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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 265
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Life Of Percy Jbysshe Shelley. By Th...
life soine of Shelley ' s most cherished principles , that his meinory , Ms letters , his ideas , retain for them a perennial freshness and an
unfading charm . It has _often seemed to us that a certain parallel might be drawn
between Shelley and Milton . Both were essentially men of intellect , not merely imaginative poets . Both took a keen interest in their
country ' s political development ; in both natures may be traced the same sort of pious fervour . We use the words advisedly , for under
Shelley's metaphysics any honest reader will find the devout spirit , which after-years would probably have associated with a distinct
faith . But be that as it may , it is none the less the fact , that so far as
Shelley did see what was pure and true , he made of it his daily practiceto a far greater extent than most men who accept what is
, told them and never take the slightest trouble to make it a reality . But he fell on evil times for him ; on the days of the Holy Alliance
and the return of the Bourbons to France ; on the days of the Prince Hegent and Lord Castlereagh , and the decaying but still
virulent Toryism of the old school ; and while Milton , two hundred years before found a stormy but glorious sphere open to him , a great genius
like Cromwell to foster and appreciate , and a circle of statesmen and thinkers to whom he was the fitting laureate , Shelley found
blame and grief and exile , and an early death at twenty-nine . If this view be borne out by the facts , we are in a position to say
what the world now requires in a life of Shelley . It does not want a mere gossipping * collection of anecdotes about a good poet , one
of those who minister to the imaginative luxury of mankind ; nor does it want an elaborate hash of the incidents known before to
every one who cared about the subject . We require to have Shelley's career set before us in such a manner as may exhibit his
principles , and the way in which he worked them out ; a book which shall tell us so much of truth as may clear away the clouds
of calumny which have rested on his name , since the suicide of his first wife , and the famous trial , which deprived him of the
guardianship of his children . How much was he to blame ; how much were others in fault under cover of his magnanimous silence ?
How did his daily life exemplify the power of his opinions , good or bad ; was the water clear in the spiritual fountain head of that
glorious tide of song ; was that great volume of noble poetry , so full of aspiration for the world ' s best welfare , written by a bad man
or These by a good are reall one ? y very important questions ; they involve a whole
world and they of philosop miht hical be answered evidence upon by the biograp result of her certain who , princi with p Mr les , .
in Hogg true ' s colors command g . of materials , should any set to work to present Shelley
Now , what has Mr . Hogg done ? Pie has written two thick volumes , of which the result is , that the truth is farther off than
T
Notices Of Books. 265
NOTICES OF BOOKS . 265
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1858, page 265, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061858/page/49/
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