<. LETTERS TO HOGG LETTERS FROM PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. WITH NOTES BY W. M. ROSSETTI AND H. BUXTON FORMAN. VOLUME I. London : Privately Printed. 1897. ! : "li .l ; w ts to cetttfg that of this book Thirty Copies only have been Printed 387170 CONTENTS. VOL. I. LETTER I. Field Place, Horsham. Thursday -, 2Qtk December, 1810 . 3 LETTER II. Field Place, Horsham. Sunday, 2.yd December , 1810 . . 10 LETTER III. Field Place, Horsham. Wednesday, 261 k December, 1810 . 15 LETTER IV. Field Place, Horsham. Friday, 2$t/i December , 1810 . . 20 VOL. I. b viii CONTENTS. PAGE LETTER V. Field Place, Horsham. Wednesday, 2nd January, 1811 . 23 LETTER VI. Field Place, Horsham. Thursday, yd January, 1811 . . 27 LETTER VII. Field Place, Horsham. Sunday, &h January, 1811 . . 33 LETTER VIII. Field Place, Horsham. Friday, \\thjanuary, 1811 . . 42 LETTER IX. Field Place, Horsham. Saturday, \2th January, 1811 . . 50 LETTER X. Field Place, Horsham. Monday, \^th January, 1811 . . 58 CONTENTS. ix PAGE LETTER XI. Field Place, Horsham. Wednesday, i6t/i January ', 1811 . 61 LETTER XII. Field Place, Horsham. Thursday, lythjamiary, 1811 . 63 LETTER XIII. Field Place, Horsham. Wednesday, 2yd January, 1811 . 65 LETTER XIV. 15, Poland Street, London. April, 1811 . . .,--.. . 68 LETTER XV. 15, Poland Street, London. Thursday, \%th April, 1811 . .71 LETTER XVI. 15, Poland Street, London. Wednesday, 2tf/i April, 1811 . . 73 x CONTENTS. PAGE LETTER XVII. 15, Poland Street, London. Friday, 2$rd April, 1811 , . 81 LETTER XVIII. Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. Sunday, 28^ April, 1811 * . 89 LETTERS. LETTERS TO THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. LETTER I. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. December 2Oth, 1 8 1 o. [Thursday.] MY DEAR FRIEND, The moment which announces your residence, I write. There is now need of all my art ; I must resort to deception. My father called on Stockdale in 4 LETTERS TO London, who has converted him to sanctity. He mentioned my name, as a supporter of sceptical principles. My father wrote to me, and I am now surrounded, environed, by dangers, to which compared the devils who be- sieged St. Anthony were all inefficient. ? They attack me for my detestable principles ; I am reckoned an outcast ; yet I defy them, and laugh at their in- . effectual efforts. Stockdale will no longer do for me. Stockdale's skull is very thick, but I am afraid that he will not believe my assertion ; indeed, should it gain credit with him,) should he accept the offer of publication, there exist numbers who will find out, or imagine, a real tendency ; and booksellers possess more power than we are aware of in impeding the sale of any book containing opinions displeasing to them. I am dis- posed to offer it to Wilkie and Robinson, Paternoster Row, and to take it there THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 5 myself; they published Godwin's works, and it is scarcely possible to suppose that any one, layman or clergyman, will assert that these support Gospel doctrines. If that will not do, I must print it myself. Oxford, of course, would be most convenient for the correction of the press. Mr. L.'s* principles are not very severe ; he is more a votary to Mammon than God. O ! I burn with impatience for the moment of the dissolution of intoler- ance ; it has injured me ! I swear on the altar of perjured Love to revenge myself on the hated cause of the effect which even now I can scarcely help deploring. Indeed, I think it is to the benefit of society to destroy the opinions which can annihilate the dearest of its ties. Inconveniences would now result from my owning the novel which I have * "L." is probably the initial of some Oxford printer or publisher. C 6 LETTERS TO in preparation for the press. I give out, therefore, that I will publish no more ; every one here, but the select few who enter into my schemes, believe my assertion. I will stab the wretch in secret. Let us hope that the wound which I inflict, though the dagger be concealed, will rankle in the heart of the adversary. My father wished to withdraw me from college : I would not consent to it. There lowers a terrific tempest; but I stand as it were, on a pharos, and smile exultingly at the vain beating of the billows below. So much for egotism ! Your poetry pleases me very much ; the idea is beautiful, but I hope the contrast is not from nature. The verses on the Dying Gladiator are good, but they seem composed in a hurry. I am composing a satirical poem : I shall print it at Oxford, unless I find, on visiting him, that R[obinson] is ripe for THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 7 printing whatever will sell. In case of that, he is my man. It is not William Godwin who lives in Holborn : it is John, no relation to the other. As to W.,* I wrote to him when in London, by way of a gentle alterative. He promised to write to me when he had time, seemed surprised at what I had said, yet directed to me as " The Reverend " : his amazement must be extreme. I shall not read Bishop Prettyman, or any more of them, unless I have some particular reason. Bigots will not argue ; it destroys the very nature of the the thing to argue ; it is contrary to faith. How, therefore, could you suppose that one of these liberal gentlemen would listen to scepticism, on the subject even of St. Athanasius's sweeping anathema? * "W." seems to have been some person of public note to whom Shelley had written on religious topics (especially the Athanasian creed) in a tone which, though sceptical, was also grave, and which misled " W." into supposing his correspondent to be a clergy- man. LETTERS TO I have something else to tell you, and I will in another letter. Love ! dearest, sweetest power ! how much are we indebted to thee ! How much superior are even thy miseries to the pleasures which arise from other sources ! How much superior to "fat, contented ignorance " is even the agony which thy votaries experience ! Yes, my friend, I am now convinced that a monarchy is the only form of govern- ment (in a certain degree) which a lover ought to live under. Yet in this alone is subordination necessary. Man is equal, and I am convinced that equality will be the attendant on a more advanced and ameliorated state of society. But this is assertion, not proof, indeed, there can be none. Then you will say, " Excuse my be- lieving it." Willingly. St. Irvyne is come out ; it is sent to you at Mr. DayrelFs ; you can get one in London by mentioning my name to THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 9 Stockdale. You need not state your own ; and, as names are not now in scribed on the front of every existing creature,* you run no risk of discovery in person, if it be a crime or a sin to procure my Novel. How can you fancy that I shall ever think you mad? Am not /the wildest, the most delirious, of Enthusiasm's off- spring? On one subject I am cool, toleration ; yet that coolness alone possesses me that I may with more certainty guide the spear to the breast of my adversary, with more certainty ensanguine it with the heart's blood of Intolerance hated name ! Adieu. Down with Bigotry ! Down with Intolerance ! In this endeavour your most sincere friend will join his every power, his every feeble resource. Adieu. To T. /. Hogs, Lincoln s Inn Fields. * An allusion probably to the brand of Cain. D io LETTERS TO LETTER II. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. December 2yd, 1810. [Sunday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, The first desire which I felt on receiving your letters was instantly to come to London, that a friend might sympathise in those sorrows which are beyond alleviation.* That I cannot do this week ; on Sunday or Monday next I will come, if you still remain in town. Why will you add to the never-dying remorse which my egotising folly has occasioned (for which, so long as its fatal effects remain, never can I forgive myself), by accusing yourself of a feeling, * The lady who was so disturbing Shelley's mind at this time was his cousin, Harriet Grove. THOMA S JEFFERSON HOGG. 1 1 as intrusive, which I cannot but regard as another part of that amiability which has marked your character since first I had the happiness of your friendship ? Where exists the moral wrong of seeking the society of one whom I loved ? What offence to reason, to virtue, was there in desiring the communication of a lengthened correspondence, in order that both, she and myself, might see if, by coincidence of intellect, we were willing to enter into a closer, an eternal union ? No, it is no offence to reason or virtue ; it is obeying its most imperious dictates, it is complying with the designs of the Author of our nature. Can this be immorality? Can it be selfishness, or interested ambition, to seek the happi- ness of the object of attachment ? I am sure your own judgment, your own reason, must answer in the negative. Let me now ask you what reason was there then for despair, even supposing my love to have been incurable ? 