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 FIRST SERIES. No. 2. 
 
 NOTE-BOOK 
 
 THE SHELLEY SOCIETY 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 THE HONORARY SECRETARIES 
 
 PART I. 
 BEING THE FIRST PART OF VOLUME L 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PUBLISHED FOR THE SHELLEY SOCIETY 
 
 BY REEVES AND TURNER 196 STRAND 
 
 1888 
 
 PRICE TEN SHILLINGS 
 
FACSIMILE REPRINT OF 
 THE POSTHUMOUS FRAGMENTS 01 
 MARGARET NICHOLSON. 
 
 Mr. F. S. Ellis, who has already given us the Reprint 
 
 Hellas, and is now giving us the much-needed Alphabetic 
 
 Table of Contents to the various editions of Shelley's J For/ 
 
 offered to defray one-half the cost of the Reprint of t 
 
 thumous Frar ents of Margaret Nicholson, provided son 
 
 other : I-r >e: c rubers will supply the other half. Sever 
 
 tbers of the Committee (Messrs. W. M. Rossetti, R. j 
 
 Potts, F. J. Fumivall, T. J. Wise, H. B. Forman, and Bert a 
 
 ►ell), have each subscribed Two Guineas towards this objec 
 
 The Committee therefore trust that some other Members < 
 
 Society will come forward with subscriptions to cover tl: 
 
 balance of the cost, in order that the book (which is alread 
 
 complete in type), may be issued without delay. The Honorar 
 
 Secretary (Mr. Thomas J. Wise) will be glad to receiv 
 
 contributions, or promises of contributions, for this purpose. 
 
 The Society's Meetings and Papers during its Third Session, 1888 wil 
 be at University College, Gower Street, at 8 p.m. on Wednesdays. 
 
 Annual General Meeting. 
 /; - Prometheus Unbound considered as a Foem. Part II 
 
 Faith," by W, K. Parkes. 
 
 !: xton Forman. 
 
 king. 
 Brooke. 
 
 the Chairman of Committ 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY'S NOTE-BOOK 
 
 TART I. 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSIT' 
 
NOTEBOOK 
 
 THE SHELLEY SOCIETY, 
 
 EDITED BY THE HONORARY SECRETARIES. 
 
 FIRST SESSION, 1886. 
 
 INAUGURAL MEETING, 
 
 WEDNESDAY, MARCH \oth, 1SS6. 
 
 THE Society's Inaugural Meeting was held on 
 Wednesday evening, the 10th March, in the Botany 
 Theatre of University College, Gower Street. This 
 large room was crowded with members and their friends, 
 fully five hundred being present. Dr. F. J. Furnivall 
 took the chair, and on the platform were Messrs. H. 
 Buxton Forman, A. Forman, T. J. Wise, W. B. Teget- 
 meier, H. Sweet, B. Dobell, R. A. Potts, J. Todhunter, 
 S. E. Preston, and others of the committee. Also Miss 
 Alma Murray, Mr. Henry A, Jones, Mr. Leonard S. 
 Outram, Messrs. H. S. Salt, J. J. Rossiter, T. C. Abbott, 
 and others closely connected with the Society. 
 
 The Chairman regretted the absence of Mr. W. M. 
 Rossetti owing to the very serious illness of a relation, 
 and expressed the indebtedness of the Society to Mr. 
 Stopford Brooke for coming forward to give them a 
 lecture on Shelley, especially as that was not his first 
 appearance on the platform that day. 
 
 B 
 
 108219 
 
c NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 The Rev. Stopford Brooke, in stating the objects of 
 the Society, said that the humour of about a hundred 
 persons might alone be considered a good reason for 
 the existence of any Society whatever, but the founders 
 of the Shelley Society desired to connect together all 
 that would throw light on the poet's personality and his 
 work, to ascertain the truth about him, to issue reprints, 
 and above all to do something to further the objects of 
 Shelley's life and work, and perhaps to better under- 
 stand and love a genius which was ignored and abused 
 in his own time, but which had risen from the grave 
 into which the critics had trampled it to live in the 
 hearts of men. 
 
 There are those, however, the lecturer continued, who 
 do not love Shelley's poetry. Mr. Matthew Arnold 
 finds in it an incurable want of sound subject-matter, 
 and consequently a large element of unsubstantially. 
 He considers a volume of selections from Wordsworth 
 or Byron of far more value than a similar selection from 
 Shelley. Others are of opinion that the comparison of 
 such selections really proves Mr. Arnold to be in the 
 wrong. Byron is inferior to Shelley in what Mr. Arnold 
 calls true seriousness of substance and manner, as well 
 as in felicity of diction. As a serious attempt to grasp 
 the problem of good and evil, Byron's " Cain " cannot 
 bear comparison with " Prometheus Unbound/' Byron 
 was rarely true to himself; and this lack of sincerity will 
 always prevent the world from loving him as it loves 
 Shelley. The high praise which Shelley gave to Byron 
 did not imply that he had not detected the weaknesses 
 of Byron's work. Shelley's remark that " Cain " was the 
 finest thing in poetry since u Paradise Regained" evinces 
 his hatred of orthodox religion rather than his critical 
 acumen. He had no such unreserved opinion as Mr. 
 Arnold imagines about Byron's work. He by no means 
 approved of Byron's poetic method, and was indignant 
 with the spirit that animated " Childe Harold," regarding 
 the life and temper of Byron at the time of which he 
 wrote as an insane and self-willed folly, in which he 
 deliberately hardened himself. In short, Shelley did 
 not consider Byron possessed the qualities which make 
 a poet consistently great. This estimate was not the 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 3 
 
 offspring of jealousy ; Shelley had too little care for the 
 applause of the world to feel annoyed at Byron's 
 influence as a poet becoming greater than his own. 
 
 Shelley's truthfulness extended to his descriptions of 
 natural scenery. He gives us with closest accuracy, 
 not, like Keats, minute details, but the tone, the 
 spirit, the changing impression, of the scene. It is 
 interesting to notice in " Alastor," for instance, how the 
 character of the stream varies with the changing thoughts 
 in the wanderer's mind. Shelley, like Turner, painted 
 his impressions, but the impressions were invariably true 
 to nature. Byron obviously wrote in the studio, not face 
 to face with the living world ; but Shelley, even when 
 most victimized by his exuberant imagination, never 
 fails to give an accurate picture of nature's beauty. For 
 faithfulness and splendour of descriptive power the 
 representation of the Alpine valley in the " Prometheus " 
 stands alone in the poetry of savage and solitary 
 Nature. 
 
 The pessimistic spirit is shared by so many in the 
 present age, that the sombre colouring, the element of 
 discontent, in Shelley's poems has a peculiar interest 
 for us. But we must not take this to be his prevailing 
 temper. The preface to " Alastor" is evidence of his 
 disapproval of the despairing view of human life. He 
 felt it deeply, and wrote of it often, but he wrote in order 
 to get away from a condition of life with which he did 
 not sympathize. It is most unfair to say that Shelley 
 had no serious human aims. 
 
 Much that Shelley wrote in relation to love cannot be 
 called serious. His fancies are woven of ether and fine 
 fire, but they are nevertheless true as expressions of 
 passing phases of feeling. Life is not wholly made up 
 of what we call realities, and we may be grateful to 
 Shelley for expressing what no other poet has done. 
 
 Another aspect of Shelley's poetry is worthy of careful 
 attention— his desire for a more rapid advance of the 
 welfare of mankind. He dwells on what is of great 
 importance — of human life as it will become when freed 
 from evil. Few have done more to overthrow false 
 conceptions of God, and to shake the foundations of 
 superstition, caste, tyranny, and slavery of mind and 
 
 B 2 
 
4 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 body. His desire to see justice made universal between 
 man and man, to extend the bounds of freedom, to 
 promote the love of his fellows, was with him a fervent 
 passion. His poetry is steeped in these things as a 
 summer garden in sunshine. They are part of the 
 serious body of his poetry, and the world will always 
 be drawn to Shelley for this religious gravity of his 
 teaching. His method was the method of Jesus Christ, 
 reliance on spiritual force only, and was marked out in 
 the strongest way. This cannot be said to be an un- 
 substantial basis for poetry. Poets in all ages have 
 chosen the golden future for their theme, and have done 
 their best work when they felt the passionate longing 
 for it overmaster them. This was Shelley's ideal ; would 
 we were all as faithful to it as he ! 
 
 It is true that the form in which Shelley embodied 
 his aspirations was often unreal and visionary. But we 
 must not forget the matter because of the form, and the 
 form itself was indicative of Shelley's mind. How serious 
 his ideal was, a glance at his biography will show. His 
 life — kind, affectionate, full of natural piety, and devoted 
 to a practical support of his noble ideals — may well be 
 contrasted with that of Lord Byron. Plain living and 
 high thinking were not dead in England while Shelley 
 lived. He hated materialism ; he believed in goodness, 
 and in the ultimate triumph of goodness — a belief that 
 may be recommended to an age of scepticism, an age 
 whose tendency is to look upon material progress as all 
 that is needed to heal the woes and sins of the race. 
 
 We should not omit to notice that Shelley's unsub- 
 stantial form changed in later life. That he could go 
 straight to his point, and write with incisive power, is 
 shown by many passages of his works, and especially by 
 the noble fragment, " Charles I." 
 
 Since Shakspere, no dramatic blank verse has been 
 written to equal Shelley's. Unequal as it is in weight 
 and dignity, it is much freer than that of Tennyson. 
 Browning hardly counts as an artist in dramatic blank 
 verse ; and the rest are nowhere, as regards this form of 
 dramatic expression. Beyond the drama, he has many 
 rivals, but he keeps a good place. Keats does not know 
 his instrument well enough. The art of Tennyson is too 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 5 
 
 perceptible, the technique too easy to imitate. Shelley 
 used this form of verse as his natural tongue, loose or 
 close-knit, as the subject demanded. It is far from finished 
 in " Alastor," much more noble in the " Prometheus," 
 less so in the " Cenci," but superb in " Charles I." 
 
 Mr. Arnold will agree with none of these things. 
 His judgment regarding Shelley's poetry has been 
 victimized by his personal antipathy to Shelley's ideal- 
 ism. One would not say this of the first critic of the 
 day, had not his own words proved it. He says, " Ex- 
 cept for a few short things, Shelley's original poetry is 
 less satisfactory than his translations, the subject-matter 
 in the latter being found for him." That is sufficiently 
 petulant, but we may excuse it on the ground of the 
 critic's theory of the subject-matter. His prejudice, 
 however, drives him further, for he actually expresses a 
 doubt whether Shelley's letters and essays will not 
 11 resist the wear and tear of time better, and finally 
 come to stand higher, than his poetry." Mr. Swinburne 
 might well remark that a few more such Judgments 
 would be the ruin of any critic, however eminent. 
 
 The subject has thus far been treated in somewhat 
 general terms, because this is a public lecture ; but for 
 the more private gatherings of the Society a few sug- 
 gestions may be of service. One is that particular 
 matters should be entered into a book, so that members 
 wishing to write essays may choose subjects suitable 
 to their tastes. Comparison should be made of Shelley's 
 views on political and social topics as expressed in prose, 
 with his views on the same topics as expressed in verse. 
 The contrast in treatment is curious. In the former 
 case Shelley expresses himself with a quietness and 
 coolness, a strictness of logic, and a temperance of 
 argument and metaphor, worthy of John Stuart Mill. 
 But in his poetry, the same ideas soar into the sky, and 
 become children of the lightning and the sun. Shelley's 
 notions on love should be gathered and compared in 
 this way. We cannot understand "Alastor," "Prince 
 Athanase," or " Epipsychidion," unless we comprehend 
 Shelley's idea of Love. His theories of the universe 
 must be understood, if we wish to understand his 
 references to death and his conceptions of the life 
 
6 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 beyond. We must grasp his conception of a living 
 universe to enter into the spirit of his interpretation ot 
 nature. The fine descriptions of scenery in the letters 
 and prose works should be collated and compared with 
 the corresponding passages in his poems. 
 
 In conclusion, the lecturer remarked that he had no 
 wish to exalt Shelley above his proper rank. He does 
 not sit apart from the solemn choir of poets, some ot 
 whom have presented a closer and truer image of life 
 than he has ; but within his own sphere, Shelley's work 
 is of extraordinary power, beauty, and creative impulse. 
 His mistakes arose from the adoption of a particular 
 method, rather than from weakness of capacity. He 
 was an idealist undoubtedly, but it is useless to say that 
 his themes are not fit subjects for poetic treatment. 
 When he wrote for mankind, he was close enough to his 
 subject, though he idealized it. When he wrote for 
 himself, and expressed fine films of feeling, he was 
 unsubstantial, but practical as we are, dreams of feeling 
 are part of our life ; and it is fitting that a great poet 
 should give expression to the vague fancies that are 
 born within us. We get from Shelley what we do not 
 get from Wordsworth ; and those who love the thrush 
 chanting in the woods need not abuse the lark singing 
 in the sunlit sky. 
 
 Many are content to take the world as it is, but those 
 who, like Shelley, are not content, who find in him their 
 prophetic singer of the advancing kingdom of faith and 
 hope and love, are not to be blamed for loving him well. 
 Though the song be clothed in visions, it need not be 
 deficient in serious subject-matter. It could be wished 
 that subject-matter were always before the hopes and in 
 the hearts of men. From a social point of view it is to 
 be wished that our faith in it were as strong as Shelley's. 
 If the poor could believe that such a time as Shelley 
 dreamed of is really coming, their lot would be easier 
 to bear. Were his ideals more general, philosophy would 
 be less loud, science less insolent, and the opinion that 
 this is the worst of all possible worlds would cease to 
 be the last resource of men. It is the nature of a great 
 faith to make life simple. Those who remain apart from 
 the ideal hopes of man in the midst of a formulated 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 7 
 
 culture, are apt to think that the " Welt-geist " moves 
 only in the educated part of society. History affords 
 decisive proof to the contrary. From what rank have 
 sprung most of the men who have moved the world ? 
 Not from the ranks of the rich and educated, but from 
 among those who were " despised and rejected of men, 
 and acquainted with grief" — those of whom it may 
 be said, " How know these men letters, having never 
 learned ? " These love Shelley, and find in him their 
 poet, perhaps their priest. If you wish to live in the 
 ideas which thirty years hence will rule the world, live 
 among the men who have the faith of Shelley, who cry, 
 
 " O wind, 
 If winter comes, shall spring be far behind ? n 
 
 Mr. Brooke was listened to throughout with deep 
 attention, and was enthusiastically applauded at the 
 conclusion of his lecture. 
 
 The Chairman in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. 
 Brooke remarked that while Shelley lived at Marlow, 
 his (the Chairman's) father had often attended Mrs. 
 Shelley. The poet would often run down to Windsor 
 or Old Windsor, leave his boat and man there, walk 
 over Runnymede, and come and sit on the surgery 
 counter to have a chat with Mr. Furnivall, and refuse 
 to refresh himself with anything but a dish of milk 
 and a piece of bread. Although the doctor did not 
 believe in Shelley's theories, and thought Pope the 
 greatest poet in the world, he was delighted with 
 Shelley's society. Having therefore heard so constantly 
 of Shelley during his boyhood, the Chairman observed 
 that when Mr. Sweet said to him barely three months 
 ago, ° Why not found a Shelley Society ? " he replied, 
 "By Jove! I will. He was my father's friend." Had 
 the proposal been made with respect to a Tupper or 
 a Gosse, people might naturally be expected to wonder 
 at such a tribute; but as Shelley was one of England's 
 greatest poets, the speaker considered it was only paying 
 a debt which was due to him ; and that the formation of 
 a body of persons pledged to labour for his memory 
 was peculiarly appropriate at a time when an attack 
 had recently been made upon it from the most Philistine 
 
8 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 point of view. We must endeavour to find out whether 
 "the real Shelley" was the being" painted in black by 
 Mr. J. Cordy JeafTreson, or the man limned so ably in 
 glowing colours by Mr. Stopford Brooke to-night. 
 
 Another great object of the Society was to put the 
 " Cenci " on the stage. There were two ladies present, 
 Miss Alma Murray and Miss Glyn (Mrs. Dallas), whose 
 life-long ambition had been to act Beatrice Cenci ; but 
 the managers of old would not put the play on the stage 
 for Miss Glyn, though the Shelley Society meant now to 
 do it for Miss Murray (Mrs. A. Forman). The Society's 
 representation would have to be a private one, the 
 Licenser having declined to license the performance. 
 Mr. Hermann Vezin and Mr. Outram had also promised 
 their valuable assistance. We want to do Shelley justice 
 on the stage, so as to test the question whether the greatest 
 lyric poet is not also a great dramatic one. We need 
 not be deterred from acting the "Cenci" by the repulsive 
 nature of the story, for the language of the play is a 
 marvel of purity. The matter has the support of the 
 dramatic profession, Mr. H. A. Jones, the author of the 
 "Silver King," taking a strong interest in it. A per- 
 formance of the " Hellas," with music by Dr. Selle, \s 
 also intended. The Society numbers in 3 months, I44 
 members, a most promising beginning ; for the Browning 
 Society, which now numbers about 220, had only 72 
 when it had been established nine months. We ought 
 to have 250 or 300 members by Christmas. The Society 
 hope to issue a dozen books this year ; and subscribers 
 will have in addition three tickets each for the dramatic 
 representations. 
 
 The Society is not meant to last for ever. We 
 think ten years will be found sufficient for all pur- 
 poses; and those who care for Shelley's reputation, 
 and are willing to do something for his fame, are 
 cordially invited to cooperate in the Society's work. 
 
 Mr, Buxton Forman seconded the vote of thanks 
 and Mr. Stopford Brooke briefly responded. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE INAUGURAL MEETING OF THE 
 SHELLEY SOCIETY. 
 
 March ioth, 1886. 
 
 At Shakspere's and at Milton's throne I stand, 
 In virtue of the one undoubtful deed 
 Wrought to the Tragic God's austerest need 
 
 Since of my Masters each put forth his hand 
 
 And took the crown that sealed him (in the land 
 Of poet-plenty) king beyond the thought 
 Of after-kneelers in the fane he wrought 
 
 Or after-builders at the dream he planned. — ■ 
 
 A wind sweeps up to me through which the name 
 I answered to on earth is heard to run 
 
 With fulness of a fresh-upstarted flame. 
 As if with power sped from its parent sun, 
 
 The world grows greate with my widened fame, 
 And wins my blessing on the work begun. 
 
 Alfred Forman. 
 
 FROUDE'S ARTICLE ON SHELLEY. 
 
 Nineteenth Century, August, 1883. 
 
 In a prospectus put forth by the Shelley Society, a 
 list is given of articles which it is proposed that the 
 Society shall reprint from magazines, so as to give 
 them a more permanent and accessible form. Among 
 these articles is one by Mr. Froude, which appeared in 
 the "Nineteenth Century," for August, 1883. While 
 every one who is interested in Shelley's fair fame, must 
 be grateful to Mr. Froude for clearing it, by conclusive 
 proof, from the aspersions which had been cast on it in 
 a certain matter, I venture to submit that he has, by a 
 
io NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 misinterpretation of a passage which he quotes from the 
 unpublished diary of the Shelleys, given rise to an im- 
 pression hardly less unpleasant than the story which he 
 so ably refutes. Wishing to show how little of intimate 
 friendship existed between Jane Clairmont and Mary 
 Godwin, Mr. Froude writes of the former, " She was 
 clever, witty, spiteful, ambitious, professing a latitude in 
 matters of morality which scandalised Shelley himself. 
 In the unpublished journal of the two Shelleys is recorded 
 one impression which she left on them. * October 7, 18 14. — 
 Jane states her conception of the sublime — community of 
 women! " And a little further on, speaking of Byron's 
 connexion with Jane Clairmont, Mr. Froude again lets 
 us see the meaning he attaches to the passage he quotes 
 from the journal by remarking, " With the theories which 
 she entertained in such matters, Jane Clairmont is not likely 
 to have made long objections. She was carrying out her 
 notion of the * sublime! " A man of Mr. Froude's age 
 and gravity might have spared the sneer even if there 
 were any ground for it, inasmuch as Jane Clairmont 
 cannot justly be accused, in assuming the same position 
 towards Byron, as Mary Godwin held with regard to 
 Shelley, of carrying out any theories such as he would 
 fasten upon her. If Mr. Froude's interpretation of the 
 passage which he quotes from the diary be correct, we 
 must accept the loathsome picture of Shelley and the 
 woman he regarded as his wife, discussing with a girl of 
 sixteen, the unsavoury subject of promiscuous sexual 
 intercourse between men and women ; for the entry in 
 the journal is clearly the result of some conversation or 
 discussion which had taken place among themselves. 
 But unless we are willing to regard Shelley as a man of 
 depraved and debased mind, it is clear that Mr. Froude 
 has put upon this passage an interpretation which the 
 writers never dreamed of, but that in fact " Jane's con- 
 ception of the sublime " was no more than that which 
 has been imagined by any number of romantic girls, and 
 which is pictured by the Laureate in his " Princess " — a 
 community of women without men. If this be the real 
 meaning of the words it rather strengthens than weakens 
 Mr. Froude's general argument ; for a woman with whom 
 Shelley had used the freedom of speech here attributed 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. 1 1 
 
 to him by implication, was much more likely to have 
 fallen into the disgraceful connexion which it is his 
 object to disprove, than if the more probable and inno- 
 cent reading of the passage in question be the true one. 
 It is also to be remarked that poor Jane Clairmont's 
 subsequent career certainly gave no indication of her 
 "professing a latitude in matters of morality" such as 
 her censor charges her with, and to fasten such a 
 stain on her character from an ambiguous passage in a 
 journal would be cruel and unjust, and ought not to 
 receive the imprimatur of the Shelley Society. Is it 
 too much to hope that if this were represented to Mr. 
 Froude by some one of weight on the committee he 
 might be induced to alter his article in this respect ? 
 The importance of his general argument is so great that 
 it would undoubtedly be most desirable to include it in 
 the transactions of the Society, except for the important 
 point which I have endeavoured to make clear, though 
 I fear I may have expressed myself but poorly. 
 
 F. S. Ellis. 
 
 "THE CENCI." 
 
 As it is impossible to contemplate a Shelley Society 
 which has not for one of its primary objects the pro- 
 duction on the boards of this grand tragedy, members 
 will not be surprised to hear, that on the very day on 
 which a Shelley Society was first suggested to its 
 energetic founder, Miss Alma Murray received an 
 invitation to undertake the part of Beatrice Cenci. 
 Fortunately for our Society, Miss Murray at once 
 acceded ; and the valuable start thus made has been 
 the means of obtaining the services of such artists as 
 Mr. Hermann Vezin, Miss Maude Brennan, and Mr. 
 Leonard Outram. It is generally acknowledged that 
 Mr. Hermann Vezin is the only living English actor 
 competent to give a representation of such a character 
 as the Count Cenci ; and we may consider ourselves 
 remarkably fortunate in having secured the services of 
 himself and of so accomplished and charming an actress 
 
12 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 as Miss Murray for the first representation of the 
 tragedy. Mr. Leonard Outram has kindly consented to 
 personate the crafty Orsino ; and the Countess Lucretia 
 will be undertaken by Miss Maude Brennan, who we 
 may be sure will do full justice to that unfortunate lady. 
 The remaining characters of the cast will, according to 
 present arrangements, be represented as follows : — 
 
 Camillo . . . 
 Giacomo . . , 
 
 . Mr. 
 
 R. de Cordova. 
 
 Bernardo 
 
 . . Mr. 
 
 Mark Ambient. 
 
 Savella . . 
 
 , . Mr. 
 
 Philip Ben Greet. 
 
 Alarzio . . 
 
 . . Mr. 
 
 G. R. Foss. 
 
 Olimpio . . 
 
 . . Mr. 
 
 Shuter. 
 
 Andrea . . 
 
 . . Mr. 
 
 Cecil Crofton. 
 
 Judge . . . 
 
 . . Mr. 
 
 Hope Meriscord. 
 
 With such a cast the success of the performance is, 
 we may justly assume, a foregone conclusion. 
 
 Not only members of the Shelley Society, but the 
 whole dramatic and poetic world will be glad to hear 
 that " The Cenci " is at last to be put on the stage, 
 even though the performance be confined, as it will, 
 entirely to members and their friends ; and the ex- 
 pressions of opinion which, since the fact of the 
 approaching event became known, have been daily 
 increasing, are, so far as concerns those from all quarters 
 with any claim to respectability, most encouraging. 
 From the few selections given below, it will be seen 
 that there has for some time been a latent hope in 
 editorial breasts that the tragedy might some day see 
 the footlights. 
 
 "With competent executants, such pieces as A Blot in the 
 'Scutcheon, and even The Cenci, might be performed for two or 
 three mornings with a certainty of success." — Athenaeum, io Dec. 
 1881. 
 
 " Plays of later date, too, which have never been seen on the 
 stage — The Cenci and Death's Jest Book — may perhaps be 
 essayed/' — Athen^um, 27 June, 1885. 
 
 " Miss Alma Murray acquitted herself wonderfully well and 
 charmed all who heard her. Is it too much to hope that some day 
 she will undertake the part of Beatrice on the stage, in a scholarly 
 presentment of Shelley's beautiful tragedy ? " — Weekly Dispatch, 
 
 l 9 7 ul y> '885. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 13 
 
 " Each of her efforts was received with marked favour, the most 
 special enthusiasm, perhaps, being reserved for the Prologue to 
 Browning's Pippa Passes, and, above all, the final scene of Shelley's 
 great tragedy, The Ce?ici, a performance of which, with Miss Alma 
 Murray as Beatrice, would be a hardly dubitable success." — The 
 Theatre, Aug., 1885. 
 
 " The final scene from The Cenci closed the entertainment. Miss 
 Murray had evidently studied this extract with particular care, and 
 it is an open secret that she intends, sooner or later, creating the 
 rule of Beatrice in a stage representation of the play. This, of 
 course, will be an event fraught with the highest interest to all 
 students of the English drama. From this tentative experiment 
 the happiest auguries of Miss Murray's success were afforded." — 
 The Artist, Aug., 1885. 
 
 "Miss Alma Murray's appearance as Beatrice, in the Shelley 
 Society's intended performance of The Cenci, is looked forward to 
 with much interest. At this we are not surprised, remembering, as 
 we do, the profound impression she created in the selection from 
 Shelley's wonderful tragedy at her dramatic reading for the Wagner 
 Society last July. In it she showed herself mistress of a purely and 
 specifically tragic style, and proved herself capable of stirring the 
 passions of pity and terror to that pitch of exaltation and purification 
 rightly laid down by Aristotle as the essential aim of tragedy." — 
 Musical Review, 2 Jan., 1886. 
 
 " The Shelley Society, which was inaugurated last Wednesday 
 evening by an eloquent address by the Rev. Stopford Brooke and 
 other proceedings, at University College, is completing its arrange- 
 ments for a performance of The Cenci next May, which cannot fail 
 to be extremely interesting, as Miss Alma Murray and Mr. Hermann 
 Vezin are to take the parts of Beatrice and her father. As the 
 Licenser of Plays has declined to sanction the public performance 
 of this masterpiece of severe and wholesome tragedy, for reasons 
 best known to himself, only members of the Shelley Society and 
 their friends will be able to witness it." — Weekly Dispatch, 14 
 March, 1886. 
 
 Many more journals, theatrical, musical, and other- 
 wise, might be quoted to the same effect ; but these are 
 fairly representative, and quite sufficient to show that 
 the Society's performance should be received with no 
 lukewarm favour in " literary and artistic circles." 
 
 Editor. 
 
NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 SHELLEY AT ETON. 
 
 I WAS one day in South Meadow, a field adjoining 
 the well-known Brocas, and used in winter as a football 
 and hurdle-race ground by Eton boys. I was with 
 Mr. Edward Coleridge, nephew of the poet, brother, ten 
 years younger, of Sir John Coleridge the judge, who was 
 at one time editor of the Quarterly Review. We were 
 standing near one of the pollard willows which line 
 many a ditch in the Thames Valley. It was a wretched 
 tree, with only half a trunk ; it was black inside. Mr. 
 Coleridge said to me : " This is the tree that Shelley 
 blew up with gunpowder : that was his last bit of 
 naughtiness at school." He went on to say that his 
 brother John was of Shelley's standing at Eton, and 
 used to say that he never joined in teasing Shelley, but 
 he did not know any one else that did not tease him : 
 there used to be a " Shelley-bait " every day about 
 noon : the boys hunted Shelley up the street ; he was 
 known for not wearing strings in his shoes. 
 
 I got nothing else out of Mr. Edward Coleridge on 
 this subject. I have stayed in Sir John Coleridge's house 
 and heard him talk of literary men that he had known, 
 but not of Shelley. 
 
 If I remember right, it is in the Revolt of Islam that 
 the poet writes of the cruelties of schools. I believe boys 
 suffer more from mortification than from rough usage, 
 and that a life may be poisoned by insulting notice taken 
 of deficiencies in dress. I consider the shoe-strings in 
 this case not to have been trifles. 
 
 Shelley's use of gunpowder reminds me of the tradition, 
 which seems to be well known, of his amusing his com- 
 panions with a frictional electric machine in his own room, 
 and charging the door-handle, and failing in his dutiful 
 attempt to warn his tutor, Mr. Bethell, against opening 
 the door when he came to stop the noise caused by the 
 electric shocks. This Mr. Bethell was, to boys, famous 
 for inefficiency as a classical teacher ; but he was a true 
 gentleman, a cadet of a good Yorkshire family ; he was 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. 1 5 
 
 known to men as a modest but stcdfast vindicator of 
 the " statutable rights of the scholars " of Eton College 
 against the iniquitous usurpations of the Provost and 
 Fellows. He was a just and also a courteous man. 
 
 In a recent paper on Eton Buildings in the Saturday 
 Review it was erroneously said that the picturesque 
 house standing in a corner of the playing-fields was the 
 house in which Shelley boarded. This house, which the 
 governors lately wished, but no longer wish, to destroy, 
 was twenty years ago graced by the presence of a 
 boy-poet who had a singular influence, and died the 
 most poetical of deaths at the age of nineteen ; but the 
 house in which Shelley gave Bethell the shock was a 
 lower house standing at the corner of the road, and it 
 was taken down about twenty-five years ago ; it was 
 next door to a shop well known fifty years back — a shop 
 kept by some elderly women called Spire or Spires. At 
 the end of the college precinct, or that part of the village 
 of Eton in which the school-boys lived, there was at the 
 same time a shop kept by people named Towers. I 
 dare say Shelley may, like me, have heard Gray's line 
 quoted thus : " Ye ancient Spires, ye distant Towers," 
 a " derangement " of epithets made to suit the visitor 
 coming from Salt Hill, not from Windsor. 
 
 William Cory. 
 
i6 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Djafes mttr gtf&s. 
 
 1. A member writes : — " I believe it is not generally known that 
 Shelley's house in Half Moon Street was No. 34." 
 
 2. The " Academy " learns that there are three copies of " The 
 Necessity of Atheism " in existence. Sir Percy Shelley owns one, 
 a more complete copy is at Oxford, a third in private hands. 
 
 3. "Three Americans and Three Englishmen," by Professor 
 C. F. Johnson, has recently been published in New York. In the 
 opinion of the " Critic" of that city for January 27th " 'I he best of 
 these six lectures, which embrace essays more or less discursive on 
 Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Emerson, Hawthorne, and Long- 
 fellow, and which were delivered originally before the students of 
 Trinity College, Hartford, is the lecture on Shelley." 
 
 4. In the "Academy" of June 27, 1885, M. James Darmesteter 
 traced the source of Shelley's well-known little lyric " Love's 
 Philosophy," through Ronsard, to an ode of Anacreon. But it is 
 very improbable Shelley was acquainted with Ronsard ; and now 
 another French student of English, M. J. Parmentier, calls our 
 attention to the stanzas of Cowley beginning " The thirsty earth 
 soaks up the rain." The line " Nothing in Nature's sober found," 
 in particular, seems to prove to demonstration that Shelley must 
 have had Cowley in his mind. M. Parmentier's argument is given 
 at length in the February Bulletin of the Faculty des Lettres of 
 
 'Poitiers. — "Academy," March 13. 
 
 5. In the" Manchester Guardian" of March 3rd last Dr. Furni- 
 vall writes : — " I am glad to see that you have given admittance 
 to the letter of Mr. T. C. Abbott, of Eastlegh, Bowdon, urging those 
 inhabitants of Manchester and its neighbourhood who have literary 
 tastes and honour the memory of our greatest lyrical poet to join 
 the Branch Shelley Society which Mr. Abbott and his fellow- 
 workers desire to start at Manchester. There can be no question 
 that the people of England do owe a debt to Shelley's memory, and 
 that they ought to pay it. During his life they despised his opinions, 
 which were in advance of his time, and ridiculed his poetry because 
 it was too spiritual and beautiful for them. Now the tide cl opinion 
 is turning, and Manchester, which justifiably prides itself on having 
 led the rest of England in many matters political and social, ought 
 to add its force to the onward flow of the stream that is setting towards 
 reverence for Shelley's genius. On the Continent as well as in 
 England men's minds are arriving at a just estimate of Shelley's 
 power. Only the other day M. Gabriel Sarrazin, one of the ablest 
 of French critics, wrote to me that as Shakspcre was the greatest 
 dramatic genius, so Shelley must be recognised as the greatest lyric 
 genius." 
 
 6. Mr. W. E. A. Axon of the Society's Committee has written 
 an article for Book-lore of April, 1886, on "Shelley and 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. r 7 
 
 Vegetarianism," p. 121 — 131. He quotes from the first number 
 of the Medical Adviser December 6, 1823, edited by Alexander 
 Burnett, M.D., "a squib directed against Shelley and his Pytha- 
 gorean friends/' It gives an account of a Vegetarian dinner at 
 Hampstead, at which "the late P.B.S. was in the chair," and 
 after dinner gave the toast of " The memory of Nebuchadnezzar : and 
 may all kings, like him, be speedily sent to graze with their brother 
 brutes." This toast excited much commotion, but was drunk at 
 last without the adjunct, which it was deemed prudent to omit. 
 Mr. Axon then quotes from an entertaining volume, the Personal 
 and Literary Memorials by Henry Best (1829), an essay referring 
 to the vegetarianism of Shelley, and winds up with a notice of 
 Shelley's own words on the subject in his Queen Mad, his Vindi- 
 cation of Natural Diet, 1813, and a quotation of Shelley's dream 
 of an ideal world " My brethren we are free ! " &c. — F. J. F. 
 
 7. " Adonais." Apropos of Mr. T. J. Wise's beautiful reprint of 
 this great elegiac poem, the following appeared in the "Saturday 
 Review "for March 13 last : — " Mr. Wise's reprint of Adonais for 
 the Shelley Society is a very pleasant bibliographical curiosity, and 
 quite worthy of the attention of Shelleyans. Only three hundred 
 copies have been published, so the quarto possesses the advantage 
 of being "rare." It is edited with discretion and good taste. We 
 have here no quarrels of grammarians, and — for which much thanks 
 — no "revelations." Mr. Wise reprints, in the old blue paper 
 covers with the unmeaning woodcut, the Pisa edition (1821) of 
 the Adonais. He does not even correct the queer Greek of the 
 motto : — 
 
 avTrjp TTplv fiev eXafjLnes k.t.X. 
 
 Shelley's Greek, like ladies' Greek, according to Mrs. Browning, 
 was " without the accents," or with an irresponsible selection of 
 them, unless the incorrigible Pisan compositor is to blame. The 
 title-page of the Cambridge edition (1829) of the Adonais is also 
 reproduced ; it was printed " at the instance of Lord Houghton and 
 Arthur Hallam, and was edited from a copy of the original Pisan 
 edition brought by the latter from Italy." Arthur HaMsun's Adonais 
 must be one of the most interesting of literary relics. Mr. Wise's 
 reprint is very clear, with an excellent margin and most pleasant to 
 read. His interesting notes are mainly bibliographical. 
 
 "According to a letter to Oilier (Pisa, June 8, 1 821), Shelley intended 
 the London edition of the Adonais to be ' preceded by a criticism on 
 Hyperion, asserting the due claims which that fragment gives Keats 
 to the rank which I have assigned to him.' The essay was never 
 written or never published, as Shelley ' mislaid and in vain sought 
 for the volume that contains Hyperion? The original price of the 
 Pisan edition was three shillings and sixpence ; it has been sold for 
 as much as 40/. The Cambridge edition (1829) is even more rare. 
 Mr. Wise gives the dimensions of uncut copies of both editions, 
 information very useful to the collector. Though the Pisan edition 
 was published in July 1821, its diffusion in England must have 
 been extremely slow. A reviewer in the Literary Chronicle and 
 Weekly Review (Dec. 1, 1 821) prints most of the poem, adding. 
 
 c 
 
,i8 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 1 The copy before us is probably the only one now in England/ 
 In Mrs. Shelley's collected edition (1839) of her husband's poems 
 Mr. Wise finds only three important various "eadings. One is 
 odd :— 
 
 " The law 
 Of mortal change shall fill the grave which is her maw. 
 
 This becomes : — 
 
 " Of change, shall o'er his sleep the mortal curtain draw. 
 
 an alteration which, perhaps, is rather a weakening of the original. 
 The law of change can hardly be said, with much appropriateness, 
 to ' draw a curtain.' The lines from the nineteenth stanza — 
 
 " From the great morning of the world, when first 
 God dawned on chaos — 
 
 are infinitely better than the half-repetition in ' Hellas' : — 
 
 " In the great morning of the world 
 The spirit of God with might unfurled 
 The flag of freedom over Chaos. 
 
 1 Forth the banners go ' very early, according to Shelley, and Chaos 
 is the scene of a Liberal Demonstration. 
 
 " Mr. Wise's edition of a great poem is so pleasantly edited and 
 annotated that he may feel safe from the malignity of reviewers. 
 May the Shelley Society differ from certain other poetical Societies 
 by always publishing work as good as this edition of the Adonais I 
 We have heard ' a minstrel's malison,' and now a reviewer's benison 
 is said." 
 
 The same number of the Saturday contains a leader in blank 
 verse, quizzing good-humouredly Dr. Furnivall's accidental line of 
 blank verse, on Mr. Sweet's proposing that he should found a 
 Shelley Society — " By Jove, I will ! He was my father's friend." 
 
 8. In a leading article of the "Dramatic Review" of March 6, 
 Mr. William Archer, comparing the late production of Nadjczda at 
 the Hay market to the approaching performance of The Cenci, 
 writes: — "To my fallible judgment it seems a strange discrimi- 
 nation which leaves Nadjezda on the right side of the line and 
 The Cenci on the wrong. So far as mere plot is concerned, both 
 are in the region of horrors, and I fail to see that the one is in 
 reality a whit more horrible than the other. But even supposing 
 the matter of 'J he Cenci to be ten times as ghastly as that of 
 Nadjezda, the treatment, it must surely be conceded, should suffice 
 to reverse the balance. Shelley raised his historic theme into the 
 highest sphere of art ; Mr. Barrymore treated his modern and 
 imaginary subject crudely and repulsively. If style is anything — 
 and some will tell us that style is everything — The Cenci has every 
 redeeming grace, Nadjezda not one. The difference in the periods 
 of the two plays is not unimportant. Horrors in renascence costume 
 do not shock us so much as brutalities in modern dress. If an 
 ( )\ford or Cambridge company were to give a performance of the 
 CEdipus Tyrannus, the Censor would cover himself with ridicule 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 19 
 
 did he think of interfering, but a modernised version of the same 
 story might justly be considered somewhat startling. On all these 
 grounds, then, I maintain that to have vetoed Nadjezda would have 
 been rational and defensible, so far as these terms can be applied 
 to any action of so irrational and indefensible an office ; while to 
 veto The Cenci is to degrade English literature and insult the 
 English public. I do not say, and I do not think, that The Cenci 
 deserves to be, or is ever likely to become, a popular stage-play, but 
 I do say, and I do think, that the English nation should be allowed 
 to judge for itself as to whether the works of its great poets are fit 
 or unfit for the stage without asking leave of any irresponsible 
 official whatever." 
 
 9. The Pall Mall Gazette of 11, 12, and 1 3 March contains the 
 following paragraph and correspondence : 
 
 " Between the hours of eight and ten last evening Mr. Arnold's 
 ears must have tingled consumedly in whatever quarter of the 
 scholastic world he may now be prosecuting his researches. Mr. 
 Stopford Brooke's singularly temperate and thoughtful address was 
 mainly a vindication of Shelley from the censures of Mr. Arnold, 
 together with an assertion of his claim to rank as the poet and 
 priest of modern Meliorism, if not absolutely of Socialism. Mr. 
 Brooke having knocked Mr. Arnold out of time, Dr. Furnivall gave 
 him his quietus, to the extreme satisfaction of the assembled 
 Shelleyites, by describing him (unkindestcut of all) as a Philistine ot 
 the Philistines, and then and there was the standard of Shelleyism 
 reared aloft, its shaft impaling, as it were, the prostrate form of the 
 finished foe." 
 
 "MR. MATTHEW ARNOLD AND THE 
 PHILISTINES. 
 
 M To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " Sir, — I observe in your impression of to-night the state- 
 ment that Mr. Furnivall called Mr. Matthew Arnold, at the meeting 
 of the Shelley Society, 'a Philistine of the Philistines.' I did not 
 hear this statement. Had I done so, I should most certainly have 
 protested against it ; nor can I conceive it having been made, 
 either in jest or earnest. It is true I do not agree with Mr. 
 Arnold's estimate of Lord Byron ; and that I spoke last night — for 
 it was pat to the point of the meeting — against his remarkable view 
 of Shelley's poetry ; but to be uncourteous or irreverent to Mr. 
 Matthew Arnold — to one to whom I owe so much — would be wholly 
 impossible to me. 
 
 il I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 " March 11. « s. A. Brooke." 
 
 " To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " SIR, — Your paragraph-writer's mistake in making me call 
 Mr. Matthew Arnold — instead of that respectable person Mr. J. 
 Cordy Jeaffreson — 'a Philistine of the Philistines' has given me 
 the heartiest laugh I have had for many a day. I beg your con 
 
20 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 tributor's pardon for having misled him; but I thought that my 
 words 'we want the English public to judge whether the picture 
 drawn by this Philistine, or that so ably painted by Mr. Stopford 
 Brooke to-night, is " The Real Shelley'" — which is the title of Mr. 
 JeafTreson's book — would have saved me from being misunder- 
 stood. As to Mr. Matthew Arnold, I have always lookt on him 
 as " the Apostle of the Philistines " ; and though I greatly enjoyed 
 Mr. Brooke's proof of the fallacy of his opinion about Shelley, I 
 confess to having taken a different view of that opinion. Having 
 read but very little of what Mr. Arnold has written, that little has 
 made me look on him as one of the larkiest writers I ever came 
 across. It would not surprise me in the least to see Mr. Arnold 
 walking on his head along Pall-mall any afternoon in May. His 
 opinion on Shelley — which I have only seen in quotations — has 
 therefore always struck me as a piece of pleasantry, a witness that 
 he is still as lively as of old. I cannot doubt that he chuckled as 
 he wrote it, and has enjoyed ever since the consternation of many 
 Shelleyites at it. If I have mistaken so august and reverend a 
 sage, he may, or may not, condescend to hold me up to ridicule in 
 that delightful way of his, which the victim gets as much pleasure 
 from as the writer himself. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 " March 1 1. « F. J. FURNIVALL." 
 
 "MR. FURNIVALL AND THE PHILISTINES. 
 
 " To the Editor of the Pall Mall Gazette. 
 
 " Sir, — Mr. FurnivalPs allusion is clear enough when it is 
 seen in print with ' The Real Shelley' quoted and capitalised ; but 
 not even Mr. Furnivall's powers of elocution can indicate quotation 
 marks and capitals to the ear, and as neither he nor Mr. Stopford 
 Brooke had made any previous allusion to Mr. Cordy Jeaffreson 
 I think my misapprehension was not unnatural. To describe the 
 scourge of Philistinism as himself a Philistine seemed to me a 
 characteristic touch of Mr. Furnivall's quaint humour, and yet not 
 altogether 'irreverent' towards Mr. Matthew Arnold, for did not 
 the scourge of Snobs frequently confess himself a Snob ? More- 
 over, taking the phrase in connection with Mr. Furnivall's allusion 
 to 'the Tuppers and the Gosses,' I conceived the orator to be 
 sportively running amuck among living songsters, and sacrificing 
 all that came in his way to the Manes of his hero for the time being. 
 I was wrong, and I apologise. 
 
 " I am, Sir, your obedient servant, 
 
 "March 12. "THE WRITER OF THE NOTE." 
 
 10. NOTE ON A PASSAGE IN "QUEEN MAB," IV. 
 
 Throughout this varied and eternal world 
 Soul is the only clement, the block 
 That for uncounted ages has remained. 
 The moveless pillar of a mountain's weight 
 Is active living spirit. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. 1 1 
 
 I venture to suggest an emendation to the punctuation of the 
 above passage, which I think will be considered an improvement 
 both as regards sense and diction. The passage I suggest should 
 be punctuated as follows : — 
 
 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. 
 It will thus be seen that the " moveless pillar " is " the block " — 
 which I consider the natural sequence of the passage — whereas, as 
 given in all the editions,'we are made to think of the " pillar " and the 
 " block " as disconnected : a full point intervening between the 
 mention of each. 
 
 J. R. TUTIN. 
 
 Mr. Tutin is not unaware that the punctuation to which he demurs 
 is that which appears in the only authoritative edition of Queen 
 Mab, Shelley's unpublished book of 1813. I acknowledge myself 
 to be fully persuaded by Mr. Tutin's argument. Whether one 
 would admit this emendation into a fresh text of Shelley is a ques- 
 tion which would fall to be determined by one's greater or less 
 severity of typographic purism. Some re-editors would reject it 
 from the text, even if convinced of its truth ; others, being thus 
 convinced, would admit it, though destitute of all external authority. 
 
 Wm. Rossetti. 
 
 11. I have a copy of the Literary C/irom'c/e, December 1st, 1821, 
 which Mr. T. J. Wise quotes from in his Introduction to Shelley's 
 Ado7iais p. 11, and hope the following is not superfluous nor devoid 
 of interest. 
 
 The passage quoted from the Literary Chronicle by Mr. Wise is 
 the first paragraph of the article, and is followed by information 
 which shows that other authors besides Keats have succumbed to the 
 effects of adverse criticism. Then follows Shelley's Preface to the 
 poem, quoted entire, excepting the first paragraph, the first sentence 
 of which is not mentioned, but the substance of the two remaining 
 sentences is told by the critic. The poem itself begins on p. 752. 
 It occupies rather more than seven columns of type. As the stanzas 
 are not numbered, the poem appears to be complete. 
 
 Mr. W T ise says in his Introduction to The Keview of Memoir 
 of Prince Alexy Haimatoff, p. 11 : "I believe that I am correct in 
 stating that only two copies " (of the Memoirs) " are at presen 
 publicly known to be in existence. Of these, one is in the posses- 
 sion of Hogg's daughter, Mrs. Lonsdale ; and the other is preserved 
 in the British Museum." There is, however, a third copy in the 
 Bodleian Library, Oxford. In August last I found it catalogued 
 under " Brown, John," and told Dr. Nicholson (the librarian) of 
 Professor Dowden's article in the Contemporary, September, 1884, 
 suggesting that it should be catalogued under " Hogg." It is now 
 under both headings. 
 
 F. Grahame Aylward. 
 
22 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
 
 Queries. 
 i. Shelley Society's "Alastor." P. 7, 1. 6. How are the secret 
 caves ' inaccessible to avarice and pride ' ? 
 
 2. P. 23,1.7. 'Ruining' is likewise in another edition. Is it 
 correct, or a misprint for running? 
 
 3. P. 41, 1. 8. Who is it that is spoken of as ' the loveliest among 
 human forms,' a being who was led to make the wild haunts of the 
 winds the depository of grace and beauty ; to render up its majesty, 
 scatter its music, and commit the colours of that varying cheek, 
 &c, to the damp leaves and blue mould ? — Job. 
 
 Answers. 
 
 1. It is not entirely clear to me whether Shelley means that the 
 secret caves are inaccessible to avarice and pride, or that " the 
 springs of fire and poison " are thus inaccessible : I think the former. 
 The general conception seems to be that these caves contain bound- 
 less riches, not yet traced out by avarice and pride. The whole 
 description seems to be more imaginative than naturalistic ; e.g., 
 the " clear shrines of pearl." 
 
 2. There is no authority for any word except " ruining." I have 
 no doubt that ruining is right. One wave breaks upon another 
 wave, and crashes itself off into foamy ruin. 
 
 3. " The loveliest among human forms " is (I think indisputably) 
 the form of the Poet himself, the hero of the poem " Alastor." He 
 is the only person who ever entered the "one silent nook," and there 
 died. 1 find more difficulty in the statement that "one voice alone 
 . . . led the loveliest among human forms " into the nook. The 
 one voice can only (I think), according to the context, be the voice 
 of this same Poet ; and it is rather anomalous to say that his 
 own voice led his form — himself— into the nook. An explanation 
 might be found in the statement that his voice " inspired its 
 [the nook's] echoes." The Poet uttered forth some accents or ex- 
 clamations as he was approaching the nook : he heard the echo : 
 followed on in the direction of the echo : and so reached the nook. 
 Thus his voice can be said to have led his form. This is the only 
 way I can account for the peculiar phraseology of the passage. 
 
 W. M. Rossetti. 
 
 4. In 1821 W. Clark, the publisher of the first pirated edition of 
 Queen Mab, issued the following anonymous pamphlet : — 
 
 " Reply / to the / Anti-Matrimonial Hypothesis / and / Supposed 
 Atheism / of / Percy Byssche Shelley, / as laid down / in / Queen 
 Mab. / "Those to whom Heaven has been in wit profuse, / "Want 
 as much more, to turn it to its use."— Pope. / London : / Printed 
 and published, by W. Clarke, 396, Strand. / 1821. Octavo, 
 pp. i.-iv and 1-76." 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 23 
 
 Can any one inform me who was the author of this brochure ? 
 
 It is curious to note that the title-page alone contains three 
 errors : (a) Shelley's second Christian name is spelt Byssche instead 
 of Bysshe ; {b) the publisher's name reads Clarke instead of Clark; 
 and (c) his address is given as 396. Strand instead of 201, Strand. 
 These two latter mistakes are repeated in the imprint which stands 
 at the foot of the last page. The tract received a most favourable 
 notice in The Literary Gazette, Saturday, September 22?id, 1821. 
 The reviewer speaks of it as " This ably-written pamphlet .... 
 is a complete refutation of the absurdities by which Shelley 
 propped his beautifully philosophical plan of universal happiness, 
 by means of universal prostitution, and proves, in a masterly way, 
 the egregious stupidity of a pseudo sage. ... To those who wish 
 to peruse a clever treatise .... we recommend this reply." 
 
 Thomas J. Wise. 
 
 PROVINCIAL AND OTHER NEWS. 
 
 1. Mr. H. S. Salt will write the Shelley Primer. 
 
 2. Professor Dovvden's large book on Shelley is almost ready for 
 the press, and will probably be published by C. Kegan Paul and 
 Co. in November. 
 
 3. A series of articles is appearing in the Antiqtiary on the well- 
 worn subject of Beatrice Cenci. They are written by Mr. Richard 
 Davey, and are seemingly founded on the Italian book on the 
 subject published some years ago, entitled, Francesco Cenci e la sua 
 famiglia. Notizie e documenti raccolti per A. Bertolotti. (Firenze : 
 Tipografia della Gazetta d' Italia, 1877.) As, however, all that 
 concerns Beatrice is of interest to Shelleyites, Mr. Davey's article 
 will be noticed at length in a future issue. 
 
 4. At the February meeting of the Manchester Literary Club, 
 Mr. Milner, who presided, called attention to the progress of the 
 Shelley Society, and read a communication from Dr. Furnivall ex- 
 pressing his gratification at the support which the Society had 
 received in Manchester, where the matter had been more warmly 
 taken up than in any other town. 
 
 5. Mr. William E. Lewis, who is endeavouring to found a branch 
 society in Liverpool, in a recent letter to the Daily Post of that city, 
 after pointing out the value of the Shelley Society's work as mapped 
 out in its prospectus, proceeds : — 
 
 "A true appreciation of the value of this work can only be 
 6btained by carefully perusing the details of the four series into 
 which the publications of the society are to be divided, and to 
 this end I shall be happy to forward all who may desire it a copy 
 of the list. A fair assurance of support would enable us to start 
 the Liverpool branch immediately, and no doubt arrangements 
 could be made with the leading literary members to repeat their 
 papers or give special addresses. I may add that the movement 
 has the support of Dr. Furnivall, Professor Rendall, Principal of 
 University College, and the committee of the London Society." 
 
24 NOTEBOOK OF THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 
 
 It is much to be hoped that Mr. Lewis's efforts will be as success- 
 ful as those of the Local Hon. Secretary for Manchester, whose 
 industry, as our coming prospectus will show, has been well 
 rewarded. 
 
 6. An informal meeting of the admirers of the poet Shelley, 
 convened by Mr. W. K. Parkes, our Local Hon. Sec. for Birming- 
 ham, Summerfield Crescent, Edgbaston, was held at the Mason 
 College, on Saturday afternoon, March 13th, at 3 P.M., for the pur- 
 pose of considering the advisability of forming a Birmingham 
 branch of the recently-established Shelley Society in London. 
 The preliminary arrangements were discussed, and it was decided 
 to call another meeting at an early date, when the local branch 
 could be satisfactorily inaugurated. 
 
 In connection with this then approaching meeting, and with the 
 importance of having a branch society at Birmingham, Mr. D. B. 
 Bright well, in a recent letter to the Birmingham Weekly Post, 
 writes : — 
 
 " Birmingham ought not to be so far behind Manchester in this 
 matter, that there should be any difficulty in getting together a 
 score or two of men and women to study him who is essentially the 
 poets' poet. We are not altogether hard and mechanical : we have 
 soft places in our hearts for literature, for music, and for fine art. 
 There are surely some who will delight to honour him who 
 
 ...."' Sat him down in a lonely place, 
 
 And chanted a melody loud and sweet, 
 That made the wild swan pause in her cloud 
 
 And the lark drop down at his feet. 
 ** The swallow stopt as he hunted the bee, 
 
 The snake slipt under a spray, 
 The wild hawk stood with the down on his beak 
 
 And stared, with his foot on the prey. 
 And the nightingale thought, I have sung many songs, 
 
 But never a one so gay ; 
 For he sings of what the world will be 
 
 When the years have died away.' " 
 
 7. The Academy has contained a weekly paragraph on the 
 Shelley Society's work and progress — evidently from the pen of 
 Dr. Furnivall — since the foundation of the Society. 
 
 8. The Committee have experienced great difficulty in getting a 
 theatre for the Society's performance of The Cenci. One had not 
 been secured by Saturday, April 3rd, though the Theatrical Sub- 
 Committee hope that success will soon crown their efforts. The 
 cast, as will be seen from p. 12, is very nearly completed. 
 
23 
 
 SECOND MEETING, 
 
 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14///, 1S86. 
 
 THE second meeting- of the Society was held on 
 Wednesday evening, the 14th of April, in the Botany 
 Theatre of University College, — Dr. Richard Garnett in 
 the chair. 
 
 Mr. H. BUXTON FORMAN delivered an address on 
 " The Vicissitudes of Queen Mab." The following is an 
 abstract of the address : — The passion for reforming the 
 world is as exalted a form of enthusiasm as can be 
 named. In its integrity it is but seldom manifested. 
 Demagogues are common enough, but the true avatar 
 of the reforming passion appears at long intervals, per- 
 haps even then to be sacrificed to the animosity of those 
 classes against which his zeal is directed. In modern 
 England the archetypal victim of this passion was 
 Shelley. He was born in 1792, when the spirit of 
 revolt was in the air ; but why the concentrated spirit 
 of the revolutionary movement should have entered 
 into the scion of a long line of Sussex squires is a 
 question bootless for us to ask and hard to answer. 
 In Shelley it was unaccompanied by the spirit of 
 violence and bloodshed. His almost universal toler- 
 ance never taught him to tolerate cruelty or savagery 
 in any form. With him there was no "via media" be- 
 tween right and wrong, and his reforming zeal was not 
 simply a strong desire to attain the good and abolish 
 the evil ; it was also a passion for fundamentally re- 
 forming the means of reform — almost as high an ideal 
 as the mind can shape. It is undoubtedly a passion 
 which is inconvenient to society, and, by reaction, to its 
 possessor ; for, in the first place, the passion consumes 
 him, and, in the second, arouses the selfish passions of 
 those around him. Even in free England we dare not 
 speak our convictions unless they are those of the 
 ruling faction, while the boasted freedom of America is 
 a still hollower sham. There, the greatest victim of 
 the reforming passion — Walt Whitman, the poet of 
 
26 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 democracy — was deprived of his government employ- 
 ment for no other reason than that he was the author of 
 u Leaves of Grass." 
 
 Shelley's passion for reform took possession of him 
 when very young, and was displayed, sometimes in a 
 practical, sometimes in a theoretical, shape. At Eton, he 
 doggedly refused to acquiesce in the system of fagging ; 
 at Oxford, he refused to accept the theory of a God ; 
 and his pamphlet on Atheism procured his expulsion. 
 He successively espoused the causes of Catholic Eman- 
 cipation, the Repeal of the Union between England and 
 Ireland, and of freedom of thought and speech, and 
 attacked Lord Ellenborough for his sentence on the pub- 
 lisher of Paine's "Age of Reason." He then, in 1813, 
 produced a poem, which is curious, rather than in- 
 structive, portentous, rather than great. "Queen Mab" 
 is not only a central point in the poet's career ; it 
 appears to be also a receptacle wherein earlier efforts 
 were enshrined, and in which he dug for materials 
 to be used subsequently. It was a work whose vitality 
 he was powerless to check ; a work which when he 
 had abandoned it proved that it had by no means 
 abandoned him. 
 
 The genesis of "Queen Mab" is a subject of much 
 uncertainty. Medwin assigns its commencement to the 
 autumn of 1809, when Shelley was seventeen, but there 
 seems to be no trustworthy evidence in support of this 
 view. It would not have been characteristic of Shelley 
 to print, in 18 13, a poem composed years before; and 
 as the work is far above the level of what he was pro- 
 ducing in 1 8 10, we may conclude that it was at any 
 rate entirely re-written before being printed. It was 
 dedicated to his first wife, Harriett Westbrook. From 
 Shelley's letter to Mr. Hookham of August 18 12, we 
 learn that he was actively engaged in its composition 
 when just turned twenty. The poem was finished by 
 the following February, and the notes were put together 
 after that date. Evidently from fear of that " iron-souled " 
 functionary the Attorney-General, Mr. Hookham did 
 not undertake the publication, nor is the actual printer's 
 name appended to the edition, which purports to have 
 been "printed by P. B. Shelley, 23 Chapel Street, 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 27 
 
 Grosvenor Square." As to the view that he was too 
 young to judge of controversies, and that his work 
 might do harm if openly promulgated, we can hardly 
 reconcile that view with what we know of Shelley. His 
 loyalty to truth was absolute, even quixotic. The fever 
 consumed him till his work was in shape to go forth to 
 the world. 
 
 Early in 181 1 the Oxford undergraduate had eagerly 
 distributed his pamphlet on the " Necessity of Atheism," 
 even sending copies to the whole bench of Bishops. 
 This tract he would not disavow, but reprinted among 
 the notes to " Queen Mab." In 181 3 he re-edited a long 
 note on " Natural Diet," in reference to the concluding 
 lines of the eighth section of the poem, and in the follow- 
 ing year reprinted a batch of matter from the same work 
 in "A Refutation of Deism." In 181 5 he set about the 
 revision of " Queen Mab," working up the first two and 
 the last two cantos into " The Daemon of the World." 
 By 1 8 16 Shelley may be said to have done with " Queen 
 Mab" ; what he meant to preserve, he had put into the 
 volume called " Alastor and Other Poems," published in 
 that year, and he shortly afterwards lost all respect for the 
 portentous creation of his nonage. But the time now 
 came when he found that "Queen Mab" had not done 
 with him. Mr. Westbrook, not considering Shelley fit 
 to be trusted with the guardianship of his two children, 
 who had in 1 8 16 lost their mother, refused to give them 
 up to him, and filed a petition in which " Queen Mab " 
 was put forward as evidence that Shelley's moral and 
 religious opinions were unsound; the evidence was 
 admitted, and he was accordingly deprived of his legal 
 right to bring up his children. Had he not succeeded 
 four years before in finding a printer for this poem, 
 there would have been no such formidable weapon for 
 the Court of Chancery. He distributed about seventy 
 copies before he left England in 18 18, and did not take 
 any with him to Italy. Even his own copy had been 
 either given away or left at Marlow ; that given to Mary 
 Godwin is more likely to have gone astray before than 
 after his death ; it turned up in an auction-room some 
 years ago. 
 
 Shelley received the news of the issue by Clark in 
 
28 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 1 82 1 of the pirated edition of "Queen Mab " with 
 amusement. It appeared to him a "droll circumstance" 
 that a poem " written by him when very young, and in 
 tJie most furious style, with long notes against Jesus 
 Christ, God the Father, the Bishops, and the devil 
 knows what," should have been published by one of 
 11 the low booksellers in the Strand." He at once gave 
 instructions to his attorney to apply for an injunction 
 against the publisher — which, however, he was sure 
 would not be obtained. In writing to Horace Smith 
 Shelley remarked that he " really hardly knew what 
 this poem was about," but he was afraid it was " rather 
 rough." He regarded it as "perfectly worthless" poetry, 
 and more fitted to injure than to promote the cause he 
 had at heart. His friend Edward Williams, however, 
 reading it in 1822, considered it an astonishing work. 
 Though Shelley was unable to restrain the piratical 
 publication of " Queen Mab," that did not prevent 
 others from doing so. The Society for the Suppression 1 
 of Vice prosecuted Clark, and secured a conviction ; 
 but on giving up the remainder of the edition he was 
 pardoned. The Society must have been careless in its 
 disposal of the plunder, as Clark's edition is common 
 enough. On Shelley's death Richard Carlile obtained 
 possession of the 180 copies of the poet's own edition 
 and offered them for sale. His statement is that he 
 bought them ; it seems probable that he sold what be- 
 longed to Shelley's executors. Some years later, pocket 
 editions were issued, intended for the use of the Radical 
 mechanic. The more squeamish of Shelley's admirers 
 were in 1830 provided with a proper Bowdlerized version 
 — " Queen Mab " itself reformed with a vengeance — 
 shorn of about 800 lines of verse and of the whole mass 
 of notes. In the following year the Americans did 
 something towards setting "Queen Mab" on her feet 
 again by providing a complete edition, which contained, 
 however, many errors, the extract from Plutarch in the 
 notes being with unintentional comicality ascribed to 
 Plautus. 
 
