sport, +To triumph in their torments when they fell! _110 +Earth heard the name; Earth trembled, as the smoke +Of His revenge ascended up to Heaven, +Blotting the constellations; and the cries +Of millions, butchered in sweet confidence +And unsuspecting peace, even when the bonds _115 +Of safety were confirmed by wordy oaths +Sworn in His dreadful name, rung through the land; +Whilst innocent babes writhed on thy stubborn spear, +And thou didst laugh to hear the mother's shriek +Of maniac gladness, as the sacred steel _120 +Felt cold in her torn entrails! + +'Religion! thou wert then in manhood's prime: +But age crept on: one God would not suffice +For senile puerility; thou framedst +A tale to suit thy dotage, and to glut _125 +Thy misery-thirsting soul, that the mad fiend +Thy wickedness had pictured might afford +A plea for sating the unnatural thirst +For murder, rapine, violence, and crime, +That still consumed thy being, even when _130 +Thou heardst the step of Fate;--that flames might light +Thy funeral scene, and the shrill horrent shrieks +Of parents dying on the pile that burned +To light their children to thy paths, the roar +Of the encircling flames, the exulting cries _135 +Of thine apostles, loud commingling there, +Might sate thine hungry ear +Even on the bed of death! + +'But now contempt is mocking thy gray hairs; +Thou art descending to the darksome grave, _140 +Unhonoured and unpitied, but by those +Whose pride is passing by like thine, and sheds, +Like thine, a glare that fades before the sun +Of truth, and shines but in the dreadful night +That long has lowered above the ruined world. _145 + +'Throughout these infinite orbs of mingling light, +Of which yon earth is one, is wide diffused +A Spirit of activity and life, +That knows no term, cessation, or decay; +That fades not when the lamp of earthly life, _150 +Extinguished in the dampness of the grave, +Awhile there slumbers, more than when the babe +In the dim newness of its being feels +The impulses of sublunary things, +And all is wonder to unpractised sense: _155 +But, active, steadfast, and eternal, still +Guides the fierce whirlwind, in the tempest roars, +Cheers in the day, breathes in the balmy groves, +Strengthens in health, and poisons in disease; +And in the storm of change, that ceaselessly _160 +Rolls round the eternal universe, and shakes +Its undecaying battlement, presides, +Apportioning with irresistible law +The place each spring of its machine shall fill; +So that when waves on waves tumultuous heap _165 +Confusion to the clouds, and fiercely driven +Heaven's lightnings scorch the uprooted ocean-fords, +Whilst, to the eye of shipwrecked mariner, +Lone sitting on the bare and shuddering rock, +All seems unlinked contingency and chance: _170 +No atom of this turbulence fulfils +A vague and unnecessitated task, +Or acts but as it must and ought to act. +Even the minutest molecule of light, +That in an April sunbeam's fleeting glow _175 +Fulfils its destined, though invisible work, +The universal Spirit guides; nor less, +When merciless ambition, or mad zeal, +Has led two hosts of dupes to battlefield, +That, blind, they there may dig each other's graves, _180 +And call the sad work glory, does it rule +All passions: not a thought, a will, an act, +No working of the tyrant's moody mind, +Nor one misgiving of the slaves who boast +Their servitude, to hide the shame they feel, _185 +Nor the events enchaining every will, +That from the depths of unrecorded time +Have drawn all-influencing virtue, pass +Unrecognized, or unforeseen by thee, +Soul of the Universe! eternal spring _190 +Of life and death, of happiness and woe, +Of all that chequers the phantasmal scene +That floats before our eyes in wavering light, +Which gleams but on the darkness of our prison, +Whose chains and massy walls _195 +We feel, but cannot see. + +'Spirit of Nature! all-sufficing Power, +Necessity! thou mother of the world! +Unlike the God of human error, thou +Requir'st no prayers or praises; the caprice _200 +Of man's weak will belongs no more to thee +Than do the changeful passions of his breast +To thy unvarying harmony: the slave, +Whose horrible lusts spread misery o'er the world, +And the good man, who lifts, with virtuous pride, _205 +His being, in the sight of happiness, +That springs from his own works; the poison-tree +Beneath whose shade all life is withered up, +And the fair oak, whose leafy dome affords +A temple where the vows of happy love _210 +Are registered, are equal in thy sight: +No love, no hate thou cherishest; revenge +And favouritism, and worst desire of fame +Thou know'st not: all that the wide world contains +Are but thy passive instruments, and thou _215 +Regard'st them all with an impartial eye, +Whose joy or pain thy nature cannot feel, +Because thou hast not human sense, +Because thou art not human mind. + +'Yes! when the sweeping storm of time _220 +Has sung its death-dirge o'er the ruined fanes +And broken altars of the almighty Fiend +Whose name usurps thy honours, and the blood +Through centuries clotted there, has floated down +The tainted flood of ages, shalt thou live _225 +Unchangeable! A shrine is raised to thee, +Which, nor the tempest-breath of time, +Nor the interminable flood, +Over earth's slight pageant rolling, +Availeth to destroy,--. _230 +The sensitive extension of the world. +That wondrous and eternal fane, +Where pain and pleasure, good and evil join, +To do the will of strong necessity, +And life, in multitudinous shapes, _235 +Still pressing forward where no term can be, +Like hungry and unresting flame +Curls round the eternal columns of its strength.' + +7. + +SPIRIT: +'I was an infant when my mother went +To see an atheist burned. She took me there: +The dark-robed priests were met around the pile; +The multitude was gazing silently; +And as the culprit passed with dauntless mien, _5 +Tempered disdain in his unaltering eye, +Mixed with a quiet smile, shone calmly forth: +The thirsty fire crept round his manly limbs; +His resolute eyes were scorched to blindness soon; +His death-pang rent my heart! the insensate mob _10 +Uttered a cry of triumph, and I wept. +"Weep not, child!" cried my mother, "for that man +Has said, There is no God."' + +FAIRY: +'There is no God! +Nature confirms the faith his death-groan sealed: +Let heaven and earth, let man's revolving race, _15 +His ceaseless generations tell their tale; +Let every part depending on the chain +That links it to the whole, point to the hand +That grasps its term! let every seed that falls +In silent eloquence unfold its store _20 +Of argument; infinity within, +Infinity without, belie creation; +The exterminable spirit it contains +Is nature's only God; but human pride +Is skilful to invent most serious names _25 +To hide its ignorance. +The name of God +Has fenced about all crime with holiness, +Himself the creature of His worshippers, +Whose names and attributes and passions change, +Seeva, Buddh, Foh, Jehovah, God, or Lord, _30 +Even with the human dupes who build His shrines, +Still serving o'er the war-polluted world +For desolation's watchword; whether hosts +Stain His death-blushing chariot-wheels, as on +Triumphantly they roll, whilst Brahmins raise _35 +A sacred hymn to mingle with the groans; +Or countless partners of His power divide +His tyranny to weakness; or the smoke +Of burning towns, the cries of female helplessness, +Unarmed old age, and youth, and infancy, _40 +Horribly massacred, ascend to Heaven +In honour of His name; or, last and worst, +Earth groans beneath religion's iron age, +And priests dare babble of a God of peace, +Even whilst their hands are red with guiltless blood, _45 +Murdering the while, uprooting every germ +Of truth, exterminating, spoiling all, +Making the earth a slaughter-house! + +'O Spirit! through the sense +By which thy inner nature was apprised _50 +Of outward shows, vague dreams have rolled, +And varied reminiscences have waked +Tablets that never fade; +All things have been imprinted there, +The stars, the sea, the earth, the sky, _55 +Even the unshapeliest lineaments +Of wild and fleeting visions +Have left a record there +To testify of earth. + +'These are my empire, for to me is given _60 +The wonders of the human world to keep, +And Fancy's thin creations to endow +With manner, being, and reality; +Therefore a wondrous phantom, from the dreams +Of human error's dense and purblind faith, _65 +I will evoke, to meet thy questioning. +Ahasuerus, rise!' + +A strange and woe-worn wight +Arose beside the battlement, +And stood unmoving there. _70 +His inessential figure cast no shade +Upon the golden floor; +His port and mien bore mark of many years, +And chronicles of untold ancientness +Were legible within his beamless eye: _75 +Yet his cheek bore the mark of youth; +Freshness and vigour knit his manly frame; +The wisdom of old age was mingled there +With youth's primaeval dauntlessness; +And inexpressible woe, _80 +Chastened by fearless resignation, gave +An awful grace to his all-speaking brow. + +SPIRIT: +'Is there a God?' + +AHASUERUS: +'Is there a God!--ay, an almighty God, +And vengeful as almighty! Once His voice _85 +Was heard on earth: earth shuddered at the sound; +The fiery-visaged firmament expressed +Abhorrence, and the grave of Nature yawned +To swallow all the dauntless and the good +That dared to hurl defiance at His throne, _90 +Girt as it was with power. None but slaves +Survived,--cold-blooded slaves, who did the work +Of tyrannous omnipotence; whose souls +No honest indignation ever urged +To elevated daring, to one deed _95 +Which gross and sensual self did not pollute. +These slaves built temples for the omnipotent Fiend, +Gorgeous and vast: the costly altars smoked +With human blood, and hideous paeans rung +Through all the long-drawn aisles. A murderer heard _100 +His voice in Egypt, one whose gifts and arts +Had raised him to his eminence in power, +Accomplice of omnipotence in crime, +And confidant of the all-knowing one. +These were Jehovah's words:-- _105 + +'From an eternity of idleness +I, God, awoke; in seven days' toil made earth +From nothing; rested, and created man: +I placed him in a Paradise, and there +Planted the tree of evil, so that he _110 +Might eat and perish, and My soul procure +Wherewith to sate its malice, and to turn, +Even like a heartless conqueror of the earth, +All misery to My fame. The race of men +Chosen to My honour, with impunity _115 +May sate the lusts I planted in their heart. +Here I command thee hence to lead them on, +Until, with hardened feet, their conquering troops +Wade on the promised soil through woman's blood, +And make My name be dreaded through the land. _120 +Yet ever-burning flame and ceaseless woe +Shall be the doom of their eternal souls, +With every soul on this ungrateful earth, +Virtuous or vicious, weak or strong,--even all +Shall perish, to fulfil the blind revenge _125 +(Which you, to men, call justice) of their God.' + +The murderer's brow +Quivered with horror. +'God omnipotent, +Is there no mercy? must our punishment +Be endless? will long ages roll away, _130 +And see no term? Oh! wherefore hast Thou made +In mockery and wrath this evil earth? +Mercy becomes the powerful--be but just: +O God! repent and save.' + +'One way remains: +I will beget a Son, and He shall bear _135 +The sins of all the world; He shall arise +In an unnoticed corner of the earth, +And there shall die upon a cross, and purge +The universal crime; so that the few +On whom My grace descends, those who are marked _140 +As vessels to the honour of their God, +May credit this strange sacrifice, and save +Their souls alive: millions shall live and die, +Who ne'er shall call upon their Saviour's name, +But, unredeemed, go to the gaping grave. _145 +Thousands shall deem it an old woman's tale, +Such as the nurses frighten babes withal: +These in a gulf of anguish and of flame +Shall curse their reprobation endlessly, +Yet tenfold pangs shall force them to avow, _150 +Even on their beds of torment, where they howl, +My honour, and the justice of their doom. +What then avail their virtuous deeds, their thoughts +Of purity, with radiant genius bright, +Or lit with human reason's earthly ray? _155 +Many are called, but few will I elect. +Do thou My bidding, Moses!' +Even the murderer's cheek +Was blanched with horror, and his quivering lips +Scarce faintly uttered--'O almighty One, +I tremble and obey!' _160 + +'O Spirit! centuries have set their seal +On this heart of many wounds, and loaded brain, +Since the Incarnate came: humbly He came, +Veiling His horrible Godhead in the shape +Of man, scorned by the world, His name unheard, _165 +Save by the rabble of His native town, +Even as a parish demagogue. He led +The crowd; He taught them justice, truth, and peace, +In semblance; but He lit within their souls +The quenchless flames of zeal, and blessed the sword _170 +He brought on earth to satiate with the blood +Of truth and freedom His malignant soul. +At length His mortal frame was led to death. +I stood beside Him: on the torturing cross +No pain assailed His unterrestrial sense; _175 +And yet He groaned. Indignantly I summed +The massacres and miseries which His name +Had sanctioned in my country, and I cried, +"Go! Go!" in mockery. +A smile of godlike malice reillumed _180 +His fading lineaments.--"I go," He cried, +"But thou shalt wander o'er the unquiet earth +Eternally."--The dampness of the grave +Bathed my imperishable front. I fell, +And long lay tranced upon the charmed soil. _185 +When I awoke Hell burned within my brain, +Which staggered on its seat; for all around +The mouldering relics of my kindred lay, +Even as the Almighty's ire arrested them, +And in their various attitudes of death _190 +My murdered children's mute and eyeless skulls +Glared ghastily upon me. +But my soul, +From sight and sense of the polluting woe +Of tyranny, had long learned to prefer +Hell's freedom to the servitude of Heaven. _195 +Therefore I rose, and dauntlessly began +My lonely and unending pilgrimage, +Resolved to wage unweariable war +With my almighty Tyrant, and to hurl +Defiance at His impotence to harm _200 +Beyond the curse I bore. The very hand +That barred my passage to the peaceful grave +Has crushed the earth to misery, and given +Its empire to the chosen of His slaves. +These have I seen, even from the earliest dawn _205 +Of weak, unstable and precarious power, +Then preaching peace, as now they practise war; +So, when they turned but from the massacre +Of unoffending infidels, to quench +Their thirst for ruin in the very blood _210 +That flowed in their own veins, and pitiless zeal +Froze every human feeling, as the wife +Sheathed in her husband's heart the sacred steel, +Even whilst its hopes were dreaming of her love; +And friends to friends, brothers to brothers stood _215 +Opposed in bloodiest battle-field, and war, +Scarce satiable by fate's last death-draught, waged, +Drunk from the winepress of the Almighty's wrath; +Whilst the red cross, in mockery of peace, +Pointed to victory! When the fray was done, _220 +No remnant of the exterminated faith +Survived to tell its ruin, but the flesh, +With putrid smoke poisoning the atmosphere, +That rotted on the half-extinguished pile. + +'Yes! I have seen God's worshippers unsheathe _225 +The sword of His revenge, when grace descended, +Confirming all unnatural impulses, +To sanctify their desolating deeds; +And frantic priests waved the ill-omened cross +O'er the unhappy earth: then shone the sun _230 +On showers of gore from the upflashing steel +Of safe assassination, and all crime +Made stingless by the Spirits of the Lord, +And blood-red rainbows canopied the land. +'Spirit, no year of my eventful being _235 +Has passed unstained by crime and misery, +Which flows from God's own faith. I've marked His slaves +With tongues whose lies are venomous, beguile +The insensate mob, and, whilst one hand was red +With murder, feign to stretch the other out _240 +For brotherhood and peace; and that they now +Babble of love and mercy, whilst their deeds +Are marked with all the narrowness and crime +That Freedom's young arm dare not yet chastise, +Reason may claim our gratitude, who now _245 +Establishing the imperishable throne +Of truth, and stubborn virtue, maketh vain +The unprevailing malice of my Foe, +Whose bootless rage heaps torments for the brave, +Adds impotent eternities to pain, _250 +Whilst keenest disappointment racks His breast +To see the smiles of peace around them play, +To frustrate or to sanctify their doom. + +'Thus have I stood,--through a wild waste of years +Struggling with whirlwinds of mad agony, _255 +Yet peaceful, and serene, and self-enshrined, +Mocking my powerless Tyrant's horrible curse +With stubborn and unalterable will, +Even as a giant oak, which Heaven's fierce flame +Had scathed in the wilderness, to stand _260 +A monument of fadeless ruin there; +Yet peacefully and movelessly it braves +The midnight conflict of the wintry storm, +As in the sunlight's calm it spreads +Its worn and withered arms on high _265 +To meet the quiet of a summer's noon.' + +The Fairy waved her wand: +Ahasuerus fled +Fast as the shapes of mingled shade and mist, +That lurk in the glens of a twilight grove, _270 +Flee from the morning beam: +The matter of which dreams are made +Not more endowed with actual life +Than this phantasmal portraiture +Of wandering human thought. _275 + +NOTE: +_180 reillumined edition 1813. + +8. + +THE FAIRY: +'The Present and the Past thou hast beheld: +It was a desolate sight. Now, Spirit, learn +The secrets of the Future.--Time! +Unfold the brooding pinion of thy gloom, +Render thou up thy half-devoured babes, _5 +And from the cradles of eternity, +Where millions lie lulled to their portioned sleep +By the deep murmuring stream of passing things, +Tear thou that gloomy shroud.--Spirit, behold +Thy glorious destiny!' _10 + +Joy to the Spirit came. +Through the wide rent in Time's eternal veil, +Hope was seen beaming through the mists of fear: +Earth was no longer Hell; +Love, freedom, health, had given _15 +Their ripeness to the manhood of its prime, +And all its pulses beat +Symphonious to the planetary spheres: +Then dulcet music swelled +Concordant with the life-strings of the soul; _20 +It throbbed in sweet and languid beatings there, +Catching new life from transitory death,-- +Like the vague sighings of a wind at even, +That wakes the wavelets of the slumbering sea +And dies on the creation of its breath, _25 +And sinks and rises, fails and swells by fits: +Was the pure stream of feeling +That sprung from these sweet notes, +And o'er the Spirit's human sympathies +With mild and gentle motion calmly flowed. _30 + +Joy to the Spirit came,-- +Such joy as when a lover sees +The chosen of his soul in happiness, +And witnesses her peace +Whose woe to him were bitterer than death, _35 +Sees her unfaded cheek +Glow mantling in first luxury of health, +Thrills with her lovely eyes, +Which like two stars amid the heaving main +Sparkle through liquid bliss. _40 + +Then in her triumph spoke the Fairy Queen: +'I will not call the ghost of ages gone +To unfold the frightful secrets of its lore; +The present now is past, +And those events that desolate the earth _45 +Have faded from the memory of Time, +Who dares not give reality to that +Whose being I annul. To me is given +The wonders of the human world to keep, +Space, matter, time, and mind. Futurity _50 +Exposes now its treasure; let the sight +Renew and strengthen all thy failing hope. +O human Spirit! spur thee to the goal +Where virtue fixes universal peace, +And midst the ebb and flow of human things, _55 +Show somewhat stable, somewhat certain still, +A lighthouse o'er the wild of dreary waves. + +'The habitable earth is full of bliss; +Those wastes of frozen billows that were hurled +By everlasting snowstorms round the poles, _60 +Where matter dared not vegetate or live, +But ceaseless frost round the vast solitude +Bound its broad zone of stillness, are unloosed; +And fragrant zephyrs there from spicy isles +Ruffle the placid ocean-deep, that rolls _65 +Its broad, bright surges to the sloping sand, +Whose roar is wakened into echoings sweet +To murmur through the Heaven-breathing groves +And melodize with man's blest nature there. + +'Those deserts of immeasurable sand, _70 +Whose age-collected fervours scarce allowed +A bird to live, a blade of grass to spring, +Where the shrill chirp of the green lizard's love +Broke on the sultry silentness alone, +Now teem with countless rills and shady woods, _75 +Cornfields and pastures and white cottages; +And where the startled wilderness beheld +A savage conqueror stained in kindred blood, +A tigress sating with the flesh of lambs +The unnatural famine of her toothless cubs, _80 +Whilst shouts and howlings through the desert rang, +Sloping and smooth the daisy-spangled lawn, +Offering sweet incense to the sunrise, smiles +To see a babe before his mother's door, +Sharing his morning's meal _85 +With the green and golden basilisk +That comes to lick his feet. + +'Those trackless deeps, where many a weary sail +Has seen above the illimitable plain, +Morning on night, and night on morning rise, _90 +Whilst still no land to greet the wanderer spread +Its shadowy mountains on the sun-bright sea, +Where the loud roarings of the tempest-waves +So long have mingled with the gusty wind +In melancholy loneliness, and swept _95 +The desert of those ocean solitudes, +But vocal to the sea-bird's harrowing shriek, +The bellowing monster, and the rushing storm, +Now to the sweet and many-mingling sounds +Of kindliest human impulses respond. _100 +Those lonely realms bright garden-isles begem, +With lightsome clouds and shining seas between, +And fertile valleys, resonant with bliss, +Whilst green woods overcanopy the wave, +Which like a toil-worn labourer leaps to shore, _105 +To meet the kisses of the flow'rets there. + +'All things are recreated, and the flame +Of consentaneous love inspires all life: +The fertile bosom of the earth gives suck +To myriads, who still grow beneath her care, _110 +Rewarding her with their pure perfectness: +The balmy breathings of the wind inhale +Her virtues, and diffuse them all abroad: +Health floats amid the gentle atmosphere, +Glows in the fruits, and mantles on the stream: _115 +No storms deform the beaming brow of Heaven, +Nor scatter in the freshness of its pride +The foliage of the ever-verdant trees; +But fruits are ever ripe, flowers ever fair, +And Autumn proudly bears her matron grace, _120 +Kindling a flush on the fair cheek of Spring, +Whose virgin bloom beneath the ruddy fruit +Reflects its tint, and blushes into love. + +'The lion now forgets to thirst for blood: +There might you see him sporting in the sun _125 +Beside the dreadless kid; his claws are sheathed, +His teeth are harmless, custom's force has made +His nature as the nature of a lamb. +Like passion's fruit, the nightshade's tempting bane +Poisons no more the pleasure it bestows: _130 +All bitterness is past; the cup of joy +Unmingled mantles to the goblet's brim, +And courts the thirsty lips it fled before. + +'But chief, ambiguous Man, he that can know +More misery, and dream more joy than all; _135 +Whose keen sensations thrill within his breast +To mingle with a loftier instinct there, +Lending their power to pleasure and to pain, +Yet raising, sharpening, and refining each; +Who stands amid the ever-varying world, _140 +The burthen or the glory of the earth; +He chief perceives the change, his being notes +The gradual renovation, and defines +Each movement of its progress on his mind. + +'Man, where the gloom of the long polar night _145 +Lowers o'er the snow-clad rocks and frozen soil, +Where scarce the hardiest herb that braves the frost +Basks in the moonlight's ineffectual glow, +Shrank with the plants, and darkened with the night; +His chilled and narrow energies, his heart, _150 +Insensible to courage, truth, or love, +His stunted stature and imbecile frame, +Marked him for some abortion of the earth, +Fit compeer of the bears that roamed around, +Whose habits and enjoyments were his own: _155 +His life a feverish dream of stagnant woe, +Whose meagre wants, but scantily fulfilled, +Apprised him ever of the joyless length +Which his short being's wretchedness had reached; +His death a pang which famine, cold and toil _160 +Long on the mind, whilst yet the vital spark +Clung to the body stubbornly, had brought: +All was inflicted here that Earth's revenge +Could wreak on the infringers of her law; +One curse alone was spared--the name of God. _165 + +'Nor where the tropics bound the realms of day +With a broad belt of mingling cloud and flame, +Where blue mists through the unmoving atmosphere +Scattered the seeds of pestilence, and fed +Unnatural vegetation, where the land _170 +Teemed with all earthquake, tempest and disease, +Was Man a nobler being; slavery +Had crushed him to his country's bloodstained dust; +Or he was bartered for the fame of power, +Which all internal impulses destroying, _175 +Makes human will an article of trade; +Or he was changed with Christians for their gold, +And dragged to distant isles, where to the sound +Of the flesh-mangling scourge, he does the work +Of all-polluting luxury and wealth, _180 +Which doubly visits on the tyrants' heads +The long-protracted fulness of their woe; +Or he was led to legal butchery, +To turn to worms beneath that burning sun, +Where kings first leagued against the rights of men, _185 +And priests first traded with the name of God. + +'Even where the milder zone afforded Man +A seeming shelter, yet contagion there, +Blighting his being with unnumbered ills, +Spread like a quenchless fire; nor truth till late _190 +Availed to arrest its progress, or create +That peace which first in bloodless victory waved +Her snowy standard o'er this favoured clime: +There man was long the train-bearer of slaves, +The mimic of surrounding misery, _195 +The jackal of ambition's lion-rage, +The bloodhound of religion's hungry zeal. +'Here now the human being stands adorning +This loveliest earth with taintless body and mind; +Blessed from his birth with all bland impulses, _200 +Which gently in his noble bosom wake +All kindly passions and all pure desires. +Him, still from hope to hope the bliss pursuing +Which from the exhaustless lore of human weal +Dawns on the virtuous mind, the thoughts that rise _205 +In time-destroying infiniteness, gift +With self-enshrined eternity, that mocks +The unprevailing hoariness of age, +And man, once fleeting o'er the transient scene +Swift as an unremembered vision, stands _210 +Immortal upon earth: no longer now +He slays the lamb that looks him in the face, +And horribly devours his mangled flesh, +Which, still avenging Nature's broken law, +Kindled all putrid humours in his frame, _215 +All evil passions, and all vain belief, +Hatred, despair, and loathing in his mind, +The germs of misery, death, disease, and crime. +No longer now the winged habitants, +That in the woods their sweet lives sing away,-- _220 +Flee from the form of man; but gather round, +And prune their sunny feathers on the hands +Which little children stretch in friendly sport +Towards these dreadless partners of their play. +All things are void of terror: Man has lost _225 +His terrible prerogative, and stands +An equal amidst equals: happiness +And science dawn though late upon the earth; +Peace cheers the mind, health renovates the frame; +Disease and pleasure cease to mingle here, _230 +Reason and passion cease to combat there; +Whilst each unfettered o'er the earth extend +Their all-subduing energies, and wield +The sceptre of a vast dominion there; +Whilst every shape and mode of matter lends _235 +Its force to the omnipotence of mind, +Which from its dark mine drags the gem of truth +To decorate its Paradise of peace.' + +NOTES: +_204 exhaustless store edition 1813. +_205 Draws edition 1813. See Editor's Note. + +9. + +'O happy Earth! reality of Heaven! +To which those restless souls that ceaselessly +Throng through the human universe, aspire; +Thou consummation of all mortal hope! +Thou glorious prize of blindly-working will! _5 +Whose rays, diffused throughout all space and time, +Verge to one point and blend for ever there: +Of purest spirits thou pure dwelling-place! +Where care and sorrow, impotence and crime, +Languor, disease, and ignorance dare not come: _10 +O happy Earth, reality of Heaven! + +'Genius has seen thee in her passionate dreams, +And dim forebodings of thy loveliness +Haunting the human heart, have there entwined +Those rooted hopes of some sweet place of bliss _15 +Where friends and lovers meet to part no more. +Thou art the end of all desire and will, +The product of all action; and the souls +That by the paths of an aspiring change +Have reached thy haven of perpetual peace, _20 +There rest from the eternity of toil +That framed the fabric of thy perfectness. + +'Even Time, the conqueror, fled thee in his fear; +That hoary giant, who, in lonely pride, +So long had ruled the world, that nations fell _25 +Beneath his silent footstep. Pyramids, +That for millenniums had withstood the tide +Of human things, his storm-breath drove in sand +Across that desert where their stones survived +The name of him whose pride had heaped them there. _30 +Yon monarch, in his solitary pomp, +Was but the mushroom of a summer day, +That his light-winged footstep pressed to dust: +Time was the king of earth: all things gave way +Before him, but the fixed and virtuous will, _35 +The sacred sympathies of soul and sense, +That mocked his fury and prepared his fall. + +'Yet slow and gradual dawned the morn of love; +Long lay the clouds of darkness o'er the scene, +Till from its native Heaven they rolled away: _40 +First, Crime triumphant o'er all hope careered +Unblushing, undisguising, bold and strong; +Whilst Falsehood, tricked in Virtue's attributes, +Long sanctified all deeds of vice and woe, +Till done by her own venomous sting to death, _45 +She left the moral world without a law, +No longer fettering Passion's fearless wing,-- +Nor searing Reason with the brand of God. +Then steadily the happy ferment worked; +Reason was free; and wild though Passion went _50 +Through tangled glens and wood-embosomed meads, +Gathering a garland of the strangest flowers, +Yet like the bee returning to her queen, +She bound the sweetest on her sister's brow, +Who meek and sober kissed the sportive child, _55 +No longer trembling at the broken rod. + +'Mild was the slow necessity of death: +The tranquil spirit failed beneath its grasp, +Without a groan, almost without a fear, +Calm as a voyager to some distant land, _60 +And full of wonder, full of hope as he. +The deadly germs of languor and disease +Died in the human frame, and Purity +Blessed with all gifts her earthly worshippers. +How vigorous then the athletic form of age! _65 +How clear its open and unwrinkled brow! +Where neither avarice, cunning, pride, nor care, +Had stamped the seal of gray deformity +On all the mingling lineaments of time. +How lovely the intrepid front of youth! _70 +Which meek-eyed courage decked with freshest grace;-- +Courage of soul, that dreaded not a name, +And elevated will, that journeyed on +Through life's phantasmal scene in fearlessness, +With virtue, love, and pleasure, hand in hand. _75 + +'Then, that sweet bondage which is Freedom's self, +And rivets with sensation's softest tie +The kindred sympathies of human souls, +Needed no fetters of tyrannic law: +Those delicate and timid impulses _80 +In Nature's primal modesty arose, +And with undoubted confidence disclosed +The growing longings of its dawning love, +Unchecked by dull and selfish chastity, +That virtue of the cheaply virtuous, _85 +Who pride themselves in senselessness and frost. +No longer prostitution's venomed bane +Poisoned the springs of happiness and life; +Woman and man, in confidence and love, +Equal and free and pure together trod _90 +The mountain-paths of virtue, which no more +Were stained with blood from many a pilgrim's feet. + +'Then, where, through distant ages, long in pride +The palace of the monarch-slave had mocked +Famine's faint groan, and Penury's silent tear, _95 +A heap of crumbling ruins stood, and threw +Year after year their stones upon the field, +Wakening a lonely echo; and the leaves +Of the old thorn, that on the topmost tower +Usurped the royal ensign's grandeur, shook _100 +In the stern storm that swayed the topmost tower +And whispered strange tales in the Whirlwind's ear. +'Low through the lone cathedral's roofless aisles +The melancholy winds a death-dirge sung: +It were a sight of awfulness to see _105 +The works of faith and slavery, so vast, +So sumptuous, yet so perishing withal! +Even as the corpse that rests beneath its wall. +A thousand mourners deck the pomp of death +To-day, the breathing marble glows above _110 +To decorate its memory, and tongues +Are busy of its life: to-morrow, worms +In silence and in darkness seize their prey. + +'Within the massy prison's mouldering courts, +Fearless and free the ruddy children played, _115 +Weaving gay chaplets for their innocent brows +With the green ivy and the red wallflower, +That mock the dungeon's unavailing gloom; +The ponderous chains, and gratings of strong iron, +There rusted amid heaps of broken stone _120 +That mingled slowly with their native earth: +There the broad beam of day, which feebly once +Lighted the cheek of lean Captivity +With a pale and sickly glare, then freely shone +On the pure smiles of infant playfulness: _125 +No more the shuddering voice of hoarse Despair +Pealed through the echoing vaults, but soothing notes +Of ivy-fingered winds and gladsome birds +And merriment were resonant around. + +'These ruins soon left not a wreck behind: _130 +Their elements, wide scattered o'er the globe, +To happier shapes were moulded, and became +Ministrant to all blissful impulses: +Thus human things were perfected, and earth, +Even as a child beneath its mother's love, _135 +Was strengthened in all excellence, and grew +Fairer and nobler with each passing year. + +'Now Time his dusky pennons o'er the scene +Closes in steadfast darkness, and the past +Fades from our charmed sight. My task is done: _140 +Thy lore is learned. Earth's wonders are thine own, +With all the fear and all the hope they bring. +My spells are passed: the present now recurs. +Ah me! a pathless wilderness remains +Yet unsubdued by man's reclaiming hand. _145 + +'Yet, human Spirit, bravely hold thy course, +Let virtue teach thee firmly to pursue +The gradual paths of an aspiring change: +For birth and life and death, and that strange state +Before the naked soul has found its home, _150 +All tend to perfect happiness, and urge +The restless wheels of being on their way, +Whose flashing spokes, instinct with infinite life, +Bicker and burn to gain their destined goal: +For birth but wakes the spirit to the sense _155 +Of outward shows, whose unexperienced shape +New modes of passion to its frame may lend; +Life is its state of action, and the store +Of all events is aggregated there +That variegate the eternal universe; _160 +Death is a gate of dreariness and gloom, +That leads to azure isles and beaming skies +And happy regions of eternal hope. +Therefore, O Spirit! fearlessly bear on: +Though storms may break the primrose on its stalk, _165 +Though frosts may blight the freshness of its bloom, +Yet Spring's awakening breath will woo the earth, +To feed with kindliest dews its favourite flower, +That blooms in mossy banks and darksome glens, +Lighting the greenwood with its sunny smile. _170 + +'Fear not then, Spirit, Death's disrobing hand, +So welcome when the tyrant is awake, +So welcome when the bigot's hell-torch burns; +'Tis but the voyage of a darksome hour, +The transient gulf-dream of a startling sleep. _175 +Death is no foe to Virtue: earth has seen +Love's brightest roses on the scaffold bloom, +Mingling with Freedom's fadeless laurels there, +And presaging the truth of visioned bliss. +Are there not hopes within thee, which this scene _180 +Of linked and gradual being has confirmed? +Whose stingings bade thy heart look further still, +When, to the moonlight walk by Henry led, +Sweetly and sadly thou didst talk of death? +And wilt thou rudely tear them from thy breast, _185 +Listening supinely to a bigot's creed, +Or tamely crouching to the tyrant's rod, +Whose iron thongs are red with human gore? +Never: but bravely bearing on, thy will +Is destined an eternal war to wage _190 +With tyranny and falsehood, and uproot +The germs of misery from the human heart. +Thine is the hand whose piety would soothe +The thorny pillow of unhappy crime, +Whose impotence an easy pardon gains, _195 +Watching its wanderings as a friend's disease: +Thine is the brow whose mildness would defy +Its fiercest rage, and brave its sternest will, +When fenced by power and master of the world. +Thou art sincere and good; of resolute mind, _200 +Free from heart-withering custom's cold control, +Of passion lofty, pure and unsubdued. +Earth's pride and meanness could not vanquish thee, +And therefore art thou worthy of the boon +Which thou hast now received: Virtue shall keep _205 +Thy footsteps in the path that thou hast trod, +And many days of beaming hope shall bless +Thy spotless life of sweet and sacred love. +Go, happy one, and give that bosom joy +Whose sleepless spirit waits to catch _210 +Light, life and rapture from thy smile.' + +The Fairy waves her wand of charm. +Speechless with bliss the Spirit mounts the car, +That rolled beside the battlement, +Bending her beamy eyes in thankful ness. _215 +Again the enchanted steeds were yoked, +Again the burning wheels inflame +The steep descent of Heaven's untrodden way. +Fast and far the chariot flew: +The vast and fiery globes that rolled _220 +Around the Fairy's palace-gate +Lessened by slow degrees and soon appeared +Such tiny twinklers as the planet orbs +That there attendant on the solar power +With borrowed light pursued their narrower way. _225 + +Earth floated then below: +The chariot paused a moment there; +The Spirit then descended: +The restless coursers pawed the ungenial soil, +Snuffed the gross air, and then, their errand done, _230 +Unfurled their pinions to the winds of Heaven. + +The Body and the Soul united then, +A gentle start convulsed Ianthe's frame: +Her veiny eyelids quietly unclosed; +Moveless awhile the dark blue orbs remained: _235 +She looked around in wonder and beheld +Henry, who kneeled in silence by her couch, +Watching her sleep with looks of speechless love, +And the bright beaming stars +That through the casement shone. _240 + +*** + + +NOTES ON QUEEN MAB. + + +SHELLEY'S NOTES. + +1. 242, 243:-- + +The sun's unclouded orb +Rolled through the black concave. + +Beyond our atmosphere the sun would appear a rayless orb of fire in the +midst of a black concave. The equal diffusion of its light on earth is +owing to the refraction of the rays by the atmosphere, and their +reflection from other bodies. Light consists either of vibrations +propagated through a subtle medium, or of numerous minute particles +repelled in all directions from the luminous body. Its velocity greatly +exceeds that of any substance with which we are acquainted: observations +on the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites have demonstrated that light +takes up no more than 8 minutes 7 seconds in passing from the sun to the +earth, a distance of 95,000,000 miles.--Some idea may be gained of the +immense distance of the fixed stars when it is computed that many years +would elapse before light could reach this earth from the nearest of +them; yet in one year light travels 5,422,400,000,000 miles, which is a +distance 5,707,600 times greater than that of the sun from the earth. + +1. 252, 253:-- + +Whilst round the chariot's way +Innumerable systems rolled. + +The plurality of worlds,--the indefinite immensity of the universe, is a +most awful subject of contemplation. He who rightly feels its mystery +and grandeur is in no danger of seduction from the falsehoods of +religious systems, or of deifying the principle of the universe. It is +impossible to believe that the Spirit that pervades this infinite +machine begat a son upon the body of a Jewish woman; or is angered at +the consequences of that necessity, which is a synonym of itself. All +that miserable tale of the Devil, and Eve, and an Intercessor, with the +childish mummeries of the God of the Jews, is irreconcilable with the +knowledge of the stars. The works of His fingers have borne witness +against Him. + +The nearest of the fixed stars is inconceivably distant from the earth, +and they are probably proportionably distant from each other. By a +calculation of the velocity of light, Sirius is supposed to be at least +54,224,000,000,000 miles from the earth. (See Nicholson's +"Encyclopedia", article Light.) That which appears only like a thin and +silvery cloud streaking the heaven is in effect composed of innumerable +clusters of suns, each shining with its own light, and illuminating +numbers of planets that revolve around them. Millions and millions of +suns are ranged around us, all attended by innumerable worlds, yet calm, +regular, and harmonious, all keeping the paths of immutable necessity. + +4. 178, 179:-- + +These are the hired bravos who defend +The tyrant's throne. + +To employ murder as a means of justice is an idea which a man of an +enlightened mind will not dwell upon with pleasure. To march forth in +rank and file, and all the pomp of streamers and trumpets, for the +purpose of shooting at our fellow-men as a mark; to inflict upon them +all the variety of wound and anguish; to leave them weltering in their +blood; to wander over the field of desolation, and count the number of +the dying and the dead,--are employments which in thesis we may maintain +to be necessary, but which no good man will contemplate with gratulation +and delight. A battle we suppose is won:--thus truth is established, +thus the cause of justice is confirmed! It surely requires no common +sagacity to discern the connexion between this immense heap of +calamities and the assertion of truth or the maintenance of justice. + +'Kings, and ministers of state, the real authors of the calamity, sit +unmolested in their cabinet, while those against whom the fury of the +storm is directed are, for the most part, persons who have been +trepanned into the service, or who are dragged unwillingly from their +peaceful homes into the field of battle. A soldier is a man whose +business it is to kill those who never offended him, and who are the +innocent martyrs of other men's iniquities. Whatever may become of the +abstract question of the justifiableness of war, it seems impossible +that the soldier should not be a depraved and unnatural being. + +To these more serious and momentous considerations it may be proper to +add a recollection of the ridiculousness of the military character. Its +first constituent is obedience: a soldier is, of all descriptions of +men, the most completely a machine; yet his profession inevitably +teaches him something of dogmatism, swaggering, and sell-consequence: he +is like the puppet of a showman, who, at the very time he is made to +strut and swell and display the most farcical airs, we perfectly know +cannot assume the most insignificant gesture, advance either to the +right or the left, but as he is moved by his exhibitor.'--Godwin's +"Enquirer", Essay 5. + +I will here subjoin a little poem, so strongly expressive of my +abhorrence of despotism and falsehood, that I fear lest it never again +may be depictured so vividly. This opportunity is perhaps the only one +that ever will occur of rescuing it from oblivion. + +FALSEHOOD AND VICE. + +A DIALOGUE. + +Whilst monarchs laughed upon their thrones +To hear a famished nation's groans, +And hugged the wealth wrung from the woe +That makes its eyes and veins o'erflow,-- +Those thrones, high built upon the heaps +Of bones where frenzied Famine sleeps, +Where Slavery wields her scourge of iron, +Red with mankind's unheeded gore, +And War's mad fiends the scene environ, +Mingling with shrieks a drunken roar, +There Vice and Falsehood took their stand, +High raised above the unhappy land. + +FALSEHOOD: +Brother! arise from the dainty fare, +Which thousands have toiled and bled to bestow; +A finer feast for thy hungry ear +Is the news that I bring of human woe. + +VICE: +And, secret one, what hast thou done, +To compare, in thy tumid pride, with me? +I, whose career, through the blasted year, +Has been tracked by despair and agony. + +FALSEHOOD: +What have I done!--I have torn the robe +From baby Truth's unsheltered form, +And round the desolated globe +Borne safely the bewildering charm: +My tyrant-slaves to a dungeon-floor +Have bound the fearless innocent, +And streams of fertilizing gore +Flow from her bosom's hideous rent, +Which this unfailing dagger gave... +I dread that blood!--no more--this day +Is ours, though her eternal ray +Must shine upon our grave. +Yet know, proud Vice, had I not given +To thee the robe I stole from Heaven, +Thy shape of ugliness and fear +Had never gained admission here. + +VICE: +And know, that had I disdained to toil, +But sate in my loathsome cave the while, +And ne'er to these hateful sons of Heaven, +GOLD, MONARCHY, and MURDER, given; +Hadst thou with all thine art essayed +One of thy games then to have played, +With all thine overweening boast, +Falsehood! I tell thee thou hadst lost!-- +Yet wherefore this dispute?--we tend, +Fraternal, to one common end; +In this cold grave beneath my feet, +Will our hopes, our fears, and our labours, meet. + +FALSEHOOD: +I brought my daughter, RELIGION, on earth: +She smothered Reason's babes in their birth; +But dreaded their mother's eye severe,-- +So the crocodile slunk off slily in fear, +And loosed her bloodhounds from the den.... +They started from dreams of slaughtered men, +And, by the light of her poison eye, +Did her work o'er the wide earth frightfully: +The dreadful stench of her torches' flare, +Fed with human fat, polluted the air: +The curses, the shrieks, the ceaseless cries +Of the many-mingling miseries, +As on she trod, ascended high +And trumpeted my victory!-- +Brother, tell what thou hast done. + +VICE: +I have extinguished the noonday sun, +In the carnage-smoke of battles won: +Famine, Murder, Hell and Power +Were glutted in that glorious hour +Which searchless fate had stamped for me +With the seal of her security... +For the bloated wretch on yonder throne +Commanded the bloody fray to rise. +Like me he joyed at the stifled moan +Wrung from a nation's miseries; +While the snakes, whose slime even him DEFILED, +In ecstasies of malice smiled: +They thought 'twas theirs,--but mine the deed! +Theirs is the toil, but mine the meed-- +Ten thousand victims madly bleed. +They dream that tyrants goad them there +With poisonous war to taint the air: +These tyrants, on their beds of thorn, +Swell with the thoughts of murderous fame, +And with their gains to lift my name +Restless they plan from night to morn: +I--I do all; without my aid +Thy daughter, that relentless maid, +Could never o'er a death-bed urge +The fury of her venomed scourge. + +FALSEHOOD: +Brother, well:--the world is ours; +And whether thou or I have won, +The pestilence expectant lowers +On all beneath yon blasted sun. +Our joys, our toils, our honours meet +In the milk-white and wormy winding-sheet: +A short-lived hope, unceasing care, +Some heartless scraps of godly prayer, +A moody curse, and a frenzied sleep +Ere gapes the grave's unclosing deep, +A tyrant's dream, a coward's start, +The ice that clings to a priestly heart, +A judge's frown, a courtier's smile, +Make the great whole for which we toil; +And, brother, whether thou or I +Have done the work of misery, +It little boots: thy toil and pain, +Without my aid, were more than vain; +And but for thee I ne'er had sate +The guardian of Heaven's palace gate. + +5. 1, 2:-- + +Thus do the generations of the earth +Go to the grave, and issue from the womb. + +'One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the +earth abideth for ever. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, +and hasteth to his place where he arose. The wind goeth toward the +south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, +and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. All the rivers +run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence +the rivers come, thither they return again.'--Ecclesiastes, chapter 1 +verses 4-7. + +5. 