12 LETTERS TO Her disposition was, in all probability, divested of the enthusiasm by which mine is characterized : could therefore hers be prophetic? She might not be susceptible of that feeling, which arises from an admiration of virtue when abstracted from identity. My sister attempted sometimes to plead my cause, but unsuccessfully. She said : " Even supposing I take your repre- sentation of your brother's qualities and sentiments (which, as you coincide in and admire, I may fairly imagine to be exaggerated, although you may not be aware of the exaggeration), what right have /, admitting that he is so superior, to enter into an intimacy which must end in delusive disappointment when he finds how really inferior I am to the being which his heated imagination has pictured ? " This was unanswerable, particularly as the prejudiced description of a sister, THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 1 3 who loves her brother as she does, might, indeed must, have given to her an erroneously exalted idea of the superiority of my mental attainments. You have said that the philosophy which I pursued is not uncongenial with the strictest morality. You must see that it militates with the received opinions of the world. What, therefore, does it offend but prejudice and super- stition ; that superstitious bigotry, in- spired by the system upon which at pres- ent the world acts, of believing all that we are told as incontrovertible facts ? I hope that what I have said will induce you to allow me still, and all the more, to remain your friend. I hope that you will soon have an opportunity of seeing, of conversing with, Elizabeth. How sorry I am that I cannot invite you here now ! I will tell you the reason when we meet. Believe me, my dear friend, when I assert that I shall E J4 LETTERS TO ever continue so to you. 7 have reason to lament deeply the sorrows with which fate has marked my life. I am not so deeply debased by it, however, but that the exertions for the happiness of my friend shall supersede considera- tions of narrower and selfish interest,- but that his woes should claim a sigh before one repining thought arose at my own lot. I know the cause of all human disappointment, worldly pre- judice ; mine is the same. I know also its origin, bigotry. Adieu. Write again. Believe me your most sincere friend. Adieu.* P. B. S. To T.J. Hogg, Lincoln s Inn Fields. * Elizabeth Shelley, referred to in the foregoing letter and so often in this volume, was the poet's eldest sister, born considerably within two years of the date of his birth. At the time of this correspondence she was just over sixteen years and a half old. The next sister, Mary, was only thirteen and a half. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 1 5 LETTER III. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. December 2 6th , 1 8 1 o . [ Wednesday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, Why do you express yourself so flatteringly grateful to me, when I ought to experience that sensation towards you in the highest manner of which our nature is capable ? Why do you yet suppose that ) ou have offended against any of those rules for our conduct which we ought to regard with veneration ? What is delicacy ? Come, I must be severe with myself; I must irritate the wound which I wish to heal. Supposing the object of my affections 1 6 LETTERS TO does not regard me, how have you transgressed against its dictates? in what have you offended? What is delicacy ? Let us define it, in the light in which you take it. I conceive it to be that inherent repugnance to in- juring others, particularly as regarding the objects of their dearer preference, which beings of superior intelligence feel. In what then, let me ask again, if / do not think you culpable, in what then have you offended ? Tell me, then, my dear friend, no more of " sorrow," no more of " remorse," at what you have said. Circumstances have operated in such a manner that the attainment of the object of my heart was impossible, whether on ac- count of extraneous influences, or from a feeling which possessed her mind, which told her not to deceive another, not to give him the possibility of dis- appointment. I feel I touch the string which, if vibrated, excites acute pain ; THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 17 but truth, and my real feelings which I wish to give you a clear idea of, over- come my resolve never to speak on the subject again. It is with reluctance to my own feelings that I have entered into this cold disquisition, when your heart sympathizes so deeply in my affliction. But for Heaven's sake consider, and do not criminate your- self; do not wrong the motives which actuated you upon so feeble a ground as that of delicacy. I do this, I say this, in justice as well as friendship ; I de- mand that you should do justice to yourself, then no more is required to give you at all events a consciousness of rectitude. I read most of your letters to my sister; she frequently enquires after you, and we talk of you often. I do not wish to awaken her intellect too powerfully ; this must be my apology for not communicating all my specu- lations to her. i8 LETTERS TO Thanks, truly thanks for opening your heart to me, for telling me your feelings towards me. Dare I do the same to you ? I dare not to myself ; how can I to another, perfect as he may be ? I dare not even to God, whose mercy is great. My unhappiness is ex- cessive. But I will cease; I will no more speak in riddles, but now quit for ever a subject which awakens too powerful susceptibilities for even negative misery. But that which in- jured me shall perish ! I even now by anticipation hear the expiring yell of Intolerance ! Pardon me. My sorrows are not so undeserved as you believe ; they are ob- trusive to narrate to myself ; they must be so to you. Let me wish you an eternity of happiness. I wish you knew Elizabeth ; she is a great consolation to me ; but, if all be well, my wishes on that score will soon be accomplished. On Monday night THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 19 you will see me. I cannot bear to suffer alone. Adieu. I have scarce a moment's time, only to tell you how sincerely I am your friend.* * This letter contains an expression of great value in dealing with an important matter of textual criticism : ' ' I feel I touch the string which, if vibrated, excites acute pain." This seems to settle the question whether Shelley was capable of using vibrate as a transitive verb. This he is said to have done in the Ode to Liberty. In the words A glorious people vibrated again The lightning of the nations, the use of the word is precisely the same j and the occurrence of the phrase in this letter leaves but little hope that he really meant the first sentence of the Ode to end at again. 20 LETTERS TO LETTER IV, FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. December, 28/7;, 1810. [Friday.} MY DEAR FRIEND, The encomium of one incapable of flattery is indeed flattering. Your dis- crimination of that chapter is more just than the praises which you bestow on so unconnected a thing as the romance* taken collectively. I wish you very much to publish a tale ; send one to a publisher. Oh, here we are in the midst of all the uncongenial jollities of Christmas ! When you are compelled to contribute to the merriment of others when you * St. Irvync. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 2 1 are compelled to live under the severest of all restraints, concealment of feelings pregnant enough in themselves how terrible is your lot ! I am learning abstraction, but I fear that my pro- ficiency will be but trifling. I cannot, dare not, speak of myself. Why do you still continue to say, " Do not des- pond " that "You must not despair' 7 ? I admit that this despair would be unauthorized, when it was rational to suppose that at some future time mutual knowledge would awaken reci- procity of feeling. Your letter arrived at a moment when I could least bear any additional excitement of feelings. I have suc- ceeded now in calming my mind, but at first I knew not how to act. In- decision, and a fear of injuring another by complying with what perhaps were the real wishes of my bosom, distracted me. I do not tell you this by way of confession of my own state; for I G 22 LETTERS TO believe that I may not be sufficiently aware of what I feel, myself, even to own it to myself. Believe me, my dear friend, that my only ultimate wishes now are for your happiness and that of my sisters. At present a thousand barriers oppose any more intimate connexion, any union, with another, which, although unnatural and fettering to a virtuous mind, are nevertheless unconquerable. I will, if possible, come to London on Monday,* certainly some time next week. I shall come about six o'clock, and will remain with you until that time the next morning, when I will tell you my reasons for wishing to return. Adieu. Excuse the shortness of this, as the servant waits. I will write on Sunday.t Yours most sincerely. * December -$T.st, 1810. t December $oth, 1810. No letter written by Shelley under this date is at present forthcoming. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 23 LETTER V. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. January 2nd) 1811. [ Wednesday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, I cannot come to London before next week. I am but just returned to Field Place from an inefficient effort. Why do you, my happy friend, tell me of perfection in love ? Is she not gone ? And yet I breathe, I live ! But adieu to egotism ; I am sick to death at the name of self. Oh, your theory cost me much re- flection ; I have not ceased to think of it since your letter came, which was put into my hands at the moment of 24 LETTERS TO departure on Sunday morning.* Is it not, however, founded on that hateful principle ? Is it j^ which you propose to raise to a state of superiority by your system of eternal perfectibility in love ? No ! Were this frame rendered eternal, were the particles which compose it, both as to intellect and matter, inde- structible, and then to undergo torments such as now we should shudder to think of, even in a dream, to undergo this, I say, for the extension of happi- ness to those for whom we feel a vivid preference, then would I love, adore, idolize your theory wild, unfounded as it might be. But no. I can conceive neither of these to be correct. Con- sidering matters in a philosophical light, it evidently appears (if it is not treason to speak thus coolly on a subject so deliriously ecstatic) that we were not destined for misery. What, then, shall happiness arise from ? Can we hesitate ? * December 30^, 1810. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 25 Love, dear love! And, though every mental faculty is bewildered by the agony which is in this life its too constant attendant, still is not that very agony to be preferred to the most thrilling sensualities of epicurism ? I have wandered in the snow, for I am cold, wet, and mad. Pardon me, pardon my delirious egotism ; this really shall be the last. My sister is well ; I fear she is not quite happy on my account, but is much more cheerful than she was some days ago. I hope you will publish a tale ; I shall then give a copy to Elizabeth, unless you forbid it. I would do it not only to show her what your ideas are on the subject of works of imagination, and to interest her, but that she should see her brother's friend in a new point of view. When you examine her character, you will find humanity, not divinity, amiable as the former may sometimes be. How- H 26 LETTERS TO ever, I, a brother, must not write treason against my sister; so I will check my volubility. Do not direct your next letter to Field Place, only to Horsham. To-morrow I will write more connectedly. Yours sincerely. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 27 L E T T E R V I. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX, January 3n/, 1811. [Thursday.] MY DEAR FRIEND, Before we deny or believe the exist- ence of anything, it is necessary that we should have a tolerably clear idea of what it is.* The word " God," a * This letter (of January -$rd, 1811) is of some importance in the history of Shelley's religious opinions. It shows that the youth who, on the z^t/t of March, 1811, was expelled from Oxford as author and dis- tributor of The Necessity of A theism^ could, even as late as the ^rd of January in the same year, argue ypnloinilv in TifVinlf ' F'lr'itlv of the immorlrilitv of fhf> sary antecedent to that immortality ; at the same time he would eliminate the word "God" from the field of discussion. This is sufficiently consonant with what is propounded in the Notes to Qiieen Mab, printed (not published) in 1813. 28 LETTERS TO vague word, has been, and will con- tinue to be, the source of numberless errors, until it is erased from the no- menclature of philosophy. Does it not imply " the soul of the universe, the intelligent and necessarily benefi- cent actuating principle ? This it is im- possible not to believe in. I may not be able to adduce proofs ; but I think that the leaf of a tree, the meanest insect on which we trample, are in themselves arguments, more conclusive than any which can be advanced, that some vast intellect animates infinity. If we disbelieve this^ the strongest argument in support of the existence of a future state instantly becomes annihilated. I confess that I think Pope's "All are but parts of a stupendous whole " something more than poetry. It has ever been my favourite theory. For the immortal soul " never to be able to THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 29 die, never to escape from some shrine as chilling as the clay-formed dungeon which it now inhabits " is the future punishment which I can most easily believe in. Love, love infinite in extent, eternal in duration, yet (allowing your theory in that point) perfectible should be the reward. But can we suppose that this reward will arise spontaneously, as a necessary appendage to our nature ? or that our nature itself could be without cause a first cause, a God. When do we see effects arise without causes ? What causes are there without correspondent effects ? Yet here I swear and as I break my oaths, may Infinity, Eternity, blast me here I swear that never will I forgive Intolerance ! It is the only point on which I allow myself to encourage revenge. Every moment shall be devoted to my object, which I can spare ; and let me hope that it i 30 LETTERS TO will not be a blow which spends itself, and leaves the wretch at rest, but lasting, long revenge ! I am con- vinced, too, that it is of great dis- service to society, that it encourages prejudices which strike at the root of the dearest, the tenderest, of its ties. Oh how I wish /were the avenger ! that it were mine to crush the demon, to hurl him to his native hell, never to rise again, and thus to establish for ever perfect and universal toleration ! I expect to gratify some of this insati- able feeling in poetry. You shall see you shall hear how it has injured me. She is no longer mine ! she abhors me as a sceptic, as what she was before ! O Bigotry ! when I pardon this last, this severest of thy persecutions, may Heaven (if there be wrath in Heaven) blast me ! Has vengeance, in its armoury of wrath, a punishment more dreadful ? Yet forgive me, I have done ; and were THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 31 it not for your great desire to know why I consider myself as the victim of severer anguish, that I could have entered into this brief recital.* I am afraid there is selfishness in the passion of love, for I cannot avoid feeling every instant as if my soul was bursting. But I will feel no more : it is selfish. I would feel for others ; but for myself oh how much rather would I expire in the struggle ! Yes, that were a relief! Is suicide wrong? I slept with a loaded pistol and some poison last night, but did not die. I could not come on Monday, my sister would not part with me ; but I must I will see you soon. My sister is now comparatively happy ; she has felt deeply for me. Had it not been for her had it not been for a sense of what I owed to her, to you I should have bidden you a final farewell some time ago. But can the * This imperfect sentence must mean " I could not," &c. The that has no business there. 32 LETTERS TO dead feel ? Dawns any day-beam on the night of dissolution ? Pray publish your tale ; demand one hundred pounds for it from any pub- lisher he will give it in the event. It is delightful, it is divine ! Not that I like your heroine : but the poor Mary is a character worthy of Heaven I adore her ! * Adieu, my dear friend, Your sincere, P. B. S[HELLEY.] P.S. W 1 has written. I have read his letter : it is too long to answer. I continue to dissipate Elizabeth's melancholy by keeping her, as much as possible, employed in poetry. You shall see some to-morrow. I cannot tell you when I can come to town. I wish it very much. * Perhaps the early verses written by Shelley, named To Mary, who died in this opinion, may refer to the "Mary" of Hogg's MS. novel. There is no known person, actually connected with Shelley's bio- graphy, to whom those verses can refer. t See ante, p. 7. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 33 LETTER VII. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. January 6th, 1811. {Sunday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, Dare I request one favor for myself for my own sake ? Not the keenest anguish which the most unrelenting tyrant could invent should force me to request from you so great a sacrifice of friendship. It is a beloved sister's happiness which forces me to this. She saw me when I received your letter of yesterday. She saw the con- flict of my soul. At first she said nothing : and then she exclaimed, K 34 LETTERS TO " Re-direct it,* and send it instantly to the post ! " Believe me, I feel far more than I will allow myself to ex- press, for the cruel disappointments which I have undergone. Write to me whatever you wish to say. You may say what you will on other sub- jects : but on that I dare not even read what you would write. Forget her? What would I not have given up to have been thus happy ? t I thought I knew the means by which it might have been effected. Yet I consider what a female sacrifices when she re- turns the attachment even of one whose faith she supposes inviolable. Hard is the agony which is indescribable, which is only to be felt. Will she not en- counter the opprobrium of the world ? * Shelley, it would seem, received a letter from Hogg, and guessed that it referred to the painful subject of Miss Grove. Elizabeth induced him to return this letter, unread, to Hogg himself. t "Thus happy" seems to mean not "so happy as to forget her," but " so happy as to make her mine." THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 35 and, what is more severe (generally speaking), the dereliction and con- tempt of those who before had avowed themselves most attached to her. I did not encourage the remotest sus- picion. I Was convinced of her truth, as I was of my own existence. Still, was it not natural 'in her (even although she might return the most enthusiastic prepossessions arising from the consci- ousness of intellectual sympathy) ignorant as she was of some of my opinions, of my sensations (for un- limited confidence is requisite for the existence of mutual love) to have some doubts, some fears? Besides, when in her natural character, her spirits are good, her conversation animated ; and she was almost, in consequence, ignorant of the refine- ments in love which can only be attained by solitary reflection. Forsake her ! Forsake one whom I loved ! Can I ? Never ! But she 36 LETTERS TO is gone she is lost to me for ever; for ever. There is a mystery which I dare not to clear up ; it is the only point on which I will be reserved to you. I have tried the methods you would have recommended. I followed her. I would have followed her to the end of the earth, but If you value the little happiness which yet remains, do not mention again to me sorrows which, if you could share in, would wound a heart which it now shall be my endeavour to heal of those pains which, through sympathy with me, it has already suffered. I will crush Intolerance ! I will, at least, attempt it. To fail even