 The ruling caste had not learnt that the only certain 
 way of giving a book a career is to prosecute its author, 
 publisher, or some one connected with it. Accordingly 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 29 
 
 those connected with " Queen Mab " were prosecuted 
 one after another, Mr. Moxon being at last fined for the 
 publication of his second collected edition. Four years 
 later, however, the same publisher reprinted, without 
 curtailment, the publication for which he had formerly- 
 been convicted. 
 
 This remarkable poem and its notes have played a 
 considerable part in the growth of intellectual freedom. 
 Free-thought publishers state that " Queen Mab " still 
 commands a ready sale. But other influences have taken 
 its place as instruments of education, and " Queen Mab " 
 is settling down as one of Shelley's juvenilia. The same 
 Nemesis that tracked the author pursued the book. 
 The " furiousness " of its style as well as the largeness 
 of its circulation tended to set the more cultivated of 
 Englishmen against the author. Had Shelley failed in 
 18 13 to find a printer, the growth of his better opinions 
 would undoubtedly have been more rapid. To this day, 
 he is far more widely known as the author of " Queen 
 Mab " than as the author of " Prometheus Unbound." 
 As the latter really strengthens the spirit, while the 
 former does not, we, who reverence Shelley for his spi- 
 ritual enthusiasm, desire to see all that changed. And 
 the change is advancing. We can even afford to give no 
 small meed of praise to this poem, which was really a 
 wonderful production for a youth of twenty. It did deal, 
 in some fashion, with the whole scheme of things, and in 
 this sense the boy was father to the man. As the author 
 of "Zastrozzi" was the father of the author of " Queen 
 Mab," so the Shelley of " Queen Mab " was the father 
 of him who shaped the greatest tragedy since Shakspere, 
 the most beautiful elegy since " Lycidas/' and a great 
 body of the most exalted lyrics in the language. The 
 spirit of disestablishment and destruction predominates 
 in " Queen Mab," but the true Shelley was a builder-up, 
 not a destroyer. His love for his fellows, his belief in 
 human perfectibility, the intensity of his moral enthu- 
 siasm, were great and rare qualities, and never more 
 needed than in this age of pessimism and failing faith. 
 Without wishing to be thought hard on " Queen Mab," 
 it is not in that poem that we discern the lyrist whose 
 song transports us into a purer atmosphere, an 
 
3 o NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 atmosphere in which " truth and virtue and lofty hopes" 
 of liberty are his theme. As Elijah ran before the chariot 
 of the king, so Shelley ran before the chariot of 
 Liberty, seeing goals at which, perhaps, even Liberty 
 will never arrive. At such times he broke forth into 
 song such as none but he has ever uttered. Let 
 us then strive to see him honoured as the poet whose 
 song celebrates love, hope, and freedom, and above all, 
 that large and universal tolerance, without which love, 
 hope, and freedom in their highest form, cannot be. 
 
 Dr. GARNETT expressed the indebtedness of the meet- 
 ing to Mr. Forman for his paper. While agreeing with 
 the lecturer's main conclusions, he would mention that in 
 the library of an English nobleman whose name he had 
 unfortunately forgotten, was a copy of " Queen Mab," 
 presented to the owner by Shelley in 1817, and con- 
 taining a note in his handwriting which showed that 
 he was not then ashamed of the poem. When Mrs. 
 Shelley desired to bring out an edition of his works, 
 she had no copy of " Queen Mab," and a print of the 
 original edition, the property of Mrs. Boinville, was 
 procured from Paris. Perhaps the great peculiarity of 
 "Queen Mab" is the absence in it of music. The 
 versification cannot be called bad, but it has none of 
 the sweet and subtle harmony that ever afterwards 
 characterized Shelley's poetry. It would almost seem 
 as if the gift of melody were the last to be developed 
 in a poet ; for it is a singular fact that in another great 
 master of music, Coleridge, this faculty, apparently the 
 least capable of being improved by art, manifested itself 
 in greater strength in his later than in his earlier pro- 
 ductions. With regard to Shelley's speculative opinions, 
 it is very doubtful whether they are so extreme as is 
 sometimes assumed. An able work called " Scientific 
 Theism," recently published by an American writer, 
 seemed to contain nothing that Shelley might not have 
 embodied in " Queen Mab," nor was there anything in 
 "Queen Mab" that might not have appeared in 
 " Scientific Theism," although the object of that work 
 was to show that theism was ' not inconsistent with 
 evolution. 
 
 Dr. Furnivall said that Mr. Buxton Forman 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 31 
 
 possessed a most interesting copy of " Queen Mab," with 
 alterations in Shelley's own hand, as well as an original 
 print of " Laon and Cythna," altered by Shelley into 
 "The Revolt of Islam," of which he had generously 
 consented to allow the Society to make facsimiles. It 
 was to be hoped Dr. Garnett would also induce the 
 nobleman who possessed Shelley's annotated copy of 
 " Queen Mab," to do the Society a similar kindness. He 
 thought Mr. Forman scarcely did justice to the real 
 merits of " Queen Mab." Reading the poem the other 
 day for the first time for thirty years, and under the 
 impression that it was written by Shelley at eighteen, he 
 was struck with astonishment and admiration at many - 
 of the passages. " Queen Mab " had been of much use 
 in promoting higher and truer conceptions of Deity, and . 
 he could not help thinking Mr. Forman had dealt some- 
 what hardly with it. To his mind its noble ardour in 
 the cause of liberty redeemed it from being considered 
 a sort of juvenile monstrosity. 
 
 The Rev. W. A. Harrison said that some of us who 
 did not take Shelley as an authority on theology never- 
 ' theless loved his poetry and honoured his character. 
 He fought a bogus Christianity, not the real religion of 
 Christ, and the school in which he was trained if they 
 professed Christianity certainly did not adorn it. The 
 world is indebted to Shelley both as a poet and as 
 a man. 
 
 Mr. G. B. Shaw regarded " Queen Mab " as a work 
 far superior to "The Cenci," which he considered anti- v 
 quated. "Queen Mab" was a perfectly original poem 
 on a great subject. Throughout the whole poem Shelley 
 showed a remarkable grasp of facts, anticipating also 
 the modern view that sociological problems are being 
 slowly worked out independently of the conscious 
 interference of man. 
 
 Dr. EDWARD AVELING (also a visitor) thanked 
 Mr. Forman, for the information contained in his 
 address, and Dr. Garnett, for his luminous criticism on 
 the contrast in music between the versification of " Queen 
 Mab " and Shelley's later poems. He thought that in 
 our criticisms, we should consider not only the age at 
 which Shelley wrote, but the age in which he wrote. 
 
32 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 It was a question of the young world as well as of the 
 young poet ; indeed, so far as the evolution of society 
 was concerned, we might say that " Queen Mab " was 
 written many centuries ago. Shelley attacked, and 
 rightly, two enormous evils in his own day, false specu- 
 lative beliefs and monarchism. But there was a more 
 important question underlying these, the sociological 
 question, with which, in the absence of the teachings of 
 modern experience, he was not in a position to grapple. 
 Mr. Forman's remark that " Queen Mab u did not 
 strengthen the spirit was pronounced inconsistent with 
 the admission that it dealt with the whole scheme of 
 things, no matter how. Treating as the poem did of 
 the highest interests of humanity, he thought it was one 
 which was bound to exalt the spiritual faculties of its 
 readers. With regard to Shelley's self-depreciatory 
 criticism, we must bear in mind that it was Shelley 
 criticizing Shelley ; the youth of a great man is to him- 
 self a different thing from what it is to us outsiders. 
 
 Mr. BUXTON FORMAN would be sorry if the meeting 
 thought he did not appreciate "Queen Mab/' but he 
 would point out that it is possible to have a work 
 dealing with the highest interests of mankind, which is 
 neither great, bracing, nor exalting. u Queen Mab " 
 treated those matters mainly in a negative, not in a 
 positive way. Human interests are not in quite the 
 same phase now as they were then, and "Queen Mab" 
 although adapted in a measure to the conditions of 
 Shelley's day, is not suited to those of the present. 
 Believing that the poem is not calculated to do any 
 further good, either personal or social, he maintained 
 that it should be relegated to Shelley's juvenilia. 
 
 Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier proposed, and Mr. HARRISON 
 seconded, a vote of thanks to the Chairman, which was 
 unanimously passed. 
 
 The Saturday Review ON THE SHELLEY 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 The following lines of blank verse, evidently by 
 Mr. Andrew Lang, originally appeared (set up in the 
 ordinary way to look like a prose article) in The 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY 33 
 
 Saturday Review for March the 13th, 1886. 1 This, 
 it will be remembered, was the Saturday imme- 
 diately following the inaugural meeting of the Shelley 
 Society, held at University College, Gower Street, 
 on Wednesday, March the 10th, 1886, when an ad- 
 mirable address was delivered by the Rev. Stopford 
 Brooke, M.A. With the ready and courteous per- 
 mission of the Editor of The Saturday Review this jeu 
 d* esprit has been printed. 
 
 The paragraphs (by Mr. Wm. Archer (?) ) which gave 
 rise to Mr. Lang's genial piece of fun appeared in The 
 Pall Mall Gazette of March the nth, and alluded to the 
 facts set forth in these lines : — 
 
 " By Jove, I will : he was my father's friend ! " 
 
 Thus Dr. Furnivall, in choice blank verse, 
 
 Replied when he was asked by Mr. Sweet 
 
 (Sweet of the pointed and envenomed pen, 
 
 Wherewith he pricks the men who not elect 
 
 Him a Professor, as he ought to be 2 ), 
 
 ; Twas thus, we say, that Furnivall replied 
 
 To the bold question asked by bitter Sweet. 
 
 " And what that question ? " Briefly, it was this — 
 
 " Why do not you, who start so many things, 
 
 " Societies for poets live and dead, 
 
 " Why do not you a new communion found — 
 
 " ' Shelley Society' might be the name — 
 
 " Where men might worry over Shelley's bones ? n 
 
 " By Jove, I will ; he was my father's friend," 
 
 Said Furnivall ; and lo, the thing was done ! 
 
 Then -the fresh victim to " inaugurate," 
 
 They called upon the Reverend Stopford Brooke 
 
 Who, being well disposed to them, arose, 
 
 And did address them in majestic phrase, 
 
 " Forewords," as they are styled by Furnivall, 
 
 By Jove, for Shelley was his father's friend. 
 
 " A thoughtful and most temperate address " 
 
 Was Stopford Brooke's, who, as we learn with grief 
 
 From the reporter 3 of this merry fit, 
 
 " Knocked Mr. Matthew Arnold out of time." 
 
 Oh, somewhere, meek unconscious Matt, 4 
 
 That sit'st beneath Teutonic limes, 5 
 
 Somewhere thou' It read i' the Times, 
 How Stopford Brooke has knocked thee flat ! 
 
 Then, to the joy of the assembled host, 
 To them arose intrepid Furnivall 
 (Young Mr. Shelley was his father's friend), 
 And proved that Matthew is a Philistine ! 
 
34 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Oh, tell it not in Gath ; oh, tell it not 
 Where men do congregate in Ascalon, 
 That Mr. Arnold tarries in their tents, 
 Disguised, and worships Dagon e'en as they. 
 Such is the view of Dr. Fumivall. 6 
 
 Then anecdotes of Shelley were brought forth — 
 
 Old anecdotes, and such as Captain Sumph 
 
 Was wont to tell of Byron and the Priest, 
 
 Who grieved that he was " not a family man." ' 
 
 This was the bravest of the anecdotes, 
 
 How Shelley at the elder FurnivalPs 
 
 (For Shelley was the Doctor's father's friend) 
 
 Was asked one day, at tea, " What he would take ? " 
 
 And what took Shelley but a dish of milk 
 
 (It seems he did not like it in a cup) — 
 
 A dish of milk, and, butterless, a crust. 
 
 Such was the food of this superior mind, 
 
 Such the tradition and the influence 
 
 That shaped the soul of Dr. Fumivall. 
 
 What more ? Why not so much as we might hope ; 
 
 But Mr. Brooke — the Reverend Stopford Brooke, 
 
 He who in our religion finds romance — 
 
 Declared that Shelley was the poet-priest 
 
 Of what he calls "the modern Meliorism." 
 
 What that may be we know not ; but 'tis thought 
 
 To be a kind of pious Socialism, 
 
 To be a dallying with dynamite, 
 
 With Mr. Hyndman and the other gents 
 
 Who lead a mob along the streets and break 
 
 The windows, and who scare the little girls. 
 
 Then these weird figures went their several ways, 8 
 
 All the Society of Shelleyites. 
 
 Much have they added to the public stock 
 
 Of information about Shelley's ways ; 
 
 Much, very much, it helps us to enjoy 
 
 The Adonais and A last or, too, 
 
 Prometheus and Epipsychidion. 
 
 Oh, happy Shelley ! happy in thy friends, 
 
 And happy in the culminating chance 
 
 When Mr. Sweet inquired of Fumivall 
 
 Why he should so neglect so great a bard, 
 
 For Shelley was the Doctor's father's friend. 
 
 1 Vol. 6 1, No. 1585, p. 354. 
 
 2 See the long correspondence, on the Merton Professorship of 
 English Language and Literature, in the Academy , in the spring of 
 1886. 
 
 3 The "Reporter" seems to have omitted to report that Mr. 
 Brooke, while excepting in the strongest manner to Mr. Arnold's 
 views on Shelley, did not fail to characterize the poet-critic whom 
 he was combating as " the finest critic of England." It was 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 35 
 
 of course that consideration which formed the lecturer's justi- 
 fication in allotting so prominent a place to Mr. Arnold's attack 
 on Shelley. 
 
 4 Parodying Tennyson's In Memoriam, VI. vi. 
 
 O ! somewhere, meek unconscious dove, 
 That sittest ranging golden hair, &c. 
 
 5 Mr. Arnold was then on an educational mission in Germany, for 
 the Education Office. 
 
 6 The "Reporter " was at fault here ; for Dr. Furnivall did not 
 describe Mr. Matthew Arnold as a Philistine. What the 
 "intrepid" Treasurer of the Shelley Society really did say was, 
 that a Philistine of the Philistines had written a book against 
 Shelley ; but he mentioned no name ; and Mr. Matthew Arnold 
 has written no book about Shelley. To those acquainted with 
 the subject it was perfectly obvious who "the real Philistine" 
 was ; but his name was rightly regarded as not worth mentioning. 
 
 7 " They were all literary gentlemen, though unknown as yet to 
 Pen. There was Mr. Bole, the real editor of the magazine, of 
 which Mr. Wagg was the nominal chief ; Mr. Trotter, who, from 
 having broken out on the world as a poet of a tragic and suicidal 
 cast, had now subsided into one of Mr. Bungay's back shops as 
 reader for that gentleman ; and Captain Sumph, an ex-beau still 
 about town and related in some indistinct manner to Literature and 
 the Peerage. He was said to have written a book once, to have 
 been a friend of Lord Byron, to be related to Lord Sumphington ; 
 in fact, anecdotes of Byron formed his staple, and he seldom spoke 
 but with the name of that poet or some of his contemporaries in his 
 mouth, as thus : ' I remember poor Shelley at school being sent up 
 for good for a copy of verses, every line of which I wrote, by Jove ; ' 
 or, ■ I recollect when I was at Missolonghi with Byron, offering to 
 bet Gamba,' and so forth. This gentleman, Pen remarked, was 
 listened to with great attention by Mrs. Bungay ; his anecdotes of 
 the aristocracy, of which he was a middle-aged member, delighted 
 the publisher's lady ; and he was almost a greater man than the 
 great Mr. Wagg himself in her eyes. Had he but come in his own 
 carriage, Mrs. Bungay would have made her Bungay purchase any 
 given volume from his pen. 
 
 *■ * * # *■ 
 
 " ' I remember poor Byron, Hobhouse, Trelawney, and myself 
 dining with Cardinal Mezzocaldo, at Rome,' Captain Sumph began, 
 1 and we had Orvieto wine for dinner, which Byron liked very much. 
 And I remember how the Cardinal regretted that he was a single 
 man. We went to Civita Vecchia two days afterwards, where 
 Byron's yacht was — and, by Jove, the Cardinal died within three 
 weeks ; and Byron was very sorry, for he rather liked him.'" — The 
 History of Pendennis, by William Makepeace Thackeray. Chapter 
 xxx iv. 
 
 8 The poet was evidently not aware that there was tea provided 
 in the Council Room behind the Botanical Theatre, and that it was 
 into that room that ' these weird figures ' passed at the close of 
 the address. So important a detail could not have failed to elicit 
 remark if known. 
 
 D 2 
 
36 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 "THE CENCI." 
 
 By the time this number is in members' hands the 
 Society's performance of "The Cenci" will be fast 
 approaching. The fact that the Grand Theatre, Islington, 
 had been secured for the afternoon of May the 7th has 
 been announced by letter to members, but a few more 
 words on the subject may not be out of place here. 
 And first, let this opportunity be taken to express the 
 indebtedness of the Society, and especially of the 
 theatrical sub- committee, to Mr. Wilmot, the lessee of 
 the Grand, by whose generosity the theatre is let to 
 us for an amount which will barely suffice to pay the 
 out-of-pocket expenses, and will certainly leave no re- 
 muneration for himself. A finer theatre for the purpose 
 could not have been obtained. The stage is a large 
 and admirably fitted one ; and what is more to the 
 point the auditorium will hold considerably over 2,000 
 persons, every one of whom will be able to obtain a 
 good view of the entire stage. 
 
 The cast has for some weeks, owing to the energy 
 of Miss Alma Murray and Mr. R. de Cordova, been 
 complete, the outstanding part of Camillo having been 
 accepted by Mr. William Farren, Junr., much to the 
 gratification of the management. 
 
 To Miss Alma Murray a large share of the debt due 
 for the coming performance is owing. Miss Murray has 
 since its foundation, worked most energetically and 
 untiringly for the Society, which also owes to her the 
 introduction of a large number of members, and the 
 acquisition of the Grand Theatre. For these services 
 all who are interested in Shelley and his works cannot 
 be too grateful. The performance of * The Cenci " has 
 been the means of enrolling at least one hundred 
 members. 
 
 With respect to the accommodation of the audience 
 on the 7th, the seats have been allotted by Dr. 
 Furnivall and the Honorary Secretary as fairly and 
 consistently as possible. The stalls and boxes are 
 necessarily entirely filled by the guests of the Society, 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 37 
 
 the critics, and the committee, the majority of the 
 members being seated in the dress circle, balcony, and 
 pit stalls. As above stated, however, an uninterrupted 
 view of the stage can be obtained from every seat in 
 those and other parts of the house. Every seat too is 
 numbered, and there will therefore be no necessity to 
 arrive early ; but members are particularly requested, 
 out of compliment to the actors, to be in their places 
 before the curtain rises. 
 
 The gallery has, at the request of Miss Alma Murray, 
 been allotted entirely to the poorer members of that 
 lady's profession, and these will, by the kindness of 
 Mr. Henry A. Jones, of w The Silver King " fame, &c, 
 be supplied with copies of the text gratis. 
 
 Every member will receive, as a publication of the 
 Society, a copy of the Tragedy. 
 
 The text of the play given in these books is edited 
 by Mr. H. Buxton Forman, who, conjointly with his 
 brother, Mr. Alfred Forman, has written a brief Intro- 
 duction. The prose " Relation of the Death of the 
 Family of the Cenci" is printed as an Appendix; and 
 an etched portrait of Beatrice Cenci forms the frontis- 
 piece. Dr. John Todhunter's pretty " Prologue " for the 
 Society's performance on May 7th is also printed in the 
 volume, which will be on sale, at the price of 2s. 6d. y at 
 the Society's publishers and agents. — EDITOR. 
 
33 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 ftotes anir ftetos. 
 
 12. In the " Ladies' Column " of the " Kilburn Times and Western 
 Post " for April the 2nd we find the following epitome of the Society's 
 prospectus : — " The newest intellectual society formed is a Shelley 
 Society, of poetically-minded scholars who are banded together to 
 sound the depths of Shelley's great thoughts. The founders are of 
 opinion that ten years will be required to complete their task, and 
 at the end of that time there will be no obscure passage upon which 
 light will not have been turned, a very bull's-eye lanthorn on 
 the recesses of Shelley's mind, and all posterity provided with 
 commentaries and expositions." 
 
 13. "The Shelley Society are determined to play The Cenci, what- 
 ever prudes have to say about the impropriety of their doing so. 
 It has not been finally decided where the representation is to be 
 given, but whatever playhouse is secured, an audience large enough 
 to more than fill it is sure to be forthcoming. We never shriek so 
 loudly about art or support it so diligently as when we know there 
 is a doubt about the morality of what we are going to see. This is 
 the outcome of the amount of human nature there is in man." — 
 Modern Society, April 10. 
 
 14. The following note on Mr. H. Buxton Forman's paper appeared 
 in the "Athenaeum" for April 17 : — "At the meeting of the Shelley 
 Society on Wednesday last Mr. Buxton Forman delivered his 
 lecture on 'The Vicissitudes of Queen Mad.' The lecture was 
 critical rather than biographical, the view taken being that Queen 
 Mad, though one of the least admirable of Shelley's considerable 
 works, has played a notable part in the spread of free thought, 
 especially among the working classes, but that it has hindered 
 "Shelley's better works from exercising their due influence, and now 
 ranks among the curious of his poems." 
 
 15. Mr. F. J. Sebley sends us the following anecdote, cut from an 
 old scrap-book :—" Anecdote of Shelley. — Shelley had the 
 strange lack of the practical proverbially ascribed to the poet- 
 nature. A curious story illustrating this has lately been related of 
 him. All who have ever read ' Epipsychidion ' must be familiar with 
 the name of Emilia Viviani, the beautiful Italian lady who was 
 immured by her father in the convent of St. Ann, at Pisa, where 
 the Shelleys lived at the time, and whose hard fate inspired the poet 
 with such burning indignation. With his usual ardour in the cause 
 of the oppressed, he at last bethought himself of a most singular 
 scheme of liberating the unfortunate girl. Lady Mountchasel, a 
 friend of the Goodwins, who were residing at the time near the 
 Shelleys, seems occasionally to have dressed herself as a man, and 
 to have thoroughly looked the part. Now Shelley urged Lady 
 Mountchasel to introduce herself into the convent in her masculine 
 character, to woo and marry Emilia, and thus rescue her from the 
 prison in which she was languishing." 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 39 
 
 There is, it will be seen, no mention of the date or name of the 
 journal from which it is cut ; but future biographers need not attach 
 much importance to the information it contains, as on the back is 
 commenced the twenty-second chapter of " Nancy Lee ; or, The 
 Girl He Left Behind Him." 
 
 16. The leader of the Opposition to the performance of The Cenci 
 has at last appeared. The Era of the 17th April devotes a column 
 and a-half to a childish article entitled "An Incestuous Drama," 
 from which we give the following extracts. Its length is too great, 
 and its importance too small, to be reprinted in full. 
 
 After alluding to The Cenci as an "objectionable piece," the 
 writer savs : — " We are quite aware that we shall be called Philis- 
 tines and uncultured for using this adjective by a great many 
 people who never read The Ce?ici through in their lives, and that 
 our opposition to the performance of the drama will be construed 
 into a lack of appreciation for the beauties of Shelley's genius. We 
 are willing to endure this obloquy in the case of his poems. But it 
 is something like a crime in any one professing a love for the drama 
 not to have read The Cenci, and not to have appreciated its merits. 
 These latter are the more surprising as they are exactly opposite to 
 what might have been expected from the other work of the poet. 
 Shelley was a curious union of the visionary and the practical, and 
 his preface to The Cenci is a model of common sense. In it he 
 says, ' This story of The Cenci is eminently fearful and monstrous. 
 Anything like a dry exhibition of it on the stage would be in- 
 supportable;' and, although it appears from the context that he 
 referred to the treatment of the narrative, and not to the fact of the 
 representation of the tragedy which he had written being impossible, 
 still the sentence shows his perception of the objections to his theme, 
 and, taken in connection with Shelley's inexperience of the stage and 
 the theatre, may be called a pretty strong argument against the 
 production of the drama. 
 
 " We should be the first to render tribute to the genius which 
 Shelley has employed in his treatment of this sickening theme. 
 The merits of The Cenci as a play are firm characterisation, and a 
 plain, yet poetical style which is excellently suited to dramatic 
 work. Shelley, in his preface, congratulates himself on the absence 
 of metaphor and elaborate comparison which his wonderfully clear 
 gaze — wonderful especially in the author of Queen Mab — perceived 
 to be necessary in the writing of a play. The faults of The Cenci 
 are its ' fearful and monstrous ' story, its lack of incident, and the 
 harping on the one string of incest, which renders its perusal, 
 as it would in a still greater degree render its performance, fre- 
 quently tedious. The attempt to make a drama out of one or two 
 startling incidents has led to an elaboration of dialogue that is 
 excessive for dramatic purposes. There is too much of Beatrice's 
 raving, too much of Cenci's self-exposition, for the piece to be in 
 the highest and Shakespearian sense ' dramatic/ and to produce 
 it on the stage is but to prove that Shelley, a poet of the first order 
 who might have made an excellent collaborator, as a play-writer 
 ranks only in the third. 
 
 "It is a curious comment, by the way, on the complicated 
 
4 o NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 system under which our theatres are governed, that this play, which 
 the Lord Chamberlain has refused to license, is to be performed in 
 a licensed theatre which is under the supervision of that official." 
 
 By way of friendly criticism we would suggest the collation of 
 some of the above remarks, and more especially of these paragraphs, 
 which are in ridiculous contrast : — 
 
 " We are quite aware . . . that our opposition to the drama will 
 be construed into a lack of appreciation for the beauties of Shelley's 
 genius. We are willing to endure this obloquy in the case of his 
 poems. But it is something like a crime in any one professing a 
 love for the drama not to have read The Cenci, and not to have 
 appreciated its merits. These latter are the tnore surprising as 
 they are exactly opposite to what might have been expected from 
 the other work of the poet." And later on we have — " to produce it 
 on the stage is but to prove that Shelley, a poet of the first order, as 
 a play-writer ranks only in the third." 
 
 The following letter appeared in the issue of The Era for 
 Saturday the 24th :— 
 
 "THE CENCI." 
 
 TO THE EDITOR OF "THE ERA." 
 
 Sir, — In the leader in your issue of Saturday last, entitled " An 
 Incestuous Drama," you state that the performance of The Cenci 
 at the Grand Theatre, on May 7th, is to be a " quasi private one." 
 As this will very largely increase my correspondence with those 
 anxious to obtain admission on paying for seats, I should be much 
 obliged if you would correct the statement. The performance is 
 to be a distinctly private one ; none but members, their guests and 
 friends, and certain representatives of the press, will be admitted. 
 Yours obediently, 
 
 SYDNEY E. PRESTON, 
 
 Hon. Sec, Shelley Society. 
 88, Eaton Place, London, S.W., April 20th, 1886. 
 
 17. The following paragraphs in reference to the Society's 
 " Shelley Concordance" are taken, the first from " The Athenaeum " 
 of April 17, and the second from " The Academy" of that date. A 
 friend of Mr. Ellis's sends the former, Dr. Furnivall the latter : — 
 ^The Shelley Society's * Concordance to the Poetry of Shelley' 
 may now be considered as fairly started. Mr. Buxton Forman's 
 * Instructions to Workers ' have been printed and circulated, and 
 the first batch of work has been distributed. Mr. F. S. Ellis has 
 courageously undertaken to supervise and arrange the whole work. 
 The portion already completed by Mrs. Buxton Forman is in 
 Mr. Ellis's hands ; and ten volunteers have come forward to assist. 
 Mr. W. E. A. Axon begins with The Mask of Anarchy ', Mr. F, 
 Graham Aylward with fulian and Maddalo, Mr. W. W. Aylward 
 with The Witch of Atlas, Mr. Alfred Fountain with Hellas, Miss 
 M. S. Grove with Adonais, Mr. J. Petherick with The Cenci, Mrs. 
 Scoffern with Epipsychidion, Mr. G. H. Skipwith with the Frag- 
 ments of an Unfinished Drama, Mr. G. Thorn- Drury with Laon 
 and Cyntha, and Mr. Foster Watson with Prometheus Unbound. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 41 
 
 There is plenty of work for other volunteers, who should communi- 
 cate with Mr. Ellis at the Red House, Chelston, Torquay. With 
 reasonable luck it is possible that the work may be completed in 
 two or three years." 
 
 " Mr. F. S. Ellis and his dozen volunteer helpers are busily at 
 work at the 'Concordance to Shelley's Poetical Works' for the 
 Shelley Society. Mr. Ellis calculates that at least 125,000 slips 
 will have to be written, and then sorted and classified, so that two 
 years may elapse before the book is ready for the printer. We 
 only hope that the number of slips may run to 1 50,000 ; for the 
 present 'Instructions to Workers' are unluckily drawn up as if 
 the Shelley Concordance was to follow the Shakspere Concordance 
 of Mrs. Cowden Clarke, instead of being on the model of Schmidt's 
 admirable Shakspere Lexicon, completed by quotations of all the 
 passages in which any 'word' occurs, but being satisfied with a 
 parallel to his treatment of particles, taking that term to include 
 prepositions, pronouns, &c, of which only samples of all Shelley's 
 usages are wanted. Mr. Ellis will, we are sure, not put ' tears ' 
 clothes and ' tears ' from the eye under the same heading, or nouns 
 and verbs together because they happen to be spelt the same way. 
 Every different part of speech and sense of the same gathering of 
 letters must have its distinct heading and sub-heading, and all 
 should be defined." 
 
 18. Dr. Furnivall has received a letter from M. Gabriel Sarrazin, 
 dated from Paris, 21, Rue Vauquelin, the 10th April, 1886, from 
 which we extract the following : — 
 
 1 Cher Monsieur, — Bien qu'il y ait longtemps que je ne vous 
 aie dcrit, je n'ai pas besoin de vous dire avec quel soin je suis les 
 travaux et les publications de la Socie'te' Shelleyenne. II m'est, a 
 mon grand regret, impossible de me ddplacer cette amide encore, et 
 je pars d'ici une quinzaine pour les cotes de Bretagne. Excusez- 
 moi done aupres du Committee, a une des stances duquel j'aurais 
 bien voulu assister. C'est aussi une veritable privation pour moi 
 que de ne pas voir Les Cenci a la scene, mais avec la meilleure 
 volonte* du monde, je ne puis aller a Londres.' 
 
 Then, following a request to Dr. Furnivall to send him a 
 copy of Mr. W. M. Rossetti's edition of Shelley's works : — 
 ' Si j'ai besoin de cette Edition, c'est que j'ai a e'erire cet 6t6 una 
 longue Etude sur Shelley pour une de nos revues franchises. Je 
 reprendrai en outre cette e'tude, pour l'inse'rer dans le second 
 volume de " Poetes Anglais Modernes " que je prepare, volume qui 
 paraitra d'ici trois ou quatre ans. Je desire done m'entourer des 
 documents indispensables et l'e'dition de Mr. W. Rossetti est un de 
 ces documents. 
 
 ' Vous apprendrez avec plaisir que Shelley est de plus en plus a 
 l'ordre du jour parmi nous. Les cercles de jeunes gens entrevoient 
 et acclament — je dis entrevoient, parce qu'ils ne lisent pas en ge'ne'ral 
 l'anglais dans le texte et doivent par consequent sentir a travers 
 nos simples fragments de traduction — l'etheree grandeur de son 
 genie. Pour vous donner une idee de la facon dont il penetre, je 
 vous adresse avec cette lettre une Etude intitule'e Lamartine, 
 Baudelaire, Shelley, parue dans un des derniers numeros de la 
 
42 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Revue Contemporaine. Naturellement, l'auteur — qui est un de 
 ceux qui promettent le plus parmi nos jeunes poetes— n'a pu avoir 
 qu'une confuse divination de Shelley, car il ne sait pas l'anglais ; 
 mais il a senti cependant, vous pourrez en juger, et vu, quoique 
 en un dclair trop rapide et vague. J'ai meme eu l'autre jour — 
 toujours a propos de Shelley — un e'tonnement assez grand ; c'est 
 d'en entendre parler par un tenant de nos vieux classiques, et chez 
 certains hommes de lettres francais ou je considerais comme bien 
 impossible qu'on connut seulement son nom ; il va sans dire que le 
 poete leur serait fort peu sympathique, car ils sont trop gens 
 d'acade'mie et de salon pour aimer les grandes et sublimes haleines 
 de la mer solitaire, de la mer shelleyenne, si vous me permettez 
 cette' locution ; mais enfin, si Ton rencontre le nom de Shelley dans 
 ceux des cercles litteraires parisiens qui lui sont le plus Strangers, 
 c'est preuve que son nom rayonne et s'dtend de plus en plus parmi 
 nous ; et quant aux dilettantes et jeunes gens de lettres francais, 
 je sais a n'en pas douter que ce nom extraordinaire prdoccupe et 
 fascine absolument nombre d'entre eux. Et ces derniers attendent 
 avec impatience que paraisse enfin une traduction complete d'un 
 nomine" F. Rabbe, travail qui doit etre e'dite' au cours de cette anne'e. 
 ' Croyez-moi, cher Monsieur, bien respectueusement a vous, 
 
 'Gabriel Sarrazin/ 
 
 19. Dr. Edward Aveling writes an article in " The Court and 
 Society Review" for April 15, entitled " Shelley and Water," por- 
 tions of which we print below. It commences, of course, with the 
 joke, now somewhat hackneyed, about "The doctor's father's 
 friend," and is written in an apparently humorous vein. This, 
 unfortunately, verges, in some cases, on the objectionable, at least 
 so far as the persons alluded to are concerned. These parts we 
 omit : — 
 
 " Shelley and Water. — Of making societies there is no end, 
 and there never will be as long as Dr. F. J. Furnivall lives. A 
 Shelley Society is his latest fad, chiefly for the reason, as it would 
 appear, that Shelley once sat on the counter in Furnivall's father's 
 surgery. It's for all the world like a fellow who gave as his reason 
 for being my chum at Harrow, that his cousin once went to my 
 father's church. The Shelley-cum-Furnivall Society was inaugurated 
 in March. The hare sacred to that month and the hatter and Alice 
 were all there at the tea-table in University College. The usual 
 gathering of frenzied youths and tousled maidens was present, as it 
 will be on Wednesday of this week, when H. Buxton Forman — 
 thanks, best of Shelley editors ! — reads a paper on Queen Mab. 
 As the l Review ' goes to press on that same evening, any notes on 
 this ' per-Formance ' must stand over for next week. Not so a 
 note on the first instalment of the 'Note-Book' of the Society 
 
 that lies before me I daresay the Shelley Society will 
 
 do good work among the crowd that like to have all their 
 literary work done for them ; even, perhaps, among their 
 betters. Possibly I ought to have remembered that the author 
 of the precious sonnet is the husband of our most intellectual 
 actress, Alma Murray. Anyway, let me thank the Society as 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 43 
 
 heartily, and I hope as honestly, as I have found fault with it, for 
 their promise that is to be performance of The Cenci. By the way, 
 either I or the printer {ego ant rex meus), dated that performance 
 wrongly last week. It is to be on May 7. To that I am looking 
 forward eagerly. So apparently is the editor of the ' Note-Book/ 
 In fact he is looking so eagerly as to be a trifle blind. As thus : ' It 
 is generally acknowledged that Mr. Hermann Vezin is the only living 
 English actor competent to give a representation of such a cha- 
 racter as the Count Cenci.' It gave me quite a shock.*, I thought 
 Henry Irving was dead. But it was only Mr. Sydney E. Preston 
 looking a little too eagerly." 
 
 20. Mr. T. J. Wise sends us the following : — " In common, 
 doubtless, with every member of the Shelley Society who values 
 even the smallest addition to the minor details of Shelleyan 
 bibliography, I am obliged to Mr. Aylward for drawing atten- 
 tion to the fact that a copy of Hogg's ' Memoirs of Prince 
 Alexy HaimatorT' is preserved in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. 
 When writing my Introductory Note to the Society's reprint of 
 Shelley's review of Hogg's romance, I was careful not to venture 
 upon any positive statement regarding the probable number of 
 copies of *■ Prince Alexy ' which have ' survived the wear and tear 
 of time.' I merely said — and my statement was couched in very 
 hesitating words (p. 11) — ' I believe that I am correct in stating that 
 only two copies are at present publicly known to be in existence. Of 
 these, one is in the possession of Hogg's daughter, Mrs. Lonsdale ; 
 and the other is preserved in the British Museum.' That other 
 copies of the book remain (though at the moment hidden away and 
 unobserved), and that these will gradually come to light I believe 
 as confidently as I do that sooner or later an example of Original ' 
 Poetry by Victor and Cazire will be found. Besides the Bodleian 
 specimen, I have been informed by Mr. R. A. Potts that a fourth 
 copy of the ' Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff ' is extant, and 
 was sold by auction at Messrs. Sotheby's rooms some time in 1879. 
 It would be interesting to discover its present whereabouts. This 
 fact I have duly recorded in an additional note appended to the 
 Introduction to the second edition of the Society's book. 
 
 "In my introduction to the facsimile reprint of the 'Adonais,' 
 p. 10, I said : — ' I have not been able to ascertain definitely what 
 was the published price of this pamphlet (the Cambridge, 1829, 
 edition of the ' Adonais ') ; no figure is printed on it, and no adver- 
 tisement offering it for sale has come before me, but I have fair 
 reason for believing that it was originally offered at eighteenpence.' 
 In reference to this passage one of our members, Mr. F. J. Sebley, 
 of Cambridge, writes me : — ' After looking through your Introduc- 
 tion, it occurred to me that I might find the account for the Cam- 
 bridge edition [of 'Adonais'] in the books of Messrs. Metcalfe. 
 After a good search, alas ! it was not to be found, although we did 
 find something of Tennyson's about the same date. The senior 
 member of the firm is still alive. He is about 87 years of age, and 
 well remembers its [the ' Adonais '] publication. He told me he 
 thought it was one of these things that were paid for by author or 
 editor at the time of issue, and consequently never got into a ledger. 
 
44 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 " This communication possesses considerable interest, and I feel 
 sure that others besides myself will feel themselves indebted to 
 Mr. Sebley for the trouble he gave himself by the institution of 
 such a search. " Thos. J. Wise." 
 
 21. To the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke. 
 
 14, King Street, St. James's, 
 March itfA, 1886. 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 
 Having observed by the newspapers that you have taken a 
 prominent part in forming a " Shelley Society," it has occurred to 
 me that it might interest you and your fellow members to see some 
 translations which I have made into French verse according to the 
 English system of versification (by which as in conversation in 
 French the e mutes are not counted) of some of Shelley's most 
 touching, sympathetic, and subjective poems. 
 
 I also enclose a letter which I received from Theodore de 
 Banville, who is the most eminent French poet and critic now 
 living, on the subject of these translations and others, of which he 
 cordially approves. 
 
 You will observe that one of the translations is by Madame Tastu, 
 who was an eminent French poetess ; and you will see by my 
 criticism upon it how impossible it is to translate as faithfully as I 
 have done if the translator adheres rigidly to the rules of French 
 prosody which Victor Hugo and all other French poets, as I have 
 shown, occasionally violate. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 J. G. T. Sinclair, (Bart.) 
 
 JE ME LEVE DE R&VES DE TOI. 
 
 ( Vers adapt is a un air Indie n.) 
 
 (Traduit de SHELLEY.) 
 
 Je me leve de tendres reves de toi, 
 Du premier sommeil de la nuit ; 
 Quand les zephyrs s'exhalent bien bas, 
 Et maint dtoile en brillance luit. 
 Je m'eVeille de doux reves de toi, 
 Et un fantome dans mes pieds — Fde ! 
 M'a mene", ah ! qui sait comment ? 
 A ta fenetre, ma bien aimde ! 
 
 Les douces brises errantes s'eVanouissent 
 Sur le fleuve noir et silencieux ; 
 Les doux odeurs champetres languissent 
 Comme les pensdes d'un reve gracieux ; 
 La plainte de l'aimant rossignol 
 Meurt sur son cceur en melodic ; 
 Comme moi je dois faire sur le tien 
 O chcrie comme tu es— ma mie ! 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 45 
 
 O leve moi de l'herbe, je soupire, 
 Je meurs, je m'eVanouis, je cede. 
 Que ton amour pleuve en baisers 
 Sur mes levres pales, ma paupiere tiede ; 
 Ma joue est froide et'blanche, helas ! 
 Mon cceur bat haut et vite, en vain ; 
 O presse-le pres au tien encore, 
 Oil il se brisera triste enfin. 
 
 UNE PLAINTE. 
 
 1 
 
 O monde ! 6 vie ! 6 temps ! fantomes, ombres vaines, 
 Qui lassez a la fin mes pas irre'solus ; 
 Quand reviendront ces jours ou vos mains dtaient pleines, 
 Vos regards caressants, vos promesses certaines ? 
 Jamais, oh ! jamais plus. 
 
 2 
 
 L'e'clat du jour s'e'teint aux pleurs ou je me noie, 
 Les charmes de la nuit passent inapergus ; 
 Nuit, jour, printemps, hiver, est-il rien que je voie, 
 Mon cceur peut battre encore de peine, mais de joie 
 Jamais, oh ! jamais plus. 
 
 22. The Gentleman's Magazine/^ 1822 on Shelley. 
 
 I do not know whether students of Shelley interest themselves 
 in the slanderous criticism that assailed their poet in his life-time 
 and at the time of his death. The following examples may be 
 familiar to many already, but their typical rancour is of real value 
 to the historian of popular opinions. In the September number of 
 the Gentleman's Magazine for 1882 (p. 283), Shelley's death is 
 announced thus : — 
 
 " Percey Bysshe Shelley, Esq. 
 
 "July 8. Supposed to have perished at sea in a storm, somewhere 
 off Via Reggia on the coast of Italy, between Leghorn and the 
 Gulf of Spezia, Percey Bysshe Shelley, Esq. He went out sailing 
 in a little schooner, in company with his friend Capt. Williams, 
 son of Capt. John Williams of the Hon. East India Company's 
 Bengal Infantry, and lately exchanged from the 8th Light Dragoons 
 to the 2 1 st Fusileers. He had been at Pisa, and was returning to 
 his country abode at Lerici. The boat has since been found 
 capsized. Mr. Shelley was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley, 
 Bart, M.A. of University College, Oxford, of which Society his son 
 was for a short time a member. He married a daughter of Mr. 
 Godwin by the celebrated Mary Wolstonecraft, and was an in- 
 timate friend of Lord Byron and Mr. Leigh Hunt. The wives of 
 Mr. Shelley and Capt. Williams are both at Leghorn, overwhelmed 
 with grief. 
 
 "Mr. Shelley is unfortunately too well-known for his infajnous 
 novels and poems. He openly professed himself an atheist. His 
 
46 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 works bear the following titles : Prometheus chained, Alastor, or 
 the Spirit of Solitude, and other poems, 1 8 1 6, Queen Mad, Cenci. 
 
 ' k It has been stated that Mr. Shelley had gone to Pisa to establish 
 a periodical work with the assistance of Lord Byron and Mr. Leigh 
 Hunt." 
 
 But this was too mild a protest to satisfy the reading public, and 
 in the December number of the magazine (p. 623) a return was 
 made to the attack in a review of an elegy on Shelley's death by a 
 youthful admirer, Arthur Brooke. 
 
 " Elegy on the Death of Percy Byssche Shelley. By Arthur Brooke, 
 8vo. pp. 17. 
 
 a Mr. Brooke, an enthusiastic young man, who has written some 
 good but licentious verses, has here got up a collection of stanzas 
 for the ostensible purpose of commemorating the talents and virtues 
 of that highly gifted individual, Percy Byssche Shelley (Preface). 
 
 " Concerning the talents of Mr. Shelley, we know no more than 
 that he published certain convulsive caperings of Pegasus labouring 
 under cholic pains : namely, some purely fantastic verses, in the 
 hubble bubble, toil, and trouble style ; and as to Mr. Shelley's 
 virtues, if he belonged (as we understood he did) to a junta whose 
 writings tend to make our sons profligates and our daughters 
 strumpets, we ought as justly to regret the decease of the devil (if 
 that were possible) as of one of his coadjutors. Seriously speaking, 
 however, we feel no pleasure in the untimely death of this tyro of 
 the Juan school, that pre-eminent academy of Infidels, Blasphemers, 
 Seducers, and Wantons. We had much rather have heard that he 
 and the rest of the fraternity had been consigned to a monastery of 
 La Trappe, for correction of their dangerous principles, and expur- 
 gation of their corrupt minds. Percy Byssche Shelley is a fitter 
 subject for a penitentiary dying speech, than a lauding elegy ; for 
 the muse of the rope rather than of the cypress ; the muse that 
 advises us ' warning to take by others' harm, and we shall do full 
 well.'" 
 
 S. L. Lee. 
 
 23. We think there may be many members of the Shelley Society 
 who will like to compete for the following : — The Byron-Shelley- 
 Keats In Memoriam Yearly Prizes. For the Best English 
 Essay written by a Woman. 
 
 1886.— On "Alastor." First Prize, ^10; Second, ^5. On 
 "Julian and Maddalo." First Prize, ^10 ; Second, ^5. On the 
 Third Canto of " Childe Harold." First Prize, ^10; Second, ^5. 
 On Byron's " Prayer of Nature." Four Prizes, £5 each. On 
 Keats's " Hyperion." One Prize, ^5. 
 
 Essays to be sent before June 1st, 1886, to Mrs. Rose Mary 
 Crawshay, Cathedine, Bwlch, Breconshire. 
 
 Prizes awarded in August, 1886. Essays not to exceed ten pages 
 of sermon paper in length. Only one side of the paper to be written 
 on. A narrow margin to be left. Pages to be numbered, and each 
 page to have the writer's name at the top. The writer's name and 
 address in full to be written on the back of the last page. Pages 
 to be fastened together with a metal clip at the left hand corner at 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 47 
 
 the top. Competitors may send in essays on all the subjects, but 
 cannot be awarded more than o?ie first prize. Essays will be re- 
 turned to those competitors only who enclose a stamped and 
 addressed cover. Each essay to be posted singly, and the subject 
 of it to be named outside .the wrapper. Winners of prizes are 
 disqualified from taking further prizes. 
 
 QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
 
 Queries. 
 
 5. In the Epipsychidion the following lines occur : — 
 
 " Seraph of heaven, too gentle to be human, 
 Veiling beneath that radiant form of woman 
 All that is insupportable in thee 
 Of light, and love, and immortality ! " 
 
 Will any member comment on the use and meaning of the word 
 " insupportable * in the above ? Ianthe. 
 
 6. I should be much obliged if some member would tell me from 
 what poet's works the beautiful lines quoted by Mr. Brightwell in a 
 letter to the Birmingham Weekly Post, and reprinted in the first 
 number of the Notebook in " Provincial and Other News," No. 6 — 
 are taken. Querist. 
 
 7. " Shelley and Mary" — " Even so fine and genial a spirit as 
 James Russell Lowell has adopted some of the charges as genuine 
 from which it was to be hoped Shelley had been cleared, and he 
 takes too gross a view of the relations between Shelley and Mary 
 Godwin." — Barnett Smith's Life of Shelley, page 45. 
 
 Where can I find Mr. Lowell's views more fully expressed ? 
 
 F. J. Sebley. 
 
 Answers. 
 
 5. In these verses Shelley chooses, for the purposes of poetic 
 emphasis or amplification, to assume that the Emily of his E,pipsy- 
 chidion is not really a woman, but a seraph in the form of a woman. 
 The glory and intensity of the light, love, and immortality, inherent 
 in the nature of a seraph, would be " insupportable " to the inferior 
 nature and faculty of human beings : to human beings they would 
 be awful, overwhelming, and inappreciable. Therefore the seraph 
 veils in the form of a woman this excess of light, love, and immor- 
 tality : by assuming a human form she becomes cognisable to 
 human mind, emotion, and sense. An analogue to this word 
 " insupportable" may be found in the phrase * Dark with exxessive 
 light." W. M. R. 
 
 6. Mr. Brightwell's quotation is taken from Tennyson's "The 
 Poet's Song." These lines occupy the last page of the 1830 volume 
 ot Poems. H. B. F. 
 
NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 PROVINCIAL AND OTHER NEWS. 
 
 9. Mr. T. C. Abbott's Manchester branch is thriving, and brings 
 much grist to the Society's mill. 
 
 10. Dr. Todhunter, the author of "Helena in Troas," has 
 written the prologue for May 7. This will be printed in a future 
 issue, as well as in the Society's edition of The Cenci. 
 
 11. Miss Alma Murray's dresses, which we hear are exceedingly 
 handsome, are being made by Miss Fisher. 
 
 12. Mr. B. L. Mosely has set to music Beatrice's song in Act V. 
 of The Cenci. 
 
 13. The Shelley Theatre (private), situate inTite Street, Chelsea, 
 will be offered for sale at public auction during the summer by 
 Messrs. Driver and Co., of Whitehall. 
 
 14. The next number of the " Notebook" will, if possible, be 
 issued in the second week in May, and will consist entirely of 
 reviews and critical articles on the performance of The Cenci. 
 
 15. The performance of the Hellas in the autumn is now assured, 
 Mr. R. A. Potts and Mr. Richard Arkwright having generously sent 
 a donation of £5 each to the fund. Mr. Potts has also promised 
 the Society a reprint of Epipsychidion. 
 
 16. The Society's guests on May the 7th will include Mr. Browning, 
 Mr. George Meredith and Dr. J. Russell Lowell. Mr. Matthew 
 Arnold is, unfortunately, unable to be present. Lord Tennyson, 
 too, received an invitation, but the grave illness (and subsequent 
 death) of his younger son Lionel of course prevented his acceptance 
 of it. 
 
 17. Messrs. Richard Clay & Sons, the Society's printers, have 
 prevailed on the editor of " The Pictorial World " to send a repre- 
 sentative to the performance of The Cenci for the purpose of 
 sketching the principal scenes and characters in the tragedy. 
 These will be inserted in the number of that journal for the week 
 following the performance, and those desirous of having a copy are 
 advised to " order early." 
 
 18. The following genial but decidedly unpoetical and irreverent 
 paragraph appeared in " The Referee " for April 1 1 last : — u The 
 performance by the Shelley Society of their master's gruesome 
 tragedy, The Cenci, is fixed for May 7 at the Grand. Bard Browning, 
 who will be seventy-four years of age on that day, has promised to 
 attend. As a brother poet, I hope to be present to wish him many 
 happy returns. Miss Alma Murray (who has been engaged for the 
 autumn season at Old Drury) will be the Beatrice, and Mr. Hermann 
 Vezin will play the Count, who is of no account." 
 
 19. Dr. Furnivall has promised to give, in a later number of 
 this " Notebook," some reminiscences of conversations with his 
 father about Shelley. Many of these recollections, which, though 
 minor in detail, are very characteristic of the poet, are alludecl to 
 in Mr. W. M. Rossetti's memoir, lately issued as the sixth publica- 
 tion of the Society ; but it is hoped that the impetus given to our 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TV. 49 
 
 founder's memory by the formation of the Society will be product- 
 ive of more good results in the shape of new and original recollec- 
 tions. It says not a little for Mr. Furnivall's easiness of temper 
 and charitableness of disposition that he remained on terms of 
 friendship with a man who neglected, beyond the extent of a 
 sovereign, to remunerate his professional services. But we are 
 anticipating. 
 
 20. Members, who will have read with interest the description in 
 Mr. H. Buxton Forman's " Shelley Library * of his unique copy of 
 Queen Mab and Laon a,7id Cythna, will be glad to hear that these 
 most interesting relics, with all Shelley's emendations, are (we hope, 
 next year), to be facsimiled by the Society. Those who have never 
 seen these wonderful books can have no idea of the importance of 
 this fact. The suggestion, which was at once adopted, was made by 
 Dr. Fuinivall, in conversation with Mr. Buxton Forman, the editor 
 being at the time engaged in a reverent perusal of the poet's volumes. 
 The committee have passed a special vote of thanks to Mr. Buxton 
 Forman for his generosity in lending the volumes to the Society 
 for this purpose. 
 
 21. The editor proposes to note from time to time, for the con- 
 venience of scrap collectors and of posterity in general, the names 
 of some of the journals containing paragraphs on the Society's 
 progress, which are not of sufficient importance to be reprinted in 
 full. Members, then, will find allusions to the Society in the 
 " Figaro " of April 1 7th (this journal's notices are very encouraging) ; 
 the " Queen " for April 10th ; the "Morning Post" for April 5th 
 and 1 2th (this paper's statements are somewhat erratic) ; the 
 "Referee "for April 4th and nth; "Modern Society" for April 
 10th ; the " Standard" for March 6th ; the " World" for April 10th ; 
 "Topical Times" for April 17th; "Pall Mall Gazette" for 13th 
 April; the "Echo" for April 17th; "Morning Post" for April 
 27th (an antagonistic leader) ; " Boston Evening Transcript " for 
 April 1 2th (containing a column on the foundation and progress of 
 the Society, evidently from the pen of Prof. Peirce) ; the "Athen- 
 aeum " and " Academy " continue their weekly paragraphs. 
 
 22. Those members who intend to be present at Dr. Furnivall's 
 * Cenci dinner, 11 after the Society's performance on May 7th, should 
 send their names, and if they have not yet done so, their " four 
 shillingses " to Dr. Furnivall at once. 
 
So NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 THE CENCI, 
 
 TRAGEDY, IN FIVE ACTS, BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. 
 FIRST PERFORMED ON FRIDA Y, yh MA Y t 1886, 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE SHELLEY SOCIETY, 
 
 WITH THE FOLLOWING CAST. 
 
 Characters. 
 
 Beatrice Cenci Miss Alma Murray, 
 
 Lucretia, Countess Cenci .... Miss Maude Brennan, 
 
 Count Francesco Cenci Mr. Hermann Vezin, 
 
 Orsino, a Prelate Mr. Leonard S. Outram 
 
 Cardinal Cainillo . Mr. W. Farren, Junr., 
 
 Giacomo Cenci \ , r , c / Mr. R. de Cordova, 
 Bernardo Cenci)™* <- ounts bons \ Mr. Mark Ambient, 
 Savei/a, the Pope's Legate . . . Mr. Philip Ben Greet, 
 Marzio \ a ccocc :„ c /Mr. G. R. Foss, 
 
 Olimpio J* Assassins \ Mr. W. R. Staveley, 
 
 Andrea, Servant to Cenci . . . Mr. CECIL Crofton, 
 
 Orsino's Servant Mr. Cecil Ramsey, 
 
 Prince Colonna Mr. J. D. Bouverie, 
 
 First Guest Mr. Fred Westwood, 
 
 Second Guest Mr. Harry Grattan, 
 
 Third Guest Mr. H. Linton, 
 
 A Guest Mr. E. H. Paterson, 
 
 Judge Mr. F. Hope Meriscord, 
 
 Second Judge Mr. A. J. Matthews, 
 
 Officer Mr. W. T. Percyval, 
 
 a7„a/„ r„j;*c ( Misses Mellon, Byron, 
 
 Noble Ladies | Ferrar, Kent, Etc. 
 
 Stage Manager Mr. R. de Cordova. 
 
 For sixty-five years " The Cenci " has been known to 
 Shelley lovers only as a masterpiece of English litera- 
 ture, and only through the medium of paper and print. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. 51 
 
 The sixty-sixth has seen the birth of our u Shelley 
 Society," and consequently, the production for the first 
 time of this great tragedy. The performance took place, 
 as announced, at the Grand Theatre, Islington, and the 
 play was produced by the Society in the presence of a 
 very crowded and enthusiastic house, composed of over 
 2,400 members and their friends, by the majority of 
 whom the most breathless interest in the performance 
 was from first to last maintained. 
 
 It is not here proposed to offer any detailed criticisms 
 on the performance, partly from the fact that the sub- 
 ject and occasion have been noticed at length by pro- 
 fessional critics, the /lite of whom were present, and 
 extracts from whose contributions to their respective 
 journals are printed below; and partly, chiefly indeed, 
 from the fact that to adequately depict the uniqueness 
 and interest of the occasion, the excellence of the acting, 
 and the enthusiasm of the audience, would require a 
 trained and skilful pen. 
 
 The treatment that the subject has received from the 
 critics is exactly that which was naturally to be ex- 
 pected. The discussion of the work from a literary 
 point of view does not fall within the dramatic critic's 
 province, although some have attempted it. The in- 
 formation for which we look to this learned body is, 
 generally, as to whether the tragedy is suited to the 
 English stage and, in particular, as to the success or 
 failure of the recent performance. To the former 
 question the answer almost unanimously given is in the 
 negative. The tragedy, as a stage play, is condemned 
 as unactable on the English stage by reason of its un- 
 conscionable length, its gruesome character, and its 
 alleged immorality. This may or may not be. 
 
 With regard to the second point, the success of the 
 performance has been universally acknowledged. The 
 mounting was exceptionally good, no suspicion of a 
 hitch occurred in the stage management, and this, 
 combined with the talented efforts of our actors and 
 actresses, secured for us a very excellent representation. 
 
 The "Count Cenci" of Mr. Hermann Vezin is de- 
 clared by one of the first critics of the day to be his 
 most remarkable success in " the course of a long and 
 
 e 2 
 
52 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 honourable career," and all who were present on the 7th 
 are at one in agreeing that his performance was through- 
 out of the very highest merit. Mr. Vezin absolutely 
 electrified the audience with his wonderfully real per- 
 sonification of the cruel and bloodthirsty Count ; and 
 in his delivery of the terrible curse in the fourth act he 
 displayed powers of declamation which few living actors 
 could equal. At the close of this scene shouts of ad- 
 miration arose from all parts of the theatre. Loud and 
 long too was the applause which greeted Miss Alma 
 Murray's appearance as Beatrice. Surely critics 
 have never been so unanimous as in the unqualified 
 praise they have bestowed on this lady's performance, 
 a performance which will never be forgotten by those 
 who had the good fortune to witness it. Shelley him- 
 self could have chosen no more charming a Beatrice, no 
 actress more capable of giving a faithful representation 
 of a most difficult character — most difficult, because to 
 adequately and faithfully represent it requires more 
 than a thorough knowledge of dramatic art, more than 
 an unusually retentive memory, and more than an 
 intimate acquaintaoce with Shelley and his works. The 
 task must be undertaken by a woman, in the highest 
 sense of the word; acid by one who can enter into 
 the feelings of the poet who conceived so beautiful a 
 character, and can admire the purity and nobility of the 
 language in which that conception is expressed. This 
 Miss Murray can do and has done. She has given us a 
 living and real picture of Shelley's Beatrice ; a picture 
 whose every outline is fraught with poetry and grace ; 
 whose colours are vivid, but never gaudy ; and whose 
 general effect is at once striking and pleasing. Each 
 actor and actress, at the close of the performance, 
 received the loudly-expressed thanks of the delighted 
 audience, the shouts increasing in volume and the 
 handkerchief-wavings in number as Mr. Leonard S. 
 Outram, whose performance of Orsino was a carefully- 
 studied and clever one, followed by Mr. W. Farren, 
 junr., clad in the red robes of Camillo, and Miss 
 Maude Brennan as Lucretia, passed for the last time 
 before the curtain. The enthusiasm reached a climax 
 on Miss Murray's appearance in the simple but very 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 53 
 
 effective "execution" dress of the last scene, the whole 
 audience rising to their feet and cheering vociferously. 
 In response to the loud and continued calls for Mr. 
 Vezin, Mr. R. de Cordova stated that he had, unfor- 
 tunately, previously left the theatre. 
 
 The tragedy, for the purposes of this representation, 
 was divided into six acts, the split (which was necessary 
 on purely technical grounds) occurring in Act III., and 
 the performance occupied four hours — a fact which but 
 few of the critics have omitted to notice. 
 
 The many distinguished men of letters present in- 
 cluded Mr. Robert Browning, Mr. J. Russell Lowell, 
 Mr. George Meredith, Mr. Andrew Lang, Mr. John 
 Payne, and Mr. Harry A. Jones. Sir Percy and Lady 
 Shelley were also present, and have since expressed 
 their warm appreciation of the performance. 
 
 In the following pages will be found the most in- 
 teresting portions of those press notices of the per- 
 formance which have any claim to merit. Nothing of 
 importance, however antagonistic, has been suppressed, 
 but it has not been thought necessary to include the 
 effusions of those unimportant journals whose repre- 
 sentatives were not supplied with tickets. Two leading 
 daily papers, the Standard 'and the Daily News, contained 
 no notice of the performance. 
 
 Editor. 
 
54 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 The Times, Saturday, May 8, 1886. 
 
 This story of The Cenci has been closely, indeed literally, followed 
 in the play, and it is for the Shelley Society to explain how they 
 reconcile a public performance of it with the poet's expressed 
 repugnance to " a dry exhibition of it on the stage/' It is true 
 that Shelley declares that "the person who would treat such a 
 subject must increase the ideal and diminish the actual horror of 
 the events, so that the pleasure which arises from the poetry ex- 
 isting in these tempestuous sufferings and crimes may mitigate the 
 pain of the contemplation of the moral deformity from which they 
 spring ; " but as he himself has not attempted, or at all events has 
 not effected, such a mitigation of the ghastly features of the legend, 
 the objection so forcibly expressed by him to the poem as an acting 
 play remains. In any case> the performance of The Cenci on a 
 public stage is a doubtful service which the Shelley Society render 
 to their idol's memory. Whatever Shelley's intentions with regard 
 to The Cenci may have been, it is unquestionably proved at this, 
 its first, performance, to be wanting in some of the essentials of a 
 good play. That its language is vigorous, poetic, and noble may 
 be allowed, none the less because certain passages recall both 
 Macbeth and Hamlet; but the dramatic elements of the story are 
 not handled with the requisite skill to keep the nerves of the 
 audience in a high state of tension. The action is without variety. 
 It is blood-curdling, horrible, revolting even, but it is uniform, and, 
 except in the case of Shelley's enthusiasts, weariness is apt at the 
 end of the first hour or two to take the place of the shudders of 
 disgust occasioned at the outset by the nameless deeds of Count 
 Cenci. Beatrice's character is necessarily in some degree sympa- 
 thetic ; but the poet commits a strange mistake in view of the 
 dramatic exigencies of the case in making her after her own dis- 
 honour and her father's murder, cling with such tenacity to life as 
 to forswear herself in the judge's presence. Her sudden change of 
 front is incomprehensible. High praise is due to Mr. Hermann 
 Vezin for an awe-inspiring embodiment of Count Cenci, and to 
 Miss Alma Murray for a Beatrice combining maidenly dignity 
 with the highest tragic force. Both performers were of invaluable 
 service to the play ; the atrocities laid to the charge of Count Cenci 
 were — thanks to their skill — almost brought within the range of the 
 conceivable. The part of the time-serving and libidinous priest, 
 Orsini, was also forcibly played by Mr. L. S. Outram, while the 
 other characters were for the most part in safe hands. In respect of 
 acting and mounting, indeed, The Cenci had every justice done to 
 it. Its place in English literature remains what it was ; but the 
 Shelley Society may, if they are so disposed, claim to have 
 effectually demolished its pretensions as a play. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 55 
 
 The Daily Telegraph, Saturday, May 8, 1886. 
 