4-6. + +Even as the leaves +Which the keen frost-wind of the waning year +Has scattered on the forest soil. + +Oin per phullon genee, toiede kai andron. +Phulla ta men t' anemos chamadis cheei, alla de th' ule +Telethoosa phuei, earos d' epigignetai ore. +Os andron genee, e men phuei, e d' apolegei. + +Iliad Z, line 146. + +5. 58:-- +The mob of peasants, nobles, priests, and kings. + +Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis +E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem; +Non quia vexari quemquam est iucunda voluptas, +Sed quibus ipse malis careas quia cernere suave est. +Suave etiam belli certamina magna tueri +Per campos instructa, tua sine parte pericli; +Sed nil dulcius est bene quam munita tenere +Edita doctrina sapientum templa serena, +Despicere undo queas alios, passimque videre +Errare atque viam palantis quaerere vitae; +Certare ingenio; contendere nobilitate; +Noctes atque dies niti praestante labore +Ad summas emergere opes, rerumque potiri. +O miseras hominum mentes! O pectora caeca! + +Lucret. lib. 2. + +5. 93, 94. + +And statesmen boast +Of wealth! + +There is no real wealth but the labour of man. Were the mountains of +gold and the valleys of silver, the world would not be one grain of corn +the richer; no one comfort would be added to the human race. In +consequence of our consideration for the precious metals, one man is +enabled to heap to himself luxuries at the expense of the necessaries of +his neighbour; a system admirably fitted to produce all the varieties of +disease and crime, which never fail to characterize the two extremes of +opulence and penury. A speculator takes pride to himself as the promoter +of his country's prosperity, who employs a number of hands in the +manufacture of articles avowedly destitute of use, or subservient only +to the unhallowed cravings of luxury and ostentation. The nobleman, who +employs the peasants of his neighbourhood in building his palaces, until +'jam pauca aratro jugera regiae moles relinquunt,' flatters himself that +he has gained the title of a patriot by yielding to the impulses of +vanity. The show and pomp of courts adduce the same apology for its +continuance; and many a fete has been given, many a woman has eclipsed +her beauty by her dress, to benefit the labouring poor and to encourage +trade. Who does not see that this is a remedy which aggravates whilst it +palliates the countless diseases of society? The poor are set to +labour,--for what? Not the food for which they famish: not the blankets +for want of which their babes are frozen by the cold of their miserable +hovels: not those comforts of civilization without which civilized man +is far more miserable than the meanest savage; oppressed as he is by all +its insidious evils, within the daily and taunting prospect of its +innumerable benefits assiduously exhibited before him:--no; for the +pride of power, for the miserable isolation of pride, for the false +pleasures of the hundredth part of society. No greater evidence is +afforded of the wide extended and radical mistakes of civilized man than +this fact: those arts which are essential to his very being are held in +the greatest contempt; employments are lucrative in an inverse ratio to +their usefulness (See Rousseau, "De l'Inegalite parmi les Hommes", note +7.): the jeweller, the toyman, the actor gains fame and wealth by the +exercise of his useless and ridiculous art; whilst the cultivator of the +earth, he without whom society must cease to subsist, struggles through +contempt and penury, and perishes by that famine which but for his +unceasing exertions would annihilate the rest of mankind. + +I will not insult common sense by insisting on the doctrine of the +natural equality of man. The question is not concerning its +desirableness, but its practicability: so far as it is practicable, it +is desirable. That state of human society which approaches nearer to an +equal partition of its benefits and evils should, caeteris paribus, be +preferred: but so long as we conceive that a wanton expenditure of human +labour, not for the necessities, not even for the luxuries of the mass +of society, but for the egotism and ostentation of a few of its members, +is defensible on the ground of public justice, so long we neglect to +approximate to the redemption of the human race. + +Labour is required for physical, and leisure for moral improvement: from +the former of these advantages the rich, and from the latter the poor, +by the inevitable conditions of their respective situations, are +precluded. A state which should combine the advantages of both would be +subjected to the evils of neither. He that is deficient in firm health, +or vigorous intellect, is but half a man: hence it follows that to +subject the labouring classes to unnecessary labour is wantonly +depriving them of any opportunities of intellectual improvement; and +that the rich are heaping up for their own mischief the disease, +lassitude, and ennui by which their existence is rendered an intolerable +burthen. + +English reformers exclaim against sinecures,--but the true pension list +is the rent-roll of the landed proprietors: wealth is a power usurped by +the few, to compel the many to labour for their benefit. The laws which +support this system derive their force from the ignorance and credulity +of its victims: they are the result of a conspiracy of the few against +the many, who are themselves obliged to purchase this pre-eminence by +the loss of all real comfort. + +'The commodities that substantially contribute to the subsistence of the +human species form a very short catalogue: they demand from us but a +slender portion of industry. If these only were produced, and +sufficiently produced, the species of man would be continued. If the +labour necessarily required to produce them were equitably divided among +the poor, and, still more, if it were equitably divided among all, each +man's share of labour would be light, and his portion of leisure would +be ample. There was a time when this leisure would have been of small +comparative value: it is to be hoped that the time will come when it +will be applied to the most important purposes. Those hours which are +not required for the production of the necessaries of life may be +devoted to the cultivation of the understanding, the enlarging our stock +of knowledge, the refining our taste, and thus opening to us new and +more exquisite sources of enjoyment. + +... + +'It was perhaps necessary that a period of monopoly and oppression +should subsist, before a period of cultivated equality could subsist. +Savages perhaps would never have been excited to the discovery of truth +and the invention of art but by the narrow motives which such a period +affords. But surely, after the savage state has ceased, and men have set +out in the glorious career of discovery and invention, monopoly and +oppression cannot be necessary to prevent them from returning to a state +of barbarism.'--Godwin's "Enquirer", Essay 2. See also "Pol. Jus.", book +8, chapter 2. + +It is a calculation of this admirable author, that all the conveniences +of civilized life might be produced, if society would divide the labour +equally among its members, by each individual being employed in labour +two hours during the day. + +5. 112, 113:-- + +or religion +Drives his wife raving mad. + +I am acquainted with a lady of considerable accomplishments, and the +mother of a numerous family, whom the Christian religion has goaded to +incurable insanity. A parallel case is, I believe, within the experience +of every physician. + +Nam iam saepe homines patriam, carosquo parentes +Prodiderunt, vitare Acherusia templa petentes.--Lucretius. + +5. 189:-- + +Even love is sold. + +Not even the intercourse of the sexes is exempt from the despotism of +positive institution. Law pretends even to govern the indisciplinable +wanderings of passion, to put fetters on the clearest deductions of +reason, and, by appeals to the will, to subdue the involuntary +affections of our nature. Love is inevitably consequent upon the +perception of loveliness. Love withers under constraint: its very +essence is liberty: it is compatible neither with obedience, jealousy, +nor fear: it is there most pure, perfect, and unlimited, where its +votaries live in confidence, equality, and unreserve. + +How long then ought the sexual connection to last? what law ought to +specify the extent of the grievances which should limit its duration? A +husband and wife ought to continue so long united as they love each +other: any law which should bind them to cohabitation for one moment +after the decay of their affection would be a most intolerable tyranny, +and the most unworthy of toleration. How odious an usurpation of the +right of private judgement should that law be considered which should +make the ties of friendship indissoluble, in spite of the caprices, the +inconstancy, the fallibility, and capacity for improvement of the human +mind. And by so much would the fetters of love be heavier and more +unendurable than those of friendship, as love is more vehement and +capricious, more dependent on those delicate peculiarities of +imagination, and less capable of reduction to the ostensible merits of +the object. + +The state of society in which we exist is a mixture of feudal savageness +and imperfect civilization. The narrow and unenlightened morality of the +Christian religion is an aggravation of these evils. It is not even +until lately that mankind have admitted that happiness is the sole end +of the science of ethics, as of all other sciences; and that the +fanatical idea of mortifying the flesh for the love of God has been +discarded. I have heard, indeed, an ignorant collegian adduce, in favour +of Christianity, its hostility to every worldly feeling! (The first +Christian emperor made a law by which seduction was punished with death; +if the female pleaded her own consent, she also was punished with death; +if the parents endeavoured to screen the criminals, they were banished +and their estates were confiscated; the slaves who might be accessory +were burned alive, or forced to swallow melted lead. The very offspring +of an illegal love were involved in the consequences of the +sentence.--Gibbon's "Decline and Fall", etc., volume 2, page 210. See +also, for the hatred of the primitive Christians to love and even +marriage, page 269.) + +But if happiness be the object of morality, of all human unions and +disunions; if the worthiness of every action is to be estimated by the +quantity of pleasurable sensation it is calculated to produce, then the +connection of the sexes is so long sacred as it contributes to the +comfort of the parties, and is naturally dissolved when its evils are +greater than its benefits. There is nothing immoral in this separation. +Constancy has nothing virtuous in itself, independently of the pleasure +it confers, and partakes of the temporizing spirit of vice in proportion +as it endures tamely moral defects of magnitude in the object of its +indiscreet choice. Love is free: to promise for ever to love the same +woman is not less absurd than to promise to believe the same creed: such +a vow, in both cases, excludes us from all inquiry. The language of the +votarist is this: The woman I now love may be infinitely inferior to +many others; the creed I now profess may be a mass of errors and +absurdities; but I exclude myself from all future information as to the +amiability of the one and the truth of the other, resolving blindly, and +in spite of conviction, to adhere to them. Is this the language of +delicacy and reason? Is the love of such a frigid heart of more worth +than its belief? + +The present system of constraint does no more, in the majority of +instances, than make hypocrites or open enemies. Persons of delicacy and +virtue, unhappily united to one whom they find it impossible to love, +spend the loveliest season of their life in unproductive efforts to +appear otherwise than they are, for the sake of the feelings of their +partner or the welfare of their mutual offspring: those of less +generosity and refinement openly avow their disappointment, and linger +out the remnant of that union, which only death can dissolve, in a state +of incurable bickering and hostility. The early education of their +children takes its colour from the squabbles of the parents; they are +nursed in a systematic school of ill-humour, violence, and falsehood. +Had they been suffered to part at the moment when indifference rendered +their union irksome, they would have been spared many years of misery: +they would have connected themselves more suitably, and would have found +that happiness in the society of more congenial partners which is for +ever denied them by the despotism of marriage. They would have been +separately useful and happy members of society, who, whilst united, were +miserable and rendered misanthropical by misery. The conviction that +wedlock is indissoluble holds out the strongest of all temptations to +the perverse: they indulge without restraint in acrimony, and all the +little tyrannies of domestic life, when they know that their victim is +without appeal. If this connection were put on a rational basis, each +would be assured that habitual ill-temper would terminate in separation, +and would check this vicious and dangerous propensity. + +Prostitution is the legitimate offspring of marriage and its +accompanying errors. Women, for no other crime than having followed the +dictates of a natural appetite, are driven with fury from the comforts +and sympathies of society. It is less venial than murder; and the +punishment which is inflicted on her who destroys her child to escape +reproach is lighter than the life of agony and disease to which the +prostitute is irrecoverably doomed. Has a woman obeyed the impulse of +unerring nature;--society declares war against her, pitiless and eternal +war: she must be the tame slave, she must make no reprisals; theirs is +the right of persecution, hers the duty of endurance. She lives a life +of infamy: the loud and bitter laugh of scorn scares her from all +return. She dies of long and lingering disease: yet SHE is in fault, SHE +is the criminal, SHE the froward and untamable child,--and society, +forsooth, the pure and virtuous matron, who casts her as an abortion +from her undefiled bosom! Society avenges herself on the criminals of +her own creation; she is employed in anathematizing the vice to-day, +which yesterday she was the most zealous to teach. Thus is formed +one-tenth of the population of London: meanwhile the evil is twofold. +Young men, excluded by the fanatical idea of chastity from the society +of modest and accomplished women, associate with these vicious and +miserable beings, destroying thereby all those exquisite and delicate +sensibilities whose existence cold-hearted worldlings have denied; +annihilating all genuine passion, and debasing that to a selfish feeling +which is the excess of generosity and devotedness. Their body and mind +alike crumble into a hideous wreck of humanity; idiocy and disease +become perpetuated in their miserable offspring, and distant generations +suffer for the bigoted morality of their forefathers. Chastity is a +monkish and evangelical superstition, a greater foe to natural +temperance even than unintellectual sensuality; it strikes at the root +of all domestic happiness, and consigns more than half of the human race +to misery, that some few may monopolize according to law. A system could +not well have been devised more studiously hostile to human happiness +than marriage. + +I conceive that from the abolition of marriage, the fit and natural +arrangement of sexual connection would result. I by no means assert that +the intercourse would be promiscuous: on the contrary, it appears, from +the relation of parent to child, that this union is generally of long +duration, and marked above all others with generosity and self-devotion. +But this is a subject which it is perhaps premature to discuss. That +which will result from the abolition of marriage will be natural and +right; because choice and change will be exempted from restraint. + +In fact, religion and morality, as they now stand, compose a practical +code of misery and servitude: the genius of human happiness must tear +every leaf from the accursed book of God ere man can read the +inscription on his heart. How would morality, dressed up in stiff stays +and finery, start from her own disgusting image should she look in the +mirror of nature!-- + +6. 45, 46:-- + +To the red and baleful sun +That faintly twinkles there. + +The north polar star, to which the axis of the earth, in its present +state of obliquity, points. It is exceedingly probable, from many +considerations, that this obliquity will gradually diminish, until the +equator coincides with the ecliptic: the nights and days will then +become equal on the earth throughout the year, and probably the seasons +also. There is no great extravagance in presuming that the progress of +the perpendicularity of the poles may be as rapid as the progress of +intellect; or that there should be a perfect identity between the moral +and physical improvement of the human species. It is certain that wisdom +is not compatible with disease, and that, in the present state of the +climates of the earth, health, in the true and comprehensive sense of +the word, is out of the reach of civilized man. Astronomy teaches us +that the earth is now in its progress, and that the poles are every year +becoming more and more perpendicular to the ecliptic. The strong +evidence afforded by the history of mythology, and geological +researches, that some event of this nature has taken place already, +affords a strong presumption that this progress is not merely an +oscillation, as has been surmised by some late astronomers. (Laplace, +"Systeme du Monde".) + +Bones of animals peculiar to the torrid zone have been found in the +north of Siberia, and on the banks of the river Ohio. Plants have been +found in the fossil state in the interior of Germany, which demand the +present climate of Hindostan for their production. (Cabanis, "Rapports +du Physique et du Moral de l'Homme", volume 2 page 406.) The researches +of M. Bailly establish the existence of a people who inhabited a tract +in Tartary 49 degrees north latitude, of greater antiquity than either +the Indians, the Chinese, or the Chaldeans, from whom these nations +derived their sciences and theology. (Bailly, "Lettres sur les Sciences, +a Voltaire".) We find, from the testimony of ancient writers, that +Britain, Germany, and France were much colder than at present, and that +their great rivers were annually frozen over. Astronomy teaches us also +that since this period the obliquity of the earth's position has been +considerably diminished. + +6. 171-173:-- + +No atom of this turbulence fulfils +A vague and unnecessitated task, +Or acts but as it must and ought to act. + +'Deux examples serviront a nous rendre plus sensible le principe qui +vient d'etre pose; nous emprunterons l'un du physique at l'autre du +moral. Dans un tourbillon de poussiere qu'eleve un vent impetueux, +quelque confus qu'il paraisse a nos yeux; dans la plus affreuse tempete +excitee par des vents opposes qui soulevent les flots,--il n'y a pas une +seule molecule de poussiere ou d'eau qui soit placee au HASARD, qui +n'ait sa cause suffisante pour occuper le lieu ou elle se trouve, et qui +n'agisse rigoureusement de la maniere dont ella doit agir. Un geometre +qui connaitrait exactement les differentes forces qui agissent dans ces +deux cas, at las proprietes des molecules qui sent mues, demontrerait +que d'apres des causes donnees, chaque molecule agit precisement comme +ella doit agir, et ne peut agir autrement qu'elle ne fait. + +'Dans les convulsions terribles qui agitent quelquefois les societes +politiques, et qui produisent souvent le renversement d'un empire, il +n'y a pas une seule action, une seule parole, une seule pensee, une +seule volonte, une seule passion dans las agens qui concourent a la +revolution comme destructeurs ou comme victimes, qui ne soit necessaire, +qui n'agissa comme ella doit agir, qui n'opere infailliblemont les +effets qu'eile doit operer, suivant la place qu'occupent ces agens dana +ce tourbillon moral. Cela paraitrait evident pour une intelligence qui +sera en etat de saisir et d'apprecier toutes las actions at reactions +des esprits at des corps de ceux qui contribuent a cette +revolution.'--"Systeme de la Nature", volume 1, page 44. + +6. 198:-- + +Necessity! thou mother of the world! + +He who asserts the doctrine of Necessity means that, contemplating the +events which compose the moral and material universe, he beholds only an +immense and uninterrupted chain of causes and effects, no one of which +could occupy any other place than it does occupy, or act in any other +place than it does act. The idea of necessity is obtained by our +experience of the connection between objects, the uniformity of the +operations of nature, the constant conjunction of similar events, and +the consequent inference of one from the other. Mankind are therefore +agreed in the admission of necessity, if they admit that these two +circumstances take place in voluntary action. Motive is to voluntary +action in the human mind what cause is to effect in the material +universe. The word liberty, as applied to mind, is analogous to the word +chance as applied to matter: they spring from an ignorance of the +certainty of the conjunction of antecedents and consequents. + +Every human being is irresistibly impelled to act precisely as he does +act: in the eternity which preceded his birth a chain of causes was +generated, which, operating under the name of motives, make it +impossible that any thought of his mind, or any action of his life, +should be otherwise than it is. Were the doctrine of Necessity false, +the human mind would no longer be a legitimate object of science; from +like causes it would be in vain that we should expect like effects; the +strongest motive would no longer be paramount over the conduct; all +knowledge would be vague and undeterminate; we could not predict with +any certainty that we might not meet as an enemy to-morrow him with whom +we have parted in friendship to-night; the most probable inducements and +the clearest reasonings would lose the invariable influence they +possess. The contrary of this is demonstrably the fact. Similar +circumstances produce the same unvariable effects. The precise character +and motives of any man on any occasion being given, the moral +philosopher could predict his actions with as much certainty as the +natural philosopher could predict the effects of the mixture of any +particular chemical substances. Why is the aged husbandman more +experienced than the young beginner? Because there is a uniform, +undeniable necessity in the operations of the material universe. Why is +the old statesman more skilful than the raw politician) Because, relying +on the necessary conjunction of motive and action, he proceeds to +produce moral effects, by the application of those moral causes which +experience has shown to be effectual. Some actions may be found to which +we can attach no motives, but these are the effects of causes with which +we are unacquainted. Hence the relation which motive bears to voluntary +action is that of cause to effect; nor, placed in this point of view, is +it, or ever has it been, the subject of popular or philosophical +dispute. None but the few fanatics who are engaged in the herculean task +of reconciling the justice of their God with the misery of man, will +longer outrage common sense by the supposition of an event without a +cause, a voluntary action without a motive. History, politics, morals, +criticism, all grounds of reasonings, all principles of science, alike +assume the truth of the doctrine of Necessity. No farmer carrying his +corn to market doubts the sale of it at the market price. The master of +a manufactory no more doubts that he can purchase the human labour +necessary for his purposes than that his machinery will act as they have +been accustomed to act. + +But, whilst none have scrupled to admit necessity as influencing matter, +many have disputed its dominion over mind. Independently of its +militating with the received ideas of the justice of God, it is by no +means obvious to a superficial inquiry. When the mind observes its own +operations, it feels no connection of motive and action: but as we know +'nothing more of causation than the constant conjunction of objects and +the consequent inference of one from the other, as we find that these +two circumstances are universally allowed to have place in voluntary +action, we may be easily led to own that they are subjected to the +necessity common to all causes.' The actions of the will have a regular +conjunction with circumstances and characters; motive is to voluntary +action what cause is to effect. But the only idea we can form of +causation is a constant conjunction of similar objects, and the +consequent inference of one from the other: wherever this is the case +necessity is clearly established. + +The idea of liberty, applied metaphorically to the will, has sprung from +a misconception of the meaning of the word power. What is power?--id +quod potest, that which can produce any given effect. To deny power is +to say that nothing can or has the power to be or act. In the only true +sense of the word power, it applies with equal force to the lodestone as +to the human will. Do you think these motives, which I shall present, +are powerful enough to rouse him? is a question just as common as, Do +you think this lever has the power of raising this weight? The advocates +of free-will assert that the will has the power of refusing to be +determined by the strongest motive; but the strongest motive is that +which, overcoming all others, ultimately prevails; this assertion +therefore amounts to a denial of the will being ultimately determined by +that motive which does determine it, which is absurd. But it is equally +certain that a man cannot resist the strongest motive as that he cannot +overcome a physical impossibility. + +The doctrine of Necessity tends to introduce a great change into the +established notions of morality, and utterly to destroy religion. Reward +and punishment must be considered, by the Necessarian, merely as motives +which he would employ in order to procure the adoption or abandonment of +any given line of conduct. Desert, in the present sense of the word, +would no longer have any meaning; and he who should inflict pain upon +another for no better reason than that he deserved it, would only +gratify his revenge under pretence of satisfying justice? It is not +enough, says the advocate of free-will, that a criminal should be +prevented from a repetition of his crime: he should feel pain, and his +torments, when justly inflicted, ought precisely to be proportioned to +his fault. But utility is morality; that which is incapable of producing +happiness is useless; and though the crime of Damiens must be condemned, +yet the frightful torments which revenge, under the name of justice, +inflicted on this unhappy man cannot be supposed to have augmented, even +at the long run, the stock of pleasurable sensation in the world. At the +same time, the doctrine of Necessity does not in the least diminish our +disapprobation of vice. The conviction which all feel that a viper is a +poisonous animal, and that a tiger is constrained, by the inevitable +condition of his existence, to devour men, does not induce us to avoid +them lass sedulously, or, even more, to hesitate in destroying them: but +he would surely be of a hard heart who, meeting with a serpent on a +desert island, or in a situation where it was incapable of injury, +should wantonly deprive it of existence. A Necessarian is inconsequent +to his own principles if he indulges in hatred or contempt; the +compassion which he feels for the criminal is unmixed with a desire of +injuring him: he looks with an elevated and dreadless composure upon the +links of the universal chain as they pass before his eyes; whilst +cowardice, curiosity, and inconsistency only assail him in proportion to +the feebleness and indistinctness with which he has perceived and +rejected the delusions of free-will. + +Religion is the perception of the relation in which we stand to the +principle of the universe. But if the principle of the universe be not +an organic being, the model and prototype of man, the relation between +it and human beings is absolutely none. Without some insight into its +will respecting our actions religion is nugatory and vain. But will is +only a mode of animal mind; moral qualities also are such as only a +human being can possess; to attribute them to the principle of the +universe is to annex to it properties incompatible with any possible +definition of its nature. It is probable that the word God was +originally only an expression denoting the unknown cause of the known +events which men perceived in the universe. By the vulgar mistake of a +metaphor for a real being, of a word for a thing, it became a man, +endowed with human qualities and governing the universe as an earthly +monarch governs his kingdom. Their addresses to this imaginary being, +indeed, are much in the same style as those of subjects to a king. They +acknowledge his benevolence, deprecate his anger, and supplicate his +favour. + +But the doctrine of Necessity teaches us that in no case could any event +have happened otherwise than it did happen, and that, if God is the +author of good, He is also the author of evil; that, if He is entitled +to our gratitude for the one, He is entitled to our hatred for the +other; that, admitting the existence of this hypothetic being, He is +also subjected to the dominion of an immutable necessity. It is plain +that the same arguments which prove that God is the author of food, +light, and life, prove Him also to be the author of poison, darkness, +and death. The wide-wasting earthquake, the storm, the battle, and the +tyranny, are attributable to this hypothetic being in the same degree as +the fairest forms of nature, sunshine, liberty, and peace. + +But we are taught, by the doctrine of Necessity, that there is neither +good nor evil in the universe, otherwise than as the events to which we +apply these epithets have relation to our own peculiar mode of being. +Still less than with the hypothesis of a God will the doctrine of +Necessity accord with the belief of a future state of punishment. God +made man such as he is, and than damned him for being so: for to say +that God was the author of all good, and man the author of all evil, is +to say that one man made a straight line and a crooked one, and another +man made the incongruity. + +A Mahometan story, much to the present purpose, is recorded, wherein +Adam and Moses are introduced disputing before God in the following +manner. Thou, says Moses, art Adam, whom God created, and animated with +the breath of life, and caused to be worshipped by the angels, and +placed in Paradise, from whence mankind have been expelled for thy +fault. Whereto Adam answered, Thou art Moses, whom God chose for His +apostle, and entrusted with His word, by giving thee the tables of the +law, and whom He vouchsafed to admit to discourse with Himself. How many +years dost thou find the law was written before I was created? Says +Moses, Forty. And dost thou not find, replied Adam, these words therein, +And Adam rebelled against his Lord and transgressed? Which Moses +confessing, Dost thou therefore blame me, continued he, for doing that +which God wrote of me that I should do, forty years before I was +created, nay, for what was decreed concerning me fifty thousand years +before the creation of heaven and earth?--Sale's "Prelim. Disc. to the +Koran", page 164. + +7. 13:-- + +There is no God. + +This negation must be understood solely to affect a creative Deity. The +hypothesis of a pervading Spirit co-eternal with the universe remains +unshaken. + +A close examination of the validity of the proofs adduced to support any +proposition is the only secure way of attaining truth, on the advantages +of which it is unnecessary to descant: our knowledge of the existence of +a Deity is a subject of such importance that it cannot be too minutely +investigated; in consequence of this conviction we proceed briefly and +impartially to examine the proofs which have been adduced. It is +necessary first to consider the nature of belief. + +When a proposition is offered to the mind, it perceives the agreement or +disagreement of the ideas of which it is composed. A perception of their +agreement is termed BELIEF. Many obstacles frequently prevent this +perception from being immediate; these the mind attempts to remove in +order that the perception may be distinct. The mind is active in the +investigation in order to perfect the state of perception of the +relation which the component ideas of the proposition bear to each, +which is passive: the investigation being confused with the perception +has induced many falsely to imagine that the mind is active in +belief,--that belief is an act of volition,--in consequence of which it +may be regulated by the mind. Pursuing, continuing this mistake, they +have attached a degree of criminality to disbelief; of which, in its +nature, it is incapable: it is equally incapable of merit. + +Belief, then, is a passion, the strength of which, like every other +passion, is in precise proportion to the degrees of excitement. + +The degrees of excitement are three. + +The senses are the sources of all knowledge to the mind; consequently +their evidence claims the strongest assent. + +The decision of the mind, founded upon our own experience, derived from +these sources, claims the next degree. + +The experience of others, which addresses itself to the former one, +occupies the lowest degree. + +(A graduated scale, on which should be marked the capabilities of +propositions to approach to the test of the senses, would be a just +barometer of the belief which ought to be attached to them.) + +Consequently no testimony can be admitted which is contrary to reason; +reason is founded on the evidence of our senses. + +Every proof may be referred to one of these three divisions: it is to be +considered what arguments we receive from each of them, which should +convince us of the existence of a Deity. + +1st, The evidence of the senses. If the Deity should appear to us, if He +should convince our senses of His existence, this revelation would +necessarily command belief. Those to whom the Deity has thus appeared +have the strongest possible conviction of His existence. But the God of +Theologians is incapable of local visibility. + +2d, Reason. It is urged that man knows that whatever is must either have +had a beginning, or have existed from all eternity: he also knows that +whatever is not eternal must have had a cause. When this reasoning is +applied to the universe, it is necessary to prove that it was created: +until that is clearly demonstrated we may reasonably suppose that it has +endured from all eternity. We must prove design before we can infer a +designer. The only idea which we can form of causation is derivable from +the constant conjunction of objects, and the consequent inference of one +from the other. In a case where two propositions are diametrically +opposite, the mind believes that which is least incomprehensible;--it is +easier to suppose that the universe has existed from all eternity than +to conceive a being beyond its limits capable of creating it: if the +mind sinks beneath the weight of one, is it an alleviation to increase +the intolerability of the burthen? + +The other argument, which is founded on a man's knowledge of his own +existence, stands thus. A man knows not only that he now is, but that +once he was not; consequently there must have been a cause. But our idea +of causation is alone derivable from the constant conjunction of objects +and the consequent inference of one from the other; and, reasoning +experimentally, we can only infer from effects causes exactly adequate +to those effects. But there certainly is a generative power which is +effected by certain instruments: we cannot prove that it is inherent in +these instruments; nor is the contrary hypothesis capable of +demonstration: we admit that the generative power is incomprehensible; +but to suppose that the same effect is produced by an eternal, +omniscient, omnipotent being leaves the cause in the same obscurity, but +renders it more incomprehensible. + +3d, Testimony. It is required that testimony should not be contrary to +reason. The testimony that the Deity convinces the senses of men of His +existence can only be admitted by us if our mind considers it less +probable that these men should have been deceived than that the Deity +should have appeared to them. Our reason can never admit the testimony +of men, who not only declare that they were eye-witnesses of miracles, +but that the Deity was irrational; for He commanded that He should be +believed, He proposed the highest rewards for faith, eternal punishments +for disbelief. We can only command voluntary actions; belief is not an +act of volition; the mind is even passive, or involuntarily active; from +this it is evident that we have no sufficient testimony, or rather that +testimony is insufficient to prove the being of a God. It has been +before shown that it cannot be deduced from reason. They alone, then, +who have been convinced by the evidence of the senses can believe it. + +Hence it is evident that, having no proofs from either of the three +sources of conviction, the mind CANNOT believe the existence of a +creative God: it is also evident that, as belief is a passion of the +mind, no degree of criminality is attachable to disbelief; and that they +only are reprehensible who neglect to remove the false medium through +which their mind views any subject of discussion. Every reflecting mind +must acknowledge that there is no proof of the existence of a Deity. + +God is an hypothesis, and, as such, stands in need of proof: the onus +probandi rests on the theist. Sir Isaac Newton says: Hypotheses non +fingo, quicquid enim ex phaenomenis non deducitur hypothesis vocanda +est, et hypothesis vel metaphysicae, vel physicae, vel qualitatum +occultarum, seu mechanicae, in philosophia locum non habent. To all +proofs of the existence of a creative God apply this valuable rule. We +see a variety of bodies possessing a variety of powers: we merely know +their effects; we are in a state of ignorance with respect to their +essences and causes. These Newton calls the phenomena of things; but the +pride of philosophy is unwilling to admit its ignorance of their causes. +From the phenomena, which are the objects of our senses, we attempt to +infer a cause, which we call God, and gratuitously endow it with all +negative and contradictory qualities. From this hypothesis we invent +this general name, to conceal our ignorance of causes and essences. The +being called God by no means answers with the conditions prescribed by +Newton; it bears every mark of a veil woven by philosophical conceit, to +hide the ignorance of philosophers even from themselves. They borrow the +threads of its texture from the anthropomorphism of the vulgar. Words +have been used by sophists for the same purposes, from the occult +qualities of the peripatetics to the effluvium of Boyle and the +crinities or nebulae of Herschel. God is represented as infinite, +eternal, incomprehensible; He is contained under every predicate in non +that the logic of ignorance could fabricate. Even His worshippers allow +that it is impossible to form any idea of Him: they exclaim with the +French poet, + +Pour dire ce qu'il est, il faut etre lui-meme. + +Lord Bacon says that atheism leaves to man reason, philosophy, natural +piety, laws, reputation, and everything that can serve to conduct him to +virtue; but superstition destroys all these, and erects itself into a +tyranny over the understandings of men: hence atheism never disturbs the +government, but renders man more clear-sighted, since he seas nothing +beyond the boundaries of the present life.--Bacon's "Moral Essays". + +La premiere theologie de l'homme lui fit d'abord craindre at adorer les +elements meme, des objets materiels at grossiers; il randit ensuite ses +hommages a des agents presidant aux elements, a des genies inferieurs, a +des heros, ou a des hommes doues de grandes qualites. A force de +reflechir il crut simplifier les choses en soumettant la nature entiere +a un seul agent, a un esprit, a una ame universelle, qui mettait cette +nature et ses parties en mouvement. En remontant de causes en causes, +les mortels ont fini par ne rien voir; at c'est dans cette obscurite +qu'ils ont place leur Dieu; c'est dans cat abime tenebreux que leur +imagination inquiete travaille toujours a se fabriquer des chimeres, qui +les affligeront jusqu'a ce que la connaissance da la nature les detrompe +des fantomes qu'ils ont toujours si vainement adores. + +Si nous voulons nous rendre compte de nos idees sur la Divinite, nous +serons obliges de convanir que, par le mot "Dieu", les hommes n'ont +jamais pu designer que la cause la plus cachee, la plus eloignee, la +plus inconnue des effets qu'ils voyaient: ils ne font usage de ce mot, +que lorsque le jeu des causes naturelles at connues cesse d'etre visible +pour eux; des qu'ils perdent le fil de ces causes, on des que leur +esprit ne peut plus en suivre la chaine, ils tranchent leur difficulte, +at terminent leurs recherches en appellant Dieu la derniere des causes, +c'est-a-dire celle qui est au-dela de toutes les causes qu'ils +connaissent; ainsi ils ne font qu'assigner une denomination vague a une +cause ignoree, a laquelle leur paresse ou les bornes de leurs +connaissances les forcent de s'arreter. Toutes les fois qu'on nous dit +que Dieu est l'auteur de quelque phenomene, cela signifie qu'on ignore +comment un tel phenomene a pu s'operer par le secours des forces ou des +causes que nous connaissons dans la nature. C'est ainsi que le commun +des hommes, dont l'ignorance est la partage, attribue a la Divinite non +seulement les effets inusites qui las frappent, mais encore les +evenemens les plus simples, dont les causes sont les plus faciles a +connaitre pour quiconque a pu les mediter. En un mot, l'homme a toujours +respecte les causes inconnues des effets surprenans, que son ignorance +l'empechait de demeler. Ce fut sur les debris de la nature que les +hommes eleverent le colosse imaginaire de la Divinite. + +Si l'ignorance de la nature donna la naissance aux dieux, la +connaissance de la nature est faite pour les detruire. A mesure que +l'homme s'instruit, ses forces at ses ressources augmentent avec ses +lumieres; les sciences, les arts conservateurs, l'industrie, lui +fournissent des secours; l'experience le rassure ou lui procure des +moyens de resister aux efforts de bien des causes +qui cessent de l'alarmer des qu'il les a connues. En un mot, ses +terreurs se dissipent dans la meme proportion que son esprit s'eclaire. +L'homnme instruit cesse d'etre superstitieux. + +Ce n'est jamais que sur parole que des peuples entiers adorent le Dieu +de leurs peres at de leurs pretres: l'autorite, la confiance, la +soumission, et l'habitude leur tiennent lieu de conviction et de +preuves; ils se prosternent et prient, parce que leurs peres leur out +appris a se prosterner at prier: mais pourquoi ceux-ci se sont-ils mis a +genoux? C'est que dans les temps eloignes leurs legislateurs et leurs +guides leur en ont fait un devoir. 'Adorez at croyez,' ont-ils dit, 'des +dieux que vous ne pouvez comprendre; rapportez-vous-en a notre sagesse +profonde; nous en savons plus que vous sur la divinite.' Mais pourquoi +m'en rapporterais-je a vous? C'est que Dieu le veut ainsi, c'est que +Dieu vous punira si vous osez resister. Mais ce Dieu n'est-il donc pas +la chose en question? Cependant las hommes se sont toujours payes de ce +cercle vicieux; la paresse de leur esprit leur fit trouver plus court de +s'en rapporter au jugament des autres. Toutes las notions religieuses +sent fondees uniquement sur l'autorite; toutes les religions du monde +defendent l'examen et ne veulent pas que l'on raisonne; c'est l'autorite +qui veut qu'on croie en Dieu; ce Dieu n'est lui-meme fonde que sur +l'autorite de quelques hommes qui pretendent le connaitre, et venir de +sa part pour l'annoncer a la terre. Un Dieu fait par les hommes a sans +doute bosom des hommes pour se faire connaitre aux hommes. + +Ne serait-ce donc que pour des pretres, des inspires, des metaphysiciens +que serait reservee la conviction de l'existence d'un Dieu, que l'on dit +neanmoins si necessaire a tout le genre humain? Mais trouvons-nous de +l'harmonie entre les opinions theologiques des differens inspires, ou +des penseurs repandus sur la terre? Ceux meme qui font profession +d'adorer le meme Dieu, sent-ils d'accord sur son compte? Sont-ils +contents des preuves que leurs collegues apportent de son existence? +Souscrivent-ils unanimement aux idees qu'ils presentent sur sa nature, +sur sa conduite, sur la facon d'entendre ses pretandus oracles? Est-il +une centree sur la terre ou la science de Dieu se soit reellement +parfectionnee? A-t-elle pris quelqne part la consistance et l'uniformite +que nous voyons prendre aux connaissances humaines, aux arts les plus +futiles, aux metiers les plus meprises? Ces mots d'esprit, +d'immaterialite, de creation, de predestination, de grace; cette foule +de distinctions subtiles dont la theologie s'est parteut remplie dans +quelques pays, ces inventions si ingenieuses, imaginees par des penseurs +qui se sont succedes depuis taut de siecles, n'ont fait, helas! +qu'embrouiller les choses, et jamais la science la plus necassaire aux +hommes n'a jusqu'ici pu acquerir la moindre fixite. Depuis des milliers +d'annees ces reveurs oisifs se sont perpetuellement relayes pour mediter +la Divinite, pour deviner ses voies cachees, pour inventer des +hypotheses propres a developper cette enigme importante. Leur peu de +succes n'a point decourage la vanite theologique; toujours on a parle de +Dieu: on s'est egorge pour lui, et cet etre sublime demeure toujours le +plus ignore et le plus discute. + +Les hommes auraient ete trop heureux, si, se bornant aux objets visibles +qui les interessent, ils eussent employe a perfectionner leurs sciences +reelles, leurs lois, leur morale, leur education, la moitie des efforts +qu'ils ont mis dans leurs recherches sur la Divinite. Ils auraiant ete +bien plus sages encore, et plus fortunes, s'ils eussent pu consentir a +laisser leurs guides desoeuvres se quereller entre eux, et sonder des +profondeurs capables de les etourdir, sans se meler de leurs disputes +insensees. Mais il est de l'essence de l'ignorance d'attacher de +l'importance a ce qu'elle ne comprend pas. La vanite humaine fait que +l'esprit se roidit contra des difficultes. Plus un objet se derobe a nos +yeux, plus nous faisons d'efforts pour le saisir, parce que des-lors il +aiguillonne notre orgueil, il excite notre curiosite, il nous parait +interessant. En combattant pour son Dieu chacun ne combattit en effet +que pour les interets de sa propra vanite, qui de toutes les passions +produites par la mal-organisation de la societe est la plus prompte a +s'alarmer, et la plus propre a produire de tres grandes folies. + +Si ecartant pour un moment les idees facheuses que la theologie nous +donne d'un Dieu capriciaux, dont les decrets partiaux et despotiques +decident du sort des humains, nous ne voulons fixer nos yeux que sur la +bonte pretendue, que tous les hommes, meme en tramblant devant ce Dieu, +s'accordent a lui donner; si nous lui supposons le projet qu'on lui +prete de n'avoir travaille que pour sa propre gloire, d'exiger les +hommages des etres intelligens; de ne chercher dans ses oeuvres que le +bien-etre du genre humain: comment concilier ces vues et ces +dispositions avec l'ignorance vraiment invincible dans laquelle ce Dieu, +si glorieux et si bon, laisse la plupart des hommes sur son compte? Si +Dieu veut etre connu, cheri, remercie, que ne se montre-t-il sous des +traits favorables a tous ces etres intelligens dont il veut etre aime et +adore? Pourquoi ne point se manifester a toute la terre dune facon non +equivoque, bien plus capable de nous convaincre que ces revelations +particulieres qui semblent accuser la Divinite d'une partialite facheuse +pour quelques-unes de ses creatures? La tout-puissant n'auroit-il donc +pas des moyens plus convainquans de se montrer aux hommas que ces +metamorphoses ridicules, cas incarnations pretendues, qui nous sont +attestees par des ecrivains si peu d'accord entre eux dans les recits +qu'ils en font? Au lieu de tant de miracles, inventes pour prouver la +mission divine de tant de legislateurs reveres par les differens peuples +du monde, le souverain des esprits ne pouvait-il pas convaincre tout +d'un coup l'esprit humain des choses qu'il a voulu lui faire connaitre? +Au lieu de suspendre un soleil dans la voute du firmament; au lieu de +repandre sans ordre les etoiles et les constellations qui remplissent +l'espace, n'eut-il pas ete plus conforme aux vues d'un Dieu si jaloux de +sa gloire et si bien-intentionne pour l'homme d'ecrire, d'une facon non +sujette a dispute, son nom, ses attributs, ses volontes permanentes en +caracteres ineffacables, et lisibles egalement pour tous les habitants +de la terre? Personne alors n'aurait pu douter de l'existence d'un Dieu, +de ses volontes claires, de ses intentions visibles. Sous les yeux de ce +Dieu si terrible, personne n'aurait eu l'audace de violer ses +ordonnances; nul mortel n'eut ose se mettre dans le cas d'attirer sa +colere: enfin nul homme n'eut eu le front d'en imposer en son nom, ou +d'interpreter ses volontes suivant ses propres fantaisies. + +En effet, quand meme on admettrait l'existence du Dieu theologique et la +realite des attributs si discordans qu'on lui donne, l'on n'en peut rien +conclure, pour autoriser la conduite ou les cultes qu'on prescrit de lui +rendre. La theologie est vraiment "le tonneau des Danaides". A force de +qualites contradictoires et d'assartions hasardees, ella a, pour ainsi +dire, tellement garrotte son Dieu qu'elle l'a mis dans l'impossibilite +d'agir. S'il est infiniment bon, quelle raison aurions-nous de le +craindre? S'il est infiniment sage, de quoi nous inquieter sur notre +sort? S'il sait tout, pourquoi l'avertir de nos besoins, et le fatiguer +de nos prieres? S'il est partout, pourquoi lui elever des temples? S'il +est maitre de tout, pourquoi lui faire des sacrifices et des offrandes? +S'il est juste, comment croire qu'il punisse des creatures qu'il a +rempli de faiblesses? Si la grace fait tout en elles, quelle raison +aurait-il de les recompenser? S'il est tout-puissant, comment +l'offenser, comment lui resister? S'il est raisonnable, comment se +mattrait-il en colere contre des aveugles, a qui il a laisse la liberte +de deraisonner? S'il est immuable, de quel droit pretendrions-nous faire +changer ses decrets? S'il est inconcevable, pourquoi nous en occuper? +S'IL A PARLE, POURQUOI L'UNIVERS N'EST-IL PAS CONVAINCU? Si la +connaissance d'un Dieu est la plus necessaire, pourquoi n'est-elle pas +la plus evidente et a plus claire?