in so useful an attempt were glorious. I enclose some poetry : * * The correct title of this poem, it seems, is On an Icicle that clung to the Grass of a Grave, not The Tear, as formerly printed in editions of Shelley's THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 37 Oh ! take the pure gem to where southerly breezes. Waft repose to some bosom as faithful as fair. In which the warm current of love never freezes, As it rises unmingled with selfishness there, Which, untainted by pride, unpolluted by care, Might dissolve the dim icedrop, might bid it arise, Too pttre for these regions, to gleam in the skies. Or where the stern warrior, his country defend- ing, Dares fearless the dark-rolling' battle to pour, Or o'er the fell corpse of a dread tyrant bend- ing, Where patriotism red with his guilt -reeking gore Plants liberty's flag on the slave-peopled shore, With victory's cry, with the shout of the free, Let it fly, taintless spirit, to mingle with thee. For I found the pure gem, when the day beam returning, Ineffectual gleams on the snow-covered plain, poems. The true title explains sufficiently the mean- ing of the first few lines in a composition without much value other than biographical. L 38 LETTERS TO When to others the wished-for arrival of morn- ing Brings relief to long visions of soul-racking pain j But regret is an insult to grieve is in vain : And why should we grieve that a spirit so fair Seeks Heaven to mix with its own kindred there ? But still 'twas some spirit of kindness descend- ing To share in the load of mortality* s woe, Who over thy lowly -built septtlchre bending Bade sympathy's tenderest tear-drop to flow. Not for thee, soft compassion, celestials did know, But if angels can weep t sure man may repine, May weep in mute grief o'er thy low- laid shrine. And did I then say, for the altar of glory, That the earliest, the loveliest of flowers I'd entwine, Tho' with millions of blood- reeking victims 'twas gory, Tho' the tears of the widow polluted its shrine, Tho' around it the orphans, the fatherless pine ? Oh ! Fame, all thy glories I'd yield for a tear To shed on the grave of a heart so sincere. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 39 I am very cold this morning, so you must excuse bad writing, as I have been most of the night pacing a churchyard. I must now engage in scenes of strong interest. You see the subject of the foregoing. I send it, because it may amuse you. Your letter has just arrived ; I will send W 's * to University, when I can collect them. If it amuses you, you can answer him ; if not, I will. I will consider your argument against the Non-existence of a Deity. Do you allow that some supernatural power actuates the organization of physical causes ? It is evident so far as this, that, if power and wisdom are employed in the continual arrangement of these affairs, this power, c., is something out of the comprehension of man, as he now exists ; at least if we allow that the soul is not matter. Then, admit- ting that this actuating principle is * See ante, pp. 7 and 32. 40 LETTERS TO such as I have described, admitting it to be finite, there must be something beyond this, which influences its ac- tions ; and all this series advancing (as, if it does in one instance, it must to infinity) must at last terminate, in the existence which may be called a Deity. And, if this Deity thus in- fluences the actions of the Spirits (if I may be allowed the expression) which take care of minor events (supposing your theory to be true), why is it not the soul of the Universe ? in what is it not analogous to the soul of man ? Why too is not gravitation the soul of a clock ? I entertain no doubt of the fact, although it possesses no capabili- ties of variation. If the principle of life (that of reason put out of the question, as in the cases of dogs, horses, and oysters) be soul, then gravitation is as much the soul of a clock as animation is that of an oyster. I think we may not inaptly define Soul THOMA S JEFFERSON HOGG. 4 1 as "the most supreme, superior, and distinguished abstract appendage to the nature of anything." But I will write again : my head is rather dizzy to-day, on account of not taking rest, and a slight attack of typhus. Adieu, I will write soon. Your sincerest PERCY B. SHELLEY.* To T. J. Hogg, University College, Oxford. * The morbid passage at the top of page 39, about pacing a churchyard all night, is interesting in so far as it may have been the recollection of that incident which furnished the poet with the germ of the fine lines in Alastor I have made my bed In charnels and on coffins, where black death Keeps record of the trophies won from thee, Hoping to still these obstinate questionings Of thee and thine, by forcing some lone ghost Thy messenger, to render up the tale Of what we are. M 42 LETTERS TO LETTER VIII. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. January nth, 1 8 1 1. [Friday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, I will not now consider your little Essay, which arrived this morning ; I wait till to-morrow. It coincides ex- actly with Elizabeth's sentiments on the subject, to whom I read it. Indeed it has convinced her ; although, from my having a great deal to do to-day, I cannot listen to so full an exposition of her sentiments on the subject as I would wish to send you. I shall write to you to-morrow on this matter ; and, if you clear up some doubts which yet THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 43 remain, dissipate some hopes relative to the perfectibility of man, generally considered as well as individually, I will willingly submit to the system, which at present I cannot but strongly reprobate. How can I find words to express my thanks for such generous conduct with regard to my sister ? * With talents and attainments such as you possess, to promise what I ought not perhaps to have required, what nothing but a dear sister's intellectual improvement could have induced me to demand ! What can I say on the subject of your letter concerning Elizabeth? is it not dictated by the most generous and disinterested of human motives ? I have not shown it to her yet ; I need not explain the reason. On this point you know all. * The words "generous conduct" must refer to the inditing and despatching of the " Little Essay," for the clearing up of some of Elizabeth's hazy speculative ideas and a general promise of intellectual aid to her. 44 LETTERS TO There is only one affair * of which I will make the least cloud of mystery ; it is the only point on which I will be a solitary being. To be solitary, to be reserved, in communicating pain, surely cannot be criminal ; it cannot be con- trary to the strictest duties of friend- ship. She is gone ! She is lost to me for ever ! She is married ! t Married to a clod of earth ! She will become as insensible herself ; all those fine capa- bilities will moulder ! Let us speak no more on the sub- ject. Do not deprive me of the little remains of peace which yet linger, that * No doubt the affaire dc cocnr with Miss Harriet Grove. f This letter announces that Harriet Grove "is married." But it appears that in fact she did not marry until about August of the same year [see Rossetti's Memoir oj 'Shelley ', p. 26]. The letter seems to be correctly dated in January, and the discrepancy is a startling one. Perhaps the likeliest way of account- ing for it is to suppose that Shelley, in saying that Harriet Grove was married, really meant that she had definitely engaged herself to marry, and was therefore virtually married. Or perhaps the words to be have been accidentally omitted in transcription. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 45 which arises from endeavours to make others happy. The Poetry which I sent you alluded not to the subject of my nonsensical ravings. I hope that you are now publishing one of your tales. L. * would do it, as well as any one ; if you do not choose to publish a book at Oxford, you can print it there, and I will engage to dispose of five hundred copies. S professes to be ac- quainted with your family ; hinc illcz lacrymce ! I attempted to enlighten my father. Mirabile dictu^ he for a moment lis- tened to my arguments. He allowed the impossibility (considered abstractedly) of any preternatural interferences by Providence : he allowed the utter in- credibility of witches, ghosts, legendary miracles. But, when I came to apply the truths on which we had agreed so harmoniously, he started at the bare * See p. 5. 46 LETTERS TO idea of some facts, generally believed, never having existed, and silenced me with an equine argument ; in effect with these words " I believe, because I do not believe." My mother imagines me to be on the high road to Pandemonium ; she fancies I want to make a deistical coterie of all my little sisters : how laughable ! You must be very solitary at Oxford. I wish I could come there now ; but, for reasons which I will tell you at meeting, it is delayed for a fortnight, I have a Poem * with Mr. L , which I shall certainly publish ; there is some of Elizabeth's in it. I will write to-morrow. I have something to add to it ; and, if L has any idea, when he speaks to you, of pub- lishing it with my name, will you tell him to leave it alone till I come. * This "Poem" may very probably have been the introuvable Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 47 Yes ! the arms of Britannia victorious arc bearing Fame, triumph , and glory, wherever they speed, Her Lion his crest o^er the nations is rearing. Ruin follows, it tramples the dying and dead, Thy countrymen fall, the blood-reeking bed Of the battle-slain sends a complaint-breath- ing sigh, It is mixed with the shoutings of Victory. Old Ocean to shrieks of despair is resounding, It washes the terror-struck nations with gore, Wild Horror the fear-palsied earth is astound- ing, And murmurs of fate fright the dread-con- vulsed shore. The Andes in sympathy start at the roar, Vast sEtna, alarmed, leans his flame-gloiv- ing brow, And huge Teneriffe stoops with his pinnacled snow. The ice mountains echo, the Baltic, the Ocean, Where Cold sits enthroned on his column of snows, Even Spitzbergen perceives the terrific commo- tion, 48 LETTERS TO The roar floats on the whirlwind of sleet, as this blows Blood tinges the streams as half-frozen they flow, The meteors of war lurid flame thro* the air. They mix their bright gleam with the red polar star. All are brethren, and even the African bending To the stroke of the hard-hearted English- man^ rod, The courtier at Luxury's palace attending. The senator trembling at Tyranny's nod, Each nation which kneels at the footstool of God, All are brethren then banish distinction afar, Let Concord and Love heal the miseries of War! These are Elizabeth's. She has written many more, and I will show you at some future time the whole of the composition. I like it very much, THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 49 if a brother may be allowed to praise a sister. I will write to-morrow. Yours with affection, P. B. S. Can you read this ? To T.J. Hogg, University College, Oxford. 