 Four long hours of a lovely May afternoon were yesterday 
 occupied by the Shelley Society in laboriously proving the worth- 
 lessness of The Cenci for all practical stage purposes. The Ex- 
 aminer of Stage Plays, a liberal-minded man and of catholic 
 intelligence, having very properly refused his sanction for the 
 public performance of Shelley's hideous tragedy in any theatre 
 licensed by the Lord Chamberlain, the unusual course was taken of 
 hiring a public theatre in order to play The Cenci before hundreds 
 of enthusiastic Shelleyites and invited guests. The Grand Theatre 
 at Islington was the scene of the experiment, and great was the 
 excitement opposite the historic "Angel" when the carriages of 
 the aristocracy and the hansoms of the literary world poured up to 
 a playhouse not usually given to matine'es^ and adorned with a 
 flaring poster of a sensational melodrama. In all this there is not 
 much harm. If it pleases the Shelley Society to play The Cenci 
 in private, it certainly does no harm to the uninvited or to those 
 who prefer to stay away. The Cenci has been discussed ad 
 nauseam, its morality or immorality has been a bone of contention 
 for years, and has agitated literary and theatrical society ever 
 since the " squeamish Covent Garden manager " refused even to 
 submit the play to Miss O'Neil. Every actor or manager of note 
 has, at one time or other, dreamed of the possibility of The Cenci. 
 Macready hesitated and rejected the idea, and so did Samuel 
 ^"Phelp s. Miss Genevieve Ward had long a desire to appear as 
 JtfeaTrTceXencI, and a private performance to carry out the notion 
 was seriously discussed a very few years ago. At last the Shelley 
 "Society has boldly attempted what others rejected, on considera- 
 tion, as impossible, and the members of the cult have proceeded 
 on the most orthodox and rigid principles. No heretic stage- 
 manager has been allowed to omit one line of the text. There 
 has been no tampering with the poet or perversion of his idea. 
 Speeches that no ordinary audience would endure for five minutes, 
 tirades of abnormal length, dialogues, dramatically speaking, of 
 depressing dulness, unnecessary scenes, interminable talk, have all 
 been faithfully preserved. As we said before, to the ignorant and 
 unenlightened not much harm was done. The ladies, many of 
 them young, who went to Islington yesterday, presumably knew, or 
 ought to have known, the kind of subject that Shelley had selected 
 for his tragedy, and it was their fault, or that of their husbands, 
 fathers, and brothers, if they were shocked at the atrocious and 
 bloodthirsty utterances of Count Cenci, or the self-communing of 
 the golden-haired Beatrice. The text of The Cenci is not kept 
 under lock and key in any library, and if women like to see the 
 play performed it is their look out. 
 
 Those who sat out the performance to the end were rewarded by 
 some acting which, in two instances, was of a really remarkable 
 character. Mr. Hermann Vezin has never before, in our remem- 
 brance, risen to such genuine power as in the curse of Count Cenci. 
 Not only as an elocutionary effort, but as catching at the very 
 
56 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 nerves of the audience, he far surpassed the one strong moment in 
 his Dan'l Druce, and many vigorous outbursts as Sir Giles Over- 
 reach. It is a curse tremendous and exhausting for the actor — a 
 curse far more trying than that of King Lear. But Mr. Vezin held 
 his own, never faltered in the gathering strength of his whirlwind 
 of passion, and was rewarded by one of those spontaneous outbursts 
 of approval which only come when the audience has been deeply 
 moved. Few will forget who heard it Count Cenci's answer to 
 Lucretia's frightened words — 
 
 " Peace ! Peace ! 
 For thine own sake, unsay those dreadful words, 
 When high God grants, he punishes such prayers." 
 
 At this, Mr. Vezin drew himself up to what appeared to be double 
 his ordinary stature, and, stretching forth his arms, he thundered 
 out, " He does his will ; I mine." The words as delivered were 
 awful in their impiousness. But elsewhere it was a bold, con- 
 sistent, and very fine performance, that lifted the actor out of him- 
 self. Mr. Vezin was no longer a mere elocutionist ; he was a man, 
 and such a man ! Miss Alma Murray, one of our most intelligent 
 actresses, may also be sincerely congratulated on her Beatrice 
 Cenci, surely the longest part that any actress has ever studied, 
 the most difficult, the most exhausting. Her sweet, persuasive 
 voice, her elegance of attitude, her variety of expression, were all 
 brought into play, and though the task was almost too exhausting 
 for so frail a frame and so delicate a physique, still there are few 
 actresses who could have done so well or could have looked the 
 part better. She did not miss one line in this tremendous text. 
 The rest were painstaking, but not very notable, as actors or 
 elocutionists, with the exception of Mr. Foss and Mr. Leonard 
 Outram. By the way, both Mr. Robert Browning and Mr. Russell 
 Lowell were present among this distinguished literary and artistic 
 audience. If Shelley's Cenci is ever to be performed in public or 
 private again it ought to be properly arranged for stage representa- 
 tion. But after this experiment it is not likely that even the 
 Shelley Society will sit it out again. 
 
 The Morning Post, Saturday, May 8, 1886. 
 
 The tragedy is beyond question a work of profound pathos, 
 masterly characterisation, and great, though singularly simple, 
 literary power ; but the effect is alternately horrifying and depress- 
 ing. No flash of genial humour, no gleam of innocent gaiety 
 relieves the Stygian darkness of a play overflowing from first to 
 last with monstrous guilt and agonizing grief. Nothing can be 
 more terrible than the subject. The place for The Cenci in these 
 days is not the stage, but the library-shelf, by the side of the 
 (lltUpus and Pericles^ Prince of Tyre. But it were of little avail to 
 renew discussion of a question which has been fully debated. 
 Whether for good or evil, the play was acted yesterday afternoon 
 at the Grand Theatre, Islington. As the various members of the 
 audience came on the invitation of the Shelley Society, by whom 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 57 
 
 the performance was projected, no money was taken at the doors. 
 The occasion, therefore, was not " public " within the legal ac- 
 ceptation of the word, and, consequently, the licence of the Lord 
 Chamberlain was not required. 
 
 It was not the dubious lady of scholars and antiquaries, it was 
 the high-hearted maiden, as virtuous as unfortunate, dear to poets 
 and novelists, whom Miss Alma Murray had yesterday to imper- 
 sonate, a task which she performed with an ability that entitles her 
 to take rank with the best actresses on the London stage. It may 
 be that in bygone times Miss O'Neil, to whom Shelley would 
 gladly have assigned his heroine, would have brought to the part a 
 more stately presence, but she could hardly have brought a more 
 sympathetic and artistic illustration. Miss Murray's elocution is 
 perfect, her acting is brilliantly impassioned, fraught with poetic 
 grace and full of intellectual beauty. In the third act, the most 
 trying in the tragedy, she was exceptionally impressive, and pro- 
 voked the enthusiastic acclamations of her audience. But she was 
 excellent throughout. It was on her that fell the chief burden of 
 the woeful play, and she sustained it with unfailing skill and spirit. 
 In the earlier scenes Mr. Hermann Vezin, who — alas, the day ! — 
 had to appear as Francesco Cenci, did not seem to aim at anything 
 higher than splendid declamation, in which he always excels. He 
 gave fine prosodical utterance to the text, but failed to shed into the 
 character the heinous hues of vice with which the poet has so 
 terrifically invested it. But as the play proceeded the actor warmed 
 to his awful work, and at last succeeded in topping the villainy of 
 the most villainous personage of the drama. The more important 
 of the other personages received very fair treatment at the hands 
 of Mr. Leonard Outram as Orsino, Mr. W. Farren, jun., as Cardinal 
 Camillo, Mr. De Cordova as Giacomo, Mr. Ambient as Bernardo, 
 Mr. Foss as Marzio, and Miss Maude Brennan as Lucretia. It is 
 due to all the actors to say that they were word perfect in their 
 respective parts, and displayed no mean skill in the difficult and 
 much-neglected art of speaking blank verse as it should be spoken, 
 with correct cadence and well modulated voice. But no acting, 
 however good, could give pleasant, healthy interest to such a play 
 as The Cenci. It took four wretched hours in the performance, and 
 nothing about it was so welcome as the falling of the curtain. A 
 prologue in verse, written by Mr. Todhunter, was spoken in clear 
 impressive style by Mr. Leonard Outram. The brilliant audience, 
 so large as to fill the house from floor- to ceiling, included many 
 persons of high literary celebrity. Mr. Browning in the number, 
 whose birthday it was. 
 
 The Daily Chronicle, Saturday, May 8, 18G6. 
 
 The Shelley Society has not been long in existence, but it has 
 already done much — more, indeed, from a certain estimate of work 
 accomplished— than it is likely to do again. Through its means 
 the poet's terrible tragedy The Cenci was yesterday afternoon for 
 the first time seen upon the stage, an event which none but the 
 
53 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 most enthusiastic admirers of Shelley could have expected or 
 wished for. As the licence for the public performance had not 
 been accorded, admission to the Grand Theatre at Islington — the 
 house chosen for the purpose — was only obtainable by invitation 
 ticket, the demand for these vouchers, we believe, far exceeding the 
 accommodation of a theatre that can boast of one of the most 
 extensive audience areas in the metropolis. Whether honest 
 appreciation of Shelley, or simple curiosity respecting the stage 
 effectiveness of a play that by no inconsiderable section of the 
 educated community has been regarded as a blot upon the genius 
 of its author, if not upon English dramatic literature, or some less 
 creditable motive, brought together such a large assemblage it is 
 impossible to say, but certainly the unwonted throng of well-dressed 
 people gathered round the pit and gallery entrances, as well as f he 
 approach to the stalls and boxes, created no small excitement in 
 High Street yesterday. Being determined to play The Cenci for 
 the gratification of its members and their friends — even if debarred 
 from giving it to a general audience — the Shelley Society did not 
 palter with the work, or think of entertaining half-measures, but 
 offered it in its entirety. The Cenci was presented in the hideous 
 form in which it was given to the world by its author, and there 
 was no attempt to soften its natural gloom and horror. It was 
 Shelley's Cenci that was represented, and it is this fact that induces 
 the belief that in daring and thoroughness the Shelley Society will 
 never surpass the achievement of yesterday. 
 
 From a dramatic aspect, which is probably the last point of view 
 in which many admirers of Shelley regard it, The Cenci is a decided 
 failure — it is very long, and not even the exception illy good, nay, 
 the magnificent, acting yesterday of Miss Alma Murray and of Mr. 
 Hermann Vezin could redeem it from the charge of wearisomeness. 
 The story is plain enough — detestably so — but not so the motives 
 of some of the characters — and the fashion of soliloquizing, so 
 dear to our playgoing grandparents, becomes after a while almost 
 intolerable. When Count Cenci is on the stage — or, rather, perhaps, 
 we should say, when Mr. Hermann Vezin is his mouthpiece — he 
 holds the audience by the enormity of his villainy and his con- 
 sciousness of the possession of resistless power so long as he can 
 purchase Papal pardon with " gold, the old man's sword." But the 
 character lives only with the actor. It is different with Beatrice, 
 whose grace, affection, and innocence serve to augment the pity 
 commanded by her wrongs. The other personages of the play are 
 mere puppets. Beatrice is, in fact, the only character that becomes 
 as telling on the stage as in the study. The play, which was 
 yesterday given in six acts, and lasted four hours, was preceded by 
 a rhymed address, written by Mr. John Todhunter (one of the 
 committee of the society), and spoken by Mr. Leonard S. Outrank 
 in which The Cenci was dubbed " Shelley's tremendous vision," and 
 attention was called to the circumstance that this, the birthday of 
 the poet Browning, had brought " a Titan to belated birth." 
 
 Histrionically the performances of Miss Alma Murray and of 
 Mr. Hermann Vezin were remarkable— not alone as feats of memory, 
 but as literal reproductions of the characters that would seem to 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY, 59 
 
 have been in " the mind's eye " of the poet. In its youthfulness, 
 exquisite refinement, and graphic delineation of loathing for her 
 persecutor, the Beatrice of Miss Alma Murray was an impersonation 
 that should make her reputation as a tragic actress, even though 
 the performance of yesterday was in a measure private. If any- 
 thing could inspire the desire to see this play again it would be the 
 beautifully sympathetic embodiment of the heroine by a young lady 
 who has shown constant improvement in her art, and has, if we 
 mistake not, now made a leap in her profession that must leave 
 many of her rivals in the rear. In the indignation and in the 
 heartrending appeals for pity in the earlier scenes, Miss Alma 
 Murray completely moved her audience, but even better was the 
 realisation of the resignation of the final scene. For the moment 
 we can call to mind no actress that could exercise such charm in 
 such a play — certainly none now before the public could render 
 such an exhaustive part with the sustained vigour so noticeable 
 yesterday. Mr. Vezin's elocution in the declamatory passages was 
 exceedingly fine, being thrilling in its intensity and energy, and his 
 make-up was, as usual, a picture in its way- Mr. Leonard S. 
 Outram gave the lines of the treacherous priest Orsino with some 
 skill, and Mr. W. Farren, jun., creditably represented the Cardinal 
 Camillo. Considerable care had evidently been taken with the 
 mounting of the play, and the reception of Miss Alma Murray at 
 the close was deservedly enthusiastic. 
 
 Scotsman, May 8, 1886. 
 
 The play of The Cenci, as readers know ; turns on an incident so 
 terrible , so revolting, and so utterly obscene as hardly to bear telling, 
 and while willing to accord the utmost liberty to dramatic art, it 
 seems a thousand pities it should ever have been presented in 
 
 f public True, the language is magnificent, but nothing can hide 
 the intrinsic foulness of the story. The acting, on the whole, was 
 good. Mr. Hermann Vezin's admirable elocution was of infinite 
 value in the part of Count Cenci, and he played with a great deal 
 of concentrated vigour. He was a trifle monotonous, perhaps, but 
 the impersonation had many merits. Mr. Leonard Outram was an 
 excellent Orsino, having evidently modelled his style, though with 
 no servile imitation, on that of Mr. Irving. Mr. Farren, jun., 
 played Cardinal Camillo with dignity ; and Messrs. De Cordova 
 and Ambient acted fairly as the Count's sons. Miss Maude 
 Brennan was a satisfactory Lucretia ; but the honours of the 
 afternoon decidedly fell to Miss Alma Murray, whose impersonation 
 of Beatrice Cenci was a marvel of artistic effort and genuine 
 emotional power. Miss Murray is slight, and there is a limit to 
 her physical powers, but it is wonderful how much, so to speak, she 
 gets out of herself, and she played this afternoon with indubitable 
 force. It must be added also that this lady delivers blank verse 
 with a nice sense of its metrical accent, which other actresses 
 would do well to imitate, and it was a treat to listen to her elocution. 
 She looked exceedingly picturesque, and was, as may be imagined, 
 received with enthusiasm. The play went well ; but whatever may 
 
6 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 be its merits as a work of literary art, it is somewhat dull as a 
 drama by reason of the enormous length of the speeches and the 
 want of dramatic effect at the conclusion of several acts. The 
 performance was received with much favour by an audience which 
 included Messrs Robert Browning, Russell Lowell, George Meredith, 
 and many literary and dramatic notabilities. 
 
 The Liverpool Courier, Wednesday, May 12, 1886. 
 
 In placing The Cenci on the boards, the Shelley Society has un- 
 doubtedly, in a sense, done some public service. It was desirable, 
 perhaps, that the experiment should be made, and it could scarcely 
 have been made under more acceptable conditions. It was emin- 
 ently undesirable that the performance should be a public one, and, 
 by confining the tickets of admission to its own members and 
 others specially invited, the Society was able to avoid that difficulty. 
 All students of literature have read The Cenci, and have been 
 struck, of course, by the tremendous nature of the subject, and the 
 power with which it has been treated. Some have gone so far as 
 to assert that, so far as literary merit is concerned, The Ce?ici is the 
 finest tragedy since Shakespeare. That being so, many might well 
 be curious to see how it would " go " upon the stage. About the 
 repulsiveness of the story told in it few, we imagine, could have 
 any doubt. Few, we should say, would be disposed to argue that, 
 other things being equal, the plot of The Cenci was fitted for repre- 
 sentation coram ficpido. There may be a handful of zealots with 
 this opinion in their mind, but the verdict of the majority is unmis- 
 takable. On the other hand, waiving for a moment this particular 
 point, it was undoubtedly interesting to note the playing qualities 
 of the drama, its fitness or unfitness for performance, assuming 
 that the subject of it could be tolerated. It is now made clear 
 that, quite apart from the horror of its theme, The Cenci is un- 
 fitted for the stage. It is, to begin with, by far too long. It takes 
 just four hours (with the inevitable " waits ") to enact. Begun at 
 half-past seven, it would detain the audience till half-past eleven, 
 and that in itself is fatal. It is stuffed full of long speeches which 
 no ordinary assemblage of playgoers would tolerate ; and, what is 
 more to the purpose, no amount of " cutting" would render the 
 drama really dramatic. And in prolonging the play after the death 
 of Cenci the poet made a double mistake. He caused the action 
 to drag, and he made Beatrice become a bore, if not worse. She 
 is tedious, and, unhappily, she is unsympathetic. Her clinging to 
 life is unheroic, and her endeavour to prove that she is innocent of 
 the crime she prompted is specious and a failure. Orsino, too, 
 though skilfully drawn, does not interest us any more than Giacomo. 
 His schemes seem unimportant in the shadow of the Ccnci's last 
 and greatest crime. In a word, the Shelley Society, in its devotion to 
 the memory of its idol, has effectually shattered one of the illusions 
 of that idol. It has supplied a large audience with an intellectual 
 dish for which it should be, and no doubt is, grateful ; but it has 
 shown conclusively that The Cenci is not, and could not be made, a 
 good acting play, even if it were not otherwise inadmissible. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TV. 6 1 
 
 The Western Daily Mercury, Saturday, May 8, 1886. 
 
 The performance by the Shelley Society of The Cenci this after- 
 noon was a great success. The theatre was crowded with an 
 audience including all the half-brilliant, half-fashionable folk who 
 throng to representations of this kind. I am not sure that the 
 people who crushed into the Grand Theatre at Islington were quite 
 fitted to appreciate the subtleties as well as the horrors of Shelley's 
 great play, but there was no doubt as to the substantial success of 
 a dra ma which everybody has been denouncing as unfit for public 
 'perfo rmance. The representation began with Leonard Outram's 
 very "Tine and scholarly rendering of Mr. Todhunter's prologue, 
 which summed up very happily and effectively the fateful issues of 
 Mr. Shelley's great play : — 
 
 " Oh ! who durst weigh her guilt, her innocence ? 
 Who shall assay gold of such dreadful mint ? " 
 
 This was what Mr. Todhunter asked the audience at the Grand to 
 decide, and, judging by their enthusiastic applause, they decided in 
 Beatrice's favour. The performers were very courageous. The 
 acting version differed very little from the original draft of the play, 
 and the unveiled horrors of the plot and its daring treatment were 
 not shirked by Mr. Vezin and Miss Alma Murray and their asso- 
 ciates. There was just a little thrill of horror when Mr. Vezin, as 
 Count Cenci, knelt do wn in the fearful fourth act and invoked th e 
 awful curse of an awful sinner on the innocent girl whom nameless 
 guilt betrays to her doom. The hoarse fury of the action gave, to 
 my mind, the most perfect image of unredeemable wickedness 
 which has ever been presented on the English stage. As for Miss 
 Alma Murray, she was all but perfect. Nothing but her touchingly- 
 delicate performance could have saved the play, magnificent as it 
 is, from shipwreck, and her success in this respect was absolute. 
 Many things touched me indescribably in her performance, but the 
 most pathetic touch of all was the delivery of the last eight lines, 
 beginning : — 
 
 " Give yourself no unnecessary pain, 
 My dear Lord Cardinal." 
 
 It was delightful to see Mr. Browning and Mr. Russell Lowell 
 sitting side by side in the stalls and taking the liveliest interest 
 in the performance. The enthusiasm at the close of the per- 
 formance was extraordinary. 
 
 The Globe, Saturday, May 8, 1886. 
 
 The performance given yesterday afternoon at the Grand Theatre 
 of The Cenci of Shelley, settles one at least of two questions with 
 which the world of letters has long been occupied. Whether the 
 play is suited to a mixed audience and to the present condition of 
 our stage is a question which cannot be said to have been set at 
 
62 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 rest. Nothing, indeed, has been contributed to a controversy 
 which remains exactly where it was. That The Ceiici may, however, 
 be seen with interest, and that in spite of the declamatory nature 
 of certain scenes it proves impressive and effective in representation, 
 is established. In the presence of an audience, the largest and 
 most distinguished that a London theatre has often held, and 
 including Mr. Browning, Mr. Russell Lowell, Mr. George Meredith, 
 and innumerable others belonging to the world of literature, the 
 play was yesterday afternoon played, not in a garbled or compressed 
 version, but, practically, in its integrity. As is generally known, the 
 audience consisted wholly of the Shelley Society and its guests, no 
 money having been taken in any part of the house. Practically 
 the performance was thus private, and did not come under the 
 notice of the Lord Chamberlain. So great interest attends the 
 occasion, however, that public criticism is challenged. 
 
 Into the question whether it is expedient that the repulsive and 
 unhallowed crimes which form the subject of The Cenci should be 
 set before youths and maidens, it is inexpedient in a public news- 
 paper to enter. 
 
 Yesterday's performance was remarkable in many ways. Not 
 the least noteworthy feature of it was the delivery of the text, which 
 was exemplarily exact. How much conscientious labour is involved 
 in this is shown in the fact that the roles are remarkably long — 
 that of the heroine can scarcely be much less than Hamlet — and 
 that there is scarcely a line with which the executants can previously 
 have been familiar. So far as our observation extended, however, 
 there was scarcely an instance of omission or of the substitution of 
 one word for another. Every part was steadily played, and while 
 the principal characters were realised, the secondary characters 
 found in some instances highly intelligent interpretation. There 
 was no hitch ; nothing, in short, that calls for censure, and little 
 that calls even for indulgence. When it is known that most of 
 those taking part in the representation were young actors, the 
 ensemble of the whole appears additionally praiseworthy. 
 
 In the two principal characters the acting was admirable. Mr. 
 Hermann Vezin, during a long and honourable career, has done 
 nothing more remarkable than his Count Francesco Cenci. The 
 man is, of course, a monster of vice and malignity, worse, perhaps, 
 than any that has ever been put upon the stage, and comparable 
 only to one or two actual beings whose names it would be an offence 
 even to mention. Intellectual malignity is, however, in Mr. Vezin's 
 rendering, the chief feature in the terrible individuality. A cruel 
 light burns in the eyes, the gestures are profoundly contemptuous 
 to everything human, and there is a diabolical cynicism and a 
 delight in crime for its own sake that Mephistopheles might admire. 
 Madness lurking in the background may account for the unheard- 
 of horror of his actions, but the enjoyment of superiority — social, 
 intellectual, physical — over those around him, seems an even 
 stronger motive than mere animal delight in blood. This interpre- 
 tation is defensible enough, and the character as interpreted by 
 Mr. Vezin is as picturesque and powerful as it is repulsive. Miss 
 Alma Murray gave a singularly fine rendering of Beatrice Cenci. 
 
THE SHELLS Y SOCIE TV. 63 
 
 Looking in the penultimate act very like the picture by Guido 
 which passes for that of the heroine, she formed an eminently 
 attractive figure. Her voice, one of the most musical upon the 
 stage, was used with admirable effect, and her gestures and delivery 
 were supremely touching. It is doubtful whether any living actress 
 could have combined more pathetic and emotional expression of 
 shame and horror with a more ideal and elevating picture of purity. 
 So far as regards these two parts the representation could not 
 easily be improved. The Lucretia of Miss Maude Brennan was a 
 creditable performance. Mr. Leonard S. Outram gave much 
 plausibility to Orsino, and spoke his lines well. Mr. W. Farren, 
 jun., assigned compassionating dignity to Cardinal Camillo ; and 
 Mr. G. R. Foss supplied in Marzio, one of the murderers, a very 
 powerful presentation of agony and remorse. The two brothers 
 Cenci were in the competent hands of Mr. R. De Cordova and Mr. 
 Mark Ambient. If ever, which is scarcely probable, the perform- 
 ance is repeated, the song may with advantage be omitted, and 
 the disposition of the characters in one or two scenes should be 
 altered. The applause awarded the performance was enthusiastic, 
 and the audience at its breaking up found the task of quitting the 
 theatre difficult, so lively a public interest had been stirred in 
 Islington by their presence. 
 
 The Echo, Saturday, May 8, 1886. 
 
 Percy Bysshe Shelley was the author of so many beautiful 
 poems that there is some excuse for a society becoming enthusi- 
 astic over his work, and taking care not only that they are not 
 lost sight of, but that they shall be presented to the public in 
 the best form. But it must be confessed that it was an ill- 
 advised act to select for representation a tragedy that is only 
 suited for private reading, for the double reason that its motive is 
 of the most objectionable nature, and that for stage representation 
 it is wanting in every quality that would make it acceptable to a 
 mixed audience. That it should be listened to with breathless 
 interest by the crowded house proves nothing, for admirers of, 
 Shelley would be content with the beauties of language in the 
 dialogue, and they patiently sat out four hours of what, from an 
 acting point of view, was an extremely actionless, monotonous play. 
 For a work to be successful it is necessary that certain of the 
 characters should evince sympathy. Shelley's people excite horror, 
 for even the injured heroine is disingenuous to a degree, and a 
 heroine who has, in the course of six acts, which form fourteen 
 scenes, to declaim eight hundred lines of blank verse, even if that 
 blank verse be beautiful, becomes very tedious at last. This, with 
 all respect to Miss Alma Murray, who played an extremely arduous 
 and repellent part with grace, effect, and power. Everything that 
 a powerful actress could do to give effect to the poet's lines was 
 done, and she deservedly received the most enthusiastic calls. No 
 less fine a performance was Mr. Hermann Vezin's representation 
 of the Count Cenci, her father. It was a painful part for an actor, 
 the man being a loathsome wretch — a very fiend in human form — 
 
64 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 whom it seemed to be a virtue for his own daughter and wife to 
 combine and kill ; but throughout Mr. Vezin gave a magnificent 
 rendering of the poet's verse, one of his invocations to the Deity 
 electrifying his hearers. Among the supporters were Miss Maude 
 Brennan, Mr. W. Farren, jun., who was good as the Cardinal; 
 Mr. Philip Ben Greet, Mr. Foss, Mr. De Cordova, and Mr. Leonard 
 Outram, the latter being very effective as an I ago-like prelate. 
 The work was admirably mounted, and it seems to have been 
 made a labour of love by all concerned. Among other features a 
 prologue has been written by Mr. Todhunter, and music specially 
 composed for Beatrice's song in the last act by Mr. B. L. Mosely ; 
 but candour insists upon the declaration that the efforts of all 
 have been misdirected, for the stage gains nothing by the pro- 
 duction. If gems are to be dug out from the past and displayed, 
 they should be those of pure water, not those full of flaws. The 
 Cenci might very well have been left on the library-shelf for the 
 scholar and student of Shelley — for the select few who forgive the 
 failings for the sake of the beauties. This the general public are 
 not likely to do. 
 
 Evening News, May 8, 1886. 
 
 The members of the Shelley Society made a bold venture in 
 producing at the Grand Theatre, Islington, yesterday afternoon, 
 that most gloomy and horrible of dramas The Cenci. But in most 
 respects their venture proved a success. 
 
 It would have been impossible to find a better exponent of the 
 difficult part of Beatrice Cenci than Miss Alma Murray, whose 
 acting all through was simply superb. In the emotional passages 
 she thrilled the audience with her pathos, whilst to the final 
 scenes she imparted a dignity that showed a remarkably intelligent 
 study of the drama, and a subtle power in portraying a most 
 woeful character. Her declamation of such passages as the 
 following was exceptionally fine : 
 
 " I am cut off from the only world I know, 
 „ From light, and life, and love, in youth's sweet prime. 
 
 You do well telling me to trust in God : 
 I hope I do trust in him. To whom else 
 Can any trust ? And yet my heart is cold. 
 • • • • • 
 
 . Come, obscure Death ! 
 And wind me in thine all-embracing arms ! 
 Like a fond mother hide me in thy bosom, 
 And rock me to the sleep from which none wake." 
 
 Miss Murray has a most charming presence, a very flexible voice 
 and perfect elocution, and is entitled to take rank amongst our best 
 actresses. Mr. W. Farren, jun., made an excellent Cardinal Camillo, 
 and Mr. Leonard S. Outram was equally fortunate in his impersona- 
 tion of the prelate Orsino. Miss Maude Brennan had not much to 
 do as the Countess Lucretia Cenci, but she did that little remarkably 
 well. The other characters were in fairly competent hands, and 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 65 
 
 the tragedy ran with great smoothness. The She-ley Society is 
 certainly to be congratulated on its first production of such a 
 powerful drama, the success of which was attested by the enthusiasm 
 of a large and discriminating audience. 
 
 Saturday Review, May 15, 1886. 
 
 The Shelley Society did well to give a performance of The Cejtci. 
 Societies do not often give us an opportunity of judging how far 
 the work of a great poet deserves its reputation, or at least the 
 reputation that admirers of the master have made for it, and 
 this the Shelley Society has done. The place of The Ce?ici in 
 poetic literature has never been disputed by any competent critic, 
 but whether or not it is a dramatic work in the proper sense of the 
 word, is a question which had never been decided. It could only 
 be decisively settled by actual representation of the play, and that 
 had never been allowed. Shelley himself believed that his tragedy 
 was fit for the stage, and endeavoured to get it represented. The 
 more or less well-founded doubts of Mr. Harris as to the feelings 
 of Miss O'Neil and the scruples of successive Lord Chamberlains 
 have stood in the way. At last the Shelley Society has arisen, and 
 by dint of zeal and artful management has vanquished pecuniary 
 and official difficulties. The Cenci has been played at a London 
 theatre — the Grand, at Islington — and, it is but just to acknowledge, 
 with a certain magnanimous determination to do the thing properly 
 since it was to be done. The material part, the scenery and 
 dresses, has been provided regardless of expense, and the experi- 
 ment has been made in a manner becoming the solemnity of the 
 occasion. 
 
 Was the result then proportionate to the exertions and hopes of 
 the experimenters? To judge from the conduct of the audience 
 there can be no doubt on the subject. The applause was loud and 
 continuous. In the lobbies the comments were enthusiastic. 
 
 In Shelley's time the legend of The Cenci was full grown, and 
 the truth had not yet been told. Even if it had been, he was, from 
 an artistic point of view, well entitled to take and make use of 
 what he thought was a good dramatic subject. On the perhaps 
 disputable supposition that a modern poet may take any subject 
 which an Elizabethan dramatist might have used without affecta- 
 tion, he would be amply justified if he had treated it dramatically. 
 Has he done so ? On this point the decision of what was in reality 
 a packed audience can in no nowise be accepted. The spectator 
 who could recognise that Shelley was a great lyric poet without 
 finding it necessary to refuse to see defects or weakness in his 
 work, after the fashion of his and other "Societies," must, if he 
 had himself any notion of what dramatic means, have agreed with 
 Shelley's own opinion as recorded by his wife. He saw, and was 
 far too keen a judge of literary quality not to see, that " one of the 
 first requisites [for dramatic work, to wit] was the capacity of 
 forming and following up a story or plot. He fancied himself [so 
 Mrs. Shelley puts it] to be defective in this portion of imagination." 
 The poet gave a convincing reason for this belief. It was, he said, 
 
 F 
 
65 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 the constructive part of the work of other men which afforded him 
 the least pleasure. He also held that " he was too metaphysical 
 and abstract, too fond of the theoretical and the ideal, to succeed 
 as a tragedian." To adopt a form of speech which the Shelley 
 Society must approve of, the master has spoken. Shelley, in these 
 confidences of his to his wife, criticised his play to perfection. 
 The story is, indeed, very capable of dramatic treatment, and might 
 have been so handled by Ford or Webster. It cannot be said that 
 the character of Francesco Cenci is unnatural or improbable in the 
 country of Sigismund Malatesta, the Visconti, or the Borgias. 
 Essentially hideous the play must always have been ; but it might 
 have been dramatic. If it is not, that is because it is spoilt by all the 
 faults which Shelley had the honourable self-criticism to see in his 
 attempts at work for the stage. There is no forming or following 
 up of a plot or story. For three long acts the situation never 
 varies. In one scene after another we have the violence of Fran- 
 cesco, the terrors of Beatrice, and the abject cowardice of the 
 other members of the family. It remains doubtful when the inex- 
 piable wrong is committed and whether it is repeated. There is 
 an absolutely superfluous scene in the house of Giacomo. There 
 is so much doubting and talking before the great act of wild justice 
 is done that the splendid climax which might have been obtained 
 by making the punishment follow instantly on the outrage is lost. 
 Francesco's crime is not kept back and led up to, as it assuredly 
 would have been by a born dramatist, but is thrown before the 
 audience with both hands in the very first scenes. The denial of 
 her deed by Beatrice when in prison is wholly out of keeping with 
 the exaltation of rage and sense of wrong by which it is inspired. 
 To be consistent, she should have avowed the act, but denied its 
 criminal character. As it is, she falls below herself, and no reason 
 is given for the fall. The Cenci leaves us with the impression not 
 of an action advancing through a climax to a catastrophe, but of a 
 succession of scenes. The quality of the dialogue is indeed beyond 
 reproach. It is sonorous and full of fire, and never once fails to 
 possess that clearness which Shelley, whose dramatic criticism, at 
 least, was never at fault, saw to be necessary in all writing for the 
 stage. 
 
 The efforts of the Shelley Society to secure adequate acting 
 have been already noted and praised. Mr. Hermann Vezin played 
 Francesco Cenci with all his usual skill and his usual defects. The 
 declamation of the blank verse, the intelligence of gesture and 
 expression, were what playgoers have long come to expect as 
 matters of course from this intelligent but not sympathetic actor. 
 With, all this, and it is not little, there was a deficiency of the 
 passion which would have made the delirious wickedness of Fran- 
 cesco credible. Miss Alma Murray, a pleasing actress, struggled 
 very bravely with the terrible character of Beatrice. Of the other 
 members of the company it is enough to say that they were always 
 audible, and not exceptionally deficient in the style and manner 
 needed for the adequate rendering of the poetic drama, a style and 
 manner which the actor has few opportunities of acquiring on the 
 modern stage. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TV. 67 
 
 The Athenaeum, May 15, 18S6. 
 
 That the first performance of The Cenci should take place with 
 " maimed rites " would scarcely surprise the shade of Shelley should 
 it still take an interest in sublunary proceedings. Shelley, of course, 
 wrote The Cenci 'for the stage and, though sensible of the difficulties 
 with which its performance was environed, hoped to see it played. 
 The interference of authority with his work was, however, too fam- 
 iliar to cause him much astonishment. The question whether the 
 time has come for a public performance of The Cenci has been an- 
 swered by the Shelley Society in the affirmative, and the nearest 
 approach to such that can be attempted has been made. A public 
 theatre has been taken, the characters have been assigned to known 
 actors, and an audience has been assembled. In some other respects, 
 however, the experiment resembled the first attempts to introduce 
 the performance of stage plays under Puritan rule : no money was 
 taken, and the public which assembled came in response to invitation. 
 No very safe conclusion as to the merits of 'J he Cenci as an acting 
 play can under such circumstances be drawn. Before the special 
 public assembled the play went admirably. Defects of stage 
 management due assumably to an exaggerated reverence for the 
 intentions of a poet who, never having had a play acted, would 
 have been thankful for information as to what was or was not 
 possible on the stage, passed without notice ; long scenes of declama- 
 tion were received not only without protest, but with applause ; 
 and the termination of a play occupying near four hours in per- 
 formance and divided into six acts was witnessed by ninety-nine 
 hundredths of a large audience. This is as it should be, and was, 
 of course, to be anticipated. It settles nothing, however. The 
 doubt still remains whether a public less select and distinguished, 
 with less of literary curiosity and a keener appetite for things 
 essentially theatrical, would be equally complaisant. 
 
 That The Cenci is not a great play as well as a work of high 
 genius few will assert. Its proper companionship may be, as 
 Messrs. Forman in the introduction to the Shelley Society's 
 edition of The Cenci assert, the CEdipas Tyraimus of Sophocles, 
 the Medea of Euripides, Shakspeare's King Lear, and the Phedre 
 of Racine. The question, however, remains, Is it a good acting 
 play ? and that question no man of experience will answer in the 
 affirmative. The question as to the expediency of putting it on the 
 stage is to be settled on other ground. While the influence of 
 The Cenci is noble and salutary, he is a bold man who says its 
 lesson is suited to the entire public, especially under the altered 
 conditions of the stage. 
 
 A piece of work more conscientious than the representation given 
 at the Grand Theatre on the afternoon of May 7th has seldom 
 been seen. 
 
 Mr. Hermann Vezin gave a fine performance of the Count. The 
 character is, of course, atrocious, and, were it not for the record 
 that survives of similar monsters, would appear incredible. No 
 suggestion of madness is furnished by Mr. Vezin, who assigns the 
 
 F a 
 
63 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 man a cynical contempt for everything human, and a cruelty that 
 is intellectual rather than physical. Mr. Vezin is picturesque, power- 
 ful, and impressive. There is a certain measure of dignity as well 
 as fatefulness about him. To the part of Beatrice, Miss Alma 
 Murray brings an appearance suited to the character and a voice 
 singularly musical in tone and good in quality. She has studied 
 closely the character, and gives a powerful and an intellectual 
 rendering of it. Many of her movements and gestures were very- 
 fine, and as a whole the performance deserves high praise. Other 
 characters were taken by young actors, several of whom acquitted 
 themselves creditably. 
 
 The Academy, May 15, 1886. 
 
 The more particular admirers of a great poet conceived that it 
 was well for us to see The Cenci on the stage. We all of us knew 
 what it was when we went to see it ; and we have seen it ; and 
 thanks to their zeal and their intelligence we have seen it presented, 
 though but for a single day, with the only accessories which a wise 
 audience would ever be mindful to insist upon. " Tawdry proper- 
 ties, the glittering shows of the mummer's art," were present, it is 
 true, not in that abundance which would have been observable had 
 this more or less ignored classic been adopted at a popular theatre, 
 and destined for a long run, and mounted as the successful rival ot 
 Augustus Harris's pantomime. But that has not happened to it. 
 We have seen it under conditions which have not allowed the 
 literary importance of the text to be effaced. We have seen The 
 Ceiui done for its own sake at the theatre ; yet done with a genuine 
 taste and with ail necessary skill. 
 
 On the whole everything has been done well. A suitable com- 
 pany was gathered together as actors and supernumeraries. They 
 were headed by Mr. Hermann Vezin, who, if he does not always 
 triumph, never fails— is always to be relied upon ; by Mr. Outram, 
 a more youthful actor, with fire of bearing and with voluminous 
 voice ; and lastly, and perhaps chiefly, by Miss Alma Murray, who 
 has made herself quite a speciality as an actress of highly intellectual, 
 intense, and subtle parts, and of these alone. The really adequate 
 exponent of the character of Constance in In a Balcony— of its in- 
 tellectual resource and its magnificent impulse- -there was clearly 
 no tragic part remaining which might appal Miss Alma Murray 
 with its difficulties. But we will speak of the individual actors a 
 little later on. What I am concerned with now is the ensemble and 
 how it was. obtained. Mr. De Cordova was professedly stage 
 manager, and he is a stage manager of good-will as well as a 
 sympathetic dramatic artist. But he will be the first to aver that 
 the general effect owed something to the finishing touches which, 
 perhaps in about a couple of rehearsals, Mr. E. W. (iodwin man- 
 aged to apply. I was myself the witness of their usefulness. But Mr. 
 Godwin's name was not upon the bills. As regards scenery, it was 
 chosen, as well as it could be, from the resources of the theatre ; 
 nor are they those of the suburban or provincial theatre of twenty 
 years ago. The dresses were generally sufficient. And then there 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 69 
 
 was some music — the music of Beatrice's song — composed by Mr. 
 Mosely. So everything was done that could be done. And now ol 
 the acting in more detail. 
 
 One might have liked Mr. Vezin's appearance better, early in the 
 part, had he been minded to emphasise the grossness, the sensuality, 
 of the most repulsive leading character he has ever been called upon 
 to play. His judgment may have been right in counselling him not 
 to do this, for, marble-pure as may be the language of Shelley, the 
 idea behind it is, of necessity, continuously vile ; and there are 
 lengths to which, in the illustration of vileness, the actor may not go 
 with impunity. Great artists have felt this, or have seemed.to feel 
 it, even when it was not actual vileness or monstrosity that was in 
 question, but only overwhelming passion or the seductive simula- 
 tion of it. So that Mr. Hermann Vezin may have had his reasons 
 and good reasons ; and we are not to quarrel with them. As it was 
 he accentuated the imperious side of the character of the Cenci, a 
 side the existence of which no one gainsays, which, indeed, the 
 weakness and inefficiency of the Cenci's wife, of Beatrice's step- 
 mother, it-elf, as one of a dozen things may be mentioned as indicat- 
 ing. Once, however, Mr. Vezin seemed to be below the permissible, 
 nay, the necessary, level of repulsive power. That was early in the 
 curse-scene, before the curse has actually begun : and soon it seemed 
 evident that this was done for a purpose. The actor was waiting 
 for the great moment — say rather the great five minutes, for the 
 curse is as long as Lear's. And in that he was not inadequate. It 
 is not, of course, very pleasant to see an elderly gentleman, who has 
 forgotten God, because he has forgotten Humanity, through every 
 hour of an extended life, suddenly recollecting His existence when it 
 becomes desirable to curse a daughter with the profoundest effect. 
 But in this scene Mr. Vezin put before us in the blackest of shad- 
 ows the Cenci's true portrait ; and the more it was abominable the 
 more it was successful. 
 
 Of the efforts of Mr. Outram, Mr. Farren the younger, Mr. De 
 Cordova, Mr. Mark Ambient, and Mr. Foss, it is, perhaps, only 
 necessary to say that they were intelligent and sufficient. Mr. Outram 
 has played, before now, parts which have displayed him better. He 
 is all the more to be commended for having been faithful to the re- 
 quirements of a character which makes no call on some of his most 
 effective qualities. Miss Brennan was, I think, rightly enough 
 somewhat impassive. The initiative is always her stepdaughter's. 
 Her own chaaracter is that of a handsome toy ; an instrument 
 submissive and good-natured. Personal ascendency — that inde- 
 finable force which conquers while it is concealed — was scarcely 
 meant by Shelley to be her characteristic. 
 
 The Beatrice of Miss Alma Murray was clearly the deep in- 
 tellectual conception, the execution of which best made endurable 
 the presentation of so much pain. Studied and efficient as it was 
 at all points, it had yet its inequalities : passages there were — and, 
 generally speaking, these were the wilder and the louder ones — 
 when the excellence was that of the actress who interprets, strongly 
 and skilfully, in quite the accepted fashion, a feeling which the 
 utmost of what is called dramatic power can hardly enable her 
 
7 o NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 actually to realise : passages there were, too — and they were those 
 which recorded the more conceivable of human experiences — when 
 the excellence became very visibly that of the individual student of 
 the ways of nature — of an artist of exceptional and highly strung 
 temperament, refined and responsive. The artistic organisation of 
 Miss Alma Murray has more in common with that of the finer 
 among French actresses than with that of any of the more familiar 
 celebrities of the English stage. The alertness and alacrity, the 
 visible passion of her performance in certain of the earlier and 
 middle scenes, would have been appreciated, no doubt — and was 
 appreciated for anything I know to the contrary — by more than 
 one of the eminent sister artists, her compatriots and contem- 
 poraries, who must have been present in the crowded place ; but it 
 was to Mademoiselle Desclee — the first great Frou-frou, the greatest 
 Diane de Lys — that the significant quietude and influential gentle- 
 ness of the end would have most profoundly appealed. 
 
 In several quarters wherein one might have looked for an intel- 
 ligent recognition of the motives that prompted the entertainment 
 there have been misconceptions, the cause of which it is a little 
 difficult to get to the bottom of ; but few persons of mature years, 
 whose audacity allowed them to place themselves in the theatre on 
 Friday week, will regret the giving of this experimental performance, 
 even though they shall feel, as I think they may reasonably feel, 
 that the performance cannot be lightly or frequently repeated. 
 
 The Era, May 8, 1886. 
 
 A privnte performance of Shelley's play, The Cenci\ at which 
 only the members of the recently-formed Shelley Society and their 
 friends were permitted to be present, was given at the Grand 
 Theatre, Islington, yesterday (Friday) afternoon. The central 
 figure of the play is Count Cenci himself. A more hideous creation 
 was never conceived by poet or dramatist. The conception is 
 colossal, and requires to be treated with a largeness, a classical 
 dignity, and an overpowering, awe-inspiring individuality, which 
 are rarely found at the disposal of any actor in any country. It is, 
 therefore, no great disparagement of Mr. Hermann Vezin's undoubted 
 talent to say that he failed to embody in its entirety this gigantic 
 role. As a picturesque and spirited elocutionary effort, his Count 
 Cenci was admirable. His reading of the part was too restless 
 and not sufficiently impressive ; rather demonstrative than deep ; 
 more declamatory than keenly analytical ; excitable, not grand. 
 But it must be noted that we write this only in view of the extra- 
 ordinary and unusual requirements of such a part. The talent 
 displayed by Mr. Vezin would have been more than adequate to 
 the exposition of half a dozen ordinary characters, and there are 
 few actors upon the English stage who could have grappled suc- 
 cessfully with the terrible task of portraying this inhuman monster. 
 Miss Alma Murray made an impression in the part of Beatrice 
 Cenci which will raise her reputation. Her reading was intelligent, 
 and, in parts, inspired with keen instinctive penetration ; and by 
 an intense and artistic employment of all the resources at her 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 71 
 
 command she did much to deserve and command the admiration 
 of the house. Mr. Leonard S. Outram, the Orsino, had evidently 
 made a careful and intelligent study of his part, and, though his 
 acting was occasionally a little weak, he was, on the whole, a 
 capital representative of the character. His elocution was pains- 
 taking and refined, and he gave Orsino's speech at the end of the 
 second act in masterly style. Mr. W. Farren, jun., rather lacked 
 dignity as Cardinal Camillo, but spoke his lines calmly and care- 
 fully. Mr. R. De Cordova, though inclined to rant, threw a good 
 deal of honest feeling into the part of Giacomo Cenci, and Mr. 
 Mark Ambient managed to make that of Bernardo unintentionally 
 comic. Mr. Philip Ben Greet played Savella, the Pope's Legate, 
 in his usual steady style, and the minor parts were more or less 
 well represented. 
 
 Considerable care and pains had evidently been expended upon 
 the moun ting of The Cenci, the various Italian interiors being 
 furnisEed with commendable care, and the dresses of the various 
 personages were designed and executed in a finished and artistic 
 style. 
 
 The Referee, May 9, 1886. 
 
 The occasion, as I said, was the production of The Cenci, per- 
 formed for the first time on Friday, though it was written six-and- 
 sixty years ago, and then offered by the author to Macready with a 
 proposal that Miss O'Neil should play the heroine's part. Mac- 
 ready declined with thanks ; and where he feared to tread no other 
 manager has ventured to step in till now, when Mr. Charles Wilmot 
 lent his theatre to the Shelley Society for an entertainment just 
 private enough to satisfy the morals of the Lord Chamberlain's 
 office, where The Cenci is considered too immoral a play to be seen 
 by those who pay money at the doors. The Cenci is a painful 
 tragedy, without a doubt — not less painful in its idea, and a good 
 deal more painful in its working out, than Hamlet, in which also 
 mischief comes from the goings on of persons who are " a little 
 more than kin and less than kind." But there is much morality in 
 it, and well moralised too, notwithstanding. 
 
 All the performers were volunteers, and some of them were hardly 
 up to their work. But the principal parts were played very well 
 indeed. Mr. Hermann Vezin is an old stager, with as little stagi- 
 ness as possible in his acting. His cynical method fits in well with 
 t!~e lines allotted to the Count Francesco Cenci for delivery. Vezin, 
 indeed, gave a splendid impersonation of the disgusting old man 
 who, out of sheer spite and wantonness, proposes to be a grand- 
 father and a father over again at the same time. Mr. Leonard 
 Outram made a wonderfully oily priest, not so loathsome in his 
 lovemaking as Count Cenci, but by no means a desirable lover for 
 poor Beatrice. But Beatrice is the supremely important character 
 in The Cenci, and in Miss Alma Murray a most notable interpreter 
 of the character was found. 
 
 She has certainly shown a great deal of histrionic power, and 
 intelligence of the best sort, in making a pathetic presentment of 
 the poor young lady whose father, tired of all milder forms of 
 
72 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 persecution, tries to ruin her in the most offensive way possible. 
 This is not a nice part to play ; but Miss Alma Murray played it 
 very nicely indeed — or, if that word " nicely M is capable of a double 
 meaning in this case, I will say that she played it grandly and 
 beautifully. I have nothing but praise for the skill with which 
 Miss Murray comported herself under the growing horror of the 
 situation in which she found herself till, after a fine burst of frenzy 
 in the third act, she considered there was nothing better to do than 
 get her father murdered in ths fourth, and herself proudly and 
 defiantly led to execution in the fifth. It is a pity that so much 
 talent as Miss Murray showed on Friday is not likely to be made 
 more use of, for I shall be surprised if the first stage performance 
 of The Cenci is not also the last. " C'est magnifique ; mais ce 
 n'est pas la guerre " — or rather, play-acting for the multitude. 
 
 Dramatic Review, May 15, 1886. 
 
 The production of The Cenci last week at the Grand Theatre, 
 Islington, may be said to have been an era in the literary history 
 of this century, and the Shelley Society deserves the highest praise 
 and warmest thanks of all for having given us an opportunity of 
 seeing Shelley's play under the conditions he himself desired for it. 
 For The Cenci was written absolutely with a view to theatric 
 presentation, and had Shelley's own wishes been carried out it 
 would have been produced during his lifetime at Covent Garden, 
 with Edmund Kean and Miss O'Neill in the principal parts. In 
 working out his conception, Shelley had studied very carefully the 
 aesthetics of dramatic art. He saw that the essence of the drama 
 is disinterested presentation, and that the characters must not be 
 merely mouthpieces for splendid poetry, but must be living subjects 
 for terror and for pity. He recognised that a dramatist must be 
 allowed far greater freedom of expression than what is conceded to 
 a poet. He fully realised that it is by a conflict between our 
 artistic sympathies and our moral judgment that the greatest 
 dramatic effects are produced. 
 
 And yet I hardly think that the production of The Cenci, its 
 absolute presentation on the stage, can be said to have added 
 anything to its beauty, its pathos, or even its realism. Not that the 
 principal actors were at all unworthy of the work of art they in- 
 terpreted ; Mr. Hermann Vezin's Cenci was a noble and magnificent 
 performance ; Miss Alma Murray stands now in the very first rank 
 of our English actresses and a mistress of power and pathos ; and 
 Mr. Leonard Outram's Orsino was most subtle and artistic ; but 
 that The Cenci needs for the production of its perfect effect no 
 interpretation at all. It is, as we read it, a complete work of art — 
 capable, indeed, of being acted, but not dependent on theatric 
 presentation ; and the impression produced by its exhibition on the 
 stage seemed to me to be merely one of pleasure at the gratification 
 of an intellectual curiosity, the curiosity of seeing how far Mel- 
 pomene could survive the wagon of Thespis. 
 
 In producing the play, however, the members of the Shelley 
 Society were merely carrying out the poet's own wishes, and they 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 73 
 
 are to be congratulated on the success of their experiment— a 
 success due not to any gorgeous scenery or splendid pageant, but 
 to the excellence of the actors who aided them. 
 
 The Observer, May 9, 1886. 
 
 The performance given by the Shelley Society at the Grand 
 Theatre on Friday afternoon was remarkable in more ways than one. 
 From a theatrical point of view it was noteworthy for its discovery 
 of rare tragic power in a young actress who approached an im- 
 possible task with singular courage, and handled it with fine in- 
 telligence and most appreciative good taste. The undertaking, 
 moreover, served to show the survival of the art of elocution even 
 in these days of conversational realism on the stage. The Centi as 
 an acting play cannot compensate by its literary beauties for the 
 many defects of its dramatic method. When it ceases to shock it 
 becomes dull in action and almost tedious in speech ; and few 
 indeed are the passages which, like Beatrice's noble descrip- 
 tive speech at the beginning of the third act, make any attempt to 
 relieve the gloom appropriate to monotonous infamy of the blackest 
 type. But there did not need any experiment to confirm the ruling 
 of common sense which for nearly seventy years has left Shelley's 
 tragedy in its proper place on the shelves of the library. 
 
 The Oxford Magazine, May 12, 1886. 
 
 Friday, May 7th, opened big with fate, for on that day was 
 Shelley's terrible drama The Cenci performed for the first time — 
 sixty-seven years after its creation — a day which, as Mr. Todhunter 
 well said in his prologue, " brought a Titan to belated birth ; " and 
 the Shelley Society are to be congratulated on their truly Titanic 
 achievement. 
 
 The successful performance of The Ce?tci is a standing disproof 
 of the theory that without a personal knowledge of the stage and 
 its properties no drama can be composed which will entrance the 
 audience and run smoothly from beginning to end, for though 
 Shelley probably did not enter a theatre half-a-dozen times in his 
 life, and though everything was kept just as he had written it, no 
 hitch of any kind occurred. The play from a dramatic point of 
 view is quite perfect, but from a theatrical it is too long, four con 
 secutive hours' unrelieved tragedy being more than the mere 
 physical strength of audience or actors can well support ; and it was 
 a triumph such as Miss Alma Murray, however brilliant her future 
 career may be, can never again experience, when, after her long 
 speech in Act VI. the whole house thundered forth soul felt ap- 
 plause. It is not more praise than she deserves to say that Miss 
 Aima Murray is Shelley's Beatrice, for her supremely sympathetic 
 rendering of this supremely difficult part will cause her name to be 
 for ever connected with that of the " Eternal Child." Her elocution 
 and that of Mr. Vezin (Count Cenci) was perfect ; and in both cases, 
 as a mere effort of memory, their parts were wonderfully studied, 
 for not once throughout the whole play did either hesitate, but 
 delivered each syllable true to the remotest corner of the house. 
 
74 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 It is of course impossible for any artist to convey to an audience 
 all the emotions crystallized in 7 he Cenci ox any other great tragedy, 
 but here and there throughout the play flashed forth some absolutely 
 inspired speech, as when Mr. Vezin gave Francesco's curse in Act 
 V. — more terrible than that of Lear — and Miss Murray Beatrice's 
 appeal to the guests in Act I., or the concluding speech of the play 
 (Act VI.), where, by one Promethean touch of terrific calm, after a 
 tempest of passion, an equal to Shakspue stands revealed : — 
 
 " Here, mother, tie 
 My girdle for me, and bind up this hair 
 In any simple knot : ay, that does well. 
 And yours, I see, is coming down. How often 
 Have we done this for one another ! now 
 We shall not do it any more. My lord, 
 We are quite ready. Well, 'tis very well." 
 
 The latest investigation of the Vatican archives, to which Shelley 
 never had access, goes rather to absolve Francesco of the nameless 
 crime, but on the other hand the Lady Beatrice is shadowed forth 
 in so lurid a light as to give her father some ground for his otherwise 
 incomprehensible hatred. Shelley's Count Cenci is a purely sub- 
 jective ideal of his own, and the grand speech in Act IV. — where he 
 acknowledges his mission from hell, whither he will return when ijt 
 is accomplished, and resign his soul, " which is a scourge," into the 
 hands of him who wielded it — is a proof of its ideality. He has 
 always appeared to me an older man than Mr. Vezin made him, 
 with more white air, more reverently evil — a deadly weed growing 
 rank under the shade of the Church. The face is that Shelley's 
 Cenci being supernatural cannot be represente^l_on_the stage^ Mr. 
 Vezin conceived Count Cenci as intensely malignant, and conveyed 
 this impression to the audience with consummate art, but there 
 lurks about the Shelleyan Cenci an element which can never be 
 realised on the stage. 
 
 Mr. Leonard S. Outram was an excellent Orsino. The intoler- 
 able cruelty of Savella, the Papal legate, in the trial scene, was 
 well rendered by Mr. Philip Ben Greet ; and Mr. W. Farren, jun., as 
 Camillo, beautifully betrayed that spark of tenderness which stands 
 out in such striking contrast to the Judge's unvarying severity. In 
 the trial scene Marzio was particularly good. 
 
 The Weekly Dispatch, May 9, 18S6. 
 
 There was a quite unusual gathering here on Friday afternoon 
 to see the first performance of Shelley's great tragedy, The Cenci. 
 There can be no denying that The Cenci is a heavy work, all its 
 interest resting on one gloomy and repulsive phase of life, the pre- 
 sentment of which the majority of playgoers cannot be expected to 
 care much for. For a really satisfactory performance of '1 he Cenci the 
 utmost resources of the most enterprising theatres in London would 
 hardly be adequate ; and a company would have to be picked out of 
 half a dozen good companies. The Shelley Society was. however, 
 eminently fortunate in getting such an interpreter of Beatrice Cenci 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY, 75 
 
 as Miss Alma Murray, and such a Count Cenci as Mr. Hermann 
 Vezin. Of the other actors it would be unkind to complain, as they 
 loyally did their best in what was evidently a labour of love ; and 
 among them Mr. Leonard Outram deserves praise for more than 
 good intentions in his clever impersonation of the sleek and heart- 
 less priest, Orsino, Beatrice's not altogether fiendish lover. Beatrice 
 and her father, however, are the two prominent characters in the 
 play, and their prominence was especially emphasised by the 
 admirable acting of Miss Murray and Mr. Vezin. Mr. Vezin's 
 Count Cenci is as powerful a piece of characterization as we have 
 ever seen from this adept in stage elocution and movement, and he 
 brought out on Friday with appalling realism, but with praiseworthy 
 avoidance of the least sign of unnecessary coarseness, all the 
 hideousness of this representative of mediaeval corruption in its 
 worst phase which Shelley meant to portray. The triumph of the 
 performance, however, was Miss Murray's Beatrice. Miss Murray 
 could not do justice to herself in a single performance, and her 
 nervousness was manifest on Friday ; but she gave abundant 
 evidence of something more than talent, something akin to genius, 
 in her interpretation of the part. It was, we venture to say, the 
 finest piece of tragedy acting that has ever been seen during the 
 past quarter of a century. What more can we say ? It would be 
 impossible for us to enlarge on all the delicate and forcible touches 
 given by Miss Murray in her rendering of about the longest part 
 ever written for an actress — extending, we believe, to about 800 
 lines ; and we could not do justice to her by mentioning a few. 
 Though there is small chance of The Cenci being often played, or of 
 its being generally popular if it were chosen for evening performances 
 at any theatre, it will be a great pity if it is not repeated more than 
 once — if only in order that more people than those who thronged 
 the Grand on Friday afternoon may have a chance of seeing and 
 enjoying — if enjoyment is a word that can be used in this case — 
 Miss Murray's admirable creation of the part of Beatrice. 
 
 Lloyd's Weekly London Newspaper, May 9, 18S6. 
 
 Unwonted excitement reigned in Islington on Friday afternoon, 
 when the Grand Theatre was packed to its utmost capacity with an 
 audience eager to witness Shelley's play of The Ce?ici, which was 
 performed for the first time on any stage. No one ever dreamed 
 of producing The Cenci until the present year, and when the new 
 Shelley Society applied to the Lord Chamberlain for the required 
 licence, it was unhesitatingly refused. Not to be baulked, they 
 resolved to risk the infringement of the law by giving a private 
 performance before a gathering of invited guests, and this took 
 place on Friday afternoon at the Grand. The result — notwithstand- 
 ing the magnificent acting of Miss Alma Murray and the terrible 
 intensity of Mr. Hermann Vezin- -must be held to have completely 
 justified the Lord Chamberlain's veto. The Cenci is a drama too 
 full of unnatural horrors to admit of public representation, and we 
 trust it will ever remain a forbidden play. In the introduction to a 
 special edition of the tragedy, published for the Shelley Society by 
 
76 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Reeves and Turner, Messrs. Alfred and Buxton For.nan say '.hat 
 "an ungenerous prejudice against Shelley, and the general debase- 
 ment of our national drama, have combined to prevent the per- 
 formance of this masterpiece." After witnessing the experiment, 
 and seeing strong men writhe in anguish as they listened to the 
 fearful speeches put into the mouth of the aged monster, Count 
 Cenci, we trust the prejudice in favour of purer and more noble 
 forms of art will long endure, to the utter exclusion of such 
 monstrous pictures of possible wickedness as are conjuredUp by 
 Shelley. The intention of the Society in fostering the study of the 
 poet's works is commendable enough, but no effort of genius should 
 blind us to the unhappy mistake of thrusting revolting depravity 
 into prominence. Passing from the play itself to the manner of its 
 representation, the heartiest and most cordial praise is due to Miss 
 Alma Murray and Mr. Hermann Vezin, upon whom the chief 
 burden falls. Miss Murray displayed high intelligence in seizing 
 every point of the immensely lengthy part, and was by turns tearful 
 and imperious, nervous and commanding, tenderly sympathetic and 
 thrilling— marking the change which follows her father's murder 
 with wonderful self-command. It was a performance which deeply 
 impressed the audience from the first, and finally roused them to a 
 perfect tumult of applause. Although acting entirely against the 
 sympathies of the spectators, Mr. Vezin displayed a passion and 
 intensity that won the most sincere admiration. Cordial praise is 
 due to Mr. Leonard S. Cutram who appeared as Orsino, and also 
 delivered with excellent emphasis the prologue specially written for 
 the occasion by Mr. John Todhunter. Appropriate music for the 
 plaintive farewell song of Beatrice in the last act had been composed 
 by B. L. Mosely, Esq., and, notwithstanding the great strain upon 
 Miss Murray's voice through nearly four hours, her rendering of it 
 was very touching and expressive. 
 