--"Systeme de la Nature", London, +1781. + +The enlightened and benevolent Pliny thus publicly professes himself an +atheist:--Quapropter effigiem Dei formamque quaerere imbecillitatis +humanae reor. Quisquis est Deus (si modo est alius) et quacunque in +parte, totus est sensus, totus est visus, totus auditus, totus animae, +totus animi, totus sui...Imperfectae vero in homine naturae praecipua +solatia ne deum quidem posse omnia. Namque nec sibi potest mortem +consciscere, si velit, quad homini dedit optimum in tantis vitae poenis: +nec mortales aeternitata donare, aut revocare defunctos; nec facere ut +qui vixit non vixerit, qui honores gessit non gessarit, nullumque habere +in praeteritum ius, praeterquam oblivionis, atque (ut facetis quoque +argumentis societas haec cum deo copuletur) ut bis dena viginti non +sint, et multa similiter efficere non posse.--Per quae declaratur haud +dubie naturae potentiam id quoque esse quad Deum vocamus.--Plin. "Nat. +Hist." cap. de Deo. + +The consistent Newtonian is necessarily an atheist. See Sir W. +Drummond's "Academical Questions", chapter 3.--Sir W. seems to consider +the atheism to which it leads as a sufficient presumption of the +falsehood of the system of gravitation; but surely it is more consistent +with the good faith of philosophy to admit a deduction from facts than +an hypothesis incapable of proof, although it might militate with the +obstinate preconceptions of the mob. Had this author, instead of +inveighing against the guilt and absurdity of atheism, demonstrated its +falsehood, his conduct would have been more suited to the modesty of the +sceptic and the toleration of the philosopher. + +Omnia enim per Dei potentiam facta sunt: imo quia naturae potentia nulla +est nisi ipsa Dei potentia. Certum est nos eatenus Dei potentiam non +intelligere, quatenus causas naturales ignoramus; adeoque stulte ad +eandem Dei potentiam recurritur, quando rei alicuius causam naturalem, +sive est, ipsam Dei potantiam ignoramus.-- Spinosa, "Tract. +Theologico-Pol." chapter 1, page 14. + +7. 67:-- + +Ahasuerus, rise! + +'Ahasuerus the Jew crept forth from the dark cave of Mount Carmel. Near +two thousand years have elapsed since he was first goaded by +never-ending restlessness to rove the globe from pole to pole. When our +Lord was wearied with the burthen of His ponderous cross, and wanted to +rest before the door of Ahasuerus, the unfeeling wretch drove Him away +with brutality. The Saviour of mankind staggered, sinking under the +heavy load, but uttered no complaint. An angel of death appeared before +Ahasuerus, and exclaimed indignantly, "Barbarian! thou hast denied rest +to the Son of man: be it denied thee also, until He comes to judge the +world." + +'A black demon, let loose from hell upon Ahasuerus, goads him now from +country to country; he is denied the consolation which death affords, +and precluded from the rest of the peaceful grave. + +'Ahasuerus crept forth from the dark cave of Mount Carmel--he shook the +dust from his beard--and taking up one of the skulls heaped there, +hurled it down the eminence: it rebounded from the earth in shivered +atoms. "This was my father!" roared Ahasuerus. Seven more skulls rolled +down from rock to rock; while the infuriate Jew, following them with +ghastly looks, exclaimed--"And these were my wives!" He still continued +to hurl down skull after skull, roaring in dreadful accents--"And these, +and these, and these were my children! They COULD DIE; but I! reprobate +wretch! alas! I cannot die! Dreadful beyond conception is the judgement +that hangs over me. Jerusalem fell--I crushed the sucking babe, and +precipitated myself into the destructive flames. I cursed the +Romans--but, alas! alas! the restless curse held me by the hair,--and I +could not die! + +'"Rome the giantess fell--I placed myself before the falling statue--she +fell and did not crush me. Nations sprang up and disappeared before +me;--but I remained and did not die. From cloud-encircled cliffs did I +precipitate myself into the ocean; but the foaming billows cast me upon +the shore, and the burning arrow of existence pierced my cold heart +again. I leaped into Etna's flaming abyss, and roared with the giants +for ten long months, polluting with my groans the Mount's sulphureous +mouth--ah! ten long months. The volcano fermented, and in a fiery stream +of lava cast me up. I lay torn by the torture-snakes of hell amid the +glowing cinders, and yet continued to exist.--A forest was on fire: I +darted on wings of fury and despair into the crackling wood. Fire +dropped upon me from the trees, but the flames only singed my limbs; +alas! it could not consume them.--I now mixed with the butchers of +mankind, and plunged in the tempest of the raging battle. I roared +defiance to the infuriate Gaul, defiance to the victorious German; but +arrows and spears rebounded in shivers from my body. The Saracen's +flaming sword broke upon my skull: balls in vain hissed upon me: the +lightnings of battle glared harmless around my loins: in vain did the +elephant trample on me, in vain the iron hoof of the wrathful steed! The +mine, big with destructive power, burst upon me, and hurled me high in +the air--I fell on heaps of smoking limbs, but was only singed. The +giant's steel club rebounded from my body; the executioner's hand could +not strangle me, the tiger's tooth could not pierce me, nor would the +hungry lion in the circus devour me. I cohabited with poisonous snakes, +and pinched the red crest of the dragon.--The serpent stung, but could +not destroy me. The dragon tormented, but dared not to devour me.--I now +provoked the fury of tyrants: I said to Nero, 'Thou art a bloodhound!' I +said to Christiern, 'Thou art a bloodhound!, I said to Muley Ismail, +'Thou art a bloodhound!'--The tyrants invented cruel torments, but did +not kill me. Ha! not to be able to die--not to be able to die--not to be +permitted to rest after the toils of life--to be doomed to be imprisoned +for ever in the clay-formed dungeon--to be for ever clogged with this +worthless body, its lead of diseases and infirmities--to be condemned to +[be]hold for millenniums that yawning monster Sameness, and Time, that +hungry hyaena, ever bearing children, and ever devouring again her +offspring!--Ha! not to be permitted to die! Awful Avenger in Heaven, +hast Thou in Thine armoury of wrath a punishment more dreadful? then let +it thunder upon me, command a hurricane to sweep me down to the foot of +Carmel, that I there may lie extended; may pant, and writhe, and die.!"' + +This fragment is the translation of part of some German work, whose +title I have vainly endeavoured to discover. I picked it up, dirty and +torn, some years ago, in Lincoln's-Inn Fields. + +7. 135, 136:-- + +I will beget a Son, and He shall bear +The sins of all the world. + +A book is put into our hands when children, called the Bible, the +purport of whose history is briefly this: That God made the earth in six +days, and there planted a delightful garden, in which He placed the +first pair of human beings. In the midst of the garden He planted a +tree, whose fruit, although within their reach, they were forbidden to +touch. That the Devil, in the shape of a snake, persuaded them to eat of +this fruit; in consequence of which God condemned both them and their +posterity yet unborn to satisfy His justice by their eternal misery. +That, four thousand years after these events (the human race in the +meanwhile having gone unredeemed to perdition), God engendered with the +betrothed wife of a carpenter in Judea (whose virginity was nevertheless +uninjured), and begat a son, whose name was Jesus Christ; and who was +crucified and died, in order that no more men might be devoted to +hell-fire, He bearing the burthen of His Father's displeasure by proxy. +The book states, in addition, that the soul of whoever disbelieves this +sacrifice will be burned with everlasting fire. + +During many ages of misery and darkness this story gained implicit +belief; but at length men arose who suspected that it was a fable and +imposture, and that Jesus Christ, so far from being a God, was only a +man like themselves. But a numerous set of men, who derived and still +derive immense emoluments from this opinion, in the shape of a popular +belief, told the vulgar that if they did not believe in the Bible they +would be damned to all eternity; and burned, imprisoned, and poisoned +all the unbiassed and unconnected inquirers who occasionally arose. They +still oppress them, so far as the people, now become more enlightened, +will allow. + +The belief in all that the Bible contains is called Christianity. A +Roman governor of Judea, at the instance of a priest-led mob, crucified +a man called Jesus eighteen centuries ago. He was a man of pure life, +who desired to rescue his countrymen from the tyranny of their barbarous +and degrading superstitions. The common fate of all who desire to +benefit mankind awaited him. The rabble, at the instigation of the +priests, demanded his death, although his very judge made public +acknowledgement of his innocence. Jesus was sacrificed to the honour of +that God with whom he was afterwards confounded. It is of importance, +therefore, to distinguish between the pretended character of this being +as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, and his real character +as a man, who, for a vain attempt to reform the world, paid the forfeit +of his life to that overbearing tyranny which has since so long +desolated the universe in his name. Whilst the one is a hypocritical +Daemon, who announces Himself as the God of compassion and peace, even +whilst He stretches forth His blood-red hand with the sword of discord +to waste the earth, having confessedly devised this scheme of desolation +from eternity; the other stands in the foremost list of those true +heroes who have died in the glorious martyrdom of liberty, and have +braved torture, contempt, and poverty in the cause of suffering +humanity. (Since writing this note I have some reason to suspect that +Jesus was an ambitious man, who aspired to the throne of Judea. + +The vulgar, ever in extremes, became persuaded that the crucifixion of +Jesus was a supernatural event. Testimonies of miracles, so frequent in +unenlightened ages, were not wanting to prove that he was something +divine. This belief, rolling through the lapse of ages, met with the +reveries of Plato and the reasonings of Aristotle, and acquired force +and extent, until the divinity of Jesus became a dogma, which to dispute +was death, which to doubt was infamy. + +CHRISTIANITY is now the established religion: he who attempts to impugn +it must be contented to behold murderers and traitors take precedence of +him in public opinion; though, if his genius be equal to his courage, +and assisted by a peculiar coalition of circumstances, future ages may +exalt him to a divinity, and persecute others in his name, as he was +persecuted in the name of his predecessor in the homage of the world. + +The same means that have supported every other popular belief have +supported Christianity. War, imprisonment, assassination, and falsehood; +deeds of unexampled and incomparable atrocity have made it what it is. +The blood shed by the votaries of the God of mercy and peace, since the +establishment of His religion, would probably suffice to drown all other +sectaries now on the habitable globe. We derive from our ancestors a +faith thus fostered and supported: we quarrel, persecute, and hate for +its maintenance. Even under a government which, whilst it infringes the +very right of thought and speech, boasts of permitting the liberty of +the press, a man is pilloried and imprisoned because he is a deist, and +no one raises his voice in the indignation of outraged humanity. But it +is ever a proof that the falsehood of a proposition is felt by those who +use coercion, not reasoning, to procure its admission; and a +dispassionate observer would feel himself more powerfully interested in +favour of a man who, depending on the truth of his opinions, simply +stated his reasons for entertaining them, than in that of his aggressor +who, daringly avowing his unwillingness or incapacity to answer them by +argument, proceeded to repress the energies and break the spirit of +their promulgator by that torture and imprisonment whose infliction he +could command. + +Analogy seems to favour the opinion that as, like other systems, +Christianity has arisen and augmented, so like them it will decay and +perish; that as violence, darkness, and deceit, not reasoning and +persuasion, have procured its admission among mankind, so, when +enthusiasm has subsided, and time, that infallible controverter of false +opinions, has involved its pretended evidences in the darkness of +antiquity, it will become obsolete; that Milton's poem alone will give +permanency to the remembrance of its absurdities; and that men will +laugh as heartily at grace, faith, redemption, and original sin, as they +now do at the metamorphoses of Jupiter, the miracles of Romish saints, +the efficacy of witchcraft, and the appearance of departed spirits. + +Had the Christian religion commenced and continued by the mere force of +reasoning and persuasion, the preceding analogy would be inadmissible. +We should never speculate on the future obsoleteness of a system +perfectly conformable to nature and reason: it would endure so long as +they endured; it would be a truth as indisputable as the light of the +sun, the criminality of murder, and other facts, whose evidence, +depending on our organization and relative situations, must remain +acknowledged as satisfactory so long as man is man. It is an +incontrovertible fact, the consideration of which ought to repress the +hasty conclusions of credulity, or moderate its obstinacy in maintaining +them, that, had the Jews not been a fanatical race of men, had even the +resolution of Pontius Pilate been equal to his candour, the Christian +religion never could have prevailed, it could not even have existed: on +so feeble a thread hangs the most cherished opinion of a sixth of the +human race! When will the vulgar learn humility? When will the pride of +ignorance blush at having believed before it could comprehend? + +Either the Christian religion is true, or it is false: if true, it comes +from God, and its authenticity can admit of doubt and dispute no further +than its omnipotent author is willing to allow. Either the power or the +goodness of God is called in question, if He leaves those doctrines most +essential to the well-being of man in doubt and dispute; the only ones +which, since their promulgation, have been the subject of unceasing +cavil, the cause of irreconcilable hatred. IF GOD HAS SPOKEN, WHY IS THE +UNIVERSE NOT CONVINCED? + +There is this passage in the Christian Scriptures: 'Those who obey not +God, and believe not the Gospel of his Son, shall be punished with +everlasting destruction.' This is the pivot upon which all religions +turn:--they all assume that it is in our power to believe or not to +believe; whereas the mind can only believe that which it thinks true. A +human being can only be supposed accountable for those actions which are +influenced by his will. But belief is utterly distinct from and +unconnected with volition: it is the apprehension of the agreement or +disagreement of the ideas that compose any preposition. Belief is a +passion, or involuntary operation of the mind, and, like other passions, +its intensity is precisely proportionate to the degrees of excitement. +Volition is essential to merit or demerit. But the Christian religion +attaches the highest possible degrees of merit and demerit to that which +is worthy of neither, and which is totally unconnected with the peculiar +faculty of the mind, whose presence is essential to their being. + +Christianity was intended to reform the world: had an all-wise Being +planned it, nothing is more improbable than that it should have failed: +omniscience would infallibly have foreseen the inutility of a scheme +which experience demonstrates, to this age, to have been utterly +unsuccessful. + +Christianity inculcates the necessity of supplicating the Deity. Prayer +may be considered under two points of view;--as an endeavour to change +the intentions of God, or as a formal testimony of our obedience. But +the former case supposes that the caprices of a limited intelligence can +occasionally instruct the Creator of the world how to regulate the +universe; and the latter, a certain degree of servility analogous to the +loyalty demanded by earthly tyrants. Obedience indeed is only the +pitiful and cowardly egotism of him who thinks that he can do something +better than reason. + +Christianity, like all other religions, rests upon miracles, prophecies, +and martyrdoms. No religion ever existed which had not its prophets, its +attested miracles, and, above all, crowds of devotees who would bear +patiently the most horrible tortures to prove its authenticity. It +should appear that in no case can a discriminating mind subscribe to the +genuineness of a miracle. A miracle is an infraction of nature's law, by +a supernatural cause; by a cause acting beyond that eternal circle +within which all things are included. God breaks through the law of +nature, that He may convince mankind of the truth of that revelation +which, in spite of His precautions, has been, since its introduction, +the subject of unceasing schism and cavil. + +Miracles resolve themselves into the following question (See Hume's +Essay, volume 2 page 121.):--Whether it is more probable the laws of +nature, hitherto so immutably harmonious, should have undergone +violation, or that a man should have told a lie? Whether it is more +probable that we are ignorant of the natural cause of an event, or that +we know the supernatural one? That, in old times, when the powers of +nature were less known than at present, a certain set of men were +themselves deceived, or had some hidden motive for deceiving others; or +that God begat a Son, who, in His legislation, measuring merit by +belief, evidenced Himself to be totally ignorant of the powers of the +human mind--of what is voluntary, and what is the contrary? + +We have many instances of men telling lies;--none of an infraction of +nature's laws, those laws of whose government alone we have any +knowledge or experience. The records of all nations afford innumerable +instances of men deceiving others either from vanity or interest, or +themselves being deceived by the limitedness of their views and their +ignorance of natural causes: but where is the accredited case of God +having come upon earth, to give the lie to His own creations? There +would be something truly wonderful in the appearance of a ghost; but the +assertion of a child that he saw one as he passed through the churchyard +is universally admitted to be less miraculous. + +But even supposing that a man should raise a dead body to life before +our eyes, and on this fact rest his claim to being considered the son of +God;--the Humane Society restores drowned persons, and because it makes +no mystery of the method it employs, its members are not mistaken for +the sons of God. All that we have a right to infer from our ignorance of +the cause of any event is that we do not know it: had the Mexicans +attended to this simple rule when they heard the cannon of the +Spaniards, they would not have considered them as gods: the experiments +of modern chemistry would have defied the wisest philosophers of ancient +Greece and Rome to have accounted for them on natural principles. An +author of strong common sense has observed that 'a miracle is no miracle +at second-hand'; he might have added that a miracle is no miracle in any +case; for until we are acquainted with all natural causes, we have no +reason to imagine others. + +There remains to be considered another proof of Christianity--Prophecy. +A book is written before a certain event, in which this event is +foretold; how could the prophet have foreknown it without inspiration? +how could he have been inspired without God? The greatest stress is laid +on the prophecies of Moses and Hosea on the dispersion of the Jews, and +that of Isaiah concerning the coming of the Messiah. The prophecy of +Moses is a collection of every possible cursing and blessing; and it is +so far from being marvellous that the one of dispersion should have been +fulfilled, that it would have been more surprising if, out of all these, +none should have taken effect. In Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verse 64, +where Moses explicitly foretells the dispersion, he states that they +shall there serve gods of wood and stone: 'And the Lord shall scatter +thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even to the other; +AND THERE THOU SHALT SERVE OTHER GODS, WHICH NEITHER THOU NOR THY +FATHERS HAVE KNOWN, EVEN GODS OF WOOD AND STONE.' The Jews are at this +day remarkably tenacious of their religion. Moses also declares that +they shall be subjected to these curses for disobedience to his ritual: +'And it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of +the Lord thy God, to observe to do all the commandments and statutes +which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon +thee, and overtake thee.' Is this the real reason? The third, fourth, +and fifth chapters of Hosea are a piece of immodest confession. The +indelicate type might apply in a hundred senses to a hundred things. The +fifty-third chapter of Isaiah is more explicit, yet it does not exceed +in clearness the oracles of Delphos. The historical proof that Moses, +Isaiah, and Hosea did write when they are said to have written is far +from being clear and circumstantial. + +But prophecy requires proof in its character as a miracle; we have no +right to suppose that a man foreknew future events from God, until it is +demonstrated that he neither could know them by his own exertions, nor +that the writings which contain the prediction could possibly have been +fabricated after the event pretended to be foretold. It is more probable +that writings, pretending to divine inspiration, should have been +fabricated after the fulfilment of their pretended prediction than that +they should have really been divinely inspired, when we consider that +the latter supposition makes God at once the creator of the human mind +and ignorant of its primary powers, particularly as we have numberless +instances of false religions, and forged prophecies of things long past, +and no accredited case of God having conversed with men directly or +indirectly. It is also possible that the description of an event might +have foregone its occurrence; but this is far from being a legitimate +proof of a divine revelation, as many men, not pretending to the +character of a prophet, have nevertheless, in this sense, prophesied. + +Lord Chesterfield was never yet taken for a prophet, even by a bishop, +yet he uttered this remarkable prediction: 'The despotic government of +France is screwed up to the highest pitch; a revolution is fast +approaching; that revolution, I am convinced, will be radical and +sanguinary.' This appeared in the letters of the prophet long before the +accomplishment of this wonderful prediction. Now, have these particulars +come to pass, or have they not? If they have, how could the Earl have +foreknown them without inspiration? If we admit the truth of the +Christian religion on testimony such as this, we must admit, on the same +strength of evidence, that God has affixed the highest rewards to +belief, and the eternal tortures of the never-dying worm to disbelief, +both of which have been demonstrated to be involuntary. + +The last proof of the Christian religion depends on the influence of the +Holy Ghost. Theologians divide the influence of the Holy Ghost into its +ordinary and extraordinary modes of operation. The latter is supposed to +be that which inspired the Prophets and Apostles; and the former to be +the grace of God, which summarily makes known the truth of His +revelation to those whose mind is fitted for its reception by a +submissive perusal of His word. Persons convinced in this manner can do +anything but account for their conviction, describe the time at which it +happened, or the manner in which it came upon them. It is supposed to +enter the mind by other channels than those of the senses, and therefore +professes to be superior to reason founded on their experience. + +Admitting, however, the usefulness or possibility of a divine +revelation, unless we demolish the foundations of all human knowledge, +it is requisite that our reason should previously demonstrate its +genuineness; for, before we extinguish the steady ray of reason and +common sense, it is fit that we should discover whether we cannot do +without their assistance, whether or no there be any other which may +suffice to guide us through the labyrinth of life (See Locke's "Essay on +the Human Understanding", book 4 chapter 19, on Enthusiasm.): for, if a +man is to be inspired upon all occasions, if he is to be sure of a thing +because he is sure, if the ordinary operations of the Spirit are not to +be considered very extraordinary modes of demonstration, if enthusiasm +is to usurp the place of proof, and madness that of sanity, all +reasoning is superfluous. The Mahometan dies fighting for his prophet, +the Indian immolates himself at the chariot-wheels of Brahma, the +Hottentot worships an insect, the Negro a bunch of feathers, the Mexican +sacrifices human victims! Their degree of conviction must certainly be +very strong: it cannot arise from reasoning, it must from feelings, the +reward of their prayers. If each of these should affirm, in opposition +to the strongest possible arguments, that inspiration carried internal +evidence, I fear their inspired brethren, the orthodox missionaries, +would be so uncharitable as to pronounce them obstinate. + +Miracles cannot be received as testimonies of a disputed fact, because +all human testimony has ever been insufficient to establish the +possibility of miracles. That which is incapable of proof itself is no +proof of anything else. Prophecy has also been rejected by the test of +reason. Those, then, who have been actually inspired are the only true +believers in the Christian religion. + +Mox numine viso +Virgineei tumuere sinus, innuptaque mater +Arcano stupuit compleri viscera partu, +Auctorem paritura suum. Mortalia corda +Artificem texere poli, latuitque sub uno +Pectore, qui totum late complectitur orbem.--Claudian, "Carmen Paschale". + +Does not so monstrous and disgusting an absurdity carry its own infamy +and refutation with itself? + +8. 203-207:-- + +Him, still from hope to hope the bliss pursuing +Which from the exhaustless lore of human weal +Draws on the virtuous mind, the thoughts that rise +In time-destroying infiniteness, gift +With self-enshrined eternity, etc. + +Time is our consciousness of the succession of ideas in our mind. Vivid +sensation, of either pain or pleasure, makes the time seem long, as the +common phrase is, because it renders us more acutely conscious of our +ideas. If a mind be conscious of an hundred ideas during one minute, by +the clock, and of two hundred during another, the latter of these spaces +would actually occupy so much greater extent in the mind as two exceed +one in quantity. If, therefore, the human mind, by any future +improvement of its sensibility, should become conscious of an infinite +number of ideas in a minute, that minute would be eternity. I do not +hence infer that the actual space between the birth and death of a man +will ever be prolonged; but that his sensibility is perfectible, and +that the number of ideas which his mind is capable of receiving is +indefinite. One man is stretched on the rack during twelve hours; +another sleeps soundly in his bed: the difference of time perceived by +these two persons is immense; one hardly will believe that half an hour +has elapsed, the other could credit that centuries had flown during his +agony. Thus, the life of a man of virtue and talent, who should die in +his thirtieth year, is, with regard to his own feelings, longer than +that of a miserable priest-ridden slave, who dreams out a century of +dulness. The one has perpetually cultivated his mental faculties, has +rendered himself master of his thoughts, can abstract and generalize +amid the lethargy of every-day business;--the other can slumber over the +brightest moments of his being, and is unable to remember the happiest +hour of his life. Perhaps the perishing ephemeron enjoys a longer life +than the tortoise. + +Dark flood of time! +Roll as it listeth thee--I measure not +By months or moments thy ambiguous course. +Another may stand by me on the brink +And watch the bubble whirled beyond his ken +That pauses at my feet. The sense of love, +The thirst for action, and the impassioned thought +Prolong my being: if I wake no more, +My life more actual living will contain +Than some gray veteran's of the world's cold school, +Whose listless hours unprofitably roll, +By one enthusiast feeling unredeemed.-- + +See Godwin's "Pol. Jus." volume 1, page 411; and Condorcet, "Esquisse +d'un Tableau Historique des Progres de l'Esprit Humain", epoque 9. + +8. 211, 212:-- + +No longer now +He slays the lamb that looks him in the face. + +I hold that the depravity of the physical and moral nature of man +originated in his unnatural habits of life. The origin of man, like that +of the universe of which he is a part, is enveloped in impenetrable +mystery. His generations either had a beginning, or they had not. The +weight of evidence in favour of each of these suppositions seems +tolerably equal; and it is perfectly unimportant to the present argument +which is assumed. The language spoken, however, by the mythology of +nearly all religions seems to prove that at some distant period man +forsook the path of nature, and sacrificed the purity and happiness of +his being to unnatural appetites. The date of this event seems to have +also been that of some great change in the climates of the earth, with +which it has an obvious correspondence. The allegory of Adam and Eve +eating of the tree of evil, and entailing upon their posterity the wrath +of God and the loss of everlasting life, admits of no other explanation +than the disease and crime that have flowed from unnatural diet. Milton +was so well aware of this that he makes Raphael thus exhibit to Adam the +consequence of his disobedience:-- + +Immediately a place +Before his eyes appeared, sad, noisome, dark; +A lazar-house it seemed; wherein were laid +Numbers of all diseased--all maladies +Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms +Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds, +Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, +Intestine stone and ulcer, colic pangs, +Demoniac frenzy, moping melancholy, +And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, +Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence, +Dropsies and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums. + +And how many thousands more might not be added to this frightful catalogue! + +The story of Prometheus is one likewise which, although universally +admitted to be allegorical, has never been satisfactorily explained. +Prometheus stole fire from heaven, and was chained for this crime to +Mount Caucasus, where a vulture continually devoured his liver, that +grew to meet its hunger. Hesiod says that, before the time of +Prometheus, mankind were exempt from suffering; that they enjoyed a +vigorous youth, and that death, when at length it came, approached like +sleep, and gently closed their eyes. Again, so general was this opinion +that Horace, a poet of the Augustan age, writes:-- + +Audax omnia perpeti, +Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas; +Audax Iapeti genus +Ignem fraude mala gentibus intulit: +Post ignem aetheria domo +Subductum, macies et nova febrium +Terris incubuit cohors, +Semotique prius tarda necessitas +Lethi corripuit gradum. + +How plain a language is spoken by all this! Prometheus (who represents +the human race) effected some great change in the condition of his +nature, and applied fire to culinary purposes; thus inventing an +expedient for screening from his disgust the horrors of the shambles. +From this moment his vitals were devoured by the vulture of disease. It +consumed his being in every shape of its loathsome and infinite variety, +inducing the soul-quelling sinkings of premature and violent death. All +vice rose from the ruin of healthful innocence. Tyranny, superstition, +commerce, and inequality were then first known, when reason vainly +attempted to guide the wanderings of exacerbated passion. I conclude +this part of the subject with an extract from Mr. Newton's "Defence of +Vegetable Regimen", from whom I have borrowed this interpretation of the +fable of Prometheus. + +'Making allowance for such transposition of the events of the allegory +as time might produce after the important truths were forgotten, which +this portion of the ancient mythology was intended to transmit, the +drift of the fable seems to be this:--Man at his creation was endowed +with the gift of perpetual youth; that is, he was not formed to be a +sickly suffering creature as we now see him, but to enjoy health, and to +sink by slow degrees into the bosom of his parent earth without disease +or pain. Prometheus first taught the use of animal food (primus bovem +occidit Prometheus (Plin. "Nat. Hist". lib. 7 sect. 57.)) and of fire, +with which to render it more digestible and pleasing to the taste. +Jupiter, and the rest of the gods, foreseeing the consequences of these +inventions, were amused or irritated at the short-sighted devices of the +newly-formed creature, and left him to experience the sad effects of +them. Thirst, the necessary concomitant of a flesh diet' (perhaps of all +diet vitiated by culinary preparation), 'ensued; water was resorted to, +and man forfeited the inestimable gift of health which he had received +from heaven: he became diseased, the partaker of a precarious existence, +and no longer descended slowly to his grave. ("Return to Nature". +Cadell, 1811.) + +But just disease to luxury succeeds, +And every death its own avenger breeds; +The fury passions from that blood began, +And turned on man a fiercer savage--man. + +Man, and the animals whom he has infected with his society, or depraved +by his dominion, are alone diseased. The wild hog, the mouflon, the +bison, and the wolf; are perfectly exempt from malady, and invariably +die either from external violence or natural old age. But the domestic +hog, the sheep, the cow, and the dog, are subject to an incredible +variety of distempers; and, like the corruptors of their nature, have +physicians who thrive upon their miseries. The supereminence of man is +like Satan's, a supereminence of pain; and the majority of his species, +doomed to penury, disease, and crime, have reason to curse the untoward +event that, by enabling him to communicate his sensations, raised him +above the level of his fellow-animals. But the steps that have been +taken are irrevocable. The whole of human science is comprised in one +question:--How can the advantages of intellect and civilization be +reconciled with the liberty and pure pleasures of natural life? How can +we take the benefits and reject the evils of the system, which is now +interwoven with all the fibres of our being?--I believe that abstinence +from animal food and spirituous liquors would in a great measure +capacitate us for the solution of this important question. + +It is true that mental and bodily derangement is attributable in part to +other deviations from rectitude and nature than those which concern +diet. The mistakes cherished by society respecting the connection of the +sexes, whence the misery and diseases of unsatisfied celibacy, +unenjoying prostitution, and the premature arrival of puberty, +necessarily spring; the putrid atmosphere of crowded cities; the +exhalations of chemical processes; the muffling of our bodies in +superfluous apparel; the absurd treatment of infants:--all these and +innumerable other causes contribute their mite to the mass of human +evil. + +Comparative anatomy teaches us that man resembles frugivorous animals in +everything, and carnivorous in nothing; he has neither claws wherewith +to seize his prey, nor distinct and pointed teeth to tear the living +fibre. A Mandarin of the first class, with nails two inches long, would +probably find them alone inefficient to hold even a hare. After every +subterfuge of gluttony, the bull must be degraded into the ox, and the +ram into the wether, by an unnatural and inhuman operation, that the +flaccid fibre may offer a fainter resistance to rebellious nature. It is +only by softening and disguising dead flesh by culinary preparation that +it is rendered susceptible of mastication or digestion; and that the +sight of its bloody juices and raw horror does not excite intolerable +loathing and disgust. Let the advocate of animal food force himself to a +decisive experiment on its fitness, and, as Plutarch recommends, tear a +living lamb with his teeth, and plunging his head into its vitals slake +his thirst with the steaming blood; when fresh from the deed of horror, +let him revert to the irresistible instincts of nature that would rise +in judgement against it, and say, 'Nature formed me for such work as +this.' Then, and then only, would he be consistent. + +Man resembles no carnivorous animal. There is no exception, unless man +be one, to the rule of herbivorous animals having cellulated colons. + +The orang-outang perfectly resembles man both in the order and number of +his teeth. The orang-outang is the most anthropomorphous of the ape +tribe, all of which are strictly frugivorous. There is no other species +of animals, which live on different food, in which this analogy exists. +(Cuvier, "Lecons d'Anat. Comp". tom. 3, pages 169, 373, 448, 465, 480. +Rees's "Cyclopaedia", article Man.) In many frugivorous animals, the +canine teeth are more pointed and distinct than those of man. The +resemblance also of the human stomach to that of the orang-outang is +greater than to that of any other animal. + +The intestines are also identical with those of herbivorous animals, +which present a larger surface for absorption and have ample and +cellulated colons. The caecum also, though short, is larger than that of +carnivorous animals; and even here the orang-outang retains its +accustomed similarity. + +The structure of the human frame, then, is that of one fitted to a pure +vegetable diet, in every essential particular. It is true that the +reluctance to abstain from animal food, in those who have been long +accustomed to its stimulus, is so great in some persons of weak minds as +to be scarcely overcome; but this is far from bringing any argument in +its favour. A lamb, which was fed for some time on flesh by a ship's +crew, refused its natural diet at the end of the voyage. There are +numerous instances of horses, sheep, oxen, and even wood-pigeons, having +been taught to live upon flesh, until they have loathed their natural +aliment. Young children evidently prefer pastry, oranges, apples, and +other fruit, to the flesh of animals; until, by the gradual depravation +of the digestive organs, the free use of vegetables has for a time +produced serious inconveniences; FOR A TIME, I say, since there never +was an instance wherein a change from spirituous liquors and animal food +to vegetables and pure water has failed ultimately to invigorate the +body, by rendering its juices bland and consentaneous, and to restore to +the mind that cheerfulness and elasticity which not one in fifty +possesses on the present system. A love of strong liquors is also with +difficulty taught to infants. Almost every one remembers the wry faces +which the first glass of port produced. Unsophisticated instinct is +invariably unerring; but to decide on the fitness of animal food from +the perverted appetites which its constrained adoption produces; is to +make the criminal a judge in his own cause: it is even worse, it is +appealing to the infatuated drunkard in a question of the salubrity of +brandy. + +What is the cause of morbid action in the animal system? Not the air we +breathe, for our fellow-denizens of nature breathe the same uninjured; +not the water we drink (if remote from the pollutions of man and his +inventions (The necessity of resorting to some means of purifying water, +and the disease which arises from its adulteration in civilized +countries, is sufficiently apparent. See Dr. Lambe's "Reports on +Cancer". I do not assert that the use of water is in itself unnatural, +but that the unperverted palate would swallow no liquid capable of +occasioning disease.)), for the animals drink it too; not the earth we +tread upon; not the unobscured sight of glorious nature, in the wood, +the field, or the expanse of sky and ocean; nothing that we are or do in +common with the undiseased inhabitants of the forest. Something, then, +wherein we differ from them: our habit of altering our food by fire, so +that our appetite is no longer a just criterion for the fitness of its +gratification. Except in children, there remain no traces of that +instinct which determines, in all other animals, what aliment is natural +or otherwise; and so perfectly obliterated are they in the reasoning +adults of our species, that it has become necessary to urge +considerations drawn from comparative anatomy to prove that we are +naturally frugivorous. + +Crime is madness. Madness is disease. Whenever the cause of disease +shall be discovered, the root, from which all vice and misery have so +long overshadowed the globe, will lie bare to the axe. All the exertions +of man, from that moment, may be considered as tending to the clear +profit of his species. No sane mind in a sane body resolves upon a real +crime. It is a man of violent passions, bloodshot eyes, and swollen +veins, that alone can grasp the knife of murder. The system of a simple +diet promises no Utopian advantages. It is no mere reform of +legislation, whilst the furious passions and evil propensities of the +human heart, in which it had its origin, are still unassuaged. It +strikes at the root of all evil, and is an experiment which may be tried +with success, not alone by nations, but by small societies, families, +and even individuals. In no cases has a return to vegetable diet +produced the slightest injury; in most it has been attended with changes +undeniably beneficial. Should ever a physician be born with the genius +of Locke, I am persuaded that he might trace all bodily and mental +derangements to our unnatural habits, as clearly as that philosopher has +traced all knowledge to sensation. What prolific sources of disease are +not those mineral and vegetable poisons that have been introduced for +its extirpation! How many thousands have become murderers and robbers, +bigots and domestic tyrants, dissolute and abandoned adventurers, from +the use of fermented liquors; who, had they slaked their thirst only +with pure water, would have lived but to diffuse the happiness of their +own unperverted feelings! How many groundless opinions and absurd +institutions have not received a general sanction from the sottishness +and intemperance of individuals! Who will assert that, had the populace +of Paris satisfied their hunger at the ever-furnished table of vegetable +nature, they would have lent their brutal suffrage to the +proscription-list of Robespierre? Could a set of men, whose passions +were not perverted by unnatural stimuli, look with coolness on an auto +da fe? Is it to be believed that a being of gentle feelings, rising from +his meal of roots, would take delight in sports of blood? Was Nero a man +of temperate life? could you read calm health in his cheek, flushed with +ungovernable propensities of hatred for the human race? Did Muley +Ismael's pulse beat evenly, was his skin transparent, did his eyes beam +with healthfulness, and its invariable concomitants, cheerfulness and +benignity? Though history has decided none of these questions, a child +could not hesitate to answer in the negative. Surely the bile-suffused +cheek of Buonaparte, his wrinkled brow, and yellow eye, the ceaseless +inquietude of his nervous system, speak no less plainly the character of +his unresting ambition than his murders and his victories. It is +impossible, had Buonaparte descended from a race of vegetable feeders, +that he could have had either the inclination or the power to ascend the +throne of the Bourbons. The desire of tyranny could scarcely be excited +in the individual, the power to tyrannize would certainly not be +delegated by a society neither frenzied by inebriation nor rendered +impotent and irrational by disease. Pregnant indeed with inexhaustible +calamity is the renunciation of instinct, as it concerns our physical +nature; arithmetic cannot enumerate, nor reason perhaps suspect, the +multitudinous sources of disease in civilized life. Even common water, +that apparently innoxious pabulum, when corrupted by the filth of +populous cities, is a deadly and insidious destroyer. (Lambe's "Reports +on Cancer".) Who can wonder that all the inducements held out by God +Himself in the Bible to virtue should have been vainer than a nurse's +tale; and that those dogmas, by which He has there excited and justified +the most ferocious propensities, should have alone been deemed +essential; whilst Christians are in the daily practice of all those +habits which have infected with disease and crime, not only the +reprobate sons, but those favoured children of the common Father's love? +Omnipotence itself could not save them from the consequences of this +original and universal sin. + +There is no disease, bodily or mental, which adoption of vegetable diet +and pure water has not infallibly mitigated, wherever the experiment has +been fairly tried. Debility is gradually converted into strength; +disease into healthfulness; madness, in