50 LETTERS TO LETTER IX. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. January I2th y 1811. [Saturday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, Your letter, with the extremely beautiful enclosed poetry, came this morning. It is really admirable ; it touches the heart : but I must be al- lowed to offer one critique upon it. You will be surprised to hear that I think it unfinished. You have not said that the ivy, after it had destroyed the oak, as if to mock the miseries which it caused, twined around a pine which THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 51 stood near.* It is true, therefore, but does not comprehend the whole truth. As to the stuff which I sent you, I write all my poetry of that kind from the feelings of the moment ; if therefore it neither has allusion to the sentiments which rationally might be supposed to possess me, or to those which my situ- ation might awaken, it is another proof of that egotizing variability, which I shudder to reflect how much I am in its power. To you I dare represent myself as I am : wretched to the last degree. Some- times one gleam of hope, one faint soli- tary gleam, seems to illumine the dark- ened prospect before me but it has vanished. I fear it will never return. My sister will, I fear, never return the attachment which would once again bid me be calm. Yes ! In this alone * This may possibly imply an embittered reference to the affair of Miss Grove : she being shadowed forth in the ivy, Shelley in the oak, and her husband in the pine. 52 LETTERS TO is my feeble anticipation of peace placed ! But what am I ? Am I not the most degraded of deceived enthusi- asts ? Do I not deceive myself? I never, never can feel peace again ! What necessity is there for continu- ing in existence ? " But Heaven ! Eternity ! Love ! " My dear friend, I am yet a sceptic on these subjects : would that I could believe them to be as they are represented ; would that I could totally disbelieve them ! But no ! That would be selfish. I still have firmness enough to resist this last, this most horrible of errors. Is my despair the result of the hot sickly love which inflames the admirers of Sterne or Moore ? * It is the conviction of unmerited unkindness ; the conviction that, should a future world exist, the object of my attachment would be as miserable as myself, is the cause of it. * Not Thomas Moore, but Dr. John Moore, author of Zelnco and Mordaunt. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. S3 I here take God (and a God exists) to witness, that I wish torments which beggar the futile description of a fancied hell would fall upon me, provided I could obtain thereby that happiness for what I love which, I fear, can never be ! The question is, What do I love ? It is almost unnecessary to answer. Do I love the person, the embodied identity, if I may be allowed the ex- pression ? No ! I love what is superior, what is excellent, or what I conceive to be so ; and I wish, ardently wish, to be profoundly convinced of the existence of the Deity, that so superior a spirit might derive some degree of happiness from my feeble exertions : for love is heaven, and heaven is love. You think so too, and you disbelieve not the ex- istence of an eternal, omnipresent Spirit. Am I not mad ? Alas ! I am ; but I pour out my ravings into the ear of a friend who will pardon them. p 54 LETTERS TO Stay ! I have an idea. I think I can prove the existence of a Deity a First Cause. I will ask a materialist, How came this universe at first ? He will answer, " By chance." What chance ? I will answer in the words of Spinoza : " An infinite number of atoms had been floating from all eternity in space, till at last one of them fortuit- ously diverged from its track, which, dragging with it another, formed the principle of gravitation, and in conse- quence the universe." What cause produced this change, this chance ? For where do we know that causes arise without their correspondent effects ? At least we must here, on so abstract a subject, reason analogically. Was not this then a cause^ was it not a first cause ? Was not this first cause a Deity ? Now nothing remains but to prove that this Deity has a care ; or rather that its only employment con- sists in regulating the present and future THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 55 happiness of its creation. Our ideas of infinite space, &c. are scarcely to be called ideas, for we cannot either com- prehend or explain them ; therefore the Deity must -be judged by us from attri- butes analogical to our situation. Oh that this Deity were the soul of the universe, the spirit of universal, im- perishable love ! Indeed I believe it is. But now to your argument of the necessity of Christianity. I am not sure that your argument does not tend to prove its unreality. If it does not, you allow, you say, that love is the only true source of rational happiness. One man is capable of it ; why not all ? The Gullibility of man preterite I allow ; but because men are and have been cullible, I see no reason why they should always continue so. Have there not been fluctuations in the opinions of mankind ? and, as the stuff which soul is made of must be in every one 56 LETTERS TO the same, would not an extended sys- tem of rational and moral unprejudiced education render each individual cap- able of experiencing that degree of happiness to which each ought to aspire, more for others than self? Hideous, hated traits of Superstition! Oh Bigots ! how I abhor your influence ! They are all bad enough. But do we not see Fanaticism decaying ? Is not its influence weakened, except where Faber, Rowland Hill, and several others of the Armageddon heroes, maintain their posts with all the obstinacy of long-established dogma- tism ? How I pity them ! how I despise, hate them ! Stockdale knows Mr. D. would publish your tale. I am beyond mea- sure anxious for its appearance. Adieu. Excuse my mad arguments ; they are none at all, for I am rather confused, and fear, in consequence of a fever, they will not allow me THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 57 to come * on the 26th ; but I will. Adieu. Your affectionate friend, P. B. S. You can enclose to Timothy Shelley, Esq., M.P. To T.J. Hogg, University College, Oxford. * To Oxford, no doubt, via London. 58 LETTERS TO LETTER X. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. Jamtary i^th, 1811. [Monday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, Your letter and that of W * came to-day ; yours is excellent, and, I think, will fully (in his own mind) convince Mr. W . I enclosed five sheets of paper full this morning, and sent them to the coach with yours. I sat up all night to finish them. They attack his hypothesis in its very basis, which, at some future time, I will explain to you ; and I have attempted to prove, from the existence of a Deity and of Revelation, the futility of the supersti- * See pp. 7, 32, and 39. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 59 tion upon which he founds his whole scheme. I was sorry to see that you even remotely suspected me of being offended with you. How I wish that I could persuade you that it is im- possible ! I am really sleepy. Could you sup- pose that I should be so apathetic as ever to sleep again till my last slumber ? But be it so, and I shall take a walk in St. Leonard's Forest to dissipate it. Adieu. You shall hear from me to- morrow. Your sincere friend, P. B. S. Stockdale has behaved infamously to me : he has abused the confidence I reposed in him in sending him my work ; and he has made very free with your character, of which he knows nothing, with my father. I shall call 60 LETTERS TO on Stockdale on my way, that he may explain. May I expect to see your Tale printed? To T.J. Hogg, University College, Oxford. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 61 LETTER XL FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. January \6tk, 1811. [ Wednesday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, You will hear from me to-morrow. I have to-day scarcely time but to tell you that I do not forget you. You tell me that it will show greatness of soul to rise after such a fall as mine. Ah, what pain must I feel when I contra- dict the flattering view which you have taken of my character ! Do I not know myself? Do I not feel the acutest poignancy of mortification, amounting to actual misery ? Alas, I must, with Godwin, say that in man, R 62 LETTERS TO imperfect as he now exists, there is never a motive for action unmixed ; that the best has its alloy, the worst is commingled with virtue. What does my mortification arise from ? Surely not wholly for myself, nor wholly for the happiness of the being whom I have lost. Did I know, were I convinced, that I felt for no- thing but Her, no self-reproach would tell me that my pangs were disgraceful. But now, when I fear, when I feel, that, in spite of myself, regret for the high happiness I have lost is mingled with the other consideration, do I feel too that it is disgraceful, degrading ! Adieu. I will write to-morrow, P. B. SHELLEY. To T.J.Hogg, University College, Oxford. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 63 LETTER XII. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. January I7//&, 1811. \Thursday.] MY DEAR FRIEND, I shall be with you as soon as possible next week. You really were at Hungerford, whether you knew it or not. You tell me nothing about the tale which you promised me. I hope it gets on in the press. I am anxious for its appearance. Stockdale certainly behaved in a vile manner to me ; no other book- seller would have violated the con- fidence reposed in him. I will talk to him in London, where I shall be 64 LETTERS TO on Tuesday. Can I do anything for you there ? You notice the peculiarity of the expression " My Sister " in my letters.* It certainly arose independent of con- sideration, and I am happy to hear that it is so. Your systematic cudgel for block- heads is excellent. I tried it on with my father, who told me that thirty years ago he had read Locke, but this made no impression. The " equus et res" are all that I can boast of; the "pater" is swallowed up in the first article of the catalogue. You tell me nothing of the tale ; I am all anxiety about it. I am forced hastily to bid you adieu. P. B. SHELLEY. To T.J. Hogg, University College, Oxford. * The "peculiarity" was, presumably, that Shelley who had four sisters, spoke of " my sister" Elizabeth as if he had only one. See note at p. 14. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 65 LETTER XIII. FIELD PLACE, HORSHAM, SUSSEX. [January 2yd, i8ll. Wednesday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, You are all over the country. I shall be at Oxford on Friday or Satur- day evening. I will write to you from London. My father's prophetic prepossession in your favour is become as high as before it was to your prejudice. Whence it arises, or from what cause, I am inadequate to say ; I can merely state the fact. He came from London full of your praises ; your family, that of Mr. Hogg, of Norton House, near s 66 LETTERS TO Stockton-upon-Tees. Your principles are now as divine as before they were diabolical. I tell you this with extreme satisfaction, and, to sum up the whole, he has desired me to make his compli- ments to you, and to invite you to make Field Place your head-quarters for the Easter vacation. I hope you will accept of it. I fancy he has been talking in town to some of the northern Members of Parliament who are ac- quainted with your family. However that may be, I hope you have no other arrangement for Easter which can in- terfere with granting me the pleasure of introducing you personally here. You have very well drawn your line of distinction between instinctive and rational motives of action. The former are not in our own power. Yet we may doubt if even these are purely selfish, as congeniality, sympathy, un- accountable attractions of intellect, which arise independent frequently of THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 67 any considerations of your own inter- est, operating violently in contradiction to it, and bringing on wretchedness, which your reason plainly foresees, which yet, although your judgment dis- [apjproves of, you take no pains to ob- viate. All this is not selfish. And surely the operations of reason, of judgment, in a man whose judgment is fully con- vinced of the baseness of any motive, can never be consonant with it. Adieu. Your affectionate, P. B. SHELLEY. To T.J. Hogg, University College, Oxford. 68 LETTER TO LETTER XIV. To JOHN HOGG, ESQ.* 15, POLAND STREET, LONDON. [April, 1811.] SIR, I accompanied (at his desire) Mr. Jefferson Hogg to Mr. C., who was entrusted with certain propositions to be offered to my friend. I was there extremely surprised no less hurt than surprised to find my father, in his interview with Mr. C., had, either un- advisedly or intentionally, let fall ex- * Father of T. Jefferson Hogg. JOHN HOGG. 69 \ pressions which conveyed an idea that Mr. Jefferson Hogg was the " original corruptor " of my principles. That on this subject (notwithstanding his long experience) Mr. T. Shelley must know less than his son, will be conceded ; and I feel it but justice (in consequence of your feelings, so natural after what Mr. C. communi- cated) positively to deny the assertion. I feel this tribute, which I have paid to the just sense of horror you enter- tain, to be due to you as a gentleman. I hope my motives stand excused to your candour. Myself and my friend have offered concessions * ; painful, indeed, they are to myself, but such as on mature con- sideration we find due to our high sense of filial duty. Permit me to request your indul- * Concessions relating (at all events in part) to the conditions under which the intimacy between Hogg and Shelley was to be continued henceforward. 70 LETTERS TO gence for the liberty I have taken in thus addressing you. I remain your obedient humble servant, P. B. SHELLEY.* To John Hogg, Esq., Norton, Stockton-on- Tees. * In the interval between the despatch of letter No. XIII. and letter No. XV. much had happened. Shel- ley had at length rejoined Hogg at College ; and the tendency of the two youthful minds towards audacity of enquiry, so evident in this correspondence, had blos- somed out into that portentous tract The Necessity of Atheism. This, though issued anonymously, was known to be by Shelley, who indeed distributed copies ostentatiously. Questioned by the Master of Univer- sity College as to the authorship, he declined to answer. Hogg was questioned in like manner, and in like man- ner refused information. On the 25th of March, 1811, both youths were summarily expelled, not, ostensibly, for the publication of the tract, but for contumaciously refusing to answer questions. They went together to London and lodged together ; but before the next letter was written, not only had Hogg left London, but Shelley had become acquainted with Harriet West- brook, her sister Eliza, and her father, a retired coffee- house keeper, Harriet being then sixteen years old, and at the Clapham school where the Misses Shelley were resident. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 71 LETTER XV. 15, POLAND STREET, LONDON. April iSt/i, 1811. {Thursday.} MY DEAR FRIEND, Certainly this place is a little soli- tary ; but, as a person cannot be quite alone when he has even got himself with him, I get on pretty well. I have employed myself in writing poetry ; and, as I go to bed at eight o'clock, time passes quicker than it otherwise might. Yesterday I had a letter from Whit- ton * to invite me to his house ; of course, the answer was negative. I * Whitton was the legal adviser of Mr. Timothy Shelley. 72 LETTERS TO wrote to say that I would resign all claim to the entail, if he * would allow me two hundred pounds a-year, and divide the rest among my sisters. Of course he will not refuse the offer. You remark that, in Lord Mount Edgecumbe's hermitage, I should have nothing to talk of but myself; nor have I anything here, except I should transcribe t\\e.jeux-(T esprit of the maid. Mr. Pilfold has written a very civil letter ; my mother intercepted thatt sent to my father, and wrote to me to come, enclosing the money. I, of course, returned it. Miss Westbrook has this moment called on me, with her sister. It cer- tainly was very kind of her. Adieu. The post goes. Yours, P. B. S. To T. J. Hogg, Ellesmcre. * The reference here is, of course, to Shelley's father, t Probably a letter by Shelley repeating his offer re ,200. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 73 LETTER XVI. LONDON. April 24.1 '/i, 1811. [ Wednesday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, You have (with wonderful sagacity, no doubt) refuted an argument of mine, the very existence of which I had forgotten. Something singularly conceited, no doubt, by the remarks you make on it. "Fine flowery language," you say. Well, I cannot help it : you see me in my weakest moments. All I can tell you of it is that I certainly was not " laughing," as you conjecture. This circumstance may go against me. I do not know that it will, however, as I have by no u 74 LETTERS TO means a precise idea of what the subject of this composition was. " The Galilean is not a favourite of mine," a French author writes. (The French write audaciously rashly.) "So far from owing him any thanks for his favours, I cannot avoid con- fessing that I owe a secret grudge to his carpentership (charp enteric). The reflecting part of the community that part in whose happiness we philo- sophers have so strong an interest certainly do not require his morality, which, where there is ho vice, fetters virtue. Here we all agree. Let this horrid Galilean rule the Canaille then ! I give them up." And / give them up. I will no more mix politics and virtue, they are incompatible.* * I think this remark must arise out of some con- siderations set forth in Godwin's Political Justice^ to the effect that virtue can be promoted by political institution. Shelley, it is evident, had heretofore rallied to that opinion ; but he now, after discussion with Hogg, relinquishes it. Who was this "French author"? Voltaire, or one of that connection? THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 75 My little friend Harriet Westbrook is gone to her prison-house.