(you observe the strength of these conjurations), pray, give all manner of publicity to my disapprobation of this publication; in fact, protest for me in an advertisement in the strongest terms. I ought to say, however, that I am obliged to this piratical fellow in one respect; that he has omitted, with a delicacy for which I thank him heartily, a foolish dedication to my late wife, the publication of which would have annoyed me, and indeed is the only part of the business that could seriously have annoyed me, although it is my duty to protest against the whole. I have written to my attorney to do what he can to suppress it, although I fear that, after the precedent of Southey, there is little probability of an injunction being granted." The "fear" here expressed proved to be well based. The law gives no protection to a heretical book, and in fact refuses to acknowledge it, except as the object of a prosecution; and so the Court of Chancery connived at the sale of a work, the opinions of which it held to be pernicious.

The more exalted Platonical speculations of his later life naturally made Shelley discontented with the somewhat cold, though qualified, materialism of Queen Mab. But it is a mistake to describe that poem as utterly atheistical in its tendency. It is rather pantheistical, since, while it rejects the hypothesis of a creative God, it affirms the existence of "a pervading Spirit, coeternal with the universe." Passages might be quoted from it, full of deep yet modest piety, as regarded from the author's point of view -a point which must be conceded to the believers in any creed. The involuntary tendency

of a poet to recognize spiritual existences constantly breaks forth, and peoples the world with Fairies and Genii. The immortality of the soul, and its essential difference from the body, are likewise acknowledged nay, even passionately enforced. But, undoubtedly, the poem and the notes are anything but orthodox. Shelley regarded the conventional religion as gross, contradictory, and tending to oppression and cruelty; and history supplied him with many dismal facts in support of that view. He saw, moreover, that the Christianity of worldlyminded men is not sincere. that their practice is at war with their profession; and, so seeing, he spoke out with all the vehemence of youth. For publishing these bold comments on the popular faith, Mr. Moxon, as late as 1840, was prosecuted and convicted. As a literary production, Queen Mab will always possess interest, because of the vigorous indications it contains of an expanding genius, already haunted with images of splendor and with utterances of sonorous melody; but it cannot be denied that it sometimes betrays an adherence to that conventional style of poetry which was then passing away from our literature, and from which Shelley himself afterwards widely diverged. The notes exhibit a large extent of reading; and, whatever may be thought of the doctrines enforced, no candid reader will refuse to admire the subtilty of reasoning and the mastery of style which are here evinced by a mere youth.

At Tanyralt, as at all other places, Shelley's benevolence was in constant activity. The reader has already seen how munificently it was exercised when the sea

broke through the feeble barrier on which the safety of many of the poor cottagers depended; but this, though the most conspicuous, was not the only instance. Mr. Maddox, in subsequent years, told Captain Medwin, a relative of the poet, and one of his biographers, that Shelley was constantly relieving the humble and necessitous, and that he would visit them in their homes, and supply them, during the bleak winter months, with food, clothes, and fuel.

Yet this continual beneficence could not save Shelley from an attempt on his life, of a most atrocious and extraordinary kind; for the facts will not allow us to hope that the horrible scene was the creation of an over-excited and almost morbidly sensitive brain. It is true that there is something of a nightmare character in the incidents; but the testimony of Mrs. Shelley gives the stamp of reality to the affair. Miss Westbrook was also in the house at the time, and often, in after years, related the circumstance as a frightful fact. The details of this strange circumstance are given by Shelley and his wife in letters to Mr. Hookham:

"MY DEAR SIR,

"I HAVE just escaped an atrocious assassination. Oh! send me 201., if you have it!* You will perhaps hear of me

*The incoherence of the few words here written by Shelley shows the agitated state of his mind at the time. It would appear that, after sending off the 201. for the Hunt subscription, he was in want of money. Hence the request to Mr. Hookham for a little temporary accommodation, to enable him to make the necessary removal from Tanyralt

Postscript by Mrs. Shelley.

"Mr. Shelley is so dreadfully nervous to-day from having been up all night, that I am afraid what he has written will alarm you very much. We intend to leave this place as soon as possible, as our lives are not safe so long as we remain. It is no common robber we dread, but a person who is actuated by revenge, and who threatens my life, and my sister's as well. If you can send us the money, it will greatly add to our comfort.

66 Sir, I remain your sincere friend,

"T. Hookham, Esq."

"H. SHELLEY.

Mr. Hookham answered this letter by sending a remittance, which was thus acknowledged:

"MY DEAR FRIEND,

66

Bangor Ferry, March 6th, 1813.

"IN the first stage of our journey towards Dublin, we met with your letter. How shall I express to you what I felt of gratitude, surprise, and pleasure not so much that the remittance rescued us from a situation of peculiar perplexity, but that one there was, who, by disinterested and unhesitating confidence, made amends to our feelings, wounded by the suspicion, coldness, and villany of the world. If the discovery of truth be a pleasure of singular purity, how far surpassing is the discovery of virtue!

"I am now recovered from an illness brought on by watching, fatigue, and alarm; and we are proceeding to Dublin, to dissipate the unpleasant impressions associated with the scene of our alarm.

"We expect to be there on the 8th. You shall then hear the details of our distresses. The ball of the assassin's pistols (he fired at me twice) penetrated my nightgown, and pierced the wainscot. He is yet undiscovered, though not unsuspected, as you will learn from my next.

"Unless you knew us all more intimately, you cannot con

ceive with what fervor and sincerity my wife and sister join with me to you in gratitude and esteem.

"Yours ever faithfully and affectionately,

"PERCY B. SHELLEY.

"P. S. Though overwhelmed by our own distresses, we are by no means indifferent to those of liberty and virtue. From the tenor of your letter, I augur that you have applied the 201. I sent to the benefit of the Hunts. I am anxious to hear further of the success of this experiment. My direction is — 35 Great Cuffe Street, Dublin. By your kindness and generosity, we are perfectly relieved from all pecuniary difficulties. We only wanted a little breathing time, which the rapidity of our persecutions was unwilling to allow us. We shall readily repay the 201. when I hear from my correspondent in London; but when can I repay the friendship, the disinterestedness, and the zeal of your confidence ?

The most complete account of the attack is that contained in the following letter from Mrs. Shelley to Mr. Hookham:

"MY DEAR SIR,

"35 Cuffe Street, Stephen's Green, Dublin, March 11th, [1813].

"WE arrived here last Tuesday, after a most tedious passage of forty hours, during the whole of which time we were dreadfully ill. I am afraid no diet will prevent us from the common lot of suffering, when obliged to take a sea-voyage.

"Mr. S. promised you a recital of the horrible events that caused us to leave Wales. I have undertaken the task, as I wish to spare him, in the present nervous state of his health, everything that can recall to his mind the horrors of that night.

"On Friday night, the 26th of February, we retired to bed between ten and eleven o'clock. We had been in bed about