Gisborne, December 1, 1819: There are some ladies come to this house who knew Shelley's family the younger one was entousiasmée to see him.. The younger lady was a ward of one of Shelley's uncles. She is lively and unaffected. She sings well for an English débutante and, if she would learn the scales, would sing exceedingly well, for she has a sweet voice.' Miss Sophia Stacey was a ward of Mr. Parker, of Bath, an uncle by marriage of Shelley. The poem was published by Rossetti, 1870.

I

THOU art fair, and few are fairer

Of the nymphs of earth or ocean; They are robes that fit the wearer —

Those soft limbs of thine, whose motion

Ever falls and shifts and glances

As the life within them dances.

II

Thy deep eyes, a double Planet,

Gaze the wisest into madness

With soft clear fire; the winds that fan it

Are those thoughts of tender gladness Which, like zephyrs on the billow, Make thy gentle soul their pillow.

III

If, whatever face thou paintest

In those eyes, grows pale with pleasure, If the fainting soul is faintest

When it hears thy harp's wild measure,

Wonder not that when thou speakest Of the weak my heart is weakest.

IV

As dew beneath the wind of morning, As the sea which whirlwinds waken, As the birds at thunder's warning,

As aught mute yet deeply shaken, As one who feels an unseen spirit, Is my heart when thine is near it.

LOVE'S PHILOSOPHY Published by Hunt, The Indicator, 1819.

I

THE fountains mingle with the river,
And the rivers with the ocean;
The winds of heaven mix forever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single;
All things by a law divine
In one another's being mingle:
Why not I with thine?

II

See the mountains kiss high heaven,
And the waves clasp one another;
No sister flower would be forgiven
If it disdained its brother;
And the sunlight clasps the earth,

And the moonbeams kiss the sea: What are all these kissings worth, If thou kiss not me?

Mrs. Shelley gives in brief passages the account of the various removals of this year, and of Shelley's general state: 'There was something in Florence that disagreed excessively with his health, and he suffered far more pain than usual; so much so that we left it sooner than we intended, and removed to Pisa, where we had some friends, and, above all, where we could consult the celebrated Vaccà, as to the cause of Shelley's sufferings. He, like every other medical man, could only guess at that, and gave little hope of immediate relief; he enjoined him to abstain from all physicians and medicine, and to leave his complaint to nature. As he had vainly consulted medical men of the highest repute in England, he was easily persuaded to adopt this advice. Pain and ill-health followed him to the end, but the

residence at Pisa agreed with him better than any other, and there in consequence we remained.

'We spent the summer at the baths of San Giuliano, four miles from Pisa. These baths were of great use to Shelley in soothing his nervous irritability. We made several excursions in the neighborhood. The country around is fertile, and diversified and rendered picturesque by ranges of near hills and more distant mountains. The peasantry are a handsome, intelligent race, and there was a gladsome sunny heaven spread over us, that rendered home and every scene we visited cheerful and bright. . . .

'We then removed to Pisa, and took up our abode there for the winter. The extreme mildness of the climate suited Shelley, and his solitude was enlivened by an intercourse with

Broad water-lilies lay tremulously,

And starry river-buds glimmered by,

It loves, even like Love, its deep heart is full,

And from this undefiled Paradise

The flowers (as an infant's awakening eyes Smile on its mother, whose singing sweet 60 Can first lull, and at last must awaken it)

When Heaven's blithe winds had unfolded them

As mine-lamps enkindle a hidden gem, Shone smiling to Heaven, and every one Shared joy in the light of the gentle sun;

For each one was interpenetrated

With the light and the odor its neighbor shed,

Like young lovers whom youth and love make dear,

Wrapped and filled by their mutual atmosphere.

But the Sensitive Plant, which could give small fruit

70

The quivering vapors of dim noontide, 90 Which like a sea o'er the warm earth glide,

In which every sound, and odor, and beam, Move, as reeds in a single stream;

Each and all like ministering angels were For the Sensitive Plant sweet joy to bear, (Whilst the lagging hours of the day went by

(Like windless clouds o'er a tender sky.