* She is quite well in health ; at least so she says, though she looks very much otherwise. I saw her yesterday. I went with her and her sister to Miss H.'s,t and walked about Clapham Common with them for two hours. The youngest is a most amiable girl ; the eldest is really conceited, but very condescending. I took the sacrament with her on Sunday. J You say I talk philosophically of her "kindness" in calling on me. She is very charitable and good. I shall always think of it with gratitude, be- cause I certainly did not deserve it, and she exposed herself to much possible odium. It is scarcely doing her a kindness it is perhaps inducing * Mrs. Fenning's school at Clapbam. t Apparently some friend of the Westbrook's, resid- ing near Harriet's schoolhouse. l -2ist, 1811. , . "She" must, to judge from the general context, mean Harriet \ though it seems at first sight rather to mean her sister Eliza^ the elder Miss Westbrook. 76 LETTERS TO positive unhappiness to point out to her a road which leads to perfection, the attainment of which, perhaps, does not repay the difficulties of the pro- gress. What do you think of this? If trains of thought, development of mental energies, influence in any degree a future state ; if this is even possible if it stands on at all securer ground than mere hypothesis ; then is it not a service ? Where am I gotten ? Perhaps into another ridiculous argu- ment. I will not proceed ; for I shall forget all I have said, and cannot, in justice, animadvert upon any of your critiques. I called on John Grove * this morn- ing. I met my father in the passage, and politely enquired after his health. He looked as black as a thunder-cloud, and said " Your most humble servant ! " I made him a low bow, and, wishing * A cousin of Shelley's, and brother of Harriet Grove, living in Lincoln's Inn. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 77 him a very good morning, passed on. He is very irate about my proposals.* I cannot resign anything till I am twenty-one. I cannot do anything; therefore I have three more years to consider of the matter you men- tioned. I shall go down to Field Place soon. I wait for Mr. Pilfold's arrival, with whom I shall depart. He is resolved (the old fellow) that I shall not stay at Field Place. If I please as I shall do for some time I will. This reso- lution of mine was hinted to him : " Oh, then I shall take his sister away before he comes." But I shall follow her, as her retirement cannot be a secret. This will probably lead me to wander about for some time. You will hear from me, however, wherever I am. If all these things are useless, you * The "proposals" as to money-matters mentioned in the preceding letter. 78 LETTERS TO will see me at York, or at Ellesmere if you still remain there. " The scenery excites mournful ideas." I am sorry to hear it ; I hoped that it would have had a contrary effect. May I indulge the idea that York is as stupid as Oxford ? And yet you did not wander alone amid the mountains. I think I shall live at the foot of Snowdon. Suppose we both go there directly. Do not be surprised if you see me at Ellesmere. Yes, you would, for it would be a strange thing. I am now nearly recovered.* Strange that Florian could not see the conclusions from his own reason- ing ! How can the hope of a higher reward, stimulating the action, make it virtuous, if the essence of virtue is dis- interested ? as all, who know anything of virtue, must allow, as he does allow. How inconsistent is this religion ! How " Recovered," it would seem, from a college strain. See letter dated Afril zQtft, 1811. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 79 apt to pervert the judgment, and finally the heart, of the most amiably-inten- tioned who confide in it ! I wish I was with you in the moun- tains ; could not we live there ? Direct to 15 Poland Street. I write to-morrow to York. Your affectionate friend, P. B. S. Your B * is worse than stupid ; he is provoking. Have you really no one to associate with not even a peasant, a child of nature, a spider? " And this from the hermit, the philo- sopher ! " Oh, you are right to laugh at me ! I finished the little poem, one stanza of which you said was pretty ; it is, on the whole, a most stupid thing, as you will confess when I some day inflict a * Apparently the college friend with whom Hogg had left London, and gone to Ellesmere. Was he the Burden mentioned elsewhere in Shelley's correspond- ence? 8o LETTERS TO perusal of it on your innocent ears. Yet I have nothing to amuse myself with ; and, if it does not injure others, and you cannot avoid it, I do not see much harm in being mad. You even vindicate it in some almost inspired stanzas, which I found among my transcriptions to-day. Adieu, I am going to Miss West- brook's to dinner. Her father is out. I will write to-morrow.*. To T.J.Hogg, Ellesmere. * No letter written upon the following day, April 25/f/z, 1811, is at present forthcoming. It is evident from the last paragraph of the foregoing that Eliza, aged 30 or so, and Harriet, aged 16, were at least not averse to a little defiance of Mrs. Grundy. Hence, still smarting from the loss of Harriet Grove and breathing out threatenings and slaughter against In- tolerance, Shelley gladly seized a chance of obtaining, as he thought, colleagues in his warfare. See espe- cially p. 90. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 81 LETTER XVII. 15, POLAND STREET, LONDON. April 26th, 1811. [Friday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, I indulge despair. Why do I so ? I will not philosophize. It is perhaps a poor way of administering comfort to myself to say that I ought not to be in need of it. I fear the despair which springs from disappointed love is a passion, a passion, too, which is least of all reducible to reason. But it is a passion, it is independent of volition ; it is the necessary effect of a cause, which must) I feel, continue to operate. Wherefore, then, do you ask Why I Y 82 LETTERS TO indulge despair ? And what shall I tell you which can make you happier, which can alleviate even solitude and regret ? Shall I tell you the truth ? Oh you are too well aware of that, or you would riot talk of despair ! Shall I say that the time may come when happiness shall dawn upon a night of wretched- ness ? Why should I be a false prophet if I said this ? I do not know, except on the general principle that the evils in this world powerfully overbalance its pleasures ; how, then, could I be justi- fied in saying this ? You will tell me to cease to think, to cease to feel ; you will tell me to be anything but what I am ; and I feel I must obey the com- mand before I can talk of hope. I find there can be bigots in philo- sophy as well as in religion ; I, per- haps, may be classed with the former. I have read your letter attentively. Yet all religionists do judge of philosophers in the way which you reprehend. Faith THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 83 is one of the highest moral virtues, the foundation, indeed, upon which all others must rest \ and religionists think that he who has neglected to cultivate this has not performed one third of the moral duties, as Bishop Warburton dog- matically asserts. The religionists, then, by this very Faith, without which they could not be religionists, think the most virtuous philosopher must have neg- lected one third of the moral duties ! If, then, a religionist, the most ami- able of them, regards the best philo- sopher as far from being virtuous, has not a philosopher reason to suspect the amiability of a system which inculcates so glaringly uncharitable opinions ? Can a being amiable to a high degree possessed, of course, of judgment, without which amiability would be in a poor way hold such opinions as these ? Supposing even they were sup- ported by reason, they ought to be suspected as leading to a conclusion 84 LETTERS TO ad absurdum ; since, however, they combine irrationality and absurdity with effects on the mind most opposite to retiring amiability, are they not to be more than suspected ? Take any system of religion, lop off all the disgusting ex- crescences, or rather adjuncts ; retain virtuous precepts ; qualify selfish dogmas (I would even allow as much irrationality as amiability could swallow, but uncombined with immorality and self-conceitedness) ; do all this, and / will say, It is a system which can do no harm, and, indeed, is highly requisite for the vulgar. But perhaps it is best for the latter that they should have it as their fathers gave it them ; that the amiable, the enquiring should reject it altogether. Yet I will allow that it may be con- sistent with amiability, when amiability does not know the deformity of the wretched errors, and that they really are as we behold them. I cannot THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 85 judge of a system by the/ flowers which are scattered here and there ; you omit the mention of the weeds, which grow so high that few botanists can see the flowers ; and those who do gather the latter are frequently, I fear, tainted with the pestilential vapour of the former. The argument of supremacy is really amiable, without that, I should give up the remotest possibility of success. Yet that applies but to the existence of a Creator, that is inconsequential : the enquirer here, the amiable enquirer, does not pause at the world, lest she should be left supreme ; she advances one step higher, not being aware, or not caring to be aware, of the infinity of the staircase which she ascends.* This is irrational^ but it is not unami- able, it does not involve the hateful consequences of selfishness, self-con- * To see exactly what Shelley meant by these some- what nebulous phrases, we sadly need Hogg's letter. 