computation, and I don't think I could mention more than three. Such is the spirit of the English abroad as well as at home." Such a gross misunderstanding of his real character, could but weigh heavily on a mind so sensitive and so delicately organised, a mind naturally prone to melancholy, aggravated by constant ill-health, and the sorrows that unceasingly beset him. But the society of his own countrymen abroad, would probably, on the whole, have been little to his taste; for the rich ignorant, which constitute by far the greater portion of travelling English, assume pretensions they have not the most remote claim to, and generally squander their money for no better purpose than to give foreigners an idea of their magnificence. Shelley's deportment, on the contrary, was wholly unassuming, and his lavish benevolence forced him to a strict observance of domestic economy. "It was," says Mrs Shelley, "owing to the insolence of the more vulgar among the travelling English, that I desired Shelley to extend his acquaintance among the better sort; but his health was an insuperable bar." CHAPTER XIII. Shelley's arrival at Leghorn-He renews the acquaintance of Mr. and Mrs. Gisborne-The Masque of Anarchy -Shelley's steam-boat speculation-Departure for Florence-Peter Bell the Third-Shelley concludes the "Prometheus Unbound" and the " Cenci"-Character of these productions. 66 EARLY in July Shelley arrived again at Leghorn, a town which in itself had nothing of interest to attract him, and where the society of his friends Mr. and Mrs. Gisborne was the chief inducement for him to stay a considerable time. He now took a small house, the Villa Valsovano, on the road to Monte Nero, where he passed the remainder of the summer, devoting himself to the composition of "The Cenci" and the study of Calderon, an author who seems to have been much to his taste, and from whose "Magico Prodigioso" he has translated many scenes. At the top of his house there was a kind of covered terrace, such as is often seen in Italy, but this was enclosed and roofed with glass forming an airy cell, which, from its elevation, commanded an extensive view of the surrounding country and the neighbouring sea. This Shelley used as his study; and though the sun poured its dazzling light and heat, intolerable to any others, he basked in both, and his health and spirits revived under their influence.* In this singular little study he wrote, besides the greater portion of the " Cenci," the "Masque of Anarchy," suggested by the Manchester massacre, the news of which reached him there, and roused all his indignation against its instigators, as well as the strongest emotions of compassion. for the people. Every one will remember his figure of Castlereagh : : "I met Murder on the way He had a mask, like Castlereagh; * Mrs. Shelley's Notes. 着 This poem may be considered purely political, though it contains many images in the poet's best style; in it he exhibits the same hatred of oppression, the same republican spirit that distinguished his earlier youth; but his maturer judgment suggested to him a calmer and more temperate tone than he had then adopted, though the "Ode to the Assertors of Liberty," a poem also of this period, shows that his enthusiasm in this respect had in nowise abated. At Leghorn Shelley entered into the novel speculation for a poet, of building a steam-boat, to ply between Marseilles, Genoa, and Leghorn, the details of which were to be carried out by Mr. Reveley, the son, by a former marriage, of Mrs. Gisborne, himself an engineer, and for whose benefit the idea was mainly started. Ever ready to squander his substance for the benefit of others, the the poet entered upon this project with ardour and enthusiasm, in the full confidence that it was to yield a fortune to his friend. Such an undertaking could be attended only with disaster; and after many delays, mostly oc casioned by the want of money, the scheme was finally abandoned, through some complication of unforeseen circumstances, as Mrs. Shelley says, when already far advanced towards completion, and a considerable amount of money had been expended on the construction of the machinery. Shelley was greatly disappointed at this result, delighting, as he did, in the whole affair. He watched its progress with deep interest; and the account of the growth of the cylinder and air pump for the engines, supplied by his friend, called forth poetical comparisons which bespeak his enthusiasm; but it does not appear quite clear that Mr. Reveley was not too ready to avail himself of Shelley's generosity in entering upon an undertaking without that consideration which the occasion required. Had it been successful, the advantage was intended all for himself, and its abandonment entailed upon the poet the loss of all the money he had supplied, money which had often been advanced with great inconvenience, sometimes raised at considerable expense. In the early part of October Shelley quitted |