be beneficial to the human race; and the bright light of poetry irradiates every thought. The world has a right to the entire compositions of such a man; for it does not live and thrive by the outworn lesson of the dullard or the hypocrite, but by the original free thoughts of men of genius, who aspire to pluck bright truth 666 'from the pale-faced moon ; Or dive into the bottom of the deep, Where fathom-line could never touch the ground, truth. Even those who may dissent from his opinions will consider that he was a man of genius, and that the world will take more interest in his slightest word, than from the waters of Lethe, which are so eagerly prescribed as medicinal for all its wrongs and woes. This drama, however, must not be judged for more than was meant. It is a mere plaything of the imagination, which even may not excite smiles among many, who will not see wit in those combinations of thought which were full of the ridiculous to the author. But, like everything he wrote, it breathes that deep sympathy for the sorrows of humanity, and indignation against its oppressors, which make it worthy of his name." Note written in a copy of the original edition belonging to Mr. F. Locker-Lampson and bought by the first purchaser December 16, 1820. "This work was published by Johnson in Cheapside at the commencement of the Caroline Phobia; was bought by me, and presuming it to be highly libellous, some Inhabitants of the Ward determined to have it prosecuted in accordance to the resolutions of the Ward-Mote; it was, however, suppressed by the interference of Alderman Rothwell without coming before a Jury, the publisher giving up the whole impression except 7 what [sic] he said was the whole number sold. He gave up as the Author (or at least his employer) Smith, the author of Rejected Addresses, Horace in London, &c. Smith, however, said it was sent to him from Pisa in Italy, at that time the residence of Lord Byron, Shelly [sic], and others." Forman, The Shelley Library, p. 98. Medwin, Life, ii. 29: "He [Shelley] told me that on the first day of its being exposed for sale in the city, the then Lord Mayor of London, who was a friend of the gentleman who corrected the proof sheets, advised him [Horace Smith] to withdraw it." EPIPSYCHIDION 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. & J. Ollier Vere Street Bond Street / MDCCCXXI. Collation: Octavo. Half title (with imprint, London / printed by S. and R. Bentley Dorset - Street, / SalisburySquare, / on verso), pp. i. ii. ; title (with blank verso), pp. iii. iv.; Advertisement (with "My Song," etc., on verso), pp. v. vi.; Eposychidion, pp. 7–31; imprint repeated, London / printed by S. and R. Bentley / Dorset-Street / MDCCCXXI, on verso of p. 31. Issued as a pamphlet without wrapper. Price 2s (below half-title). No MS. is known. The poem was reprinted by Mrs. Shelley, 18391, among the Poems of 1820. The variations of other editions, except as already noted, are :— -118 on 18391,2; 153 it is the 18392; 405 he 18391,2; 501 many twining 1821, Forman, Dowden. Of the persons alluded to, 1 that orphan one is Mrs. Shelley, and, 2 the name is Shelley, and, 601 Marina is Mrs. Shelley, Vanna may be Mrs. Williams, Primus is unidentified. The title of the poem signifies, as Rev. Stopford Brooke has pointed out, “this soul out of my soul." CONTEMPORARY RECORDS: Shelley (from Pisa) to Ollier, February 16, 1821: "I send you . . . and a longer piece, entitled Epipsychidion ... The longer poem, I desire, should not be considered as my ... own; indeed, in a certain sense, it is a production of a portion of me already dead; and in this sense the advertisement is no fiction. It is to be published simply for the esoteric few; and I make its author a secret, to avoid the malignity of those who turn sweet food into poison, transforming all they touch into the corruption of their own natures. My wish with respect to it is that it should be printed immediately in the simplest form, and merely one hundred copies: those who are capable of judging and feeling rightly with respect to a composition of so abstruse a nature, certainly do not arrive at that number among those, at least, who would ever be excited to read an obscure and anonymous production; and it would give me no pleasure that the vulgar should read it. If you have any bookselling reason against publishing so small a number as a hundred, merely, distribute copies among those to whom you think the poetry would afford any pleasure, and send me, as soon as you can, a copy by the post. I have written it so as to give very little trouble, I hope, to the printer, or to the person who revises. I would be much obliged to you if you would take this office on yourself." Shelley Memorials, pp. 152, 153. Shelley (from Pisa) to John Gisborne, October 22, 1821 : "The Epipsychidion is a mystery; as to real flesh and blood, you know that I do not deal in those