86 LETTERS TO ceitedness, and the subserviency of faith to the volition of the believer, which are necessary to the existence of " a spurious system of theology." A religionist^ I will allow, may be more amiable than a philosopher, although in one instance reason is allowed to sleep, that amiability may watch. Yet, my dear friend, this is not Intolerance ; nor can that odious system stand excused on this ground, as its very principle revolts against the dear modesty which suggests a derelic- tion of reason in the other instance. I again assert nor perhaps are you pre- pared to deny, much as your amiable motion might prompt you to wish it that religion is too often the child of cold prejudice and selfish fear. Love of a Deity, of Allah, Bramah (it is all the same), certainly springs from the latter motive ; is this love ? You know too well it is not. Here I appeal to your own heart, your own feelings. At THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 87 that tribunal I feel that I am secure. I once could almost tolerate intoler- ance, it then merely injured me. Once it merely deprived me of all that I cared for, touching myself, on earth ; but now it has done more, and I cannot forgive. Eloisa said ; "I have hated myself, that I might love thee, Abelard." When I hear a religionist prepared to say so, as her sincere sentiments, I then will allow that in a few in- stances the virtue of religion is separ- able from the vice. " She is not lost for ever " ! How I hope that may be true ! But I fear / can never ascertain, I can never influence an amelioration, as she does not any longer permit a "philosopher" to correspond with her. She talks of duty to her Father. And this is your amiable religion ! You will excuse my raving, my dear friend : you will not be severe upon my 88 LETTERS TO hatred of a cause which can produce such an effect as this. You talk of the dead : " Do we not exist after the tomb ? " It is a natural question, my friend, when there is nothing in life : yet it is one on which you have never told me any solid grounds for your opinions. You shall hear from me again soon. I send some verses. I heard from F. yesterday. All that he said was : u My letters are arrived. G. S. F." My dear friend, Your affectionate, P. B. SHELLEY. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 89 LETTER XVIII. LINCOLN'S INN FIELDS, LONDON. April, 2%th, 1811. [Sunday. ] MY DEAR FRIEND, I am now at Grove's. I don't know where I am, where I will be. Future, present, past, is all a mist : it seems as if I had begun existence anew, under auspices so unfavourable. Yet no ! That is stupid. My poor little friend * has been ill : her sister sent for me the other night. I found her on a couch, pale. Her father is civil to me, very strangely : the sister is too civil by half. She * Harriet Westbrook. A A 90 LETTERS TO began talking about V Amour. I philo- sophized : and the youngest said she had such a headache that she could not bear conversation Her sister then went away, and I stayed till half-past twelve. Her father had a large party below, he invited me : I refused. Yes! The fiend, the wretch, shall fall ! * Harriet will do for one of the crushers, and the eldest (Emily), t with some taming, will do, too. They are both very clever, and the youngest (my friend) is amiable. Yesterday she was better. To-day her father com- pelled her to go to Clapham, whither I have conducted her ; and I am now re- turned. Why is it that, the moment we two are separated, I can scarcely set bounds to my hatred of intolerance ? Is it feel- ing ? is it passion ? I would willingly * "The fiend, the wretch " = Intolerance. t " Emily " can only have been Eliza. Possibly the elder Miss Westbrook may have borne both names, though the latter is the only one that has been recorded. THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 91 persuade myself that it is neither ; will- ingly would I persuade myself that all that is amiable, all that is good, falls by its prevalence, and that 7 ought un- ceasingly to attempt its destruction. Yet you say that millions of bad are necessary for the existence of a few pre-eminent in excellence. Is not this a despotism of virtue, which is incon- sistent with its nature ? Is it not the Asiatic tyrant who renders his territory wretched to fill his seraglio ? the shark who must glut his maw with millions of fish in order that he may exist ? I have often said that I doubted your divinities ; and, if this inference follows the established hypothesis of their existence, I do not merely doubt, but hope that my doubts are founded on truth. I think, then, that the term " supe- rior "* is bad, as it involves this horrible * Hogg would seem to have been writing of men as " superior " to women. 92 LETTERS TO consequence. Let the word "perfect," then, be offered as a substitute ; to which each who aspires may indulge a hope of arriving ; or rather every one (speaking of men) may hope to contri- bute to woman's arrival, which, in fact, is themselves advancing ; although, like the shadow preceding the figure, or the spiral, it always may advance, and never touch. My sister does not come to town, nor will she ever, at least I can see no chance of it. I will not deceive my- self ; she is lost, lost to everything ; Intolerance has tainted her, she talks cant and twaddle. I would not venture thus to prophesy without being most perfectly convinced in my own mind of the truth of what I say. It may not be irretrievable ; but yes, it is ! A young female who only once, only for a short time, asserted her claim to an unfettered use of reason, bred up with bigots, hav- ing before her eyes examples of the THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 93 consequences of scepticism, or even of philosophy, which she must now see to lead directly to the former. A mother who is mild and tolerant, yet narrow-minded. How, I ask, is she to be rescued from its influence ? I tell you, my dear friend, openly the feelings of my mind, the state of its con- victions on every subject ; this, then, is one, and I do not expect that you will say, " It must be so painful to your feelings that I hope you will never again mention it." I do not expect you to say : " I had rather you were under a pleasing error ; it is not a friendly act to dissipate the mists which hide a frightful prospect." On other subjects you have soared above prejudices ; you have investi- gated them, terrible as they may have appeared, and resolved to abide by the result of that investigation. And you have abided by it. Why then should there yet remain a subject on which B B 94 LETTERS TO you profess yourself fearful to enquire? I will not allow you to say "incom- petent." Error cannot in any of its shapes be good ; I cannot conceive the possibility. You talk of the credulity of man- kind, its proneness to superstition, that it ever has been a slave to the vilest of errors. Is your inference necessary, or direct, that it ever will continue so ? You say that " I have no idea how society could be freed from false notions on almost every subject." No ; nor would the first man in the world, supposing that there ever was one, at the moment of his arriving to his estate, have any conception how a fertile piece of land would look with- out weeds. He stares at it, and thinks it is least of all fitted for his con- veniences ; when a stricter searching into its nature would convince him that it was calculated to contribute to them, with a sufficient proportion of THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 95 labour, more than the barer land which appeared clear. Dares the lama, most fleet of the sons of the wind, The lion to rouse from his skull-covered lair ? When the tiger approaches, can the fast-fleet- ing hind Repose trust in his footsteps of air ? No. Abandon' d he sinks in a trance of de- spair : The monster transfixes his prey : On the sand flows his' life-blood away, Whilst India's rocks to his death-yells reply, Protracting the horrible harmony. Yet the fowl of the desert, when danger en- croaches, Dares fearless to perish, defending her brood, Though the fiercest of cloud-piercing tyrants approaches, Thirsting aye thirsting for blood, And demands, like mankind, his brother for food ; Yet more lenient, more gentle, than they, For hunger, not glory, the prey Must perish. Revenge does not howl o'er the dead, Nor ambition with fame crown the murderer's head. 96 LETTERS TO Though weak as the lama that bounds on the mountains, And endued not with fast-fleeting footsteps of air, Yet, yet will I draw from the purest of fountains, Though a fiercer than tiger is there ; Though, more dreadful than death, it scatters despair, Though its shadow eclipses the day, And the darkness of deepest dismay Spreads the influence of soul-chilling terror around, And lowers on the corpses, that rot on the ground. They came to the fountain to draw from its stream Waves too pure, too celestial, for mortals to see ; They bathed for a while in its silvery beam, Then perished, and perished like me. For in vain from the grasp of the Bigot I flee ; The most tenderly loved of my soul Are slaves to his hated control. He pursues me, he blasts me ! 'Tis in vain that I fly ! What remains but to curse him, to curse him, and die ? THOMAS JEFFERSON HOGG. 97 There it is a mad effusion of this morning ! I had resolved not to mortgage,* be- fore you left London ; I told you that 1 should divide it with my sisters, and leave everything else to fate. Your affectionate friend, P. B. S. * Cf. p. 72. c c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY BERKELEY Return to desk from which borrowed. This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. MAR 18196634 11023*6692 RC( Jtere Books and Special Colle LD 21-100ra-9,'48(B399sl6)476 Rare Books and UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY