ke, but for the mother's, and that the mother had grown dearer to him for the babe's. Hogg informs us, however, that about this time the ardor of Shelley's affectio

have been so readily broken." Harriet sympathized less and less with her husband's aspirations, and as a consequence Shelley turned to other women for the encouragement and inspiration which he once got from his wife. He spent too much of his time in the company of the Newtons, Boinvilles, and Turners to render possible the retention of his wife's affections. On March 16, 1814, Shelley wrote a letter to Hogg, which plainly shows that he found no happiness in his home. "I have been staying with Mrs. Boinville for the last month; I have escaped, in the society of all that friendship and philosophy combine, from the dismaying solitude of myself.... I have sunk into a premature old age of exhaustion.... Eliza is still with us-not here!-but (with his wife) ... I certainly hate her with all my heart and soul." Shelley's second marriage in St. George's Church, on March 22, does not throw any light on the relations that existed between himself and his wife. They celebrated this second ceremony simply to dispel all doubts concerning the validity of the first one in Edinburgh. On April 18, Mrs. Boinville wrote to Hogg that Shelley was at her house, that Harriet had

did so intensely. Everybody was either an angel or a devil; and Harriet had ceased to be an angel. "Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds." Dowden says Shelley persuaded himself that Ha

"Say, Eloise, do not you think it an insult to two souls, united to each other in the irrefragable covenants of love and congeniality, to promise in the sight of a Being whom they know not, that fidelity which is certain otherwise." He does not think that promiscuous intercourse will follow the abolition of marriage. Love, and not money, honors, or convenience will be the bond of these unions when marriage is abolished, and this will result in more faithfulness than obtains at present. "The parties having acted upon selection are not likely to f

appiness man's highest good, and unhappiness man's only evil. Vows and promises are immoral because the thing promised may prove at any time detrimental to one's happiness. For this reason husban

adical views of Shelley at the door of Godwin. In the case of those on

unknown. "It would be unjust to conclude," Lawrence writes, "that every voluntary union would be short-lived." He claims that, although constancy is no merit in itself, still it obtains in the Kingdom of the Naires to a greater extent than in Europe. "Know ye not that though constancy is no merit it is a source of happiness; and that though inconstancy is no crime, it is no blessing much less a boast."[35] There is some resemblance between this and the following from Shelley's Notes to Queen Mab: "Constancy has nothing virtuous in itself independently of the pleasure it confers, and partakes of the temporizing spirit of vice in proportion as it endures tamely moral defects of magnitude in the object of its indiscreet choice." In another place Lawrence writes: "Two hearts whom love with its l

eu writes, "a husband, who would wish to keep his wife to himself, would be considered a disturber of the public happiness, and as a madman who would monopolise the light of the sun. He who loves his own wife, is one who is not agreeable enough to gain the affections of any other man's wife, who takes advantage of a law to make amends for his own want of amiability; and who contributes, as far as lies in his power, to overturn a tacit convention, that is conducive to the happiness of both sexes."[39] In England conditions were no better. A hu

en in good humor, or when resolved to be so; a married couple think themselves entitled to torment each other with their ill-humors. When a lover presents a trifle to his beloved, she receives

etween the sexes in the different countries of the world. Lawrence draws horrible pictures of misery, degradation, and even murder that are a consequence of our opinions on love and marriage. "Whenever women are treated

eads to the brothel. "Prostitution," says Shelley, "is the legitimate offspring of marriage and its accompanying errors. Women for no other crime than having followed

f the Empire of the Naires. However, it may not be amiss to indicate the slight resemblance th

xed for the wedding, her father returns from a distant land to die,

d,

ell thee 'tis

, boy, ben

rd rests in her

eak and pa

e dear to o

orpse! Thou

ther who uses her very cruelly, perhaps because she gives birth to an ille

that if

y children

irthplace

days, whose h

ld inheri

ide was inflamed, and a quarrel ensued in which Forbes was mortally wounded. The dying man sent for Margaret and told her that she and her lover are sister and brother, that he and not Montgomery was her father, and hence her mother's and his opposition to the ma

e separated from their l

he evil w

ore sternl

ost as their sinning sisters. In both cases com

nowledge is great, and her perseverance in everything she undertakes almost invincible." She was brought up in an atmosphere of free thought, having spent most of her girlho

ion won the day, and on July 28 Shelley eloped with Mary to the Continent. He tried to ease his conscience by offering Harriet his friendship and protection. He wrote her from

hose doctrines which he believed to be true. Neither Shelley nor Mary thought they were in

from the bailiffs. Toward the end of the year he read "the tale of Godwin's American disciple in romance, Charles Brockden Brown."[45] "Brown's four novels," says Peacock, "Schiller's Robber

loquist who persuades him that a voice from heaven bids him sacrifice the life of his wife and four children. "If Wieland had framed juster notions of moral duty, and of the divine attributes; or if he had bee

f the earth,

which yourse

n heard your t

ng from

ld be hidden with immeasurable solicitude from every human eye. Alas! these airy and fleeting impulses of shame are gone. My scruples were preposterous and criminal. They are bred in all hearts, by a perverse and vicious education, and they would have mai

frank, beauti

m's evil taint

sdom once they

ns once they f

all which once

w, made earth

f Godwin, determined them to leave England. J. C. Jeafferson maintains that Miss Clairmont persuaded Shelley to accompany her to Geneva, where she was to meet Lord Byron. It is quit

ve for Shelley drove her to despair. In December Shelley was seeking for Harriet, of whom he had lost trace some time previously. On December 10, her body was found in the Ser

-complacency and assumption of righteousness at this time without feelings of detestation. On the day he heard the news of his wife's suicide he wrote to Mary: "Everything tends to prove, however, that beyond the shock of so hideous a catastrophe havin

f a Dr. Hume, of Hanwell. Lord Eldon gave his judgment against Shelley on the ground that Shelley's opinions led to i

na. In its first form it contained violent attacks on theism and Christianity; and the hero and heroine were brother and sister. Ollier refused

ysterious woman (Asia in Prometheus Unbound) suddenly appears and conducts him to heaven. There he meets Laon and Cythna who recount the sufferings which made them worthy of th

alf of humanki

and hate, the

grace and power w

lust, who,

meal, laughing in

y the emissaries of the tyrant Othman; and Laon, who killed three of the king's slaves while defending her, is cast into prison. A hermit sets him free, conveys him to an island, and supports him there for seven years. During all of this time Laon's mind is deranged. He recovers, how

ey, even like

forest, bend be

's speech, and to th

nterposes and tells them that if their hearts are tried in the true love of freedom

astene

s that justic

revenge and terro

a foreign army treacherously attacks the

arian horse

o'er the dead;

ofs of that tr

to an angel

waving a

ds the revolutionists as described in the previous cantos. Want and pestilence follow in the wake of massacre, and cause awful misery. An Iberian priest in whose breast "hate and guile lie watchful" says that God will not stay the plague until a pyre is built and Laon and Cythna burned upon it. An immense reward is offered for their capture. The person who brings them both alive shall espouse the princess and reign with the king. A stranger comes to the tyrant's court and tells them that they themselves have made all the desolation

ved and g

ol, upon a ba

tar-bright flowers

divine

ild) in it. They are all carried in this "curved

ice. Thus, during the voyage from the cavern to Othman's city, Cythna delivers an address to

ace of self-co

mpathies, and

st bowers of se

unny day is qu

ile with Joy,

ars from the wo

to love and

ith or law, no

en or Earth such d

is the expression of ideal devotion to the happiness of mankind; and Cythna is a type of the new woman, "the free, equal, fearless companion of man." The poem depicts "the awakening of an immense nation from their slavery and degradation to a true se

, that it takes a maturer mind than Shelley's to lay bare the fallacies of the work and to unmask its half truths. No outline of the story can give an idea of its strength. In the beginning of the seventeenth century Hilarion Count d'Acugna of the royal house of Braganza joins the Franciscans, and on account of his zeal and piety is known as "the man without a fault." He is full of zeal for the salvation of souls and goes to India to convert pagans to Christianity. "Devoted to a higher communion his soul only stooped from heaven to earth, to relieve the sufferings he pitied, or to correct the errors he condemned; to substitute peace for animosity ... to watch, to pray, to fast, to suffer for all. Such was the occupation of a life, active as it was sinless." Passages like the above serve as sugar coating for the following: "Hitherto th

a on the people she meets. "The Indians of the most distinguished rank drew back as she approached lest their very breath should pollute that region of purity her respiration consecrated, and the odour of the sacred flowers, by which she was adorned, was inhaled with an eager

th human hearts,

loom of her imm

mystic love, and maintained the existence of spirit only; while a follower of Buddha supported the doctrine of matter, etc." The missionary takes advantage of this opportunity to tell them about Christianity. "The impression of his appearance was decisive, it sank at once to the soul; and he imposed conviction on the senses, ere he ma

, Joshua, a

h, Zerdhust and

range names, w

atchwords of

aging votary

ed hands, and

e is God!"-An

forth, when fr

which pierced like i

ian priest fr

, who led the

aith and pride had

the unbel

sed, a

d silent, as

his voice am

down upon t

urses of his sp

en this cowled Iberian priest and the

commanding; the one, radiant in all the luster, attractive in all the softness which distinguishes her native regions; the other, towering in all the energy, which marks his ruder latitudes." They meet again and again, and the result is they fall in love with each other. It is significant from the point of view of the influence of the Missionary that in Alastor Shelley meets his ideal love "in the vale of Cashmire." The way the

ith its g

legends of un

s is nought;

ains which life

ed soul's aspi

dice of his monastic education; to feel, was still with him to be weak; to love, a crime; and to resist, perfection." Luxima is excommunicated, deprived of caste and declared a wanderer and an outcast upon the earth. They both elude their pursuers and join a caravan which is on its way to Tatta. On their journey the missionary tells her that they must soon separate, as duty demands that he continue the work of his ministry. He will see to it that she is well cared for in a convent at Tatta. Luxima upbraids him for his selfishness. He replies that it is not the prospe

at sud

o never in his

grace or lovel

art so hard an

blistering ice

e whose wounds

us thought the Ib

o thought he

ar and hate so

d beauty n

solitudes I share with thee. Oh! my Father, and my friend, thou alone hast taught me to know that the paradise of woman is the creation of her heart; that it is not the light or air of heaven, though beaming brightness and breathing fragrance, nor all that is loveliest in Nature's scenes, which form the sphere of her existence and enjoyment! It is

tic adventures and appeal, in contempt of all artificial opinions or institutions to the common sympathies of every human breast. What is the Missionary but "a story of human passion appealing in contempt of all artificial opinions or institutions to the common sympathies of every human heart?" When The Revolt of Islam first appeared, Laon a

na must part

r doctrines

na s

on, I must dar

hose look

avy s

of my soul!

of this

onary tells Lu

te, in orde

work of his m

not long endur

hinkest thou,"

long survive h

sacrifi

-

are seized by

d during the

e of the tyran

The missionary and

of the Inquis

vercomes thr

e of L

eeble

e shriek, fain

y mien grew c

"But the feeble plain

n the arms o

alled to his b

s of their mut

ituat

throw of the t

ut to death. Their fellow

issionary an

rders, asked:

er the camels

o those rocks

eir f

ans

ek? What fear y

ng forth, 'that

hman? If your h

ve of freedom

an.'" "The missionary

empt and look

once dignified

iends, my he

ur generous s

n ever unite

tever faith the

igion whose spi

suffer these m

ents of a high

y challenge

Laon sees a sh

nks Cythna i

hip bore Cythn

her blightin

t with such t

the way to Goa th

veyance going

uxima is imp

for a moment

d him. He doub

eyed in the s

to G

soned in a cave

nged fo

adness which ha

sleep awhile." Luxima is impr

ncidents of th

deranged her

n by Laon and

f the people h

lai

hna are cond

nstigation of

Laon's execut

eath a sun-b

orm level wi

yrant sit ent

chieftans

·

nce through th

rampling on som

thousand with o

the s

·

n the soul o

bt, or fear; bu

victim pass fel

alm with awe." The natives are

ty in India is

e missionary i

nquisition. The

s execution

udges had alre

latform, the G

roy had plac

respective c

onary is led to

h belongs to

; thousands o

Nature was t

of emotion,

e multitude fee

admiration, wh

n inhuman zeal

ght to s

es are about to

n is to die, a st

people on whic

s than aught tha

like a phanto

caves of dayligh

was God's Ang

r fiery grave. On the day of

moving bene

rested on t

She beheld th

d reason retu

e vigilance of

place where he

cers were bindi

a form scarcel

ity of lightni

ched the foot

it in a grand

s bright and aer

a spirit sent

nt of dissolut

he regions of

uld soon aris

thly sufferin

he singular pha

of the credu

h superstitio

fixed their eye

ed on a bosom

d of mortal mo

witnesses of a

on of a persecu

asserted by th

which he met a

not to save Laon

i

sight o

ey blush, they

h

e sound from t

re

mpestuo

e poem Cythna e

over the

nd their armed

ey, even like

forest, bend be

maiden's speec

ma springs upon the

sio

of Luxima the

ell

its of the Hind

uched their he

e lethargy o

e oppression,

d now epitomiz

rson of their

ophetess ... the

ians, they ru

of the Inquisi

and fled

helley's purpose

t the tyrants, s

de the

nwilling h

among th

s the multitude

s to t

on my head t

ust torm

, but replied

ce. The officers of the Inq

rang forward

r a moment the

he pause of a b

rom his first

to an oldman

. Lind. During the confusio

and Luxima es

ed by his old tu

der looks, he exclaims, 'Yes, dearest, and most unfortunate, our destinies are now inseparably united! Together we have loved, together we have resisted, together we have erred, and together we have suffered; lost alike to the glory and the f

danger to a

death is; ther

owledge: neith

ld stoop to

fered, and how even thou has failed-thou, for whom I forfeited my caste, my country and my life; for 'tis too true, that still more loving than enlightened, my ancient habits of belief clung to my mind, thou to my

eech in the cavern, Canto IX, where she glories in the

r nor

now betide un

ieves like Luxima that the story of their lo

ts and deeds, o

, and all tha

ust live and

shall be

ct that Shelley makes more attacks in this poem on priests and the celibacy of the clergy than in any other. In the preface to the poem, Shelley says that "although the mere composition occupied no more than six months, the thoughts thus arranged were slowly gathered in as many years." It is suggestive that the idea of composing the poem came to him in

ppear to be consistent with the singular mildness of his nature at a coarse and awkward jest, especially if it were immodest and uncleanly; in the latter case his anger was unbounded, and his uneasiness preeminent." With the exception of his elopement with Mary Godwin there

c love is described by Howell as "a love abstracted from all corporeal gross impressions and sensual appetites, but consis

sentiment-the absurdest of absurd vanities; it is the love of pleasure, not the love of happiness. The one is a love which is self-centered, self-devoted, self-interested ... selfishness, monopoly in its very

all sensuous pleasure."[65] Beauty is a spiritual thing, the splendor of God's light shining in all things. It is that quality of an o

is differs from

ide is not

derstanding, th

n many t

ingly, are informed with the same idea in imitation of which they frame their earthly bodies."[67] "We are born," writes Shelley, "into the world, and there is something within us which, from the instant that we live, more and more thirsts after its likeness.... The discovery of its antitype; the meeting with an understanding capable of clearly estimating our own ... with a frame whose nerves like the chords of two exquisite lyres, strung to the accompaniment of one delightful voice, vibrate with the vibrations of our own;... this is the invisib

ttached to th

is that each on

owd a mistres

t though fair a

oblivi

g

rr

oves, the brain

wears, the spi

d one form, an

re for it

. He ought then to consider that beauty in whatever form it resides is the brother of that beauty which subsists in another form; and if he ought to pursue that which is beautiful in form it would be absu

is at length awakened, and thirsts for intercourse with an intelligence similar to himself. He images to himself the Being whom he loves." This image unites all of wonderful or wise or beautiful which the poet could depict.

ligent estimate of his love lyrics and his relations with women. In his first wife, Ha

re and good, o

withering custom

lofty, pure

should be one who can feel poetry and understand philosophy." A month or two after his first marriage he tells Elizabeth Hitchener that he loves her. Seeing

ove."[71] Epipsychidion is the poetic embodiment of the feelings awakened in Shelley by this supposed discovery of the incarnation of the ideal. Emilia turned out to be an ordinary human creature, and then Shelley wished to blot out the memory of her entirely. In a letter to Mr. Gisborne, June, 1822, Shelley says: "I think one is always in love with something or other; the error-and I confess it is not easy for spir

their sole ambition is to look fair, to raise emotion instead of inspiring respect; and this ignoble desire, like the servility in absolute monarchies, destroys all strength of character."[73] Women then should not depend on their charms alone, because these have little effect on their husband's heart "when they are seen every day when the summer is past and gone." Her first care should be to improve her mind, to exercise her God-given facult

t of Islam,

ree if woman

es and breathes t

ption of a c

ates are beasts

far than toil o

e their o

, the very aspect of wisdom or the severe graces of virtue must have a lugubrious appearance to them." "Till

of women is even l

his slave, s

to speak-the

t of a des

ar, and toil, lik

her cheek, whi

s the false

of another, after he is of age to answer to society for his own conduct, is a most cruel and undue stretch of power, and perhaps as injurious to morality as those religious systems which do not allow right and wrong to have a

ear their pare

they mus

s poisoned in

ould wish it) is a word which o

the arbitrary measures of the Council. In 1793 he was obliged to flee for his life and the Memoirs contains interesting details of this flight. He and his wife were very devoted to each other, and this together with the man's courage made a strong impression on Shelley. "Je te laissai, mon chér Barbaroux; maix tu me le pardonnes; tu sais q

to exclaim, "Non, je jure que sans toi, la vie m'est tourment, un insupportable tourment, seule,

lley the idea of making Laon and Cy

ath, if death b

and hope if unenj