all its hideous variety, from +the ravings of the fettered maniac to the unaccountable irrationalities +of ill-temper, that make a hell of domestic life, into a calm and +considerate evenness of temper, that alone might offer a certain pledge +of the future moral reformation of society. On a natural system of diet, +old age would be our last and our only malady; the term of our existence +would be protracted; we should enjoy life, and no longer preclude others +from the enjoyment of it; all sensational delights would be infinitely +more exquisite and perfect; the very sense of being would then be a +continued pleasure, such as we now feel it in some few and favoured +moments of our youth. By all that is sacred in our hopes for the human +race, I conjure those who love happiness and truth to give a fair trial +to the vegetable system. Reasoning is surely superfluous on a subject +whose merits an experience of six months would set for ever at rest. But +it is only among the enlightened and benevolent that so great a +sacrifice of appetite and prejudice can be expected, even though its +ultimate excellence should not admit of dispute. It is found easier, by +the short-sighted victims of disease, to palliate their torments by +medicine than to prevent them by regimen. The vulgar of all ranks are +invariably sensual and indocile; yet I cannot but feel myself persuaded +that when the benefits of vegetable diet are mathematically proved, when +it is as clear that those who live naturally are exempt from premature +death as that nine is not one, the most sottish of mankind will feel a +preference towards a long and tranquil, contrasted with a short and +painful, life. On the average, out of sixty persons four die in three +years. Hopes are entertained that, in April, 1814, a statement will be +given that sixty persons, all having lived more than three years on +vegetables and pure water, are then IN PERFECT HEALTH. More than two +years have now elapsed; NOT ONE OF THEM HAS DIED; no such example will +be found in any sixty persons taken at random. Seventeen persons of all +ages (the families of Dr. Lambe and Mr. Newton) have lived for seven +years on this diet without a death, and almost without the slightest +illness. Surely, when we consider that some of those were infants, and +one a martyr to asthma now nearly subdued, we may challenge any +seventeen persons taken at random in this city to exhibit a parallel +case. Those who may have been excited to question the rectitude of +established habits of diet by these loose remarks, should consult Mr. +Newton's luminous and eloquent essay. ("Return to Nature, or Defence of +Vegetable Regimen". Cadell, 1811.) + +When these proofs come fairly before the world, and are clearly seen by +all who understand arithmetic, it is scarcely possible that abstinence +from aliments demonstrably pernicious should not become universal. In +proportion to the number of proselytes, so will be the weight of +evidence; and when a thousand persons can be produced, living on +vegetables and distilled water, who have to dread no disease but old +age, the world will be compelled to regard animal flesh and fermented +liquors as slow but certain poisons. The change which would be produced +by simpler habits on political economy is sufficiently remarkable. The +monopolizing eater of animal flesh would no longer destroy his +constitution by devouring an acre at a meal, and many loaves of bread +would cease to contribute to gout, madness and apoplexy, in the shape of +a pint of porter, or a dram of gin, when appeasing the long-protracted +famine of the hardworking peasant's hungry babes. The quantity of +nutritious vegetable matter, consumed in fattening the carcase of an ox, +would afford ten times the sustenance, undepraving indeed, and incapable +of generating disease, if gathered immediately from the bosom of the +earth. The most fertile districts of the habitable globe are now +actually cultivated by men for animals, at a delay and waste of aliment +absolutely incapable of calculation. It is only the wealthy that can, to +any great degree, even now, indulge the unnatural craving for dead +flesh, and they pay for the greater licence of the privilege by +subjection to supernumerary diseases. Again, the spirit of the nation +that should take the lead in this great reform would insensibly become +agricultural; commerce, with all its vice, selfishness, and corruption, +would gradually decline; more natural habits would produce gentler +manners, and the excessive complication of political relations would be +so far simplified that every individual might feel and understand why he +loved his country, and took a personal interest in its welfare. How +would England, for example, depend on the caprices of foreign rulers if +she contained within herself all the necessaries, and despised whatever +they possessed of the luxuries, of life? How could they starve her into +compliance with their views? Of what consequence would it be that they +refused to take her woollen manufactures, when large and fertile tracts +of the island ceased to be allotted to the waste of pasturage? On a +natural system of diet we should require no spices from India; no wines +from Portugal, Spain, France, or Madeira; none of those multitudinous +articles of luxury, for which every corner of the globe is rifled, and +which are the causes of so much individual rivalship, such calamitous +and sanguinary national disputes. In the history of modern times, the +avarice of commercial monopoly, no less than the ambition of weak and +wicked chiefs, seems to have fomented the universal discord, to have +added stubbornness to the mistakes of cabinets, and indocility to the +infatuation of the people. Let it ever be remembered that it is the +direct influence of commerce to make the interval between the richest +and the poorest man wider and more unconquerable. Let it be remembered +that it is a foe to everything of real worth and excellence in the human +character. The odious and disgusting aristocracy of wealth is built upon +the ruins of all that is good in chivalry or republicanism; and luxury +is the forerunner of a barbarism scarce capable of cure. Is it +impossible to realize a state of society, where all the energies of man +shall be directed to the production of his solid happiness? Certainly, +if this advantage (the object of all political speculation) be in any +degree attainable, it is attainable only by a community which holds out +no factitious incentives to the avarice and ambition of the few, and +which is internally organized for the liberty, security, and comfort of +the many. None must be entrusted with power (and money is the completest +species of power) who do not stand pledged to use it exclusively for the +general benefit. But the use of animal flesh and fermented liquors +directly militates with this equality of the rights of man. The peasant +cannot gratify these fashionable cravings without leaving his family to +starve. Without disease and war, those sweeping curtailers of +population, pasturage would include a waste too great to be afforded. +The labour requisite to support a family is far lighter' than is usually +supposed. (It has come under the author's experience that some of the +workmen on an embankment in North Wales, who, in consequence of the +inability of the proprietor to pay them, seldom received their wages, +have supported large families by cultivating small spots of sterile +ground by moonlight. In the notes to Pratt's poem, "Bread, or the Poor", +is an account of an industrious labourer who, by working in a small +garden, before and after his day's task, attained to an enviable state +of independence.) The peasantry work, not only for themselves, but for +the aristocracy, the army, and the manufacturers. + +The advantage of a reform in diet is obviously greater than that of any +other. It strikes at the root of the evil. To remedy the abuses of +legislation, before we annihilate the propensities by which they are +produced, is to suppose that by taking away the effect the cause will +cease to operate. But the efficacy of this system depends entirely on +the proselytism of individuals, and grounds its merits, as a benefit to +the community, upon the total change of the dietetic habits in its +members. It proceeds securely from a number of particular cases to one +that is universal, and has this advantage over the contrary mode, that +one error does not invalidate all that has gone before. + +Let not too much, however, be expected from this system. The healthiest +among us is not exempt from hereditary disease. The most symmetrical, +athletic, and longlived is a being inexpressibly inferior to what he +would have been, had not the unnatural habits of his ancestors +accumulated for him a certain portion of malady and deformity. In the +most perfect specimen of civilized man, something is still found wanting +by the physiological critic. Can a return to nature, then, +instantaneously eradicate predispositions that have been slowly taking +root in the silence of innumerable ages?--Indubitably not. All that I +contend for is, that from the moment of the relinquishing all unnatural +habits no new disease is generated; and that the predisposition to +hereditary maladies gradually perishes, for want of its accustomed +supply. In cases of consumption, cancer, gout, asthma, and scrofula, +such is the invariable tendency of a diet of vegetables and pure water. + +Those who may be induced by these remarks to give the vegetable system a +fair trial, should, in the first place, date the commencement of their +practice from the moment of their conviction. All depends upon breaking +through a pernicious habit resolutely and at once. Dr. Trotter asserts +that no drunkard was ever reformed by gradually relinquishing his dram. +(See Trotter on the Nervous Temperament.) Animal flesh, in its effects +on the human stomach, is analogous to a dram. It is similar in the kind, +though differing in the degree, of its operation. The proselyte to a +pure diet must be warned to expect a temporary diminution of muscular +strength. The subtraction of a powerful stimulus will suffice to account +for this event. But it is only temporary, and is succeeded by an equable +capability for exertion, far surpassing his former various and +fluctuating strength. Above all, he will acquire an easiness of +breathing, by which such exertion is performed, with a remarkable +exemption from that painful and difficult panting now felt by almost +every one after hastily climbing an ordinary mountain. He will be +equally capable of bodily exertion, or mental application, after as +before his simple meal. He will feel none of the narcotic effects of +ordinary diet. Irritability, the direct consequence of exhausting +stimuli, would yield to the power of natural and tranquil impulses. He +will no longer pine under the lethargy of ennui, that unconquerable +weariness of life, more to be dreaded than death itself. He will escape +the epidemic madness, which broods over its own injurious notions of the +Deity, and 'realizes the hell that priests and beldams feign.' Every man +forms, as it were, his god from his own character; to the divinity of +one of simple habits no offering would be more acceptable than the +happiness of his creatures. He would be incapable of hating or +persecuting others for the love of God. He will find, moreover, a system +of simple diet to be a system of perfect epicurism. He will no longer be +incessantly occupied in blunting and destroying those organs from which +he expects his gratification. The pleasures of taste to be derived from +a dinner of potatoes, beans, peas, turnips, lettuces, with a dessert of +apples, gooseberries, strawberries, currants, raspberries, and in +winter, oranges, apples and pears, is far greater than is supposed. +These who wait until they can eat this plain fare with the sauce of +appetite will scarcely join with the hypocritical sensualist at a +lord-mayor's feast, who declaims against the pleasures of the table. +Solomon kept a thousand concubines, and owned in despair that all was +vanity. The man whose happiness is constituted by the society of one +amiable woman would find some difficulty in sympathizing with the +disappointment of this venerable debauchee. + +I address myself not only to the young enthusiast, the ardent devotee of +truth and virtue, the pure and passionate moralist, yet unvitiated by +the contagion of the world. He will embrace a pure system, from its +abstract truth, its beauty, its simplicity, and its promise of +wide-extended benefit; unless custom has turned poison into food, he +will hate the brutal pleasures of the chase by instinct; it will be a +contemplation full of horror, and disappointment to his mind, that +beings capable of the gentlest and most admirable sympathies should take +delight in the death-pangs and last convulsions of dying animals. The +elderly man, whose youth has been poisoned by intemperance, or who has +lived with apparent moderation, and is afflicted with a wide variety of +painful maladies, would find his account in a beneficial change produced +without the risk of poisonous medicines. The mother, to whom the +perpetual restlessness of disease and unaccountable deaths incident to +her children are the causes of incurable unhappiness, would on this diet +experience the satisfaction of beholding their perpetual healths and +natural playfulness. (See Mr. Newton's book. His children are the most +beautiful and healthy creatures it is possible to conceive; the girls +are perfect models for a sculptor; their dispositions are also the most +gentle and conciliating; the judicious treatment, which they experience +in other points, may be a correlative cause of this. In the first five +years of their life, of 18,000 children that are born, 7,500 die of +various diseases; and how many more of those that survive are not +rendered miserable by maladies not immediately mortal? The quality and +quantity of a woman's milk are materially injured by the use of dead +flesh. In an island near Iceland, where no vegetables are to be got, the +children invariably die of tetanus before they are three weeks old, and +the population is supplied from the mainland.--Sir G. Mackenzie's +"History of Iceland". See also "Emile", chapter 1, pages 53, 54, 56.) +The most valuable lives are daily destroyed by diseases that it is +dangerous to palliate and impossible to cure by medicine. How much +longer will man continue to pimp for the gluttony of Death, his most +insidious, implacable, and eternal foe? + +Alla drakontas agrious kaleite kai pardaleis kai leontas, autoi de +miaiphoneite eis omoteta katalipontes ekeinois ouden ekeinois men gar o +phonos trophe, umin de opson estin..."Oti gar ouk estin anthropo kata +phusin to sarkophagein, proton men apo ton somaton deloutai tes +kataskeues. Oudeni gar eoike to anthropou soma ton epi sarkophagia +gegonoton, ou grupotes cheilous, ouk ozutes onuchos, ou traxutes odontos +prosestin, ou koilias eutonia kai pneumatos thermotes, trepsai kai +katergasasthai dunate to baru kai kreodes all autothen e phusis te +leioteti ton odonton kai te smikroteti tou stomatos kai te malakoteti +tes glosses kai te pros pepsin ambluteti tou pneumatos, exomnutai ten +sarkophagian. Ei de legeis pephukenai seauton epi toiauten edoden, o +boulei phagein proton autos apokteinon, all autos dia seauton, me +chesamenos kopidi mede tumpano tini mede pelekei alla, os lukoi kai +arktoi kai leontes autoi osa esthiousi phoneuousin, anele degmati boun e +stomati sun, e apna e lagoon diarrexon kai phage prospeson eti zontos, +os ekeina...Emeis d' outos en to miaiphono truphomen, ost ochon to kreas +prosagoreuomen, eit ochon pros auto to kreas deometha, anamignuntes +elaion oinon meli garon oxos edusmasi Suriakois Arabikois, oster ontos +nekron entaphiazontes. Kai gar outos auton dialuthenton kai +melachthenton kai tropon tina prosapenton ergon esti ten pechin +kratesai, kai diakratepheises de deinas barutetas empoiei kai nosodeis +apechias...Outo to proton agprion ti zoon ebrothe kai kakourgon, eit +ornis tis e ichthus eilkusto kai geusamenon outo kai promeletesan en +ekeinois to thonikon epi boun ergaten elthe kai to kosmion probaton kai +ton oikouron alektruona kai kata mikron outo ten aplestian stomosantes +epi sphagas anthropon kai polemous kai phonous proelthon.--Plout. peri +tes Sarkophagias. + +*** + + +NOTE ON QUEEN MAB, BY MRS. SHELLEY. + +Shelley was eighteen when he wrote "Queen Mab"; he never published it. +When it was written, he had come to the decision that he was too young +to be a 'judge of controversies'; and he was desirous of acquiring 'that +sobriety of spirit which is the characteristic of true heroism.' But he +never doubted the truth or utility of his opinions; and, in printing and +privately distributing "Queen Mab", he believed that he should further +their dissemination, without occasioning the mischief either to others +or himself that might arise from publication. It is doubtful whether he +would himself have admitted it into a collection of his works. His +severe classical taste, refined by the constant study of the Greek +poets, might have discovered defects that escape the ordinary reader; +and the change his opinions underwent in many points would have +prevented him from putting forth the speculations of his boyish days. +But the poem is too beautiful in itself, and far too remarkable as the +production of a boy of eighteen, to allow of its being passed over: +besides that, having been frequently reprinted, the omission would be +vain. In the former edition certain portions were left out, as shocking +the general reader from the violence of their attack on religion. I +myself had a painful feeling that such erasures might be looked upon as +a mark of disrespect towards the author, and am glad to have the +opportunity of restoring them. The notes also are reprinted entire--not +because they are models of reasoning or lessons of truth, but because +Shelley wrote them, and that all that a man at once so distinguished and +so excellent ever did deserves to be preserved. The alterations his +opinions underwent ought to be recorded, for they form his history. + +A series of articles was published in the "New Monthly Magazine" during +the autumn of the year 1832, written by a man of great talent, a +fellow-collegian and warm friend of Shelley: they describe admirably the +state of his mind during his collegiate life. Inspired with ardour for +the acquisition of knowledge, endowed with the keenest sensibility and +with the fortitude of a martyr, Shelley came among his fellow-creatures, +congregated for the purposes of education, like a spirit from another +sphere; too delicately organized for the rough treatment man uses +towards man, especially in the season of youth, and too resolute in +carrying out his own sense of good and justice, not to become a victim. +To a devoted attachment to those he loved he added a determined +resistance to oppression. Refusing to fag at Eton, he was treated with +revolting cruelty by masters and boys: this roused instead of taming his +spirit, and he rejected the duty of obedience when it was enforced by +menaces and punishment. To aversion to the society of his +fellow-creatures, such as he found them when collected together in +societies, where one egged on the other to acts of tyranny, was joined +the deepest sympathy and compassion; while the attachment he felt for +individuals, and the admiration with which he regarded their powers and +their virtues, led him to entertain a high opinion of the perfectibility +of human nature; and he believed that all could reach the highest grade +of moral improvement, did not the customs and prejudices of society +foster evil passions and excuse evil actions. + +The oppression which, trembling at every nerve yet resolute to heroism, +it was his ill-fortune to encounter at school and at college, led him to +dissent in all things from those whose arguments were blows, whose faith +appeared to engender blame and hatred. 'During my existence,' he wrote +to a friend in 1812, 'I have incessantly speculated, thought, and read.' +His readings were not always well chosen; among them were the works of +the French philosophers: as far as metaphysical argument went, he +temporarily became a convert. At the same time, it was the cardinal +article of his faith that, if men were but taught and induced to treat +their fellows with love, charity, and equal rights, this earth would +realize paradise. He looked upon religion, as it is professed, and above +all practised, as hostile instead of friendly to the cultivation of +those virtues which would make men brothers. + +Can this be wondered at? At the age of seventeen, fragile in health and +frame, of the purest habits in morals, full of devoted generosity and +universal kindness, glowing with ardour to attain wisdom, resolved at +every personal sacrifice to do right, burning with a desire for +affection and sympathy,--he was treated as a reprobate, cast forth as a +criminal. + +The cause was that he was sincere; that he believed the opinions which +he entertained to be true. And he loved truth with a martyr's love; he +was ready to sacrifice station and fortune, and his dearest affections, +at its shrine. The sacrifice was demanded from, and made by, a youth of +seventeen. It is a singular fact in the history of society in the +civilized nations of modern times that no false step is so irretrievable +as one made in early youth. Older men, it is true, when they oppose +their fellows and transgress ordinary rules, carry a certain prudence or +hypocrisy as a shield along with them. But youth is rash; nor can it +imagine, while asserting what it believes to be true, and doing what it +believes to be right, that it should be denounced as vicious, and +pursued as a criminal. + +Shelley possessed a quality of mind which experience has shown me to be +of the rarest occurrence among human beings: this was his UNWORLDLINESS. +The usual motives that rule men, prospects of present or future +advantage, the rank and fortune of those around, the taunts and +censures, or the praise, of those who were hostile to him, had no +influence whatever over his actions, and apparently none over his +thoughts. It is difficult even to express the simplicity and directness +of purpose that adorned him. Some few might be found in the history of +mankind, and some one at least among his own friends, equally +disinterested and scornful, even to severe personal sacrifices, of every +baser motive. But no one, I believe, ever joined this noble but passive +virtue to equal active endeavours for the benefit of his friends and +mankind in general, and to equal power to produce the advantages he +desired. The world's brightest gauds and its most solid advantages were +of no worth in his eyes, when compared to the cause of what he +considered truth, and the good of his fellow-creatures. Born in a +position which, to his inexperienced mind, afforded the greatest +facilities to practise the tenets he espoused, he boldly declared the +use he would make of fortune and station, and enjoyed the belief that he +should materially benefit his fellow-creatures by his actions; while, +conscious of surpassing powers of reason and imagination, it is not +strange that he should, even while so young, have believed that his +written thoughts would tend to disseminate opinions which he believed +conducive to the happiness of the human race. + +If man were a creature devoid of passion, he might have said and done +all this with quietness. But he was too enthusiastic, and too full of +hatred of all the ills he witnessed, not to scorn danger. Various +disappointments tortured, but could not tame, his soul. The more enmity +he met, the more earnestly he became attached to his peculiar views, and +hostile to those of the men who persecuted him. + +He was animated to greater zeal by compassion for his fellow-creatures. +His sympathy was excited by the misery with which the world is burning. +He witnessed the sufferings of the poor, and was aware of the evils of +ignorance. He desired to induce every rich man to despoil himself of +superfluity, and to create a brotherhood of property and service, and +was ready to be the first to lay down the advantages of his birth. He +was of too uncompromising a disposition to join any party. He did not in +his youth look forward to gradual improvement: nay, in those days of +intolerance, now almost forgotten, it seemed as easy to look forward to +the sort of millennium of freedom and brotherhood which he thought the +proper state of mankind as to the present reign of moderation and +improvement. Ill-health made him believe that his race would soon be +run; that a year or two was all he had of life. He desired that these +years should be useful and illustrious. He saw, in a fervent call on his +fellow-creatures to share alike the blessings of the creation, to love +and serve each other, the noblest work that life and time permitted him. +In this spirit he composed "Queen Mab". + +He was a lover of the wonderful and wild in literature, but had not +fostered these tastes at their genuine sources--the romances and +chivalry of the middle ages--but in the perusal of such German works as +were current in those days. Under the influence of these he, at the age +of fifteen, wrote two short prose romances of slender merit. The +sentiments and language were exaggerated, the composition imitative and +poor. He wrote also a poem on the subject of Ahasuerus--being led to it +by a German fragment he picked up, dirty and torn, in Lincoln's Inn +Fields. This fell afterwards into other hands, and was considerably +altered before it was printed. Our earlier English poetry was almost +unknown to him. The love and knowledge of Nature developed by +Wordsworth--the lofty melody and mysterious beauty of Coleridge's +poetry--and the wild fantastic machinery and gorgeous scenery adopted by +Southey--composed his favourite reading; the rhythm of "Queen Mab" was +founded on that of "Thalaba", and the first few lines bear a striking +resemblance in spirit, though not in idea, to the opening of that poem. +His fertile imagination, and ear tuned to the finest sense of harmony, +preserved him from imitation. Another of his favourite books was the +poem of "Gebir" by Walter Savage Landor. From his boyhood he had a +wonderful facility of versification, which he carried into another +language; and his Latin school-verses were composed with an ease and +correctness that procured for him prizes, and caused him to be resorted +to by all his friends for help. He was, at the period of writing "Queen +Mab", a great traveller within the limits of England, Scotland, and +Ireland. His time was spent among the loveliest scenes of these +countries. Mountain and lake and forest were his home; the phenomena of +Nature were his favourite study. He loved to inquire into their causes, +and was addicted to pursuits of natural philosophy and chemistry, as far +as they could be carried on as an amusement. These tastes gave truth and +vivacity to his descriptions, and warmed his soul with that deep +admiration for the wonders of Nature which constant association with her +inspired. + +He never intended to publish "Queen Mab" as it stands; but a few years +after, when printing "Alastor", he extracted a small portion which he +entitled "The Daemon of the World". In this he changed somewhat the +versification, and made other alterations scarcely to be called +improvements. + +Some years after, when in Italy, a bookseller published an edition of +"Queen Mab" as it originally stood. Shelley was hastily written to by +his friends, under the idea that, deeply injurious as the mere +distribution of the poem had proved, the publication might awaken fresh +persecutions. At the suggestion of these friends he wrote a letter on +the subject, printed in the "Examiner" newspaper--with which I close +this history of his earliest work. + +TO THE EDITOR OF THE 'EXAMINER.' + +'Sir, + +'Having heard that a poem entitled "Queen Mab" has been surreptitiously +published in London, and that legal proceedings have been instituted +against the publisher, I request the favour of your insertion of the +following explanation of the affair, as it relates to me. + +'A poem entitled "Queen Mab" was written by me at the age of eighteen, I +daresay in a sufficiently intemperate spirit--but even then was not +intended for publication, and a few copies only were struck off, to be +distributed among my personal friends. I have not seen this production +for several years. I doubt not but that it is perfectly worthless in +point of literary composition; and that, in all that concerns moral and +political speculation, as well as in the subtler discriminations of +metaphysical and religious doctrine, it is still more crude and +immature. I am a devoted enemy to religious, political, and domestic +oppression; and I regret this publication, not so much from literary +vanity, as because I fear it is better fitted to injure than to serve +the sacred cause of freedom. I have directed my solicitor to apply to +Chancery for an injunction to restrain the sale; but, after the +precedent of Mr. Southey's "Wat Tyler" (a poem written, I believe, at +the same age, and with the same unreflecting enthusiasm), with little +hope of success. + +'Whilst I exonerate myself from all share in having divulged opinions +hostile to existing sanctions, under the form, whatever it may be, which +they assume in this poem, it is scarcely necessary for me to protest +against the system of inculcating the truth of Christianity or the +excellence of Monarchy, however true or however excellent they may be, +by such equivocal arguments as confiscation and imprisonment, and +invective and slander, and the insolent violation of the most sacred +ties of Nature and society. + +'SIR, + +'I am your obliged and obedient servant, + +'PERCY B. SHELLEY. + +'Pisa, June 22, 1821.' + +*** + + +[Of the following pieces the "Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire", the +Poems from "St. Irvyne, or The Rosicrucian", "The Posthumous Fragments +of Margaret Nicholson" and "The Devil's Walk", were published by Shelley +himself; the others by Medwin, Rossetti, Forman and Dowden, as indicated +in the several prefatory notes.] + +VERSES ON A CAT. + +[Published by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; dated 1800.] + +1. +A cat in distress, +Nothing more, nor less; +Good folks, I must faithfully tell ye, +As I am a sinner, +It waits for some dinner _5 +To stuff out its own little belly. + +2. +You would not easily guess +All the modes of distress +Which torture the tenants of earth; +And the various evils, _10 +Which like so many devils, +Attend the poor souls from their birth. + +3. +Some a living require, +And others desire +An old fellow out of the way; _15 +And which is the best +I leave to be guessed, +For I cannot pretend to say. + +4. +One wants society, +Another variety, _20 +Others a tranquil life; +Some want food, +Others, as good, +Only want a wife. + +5. +But this poor little cat _25 +Only wanted a rat, +To stuff out its own little maw; +And it were as good +SOME people had such food, +To make them HOLD THEIR JAW! _30 + +*** + + +FRAGMENT: OMENS. + +[Published by Medwin, "Shelley Papers", 1833; dated 1807.] + +Hark! the owlet flaps his wings +In the pathless dell beneath; +Hark! 'tis the night-raven sings +Tidings of approaching death. + +*** + + +EPITAPHIUM. + +[LATIN VERSION OF THE EPITAPH IN GRAY'S ELEGY.] + +[Published by Medwin, "Life of Shelley", 1847; dated 1808-9.] + +1. +Hic sinu fessum caput hospitali +Cespitis dormit juvenis, nec illi +Fata ridebant, popularis ille +Nescius aurae. + +2. +Musa non vultu genus arroganti _5 +Rustica natum grege despicata, +Et suum tristis puerum notavit +Sollicitudo. + +3. +Indoles illi bene larga, pectus +Veritas sedem sibi vindicavit, _10 +Et pari tantis meritis beavit +Munere coelum. + +4. +Omne quad moestis habuit miserto +Corde largivit lacrimam, recepit +Omne quod coelo voluit, fidelis _15 +Pectus amici. + +5. +Longius sed tu fuge curiosus +Caeteras laudes fuge suspicari, +Caeteras culpas fuge velle tractas +Sede tremenda. _20 + +6. +Spe tremescentes recubant in illa +Sede virtutes pariterque culpae, +In sui Patris gremio, tremenda +Sede Deique. + +*** + + +IN HOROLOGIUM. + +[Published by Medwin, "Life of Shelley", 1847; dated 1809.] + +Inter marmoreas Leonorae pendula colles +Fortunata nimis Machina dicit horas. +Quas MANIBUS premit illa duas insensa papillas +Cur mihi sit DIGITO tangere, amata, nefas? + +*** + + +A DIALOGUE. + +[Published (without title) by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; +dated 1809. Included in the Esdaile manuscript book.] + +DEATH: +For my dagger is bathed in the blood of the brave, +I come, care-worn tenant of life, from the grave, +Where Innocence sleeps 'neath the peace-giving sod, +And the good cease to tremble at Tyranny's nod; +I offer a calm habitation to thee,-- _5 +Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me? +My mansion is damp, cold silence is there, +But it lulls in oblivion the fiends of despair; +Not a groan of regret, not a sigh, not a breath, +Dares dispute with grim Silence the empire of Death. _10 +I offer a calm habitation to thee,-- +Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me? + +MORTAL: +Mine eyelids are heavy; my soul seeks repose, +It longs in thy cells to embosom its woes, +It longs in thy cells to deposit its load, _15 +Where no longer the scorpions of Perfidy goad,-- +Where the phantoms of Prejudice vanish away, +And Bigotry's bloodhounds lose scent of their prey. +Yet tell me, dark Death, when thine empire is o'er, +What awaits on Futurity's mist-covered shore? _20 + +DEATH: +Cease, cease, wayward Mortal! I dare not unveil +The shadows that float o'er Eternity's vale; +Nought waits for the good but a spirit of Love, +That will hail their blest advent to regions above. +For Love, Mortal, gleams through the gloom of my sway, _25 +And the shades which surround me fly fast at its ray. +Hast thou loved?--Then depart from these regions of hate, +And in slumber with me blunt the arrows of fate. +I offer a calm habitation to thee.-- +Say, victim of grief, wilt thou slumber with me? _30 + +MORTAL: +Oh! sweet is thy slumber! oh! sweet is the ray +Which after thy night introduces the day; +How concealed, how persuasive, self-interest's breath, +Though it floats to mine ear from the bosom of Death! +I hoped that I quite was forgotten by all, _35 +Yet a lingering friend might be grieved at my fall, +And duty forbids, though I languish to die, +When departure might heave Virtue's breast with a sigh. +O Death! O my friend! snatch this form to thy shrine, +And I fear, dear destroyer, I shall not repine. _40 + +NOTE: +_22 o'er Esdaile manuscript; on 1858. + + +*** + + +TO THE MOONBEAM. + +[Published by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858: dated 1809. +Included in the Esdaile manuscript book.] + +1. +Moonbeam, leave the shadowy vale, +To bathe this burning brow. +Moonbeam, why art thou so pale, +As thou walkest o'er the dewy dale, +Where humble wild-flowers grow? _5 +Is it to mimic me? +But that can never be; +For thine orb is bright, +And the clouds are light, +That at intervals shadow the star-studded night. _10 + +2. +Now all is deathy still on earth; +Nature's tired frame reposes; +And, ere the golden morning's birth +Its radiant hues discloses, +Flies forth its balmy breath. _15 +But mine is the midnight of Death, +And Nature's morn +To my bosom forlorn +Brings but a gloomier night, implants a deadlier thorn. + +3. +Wretch! Suppress the glare of madness _20 +Struggling in thine haggard eye, +For the keenest throb of sadness, +Pale Despair's most sickening sigh, +Is but to mimic me; +And this must ever be, _25 +When the twilight of care, +And the night of despair, +Seem in my breast but joys to the pangs that rankle there. + +NOTE: +_28 rankle Esdaile manuscript wake 1858. + +*** + + +THE SOLITARY. + +[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870; +dated 1810. Included in the Esdaile manuscript book.] + +1. +Dar'st thou amid the varied multitude +To live alone, an isolated thing? +To see the busy beings round thee spring, +And care for none; in thy calm solitude, +A flower that scarce breathes in the desert rude _5 +To Zephyr's passing wing? + +2. +Not the swart Pariah in some Indian grove, +Lone, lean, and hunted by his brother's hate, +Hath drunk so deep the cup of bitter fate +As that poor wretch who cannot, cannot love: _10 +He bears a load which nothing can remove, +A killing, withering weight. + +3. +He smiles--'tis sorrow's deadliest mockery; +He speaks--the cold words flow not from his soul; +He acts like others, drains the genial bowl,-- _15 +Yet, yet he longs--although he fears--to die; +He pants to reach what yet he seems to fly, +Dull life's extremest goal. + +*** + + +TO DEATH. + +[Published (without title) by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; dated 1810. +Included (under the title, "To Death") in the Esdaile manuscript book.] + +Death! where is thy victory? +To triumph whilst I die, +To triumph whilst thine ebon wing +Enfolds my shuddering soul? +O Death! where is thy sting? _5 +Not when the tides of murder roll, +When nations groan, that kings may bask in bliss, +Death! canst thou boast a victory such as this-- +When in his hour of pomp and power +His blow the mightiest murderer gave, _10 +Mid Nature's cries the sacrifice +Of millions to glut the grave; +When sunk the Tyrant Desolation's slave; +Or Freedom's life-blood streamed upon thy shrine; +Stern Tyrant, couldst thou boast a victory such as mine? _15 + +To know in dissolution's void +That mortals' baubles sunk decay; +That everything, but Love, destroyed +Must perish with its kindred clay,-- +Perish Ambition's crown, _20 +Perish her sceptred sway: +From Death's pale front fades Pride's fastidious frown. +In Death's damp vault the lurid fires decay, +That Envy lights at heaven-born Virtue's beam-- +That all the cares subside, _25 +Which lurk beneath the tide +Of life's unquiet stream;-- +Yes! this is victory! +And on yon rock, whose dark form glooms the sky, +To stretch these pale limbs, when the soul is fled; _30 +To baffle the lean passions of their prey, +To sleep within the palace of the dead! +Oh! not the King, around whose dazzling throne +His countless courtiers mock the words they say, +Triumphs amid the bud of glory blown, _35 +As I in this cold bed, and faint expiring groan! + +Tremble, ye proud, whose grandeur mocks the woe +Which props the column of unnatural state! +You the plainings, faint and low, +From Misery's tortured soul that flow, _40 +Shall usher to your fate. + +Tremble, ye conquerors, at whose fell command +The war-fiend riots o'er a peaceful land! +You Desolation's gory throng +Shall bear from Victory along _45 +To that mysterious strand. + +NOTE: +_10 murderer Esdaile manuscript; murders 1858. + +*** + + +LOVE'S ROSE. + +[Published (without title) by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; dated 1810. +Included in the Esdaile manuscript book.] + +1. +Hopes, that swell in youthful breasts, +Live not through the waste of time! +Love's rose a host of thorns invests; +Cold, ungenial is the clime, +Where its honours blow. _5 +Youth says, 'The purple flowers are mine,' +Which die the while they glow. + +2. +Dear the boon to Fancy given, +Retracted whilst it's granted: +Sweet the rose which lives in Heaven, _10 +Although on earth 'tis planted, +Where its honours blow, +While by earth's slaves the leaves are riven +Which die the while they glow. + +3. +Age cannot Love destroy, _15 +But perfidy can blast the flower, +Even when in most unwary hour +It blooms in Fancy's bower. +Age cannot Love destroy, +But perfidy can rend the shrine _20 +In which its vermeil splendours shine. + +NOTES: +Love's Rose--The title is Rossetti's, 1870. +_2 not through Esdaile manuscript; they this, 1858. + +*** + + +EYES: A FRAGMENT. + +[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870; +dated 1810. Included (four unpublished eight-line stanzas) in the +Esdaile manuscript book.)] + +How eloquent are eyes! +Not the rapt poet's frenzied lay +When the soul's wildest feelings stray +Can speak so well as they. +How eloquent are eyes! _5 +Not music's most impassioned note +On which Love's warmest fervours float +Like them bids rapture rise. + +Love, look thus again,-- +That your look may light a waste of years, _10 +Darting the beam that conquers cares +Through the cold shower of tears. +Love, look thus again! + +*** + + +ORIGINAL POETRY BY VICTOR AND CAZIRE. + +[Published by Shelley, 1810. A Reprint, edited by Richard Garnett, C.B., +LL.D., was issued by John Lane, in 1898. The punctuation of the original +edition is here retained.] + +A Person complained that whenever he began to write, he never could +arrange his ideas in grammatical order. Which occasion suggested the +idea of the following lines: + +1. +Here I sit with my paper, my pen and my ink, +First of this thing, and that thing, and t'other thing think; +Then my thoughts come so pell-mell all into my mind, +That the sense or the subject I never can find: +This word is wrong placed,--no regard to the sense, +The present and future, instead of past tense, +Then my grammar I want; O dear! what a bore, +I think I shall never attempt to write more, +With patience I then my thoughts must arraign, +Have them all in due order like mutes in a train, _10 +Like them too must wait in due patience and thought, +Or else my fine works will all come to nought. +My wit too's so copious, it flows like a river, +But disperses its waters on black and white never; +Like smoke it appears independent and free, _15 +But ah luckless smoke! it all passes like thee-- +Then at length all my patience entirely lost, +My paper and pens in the fire are tossed; +But come, try again--you must never despair, +Our Murray's or Entick's are not all so rare, _20 +Implore their assistance--they'll come to your aid, +Perform all your business without being paid, +They'll tell you the present tense, future and past, +Which should come first, and which should come last, +This Murray will do--then to Entick repair, _25 +To find out the meaning of any word rare. +This they friendly will tell, and ne'er make you blush, +With a jeering look, taunt, or an O fie! tush! +Then straight all your thoughts in black and white put, +Not minding the if's, the be's, and the but, _30 +Then read it all over, see how it will run, +How answers the wit, the retort, and the pun, +Your writings may then with old Socrates vie, +May on the same shelf with Demosthenes lie, +May as Junius be sharp, or as Plato be sage. _35 +The pattern or satire to all of the age; +But stop--a mad author I mean not to turn, +Nor with thirst of applause does my heated brain burn, +Sufficient that sense, wit, and grammar combined, +My letters may make some slight food for the mind; _40 +That my thoughts to my friends I may freely impart, +In all the warm language that flows from the heart. +Hark! futurity calls! it loudly complains, +It bids me step forward and just hold the reins, +My excuse shall be humble, and faithful, and true, _45 +Such as I fear can be made but by few-- +Of writers this age has abundance and plenty, +Three score and a thousand, two millions and twenty, +Three score of them wits who all sharply vie, +To try what odd creature they best can belie, _50 +A thousand are prudes who for CHARITY write, +And fill up their sheets with spleen, envy, and spite[,] +One million are bards, who to Heaven aspire, +And stuff their works full of bombast, rant, and fire, +T'other million are wags who in Grubstreet attend, _55 +And just like a cobbler the old writings mend, +The twenty are those who for pulpits indite, +And pore over sermons all Saturday night. +And now my good friends--who come after I mean, +As I ne'er wore a cassock, or dined with a dean. _60 +Or like cobblers at mending I never did try, +Nor with poets in lyrics attempted to vie; +As for prudes these good souls I both hate and detest, +So here I believe the matter must rest.-- +I've heard your complaint--my answer I've made, _65 +And since to your calls all the tribute I've paid, +Adieu my good friend; pray never despair, +But grammar and sense and everything dare, +Attempt but to write dashing, easy, and free, +Then take out your grammar and pay him his fee, _70 +Be not a coward, shrink not to a tense, +But read it all over and make it out sense. +What a tiresome girl!--pray soon make an end, +Else my limited patience you'll quickly expend. +Well adieu, I no longer your patience will try-- _75 +So swift to the post now the letter shall fly. + +JANUARY, 1810. + + +2. + +TO MISS -- -- [HARRIET GROVE] FROM MISS -- -- [ELIZABETH SHELLEY]. + +For your letter, dear -- [Hattie], accept my best thanks, +Rendered long and amusing by virtue of franks, +Though concise they would please, yet the longer the better, +The more news that's crammed in, more amusing the letter, +All excuses of etiquette nonsense I hate, _5 +Which only are fit for the tardy and late, +As when converse grows flat, of the weather they talk, +How fair the sun shines--a fine day for a walk, +Then to politics turn, of Burdett's reformation, +One declares it would hurt, t'other better the nation, _10 +Will ministers keep? sure they've acted quite wrong, +The burden this is of each morning-call song. +So -- is going to -- you say, +I hope that success her great efforts will pay [--] +That [the Colonel] will see her, be dazzled outright, _15 +And declare he can't bear to be out of her sight. +Write flaming epistles with love's pointed dart, +Whose sharp little arrow struck right on his heart, +Scold poor innocent Cupid for mischievous ways, +He knows not how much to laud forth her praise, _20 +That he neither eats, drinks or sleeps for her sake, +And hopes her hard heart some compassion will take, +A refusal would kill him, so desperate his flame, +But he fears, for he knows she is not common game, +Then praises her sense, wit, discernment and grace, _25 +He's not one that's caught by a sly looking face, +Yet that's TOO divine--such a black sparkling eye, +At the bare glance of which near a thousand will die; +Thus runs he on meaning but one word in ten, +More than is meant by most such kind of men, _30 +For they're all alike, take them one with another, +Begging pardon--with the exception of my brother. +Of the drawings you mention much praise I have heard, +Most opinion's the same, with the difference of word, +Some get a good name by the voice of the crowd, _35 +Whilst to poor humble merit small praise is allowed, +As in parliament votes, so in pictures a name, +Oft determines a fate at the altar of fame.-- +So on Friday this City's gay vortex you quit, +And no longer with Doctors and Johnny cats sit-- _40 +Now your parcel's arrived -- [Bysshe's] letter shall go, +I hope all your joy mayn't be turned into woe, +Experience will tell you that pleasure is vain, +When it promises sunshine how often comes rain. +So when to fond hope every blessing is nigh, _45 +How oft when we smile it is checked with a sigh, +When Hope, gay deceiver, in pleasure is dressed, +How oft comes a stroke that may rob us of rest. +When we think ourselves safe, and the goal near at hand, +Like a vessel just landing, we're wrecked near the strand, _50 +And though memory forever the sharp pang must feel, +'Tis our duty to bear, and our hardship to steel-- +May misfortunes dear Girl, ne'er thy happiness cloy, +May thy days glide in peace, love, comfort and joy, +May thy tears with soft pity for other woes flow, _55 +Woes, which thy tender heart never may know, +For hardships our own, God has taught us to bear, +Though sympathy's soul to a friend drops a tear. +Oh dear! what sentimental stuff have I written, +Only fit to tear up and play with a kitten. _60 +What sober reflections in the midst of this letter! +Jocularity sure would have suited much better; +But there are exceptions to all common rules, +For this is a truth by all boys learned at schools. +Now adieu my dear -- [Hattie] I'm sure I must tire, _65 +For if I do, you may throw it into the fire, +So accept the best love of your cousin and friend, +Which brings this nonsensical rhyme to an end. + +APRIL 30, 1810. + +NOTE: +_19 mischievous]mischevious 1810. + + +3. SONG. + +Cold, cold is the blast when December is howling, +Cold are the damps on a dying man's brow,-- +Stern are the seas when the wild waves are rolling, +And sad is the grave where a loved one lies low; +But colder is scorn from the being who loved thee, _5 +More stern is the sneer from the friend who has proved thee, +More sad are the tears when their sorrows have moved thee, +Which mixed with groans anguish and wild madness flow-- + +And ah! poor -- has felt all this horror, +Full long the fallen victim contended with fate: _10 +'Till a destitute outcast abandoned to sorrow, +She sought her babe's food at her ruiner's gate-- +Another had charmed the remorseless betrayer, +He turned laughing aside from her moans and her prayer, +She said nothing, but wringing the wet from her hair, _15 +Crossed the dark mountain side, though the hour it was late. +'Twas on the wild height of the dark Penmanmawr, +That the form of the wasted -- reclined; +She shrieked to the ravens that croaked from afar, +And she sighed to the gusts of the wild sweeping wind.-- _20 +I call not yon rocks where the thunder peals rattle, +I call not yon clouds where the elements battle, +But thee, cruel -- I call thee unkind!'-- + +Then she wreathed in her hair the wild flowers of the mountain, +And deliriously laughing, a garland entwined, _25 +She bedewed it with tears, then she hung o'er the fountain, +And leaving it, cast it a prey to the wind. +'Ah! go,' she exclaimed, 'when the tempest is yelling, +'Tis unkind to be cast on the sea that is swelling, +But I left, a pitiless outcast, my dwelling, _30 +My garments are torn, so they say is my mind--' + +Not long lived --, but over her grave +Waved the desolate form of a storm-blasted yew, +Around it no demons or ghosts dare to rave, +But spirits of peace steep her slumbers in dew. _35 +Then stay thy swift steps mid the dark mountain heather, +Though chill blow the wind and severe is the weather, +For perfidy, traveller! cannot bereave her, +Of the tears, to the tombs of the innocent due.-- + +JULY, 1810. + + +4. SONG. + +Come [Harriet]! sweet is the hour, +Soft Zephyrs breathe gently around, +The anemone's night-boding flower, +Has sunk its pale head on the ground. + +'Tis thus the world's keenness hath torn, _5 +Some mild heart that expands to its blast, +'Tis thus that the wretched forlorn, +Sinks poor and neglected at last.-- + +The world with its keenness and woe, +Has no charms or attraction for me, _10 +Its unkindness with grief has laid low, +The heart which is faithful to thee. +The high trees that wave past the moon, +As I walk in their umbrage with you, +All declare I must part with you soon, _15 +All bid you a tender adieu!-- + +Then [Harriet]! dearest farewell, +You and I love, may ne'er meet again; +These woods and these meadows can tell +How soft and how sweet was the strain.-- _20 + +APRIL, 1810. + + +5. SONG. + +DESPAIR. + +Ask not the pallid stranger's woe, +With beating heart and throbbing breast, +Whose step is faltering, weak, and slow, +As though the body needed rest.-- + +Whose 'wildered eye no object meets, _5 +Nor cares to ken a friendly glance, +With silent grief his bosom beats,-- +Now fixed, as in a deathlike trance. + +Who looks around with fearful eye, +And shuns all converse with man kind, _10 +As though some one his griefs might spy, +And soothe them with a kindred mind. + +A friend or foe to him the same, +He looks on each with equal eye; +The difference lies but in the name, _15 +To none for comfort can he fly.-- + +'Twas deep despair, and sorrow's trace, +To him too keenly given, +Whose memory, time could not efface-- +His peace was lodged in Heaven.-- _20 + +He looks on all this world bestows, +The pride and pomp of power, +As trifles best for pageant shows +Which vanish in an hour. + +When torn is dear affection's tie, _25 +Sinks the soft heart full low; +It leaves without a parting sigh, +All that these realms bestow. + +JUNE, 1810. + + +6. SONG. + +SORROW. + +To me this world's a dreary blank, +All hopes in life are gone and fled, +My high strung energies are sank, +And all my blissful hopes lie dead.-- + +The world once smiling to my view, _5 +Showed scenes of endless bliss and joy; +The world I then but little knew, +Ah! little knew how pleasures cloy; + +All then was jocund, all was gay, +No thought beyond the present hour, _10 +I danced in pleasure's fading ray, +Fading alas! as drooping flower. + +Nor do the heedless in the throng, +One thought beyond the morrow give[,] +They court the feast, the dance, the song, _15 +Nor think how short their time to live. + +The heart that bears deep sorrow's trace, +What earthly comfort can console, +It drags a dull and lengthened pace, +'Till friendly death its woes enroll.-- _20 + +The sunken cheek, the humid eyes, +E'en better than the tongue can tell; +In whose sad breast deep sorrow lies, +Where memory's rankling traces dwell.-- + +The rising tear, the stifled sigh, _25 +A mind but ill at ease display, +Like blackening clouds in stormy sky, +Where fiercely vivid lightnings play. + +Thus when souls' energy is dead, +When sorrow dims each earthly view, _30 +When every fairy hope is fled, +We bid ungrateful world adieu. + +AUGUST, 1810. + + +7. SONG. + +HOPE. + +And said I that all hope was fled, +That sorrow and despair were mine, +That each enthusiast wish was dead, +Had sank beneath pale Misery's shrine.-- + +Seest thou the sunbeam's yellow glow, _5 +That robes with liquid streams of light; +Yon distant Mountain's craggy brow. +And shows the rocks so fair,--so bright-- + +Tis thus sweet expectation's ray, +In softer view shows distant hours, _10 +And portrays each succeeding day, +As dressed in fairer, brighter flowers,-- + +The vermeil tinted flowers that blossom; +Are frozen but to bud anew, +Then sweet deceiver calm my bosom, _15 +Although thy visions be not true,-- + +Yet true they are,--and I'll believe, +Thy whisperings soft of love and peace, +God never made thee to deceive, +'Tis sin that bade thy empire cease. _20 + +Yet though despair my life should gloom, +Though horror should around me close, +With those I love, beyond the tomb, +Hope shows a balm for all my woes. + +AUGUST, 1810. + + +8. SONG. + +TRANSLATED FROM THE ITALIAN. + +Oh! what is the gain of restless care, +And what is ambitious treasure? +And what are the joys that the modish share, +In their sickly haunts of pleasure? + +My husband's repast with delight I spread, _5 +What though 'tis but rustic fare, +May each guardian angel protect his shed, +May contentment and quiet be there. + +And may I support my husband's years, +May I soothe his dying pain, _10 +And then may I dry my fast falling tears, +And meet him in Heaven again. + +JULY, 1810. + + +9. SONG. + +TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN. + +Ah! grasp the dire dagger and couch the fell spear, +If vengeance and death to thy bosom be dear, +The dastard shall perish, death's torment shall prove, +For fate and revenge are decreed from above. + +Ah! where is the hero, whose nerves strung by youth, _5 +Will defend the firm cause of justice and truth; +With insatiate desire whose bosom shall swell, +To give up the oppressor to judgement and Hell-- + +For him shall the fair one twine chaplets of bays, +To him shall each warrior give merited praise, _10 +And triumphant returned from the clangour of arms, +He shall find his reward in his loved maiden's charms. + +In ecstatic confusion the warrior shall sip, +The kisses that glow on his love's dewy lip, +And mutual, eternal, embraces shall prove, _15 +The rewards of the brave are the transports of love. + +OCTOBER, 1809. + + +10. THE IRISHMAN'S SONG. + +The stars may dissolve, and the fountain of light +May sink into ne'er ending chaos and night, +Our mansions must fall, and earth vanish away, +But thy courage O Erin! may never decay. + +See! the wide wasting ruin extends all around, _5 +Our ancestors' dwellings lie sunk on the ground, +Our foes ride in triumph throughout our domains, +And our mightiest heroes lie stretched on the plains. + +Ah! dead is the harp which was wont to give pleasure, +Ah! sunk is our sweet country's rapturous measure, _10 +But the war note is waked, and the clangour of spears, +The dread yell of Sloghan yet sounds in our ears. + +Ah! where are the heroes! triumphant in death, +Convulsed they recline on the blood sprinkled heath, +Or the yelling ghosts ride on the blast that sweeps by, _15 +And 'my countrymen! vengeance!' incessantly cry. + +OCTOBER, 1809. + + +11. SONG. + +Fierce roars the midnight storm +O'er the wild mountain, +Dark clouds the night deform, +Swift rolls the fountain-- + +See! o'er yon rocky height, _5 +Dim mists are flying-- +See by the moon's pale light, +Poor Laura's dying! + +Shame and remorse shall howl, +By her false pillow-- _10 +Fiercer than storms that roll, +O'er the white billow; + +No hand her eyes to close, +When life is flying, +But she will find repose, _15 +For Laura's dying! + +Then will I seek my love, +Then will I cheer her, +Then my esteem will prove, +When no friend is near her. _20 + +On her grave I will lie, +When life is parted, +On her grave I will die, +For the false hearted. + +DECEMBER, 1809. + + +12. SONG. + +TO [HARRIET]. + +Ah! sweet is the moonbeam that sleeps on yon fountain, +And sweet the mild rush of the soft-sighing breeze, +And sweet is the glimpse of yon dimly-seen mountain, +'Neath the verdant arcades of yon shadowy trees. + +But sweeter than all was thy tone of affection, _5 +Which scarce seemed to break on the stillness of eve, +Though the time it is past!--yet the dear recollection, +For aye in the heart of thy [Percy] must live. + +Yet he hears thy dear voice in the summer winds sighing, +Mild accents of happiness lisp in his ear, _10 +When the hope-winged moments athwart him are flying, +And he thinks of the friend to his bosom so dear.-- + +And thou dearest friend in his bosom for ever +Must reign unalloyed by the fast rolling year, +He loves thee, and dearest one never, Oh! never _15 +Canst thou cease to be loved by a heart so sincere. + +AUGUST, 1810. + +NOTE: +_11 hope-winged]hoped-winged 1810. + + +13. SONG. + +TO -- [HARRIET]. + +Stern, stern is the voice of fate's fearful command, +When accents of horror it breathes in our ear, +Or compels us for aye bid adieu to the land, +Where exists that loved friend to our bosom so dear, + +'Tis sterner than death o'er the shuddering wretch bending, _5 +And in skeleton grasp his fell sceptre extending, +Like the heart-stricken deer to that loved covert wending, +Which never again to his eyes may appear-- + +And ah! he may envy the heart-stricken quarry, +Who bids to the friend of affection farewell, _10 +He may envy the bosom so bleeding and gory, +He may envy the sound of the drear passing knell, + +Not so deep is his grief on his death couch reposing, +When on the last vision his dim eyes are closing! +As the outcast whose love-raptured senses are losing, _15 +The last tones of thy voice on the wild breeze that swell! + +Those tones were so soft, and so sad, that ah! never, +Can the sound cease to vibrate on Memory's ear, +In the stern wreck of Nature for ever and ever, +The remembrance must live of a friend so sincere. _20 + +AUGUST, 1810. + + +14. SAINT EDMOND'S EVE. + +Oh! did you observe the Black Canon pass, +And did you observe his frown? +He goeth to say the midnight mass, +In holy St. Edmond's town. + +He goeth to sing the burial chaunt, _5 +And to lay the wandering sprite, +Whose shadowy, restless form doth haunt, +The Abbey's drear aisle this night. + +It saith it will not its wailing cease, +'Till that holy man come near, _10 +'Till he pour o'er its grave the prayer of peace, +And sprinkle the hallowed tear. + +The Canon's horse is stout and strong +The road is plain and fair, +But the Canon slowly wends along, _15 +And his brow is gloomed with care. + +Who is it thus late at the Abbey-gate? +Sullen echoes the portal bell, +It sounds like the whispering voice of fate, +It sounds like a funeral knell. _20 + +The Canon his faltering knee thrice bowed, +And his frame was convulsed with fear, +When a voice was heard distinct and loud, +'Prepare! for thy hour is near.' + +He crosses his breast, he mutters a prayer, _25 +To Heaven he lifts his eye, +He heeds not the Abbot's gazing stare, +Nor the dark Monks who murmured by. + +Bare-headed he worships the sculptured saints +That frown on the sacred walls, _30 +His face it grows pale,--he trembles, he faints, +At the Abbot's feet he falls. + +And straight the father's robe he kissed, +Who cried, 'Grace dwells with thee, +The spirit will fade like the morning mist, _35 +At your benedicite. + +'Now haste within! the board is spread, +Keen blows the air, and cold, +The spectre sleeps in its earthy bed, +'Till St. Edmond's bell hath tolled,-- _40 + +'Yet rest your wearied limbs to-night, +You've journeyed many a mile, +To-morrow lay the wailing sprite, +That shrieks in the moonlight aisle. + +'Oh! faint are my limbs and my bosom is cold, _45 +Yet to-night must the sprite be laid, +Yet to-night when the hour of horror's told, +Must I meet the wandering shade. + +'Nor food, nor rest may now delay,-- +For hark! the echoing pile, _50 +A bell loud shakes!--Oh haste away, +O lead to the haunted aisle.' + +The torches slowly move before, +The cross is raised on high, +A smile of peace the Canon wore, _55 +But horror dimmed his eye-- + +And now they climb the footworn stair, +The chapel gates unclose, +Now each breathed low a fervent prayer, +And fear each bosom froze-- _60 + +Now paused awhile the doubtful band +And viewed the solemn scene,-- +Full dark the clustered columns stand, +The moon gleams pale between-- + +'Say father, say, what cloisters' gloom _65 +Conceals the unquiet shade, +Within what dark unhallowed tomb, +The corse unblessed was laid.' + +'Through yonder drear aisle alone it walks, +And murmurs a mournful plaint, _70 +Of thee! Black Canon, it wildly talks, +And call on thy patron saint-- + +The pilgrim this night with wondering eyes, +As he prayed at St. Edmond's shrine, +From a black marble tomb hath seen it rise, _75 +And under yon arch recline.'-- + +'Oh! say upon that black marble tomb, +What memorial sad appears.'-- +'Undistinguished it lies in the chancel's gloom, +No memorial sad it bears'-- _80 + +The Canon his paternoster reads, +His rosary hung by his side, +Now swift to the chancel doors he leads, +And untouched they open wide, + +Resistless, strange sounds his steps impel, _85 +To approach to the black marble tomb, +'Oh! enter, Black Canon,' a whisper fell, +'Oh! enter, thy hour is come.' + +He paused, told his beads, and the threshold passed. +Oh! horror, the chancel doors close, _90 +A loud yell was borne on the rising blast, +And a deep, dying groan arose. + +The Monks in amazement shuddering stand, +They burst through the chancel's gloom, +From St. Edmond's shrine, lo! a skeleton's hand, _95 +Points to the black marble tomb. + +Lo! deeply engraved, an inscription blood red, +In characters fresh and clear-- +'The guilty Black Canon of Elmham's dead, +And his wife lies buried here!' _100 + +In Elmham's tower he wedded a Nun, +To St. Edmond's his bride he bore, +On this eve her noviciate here was begun, +And a Monk's gray weeds she wore;-- + +O! deep was her conscience dyed with guilt, _105 +Remorse she full oft revealed, +Her blood by the ruthless Black Canon was spilt, +And in death her lips he sealed; + +Her spirit to penance this night was doomed, +'Till the Canon atoned the deed, _110 +Here together they now shall rest entombed, +'Till their bodies from dust are freed-- + +Hark! a loud peal of thunder shakes the roof, +Round the altar bright lightnings play, +Speechless with horror the Monks stand aloof, _115 +And the storm dies sudden away-- + +The inscription was gone! a cross on the ground, +And a rosary shone through the gloom, +But never again was the Canon there found, +Or the Ghost on the black marble tomb. _120 + + +15. REVENGE. + +'Ah! quit me not yet, for the wind whistles shrill, +Its blast wanders mournfully over the hill, +The thunder's wild voice rattles madly above, +You will not then, cannot then, leave me my love.--' + +I must dearest Agnes, the night is far gone-- _5 +I must wander this evening to Strasburg alone, +I must seek the drear tomb of my ancestors' bones, +And must dig their remains from beneath the cold stones. + +'For the spirit of Conrad there meets me this night, +And we quit not the tomb 'till dawn of the light, _10 +And Conrad's been dead just a month and a day! +So farewell dearest Agnes for I must away,-- + +'He bid me bring with me what most I held dear, +Or a month from that time should I lie on my bier, +And I'd sooner resign this false fluttering breath, _15 +Than my Agnes should dread either danger or death, + +'And I love you to madness my Agnes I love, +My constant affection this night will I prove, +This night will I go to the sepulchre's jaw +Alone will I glut its all conquering maw'-- _20 + +'No! no loved Adolphus thy Agnes will share, +In the tomb all the dangers that wait for you there, +I fear not the spirit,--I fear not the grave, +My dearest Adolphus I'd perish to save'-- + +'Nay seek not to say that thy love shall not go, _25 +But spare me those ages of horror and woe, +For I swear to thee here that I'll perish ere day, +If you go unattended by Agnes away'-- + +The night it was bleak the fierce storm raged around, +The lightning's blue fire-light flashed on the ground, _30 +Strange forms seemed to flit,--and howl tidings of fate, +As Agnes advanced to the sepulchre gate.-- + +The youth struck the portal,--the echoing sound +Was fearfully rolled midst the tombstones around, +The blue lightning gleamed o'er the dark chapel spire, _35 +And tinged were the storm clouds with sulphurous fire. + +Still they gazed on the tombstone where Conrad reclined, +Yet they shrank at the cold chilling blast of the wind, +When a strange silver brilliance pervaded the scene, +And a figure advanced--tall in form--fierce in mien. _40 + +A mantle encircled his shadowy form, +As light as a gossamer borne on the storm, +Celestial terror sat throned in his gaze, +Like the midnight pestiferous meteor's blaze.-- + +SPIRIT: +Thy father, Adolphus! was false, false as hell, _45 +And Conrad has cause to remember it well, +He ruined my Mother, despised me his son, +I quitted the world ere my vengeance was done. + +I was nearly expiring--'twas close of the day,-- +A demon advanced to the bed where I lay, _50 +He gave me the power from whence I was hurled, +To return to revenge, to return to the world,-- + +Now Adolphus I'll seize thy best loved in my arms, +I'll drag her to Hades all blooming in charms, +On the black whirlwind's thundering pinion I'll ride, _55 +And fierce yelling fiends shall exult o'er thy bride-- + +He spoke, and extending his ghastly arms wide, +Majestic advanced with a swift noiseless stride, +He clasped the fair Agnes--he raised her on high, +And cleaving the roof sped his way to the sky-- _60 + +All was now silent,--and over the tomb, +Thicker, deeper, was swiftly extended a gloom, +Adolphus in horror sank down on the stone, +And his fleeting soul fled with a harrowing groan. + +DECEMBER, 1809. + + +16. GHASTA OR, THE AVENGING DEMON!!! + +The idea of the following tale was taken from a few unconnected German +Stanzas.--The principal Character is evidently the Wandering Jew, and +although not mentioned by name, the burning Cross on his forehead +undoubtedly alludes to that superstition, so prevalent in the part of +Germany called the Black Forest, where this scene is supposed to lie. + +Hark! the owlet flaps her wing, +In the pathless dell beneath, +Hark! night ravens loudly sing, +Tidings of despair and death.-- + +Horror covers all the sky, _5 +Clouds of darkness blot the moon, +Prepare! for mortal thou must die, +Prepare to yield thy soul up soon-- + +Fierce the tempest raves around, +Fierce the volleyed lightnings fly, _10 +Crashing thunder shakes the ground, +Fire and tumult fill the sky.-- + +Hark! the tolling village bell, +Tells the hour of midnight come, +Now can blast the powers of Hell, _15 +Fiend-like goblins now can roam-- + +See! his crest all stained with rain, +A warrior hastening speeds his way, +He starts, looks round him, starts again, +And sighs for the approach of day. _20 + +See! his frantic steed he reins, +See! he lifts his hands on high, +Implores a respite to his pains, +From the powers of the sky.-- + +He seeks an Inn, for faint from toil, _25 +Fatigue had bent his lofty form, +To rest his wearied limbs awhile, +Fatigued with wandering and the storm. + +... +... + +Slow the door is opened wide-- +With trackless tread a stranger came, _30 +His form Majestic, slow his stride, +He sate, nor spake,--nor told his name-- + +Terror blanched the warrior's cheek, +Cold sweat from his forehead ran, +In vain his tongue essayed to speak,-- _35 +At last the stranger thus began: + +'Mortal! thou that saw'st the sprite, +Tell me what I wish to know, +Or come with me before 'tis light, +Where cypress trees and mandrakes grow. _40 + +'Fierce the avenging Demon's ire, +Fiercer than the wintry blast, +Fiercer than the lightning's fire, +When the hour of twilight's past'-- + +The warrior raised his sunken eye. _45 +It met the stranger's sullen scowl, +'Mortal! Mortal! thou must die,' +In burning letters chilled his soul. + +WARRIOR: +Stranger! whoso'er you are, +I feel impelled my tale to tell-- _50 +Horrors stranger shalt thou hear, +Horrors drear as those of Hell. + +O'er my Castle silence reigned, +Late the night and drear the hour, +When on the terrace I observed, _55 +A fleeting shadowy mist to lower.-- + +Light the cloud as summer fog, +Which transient shuns the morning beam; +Fleeting as the cloud on bog, +That hangs or on the mountain stream.-- _60 + +Horror seized my shuddering brain, +Horror dimmed my starting eye. +In vain I tried to speak,--In vain +My limbs essayed the spot to fly-- + +At last the thin and shadowy form, _65 +With noiseless, trackless footsteps came,-- +Its light robe floated on the storm, +Its head was bound with lambent flame. + +In chilling voice drear as the breeze +Which sweeps along th' autumnal ground, _70 +Which wanders through the leafless trees, +Or the mandrake's groan which floats around. + +'Thou art mine and I am thine, +'Till the sinking of the world, +I am thine and thou art mine, _75 +'Till in ruin death is hurled-- + +'Strong the power and dire the fate, +Which drags me from the depths of Hell, +Breaks the tomb's eternal gate, +Where fiendish shapes and dead men yell, _80 + +'Haply I might ne'er have shrank +From flames that rack the guilty dead, +Haply I might ne'er have sank +On pleasure's flowery, thorny bed-- + +--'But stay! no more I dare disclose, _85 +Of the tale I wish to tell, +On Earth relentless were my woes, +But fiercer are my pangs in Hell-- + +'Now I claim thee as my love, +Lay aside all chilling fear, _90 +My affection will I prove, +Where sheeted ghosts and spectres are! + +'For thou art mine, and I am thine, +'Till the dreaded judgement day, +I am thine, and thou art mine-- _95 +Night is past--I must away.' + +Still I gazed, and still the form +Pressed upon my aching sight, +Still I braved the howling storm, +When the ghost dissolved in night.-- _100 + +Restless, sleepless fled the night, +Sleepless as a sick man's bed, +When he sighs for morning light, +When he turns his aching head,-- + +Slow and painful passed the day. _105 +Melancholy seized my brain, +Lingering fled the hours away, +Lingering to a wretch in pain.-- + +At last came night, ah! horrid hour, +Ah! chilling time that wakes the dead, _110 +When demons ride the clouds that lower, +--The phantom sat upon my bed. + +In hollow voice, low as the sound +Which in some charnel makes its moan, +What floats along the burying ground, _115 +The phantom claimed me as her own. + +Her chilling finger on my head, +With coldest touch congealed my soul-- +Cold as the finger of the dead, +Or damps which round a tombstone roll-- _120 + +Months are passed in lingering round, +Every night the spectre comes, +With thrilling step it shakes the ground, +With thrilling step it round me roams-- + +Stranger! I have told to thee, _125 +All the tale I have to tell-- +Stranger! canst thou tell to me, +How to 'scape the powers of Hell?-- + +STRANGER: +Warrior! I can ease thy woes, +Wilt thou, wilt thou, come with me-- _130 +Warrior! I can all disclose, +Follow, follow, follow me. + +Yet the tempest's duskiest wing, +Its mantle stretches o'er the sky, +Yet the midnight ravens sing, _135 +'Mortal! Mortal! thou must die.' + +At last they saw a river clear, +That crossed the heathy path they trod, +The Stranger's look was wild and drear, +The firm Earth shook beneath his nod-- _140 + +He raised a wand above his head, +He traced a circle on the plain, +In a wild verse he called the dead, +The dead with silent footsteps came. + +A burning brilliance on his head, _145 +Flaming filled the stormy air, +In a wild verse he called the dead, +The dead in motley crowd were there.-- + +'Ghasta! Ghasta! come along, +Bring thy fiendish crowd with thee, _150 +Quickly raise th' avenging Song, +Ghasta! Ghasta! come to me.' + +Horrid shapes in mantles gray, +Flit athwart the stormy night, +'Ghasta! Ghasta! come away, _155 +Come away before 'tis light.' + +See! the sheeted Ghost they bring, +Yelling dreadful o'er the heath, +Hark! the deadly verse they sing, +Tidings of despair and death! _160 + +The yelling Ghost before him stands, +See! she rolls her eyes around, +Now she lifts her bony hands, +Now her footsteps shake the ground. + +STRANGER: +Phantom of Theresa say, _165 +Why to earth again you came, +Quickly speak, I must away! +Or you must bleach for aye in flame,-- + +PHANTOM: +Mighty one I know thee now, +Mightiest power of the sky, _170 +Know thee by thy flaming brow, +Know thee by thy sparkling eye. + +That fire is scorching! Oh! I came, +From the caverned depth of Hell, +My fleeting false Rodolph to claim, _175 +Mighty one! I know thee well.-- + +STRANGER: +Ghasta! seize yon wandering sprite, +Drag her to the depth beneath, +Take her swift, before 'tis light, +Take her to the cells of death! _180 + +Thou that heardst the trackless dead, +In the mouldering tomb must lie, +Mortal! look upon my head, +Mortal! Mortal! thou must die. + +Of glowing flame a cross was there, _185 +Which threw a light around his form, +Whilst his lank and raven hair, +Floated wild upon the storm.-- + +The warrior upwards turned his eyes, +Gazed upon the cross of fire, _190 +There sat horror and surprise, +There sat God's eternal ire.-- + +A shivering through the Warrior flew, +Colder than the nightly blast, +Colder than the evening dew, _195 +When the hour of twilight's past.-- + +Thunder shakes th' expansive sky, +Shakes the bosom of the heath, +'Mortal! Mortal! thou must die'-- +The warrior sank convulsed in death. _200 + +JANUARY, 1810. + +NOTES: +_114 its]it 1810. +_115 What]query Which? + + +17. FRAGMENT, OR THE TRIUMPH OF CONSCIENCE. + +'Twas dead of the night when I sate in my dwelling, +One glimmering lamp was expiring and low,-- +Around the dark tide of the tempest was swelling, +Along the wild mountains night-ravens were yelling, +They bodingly presaged destruction and woe! _5 + +'Twas then that I started, the wild storm was howling, +Nought was seen, save the lightning that danced on the sky, +Above me the crash of the thunder was rolling, +And low, chilling murmurs the blast wafted by.-- + +My heart sank within me, unheeded the jar _10 +Of the battling clouds on the mountain-tops broke, +Unheeded the thunder-peal crashed in mine ear, +This heart hard as iron was stranger to fear, +But conscience in low noiseless whispering spoke. +'Twas then that her form on the whirlwind uprearing, _15 +The dark ghost of the murdered Victoria strode, +Her right hand a blood reeking dagger was bearing, +She swiftly advanced to my lonesome abode.-- +I wildly then called on the tempest to bear me! + +... +... + +*** + + +POEMS FROM ST. IRVYNE, OR, THE ROSICRUCIAN. + +["St. Irvyne; or The Rosicrucian", appeared early in 1811 (see +"Bibliographical List"). Rossetti (1870) relying on a passage in +Medwin's "Life of Shelley" (1 page 74), assigns 1, 4, 5, and 6 to 1808, +and 2 and 4 to 1809. The titles of 1, 3, 4, and 5 are Rossetti's; those +of 2 and 6 are Dowden's.] + +*** + + +1.--VICTORIA. + +[Another version of "The Triumph of Conscience" immediately preceding.] + +1. +'Twas dead of the night, when I sat in my dwelling; +One glimmering lamp was expiring and low; +Around, the dark tide of the tempest was swelling, +Along the wild mountains night-ravens were yelling,-- +They bodingly presaged destruction and woe. _5 + +2. +'Twas then that I started!--the wild storm was howling, +Nought was seen, save the lightning, which danced in the sky; +Above me, the crash of the thunder was rolling, +And low, chilling murmurs, the blast wafted by. + +3. +My heart sank within me--unheeded the war _10 +Of the battling clouds, on the mountain-tops, broke;-- +Unheeded the thunder-peal crashed in mine ear-- +This heart, hard as iron, is stranger to fear; +But conscience in low, noiseless whispering spoke. + +4. +'Twas then that her form on the whirlwind upholding, _15 +The ghost of the murdered Victoria strode; +In her right hand, a shadowy shroud she was holding, +She swiftly advanced to my lonesome abode. + +5. +I wildly then called on the tempest to bear me--' + +... + +NOTE: +1.--Victoria: without title, 1811. + + +2.--ON THE DARK HEIGHT OF JURA. + +1. +Ghosts of the dead! have I not heard your yelling +Rise on the night-rolling breath of the blast, +When o'er the dark aether the tempest is swelling, +And on eddying whirlwind the thunder-peal passed? + +2. +For oft have I stood on the dark height of Jura, _5 +Which frowns on the valley that opens beneath; +Oft have I braved the chill night-tempest's fury, +Whilst around me, I thought, echoed murmurs of death. + +3. +And now, whilst the winds of the mountain are howling, +O father! thy voice seems to strike on mine ear; _10 +In air whilst the tide of the night-storm is rolling, +It breaks on the pause of the elements' jar. + +4. +On the wing of the whirlwind which roars o'er the mountain +Perhaps rides the ghost of my sire who is dead: +On the mist of the tempest which hangs o'er the fountain, +Whilst a wreath of dark vapour encircles his head. + +NOTE: +2.--On the Dark, etc.: without title, 1811; + The Father's Spectre, Rossetti, 1870. + + +3.--SISTER ROSA: A BALLAD. + +1. +The death-bell beats!-- +The mountain repeats +The echoing sound of the knell; +And the dark Monk now +Wraps the cowl round his brow, _5 +As he sits in his lonely cell. + +2. +And the cold hand of death +Chills his shuddering breath, +As he lists to the fearful lay +Which the ghosts of the sky, _10 +As they sweep wildly by, +Sing to departed day. +And they sing of the hour +When the stern fates had power +To resolve Rosa's form to its clay. _15 + +3. +But that hour is past; +And that hour was the last +Of peace to the dark Monk's brain. +Bitter tears, from his eyes, gushed silent and fast; +And he strove to suppress them in vain. _20 + +4. +Then his fair cross of gold he dashed on the floor, +When the death-knell struck on his ear.-- +'Delight is in store +For her evermore; +But for me is fate, horror, and fear.' _25 + +5. +Then his eyes wildly rolled, +When the death-bell tolled, +And he raged in terrific woe. +And he stamped on the ground,-- +But when ceased the sound, _30 +Tears again began to flow. + +6. +And the ice of despair +Chilled the wild throb of care, +And he sate in mute agony still; +Till the night-stars shone through the cloudless air, _35 +And the pale moonbeam slept on the hill. + +7. +Then he knelt in his cell:-- +And the horrors of hell +Were delights to his agonized pain, +And he prayed to God to dissolve the spell, _40 +Which else must for ever remain. + +8. +And in fervent pray'r he knelt on the ground, +Till the abbey bell struck One: +His feverish blood ran chill at the sound: +A voice hollow and horrible murmured around-- _45 +'The term of thy penance is done!' + +9. +Grew dark the night; +The moonbeam bright +Waxed faint on the mountain high; +And, from the black hill, _50 +Went a voice cold and still,-- +'Monk! thou art free to die.' + +10. +Then he rose on his feet, +And his heart loud did beat, +And his limbs they were palsied with dread; _55 +Whilst the grave's clammy dew +O'er his pale forehead grew; +And he shuddered to sleep with the dead. + +11. +And the wild midnight storm +Raved around his tall form, _60 +As he sought the chapel's gloom: +And the sunk grass did sigh +To the wind, bleak and high, +As he searched for the new-made tomb. + +12. +And forms, dark and high, _65 +Seemed around him to fly, +And mingle their yells with the blast: +And on the dark wall +Half-seen shadows did fall, +As enhorrored he onward passed. _70 + +13. +And the storm-fiends wild rave +O'er the new-made grave, +And dread shadows linger around. +The Monk called on God his soul to save, +And, in horror, sank on the ground. _75 + +14. +Then despair nerved his arm +To dispel the charm, +And he burst Rosa's coffin asunder. +And the fierce storm did swell +More terrific and fell, _80 +And louder pealed the thunder. + +15. +And laughed, in joy, the fiendish throng, +Mixed with ghosts of the mouldering dead: +And their grisly wings, as they floated along, +Whistled in murmurs dread. _85 + +16. +And her skeleton form the dead Nun reared +Which dripped with the chill dew of hell. +In her half-eaten eyeballs two pale flames appeared, +And triumphant their gleam on the dark Monk glared, +As he stood within the cell. _90 + +17. +And her lank hand lay on his shuddering brain; +But each power was nerved by fear.-- +'I never, henceforth, may breathe again; +Death now ends mine anguished pain.-- +The grave yawns,--we meet there.' _95 + +18. +And her skeleton lungs did utter the sound, +So deadly, so lone, and so fell, +That in long vibrations shuddered the ground; +And as the stern notes floated around, +A deep groan was answered from hell. + +NOTE: +3.--Sister Rosa: Ballad, 1811. + + +4.--ST. IRVYNE'S TOWER. + +1. +How swiftly through Heaven's wide expanse +Bright day's resplendent colours fade! +How sweetly does the moonbeam's glance +With silver tint St. Irvyne's glade! + +2. +No cloud along the spangled air, _5 +Is borne upon the evening breeze; +How solemn is the scene! how fair +The moonbeams rest upon the trees! + +3. +Yon dark gray turret glimmers white, +Upon it sits the mournful owl; _10 +Along the stillness of the night, +Her melancholy shriekings roll. + +4. +But not alone on Irvyne's tower, +The silver moonbeam pours her ray; +It gleams upon the ivied bower, _15 +It dances in the cascade's spray. + +5. +'Ah! why do dark'ning shades conceal +The hour, when man must cease to be? +Why may not human minds unveil +The dim mists of futurity?-- _20 + +6. +'The keenness of the world hath torn +The heart which opens to its blast; +Despised, neglected, and forlorn, +Sinks the wretch in death at last.' + +NOTE: +4.--St. Irvyne's Tower: Song, 1810. + + +5.--BEREAVEMENT. + +1. +How stern are the woes of the desolate mourner, +As he bends in still grief o'er the hallowed bier, +As enanguished he turns from the laugh of the scorner, +And drops, to Perfection's remembrance, a tear; +When floods of despair down his pale cheek are streaming, _5 +When no blissful hope on his bosom is beaming, +Or, if lulled for awhile, soon he starts from his dreaming, +And finds torn the soft ties to affection so dear. + +2. +Ah! when shall day dawn on the night of the grave, +Or summer succeed to the winter of death? _10 +Rest awhile, hapless victim, and Heaven will save +The spirit, that faded away with the breath. +Eternity points in its amaranth bower, +Where no clouds of fate o'er the sweet prospect lower, +Unspeakable pleasure, of goodness the dower, _15 +When woe fades away like the mist of the heath. + +NOTE: +5.--Bereavement: Song, 1811. + + +6.--THE DROWNED LOVER. + +1. +Ah! faint are her limbs, and her footstep is weary, +Yet far must the desolate wanderer roam; +Though the tempest is stern, and the mountain is dreary, +She must quit at deep midnight her pitiless home. +I see her swift foot dash the dew from the whortle, _5 +As she rapidly hastes to the green grove of myrtle; +And I hear, as she wraps round her figure the kirtle, +'Stay thy boat on the lake,--dearest Henry, I come.' + +2. +High swelled in her bosom the throb of affection, +As lightly her form bounded over the lea, _10 +And arose in her mind every dear recollection; +'I come, dearest Henry, and wait but for thee.' +How sad, when dear hope every sorrow is soothing, +When sympathy's swell the soft bosom is moving, +And the mind the mild joys of affection is proving, _15 +Is the stern voice of fate that bids happiness flee! + +3. +Oh! dark lowered the clouds on that horrible eve, +And the moon dimly gleamed through the tempested air; +Oh! how could fond visions such softness deceive? +Oh! how could false hope rend, a bosom so fair? _20 +Thy love's pallid corse the wild surges are laving, +O'er his form the fierce swell of the tempest is raving; +But, fear not, parting spirit; thy goodness is saving, +In eternity's bowers, a seat for thee there. + +6.--The Drowned Lover: Song. 1811; The Lake-Storm, Rossetti, 1870. + +*** + + +POSTHUMOUS FRAGMENTS OF MARGARET MCHOLSON. + +Being Poems found amongst the Papers of that noted Female who attempted +the life of the King in 1786. Edited by John Fitzvictor. + +[The "Posthumous Fragments", published at Oxford by Shelley, appeared in +November, 1810. See "Bibliographical List".] + +ADVERTISEMENT. + +The energy and native genius of these Fragments must be the only apology +which the Editor can make for thus intruding them on the public notice. +The first I found with no title, and have left it so. It is intimately +connected with the dearest interests of universal happiness; and much as +we may deplore the fatal and enthusiastic tendency which the ideas of +this poor female had acquired, we cannot fail to pay the tribute of +unequivocal regret to the departed memory of genius, which, had it been +rightly organized, would have made that intellect, which has since +become the victim of frenzy and despair, a most brilliant ornament to +society. + +In case the sale of these Fragments evinces that the public have any +curiosity to be presented with a more copious collection of my +unfortunate Aunt's poems, I have other papers in my possession which +shall, in that case, be subjected to their notice. It may be supposed +they require much arrangement; but I send the following to the press in +the same state in which they came into my possession. J. F. + + +WAR. + +Ambition, power, and avarice, now have hurled +Death, fate, and ruin, on a bleeding world. +See! on yon heath what countless victims lie, +Hark! what loud shrieks ascend through yonder sky; +Tell then the cause, 'tis sure the avenger's rage _5 +Has swept these myriads from life's crowded stage: +Hark to that groan, an anguished hero dies, +He shudders in death's latest agonies; +Yet does a fleeting hectic flush his cheek, +Yet does his parting breath essay to speak-- _10 +'Oh God! my wife, my children--Monarch thou +For whose support this fainting frame lies low; +For whose support in distant lands I bleed, +Let his friends' welfare be the warrior's meed. +He hears me not--ah! no--kings cannot hear, _15 +For passion's voice has dulled their listless ear. +To thee, then, mighty God, I lift my moan, +Thou wilt not scorn a suppliant's anguished groan. +Oh! now I die--but still is death's fierce pain-- +God hears my prayer--we meet, we meet again.' _20 +He spake, reclined him on death's bloody bed, +And with a parting groan his spirit fled. +Oppressors of mankind to YOU we owe +The baleful streams from whence these miseries flow; +For you how many a mother weeps her son, _25 +Snatched from life's course ere half his race was run! +For you how many a widow drops a tear, +In silent anguish, on her husband's bier! +'Is it then Thine, Almighty Power,' she cries, +'Whence tears of endless sorrow dim these eyes? _30 +Is this the system which Thy powerful sway, +Which else in shapeless chaos sleeping lay, +Formed and approved?--it cannot be--but oh! +Forgive me, Heaven, my brain is warped by woe.' +'Tis not--He never bade the war-note swell, _35 +He never triumphed in the work of hell-- +Monarchs of earth! thine is the baleful deed, +Thine are the crimes for which thy subjects bleed. +Ah! when will come the sacred fated time, +When man unsullied by his leaders' crime, _40 +Despising wealth, ambition, pomp, and pride, +Will stretch him fearless by his foe-men's side? +Ah! when will come the time, when o'er the plain +No more shall death and desolation reign? +When will the sun smile on the bloodless field, _45 +And the stern warrior's arm the sickle wield? +Not whilst some King, in cold ambition's dreams, +Plans for the field of death his plodding schemes; +Not whilst for private pique the public fall, +And one frail mortal's mandate governs all. _50 +Swelled with command and mad with dizzying sway; +Who sees unmoved his myriads fade away. +Careless who lives or dies--so that he gains +Some trivial point for which he took the pains. +What then are Kings?--I see the trembling crowd, _55 +I hear their fulsome clamours echoed loud; +Their stern oppressor pleased appears awhile, +But April's sunshine is a Monarch's smile-- +Kings are but dust--the last eventful day +Will level all and make them lose their sway; _60 +Will dash the sceptre from the Monarch's hand, +And from the warrior's grasp wrest the ensanguined brand. +Oh! Peace, soft Peace, art thou for ever gone, +Is thy fair form indeed for ever flown? +And love and concord hast thou swept away, _65 +As if incongruous with thy parted sway? +Alas, I fear thou hast, for none appear. +Now o'er the palsied earth stalks giant Fear, +With War, and Woe, and Terror, in his train;-- +List'ning he pauses on the embattled plain, _70 +Then speeding swiftly o'er the ensanguined heath, +Has left the frightful work to Hell and Death. +See! gory Ruin yokes his blood-stained car, +He scents the battle's carnage from afar; +Hell and Destruction mark his mad career, _75 +He tracks the rapid step of hurrying Fear; +Whilst ruined towns and smoking cities tell, +That thy work, Monarch, is the work of Hell. +'It is thy work!' I hear a voice repeat, +Shakes the broad basis of thy bloodstained seat; _80 +And at the orphan's sigh, the widow's moan, +Totters the fabric of thy guilt-stained throne-- +'It is thy work, O Monarch;' now the sound +Fainter and fainter, yet is borne around, +Yet to enthusiast ears the murmurs tell _85 +That Heaven, indignant at the work of Hell, +Will soon the cause, the hated cause remove, +Which tears from earth peace, innocence, and love. + +NOTE: +War: the title is Woodberry's, 1893; no title, 1810. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT: SUPPOSED TO BE AN EPITHALAMIUM OF FRANCIS RAVAILLAC +AND CHARLOTTE CORDAY. + +'Tis midnight now--athwart the murky air, +Dank lurid meteors shoot a livid gleam; +From the dark storm-clouds flashes a fearful glare, +It shows the bending oak, the roaring stream. + +I pondered on the woes of lost mankind, _5 +I pondered on the ceaseless rage of Kings; +My rapt soul dwelt upon the ties that bind +The mazy volume of commingling things, +When fell and wild misrule to man stern sorrow brings. + +I heard a yell--it was not the knell, _10 +When the blasts on the wild lake sleep, +That floats on the pause of the summer gale's swell, +O'er the breast of the waveless deep. + +I thought it had been death's accents cold +That bade me recline on the shore; _15 +I laid mine hot head on the surge-beaten mould, +And thought to breathe no more. + +But a heavenly sleep +That did suddenly steep +In balm my bosom's pain, _20 +Pervaded my soul, +And free from control, +Did mine intellect range again. + +Methought enthroned upon a silvery cloud, +Which floated mid a strange and brilliant light; _25 +My form upborne by viewless aether rode, +And spurned the lessening realms of earthly night. +What heavenly notes burst on my ravished ears, +What beauteous spirits met my dazzled eye! +Hark! louder swells the music of the spheres, _30 +More clear the forms of speechless bliss float by, +And heavenly gestures suit aethereal melody. + +But fairer than the spirits of the air, +More graceful than the Sylph of symmetry, +Than the enthusiast's fancied love more fair, _35 +Were the bright forms that swept the azure sky. +Enthroned in roseate light, a heavenly band +Strewed flowers of bliss that never fade away; +They welcome virtue to its native land, +And songs of triumph greet the joyous day _40 +When endless bliss the woes of fleeting life repay. + +Congenial minds will seek their kindred soul, +E'en though the tide of time has rolled between; +They mock weak matter's impotent control, +And seek of endless life the eternal scene. _45 +At death's vain summons THIS will never die, +In Nature's chaos THIS will not decay-- +These are the bands which closely, warmly, tie +Thy soul, O Charlotte, 'yond this chain of clay, +To him who thine must be till time shall fade away. _50 + +Yes, Francis! thine was the dear knife that tore +A tyrant's heart-strings from his guilty breast, +Thine was the daring at a tyrant's gore, +To smile in triumph, to contemn the rest; +And thine, loved glory of thy sex! to tear _55 +From its base shrine a despot's haughty soul, +To laugh at sorrow in secure despair, +To mock, with smiles, life's lingering control, +And triumph mid the griefs that round thy fate did roll. + +Yes! the fierce spirits of the avenging deep _60 +With endless tortures goad their guilty shades. +I see the lank and ghastly spectres sweep +Along the burning length of yon arcades; +And I see Satan stalk athwart the plain; +He hastes along the burning soil of Hell. _65 +'Welcome, ye despots, to my dark domain, +With maddening joy mine anguished senses swell +To welcome to their home the friends I love so well.' + +... + +Hark! to those notes, how sweet, how thrilling sweet +They echo to the sound of angels' feet. _70 + +... + +Oh haste to the bower where roses are spread, +For there is prepared thy nuptial bed. +Oh haste--hark! hark!--they're gone. + +... + +CHORUS OF SPIRITS: +Stay, ye days of contentment and joy, +Whilst love every care is erasing, _75 +Stay ye pleasures that never can cloy, +And ye spirits that can never cease pleasing. + +And if any soft passion be near, +Which mortals, frail mortals, can know, +Let love shed on the bosom a tear, _80 +And dissolve the chill ice-drop of woe. + +SYMPHONY. + +FRANCIS: +'Soft, my dearest angel, stay, +Oh! you suck my soul away; +Suck on, suck on, I glow, I glow! +Tides of maddening passion roll, _85 +And streams of rapture drown my soul. +Now give me one more billing kiss, +Let your lips now repeat the bliss, +Endless kisses steal my breath, +No life can equal such a death.' _90 + +CHARLOTTE: +'Oh! yes I will kiss thine eyes so fair, +And I will clasp thy form; +Serene is the breath of the balmy air, +But I think, love, thou feelest me warm +And I will recline on thy marble neck _95 +Till I mingle into thee; +And I will kiss the rose on thy cheek, +And thou shalt give kisses to me. +For here is no morn to flout our delight, +Oh! dost thou not joy at this? _100 +And here we may lie an endless night, +A long, long night of bliss.' + +Spirits! when raptures move, +Say what it is to love, +When passion's tear stands on the cheek, _105 +When bursts the unconscious sigh; +And the tremulous lips dare not speak +What is told by the soul-felt eye. +But what is sweeter to revenge's ear +Than the fell tyrant's last expiring yell? _110 +Yes! than love's sweetest blisses 'tis more dear +To drink the floatings of a despot's knell. +I wake--'tis done--'tis over. + +NOTE: +_66 ye]thou 1810. + +*** + + +DESPAIR. + +And canst thou mock mine agony, thus calm +In cloudless radiance, Queen of silver night? +Can you, ye flow'rets, spread your perfumed balm +Mid pearly gems of dew that shine so bright? +And you wild winds, thus can you sleep so still _5 +Whilst throbs the tempest of my breast so high? +Can the fierce night-fiends rest on yonder hill, +And, in the eternal mansions of the sky, +Can the directors of the storm in powerless silence lie? + +Hark! I hear music on the zephyr's wing, _10 +Louder it floats along the unruffled sky; +Some fairy sure has touched the viewless string-- +Now faint in distant air the murmurs die. +Awhile it stills the tide of agony. +Now--now it loftier swells--again stern woe _15 +Arises with the awakening melody. +Again fierce torments, such as demons know, +In bitterer, feller tide, on this torn bosom flow. + +Arise ye sightless spirits of the storm, +Ye unseen minstrels of the aereal song, _20 +Pour the fierce tide around this lonely form, +And roll the tempest's wildest swell along. +Dart the red lightning, wing the forked flash, +Pour from thy cloud-formed hills the thunder's roar; +Arouse the whirlwind--and let ocean dash _25 +In fiercest tumult on the rocking shore,-- +Destroy this life or let earth's fabric be no more. + +Yes! every tie that links me here is dead; +Mysterious Fate, thy mandate I obey, +Since hope and peace, and joy, for aye are fled, _30 +I come, terrific power, I come away. +Then o'er this ruined soul let spirits of Hell, +In triumph, laughing wildly, mock its pain; +And though with direst pangs mine heart-strings swell, +I'll echo back their deadly yells again, _35 +Cursing the power that ne'er made aught in vain. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT. + +Yes! all is past--swift time has fled away, +Yet its swell pauses on my sickening mind; +How long will horror nerve this frame of clay? +I'm dead, and lingers yet my soul behind. +Oh! powerful Fate, revoke thy deadly spell, _5 +And yet that may not ever, ever be, +Heaven will not smile upon the work of Hell; +Ah! no, for Heaven cannot smile on me; +Fate, envious Fate, has sealed my wayward destiny. + +I sought the cold brink of the midnight surge, _10 +I sighed beneath its wave to hide my woes, +The rising tempest sung a funeral dirge, +And on the blast a frightful yell arose. +Wild flew the meteors o'er the maddened main, +Wilder did grief athwart my bosom glare; _15 +Stilled was the unearthly howling, and a strain, +Swelled mid the tumult of the battling air, +'Twas like a spirit's song, but yet more soft and fair. + +I met a maniac--like he was to me, +I said--'Poor victim, wherefore dost thou roam? _20 +And canst thou not contend with agony, +That thus at midnight thou dost quit thine home?' +'Ah there she sleeps: cold is her bloodless form, +And I will go to slumber in her grave; +And then our ghosts, whilst raves the maddened storm, _25 +Will sweep at midnight o'er the wildered wave; +Wilt thou our lowly beds with tears of pity lave?' + +'Ah! no, I cannot shed the pitying tear, +This breast is cold, this heart can feel no more-- +But I can rest me on thy chilling bier, _30 +Can shriek in horror to the tempest's roar.' + +*** + + +THE SPECTRAL HORSEMAN. + +What was the shriek that struck Fancy's ear +As it sate on the ruins of time that is past? +Hark! it floats on the fitful blast of the wind, +And breathes to the pale moon a funeral sigh. +It is the Benshie's moan on the storm, _5 +Or a shivering fiend that thirsting for sin, +Seeks murder and guilt when virtue sleeps, +Winged with the power of some ruthless king, +And sweeps o'er the breast of the prostrate plain. +It was not a fiend from the regions of Hell _10 +That poured its low moan on the stillness of night: +It was not a ghost of the guilty dead, +Nor a yelling vampire reeking with gore; +But aye at the close of seven years' end, +That voice is mixed with the swell of the storm, _15 +And aye at the close of seven years' end, +A shapeless shadow that sleeps on the hill +Awakens and floats on the mist of the heath. +It is not the shade of a murdered man, +Who has rushed uncalled to the throne of his God, _20 +And howls in the pause of the eddying storm. +This voice is low, cold, hollow, and chill, +'Tis not heard by the ear, but is felt in the soul. +'Tis more frightful far than the death-daemon's scream, +Or the laughter of fiends when they howl o'er the corpse _25 +Of a man who has sold his soul to Hell. +It tells the approach of a mystic form, +A white courser bears the shadowy sprite; +More thin they are than the mists of the mountain, +When the clear moonlight sleeps on the waveless lake. _30 +More pale HIS cheek than the snows of Nithona, +When winter rides on the northern blast, +And howls in the midst of the leafless wood. +Yet when the fierce swell of the tempest is raving, +And the whirlwinds howl in the caves of Inisfallen, _35 +Still secure mid the wildest war of the sky, +The phantom courser scours the waste, +And his rider howls in the thunder's roar. +O'er him the fierce bolts of avenging Heaven +Pause, as in fear, to strike his head. _40 +The meteors of midnight recoil from his figure, +Yet the 'wildered peasant, that oft passes by, +With wonder beholds the blue flash through his form: +And his voice, though faint as the sighs of the dead, +The startled passenger shudders to hear, _45 +More distinct than the thunder's wildest roar. +Then does the dragon, who, chained in the caverns +To eternity, curses the champion of Erin, +Moan and yell loud at the lone hour of midnight, +And twine his vast wreaths round the forms of the daemons; _50 +Then in agony roll his death-swimming eyeballs, +Though 'wildered by death, yet never to die! +Then he shakes from his skeleton folds the nightmares, +Who, shrieking in agony, seek the couch +Of some fevered wretch who courts sleep in vain; _55 +Then the tombless ghosts of the guilty dead +In horror pause on the fitful gale. +They float on the swell of the eddying tempest, +And scared seek the caves of gigantic... +Where their thin forms pour unearthly sounds _60 +On the blast that sweets the breast of the lake, +And mingles its swell with the moonlight air. + +*** + + +MELODY TO A SCENE OF FORMER TIMES. + +Art thou indeed forever gone, +Forever, ever, lost to me? +Must this poor bosom beat alone, +Or beat at all, if not for thee? +Ah! why was love to mortals given, _5 +To lift them to the height of Heaven, +Or dash them to the depths of Hell? +Yet I do not reproach thee, dear! +Ah, no! the agonies that swell +This panting breast, this frenzied brain, _10 +Might wake my --'s slumb'ring tear. +Oh! Heaven is witness I did love, +And Heaven does know I love thee still, +Does know the fruitless sick'ning thrill, +When reason's judgement vainly strove _15 +To blot thee from my memory; +But which might never, never be. +Oh! I appeal to that blest day +When passion's wildest ecstasy +Was coldness to the joys I knew, _20 +When every sorrow sunk away. +Oh! I had never lived before, +But now those blisses are no more. +And now I cease to live again, +I do not blame thee, love; ah, no! _25 +The breast that feels this anguished woe. +Throbs for thy happiness alone. +Two years of speechless bliss are gone, +I thank thee, dearest, for the dream. +'Tis night--what faint and distant scream _30 +Comes on the wild and fitful blast? +It moans for pleasures that are past, +It moans for days that are gone by. +Oh! lagging hours, how slow you fly! +I see a dark and lengthened vale, _35 +The black view closes with the tomb; +But darker is the lowering gloom +That shades the intervening dale. +In visioned slumber for awhile +I seem again to share thy smile, _40 +I seem to hang upon thy tone. +Again you say, 'Confide in me, +For I am thine, and thine alone, +And thine must ever, ever be.' +But oh! awak'ning still anew, _45 +Athwart my enanguished senses flew +A fiercer, deadlier agony! + +[End of "Posthumous Fragments of Margaret Nicholson".] + +*** + + +STANZA FROM A TRANSLATION OF THE MARSEILLAISE HYMN. + +[Published by Forman, "Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1876; dated 1810.] + +Tremble, Kings despised of man! +Ye traitors to your Country, +Tremble! Your parricidal plan +At length shall meet its destiny... +We all are soldiers fit to fight, _5 +But if we sink in glory's night +Our mother Earth will give ye new +The brilliant pathway to pursue +Which leads to Death or Victory... + +*** + + +BIGOTRY'S VICTIM. + +[Published (without title) by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; dated +1809-10. The title is Rossetti's (1870).] + +1. +Dares the lama, most fleet of the sons of the wind, +The lion to rouse from his skull-covered lair? +When the tiger approaches can the fast-fleeting hind +Repose trust in his footsteps of air? +No! Abandoned he sinks in a trance of despair, _5 +The monster transfixes his prey, +On the sand flows his life-blood away; +Whilst India's rocks to his death-yells reply, +Protracting the horrible harmony. + +2. +Yet the fowl of the desert, when danger encroaches, _10 +Dares fearless to perish defending her brood, +Though the fiercest of cloud-piercing tyrants approaches +Thirsting--ay, thirsting for blood; +And demands, like mankind, his brother for food; +Yet more lenient, more gentle than they; _15 +For hunger, not glory, the prey +Must perish. Revenge does not howl in the dead. +Nor ambition with fame crown the murderer's head. + +3. +Though weak as the lama that bounds on the mountains, +And endued not with fast-fleeting footsteps of air, _20 +Yet, yet will I draw from the purest of fountains, +Though a fiercer than tiger is there. +Though, more dreadful than death, it scatters despair, +Though its shadow eclipses the day, +And the darkness of deepest dismay _25 +Spreads the influence of soul-chilling terror around, +And lowers on the corpses, that rot on the ground. + +4. +They came to the fountain to draw from its stream +Waves too pure, too celestial, for mortals to see; +They bathed for awhile in its silvery beam, _30 +Then perished, and perished like me. +For in vain from the grasp of the Bigot I flee; +The most tenderly loved of my soul +Are slaves to his hated control. +He pursues me, he blasts me! 'Tis in vain that I fly: _35 - +What remains, but to curse him,--to curse him and die? + +*** + + +ON AN ICICLE THAT CLUNG TO THE GRASS OF A GRAVE. + +[Published (without title) by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; dated +1809-10. The poem, with title as above, is included in the Esdaile +manuscript book.] + +1. +Oh! take the pure gem to where southerly breezes, +Waft repose to some bosom as faithful as fair, +In which the warm current of love never freezes, +As it rises unmingled with selfishness there, +Which, untainted by pride, unpolluted by care, _5 +Might dissolve the dim icedrop, might bid it arise, +Too pure for these regions, to gleam in the skies. + +2. +Or where the stern warrior, his country defending, +Dares fearless the dark-rolling battle to pour, +Or o'er the fell corpse of a dread tyrant bending, _10 +Where patriotism red with his guilt-reeking gore +Plants Liberty's flag on the slave-peopled shore, +With victory's cry, with the shout of the free, +Let it fly, taintless Spirit, to mingle with thee. + +3. +For I found the pure gem, when the daybeam returning, _15 +Ineffectual gleams on the snow-covered plain, +When to others the wished-for arrival of morning +Brings relief to long visions of soul-racking pain; +But regret is an insult--to grieve is in vain: +And why should we grieve that a spirit so fair _20 +Seeks Heaven to mix with its own kindred there? + +4. +But still 'twas some Spirit of kindness descending +To share in the load of mortality's woe, +Who over thy lowly-built sepulchre bending +Bade sympathy's tenderest teardrop to flow. _25 +Not for THEE soft compassion celestials did know, +But if ANGELS can weep, sure MAN may repine, +May weep in mute grief o'er thy low-laid shrine. + +5. +And did I then say, for the altar of glory, +That the earliest, the loveliest of flowers I'd entwine, _30 +Though with millions of blood-reeking victims 'twas gory, +Though the tears of the widow polluted its shrine, +Though around it the orphans, the fatherless pine? +Oh! Fame, all thy glories I'd yield for a tear +To shed on the grave of a heart so sincere. _35 + +*** + + +LOVE. + +[Published (without title) by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; dated 1811. +The title is Rossetti's (1870).] + +Why is it said thou canst not live +In a youthful breast and fair, +Since thou eternal life canst give, +Canst bloom for ever there? +Since withering pain no power possessed, _5 +Nor age, to blanch thy vermeil hue, +Nor time's dread victor, death, confessed, +Though bathed with his poison dew, +Still thou retain'st unchanging bloom, +Fixed tranquil, even in the tomb. _10 +And oh! when on the blest, reviving, +The day-star dawns of love, +Each energy of soul surviving +More vivid, soars above, +Hast thou ne'er felt a rapturous thrill, _15 +Like June's warm breath, athwart thee fly, +O'er each idea then to steal, +When other passions die? +Felt it in some wild noonday dream, +When sitting by the lonely stream, _20 +Where Silence says, 'Mine is the dell'; +And not a murmur from the plain, +And not an echo from the fell, +Disputes her silent reign. + +*** + + +ON A FETE AT CARLTON HOUSE: FRAGMENT. + +[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870; +dated 1811.] + +By the mossy brink, +With me the Prince shall sit and think; +Shall muse in visioned Regency, +Rapt in bright dreams of dawning Royalty. + +*** + + +TO A STAR. + +[Published (without title) by Hogg, "Life of Shelley", 1858; dated 1811. +The title is Rossetti's (1870).] + +Sweet star, which gleaming o'er the darksome scene +Through fleecy clouds of silvery radiance fliest, +Spanglet of light on evening's shadowy veil, +Which shrouds the day-beam from the waveless lake, +Lighting the hour of sacred love; more sweet _5 +Than the expiring morn-star's paly fires:-- +Sweet star! When wearied Nature sinks to sleep, +And all is hushed,--all, save the voice of Love, +Whose broken murmurings swell the balmy blast +Of soft Favonius, which at intervals _10 +Sighs in the ear of stillness, art thou aught but +Lulling the slaves of interest to repose +With that mild, pitying gaze? Oh, I would look +In thy dear beam till every bond of sense +Became enamoured-- _15 + +*** + + +TO MARY WHO DIED IN THIS OPINION. + +[Published by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870; +dated 1810-11.] + +1. +Maiden, quench the glare of sorrow +Struggling in thine haggard eye: +Firmness dare to borrow +From the wreck of destiny; +For the ray morn's bloom revealing _5 +Can never boast so bright an hue +As that which mocks concealing, +And sheds its loveliest light on you. + +2. +Yet is the tie departed +Which bound thy lovely soul to bliss? _10 +Has it left thee broken-hearted +In a world so cold as this? +Yet, though, fainting fair one, +Sorrow's self thy cup has given, +Dream thou'lt meet thy dear one, +Never more to part, in Heaven. _15 + +3. +Existence would I barter +For a dream so dear as thine, +And smile to die a martyr +On affection's bloodless shrine. _20 +Nor would I change for pleasure +That withered hand and ashy cheek, +If my heart enshrined a treasure +Such as forces thine to break. + +*** + + +A TALE OF SOCIETY AS IT IS: FROM FACTS, 1811. + +[Published (from Esdaile manuscript with title as above) by Rossetti, +"Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870. Rossetti's title is "Mother +and Son".] + +1. +She was an aged woman; and the years +Which she had numbered on her toilsome way +Had bowed her natural powers to decay. +She was an aged woman; yet the ray +Which faintly glimmered through her starting tears, _5 +Pressed into light by silent misery, +Hath soul's imperishable energy. +She was a cripple, and incapable +To add one mite to gold-fed luxury: +And therefore did her spirit dimly feel _10 +That poverty, the crime of tainting stain, +Would merge her in its depths, never to rise again. + +2. +One only son's love had supported her. +She long had struggled with infirmity, +Lingering to human life-scenes; for to die, _15 +When fate has spared to rend some mental tie, +Would many wish, and surely fewer dare. +But, when the tyrant's bloodhounds forced the child +For his cursed power unhallowed arms to wield-- +Bend to another's will--become a thing _20 +More senseless than the sword of battlefield-- +Then did she feel keen sorrow's keenest sting; +And many years had passed ere comfort they would bring. + +3. +For seven years did this poor woman live +In unparticipated solitude. _25 +Thou mightst have seen her in the forest rude +Picking the scattered remnants of its wood. +If human, thou mightst then have learned to grieve. +The gleanings of precarious charity +Her scantiness of food did scarce supply. _30 +The proofs of an unspeaking sorrow dwelt +Within her ghastly hollowness of eye: +Each arrow of the season's change she felt. +Yet still she groans, ere yet her race were run, +One only hope: it was--once more to see her son. _35 + +4. +It was an eve of June, when every star +Spoke peace from Heaven to those on earth that live. +She rested on the moor. 'Twas such an eve +When first her soul began indeed to grieve: +Then he was here; now he is very far. _40 +The sweetness of the balmy evening +A sorrow o'er her aged soul did fling, +Yet not devoid of rapture's mingled tear: +A balm was in the poison of the sting. +This aged sufferer for many a year _45 +Had never felt such comfort. She suppressed +A sigh--and turning round, clasped William to her breast! + +5. +And, though his form was wasted by the woe +Which tyrants on their victims love to wreak, +Though his sunk eyeballs and his faded cheek _50 +Of slavery's violence and scorn did speak, +Yet did the aged woman's bosom glow. +The vital fire seemed re-illumed within +By this sweet unexpected welcoming. +Oh, consummation of the fondest hope _55 +That ever soared on Fancy's wildest wing! +Oh, tenderness that foundst so sweet a scope! +Prince who dost pride thee on thy mighty sway, +When THOU canst feel such love, thou shalt be great as they! + +6. +Her son, compelled, the country's foes had fought, _60 +Had bled in battle; and the stern control +Which ruled his sinews and coerced his soul +Utterly poisoned life's unmingled bowl, +And unsubduable evils on him brought. +He was the shadow of the lusty child _65 +Who, when the time of summer season smiled, +Did earn for her a meal of honesty, +And with affectionate discourse beguiled +The keen attacks of pain and poverty; +Till Power, as envying her this only joy, _70 +From her maternal bosom tore the unhappy boy. + +7. +And now cold charity's unwelcome dole +Was insufficient to support the pair; +And they would perish rather than would bear +The law's stern slavery, and the insolent stare _75 +With which law loves to rend the poor man's soul-- +The bitter scorn, the spirit-sinking noise +Of heartless mirth which women, men, and boys +Wake in this scene of legal misery. + +... + +NOTES: +_28 grieve Esdaile manuscript; feel, 1870. +_37 to those on earth that live Esdaile manuscripts; omitted, 1870. + +*** + + +TO THE REPUBLICANS OF NORTH AMERICA. + +[Published (from the Esdaile manuscript with title as above) by +Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1870; dated 1812. +Rossetti's title is "The Mexican Revolution".] + +1. +Brothers! between you and me +Whirlwinds sweep and billows roar: +Yet in spirit oft I see +On thy wild and winding shore +Freedom's bloodless banners wave,-- _5 +Feel the pulses of the brave +Unextinguished in the grave,-- +See them drenched in sacred gore,-- +Catch the warrior's gasping breath +Murmuring 'Liberty or death!' _10 + +2. +Shout aloud! Let every slave, +Crouching at Corruption's throne, +Start into a man, and brave +Racks and chains without a groan: +And the castle's heartless glow, _15 +And the hovel's vice and woe, +Fade like gaudy flowers that blow-- +Weeds that peep, and then are gone +Whilst, from misery's ashes risen, +Love shall burst the captive's prison. _20 + +3. +Cotopaxi! bid the sound +Through thy sister mountains ring, +Till each valley smile around +At the blissful welcoming! +And, O thou stern Ocean deep, _25 +Thou whose foamy billows sweep +Shores where thousands wake to weep +Whilst they curse a villain king, +On the winds that fan thy breast +Bear thou news of Freedom's rest! _30 + +4. +Can the daystar dawn of love, +Where the flag of war unfurled +Floats with crimson stain above +The fabric of a ruined world? +Never but to vengeance driven _35 +When the patriot's spirit shriven +Seeks in death its native Heaven! +There, to desolation hurled, +Widowed love may watch thy bier, +Balm thee with its dying tear. _40 + +*** + + +TO IRELAND. + +[Published, 1-10, by Rossetti, "Complete Poetical Works of P. B. S.", +1870; 11-17, 25-28, by Dowden, "Life of Shelley", 1887; 18-24 by +Kingsland, "Poet-Lore", July, 1892. Dated 1812.] + +1. +Bear witness, Erin! when thine injured isle +Sees summer on its verdant pastures smile, +Its cornfields waving in the winds that sweep +The billowy surface of thy circling deep! +Thou tree whose shadow o'er the Atlantic gave _5 +Peace, wealth and beauty, to its friendly wave, its blossoms fade, +And blighted are the leaves that cast its shade; +Whilst the cold hand gathers its scanty fruit, +Whose chillness struck a canker to its root. _10 + +2. +I could stand +Upon thy shores, O Erin, and could count +The billows that, in their unceasing swell, +Dash on thy beach, and every wave might seem +An instrument in Time the giant's grasp, _15 +To burst the barriers of Eternity. +Proceed, thou giant, conquering and to conquer; +March on thy lonely way! The nations fall +Beneath thy noiseless footstep; pyramids +That for millenniums have defied the blast, _20 +And laughed at lightnings, thou dost crush to nought. +Yon monarch, in his solitary pomp, +Is but the fungus of a winter day +That thy light footstep presses into dust. +Thou art a conqueror, Time; all things give way _25 +Before thee but the 'fixed and virtuous will'; +The sacred sympathy of soul which was +When thou wert not, which shall be when thou perishest. + +... + +*** + + +ON ROBERT EMMET'S GRAVE. + +[Published from the Esdaile manuscript book by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887; dated 1812.] + +... + +6. +No trump tells thy virtues--the grave where they rest +With thy dust shall remain unpolluted by fame, +Till thy foes, by the world and by fortune caressed, +Shall pass like a mist from the light of thy name. + +7. +When the storm-cloud that lowers o'er the day-beam is gone, _5 +Unchanged, unextinguished its life-spring will shine; +When Erin has ceased with their memory to groan, +She will smile through the tears of revival on thine. + +*** + + +THE RETROSPECT: CWM ELAN, 1812. + +[Published from the Esdaile manuscript book by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887.] + +A scene, which 'wildered fancy viewed +In the soul's coldest solitude, +With that same scene when peaceful love +Flings rapture's colour o'er the grove, +When mountain, meadow, wood and stream _5 +With unalloying glory gleam, +And to the spirit's ear and eye +Are unison and harmony. +The moonlight was my dearer day; +Then would I wander far away, _10 +And, lingering on the wild brook's shore +To hear its unremitting roar, +Would lose in the ideal flow +All sense of overwhelming woe; +Or at the noiseless noon of night _15 +Would climb some heathy mountain's height, +And listen to the mystic sound +That stole in fitful gasps around. +I joyed to see the streaks of day +Above the purple peaks decay, _20 +And watch the latest line of light +Just mingling with the shades of night; +For day with me was time of woe +When even tears refused to flow; +Then would I stretch my languid frame _25 +Beneath the wild woods' gloomiest shade, +And try to quench the ceaseless flame +That on my withered vitals preyed; +Would close mine eyes and dream I were +On some remote and friendless plain, _30 +And long to leave existence there, +If with it I might leave the pain +That with a finger cold and lean +Wrote madness on my withering mien. + +It was not unrequited love _35 +That bade my 'wildered spirit rove; +'Twas not the pride disdaining life, +That with this mortal world at strife +Would yield to the soul's inward sense, +Then groan in human impotence, _40 +And weep because it is not given +To taste on Earth the peace of Heaven. +'Twas not that in the narrow sphere +Where Nature fixed my wayward fate +There was no friend or kindred dear _45 +Formed to become that spirit's mate, +Which, searching on tired pinion, found +Barren and cold repulse around; +Oh, no! yet each one sorrow gave +New graces to the narrow grave. _50 +For broken vows had early quelled +The stainless spirit's vestal flame; +Yes! whilst the faithful bosom swelled, +Then the envenomed arrow came, +And Apathy's unaltering eye _55 +Beamed coldness on the misery; +And early I had learned to scorn +The chains of clay that bound a soul +Panting to seize the wings of morn, +And where its vital fires were born _60 +To soar, and spur the cold control +Which the vile slaves of earthly night +Would twine around its struggling flight. + +Oh, many were the friends whom fame +Had linked with the unmeaning name, _65 +Whose magic marked among mankind +The casket of my unknown mind, +Which hidden from the vulgar glare +Imbibed no fleeting radiance there. +My darksome spirit sought--it found _70 +A friendless solitude around. +For who that might undaunted stand, +The saviour of a sinking land, +Would crawl, its ruthless tyrant's slave, +And fatten upon Freedom's grave, _75 +Though doomed with her to perish, where +The captive clasps abhorred despair. + +They could not share the bosom's feeling, +Which, passion's every throb revealing, +Dared force on the world's notice cold _80 +Thoughts of unprofitable mould, +Who bask in Custom's fickle ray, +Fit sunshine of such wintry day! +They could not in a twilight walk +Weave an impassioned web of talk, _85 +Till mysteries the spirits press +In wild yet tender awfulness, +Then feel within our narrow sphere +How little yet how great we are! +But they might shine in courtly glare, _90 +Attract the rabble's cheapest stare, +And might command where'er they move +A thing that bears the name of love; +They might be learned, witty, gay, +Foremost in fashion's gilt array, _95 +On Fame's emblazoned pages shine, +Be princes' friends, but never mine! + +Ye jagged peaks that frown sublime, +Mocking the blunted scythe of Time, +Whence I would watch its lustre pale _100 +Steal from the moon o'er yonder vale +Thou rock, whose bosom black and vast, +Bared to the stream's unceasing flow, +Ever its giant shade doth cast +On the tumultuous surge below: _105 + +Woods, to whose depths retires to die +The wounded Echo's melody, +And whither this lone spirit bent +The footstep of a wild intent: + +Meadows! whose green and spangled breast _110 +These fevered limbs have often pressed, +Until the watchful fiend Despair +Slept in the soothing coolness there! +Have not your varied beauties seen +The sunken eye, the withering mien, _115 +Sad traces of the unuttered pain +That froze my heart and burned my brain. +How changed since Nature's summer form +Had last the power my grief to charm, +Since last ye soothed my spirit's sadness, _120 +Strange chaos of a mingled madness! +Changed!--not the loathsome worm that fed +In the dark mansions of the dead, +Now soaring through the fields of air, +And gathering purest nectar there, _125 +A butterfly, whose million hues +The dazzled eye of wonder views, +Long lingering on a work so strange, +Has undergone so bright a change. +How do I feel my happiness? _130 +I cannot tell, but they may guess +Whose every gloomy feeling gone, +Friendship and passion feel alone; +Who see mortality's dull clouds +Before affection's murmur fly, _135 +Whilst the mild glances of her eye +Pierce the thin veil of flesh that shrouds +The spirit's inmost sanctuary. +O thou! whose virtues latest known, +First in this heart yet claim'st a throne; _140 +Whose downy sceptre still shall share +The gentle sway with virtue there; +Thou fair in form, and pure in mind, +Whose ardent friendship rivets fast +The flowery band our fates that bind, _145 +Which incorruptible shall last +When duty's hard and cold control +Has thawed around the burning soul,-- +The gloomiest retrospects that bind +With crowns of thorn the bleeding mind, _150 +The prospects of most doubtful hue +That rise on Fancy's shuddering view,-- +Are gilt by the reviving ray +Which thou hast flung upon my day. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT OF A SONNET. + +TO HARRIET. + +[Published from the Esdaile manuscript book by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887; dated August 1, 1812.] + +Ever as now with Love and Virtue's glow +May thy unwithering soul not cease to burn, +Still may thine heart with those pure thoughts o'erflow +Which force from mine such quick and warm return. + +*** + + +TO HARRIET. + +[Published, 5-13, by Forman, "Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1876; +58-69, by Shelley, "Notes to Queen Mab", 1813; +and entire (from the Esdaile manuscript book) by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887; dated 1812.] + +It is not blasphemy to hope that Heaven +More perfectly will give those nameless joys +Which throb within the pulses of the blood +And sweeten all that bitterness which Earth +Infuses in the heaven-born soul. O thou _5 +Whose dear love gleamed upon the gloomy path +Which this lone spirit travelled, drear and cold, +Yet swiftly leading to those awful limits +Which mark the bounds of Time and of the space +When Time shall be no more; wilt thou not turn _10 +Those spirit-beaming eyes and look on me, +Until I be assured that Earth is Heaven, +And Heaven is Earth?--will not thy glowing cheek, +Glowing with soft suffusion, rest on mine, +And breathe magnetic sweetness through the frame _15 +Of my corporeal nature, through the soul +Now knit with these fine fibres? I would give +The longest and the happiest day that fate +Has marked on my existence but to feel +ONE soul-reviving kiss...O thou most dear, _20 +'Tis an assurance that this Earth is Heaven, +And Heaven the flower of that untainted seed +Which springeth here beneath such love as ours. +Harriet! let death all mortal ties dissolve, +But ours shall not be mortal! The cold hand _25 +Of Time may chill the love of earthly minds +Half frozen now; the frigid intercourse +Of common souls lives but a summer's day; +It dies, where it arose, upon this earth. +But ours! oh, 'tis the stretch of Fancy's hope _30 +To portray its continuance as now, +Warm, tranquil, spirit-healing; nor when age +Has tempered these wild ecstasies, and given +A soberer tinge to the luxurious glow +Which blazing on devotion's pinnacle _35 +Makes virtuous passion supersede the power +Of reason; nor when life's aestival sun +To deeper manhood shall have ripened me; +Nor when some years have added judgement's store +To all thy woman sweetness, all the fire _40 +Which throbs in thine enthusiast heart; not then +Shall holy friendship (for what other name +May love like ours assume?), not even then +Shall Custom so corrupt, or the cold forms +Of this desolate world so harden us, _45 +As when we think of the dear love that binds +Our souls in soft communion, while we know +Each other's thoughts and feelings, can we say +Unblushingly a heartless compliment, +Praise, hate, or love with the unthinking world, _50 +Or dare to cut the unrelaxing nerve +That knits our love to virtue. Can those eyes, +Beaming with mildest radiance on my heart +To purify its purity, e'er bend +To soothe its vice or consecrate its fears? _55 +Never, thou second Self! Is confidence +So vain in virtue that I learn to doubt +The mirror even of Truth? Dark flood of Time, +Roll as it listeth thee; I measure not +By month or moments thy ambiguous course. _60 +Another may stand by me on thy brink,, +And watch the bubble whirled beyond his ken, +Which pauses at my feet. The sense of love, +The thirst for action, and the impassioned thought +Prolong my being; if I wake no more, _65 +My life more actual living will contain +Than some gray veteran's of the world's cold school, +Whose listless hours unprofitably roll +By one enthusiast feeling unredeemed, +Virtue and Love! unbending Fortitude, _70 +Freedom, Devotedness and Purity! +That life my Spirit consecrates to you. + +*** + + +SONNET. + +TO A BALLOON LADEN WITH KNOWLEDGE. + +[Published from the Esdaile manuscript book by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887; dated August, 1812.] + +Bright ball of flame that through the gloom of even +Silently takest thine aethereal way, +And with surpassing glory dimm'st each ray +Twinkling amid the dark blue depths of Heaven,-- +Unlike the fire thou bearest, soon shalt thou _5 +Fade like a meteor in surrounding gloom, +Whilst that, unquenchable, is doomed to glow +A watch-light by the patriot's lonely tomb; +A ray of courage to the oppressed and poor; +A spark, though gleaming on the hovel's hearth, _10 +Which through the tyrant's gilded domes shall roar; +A beacon in the darkness of the Earth; +A sun which, o'er the renovated scene, +Shall dart like Truth where Falsehood yet has been. + +*** + + +SONNET. + +ON LAUNCHING SOME BOTTLES FILLED WITH KNOWLEDGE INTO THE BRISTOL CHANNEL. + +[Published from the Esdaile manuscript book by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887; dated August, 1812.] + +Vessels of heavenly medicine! may the breeze +Auspicious waft your dark green forms to shore; +Safe may ye stem the wide surrounding roar +Of the wild whirlwinds and the raging seas; +And oh! if Liberty e'er deigned to stoop _5 +From yonder lowly throne her crownless brow, +Sure she will breathe around your emerald group +The fairest breezes of her West that blow. +Yes! she will waft ye to some freeborn soul +Whose eye-beam, kindling as it meets your freight, _10 +Her heaven-born flame in suffering Earth will light, +Until its radiance gleams from pole to pole, +And tyrant-hearts with powerless envy burst +To see their night of ignorance dispersed. + +*** + + +THE DEVIL'S WALK. + +A BALLAD. + +[Published as a broadside by Shelley, 1812.] + +1. +Once, early in the morning, Beelzebub arose, +With care his sweet person adorning, +He put on his Sunday clothes. + +2. +He drew on a boot to hide his hoof, _5 +He drew on a glove to hide his claw, +His horns were concealed by a Bras Chapeau, +And the Devil went forth as natty a Beau +As Bond-street ever saw. + +3. +He sate him down, in London town, _10 +Before earth's morning ray; +With a favourite imp he began to chat, +On religion, and scandal, this and that, +Until the dawn of day. + +4. +And then to St. James's Court he went, _15 +And St. Paul's Church he took on his way; +He was mighty thick with every Saint, +Though they were formal and he was gay. + +5. +The Devil was an agriculturist, +And as bad weeds quickly grow, _20 +In looking over his farm, I wist, +He wouldn't find cause for woe. + +6. +He peeped in each hole, to each chamber stole, +His promising live-stock to view; +Grinning applause, he just showed them his claws, _25 +And they shrunk with affright from his ugly sight, +Whose work they delighted to do. + +7. +Satan poked his red nose into crannies so small +One would think that the innocents fair, +Poor lambkins! were just doing nothing at all _30 +But settling some dress or arranging some ball, +But the Devil saw deeper there. + +8. +A Priest, at whose elbow the Devil during prayer +Sate familiarly, side by side, +Declared that, if the Tempter were there, _35 +His presence he would not abide. +Ah! ah! thought Old Nick, that's a very stale trick, +For without the Devil, O favourite of Evil, +In your carriage you would not ride. + +9. +Satan next saw a brainless King, _40 +Whose house was as hot as his own; +Many Imps in attendance were there on the wing, +They flapped the pennon and twisted the sting, +Close by the very Throne. + +10. +Ah! ah! thought Satan, the pasture is good, _45 +My Cattle will here thrive better than others; +They dine on news of human blood, +They sup on the groans of the dying and dead, +And supperless never will go to bed; +Which will make them fat as their brothers. _50 + +11. +Fat as the Fiends that feed on blood, +Fresh and warm from the fields of Spain, +Where Ruin ploughs her gory way, +Where the shoots of earth are nipped in the bud, +Where Hell is the Victor's prey, _55 +Its glory the meed of the slain. + +12. +Fat--as the Death-birds on Erin's shore, +That glutted themselves in her dearest gore, +And flitted round Castlereagh, +When they snatched the Patriot's heart, that HIS grasp _60 +Had torn from its widow's maniac clasp, +--And fled at the dawn of day. + +13. +Fat--as the Reptiles of the tomb, +That riot in corruption's spoil, +That fret their little hour in gloom, _65 +And creep, and live the while. + +14. +Fat as that Prince's maudlin brain, +Which, addled by some gilded toy, +Tired, gives his sweetmeat, and again +Cries for it, like a humoured boy. _70 + +15. +For he is fat,--his waistcoat gay, +When strained upon a levee day, +Scarce meets across his princely paunch; +And pantaloons are like half-moons +Upon each brawny haunch. _75 + +16. +How vast his stock of calf! when plenty +Had filled his empty head and heart, +Enough to satiate foplings twenty, +Could make his pantaloon seams start. + +17. +The Devil (who sometimes is called Nature), _80 +For men of power provides thus well, +Whilst every change and every feature, +Their great original can tell. + +18. +Satan saw a lawyer a viper slay, +That crawled up the leg of his table, _85 +It reminded him most marvellously +Of the story of Cain and Abel. + +19. +The wealthy yeoman, as he wanders +His fertile fields among, +And on his thriving cattle ponders, _90 +Counts his sure gains, and hums a song; +Thus did the Devil, through earth walking, +Hum low a hellish song. + +20. +For they thrive well whose garb of gore +Is Satan's choicest livery, _95 +And they thrive well who from the poor +Have snatched the bread of penury, +And heap the houseless wanderer's store +On the rank pile of luxury. + +21. +The Bishops thrive, though they are big; _100 +The Lawyers thrive, though they are thin; +For every gown, and every wig, +Hides the safe thrift of Hell within. + +22. +Thus pigs were never counted clean, +Although they dine on finest corn; _105 +And cormorants are sin-like lean, +Although they eat from night to morn. + +23. +Oh! why is the Father of Hell in such glee, +As he grins from ear to ear? +Why does he doff his clothes joyfully, _110 +As he skips, and prances, and flaps his wing, +As he sidles, leers, and twirls his sting, +And dares, as he is, to appear? + +24. +A statesman passed--alone to him, +The Devil dare his whole shape uncover, _115 +To show each feature, every limb, +Secure of an unchanging lover. + +25. +At this known sign, a welcome sight, +The watchful demons sought their King, +And every Fiend of the Stygian night, _120 +Was in an instant on the wing. + +26. +Pale Loyalty, his guilt-steeled brow, +With wreaths of gory laurel crowned: +The hell-hounds, Murder, Want and Woe, +Forever hungering, flocked around; _125 +From Spain had Satan sought their food, +'Twas human woe and human blood! + +27. +Hark! the earthquake's crash I hear,-- +Kings turn pale, and Conquerors start, +Ruffians tremble in their fear, _130 +For their Satan doth depart. + +28. +This day Fiends give to revelry +To celebrate their King's return, +And with delight its Sire to see +Hell's adamantine limits burn. _135 + +29. +But were the Devil's sight as keen +As Reason's penetrating eye, +His sulphurous Majesty I ween, +Would find but little cause for joy. + +30. +For the sons of Reason see _140 +That, ere fate consume the Pole, +The false Tyrant's cheek shall be +Bloodless as his coward soul. + +NOTE: +_55 Where cj. Rossetti; When 1812. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT OF A SONNET. + +FAREWELL TO NORTH DEVON. + +[Published (from the Esdaile manuscript book) by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887; dated August, 1812.] + +Where man's profane and tainting hand +Nature's primaeval loveliness has marred, +And some few souls of the high bliss debarred +Which else obey her powerful command; +...mountain piles _5 +That load in grandeur Cambria's emerald vales. + +*** + + +ON LEAVING LONDON FOR WALES. + +[Published (from the Esdaile manuscript book) by Dowden, +"Life of Shelley", 1887; dated November, 1812.] + +Hail to thee, Cambria! for the unfettered wind +Which from thy wilds even now methinks I feel, +Chasing the clouds that roll in wrath behind, +And tightening the soul's laxest nerves to steel; +True mountain Liberty alone may heal _5 +The pain which Custom's obduracies bring, +And he who dares in fancy even to steal +One draught from Snowdon's ever sacred spring +Blots out the unholiest rede of worldly witnessing. + +And shall that soul, to selfish peace resigned, _10 +So soon forget the woe its fellows share? +Can Snowdon's Lethe from the free-born mind +So soon the page of injured penury tear? +Does this fine mass of human passion dare +To sleep, unhonouring the patriot's fall, _15 +Or life's sweet load in quietude to bear +While millions famish even in Luxury's hall, +And Tyranny, high raised, stern lowers on all? + +No, Cambria! never may thy matchless vales +A heart so false to hope and virtue shield; _20 +Nor ever may thy spirit-breathing gales +Waft freshness to the slaves who dare to yield. +For me!...the weapon that I burn to wield +I seek amid thy rocks to ruin hurled, +That Reason's flag may over Freedom's field, _25 +Symbol of bloodless victory, wave unfurled, +A meteor-sign of love effulgent o'er the world. + +... + +Do thou, wild Cambria, calm each struggling thought; +Cast thy sweet veil of rocks and woods between, +That by the soul to indignation wrought _30 +Mountains and dells be mingled with the scene; +Let me forever be what I have been, +But not forever at my needy door +Let Misery linger speechless, pale and lean; +I am the friend of the unfriended poor,-- _35 +Let me not madly stain their righteous cause in gore. + +*** + + +THE WANDERING JEW'S SOLILOQUY. + +[Published (from the Esdaile manuscript book) by Bertram Dobell, 1887.] + +Is it the Eternal Triune, is it He +Who dares arrest the wheels of destiny +And plunge me in the lowest Hell of Hells? +Will not the lightning's blast destroy my frame? +Will not steel drink the blood-life where it swells? _5 +No--let me hie where dark Destruction dwells, +To rouse her from her deeply caverned lair, +And, taunting her cursed sluggishness to ire, +Light long Oblivion's death-torch at its flame +And calmly mount Annihilation's pyre. _10 +Tyrant of Earth! pale Misery's jackal Thou! +Are there no stores of vengeful violent fate +Within the magazines of Thy fierce hate? +No poison in the clouds to bathe a brow +That lowers on Thee with desperate contempt? _15 +Where is the noonday Pestilence that slew +The myriad sons of Israel's favoured nation? +Where the destroying Minister that flew +Pouring the fiery tide of desolation +Upon the leagued Assyrian's attempt? _20 +Where the dark Earthquake-daemon who engorged +At the dread word Korah's unconscious crew? +Or the Angel's two-edged sword of fire that urged +Our primal parents from their bower of bliss +(Reared by Thine hand) for errors not their own _25 +By Thine omniscient mind foredoomed, foreknown? +Yes! I would court a ruin such as this, +Almighty Tyrant! and give thanks to Thee-- +Drink deeply--drain the cup of hate; remit this--I may die. + +*** + + +EVENING. + +TO HARRIET. + +[Published by Dowden, "Life of Shelley", 1887. Composed July 31, 1813.] + +O thou bright Sun! beneath the dark blue line +Of western distance that sublime descendest, +And, gleaming lovelier as thy beams decline, +Thy million hues to every vapour lendest, +And, over cobweb lawn and grove and stream _5 +Sheddest the liquid magic of thy light, +Till calm Earth, with the parting splendour bright, +Shows like the vision of a beauteous dream; +What gazer now with astronomic eye +Could coldly count the spots within thy sphere? _10 +Such were thy lover, Harriet, could he fly +The thoughts of all that makes his passion dear, +And, turning senseless from thy warm caress,-- +Pick flaws in our close-woven happiness. + +*** + + +TO IANTHE. + +[Published by Dowden, "Life of Shelley", 1887. Composed September, 1813.] + +I love thee, Baby! for thine own sweet sake; +Those azure eyes, that faintly dimpled cheek, +Thy tender frame, so eloquently weak, +Love in the sternest heart of hate might wake; +But more when o'er thy fitful slumber bending _5 +Thy mother folds thee to her wakeful heart, +Whilst love and pity, in her glances blending, +All that thy passive eyes can feel impart: +More, when some feeble lineaments of her, +Who bore thy weight beneath her spotless bosom, _10 +As with deep love I read thy face, recur,-- +More dear art thou, O fair and fragile blossom; +Dearest when most thy tender traits express +The image of thy mother's loveliness. + +*** + + +SONG FROM THE WANDERING JEW. + +[Published as Shelley's by Medwin, "Life of Shelley", 1847, 1 page 58.] + +See yon opening flower +Spreads its fragrance to the blast; +It fades within an hour, +Its decay is pale--is fast. +Paler is yon maiden; _5 +Faster is her heart's decay; +Deep with sorrow laden, +She sinks in death away. + +*** + + +FRAGMENT FROM THE WANDERING JEW. + +[Published as Shelley's by Medwin, "Life of Shelley", 1847, 1 page 56.] + +The Elements respect their Maker's seal! +Still Like the scathed pine tree's height, +Braving the tempests of the night +Have I 'scaped the flickering flame. +Like the scathed pine, which a monument stands _5 +Of faded grandeur, which the brands +Of the tempest-shaken air +Have riven on the desolate heath; +Yet it stands majestic even in death, +And rears its wild form there. _10, + +*** + + +TO THE QUEEN OF MY HEART. + +[Published as Shelley's by Medwin, "The Shelley Papers", 1833, and by +Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition; afterwards suppressed +as of doubtful authenticity.] + +1. +Shall we roam, my love, +To the twilight grove, +When the moon is rising bright; +Oh, I'll whisper there, +In the cool night-air, _5 +What I dare not in broad daylight! + +2. +I'll tell thee a part +Of the thoughts that start +To being when thou art nigh; +And thy beauty, more bright _10 +Than the stars' soft light, +Shall seem as a weft from the sky. + +3. +When the pale moonbeam +On tower and stream +Sheds a flood of silver sheen, _15 +How I love to gaze +As the cold ray strays +O'er thy face, my heart's throned queen! + +4. +Wilt thou roam with me +To the restless sea, _20 +And linger upon the steep, +And list to the flow +Of the waves below +How they toss and roar and leap? + +5. +Those boiling waves, _25 +And the storm that raves +At night o'er their foaming crest, +Resemble the strife +That, from earliest life, +The passions have waged in my breast. _30 + +6. +Oh, come then, and rove +To the sea or the grove, +When the moon is rising bright; +And I'll whisper there, +In the cool night-air, _35 +What I dare not in broad daylight. + +*** + + +NOTES ON THE TEXT AND ITS PUNCTUATION. + +In the case of every poem published during Shelley's lifetime, the text +of this edition is based upon that of the editio princeps or earliest +issue. Wherever our text deviates verbally from this exemplar, the word +or words of the editio princeps will be found recorded in a footnote. In +like manner, wherever the text of the poems first printed by Mrs. +Shelley in the "Posthumous Poems" of 1824 or the "Poetical Works" of +1839 is modified by manuscript authority or otherwise, the reading of +the earliest printed text has been subjoined in a footnote. Shelley's +punctuation--or what may be presumed to be his--has been retained, save +in the case of errors (whether of the transcriber or the printer) +overlooked in the revision of the proof-sheets, and of a few places +where the pointing, though certainly or seemingly Shelley's, tends to +obscure the sense or grammatical construction. In the following notes +the more important textual difficulties are briefly discussed, and the +readings embodied in the text of this edition, it is hoped, sufficiently +justified. An attempt has also been made to record the original +punctuation where it is here departed from. + +1. +THE DAEMON OF THE WORLD: PART 1. + +The following paragraph, relating to this poem, closes Shelley's +"Preface" to "Alastor", etc., 1816:--'The Fragment entitled "The Daemon +of the World" is a detached part of a poem which the author does not +intend for publication. The metre in which it is composed is that of +"Samson Agonistes" and the Italian pastoral drama, and may be considered +as the natural measure into which poetical conceptions, expressed in +harmonious language, necessarily fall.' + +2. +Lines 56, 112, 184, 288. The editor has added a comma at the end of +these lines, and a period (for the comma of 1816) after by, line 279. + +3. +Lines 167, 168. The editio princeps has a comma after And, line 167, and +heaven, line 168. + +1. +THE DAEMON OF THE WORLD: PART 2. + +Printed by Mr. Forman from a copy in his possession of "Queen Mab", +corrected by Shelley's hand. See "The Shelley Library", pages 36-44, for +a detailed history and description of this copy. + +2. +Lines 436-438. Mr. Forman prints:-- +Which from the exhaustless lore of human weal +Draws on the virtuous mind, the thoughts that rise +In time-destroying infiniteness, gift, etc. +Our text exhibits both variants--lore for 'store,' and Dawns for +'Draws'--found in Shelley's note on the corresponding passage of "Queen +Mab" (8 204-206). See editor's note on this passage. Shelley's comma +after infiniteness, line 438, is omitted as tending to obscure the +construction. + +1. +ALASTOR; OR THE SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE. + +"Preface". For the concluding paragraph see editor's note +on "The Daemon of the World": Part 1. + +2. +Conducts, O Sleep, to thy, etc. (line 219.) +The Shelley texts, 1816, 1824, 1839, have Conduct here, which Forman and +Dowden retain. The suggestion that Shelley may have written 'death's +blue vaults' (line 216) need not, in the face of 'the dark gate of +death' (line 211), be seriously considered; Conduct must, therefore, be +regarded as a fault in grammar. That Shelley actually wrote Conduct is +not impossible, for his grammar is not seldom faulty (see, for instance, +"Revolt of Islam, Dedication", line 60); but it is most improbable that +he would have committed a solecism so striking both to eye and ear. +Rossetti and Woodberry print Conducts, etc. The final s is often a +vanishing quantity in Shelley's manuscripts. Or perhaps the compositor's +hand was misled by his eye, which may have dropped on the words, Conduct +to thy, etc., seven lines above. + +3. +Of wave ruining on wave, etc. (line 327.) +For ruining the text of "Poetical Works", 1839, both editions, has +running--an overlooked misprint, surely, rather than a conjectural +emendation. For an example of ruining as an intransitive (= 'falling in +ruins,' or, simply, 'falling in streams') see "Paradise Lost", 6 +867-869:-- +Hell heard th' insufferable noise, Hell saw +Heav'n ruining from Heav'n, and would have fled +Affrighted, etc. +Ruining, in the sense of 'streaming,' 'trailing,' occurs in Coleridge's +"Melancholy: a Fragment" (Sibylline Leaves, 1817, page 262):-- +Where ruining ivies propped the ruins steep-- +"Melancholy" first appeared in "The Morning Post", December 7, 1797, +where, through an error identical with that here assumed in the text of +1839, running appears in place of ruining--the word intended, and +doubtless written, by Coleridge. + +4. +Line 349. With Mr. Stopford Brooke, the editor substitutes here a colon +for the full stop which, in editions 1816, 1824, and 1839, follows +ocean. Forman and Dowden retain the full stop; Rossetti and Woodberry +substitute a semicolon. + +5. +And nought but gnarled roots of ancient pines +Branchless and blasted, clenched with grasping roots +The unwilling soil. (lines 530-532.) +Editions 1816, 1824, and 1839 have roots (line 530)--a palpable +misprint, the probable origin of which may be seen in the line which +follows. Rossetti conjectures trunks, but stumps or stems may have been +Shelley's word. + +6. +Lines 543-548. This somewhat involved passage is here reprinted exactly +as it stands in the editio princeps, save for the comma after and, line +546, first introduced by Dowden, 1890. The construction and meaning are +fully discussed by Forman ("Poetical Works" of Shelley, edition 1876, +volume 1 pages 39, 40), Stopford Brooke ("Poems of Shelley", G. T. S., +1880, page 323), Dobell ("Alastor", etc., Facsimile Reprint, 2nd edition +1887, pages 22-27), and Woodberry ("Complete P. W. of Shelley", 1893, +volume 1 page 413). + +1. +THE REVOLT OF ISLAM. + +The revised text (1818) of this poem is given here, as being that which +Shelley actually published. In order to reconvert the text of "The +Revolt of Islam" into that of "Laon and Cythna", the reader must make +the following alterations in the text. At the end of the "Preface" +add:-- + +'In the personal conduct of my Hero and Heroine, there is one +circumstance which was intended to startle the reader from the trance of +ordinary life. It was my object to break through the crust of those +outworn opinions on which established institutions depend. I have +appealed therefore to the most universal of all feelings, and have +endeavoured to strengthen the moral sense, by forbidding it to waste its +energies in seeking to avoid actions which are only crimes of +convention. It is because there is so great a multitude of artificial +vices that there are so few real virtues. Those feelings alone which are +benevolent or malevolent, are essentially good or bad. The circumstance +of which I speak was introduced, however, merely to accustom men to that +charity and toleration which the exhibition of a practice widely +differing from their own has a tendency to promote. (The sentiments +connected with and characteristic of this circumstance have no personal +reference to the Writer.