"THE LOFTIEST STAR OF UNASCENDED HEAVEN PINNACLED DIM IN THE INTENSE INANE."-PERCY B. SHELLEY.

66

MUSIC ITSELF THE ECHO OF THE HEART."-PERCY B. SHELLEY.

Sustained itself with terror
and with toil

Over a gulf, and with the
agony

With which it clings seems

slowly coming down;
Even as a wretched soul,
hour after hour,
Clings to the mass of life;

yet, clinging, leans;
And, leaning, makes more
dark the dread abyss
In which it fears to fall. Be-

neath this crag,

Huge as despair, as if in
weariness,

The melancholy mountain

yawns. Below

You hear, but see not, an

impetuous torrent

["An impetuous torrent raging among
the caverns."]

"DEATH IS THE VEIL THAT THOSE WHO LIVE CALL LIFE."-SHELLEY.

397

"MAN, ONE HARMONIOUS SOUL OF MANY A SOUL, WHOSE NATURE IS ITS OWN DIVINE CONTROL."-SHELLEY.

398

"THE DULL SNEER OF SELF-LOVED IGNORANCE."-SHELLEY.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

Raging among the caverns; and a bridge
Crosses the chasm; and high above these grow,
With intersecting trunks, from crag to crag,
Cedars, and yews, and pines; whose tangled hair
Is matted in one solid roof of shade

[From the tragedy of "The Cenci," act iii., scene 1.-This picture is worthy of a place in Dante's "Inferno."]

"CUSTOM MAKETH BLIND AND OBDURATE THE LOFTIEST HEARTS."-PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

"FAMILIAR ACTS ARE BEAUTIFUL THROUGH LOVE."-shelley.

"THE DEAD WHO LEAVE THE STAMP OF EVER-BURNING THOUGHTS ON MANY A PAGE."-SHELLEY.

"MANY ARE STRONG AND RICH, AND WOULD BE JUST, BUT LIVE AMONG (PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY)

"" WINTER ROBING WITH PURE SNOW AND CROWNS (SHelley)

THE SPIRIT OF DELIGHT: AN INVOCATION.

And the weary Day turned to his rest,
Lingering like an unloved guest,
I sighed for thee.

Thy brother Death came, and cried,
Wouldst thou me?

Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,
Murmured like a noontide bee,
Shall I nestle near thy side?
Wouldst thou me ?—And I replied,
No, not thee!

Death will come when thou art dead,
Soon, too soon-

Sleep will come when thou art fled;

Of neither would I ask the boon
I ask of thee, beloved Night-
Swift be thine approaching flight,—
Come soon, soon!

[From Shelley's "Miscellaneous Poems."]

399

THEIR SUFFERING FELLOW-MEN AS IF NONE FELT; THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO."-SHELLEY.

THE SPIRIT OF DELIGHT: AN INVOCATION.

R

ARELY, rarely comest thou,

Spirit of Delight!

Wherefore hast thou left me now
Many a day and night?

Many a weary night and day
'Tis since thou art fled away.

How shall ever one like me

Win thee back again?
With the joyous and the free

Thou wilt scoff at pain.

OF STARRY ICE THE GRAY GRASS AND BARE BOUGHS."-SHELLEY.

"THE HARMONIOUS MIND POURED ITSELF FORTH IN ALL-PROPHETIC SONG."-SHELLEY.

400

"DEWY MORN AND ODOROUS NOON AND even,-(shelley)

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.

Spirit false thou hast forgot
All but those who need thee not.

As a lizard with the shade

Of a trembling leaf,

Thou with sorrow art dismayed;

Even the sighs of grief

Reproach thee, that thou art not near,
And reproach thou wilt not hear.

Let me set my mournful ditty

To a merry measure;

Thou wilt never come for pity,
Thou wilt come for pleasure ;-

Pity then will cut away

Those cruel wings, and thou wilt stay.

I love all that thou lovèst,
Spirit of Delight!

The fresh Earth in new leaves drest,
And the starry night;

Autumn evening and the morn
When the golden mists are born.

I love snow and all the forms
Of the radiant frost ;

I love waves, and winds, and storms;
Everything almost

Which is Nature's, and may be
Untainted by man's misery.

I love tranquil solitude,
And such society

As is quiet, wise, and good;

Between thee and me

AND SOLEMN MIDNIGHT'S TINGLING SILENTNESS."-Shelley:

"AND IF WE WERE NOT WEAK, Should we BE LESS IN DEED THAN IN DESIRE?"-SHELLEY.

"THE AWFUL SHADOW OF SOME UNSEEN POWER

THE GROWTH OF CIVILIZATION.

What difference? but thou dost possess
The things I seek, not love them less.

I love Love-though he has wings,
And like light can flee;
But, above all other things,

Spirit, I love thee

Thou art love and life! Oh come,

Make once more my heart thy home!

401

[A graceful, melodious, and simple lyric, differing widely in feeling and character from the gorgeous "Adonais," or the intense passion of the "Epipsychidion."]

"WE KNOW THAT WE HAVE POWER OVER OURSELVES TO DO AND SUFFER-(PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY)

WHAT WE KNOW NOT TILL WE TRY, BUT SOMETHING NOBLER THAN TO LIVE AND DIE."-SHELLEY.

THE GROWTH OF CIVILIZATION.

[Described under cover of the ancient myth of Prometheus, who may
be regarded as the personification of "Foresight."]

HEN Prometheus

Gave wisdom, which is strength, to Jupiter,
And with this law alone, "Let man be free,"
Clothed him with the dominion of wide Heaven.
To know nor faith, nor love, nor law; to be
Omnipotent but friendless is to reign;

And Jove now reigned; for on the race of man
First famine, and then toil, and then disease,
Strife, wounds, and ghastly death unseen before,
Fell; and the unseasonable seasons drove,
With alternating shafts of frost and fire,

Their shelterless, pale tribes to mountain-caves:
And in their desert hearts fierce wants he sent,
And mad disquietudes, and shadows idle
Of unreal good, which levied mutual war,
So ruining the lair wherein they raged.

FLOATS, THOUGH UNSEEN, AMONG US."-SHELLEY.