 The Kensington News, May 15, 1886. 
 
 If the "world-worn and wave-worn Shelley, divinest of the demi- 
 gods," as Rossetti called him, could have looked in at the (irand 
 Theatre, Islington, on Friday last, no doubt he would have felt that 
 here was another proof that if the Mills of the Gods grind slowly 
 they grind exceeding small. For over half a century a most 
 remarkable play had been written, yet never acted, and at last here 
 was a late but perfect justice being done it. I cannot join with 
 those who blame the Shelley Society for this production. They 
 were acting conscientiously, and as the fact of their being a 
 Shelley Society demanded. The result proved, on the whole, that 
 they were so justified. The work is not perfect as a play. It is 
 very imperfect. But their part of the work, and that of the actors 
 who took part in this remarkable production, was as nearly perfect as 
 possible. Mr. Hermann Vezin was finer than I have ever seen that 
 finished and impassioned actor before, while Miss Alma Murray 
 achieved a triumph that could hardly have been more complete. 
 
 The play went off without a single hitch of any kind, and this, 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 77 
 
 considering its great, almost wearisome length, and that it was the 
 new Society's first venture, shows the care expended on its pro- 
 duction. Then arises the inevitable question, Cut bono f The 
 answer must of necessity be difficult to find. To sit out for four 
 hours a play abounding with fine passages, some of which would 
 do no discredit to Shakespeare himself, and which, if it ended with 
 the death of the Count, would be dramatically a success, ought not 
 to require any justification. But when we consider that the main 
 incident of the play is one upon which, even in this age of mental 
 emancipation, one cannot even speak of without carefully picking 
 one's w ords, then do we see that an opinion on this matter is not to 
 be lightly given. On the whole, I think that nothing would justify 
 a manager who should place this play in his repertoire of production 
 for public representation. But brought forward privately and 
 played before a specially-invited audience, as was the case here, 
 morality is none the worse, and those who look at Art and Poetry, 
 and the inscrutable possibilities of human nature, from a higher 
 point of view than that of Mrs. Grundy, must be the better for the 
 classical and dignified performance of The Cenci on Friday last. 
 
 HORNSEY AND FlNSBURY PARK JOURNAL, May 1 8, 18S6. 
 
 It is difficult to form a just and temperate opinion either of the 
 merits of Shelley's tragedy, The Ceiici, or of the wisdom or otherwise 
 of the Society in producing it. There has been a great deal of 
 abuse heaped upon the play, and the critics seemed to have fastened 
 upon the worst side of it. That the tragedy is not adapted for 
 stage representation, in its entirety and for a present day audience, 
 is not to be denied, but the Shelleyites hardly deserve all that has 
 been said of them, for if a society formed for the purpose of discussing 
 the works of a particular writer chooses to give a stage representa- 
 tion of one of those works, why, speaking from a literary or dramatic 
 point of view, may they not do so ? There is a motto which has 
 passed into a proverb about evil-thinking persons, and if people 
 look for evil (whether of speech or intent) and nothing else, they 
 are sure to find plenty of it. There are those who will laugh 
 heartily at suggestiveness in a comedy, who find impropriety in 
 tragedy, and all the world over Charles Surface's way of overcoming 
 difficulties that for the moment appear insurmountable, finds the 
 most favour. The Cejtci is not a wholesome play in its entirety, 
 but there is moral teaching in it for all that, and for the litterateur 
 there is beautiful language, while for the actor there is opportunity 
 such as seldom occurs. To say that Mr. Hermann Vezin made full 
 use of the opportunity afforded him last week is but poor praise. 
 Rarely does it fall to an actor's lot to rouse such enthusiasm as was 
 displayed at the Grand Theatre. The building was packed from 
 floor to ceiling, every eye was riveted upon the actor, and the 
 audience was spellbound by the powerful performance ; Mr. Vezin 
 had not time to disappear before deafening applause broke out, and 
 call after call was made, but so experienced an actor as Mr. Vezin 
 was not to be induced to break through the etiquette of the boards 
 
73 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 by responding to a call in the middle of an act, so the audience 
 were fain to content themselves for a time, but at the end of the 
 act they would not be denied. Miss Alma Murray was a very 
 beautiful Beatrice Cenci. 
 
 Le Figaro, Samedi, 22 Mat, i836. 
 (Supplement Littdraire.) 
 
 Dans les premiers jours de ce mois, le 7 mai, s'est passe* a 
 Londres un grand eVdnement litte'raire. On y a reprdsentd pour la 
 premiere fois la trage'die de Shelley, les Cenci, devant un auditoire 
 d elite, mais a huis-clos. 
 
 La representation a-t-elle 6t6 un succes ? — Oui et non. 
 
 Qu'il se soit rencontre" dans le cours du drame des scenes de 
 splendide et sublime passion, on ne saurait le nier ; et elles furent 
 si impressionnantes, si terribles dans leur fascinant dclat, qu'ellcs 
 compenserent et firent oublier a l'auditoire bien des moments 
 d'ennui. En effet la Societd Shelleienne a commis la faute de 
 donner la trage'die dans son entier, sans y rien couper, sans y changer 
 un seul mot. Quand on se souvient que cette trage'die fut le pre- 
 mier et Tunique effort dramatique d'un poete de 26 ans, on peut 
 facilement accorder qu'il eut dte plus sage d'en retrancher des 
 scenes inutiles et d'ineVitables longueurs. 
 
 Ouoi qu'il en soit, quiconque l'a entendue ne saurait oublier la 
 rdponse du comte Cenci a ces tremblantes paroles de Lucrecia, sa 
 femme : " Silence ! silence ! Pour l'amour de toi-meme, rdtracte 
 ces terrible paroles. Quand le Dieu supreme exauce de telles 
 prieres, il les punit" 
 
 A ces mots M. Vezin, dont la stature en ce moment sembla 
 grandir de plusieurs coude'es, e*tendant les bras, rdpondit d'une 
 voix de tonnerre : " II fait sa volonte\ et moi la mienne." 
 
 La douce et touchante voix de Miss Alma Murray dans le role 
 de Beatrice, l'dldgance de ses poses, sa varie'te' d'expression se sont 
 soutenues dans tout le cours de la piece. La plus belle scene a 6t6 
 celle qui suit l'horrible outrage. Chaque vers de cette effroyable 
 tirade a porte" coup : " Donnez-moi un mouchoir ! Mon cerveau 
 est blessd ! Mes yeux sont pleins de sang ! Essuyez-les pour 
 moi ! Je vois trouble," etc. 
 
 Shelley, s'il eut assez vdcu, serait-il devenu un grand poete 
 dramatique ? On ne saurait le dire. Ce qu'il y a de certain, c'est 
 que, jusqu'au jour de sa mort, sa puissance podtique alia chaque 
 jour croissant, et que ses vues sur la vie s'eMeverent et s'diargirent 
 de plus en plus. Mais sa destinde ne lui accorda que neuf anndes 
 d'homme a vivre, et Ton peut dire qu'elles ont dtd plus remplies que 
 ne le furent et ne le seront jamais neuf annds de vie humaine. 
 
 The Church Reformer, June, 18S6. 
 
 The-fact that this play was refused a licence by the Lord Cham- 
 berlain, and when privately produced by the Shelley Society was 
 condemned by almost all the London critics, is one which should 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 79 
 
 ODen the eyes of those who condemn the stage for the frivolity and 
 worthlessness of the plays produced. We can undertake to say 
 that the verdict of the gallery which was crowded with "the pro- 
 fession " was all for the play : it is " society " in this, as in every 
 case, which prevents good work being done on the stage : the 
 artistes are willing and able to do better than they are allowed 
 to do. 
 
 We have always maintained that in this ugly overwrought com- 
 petitive world of ours all that is bright, light, and merry on the 
 stage is deserving of serious support ; at the same time we maintain 
 as strongly that the stage has a right and duty to deal with the 
 terrible problems of life, " to teach the human heart through its 
 sympathies and antipathies the knowledge of itself; in proportion 
 to which knowledge every human being is wise, just, sincere, tolerant, 
 and kind." But whenever this is seriously attempted there is an 
 outcry ; even Saints a?id Sinners was condemned by the critics, 
 and now The Cenci is absolutely refused a licence by the Lord 
 Chamberlain (who will licence almost anything in which the sacred 
 sexual relationships are laughed to scorn), and pronounced " im- 
 proper" by the Pall Mall Gazette! A man must indeed have an 
 " imagination foul as Vulcan's stithy " to call a play so pure, so 
 terrible, "improper," unless indeed, which would be worse in a 
 critic, he merely wanted to " slate " the Shelley Society and did not 
 care how he damaged a great poet's reputation in the doing of it. 
 
 We can understand a court official's objection to such a play. 
 " The wrinkled vice and rank malignity spawned from the opulent 
 slime of Italy" is only in detail different from that spawned from 
 the opulent slime of England, and even so far as mere detail goes 
 within a mile of where the play was acted the opulent slime of 
 landlordism has caused the crime on which The Ce?ici turns to be 
 almost commonplace, giving rise to no maddening horror in the 
 sufferer, no righteous vengeance on the immediate or real causes of 
 the horror. But the Pall Mall Gazette of all papers — well, per- 
 haps, even it is wise too, for it always refuses to go to the root of 
 the evil spawned from our opulent slime, to attack the real causes 
 of vice and poverty, and brands as immoral those who do. 
 
 Cf Miss Alma Murray's acting as Beatrice, it is impossible to 
 speak too highly, the mental and physical strain of such a part 
 must be enormous, and it is no small praise to say that from the 
 back row of the pit and from the gallery every word was heard : 
 but her passion and delicacy and her interpretation of the character 
 were even better than her elocution ; moreover, what is really im- 
 portant in such a part, the dresses provided for her by Miss Fisher 
 were singularly appropriate. Mr. Hermann Vezin was, we think, 
 more a splendid reciter of the part than a real actor of it, and wj 
 should like next year to see Mr. Willard or Mr. Irving in it. We 
 know nothing of the Shelley Society on which so much abuse has 
 been showered, but if they have done nothing else than produce 
 The Cenci) with Miss Alma Murray as Beatrice, they have deserved 
 well of all who love the drama, and believe in its power as an 
 interpreter of human nature. 
 
8o NOTEBOOK OF THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 
 
 NOTICES, GOOD, BAD, AND INDIFFERENT, 
 OCCURRED IN THE FOLLOWING PAPERS. 
 
 Progress, vol. vi., No. 6, June, 1886, pp. 260-265 — The Cenci, by 
 Edward Aveling. Also note on pp. 283 4. The Gentleman's Maga- 
 zine, vol. cclx, No. 1866, June, 1886, pp. 617,618 — The Cenci on 
 the Stage. Punch, vol. xc, No. 2,341, May 22, i8§6. P. 259, The 
 Murmur in the Shell-ey Society! P. 244, Atrabilia—JThe Cambridge 
 Review, vol. vii., No. 174, Wednesday, May 12th, 1886, pp. 310 1. 
 The Shelley Society's Cenci. Signed, "An Outsider" — The Topical 
 limes, No. 119, Saturday, May 22nd, 1886 — The Cenci, p. 3. Il- 
 lustrated Bits, No. 71, New Series, Saturday, May 22nd, 1886, 
 p. 4, The Cenci, With woodcut of R. Browning and a damsel, 
 above the legend " At the Cenci performance." The World, No. 
 619, Wednesday, May 12th, 1886, p. 17 — The Cenci, signed 
 " W. A." The Bat, vol. ii., No. 59, May nth, 1886, p. 141 — The 
 Shelley Society and The Cenci. Truth, vol. xix., No. 489, Thursday, 
 May 13th, 1886, pp. 729-30, The Barrel Organ, Tune, The 
 Salacious Shelley Society. The Daily News, May 10th, 1886, p. 2. 
 The Period, vol. i. No. 4, p. 14 — The True Beatrice, signed 
 "Silvanus Dauncey." The World, vol. viii., No. 194, May 13th, 
 1886; on p. 437, illustration of Cenci, act iii. ; p. 439, note on 
 performance of Cenci. The Topical Times, No. 118, Saturday, 
 May 15th, 1886, p. 4 — The Cenci. Funny Folks, vol. xii., No 599, 
 Saturday, May 15th, 1886, p. 154 — The Cenci. St. J antes s Gazette, 
 vol. xii., No. 1,849, Saturday, May 8th, 1886, p. 5 — The Cenci. 
 The Stage, No. 269, May 14th, 188S, p. 16 — The Cenci. 7 he 
 Islington News, No. 476, Saturday, May 15th, 1886, p. 6 — The 
 Cenci at the Gra?id Theatre. The Islington Gazette, No. 3,590, 
 Wednesday, May 12th, 1886 (Same article). The Referee, May 
 1 6th, 18S6, p. 7, No. 457 — The Cenci. The Liverpool Daily 
 Chronicle, April 27, 1886— The Coming Performance of The Cenci. 
 The Glasgow Herald, Monday, 10th May, 1886 — The Cenci. The 
 Manchester Guardian, Monday, 10th, May, 1886 — The Cenci. 
 Exeter Evening Post — The Cenci on the Stage. Exeter Evening 
 Post, (another day's issue, with another article on Cenci — dates 
 of both unknown.) Pall Mall, vol. xliii., No. 6,597, Saturday, May 
 8th, 1886, p. 4— The Cenci at Islington. Pall Mall, May 10th, 
 1886, p. 4 — The Shelley Socie'y on its Defence. Pall Mall, vol. 
 xliii., No. 6,605, Tuesday, May 18th, 1886, p. 6— Last Words 
 about Dr. Furnivall. New York World— 'The Cenci in London; 
 a Remarkable Performance at the Grand Theatre. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TV. 8 1 
 
 THIRD MEETING, 
 
 WEDNESDA Y, MA Y izth, i8S5. 
 
 At the Society's meeting at University College on 
 the 1 2th May, Dr. Furnivall regretted to announce that 
 Mr. Sweet was suffering from so severe a cold that he 
 was quite unable to give his paper on the " Primitiveness 
 of Shelley's View of Nature," and being in shorthand it 
 could not be read by any one else. He congratulated 
 the Society on the recent performance of The Cenci, 
 maintaining that Mr. Vezin's acting amounted to a 
 challenge to Mr. Irving for the leadership of the English 
 stage, and that Mr. Vezin did not come second. Miss 
 Alma Murray's interpretation, also, of the onerous part 
 of Beatrice showed her to be a tragic actress of unrivalled 
 power, ability, and charm. 
 
 It is admitted (continued Dr. Furnivall) that Shelley 
 was not a dramatist in the sense that Shakspere was. 
 He did not so well know how to manage the action of 
 the play, to group the various incidents into closest 
 relation, or to bring them to the most fitting end. The 
 great defect of the play is the diminution of interest 
 after the great climax of the murder. The Society's 
 performance, however, was distinctly an experiment ; it 
 had determined the dramatic defects as well as the 
 dramatic merits of The Cenci, and proved that only 
 judicious cutting was needed to make it a valuable 
 stage drama. He begged to propose a vote of thanks, 
 which the Rev. W. A. Harrison seconded, to Mr. Wilmot, 
 Mr. Freeman, Mr. Godwin, Mr. Richard Clay, and the 
 actors and actresses who contributed so largely to the 
 success of the performance. 
 
 The Society's representation of Hellas in the autumn 
 will probably be given at the St. James's Hall, with 
 the voluntary aid of some good musical body, so that 
 the choruses may be efficiently rendered, and justice 
 done to the score of Dr. Selle, an old-fashioned musician 
 of the Sterndale Bennett school. 
 
 Mr. Rossetti has (Dr. Furnivall continued) collected 
 
 o 
 
82 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 from Shelley's prose and poetical writings those passages 
 in which the poet alludes to his own productions, or 
 records his own opinions, and the publication of the 
 book, which will undoubtedly be a work of great value, 
 is expected ere long. 
 
 He also had to announce that Mr. Preston, finding 
 that his professional duties would not permit of his 
 continuing to hold the office of Hon. Sec. as a permanency, 
 had handed in his resignation to the Committee. He 
 would, however, continue in office pro tern, until some 
 cultured person of business capacity as well as leisure 
 should be selected to undertake the work for the 
 Society. 
 
 He would now ask Mr. Rossetti to read a paper which 
 had been placed in his (Mr. Rossetti's) hands for the 
 Society's use. 
 
 Mr. W. M. Rossetti, after expressing his regret that 
 Mr. Sweet was unable to appear, proceeded to read a 
 paper by Mr. H. J. Maynard on "The Religion of 
 Shelley," of which the following is an abstract: — 
 
 When the work of the reformer has become an 
 integral part of the established order of things it attracts 
 no other notice than a languid surprise that its attain- 
 ment should have been so long deferred, and the means 
 by which it was effected soon become almost unintelli- 
 gible. The generation which is unmolested by giants 
 scarcely realises the extent of its debt to the giant-killer. 
 So far as Shelley's work was destructive in its aims its 
 usefulness appears to be consummated, but when, in his 
 poems, he ascends into the heaven of dreams and ideals, 
 he speaks a language which appeals to the hearts of men 
 of all times and places. Up to the time of his matricu- 
 lation at Oxford Shelley's religious views were unimpeach- 
 able ; the novel of u Zastrozzi M contained a bitter attack 
 on the atheistic spirit, and in his letter to Stockdale, 
 just before entering College, he disclaimed all intention 
 of advocating atheistic doctrines in the " Wandering Jew." 
 From this point, however, the change is a rapid one, 
 probably stimulated by his midnight conversations with 
 Hogg. In November 1810 we find him enquiring for a 
 " Hebrew essay demonstrating the Christian religion to 
 be false," and the famous pamphlet on the " Necessity of 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. 83 
 
 Atheism " appeared in the February following. It is not 
 difficult to understand Shelley's position. He saw 
 religion made into an engine of tyranny, and imagined 
 that it could serve no other purpose. 
 
 " The name of God 
 Has fenced about all crime with holiness, 
 Himself the creature of his worshippers, 
 Whose names and attributes and passions change 
 Even with the human dupes who build his shrines." 
 
 When, as it seemed to him, Reason offered the weapon 
 with which this tyranny might be smitten down, he did 
 not shrink from the dangers of the encounter. He says, 
 " I used the word Atheism to express my abhorrence of 
 superstition. I took it up as a knight takes up a 
 gauntlet in defiance of injustice." The pamphlet is 
 obviously the product of hasty reasoning, and, whatever 
 truth the dogma attacked may possess, it is far from 
 being disproved by Shelley's arguments. 
 
 " Queen Mab " belongs to this epoch of the poet's 
 mental development, as is shown by its want of artistic 
 cohesion, and the juvenile crudity of the thoughts, 
 compared with those of the " Address to the Irish People " 
 (18 12) from which the following passage is taken. 
 " Reason points to the open gates of the temple of 
 religious freedom, Philanthropy kneels at the altar of 
 the common God. There, wealth and poverty, rank and 
 abjectness, are names known but as memorials of a past 
 time. Does God rule this illimitable universe ? Are 
 you thankful for his beneficence ? Do you adore his 
 wisdom ? Do you hang upon his altar the garland of 
 your devotion ? Curse not your brother, though he hath 
 enwreathed his with flowers of a different hue ! The 
 purest religion is that of charity. Its loveliness begins 
 to proselytise the hearts of men." Allowing for the 
 fact that these words were addressed to the sympathies 
 of a Roman Catholic population, they are evidently not 
 the language of rampant Atheism. Shelley's denial of 
 any but the pantheistic conception of God was re- 
 peatedly confirmed, and must be regarded as final. In 
 a note on the passage in "Queen Mab" commencing 
 " There is no God," he says, " this negation must be 
 
 G 2 
 
84 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 understood to affect solely a creative deity. The hypo- 
 thesis of a pervading spirit, co-eternal with the universe, 
 remains unshaken." By 1816 Shelley had abandoned his 
 early materialistic doctrines, and had partially accepted 
 the idealism of Berkeley, though without arriving at posi- 
 tive conclusions. His " Essay on a Future State" (181 5) 
 refers the popular belief to " a desire to be for ever as we 
 are, the reluctance to a violent and inexperienced change 
 which is common to all animate and inanimate com- 
 binations of the universe." The " Refutation of Deism " is 
 directed to prove that Atheism is the one alternative to 
 Christianity, and the attack on Christian morality would 
 appear to decide which alternative was accepted by 
 Shelley himself. His scepticism, however, only applied 
 to the idea of an active personal deity, not to the 
 hypothesis of an all-pervading spirit. His objections to 
 Christian morality were twofold — to the standard of 
 future reward and punishment being applied to the 
 quality of actions, and to the inculcation of passive 
 submission to injury and to the will of sovereign rulers 
 — both objections being, in reality, not so much attacks 
 on vital principles of Christianity as on particular 
 developments, which are being superseded by larger 
 conceptions. 
 
 Shelley regarded Christ as a great human genius, 
 directing his enthusiastic efforts to the overthrow of 
 narrow race-religion and conventionality. " If we would 
 profit by the wisdom of a sublime and poetical mind we 
 must beware of interpreting literally every expression it 
 employs." His veneration for this inspired champion 
 of poverty and wretchedness finds its most pathetic 
 enunciation in " Prometheus Unbound " in the passage 
 commencing 
 
 " Remit the anguish of that lighted stare." 
 
 The importance of Shelley's estimate of Christ lies in 
 the explanation it affords of his theory of the contrast 
 between a principle and its outgrowths. In his view 
 truth ceases to be truth when it is accepted upon tradition. 
 The inspiration by which it was flashed into the mind of 
 its original exponent must repeat itself in every individual 
 who desires to become acquainted with its real purport. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 85 
 
 " An established religion," he says, " turns to deathlike 
 apathy the sublimest ebullitions of genius." It is 
 evident that he sympathised with the primitive purity of 
 Christian principles, and traced their later degeneration 
 to the corrupting influence of the world. 
 
 The negative side of Shelley's religion, which has been 
 hitherto dealt with, presents little more than the process 
 by which his early judgments became modified. He 
 himself was inclined to overrate his faculty for abstract 
 thought; on several occasions he expresses a doubt 
 whether he would not have done better to devote 
 himself to philosophical speculation rather than to 
 poetry. There can be no question that such a change, 
 even if feasible, would have been disastrous. His reason 
 was not sufficiently vigilant to save him from such in- 
 consistencies as that which appears in his support of the 
 theory of necessity, side by side with his passionate 
 assertion of the power of man's will to exterminate pain 
 and evil. His reasonings and his intuitions were 
 perpetually at variance. The magnificent concluding 
 verses of " Adonais " embody a theory of the future 
 state in conflict with that which he had formerly 
 expressed. But the clue, to these contradictions is 
 Shelley's theory that " the poet and the man are two 
 different natures," the poet being the channels of God's 
 messages, and " poetry redeeming from decay the 
 visitations of the divinity in man." The man, guided 
 by heavily fettered Reason, wearily travelling the thorny 
 path of life — Genius soaring high at the gates of heaven 
 — what wonder that these two should describe the 
 journey in such different tones ? 
 
 The last six years of Shelley's life were devoted to 
 the composition of those poems which are the foundation 
 of his fame. The opening lines of " Alastor" give us 
 the keynote of the principle which animates his writings 
 from this time forward. It is Love, not bounded in 
 scope or limited to particular objects, but embracing all 
 things animate and inanimate, which he celebrates as 
 " the one law which should govern the moral world." 
 There is one episode in his life which forms an excep- 
 tion to the consistency with which he carried out this 
 principle in his deeds. His desertion of his wife in 1814 
 
86 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 has been eagerly condemned and as eagerly defended, 
 but before adopting either course it is necessary to weigh 
 the motives of the poet as well as the circumstances of 
 the case. Shelley's speculative tendency early led him 
 to opinions adverse to the institution of marriage ; but 
 when the question was brought to a practical issue by 
 Harriet Westbrook throwing herself upon his protection, 
 he would not jeopardise the happiness of another by his 
 own half-doubted theories ; he took the only course 
 possible to a romantic and perhaps Ouixoti c_tempera- 
 ment, and married her. The connection, however, after 
 the first glow of romance had faded, was unhappy in the 
 extreme. Harriet's want of sympathy with his aspira- 
 tions is clear from the tone of her letters, and her sister, 
 who became a regular inmate of the household, widened 
 the breach between the youthful husband and wife. A 
 perfectly strong nature, had it allowed itself to be forced 
 into such a position, would doubtless have endured the 
 agony to the bitter end. But we must bear in mind 
 what that agony meant for Shelley. An ordinarily 
 well-regulated mind can perhaps scarcely measure the 
 intensity of the despair of a heart that has gone up and 
 down the earth seeking for sympathy, and found it not. 
 This poor wandering Alastor, longing for a realisation of 
 his ideal, looked on askance by those whom he would 
 have inspired with the sense of their human brotherhood, 
 snatched with too eager haste at the first vision which 
 promised the longed-for boon of human love. What 
 words shall express the sense of desolation with which 
 he awakens to find he has clasped a phantom ! Shelley 
 was not. a calm un impassioned Goethe, to abandon an 
 attachment on the well-reasoned ground that it jarred with 
 the process of his self-education. He was no Petrarch, 
 to cherish the memory of an ideal love side by side with 
 the degraded reality. Galled to frenzy by his fetters, he 
 acted under the irrepressible desire to escape from a life 
 of misery, and though no complete defence of his 
 conduct can be suggested, the feelings of common 
 humanity may at least render it intelligible. 
 
 It remains to be shown how Shelley's enunciation of 
 love as the supreme law of life is brought into association 
 with the rest of his philosophic theories. His pantheistic 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 87 
 
 conception of the Deity is connected with another almost 
 equally prominent idea. His "Vindication of a Natural 
 Diet," published in 18 13, embodies the theory of an 
 original perfect state of nature, and treats the subsequent 
 development of mankind as one long course of de- 
 generation. Later modifications of this view find their 
 completion in the " Prometheus Unbound," the final ex- 
 pression of Shelley's philosophy of life. Here the after- 
 history of mankind is no longer conceived of as a pro- 
 cess of hopeless degradation, but rather as a stage in the 
 development of a grander destiny. With the gift of fire 
 comes Sin and Knowledge, Sorrow and Sympathy, Pain 
 and Aspiration. Primitive innocence has departed, but 
 the loss is a necessary condition of future gain. Finally, 
 the period of trial and striving reaches its close, and 
 Prometheus, released from his long martyrdom, is united 
 once more and for ever with Asia, the spirit of universal 
 love. Viewed thus, the ills of life are but the furnace 
 through which the gold must pass before it is fully 
 refined ; the sorrows of mankind are the discipline of a 
 higher happiness. The principle to which all life should 
 conform is not therefore now viewed as existing in the 
 past alone, but as something rooted in the universal 
 frame of things. ^Shelley sought for a primal element 
 underlying all life, and explaining the infinite complexity 
 Of Its interwoven harmonies, not as a personal agent or 
 creative power, but a sustaining influence, in which all 
 things "live and move and have their being." This 
 principle he found in love, and the ethical system 
 dependent upon it is summed up in the attuning of 
 conduct to the law of love, that life may be an echo of 
 its music. 
 
 But it would be a mistake to suppose that this theory 
 existed in elaborate and definite isolation in Shelley's 
 mind. He sometimes inclined to a quasi-manicha^an 
 belief in twin spirits, one good, one evil, who rule the 
 universe with alternate sway. This idea also finds its 
 mature expression in the " Prometheus," being, in the 
 scene between Asia and Demogorgon, brought into 
 harmony with the pantheistic principle. The spirit of 
 evil rules but through the medium of the thoughts of 
 men, and his fall is the work of their will. It was 
 
88 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Prometheus, the genius and embodiment of humanity, 
 who gave to Jupiter his throne, and Demogorgon, the 
 spirit of revolution, who shall drag the tyrant to his 
 ruin. Over all broods in serene omnipotence the shadow 
 of a mightier being, unmoved by the shocks of time and 
 "the flood of ages combating below," soon to assert that 
 empire which has eternally been his, and crush into 
 annihilation all the petty tyrants of man's destiny. 
 
 MR. HERMANN VEZIN IN "THE CENCI." 
 
 Considerations of wisdom or expediency apart, 
 the first performance of Shelley's solitary tragedy at the 
 Grand Theatre Islington on May 7th 1886, under the 
 auspices of the newly-founded Society bearing his name, 
 is an event which will remain memorable in the annals of 
 the English Stage. That the tumult of horror and in- 
 dignation raised in the Press, upon its bare announcement, 
 should have found a responsive echo in the breast of the 
 Censor, is, alone, a sufficiently rare coincidence to serve 
 to keep alive the memory of this premiere for at least 
 some time to come. But after the recollection of the ex- 
 citement and antagonism which it provoked has faded 
 into oblivion, it will be remembered — and that, per- 
 manently — for the " bringing to belated birth " of two 
 great tragic roles by an actor and an actress whose 
 capacity to grapple with such tremendous dramatic 
 material, had, until then, so far as we know, remained 
 untested. 
 
 Shelley has depicted Count Cenci and his daughter 
 as the antitypes of each other, the opposing forces in his 
 tragedy. They represent the quintessence of iniquity 
 and innocence, of ferocity and gentleness, of deep-dyed 
 corruption and spotless purity, of severing hate and 
 clinging affection. These antitheses in their natures 
 render them essentially dependent upon each other for 
 their dramatic significance. As the author tells us in 
 his preface, " their hopes and fears, their confidences and 
 misgivings, their various interests, passions and opinions, 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 89 
 
 act upon and with each other, conspiring to one tremen- 
 dous end." So closely are they linked together that to 
 rend them asunder for purposes of comment or criticism 
 is obviously inconvenient and disadvantageous. But as 
 the limit of space — which, like Fate, is inexorable — 
 would preclude the possibility of combined yet detailed 
 treatment, we are reluctantly compelled to make a 
 selection, and, on the principle of seniores prior es, to post- 
 pone the consideration of Miss Alma Murray's Beatrice 
 to some future occasion. 
 
 Nevertheless, to a right understanding of these 
 characters, whether dealt with separately or in con- 
 junction, it is necessary to premise that a wide difference 
 has been made by Shelley in the development of each ; 
 for whilst Beatrice is presented to us as undergoing many 
 a metamorphosis, answering to the varying circum- 
 stances of her career — now dejected and despairing, now 
 defiant and retaliatory, now placid and resigned — the 
 salient features of Cenci's disposition are unchanging, 
 save in the gathering strength of their concentration. 
 
 Anything more abhorrent and awe-inspiring than 
 Shelley's portraiture of Francesco Cenci, it would be 
 difficult to find in the whole range of dramatic literature, 
 ancient or modern. Accepting the tradition as he found 
 it, the dramatist has painted this veteran voluptuary in 
 unsoftened colours. Conscious of the privileges which 
 birth and opulence confer in a corrupt and superstitious 
 age, Cenci successfully employed them in eluding the 
 grasp of retributive Justice. Hence, we behold him " in 
 dishonoured age, charged with a thousand unrepented 
 crimes" ; "with no remorse and little fear" trampling on 
 his devoted victims and gloating over the desolation and 
 misery which his "wrinkled vice and rank malignity" 
 have brought about. Such is the moral deformity of 
 his nature, that, in him, we seem to gaze upon a whole 
 race of criminals, sinners, and profligates rolled into one. 
 And as such, Mr. Hermann Vezin depicted him. What 
 a picture he looks as the curtain rises ! Attired in the 
 costume worn by Italian noblemen of the period, he 
 might — to use a common phrase — have just stepped out 
 of a painting by an Old Master. We first meet him 
 haggling with Cardinal Camillo about the hush-money 
 
90 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 he is to pay the Pope as the price of dispensation from 
 earthly and spiritual punishment for foulest deeds. His 
 acrimonious aspect opens, at once, the portals of our 
 antipathy. Fiendish fire flashes from his cold, grey, 
 lustrous eyes. His darkening frown sheds a withering 
 blight on all around him. His seared and sallow visage 
 ls_a symbol of the scourging spirit within. His curled and 
 quivering lip proclaims his pernicious instincts. His 
 harsh voice seems, at times, almost choked with the 
 tempestuous rage which racks his wiry frame. His 
 hoarse and hollow laughter resounds like an echo from 
 the nether world. He is the very incarnation of a 
 demon — the embodiment of a ghoul — sent upon earth 
 to plague humanity. And yet, his very devilishness 
 lends a shuddering fascination to the scenes in which 
 he takes part. 
 
 We next see him at the banquet, to which he has 
 bidden guests with the concealed design of persuading 
 them to participate in his unnatural exultation over the 
 loss of his two sons. How unctuously, and with what 
 " wicked laughter round his eye, which wrinkles up the 
 skin even to the hair," he relates the story of their deaths, 
 drawing down imprecations on their souls ; how menac- 
 ing his attitude as some rise to protest against such 
 callousness and profanity ; how, cowering at the bold 
 rebuke of the child from whose " prone mind " his con- 
 duct has blotted out love, reverence and fear, he seeks 
 courage in wine to nerve himself to a deed which even 
 he scarce dares to hint at — all this, and infinitely more 
 than can be recorded on the pale printed page, Mr. 
 Vezin vividly and indelibly impressed on the memories 
 of those who saw him. 
 
 In the second Act (Scene i) we find Cenci's hatred 
 deepening, his passion stimulated by some temporary 
 check. With gleeful malevolence, he hits upon a device 
 whereby he may wreak, unimpeded, his ignoble ven- 
 geance upon his unoffending daughter. He will trans- 
 port her and her helpless kin to the castle of Petrella 
 whose "dungeons underground and thick towers never 
 told tales; though they have heard and seen what might 
 make dumb things speak." There, none shall stand be- 
 tween him and his fell purpose. Such was the venomous 
 
THE SHELLE V SOCIETY. 91 
 
 vituperation, and ghastly impressiveness, infused by the 
 actor into the concluding speech of this scene, as to 
 cause the audience literally to quail at the sound. 
 
 The fourth Act brings Cenci before us again, and for 
 the last time. In pursuance of his plans, he and his 
 family are now installed in the Castle of Petrella. He 
 is preparing to subject Beatrice to every refinement of 
 cruelty which a cankered imagination can invent. The 
 execution of his designs is however temporarily arrested 
 by Lucretia's feigning that Beatrice, in a trance, has 
 heard a voice which said : 
 
 " Cenci must die ! Let him confess himself! 
 Even now the accusing Angel waits to hear 
 If God, to punish his enormous crimes, 
 Harden his dying heart ! " 
 
 Cowed, for the moment, by superstitious fear at this 
 portent, he shows signs of relenting : 
 
 "Well . . . well . . . 
 I must give up the greater point, which was 
 To poison and corrupt her soul. 
 
 But on learning that this was only a subterfuge to 
 overawe him, his dogged determination re-asserts itself 
 with redoubled fury : 
 
 " For Beatrice worse terrors are in store 
 To bend her to my will." 
 
 He sends for her, threatening that if she disobey, she 
 shall, after suffering unheard-of infamies, die unshriven 
 and plague-spotted with his curses. Goaded, by her 
 persistent refusal, into a paroxysm of exasperation, he 
 proceeds to heap upon her a malediction which, for blas- 
 phemous bitterness and vengeful rancour, has probably 
 never been surpassed. He then retires to yield himself 
 to that sleep which he mockingly apostrophises as " the 
 healing dew of heaven," and meets his death by the 
 dagger of the assassin. 
 
 The delivery of this final imprecation was, indeed, 
 the worthy crown and climax of a performance, instinct 
 with an elevated intellectuality and a penetrative ima- 
 gination " making apparent some of the most dark and 
 
02 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 secret caverns of the human heart." There hung about 
 it, too, a scoffing cynicism and a daemonic grandeur 
 that could alone have been suggested by the lines : 
 
 " O, multitudinous Hell, the fiends will shake 
 Thine arches with the laughter of their joy ! 
 There shall be lamentation heard in Heaven 
 As o'er an angel fallen ; and upon Earth 
 All good shall droop and sicken, and ill things 
 Shall with a Spirit of unnatural life 
 Stir and be quickened . . . even as I am now." 
 
 Vehement as were his utterances, the actor never 
 ranted ; though venturing to the very verge, the boundary 
 between sublime exaltation and melodramatic common- 
 place was never overstepped. 
 
 Mr. Vezin had hitherto chiefly been recognised as a 
 representative exponent of the poetic drama in its more 
 contemplative moods, remarkable rather for cultured 
 interpretation and picturesqueness than for fiery and 
 forcible expression. To so large an extent had his 
 reputation been built upon the foregoing qualities, that 
 it had come to be questioned whether his physical 
 means were sufficiently robust to enable him to assume 
 a role which demands sustained abandonment to the 
 wildest convulsions of frenzy. This doubt has now been 
 set at rest by his embodiment of Francesco Cenci. 
 The part is, indeed, one to strain to the uttermost, not 
 alone the actor's artistic capabilities, but equally, his 
 powers of endurance. It is from first to last, with but 
 two insignificant breaks, one long crescendo of culminat- 
 ing passion ; and yet, at no moment was an apprehension 
 excited that Mr. Vezin's forces were being overtaxed. 
 Entrusted to a performer of average ability, the presenta- 
 tion of Cenci would have become loathsome in its 
 coarseness and gloomily savage in its ferocity ; whereas, 
 in Mr. Vezin's hands, he was (as Shelley conceived him) 
 a patrician, preserving his high-bred dignity throughout 
 the extreme ebullitions of his wrath. As might have 
 been anticipated, Mr. Vezin, in the less energetic situa- 
 tions, displayed all his accustomed refinement and 
 sensibility, his moments of reflection — notably in the 
 banquet scene, when he drains the goblet of Greek wine, 
 and again, in the fourth Act, when Lucretia warns him of 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 93 
 
 Beatrice's pretended presentiment — being distinguished 
 for the natural and unconstrained manner of letting his 
 audience into the secret of what is passing through the 
 mind of the character he impersonates. But it was, as 
 we have already indicated, in the very torrent and whirl- 
 wind of his fury that Mr. Vezin's powers shone out in all 
 their depth and fullness. 
 
 As was the case with Edmund Kean, Mr. Vezin is 
 supposed to suffer from a want of that stature which, 
 undoubtedly, adds stateliness to an actor's presence ; and 
 yet, on this occasion, he did not visibly lack either of 
 those qualifications; for though somewhat below medium 
 height, his figure, particularly in his closing scene, 
 seemed to tower up and broaden with the growing vigour 
 of his declamation, until it appeared to assume, at last, 
 colossal proportions, whilst the Curse rolled forth in tones 
 of " muttered thunder." Compact though elaborate in 
 treatment, Mr. Vezin's " creation " was broad, massive, 
 and bold even to daring. But his seeming audacity was 
 fully justified by the result — the effect was stupendous. 
 
 B. L. Mosely. 
 
 May, 1886. 
 
 SHELLEY'S RIVER HAUNTS AT ETON. 
 
 WHEN Shelley was at Eton the bridge that linked 
 Eton to New Windsor was a wooden one, like the old 
 Putney bridge and many others that have been in my 
 time replaced by structures of stone and iron, only it 
 seems from an engraving by Cooke after Owen to have 
 been unusually homely and frail; in fact, Owen's drawing 
 of this spot is to me far less easy to identify with what 
 I saw when I first went thither in 1832 than his other 
 drawings, of such places as Clifden, Staines and Harley- 
 ford, are with the places as I knew them. However it is 
 certain that there were picturesque old-world things of 
 wood on the Thames at the point at which one crossed 
 over from Mercia into Wessex, or in other words from 
 
94 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Bucks to Berks. The Thames was still a traffic line for 
 heavy goods brought up and down in barges dragged 
 by horses, and at the spot of which we are thinking 
 there was a meeting of commerce with pleasure, of rude 
 irritable bargemen with frolicsome boys from Eton 
 School and lounging privates of the Staffordshire 
 Militia which guarded Windsor Castle. 1 
 
 Shelley on a summer day after his run up the long 
 street and his escape from his u baiters," would plunge 
 into Brocas Lane, pass a hot den where clay pipes were 
 made, dodge the curved beaks of boats under repair in 
 a little crowded builder's yard, scamper down a rickety 
 stairstep on a single plank that ran out into the river, 
 undo the rope or the chain that held a skiff or a funny 
 to the rail that was parallel to the plank, and jump into 
 his " lock-up" (season ticket) boat, or into his "chance 
 boat," which, unlike the lock-up, required a race and a 
 scramble for priority, and shove off without stopping to 
 see whether there was rain-water under the bottom 
 boards, for of course he could bale out for himself if he 
 got away from the world of well-dressed people and 
 reach an eyot or a creek fairly out of sight. Would he 
 scull up or down stream ? There was a boy thirty 
 years after who when beginning to learn, what looks 
 very easy but is not, the art of steering a boat whilst 
 looking sternward and plying long-handJed sculls without 
 jamming his fingers, used to go down stream, carefully 
 avoiding the " cobbler " or " coblair," into the artificial 
 " lock cut " which served as a sort of groove of direction 
 since he had to keep either scull just a yard clear of its 
 bank, and work both hands equally. 2 But he that made 
 that mechanical use of a straight slice of water cannot 
 imagine the skylark boy of 1805 deigning to bear such 
 limits. 
 
 Shelley would be sure to cross over behind the eyot 
 
 1 I have heard my uncle, who was half-starved in the College, 
 talk of the great pleasure it was to hear the trumpets of this 
 regiment sound at nightfall ; it cost him a smart run between 
 barracks and school. 
 
 2 This lock cut is pictured by HerTner in this year's exhibition at 
 the French Gallery, Pall Mall, a poetical representation of a bit of 
 ground that many people might despise for its straight lines, cut 
 slopes, and pollard willows. 
 
THE SHELLS Y SOCLE TV. 95 
 
 which serves for the fireworks, and round which the big 
 boys in their long boats used to have lubberly bumping 
 races sometimes ending with a regular challenge to a 
 fight on land, stroke against stroke, steerer against 
 steerer, a whole Irish crew against a British crew. He 
 would hurry up the unfrequented bargeless right bank, 
 pass the Clewer fields, behind two more eyots, where the 
 Windsor people in modern days bathe almost in sight of 
 Brunei's railway bridge, where in the first forty years of 
 this century one might lie in a punt screened by willows 
 if it was hot weather, or set up a mimic battery of cannon 
 in mid autumn, and fire away till the bank begun to 
 crumble under the shock. There is one alive who can 
 well imagine Shelley's enjoying, most innocently, the 
 early escape from ushers and boobies, which could be 
 secured by a rush to those bowers that lay over-against 
 the well-known clump of elms which the railway forty 
 years ago was compelled to spare. And then just above 
 that was a fascinating " back water " that led up to 
 Clewer mill, and below the mill there was a tumbling bay, 
 and you could let the refluent eddy sweep your skiff in 
 a curve up to the bottom of the little cataract, and 
 poising the sculls let the white water hurry you along 
 some twenty yards. Then you could find an easy 
 slope on the left side of the mill, lift the boat out, if 
 you had a mate, carry it, whilst the miller was at dinner, 
 across a bit of tame land, only a few steps, launch 
 into the mill-stream where it was really dangerous, 
 above the wheels, and then wander up a natural 
 meander stream with grand high banks, and one may 
 be sure Shelley saw these banks all alive with hawthorn 
 in blossom, saw and attacked with scull or with boat- 
 hook the harmless water-voles that lived in holes amongst 
 the roots of the overhanging trees, saw, perhaps, once 
 or twice, the sudden blue gleam of a kingfisher, and 
 then hunted for the fish-bone nest. 1 Passing out of the 
 Clewer mill-stream, the trespasser would within an hour 
 
 1 Campbell of Isla who wrote well, some thirty years ago, about 
 ice-scratched rocks, says in his book about Normandy, that when 
 he was a boy at Eton he found kingfishers' nests in sequestered 
 waters close to the school, probably near " Black Potts,'' Wolton's 
 fishing cottasre. 
 
9<5 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 after his parting with his tormentors, come in sight of 
 their beloved pot-house Surley Hall, and he would there, 
 if he had enough cash, pay a shilling for negus, and give 
 sixpence to the waiter ; for was he not a gentleman ? 
 In those days the Eton boys did not drink beer at 
 taverns : beer was for bargees ; negus, punch, bishop, 
 were the drinks for gentlemen ; and if they would not 
 pay for such luxuries they went without drink. Just 
 above Surley Hall there was in Owen's days, that is 
 about the time of Shelley's early manhood, and there 
 may have been even in his boyhood, an attractive villa 
 called the Willows : Owen's drawing presents something 
 that is a little more poetical than what one found on the 
 same spot in the reign of William IV. This was the 
 only touch of smartness or gentility on the banks for 
 some miles. It used to be reckoned a six-mile course 
 from the bridge to Surley bay and back, and the greatest 
 race was rowed over these six miles, " be they more or 
 less," probably a good deal less. There was no lock at 
 Boveney : the stream was strong just there. This was 
 all in favour of an " Alastor " ; for there could hardly be 
 a crowd above the place called "the Shallows" where 
 the navigation up-stream was difficult : it was here that 
 beginners required help, and had even to hire a waterman 
 in their early trips. There was another thing in favour 
 of " the spirit of solitude " : bathing went on unmethod- 
 ically : instead of having to resort to regular bathing 
 platforms with their ladders, punts, and liveried warders, 
 a boating boy or pair of boys would stop at a tempting 
 point, and with no ceremony, with nothing but a casual 
 towel, would plunge or sneak in. The strange historical 
 truth is, that the river was out of bounds, though some 
 recognition of swimming as an extra accomplishment 
 was given in the accounts forwarded to parents and 
 guardians by tutors and dames. The authorities hardly 
 ever walked along the towing-path, much less did they 
 row, punt, or sail, or swim, except at a distance from the 
 boys. Early in this century a boy was drowned close to 
 Boveney Meads in the presence of many big school- 
 fellows, of whom not one could dive to bring up the 
 body that was plainly seen by those who stooped over 
 the sides of the gathered boats. But for the breadth of 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 97 
 
 beam of the craft, and the reasonable lightness of the 
 human load, many would have perished ; but the notion 
 never entered our heads. If Shelley was like some 
 other unsociable boys it may be guessed that he de- 
 lighted in the danger of sailing in a skiff, if it had a 
 hole in one of the thwarts, for shipping a mast ; Alastor 
 spreads his cloak aloft on a bare mast ; less sublime 
 persons have made shift to scud before the wind a little 
 faster than the stream by the help of an arrangement of 
 bottom-boards tilted on end with sculls or oars raised at 
 various angles and presenting their blades to the breeze : 
 this gave one a sense of repose. But if we were intem- 
 perate in our laziness we stealthily tied the boat to a 
 downward barge's rudder and were towed : bargees did 
 not mind it down stream so long as we did not refer to 
 the puppy-pie eaten under Marlow bridge ; one went 
 into " kef," and woke only when the boat, by the bargee's 
 yawing, went hard at a pier of Windsor bridge. All 
 this was in the compass of the ordinary two hours 
 between the fixed points of school obligations. But 
 these were some rare delights of insubordination that 
 broke the two hours' limit. Fixed points were not 
 merely hours of lessons and chapel services and twilight 
 barring of horse-doors. A summer afternoon was cut 
 in two by a roll-call at 6.15, and for the juniors by 
 another roll-call at 8. These inspections were in 
 Shelley's days, and long after, left to the burdensome 
 prerogative of the headmaster, and though he might be 
 expected to know by force of habit the voice of every 
 one of his hundreds of subjects, his mind might slacken 
 at times, and a " double ganger," reserving his counten- 
 ance, protruding his hat, and conventionalizing his 
 "here Sir," might personate one that at 6.15 was miles 
 away from the school-yard arcade, or from the big elm 
 which in the cricket season was the place of muster at 
 that hour. Even Shelley must have found it easy to get 
 "a fellow to answer for him at absence," provided he 
 did as much for Dromio on another similar occasion ; 
 and unless Ascot races were going on, the chances were 
 greatly in favour of the caller being taken in from mere 
 weariness. By help then of a brilliant mendacity 
 Alastor could get nearly five hours, and he could go 
 
 H 
 
98 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 alone as far as Bray, with mates as far as the handsome 
 bridge that carried rank and fortune across the Thames 
 between London and Bath, the bridge beyond which 
 one got the treat of seeing Taplow and Clifden woods. 
 Now, it is to be stated, that between Boveney and Bray 
 there were two halting-places. There was Water Oakly, 
 the very pink of rusticity, with a pot-house that had 
 settles and ingles, a hamlet unembellished by gazebo or 
 shrubbery : here you could hob and nob with waggoners, 
 and as we used to say " study human nature." But 
 Alastor would rush on, through weeds and the haunts 
 of swans, past Queen's Eyot, up the right bank, to the 
 stone steps that dignified the right side of Monkey 
 Island. I hope and believe that this fairy-tale spot was 
 in 1805 as in 1835, uninhabited and yet not ruinous. It 
 was as Keble says of the Canaanite Gardens when 
 Joshua came to them, "a fearful joy" to venture into 
 the deserted summer-house whose walls presented mon- 
 keys behaving like so many Herveys and Churchills ; 
 to sit on the floor with the back against a frescoed wall 
 and there eat the biscuits and fruit brought from Surley 
 Hall. One had not a notion how near one was all the 
 while to that farm with its mossed thatch which stands 
 on the Bucks side just below Bray Lock. The island 
 was out of the abhorred mean world in which formalists 
 held dominion ; and yet there was that consciousness of 
 trespass which we could not enjoy if we were in 
 Eden. 
 
 William Cory. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 99 
 
 24. With reference to " A proposal for putting Reform to the 
 Vote throughout the Kingdom/' 
 
 " The Shelley Library/' by Mr. Buxton Forman, p. 65. 
 
 Some doubt appears to exist in Mr. Forman's mind as to the date 
 of the pamphlet, although he concludes that it appeared before the 
 "Address to the People? &c. 
 
 In The Quarterly Review for January 1817, article x. vol. xvi., 
 No. 32, p. 511 to 552, is an article entitled " Rise and Progress of 
 Popular Disaffection," being a review of the following : — 
 
 1. Report of the Secret Committee. 
 
 2. On the present State of Public Affairs. Anon. 8vo. 
 
 3. A proposal for putting Reform to the vote throughout the 
 Kingdom. By the Hermit of Marlow. 8vo. 
 
 As a coincidence in my copy I may mention that pp. 511-512 
 appear to have been cancelled and another leaf pasted in — the 
 signature at foot being K. K. 
 
 Anon, points out, in connection with the date of the Proposal 
 for Putting Reform to the Vote, that the title of the pamphlet 
 appears among other titles at the head of an article in The Quarterly 
 Review for January, 1817, on the "Rise and Progress of Popular 
 Disaffection." It may be of interest to think that, when Southey 
 wrote that article, he might have reviewed a pamphlet by Shelley, 
 and did not ; but the item has no bearing on the date of issue of 
 the pamphlet, because Mr. Buxton Forman {Shelley Library, part i., 
 pp. 65-6) has already brought evidence to show that it was written in 
 1 817, and published before the middle of March in that year ; and 
 The Quarterly for January is distinctly stated on its own cover to 
 have been published in April. Editor. 
 
 25. THE EXPULSION OF SHELLEY AND HOGG FROM 
 OXFORD. 
 
 In connection with this very important event Dr. J. Francis 
 Bright, the Master of University College, Oxford, sends the 
 following : — 
 
 "My dear Sir, 
 
 " I send the copy of the letter I mentioned. The writer, 
 Mr. Ridley, according to the endorsement on the letter, was junior 
 Fellow at the time ; but I do not think he was elected till 1813. 
 He was only a senior undergraduate. 
 
 " The entry in the Register is as follows : — 
 " Martii 25th, 181 1. 
 
 " At a meeting of the Master and Fellows held this day it was 
 determined that Thomas Jefferson Hogg and Percy Bisshe 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Shelley, Commoners, be publicly expelled for contumaciously re- 
 fusing to answer questions proposed to them, and for also repeatedly 
 declining to disavow a publication entituled ' The Necessity of 
 Atheism/ 
 
 " Shelley, although in the above entry called a Commoner, held 
 an exhibition in the College known as the Leicester Exhibition, and 
 given on the nomination of the heir of Robert, Earl of Leicester, 
 in this case John Shelley Sidney, Esq., of Penshurst Place, 
 Kent. 
 
 " The Master was Dr. Griffith ; the Dean Mr. George Rowley. 
 
 May i, 1 886." 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 
 "J. Francis Bright. 
 
 [copy.] 
 
 " It was announced one morning at a breakfast party, towards 
 the end of Lent Term, 1810 (cf. Register, this should be 11), that 
 P. B. Shelley, who had recently become a member of University 
 College, was to be called before a meeting of the Common Room 
 for being the supposed author of a pamphlet entitled The Necessity 
 of Atheism. This anonymous work, consisting of not many pages, 
 had been studiously sent to most of the dignitaries of the Univer- 
 sity and to others more or less connected with Oxford. The meeting 
 took place the same day, and it was understood that the pamphlet, 
 together with some notes sent with it, in which the supposed author's 
 handwriting appeared identified with that of P. B. Shelley, was 
 placed before him. He was asked if he could or would deny the 
 obnoxious production as his. No direct reply was given either in 
 the affirmative or negative. Shelley having quitted the room, T. J. 
 Hogg immediately appeared, voluntarily on his part, to state that 
 */ Shelley had anything to do with it, he (Hogg) was equally impli- 
 cated, and desired his share of the penalty, whatever was inflicted. 
 It has always been supposed that T. J. Hogg wrote the preface. 
 Towards the afternoon, a large paper bearing the College seal and 
 signed by the Master and Dean was affixed to the hall door, declar- 
 ing that the two offenders were publicly expelled from the College, 
 for contumacy in refusing to answer certain questions put to them. 
 The aforesaid two had made themselves as conspicuous as possible 
 by great singularity of dress, and by walking up and down the 
 centre of the quadrangle, as if proud of their anticipated fate. I 
 believe no one regretted their departure ; for there were but few, if 
 any, who were not afraid of Shelley's strange and fantastic pranks, 
 and the still stranger opinions he was known to entertain, but all 
 acknowledged him to (have) been very good-humoured and of kind 
 disposition. T. J. Hogg had intellectual powers to a great extent, 
 but unfortunately misdirected. He was most unpopular. 
 
 " C. J. R. 
 
 " 20, Waterloo Crescent, Dover, 
 "June 16" {no year). 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. 101 
 
 26. Two objectionable paragraphs by an anonymous writer in the 
 Pall Mall G azette tor May 13, 1 8b6, elicited [inter alia) the following 
 from Dr. Furnivall : — 
 
 "What 'The Cenci' Performance has done. 
 
 " I. Mr. Hermann Vezin's performance of Count Cenci was, with- 
 out question, the finest piece of acting seen on the London boards 
 since Salvini's Othello. It was a distinct challenge to Mr. Henry 
 Irving for the headship of the English drama ; and I do not hesitate 
 to say, that for naturalness, manliness, dignity, and intensity, Mr. 
 Vezin's creation of Count Cenci could not be matcht by any actor 
 in Great Britain. I assert, without fear of contradiction by any 
 competent critic, that Mr. Vezin's magnificent acting of Count Cenci 
 is worthy to stand beside Salvini's superb and life-like depiction of 
 Othello. 
 
 "2. Miss Alma Murray, in like manner, by her performance of 
 Beatrice, sprang at a bound to the highest rank of her profession. 
 Much as her performance of Constance in Browning's hi a Balcony 
 and of Colombe in his Colombe's Birthday had led me to expect of 
 her, I had no idea that she could so splendidly embody Shelley's 
 pathetic conception, or realize the terror and horror which he has 
 put into words. Whatever was touching, whatever was tender and 
 beautiful, I knew Miss Alma Murray could do ; but that she could 
 also be one of the greatest tragic actresses I had ever seen, — that I 
 did not think or know till last Friday. I am now certain that she 
 can do anything within the range of dramatic art. 
 
 " 3. With regard to The Ce?ici as an acting play, our performance 
 has proved this, that when it is properly ' cut,' to the extent that 
 Shakspere's longest plays are always cut, it will turn out to be an 
 effective stage-play, with the most powerful situations and charac- 
 ters since Lear and Othello. The Cenci has 2,286 lines, The Two 
 Gentlemen of Verona (the shortest but four of Shakspere's plays) 
 2,294. I forget how much the Dramatic Students cut the latter 
 play; but certainly Mr. Frank Marshall and Mr. H. Irving will 
 in their edition mark certain passages for cutting. Who nowadays 
 plays without cutting Hamlet (3,931 lines), Richard III. (3,619 
 lines), ox Antony and Cleopatra (3,063 lines? Even the Comedy of 
 Errors, Shakspere's shortest play, 1,778 lines, gets cut. Certainly 
 then we shall cut largely Shelley's Cenci when we play it again 
 next year, and the following years of the Shelley Society's 
 existence. 
 
 "4. As to the motive for playing The Cenci. I, at least, cannot 
 conceive of any one who cares for Shakspere and Shelley not 
 wishing to see The Ce?ici on the stage, manifest as its faults are, 
 and ignorant as Shelley was — when set beside Shakspere — of 
 stage requirements. Mr. Browning, when young, naturally, and 
 just because he was himself a poet and dramatist, sent his copy of 
 the original edition of The Cenci to Kean, and askt him to put it 
 on the stage. Who, with any dramatic feeling, that has read those 
 grand passages which Mr. Vezin and Miss Murray spoke and acted 
 so splendidly last Friday, who, I say, has- not wished to see the 
 
102 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 play acted ? It is a simple necessity of one's nature. And when 
 one has a certain amount of will and knowledge, one just says 'It 
 shall be done/ and then in six months it is done — to do honour to 
 a great genius, to test his work on the boards he wrote it for, and 
 to delight all capable and generous souls." 
 
 27. In my last note (Notebook, No. 2, p. 43, par. 20) I said that I 
 had been informed by Mr. R. A. Potts that a fourth copy of the 
 Memoirs of Prince Ale xy Haimatoff \s extant, and was sold at 
 Messrs. Sotheby's rooms some time in 1879. Since that note was 
 written, Mr. Potts has kindly investigated the matter, and has com- 
 municated to me the following facts as the result of his search. The 
 volume in question was included in the second portion of the 
 Beckford Library, and was sold on December 13th, 1882, the third 
 day of the sale. It was described in the auctioneers' catalogue as : — 
 
 509. HaimatofT (Prince A.) Memoirs. 2 pages of M.S. 
 Notes by Mr. Beckford. Half-calf gilt. 181 3. 
 
 The book, I understand, was purchased by Mr. Bain, of the 
 Haymarket. Thos. J. Wise. 
 
 28. Queen Mab. — In the so-called American edition, New York. 
 J. Baldwin, 1821, page 125, line 17 (Notes), "hypothesis" is spelt 
 " hyhothesis," and at page 128 the quotation " Pour dire ce qu'il 
 est, il faut etre lui-meme" is rendered u Poure dire ce qu'il est, il 
 faut etre lut meme." 
 
 In John Brook's edition, 1829, "Newton" in the notes is spelt 
 " Newland." 
 
 The edition, London : / Published by James Watson, / By / 
 Holyoake and Co., 147, Fleet Street, / 1857, has at foot of page 112 
 the imprint, Johnston, Printer, Bartholomew Close. Those bound 
 in cloth are lettered on the back QUEEN / MAB / 1/6. There 
 are four pages of advertisements after the notes, and on the first 
 page appears : — 
 
 Shelley's Queen Mab ; with all the Notes, 1 vol. cloth boards . 1 6 
 
 Ditto in a wrapper 10 
 
 Shelley's Masque of Anarchy, with a Preface by Leigh Hunt o 3 
 
 Sketch of the Life qfP.B. Shelley 02 
 
 F. Grahame Aylward. 
 
 29. In a letter addressed to Mr. W. M. Rossetti, Mr. F. Scrivener 
 writes from Melbourne, under date April 1st, 1886: — 
 
 " Sir, — I may as well confess to you at once (and I do so feeling 
 confident that you will entirely sympathise with my feelings) that 
 the very name of Shelley is music to my ears. Ever since I could 
 think for myself I have recognised in Percy Bysshe Shelley a man 
 eminently dear and lovable, a man standing a head and shoulders 
 above his contemporaries, a man intellectually, morally, and 
 physically beautiful! — surely a rare if not absolutely unique com- 
 bination. I am not ashamed to say — to you, dear sir, one who has 
 done so much in the cause of the Master — who has laboured so 
 strenuously and successfully to clear away the mists of prejudice 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 103 
 
 from English minds with regard to their great countryman, and who 
 has at the same time shown so nice an appreciation of the lofty — 
 the lovely moral nature of the man we so love — that Shelley is in- 
 expressibly dear and precious to me, and has given me more happy 
 hours of thought and contemplation — more by far — than any mem- 
 ber of our race who has placed great and noble thoughts on record 
 for the benefit of his fellow-men. I am sure, dear, sir, you will 
 do me the justice to believe that I am not seeking to take up your 
 valuable time with a mere attempt at ' fine-writing.' I speak from 
 my very soul, and believe that you will recognise my sincerity. At 
 different meetings of our (Shakspere) Society I took occasion to 
 sound the most likely men on the subject of Shelley, but soon had 
 to drop it. Several of our best members were and still are on the 
 Argus literary staff — an ultra-Conservative journal — and of course 
 they would not touch the unclean thing. You would be astonished, 
 sir, to find how successfully we have imported our fine old British 
 prejudices to this new land. A Shelley Society, then, for the present 
 at any rate, is impracticable here, which fact induces greater satis- 
 faction at the thought of that so successfully established across the 
 water. If, dear sir, your many tasks would permit you to inform 
 me, in a line or two, how I may best participate (if at all) in the 
 advantages offered by your new Society I should esteem it a very 
 great favour. I have often longed to be in England, but never so 
 much as now." 
 