--[Shelley's Note.]) Nothing indeed can be more +mischievous than many actions, innocent in themselves, which might bring +down upon individuals the bigoted contempt and rage of the multitude.' + +2 21 1: +I had a little sister whose fair eyes + +2 25 2: +To love in human life, this sister sweet, + +3 1 1: +What thoughts had sway over my sister's slumber + +3 1 3: +As if they did ten thousand years outnumber + +4 30 6: +And left it vacant--'twas her brother's face-- + +5 47 5: +I had a brother once, but he is dead!-- + +6 24 8: +My own sweet sister looked), with joy did quail, + +6 31 6: +The common blood which ran within our frames, + +6 39 6-9: +With such close sympathies, for to each other +Had high and solemn hopes, the gentle might +Of earliest love, and all the thoughts which smother +Cold Evil's power, now linked a sister and a brother. + +6 40 1: +And such is Nature's modesty, that those + +8 4 9: +Dream ye that God thus builds for man in solitude? + +8 5 1: +What then is God? Ye mock yourselves and give + +8 6 1: +What then is God? Some moonstruck sophist stood + +8 6 8, 9: +And that men say God has appointed Death +On all who scorn his will to wreak immortal wrath. + +8 7 1-4: +Men say they have seen God, and heard from God, +Or known from others who have known such things, +And that his will is all our law, a rod +To scourge us into slaves--that Priests and Kings + +8 8 1: +And it is said, that God will punish wrong; + +8 8 3, 4: +And his red hell's undying snakes among +Will bind the wretch on whom he fixed a stain + +8 13 3, 4: +For it is said God rules both high and low, +And man is made the captive of his brother; + +9 13 8: +To curse the rebels. To their God did they + +9 14 6: +By God, and Nature, and Necessity. + +9 15. The stanza contains ten lines--lines 4-7 as follows: +There was one teacher, and must ever be, +They said, even God, who, the necessity +Of rule and wrong had armed against mankind, +His slave and his avenger there to be; + +9 18 3-6: +And Hell and Awe, which in the heart of man +Is God itself; the Priests its downfall knew, +As day by day their altars lovelier grew, +Till they were left alone within the fane; + +10 22 9: +On fire! Almighty God his hell on earth has spread! + +10 26 7, 8: +Of their Almighty God, the armies wind +In sad procession: each among the train + +10 28 1: +O God Almighty! thou alone hast power. + +10 31 1: +And Oromaze, and Christ, and Mahomet, + +10 32 1: +He was a Christian Priest from whom it came + +10 32 4: +To quell the rebel Atheists; a dire guest + +10 32 9: +To wreak his fear of God in vengeance on mankind + +10 34 5, 6: +His cradled Idol, and the sacrifice +Of God to God's own wrath--that Islam's creed + +10 35 9: +And thrones, which rest on faith in God, nigh overturned. + +10 39 4: +Of God may be appeased. He ceased, and they + +10 40 5: +With storms and shadows girt, sate God, alone, + +10 44 9: +As 'hush! hark! Come they yet? +God, God, thine hour is near!' + +10 45 8: +Men brought their atheist kindred to appease + +10 47 6: +The threshold of God's throne, and it was she! + +11 16 1: +Ye turn to God for aid in your distress; + +11 25 7: +Swear by your dreadful God.'--'We swear, we swear!' + +12 10 9: +Truly for self, thus thought that Christian Priest indeed, + +12 11 9: +A woman? God has sent his other victim here. + +12 12 6-8: +Will I stand up before God's golden throne, +And cry, 'O Lord, to thee did I betray +An Atheist; but for me she would have known + +12 29 4: +In torment and in fire have Atheists gone; + +12 30 4: +How Atheists and Republicans can die; + +2. +Aught but a lifeless clod, until revived by thee (Dedic. 6 9). + +So Rossetti; the Shelley editions, 1818 and 1839, read clog, which is +retained by Forman, Dowden, and Woodberry. Rossetti's happy conjecture, +clod, seems to Forman 'a doubtful emendation, as Shelley may have used +clog in its [figurative] sense of weight, encumbrance.'--Hardly, as +here, in a poetical figure: that would be to use a metaphor within a +metaphor. Shelley compares his heart to a concrete object: if clog is +right, the word must be taken in one or other of its two recognized +LITERAL senses--'a wooden shoe,' or 'a block of wood tied round the neck +or to the leg of a horse or a dog.' Again, it is of others' hearts, not +of his own, that Shelley here deplores the icy coldness and weight; +besides, how could he appropriately describe his heart as a weight or +encumbrance upon the free play of impulse and emotion, seeing that for +Shelley, above all men, the heart was itself the main source and spring +of all feeling and action? That source, he complains, has been dried +up--its emotions desiccated--by the crushing impact of other hearts, +heavy, hard and cold as stone. His heart has become withered and barren, +like a lump of earth parched with frost--'a lifeless clod.' Compare +"Summer and Winter", lines 11-15:-- + 'It was a winter such as when birds die + In the deep forests; and the fishes lie + Stiffened in the translucent ice, which makes + Even the mud and slime of the warm lakes + A wrinkled clod as hard as brick;' etc., etc. + +The word revived suits well with clod; but what is a revived clog? +Finally, the first two lines of the following stanza (7) seem decisive +in favour of Roseetti's word. + +If any one wonders how a misprint overlooked in 1818 could, after +twenty-one years, still remain undiscovered in 1839, let him consider +the case of clog in Lamb's parody on Southey's and Coleridge's "Dactyls" +(Lamb, "Letter to Coleridge", July 1, 1796):-- + Sorely your Dactyls do drag along limp-footed; + Sad is the measure that hangs a clog round 'em so, etc., etc. + +Here the misprint, clod, which in 1868 appeared in Moxon's edition of +the "Letters of Charles Lamb", has through five successive editions and +under many editors--including Fitzgerald, Ainger, and Macdonald--held +its ground even to the present day; and this, notwithstanding the +preservation of the true reading, clog, in the texts of Talfourd and +Carew Hazlitt. Here then is the case of a palpable misprint surviving, +despite positive external evidence of its falsity, over a period of +thirty-six years. + +3. +And walked as free, etc. (Ded. 7 6). + +Walked is one of Shelley's occasional grammatical laxities. Forman well +observes that walkedst, the right word here, would naturally seem to +Shelley more heinous than a breach of syntactic rule. Rossetti and, +after him, Dowden print walk. Forman and Woodberry follow the early +texts. + +4. +1 9 1-7. Here the text follows the punctuation of the editio princeps, +1818, with two exceptions: a comma is inserted (1) after scale (line +201), on the authority of the Bodleian manuscript (Locock); and (2) +after neck (line 205), to indicate the true construction. Mrs. Shelley's +text, 1839, has a semicolon after plumes (line 203), which Rossetti +adopts. Forman (1892) departs from the pointing of Shelley's edition +here, placing a period at the close of line 199, and a dash after +blended (line 200). + +5. +What life, what power, was, etc. (1 11 1.) +The editio princeps, 1818, wants the commas here. + +6. +...and now +We are embarked--the mountains hang and frown +Over the starry deep that gleams below, +A vast and dim expanse, as o'er the waves we go. (1 23 6-9.) +With Woodberry I substitute after embarked (7) a dash for the comma of +the editio princeps; with Rossetti I restore to below (8) a comma which +I believe to have been overlooked by the printer of that edition. +Shelley's meaning I take to be that 'a vast and dim expanse of mountain +hangs frowning over the starry deep that gleams below it as we pass over +the waves.' + +7. +As King, and Lord, and God, the conquering Fiend did own,--(1 28 9.) +So Forman (1892), Dowden; the editio princeps, has a full stop at the +close of the line,--where, according to Mr. Locock, no point appears in +the Bodleian manuscript. + +8. +Black-winged demon forms, etc. (1 30 7.) +The Bodleian manuscript exhibits the requisite hyphen here, and in +golden-pinioned (32 2). + +9. +1 31 2, 6. The 'three-dots' point, employed by Shelley to indicate a +pause longer than that of a full stop, is introduced into these two +lines on the authority of the Bodleian manuscript. In both cases it +replaces a dash in the editio princeps. See list of punctual variations +below. Mr. Locock reports the presence in the manuscript of what he +justly terms a 'characteristic' comma after Soon (31 2). + +10. +...mine shook beneath the wide emotion. (1 38 9.) +For emotion the Bodleian manuscript has commotion (Locock)--perhaps the +fitter word here. + +11. +Deep slumber fell on me:--my dreams were fire-- (1 40 1.) +The dash after fire is from the Bodleian manuscript,--where, moreover, +the somewhat misleading but indubitably Shelleyan comma after passion +(editio princeps, 40 4) is wanting (Locock). I have added a dash to the +comma after cover (40 5) in order to clarify the sense. + +12. +And shared in fearless deeds with evil men, (1 44 4.) +With Forman and Dowden I substitute here a comma for the full stop of +the editio princeps. See also list of punctual variations below (stanza +44). + +13. +The Spirit whom I loved, in solitude +Sustained his child: (1 45 4, 5.) +The comma here, important as marking the sense as well as the rhythm of +the passage, is derived from the Bodleian manuscript (Locock). + +14. +I looked, and we were sailing pleasantly, +Swift as a cloud between the sea and sky; +Beneath the rising moon seen far away, +Mountains of ice, etc. (1 47 4-7.) +The editio princeps has a comma after sky (5) and a semicolon after away +(6)--a pointing followed by Forman, Dowden, and Woodberry. By +transposing these points (as in our text), however, a much better sense +is obtained; and, luckily, this better sense proves to be that yielded +by the Bodleian manuscript, where, Mr. Locock reports, there is a +semicolon after sky (5), a comma after moon (6), and no point whatsoever +after away (6). + +15. +Girt by the deserts of the Universe; (1 50 4.) +So the Bodleian manuscript, anticipated by Woodberry (1893). Rossetti +(1870) had substituted a comma for the period of editio princeps. + +16. +Hymns which my soul had woven to Freedom, strong +The source of passion, whence they rose, to be; +Triumphant strains, which, etc. (2 28 6-8.) +The editio princeps, followed by Forman, has passion whence (7). Mrs. +Shelley, "Poetical Works" 1839, both editions, prints: strong The source +of passion, whence they rose to be Triumphant strains, which, etc. + +17. +But, pale, were calm with passion--thus subdued, etc. (2 49 6.) +With Rossetti, Dowden, Woodberry, I add a comma after But to the +pointing of the editio princeps. Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, +both editions, prints: But pale, were calm.--With passion thus subdued, +etc. + +18. +Methought that grate was lifted, etc. (3 25 1.) +Shelley's and Mrs. Shelley's editions have gate, which is retained by +Forman. But cf. 3 14 2, 7. Dowden and Woodberry follow Rossetti in +printing grate. + +19. +Where her own standard, etc. (4 24 5.) +So Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, both editions. + +20. +Beneath whose spires, which swayed in the red flame, (5 54 6.) +Shelley's and Mrs. Shelley's editions (1818, 1839) give red light +here,--an oversight perpetuated by Forman, the rhyme-words name (8) and +frame (9) notwithstanding. With Rossetti, Dowden, Woodberry, I print red +flame,--an obvious emendation proposed by Fleay. + +21. +--when the waves smile, +As sudden earthquakes light many a volcano-isle, +Thus sudden, unexpected feast was spread, etc. (6 7 8, 9; 8 1.) +With Forman, Dowden, Woodberry, I substitute after isle (7 9) a comma +for the full stop of editions 1818, 1839 (retained by Rossetti). The +passage is obscure: perhaps Shelley wrote 'lift many a volcano-isle.' +The plain becomes studded in an instant with piles of corpses, even as +the smiling surface of the sea will sometimes become studded in an +instant with many islands uplifted by a sudden shock of earthquake. + +22. +7 7 2-6. The editio princeps punctuates thus:-- +and words it gave +Gestures and looks, such as in whirlwinds bore +Which might not be withstood, whence none could save +All who approached their sphere, like some calm wave +Vexed into whirlpools by the chasms beneath; +This punctuation is retained by Forman; Rossetti, Dowden, Woodberry, +place a comma after gave (2) and Gestures (3), and--adopting the +suggestion of Mr. A.C. Bradley--enclose line 4 (Which might...could +save) in parentheses; thus construing which might not be withstood and +whence none could save as adjectival clauses qualifying whirlwinds (3), +and taking bore (3) as a transitive verb governing All who approached +their sphere (5). This, which I believe to be the true construction, is +perhaps indicated quite as clearly by the pointing adopted in the +text--a pointing moreover which, on metrical grounds, is, I think, +preferable to that proposed by Mr. Bradley. I have added a dash to the +comma after sphere (5), to indicate that it is Cythna herself (and not +All who approached, etc.) that resembles some calm wave, etc. + +23. +Which dwell in lakes, when the red moon on high +Pause ere it wakens tempest;-- (7 22 6, 7.) +Here when the moon Pause is clearly irregular, but it appears in +editions 1818, 1839, and is undoubtedly Shelley's phrase. Rossetti cites +a conjectural emendation by a certain 'C.D. Campbell, Mauritius':--which +the red moon on high Pours eve it wakens tempest; but cf. "Julian and +Maddalo", lines 53, 54:-- +Meanwhile the sun paused ere it should alight, +Over the horizon of the mountains. +--and "Prince Athanase", lines 220, 221:-- +When the curved moon then lingering in the west +Paused, in yon waves her mighty horns to wet, etc. + +24. +--time imparted +Such power to me--I became fearless-hearted, etc. (7 30 4, 5.) +With Woodberry I replace with a dash the comma (editio princeps) after +me (5)retained by Forman, deleted by Rossetti and Dowden. Shelley's (and +Forman's) punctuation leaves the construction ambiguous; with +Woodberry's the two clauses are seen to be parallel--the latter being +appositive to and explanatory of the former; while with Dowden's the +clauses are placed in correlation: time imparted such power to me that I +became fearless-hearted. + +25. +Of love, in that lorn solitude, etc. (7 32 7.) +All editions prior to 1876 have lone solitude, etc. The important +emendation lorn was first introduced into the text by Forman, from +Shelley's revised copy of "Laon and Cythna", where lone is found to be +turned into lorn by the poet's own hand. + +26. +And Hate is throned on high with Fear her mother, etc. (8 13 5.) +So the editio princeps; Forman, Dowden, Woodberry, following the text of +"Laon and Cythna", 1818, read, Fear his mother. Forman refers to 10 42 +4, 5, where Fear figures as a female, and Hate as 'her mate and foe.' +But consistency in such matters was not one of Shelley's +characteristics, and there seems to be no need for alteration here. Mrs. +Shelley (1839) and Rossetti follow the editio princeps. + +27. +The ship fled fast till the stars 'gan to fail, +And, round me gathered, etc. (8 26 5, 6.) +The editio princeps has no comma after And (6). Mrs. Shelley (1839) +places a full stop at fail (5) and reads, All round me gathered, etc. + +28. +Words which the lore of truth in hues of flame, etc. (9 12 6.) +The editio princeps, followed by Rossetti and Woodberry, has hues of +grace [cf. note (20) above]; Forman and Dowden read hues of flame. For +instances of a rhyme-word doing double service, see 9 34 6, 9 +(thee...thee); 6 3 2, 4 (arms...arms); 10 5 1, 3 (came...came). + +29. +Led them, thus erring, from their native land; (10 5 6.) +Editions 1818, 1839 read home for land here. All modern editors adopt +Fleay's cj., land [rhyming with band (8), sand (9)]. + +30. +11 11 7. Rossetti and Dowden, following Mrs. Shelley (1839), print +writhed here. + +31. +When the broad sunrise, etc. (12 34 3.) +When is Rossetti's cj. (accepted by Dowden) for Where (1818, 1839), +which Forman and Woodberry retain. In 11 24 1, 12 15 2 and 12 28 7 there +is Forman's cj. for then (1818). + +32. +a golden mist did quiver +Where its wild surges with the lake were blended,-- (12 40 3, 4.) +Where is Rossetti's cj. (accepted by Forman and Dowden) for When +(editions 1818, 1839; Woodberry). See also list of punctual variations +below. + +33. +Our bark hung there, as on a line suspended, etc. (12 40 5.) +Here on a line is Rossetti's cj. (accepted by all editors) for one line +(editions 1818, 1839). See also list of punctual variations below. + +34. +LIST OF PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS. +Obvious errors of the press excepted, our text reproduces the +punctuation of Shelley's edition (1818), save where the sense is likely +to be perverted or obscured thereby. The following list shows where the +pointing of the text varies from that of the editio princeps (1818) +which is in every instance recorded here. + +DEDICATION, 7. long. (9). + +CANTO 1. +9. scale (3), neck (7). +11. What life what power (1). +22. boat, (8), lay (9). +23. embarked, (7), below A vast (8, 9). +26. world (1), chaos: Lo! (2). +28. life: (2), own. (9). +29. mirth, (6). +30. language (2), But, when (5). +31. foundations--soon (2), war-- thrones (6), multitude, (7). +32. flame, (4). +33. lightnings (3), truth, (5), brood, (5), hearts, (8). +34. Fiend (6). +35. keep (8). +37. mountains-- (8). +38. unfold, (1), woe: (4), show, (5). +39. gladness, (6) 40 fire, (1), cover, (5), far (6). +42. kiss. (9). +43. But (5). +44. men. (4), fame; (7). +45. loved (4). +47. sky, (5), away (6). +49. dream, (2), floods. (9). +50. Universe. (4), language (6). +54. blind. (4). +57. mine--He (8). +58. said-- (5). +60. tongue, (9). + +CANTO 2. +1. which (4). +3. Yet flattering power had (7). +4. lust, (6). +6. kind, (2). +11. Nor, (2). +13. ruin. (3), trust. (9). +18. friend (3). +22. thought, (6), fancies (7). +24. radiancy, (3). +25. dells, (8). +26. waste, (4) +28. passion (7). +31. yet (4). +32. which (3). +33. blight (8), who (8). +37. seat; (7). +39. not--'wherefore (1). +40. good, (5). +41. tears (7). +43. air (2). +46. fire, (3). +47. stroke, (2). +49. But (6). + +CANTO 3. +1. dream, (4). +3. shown (7), That (9). +4. when, (3). +5. ever (7). +7. And (1). +16. Below (6). +19. if (4). +25. thither, (2). +26. worm (2), there, (3). +27. beautiful, (8). +28. And (1). +30. As (1). + +CANTO 4. +2. fallen--We (6). +3. ray, (7). +4. sleep, (5). +8. fed (6). +10. wide; (1), sword (7). +16. chance, (7). +19. her (3), blending (8). +23. tyranny, (4). +24. unwillingly (1). +26. blood; (2). +27. around (2), as (4). +31. or (4). +33. was (5). + +CANTO 5. +1. flow, (5). +2. profound--Oh, (4), veiled, (6). +3. victory (1), face-- (8). +4. swim, (5) +6. spread, (2), outsprung (5), far, (6), war, (8). +8. avail (5). +10. weep; (4), tents (8). +11. lives, (8). +13. beside (1). +15. sky, (3). +17. love (4). +20. Which (9). +22. gloom, (8). +23. King (6). +27. known, (4). +33. ye? (1), Othman-- (3). +34. pure-- (7). +35. people (1). +36. where (3). +38. quail; (2). +39. society, (8). +40. see (1). +43. light (8), throne. (9). +50. skies, (6). +51. Image (7), isles; all (9), amaze. When (9, 10), fair. (12). +51. 1: will (15), train (15). +51. 2: wert, (5). +51. 4: brethren (1). +51. 5: steaming, (6). +55. creep. (9). + +CANTO 6. +1. snapped (9). +2. gate, (2). +5. rout (4), voice, (6), looks, (6). +6. as (1). +7. prey, (1), isle. (9). +8. sight (2). +12. glen (4). +14. almost (1), dismounting (4). +15. blood (2). +21. reins:--We (3), word (3). +22. crest (6). +25. And, (1), and (9). +28. but (3), there, (8). +30. air. (9). +32. voice:-- (1). +37. frames; (5). +43. mane, (2), again, (7). +48. Now (8). +51. hut, (4). +54. waste, (7). + +CANTO 7. +2. was, (5). +6. dreams (3). +7. gave Gestures and (2, 3), withstood, (4), save (4), sphere, (5). +8. sent, (2). +14. taught, (6), sought, (8). +17. and (6). +18. own (5), beloved:-- (5). +19. tears; (2), which, (3), appears, (5). +25. me, (1), shapes (5). +27. And (1). +28. strength (1). +30. Aye, (3), me, (5). +33. pure (9). +38. wracked; (4), cataract, (5). + +CANTO 8. +2. and (2). +9. shadow (5). +11. freedom (7), blood. (9). +13. Woman, (8), bond-slave, (8). +14. pursuing (8), wretch! (9). +15. home, (3). +21. Hate, (1). +23. reply, (1). +25. fairest, (1). +26. And (6). +28. thunder (2). + +CANTO 9. +4. hills, (1), brood, (6). +5. port--alas! (1). +8. grave (2). +9. with friend (3), occupations (7), overnumber, (8). +12. lair; (5), Words, (6). +15. who, (4), armed, (5), misery. (9). +17. call, (4). +20. truth (9). +22. sharest; (4). +23. Faith, (8). +28. conceive (8). +30. and as (5), hope (8). +33. thoughts:--Come (7). +34. willingly (2). +35. ceased, (8). +36. undight; (4). + +CANTO 10. +2. tongue, (1). +7. conspirators (6), wolves, (8). +8. smiles, (5). +9. bands, (2) +11. file did (5). +18. but (5). +19. brought, (5). +24. food (5). +29. worshippers (3). +32. west (2). +36. foes, (5). +38. now! (2). +40. alone, (5). +41. morn--at (1). +42. below, (2). +43. deep, (7), pest (8). +44. drear (8). +47. 'Kill me!' they (9). +48. died, (8). + +CANTO 11. +4. which, (6), eyes, (8). +5. tenderness (7). +7. return--the (8). +8. midnight-- (1). +10. multitude (1). +11. cheeks (1), here (4). +12. come, give (3). +13. many (1). +14. arrest, (4), terror, (6). +19. thus (1). +20. Stranger: 'What (5). +23. People: (7). + +CANTO 12. +3. and like (7). +7. away (7). +8. Fairer it seems than (7). +10. self, (9). +11. divine (2), beauty-- (3). +12. own. (9). +14. fear, (1), choose, (4). +17. death? the (1). +19. radiance (3). +22. spake; (5). +25. thee beloved;-- (8). +26. towers (6). +28. repent, (2). +29. withdrawn, (2). +31. stood a winged Thought (1). +32. gossamer, (6). +33. stream (1). +34. sunrise, (3), gold, (3), quiver, (4). +35. abode, (4). +37. wonderful; (3), go, (4). +40. blended: (4), heavens, (6), lake; (6). + +1. +PRINCE ATHANASE. + +Lines 28-30. The punctuation here ("Poetical Works", 1839) is supported +by the Bodleian manuscript, which has a full stop at relief (line 28), +and a comma at chief (line 30). The text of the "Posthumous Poems", +1824, has a semicolon at relief and a full stop at chief. The original +draft of lines 29, 30, in the Bodleian manuscript, runs:-- + He was the child of fortune and of power, + And, though of a high race the orphan Chief, etc. +--which is decisive in favour of our punctuation (1839). See Locock, +"Examination", etc., page 51. + +2. +Which wake and feed an ever-living woe,-- (line 74.) +All the editions have on for an, the reading of the Bodleian manuscript, +where it appears as a substitute for his, the word originally written. +The first draft of the line runs: Which nursed and fed his everliving +woe. Wake, accordingly, is to be construed as a transitive (Locock). + +3. +Lines 130-169. This entire passage is distinctly cancelled in the +Bodleian manuscript, where the following revised version of lines +125-129 and 168-181 is found some way later on:-- + Prince Athanase had one beloved friend, + An old, old man, with hair of silver white, + And lips where heavenly smiles would hang and blend + With his wise words; and eyes whose arrowy light + Was the reflex of many minds; he filled + From fountains pure, nigh overgrown and [lost], + The spirit of Prince Athanase, a child; + And soul-sustaining songs of ancient lore + And philosophic wisdom, clear and mild. + And sweet and subtle talk they evermore + The pupil and the master [share], until + Sharing that undiminishable store, + The youth, as clouds athwart a grassy hill + Outrun the winds that chase them, soon outran + His teacher, and did teach with native skill + Strange truths and new to that experienced man; + So [?] they were friends, as few have ever been + Who mark the extremes of life's discordant span. +The words bracketed above, and in Fragment 5 of our text, are cancelled +in the manuscript (Locock). + +4. +And blighting hope, etc. (line 152.) +The word blighting here, noted as unsuitable by Rossetti, is cancelled +in the Bodleian manuscript (Locock). + +5. +She saw between the chestnuts, far beneath, etc. (line 154.) +The reading of editions 1824, 1839 (beneath the chestnuts) is a palpable +misprint. + +6. +And sweet and subtle talk they evermore, +The pupil and the master, shared; (lines 173, 174.) +So edition 1824, which is supported by the Bodleian manuscript,--both +the cancelled draft and the revised version: cf. note above. "Poetical +Works", 1839, has now for they--a reading retained by Rossetti alone of +modern editors. + +7. +Line 193. The 'three-dots' point at storm is in the Bodleian manuscript. + +8. +Lines 202-207. The Bodleian manuscript, which has a comma and dash after +nightingale, bears out James Thomson's ('B. V.'s') view, approved by +Rossetti, that these lines form one sentence. The manuscript has a dash +after here (line 207), which must be regarded as 'equivalent to a full +stop or note of exclamation' (Locock). Editions 1824, 1839 have a note +of exclamation after nightingale (line 204) and a comma after here (line +207). + +9. +Fragment 3 (lines 230-239). First printed from the Bodleian manuscript +by Mr. C.D. Locock. In the space here left blank, line 231, the +manuscript has manhood, which is cancelled for some monosyllable +unknown--query, spring? + +10. +And sea-buds burst under the waves serene:-- (line 250.) +For under edition 1839 has beneath, which, however, is cancelled for +under in the Bodleian manuscript (Locock). + +11. +Lines 251-254. This, with many other places from line 222 onwards, +evidently lacks Shelley's final corrections. + +12. +Line 259. According to Mr. Locock, the final text of this line in the +Bodleian manuscript runs:-- +Exulting, while the wide world shrinks below, etc. + +13. +Fragment 5 (lines 261-278). The text here is much tortured in the +Bodleian manuscript. What the editions give us is clearly but a rough +and tentative draft. 'The language contains no third rhyme to mountains +(line 262) and fountains (line 264).' Locock. Lines 270-278 were first +printed by Mr. Locock. + +14. +Line 289. For light (Bodleian manuscript) here the editions read bright. +But light is undoubtedly the right word: cf. line 287. Investeth (line +285), Rossetti's cj. for Investeth (1824, 1839) is found in the Bodleian +manuscript. + +15. +Lines 297-302 (the darts...ungarmented). First printed by Mr. Locock +from the Bodleian manuscript. + +16. +Another Fragment (A). Lines 1-3 of this Fragment reappear in a modified +shape in the Bodleian manuscript of "Prometheus Unbound", 2 4 28-30:-- + Or looks which tell that while the lips are calm + And the eyes cold, the spirit weeps within + Tears like the sanguine sweat of agony; +Here the lines are cancelled--only, however, to reappear in a heightened +shape in "The Cenci", 1 1 111-113:-- + The dry, fixed eyeball; the pale quivering lip, + Which tells me that the spirit weeps within + Tears bitterer than the bloody sweat of Christ. +(Garnett, Locock.) + +17. +PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS. +The punctuation of "Prince Athanase" is that of "Poetical Works", 1839, +save in the places specified in the notes above, and in line 60--where +there is a full stop, instead of the comma demanded by the sense, at the +close of the line. + +ROSALIND AND HELEN. + +1. +A sound from there, etc. (line 63.) +Rossetti's cj., there for thee, is adopted by all modern editors. + +2. +And down my cheeks the quick tears fell, etc. (line 366.) +The word fell is Rossetti's cj. (to rhyme with tell, line 369) for ran +1819, 1839). + +3. +Lines 405-409. The syntax here does not hang together, and Shelley may +have been thinking of this passage amongst others when, on September 6, +1819, he wrote to Ollier:--'In the "Rosalind and Helen" I see there are +some few errors, which are so much the worse because they are errors in +the sense.' The obscurity, however, may have been, in part at least, +designed: Rosalind grows incoherent before breaking off abruptly. No +satisfactory emendation has been proposed. + +4. +Where weary meteor lamps repose, etc. (line 551.) +With Woodberry I regard Where, his cj. for When (1819, 1839), as +necessary for the sense. + +5. +With which they drag from mines of gore, etc. (line 711.) +Rossetti proposes yore for gore here, or, as an alternative, rivers of +gore, etc. If yore be right, Shelley's meaning is: 'With which from of +old they drag,' etc. But cf. Note (3) above. + +6. +Where, like twin vultures, etc. (line 932.) +Where is Woodberry's reading for When (1819, 1839). Forman suggests +Where but does not print it. + +7. +Lines 1093-1096. The editio princeps (1819) punctuates:-- +Hung in dense flocks beneath the dome, +That ivory dome, whose azure night +With golden stars, like heaven, was bright +O'er the split cedar's pointed flame; + +8. +Lines 1168-1170. Sunk (line 1170) must be taken as a transitive in this +passage, the grammar of which is defended by Mr. Swinburne. + +9. +Whilst animal life many long years +Had rescue from a chasm of tears; (lines 1208-9.) +Forman substitutes rescue for rescued (1819, 1839)--a highly probable +cj. adopted by Dowden, but rejected by Woodberry. The sense is: 'Whilst +my life, surviving by the physical functions merely, thus escaped during +many years from hopeless weeping.' + +10. +PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS. +The following is a list of punctual variations, giving in each case the +pointing of the editio princeps (1819):--heart 257; weak 425; Aye 492; +There--now 545; immortally 864; not, 894; bleeding, 933; Fidelity 1055; +dome, 1093; bright 1095; tremble, 1150; life-dissolving 1166; words, +1176; omit parentheses lines 1188-9; bereft, 1230. + +JULIAN AND MADDALO. + +1. +Line 158. Salutations past; (1824); Salutations passed; (1839). Our text +follows Woodberry. + +2. +--we might be all +We dream of happy, high, majestical. (lines 172-3.) +So the Hunt manuscript, edition 1824, has a comma after of (line 173), +which is retained by Rossetti and Dowden. + +3. +--his melody +Is interrupted--now we hear the din, etc. (lines 265-6.) +So the Hunt manuscript; his melody Is interrupted now: we hear the din, +etc., 1824, 1829. + +4. +Lines 282-284. The editio princeps (1824) runs:-- +Smiled in their motions as they lay apart, +As one who wrought from his own fervid heart +The eloquence of passion: soon he raised, etc. + +5. +Line 414. The editio princeps (1824) has a colon at the end of this +line, and a semicolon at the close of line 415. + +6. +The 'three-dots' point, which appears several times in these pages, is +taken from the Hunt manuscript and serves to mark a pause longer than +that of a full stop. + +7. +He ceased, and overcome leant back awhile, etc. (line 511.) +The form leant is retained here, as the stem-vowel, though unaltered in +spelling, is shortened in pronunciation. Thus leant (pronounced 'lent') +from lean comes under the same category as crept from creep, lept from +leap, cleft from cleave, etc.--perfectly normal forms, all of them. In +the case of weak preterites formed without any vowel-change, the more +regular formation with ed is that which has been adopted in this volume. +See Editor's "Preface". + +8. +CANCELLED FRAGMENTS OF JULIAN AND MADDALO. These were first printed by +Dr. Garnett, "Relics of Shelley", 1862. + +9. +PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS. +Shelley's final transcript of "Julian and Maddalo", though written with +great care and neatness, is yet very imperfectly punctuated. He would +seem to have relied on the vigilance of Leigh Hunt--or, failing Hunt, of +Peacock--to make good all omissions while seeing the poem through the +press. Even Mr. Buxton Forman, careful as he is to uphold manuscript +authority in general, finds it necessary to supplement the pointing of +the Hunt manuscript in no fewer than ninety-four places. The following +table gives a list of the pointings adopted in our text, over and above +those found in the Hunt manuscript. In all but four or five instances, +the supplementary points are derived from Mrs. Shelley's text of 1824. + +1. Comma added at end of line: +40, 54, 60, 77, 78, 85, 90, 94, 107, +110, 116, 120, 123, 134, 144, 145, +154, 157, 168, 179, 183, 191, 196, +202, 203, 215, 217, 221, 224, 225, +238, 253, 254, 262, 287, 305, 307, +331, 338, 360, 375, 384, 385, 396, +432, 436, 447, 450, 451, 473, 475, +476, 511, 520, 526, 541, 582, 590, +591, 592, 593, 595, 603, 612. + +2. Comma added elsewhere: +seas, 58; vineyards, 58; +dismounted, 61; +evening, 65; +companion, 86; +isles, 90; +meant, 94; +Look, Julian, 96; +maniacs, 110; +maker, 113; +past, 114; +churches, 136; +rainy, 141; +blithe, 167; +beauty, 174; +Maddalo, 192; +others, 205; +this, 232; +respects, 241; +shriek, 267; +wrote, 286; +month, 300; +cried, 300; +O, 304; +and, 306; +misery, disappointment, 314; +soon, 369; +stay, 392; +mad, 394; +Nay, 398; +serpent, 399; +said, 403; +cruel, 439; +hate, 461; +hearts, 483; +he, 529; +seemed, 529; +Unseen, 554; +morning, 582; +aspect, 585; +And, 593; +remember, 604; +parted, 610. + +3. Semicolon added at end of line: +101, 103, 167, 181, 279, 496. + +4. Colon added at end of line: +164, 178, 606, 610. + +5. Full stop added at end of line: +95, 201, 299, 319, 407, 481, 599, 601, 617. + +6. Full stop added elsewhere: +transparent. 85; +trials. 472; +Venice, 583. + +7. Admiration--note added at end of line: +392, 492; +elsewhere: 310, 323, + +8. Dash added at end of line: +158, 379. + +9. Full stop for comma (manuscript): +eye. 119. + +10. Full stop for dash (manuscript): +entered. 158. + +11. Colon for full stop (manuscript): +tale: 596. + +12. Dash for colon (manuscript): +this-- 207; +prepared-- 379. + +13. Comma and dash for semicolon (manuscript): +expressionless,-- 292. + +14. Comma and dash for comma (manuscript): +not,-- 127. + + +PROMETHEUS UNBOUND. + +The variants of B. (Shelley's 'intermediate draft' of "Prometheus +Unbound", now in the Bodleian Library), here recorded, are taken from +Mr. C.D. Locock's "Examination", etc., Clarendon Press, 1903. See +Editor's Prefatory Note, above. + +1. +Act 1, line 204. B. has--shaken in pencil above--peopled. + +2. +Hark that outcry, etc. (1 553.) +All editions read Mark that outcry, etc. As Shelley nowhere else uses +Mark in the sense of List, I have adopted Hark, the reading of B. + +3. +Gleamed in the night. I wandered, etc. (1 770.) +Forman proposes to delete the period at night. + +4. +But treads with lulling footstep, etc. (1 774.) +Forman prints killing--a misreading of B. Editions 1820, 1839 read silent. + +5. +...the eastern star looks white, etc. (1 825.) +B. reads wan for white. + +6. +Like footsteps of weak melody, etc. (2 1 89.) +B. reads far (above a cancelled lost) for weak. + +7. +And wakes the destined soft emotion,-- +Attracts, impels them; (2 2 50, 51.) +The editio princeps (1820) reads destined soft emotion, Attracts, etc.; +"Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition reads destined: soft emotion +Attracts, etc. "Poetical Works", 1839, 2nd edition reads destined, soft +emotion Attracts, etc. Forman and Dowden place a period, and Woodberry a +semicolon, at destined (line 50). + +8. +There steams a plume-uplifting wind, etc. (2 2 53.) +Here steams is found in B., in the editio princeps (1820) and in the 1st +edition of "Poetical Works", 1839. In the 2nd edition, 1839, streams +appears--no doubt a misprint overlooked by the editress. + +9. +Sucked up and hurrying: as they fleet, etc. (2 2 60.) +So "Poetical Works", 1839, both editions. The editio princeps (1820) +reads hurrying as, etc. + +10. +See'st thou shapes within the mist? (2 3 50.) +So B., where these words are substituted for the cancelled I see thin +shapes within the mist of the editio princeps (1820). 'The credit of +discovering the true reading belongs to Zupitza' (Locock). + +11. +2 4 12-18. The construction is faulty here, but the sense, as Professor +Woodberry observes, is clear. + +12. +...but who rains down, etc. (2 4 100.) +The editio princeps (1820) has reigns--a reading which Forman bravely +but unsuccessfully attempts to defend. + +13. +Child of Light! thy limbs are burning, etc. (2 5 54.) +The editio princeps (1820) has lips for limbs, but the word membre in +Shelley's Italian prose version of these lines establishes limbs, the +reading of B. (Locock). + +14. +Which in the winds and on the waves doth move, (2 5 96.) +The word and is Rossetti's conjectural emendation, adopted by Forman and +Dowden. Woodberry unhappily observes that 'the emendation corrects a +faultless line merely to make it agree with stanzaic structure, and...is +open to the gravest doubt.' Rossetti's conjecture is fully established +by the authority of B. + +15. +3 4 172-174. The editio princeps (1820) punctuates: +mouldering round +These imaged to the pride of kings and priests, +A dark yet mighty faith, a power, etc. +This punctuation is retained by Forman and Dowden; that of our text is +Woodberry's. + +16. +3 4 180, 188. A dash has been introduced at the close of these two lines +to indicate the construction more clearly. And for the sake of clearness +a note of interrogation has been substituted for the semicolon of 1820 +after Passionless (line 198). + +17. +Where lovers catch ye by your loose tresses; (4 107.) +B. has sliding for loose (cancelled). + +18. +By ebbing light into her western cave, (4 208.) +Here light is the reading of B. for night (all editions). Mr. Locock +tells us that the anticipated discovery of this reading was the origin +of his examination of the Shelley manuscripts at the Bodleian. In +printing night Marchant's compositor blundered; yet 'we cannot wish the +fault undone, the issue of it being so proper.' + +19. +Purple and azure, white, and green, and golden, (4 242.) +The editio princeps (1820) reads white, green and golden, etc.--white +and green being Rossetti's emendation, adopted by Forman and Dowden. +Here again--cf. note on (17) above--Prof. Woodberry commits himself by +stigmatizing the correction as one 'for which there is no authority in +Shelley's habitual versification.' Rossetti's conjecture is confirmed by +the reading of B., white and green, etc. + +20. +Filling the abyss with sun-like lightenings, (4 276.) +The editio princeps (1820) reads lightnings, for which Rossetti +substitutes lightenings--a conjecture described by Forman as 'an example +of how a very slight change may produce a very calamitous result.' B. +however supports Rossetti, and in point of fact Shelley usually wrote +lightenings, even where the word counts as a dissyllable (Locock). + +21. +Meteors and mists, which throng air's solitudes:-- (4 547.) +For throng (cancelled) B. reads feed, i.e., 'feed on' (cf. Pasturing +flowers of vegetable fire, 3 4 110)--a reading which carries on the +metaphor of line 546 (ye untameable herds), and ought, perhaps, to be +adopted into the text. + +22. +PUNCTUAL VARIATIONS. +The punctuation of our text is that of the editio princeps (1820), +except in the places indicated in the following list, which records in +each instance the pointing of 1820:-- + +Act 1.--empire. 15; O, 17; God 144; words 185; internally. 299; O, 302; +gnash 345; wail 345; Sufferer 352; agony. 491; Between 712; cloud 712; +vale 826. + +Act 2: +Scene 1.--air 129; by 153; fire, 155. +Scene 2.--noonday, 25; hurrying 60. +Scene 3.--mist. 50. +Scene 4.--sun, 4; Ungazed 5; on 103; ay 106; secrets. 115. +Scene 5.--brightness 67. + +Act 3: +Scene 3.--apparitions, 49; beauty, 51; phantoms, (omit parentheses) 52; + reality, 53; wind 98. +Scene 4.--toil 109; fire. 110; feel; 114; borne; 115; said 124; + priests, 173; man, 180; hate, 188; Passionless; 198. + +Act 4.--dreams, 66; be. 165; light. 168; air, 187; dreams, 209; woods 211; + thunder-storm, 215; lie 298; bones 342; blending. 343; mire. 349; + pass, 371; kind 385; move. 387. + +THE CENCI. + +1. +The deed he saw could not have rated higher +Than his most worthless life:-- (1 1 24, 25.) +Than is Mrs. Shelley's emendation (1839) for That, the word in the +editio princeps (1819) printed in Italy, and in the (standard) edition +of 1821. The sense is: 'The crime he witnessed could not have proved +costlier to redeem than his murder has proved to me.' + +2. +And but that there yet remains a deed to act, etc. (1 1 100.) +Read: And but : that there yet : remains : etc. + +3. +1 1 111-113. The earliest draft of these lines appears as a tentative +fragment in the Bodleian manuscript of "Prince Athanase" (vid. supr.). +In the Bodleian manuscript of "Prometheus Unbound" they reappear (after +2 4 27) in a modified shape, as follows:-- +Or looks which tell that while the lips are calm +And the eyes cold, the spirit weeps within +Tears like the sanguine sweat of agony; +Here again, however, the passage is cancelled, once more to reappear in +its final and most effective shape in "The Cenci" (Locock). + +4. +And thus I love you still, but holily, +Even as a sister or a spirit might; (1 2 24, 25.) +For this, the reading of the standard edition (1821), the editio +princeps has, And yet I love, etc., which Rossetti retains. If yet be +right, the line should be punctuated:-- +And yet I love you still,--but holily, +Even as a sister or a spirit might; + +5. +What, if we, +The desolate and the dead, were his own flesh, +His children and his wife, etc. (1 3 103-105.) +For were (104) Rossetti cj. are or wear. Wear is a plausible emendation, +but the text as it stands is defensible. + +6. +But that no power can fill with vital oil +That broken lamp of flesh. (3 2 17, 18.) +The standard text (1821) has a Shelleyan comma after oil (17), which +Forman retains. Woodberry adds a dash to the comma, thus making that +(17) a demonstrative pronoun indicating broken lamp of flesh. The +pointing of our text is that of editions 1819, 1839, But that (17) is to +be taken as a prepositional conjunction linking the dependent clause, no +power...lamp of flesh, to the principal sentence, So wastes...kindled +mine (15, 16). + +7. +The following list of punctual variations indicates the places where our +pointing departs from that of the standard text of 1821, and records in +each instance the pointing of that edition:-- + +Act 1, Scene 2:--Ah! No, 34; Scene 3:--hope, 29; Why 44; + love 115; thou 146; Ay 146. + +Act 2, Scene 1:--Ah! No, 13; Ah! No, 73; courage 80; nook 179; + Scene 2:--fire, 70; courage 152. + +Act 3, Scene 1:--Why 64; mock 185; opinion 185; law 185; strange 188; + friend 222; + Scene 2:--so 3; oil, 17. + +Act 4, Scene 1:--wrong 41; looked 97; child 107; + Scene 3:--What 19; father, (omit quotes) 32. + +Act 5, Scene 2:--years 119; + Scene 3:--Ay, 5; Guards 94; + Scene 4:--child, 145. + + +THE MASK OF ANARCHY. + +Our text follows in the main the transcript by Mrs. Shelley (with +additions and corrections in Shelley's hand) known as the 'Hunt +manuscript.' For the readings of this manuscript we are indebted to Mr. +Buxton Forman's Library Edition of the Poems, 1876. The variants of the +'Wise manuscript' (see Prefatory Note) are derived from the Facsimile +edited in 1887 for the Shelley Society by Mr. Buxton Forman. + +1. +Like Eldon, an ermined gown; (4 2.) +The editio princeps (1832) has Like Lord E-- here. Lord is inserted in +minute characters in the Wise manuscript, but is rejected from our text +as having been cancelled by the poet himself in the (later) Hunt +manuscript. + +2. +For he knew the Palaces +Of our Kings were rightly his; (20 1, 2.) +For rightly (Wise manuscript) the Hunt manuscript and editions 1832, +1839 have nightly which is retained by Rossetti and in Forman's text of +1876. Dowden and Woodberry print rightly which also appears in Forman's +latest text ("Aldine Shelley", 1892). + +3. +In a neat and happy home. (54 4.) +For In (Wise manuscript, editions 1832, 1839) the Hunt manuscript reads +To a neat, etc., which is adopted by Rossetti and Dowden, and appeared +in Forman's text of 1876. Woodberry and Forman (1892) print In a neat, +etc. + +4. +Stanzas 70 3, 4; 71 1. These form one continuous clause in every text +save the editio princeps, 1832, where a semicolon appears after around +(70 4). + +5. +Our punctuation follows that of the Hunt manuscript, save in the +following places, where a comma, wanting in the manuscript, is supplied +in the text:--gay 47; came 58; waken 122; shaken 123; call 124; number +152; dwell 163; thou 209; thee 249; fashion 287; surprise 345; free 358. +A semicolon is supplied after earth (line 131). + +PETER BELL THE THIRD. + +Thomas Brown, Esq., the Younger, H. F., to whom the "Dedication" is +addressed, is the Irish poet, Tom Moore. The letters H. F. may stand for +'Historian of the Fudges' (Garnett), Hibernicae Filius (Rossetti), or, +perhaps, Hibernicae Fidicen. Castles and Oliver (3 2 1; 7 4 4) were +government spies, as readers of Charles Lamb are aware. The allusion in +6 36 is to Wordsworth's "Thanksgiving Ode on The Battle of Waterloo", +original version, published in 1816:-- +But Thy most dreaded instrument, +In working out a pure intent, +Is Man--arrayed for mutual slaughter, +--Yea, Carnage is Thy daughter! + +1. +Lines 547-549 (6 18 5; 19 1, 2). These lines evidently form a continuous +clause. The full stop of the editio princeps at rocks, line 547, has +therefore been deleted, and a semicolon substituted for the original +comma at the close of line 546. + +2. +'Ay--and at last desert me too.' (line 603.) +Rossetti, who however follows the editio princeps, saw that these words +are spoken--not by Peter to his soul, but--by his soul to Peter, by way +of rejoinder to the challenge of lines 600-602:--'And I and you, My +dearest Soul, will then make merry, As the Prince Regent did with +Sherry.' In order to indicate this fact, inverted commas are inserted at +the close of line 602 and the beginning of line 603. + +3. +The punctuation of the editio princeps, 1839, has been throughout +revised, but--with the two exceptions specified in notes (1) and (2) +above--it seemed an unprofitable labour to record the particular +alterations, which serve but to clarify--in no instance to modify--the +sense as indicated by Mrs. Shelley's punctuation. + +LETTER TO MARIA GISBORNE. + +Our text mainly follows Mrs. Shelley's transcript, for the readings of +which we are indebted to Mr. Buxton Forman's Library Edition of the +Poems, 1876. The variants from Shelley's draft are supplied by Dr. +Garnett. + +1. +Lines 197-201. These lines, which are wanting in editions 1824 and 1839 +(1st edition), are supplied from Mrs. Shelley's transcript and from +Shelley's draft (Boscombe manuscript). In the 2nd edition of 1839 the +following lines appear in their place:-- +Your old friend Godwin, greater none than he; +Though fallen on evil times, yet will he stand, +Among the spirits of our age and land, +Before the dread tribunal of To-come +The foremost, whilst rebuke stands pale and dumb. + +2. +Line 296. The names in this line are supplied from the two manuscripts. +In the "Posthumous Poems" of 1824 the line appears:--Oh! that H-- -- and +-- were there, etc. + +3. +The following list gives the places where the pointing of the text +varies from that of Mrs. Shelley's transcript as reported by Mr. Buxton +Forman, and records in each case the pointing of that original:--Turk +26; scorn 40; understood, 49; boat-- 75; think, 86; believe; 158; are; +164; fair 233; cameleopard; 240; Now 291. + +THE WITCH OF ATLAS. + +1. +The following list gives the places where our text departs from the +pointing of the editio princeps ("Dedication", 1839; "Witch of Atlas", +1824), and records in each case the original pointing:-- +DEDIC.