articles; you might as well go to a gin-shop for a leg of mutton, as expect anything human or earthly from me. I desired Ollier not to circulate this piece except to the ovverol, and even they, it seems, are inclined to approximate me to the circle of a servant girl and her sweetheart. But I intend to write a Symposium of my own to set all this right." Mrs. Shelley, Essays and Letters, ii. 333, 334. Shelley (from Lerici) to John Gisborne, June 18, 1822 : "The Epipsychidion I cannot look at; the person whom it celebrates was a cloud instead of a Juno, and poor Ixion starts from the centaur that was the offspring of his own embrace. If you are curious, however, to hear what I am and have been, it will tell you something thereof. It is an idealized history of my life and feelings. I think one is always in love with something or other; the error, and I confess it is not easy for spirits cased in flesh and blood to avoid it, consists in seeking in a mortal image the likeness of what is, perhaps, eternal." Fortnightly Review, June, 1878. Trelawny, Records, etc., i. 116: “Shelley; The Epipsychidion that you like so much the reviewer denounces as the rhapsody of a madman. That it may be a rhapsody I won't deny, and a man cannot decide on his own sanity. Your dry, matter-of-fact men denounce all flights of imagination as proofs of insanity, and so did the Greek sects of the Stoics. All the mass of mankind consider every one eccentric or insane who utters sentiments they do not comprehend." The relations of the Shelley household with Emilia Viviani are best described in Mrs. Marshall's Life of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, but also fully in Dowden. Med win describes the affair, ii. 60–80, and Mrs. Shelley introduces Emilia as a character, Clorinda, in her novel, Lodore. Epipsychilion was noticed in The Gossip (a short-lived weekly published at Kentish Town), May 19, June 23, July 14, 1821. ADONAIS Adonais / An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, / Author of Endymion, Hyperion, etc. / By / Percy. B. Shelley / Αστήρ πρὶν έλαμπε, ενι ζῶοισιν εῶος. / Νυν δε θανῶν, λαμπεις έσπερος ev poiμevois. / Plato. / Pisa / With the types of Didot / MDCCCXXI. Collation Quarto. Title (with blank verso), pp. i. ii.; Preface, pp. 3-5; Adonais, pp. 7–25. Issued in blue paper wrappers, with woodcut and ornamental border. Price 3s. 6d. Fragments of a rough draft exist among the Boscombe MSS. PREFACE: CANCELLED PASSAGES Garnett, Relics, pp. 48-50 . . . "the expression of my indignation and sympathy. I will allow myself a first and last word on the subject of calumny as it relates to me. As an author I have dared and invited censure. If I under stand myself, I have written neither for profit nor for fame. I have employed my poetical compositions and publications simply as the instruments of that sympathy between myself and others which the ardent and unbounded love I cherished for my kind incited me to acquire. I expected all sorts of stupidity and insolent contempt from those "These compositions (excepting the tragedy of The Cenci, which was written rather to try my powers than to unburden my full heart) are insufficiently. . . commendation than perhaps they deserve, even from their bitterest enemies; but they have not attained any corresponding popularity. As a man, I shrink from notice and regard; the ebb and flow of the world vexes me; I desire to be left in peace. Persecution, contumely, and calumny, have been heaped upon me in profuse measure; and domestic conspiracy and legal oppression have violated in my person the most sacred rights of nature and humanity. The bigot will say it was the recompense of my errors; the man of the world will call it the result of my imprudence; but never upon one head . . . Reviewers, with some rare exceptions, are a most stupid and malignant race. As a bankrupt thief turns thief-taker in despair, so an unsuccessful author turns critic. But a young spirit panting for fame, doubtful of its powers, and certain only of its aspirations, is ill qualified to assign its true value to the sneer of this world. He knows not that such stuff as this is of the abortive and monstrous births which time consumes as fast as it produces. He sees the truth and falsehood, the merits and demerits, of his case inextricably entangled . . . No personal offence should have drawn from me this public comment upon such stuff 66 ... The offence of this poor victim [Keats] seems to have consisted solely in his intimacy with Leigh Hunt, Mr. Hazlitt, and some other enemies of despotism and superstition. My friend Hunt has a very hard skull to crack, and will take a deal of killing. I do not know much of Mr. Hazlitt, but . . . I knew personally but little of Keats; but on the news of his situation I wrote to him, suggesting the propriety of trying the Italian climate, and inviting him to join me. Unfortunately he did not allow me". |