 30. Ruskin's Praeterita, vol. i. (1886), pp. 336, 337. " In that same 
 year, 1836, I took to reading Shelley also, and wasted much time 
 over the ' Sensitive Plant ' and ' Epipsychidion ;' and'' I took a good 
 deal of harm from him t in trying to write lines like ' prickly and 
 pulpous and blistered and blue ' ; or ' it was a little lawny islet by 
 anemone and vi'let, like mosaic paven,' &c. ; but in the state 
 of frothy fever I was in (desperately in love with Adele Domecq), 
 there was little good for me to be got out of anything. The perse- 
 verance with which I tried to wade through the ' Revolt of Islam,' 
 and find out (I never did, and don't know to this day) who revolted 
 against whom or what, was creditable to me ; and the ' Prometheus ' 
 really made me understand something of ./Eschylus," pp. 404, 40^. 
 " I had, in my little clay pitcher, vialfuls, as it were, of Wordsworth's 
 reverence, Shelley's sensitiveness, Turner's accuracy, all in one. 
 With Shelley I loved blue sky and blue eyes, but never in the least 
 confused the heavens with my own poor little Psychidion. And the 
 reverence and passion were alike kept in their places by the construc- 
 tive Turnerian element ; and I did not weary myself in wishing 
 that a daisy could see the beauty of its shadow, but in trying to 
 draw the shadow rightly myself." 
 
 31. The Wandering Jew. — Mr. Buxton Forman, in his notes on 
 the song from The Wa?tderingjew, Shelley's Works, vol. iv. p. 317, 
 writes that Mrs. Shelley was probably mistaken in thinking that 
 the " new poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Wandering Jew," 
 that appeared with a long introduction in Eraser's Magazine for 
 June and July 1831, was Shelley's. As bearing on this question I 
 may call attention to a statement by Oliver Yorke, which appears 
 to have escaped observation. In the notices to correspondents, on 
 
io4 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 the back of the title-page of the monthly number of Fraser for July 
 1831, is the following: — 
 
 '■ An obscure contemporary has accused us of announcing for 
 publication Shelley's poem without proper authority. We beg 
 to assure him that we have the sanction of Mrs. Shelley. 
 
 " O. Y." 
 
 The introduction contains an ode on the French Revolution by 
 an admirer of Shelley, " written in imitation of his solemn stately 
 diction," of this it would be of interest to trace the author. 
 
 W. B. Tegetmeier. 
 
 32. I WAS reading the Life of Mortimer Collins a few days ago, 
 and came across the following allusions to Shelley, which may 
 perhaps interest the readers of the Notebook : — 
 
 " Being at Marlow the other day, I strolled a little way out of the 
 town to see the house where Shelley lived. It is on the roadside, 
 just opposite a comfortable-looking mansion called Remnantz, 
 and is broken up into three cottages, whereof one (of course) is a 
 public-house." 
 
 " Sir William Clavton has had an inscription put up with an 
 appropriate passage from the Adonais, but it seems a pity the place 
 is not kept in somewhat better condition. However, if the pan- 
 theists and democrats who swear by Shelley leave his house to be 
 degraded, I, who admire him only for his high poetic faculty, may 
 be content." 
 
 Again : — 
 
 " Northward there's Marlow where wild Shelley dwelt, 
 And Bisham, where the Virgin Princess knelt." 
 
 G. B. Burgin. 
 
 33. THE CHANGE IN THE HONORARY SECRETARYSHIP 
 OF THE SOCIETY. 
 
 On the 1 2th May Dr. Furnivall announced at the Society's meeting 
 my resignation of the Honorary Secretaryship of the Society, 
 after having held that post for only three months. Of the reasons for 
 my withdrawal, which were then stated, and which had been given 
 at length to the Committee, the principal is the remarkably rapid 
 growth of the Society, which numbered on my accession to office 
 barely 100 members. The list has now reached 350, and the duties, 
 which have proportionately increased, are too heavy for me. The 
 Committee passed the following resolutions : — 
 
 1. That Mr. Preston's resignation of the Honorary Secretaryship 
 of the Society and of his seat on the Committee be accepted. 
 
 2. That the numbers of the Committee be enlarged to twenty- 
 four, and that Mr. Preston be re-elected to the Committee. 
 
 All that remains to me, then, is to introduce my successor, Mr. 
 James Stanley Little, on whom the choice of the sub-committee 
 elected for the purpose has fallen. 
 
 Mr. Stanley Little's name is doubtless already known to the 
 majority of the readers of these notes. He is the author of a small 
 
^ ov •• t ,» 
 
 v>^ 
 
 THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 105 
 
 work on Imperial Federation, entitled " A World Empire/' in which 
 the subject of Federation, one in which Mr. Little takes the greatest 
 interest, is sagaciously dealt with ; of two volumes on South Africa, 
 the result of travel in that country, called " South Africa ; a Sketch 
 both of Men, Manners, and Facts" ; and of a volume on art, entitled 
 " What is Art?" which has been described as falling like " a bomb- 
 shell among the dovecotes of the Royal Academy," being in effect a 
 powerful appeal for the impersonal or abstract forms of art. Mr. 
 Little's last work, a three-volume novel entitled " My Royal Father ; 
 a Story for Women," has only recently appeared. It deals largely 
 with metaphysics, on a very advanced platform, and Shelley's spirit 
 and faith are distinctly traceable in it, the latter especially so. The 
 author, like Shelley, foresees a good time coming, the germ only of 
 which we now see — the fructification to be sought for in a long pro- 
 cess of evolution. Mr. Little has had considerable experience as 
 an organiser, having been responsible for the management of a 
 very large concert at the Crystal Palace in aid of the Afghan War 
 Relief Fund, to which a considerable sum of money was, by Mr. 
 Little's efforts, added. I have, therefore, to congratulate the Society 
 on the fact that I abdicate in favour of an ardent and capable 
 Shelleyite, a man of letters, and of an energy which thoroughly 
 qualifies him to fill the by no means irresponsible position of 
 honorary secretary to the considerable advantage of the Society 
 and the greater honour of our poet. 
 
 Sydney E. Preston. 
 
 34. MR. ROBERT BROWNING AND MISS ALMA 
 
 MURRAY'S "BEATRICE." 
 
 We have received permission from Mr. Robert Browning and 
 
 Miss Alma Murray to print the following, written by the poet to 
 
 Miss Murray shortly after the recent performance of The Cenci ; — 
 
 " 19, Warwick Crescent, 
 "May 8, 1886. 
 " I must say, what many must already have said, perhaps more 
 energetically, how much impressed I was by your admirable imper- 
 sonation of that most difficult of all conceivable characters to per- 
 sonate : after such a display of passion and pathos, what is 
 impossible for you — the Poetic Actress without a rival ? 
 
 " Ever truly yours, 
 
 " Robert Browning." 
 
 35. Mr. W. M. Rossetti has recently received two letters from 
 well-known French Shelleyites. We extract, with Mr. Rossetti's 
 consent, from both. The former is from Mons. Rabbe, who is 
 preparing a French translation of Shelley's works ; the latter from 
 Mons. Gabriel Sarrazin, a member of the Society's Committee : — 
 
 "Paris, 12 Mat, 18S6. 
 " Monsieur, 
 
 " Je prends la liberte de vous addresser un exemplairedu premier 
 volume de ma traduction francaise de Shelley (elle doit en avoir 3 
 
106 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 et etre prdcddde d'une e*tude biographique et critique sur Shelley et 
 ses ceuvres, qui formera un 4 e volume). Je me propose meme de lui 
 de'dier le 3 me volume. Je serai tres heureux que la Shelley Society 
 veuille bien me faire part de son appreciation, et relever les inexac- 
 titudes ou les faiblesses qui pourraient s'y rencontrer, et que je 
 m'empresserai de corriger pour une # 2 e Edition. 
 
 " Inutile de vous dire, Monsieur, combien m'a 6t6 precieux votre 
 Essai historique sur ?iotre poete, et le parti que j'en a tire* dans 
 mon travail, ainsi que de votre excellente Edition. 
 
 " Je me propose de m'affilier bientot, si possible, a votre tres 
 honorable et tres interessante Socie'td Shelleienne, arm de pouvoir 
 profiter des curieux documents qu'elle se propose de publier sur 
 Shelley. Je serais surtout curieux d'avoir le No. 12 Biographical 
 Notes on Shelley ; &c, by T. J. Wise, aussitot qu'il sera publie\ 
 
 " Si la Shelley Society voulait bien faire inserer quelque note 
 sur ma traduction dans quelque Revue ou Journal litteraire anglais 
 je lui en serais tres-reconnaissant. 
 
 " Veuillez agrder, Monsieur, l'expression de ma sincere admiration 
 pour vos travaux, et me croire votre 
 
 " Bien devoue' en Shelley 
 
 "T. Rabbe." 
 
 " La Fourberie, en Saint-Lunaire, 
 "(Ile-et-Vilaine), 
 
 "21 Mai, 1886. 
 
 "Je viens de rddiger, d'ici, trois notes bibliographiques sur ce 
 livre, l'une pour la Jeune France, Pautre pour le Monde poe'tique, la 
 troisieme pour la Revue de Geneve. J'indique brievement en ces 
 notes, ce qu'est en ce moment le mouvement Shelleyen en Europe. 
 Et a ce propos, voudriez-vous prdvenir le Committee qu'il y a 
 beaucoup a attendre, toujours au point de vue Shelleyen, du 
 Fr. Otto Schlapp, de l'Universite' de Strasbourg, (un e'leve de 
 Bernhardt Ten Brink), qui s'est e"pris de Shelley d'une facon toute 
 particuliere et le reVele a ses camarades d'Universite'. Le Dr. 
 Schlapp, dont j'ai entendu parler par un de ses amis, a ddja 
 fait, parait-il, de beaux travaux sur divers points de poe"sie 
 anglaise, notamment un qu'il va publier sous forme de these, et 
 qui traite des ' me*tapbores de Shakespeare.' 
 
 "Puisque nous en sommes toujours a Shelley et a ceux des 
 lettrds Allemands qui s'en occupent, vous connaissez probablement, 
 n'est-ce pas, l'dtude biographique et critique de M m0 H. Druskowitz 
 (Berlin, Oppenheim, 1884), intitule 'Percy Bisshe Shelley'? 
 
 " Croyez-moi, mon cher maitre, bien respectueusement k vous, 
 
 "Gabriel Sarrazin." 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 107 
 
 36. Mr. J. J. Britton sends us the following sonnet : — 
 
 BEATRICE CENCI. 
 
 Say, wert thou innocent, or did the blight 
 
 Of Cenci's blood cling, spotting thy young life ; 
 All maiden fancies warped, foul dreams at strife 
 
 With good, and conquering ; whilst from eyes so bright 
 
 Looked forth thy saddened angel with affright ? 
 What marvel this when all thy world was rife 
 With hell-born plots, with poison, halter, knife, 
 
 With lust unbound as on Walpurgis night ? 
 
 Yea — records run " not gentle she nor kind, 
 Not chaste aforetime, cruel-calm in mind : 
 
 Yet all unstained by sire's foul lustihood ; n 
 For this all thanks, unkindly scribes who wrote ! 
 
 Enough ! thine eyes are violets from the wood, 
 The thick gold coils beneath thy curd- white throat. 
 
 J. J. Britton. 
 
 37. THE SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 The Athencpum for June 5th, contains the following : — 
 Shelley Society 's Publications. — Series II. Nos. 1 — 4. Series IV. 
 
 Nos. 1 — 3. (Shelley Society.) 
 
 The Shelley Society has certainly something tangible to show for 
 its five months' existence. We have before us seven books bearing 
 the green paper boards of the Society, with printed titles on side and 
 back, handy for use and for placing on the shelf. Of these, some 
 are due to the Society's unaided enterprise, one is obtained for the 
 members from the publishers, and some are presented by members 
 to their fellow members. 
 
 The publications are divided into series. Series I. is to con- 
 sist of papers of the Society, and part i. will contain among other 
 things Mr. Brooke's address, which is not yet published. Series 
 II. is announced as consisting of "facsimile reprints of Shelley's 
 original editions," and four of the books now before us are numbered 
 as belonging to that series. Of these, however, only two even 
 purport to be facsimiles, that is to say Adonais, edited by Mr. T. J. 
 Wise for the Society, and Alastor, published by Mr. B. Dobell some 
 little time since, and now presented by him to the members. Of 
 this we need not do more than observe that the error on p. 34 which 
 we pointed out when reviewing the book in our issue of the 8th 
 August, 1885, ("That shone with his soul" for " That shone within 
 his soul "), has been remedied by means of a cancel leaf. Mr. 
 Wise's Adonais, to which we cannot accord, any more than to Mr. 
 Dobell's Alastor, the title of "facsimile," is a handsome book. 
 More than this, it embodies what is broadly speaking a good 
 portrait of the Pisa edition of Adonais, and exhibits conscientious 
 care in all matters where the editor is concerned. But those who 
 
to J NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 know intimately that cynosure of bibliophilies, an original Pisa copy, 
 uncut, and in its old blue wrapper, will find the blue oi Mr. Wise's 
 imitation a trifle too blue, though the lacy border and basket of 
 flowers are fairly reproduced by some mechanical process and 
 properly placed. The title-page, again, is reproduced by process, 
 not by setting up type ; but by some mechanical defect, whether of 
 overpressure or what not, it looks heavier than the original and 
 lacks the sharpness of the Pisa printer's work. The rest of the 
 book is set up in a pretty enough " old-face " type. This, of course, 
 is not the least like Didot's elegant fount known to English 
 collectors mainly by the Pisa Adonais. There is another book 
 slightly known among us as printed from the same fount ; but to 
 most, even of the cognoscenti, that second example is a mere 
 Shelleyan tradition : we allude to Taaffe's curious Comment on 
 I)a?ite, referred to by Shelley in one of his letters as printed from 
 the same types as Adonais, as on inspection we find it was, the 
 preface being in the larger type employed for the text oi Adonais, 
 and the text being in the smaller type employed for the preface of 
 the poem. But as regards Mr. Wise's Adonais, we doubt whethei 
 a photo-electro process would have produced a more satisfactory 
 general result than the use of a wholly different type has produced. 
 Probably the process would so far have mitigated the sharpness and 
 severity of Didot's type as to have made it an affliction to con- 
 noisseurs, while the old-face type actually employed produces an 
 agreeable effect. 
 
 No. 2 of the Society's "facsimiles" is, of course, in no sense a 
 facsimile, and must have been included in the series through in- 
 advertence, one would suppose. It is, however, a fairly interesting 
 little contribution to Shelley literature, though not containing much 
 that is now new to specialists. Its central substance is a small 
 essay attributed to Shelley, but not included in any edition of his 
 works — an anonymous review of a pseudonymous book by his 
 friend Hogg. Of this review, affiliated on Shelley by Prof. E. 
 Dowden, who wrote about it in the Contemporary Review for 
 September, 1884, nothing was known up to that time ; and the 
 Shelley Society no doubt deemed it a piece of good fortune to find 
 ready to its hands the material for making a new " first edition." 
 For this review of Hogg's Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff now 
 appears as a book for the first time. It lay undisturbed in the 
 Critical Review from 18 14 to 1884 ; but now, with the aid of Mr. 
 Wise's brief prefatory note, the relative portion of the Contemporary 
 article, and a postscript by Mr. Dowden dated February 17th, 1886, 
 it makes quite a respectable thin book of fifty-four pages, printed 
 on Dutch hand-made paper in a manner to give much joy to the 
 three hundred holders of the first issue. In all the circumstances 
 of the case this is a pardonable piece of book-making, and Mr. 
 Wise has put his little volume together very well. It is of no 
 possible value and slight interest, still it bears distinct resemblances 
 to other writings of Shelley of about the same period. But, while 
 inclining to the opinion that it is Shelley's, a conscientious critic is 
 bound to put before his readers the exact grounds on which it is 
 attributed to Shelley. These are given in Prof. Dowden's post- 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 109 
 
 script, and point to a verdict of " not proven." Here is so much of 
 the postscript as deals with the evidence : — 
 
 " I have been asked in what way I was able to identify the article 
 on Hogg's novel in the Critical Review as by Shelley. It was thus : 
 in the unpublished journal kept now by Shelley, now by Mary, I 
 read—under the date Wednesday, November 16th [1814] — 'Shelley 
 writes his critique till half-past three [i.e., at night] ' ; and again — 
 i November 17th — Shelley writes his critique, and then reads Edgar 
 Huntly all day.' This made me curious. I read again : ' January 
 3rd [18 1 5]. A parcel comes from Hookham — the Critical Review 
 
 which has the critique of Prince Alexander Haimatoff in it 
 
 Hogg comes. A very pleasant evening.' Putting the two passages 
 together I guessed that this was the critique written by Shelley in 
 November. I noticed the resemblance between the passage in 
 Shelley's letter to Hogg of November 26th, 1813, '" Aliquando 
 bonus domiitat Ho7nerus " ; and the Swans and the Eleutherarchs are 
 proofs that you were a little sleepy,' and the passage in the review : 
 ' Towards the conclusion of this strange and powerful performance 
 it must be confessed that aliquando bonus domiitat Homerus. The 
 adventure of the Eleutheri is introduced and concluded with un- 
 intelligible abruptness' ; and the inference was that the writer of the 
 letter and the writer of the article must be one and the same. Other 
 pieces of internal evidence (e.g., the reference to Alfitr?s Life, see pp. 
 19 and 43, a book which Shelley finished reading on October 22nd), 
 and the general style of the article left no doubt on my mind." 
 
 The fact that Hookham sent Shelley a copy of the review proves 
 nothing ; and the occurrence in the critique of the same thought 
 that Shelley had expressed in a letter to Hogg does not necessarily 
 fix the authorship of the review on the poet. Reviewers have been 
 known to adopt thoughts and phrases gathered in conversation, and 
 Shelley might have said to a reviewer what he wrote to Hogg. It 
 is a pity the journal did not say what critique Shelley was working at. 
 Still it is not likely that the authorship will be seriously disputed. 
 
 The fourth of the series of "facsimiles" is a reissue of the 
 Vindication of Natural Diet, published under the auspices of the 
 Vegetarian Society in 1884, and now presented to the members of 
 the Shelley Society. It is a neat reprint, not meant to represent 
 the original in form or style in the slightest degree. It contains a 
 preface of four pages, in which the vegetarian passage in Laon and 
 Cythna is quoted. 
 
 Mr. Forman's " Shelley Library," modestly styled " an essay in 
 bibliography," and forming No. 1 of the Fourth Series, is the most 
 valuable of the Society's publications to the bibliographer, t is com- 
 piled with the accuracy and labour which characterise Mr. Forman. 
 
 The second of the miscellaneous publications is Mr. Rossetti's 
 excellent memoir of the poet, as revised and prefixed to his edition 
 of the poetical works (3 vols., 1878). The author explains in the 
 " fresh preface " that the little book is printed from the stereotyped 
 plates of that edition, and could not, therefore, be altered so as to 
 take account of the eight years' advance in Shelleyan discovery. 
 To remedy this trifling defect as far as possible, Mr. Rossetti 
 embodies in his preface a few pages of notes on those passages 
 
no NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 which he considers to need amendment. Considering the absolute 
 frankness with which Mr. Rossetti invariably treats his own work 
 as well as that of others, the sparseness of these notes is strong 
 evidence of the thoroughness with which the memoir was executed. 
 The Society's edition of The Cenci consists of the tragedy itself 
 as edited by Mr. Buxton Forman, a brief introduction by him and 
 his brother Mr. Alfred Forman, a prologue by Dr. Todhunter, the 
 names of the actors in the first performance, and the Narration of 
 the Death of the Family of the Cenci, which Shelley obtained in 
 manuscript in Italy, and which his widow published in 1839. The 
 portrait of Beatrice is prefixed as a frontispiece. The object of the 
 introduction is to claim for Shelley the title of chief tragic poet since 
 Shakspeare, and to show that The Cenci is one of the five greatest 
 tragedies extant in that specific sense which regards tragedy as the 
 means par excellence of purifying pity and terror. The four plays 
 with which, from this point of view, The Cenci is ranked, are CEdipus 
 Tyrannus, Medea, King Lear, and Racine's Phedre ! 1 
 
 QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
 
 Queries. 
 
 [Eight queries have already appeared and as yet no answers to 
 them have been received from the rank and file of members. The 
 Editor wishes it to be understood that the opinion of all Shelleyites, 
 whether members or no, will be welcomed, and, if found at all 
 suitable, printed. 
 
 There too must be very many points connected with the poet, 
 on which members would wish for information. If these are for- 
 warded as queries they will in due course be attended to.] 
 
 8. (1) Adonais, verse xlvii. 
 '* And keep thy heart light lest it make thee sink, 
 When hope has kindled hope, and lured thee to the brink." 
 The meaning of these two lines is not quite clear to me. Is " the 
 brink " the same as " the void circumference," in the sixth line of this 
 verse, and if not of what is it the brink ? 
 
 (2.) Is a simile used in any of Shelley's poems in which the rainbow 
 light seen in the spray above foaming waves is compared to "love 
 watching madness" ? Ferio. 
 
 Answers. 
 
 8. (1) I think it may be admitted that the sense of this impressive 
 passage is a little obscure : the lines deal obscurely with obscure 
 matter. I would rather offer an observation on the whole context 
 than merely on this isolated clause of it. The first consideration is 
 that the person whom Shelley is apostrophising as a " fond wretch " 
 is really or substantially himself. He begins the poem with him- 
 self, " / weep for Adonais ; " and he now, after the evolution of 
 ideas presented in the course of the poem, turns round, and convicts 
 himself of fond fatuity in thus weeping. For Adonais has become 
 a denizen of eternity, while Shelley remains an atom and a puppet 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. 1 1 1 
 
 of time, " a point within our day and night." The two lines which 
 follow, and which contain the phrase as to which Ferio inquires, do 
 not appear to me to arise necessarily out of what precedes ; they 
 are a voluntary adjunct, perhaps a rather arbitrary one. Shelley 
 here cautions himself that, after thus realising his own quasi-nullity 
 in the universe of spirit and of existence, he must "keep his heart 
 light" — must not give way to utter despondency. Were his heart 
 heavy, it might " make him sink " (an extreme physical image) 
 " when hope has kindled hope, and lured him to the brink." This 
 last line again presents an image or emblem involving (so it seems 
 to me) some sort of sous-entendu which the reader must supply for 
 himself. It might be held that the successive hopes are symbolised 
 as successive marsh-fires or " will-o'-the-wisps," which lure the 
 wanderer to the brink of a morass, into which his heavy heart 
 sinks him (Shelley very frequently refers to such marsh-fires or 
 meteors in description or in symbol) ; or else it might be held that 
 the successive hopes are successive beacon-fires along a mountain 
 height leading to the brink of a precipice. If this explanation, or 
 either of these suggestions, is correct, the " brink " is clearly not the 
 same as "the void circumference." I could imagine that a different 
 interpretation might be put on these lines : pointing to suicide as a 
 desperate means of realising those hopes kindled one after another 
 by the ecstatic contemplation of infinitude ; but I do not think this 
 is the real intention. Perhaps some other member of our Society 
 might be willing to express his views on this passage. It seems to 
 be one of those, which, according to the current notion of Shelley's 
 style, are written in so vague a spirit of idealism as to be irreducible 
 to solid meaning when tested. For my part, I believe there are 
 very few passages of that sort in Shelley ; but some in which the 
 meaning, though real and sound, is volatile and rebellious to the 
 mechanism of defining terms. Ferio might have saved himself the 
 trouble of inquiring as to the sense of this passage if he had agreed 
 with the contemporary critic of Ado nais in Blackwood 's Magazine, 
 who found it to contain " two sentences of pure nonsense out of 
 every three ; a more faithful calculation would bring us to ninety-nine 
 out of every hundred." 
 
 (2*) I do not remember any such simile ; there may be one. 
 
 W. M. R. 
 
 PROVINCIAL AND OTHER NEWS. 
 
 23. The first issues of the Society's publications are being sold at 
 a premium in the second-hand market. 
 
 24. The election of Mr. Hermann Vezin and Mr. Charles Gordon 
 Hall to the Society's Committee should have been announced in 
 No. 2 of this Notebook. Mr. Hall is to take a considerable share 
 of the responsibility and management connected with the Society's 
 performance of the Hellas. 
 
 25. The apathy with which the Society's proceedings were at first 
 regarded at Cambridge has given place to a better state of things 
 since Mr. H. C. Marillier's appointment as Local Hon. Sec. New 
 members' names arrive frequently, and more are promised. Prof. 
 
ii2 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 J. M. Pierce, too, our Local Hon. Sec. at Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A., 
 /is inducing many of our American cousins to join the Society. 
 26. A sketch of the scene between Beatrice and Lucretia in Act 3 
 of The Ce?ici duly appeared in the Pictorial World for May 13. 
 Those, and they must be many, who were interested in last 
 month's performance, should certainly possess themselves of this 
 souvenir of the event. The number can still, we hear, be purchased. 
 A large number of photographs of Miss Alma Murray, as 
 " Beatrice," taken by the London Stereoscopic Company, many 
 of which are exceedingly good, have also recently been published. 
 v 27. The Honorary Secretary wishes to acknowledge his indebted- 
 ness to Mr. T. J. Wise, well known to members as the editor of 
 Adonais and Alexy, for much and ready assistance in connection 
 with the seating of The Cenci audience and the general pressure 
 of work consequent thereon. 
 
 28. In the recent performances of Helena in Troas, a Greek play 
 by Dr. John Todhunter, a member of the Committee, and the author 
 of the prologue read at the Society's recent performance, the 
 Greek stage was designed by Mr. E. W. Godwin, to whom the 
 Society is indebted for valuable assistance in the designing of the 
 " feast " scene of The Cenci. 
 
 29. Mr. J. R. Tutin, of Savile Street, Hull, one of our members, 
 sends us a copy of the Shelley Birthday-Book and Calendar, com- 
 piled and edited by himself, and which those on the look-out for such 
 a volume will do well to peruse. It is an exceedingly pretty book, 
 and the contents seem to us to be appropriately selected. 
 
 31. We have to remind members of the fact that donations, and 
 the subscriptions of new members, will be very much needed to 
 defray the cost of the performance of the Hellas in the autumn, 
 as the production of this drama will, it is expected, be quite as expen- 
 sive as that of The Cenci. The Committee are very anxious that 
 the entire expense of this performance should be defrayed by sub- 
 scription, so as not to encroach upon the funds devoted to the 
 publications. Indeed, it must be so ; the state of the Society's 
 funds will not permit of any other arrangement. Subscriptions 
 have already been promised or received from Messrs. R. A. Potts, 
 W. Arkwright, B. Dobell, H. B. Forman, F . J. Furnivall, W. M. 
 Rossetti, T. J. Wise, W. B. Slater, C. Read, W. M. Call, A. Dillon, 
 A. L. Stevenson, Mrs. Simpson, Mrs. Reinagle, Mrs. C. F. Call, 
 and the Countess of Jersey. 
 
 32. At a recent meeting of the Oxford "Union Society, the question 
 as to whether that Society should expend a guinea on a subscription 
 to the Shelley Society was the subject of some debate. Lord Robert 
 Cecil strongly opposed the suggestion, and the recent performance 
 of The Cenci was referred to as an overwhelming proof of the 
 degrading tendencies of the Society's proceedings. It would appear 
 that Shelley and his works are hardly more popular at Oxford now 
 than in the days of yore, at least so far as the learned members of the 
 Oxford Union Society are concerned, for these negatived the pro- 
 posal by a majority of over forty, an unanimity which would seem 
 to suggest the application of Shelley's " refinement of secession," 
 not to speak of some secession of refinement. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE 77. 113 
 
 fitter. 
 
 TO THE MEMBERS OF THE SHELLEY 
 SOCIETY. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, 
 
 In issuing the last number of the Note-book for 
 the current year, and the first for which I am responsible, 
 I wish to draw your attention to one or two matters 
 within its pages. On page 127 there is a paragraph 
 relating to Shelley's letters. This is of much import- 
 ance. It is well known that many of Shelley's letters 
 have hitherto been incorrectly printed, and in some cases 
 greatly garbled, especially those written to Hogg and 
 Peacock. 
 
 The series addressed to Peacock and Stockdale are 
 known to be in existence, although it is possible that 
 those published by Hogg may have disappeared. 
 
 I would also ask you to take particular notice of the 
 information on page 126, relating to the Extra Series of 
 the Society's Publications. 
 
 Additional Local Honorary Secretaries are needed, 
 and I shall be glad to hear from ladies or gentlemen 
 willing to act in that capacity. 
 
 The following gentlemen have promised to deliver 
 lectures before the Society next year. Dr. Todhunter 
 on The Triumph of Life ; Mr. A. G. Ross on The 
 Revolt of Islam ; Mr. B. L. Moseley on Miss Alma 
 Murray as Beatrice Cenci; Dr. R. Garnett on Lord 
 Beaconsfield and Shelley. Offers of lectures or essays, 
 and contributions of paragraphs for the Note-book, or 
 other Shelleyana, will be gladly received and duly 
 considered. 
 
 The performance of Hellas has unhappily resulted in 
 a considerable financial loss. The Committee have 
 
 I 
 
H4 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 decided not to repeat it ; at all events not in its present 
 form. 
 
 The Cenci will be repeated, after having been carefully 
 revised, compressed, and adapted for the stage. The 
 Committee are unable at present to fix the date of its 
 next presentation, but they ask those Shelleyans who 
 are willing to support the performance in a pecuniary 
 sense to send in their names, together with statements 
 of the amounts they are prepared to guarantee, to the 
 Hon. Secretary. When 6ol. has been promised, steps 
 will be taken to provide for the re-acting of the Cenci. 
 
 The Committee have arranged for a musical evening 
 in May, when thirty of Shelley's Songs set to music will 
 be sung. Mr. Albert Reakes, Mr. J. Dalgety Henderson, 
 Mr. G. Leon Little, Miss Kathleen Grant, Miss Alice 
 Borton and Miss Ethel Turner, have already promised to 
 assist. It is also in contemplation to devote an evening 
 to the Recitation of selections from Shelley's works. 
 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 Jas. Stanley Little, 
 
 Hon. Sec. and Editor. 
 Dec. 31, 1886. 
 
 Rehires anir tltscussians. 
 
 * 
 
 Lecture at the University College on the 10th of November, 1886, by 
 Miss Mathilde Blind. 
 
 SHELLEY'S VIEW OF NATURE CONTRASTED 
 WITH THAT OF DARWIN. 
 
 [Miss Mathilde Blind's paper will appear in its entirety 
 in the First Series of the Society's Publications. It was 
 an eloquent and a closely reasoned essay. The briefest 
 outline is given here in order to preface the report of the 
 discussion which followed.] 
 
 Mr. ROSSETTI introduced the lecturer, observing that he 
 had not had the advantage of reading the lecture before- 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 115 
 
 hand, and could not therefore say anything at present 
 regarding its method of treatment. 
 
 Miss MATHILDE BLIND in dealing with Shelley's view 
 of Nature contrasted with Darwin's said, speaking of the 
 poet, that, in his eyes, Nature was entirely good. Man 
 alone by introducing an artificial kind of civilization, 
 with its kings and priests, its class distinctions, its 
 arbitrary division of property, its irresponsible power 
 and abject poverty, had brought injustice into the world, 
 and all the evils that oppress society. The lecturer 
 went on to say that had Shelley lived longer he might 
 have succeeded in harmonizing his views of nature with 
 those so luminously developed by Darwin, Alfred Russel 
 Wallace, and other scientific teachers, and by so doing 
 there could be little doubt the body of his work would 
 have gained in backbone and solidity. The chief drift 
 of Miss Blind's lecture went to show that if the poet 
 had been able to profit by the great generalizations of 
 Darwin, which had revolutionized the modern conception 
 of life, his one central notion of life, embodied in the 
 idea that man was the only wrong-doer or outrager of 
 peace and harmony, would have been greatly modified ; 
 he would have discovered that beneath the surface of 
 placid or harmonious nature the same strife, and the same 
 tyranny were raging. 
 
 The lecturer pointed out in conclusion, that though in 
 detail Shelley and Darwin disagreed, yet they both joined 
 in a belief that the ultimate had not arrived in the scale 
 of the perfectibility of man. Shelley believed that there 
 was a future for humanity far higher and nobler than 
 anything yet attained as did Darwin, though the poet 
 had arrived at his conclusions by faith, and faith only. 
 
 The lecturer was warmly received at the close of the 
 paper, and a vote of thanks was proposed by Mr. 
 Rossetti. 
 
 Mr. ROSSETTI observed that the audience would cer- 
 tainly allow him to convey to Miss Blind their most cordial 
 thanks for her lecture ; a lecture marked by its eloquence 
 as well as by the importance of its theme, and enhanced 
 in value by the lecturer's fine delivery of the poetical 
 quotations interspersed. As to the substance of Miss 
 
 I 2 
 
n6 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Blind's exposition, two leading questions seemed to 
 present themselves : — I, Can it be truly said that Nature 
 as exhibited in the Darwinian theory is to be regarded 
 as cruel and terrific ? and 2, In what sense can Shelley 
 be supposed to have considered Nature perfect and man 
 imperfect, in opposition to Darwinism ? 
 
 As to the first question, it might be postulated as a 
 fundamental and universal datum that this world is 
 constructed upon the principle that life is invariably to 
 be brought to a close by death ; therefore, when we find 
 that countless multitudes of animals serve as the food 
 of other animals, we are hardly called upon to hold up 
 hands of holy horror at the atrocity of Nature. The 
 animals have all to die somehow, and there may be no 
 more cruelty in the death of a worm by the agency 
 of a robin-redbreast than in the death of a sheep by 
 the agency of a butcher. As to the second question, 
 Shelley indisputably, like every one else, had a general 
 knowledge of the internecine war in Nature : see for 
 instance Prometheus Unbound, where he gives, as one of 
 the symptoms of the imagined amelioration in physical 
 Nature, the change of instinct in a kingfisher, which 
 leaves off eating fishes and takes to eating berries. 
 But, apart from this, one must consider what is the 
 sense in which Shelley regards Nature as perfect, whereas 
 man is imperfect. Shelley might fairly regard Nature 
 as perfect — or rather as quasi-perfect — in the sense of 
 being beautiful : a tree, a flower, a sunset is beautiful, 
 and so far quasi-perfect. To man, on the other hand, a 
 totally different order of considerations applies ; he is 
 imperfect, in so far as his mind and his character are 
 imperfect — evil mixed with good. The notion that 
 Shelley supposed that man could be emancipated and 
 perfectionized as soon as kings and priests were gone, by 
 a sort of thaumaturgic transformation-scene, was really 
 not at all confirmed by his writings. On the contrary, 
 he held that man must become enlightened and virtuous, 
 and then he would rid himself of the priests and kings^ 
 This is the doctrine of Prometheus Unbound, of Julia* 
 and Maddalo, of The Revolt of Islam, and even of Queen 
 Mab. This last-named poem is so far an immature 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 117 
 
 effort that Shelley himself discarded it in his later 
 years, and Mr. Forman relegated it to the class of mere 
 juvenilia ; still Queen Mab is by no means to be wholly 
 despised, on the wrong assumption that it contains no 
 sound thought and no poetic value. 
 
 Mr. Buxton Forman said that, although he had 
 relegated Queen Mab to a place in the juvenilia of 
 Shelley, he was by no means more inclined than others 
 to despise it. The question of its position seemed to be 
 really one of terms only, — whether it should be grouped at 
 the end of the juvenilia, or at the beginning of the mature 
 works, — a question of no real importance, as the term 
 iuvenilia is wholly free from reproach. As regards the 
 position of the lecturer that, if Shelley had, lived in the 
 time of Darwin, his poetry might have had more back- 
 bone, by reason of his views of nature being truer, Mr. 
 Forman remarked that the pre-Darwinian existence of 
 Shelley redounded to his honour. It is a corollary from 
 the development hypothesis that man is progressing 
 toward perfection. It is quite clear that he is less im- 
 perfect now, morally and spiritually, than he was in the 
 infancy of the race ; and it seems to be scientifically 
 certain that, given sufficient time, he must reach 
 perfection. Shelley believed this through faith, itself 
 a high moral quality. Had he known the Darwinian 
 view of things, he would have had a scientific ground 
 for his belief, and the function of his magnificent 
 faith would have gone. The pessimist Schopenhauer 
 had been aptly described as "the great prophet of 
 the world's despair : " conversely the optimist Shelley 
 might be called " the great prophet of the world's 
 hope;" and his optimism must be regarded as the 
 more honourable in proportion to the lack of exact 
 knowledge at the root of it. 
 
 Dr. Furnivall said that the moral character of 
 Beatrice Cenci having been torn to shreds, certain 
 SheJleyans were now engaged doing the same office for 
 nature. Shelley was only concerned with the aspect 
 of nature — the only true concern of the poet. He used it 
 for an ideal, a lofty end, and insisted upon the valuable 
 lesson to be drawn from it. 
 
n8 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Dr. GARNETT said that having been called upon to 
 speak unexpectedly, he must beg to be excused for 
 limiting his remarks to a few desultory observations. 
 He had been struck with a passage in Miss Blind's 
 lecture, to the effect that the struggle for existence 
 among the lower animals was the more terrible for being 
 devoid of the control of justice and sympathy which 
 moderated it in man. This was true, and suggested 
 the additional observation, that without this struggle, 
 justice and sympathy could not exist, as it was im- 
 possible to conceive the existence of these qualities 
 without friction and suffering to call them forth. This 
 being so, he thought that Shelley's optimism need not 
 have been seriously disturbed by the recognition of the 
 Darwinian theory. It was further to be observed, that 
 whilst among the lower animals the evolutionary 
 tendencies were unimportant, with the advent of reason 
 a restraining element had come in, not merely mitigating 
 the results of the struggle for existence, but competent 
 in some cases to annul them altogether. For example, 
 the picture which Miss Blind had held out, and in which 
 he shared, of the ultimate development of nobler forms 
 of being than any now extant, had been grievously 
 defaced by certain evolutionists who deduced from the 
 observations of existing tendencies that the perfect being 
 of the future would have neither hair nor toes. But 
 it was manifestly in the power of man to arrest 
 tendencies in that direction, and he would undoubtedly 
 retain his hair and toes if he desired, the laws of 
 evolution notwithstanding. 
 
 Respecting the aesthetic side of Miss Blind's paper, he 
 had only to remark that while her criticism on the 
 suddenness with which the transformation of the world 
 comes to pass in Prometheus Unbound was perfectly 
 just, it must be remembered that history could not be 
 detailed in a poem without tedium, and Shelley must 
 be regarded as having conveyed it hieroglyphically in 
 a highly concentrated form. 
 
 Mr. ROSSETTI observed that he would like to make a 
 very few remarks, mainly in view of his own forthcoming 
 lecture upon Prometheus Unbound. Me dissented from 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TY. llg 
 
 the assumption that the immense progression of the 
 human race, consequent upon the unbinding of Pro- 
 metheus, was left unaccounted for by Shelley, as if it 
 were semi-miraculous and therefore unmeaning. Pro- 
 metheus Unbound is in fact an allegory. Prometheus in 
 that drama represents (as Miss Blind had rightly said) 
 the Human Mind. The Human Mind is the mind, not 
 of an individual, but of the entire race. Therefore to 
 say that the Mind of the entire race is unbound or 
 emancipated is as much as to say that the race itself 
 progresses to its full stature in wisdom and virtue : the 
 unbinding of the Human Mind, and the advance of the 
 Human Race toward the goal of perfectibility are truly 
 one and the same thing, — and no reasonable objection 
 can be raised against this element in Shelley's allegorical 
 drama. 
 
 Dr. TODHUNTER agreed with Miss Blind in thinking 
 that if Shelley could have assimilated the teaching of 
 Darwin with the knowledge of the processes of nature, 
 which it involves, and still remained an optimist, his 
 optimism would have been of a robust type. As it was, 
 he feared Shelley's views of nature smacked of the 
 sentimentality of his time, and that he really accepted 
 the " Birds in their little nests agree " theory. It is 
 harder for us, said Dr. Todhunter, to have faith in the 
 beneficence of Nature. She seems to us to be immoral 
 rather than moral, her ultimate aim being Beauty. But 
 the tragic element which shocks us in life may be, 
 and indeed seems to be, a necessary condition of this 
 beauty. 
 
 Lecture at the University College on the \$th of December, 1886, by 
 William 'm. Rossetti. 
 
 SHELLEY'S "PROMETHEUS UNBOUND:" A 
 STUDY OF ITS MEANING AND PERSONAGES. 
 
 Mr. ROSSETTI'S lecture is already in the hands of 
 members. A report of the discussion follows. 
 
 Dr. GARNETT occupied the Chair and introduced the 
 Lecturer. Mr. Rossetti having read his paper, Dr. 
 
120 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Garnett said they must have listened to the paper just 
 read, with feelings of gratitude. It was an exceedingly 
 able paper. It covered a very wide field, and bore 
 evidence of much research ; while it suggested many 
 points for thought and discussion. Unfortunately he 
 had not been able to give much attention to the paper 
 prior to hearing it read, and therefore he could only 
 venture on a few remarks. He thought Mr. Rossetti 
 had acted judiciously in electing to cut himself off from 
 the Greek myth ; but at the same time we cannot over- 
 look the myth from which Shelley drew his inspiration, 
 which fact of course suggested many reflections in the 
 reading of his poem. Shelley certainly departed from 
 the purpose of the Greek myth ; but the question was 
 how far did he adopt the old machinery in his own work 
 — which introduces personages contained in the myth of 
 yEschylus. In a word : — How far was Shelley helped in 
 his purpose or work by the myth, or is his work coherent 
 with the old machinery ? In Shelley's poem there can be no 
 doubt but that Prometheus represents the human mind, 
 and here at least he differs from ^Eschylus — for there is 
 nothing human about Prometheus in the latter poem. 
 However, he was rather of the opinion that the derivation 
 of Prometheus was i: forethought " or providence ; and 
 this being so, he could not understand how man could 
 commit such an amazing blunder as setting up Jupiter 
 in the way he had done. Another difficulty in the way 
 of applying the human mind to Prometheus was, that 
 supposing Jupiter to be a creation of the human mind, 
 he ought not to owe his liberation to any power outside 
 himself. Possibly, however, the difficulty may be over- 
 come by a modification of the personality of Demogorgon 
 — who represented eternity ; though he doubted if that 
 meant sequence of time. He rather thought it meant 
 eternal law, existence, or what may be called 
 " necessity." This he considered made a nearer 
 approach to the meaning of Demogorgon than time 
 — for what was intended was not eternity as time, but 
 as eternal law, or what is " necessary." With these few 
 remarks he would invite discussion on the most able 
 paper to which they had yet listened. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TV. 121 
 
 Dr. FURNIVALL had to thank Mr. Rossetti for the clear 
 explanation he had given of Shelley's poem, which had 
 certainly been an enigma to him. When he first read the 
 drama, the thought uppermost in his mind was, " What on 
 earth is it all about ?" He felt that in reading the poem, he 
 wanted it " side-noted " — as had been done in some of the 
 publications of the Early English Text Society — so that 
 they might get at the meaning as they read. As to the 
 idea that Shelley had taken the Greek myth, he dis- 
 missed that entirely. He did not look upon Prometheus 
 as the " foreseer," but as the human mind ; but he had 
 certainly created a King Stork, and put him over the 
 human race. Prometheus was all-wise — but how was it 
 that in the reign of the all-wise there was frost, famine, 
 misery, &c. ? It seems odd, to say the least, that this 
 follows from wisdom. He endows with wisdom the 
 worst passions of man ; with wisdom gave Jupiter his 
 own imperfections. He had no power of purging himself 
 because of these same evils ; and so wanted another 
 Power omnipotent over Itself — a power which Shelley, 
 as a Pantheist, identified with the Universe. He thought 
 that Shelley wrote before he had a logical scheme in 
 his own mind ; and indeed with his affluence of words, 
 he would be slow to recognise the obligation to start 
 with any logical scheme. 
 
 Mr. Bernard Shaw considered it was a difficult 
 question to ask them to discuss. He thought it was 
 rather hard to imagine these characters embodied as a 
 personification. For himself, he was struck with the 
 idea of Jupiter being a "vicissitude" — and yet as that 
 he exercised intelligence, and was finally put out of the 
 way. Now he (Mr. Shaw) did not think a time would 
 come when vicissitude would be eliminated ; and so the 
 question arose, If Jupiter is not vicissitude, what does it 
 mean ? Now, in this light, the character of Anarchist is 
 well worth studying — the philosophical anarchist he 
 meant. An anarchist had a detestation of government 
 as government, and can convince you it is bad ; yet you 
 are compelled to support it. in spite of this. Now, 
 every one looks to a state of society in which no govern- 
 ment would be necessary — in which men would be moral, 
 
122 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 &c, without restraint ; in this you have the Promethean 
 theory — you get rid of a tyrant you created yourself. 
 He did not think Demogorgon as Eternity very 
 satisfactory. 
 
 Mr. ROSSETTI was glad to hear the different views on 
 his paper — all of which tended to carry out his own ideas 
 still further. After all, Prometheus represented to his 
 mind what had taken place in history — the human mind 
 becoming the slave of its own conception ; men be- 
 coming the victims of their conception of the Supreme 
 Being. Another point worth noting was, that after all 
 the human mind rose at last to a condition of universal 
 charity. 
 
 A desultory discussion followed in which Mr. Shaw, 
 Mr. Rossetti, Mr. Re veil, Dr. Furnivall, Dr. Garnett 
 and other members took part, and Dr. Garnett, in closing 
 the discussion, remarked on the difficulty of recognising 
 Shelley's Pantheism. But one thing that might throw 
 light on it was, that Shelley was a student of Spinoza. 
 He also mentioned a curious resemblance between the 
 catastrophe of Prometheus in Shelley's poem and the 
 close of Southey's Curse of Kehama. 
 
 Original |)r0se anb Star**. 
 
 BEATRICE CENCI. 
 
 A REMINISCENCE OF MISS ALMA MURRAY'S ACTING. 
 
 Remember some queen-lily, which the rain 
 With scourges strong hath smitten all the night, 
 Proud still, though quivering, bent to left and right ; 
 On coronal the cruel upsplashed stain 
 Of earthly mire, to petals pure such pain ! 
 Comes one last flood to overwhelm it quite ; 
 Yet, when is spent the tempest's final spite, 
 Assoiled and pure the lily stands again. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. i 
 
 So Beatrice, on whose fair head her fate, 
 Had poured the bitterest drops from Hell's black scum 
 Plights, proud and pale — then with bewildered eyes, 
 Shrinks from death's sudden importunities. 
 ' So young, some help must be ! nay here they come ! ' 
 Serene she rises victress over Hate. 
 
 J. J. Britton. 
 
 QUERIES. 
 
 9. Stanzas, April 1814. Are the allusions in this poem to "two 
 voices " and " one sweet smile," personal, and if so, to whom do 
 they refer ? 
 
 M. G. S. 
 
 10. Prometheus Unbound, act iii. scene i. line 40. 
 
 "All my being 
 Like him whom the Numidian seps did thaw 
 Into a dew with poison, is dissolved." 
 
 What is the allusion in these lines ? 
 
 Ferio. 
 
 11. Query A. 
 
 How can such passages as the following be explained if we 
 accept the opinion expressed by Miss Blind, and uncontradicted by 
 any of her critics, on the 10th of November ; namely, that Shelley 
 believed in the " Birds in their little nests agree " theory ? 
 
 (1) "And where the startled wilderness beheld 
 A tigress sating with the blood of lambs 
 
 The unnatural famine of her toothless cubs," etc. 
 
 Queen Mab. 
 
 (2) " The lion now forgets to thirst for blood : 
 There might you see him sporting in the sun 
 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." 
 
 Queen Mab. 
 
12+ NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 (3) " All things had put their evil nature off. 
 I cannot tell my joy, when o'er a lake 
 I saw two azure halcyons clinging downward 
 And thinning one bright bunch of amber berries 
 With long quick beaks." 
 
 Prom. Unb. 
 
 Do not these and other like passages show us that Shelley ac- 
 knowledged that there was need of reform among beasts as 
 among men ? 
 
 Query B. 
 
 Is there not something of Darwinian thought in the following 
 passages, where Shelley acknowledges man's brotherhood with the 
 rest of the animal kingdom ? 
 
 ( 1 ) " Earth, ocean, air, beloved brotherhood 
 If our great Mother has imbued my soul 
 With aught of natural piety to feel 
 Your love and recompense the boon with mine ; 
 
 If no bright bird, insect, or gentle beast 
 I consciously have injured, but still loved 
 And cherished these my kindred ; then forgive 
 This boast, dear brethren." 
 
 A last or. 
 
 (2) " Ye elemental Genii who have homes 
 
 From man's high mind even to the central stone 
 Of sullen lead ; from Heaven's star-fretted domes 
 To the dull weed some sea-worm battens on." 
 
 Prom. Unb. 
 
 (3) " ...The one Spirit's plastic stress 
 
 Sweeps through the dull dense world, compelling there 
 All new successions to the forms they wear ; 
 ****** 
 
 And bursting in its beauty and its might 
 From trees and beasts and men into the Heaven's light." 
 
 Adonais xliii. 
 
 Query C. 
 
 If we accept Miss Blind's opinion ; that " Shelley's sensitive 
 soul shuddered" at the sternness of Nature's laws and took comfort 
 in a false idea of Nature ; how can we explain such passages as, 
 Revolt of Islam, IX. xxxiii. ? or that in Prometheus, where 
 Demogorgon announces that 
 
 " To suffer woes which Hope thinks infinite " &c. 
 " This is alone Life, Joy, Empire, and Victory" ? 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 
 
 125 
 
 Or the following (which reminds one of Matthew Arnold's view ot 
 Nature : 
 
 "That never was the friend of One 
 
 Nor promised love it could not give ") — 
 
 " Spirit of Nature ! all sufficing power, 
 Necessity ! thou mother of the world . . . 
 
 All that the wide world contains 
 
 Are but thy passive instruments, and thou 
 Regardst them all with an impartial eye " ? 
 
 Queen Mab. 
 
 Ferio. 
 ANSWERS. 
 
 9. Stanzas, April 1814. There is every reason to consider that 
 the " two voices" are the voices of Mrs. Boinville and her daughter 
 Mrs. Turner. The "one sweet smile" would be proper to one of 
 these ladies, presumably Mrs. Turner. 
 
 10. The allusion is to a passage in Lucan's Pharsalta, where a 
 certain soldier is destroyed by a serpent. In Dante's Inferno there 
 is an incident or image based on the same passage in Lucan. 
 
 11. A. I was Chairman at the reading of Miss Blind's lecture, and 
 I thought I had on that occasion sufficiently expressed my conviction 
 that Shelley was very far from considering that brute life, as at 
 present constituted, is a scene of general harmony and innocuous- 
 ness. 
 
 B. These passages may perhaps be regarded as having some 
 Darwinian affinity. Still I do not think they tend to invalidate 
 that distinction which Miss Blind drew between certain Darwinian 
 and certain Shelleyan tenets. 
 
 C. An argumentative question which seems proper for Miss 
 Blind to debate. 
 
 W. M. Rossetti. 
 
126 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 |(otes rmtr fletos. 
 
 38. EXTRA SERIES OF THE SOCIETY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 Important Notice. 
 
 The Committee, finding it to be impossible with the funds at 
 present placed at their disposal to distribute free to Members 
 many books which it is deemed advisable to print at once, have 
 decided, rather than postpone indefinitely the production of such 
 works, to issue them as an " Extra Series " of the Society's 
 Publications. At the same time the Committee wish it to be 
 distinctly understood that this Series will include no book (such as 
 a reprint of one of Shelley's original editions, &c.) which is an actual 
 necessity, or which was originally promised gratis to Members in 
 return for their annual subscriptions. The Series will be formed, 
 for the most part, of photo-lithographic reproductions of Shelley's 
 manuscripts, volumes of illustrations, and other publications which 
 are interesting rather than necessary. It will also include cheap 
 excerpts from some of the Society's books ; for instance a half-crown 
 edition of Hogg's Shelley at Oxford, reprinted from Section I., 
 Series III. of the Society's Publications. Each Member will be 
 entitled to purchase one copy of any book appearing in this Series 
 at one-half the published price ; extra copies can be procured 
 through the trade in the usual way. 
 
 (1). The Pianoforte Score of Dr. W. C. Selle's Choruses and 
 Recitatives, composed for the Society's performance of Shelley's 
 Hellas in November, 1886. Imperial 8 vo. Wrappers. Price \s. 
 
 [Issued. 
 
 (2). A cheap edition of Hellas, prepared for the Society's per- 
 formance of the drama. Edited (with a brief Introduction) by 
 Thomas J. Wise. 8vo. Price y. in boards (on fine paper, with a 
 Portrait of Shelley, one hundred copies only printed), or is. in 
 wrappers. [Issued. 
 
 (3). Shelley's Proposal for Putting Reform to the Vote throughout 
 the Kingdom. 8vo. 1817. An exact reproduction in photo-litho- 
 graphy (by W. Griggs, of Elm House, Peckham) of the original 
 manuscript in the possession of Mr. Thomas J. Wise, who has 
 supplied an Introduction. (A detailed account of this manuscript 
 will be found in The Shelley Library, pp. 65—66.) 4to. Price \os. 
 Boards. [Ready immediately. 
 
 (4). A cheap edition of Hogg's Shelley at Oxford. 8vo. Price 
 2s. 6d. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TY. 1 27 
 
 39. SHELLEY'S LETTERS. 
 
 In view of the approaching publication of reprints of certain 
 magazine articles dealing with Shelley's life and works, the Com- 
 mittee would be glad if Members who may possess the holographs 
 of any of Shelley's letters contained in the magazines mentioned 
 in the prospectus, under the heading Series III., section i., part i., 
 would kindly allow the editor to collate them. Members would 
 also greatly oblige by pointing out where the originals of any of 
 these letters are preserved. 
 
 40. CONTEMPORARY CRITICISM OF THE CENCL 
 
 Seeing that no small number of varied criticisms of The Cenri 
 have lately appeared, it will not, perhaps, be inappropriate to reprint 
 a criticism of the time of its first appearance. 
 
 It is about as valuable an one as those of the Quarterly on Laon 
 and Cythna, and Prometheus Unbound. 
 
 "Monthly Magazine, No. 338, April, 1820, p. 260. 
 " We observe with pleasure, not unmingled with disgust, a new 
 publication from the pen of Mr. Percy Bishe Shelley, whose original 
 and extensive genius has so frequently favoured the poetical world 
 with productions of no ordinary merit. In this instance it has 
 assumed a dramatic form, in a singular and wild composition, called 
 The Cenci, a family of Italy, whose terrific history seems well 
 adapted to the death-like atmosphere and unwholesome regions in 
 which Mr. Shelley's muse delights to tag its wings. We cannot 
 here explain the incestuous story on which it turns ; but must con- 
 tent ourselves with observing, that in the attempt to throw a terror 
 over the whole piece, he has transgressed one of the first rules of 
 the master of criticism ; and, instead of terror, succeeded only in 
 inspiring us with sentiments of horror and disgust. In the action 
 he has not only ' overstepped the bounds and modesty of nature,' 
 but absolutely turned sentiment into nonsense, and grief into raving, 
 while we in vain endeavour to persuade ourselves that such faults 
 can be redeemed by occasional bursts of energy and true poetry." 
 
 F. Grahame Aylward. 
 
 41. SHELLEY BULLIED AT ETON. 
 
 [From a lecture on the Sixth Commandment delivered by Dr. 
 Hawtrey in Eton Chapel, and privately printed in 1849.] 
 
 " There are Errors connected with Authority — there are others 
 which belong to mere Strength of Body ; and these are more 
 oppressive, more frequent, and always more mortifying to the 
 Sufferer. The Objects of such Kind of Ill-usage are not those over 
 whom there is any lawful or conventional Right ; they are the 
 Weak, the Timid, the Eccentric, and the Unsociable ; sometimes 
 those who have none of these Failings, but who, from some 
 Peculiarity of Character, are not acceptable to all, who are never- 
 theless capable of warm Friendship, who are even possessed of no 
 common mental Powers, which might be expanded into great 
 
128 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 private and public Usefulness, but which may be also compressed 
 and concentrated in a sensitive Mind, till they waste and devour 
 it, till they lead to Misanthropy, or perhaps to the more fatal Error 
 of doubting the Justice of Providence, because Man is unjust ; of 
 madlv imagining that Christianity itself is a Fable, because those, 
 who call themselves Christians, have acted — in pure Recklessness — 
 as if they were Heathens. 
 
 " Two such I knew in other Days ; — one of them, when I was too 
 young to feel and understand what I do understand now. Both of 
 them are long since gone to their Account. The Talents of the 
 first, however abused, earned for him a Reputation, which will pro- 
 bably not perish while our Language shall be spoken. But his Life 
 here was miserable from this kind of Injustice : and if his Mind 
 took a Bias leading him to Error, which the Almighty may forgive — 
 for He is All-merciful, and makes Allowances for his Creatures, which 
 we in our self-approving Severity seldom make — they, who remember 
 those Days, well know how that Mind was tortured, and how much 
 the Wantonness of Persecution contributed to pervert its really 
 noble and amiable Qualities. 
 
 "The other 1 was known to a smaller Circle, and was mercifully 
 saved from the more grievous Error, with which the former sank 
 into his untimely Grave. . . ." 
 
 [Another Eton Master writes : " Hawtrey was within a yard or 
 two of me when he delivered this Lecture. . . He declaimed the 
 whole with passion, with manifest signs of personal experience. 
 And though (as I have said in the account of him that I supplied 
 anonymously to a book published ten or twelve years ago) he 
 returned good for evil to those who had bullied him and nearly 
 killed him, it is certain that he was a fellow sufferer with Shelley. 
 His indignation against boyish cruelty was even quixotically 
 extravagant."] 
 
 42. Mr. Horace Hart dating from the University Press, Oxford, 
 writes to point out an error contained in Note-book (No. 4). The 
 Master of University College, Oxford, is referred to, and made to 
 sign himself, as " J. Francis Bright " instead of James Franck Bright. 
 An apology is tendered to Dr. Bright. 
 
 43. A NEWLY-DISCOVERED PROSE WORK by SHELLEY. 
 
 Once more has Professor Dowden brought before the notice of 
 Shelley students a hitherto inedited (and this time unpublished) 
 work of the poet. When the Professor published in the Contem- 
 porary Review (September, 1884, pp. 383—396), his discovery of 
 Shelley's Review of Hogg's Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatoff? 
 it was to an immature and a boyish effort, rather than to a mature 
 and finished performance, that he had to direct our attention. 
 Upon the present occasion, however, a very different work is laid 
 open to us, and there seems to be every reason for believing that 
 
 1 Sidney Walker. 
 
 a Since published by the Shelley Society in book form. Publications, 
 Second Series. No. 2. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 129 
 
 a thoughtful and substantive essay, the product of Shelley's later 
 life, still exists in manuscript. 
 
 In the Fortnightly Review for November last (No. ccxxxix, New 
 Series, pp. 543 — 562), appears an article entitled, '' Shelley's Philo- 
 sophical View of Reform : " "a work," asserts Professor Dowden, 
 whose signature is attached to the article, " of greater length than 
 any prose writing of his [Shelley's] except his boyish romances ; a 
 late product of that annus mirabilis which gave birth to the Pro- 
 metheus Unbound and The Cenci. The manuscript [which 
 
 is in the possession of Sir Percy and Lady Shelley] occupies upwards 
 of two hundred pages in a small vellum-bound Italian note-book. 
 On the outer side of one of the covers is a pen-and-ink drawing by 
 Shelley — a landscape with water and trees, filled in with more 
 detail than is common in the delicate pieces of fantastic pencilling 
 or pen-work found among his papers. At one end of the little 
 volume is the fragment ' On Life,' which has been assigned, on 
 the internal evidence of style, to the year 181 5, but which would 
 hardly have had a place in this Italian note-book if it were ot 
 earlier origin than 181 8 or 1819. The principal manuscript in the 
 volume is evidently, in great part if not altogether, a first draft, 
 showing many corrections, alterations, interlineations, and cancelled 
 sentences ; yet, except in a few passages, it is not a very difficult 
 manuscript to read. The work remains unfinished, and the closing 
 pages yield rather a series of fragments than a continuous treatment 
 of the subject under consideration. Nevertheless, it presents with 
 sufficient clearness an aspect of Shelley's mind, which some 
 readers will think it worth their while to study, if only for the sake 
 of observing how the visions of his poetry were related to his views 
 of real events and the actual condition of English society." We shall 
 not attempt to go at all into the contents of the manuscript ; even 
 with the seductive prospect before us of examining the " View of 
 Reform" which Shelley held, and desired to put publicly forward, 
 in 1820. The present is not the place for such an examination, 
 and Professor Dowden's abstract of the View is accessible to all 
 who desire to study it. We can only express a sincere hope that 
 Sir Percy and Lady Shelley may see their way to permit of the 
 speedy publication by the Shelley Society of the manuscript in full, 
 for which publication they have the poet's own direct authority : 
 " One thing I want to ask you," he wrote to Leigh Hunt (May 26th, 
 1820), "do you know any bookseller who would publish for me an 
 octavo volume, entitled A Philosophical View of Reform ? It is 
 boldly but temperately written, and, I think, readable. It is intended 
 for a kind of standard book for the philosophical reformers, poli- 
 tically considered, like Jeremy Bentham's something, but different 
 and, perhaps, more systematic. I would send it sheet by sheet. 
 Would you ask and think for me ? " Truly this, as the Athenaum 
 remarks (No. 3081, Nov. 13th, 1886, p. 630), " is evidently a work 
 of high interest for students of Shelley, and one which ought to be 
 placed within the public reach." 
 
 Thos. J. Wise. 
 
 K 
 
130 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 44. SHELLEY'S "PROLOGUE TO HELLAS." 
 
 Mr. Thomas J. Wise has issued in a thin octavo volume, 
 printed on hand-made paper, and destined for private circulation 
 only, a handsome edition of Shelley's Prologue to Hellas, origin- 
 ally deciphered by Dr. R. Garnett, and prefixed by Mr. Wise to the 
 complete edition of Hellas recently edited by him for the Society 
 (Series ii., No. 5). The little volume (of which twenty copies only 
 have been produced) contains in addition full introductory and 
 other notes by Dr. Garnett and Mr. Wise, and a careful copy — in 
 two tints — of Clint's happy lithograph of the portrait of Shelley. 
 This little booklet (which is prettily bound in pink boards) will 
 doubtless receive a hearty welcome from collectors of the Poet's 
 "First Editions." Of the twenty copies three, we are given to 
 understand, were worked off upon vellum. 
 
 45. Mr. Hermann Vezin has had an adventure,in which he showed 
 great pluck and presence of mind. Some few months since, he went 
 down to St. Margaret's Bay to spend Sunday, and was sitting on 
 the beach, when he saw nearly half a mile off a man struggling 
 in the water. Mr. Vezin started off running as hard as he 
 could, and reached the place, undressed, dived for the man, and 
 dragged him to the surface and brought him on shore ; but the poor 
 fellow, who was a patient at the Convalescent Home, was dead. 
 About twenty people stood watching the man drowning, and not 
 one of them attempted to help. 
 
 46. SHELLEY'S "WANDERING JEW." 
 
 This poem has hitherto been omitted from the standard editions 
 of Shelley's works, because the editors, relying upon Medwin's 
 statements, have believed that it was written almost entirely by 
 him, rather than by Shelley. But it is well known that Medwin is 
 an untrustworthy writer ; and Mr. Bertram Dobell has recently 
 discovered evidence which goes far to shew that Shelley, if he was 
 not the sole author of the poem, had, at all events, the greater 
 share in its composition. 
 
 Hitherto the chief source of our knowledge of the poem has 
 been Eraser's Magazine, in the pages of which the poem was 
 published in 1831. Mr. Dobell has ascertained, however, that two 
 years previously there appeared in the Edinburgh Literary Journal 
 a long account of the poem, with copious extracts from it. This 
 article gives Shelley's dedication of the poem to Sir Francis Burdett, 
 and also his preface to it, neither of which appeared in the Eraser 
 version. It is also to be noted that the extracts given in the 
 Literary Journal differ very considerably from the parallel passages 
 in the Eraser version. There are many lines in the former which 
 do not appear in the latter. Upon the whole, Mr. Dobell is inclined 
 to think that the Eraser version was printed from a rough draft of 
 the poem, as first written, while the other version represents the 
 final state of the manuscript, as prepared for the press. 
 
 The Wandering Jew, if not a work of much merit, is, never* 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY. i 3 1 
 
 theless, interesting on various accounts to all Shelleyans. As no 
 good edition of it is now to be had, members will doubtless 
 be glad to hear that Mr. Dobell is preparing an edition of it for 
 the Society, as complete as (by means 01 tne two versions), can be 
 prepared. Several points of interest, not hitherto noticed, will be 
 dwelt upon in Mr. Dobell's introduction. Thus he makes clear the 
 curious fact that Lewis's Monk was the source from which 
 Shelley (in all probability) first derived his knowledge of the 
 Wandering Jew, and from whence many of the details of the poem 
 itself were drawn. 
 
 The Wandering Jew, it is hoped, will be ready by January 1st, 
 1887, and members who pay their subscription on or before that 
 date, will receive it immediately afterwards. 
 
 47. Mr. W. Kineton P^rkes lectured on Shelley before the 
 Dawson Society, Birmingham, on 12th December. Mr. H. Lucas 
 occupied the chair. 
 
 48. Mr. Clement K. Shorter lectured on Wordsworth and 
 Shelley at South Place Institute, Finsbury, on Sunday, 12th 
 December, 3.30 P.M. 
 
 49. Mr. Edmund Gosse on Shelley.— Mr. Gosse, the Clark 
 lecturer of English Literature at Cambridge, delivered on Monday, 
 November 8th, the first of a series of lectures on Shelley. The 
 subject of the lecture was, The Morality of Epipsychidion. 
 
 50. A Word of Recognition.— Regarding our publications the 
 Kensington News for Saturday, November 20th, has the following 
 note : — 
 
 "The productions of this Society [the Shelley Society] are 
 marked with great taste and bibliographical care,. and are well 
 worth the attention of the collector. It is well known that owing 
 to various reasons not necessary to mention, facsimile reprints of 
 Shelley's works are difficult. This of Hellas, though not likely to 
 be as popular as Ado?iais or The Cenci, is got up in a perfect 
 manner." 
 
 51. Type- facsimiles of Shelley's Irish Pamphlets, &c — 
 The Committee are anxious to issue shortly a type-facsimile reprint 
 of Shelley's second Irish pamphlet, Proposals for an Association of 
 Philanthropists, &»c, and of the Proposal for Putting Reform to 
 the Vote throughout the Kingdom, 1 817, and would be glad if any 
 member who may possess a copy of either, and is willing to lend 
 it for reproduction, would kindly communicate with the Honorary 
 Secretary. The tracts would be placed under glass, and every care 
 would be taken that no harm should befall them. 
 
 52. Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A.— Professor J. M. Peirce has just 
 issued a most business-like circular. In speaking of the desire of 
 the Committee to raise the number of members to 500 before the 
 beginning of the next year, he says : — " I earnestly hope that 
 America may contribute a fair proportion to the desired increase ; 
 and I beg those who receive this note to lend their assistance in 
 obtaining new members. All persons interested in the writings, 
 
 K 2 
 
i 3 2 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 character, and life of Shelley are cordially invited to join the Society. 
 The Committee also desire that Local Branch Societies may be 
 established for the promotion of Shelley study." Professor Peirce 
 further makes offer to show the Society's publications for the present 
 year to any person contemplating joining the Society. 
 
 53. Miss Alma Murray. — " Autolycus," writing in the Court 
 Circular, has the following: — 
 
 "J> hellers Beatrice Cenci, and her First Interpreter is the title 
 of a remarkably able pamphlet recently privately printed by a 
 member of the Shelley Society, in which Miss Alma Murray's 
 ' creation ' of the great role is made the subject of a profound and 
 justly laudatory analysis." 
 
 54. Rhys's Shelley's Prose.— The Editor of the recently issued 
 volume of Shelley's Prose in the "Camelot" series writes to us: — 
 " In preparing Shelley's Essays and Letters for the press, a note of 
 explanation as to the ' Footnotes ' in the book was inadvertently 
 overlooked, which omission I should be obliged by your affording 
 me space to remedy. The footnotes, as will be readily obvious to 
 Shelley students, are simply those, in some instances a little con- 
 densed, of the original editors of Shelley's text, who are designated, 
 somewhat informally it may be thought, by their initials onlv : as 
 M. S. for Mrs. Shelley, L. S. for Lady Shelley, T. L. P. for T. 
 L. Peacock, and H. B. F. for Mr. H. Buxton Forman. On p. 333, 
 Lady Shelley's name should be substituted for " Ed." in the note 
 upon Charles the First. 
 
 55. "Sir Walter Scott and Tennyson (7th S. ii. 128, 214, 
 2 7°\ 338). — Shelley's imitations of Helvellyn, about which Mr. 
 Bouchier inquires, will be found on pp. 330 and 331 of the fourth 
 volume of Mr. Forman's library edition of Shelley's poems. They 
 are included among the ' Juvenilia,' and of course would not be 
 found in the ordinary editions of the poet. I believe they are given 
 in Medwin's ' Life.' Perhaps I ought to have explained that they 
 are imitations of Scott's ballad in form, and not in substance. 
 There are two of them, one beginning ' How stern are the woes of 
 the desolate mourner,' and the other, ■ Ah, faint are her limbs, and 
 her footstep is weary.' With respect to Shelley's depreciation of 
 Scott, it appears to have been confined to his earlier years, for I 
 find, on further examination, that his cousin, writing of him in his 
 latter days, says that he had a ' sovereign respect ' for the genius 
 of the great novelist. Shelley's literary opinions seem to have 
 fluctuated a good deal during his brief life. In one of his earlier 
 letters to his friend Hogg, for example, he expresses a preference of 
 Lucan to Virgil, yet, later on, in his Defence of Poetry, after 
 warmly praising the latter, he describes Lucan as a mere ' mock- 
 bird.*— W. T. B."- Notes and Queries, Dec. 11. 
 
 56. Sydney, N.S.W. — Mr. Dobellhas secured a vigorous member 
 in this city in the person of Mr. Richard Thomas Hall. Mr. Hall 
 ie "an ardent and affectionate admirer of Shelley's gentle and 
 generous nature, and of his lofty genius," and as n Shelley student 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 133 
 
 of many years' standing rejoices at the inauguration of the Shelley 
 Society, and tenders " his earnest hopes and warmest wishes for its 
 further development and success." Mr. Hall would like to suggest 
 that a monument of Shelley should be erected in Westminster 
 Abbey. 
 
 It may be hoped that Mr. Hall will do for Sydney what Mr. 
 Scrivenor has done and is doing for Melbourne. 
 
 57. Trelawny's Ashes. — Major S. Flood Page, dating from the 
 Hotel Continental, Milan (15. 12. 86), writes as follows: — 
 
 "A few days ago I visited Shelley's grave at Rome. His Cor 
 Cordium now rests beside the ashes of his friend Trelawny. It 
 seems a wonderful story and perhaps you do not know it. Mr. 
 Trelawny bought the ground in which Shelley's heart was placed 
 in the Cemetery at Rome. The office of Director of the Protestant 
 Cemetery at Rome was held by the grandfather and father of the 
 present director, who told me that his father had often said that it 
 was very strange that from the time when Shelley's heart was 
 buried they had never heard anything from the Englishman who 
 had bought the ground. 
 
 " In May, 1885, the Director received a letter from Mr. Trelawny 
 saying, that as he was now very old, he wished to prepare for his 
 death, and requesting that a place might be made ready for his 
 ashes. You can imagine the astonishment this letter caused, for it 
 was sixty years since the ground had been bought, and, not 
 unnaturally, the purchaser was supposed to be dead. However, 
 communications took place between the parties, plans were got 
 ready and a place prepared. The final touches having been given 
 a report was sent to Mr. Trelawny to the effect that the tomb was 
 completed. This brought it to July 1885, and on the 15th August 
 Mr. Trelawny died, aged eighty-six. His body was burned at 
 Gotha. Shortly afterwards a lady appeared at the cemetery with a 
 box under her arm, and having seen the director she told him the 
 box contained the ashes of Mr. Trelawny, and that she wished to 
 bury them in the prepared place. Legal difficulties presented them- 
 selves : a fee or tax is due to government for the introduction of a 
 corpse into Italy, and to introduce a dead body without proper 
 certificates renders one liable to ten times the amount of the 
 ordinary fee. Eventually these were overcome and the ashes of 
 Shelley's friend rest next to the heart of the poet, in the ground 
 which though purchased, had been unclaimed for about sixty years. 
 It is strange too that it should have been occupied within but 
 little more than sixty days after the unexpected claim to the peculiar 
 piece of property had been allowed.* * *" 
 
 58. Mr. Addison Child. — Mr. Addison Child of Childwold has 
 been appointed Local Hon. Sec. for Northern New York. 
 
 59. Mr. Ernest Ford's Shelley Songs. — Messrs Stanley 
 Lucas have published an Album of Six Songs. Poems by 
 Shelley. Music by Ernest Ford. These will be noticed in the 
 next Note-book. 
 
134 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Cjre performance jof Jpllas. 
 
 This took place on Tuesday, the 16th of November, 1886, at St. 
 James's Hall. Dr. W. C. Selle's music was interpreted by an 
 orchestra and choir of 1 20 performers, the organ accompaniment 
 was given by Mr. Horner. There was a large and representative 
 attendance ; the names of some of those who were present, guests 
 and members, follow : — Mr. Frederic H. Cowen, Mr. Percy Reeve, 
 Sir George Macfarren, Mr. Albert Moore, Mr. Harry Quilter, 
 Mr. Oscar Wilde, Mr. Walter Hepworth, Mr. Maurice Greffenhagen, 
 Mr. Frederick Wedmore ; and as representing the movement for 
 the emancipation of art, Mr. Walter Crane, Mr. George Clausen, 
 Mr. Havard Thomas, Mr. Theodore Roussel, Mr. Leon Little, 
 Mr. Jacomb Hood, Mr. T. B. Kennington, Mr. Stanhope Forbes, 
 Mr. William Hunt, and Mr. Fred. Brown. There were also present 
 Mr. Robert Browning, Mr. Stopford Brooke, Mr. H. Rider Haggard, 
 Mr. C. Haddon Chambers, Mr. Frederic Harrison, Mrs. Lynn 
 Linton, Hon. Mrs. Chetwynd, Mrs. Wheeler, Mr. H. Schiitz Wilson, 
 Mr. J. E. Coleman, the Misses Hepworth Dixon, Mr. H. S. King, 
 M.P., Mr. Kegan Paul, Mr. Ernest Rhys, Miss Mathilde Blind, 
 Sir J. Whittaker Ellis, M.P., Mr. Edward Jenkins, Dr. Garnett, 
 Mr. Edmund Gosse, Mr. W. R. S. Ralston, Mr. Charles Dowdes- 
 well, Dr. Eug. Oswald, Mr. Sutton Palmer, Dr. Henry Reeve, Dr. 
 Todhunter, Mr. William Sharp, Mr. B. L. Moseley, Mr. Oscar 
 Browning, Mr. J. Dykes Campbell, Mr. W. Poel, Mr. H. S. Salt, 
 Mr. A. G. Ross, Mr. John Payne, and most of the members of the 
 Committee. 
 
 The Hon. Sec. has been requested by the Prince of Wales and by 
 the ladies and gentlemen whose names follow, to express their regret 
 at not being able to be present at the performance: Sir Percy 
 Shelley, and Lady Shelley, Mr. Clifford Harrison, Mr. G. R. Sims, 
 Mr. S. Brandram, Lord Malmesbury, Mr. Anstey Guthrie, Mr. 
 George du Maurier, Mr. Sims Reeves, Mr. Matthew Arnold, Sir 
 Frederick Leighton, Lady Dilke, Sir Frederick Pollock, Mr. George 
 Meredith, Professor Freeman, Mr. A. J. Evans, Lord Tennyson, 
 the Hon. Hallam Tennyson, Lord Brabazon, Mr. Fredk. Locker, 
 Mr. W. E. Gladstone, Miss Frances Power Cobbe, Mr. Linley 
 Sambourne, Mr. Cordy Jeaffreson, the Countess of Jersey, Mrs. 
 Lankester, the Baron d'Anethin, Prince Lucien L. Bonaparte, 
 Mrs. Cashel Hoey, Mr. Frederick Young, Mr. Wilhelm Ganz, Sir 
 Arthur Sullivan, Professor Dowden, Mr. Swinburne, Mr. Wyke 
 Bayliss, Miss Rosalind F. Ellicott, Mr. Sydney E. Preston, Mr. 
 Holman Hunt, and Professor Tyndall. 
 
 One thing may be safely said of the performance. It has es- 
 tablished the basis of a reputation for Mr. Austin Podmore, who 
 although he had only five days for the study of the text was 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 135 
 
 practically word-perfect, and gave evidence of possessing great 
 declamatory powers. 
 
 Critiques of the Society's performance of Hellas at St. James's 
 Hall on Tuesday, November 16th, appeared in the following papers. 
 Should any member be acquainted with any notices not included 
 in the present list, the Committee will be obliged by his sending a 
 note of them to the Honorary Secretary. 
 
 The Newcastle Daily Chro?ticle. Tuesday, Nov. 16. ("The 
 Shelley Society.") 
 
 The Daily Chronicle. No. 7,696. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886, 
 p. 5. (" Shelley's Hellas at St. James's Hall.") 
 
 The Daily News. No. 12,669. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886, p. 3. 
 (" Hellas by the Shelley Society.") 
 
 The Times. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886. 
 
 The Glasgow Herald. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886. ("The 
 Shelley Society. Performance of Hellas.") 
 
 The Manchester Guardian. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886. 
 (" Shelley's Hellas in London.") 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. xliv. No. 6,762. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 
 1886, p. 3. 
 
 The St. James's Gazette. Vol. xiii. No. 2,014. Wednesday, 
 Nov. 17, 1886. (" The Subjection of Hellas.") 
 
 The Evening News. No. 1,638. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886, p. 2. 
 
 The Globe. No. 28,542. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886, p. 1. (" Un- 
 fortunate Shelley.") 
 
 The Hartford Times (Connecticut, U.S.A.). Wednesday, Nov. 17, 
 1886. (" Opera in London.") 
 
 The Leeds Mercury. Wednesday, Nov. 17, 1886. 
 
 The Daily News. No. 12,670. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886, p. 6. 
 (" The Shelley Society's Performance of Hellas.' 1 '' ) 
 
 The Leicester Daily Post. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 The Brighton Gazette. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 The Liverpool Daily Post. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 The York Herald. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 The Sheffield Independent. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 Court and Society Review. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 The Morning Advertiser. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. ("The 
 Shelley Society.") 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. xliv. No. 6,763. Thursday, Nov. 18, 
 1 886, p. 1 1. (" Shelley's Hellas and the Shelley Society.") 
 
 The Sportsman. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 The Northern Echo. Thursday, Nov. 18, 1886. 
 
 The Morning Post. Thursday, Nov. 18,1886. (" Shelley's Hellas:") 
 
 Home News. Friday, Nov. 19, 1886. 
 
 The Stage. Friday, Nov. 19, 1886. ("The Shelley Society.") 
 
 The Auckland Chronicle. Friday, Nov. 19, 1886. 
 
 The Era. Vol. xlix. No. 2,513. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886, p. 15. 
 (" Hellas at St. James's Hall") 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. xliv. No. 6,765. Saturday, Nov. 20 
 1886, p. 6. (" The Shelley Society's Defence.") 
 
136 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. Saturday, Nov. 
 20, 1886. 
 
 The Lincoln Gazette. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Kensington News. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 7 he Academy. No. 759. New issue. Saturday, Nov. 20, i8S6,p. 354. 
 
 The Dramatic Review. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The St. Stephen's Review. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Figaro. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Athenaum. No. 3,082. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886, p. 679. 
 
 The Graphic. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Lady's Pictorial. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. ("The Shelley 
 Society.") 
 
 The Saturday Review. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Musical World. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Country Gentleman. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Brighton Herald. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Nottingham Daily Express. Saturday, Nov, 20, 1886. 
 
 The Yarmouth Independent. Saturday, Nov. 20, 1886. 
 
 The Sunday Times. No. 3,319. Sunday, Nov. 21, 1886, p. 7. 
 ("The Shelley Society at St. James's Hall.") 
 
 The Weekly Dispatch. No. 4,441. Sunday, Nov. 21, 1886, p. 6. 
 (" The Shelley Society.") 
 
 The Referee. No. 484. Sunday, Nov. 21, 1886, p. 3. 
 
 The Weekly Times and Echo. Sunday, Nov. 21, 1886. 
 
 The Umpire (Manchester). Sunday, Nov. 21, 1886. 
 
 The Frankfurter Zeitung,und Handelsblatt. No. 325. Sonntag, 
 Nov. 21, 1886, p. 1. 
 
 The Glasgow Herald. Monday, Nov. 22, 1886. 
 
 The Bristol Mercury. Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1886. 
 
 The Birmingham Daily Gazette. Tuesday, Nov. 23, 1886, 
 
 Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. xliv. No. 6,768. Wednesday, Nov. 24, 
 1886, p. 4. (" The Shelley Society and its performances.") 
 
 The Sussex Daily News. Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1886. 
 
 Trewmaris Flying Post, (Exeter). Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1886. 
 
 The Sheffield Independent. Thursday, Nov. 25, 1886. 
 
 The Literary World. Thursday, Nov. 25, 1886. (" The Shelley 
 Society's Hellas") 
 
 The Dramatic Review. Vol. iv. No. 96. Saturday, Nov. 27, 
 1886, pp. 171, 172. (" Shelley's Hellas at St. James's Hall.") 
 
 Punch. Saturday, Nov. 27, 1886. ("At it Again ! Dedicated 
 to the Shelley Society." A parody in four stanzas of the closing 
 chorus of Hellas.) 
 
 The Lady's Pictorial. Saturday, Nov. 27, 1886. 
 
 The Bath Argus. Saturday, Nov. 27, 1886. 
 
 Modern Society. Saturday, Nov. 27, 1886. 
 
 The National Reformer. Vol. xlviii. No. 22. New series. 
 Sunday, Nov, 28, 1886, pp. 338-340. 
 
 The Musical Times. Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1886. 
 
 The Morning News. Wednesday, Dec. i % 1886. 
 
 Reciter and Speaker. Dec. 1886. 
 
 Thos. J. Wise. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TV. 1 37 
 
 HJUnurs-. from ^acnl Jpn. Sms, 
 
 Birmingham.— Mr. W. Kineton Parkes reports concerning the 
 Birmingham Branch of the Shelley Society, that it will meet every 
 alternate Tuesday during the months of February, March, April, 
 and May, at the Birmingham and Midland Institute, the use 
 of a room having been generously granted by the Council. 
 
 The work for the first part of the 1887 Session will consist of the 
 study with readings of Prometheus Unbound; and a paper will be 
 read by Miss Mary E. Dalton " A Study of Epipsychidion? and 
 by the Local Hon. Sec. on " Shelley and Christianity." 
 
 " Mr. W. Kineton Parkes has been working hard. He has arranged 
 for the above series of readings to open with a short description of 
 the part to be read, entering into detail in process of reading. At 
 first Mr. Kineton Parkes received but scant encouragement, but 
 now his programme is greeted with not a little enthusiasm, and 
 Mr. Parkes is hopeful of the prospects of the future. He 
 counts upon a good opening address for next session, and upon 
 closing in May with a Shelley concert. 
 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. — Professor J. M. Peirce 
 Hon. Sec. at Cambridge U.S.A., writes : " The dispersion of people 
 which takes place here in the summer, has prevented my obtaining 
 any new members for the Society." 
 
 ****** 
 
 Professor Peirce intends to issue a circular for next year for 
 American members and for persons who may like to become 
 members, and he hopes to send a good contribution at the beginning 
 of the year. 1 
 
 Manchester.— Mr. T. C. Abbott is working hard for the Society 
 in this town, and intends to write a resume of the first year's work 
 for a leading local journal. He has been making the Society 
 known at the Public Institution, &c. 
 
 Melbourne. — Thanks to the untiring energy of Mr. Frank 
 Scrivenor, a very healthy and vigorous branch of the Shelley 
 Society has been established at Melbourne. The Argus, a Con- 
 servative journal, opened its columns to Mr. Scrivenor's letters in 
 advocacy of the establishment of a Melbourne Shelley Society, but 
 the old odium theologicum was at work and the Southern Cross, 
 an organ of conventional religion, fell foul of the new Society, 
 resulting in the Age, a Liberal journal taking up the cudgels on its 
 behalf. The Rev. George Walters a Unitarian minister is the 
 president of the Society, and Mr. Arthur Lynch is its vice-president. 
 It meets on the first Monday in every month in a small room at 
 the back of a large hall in Collins Street. In June, the Society 
 
 1 Professor Peirce has since sent in the names of several new American 
 members. — Ed. 
 
138 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 numbered some thirty-six members. Five monthly meetings 
 have taken place, and three papers are read at each meeting, 
 followed by a discussion. The public are admitted, and already a 
 general interest is being evinced. Mr. Scrivenor hopes to hold the 
 meetings in a larger room when the financial year commences. 
 This will be in May, 1887, when the Society will seek affiliation 
 with the parent Society. A paper by Mr. James Smith, of the 
 Argus, on Shelley's religion, claimed Shelley as a truly religious 
 man. A notable paper was contributed at a later meeting 
 by Mr. David Blair. Papers on Queen Mab, The Cenci, and The 
 Hymn to Intellectual Beauty, had been promised for November. 
 The motto chosen for the Society is : — 
 
 " a tempest-winged ship whose helm 
 
 Love rules." 
 
 Prom. Unbd., iv. 409-10. 
 
 The following is the list of papers already read : — 
 Shelley's Juvenilia. Shelley. Shelley's Religion. Masque of 
 Anarchy. Ode to Skylark. Ode to West Wind. Was Shelley an 
 A t heist t Epifeychidion. Tower of Famine. Sonnet on Napoleon . 
 Shelley and Nature. 
 
 New York. — Owing to the prolonged illness of Mr. C. W. 
 Frederickson, progress has not been so rapid in New York as might 
 have been anticipated. Mr. Frederickson hopes to be able to 
 thoroughly canvas known Shelleyans in the Empire City next year. 
 
 Oxford. — Mr. Grey Hubert Skipwith having left the University 
 and Professor Napier and Mr. Tozer being too much engaged -to 
 occupy his vacated position there, the Hon. Sec. would be glad 
 to hear from a gentleman who would be willing to undertake the 
 duties of Local Hon. Sec. at Oxford. 
 
 Reading. — Mr. J. J. Rossitcr intends to try and work up a small 
 branch here during this winter, and suggests that a member of the 
 Committee should run down and deliver an address or a lecture at 
 Reading. 
 
 Essays and Letters. By Percy Bysshe Shelley. Edited, with 
 Introductory Note, by Ernest Rhys. London : Walter Scott, 24 
 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row. 1886. Price 1*. 
 
 The kindest and the justest course for the reviewer, in dealing 
 with the author, is to let him speak for himself. The sane author 
 should be the best judge of the merit or demerit of his own pro- 
 duction, and anyhow an isolated opinion should never be put forth 
 oracularly. Let the reviewer rather by means of excerpts from the 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 139 
 
 text, point the finger to what he may consider good, or what he 
 may consider bad. Mr. Rhys evidently makes no pretension to 
 infallible Delphic judgment in dealing with Shelley's fragments 
 and letters. He contents himself with a short and terse, but 
 solidly and gracefully written preface, which shows him to be a true 
 Shelley-lover, and to possess the key-note of Shelley's character. 
 Mr. Rhys's main concern has been to allow the poet to speak for 
 himself, and this would be sufficient reason for permitting the 
 editor of these letters to speak for himself, were it not also the case 
 that the language in which the preface is couched is ofttimes so 
 eloquent, so Shelleyan, and so worthy of its theme that it becomes 
 a pleasure to be privileged to draw special attention to it. 
 
 Every true Shelleyite will acknowledge the aptness and the truth 
 of these words : — " The ideal atmosphere that fills the poems, that 
 seems to linger in the very collocation of their syllables, affects us, 
 we hardly know how or why, and creates the feeling which is more 
 than any reasoned theory of appreciation." And again : — " The 
 proof they give [the letters, &c] of their author's humanity is a 
 capital antidote to anything extreme in our worship of him, as an 
 accession to the saints. So, having before endangered his right 
 fame by hailing him as of the gods, we shall establish him more 
 surely now, let us hope, by discovering how thoroughly, in virtue 
 
 and default, he was a man." " Studying the simpler 
 
 evidences of prose, they will find that neither angels nor evil spirits 
 claim him away from the difficult human mean, where he existed 
 with our everyday susceptibilities, only heightened and modified by 
 the poet's tenfold greater liability to the drawings of pleasure and of 
 'pain:' 
 
 Mr. Rhys attacks with admirable virility, and with great 
 success the strictures of those " cheaply virtuous " ones, those 
 grumous groundlings who, confusing virtue with what is merely 
 social astuteness, have condemned Shelley for acting upon his own 
 convictions of what was good, and what was expedient ; but neither 
 Mr. Rhys nor a hundred like him can hope to teach the stern truth 
 that conventional virtue in all ages has been, and is, only the reflex 
 of the convenience of the rulers of the world at any given moment. 
 Those who perceive that the convenience and welfare of the masses 
 are at variance with the recognised code of the proprieties, must 
 suffer if they endeavour to give practical effect to their belief ; as 
 all who cross swords with constituted power must suffer. Shelley 
 knew this, and like the great ones before his time, he did not shrink 
 irom the consequences of his avowed beliefs, and of his active 
 advocacy of them. The great value of these letters, as Mr. Rhys 
 says, lies in the fact that they demonstrate conclusively the poet's 
 absolute sincerity. His letters are consistent with his poetry; and 
 their extreme value as throwing light upon the machinery, the ways 
 and means, the causes and influences which went to make Shelley's 
 verse, cannot be over-stated. In reading his poems we see the 
 hands of the clock in motion, in reading his letters we are made 
 acquainted with the intricacy of cogs, wheels, and springs, which 
 set the hands going. 
 
14© NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Shelley had "the innocent courage of his convictions," and if 
 his impetuous desire to rush off at once to strike a blow for some 
 new cause directly it had been brought home to him proved a 
 certain greenness, it was " a greenness that sometimes ripens into 
 gold." 
 
 In these letters we are brought face to face with the glow and 
 glare of Shelley's candent soul. His wilding diablerie, his irre- 
 pressible ultraism, make every page refulgent. They take us into 
 the very adytum of Shelley's nature, and show us the real man, not 
 the impossible and grotesque bogle which wilful or wrong-headed 
 denigration has made of him. 
 
 Mr. Rhys's remarks on Shelley's Defence of Poetry are especially 
 worthy of attention, and we commend them to the notice of the 
 Shelley Society. The fanciful differentiation enforced by Ruskin 
 of the terms erst he tic and theoretic breaks down in Shelley's case, as 
 it does in the case of every artist of any high order. The sensuous 
 impress and gratification are, and must be, theoretic, only the 
 teaching is too subtile, diffused and aeriform to be reduced to 
 words, the vocabulary alone is lacking. Shelley's view of the 
 mdtier of the poet as set forth in A Defence of Poetry is admirably 
 and succinctly stated by Mr. Rhys, who emphasises the extreme 
 importance of this essay; and finishes his well done task with 
 words which will surely appeal to the members of the Shelley 
 Society : " In this way the best of these prose writings may be 
 trusted to continue into time, not, I imagine, as has been said 
 with authority, outlasting their author's verse, but the prose with 
 the verse, continuing as the incomparable representation of one of 
 those difficultly ideal natures which, while the years go on, will 
 always draw men impelled by the same ideal desires and defeated 
 by the same errors." 
 
 The volume contains : — (A.) Mixed Essays and Fragments l 
 (i.) A Defence of Poetry, (ii.) A Discourse on the Manner of 
 the Ancients, relative to the Subject of Love, (iii.) On the Sym- 
 posium ; or, Preface to the Banquet of Plato, (iv.) On Love, (v.) 
 The Coliseum, (vi.) On the Punishment of Death, (vii.) On 
 Life, (viii.) On a P'uture State, (ix.) Essay on Christianity, (x.) 
 Speculations on Metaphysics, (xi.) Speculations on Morals, (xii.) 
 The Age of Pericles, (xiii.) On the Revival of Literature, (xiv.) 
 Review of Hogg's Memoirs of Pri?ice Alexy Haimatoff. (xv.) 
 The Assassins. (B.) Letters. (C.) Appendix. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 14] 
 
 Jfirst J|mural <&emral jjtoetmg. 
 
 Held at University College, London, on Wednesday, January 26, 
 
 1887. 
 
 Mr. W. M. ROSSETTI being absent at San Remo, the 
 chair was taken by Dr. FlJRNIVALL, who moved the 
 adoption of the report. In a long and eloquent speech the 
 founder of the Society dwelt on the signal success — the 
 almost phenomenal success — which in so short a space 
 of time had attended the efforts of those who were 
 responsible for the existence of the Shelley Society. 
 He remarked that the people of this country had owed a 
 great debt to the memory of Shelley, which they were 
 now, and largely owing to the action of this Society, 
 only beginning to repay. He passed in review the work 
 of the year, the two performances, the numerous publi- 
 cations, and alluded to the services of various Members 
 in connection with them, and he concluded by ap- 
 pealing to Members to make a strong effort to get more 
 subscribers to the Society, and thus enable it to clear 
 speedily its lists of Reprints and Shelleyana. 
 
 Mr. BUXTON FORMAN, in seconding the adoption of the 
 report, acknowledged the handsome terms in which Dr. 
 Furnivall had spoken of the Shelley specialists and 
 others who had contributed to the success of the Society, 
 and, at the risk of being accused of log-rolling, pointed 
 out one important omission. He said that without the 
 indomitable pluck and energy of Dr. Furnivall the 
 Society would never have been the success it was. Mr. 
 Forman then spoke of the recent recovery of the holo- 
 graph manuscript of The Mask of Anarchy, and pointed 
 out the special interest attaching to a letter from Mrs. 
 Shelley accompanying that manuscript, a letter in which 
 the poet's widow confesses to have had a mysterious 
 feeling as to Shelley's personality, born of the most 
 intimate proximity to him. Mr. Forman thought this 
 
H2 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 confession had its bearing on some of the moot points 
 in Shelley's biography. He also called attention to the 
 statement of Mrs. Shelley that, in the last book which 
 she had published at the time when her letter was dated, 
 she had attempted to give some idea of Shelley by 
 means of a sketch which had " pleased some of those 
 who best loved him." Mr. Forman explained that the 
 reference was to the character of Adrian, Earl of 
 Windsor, in The Last Man, a romance of which he gave 
 a brief account, noting particularly the existence in it 
 of other studies from life— such as the idealised portrait 
 of Byron under the character of Lord Raymond, and the 
 personal reminiscences of Mrs. Shelley attributed to 
 Perdita. Mr. Forman considered that any future bio- 
 grapher of Shelley would have to make a careful 
 analysis both of Adrian and of Perdita, and collate the 
 result with facts or suppositions in the story of Shelley's 
 life. 
 
 Mr. MOSELY, speaking on behalf of the Members, ex- 
 pressed his high appreciation of the enthusiasm and 
 zeal which had characterised the operations of the 
 Committee. As the founder of the Society himself, he 
 knew the immense difficulties attending the conduct of 
 affairs of this sort ; and although his admiration was, he 
 feared, just a little tinctured with envy, that was not 
 sufficient to prevent him from entertaining the liveliest 
 feelings of gratitude for the liberal shower of benefits 
 which the executive had rained upon the Members in 
 return for their allegiance and their subscriptions. 
 
 The report was adopted unanimously. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 143 
 
 Lecture at the University College, on the gth of February ', by 
 Dr. John Todhunter. 
 
 [Dr. Todhunter's lecture is already in the hands of 
 Members. A report of the discussion follows.] 
 
 Dr. FURNIVALL said the applause which greeted the 
 conclusion of Dr. Todhunter's paper was in itself a strong 
 vote of thanks. It was indeed an able and eloquent 
 paper. He thought it as natural that Shelley had left 
 the composition of his Charles I. (where he was in an 
 alien atmosphere), to work out a new ideal vision ; and 
 had then in it gone off, not only into a second vision, 
 but also into a third. As to the "leader" he askt 
 whether Dr. Todhunter had not misunderstood the 
 person meant. He did not think the reference to the 
 leader of the " hoary anarchs " could be intended for 
 Rousseau : how could he be said to have created a 
 world of agony ? Regarding the poem as a whole, 
 he did not think it could end in defeat. The poet 
 simply recognises the failure of most men's lives; 
 but he really intended to finally bring out life as a 
 triumph. Dr. Furnivall then mentioned the various gaps 
 in the poem, and suggested readings for filling them up ; 
 and took objections to some notes in Mr. Forman's 
 editions, concerning the text. 
 
 Mr. FORMAN, not having been able to study the paper, 
 did not wish to offer any remarks upon it ; though in 
 regard to Dr. Furnivall's remarks on his " notes," he 
 might say that in writing them he intended to express 
 no animus one way or the other, and indeed had made 
 no change in the text ; but merely pointed to details in 
 which a consultation of the manuscript was desirable. 
 
 Mr. WALTER CRANE remarked that the title "The 
 Triumph of Life " appeared to him to be used by Shelley 
 in the sense of " a show," as we might speak of the 
 
144 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 " triumph of art," &c. As to the remark anent the rela- 
 tion of the sexes in the Doctor's paper, he thought that 
 it would be impossible to leave out of the account the 
 economical question, which certainly regulates the 
 question of the sexes. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. HARRISON thought the poem was as per- 
 plexing and puzzling as it was beautiful. As regards 
 its pessimism, he thought that, had it been completed, it 
 would have been optimistic — the ideal would have 
 triumphed over the real. As to the question of who was 
 the leader of the Anarch bands, he thought that, as the 
 poet has just alluded by name to two of the Popes, in 
 lieu of Rousseau, we might take it that Shelley meant 
 in the " Leader " the Papacy, which, succeeding Caesarism, 
 helped in developing the world's misery. 
 
 Dr. TODHUNTER, in reply, said that Shelley applied 
 the term "leader" to Rousseau in the same sense as 
 Dante applies it to Virgil ; and the case was analogous. 
 It never occurred to him that the leader was other than 
 Rousseau — certainly he was not intended to mean the 
 Papacy. 
 
 ON "SHELLEY, ' PETERLOO,' AND 'THE 
 MASK OF ANARCHY.'" 
 
 A paper was then read by Mr. BUXTON FORMAN, 
 who. had written it for the March number of The Gentle- 
 man s Magazine. On one point in this paper Dr. 
 FURNIVALL made some remarks concerning Shelley's 
 wife, whom his father had complained of as ordering 
 Shelley about dictatorially. To these Mr. Forman 
 replied. 
 
 LECTURE ON SHELLEY AT CLEVEDON. 
 
 On Saturday, February 5th, Mr. A. L. STEVENSON 
 gave his lecture on the " Poetry of Shelley," before a 
 small but appreciative audience. Mr. Stevenson, who 
 spoke from notes, in the course of some introductory 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 145 
 
 remarks, said that one of his objects in appearing on the 
 present occasion was to draw attention to the existence 
 of the Shelley Society, lately founded by Dr. Furnivall. 
 Anyone wishing for a prospectus might obtain one by 
 writing to the Hon. Secretary, Mr. J. Stanley Little, 
 76, Clarendon Road, Holland Park, London, W. After 
 briefly narrating the main facts of the poet's life, the 
 lecturer gave some details as to his habits, favourite 
 books, recreations, &c. He then passed on to con- 
 sider his moral and intellectual qualities. Some persons 
 still had an idea that Shelley was "a bad man," 
 but this idea was erroneous. If he (the lecturer), his 
 audience, and mankind in general were as good as 
 Shelley was; the world would go on much better than 
 it did at present. His character was one of small faults 
 and great virtues. This was to be plainly gathered 
 from the testimony of his friends and contemporaries, 
 even if we did not consider the evidence of his poetry, 
 which was too grand and beautiful to be the work of a 
 bad man. With regard to his opinions, the most pro- 
 minent were a love of liberty and toleration, and a 
 dislike of custom and conventionality. In the latter 
 respect he went perhaps too far, and was too fond of 
 propounding crude schemes for reforming the world. 
 He was an optimist, and thought that nothing in nature 
 was originally depraved. He professed himself an 
 atheist, but was rather a pantheist, and at all events 
 believed in a Supreme Being. He had a keen apprecia- 
 tion of the essential part of Christianity. As to a future 
 life he was content to rest in hope. With regard to his 
 poetic powers, the lecturer considered him unrivalled, at 
 least in his peculiar style. Ages might roll by, and 
 there would not be another Shelley. Yet his works 
 were abused and despised in his life-time. But that was 
 the way of the world, which ill-treated its great men 
 while living, and set up statues to them after their death. 
 Shelley's poetry was pure inspiration — artless as the song 
 of the bird upon the bough. There was a wild sweet 
 music in his verses, and his fancy was so delicate that 
 much of his work might be compared to the beautiful 
 tracery of frost on a window-pane. He was a poet 
 
 L 
 
146 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 par excellence ; there was little of human interest in his 
 works, but they raised the reader into the heaven of 
 poetry. He had a passionate love for nature, whose 
 manifestations he personified, and as it were endowed 
 with a soul. He made the flowers, trees, and streams 
 speak to us, as in the fairy tales of Andersen. He could 
 not be called a clear writer. He narrated things not as 
 if he had seen them, but as if he had dreamed them. 
 The tone of his poems was generally hopeful, with an 
 undercurrent of melancholy. If he (the lecturer) com- 
 pared him with any other poet, it would be with Milton, 
 to whom he bore some resemblance, especially in his 
 principles. Shelley died very young. Had he lived 
 longer he might have surpassed all his earlier poems. 
 Many of his fragments had been rescued from oblivion. 
 To read them was like walking through a gallery filled 
 with broken bits of beautiful sculpture. But let us not 
 mourn too much over his untimely death. Might we 
 not say of him in Byron's words : — 
 
 u ' Whom the gods love, die young,' was said of yore ; 
 And many deaths do they escape by this — 
 The death of friends, and that which slays even more, 
 
 The death of friendship, love, youth, all that is, 
 Except mere breath ; and since the silent shore 
 Awaits at last even those who longest miss 
 
 The old archer's shafts, perhaps the early grave 
 Which men weep over may be meant to save." 
 
 The lecturer then enumerated and briefly criticised 
 Shelley's principal poems, and read a scene from 
 Prometheus Unbound, The Cloud, Arethusa, and two 
 other pieces, concluding with the last four stanzas of 
 Adonais. The Rev. J. S. Neumann proposed a cordial 
 vote of thanks to the lecturer for the thoroughness with 
 which he had treated his subject, and the proceedings 
 terminated. — Clcvedon Mercury and Courier. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 147 
 
 ©rijginal |)r0S* mxir BttBt 
 
 The Literary World oi Boston, U.S.A. of January 8, 1887, has 
 the following original poetry : — 
 
 SHELLEY. 
 
 One heart of all the hearts of men, 
 
 Tameless nor free, 
 Plunged for a moment in the fire 
 Of old regret and young desire, 
 A meteor rushed through the air, and then — 
 
 What eyes can see ? 
 
 O rebel captive, fallen soul, 
 
 Self-strong and proud, 
 Throbbing to lift against the stars 
 An angel voice — whose frenzy mars 
 And frets the song which thou wouldst roll 
 
 Aloft aloud ! 
 
 To thee was given half to mould 
 
 That heart of thine 
 (Knowing all passion and the pain 
 Of man's imperious disdain), 
 Into a song whose splendour told 
 
 The dawn divine. 
 
 It held the rapture of the hills 
 
 Deep in its core ; 
 The purple shadows of the ocean 
 Moved it to supreme emotion, 
 The harvest of those barren rills 
 
 Was in its store. 
 
 Thine was a love that strives and calls, 
 
 Outcast from home, 
 Burning to free the soul of man 
 With some new life : how strange, a ban 
 Should set thy sleep beneath the walls 
 
 Of changeless Rome ! 
 
 L 2 
 
i 4 8 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 More soft, I deem, from spring to spring, 
 
 Thy sleep would be, 
 Where this far western headland lies 
 Beneath these matchless azure skies, 
 Under thee hearing beat and swing 
 
 The eternal sea. 
 
 A bay so beauteous islanded — 
 
 A sea so stilled — 
 You well might dream the world were new ; 
 And some fair day's Italian blue, 
 Unsoiled of all the ages dead, 
 ■ Should be fulfilled. 
 
 Where all the livelong day and night 
 
 A music stirs, 
 The summer wind should find thy home, 
 And fall in lulls and cease to roam : 
 A covert resting, warm and bright, 
 
 Among the firs. 
 
 An ageless forest dell, which knows 
 
 Nor grief nor fear, 
 Across whose green red-berried floor 
 Fresh spring shall come and winter hoar, 
 With keen delight and rapt repose 
 
 Each year by year. 
 
 And there the thrushes, calm, supreme, 
 
 Forever reign, 
 Whose glorious kingly golden throats 
 Hold but a few remembered notes ; 
 Yet in their song is blent no dream 
 Or tinge of pain ! 
 
 Bliss Carman. 
 Fryes Island, N.B., Canada. 
 
 We have received from one of our Members, Mr. Henry Knight, 
 a set of Lines addressed to Percy Bysshe Shelley, which are closed 
 by the following triplet : — 
 
 " Thy songs will now unbidden rise, 
 Like the sweet sky-lark's, to the skies, 
 And win the world's deep sympathies." 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 
 
 [49 
 
 (juries anir %n$btx&. 
 
 QUERIES. 
 
 12. 7^ Shelley Society's repri?it of "Alas/or," the first of the 
 Poems. — Did Shelley address these six stanzas to himself? if not, 
 then to whom are they addressed ? The closing lines of the fifth 
 stanza run : — 
 
 " Thine own soul still is true to thee, 
 But changed to a foul fiend through misery." 
 
 If ''thine own soul" means "Shelley's own soul," what was the 
 misery which " changed it to a foul fiend " ? Was it his (at that 
 time apparently hopeless) love for Mary Godwin ? 
 
 Querist. 
 
 13. Stanzas, April 1814. (See Alastor vol., pp. 56-58.) 
 
 (1) Are these Stanzas addressed to Mary Godwin? 
 
 (2) In line 8, I can perfectly understand that Duty should 
 " guide thee back to solitude," but how should derelictio?i do so ? 
 
 (3) Line 22. Should not " house and heath and garden " rather 
 read "house and hearth and garden " ? Is there any other authority 
 for the present reading beyond the text of the Alastor volume ? 
 
 L. C. D. 
 
 14. Have any fresh facts regarding the Lines addressed to His Royal 
 Highness the Prince of Wales, by Philopatria Jun., been brought to 
 light since the publication of the first part of Mr. Buxton Forman's 
 Shelley Library ? In that book (pp. 23-26) Mr. Forman endeavours 
 to identify the pamphlet in question with Shelley's supposed missing 
 Satire of 181 1, but fails altogether to establish his case. It would 
 be interesting, however, to know whether any fresh information has 
 come to hand which goes to decide the question either way. 
 
 J. F. {Exeter). 
 
 15. The Shelley Forgeries. — Can some member of the Society give 
 me any information regarding the forged Shelley Letters published 
 by Moxon (with an Introduction by Robert Browning) in 1852 ? I 
 should be especially obliged for references to any Magazine or 
 Newspaper articles or notices upon the subject, especially for con- 
 temporary items. Are the whole of the letters contained in the 
 volume forgeries, or are any of the series supposed — or known — to 
 be genuine ? I have been given to understand that the originals of 
 these letters are extant ; is such the case ? Are there any other 
 
150 .NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 documents connected with Shelley's works or life which are 
 suspected to be fabrications ? 
 
 Lewis Cavan. 
 ANSWERS. 
 
 12. It cannot be doubted, I think, that this poem is a revelation of 
 Shelley's own feelings, although Mrs. Shelley supposed it to be 
 addressed to Coleridge. Shelley, in fact, laments in it that natural 
 "scenes and human fellowship, from which he had hoped to derive 
 pleasure and happiness, had proved false to him, and had yielded 
 him nothing but disappointment and misery. I think the lines were 
 probably written before he became acquainted with Mary Godwin ; 
 and hence it seems likely that they refer chiefly to his first unhappy 
 marriage. 
 
 13. (1) These stanzas are certainly not addressed to Mary Godwin, 
 but probably to Mrs. Turner, the daughter of Mrs. Boinville. See 
 Dowden's Life of Shelley, vol. i., chapter ix. 
 
 (2) By dereliction we are probably meant to understand fear of 
 dereliction. 
 
 (3) Hearth for heath does not commend itself to me as an im- 
 provement. I believe there is no authority for the reading beyond 
 the text of the "Alastor" volume, but I think that authority is 
 sufficient 
 
 B. DOBELL. 
 
 1 5. The Shelley Forgeries. — The originals of the twenty-five forged 
 letters contained in Moxon's suppressed volume are in existence ; 
 they are preserved in the Manuscript Department of the British 
 Museum. 
 
 Thos. J. Wise. 
 
 60. Mr. Clement K. Shorter, writing on Shelley in the National 
 Encyclopaedia says : — " It has been urged by an unsympathetic critic 
 that Shelley is ' the poet of clouds and sunsets/ and that his work 
 lacks substantiality. It is true that he is the poet of clouds and 
 sunsets, and that he has done for these what Wordsworth has done 
 for the rocks and the ravines, the lakes and the hills of his native 
 county. But Shelley is much more than this ; he is essentially the 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIETY.. 1 5 1 
 
 poet of humanity, of humanity not in its narrow environment of 
 individual contentment, with simple dalesmen and leech-gatherers 
 as types, but of humanity in its social aspect, struggling forward to 
 a happier and more golden time. The exuberant hopefulness of 
 Shelley's poetry, the ideals of a brighter future with which it 
 abounds, entitle him above all others to be called the poet of human 
 progress. To be this, and to leave his work as an artist untarnished, 
 is to be great indeed. ' Shelley/ said Wordsworth, ' is the 
 greatest artist of us all.' " 
 
 61. Since everything relating to Shelley and his works maybe 
 considered of interest to the Shelley Society, the following para- 
 graph cannot be lightly passed over. These " diamonds awkwardly 
 set" have survived many paste productions glowing with a light 
 which time has proved to be a false one. It is difficult to destroy a 
 diamond : it is the aim of the Shelley Society to place their 
 diamonds where all men may see them, and, seeing, distinguish 
 them from the pitiful paste which is so often made to do duty for 
 true gems : — 
 
 " PELHAM," 
 
 " Vincent took up a volume : it was Shelley's Posthumoics Poems. 
 ' How fine,' said he, ' some of these lines are : but they are fine 
 fragments of an architecture in bad taste : they are imperfect in 
 themselves, and faulty in the school they belong to : yet, such as 
 they are, the master-hand is evident upon them. They are like the 
 pictures of Paul Veronese — often offending the eye, often irritating 
 the judgment, but breathing of something vast and lofty — their 
 very faults are majestic ; — this age, perhaps no other, will ever do 
 them justice — but the disciples of future schools will make glorious 
 pillage of their remains. The writings of Shelley would furnish 
 matter for a hundred volumes : they are an admirable museum of 
 ill-arranged curiosities — they are diamonds awkwardly set : but one 
 of them in the hands of a skilful jeweller would be inestimable : 
 and the poet of the future will serve him as Mercury did the 
 tortoise in his own translation from Homer — make him " sing 
 sweetlv when he's dead ! " Their lyres will be made out of his 
 shell."'' 
 
 'If I judge rightly/ said Clarendon, 'his literary faults were 
 these : he was too learned in his poetry, and too poetical in his 
 learning. Learning is the bane of a poet/" &c. — 1887 Edition, pp. 
 256-257. 
 
 G. B. Burgin. 
 
 62. Mr. Buxton Forman, who is editing for the Shelley Society 
 the facsimile of the recently recovered holograph manuscript of The 
 Mask of Anarchy, will contribute to the Gentlema?i 's Magazine 
 for March an article, a firopos of this manuscript, entitled Shelley, 
 Peterloo, and " The Mask of Anarchy" — Athenceum, February 
 12, 1887. 
 
152 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 63. SHELLEY'S "MASK OF ANARCHY." 
 
 The Red House, Chelslon, Torquay, Jan. 12, 1887. 
 
 The letter you were so good as to insert in your issue of the 8th 
 has not only produced what I believe will be very efficient help for 
 the Shelley Concordance, but has also been the means of bringing 
 to light two most interesting documents. The first is a letter from 
 Shelley's widow addressed to Sir John Bowring, and now in the 
 possession of his son Lewin B. Bowring, Esq., C.S.I., by whose 
 kind permission I am enabled to send you a copy of it. I am led 
 to suppose that it has never yet been printed by the fact that the 
 existence of the MS. referred to in it has assuredly remained un- 
 known, which would hardly be the case if the letter itself had been 
 published. The words within, brackets are marked through in the 
 original. 
 
 " Your note, my dear Friend, is on many accounts gratifying to 
 me — But you must not wonder at my fear of intruding — for I know 
 your time to be so valuable — and being myself a broken branch 
 from the tree of life — a solitary [being] creature — I am tainted by 
 that morbid feeling which I dislike, while I at times yield to it of 
 feeling myself neglected and' forgotten — Pardon this last apology — 
 I will never make another to you — trusting to the kind sentiments 
 you express, I be vain enough to believe that you really have 
 a pleasure in now. and then hearing [of my] from me and being 
 asked to do such kind offices as I have before now solicited from 
 you. 
 
 " Do not think me capricious if I defer my negociation with Dr. 
 Schinas — it is not I but another female, Fortune, who is guilty of 
 caprice on this occasion — I must [defer] wait a little before I can 
 take the lessons I desire. 
 
 " Do not be afraid of losing the impression you have concerning 
 my lost Shelley by conversing with any one who knew him about 
 him — The mysterious feeling you experience was participated by 
 all his friends, even by me, who was ever with him — or why say 
 even;— I felt it more than any other, because by sharing his 
 fortunes, I was more aware than any other of his wondrous excel- 
 lencies and the strange fate which attended him on all occasions — 
 Romance is tame in comparison with all that we experienced 
 together and the last fataL scene was accompanied by circumstances 
 so strange so inexplicable so full of terrific interest (words are 
 weak when one speaks of events so near the heart) that you would 
 deem me very superstitious if I were only to narrate simple and 
 incontestible facts to you. — I do not in any degree believe that his 
 being was regulated by the same laws that govern the existence 
 of us common mortals — nor did any one think so who ever knew 
 him. 
 
 " I- have endeavoured, but how inadequately, to give some idea of 
 him in my last published book— the sketch has pleased some of 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 153 
 
 those who best loved him — I might have made more of it but there 
 are feelings which one recoils from unveiling to the public eye — I 
 have the greatest pleasure in sending you the writing for which 
 you ask. 
 
 " I hope you have not been a sufferer by this commercial turmoil 
 — I am very sorry to hear of the illness of your children — my 
 little boy had the measles in the autumn but is now quite well. 
 
 "Did I not mention to you that I had a portrait of Shelley — it 
 would encrease your feeling with regard to him — Some fine spring 
 morning you will perhaps come and see it when I shall again have 
 the pleasure of seeing you — 
 
 " I am, My dear Sir, most truly yours, 
 
 "Marv Shelley. 
 
 " Kentish Town, 25 Feb. 
 
 " By the bye I have some more MSS. of Shelley's which I think 
 will interest you — Shall I send them to you ? — I have also some 
 letters — but these would be to be read by you only— The longer 
 poem I send was never published — It was called The Mask of 
 Anarchy — and written in the first strong feelings excited by the 
 cutting down of the people at Manchester in 1819." 
 
 [Endorsed by Sir J. Bowring] Feb. 25, 1826. 
 
 The MS. of The Mask of Anarchy is entirely in Shelley's hand- 
 writing, and is, apparently, the first draft of the poem. It justifies 
 pretty well all Mr. Forman's conjectures as to minor corrections 
 and variations of the text, but proves that the poem was not written by 
 Mrs. Shelley from her husband's dictation, as he very reasonably 
 suggests from the appearance of the MS. sent to Leigh Hunt. 
 This autograph MS. contains two more stanzas than were in the 
 MS. from which the edition of 1832 was printed. Between the 
 49th and 50th stanzas of the printed version occurs the following : — 
 
 " Horses, Oxen have a home 
 When from daily toil they come 
 Household Dogs, when the wind roars 
 Find a home within warm doors " 
 
 and between the 67th and 68th stanzas of the printed version : — 
 
 " From the cities where from caves — 
 Like the dead from putrid graves- 
 Troops of starvelings gliding come, 
 Living tenants of a tomb." 
 
 But this stanza has the pen drawn across, and was evidently 
 intended to be cancelled. Stanza 1 5 would seem to show clearly 
 that the Hunt MS. was copied by Mrs. Shelley from this, for here 
 we find the first line written m the same way as it is described to 
 be in that till it was altered by Shelley's own hand. 
 
 Of stanza 33 only the first two lines are here given. Mr 
 Forman remarks that in the Hunt MS., while the first two lines 
 
154 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 are in Mrs. Shelley's hand, the last three are added in the poet's 
 autograph, which would again show that MS. to have been a copy 
 of this original draft. 
 
 In case the Shelley Society should think it desirable to print 
 this MS. and letter in facsimile, I am happy to say that the owner 
 has most kindly given the necessary permission. 
 
 F. S. Ellis. 
 
 Note. — The foregoing appears in the Athenaum of 22nd Jan. 
 
 64. The first annual general meeting of the Shelley Society will 
 take place on Wednesday next, the 26th of January, at 8 P.M., at 
 University College, Gower Street. Mr. W. M. Rossetti will take 
 the chair, and will present to the Society the report of the committee. 
 The main business of the evening will be the adoption of rules 
 forming the Society's constitution, and the appointment of the 
 Society's officers for 1887. The report will point out to the mem- 
 bers that they have received for their first guinea subscription no 
 fewer than eight substantive publications ; had the opportunity of 
 listening to five lectures, by the Rev. Stopford Brooke, Mr. Buxton 
 Forman, Mr. F. T. Maynard, Miss Blind, and Mr. W. M. Rossetti ; 
 witnessed two public performances ; and received several brochures 
 (the Society's Note-books, &c.). The progress made with the 
 Shelley Primer and Shelley Concordance will be reported on, as 
 will also the programme recommended for coming years. The 
 number of members at the close of the year was about four 
 hundred ; and we understand that the response to the renewal 
 notices lately issued shows no signs of a numerical falling off. The 
 committee is none the less desirous of obtaining a considerable 
 accession of new members, with a view to enlargement of printing 
 operations. 
 
 65. MR. GEORGE CAVE ON SHELLEY. 
 
 A FULL report of the very interesting paper read by Mr. George 
 Cave, on the 21st February, at the meeting of the Richmond 
 Athenaeum will be found in the Thames Valley Times, Wednesday 
 evening, Feb. 23rd, 1887. 
 
 66. "TRIAL LIST OF SHELLEYANA." 
 
 Mr. T. J. Wise's Trial List of Shelley ana is now approaching 
 completion, and will appear shortly in the Notebook. Mr. Wise 
 will be glad if those Members who have been collecting lists of 
 Reviews, Notices, &c, will kindly send them to him at an early date 
 in order that they may be incorporated at once, and thus save the 
 printing of supplementary short lists, which, in addition to the extra 
 expense incurred, would be less easy of reference than if complete 
 in one single mass. (N.B. Copies of the list given in Poole's Index 
 are not required.) 
 
THE SHELLS Y SOCIETY. 1 55 
 
 67. REVIEWS OF DOWDEN'S "LIFE OF SHELLEY." 
 
 Reviews of Professor Dowden's Life of Shelley have appeared 
 in the following papers. Members who maybe acquainted with 
 any notices of the book not included in this list will greatly oblige 
 by forwarding a note of them to Mr. Thos. J. Wise. 
 
 The Times. Friday, Nov. 26, 1886, p. 10. 
 
 The Daily News. Friday, Nov. 26, 1886, p. 3. 
 
 The Standard. Friday, Nov. 26, 1886, p. 2. 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. xliv. No. 6,770. Friday, Nov. 26, 
 1886, p. 5. [First Notice.] 
 
 The Globe. No. 28,550. Friday Evening, Nov. 26, 1886, p. 2. 
 
 The St. James's Gazette. Vol. xiii. No. 2,022. Friday, Nov. 26, 
 1886, p. 13. 
 
 The Morning Post. Dec. 1, 1886. 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette. Vol. xliv. No. 6,777. Saturday, Dec. 4, 
 1886, p. 5. [Second Notice.] 
 
 The Academy. No. 761 [New Issue]. Saturday, Dec. 4, 1886, 
 
 PP. 371-374- 
 
 The Athenceum. No. 3,085. Saturday, Dec. II, 1886, pp. 775- 
 
 777- 
 
 The Critic. No. 155. Dec. 18, 1886, p. 309. 
 
 The Academy. Saturday, Dec. 18, 1886. Two letters, the first 
 signed " T. Hall Caine," and the second " W. J. Newcomb," upon 
 a passage in Professor Dowden's Life of Shelley relating to " A 
 noticeable man with large grey eyes," i.e. S. T. Coleridge. . 
 
 The Tablet. Dec. 25, 1886. 
 
 The Western Daily Mercury (Plymouth). Dec. 28, 1886. [First 
 Notice.] 
 
 The Nottingham Jour 7ial. Dec. 28, 1886. 
 
 The Midland Evening News (Wolverhampton). Dec. 30, 1887. 
 
 The Belfast News- Letter. D ec. 3 1 , 1 886. 
 
 The National Review. Jan. 1887. 
 
 The Westminster Times (Pimlico). Jan. 1, 1887. 
 
 The Birmingham Weekly Mercury. Jan. 1, 1887. 
 
 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, U.S.A.). Jan. 1, 1887. 
 
 The Banner (Southampton). Jan. 7, 1887, p. 299. 
 
 The Midland Evening News (Wolverhampton). Jan. 8, 1887. 
 
 The Western Daily Mercury (Plymouth). Jan. 12, 1887. [Second 
 Notice.] 
 
 The Bath Gazette. Jan. 12, 1887. 
 
 The Preston Pilot. Jan. 12, 1887. 
 
 The Methodist Times. Jan. 13, 1887, p. 20. 
 
 The Leeds Mercury. 
 
 68. MR. H. M. STANLEY AND SHELLEY. 
 
 Mr. H. M. Stanley is a great man. He has started on an 
 expedition for the relief of Emin Bey. Emin Bey is a German 
 
X56 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 gentleman of proved bravery and great medical skill. Albert 
 Edward was with him in 1877, when Emin EfTendi was the Hakim 
 Pasha or chief doctor of the Equatorial Provinces, and I have before 
 me now two interesting letters written by Emin to A. E. at a later 
 period. 
 
 Those who understand the situation are by no means sure that 
 Emin Bey is anxious to come to Europe. The historical " Dr. 
 Livingstone, I presume," may be repeated. The dear old doctor, 
 if report be true, was rather sorry to have his retirement disturbed 
 by the enterprising journalist who ran him down. Emin Bey is 
 probably pretty comfortable where he is, and may not wish to 
 break up his establishment and come back to chimney-pot hats and 
 civilisation just at present. 
 
 All honour to the great African traveller who has gone off amid 
 such shouts of approval. Emin Bey is the ostensible object of 
 the journey, but I fancy there is a little " territory exploration '*' 
 concealed up the sleeve of the promoters of the scheme. 
 
 Whatever may be the complete plan of the Emin Bey discovery 
 expedition, the movements of Mr. Stanley are sure to be worth 
 following. He has taken plenty of guns with him, and he is sure 
 to have " sport " by the way. The first interesting account of the 
 journey comes from Brindisi. On the way thither a member of 
 the Shelley Society occupied a berth above the great African 
 traveller in the sleeping-car, and we are informed that Mr. Stanley 
 was good enough to express his " sympathy with Shelley." This 
 important fact, it is stated, will be dwelt upon at the next meeting 
 of the Shelley Society. Mr. Stanley is more likely to join the 
 Bombshelley Society, but still the shade of the poet ought to feel 
 flattered. Certainly, the incident is quite worthy the extreme 
 publicity that has been given it. 
 
 This "sympathy" of muscular Christianity with literature, ancient 
 and modern, is a pleasing sign of the times. Stanley having patted 
 Shelley on the back, Lord Wolseley might give the late Dr. Watts 
 a leg up, and Sir Frederick Roberts, in the intervals of conquering 
 Burmah, may express his sympathy with Mr. John Milton, deceased. 
 The general satisfaction which these pleasing items of important 
 intelligence call forth would be complete if it could be announced 
 on undoubted authority that H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge had 
 been good enough to express his approval of the lucubrations of 
 Mr. W. Shakespeare. 
 
 Newspapers must be filled, and paragraphs of this sort are quite 
 as interesting as the Court Circular and the reports of Jubilee 
 Institution meetings. — Referee , February 13. 
 
 The sympathy and appreciation which Mr. Stanley has recently 
 proclaimed for Shelley's work, must silence the objections of those 
 who relegate his works to the closet of the dreamer. Trelawny 
 Resurgat ! 
 
 Note. — The Committee have decided to reprint such of those 
 papers, read before the Local Societies, as may be approved. In 
 some cases too, these papers will be read before the Meetings at 
 the University College.- Ed. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 157 
 
 |ji w 0bmttal |)nss, tit. 
 
 A NEWLY-DISCOVERED SHELLEY MS. 
 
 Mr. F. S. Ellis has varied the monotony 1 of his da ily work at 
 the Shelley Coiicordance for the Shelley Society by discovering the 
 existence of Shelley's first draft of his Mask of 'Anarchy (written in 
 Italy in 1819, on hearing of the massacre at Peterloo) in the collec- 
 tion of Mr. L. B. Bowring, of Lavrockbere. 
 
 The MS. — all in Shelley's own hand — is on nine post octavo 
 leaves and three demy octavo ones, all torn out of books, and all 
 (save one) written-on on both sides. The MS. — then imprinted — 
 was sent on February 25, 1826, by Mary Shelley, from Kentish 
 Town, to her correspondent-friend. Not only the corrections by 
 Shelley, and his transposition of stanzas 67 and 68 (Forman's 
 Nos.) show the MS. to be the poet's first draft, but the fact that in 
 it he wrote only the first two lines of stanza 33, and left a gap which 
 he filled up with three fresh lines in Mrs. Shelley's copy of this first 
 draft, which he corrected throughout, and which three lines in 
 Shelley's writing can be seen at the foot of the facsimile page in 
 Mr. Forman's edition, iii., 156-7. This corrected copy belonged to 
 Mr. Townshend-Mayer, and he lent it to Mr. Forman to print. 
 Mrs. Shelley evidently left out of her copy by accident the stanza, 
 " Horses, oxen," &c, between stanzas 49 and 50, which Mr. Forman 
 gives only in a note on p. 167 from Mrs. Shelley's and Mr. 
 Rossetti's edition ; and, of course, the cancelled stanza 68 — 
 
 " From the cities where from caves — 
 Like the dead from putrid graves — 
 Troops* of starvelings gliding come, 
 Living tenants of a tomb " f 
 
 — which Shelley at once expanded into the present stanzas 68-71, 
 does not appear in any of the editions. 
 
 Mr. Bowring's MS. has also at least three better readings than 
 the printed text : stanza 30, 1. 4, " and looked— but all was empty 
 air " (the print has and for but) ; stanza 77, 1. 4, " Shield'st alike 
 both high and low" (the print has the for both) ; and stanza 79, 1. 4, 
 "Weapons of unvanquished war" (the print has of an for of). 
 
 1 No work is monotonous in which one takes a lively and an intense 
 interest, and which, moreover, may be done better or worse, for avoiding 
 the latter, and striving after the former, precludes any danger of monotony. 
 — F.S.E. 
 
158 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Mr. Bowring has kindly consented, at the instance of Mr. F. S. 
 Ellis, to let the Shelley Society facsimile his MS. for their Extra 
 Series, and it is now in Dr. Furnivall's hands that the necessary 
 arrangements may be made. — Academy, January 22. 
 
 MR. EDMUND GOSSE ON SHELLEY. 
 
 These are the titles and dates of Mr. Gosse's Cambridge 
 lectures : — 
 
 Shelley's Historical Position Oct. 30. 
 
 Alastor and the Revolt of Islam Nov. 1 
 
 Poems of 1819 „ 6 
 
 Poems written at Pisa „ 8 
 
 Last Poems and Death „ 13 
 
 Shelley's Influence in English Literature . „ 15 
 
 THE LATE MISS GROVE. 
 
 At this season of the year, which brings so much happiness to 
 family circles, a sad calamity has befallen our neighbours, Sir 
 George and Lady Grove, darkening their Christmas with a crush-' 
 ing sorrow. Miss Grove was widely known, and wherever known 
 she was much loved. There was a quiet goodness about her useful 
 and unostentatious life, that made its influence felt. 
 
 Some months ago Miss Grove became unwell. At first it was 
 skin disease, which developed into blood poisoning. Eventually it 
 was thought advisable to send her abroad, and she went with a 
 cousin, and by easy stages reached Alassio, in Italy. Then followed 
 erysipelas, and then typhoid fever, and against so severe a complica- 
 tion she was unable to battle. Sir George and Lady Grove were 
 telegraphed for, and were with her when she died on December 
 16, at the early age of twenty- four. It needs not to be added that 
 amidst their own rejoicings at this season, many hearts will think 
 with tender sympathy of Sir George and his wife in their present 
 hour of deep sorrow. — Sydenham Gazette. 
 
 SHELLEY SONG EVENING. 
 
 The Court and Society Review of January 12 writes : — 
 The Committee of the Shelley Society have arranged that a 
 " musical evening," at which thirty of the poet's songs will be sung, 
 shall take place in May. Miss K. Grant, Miss Alice Borton, Miss 
 Ethel Turner, and Messrs. Albert Reakes, Dalgety Henderson, and 
 G. Leon Little, have already promised to assist. This is a capital 
 idea, and, if properly carried out, cannot fail to be a great artistic 
 success— greater, at any rate, than the Society's recent unfortunate 
 venture, the performance of Hellas, which, no one can be surprised 
 to learn, "has unhappily resulted in a considerable financial loss." 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 159 
 
 CONCORDANCE-MAKING. 
 
 The Globe on January 8 had a leaderette on "Concordance- 
 making." Here is the article and Mr. Ellis's reply to it : — 
 
 If it be true that in some respects the present age is sceptical and 
 unenthusiastic, it is also true that where it does believe it believes 
 with all its heart and soul. And nowhere is your devotee so notable 
 as in the sphere of poet-worship. There no labours are too 
 onerous for performance, so that they tend to the glory of the 
 honoured object : being delighted in, they physic pain. We may 
 be sure, therefore, that the appeal put forward by Mr. F. S. Ellis 
 in the Athencsum will at once be responded to. That gentleman 
 wants a few persons " at once to give up two or three hours a day " 
 to the completion of the proposed concordance to Shelley's poetical 
 works. More than half of the lines in these works — which number, 
 it seems, 32,000 odd — have been indexed, and the editor expects 
 more contributions shortly. But, meanwhile, help is required. 
 And one can readily imagine the fierce competition among the 
 members of the Shelley Society — the ebullient anxiety to have a 
 share in the ecstatic enterprise. For, nowadays, devotees are 
 nothing if not thorough. Probably, of all these 32,000 lines the 
 really remarkable and fruitful run to, say, a tenth of that number. 
 But the enthusiast must needs not leave a single word alone. He 
 must "get it on his list," or he feels as if he were a traitor to the 
 " cause." Shakespeare has a concordance ; the Laureate has one ; 
 why, then, should not Shelley have another ? for the Shelleyite, no 
 doubt, considers his hero quite Shakespeare's equal in imaginative 
 power, and quite Lord Tennyson's equal in felicity of phrase. 
 Shelley has, of course, many memorable lines, but there are scarcely 
 32,000 of them, and the precedent created by indexing the entire 
 number cannot tend to good. Indeed, if the Shelleyites are going 
 to supply this testimony to the fame of Shelley, what is the Brown- 
 ing Society likely to do ? Can it rest inactive ? Hardly, we should 
 say. Even if the lines in the " master's " works prove to be 
 32,000,000 in all, they must some day be reduced to their elements 
 and " concorded." 
 
 CONCORDANCE-MAKING. 
 
 Sir, — Will you allow me to assure you that your good-natured 
 banter addressed to concordance-makers is not likely to damp the 
 ardour of those engaged in the work ? They think their spare time 
 as well employed in trying to popularise and elucidate the writings 
 of a great poet as it would be in any other amusement — say, even 
 whist-playing or fly-fishing (for which pursuits no one has a greater 
 love than myself), not to mention the thousand other means people 
 employ to kill time. It would be ridiculous for me to attempt to 
 enter upon the question of the value of Shelley's poetry ; but I 
 would venture to remark that, when anyone has expressed astonish- 
 ment at myself and others spending so much time upon it, and I 
 
160 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 have pressed the speaker as to his personal acquaintance with the 
 poet's works, I have never found that it extended beyond that of 
 having read " some extracts occasionally." I hope you will allow 
 me to point out that there exist concordances to Milton and Pope, 
 besides those to Shakespeare and Tennyson ; and, should the list 
 of such works be further extended, as I trust it may be, there will 
 be much less danger of misquotation after the manner of Dr. 
 Pangloss than is common at present, or, at least, there will be a 
 ready means of detection and correction at hand. I heartily hope 
 that the work we are now earnestly engaged in may stimulate others 
 to make concordances to Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Rossetti, 
 and many others ; Swinburne, Browning, and Morris, may come in 
 due course, but it is not desirable to begin a concordance till we are 
 sure that we have the poet's last work. There would hardly be a 
 more useful row of books in an editor's library than the concord- 
 ance shelf. Concordance-making is, however, in its infancy ; a 
 great deal has to be done before it is thoroughly understood, and if 
 I succeed, with the help of others, in making the Shelley Concord- 
 ance a step in advance, I shall think the last few years of my life 
 not ill spent. In conclusion, I will only say that if any one finds 
 half the pleasure in ridiculing the Shelley Concordance that I find 
 in working at it, I should be sorry indeed to deprive him of his 
 amusement, were it in my pdwer to do so. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Yours obediently, 
 
 F. S. Ellis. 
 The Red House, Chelston, Torquay, 
 January ioth. 
 
 THE SHELLEY CONCORDANCE. 
 
 The Red House ; Chelston, Torquay, Jan. 3, 1887. 
 Very considerable progress has been made with the projected 
 concordance-lexicon to Shelley's poetry during the seven months 
 that it has been actually in hand. More than one-half of the 32,026 
 lines of which Shelley's poetical works consist is indexed and 
 revised, and I am promised considerable further instalments in a 
 week or two. There are, however, several pieces returned by those 
 who had undertaken them, and I should be glad to hear from a few 
 volunteers for the indexing of these. I would, however, suggest 
 that it is useless for anyone to engage in the task who is not able 
 at once to give up two or three hours a day to it. If two or three 
 — ladies or gentlemen — could afford a moderate amount of help at 
 once, there is no reason why the whole of the index work should 
 not be completed in a few weeks. Seeing how much will remain 
 still to be done before the whole can be ready for press, it is very 
 important that no time should be lost. Experience shows that 50 
 to 100 lines a day can with moderate industry be indexed, and I do 
 not propose to send any one more than 500 to 750 lines at the most. 
 - Athcnccum, January 8. F. S. ElLis. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 161 
 
 Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound."— Will any student of 
 Shelley oblige me by referring to the following passage in this 
 drama, and stating his opinion thereon? In Act III. sc. iii., just 
 after the beautiful description of the " cave, all overgrown with 
 trailing odorous plants," &c, Prometheus says : — 
 
 " And thou, 
 lone, shalt chaunt fragments of sea-music, 
 Until I weep, when ye shall smile away 
 The tears she brought, which yet were sweet to shed." 
 
 Is not "she" in the last line an error, and ought we not to read 
 " ye " ? There is no antecedent person, so far as I see, to whom 
 " she " can refer. In two independent editions of the Prometheus, 
 however, it is printed " she." " Shalt chaunt " is also printed 
 " shall chaunt," but this is an obvious error. 
 
 Will some one also kindly refer me to a good critical analysis of 
 this glorious poem, perhaps the greatest achievement of English 
 poetry since the death of Milton ? 
 
 Jonathan Bouchier. 
 
 [Is not the antecedent her chaunting, which brings tears to 
 him ?] — Notes and Queries ; January i, 1887. 
 
 Shelley's Letters.— The Institute News (Birmingham), for 
 January, 1887, contains an article by Mr. Kineton Parkes on 
 "Shelley's Letters." 
 
 THE MELBOURNE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 
 
 The Melbourne Argus of November 2. 1 886, has this paragraph : — 
 " A general meeting of the Melbourne Shelley Society was held last 
 evening in the Society's hall, at the rear of the main Assembly Hall, 
 Collins Street East. The president (the Rev. George Walters) was 
 in the chair. The attendance was very good. The first paper was 
 read by Mr. David Blair on the Hymn to Intellectual Beauty. 
 This was followed by a paper on ' Shelley's Letters from Italy,' by 
 Mr. Charles H. Round. The secretary, Mr. Frank Scrivenor, 
 completed the list of papers with one on Alastor. Discussion 
 followed each of the papers read. The rule of the society that 
 non-members may speak was, as usual, largely availed of. The 
 next general meeting of the Society will take place on December 6." 
 
 SHELLEY AND NON-INTERVENTION. 
 
 The Pall Mall Gazette of February 4 contains this note : — " Will 
 you allow me to point out," writes a correspondent, " that among 
 the non-intervention men lately recruited by Lord Randolph, Shelley 
 should be included? In the Philosophical View of Reform, quoted 
 by Professor Dowden, Shelley advocates a policy of retrenchment 
 which would have satisfied even Lord Randolph, and goes on to 
 draw a picture of what might have been which would please even 
 
 M 
 
162 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 Mr. Bright. Had we only abstained from foreign wars, we might, 
 he says, ' have made every peasant's cottage a little paradise of 
 comfort, with . . . neat tables and chairs and good beds, and a 
 collection of useful books.' This recalls at once the closely parallel 
 passage in Mr. Bright's speeches where he describes how ' this 
 country might have been a garden, and every person who treads its 
 soil might have been sufficiently educated.' But the succeeding 
 passage in Shelley's tract gives reason to hope that he was alive to 
 the importance which the new foreign policy logically attaches to a 
 strong navy. Our fleet, he says, * manned by sailors well paid 
 and well clothed,' would ' keep watch round this glorious island 
 against the less enlightened nations which assuredly would have 
 envied its prosperity.'" 
 
 "I ARISE FROM DREAMS OF THEE." 
 
 The Faringdon Advertiser of February 5 has the following : — 
 " Even our taste in poetry is subjected to those same laws of 
 change which govern music, and the young generation that stands on 
 the shoulders of the old despises the ladder by which it climbed. A 
 curious instance of the conceit of modern editors occurs in Shelley's 
 lines, ' I arise from dreams of thee.' Some current editions make 
 the plaint to run in the second verse, ' The champetre odours fail, 
 like sweet thoughts in a dream.' The early copies print it, ' The 
 champak odours fail,' in which the whole beauty of the passage 
 lies. Tradition made the champak a beautiful blue flower which 
 only bloomed in Paradise, and thus the next line becomes a part of 
 it, ' The champak odours fail, like sweet thoughts in a dream/ 
 Many of the modern commentators are men of blood and iron. 
 Our individual paradise may be a dream ; the champak odours 
 failing on our awaking, but we prefer not to be disturbed. The 
 lanthorn of the stern student of philology is always being turned 
 upon every supposed anachronism in the poet. Of the few editors 
 who have touched 'The Indian Serenade' with a gentle hand, 
 William Michael Rossetti deserves honourable mention. He has 
 respected that blue flower on which the spray of Eden's fountains 
 fell. That ' champetre,' which will not even scan, has no place in 
 his edition of Shelley's poems." 
 
 Newcastle.— Mr. Graham Aylward writes to the Tyneside Echo 
 as follows : — 
 
 " The Shelley Society having just entered its second year, kindly 
 allow me to call the attention of your numerous readers to this fact. 
 The Society has for one object the bringing together of all who like 
 Shelley either as a poet or as a man. The benefits of membership 
 are extensive. Besides receiving the publications (which include 
 reprints of original editions, &c.) gratis, members are entitled to 
 attend performances of Shelley's dramas, hear lectures, &c, &c. I 
 shall be pleased to send full particulars to any who are interested 
 in ' the divine poet,' and will apply by letter to my address. 
 "January 24, 1887." 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 163 
 
 THE BIRMINGHAM SHELLEY SOCIETY. 
 
 The following is from the Institute Magazine : — 
 "A branch of the Society has been formed in Birmingham, and 
 will meet in No. 10 Room at the Institute, on alternate Tuesdays, 
 at 8.30, after Mr. Pearson's literature lecture, the use of the room 
 having been generously granted by the Council of the Institute. 
 The first meeting will be held in January, due notice of which will 
 be given in the Magazi?ie, when an address on ' Shelley' will be 
 delivered. The objects of the branch will be identical with those 
 of the Society : the study of the poet and his various works in 
 prose and verse, by reading and elucidations, and papers followed 
 by discussions. A programme is in process of formation, which 
 will include, besides the address, three readings, conducted by 
 members, and three papers, also by members. It is hoped that the 
 session may be concluded by a Shelley concert, at which passages 
 from Shelley will be recited, and his songs and choruses, set to 
 music, sung. 
 
 " A small subscription will have to be fixed to meet current ex- 
 penses and to pay the subscription to the Society, by which the 
 branch will be enabled to lend to its members the publications 
 of the Society, which are otherwise inaccessible. Some of these 
 publications are only issued to members, and consist of facsimile 
 reprints of the rare first editions of the poems and pamphlets, and 
 works on Shelley, which have never before been printed." 
 
 " W. KlNETON PARKES, 
 
 " Local Hon. See. 3 ' 
 
 I AM glad to see that a branch of the Shelley Society has been 
 formed in Birmingham. It will meet at the Midland Institute once 
 a fortnight for addresses, papers, readings, musical evenings, talk, 
 &c. ; and, as the subscription is merely nominal, I shall hope to 
 hear that a good many people have been able to find leisure for 
 joining in this intellectual converse. Heine says in one of his books, 
 " One never properly enjoys the beauties of nature unless one can 
 talk them over on the spot." I don't know how far that is true. 
 I think there are some aspects of nature one can only enjoy properly 
 when quite alone ; in presence of which all companionship, every 
 spoken word, seems to jar. But there are other aspects the delight 
 of which is doubtless enhanced when one shapes, or tries to shape, 
 one's feelings in matter-moulded forms of speech, and when one 
 borrows and pays in the interchange of thought and fancy with a 
 friend. Isn't it Coleridge — the lines escape me at the moment — 
 who speaks of it as being sweet to let the shifting clouds be what 
 you please, or own each coinage issuing from the mould of a friend's 
 fancy ? Next to the beauties of nature — higher, perhaps, in some 
 respects — are the beauties of poetry, and of these beauties and 
 depths, while there are some which one hides in one's heart or only 
 whispers to a bosom friend in some sacred hour, there are others 
 that one can only enjoy properly by talking them over on the spot. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 During the coming session Shelley the man, his faith, his art criti- 
 cisms, will be discussed at these meetings, his Epipsychidion and 
 the Prometheus Unbound. There is no likelihood that the Society 
 will be " gravelled for lack of matter." — " Roundabout Papers," 
 Birmingham Daily Mail. 
 
 Ileirufos. 
 
 SOME MUSIC OF THE FUTURE. 
 
 Album of Six Songs. Poems by Shelley, Music by 
 Ernest Ford. Price ^s. net. Stanley Lucas, Weber, 
 and Co. 
 
 When an English composer issues a set of songs, the 
 words chosen from one great poet solely, in a shape and 
 style that by its external likeness recalls the song cycles 
 of Schumann or Brahms ; it at once challenges attention 
 as the work of one whose aim is rather art than gain. 
 Fortunately Mr. Ernest Ford is not alone in this respect. 
 Other young writers are willing to leave the tempting 
 field of " royalty " songs, and, disregarding the easy popu- 
 larity obtained by choosing commonplace words, clothed 
 in commonplace music, dare to do the best that is in 
 them and to leave the result ; ignoring the advantage of 
 " sung by the eminent so-and-so," on their title-page, 
 thereby losing the puff direct and oblique, which the 
 music publisher uses to advertise the song and the 
 singer ; and the singer supplies in egotistic paragraphs, 
 with one brief word for the composer, and a long 
 sentence for the way his work was sung. 
 
 The renascence of English music has undoubtedly 
 commenced, and on every hand appear signs of waiting, 
 with nervous expectation, for the " coming men " who 
 are to be the Shakespeares and Shelleys of English 
 music. But how often in the revival of a dormant art, 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 165 
 
 while the crowd expect the Messiah to arrive with pomp 
 and great glory, he is among them all the time, without, 
 maybe, the ordinary attributes of majesty, but known 
 to the faithful hearts who recognise the divine spirit 
 appearing in the unlooked-for guise. 
 
 At a time when every important work from an English 
 pen is eagerly anticipated, when the most stern critic 
 prepares to find matter for praise, rather than to hunt 
 for shortcomings ; may it not be that the " great masters " 
 whom our children shall applaud are even now producing 
 those works which the world will not readily let die ? 
 
 For some years " English music " has ceased to be a 
 term of reproach : to feel that it once deserved the 
 Teutonic sneer, it is only needful to compare, say, the 
 songs of Schubert with those of English writers contem- 
 porary with him. If we even pick out the best songs of 
 the first half of this century from Bishop to Balfe, we find 
 mere prettiness the chief aim ; so rarely have they the 
 music wedded to the words, that a paraphrase of the 
 latter might be substituted with almost equal effect. 
 The feeling of the ballad the " Old Arm - Chair " 
 would be as apparent if the words were those of " Fare- 
 well to my Native Land ; " nor is this truth confined to 
 that period : even now the mass of the songs that flow 
 from the publishers in ever-increasing numbers show but 
 a little higher ideal — a better finish is noticeable, more 
 attention is paid to the pianoforte part ; but the " song 
 with waltz refrain " lurks among them all, ever ready to 
 burst out, and drown all others for its short-lived hour. 
 
 Although native composers have of late produced 
 splendid examples of their art, yet it can hardly be said 
 that " epoch-making" works have been amongst them. 
 To notice the larger musical forms first : now that 
 Wagner and Liszt have joined the immortals, we can 
 probably hold our own in any comparison with living 
 Continental composers ; not perhaps man for man, but 
 "he who blows through bronze may breathe through 
 silver," and a perfect song is not less perfect art than an 
 ideal opera or symphony. We may have no symphonic 
 writer equalling Brahms, no choral writer so unique in 
 novel effects as Dvorak, but except perhaps Verdi, who 
 
166 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 by Otello has earned a right to be enrolled among living 
 (i.e. working) composers, we can challenge the world. In 
 opera, Corder, Mackenzie, Stanford, and Thomas, to 
 take four names in alphabetical order, are at least 
 worthy rivals of Boito, Gounod (of this period), Mas- 
 senet, and Ponchielli ; and so, if space allowed, we might 
 fairly show parallel to any other country. But it seems 
 to the present writer that one branch of. the art, where 
 England may boldly claim pre-eminence, is not yet 
 recognised at its true importance. The song is too 
 often taken only in its widely successful ballad concert 
 type, but there is a growing body of young artists — Mr. 
 J. G. Bennett, Mr. Ford, Mr. Gerald Cobb, Mr. Laurence 
 Kellie, Miss Maude Valerie White, and others — who are 
 producing veritable art works, in whose hands the song 
 is assuming an importance almost unknown in the annals 
 of English music. To say this is to cast no slur on 
 Sterndale Bennett's beautiful works, nor on those of many 
 another dead or living musician; but simply to note a 
 new feeling of power and passion, with a vivid sense 
 of colouring and displaying the words to their best 
 advantage, which had not previously obtained. 
 
 To ascertain the difference between the song as treated 
 by these young artists (working of course in divers ways, 
 and by no means with equal success) a rough test is 
 easily at hand : if a song will bear introducing at a 
 Monday Popular Concert, and hold its place by right, 
 when heard in immediate juxtaposition with the most 
 perfect tone-pictures music has yet known, little more 
 need to be said to justify the assertion. Miss Maude 
 Valerie White's songs may be so heard. But this 
 stand-point is not recognised by the public at large, 
 nor at its full importance by even the most cultured 
 section of society. Graceful commonplaces and sensuous 
 dance rhythms reign almost supreme in our drawing- 
 rooms and in the programmes of nine-tenths of our 
 concerts. If a plebiscite were taken of the whole music- 
 loving public, " The Lost Chord " is as likely as any 
 other to head the list, as the best example of a modern 
 song ; yet, without reflecting on the merits of that popu- 
 lar ballad, would it not sound a little out of place at a 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 167 
 
 Monday Popular Conceit ? The ordinary song of the day 
 needs polite but firm dismissal from all who in other 
 arts appreciate and recognise true merit. The " Love 
 that would not stay," but passed to heaven with arpeggio 
 make-believe harp accompaniment to the last verse, 
 the legends of nautical babies of supernatural excel- 
 lences, the love-plaints of desolate maidens in the 
 gloaming, should all go. The people who admit these 
 would not hang on their walls a " chromo " given away 
 by an advertising agent, they would not tolerate a group 
 of wax flowers under a glass shade : why should they 
 admit equivalents equally vulgar in music, as these are 
 in painting and modelling ? 
 
 This may all seem discursive, and away from the songs 
 of Mr. Ford, but unless we rightly appreciate the stand- 
 point taken by these young composers, there is little 
 hope of full justice being done. To turn over the pages, 
 trying the melody on the piano with one hand, ejacu- 
 lating, u What a difficult accompaniment ! " " In five 
 flats ! ! " or, " Those arpeggios are very hard : why will 
 people not write piano parts that anybody may play at 
 sight ? " is not the way to arrive at their merits. The 
 apparent difficulties will vanish with a little care, and 
 the beauty is of a sort that will not tire from frequent 
 practice, but grow more dear the more it is known. 
 
 Of the six songs in this volume, some have already a 
 wide circle of friends, as they were previously obtainable 
 in full music size. Of these, "Good Night" and "On a 
 Faded Violet * have won lovers in all who seek poetry 
 in music, for a subtile spirit has flavoured Mr. Ford's 
 music with its sweet charm, so hard to analyse, but yet 
 so certainly perceptible. To take them in the order of 
 this volume. No. I is a splendid impassioned setting of 
 "To the Queen of my Heart," from the Shelley papers 
 first collected in 1833. For a tenor, it is exceedingly 
 singable, and a good example of the masterful power 
 which Mr. Ford has a knack of imparting to his songs. 
 They are not sickly whinings of love, but a strong com- 
 manding manliness, sensual even at times, maybe, but 
 the healthy pure passion of an ardent lover, not the 
 morbid prurience of a certain school of writers. It 
 
1 68 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 may be treading on forbidden ground to mix morality 
 and music, but to a nervous musical temperament the 
 reality of Mr. Ford's melody has a tonic power of in- 
 vigorating quality. In No. 2, " Heart's Devotion," a 
 different sentiment is given. No longer tempo gmsto, the 
 andante ma non troppo has a devotional feeling in keep- 
 ing with the words. What can be said of No. 3 ? 
 Praise is wasted upon u On a Faded Violet," as it is 
 upon the flower it sings : to analyse its beauty is 
 weary work, when the right course is to know and 
 love it. No. 4, " As the Moon's Soft Splendour," has 
 a tender character of its own, dreamy yet not sad nor 
 sorrowful. " Feeling kindly unto all the earth, grudge 
 every moment as it passes by," as William Morris sings, 
 is rather the prominent sentiment. No. 5, " Good Night," 
 is at once the most popular and the most distinctly 
 characteristic song of the series. It is hard to imagine 
 any other writer than Mr. Ford producing this ; he has 
 in it invented a new type of " Good Night " songs, as 
 little like the conventional ones as Shelley's words 
 resemble the average " Good Night." Full of passionate 
 love and unrest, the music, voice, and piano alike reflect 
 the emotions of the words — a song to witch one if well 
 sung — a song that, when interpreted as it should be, has 
 a fascinating power over its hearers. It may be said of 
 this setting that it is more elaborate than the first ver- 
 sion, and embroidered in the piano part to a rather high 
 degree of technical acquirements. The earlier edition 
 is still (we believe) to be had, and when the accompani- 
 ment is found beyond the technique of the player, it 
 would be as well to substitute the simpler but yet effec- 
 tive first version. There have been those who objected 
 to Shelley's words, and so refused to allow the song 
 admittance, so that another set of* words, " Farewell," 
 has replaced the original, and is advertised for sale. 
 Knowing naught but that such is said to be the case, it 
 is enough to record it, and forbear the obvious com- 
 ments. The last song, No. 6, is "A Bridal Song," 
 which certainly is exacting both for voice and instru- 
 ment, but demanding only the needed difficulties; not 
 a display of mere technical knowledge. It is a "hard " 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 169 
 
 piano part that will bo found full of inherent interest ; 
 while the melody, allegro vivace, needs a powerful and 
 sympathetic voice to do it justice. 
 
 All lovers of Shelley, all lovers of music, should wel- 
 come this set of songs, and for art's sake do their best 
 to help them to be widely known, and so inspire the 
 young writers to devote their best work to lyrics from 
 our great poets ; to study the spirit which animates the 
 words and realise it with song, so that the two may be 
 wedded, each heightening the charm of the other, and 
 welding the sister arts of poetry and music into a perfect 
 whole, complete in itself, with an undying beauty that 
 may make glad thousands who sing and hear. 
 
 J. W. Gleeson White. 
 
 DOWDEN'S "LIFE OF SHELLEY." 
 The Editor makes no apology for reprinting the article from The 
 Athenceum (of December 1 ith, 1886,) on Dowden's Life of Shelley ; 
 in so much as it was written by a prominent member of the Society, 
 and brings out all the new facts in Dowden's Life. 
 
 The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley. By Edward Dowden, LL.D. 
 2 vols. (Kegan Paul, Trench & Co.) 
 
 At last the world is in possession of that complete life of Shelley, 
 sanctioned by his family and embodying their hitherto carefully 
 reserved materials, which has often been asked for, and sometimes 
 demanded with a certain degree of impatience. It is fully sixty- 
 four years since Shelley died, and no one can say that the publica- 
 tion comes too soon. By the Shelley family, the Esdaile family 
 (Shelley's grandchildren through his first daughter Ianthe), Mr. 
 Forman, Mr. Slack (in respect of the curious and important 
 Hitchener correspondence), and others, Prof. Dowden has been 
 furnished with matter hitherto unknown or imperfectly known ; 
 and he has made good use of it. He writes in the spirit which 
 befits a biographer of Shelley. He believes in Shelley's poetry 
 and his genius ; discerns that his character was in some respects 
 singularly beautiful, and his opinions ardent and sincere, if extreme ; 
 is willing to believe in his general goodness if he can find adequate 
 grounds for doing so ; and scrutinises the evidence in the hope of 
 finding such grounds, but with a reluctant willingness to give judg- 
 ment against him on particular points if that proves to be the only 
 course consistent with the evidence. He dwells on nothing invi- 
 diously, but adversely on various things. It may be doubted, how- 
 ever, whether Prof. Dowden feels with quite sufficient force two 
 fundamental principles which perpetually challenge consideration 
 in the career of Shelley, and which, if admitted at their full, go far 
 towards vindicating his general course of action, though assuredly 
 
17.0 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 not every several item of it. I. Opinion is absolutely free ; for an 
 opinion, simply as such, no man ought to be arraigned at the bar of 
 his fellow men. 2. The man who, entertaining an opinion, reso- 
 lutely and constantly acts upon it, to his own personal detriment 
 on occasion, may be, and often is, exceedingly inconvenient, and 
 one-sided in an objectionable or condemnable degree ; but by thus 
 acting he has given the one highest proof of the sincerity of his 
 opinion and of its value to himself, and, if valuable to himself, 
 the opinion, especially when resulting in action, is likely to have 
 some core of value to other people as well. Martyrs and heroes 
 are made like this, and indeed a martyr can hardly be made other- 
 wise ; before he goes to his stake or his dungeon he is certain to 
 have outraged the dominant public opinion of his time and country, 
 and in most cases he has infringed and defied the written law 
 to boot. We shall say no more of this aspect of the question — 
 so essential to a right understanding of what Shelley was and 
 did — as columns would be needed for pursuing the subject to its 
 requisite development. 
 
 The first thing which a student of Shelley's life naturally turns to 
 is the poet's separation from his first wife, almost coincident as 
 this was with his elopement with Mary Godwin. On this crux of 
 Shelleyan biography the present book throws more light than we 
 had before, but still it does not throw light enough ; there is yet 
 room — and presumably, therefore, there always will be room — for 
 considerable difference of view. The facts already known may be 
 briefly summed up: That early in 1814, or, indeed, some while 
 before the close of 181 3, Shelley and Harriet had ceased to live 
 together in harmony ; that this discord existed before Shelley 
 became at all attached to Mary, which may have been early in 
 June, 1814, or at earliest in May; and that Shelley and Harriet 
 met and discussed matters, of course with great divergence of views 
 and feelings, before the elopement with Mary, which took place on 
 July 28th, 1 814. The new matter bearing on the question is 
 mainly as follows. In May Shelley addressed some verses to 
 Harriet, which are given by Prof. Dowden, and justifies his 
 comment, " It is evident that in May, 1814, Harriet had assumed 
 an attitude of hard alienation towards her husband, who pleaded 
 with almost despairing hope for the restoration of her love." 
 Harriet afterwards, leaving Shelley in London (or possibly escorted 
 by him), went to Bath ; she was there at the beginning of July. 
 Shelley wrote frequently to Harriet in Bath. The only point which 
 alarmed her was that once four days (up to July 7th) elapsed without 
 her hearing from him, and she then wrote to the bookseller Mr. Hook- 
 ham to inquire, and on the 14th she returned, at her husband's own 
 suggestion, to London. Shelley at this time believed (or, to put it 
 in the most sceptical form, he professed to believe) that Harriet 
 was in love with an Irish gentleman, Mr. (or Major) Ryan, whom 
 they had both known with some intimacy in the summer of 181 3, 
 and of whom a trace reappears in the winter of 1815 ; she was 
 pregnant in 1814 for the second time, and Shelley charged the 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 171 
 
 paternity upon Ryan. We are told that at a later date Shelley 
 totally dismissed the idea that the child (Charles, born at the end 
 of November, 18 14) was really Ryan's ; but he still, and to the end 
 of his life, entertained the opinion that Harriet had been false to 
 him before he quitted her. The most singular piece of evidence 
 appears in a letter addressed by Godwin on May 12th, 1817, to his 
 old friend Mr. Baxter. " The late Mrs. Shelley," he wrote, " has 
 turned out to have been a woman of great levity. I know from 
 unquestionable authority, wholly unconnected with Shelley (though 
 I cannot with propriety be quoted for this), that she had proved 
 herself unfaithful to her husband before their separation." This, it 
 will be observed, is absolutely vague to a reader of the present 
 day ; but still, Godwin being the writer, it is impossible to suppose 
 that he wrote without some apparently strong ground to go upon. 
 Godwin had at a rather earlier date, January-, 181 7, stated the same 
 thing to Shelley himself; and Shelley, writing agiin about it to 
 Mary, said that the date of Harriet's misconduct, thus fixed, had 
 been four months before the elopement with Mary, or late in March, 
 1 814. Before the elopement Shelley had given orders for a settle- 
 ment for Harriet's behoof ; and our author considers it certain that 
 he went abroad with Mary under the conviction that Harriet was 
 willing to relieve both herself and him from the marriage tie. In 
 the course of the subsequent Chancery proceedings regarding the 
 children, Shelley alleged separation by mutual consent, but denied 
 (and he was clearly justified in denying) desertion. Such are the 
 principal facts now brought out. Our readers will form their own 
 opinion of them ; for our part we can only say that, while we regard 
 Harriet's unfaithfulness as still in the highest degree disputable, we 
 cannot dismiss as merely frivolous the allegations now for the first 
 time made public. Prof, Dovvden, with laudable discretion and 
 good feeling, declines to pronounce an opinion. 
 
 Next to the Harriet problem comes, perhaps — in curiosity, if not 
 in importance — the Tanyrallt problem ; the question whether there 
 was any and what amount of truth in the assertion of Shelley, 
 confirmed by Harriet and by Miss Westbrook, that a murderous 
 assault had been committed upon him at Tanyrallt, in Carnar- 
 vonshire, in February, 181 3. Prof. Dowden, like some other 
 cautious investigators, remains in doubt. He refuses to believe 
 that the tale was a mere device of Shelley's for the purpose of 
 decamping from Tanyrallt without paying his bills ; and he thinks 
 it possible that Shelley, in pointing to a certain Mr. Leeson as 
 privy to the affair, may have been on the right track. It is esta- 
 blished by evidence published some years ago that Shelley had 
 shortly before been under Government surveillance : perchance 
 Leeson may have assumed some of the functions of a spy, and 
 may have had a meaner myrmidon who, for one reason or another, 
 figured with pistol and sword. One odd detail of the affair is now 
 at last elucidated. The grass on the lawn had been much trampled 
 and rolled upon, but there were no footsteps on the wet ground except 
 between the trampled spot and the window of the house. This 
 
i 7 2 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 point was cleared up by an old lady (Mrs. Williams) living in the 
 neighbourhood, who wrote in i860. She shows that Shelley had 
 seen on the lawn a ghost or " the devil " leaning against a tree, and 
 had had a tussle with him, and had even " set fire to the wood to 
 burn the apparition." She adds, with piquant simplicity, " You 
 may suppose it was not all right with him." This matter of the 
 ghost may suffice to convince us that Shelley was labouring under 
 a positive and violent delusion; and that, if the main incident of 
 the murderous assailant was not a reality, that likewise was a 
 delusion, and not a voluntary fiction— or, to speak plainly, a wilful, 
 senseless, and atrocious lie. 
 
 We can permit ourselves only a few general remarks upon 
 Shelley's character as brought out in these volumes, and upon 
 Prof. Dowden's performance as a biographer. After that we may 
 best serve our readers' interest by referring briefly to some of the 
 new points indicated. As regards Shelley's character, the book, 
 while it does not materially alter the estimate of him which 
 admirers and opponents have formed from their respective points 
 of view, tends to raise rather than depress him, and this without 
 special pleading or any sort of lack of candour — for we find no 
 traces of either — on the author's part. The qualities of decision, 
 promptness of resource and action, generosity, self-forgetful interest 
 in others, general kindliness and courtesy, come out with increased 
 force ; and in particular it must be admitted after reading this 
 work that Shelley had a very ample faculty for treating the business 
 of life in a business-like way— he is constantly seen negotiating, 
 transacting, advising, controlling— with quiet, resolute superiority, 
 good sense, and often more than ordinary acumen. The copious 
 extracts which are given from the diaries of Shelley, of the second 
 Mrs. Shelley, and Miss Clairmont, and from the letters of these 
 and other persons, indicate a solid basis of affection and personal, 
 sweetness in the family relations ; and, though it remains certain 
 that Shelley and Mary were not always at one in feeling and tone 
 of character, it is difficult to suppose that the divergences between 
 them led to any grave unhappiness or conflict, notwithstanding the 
 letter of the poet to Mr. Gisborne, dated June 18th, 1822 (only two 
 days later than Mary's dangerous miscarriage), which had been 
 previously published, and is here requoted. Shelley's likes and dis- 
 likes of one and the same person were (as Prof. Dowden points out) 
 extremely fitful, and found sometimes exaggerated and offensive 
 expression ; this constitutes a serious indiscretion, and even a 
 fault in his character. On the other hand, his mere eccentrici- 
 ties, whims, and absurdities, though not at all ignored in these 
 volumes, count for less than they do in some other narratives ; 
 they take their proper and subordinate place in the full portraiture 
 here presented. 
 
 As concerns Prof. Dowden's work as a biographer, we may 
 add to what we have already said at the opening of this article, 
 that his essential, though sympathetic moderation of tone is matched 
 by his equability of language; he -avoids controversy as far as 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 173 
 
 possible, and is never over-heated. On occasion he exhibits an 
 incident or describes a scene with effect ; but he does not strive to 
 be incisive, or to stimulate the reader to strong and one-sided con- 
 clusions. The book is readable rather than powerful or pictorial. 
 The amount of matter needing to be displayed and condensed was, 
 in fact, somewhat in excess of the scale of treatment ; and we 
 cannot but regret that our author comes to the end of his book 
 without ever finding space to give a general estimate and summary 
 either of Shelley's character and course of action or of his standing 
 as poet and thinker. These matters are naturally taken up here 
 and there during the narrative (not with any marked novelty of 
 estimate), and we need be under no mistake as to the biographer's 
 views respecting them ; but a certain sense of an opportunity 
 missed may beset some readers as they close the second volume. 
 
 We now proceed to mention a few of the many new points 
 which Prof. Dowden has been able to present for the instruction 
 of Shelley students. 
 
 He points out — doubtless with truth — that Mrs. Shelley's novel 
 of Lodore, published in 1835, contains a number of details bearing 
 upon Shelley's career, especially the poverty which he and she 
 endured in London towards the close of 1814. The facts of the 
 Chancery proceedings are presented with a precision hitherto unat- 
 tained. Shelley, it seems, had left with Harriet the two children 
 of their marriage, at her urgent request, although he would himself 
 have preferred to keep them. Harriet, some while before her suicide, 
 had placed the children with a schoolmaster in Warwick, the Rev. 
 Mr. Kendall— the same person who was proposed to the Chancery 
 Court by Mr. and Miss Westbrook as the children's guardian when 
 Shelley claimed them as his own. This proposal was set aside by 
 Lord Eldon, who did not assign the custody of the children in any 
 sense to the Westbrooks, and ratified Shelley's final suggestion of 
 Dr. and Mrs. Hume as the guardians ; and Shelley, by Lord Eldon's 
 decree of July 25th, 181 8, was allowed to see the children twelve 
 times a year in the presence of the Humes — an arrangement which 
 came to nothing, owing to his having already departed to Italy. As 
 to the intrigue between Byron and Miss Clairmont, and the evidence 
 which was said to be forthcoming in disproof of Mr. Jeaffreson's 
 allegation that the Shelleys must have been privy to it before they 
 left England in 1 816 with Miss Clairmont and joined Byron near 
 Geneva, it is now shown that Miss Clairmont had written a letter 
 to Byron, probably soon before his abandoning England, to say 
 that Mary knew nothing of their intimacy ; and she afterwards 
 instructed Byron to address her under a feigned name if he had to 
 communicate with her through the poste restante. In other respects 
 the matter remains no less open than before to difference of 
 opinion. The preface to Frankenstein is the writing of Shelley, 
 not of his wife. The suicide of Fanny Godwin (daughter of Mary 
 Wollstonecraft and Mr. Imlay), who, according to Godwin and his 
 wife, was desperately in love with Shelley, is elucidated at some 
 length. Prof. Dowden finds no evidence to support the alle- 
 
174 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 gations of the Godwins, and he proves from Fanny's letters that 
 she had for some time before her end sunk into a state of morbid 
 depression and disgust of life, deeming herself useless and burden- 
 some, which may, perhaps, be held a sufficient motive for the final 
 act. She is said to have been a plain, but very sweet and interest- 
 ing girl, and Shelley bitterly deplored her loss. After returning 
 from Switzerland in 1816, Shelley sought in November for Harriet, 
 but failed to obtain any trace of her. She was living in Brompton 
 up to November 9th, when she disappeared. Her body remained 
 in the Serpentine undiscovered until December 10th, and the 
 precise date of her suicide is conjectural ; at the inquest her name 
 appeared as "Harriet Smith," and the verdict was "Found 
 drowned." The details heretofore given about the alterations made 
 in the poem of Laon and Cythna, so as to bring it into its present 
 form, The Revolt of Islam, are not correct, the fact being that 
 Shelley, although indignantly opposed to the total suppression of 
 Laon and Cythna, acquiesced at once in the publisher's proposal 
 that a certain number of passages should be changed, and carried 
 the changes into effect with alacrity. 
 
 A mysterious affair at Naples is now for the first time brought to 
 light. Some of our readers will remember that Shelley alleged 
 that a married lady of fashion had, just before he went to Switzer- 
 land in 1816, proposed to join her lot with his; he necessarily 
 declined the proffer, but he saw her again in Naples in 1818-19, 
 and there she died about the same time. It is now established 
 that "a little girl in whom Shelley was deeply interested, and who 
 was to some extent placed under his charge or wardship," died in 
 Naples in the summer of 1820; and the question is reopened 
 whether possibly the lady of fashion (long classed as a Shelleyan 
 myth by the biographers, if we exclude Medwin, and to some 
 extent Mr. Rossetti) may not, after all, have been a creature of flesh 
 and blood, and whether this girl may not have been her daughter, 
 left by the dying mother under the poet's protection. The girl was 
 mixed up somehow with the imputations made upon Shelley's con- 
 duct while in Naples. We knew already about the Swiss nurse 
 Elise and her husband Paolo Foggi, and the allegation made by 
 them in 1821 that Shelley had had in Naples a child by Miss 
 Clairmont, and had consigned it to a foundling hospital. It is 
 now shown by Prof. Dowden that at an earlier date, towards 
 August, 1820, Foggi (who appears to have been a consummate 
 rascal) had threatened to accuse Shelley o>( some crime in con- 
 nexion with this Neapolitan girl unless he were bought off; but 
 Shelley at once went to a lawyer, and Foggi's conspiracy collapsed. 
 Our author refers to the matter (so much debated of late years) 
 that among the papers left behind by Byron at his death was 
 found that letter from Mary Shelley which she had written to Mrs. 
 Hoppner in indignant repudiation of the Elise-Paolo calumny 
 against her husband, and which Byron had pledged himself to 
 send on to Mrs. Hoppner. Prof. Dowden, like some of his pre- 
 decessors, considers that Byron failed disgracefully to fulfil his 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE TV. 175 
 
 promise. It does not seem to occur to any of the disputants that 
 Byron may possibly have forwarded the letter to Mrs. Hoppner, 
 and have received it back from her, or may have forwarded a copy 
 of the letter, which Mrs. Shelley herself had wished to be copied 
 out. Prof. Dowden discusses the circumstances connected with 
 Shelley's death ; he gives fair weight to the statements which 
 tend to show that the boat was run down with a murderous or 
 felonious intent ; but on the whole he inclines to the theory of an 
 accidental collision. In an appendix one article exhibits the cele- 
 brated mediaeval soldier of fortune, Sir John Hawkwood, as among 
 the remoter ancestors of the poet ; another, of uncommon interest, 
 relates the allegations made by Mrs. Godwin, mostly to the disad- 
 vantage of Shelley, and demonstrates that many of them are 
 utterly, and can only have been wilfully, false. 
 
 These volumes appear to be practically free from definite error 
 or mis-statement. Two slight points may bear noting. Prof. 
 Dowden considers that Hogg indulged in "fantastic exaggera- 
 tion " in saying that Shelley " never was inclined to go to bed," 
 &c. Hogg's view, however, was corroborated by Trelawny, who 
 affirmed that the poet, when Trelawny knew him, made it a very 
 ordinary practice not to go to bed at all, but simply to pass the 
 night on a sofa. The birth of Trelawny is dated " in November, 
 1793." For this statement, be it accurate or otherwise, no authority 
 is named ; Trelawny himself used to say that he was born in the 
 same year as Shelley, 1792 (November), being thus about three 
 months the poet's junior. 
 
 Professor Dowden inserts in his pages several poems by Shelley 
 hitherto unknown ; they are of unequal merit, but all superior to his 
 mere juvenilia, and some of them so far worthy of the great poet 
 as to make the reader eager to see, for better or worse, the entire 
 series published. The poems form a MS. volume of which the 
 following is an abridged account : — 
 
 " Hitherto Shelley has been represented as a poet, for the interval 
 between St. Irvyne or the Posthumous Fragments of Margaret 
 Nicholso7i and Queen Mab by some of the crudest and feeblest 
 of his verses, or by mere fragments which give some incomplete 
 evidence that he was capable of producing better things. No poem 
 written before Alastor can be expected to add to Shelley's poetical 
 glory, but it is well that his years of nonage should be rightly con- 
 ceived as a period of gradually expanding powers, and of progressive 
 education in his art. Happily, his manuscript book containing the 
 pieces intended for publication in the spring of 181 3 is in existence, 
 and the history of Shelley's imagination from the days at Oxford to 
 the days at Tremadoc is no longer a blank. With the exception of 
 five short pieces subsequently added by Harriet, the poems are in 
 Shelley's handwriting ; up to the point where the collection designed 
 for publication by Hookham closes, the lines were counted by 
 Shelley (not without a characteristic error in reckoning), and the 
 total number, as given by him (2822), agrees closely with the esti- 
 mate furnished to Hookham in his letter of January 26, 181 3. Of 
 
i 7 6 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 the shorter poems several may be described as occasional, and with 
 some of these the reader of this biography has already made 
 acquaintance. Several are direct inspirations — never transcripts — 
 from external nature, and seek to render into words some of the 
 emotion caused by its beauty, or wonder, or terror. Now it is an 
 exquisite spring day, with influence felt in the nerves and in the 
 blood as a keen yet universal thrill of desire and delight ; now a 
 day of late winter, which seems to anticipate the vernal rapture, yet 
 is fated to be pursued and defeated by tempest and rains. Or 
 Shelley is alone amid the desolation of the hills, and would fain 
 confront the awful Spirit of the wild, waste places. . . . Other poems 
 express the ardour of his affection for Harriet, and in these there is 
 a spiritual quality not always to be found in poetry which tells of 
 the passion of boy and girl. She who is dear to him can be dear 
 only because she is his purer soul, and the meeting of eyes, the 
 touch of lips, are precious because these are occasions and emblems 
 of the union of two ardent spirits panting together after 
 
 high ends Two narrative poems of considerable length 
 
 exhibit Shelley at work on material which needs a firmer and 
 calmer hand than his in early years to fashion it into forms of 
 beauty ; yet each contains some well-wrought stanzas. Henry and 
 Louisa, a poem in two parts, with the motto ' She died for love, Sffld 
 he for glory,' is a tale of war, and in passing from the first to the 
 second part, the scene changes from England to the Egyptian 
 battle-field. Henry, borne from his lover's arms by the insane lust 
 of conquest and of glory, is pursued by Louisa, who finds him 
 dying on the bloody sands, and, like Shakespeare's Juliet, is swift 
 to pursue her beloved through the portals of the grave. . . We 
 may infer that when the sheets of Queen Mab were going through 
 the press Shelley had already abandoned his intention of printing 
 the shorter pieces. One of these, and only one, appeared subse- 
 nuently with his sanction — that which expresses with subtle power 
 the sense of mystery which belongs to man's life and death, and 
 exhorts us to endure the mystery courageously ; the poem opening 
 with the lines — 
 
 ' The pale, the cold, and the moony smile 
 Which the meteor beam of a stormy night 
 Sheds on a lonely and sea-girt isle 
 
 Till the dawning of morn's undoubted light 
 Is the flame of life so fickle and wan 
 That flits round our steps till their strength is gone.' 
 
 This, with a revised text, formed one of the sheaf of poems which 
 accompanied Alastor into the world ; and Shelley's good judgment 
 appeared in his selection of this from his early pieces, for it certainly 
 touches a higher level than any other of those which preceded 
 Queen Mab." 
 
 Ever since Hogg satirised her, and showed how much Shelley 
 came to abhor her, Eliza Westbrook has been a figure of mark in 
 the Shclleyan gallery of portraits. We may like to have some idea 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 177 
 
 of her at an advanced period of life. She married a Mr. Farthing, 
 who, receiving a fortune from a lady named Beauchamp, adopted 
 Beauchamp as his surname. The following brief record comes 
 from her grandnephew, the Rev. W. Esdaile ; and it is added that 
 "her kindness to Harriet Shelley's daughter Ianthe is gratefully 
 remembered by Mrs. Esdaile's children": — 
 
 " I remember her well as a handsome, grand old lady, with dark 
 front of hair, piercing dark eyes, and with a kind manner to children, 
 but of whom we were somewhat afraid. Her carriage, old-fashioned 
 large chariot, spot dog, large horses, man-servant, lady-companion, 
 formed a whole which made a deep impression on my childish 
 memory." 
 
 [In a number of our Notebook will probably be given some speci- 
 mens of the hitherto unpublished poems extracted by Professor 
 Dowden from the manuscript volume in the possession of Mr. 
 Esdaile.— Editor.] 
 
 N 
 
78 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 'gtdxxxts mrir giacussions. 
 
 Paper at University College on the gtk March, 1887, by B. L 
 MOSELY, LL.B., Barrister-at-law. 
 
 Mr. Frederick Wedmore in the chair. 
 
 ON MISS ALMA MURRAY AS BEATRICE 
 CENCI. 1 
 
 The reader commenced by congratulating Dr. 
 Furnivall upon his success in founding " an association 
 with the object of doing honour to the name of him 
 (Shelley), who, however men may differ from his opinions, 
 will ever be regarded as one of the brightest meteors 
 which has flashed across the starry firmament of 
 English letters." Drawing attention to the practical 
 evidence of the Society's energy and usefulness in 
 issuing within a few months of its formation no fewer 
 than eight more or less important volumes, he main- 
 tained, that its chief claim to recognition was based, 
 up to the present, upon its enterprising production of The 
 Cenci at the Grand Theatre, Islington, on May 7th, 
 1886, which he characterised as an historic fact of the 
 first magnitude in the annals of English drarna. De- 
 clining on this occasion to appraise the histrionic 
 qualities of the tragedy or to discuss those complex 
 questions of morality which had been raised by the 
 prohibition of the censor, he addressed himself entirely 
 to Miss Murray's impersonation, prefacing his criticism 
 by the remark that " Shelley in his portraiture of 
 
 1 For a critique of Mr. Hermann Vezin's masterly portrayal of 
 Count Cenci by the same writer see Shelley Note Book for 1 886, pp 
 88-93. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 179 
 
 Beatrice places before us a type of maidenhood as 
 noble as ever was wrought by the greatest of his pre- 
 decessors. More Greek than Elizabethan, more human 
 than Greek, he has imbued her with attributes such as 
 have been esteemed and venerated throughout the ages 
 by civilised mankind. He has breathed into her the 
 spirit of chastity, constancy, fortitude, unselfishness, 
 religious fervour and faith. But these high endowments 
 of her nature could not alone have sufficed to entitle her 
 to rank among the tragic sisterhood. Something more 
 was required, and that something has been supplied by 
 presenting her as the victim of 'wrongs darker than 
 death or night/ to escape from which she is compelled 
 to contrive the murder of their inhuman author — her 
 own father — and to expiate her * tremendous deed ' at 
 the hands of the executioner." He then analysed Miss 
 Murray's performance scene by scene. Speaking of her 
 interpretation of the Third Act he said : — " As regards 
 this Third Act, it were vain to point to any other female 
 role in our literature whereby to convey to those who 
 did not witness the performance the prolonged tension 
 of this section of the tragedy. The Third Act of OtJiello 
 can, perhaps, alone, be cited as furnishing in this respect 
 an approximate parallel. Never were the agonies of an 
 overwrought mind delineated with an intensity more 
 vivid, a sincerity more profound. But what succeeded, 
 presented, if possible, a psychological study of tven 
 greater subtilty. From the moment when the idea first 
 dimly dawns upon Beatrice that* her wrongs demand 
 redress, leading up to a justification of parricide, we are, 
 by the actress's art, admitted into the very laboratory of 
 her mental processes. At first, the issue of the struggle 
 appears obscured and doubtful, but gradually, we see 
 the notion of vindication taking shape, growing «and 
 gaining upon her until at last the impulse of ridding her- 
 self, and the world, of so great a monster becomes, to 
 her, an overmastering necessity. During the struggle 
 between the opposing forces of filial piety and pitiless 
 duty, down to the time when the final resolution is taken, 
 Miss Murray rose without apparent effort, and by almost 
 imperceptible progression, to heights, such as can alone 
 
 N 2 
 
180 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 be reached by artists of phenomenal histrionic ability ; 
 securing a triumph for the like of which we must ransack 
 the records of Rachel or Miss O'Neil, whilst at the zenith 
 of their careers." After referring to the mass of lauda- 
 tory comment with which she was greeted in the public 
 press, and quoting as representative criticisms Mr, 
 Wedmore's observations in the Academy and Mr. 
 Browning's autograph letter wherein he designated 
 her " the Poetic Actress without a rival " (see Shelley 
 Note Book for 1886, at page 105), Mr. Mosely 
 concluded as follows : — " To sum up, it was due to 
 her rare faculty of moulding herself to the part, grasping 
 the dramatist's conception as a whole and on a scale 
 commensurate with its vast dimensions, never for a 
 moment relaxing her hold, but welding together and 
 adjusting all its details, so as to bring into striking, 
 though not excessive, prominence, certain decisive mo- 
 ments of the action, that the varying phases of Beatrice's 
 character assumed and preserved in her hands a con- 
 tinuity, a coherence, and a consistency instinct with the 
 very breath of human life. Never, in the delivery of 
 the long and exacting speeches — the part is 850 lines in 
 length — did one experience a sensation of monotony, 
 undue emphasis, or lack of apprehension of the relative 
 importance to be assigned to each utterance as a struc- 
 tural constituent of the general scheme. Never, in the 
 crisis of her passion, did the actress transcend the legiti- 
 mate limits of her art; but, with commendable self- 
 restraint, kept her physical forces in perfect subjection. 
 Pose, movement, play of countenance, modulation of 
 tone, accent, and rhythm, were, throughout, the normal 
 expression of the sentiment which inspired them ; whilst 
 each, without degenerating into mannerism or staginess, 
 was of sufficient duration to admit of distinct aesthetic 
 perception and appreciation. In fine — voice, diction, 
 stature, physique and temperament, seem to have been 
 fashioned by Nature, and matured by Art, expressly 
 for the impersonation of Shelley's Beatrice Cenci." 
 
 Mr. Frederick Wedmore, in opening the discus- 
 sion, spoke as follows : — I hope we may have this 
 
THE SHELLE Y S0C1E TV. 1 8 1 
 
 evening a full and varied expression of opinions, and 
 that, perhaps, not only on the strict subject-matter of 
 Mr. Mosely's interesting paper — on the Beatrice Cenci 
 of Miss Alma Murray, — for it is difficult to discuss that 
 without discussing, too, the Beatrice of the mind of 
 Shelley. They are, obviously, inseparable, for the 
 measure of satisfaction or delight afforded by Miss 
 Murray to those of us who saw the performance at the 
 Grand Theatre at Islington must have been propor- 
 tioned to the extent to which she realised, for each of 
 us, Shelley's conception. Miss Murray, you will recol- 
 lect, as far as stage performance is concerned, had to 
 create a part. There was no precedent to follow, But 
 very singular was her position in this respect, for, while 
 she had to create a part, to realise for the first time a 
 character new to the stage, she had to step warily and 
 do no violence to a character already classic in literature. 
 And this means, ladies and gentlemen, that oppor- 
 tunities for stage effect which it might have been 
 possible to discover, to emphasise, even to exaggerate, 
 had the actress with a view to the glorification of her- 
 self been playing some new thing, in acts and scenes 
 and situations meant for the footlights and the footlights 
 only, and which was not literature at all, but "words, 
 words, words," to be read alone by their fascinating and 
 deceptive glare — these opportunities of self-display, 
 I say, with which the contemporary playwright is a 
 little too apt to feed the vanity of the contemporary 
 actor, had to be laid aside ; and the task put upon Miss 
 Murray was that of embodying a conception formed 
 already in the minds of a thousand readers, some of 
 those minds perhaps as alert and subtile as her own. 
 Her embodiment, her sketch, her study rather, of Bea- 
 trice, must be no rapid and flashy instance of stage- 
 painting, then ; a mellow Guido rather, this pale 
 Beatrice, taking its place beside that other darker por- 
 trait — a Moroni, say— of Mr. Hermann Vezin : the 
 gentleness, the troubled innocence, the unnamed ex- 
 perience of the one, to be set fairly, and not set unduly, 
 against the picture of the " desperate and remorseless 
 manhood " of the other. 
 
182 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 I will not attempt to spend our time in trying to 
 follow Mr. Mosely in detail, as to how this was done, 
 but in the main result we are most of us agreed, I 
 think, that it was done exquisitely. And I think Mr. 
 Mosely's paper is alone a sufficient answer — though 
 there may have been many beside it — to what was after 
 all an entertaining description of the actress in I for- 
 get what newspaper — "Miss Alma Murray, the favourite 
 actress of Dilettantedom." Dilettantedom is a land of 
 which it is my fate to know but little, nor can I tell you 
 precisely where its boundaries may lie, what may be 
 the extent of its green pastures, what streams of criti- 
 cism water it. Doubtless a pleasant place enough, 
 though we know it not, and if Miss Alma Murray is a 
 favourite there, the store I set upon its wisdom is con- 
 siderably enhanced. But it was not from Dilettantedom, 
 I fancy, that there proceeded this particular piece of 
 praise of the lady whose achievement you celebrate 
 to-night — " You, the most poetic of actresses ! " because 
 it was not in Dilettantedom that were written /// a 
 Balcony and Colombes Birthday. 
 
 May I say, in a word or two, what strike me as the 
 characteristics of this " favourite actress of Dilettante- 
 dom " ? They are certainty and speediness of ap- 
 prehension, the deep and immediate sensibility, of a 
 peculiarly delicate and high-strung nervous organisation, 
 whereby her efforts on the stage are permitted to recall 
 rather the achievements and the fascination of Desclee 
 than those of any English actress the present generation 
 has seen. Poetic sensibility — that, in the artistic slang 
 of the day, that is her " note " : and what if not poetic 
 sensibility should be the beginning and the end, the 
 first requisite and the last, in the interpretation of 
 the chosen heroine of a dramatist who worked less 
 from experience of life than from the vision of the 
 mind, and of whom pre-eminently, whatever his mis- 
 fortune or his fault, it must be said by us to-day 
 looking upon his work, 
 
 " The good stars met in his horoscope, 
 Made him of spirit, fire and dew" ? 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 183 
 
 And with these qualities of his own did not Shelley 
 certainly endow his chosen heroine ? and did not the 
 performance of Miss Murray remind us of that endow- 
 ment ? Beatrice again — and the Beatrice of Miss 
 Murray — is somehow as much the symbol of feminine 
 strength and feminine decisiveness as she is of purity. 
 No moment comes to Beatrice in which she has to utter 
 the pitiful cry of one who being tempted is helpless to 
 resist — 
 
 "What shall I say? 
 My soul is wandering and has lost her way ! n 
 
 The soul of Beatrice reeled only with horror, not with 
 doubt ; and her " way," we know, was terribly decisive. 
 The infamy she saw, and was not alone to suffer from, 
 must be crushed out. And she was but the instru- 
 ment. Perhaps in the conception of the actress Beatrice 
 came to be divided by no impassable gulf from that 
 other instrument of justice conceived by that other 
 Poet ; she I mean on whom the great Pope, who 
 judged her, passed in her death this sentence only in 
 his mind : 
 
 " Go thy way 
 
 And get thy praise, — and be not far to seek 
 
 Presently when I follow if I may." 
 
 Dr. FURNIVALL said that he quite agreed with Mr. 
 Mosely's opinion of Miss Murray's acting ; but he took 
 exception to his estimate of Beatrice's character as 
 being a "sublime conception." He could not justly 
 call her that. She had disappointed her high ideal in 
 that she did not glory in her act and boldly meet her 
 fate ; and in that she rather tries to hide her guilt and to 
 shift it on to others. Now this was not consonant with 
 true dignity. A dramatist should not be bound by the 
 bare dry facts ot history, and here it was that Shelley 
 Jailed, for he should have altered the facts to suit his 
 ._play. The climax of the play was reached in the third 
 act, and consequently the interest thereafter was made 
 to flag, and the actress's task was rendered especially 
 difficult. In any future performance the play would 
 have to be very considerably cut, and he thought that it 
 
184 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 would then be found to be still more impressive. For 
 his part he could not call to mind any actress in any 
 scene who had made so great an impression on him as 
 did Miss Murray in that third act. It had never been 
 exceeded. It had been the ambition of this lady's life 
 to " create " Shelley's Beatrice, and her performance 
 had more than justified her ambition. Those who 
 witnessed it would retain its memory for a lifetime. 
 
 Mr. BUXTON FORMAN said he must certainly defend 
 Shelley from the charge of making the play drag to- 
 ward the end. Neither he nor the rest of the audience 
 had found such to be the case, the third act being the 
 pivot and in no sense the climax, and Beatrice through- 
 out being the supremely important character. Perhaps, 
 on technical grounds, a little " cutting " might be neces- 
 sary ; at the same time the interest of the play was fully 
 sustained to the end both as regarded its literary and its 
 acting qualities. In truth it seemed to him that " cutting " 
 to any material extent would spoil the play, and whatever 
 was done in that direction would have to be done very 
 judiciously indeed. He also took exception to the 
 remark made about Beatrice trying to shift her guilt on 
 to another. It was not a case of shifting ; the guilt was 
 already on Marzio, for he had done the deed. The fact 
 was that Beatrice was a scion of the old mediaeval stock ; 
 nothing could derogate from that. She felt it her para- 
 mount duty to protect the "high splendour" of the 
 family, and she was the only one of them that had the 
 rectitude and the ability to do it. We do not appreciate 
 this sort of thing so much nowadays — but it was the 
 grand mediaeval idea ; a sort of emphasizing of the pro- 
 verb, "blood is thicker than water." Shelley sought to 
 express this fact as one of the leading motives of 
 Beatrice's action. Though antiquated, the idea was 
 still alive. He then proceeded to describe a curious 
 little Italian book he had just discovered relating to 
 the Cenci. 
 
 Mr. G. Bernard Shaw said that in his opinion 
 TTie Cenci was a play unworthy of the genius of Shelley. 
 It was simply an abomination, an accumulation of 
 horrors partaking of the nature of a tour de force, and 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 185 
 
 probably written by Shelley merely to satisfy his 
 ambition of producing something for the stage. He 
 considered it as bad a piece of work as a man of Shelley's 
 genius could be capable of, so bad indeed that it was 
 hardly worth discussion. In his opinion excision would 
 not remedy the fault of the play after the third act. 
 
 With regard to Miss Murray's acting, he could not 
 regard it, great as it undoubtedly was, as an entirely 
 perfect and adequate performance. He did not see, in 
 the absence of a National Theatre, where she could 
 have got the requisite experience, but he had no doubt 
 that, after a measure of training at such an institution, 
 v Miss Murray's Beatrice would be all that Mr. Mosely 
 described it. He thought the physical strain of the part 
 beyond what any actress could completely bear, and he 
 believed that after the third act he detected signs of 
 exhaustion in Miss Murray which prevented her giving 
 full effect to some of the more formidable passages, 
 notably the one in which she turns on the judge and 
 his guards thus — 
 
 " and what a tyrant thou art, 
 And what slaves these ; and what a world we make, 
 The oppressor and the oppressed." 
 
 He attributed it to her admirable method alone that 
 she was enabled to conceal this fact from her audience. 
 
 As a whole he thought the Cenci performance could S 
 not have been improved upon by the company of any \ 
 London theatre. 
 
 Mrs. SIMPSON expressed her high sense of Miss 
 Murray's great ability, and denied entirely Mr. Shaw's 
 assertion that she seemed to miss the full effect 
 of certain lines in the later scenes. This speaker 
 asserted that the actress retained her powers unim- 
 paired to the very end, and that to say that she failed in 
 any passage whatsoever was untrue. She thought that 
 a woman who had already done what Miss Murray had 
 on the stage, whose ambition it had been for years to 
 play the part, who had brought her great intellect to 
 bear upon it, and by constant study had made it her own, 
 was quite equal to stepping on to the stage and doing 
 
1 86 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 complete justice to it. It was manifest that Miss Murray 
 had " felt " the character, and it was owing to this that 
 she made so powerful an impression on her audience. 
 For her part she thought most highly of the play. With 
 reference to what had been said about the conception 
 of Beatrice's character, she reminded her hearers that 
 Beatrice was after all Cenci's own daughter, that human 
 nature was, as we knew from Shakespeare, the great aim 
 -of the truly great dramatist, and that Shelley had shown 
 us the human side of Cenci's daughter as well as the 
 sublime. 
 
 Mr. J. Stanley Little said there was yet a point in 
 Miss Murray's performance which had not, so far as 
 his memory served him, been touched upon by any of 
 the previous speakers, that was the wonderful quality 
 of her voice, and the strength and purity of her diction. 
 He added that in these days of fuss, fret, and flurry, it 
 was all too rare to get anything like accuracy of pro- 
 nunciation from the pulpit, platform, or stage. The 
 English language was an inheritance not to be trifled 
 with. In days when the palm was given to tinsel and 
 patchwork in literature, it was not surprising that we 
 found the subtile refinements and elegancies of pro- 
 nunciation, which constituted the beauty of the language, 
 treated with scant courtesy. Not only as Beatrice, but as 
 Helena, in Helena in Troas, Mr. Stanley Little was struck 
 by the generally high standard of excellence achieved 
 by Miss Alma Murray as an orthoepist ; in which regard, 
 without saying that she was absolutely faultless, he con- 
 sidered her to be matchless on the contemporary stage. 
 
 Mr. William G. Kingsland, though he had but a 
 limited experience of stage representations, could assert 
 that he had never seen anything to equal, in its reality, 
 the acting of Miss Alma Murray as Beatrice. The 
 creation was so powerful that it had made an abiding 
 and ineffaceable impression upon his mind. It seemed 
 to him that Miss Murray could not be said to have been 
 acting the part, but that she was in very truth, for the 
 time being, Beatrice Cenci herself. She had wrought 
 herself into the heart and soul of her heroine; it was a 
 wonderful performance. What need to say more than 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 187 
 
 quote the letter of Robert Browning? That was 
 recognition indeed. 
 
 Mr. JONAS Levy, whose personal recollections of the 
 stage took him back to the days of Edmund Kean, said 
 that years ago in the halcyon days of Sadler's Wells, so 
 dear to the memory of old playgoers, his lamented friend, 
 Samuel Phelps, had conceived the desire of placing 
 The Cenci on the stage. Mr. Phelps consulted him on 
 the subject, and he gave it very close consideration, 
 taking the opinion also of that excellent poet and 
 dramatist, R. H. Home. The result was that they 
 decided that, as an acting play, its interest terminated 
 with the death of Francesco Cenci, as in his opinion 
 The Merchant of Venice, from an acting point of view, 
 came to an end with the exit of Shylock, and that it 
 would be a mistake to produce it. They looked at it 
 from every point of view, but that was the conclusion 
 they came to. Before the play was produced by the 
 Shelley Society he heard a good many people talking of 
 the rashness of their doing so, and in connection with 
 Miss Murray's intention of playing Beatrice much to the 
 effect that it would be wiser for her to leave it alone, and 
 so on. He could only say that a great many he knew 
 who went to scoff remained to pray, and left the Grand 
 Theatre enlightened and improved, that is if they were 
 capable of either improvement or enlightenment. He 
 thought the acting satisfactory all round, but Hermann 
 Vezin's and Alma Murray's extraordinarily fine. He 
 had seen all the great actresses for fifty years past, 
 and he could lay his finger on no single one of them 
 who could have given such a performance of the part as 
 Miss Murray did — a part he considered to be the most 
 exacting in the whole compass of dramatic literature. 
 For his part he failed to see any signs of exhaustion on 
 Miss Murray's part in the fourth and fifth acts of the 
 play ; but he sat it out, with feelings of the utmost 
 satisfaction, to the end. 
 
 Mr. MOSELY in reply expressed his gratification at 
 the interesting discussion that had arisen and his 
 gratitude for the favourable reception accorded to his 
 paper. Passing in review the various points raised, he 
 
1 88 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 pointed out that one or two of the speakers had wandered 
 somewhat from the subject which had been proposed to 
 them, the arch-offender in this respect being their 
 esteemed friend Dr. Furnivall, and next to him Mr. 
 Buxton Forman. But he thought that the interest 
 attaching to their digressions amply atoned for their 
 irregularity. He still maintained — pace Dr. Furnivall — ■ 
 that Beatrice's disposition was "sublime" though in- 
 stinct with that humanity which brought her into the 
 closest sympathy with her audience. This was one of 
 her principal charms. Another was the transparent 
 sincerity which, except perhaps in the trial scene, shone 
 like a crystal pool in a mountain stream. It was this 
 purity and freshness which rendered her not only 
 womanly and beautiful, but loveable in her tenderness, 
 loyalty, and love. Whilst acknowledging the fairness 
 and earnestness of Mr. Bernard Shaw's criticism he 
 begged leave to differ from it, and to point out that, in 
 alleging any want of preliminary training and experience 
 on Miss Murray's part, he showed himself to be unac- 
 quainted with her previous career. The difficulty was, 
 however, for his hearers, many of whom had no knowledge 
 of the performance except from what they had read in 
 the newspapers or gathered from their friends, to decide 
 between the disputants. How were they to arrive at 
 any sound conclusion ? In matters of opinion such as 
 this, the weight of authority, Mr. Mosely urged, was 
 their only safe guide ; and he therefore invited them to 
 place in the scale, on the one hand, the view entertained 
 by Mr. Shaw, and, on the other, that of such past masters 
 in theatrical criticism as their Chairman, Mr. Wedmore, 
 Mr. Jonas Levy, and Robert Browning. 
 
 A vote of thanks to the Chairman, proposed by 
 Dr. Furnivall and seconded by Mr. Mosely, terminated 
 the proceedings. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 189 
 
 Paper at University College on the 13th of April, 1887, by 
 A. G. ROSS, B.A. 
 
 Mr. W. M. Rossetti in the chair. 
 
 The Chairman said that in some respects The Revolt 
 of Islam was the most important work that Shelley had 
 produced. It was not the highest or most finished ; 
 but it stood on the whole perhaps next in importance 
 to the Prometheus Unbound. He had read it through 
 probably some twenty to [five and twenty times, and 
 he regarded it as not only the most extensive poem 
 written by Shelley, but also as one of the most fully 
 expressive of himself — alike from its imaginative as 
 speculative powers. However, he would not now 
 enlarge further upon such points, but would call upon 
 the lecturer to read his paper. 
 
 ON THE " REVOLT OF ISLAM." 
 
 Mr. ROSS said : I hope that no' one who has done 
 me the honour to come here and listen to such remarks 
 as I may have to make to-night, imagined for one 
 moment that I could be guilty of the impertinence of 
 pretending to throw any fresh light of a critical kind on 
 the great poem of Laon and Cythna. In the presence, or 
 at all events under the auspices, of those who have made 
 the study of Shelley the work of their lives, and whose 
 names must be known and honoured as long as Shelley's 
 poems are read and- loved, any such pretension could 
 only excite ridicule or induce a feeling of boredom. 
 
 I take it that this Society exists for the purpose of 
 encouraging persons to study Shelley's works and for 
 that of collecting such materials in regard to his life and 
 writings as may render this study more intelligent and 
 appreciative. But an unfortunate tendency has lately 
 shown itself in certain quarters to erect a " Shelley 
 standard," if I may be allowed the expression, of right 
 
iqo NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 and wrong, to refer every question of morals, manners, 
 metaphysics, ethics, politics, and conduct to his example 
 or teaching, the latter culled from corners of his work 
 generally beautiful and often obscure. It is against this 
 tendency that I wish to enter a protest. 
 
 It is perhaps natural that people who judge all litera- 
 ture and art by a moral standard, should seek to find 
 sanction and authority for the social and political 
 departures which they propose and desire to propagate, 
 in the pages of writers, whether living or dead, of un- 
 disputed position or popularity ; and that Shelley, a 
 man so sympathetic, so large-minded, in a word so 
 positivistic, should suffer from having his works exploited 
 for this purpose is certainly not surprising. 
 
 I hope that I have sufficiently explained my motive 
 in selecting the Revolt of Islam as my title for this 
 paper. I have only to add that for Islam you may, if 
 you please, read Unemployed or any other class or mass 
 of persons who propose and that shortly — we have it 
 on the authority of a certain section of the press — " to 
 revolt" against somebody or something, though against 
 whom, or what, or why, is not so clear. , Possibly, it may 
 be suggested, to vindicate their own incompetence. 
 
 Now no one can contest the right of any one, even 
 though he be a mere sans-culotte who runs about with a 
 red rag, to quote Shelley when or where he pleases ; but 
 when the blatant and cruel socialism of the street 
 endeavours to use the lofty and sublime socialism of 
 the study for its own base purposes, it is time that with 
 no uncertain sound all real lovers of the latter should 
 disavow any sympathy with the former. 
 
 Even if I wished to destroy socialism I would not be 
 foolish enough to suppose that abuse could kill it. Now 
 it is not the matter but the manner of socialism that 
 moves me to anger ; for it seems that if this manner 
 does not improve it may destroy all individuality and 
 bring all things to a dead level ; where literature, the 
 aits, and culture in every form will be sought for 
 in vain. 
 
 It will be clearly understood that I strongly protest 
 against any imaginative writer being cited as an 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 191 
 
 authority in favour of any political or social action or 
 inaction, and I will go so far as to say that I think the 
 greatness of his writings affords a rough measure of his 
 inability to manage the world's affairs, or to judge 
 justly of another's management of them. 
 Wherefore, to quote from a modern poet : — 
 
 " Albeit nurtured in democracy 
 And liking best that state republican, 
 ... I love them not whose hands profane 
 Plant the red flag upon the piled-up street 
 In no right cause, beneath whose ignorant reign 
 Arts, culture, reverence, honour, all things fade, 
 Save treason and the dagger of her trade, 
 Or murder with his silent bloody feet." 
 
 On this ground then I have selected The Revolt of 
 Islam as being the one poem of Shelley's which may be 
 said to have for its motif the. abuses and remedies of the 
 existing social system, and so far as this poem is a 
 success or failure so far can Shelley be regarded as 
 valuable authority or otherwise on this question. 
 
 It is idle to compare poets with a view to deciding 
 what position they should relatively occupy in the list 
 of the "great ones" of the earth, and it is more idle to 
 wish that certain poems had never been written. It 
 would be about as wise to wish that Shelley had never 
 written Laon and Cythna, as that Dante had never written 
 the Inferno, Swift The Tale of a Tub, or Byron, English 
 Bards and Scotch Reviewers ; but it seems to me equally 
 idle to deny that the poem is a failure, a splendid failure 
 if you will, but still a failure, and likely to injure rather 
 than increase the poetical reputation of its writer. 
 
 For though Shelley distinctly disclaimed any didactic 
 intention, I fear the disclaimer has not deterred some of 
 his readers from construing the poem in that sense, and as 
 I have already hinted I cordially subscribe to the opinion 
 of a well-known modern critic that " Shelley's ethics are 
 rotten." 
 
 But it seems to me that to be truly appreciated the 
 poem should be read — much as I suppose most people 
 now read Spenser's more beautiful if less virile work, 
 
192 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 The Faery Queen — simply for the unsurpassed and un- 
 surpassable beauty of the verse, and not for anything 
 tangible or materially valuable that can be derived from 
 a careful and thoughtful consideration of the poem as 
 a whole. And indeed the halting narrative and faulty 
 construction must have led a large majority of readers 
 to read the poem for its music rather than for its moral. 
 I believe that the vicious habit of judging poets by what 
 they have taught— or I should say by what, in the 
 opinion of their too ardent admirers, they have tried to 
 teach — rather than by what they wrote, judged from the 
 purely literary standpoint, has done more to injure 
 the reputation of some of the great imaginative writers, 
 and particularly Shelley, than could be done by a 
 host of Cordy Jeaffresons publishing their opinions in 
 the most portly volumes. 
 
 Was it not enough that Shelley should surpass such a 
 poet as Spenser ? that in his magnificent character of 
 Trometheus he should have presented the world with a 
 conception mighter and more perfect even than Milton's 
 Satan ? — but that we must have his morals held up to 
 us as equal if not superior to those of a Christ or of a 
 S. Francis d'Assisi, his religious system to that of a 
 Comte, or his logic to that of a Herbert Spencer or a 
 Huxley ? 
 
 In conclusion I wish to touch briefly on Shelley's 
 relations toward the other sex. Pages and pages 
 have been written by those who wished to prove that 
 "he erred not at all" in this respect. I am, I hope, 
 open to conviction, but I cannot see that any one has a 
 right to make others suffer in order that he may force 
 his own theories into notice, and it seems to me absurd 
 to praise Shelley for having so far made a concession to 
 public opinion and prejudice as to marry Mary Godwin. 
 
 His conduct to Harriet Westbrook seems to me 
 indefensible, though it should be judged leniently ; he 
 erred because he was human and perhaps because he 
 was so great and so chivalrous. 
 
 Let us then honour and reverence the man and his 
 works, for his and their god-like qualities, not the god 
 for his man-like qualities. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 193 
 
 The Chairman said that in many points he did not 
 agree with the views expressed by the lecturer. He did 
 not think we should apply a purely literary standpoint 
 to any great poem ; we should apply a literary stand- 
 point, and also the standpoint consequent upon the 
 relation men bore to one another. A great poet 
 should put great morals into his writings ; and this 
 Shelley did. The chief point in the Revolt of Islam 
 was — do good to your enemies ; an annunciation of a 
 universal reign of love. He therefore could in nowise 
 agree with the general views expressed by the lecturer. 
 As to socialism, he had not studied the socialist scheme, 
 and was not an adherent of any socialistic league ; 
 at the same time he could not join the lecturer 
 in denouncing the men who marched through the 
 streets, who had a perfect right to propagate their 
 opinions. The Revolt of Islam was certainly not a 
 didactic poem. 
 
 Dr. FURNIVALL also disagreed with the paper, the 
 writer of which seemed to look on poetry simply as a 
 toy. Now poetry is alone worthful when it has a man's 
 life in it, when it is full of social and political questions, 
 &c. Poets were men who felt certain truths more deeply 
 than other men, and it was their work to put forth those 
 thoughts. Shelley had the divine gift, and he was 
 bound by that to protest against the social iniquities 
 that were rampant in his day. The poet foresaw the 
 evils that were hurrying upon Ireland; and he clearly 
 foresaw the only remedies to be in Catholic emancipation 
 and the repeal of the Union. 
 
 Mr. Salt, as a socialist, protested against the manner 
 in which the lecturer had spoken of socialism. It was 
 not right that it should be denounced as a thing as to 
 which there could not be two opinions. 
 
 Mr. Bernard Shaw said the paper was the most 
 astonishing one he had ever heard, and he combated 
 most of the statements made by the lecturer concerning 
 socialism. In his opinion, too, a poem ought to be didactic, 
 and ought to be in the nature of a political treatise — 
 for poetry was the most artistic way of teaching those 
 things which a poet ought to teach. As for street 
 
 O 
 
i 9 4 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 socialism, he considered the lecturer knew nothing about 
 it ; and he also wished it to be understood that socialism 
 was not to be held responsible for many of the wild and 
 wicked things that had been reputed to be done by street 
 socialists. 
 
 Mrs. SIMPSON had always understood that The Faery 
 Queen was an attack on the Roman Catholics. 
 
 Dr. AvELING remarked that in the poems of Prome- 
 theus and the Revolt of Islam you have Shelley's 
 revolutionary genius in the concrete and the abstract. 
 In the Prometheus it showed itself in the abstract ; but 
 in Islam in the concrete or practical. As for the attack 
 on socialism, it was not quite fair. He maintained that 
 the socialism of the study and the street was one and 
 the same thing — and that constituted the beauty of 
 modern socialism. Shelley's sympathy and large- 
 heartedness made him most essentially practical. 
 
 A Speaker, while agreeing with the lecturer that 
 Shelley's ethics were entirely "rotten," did not agree 
 with his attack on the street socialists ; while as for the 
 point whether poetry should be didactic or not, that was 
 a mere matter of opinion. 
 
 Mr. Stanley Little thought posterity would care 
 little for Shelley as a didactic poet. The real question 
 was, how far his poetry fulfilled the idea of the beautiful 
 — the political and social questions interpolated being 
 more or less in the nature of accidents, mere questions 
 of the moment. He maintained that a poet was only 
 to be judged in so far as he had the essence of the 
 beautiful in him, and not for the mere trifles that he had 
 to teach. Abstract beauty had a deeper and subtiler 
 teaching than anything which was openly didactic. He 
 added that although he held these views, on this occasion 
 he expressed them with very mixed feelings ; as much 
 of Shelley's teaching was teaching which he, in his own 
 way, had endeavoured to inculcate. 
 
 Mr. ROSS, in replying, said that when he yielded to 
 his friend Mr. Stanley Little's desire that he should read 
 a Paper for the Society he had not expected to meet an 
 audience of such pronounced socialistic sympathies, 
 much less to see such well-known socialists as Dr. Aveling 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 195 
 
 and Mr. Shaw among them. Under the circumstances 
 he would not attempt to refute the attacks which had 
 been made on the paper, and he desired to express his 
 regret that he had given offence. He must say, however, 
 that in one important particular the socialists could not 
 claim to be the exponents of Shelley's teaching. Shelley 
 preached the Doctrine of Universal Love ; the leading 
 socialists were wittingly or unwittingly consistently 
 preached the Doctrine of Universal Hate. He would 
 merely add that his paper had been cut down in order 
 to make time for Mr. Forman's lecture, and that the 
 spirit in which he had attacked socialism had, he feared, 
 not been made evident ; perhaps, however, that was not 
 a matter of much consequence. 
 
 Mr. BUXTON Forman then read a paper on Shelley's 
 " A Proposal for putting Reform to the Vote throughout 
 the Kingdom." This paper, together with a fac-simile 
 of Shelley's manuscript, has been published in the Extra 
 Series (No. 5) of the Society's publications, 1 and also in 
 the Gentleman 's Magazine for May, 1887. 
 
 At the conclusion of the paper, 
 
 The Chairman, in proposing a vote of thanks to Mr. 
 Forman, said he had done great service in bringing 
 before us the various extracts from the Examiner, &c, 
 as he had done. In studying such an essay as 
 Shelley's Proposal regarding Reform, it was highly 
 requisite what was the actual stage of the discussion 
 to which the essay applied. 
 
 Paper at University College on the Zth of June, by 
 Edward Silsbee. 
 
 Mr. W. M. Rossetti in the chair. 
 
 [Mr. Silsbee's address will be published in the First 
 Series of the Society's publications.] 
 
 At the conclusion of the lecture the Chairman 
 proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Silsbee for his 
 exalted address. Of course, enthusiasm was not 
 
 1 See page 208. 
 
 O 2 
 
196 NOTEBOOK CF 
 
 always in the nature of criticism — and the lecture they 
 had heard had certainly more enthusiastic than critical 
 qualities. However, a little " feeling " sometimes did 
 good ; and he thought it had done them good that 
 evening to listen to an unmitigated panegyric. In some 
 things, the lecturer may have possibly overstated his 
 facts — nevertheless we were indebted to him for the 
 praise. The range of the lecturer's discourse was very 
 extensive; and the textual information and curious 
 anecdotes anent Clare Clairmont were very interesting. 
 In 1873 he (the Chairman) had met Clare, and had had 
 an interesting talk with her. Mr. Silsbee, however, had 
 had many conversations with her, and was in a position 
 to give much valuable information. He then invited 
 discussion. 
 
 Dr. FURNIVALL had derived much pleasure from 
 Mr. Silsbee's paper ; the anecdotes had been of great 
 interest. If Mr. Silsbee, in his enthusiasm, goes beyond 
 the line of criticism, and forgets that between Dante and 
 Shelley there was a man called William Shakspere, — 
 well, we can excuse him. If he (the lecturer) is mistaken 
 in his relative criticism, he has at least brought out 
 Shelley's strong points, as his sympathy with nature, 
 &c, and so far has strengthened our conviction of 
 Shelley's greatness. 
 
 Dr. GARNETT congratuated the Society on the paper 
 they had listened to, dealing as it did with so many 
 phases of Shelley's genius. It was the first time that a 
 criticism of that sort had come from America, and was 
 therefore of peculiar interest. He thought it would be 
 an interesting study to trace the influence of America 
 on the poets of Shelley's day. Both Campbell and 
 Southey had chosen American subjects ; and in the 
 Revolt of Islam we find a stanza concerning the safe 
 withdrawal of Cythna to the Western Isles. He thought 
 America could yet produce important contributions to 
 Shelley literature, Professor Dowden's book having 
 already been noticed in the Nation and Atlantic Monthly. 
 He protested, however, against the idea of a Shelley 
 clique ; but thought that on the whole Mr. Silsbee's 
 criticisms were admirable. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 197 
 
 Mr. Bernard Shaw said the paper seemed to him a 
 sort of act of worship, and he dreaded all criticism that 
 had not a basis of reason. It seemed to him that 
 Shelley does produce irrationally enthusiastical pheno- 
 mena, which Dante and Shakespere do not. He 
 contended that Shelley's "poetic melancholy" did not 
 prove a lack of humour ; on the contrary, Shelley had 
 a large fund of humour, but the fact of his taking so 
 serious a view of life and life's work kept the humour 
 away from his poetry. 
 
 Mrs. Simpson confessed she had been surprised to 
 hear the "homily" which had been read that evening, 
 and Shelley, had he heard it, would have said, " Save me 
 from my friends." The laudatory terms of the lecturer 
 seemed to her as objectionable as were the denunciatory 
 terms once so much in vogue. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Harrison said he thought the paper 
 was one rather to be felt than criticised ; he would, 
 however, cross swords with Mr. Shaw, who had said 
 the lecturer's remarks were not " reasoned." But with 
 regard to the lecturer's remarks anent symmetrical 
 melody, it was reasoned. He also maintained that 
 Shelley was a Christian socialist. 
 
 Mr. SlLSBEE said the glow of his style represented his 
 feelings — not his critical mind. 
 
i 9 S NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 #tteros mtir ^nstotrs. 
 
 SHELLEY AND THE SKYLARK. 
 
 Mrs. Burnard, of Kentish Town, in writing to Mr. J. Graham 
 Aylward with reference to the wholesale destruction of skylarks and 
 other song birds for use in hats and other articles of dress, and for 
 caging, says she will be very glad if the Shelley Society can enter a 
 protest against such proceedings: she considers that Shelley's 
 love of nature and his Skylark, are sufficient ground to induce the 
 Shelley Society to take this step. 
 
 PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. 
 
 Thou art of that devoted, holy band 
 
 Whose god-like souls have never imaged aught 
 Of their own selves, but ever onely sought 
 God's grace on Life's wild battle-field to stand 
 
 Where others fall, and stretch a helping hand 
 To brother souls. Not least of these that fought 
 For men, thy life's high sacrifice has wrought 
 A nobler Faith than other poets planned. 
 
 The multitude saw not the sacred fire 
 
 That burned about thy brow ; nor paused to know 
 
 Th' infinite love thy heart poured out for man. 
 They wove for thee a crown of thorns, and dire 
 
 Ingratitude filled all thy cup with woe — 
 A draught High God has quaffed since Time began. 
 
 Francis Rives Lassiter. 
 Boston, April y<i, 1SS7. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY, 199 
 
 NEW POEMS BY SHELLEY, 
 
 In vol. i. of his recently-published Life of Shelley, Prof. Dowden 
 was so fortunate as to be able to bring before the notice of the 
 public several poems hitherto unknown to the great majority of. 
 the poet's admirers. These poems are contained in a MS. volume 
 which Shelley gave to Harriet some time previous to the flight 
 with Mary Godwin in 1816. This book, so far as the evidence 
 at present before us serves to show, he never reclaimed, and it 
 has accordingly remained in the hands of Harriet's descendants 
 to this day, and is at present in the possession of Mr. C. J. E. 
 Esdaile, by whose permission Prof. Dowden noticed it in his Life 
 of Shelley. The following few selections from the extracts given 
 by Prof. Dowden will serve to convey some idea of the interest and 
 importance attaching to the whole. 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 TO IANTHE: 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 
 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, 
 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/ 
 
200 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 SONNET. 
 
 EVENING. TO HARRIET. 
 
 O THOU bright Sun ! beneath the dark blue line 
 
 Of western distance that sublime descend est, 
 
 And gleaming lovelier as thy beams decline, 
 
 Thy million hues to every vapour lendest, 
 
 And over cobweb lawn and grove and stream 
 
 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 ? 
 
 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. 
 
 July Z\st t 1813, 
 
 TO HARRIETT : MAY, 1814. 
 
 Thy look of love has power to calm 
 The stormiest passion of my soul ; 
 
 Thy gentle words are drops of balm 
 In life's too bitter bowl ; 
 
 No grief is mine, but that alone 
 
 These choicest blessings I have known. 
 
 Harriett ! if all who long to live 
 In the warm sunshine of thine eye, 
 
 That price beyond all pain must give 
 Beneath thy scorn to die — 
 
 Then hear thy chosen own too late 
 
 His heart most worthy of thy hate. 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY, 201 
 
 Be thou, then, one among mankind 
 Whose heart is harder not for state, 
 
 Thou only virtuous, gentle, kind, 
 Amid a world of hate ; 
 
 And by a slight endurance seal 
 
 A fellow-being's lasting weal. 
 
 For pale with anguish is his cheek, 
 
 His breath comes fast, his eyes are dim, 
 
 Thy name is struggling ere he speak, 
 Weak is each trembling limb ; 
 
 In mercy let him not endure 
 
 The misery of a fatal cure. 
 
 O trust for once no erring guide I 
 
 Bid the remorseless feeling flee ; 
 'Tis malice, 'tis revenge, 'tis pride, 
 
 'Tis anything but thee ; 
 O deign a nobler pride to prove, 
 And pity if thou canst not love. 
 Coolers Hotel. 
 
 TO HARRIET. 
 
 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 
 
 Whose dear love gleamed upon the gloomy path 
 
 Which this lone spirit travelled, drear and colo\ 
 
 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 
 
 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, 
 
202 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 And breathe magnetic sweetness thro' the frame 
 
 Of my corporeal nature, thro' 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, 
 
 '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 I let death all mortal ties dissolve, • 
 
 But ours shall not be mortal ! The cold hand 
 
 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 
 
 To portray its continuance as now, 
 
 Warm, tranquil, spirit-healing ; nor when age 
 
 Has tempered these wild extasies, and given 
 
 A soberer tinge to the luxurious glow 
 
 Which blazing on devotion's pinnacle 
 
 Makes virtuous passion supersede the power 
 
 Of reason ; nor when life's aastival sun 
 
 To deeper manhood shall have ripened me ; 
 
 Nor when some years have added judgment's store 
 
 To all thy woman sweetness, all the fire 
 
 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, 
 
 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, 
 
 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 sooth its vice or consecrate its fears ? 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 203 
 
 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 months or moments thy ambiguous course. 
 
 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, 
 
 My life more actual living will contain 
 
 Than some grey veterans of the world's cold school, 
 
 Whose listless hours unprofitably roll 
 
 By one enthusiast feeling unredeemed. 
 
 Virtue and Love ! unbending Fortitude, 
 
 Freedom, Devotedness, and Purity ! 
 
 That life my spirit consecrates to you. 
 
204 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 nvfo Jftfos, 
 
 MR. WALTER CRANE ON DR TODHUNTER'S PAPER. 
 
 On February 9th Dr. Todhunter read a paper on The Triumph 
 oj Life, upon which Mr. Walter Crane made some remarks. 
 These have already been reported in a previous number of the 
 Note- Book ', but an accurate report follows : — 
 
 Mr. Walter Crane said: That in regard to the title, The 
 Triumph of Life, he thought it might be understood as meaning a 
 triumph, in the artistic sense, as a "show," like the triumphs or shows 
 of the middle ages, or as, for instance, The " Trionfi " of Petrarch. 
 
 The Triumph of Life certainly gives us a figure or emblem of life 
 in the form of a vision, a show, or masque, in which woven, as in a 
 gorgeous tapestry, real personages and characters appear. 
 
 With regard to the question of the relation of the sexes, 
 touched on by Dr. Todhunter, and the changes which the future will 
 bring, we could not leave out of account the economic question — 
 the system on which society rests — which has always determined 
 these relations, and which affects all human relations. As Mr. 
 William Morris has so forcibly pointed out, this — the economic or 
 social question — is " like Aaron's rod, the question which swallows 
 up all other questions." 
 
 THE LATE MISS GROVE AND THE SHELLEY CON- 
 CORDANCE. 
 
 It may be well to state that Miss Grove, in spite of great ill-health, 
 had not only been one of the first to offer to help in the Shelley 
 Concordance, but completed, with the help of another member of 
 the society, Miss Sellon,the Adonais Concordance. Shortly before 
 Miss Grove left England (in November 1886), Miss Bradley 
 numbered the pages of the Adonais Concordance for her, since she 
 was too ill to do it herself, and the MS. was sent to Torquay and 
 acknowledged by Mr. F. S. Ellis, who has expressed himself greatly 
 pleased with the work. Miss Grove had for years been enthusiastic 
 about Shelley, and had made a note-book, now in Miss Bradley's 
 possession, of cuttings from papers and magazines, &c, referring to 
 the poet. In September 1885 she and Miss Bradley visited Field 
 Place, but were refused admittance ; the owner, although away 
 himself, had left strict orders that no one should be admitted to see 
 the Shelley rooms, and had even placed, the servant informed them, 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 205 
 
 a looking-glass upon the wall of the room where the poet was born 
 to conceal the brass plate upon which the date, &c, of Shelley's 
 birth was inscribed. 
 
 Note. — It would be interesting to learn whether this glass has 
 been removed ; and it is only just to add that in the summer ot 
 1884 the Hon. Secretary made several visits to Field Place with 
 Mr. Leon Little, who was making a painting of the house, and that 
 the then occupier, General Baynes, extended every courtesy 
 which could have been expected from him. — [Editor.] 
 
 M. GABRIEL SARRAZIN AND SHELLEY IN FRANCE. 
 
 The following letter has been received by the Hon. Secretary 
 from M. Sarrazin : — 
 
 " Lycee de Nancy, 
 
 "6 Mars, 1887. 
 
 " Cher Monsieur, 
 
 " Je vois d'apres le dernier bulletin, et que Mr. W. M. 
 Rossetti est absent en ce moment, et qu 'un ' general meeting ' de 
 la Socie'te' doit avoir lieu le Mercredi 7 Mars. Je vous serais done 
 oblige' de profiter de cette date pour communiquer la pre'sente lettre, 
 soit a ceux des membres du ' Committee ' qui pourraient se trouver 
 la, soit a l'assemble'e. Je vous l'e'cris arm de vous faire savoir ce que 
 de mon cote' j'ai fait — e'est bien modeste, a coup sur, et ne peut en 
 aucune fagon rivaliser avec Peffort individuel de chacun de mes 
 collegues du Committee — pour l'ceuvre commune, depuis un an, 
 environ. 
 
 " J'ai profit^ d'abord de toutes les occasions favorables pour parler 
 du poete dans nos cercles litteraires ; puis, j'ai insure', a l'apparition 
 de la tres remarquable traduction de M. F. Rabbe, des notices 
 bibliographiques dans divers de nos pe'riodiques, entre autres ' La 
 Jeune France,' ' La Revue de Geneve,' ' Le Monde poe'tique.' (Ces 
 notices, je ne vous les adresse pas, n'en ayant point garde 1 de copie 
 pour moi.) Dimanche dernier, 27 FeVrier, j'ai fait, ici meme a 
 Nancy, ou je suis pour tout l'hiver, une conference sur Shelley, et il 
 m'a semble' que le sujet de la conference interessait le public. (Ci- 
 joint deux entrefilets de journaux: puisqu'il y a des doges im- 
 primis a mon endroit je me vois oblige' de les laisser : croyez bien 
 cependant que le journaliste a 6t6 beaucoup trop bienveillant, et 
 que le talent dont il parle est tres probl^matique, car j'ai plus 
 l'habitude de la plume que de la parole : e'est le sujet qui a plu.) 
 Enfin Mardi dernier, i er Mars, * La Nouvelle Revue ' a public une 
 6tude de moi, intitule'e, ' Shelley, sa vie et son ceuvre ; ' je l'avais 
 d'abord dcrite plus longue du double, e'est a dire beaucoup plus 
 developpe'e et fouille'e ; mais M. de Cyon, directeur de ' La Nouvelle 
 Revue,' ne pouvait disposer que d'une vingtaine de pages ; je l'ai 
 done rdduite, et d'ailleurs, elle reparaitra, dans son cadre premier, 
 dans mon second volume de ' Poetes modernes de Y Angleterre : ' je 
 publierai ce volume d'ici deux ou trois ans. J'ajoute encore 
 
2 o6 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 que, ce mois-ci j'inse'rerai, au ' Monde poe"tique ' une note biblio- 
 graphique sur les travaux de la * Shelley Society ' pendant l'anne'e 
 1886 : cette note aurait du ddja paraitre, mais a 6t6 retarded, faute 
 de place, et en raison de Pencombrement. 
 
 " A propos maintenant du travail si interessant de Mr. H. S. 
 Salt intitule* ' A Shelley Primer/ je vous serais reconnaissant de lui 
 mander, de ma part, que je regrette bien qu'il n'ait pas signal^ 
 certains de nos travaux frangais sur le poete, notamment les pages 
 sur Shelley d'un des premiers esprits de ce temps, M. James Dar- 
 mesteter (' Essais de litte'rature anglaise/ Delagrave, 1883, Paris, pp. 
 199-225 et 241-245). A coup sur, il n'y a aucune comparaison a 
 e'tablir entre les nombreux et savants travaux anglais sur le poete, 
 et nos rares et modestes essais du continent : cependant, si toutes 
 les recherches biographiques ont e'te' faites chez vous, il me semble 
 difficile qu'on aille plus loin et plus a fond en quelques lignes 
 d'ide"es ge'ne'rales qu'aux pages 244-245 de l'ouvrage que je cite ci 
 dessus : il y a la une synthase de la poe"sie de Shelley que je 
 considere comme quelque chose d'absolument extraordinaire : et je 
 ne pense pas qu'en tant que re'sume' d'appreciation, cela puisse etre 
 surpass^ en justesse et en profondeur. Si j'osais parler pour mon 
 saint, peut-etre mon analyse des ' Cenci ' (' Poetes modernes de 
 l'Angleterre," Paris, Ollendorff, 1885) serait-elle aussi de quelque 
 utility, bien qu'elle n'approche pas des e"tudes de M. Dar- 
 mesteter. 
 
 " Je finis ici, cher Monsieur, la lettre que j'ai cru de mon devoir 
 d'e"crire, par votre entremise, a la ' Shelley Society : ' afin de faire 
 savoir a tous mes collegues que, si peu que nous fassions ici, nous 
 ne restons cependant pas completement inactifs. 
 
 "Veuillez agreer pour vous, pour le 'Committee', et pour la 
 Socie'te', Tassurance de mes meilleurs sentiments de confraternity. 
 
 " Gabriel Sarrazin." 
 
 MR. F. S. ELLIS ON MR. MOSELY'S PAPER. 
 
 If it is permissible to one who was nec3ssarily, by distant resi- 
 dence, absent from Mr. Mosely's lecture and the interesting 
 discussion which followed on the performance of The Cenci to say 
 a few words on the subject, I should venture to give expression to 
 a view which I can hardly expect will meet with general acceptance 
 — at any rate when it is first broached. I had the good fortune to 
 be present at the performance of the play, and listened to it 
 throughout without weariness, and with greater pleasure than almost 
 any other dramatic performance I ever witnessed of a similar 
 character — and this on one ground in particular, that it was the 
 only occasion in modern days of a poetical drama being given in 
 its entirety as the author wrote it, and one was therefore able to 
 enjoy it as a work of literary as well as dramatic art. I well 
 remember expressing my satisfaction to Dr. Furnivall at the con- 
 
THE SHELLEY SOCIETY. 207 
 
 elusion of the performance, and his reply, I must confess, startled 
 me — namely, that in any future performance it must be " cut." I 
 feel more hesitation than I can express in venturing to differ with 
 so considerable an authority, but the more I have thought of the 
 subject since, the more convinced have I become in my own mind 
 that to " cut " this play would be to ruin it, and to seriously impair 
 the effect which the original performance must have made on all 
 who delight in Shelley's genius. But I would go farther than this, 
 and enter a protest against any repetition of the performance under 
 the auspices of the Shelley Society, on the ground that the first 
 performance was, like the play itself, an inspiration, and that to 
 expect it to be repeated would be likely to end in a shortcoming 
 which would be little less than failure. I do not for a moment mean 
 to imply that Mr. Hermann Vezin and Miss Alma Murray could not 
 repeat the grand impersonations with which they delighted us, but 
 if by any chance either of these artists were unable to take the parts 
 again, is it reasonable to expect that any other representatives could 
 come up to the standard which they originated, and which must 
 remain indelibly imprinted on the minds of all who witnessed the 
 representation as works of art, which to deviate from or to alter 
 would be to destroy ? The only reasonable excuse for maiming a 
 great literary drama by excision is, that it may be made possible for 
 the everyday playgoer, but we cannot give this as a reason fo 
 " cutting " The Cenci, which few, I believe, will maintain could ever 
 hold possession of the boards as an acting play, even should any 
 future licenser consent to its production. Without any desire to 
 prophesy evil things, I cannot but believe that if the Shelley Society 
 should attempt a second representation, those among us who re- 
 member the first will be as the Israelites of old, who, when the second 
 temple was reared, remembered with lamentation that which had 
 preceded it. There was a freshness, a go, and a goodwill among 
 the actors, who from the highest to the lowest gave their services 
 gratuitously, which we cannot reasonably hope to secure again ; and 
 I believe the Society will consult its own credit and interest in 
 remaining satisfied with having secured one grand and successful 
 performance of Shelley's great work. 
 
 It is not without considerable diffidence that I venture to remark 
 that, among the various views expressed at the discussion respecting 
 the character of Beatrice, I miss the one which it appears to me to 
 do the greatest honour to Shelley's character as a realistic dramatist 
 — namely, that he does not represent her as what we might wish her 
 to be, but as the personification of his idea of what an Italian girl of 
 noble birth, strong passions, and life-loving instincts would be likely 
 to be, to say, and to do under such circumstances as those in which 
 she is supposed to find herself. He desired to draw no imaginary 
 heroine of romance, but a woman of flesh and blood whose educa- 
 tion, in a system which he looked upon with horror, justified every 
 means to free herself from the wrong she laboured under, and to 
 escape the penalties which she looked upon, not as a system of justice, 
 but as an engine of terror. Love of truth or abhorrence of falsehood 
 
2o3 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 could not, according to Shelley's view, form any part of the education 
 afforded by the priesthood to the youth of Italy in the 16th century ; 
 and he pourtrays for us a glorious being whose finer senses are 
 marred and destroyed by the atrocious social system under which 
 she existed. I do not, of. course, presume to offer any opinion as 
 to whether this was correct or incorrect, but I think we must allow 
 that this was the idea prevailing in the author's mind when he 
 wrote the play, and instead of endeavouring to excite our sympathies 
 for a perfect and an ideal woman, as many seem disappointed he 
 has not done, he enters a protest against a state of society which 
 could so mar and deform a character formed for all that was good 
 and lovable.— F. S. Ellis. 
 
 [Expressions of opinion on the matters raised in Mr. Ellis's 
 memorandum are invited. — Ed.] 
 
 The Committee are glad to be able to announce that the first ot 
 the Society's facsi7niles of Shelley's MSS. is now ready, and early 
 copies are already in the hands of subscribers. The MS. in 
 question is that of Shelley's Proposal for putting Reform to the 
 Vote throughout the Kingdom, published in 1 817, the poet using 
 the nom de plui?ie of " The Hermit of Marlow." Additional interest 
 is lent to the MS. by the presence (on the reverse of page 14) of a 
 pen-and-ink drawing by Shelley of a temple and some trees, 
 beneath which is an autograph inscription by Leigh Hunt certi- 
 fying that it " is a sketch by my dear friend Shelley's own hand." 
 The facsimile is preceded by a lengthy introduction by Mr. H. 
 Buxton Forman, and the volume has for a frontispiece an engraving 
 of Albion House, Marlow, Bucks., Shelley's residence in 1817. The 
 book is published at ioj., but will be supplied to members at half- 
 price (5i".). The Committee hope that members will subscribe for 
 it largely, and as the edition is strictly limited to 500 copies there is 
 little doubt that it will speedily become " scarce," and an object of 
 interest to the collector as well as to the student. 
 
 Some of our members may be interested to hear that Mr. Buxton 
 Forman has printed in a thin octavo volume for private circulation 
 the lecture delivered by him before the Shelley Society on April 13, 
 upon the subject of The Herinit of Marlow. The little book (of 
 which twenty-five copies only have been produced) is printed upon 
 hand-made paper, and prettily bound in light grey boards. It is 
 embellished with a frontispiece and several " cuts." 
 
 The Committee hope to send out in the course of two or three 
 weeks the second issue of the Society's publications for the current 
 year. It will consist of facsimile reprints of Epipsychidion, The 
 Masque of Anarchy, and the Address to the Irish People. Each 
 volume is preceded by an introduction. 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCIE T K 209 
 
 Jtofes {torn Itoral ^smaxwm Semfcua, 
 
 Birmingham. — The Work of the Term: On January 18th the 
 inaugural address was delivered by Dr. J. A. Langford, the Presi- 
 dent of the Branch, Mr. Howard S. Pearson, occupying the chair. 
 
 Dealing briefly with the chief events in Shelley's life, which 
 threw light on his career and poetry, the lecturer passed in review 
 The Necessity of Atheism, The Address to the Irish People, and 
 Queen Mab, as being the most important of the Juvenilia. The 
 latter, however, he was by no means willing to accept at its author's 
 own valuation, for there were in it some magnificent passages, all of 
 which served to make it a great poem, although written when 
 Shelley was but a boy. 
 
 Dr. Langford quoted the opening lines of the poem as an example 
 of extreme beauty : 
 
 " 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 
 When throned on ocean's wave 
 It blushes o'er the world : 
 Yet both so passing wonderful ! " 
 
 From these the Doctor passed on to the great poems — The Revolt 
 cf Islam j Alastor j Prometheus Unbound, and The Cenci. Regard- 
 ing the latter he remarked that it was the greatest tragedy that 
 had been written since the Elizabethan age. and had it been pro- 
 duced in that glorious time of English literature, it would have 
 been one of its bright particular stars. The lecturer concluded by 
 reading a few stanzas from his poem, Shelley. 
 
 On February 1st a paper was read, by Miss Mary E. Dalton, 
 entitled, " A Study of Epipsychidion" in which the circumstances 
 under which the poem came to be written were related, and the 
 spirit in which it was written commented upon. 
 
 March 1st, A paper on "Shelley's Faith," was read by Mr. W. 
 Kineton Parkes, in which the writer compared the religious opinions, 
 as expressed in the earlier poems, with those found in the later 
 and grander works of the poet ; and how the spirit of destruction 
 apparent in the earlier work, in time gave way to a spirit of con- 
 struction, which might be termed the Positive aspect of Shelley's 
 religion, in contra-distinction to the more juvenile work which was 
 of Negative kind. 
 
 P 
 
2io • NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 During the term Prometheus Unbound has been studied in 
 three readings with expositions. Mr. J. S. Swann opening with 
 Act I., Mr. A. Chovil and Mr. J. H. Brindley continuing with 
 Acts II. III. and IV. 
 
 Discussions have taken place each evening upon points which 
 have presented themselves during the readings of the papers or the 
 expositions of Prometheus. A paper on " Shelley's Art Criticisms" 
 was to have been read by Mr. G. Guzzenheim, but on account of a 
 family trouble he was unable to write it. A paper on the same 
 subject was read by the Hon. Sec. on April 19th, that night being 
 the last meeting for the term. 
 
 Reports of the meetings have regularly appeared in the local 
 papers, and by the kindness of the Editor (The President of the 
 Branch) of The Institute Magazine, notices of meetings and 
 accounts of the papers, readings, &c, have been accorded space in 
 that journal. 
 
 The average attendance of members at the meetings has been 
 thirty-five, the Branch numbering fifty members. 
 
 The meetings have been held in the Literature Lecture Room of 
 the Birmingham and Midland Institute, the use of which has been 
 kindly granted by the officers. 
 
 Melbourne. — Mr. Frank Scrivenor has been ill ; and in conse- 
 quence of this and the extreme heat of the weather, the Melbourne 
 Shelley Society is temporarily dissolved. Mr. Scrivenor writes, " I 
 am sorry to say there is a plentiful lack of enthusiasm of a Shelleyan 
 nature here. ' Religious ' virulence has lost none of its 
 strength in its transit across the seas, and even, I find, among 
 men of professedly broad and liberal views, Shelley often makes 
 but little way." 
 
 Newcastle-ut>on-Tyne. — Formation of a Branch of the Shelley 
 Society: — On Monday, March 21st, 1887, a meeting was held in the 
 Lecture Room of the Literary and Philosophical Society, at which a 
 Newcastle Branch was started. The Rev. Frank Walters took the 
 chair. After the local Hon. Sec. (Mr. F. Graham Aylward) had 
 stated the objects, &c, of the Parent Society, the Branch was 
 formally voted in. Robert Spence Watson, Esq., LL.D., was then 
 elected President, and the following Committee chosen : — Miss 
 Atkinson ; Mr. T. N. Brown ; Mr. E. T. Nisbet ; Mr. Joseph 
 Skipsey, and the Rev. Frank Walters. Monthly meetings were 
 agreed to and the annual subscription fixed at 2s. 6d. payable every 
 1st January (that for 1887 being due now). 
 
 The three daily papers of March 22nd had each an account of 
 the meeting, the Newcastle Daily Chronicle having a leader of 
 nearly a column, as well as a notice. 
 
 The first monthly meeting of this Branch was held in the Lecture 
 Theatre of the Literary and Philosophical Society on Monday 
 evening, April 18th, 1887, R. Spence Watson, Esq., LL.D. in 
 the chair. The following rules were put by the Chairman, read 
 
THE SHELLE Y S0C1E TV. c 1 1 
 
 by the Secretary, seconded by Mr. H. B. Holding, and carried 
 unanimously : — 
 
 1. That this Society shall be called "The Shelley Society, 
 Newcastle-on-Tyne Branch." 
 
 2. That the aims and objects of this Society be identified with 
 those of the Parent Society as follows : — This Society is formed to 
 gather the chief admirers of the Poet into a body which will work 
 to do his memory honour, by meeting to discuss his writings, 
 qualities, opinions, life, and doings ; by generally investigating and 
 illustrating his genius and personality from every side, and in every 
 detail. 
 
 3. That the Officers of this Society shall consist of a President, 
 Committee of five members, and a Secretary, who shall be elected 
 at the annual meeting. 
 
 4. That any person may become a member on being proposed 
 and accepted by a majority of the members present at any ordinary 
 meeting of the Society. 
 
 5. That the Annual Subscription of is. 6d. be payable by each 
 member at the time of election. 
 
 6. That this Society shall hold its meetings on the third Monday 
 of each month, (July, August, and September excepted,) the chair 
 to be taken at 7.30 p.m. The January meeting shall be the Annual 
 Meeting. 
 
 7 That a Library of Shelley Literature as extensive as the funds 
 admit, be formed, and that all books in the Library of this Society 
 be lent to members gratis, for the term stated inside each volume. 
 But no member in arrears can use the Library until his subscription 
 is paid. 
 
 9. That this Society does not hold itself responsible for any 
 opinions stated by the various lecturers at its meetings. 
 
 Dr. Watson then proceeded with the inaugural address on 
 " Shelley." After speaking of the benefits of literary societies, the 
 lecturer urged that one great solace of life was the study of poetry. 
 But of any great writer we should not only know his works and life 
 but his surroundings ; and we cannot thoroughly understand a poet 
 until we loVe him. There are dangers in societies, the greatest 
 being the craving after minute detail. The best help against this 
 is catholicity of taste. Shelley was not studied in his own time, 
 and of the small audience who did admire him the majority were 
 great men. Shelley was abused by the large mass of his contem- 
 poraries, and this fact should make us doubtful of our own literary 
 men. Posterity may be surprised at our views of our own poets. 
 Shelley was too full of ideas to be a popular poet. He is best 
 known by his lyrics ; yet is more than an artist, being seer and 
 prophet. In fact he saw too far, rather than not far enough. His 
 short life was one of many sorrows. Shelley was quixotic, and a 
 man who is against the world must expect to be treated accordingly. 
 He hated all tyranny and intolerance ; and was a true child of the 
 revolution of ideas as opposed to the revolution of force. Shelley 
 was imbued with ideas, but did not estimate what influence thev 
 
212 NOTEBOOK OF 
 
 would have on the average man. He imagined all men were 
 . Shelleys. In judging Shelley, let us wait until all details of each 
 case can be had. The great influence to which Shelley was sub- 
 jected was the modern spirit of revolution and reform. The French 
 revolution influenced him the most, and the tendency of thought of 
 the 19th century was to reform- destroying authority, searching for 
 the truth. It was when the French monarchy gave place to the 
 Republic that Shelley was born, and he reached manhood when the 
 Revolution had failed. Although despotism succeeded, Shelley and 
 Godwin never lost faith in the Revolution. Shelley was imbued 
 with an undivided love of mankind, and sought to revolutionize 
 the world in his songs by ideas. His visions and ideas are of the 
 very noblest and purest. Take Laon and Cythna, which is full of the 
 highest ideas, and Prometheus Unbound, which — although the man 
 knew it not — contains the very spirit of Christianity. He was 
 devout in the highest sense, and we wonder at his faith, as by 
 bringing truth before the people he upheld the best standard. We 
 must remember that we are dealing with a man who worked not 
 quite ten years. No doubt he had his faults ; his poetry is some- 
 times immature. But his works taste of inspiration. It would be 
 interesting to hear Wordsworth and Shelley compared. Shelley's 
 language is full of music and passes through every range of 
 subjects. No realm of spirit was left untouched by the poet. We 
 prefer his sublime imperfection of style to the finish of smaller 
 men. Shelley is not first as a poet, but he stands alone. It 
 destroys criticism to ask who is first. That noble life made men 
 love him as they loved no one else. The lecturer finished by quoting 
 the last sentence of Alastor. 
 
 As no discussion was offered, Mr. Aylward explained the value of 
 the recovery of the MSS. of the Mask of Anarchy, and. of Mrs. 
 Shelley's letter with it, which are due to the efforts of the Parent 
 Society. The speaker stated that this letter opened up fresh 
 matter for Shelley students in the character of Adrian, in Mrs. 
 Shelley's Last Man, which she purposely drew, and which her 
 friends admired. 
 
 Mr. H. B. Holding proposed, and Dr. W. Clarke Robinson 
 seconded, a vote of thanks to the Chairman for his able address. 
 Dr. Robinson said that a poet's works were explained by his life. 
 He also stated the heads of a lecture which he was to deliver at 
 the May meeting of the Society on " Shelley's Standpoint, Life and 
 Works." 
 
 Mr. J. W. Swanston then rose to support the vote of thanks, and 
 said that some one has said that the best poets, such as Wordsworth 
 and Browning, speak in a language which should be learned before 
 we can thoroughly understand them. Shelley was such an one too. 
 
 In reply Dr. Watson said he thought -we should treat poetry 
 as a serious subject, and read it more as we did our lessons when 
 at school. 
 
 The second monthly meeting of this Branch was held in the 
 theatre of the Literary and Philosophical Society, on Monday' 
 
THE SHELLE Y SOCTE TV. z 1 3 
 
 May 16th, at 7.30 p.m. Dr. Clarke Robinson, Lecturer in Modern 
 Literature at Durham University, took the chair, and, after the 
 Secretary had read the minutes of the April meeting, proceeded 
 with his lecture on " Shelley's Standpoint, Life, and Works." It is 
 hoped that this lecture will be printed by the Society. 
 
 As no discussion was offered, the Rev. Frank Walters proposed 
 a vote of thanks to the lecturer, saying that the subject had been 
 treated so ably that discussion was out of place. The estimate of 
 Shelley given was a very high one and therefore a very just one. 
 Shelley was a great deal better man than most are inclined to 
 believe. We shall find him more noble as we learn more of him. 
 The secretary seconded the vote of thanks which was carried by 
 acclamation. 
 
 Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. — Professor J. M. Peirce 
 continues to work for the Society with unabated energy, and 
 sends in the names of many new members. 
 
5 
 
 
^be Sbelie^ Society 
 
 PUBLICATIONS FOR 1886. 
 
 I. Shelley's A dona is : an Elegy on the Death of John Keats. ^^01821. 
 A Type-Facsimile Repr int on hand-made Paper; edited with a Bibliographical 
 introduction, by Thomas J. Wise. {Third Edition, Revised.) Price 10s. Beards. 
 
 2 Shelley's Hellas, a Lyrical Drama. London, 8vo, 1822. A Type-Facsimile 
 Reprint on Lnf mad; Paper; together with , .Shelley's Prolog J ^'^ Notes 
 by Dr. Garnett and Mary W. Shelley. Edited with an Introduction, by Ihos. J. 
 Wise Presented by Mr. F. S. Ellis. '{Third Edition.) Price 8s. Boards. 
 
 -x Shelley's Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude; and oilier Poems. London fcap. 
 8vo" z8i6 A Type-Facsimile Reprint on hand-made Paper, with a new Preface by 
 Bertram Dobeil. {Second Edition, Revised.) Price 6s. Boards. 
 
 a Shelley's Cenci (for the Society's performance in May), with a prologue by Dr. 
 Tohn Todhunter ; an Introduction and Notes by Harry Buxton Forman and Alfred 
 Forrr.an ; and a Portrait of Beatrice Cenci. Crown 8vo. Price 2s. 6d. Boards 
 
 < Shelley's Vindication of Natural Lwt. London, 121110,1813. A -Reprint 1882, 
 with a Prefatory Note by H. S. Salt and W. E. A. Axon. Presented by Mr. Axon. 
 {Second Edition.) 
 
 f, Shellev's Review of Hogg's novel, "Memoirs of Prince Alexy Haimatott 
 No 6 wlrsfl7printed V1 from The Bitical R^Bec. ,814, on ^^J*g£$S 
 an Extract from Prof. Dowden's article, -Some E«ly ^iitmgs of SheUey 
 {Contemp. Rev., Sept. 1884). Edited, with an Introductory Note, by Thos. J. Wise. 
 {Third Edition, Revised.) Crown 8 vo. Price is. 6d. Boards. 
 
 7. A Memoir of Shelley, with a fresh Preface, by William Michael Rossetti ; a 
 Portrait of Shelley ; and an engraving of his Tomb. {Second Edition, with Contents 
 andafull/«^'.r.) Crown 8vo. Boards. 
 
 8 The Shelley Library : an Essay in Bibliography. London, 8vo, 1886. Fart 1. 
 « Fi'rst Ed : tions and their Reproductions.' By H. Buxton Forman. Boards. 
 
 PUBLICATIONS FOP 1887. 
 
 on 
 and 
 
 1. Shelley's Epipsychidion. London, 8vo, 1821. A Type- Facsimile Reprint 
 hand made Paper ; with an Introduction by the Rev. Stopford A. Brooke MA, 
 a Note on the text of the poem by Algernon C. Swinburne. Edited by Robeu A. 
 Potts. Presented by the Editor. Price \os. Boards. 
 
 2. The Wandering Jew, a Poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley. Edited, with an Intro- 
 duction, by Bertram Dobell. 8vo. Price Ss. Boards. 
 
 3. The Shelley Primer, by Mr. H. S. Salt. This is published by Reeves and Turner, 
 and the Society has taken a copy for each of its Members. 
 
 4. The Pianoforte Score of Dr. W. Selle's Choruses and **$*"?> ™$^ 
 for the Society's performance of Shelley's Hellas in November, 1886. Imperial 8vo. 
 Wrappers. Price \s. 
 
 All these Publications of the Society for 1886 and 1887 are kept in. 
 stock, and new Members can be supplied with them upon payment ot 
 the back subscription. Additional copies of such as are on sale can be 
 obtained from the Honorary Secretary, from the Society s Publishers or 
 Agents, or through any bookseller. 
 
 CHEAP EDITION OF "HELLAS." 
 
 The Committee have also printed a cheap edition of Hellas, prepared I for the Society* 
 performance of the drama. Edited (with a brief Introduction) 1 ^7 Thomas J \Vise 
 Svo. Price Z s. in boards (on fine paper, with a Portrait of Shelley : one hundred, 
 copies only printed), or 2s. in wrappers. Copies can be obtained by Members at one 
 half the published price upon application to the Honorary becretary. 
 
TRIAL LIST OF SHELLEYANA 
 
 Mr. T. J. Wise's Trial List of Shelley ana is now approaching 
 completion, and will appear shortly in the Note-Book. Mr. 
 Wise will be glad if those Members who have been collecting 
 lists of Reviews, Notices, &c., will kindly send them in to 
 him at an early date, in order that they may be incorporated 
 at once, and thus save the printing of supplement ry short 
 lists, which, in addition to the extra expense incurred, would 
 render the work less easy of reference than if complete in 
 one single mass. Of course Notes of an early date (say 
 before 1858) are particularly desirable, but all items of 
 Shelleyana, however recent or however trifling, are acceptable. 
 
 Note.— Title-page, Contents, and other preliminary matter, together 
 with a full Index, will be provided for the Note-Book as the volumes 
 are completed. Probably each volume will consist of three parts, 
 similar to the present.— T. J. W. 
 
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