--pinions, 14; fellow, 41; Othello, 45. +WITCH OF ATLAS.--bliss; 164; above. 192; gums 258; flashed 409; +sunlight, 409; Thamondocana. 424; by. 432; engraven. 448; apart, 662; +mind! 662. + +EPIPSYCHIDION. + +1. +The following list gives the places where our text departs from the +pointing of the editio princeps, 1821, with the original point in each +case:--love, 44; pleasure; 68; flowing 96; where! 234; passed 252; +dreamed, 278; Night 418; year), 440; children, 528. + +ADONAIS. + +1. +The following list indicates the places in which the punctuation of this +edition departs from that of the editio princeps, of 1821, and records +in each instance the pointing of that text:--thou 10; Oh 19; apace, 65; +Oh 73; flown 138; Thou 142; Ah 154; immersed 167; corpse 172; tender +172; his 193; they 213; Death 217; Might 218; bow, 249; sighs 314; +escape 320; Cease 366; dark 406; forth 415; dead, 440; Whilst 493. + +HELLAS. + +A Reprint of the original edition (1822) of "Hellas" was edited for the +Shelley Society in 1887 by Mr. Thomas J. Wise. In Shelley's list of +Dramatis Personae the Phantom of Mahomet the Second is wanting. +Shelley's list of Errata in edition 1822 was first printed in Mr. Buxton +Forman's Library Edition of the Poems, 1876 (4 page 572). These errata +are silently corrected in the text. + +1. +For Revenge and Wrong bring forth their kind, etc. (lines 728-729.) +'"For" has no rhyme (unless "are" and "despair" are to be considered +such): it requires to rhyme with "hear." From this defect of rhyme, and +other considerations, I (following Mr. Fleay) used to consider it almost +certain that "Fear" ought to replace "For"; and I gave "Fear" in my +edition of 1870...However, the word in the manuscript ["Williams +transcript"] is "For," and Shelley's list of errata leaves this +unaltered--so we must needs abide by it.'--Rossetti, "Complete Poetical +Works of P. B. S.", edition 1878 (3 volumes), 2 page 456. + +2. +Lines 729-732. This quatrain, as Dr. Garnett ("Letters of Shelley", +1884, pages 166, 249) points out, is an expansion of the following lines +from the "Agamemmon" of Aeschylus (758-760), quoted by Shelley in a +letter to his wife, dated 'Friday, August 10, 1821':-- +to dussebes-- +meta men pleiona tiktei, +sphetera d' eikota genna. + +3. +Lines 1091-1093. This passage, from the words more bright to the close +of line 1093, is wanting in the editio princeps, 1822, its place being +supplied by asterisks. The lacuna in the text is due, no doubt, to the +timidity of Ollier, the publisher, whom Shelley had authorised to make +excisions from the notes. In "Poetical Works", 1839, the lines, as they +appear in our text, are restored; in Galignani's edition of "Coleridge, +Shelley, and Keats" (Paris, 1829), however, they had already appeared, +though with the substitution of wise for bright (line 1091), and of +unwithstood for unsubdued (line 1093). Galignani's reading--native for +votive--in line 1095 is an evident misprint. In Ascham's edition of +Shelley (2 volumes, fcp. 8vo., 1834), the passage is reprinted from +Galignani. + +4. +The following list shows the places in which our text departs from the +punctuation of the editio princeps, 1822, and records in each instance +the pointing of that edition:--dreams 71; course. 125; mockery 150; +conqueror 212; streams 235; Moslems 275; West 305; moon, 347; harm, 394; +shame, 402; anger 408; descends 447; crime 454; banner. 461; Phanae, +470; blood 551; tyrant 557; Cydaris, 606; Heaven 636; Highness 638; man +738; sayest 738; One 768; mountains 831; dust 885; consummation? 902; +dream 921; may 923; death 935; clime. 1005; feast, 1025; horn, 1032; +Noon, 1045; death 1057; dowers 1094. + +CHARLES THE FIRST. + +To Mr. Rossetti we owe the reconstruction of this fragmentary drama out +of materials partly published by Mrs. Shelley in 1824, partly recovered +from manuscript by himself. The bracketed words are, presumably, +supplied by Mr. Rossetti to fill actual lacunae in the manuscript; those +queried represent indistinct writing. Mr. Rossetti's additions to the +text are indicated in the footnotes. In one or two instances Mr. Forman +and Dr. Garnett have restored the true reading. The list of Dramatis +Personae is Mr. Forman's. + +THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE. + +1. +Lines 131-135. This grammatically incoherent passage is thus +conjecturally emended by Rossetti:-- +Fled back like eagles to their native noon; +For those who put aside the diadem +Of earthly thrones or gems..., +Whether of Athens or Jerusalem, +Were neither mid the mighty captives seen, etc. +In the case of an incomplete poem lacking the author's final +corrections, however, restoration by conjecture is, to say the least of +it, gratuitous. + +2. +Line 282. The words, 'Even as the deeds of others, not as theirs.' And +then--are wanting in editions 1824, 1839, and were recovered by Dr. +Garnett from the Boscombe manuscript. Mrs. Shelley's note here +runs:--'There is a chasm here in the manuscript which it is impossible +to fill. It appears from the context that other shapes pass and that +Rousseau still stood beside the dreamer.' Mr. Forman thinks that the +'chasm' is filled up by the words restored from the manuscript by Dr. +Garnett. Mr. A.C. Bradley writes: 'It seems likely that, after writing +"I have suffered...pain", Shelley meant to strike out the words between +"known" [276] and "I" [278], and to fill up the gap in such a way that +"I" would be the last word of the line beginning "May well be known".' + +MISCELLANEOUS POEMS. + +1. +TO --. Mrs. Shelley tentatively assigned this fragment to 1817. 'It +seems not improbable that it was addressed at this time [June, 1814] to +Mary Godwin.' Dowden, "Life", 1 422, Woodberry suggests that 'Harriet +answers as well, or better, to the situation described.' + +2. +ON DEATH. These stanzas occur in the Esdaile manuscript along with +others which Shelley intended to print with "Queen Mab" in 1813; but the +text was revised before publication in 1816. + +3. +TO --. 'The poem beginning "Oh, there are spirits in the air," was +addressed in idea to Coleridge, whom he never knew'--writes Mrs. +Shelley. Mr. Bertram Dobell, Mr. Rossetti and Professor Dowden, however, +incline to think that we have here an address by Shelley in a despondent +mood to his own spirit. + +4. +LINES. These appear to be antedated by a year, as they evidently allude +to the death of Harriet Shelley in November, 1816. + +5. +ANOTHER FRAGMENT TO MUSIC. To Mr. Forman we owe the restoration of the +true text here--'food of Love.' Mrs. Shelley printed 'god of Love.' + +6. +MARENGHI, lines 92, 93. The 1870 (Rossetti) version of these lines is:-- +White bones, and locks of dun and yellow hair, +And ringed horns which buffaloes did wear-- +The words locks of dun (line 92) are cancelled in the manuscript. +Shelley's failure to cancel the whole line was due, Mr. Locock rightly +argues, to inadvertence merely; instead of buffaloes the manuscript +gives the buffalo, and it supplies the 'wonderful line' (Locock) which +closes the stanza in our text, and with which Mr. Locock aptly compares +"Mont Blanc", line 69:-- +Save when the eagle brings some hunter's bone, +And the wolf tracks her there. + +7. +ODE TO LIBERTY, lines 1, 2. On the suggestion of his brother, Mr. Alfred +Forman, the editor of the Library Edition of Shelley's Poems (1876), Mr. +Buxton Forman, printed these lines as follows:-- +A glorious people vibrated again: +The lightning of the nations, Liberty, +From heart to heart, etc. +The testimony of Shelley's autograph in the Harvard College manuscript, +however, is final against such a punctuation. + +8. +Lines 41, 42. We follow Mrs. Shelley's punctuation (1839). In Shelley's +edition (1820) there is no stop at the end of line 41, and a semicolon +closes line 42. + +9. +ODE TO NAPLES. In Mrs. Shelley's editions the various sections of this +Ode are severally headed as follows:--'Epode 1 alpha, Epode 2 alpha, +Strophe alpha 1, Strophe beta 2, Antistrophe alpha gamma, Antistrophe +beta gamma, Antistrophe beta gamma, Antistrophe alpha gamma, Epode 1 +gamma, Epode 2 gamma. In the manuscript, Mr. Locock tells us, the +headings are 'very doubtful, many of them being vaguely altered with pen +and pencil.' Shelley evidently hesitated between two or three +alternative ways of indicating the structure and corresponding parts of +his elaborate song; hence the chaotic jumble of headings printed in +editions 1824, 1839. So far as the "Epodes" are concerned, the headings +in this edition are those of editions 1824, 1839, which may be taken as +supported by the manuscript (Locock). As to the remaining sections, Mr. +Locock's examination of the manuscript leads him to conclude that +Shelley's final choice was:--'Strophe 1, Strophe 2, Antistrophe 1, +Antistrophe 2, Antistrophe 1 alpha, Antistrophe 2 alpha.' This in itself +would be perfectly appropriate, but it would be inconsistent with the +method employed in designating the "Epodes". I have therefore adopted in +preference a scheme which, if it lacks manuscript authority in some +particulars, has at least the merit of being absolutely logical and +consistent throughout. + +Mr. Locock has some interesting remarks on the metrical features of this +complex ode. On the 10th line of Antistrophe 1a (line 86 of the +ode)--Aghast she pass from the Earth's disk--which exceeds by one foot +the 10th lines of the two corresponding divisions, Strophe 1 and +Antistrophe 1b, he observes happily enough that 'Aghast may well have +been intended to disappear.' Mr. Locock does not seem to notice that the +closing lines of these three answering sections--(1) hail, hail, all +hail!--(2) Thou shalt be great--All hail!--(3) Art Thou of all these +hopes.--O hail! increase by regular lengths--two, three, four iambi. Nor +does he seem quite to grasp Shelley's intention with regard to the rhyme +scheme of the other triple group, Strophe 2, Antistrophe 2a, Antistrophe +2b. That of Strophe 2 may be thus expressed:--a-a-bc; d-d-bc; a-c-d; +b-c. Between this and Antistrophe 2a (the second member of the group) +there is a general correspondence with, in one particular, a subtle +modification. The scheme now becomes a-a-bc; d-d-bc; a-c-b; d-c: i.e. +the rhymes of lines 9 and 10 are transposed--God (line 9) answering to +the halfway rhymes of lines 3 and 6, gawd and unawed, instead of (as in +Strophe 2) to the rhyme-endings of lines 4 and 5; and, vice versa, fate +(line 10) answering to desolate and state (lines 4 and 5), instead of to +the halfway rhymes aforesaid. As to Antistrophe 2b, that follows +Antistrophe 2a, so far as it goes; but after line 9 it breaks off +suddenly, and closes with two lines corresponding in length and rhyme to +the closing couplet of Antistrophe 1b, the section immediately +preceding, which, however, belongs not to this group, but to the other. +Mr. Locock speaks of line 124 as 'a rhymeless line.' Rhymeless it is +not, for shore, its rhyme-termination, answers to bower and power, the +halfway rhymes of lines 118 and 121 respectively. Why Mr. Locock should +call line 12 an 'unmetrical line,' I cannot see. It is a decasyllabic +line, with a trochee substituted for an iambus in the third foot--Around +: me gleamed : many a : bright se : pulchre. + +10. +THE TOWER OF FAMINE.--It is doubtful whether the following note is +Shelley's or Mrs. Shelley's: 'At Pisa there still exists the prison of +Ugolino, which goes by the name of "La Torre della Fame"; in the +adjoining building the galley-slaves are confined. It is situated on the +Ponte al Mare on the Arno.' + +11. +GINEVRA, line 129: Through seas and winds, cities and wildernesses. The +footnote omits Professor Dowden's conjectural emendation--woods--for +winds, the reading of edition 1824 here. + +12. +THE LADY OF THE SOUTH. Our text adopts Mr. Forman's correction--drouth +for drought--in line 3. This should have been recorded in a footnote. + +13. +HYMN TO MERCURY, line 609. The period at now is supported by the Harvard +manuscript. + +JUVENILIA. + +QUEEN MAB. + +1. +Throughout this varied and eternal world +Soul is the only element: the block +That for uncounted ages has remained +The moveless pillar of a mountain's weight +Is active, living spirit. (4, lines 139-143.) +This punctuation was proposed in 1888 by Mr. J. R. Tutin (see "Notebook +of the Shelley Society", Part 1, page 21), and adopted by Dowden, +"Poetical Works of Shelley", Macmillan, 1890. The editio princeps +(1813), which is followed by Forman (1892) and Woodberry (1893), has a +comma after element and a full stop at remained. + +2. +Guards...from a nation's rage +Secure the crown, etc. (4, lines 173-176.) +So Mrs. Shelley ("Poetical Works", 1839, both editions), Rossetti, +Forman, Dowden. The editio princeps reads Secures, which Woodberry +defends and retains. + +3. +4, lines 203-220: omitted by Mrs. Shelley from the text of "Poetical +Works", 1839, 1st edition, but restored in the 2nd edition of 1839. See +above, "Note on Queen Mab, by Mrs. Shelley". + +4. +All germs of promise, yet when the tall trees, etc. (5, line 9.) +So Rossetti, Dowden, Woodberry. In editions 1813 (editio princeps) and +1839 ("Poetical Works", both editions) there is a full stop at promise +which Forman retains. + +5. +Who ever hears his famished offspring's scream, etc. (5, line 116.) +The editio princeps has offsprings--an evident misprint. + +6. +6, lines 54-57, line 275: struck out of the text of "Poetical Works", 1839 +(1st edition), but restored in the 2nd edition of that year. See Note 3 above. + +7. +The exterminable spirit it contains, etc. (7, line 23.) +Exterminable seems to be used here in the sense of 'illimitable' (N. E. +D.). Rossetti proposes interminable, or inexterminable. + +8. +A smile of godlike malice reillumed, etc. (7, line 180.) +The editio princeps and the first edition of "Poetical Works", 1839, +read reillumined here, which is retained by Forman, Dowden, Woodberry. +With Rossetti, I follow Mrs. Shelley's reading in "Poetical Works", 1839 +(2nd edition). + +9. +One curse alone was spared--the name of God. (8, line 165.) +Removed from the text, "Poetical Works", 1839 (1st edition); restored, +"Poetical Works", 1839 (2nd edition). See Notes 3 and 6 above. + +10. +Which from the exhaustless lore of human weal +Dawns on the virtuous mind, etc. (8, lines 204-205.) +With some hesitation as to lore, I reprint these lines as they are given +by Shelley himself in the note on this passage (supra). The text of 1813 +runs:-- +Which from the exhaustless store of human weal +Draws on the virtuous mind, etc. +This is retained by Woodberry, while Rossetti, Forman, and Dowden adopt +eclectic texts, Forman and Dowden reading lore and Draws, while +Rossetti, again, reads store and Dawns. Our text is supported by the +authority of Dr. Richard Garnett. The comma after infiniteness (line +206) has a metrical, not a logical, value. + +11. +Nor searing Reason with the brand of God. (9, line 48.) +Removed from the text, "Poetical Works", 1839 (1st edition), by Mrs. +Shelley, who failed, doubtless through an oversight, to restore it in +the second edition. See Notes 3, 6, and 9 above. + +12. +Where neither avarice, cunning, pride, nor care, etc. (9, line 67.) +The editio princeps reads pride, or care, which is retained by Forman +and Woodberry. With Rossetti and Dowden, I follow Mrs. Shelley's text, +"Poetical Works", 1839 (both editions). + +NOTES TO QUEEN MAB. + +1. +The mine, big with destructive power, burst under me, etc. (Note on 7 67.) +This is the reading of the "Poetical Works" of 1839 (2nd edition). The +editio princeps (1813) reads burst upon me. Doubtless under was intended +by Shelley: the occurrence, thrice over, of upon in the ten lines +preceding would account for the unconscious substitution of the word +here, either by the printer, or perhaps by Shelley himself in his +transcript for the press. + +2. +...it cannot arise from reasoning, etc. (Note on 7 135.) +The editio princeps (1813) has conviction for reasoning here--an obvious +error of the press, overlooked by Mrs. Shelley in 1839, and perpetuated +in his several editions of the poems by Mr. H. Buxton Forman. Reasoning, +Mr. W.M. Rossetti's conjectural emendation, is manifestly the right word +here, and has been adopted by Dowden and Woodberry. + +3. +Him, still from hope to hope, etc. (Note on 8 203-207.) +See editor's note 10 on "Queen Mab" above. + +1. +A DIALOGUE.--The titles of this poem, of the stanzas "On an Icicle", +etc., and of the lines "To Death", were first given by Professor Dowden +("Poetical Works of P. B. S.", 1890) from the Esdaile manuscript book. +The textual corrections from the same quarter (see footnotes passim) are +also owing to Professor Dowden. + +2. +ORIGINAL POETRY BY VICTOR AND CAZIRE.--Dr. Garnett, who in 1898 edited +for Mr. John Lane a reprint of these long-lost verses, identifies +"Victor's" coadjutrix, "Cazire", with Elizabeth Shelley, the poet's +sister. 'The two initial pieces are the only two which can be attributed +to Elizabeth Shelley with absolute certainty, though others in the +volume may possibly belong to her' (Garnett). + +3. +SAINT EDMOND'S EVE. This ballad-tale was "conveyed" in its entirety by +"Cazire" from Matthew Gregory Lewis's "Tales of Terror", 1801, where it +appears under the title of "The Black Canon of Elmham; or, Saint +Edmond's Eve". Stockdale, the publisher of "Victor and Cazire", detected +the imposition, and communicated his discovery to Shelley--when 'with +all the ardour natural to his character he [Shelley] expressed the +warmest resentment at the imposition practised upon him by his +coadjutor, and entreated me to destroy all the copies, of which about +one hundred had been put into circulation.' + +4. +TO MARY WHO DIED IN THIS OPINION.--From a letter addressed by Shelley to +Miss Hitchener, dated November 23, 1811. + +5. +A TALE OF SOCIETY.--The titles of this and the following piece were +first given by Professor Dowden from the Esdaile manuscript, from which +also one or two corrections in the text of both poems, made in +Macmillan's edition of 1890, were derived. + +*** + + +A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL EDITIONS OF SHELLEY'S POETICAL WORKS, + +SHOWING THE VARIOUS PRINTED SOURCES OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS EDITION. + +1. +(1) Original Poetry; : By : Victor and Cazire. : Call it not vain:--they +do not err, : Who say, that, when the poet dies, : Mute Nature mourns +her worshipper. : "Lay of the Last Minstrel." : Worthing : Printed by C. +and W. Phillips, : for the Authors; : And sold by J. J. Stockdale, 41, +Pall-Mall, : And all other Booksellers. 1810. + +(2) Original : Poetry : By : Victor & Cazire : [Percy Bysshe Shelley : & +Elizabeth Shelley] : Edited by : Richard Garnett C.B., LL.D. : Published +by : John Lane, at the Sign : of the Bodley Head in : London and New +York : MDCCCXCVIII. + +2. +Posthumous Fragments : of : Margaret Nicholson; : Being Poems Found +Amongst the Papers of that : Noted Female who attempted the Life : of +the King in 1786. : Edited by : John Fitz-Victor. : Oxford: : Printed +and sold by J. Munday : 1810. + +3. +St. Irvyne; : or, : The Rosicrucian. : A Romance. : By : A Gentleman : +of the University of Oxford. : London: : Printed for J. J. Stockdale, : +41, Pall Mall. : 1811. + +4. +The Devil's Walk; a Ballad. Printed as a broadside, 1812. + +5. +Queen Mab; : a : Philosophical Poem: : with Notes. : By : Percy Bysshe +Shelley. : Ecrasez l'Infame! : "Correspondance de Voltaire." : Avia +Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante : Trita solo; iuvat integros +accedere fonteis; : Atque haurire: iuratque (sic) novos decerpere +flores. : Unde prius nulli velarint tempora nausae. : Primum quod magnis +doceo de rebus; et arctis : Religionum animos nodis exsolvere pergo. : +Lucret. lib. 4 : Dos pou sto, kai kosmon kineso. : Archimedes. : London: +: Printed by P. B. Shelley, : 23, Chapel Street, Grosvenor Square. : +1813. + +6. +Alastor; : or, : The Spirit of Solitude: : and Other Poems. : By : Percy +Bysshe Shelley : London : Printed for Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, +Pater-:noster Row; and Carpenter and Son, : Old Bond Street: : By S. +Hamilton, Weybridge, Surrey : 1816. + +7. +(1) Laon and Cythna; : or, : The Revolution : of : the Golden City: : A +Vision of the Nineteenth Century. : In the Stanza of Spenser. : By : +Percy B. Shelley. : Dos pou sto, kai kosmon kineso. : Archimedes. : +London: : Printed for Sherwood, Neely, & Jones, Paternoster-:Row; and C. +and J. Ollier, Welbeck-Street: : By B. M'Millan, Bow-Street, +Covent-Garden. : 1818. + +(2) The : Revolt of Islam; : A Poem, : in Twelve Cantos. : By : Percy +Bysshe Shelley. : London: : Printed for C. and J. Ollier, +Welbeck-Street; : By B. M'Millan, Bow-Street, Covent-Garden. : 1818. + +(3) A few copies of "The Revolt of Islam" bear date 1817 instead of +1818. + +(4) 'The same sheets were used again in 1829 with a third title-page +similar to the foregoing [2], but with the imprint "London: : Printed +for John Brooks, : 421 Oxford-Street. : 1829."' (H. Buxton Forman, C.B.: +The Shelley Library, page 73.) + +(5) 'Copies of the 1829 issue of "The Revolt of Islam" not infrequently +occur with "Laon and Cythna" text.' (Ibid., page 73.) + +8. +Rosalind and Helen, : A Modern Eclogue; : With Other Poems: : By : Percy +Bysshe Shelley. : London: : Printed for C. and J. Ollier, : Vere Street, +Bond Street. : 1819. + +9. +(1) The Cenci. : A Tragedy, : In Five Acts. : By Percy B. Shelley. : +Italy. : Printed for C. and J. Ollier, : Vere Street, Bond Street. : +London. : 1819. + +(2) The Cenci : A Tragedy : In Five Acts : By : Percy Bysshe Shelley : +Second Edition : London : C. and J. Ollier Vere Street Bond Street : +1821. + +10. +Prometheus Unbound : A Lyrical Drama : In Four Acts : With Other Poems : +By : Percy Bysshe Shelley : Audisne haec, Amphiarae, sub terram abdite? +: London : C. and J. Ollier Vere Street Bond Street : 1820. + +11. +Oedipus Tyrannus; : or, : Swellfoot The Tyrant. : A Tragedy. : In Two +Acts. : Translated from the Original Doric. : --Choose Reform or +civil-war, : When thro' thy streets, instead of hare with dogs, A +CONSORT-QUEEN shall hunt a KING with hogs, : Riding on the IONIAN +MINOTAUR. : London: : Published for the Author, : By J. Johnston, 98, +Cheapside, and sold by all booksellers. : 1820. + +12. +Epipsychidion : Verses Addressed to the Noble : And Unfortunate Lady : +Emilia V-- : Now Imprisoned in the Convent of -- : L' anima amante si +slancia fuori del creato, e si crea nel infinito : un Mondo tutto per +essa, diverso assai da questo oscuro e pauroso : baratro. Her Own Words. +: London : C. and J. Ollier Vere Street Bond Street : MDCCCXXI. + +13. +(1) Adonais : An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, : Author of Endymion, +Hyperion etc. : By : Percy B. Shelley : Aster prin men elampes eni +zooisin eoos. : Nun de thanon, lampeis esmeros en phthimenois. : Plato. +: Pisa : With the Types of Didot : MDCCCXXI. + +(2) Adonais. : An Elegy : on the : Death of John Keats, : Author of +Endymion, Hyperion, etc. : By : Percy B. Shelley. : [Motto as in (1)] +Cambridge: : Printed by W. Metcalfe, : and sold by Messrs. Gee & +Bridges, Market-Hill. : MDCCCXXIX. + +14. +Hellas : A Lyrical Drama : By : Percy B. Shelley : MANTIS EIM' ESTHAON +'AGONON : Oedip. Colon. : London : Charles and James Ollier Vere Street +: Bond Street : MDCCCXXII. (The last work issued in Shelley's lifetime.) + +15. +Posthumous Poems : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley. : In nobil sangue vita +umile e queta, : Ed in alto intelletto on puro core; : Frutto senile in +sul giovenil fiore, : E in aspetto pensoso anima lieta. : Petrarca. : +London, 1824: : Printed for John and Henry L. Hunt, : Tavistock Street, +Covent Garden. (Edited by Mrs. Shelley.) + +16. +The : Masque of Anarchy. : A Poem. : By Percy Bysshe Shelley. Now first +published, with a Preface : by Leigh Hunt. : Hope is Strong; : Justice +and Truth their winged child have found. : "Revolt of Islam". : London: +: Edward Moxon, 64, New Bond Street. : 1832. + +17. +The Shelley Papers : Memoir : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley : By T. Medwin, +Esq. : And : Original Poems and Papers : By Percy Bysshe Shelley. : Now +first collected. : London: : Whittaker, Treacher, & Co. : 1833. +(The Poems occupy pages 109-126.) + +18. +The : Poetical Works : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley. : Edited : by Mrs +Shelley. : Lui non trov' io, ma suoi santi vestigi : Tutti rivolti alla +superna strada : Veggio, lunge da' laghi averni e stigi.--Petrarca. : In +Four Volumes. : Vol. 1 [2 3 4] : London: : Edward Moxon, Dover Street. : +MDCCCXXXIX. + +19. +(1) The : Poetical Works : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley: [Vignette of +Shelley's Tomb.] London. : Edward Moxon, Dover Street. : 1839. +(This is the engraved title-page. The printed title-page runs:--) + +(2) The : Poetical Works : of Percy Bysshe Shelley. : Edited : By Mrs. +Shelley. : [Motto from Petrarch as in 18] London: : Edward Moxon, Dover +Street. : M.DCCC.XL. +(Large octavo, printed in double columns. The Dedication is dated 11th +November, 1839.) + +20. +Essays, : Letters from Abroad, : Translations and Fragments, : By : +Percy Bysshe Shelley. : Edited : By Mrs. Shelley. : [Long prose motto +translated from Schiller] : In Two Volumes. : Volume 1 [2] : London: : +Edward Moxon, Dover Street. : MDCCCXL. + +21. +Relics of Shelley. : Edited by : Richard Garnett. : [Lines 20-24 of "To +Jane": 'The keen stars,' etc.] : London: : Edward Moxon & Co., Dover +Street. : 1862. + +22. +The : Poetical Works : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley: : Including Various +Additional Pieces : From Manuscript and Other Sources. : The Text +carefully revised, with Notes and : A Memoir, : By William Michael +Rossetti. : Volume 1 [2] : [Moxon's Device.] : London: : E. Moxon, Son, +& Co., 44 Dover Street, W. : 1870. + +23. +The Daemon of the World : By : Percy Bysshe Shelley : The First Part : +as published in 1816 with "Alastor" : The Second Part : Deciphered and +now First Printed from his own Manuscript : Revision and Interpolations +in the Newly Discovered : Copy of "Queen Mab" : London : Privately +printed by H. Buxton Forman : 38 Marlborough Hill : 1876. + +24. +The Poetical Works : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley : Edited by : Harry +Buxton Forman : In Four Volumes : Volume 1 [2 3 4] London : Reeves and +Turner 196 Strand : 1876. + +25. +The Complete : Poetical Works : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley. : The Text +carefully revised with Notes and : A Memoir, : by : William Michael +Rossetti. : In Three Volumes. : Volume 1 [2 3] London: : E. Moxon, Son, +And Co., : Dorset Buildings, Salisbury Square, E.C. : 1878. + +26. +The Poetical Works : of Percy Bysshe Shelley : Given from His Own +Editions and Other Authentic Sources : Collated with many Manuscripts +and with all Editions of Authority : Together with Prefaces and Notes : +His Poetical Translations and Fragments : and an Appendix of : Juvenilia +: [Publisher's Device.] Edited by Harry Buxton Forman : In Two Volumes. +: Volume 1 [2] London : Reeves and Turner, 196, Strand : 1882. + +27. +The : Poetical Works : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley : Edited by : Edward +Dowden : London : Macmillan and Co, Limited : New York: The Macmillan +Company : 1900. + +28. +The Poetical Works of : Percy Bysshe Shelley : Edited with a Memoir by : +H. Buxton Forman : In Five Volumes [Publisher's Device.] Volume 1 [2 3 4 +5] London : George Bell and Sons : 1892. + +29. +The : Complete Poetical Works : of : Percy Bysshe Shelley : The Text +newly collated and revised : and Edited with a Memoir and Notes : By +George Edward Woodberry : Centenary Edition : In Four Volumes : Volume 1 +[2 3 4] [Publisher's Device.] London : Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner and +Co. : Limited : 1893. + +30. +An Examination of the : Shelley Manuscripts : In the Bodleian Library : +Being a collation thereof with the printed : texts, resulting in the +publication of : several long fragments hitherto unknown, : and the +introduction of many improved : readings into "Prometheus Unbound", and +: other poems, by : C.D. Locock, B.A. : Oxford : At the Clarendon Press +: 1903. + +The early poems from the Esdaile manuscript book, which are included in +this edition by the kind permission of the owner of the volume, Charles +E.J. Esdaile, Esq., appeared for the first time in Professor Dowden's +"Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley", published in the year 1887. + +One poem from the same volume; entitled "The Wandering Jew's Soliloquy", +was printed in one of the Shelley Society Publications (Second Series, +No. 12), a reprint of "The Wandering Jew", edited by Mr. Bertram Dobell +in 1887. + +*** + + +INDEX OF FIRST LINES. + +A cat in distress : +A gentle story of two lovers young : +A glorious people vibrated again : +A golden-winged Angel stood : +A Hater he came and sat by a ditch : +A man who was about to hang himself : +A pale Dream came to a Lady fair : +A portal as of shadowy adamant : +A rainbow's arch stood on the sea : +A scene, which 'wildered fancy viewed : +A Sensitive Plant in a garden grew : +A shovel of his ashes took : +A widow bird sate mourning : +A woodman whose rough heart was out of tune : +Ah! faint are her limbs, and her footstep is weary : +Ah! grasp the dire dagger and couch the fell spear : +Ah! quit me not yet, for the wind whistles shrill : +Ah, sister! Desolation is a delicate thing : +Ah! sweet is the moonbeam that sleeps on yon fountain : +Alas! for Liberty! : +Alas, good friend, what profit can you see : +Alas! this is not what I thought life was : +Ambition, power, and avarice, now have hurled : +Amid the desolation of a city : +Among the guests who often stayed : +An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king : +And can'st thou mock mine agony, thus calm : +And earnest to explore within--around : +And ever as he went he swept a lyre : +And, if my grief should still be dearer to me : +And like a dying lady, lean and pale : +And many there were hurt by that strong boy : +And Peter Bell, when he had been : +And said I that all hope was fled : +And that I walk thus proudly crowned withal : +And the cloven waters like a chasm of mountains : +And when the old man saw that on the green : +And where is truth? On tombs? for such to thee : +And who feels discord now or sorrow? : +Arethusa arose : +Ariel to Miranda:--Take : +Arise, arise, arise! : +Art thou indeed forever gone : +Art thou pale for weariness : +As a violet's gentle eye : +As from an ancestral oak : +As I lay asleep in Italy : +As the sunrise to the night : +Ask not the pallid stranger's woe : +At the creation of the Earth : +Away! the moor is dark beneath the moon : + +Bear witness, Erin! when thine injured isle : +Before those cruel Twins, whom at one birth : +Beside the dimness of the glimmering sea : +Best and brightest, come away! : +Break the dance, and scatter the song : +Bright ball of flame that through the gloom of even : +Bright clouds float in heaven : +Bright wanderer, fair coquette of Heaven : +Brothers! between you and me : +'Buona notte, buona notte!'--Come mai : +By the mossy brink : + +Chameleons feed on light and air : +Cold, cold is the blast when December is howling : +Come, be happy!--sit near me : +Come [Harriet]! sweet is the hour : +Come hither, my sweet Rosalind : +Come, thou awakener of the spirit's ocean : +Corpses are cold in the tomb : + +Dares the lama, most fleet of the sons of the wind : +Dar'st thou amid the varied multitude : +Darkness has dawned in the East : +Daughters of Jove, whose voice is melody : +Dear home, thou scene of earliest hopes and joys : +Dearest, best and brightest : +Death is here and death is there : +Death! where is thy victory? : +Do evil deeds thus quickly come to end? +Do you not hear the Aziola cry? : + +Eagle! why soarest thou above that tomb? : +Earth, ocean, air, beloved brotherhood : +Echoes we: listen! +Ever as now with Love and Virtue's glow : + +Faint with love, the Lady of the South : +Fairest of the Destinies : +False friend, wilt thou smile or weep : +Far, far away, O ye : +Fiend, I defy thee! with a calm, fixed mind : +Fierce roars the midnight storm : +Flourishing vine, whose kindling clusters glow : +Follow to the deep wood's weeds : +For me, my friend, if not that tears did tremble : +For my dagger is bathed in the blood of the brave : +For your letter, dear [Hattie], accept my best thanks : +From all the blasts of heaven thou hast descended : +From the cities where from caves : +From the ends of the earth, from the ends of the earth : +From the forests and highlands : +From unremembered ages we : + +Gather, O gather : +Ghosts of the dead! have I not heard your yelling : +God prosper, speed, and save : +Good-night? ah! no; the hour is ill : +Great Spirit whom the sea of boundless thought : +Guido, I would that Lapo, thou, and I : + +Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! : +Hail to thee, Cambria! for the unfettered wind : +Hark! the owlet flaps her wing : +Hark! the owlet flaps his wings : +Hast thou not seen, officious with delight : +He came like a dream in the dawn of life : +He wanders, like a day-appearing dream : +Hell is a city much like London : +Her hair was brown, her sphered eyes were brown : +Her voice did quiver as we parted : +Here I sit with my paper, my pen and my ink : +'Here lieth One whose name was writ on water' : +Here, my dear friend, is a new book for you : +Here, oh, here : +Hic sinu fessum caput hospitali : +His face was like a snake's--wrinkled and loose : +Honey from silkworms who can gather : +Hopes, that swell in youthful breasts : +How eloquent are eyes : +How, my dear Mary,--are you critic-bitten : +How stern are the woes of the desolate mourner : +How sweet it is to sit and read the tales : +How swiftly through Heaven's wide expanse : +How wonderful is Death : +How wonderful is Death : + +I am afraid these verses will not please you, but : +I am as a spirit who has dwelt : +I am drunk with the honey wine : +I arise from dreams of thee : +I bring fresh showers for the thirsting flowers : +I dreamed that, as I wandered by the way : +I dreamed that Milton's spirit rose, and took : +I faint, I perish with my love! I grow : +I fear thy kisses, gentle maiden : +I hated thee, fallen tyrant! I did groan : +I love thee, Baby! for thine own sweet sake : +I loved--alas! our life is love : +I met a traveller from an antique land : +I mourn Adonis dead--loveliest Adonis : +I pant for the music which is divine : +I rode one evening with Count Maddalo : +I sate beside a sage's bed : +I sate beside the Steersman then, and gazing : +I sing the glorious Power with azure eyes : +I stood upon a heaven-cleaving turret : +I stood within the City disinterred : +I weep for Adonais--he is dead' : +I went into the deserts of dim sleep : +I would not be a king--enough : +If gibbets, axes, confiscations, chains : +If I esteemed you less, Envy would kill : +If I walk in Autumn's even : +In the cave which wild weeds cover : +In the sweet solitude of this calm place : +Inter marmoreas Leonorae pendula colles : +Is it that in some brighter sphere : +Is it the Eternal Triune, is it He : +Is not to-day enough? Why do I peer : +It is not blasphemy to hope that Heaven : +It is the day when all the sons of God : +It lieth, gazing on the midnight sky : +It was a bright and cheerful afternoon : + +Kissing Helena, together : + +Let there be light! said Liberty : +Let those who pine in pride or in revenge : +Life of Life! thy lips enkindle : +Lift not the painted veil which those who live : +Like the ghost of a dear friend dead : +Listen, listen, Mary mine : +Lo, Peter in Hell's Grosvenor Square : + +Madonna, wherefore hast thou sent to me : +Maiden, quench the glare of sorrow : +Many a green isle needs must be : +Melodious Arethusa, o'er my verse : +Men of England, wherefore plough : +Methought I was a billow in the crowd : +Mighty eagle! thou that soarest : +Mine eyes were dim with tears unshed : +Monarch of Gods and Daemons, and all Spirits : +Month after month the gathered rains descend : +Moonbeam, leave the shadowy vale : +Muse, sing the deeds of golden Aphrodite : +Music, when soft voices die : +My coursers are fed with the lightning : +My dearest Mary, wherefore hast thou gone : +My faint spirit was sitting in the light : +My head is heavy, my limbs are weary : +My head is wild with weeping for a grief : +My lost William, thou in whom : +My Song, I fear that thou wilt find but few : +My soul is an enchanted boat : +My spirit like a charmed bark doth swim : +My thoughts arise and fade in solitude : +My wings are folded o'er mine ears : + +Night, with all thine eyes look down! : +Night! with all thine eyes look down! : +No access to the Duke! You have not said : +No, Music, thou art not the 'food of Love' : +No trump tells thy virtues : +Nor happiness, nor majesty, nor fame : +Not far from hence. From yonder pointed hill : +Now had the loophole of that dungeon, still : +Now the last day of many days : + +O Bacchus, what a world of toil, both now : +O happy Earth! reality of Heaven : +O Mary dear, that you were here : +O mighty mind, in whose deep stream this age : +O pillow cold and wet with tears! : +O Slavery! thou frost of the world's prime : +O that a chariot of cloud were mine! : +O that mine enemy had written : +O thou bright Sun! beneath the dark blue line : +O thou immortal deity : +O thou, who plumed with strong desire : +O universal Mother, who dost keep : +O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being : +O world! O life! O time! : +Offspring of Jove, Calliope, once more : +Oh! did you observe the black Canon pass : +Oh! take the pure gem to where southerly breezes : +Oh! there are spirits of the air : +Oh! what is the gain of restless care : +On a battle-trumpet's blast : +On a poet's lips I slept : +On the brink of the night and the morning : +Once, early in the morning : +One sung of thee who left the tale untold : +One word is too often profaned : +Orphan Hours, the Year is dead : +Our boat is asleep on Serchio's stream : +Our spoil is won : +Out of the eastern shadow of the Earth : +Over the utmost hill at length I sped : + +Palace-roof of cloudless nights! : +Pan loved his neighbour Echo--but that child : +People of England, ye who toil and groan : +Peter Bells, one, two and three : +Place, for the Marshal of the Masque! : +Poet of Nature, thou hast wept to know : +Prince Athanase had one beloved friend : + +Rarely, rarely, comest thou : +Reach me that handkerchief!--My brain is hurt : +Returning from its daily quest, my Spirit : +Rome has fallen, ye see it lying : +Rough wind, that moanest loud : + +Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth : +See yon opening flower : +Serene in his unconquerable might : +Shall we roam, my love : +She comes not; yet I left her even now : +She left me at the silent time : +She saw me not--she heard me not--alone : +She was an aged woman; and the years : +Silence! Oh, well are Death and Sleep and Thou : +Silver key of the fountain of tears : +Sing, Muse, the son of Maia and of Jove : +Sleep, sleep on! forget thy pain : +So now my summer task is ended, Mary : +So we sate joyous as the morning ray : +Stern, stern is the voice of fate's fearful command : +Such hope, as is the sick despair of good : +Such was Zonoras; and as daylight finds : +Summer was dead and Autumn was expiring : +Sweet Spirit! Sister of that orphan one : +Sweet star, which gleaming o'er the darksome scene : +Swift as a spirit hastening to his task : +Swifter far than summer's flight : +Swiftly walk o'er the western wave : + +Tell me, thou Star, whose wings of light : +That matter of the murder is hushed up : +That night we anchored in a woody bay : +That time is dead for ever, child! : +The awful shadow of some unseen Power : +The babe is at peace within the womb : +The billows on the beach are leaping around it : +The cold earth slept below : +The curtain of the Universe : +The death-bell beats! : +The death knell is ringing : +The Devil, I safely can aver : +The Devil now knew his proper cue : +The Elements respect their Maker's seal! : +The everlasting universe of things : +The fierce beasts of the woods and wildernesses : +The fiery mountains answer each other : +The fitful alternations of the rain : +The flower that smiles to-day : +The fountains mingle with the river : +The gentleness of rain was in the wind : +The golden gates of Sleep unbar : +The joy, the triumph, the delight, the madness : +The keen stars were twinkling : +The odour from the flower is gone : +The old man took the oars, and soon the bark : +The pale stars are gone : +The pale stars of the morn : +The pale, the cold, and the moony smile : +The path through which that lovely twain : +The rose that drinks the fountain dew : +The rude wind is singing : +The season was the childhood of sweet June : +The serpent is shut out from Paradise : +The sleepless Hours who watch me as I lie : +The spider spreads her webs, whether she be : +The starlight smile of children, the sweet looks : +The stars may dissolve, and the fountain of light : +The sun is set; the swallows are asleep : +The sun is warm, the sky is clear : +The sun makes music as of old : +The transport of a fierce and monstrous gladness : +The viewless and invisible Consequence : +The voice of the Spirits of Air and of Earth : +The warm sun is failing, the bleak wind is wailing : +The waters are flashing : +The wind has swept from the wide atmosphere : +The world is dreary : +The world is now our dwelling-place : +The world's great age begins anew : +Then weave the web of the mystic measure : +There is a voice, not understood by all : +There is a warm and gentle atmosphere : +There late was One within whose subtle being : +There was a little lawny islet : +There was a youth, who, as with toil and travel : +These are two friends whose lives were undivided : +They die--the dead return not--Misery : +Those whom nor power, nor lying faith, nor toil : +Thou art fair, and few are fairer : +Thou art the wine whose drunkenness is all : +Thou living light that in thy rainbow hues : +Thou supreme Goddess! by whose power divine : +Thou wert not, Cassius, and thou couldst not be : +Thou wert the morning star among the living : +Thrice three hundred thousand years : +Thus to be lost and thus to sink and die : +Thy beauty hangs around thee like : +Thy country's curse is on thee, darkest crest : +Thy dewy looks sink in my breast : +Thy little footsteps on the sands : +Thy look of love has power to calm : +'Tis midnight now--athwart the murky air : +'Tis the terror of tempest. The rags of the sail : +To me this world's a dreary blank : +To the deep, to the deep : +To thirst and find no fill--to wail and wander : +Tremble, Kings despised of man : +'Twas at the season when the Earth upsprings : +'Twas at this season that Prince Athanase : +'Twas dead of the night, when I sat in my dwelling : +'Twas dead of the night when I sate in my dwelling : + +Unfathomable Sea! whose waves are years : +Unrisen splendour of the brightest sun : + +Vessels of heavenly medicine! may the breeze : +Victorious Wrong, with vulture scream : + +Wake the serpent not--lest he : +Was there a human spirit in the steed : +We are as clouds that veil the midnight moon : +We come from the mind : +We join the throng : +We meet not as we parted : +We strew these opiate flowers : +Wealth and dominion fade into the mass : +Weave the dance on the floor of the breeze : +Weep not, my gentle boy; he struck but me : +What! alive and so bold, O Earth? : +What art thou, Presumptuous, who profanest : +What Mary is when she a little smiles : +What men gain fairly--that they should possess : +'What think you the dead are?' : +What thoughts had sway o'er Cythna's lonely slumber : +What was the shriek that struck Fancy's ear : +When a lover clasps his fairest : +When May is painting with her colours gay : +When passion's trance is overpast : +When soft winds and sunny skies : +When the lamp is shattered : +When the last hope of trampled France had failed : +When winds that move not its calm surface sweep : +Where art thou, beloved To-morrow? : +Where man's profane and tainting hand : +Whose is the love that gleaming through the world : +Why is it said thou canst not live : +Wild, pale, and wonder-stricken, even as one : +Wilt thou forget the happy hours : +Within a cavern of man's trackless spirit : +Worlds on worlds are rolling ever : +Would I were the winged cloud : + +Ye congregated powers of heaven, who share : +Ye Dorian woods and waves, lament aloud : +Ye gentle visitations of calm thought : +Ye hasten to the grave! What seek ye there : +Ye who intelligent the Third Heaven move : +Ye wild-eyed Muses, sing the Twins of Jove : +Yes! all is past--swift time has fled away : +Yes, often when the eyes are cold and dry : +Yet look on me--take not thine eyes away : +You said that spirits spoke, but it was thee : +Your call was as a winged car : + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Complete Poetical Works of Percy +Bysshe Shelley Volume III, by Percy Bysshe Shelley + +*** END OF PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHELLEY'S COMPLETE POETICAL WORKS *** |