FRAGMENT: TO ONE SINGING.1 My spirit like a charmed bark doth swim Upon the liquid waves of thy sweet singing, Far away into the regions dim Of rapture—as a boat, with swift sails winging Its way adown some many-winding river. TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR, 2 I. THY country's curse is on thee, darkest crest II. Thy country's curse is on thee! Justice sold, Truth trampled, Nature's landmarks overthrown, 1 This and the five fragments at pp. 404-6, given by Mrs. Shelley (without any titles) in her note on Poems of 1817, in the first edition of 1839, are all, I presume, assignable to the year 1817. This and the first four of the others seem to be from the note-book containing the MS. of the poem To Constantia, Singing; and this particular one associates itself naturally in the mind with the lady addressed as Constantia. It is to be observed that Shelley subsequently made use of these lines in an altered form in the song of Asia ending Act II of Prometheus Unbound. See Vol. II of this edition, p. 214. 2 Mr. Rossetti assigns this poem and the next to August or September, 1817, on the reasonable ground that Lord Chancellor Eldon's decree, depriving Shelley of the custody of his children, Charles and Ianthe, was pronounced in August. Mrs. Shelley printed seven of the stanzas To the Lord Chancellor in her note on the poems of 1819, in the first edition of 1839: in the second, she gave the whole poem, still, however, in the note. The text has been collated with two transcripts in Mrs. Shelley's writing, -one formerly in Leigh Hunt's pos session, but now in the hands of Mr. Edward Spender, whom I have to thank for the loan of it, and the other in the possession of Mr. Charles Cowden Clarke. This, Mrs. Clarke kindly copied for me it varies slightly from the other. I have adopted, in minutiæ, whatever readings from these sources seem most likely to be accurate. 3 The Star Chamber, Mrs. Shelley explains. And heaps of fraud-accumulated gold, Plead, loud as thunder, at Destruction's throne. III. And, whilst that sure1 slow Angel which aye stands Delays to execute her high commands, And, though a nation weeps, spares thine and thee, IV. O let a father's curse be on thy soul, And let a daughter's hope be on thy tomb; Be2 both, on thy grey head, a leaden cowl To weigh thee down to thine3 approaching doom! V. I curse thee by a parent's outraged love, By hopes long cherished and too lately lost, VI. By those infantine smiles of happy light, VII. By those unpractised accents of young speech, 1 In Mrs. Shelley's editions, and one of the transcripts, slow sure,-in the other transcript sure slow. 2 So in one of the transcripts; but in the other, and in Mrs. Shelley's edition, And both &c. 3 So in one transcript, but thy in the other. 4 So in both transcripts and in the second edition of 1839; but in the first Hiding the promises of lovely birth. To gentlest lore, such as the wisest teach Thou strike the lyre of mind! O grief and shame! VIII. By all the happy see in children's growth- Source of the sweetest hopes and saddest fears IX. By all the days under an1 hireling's care, O wretched ye if ever any were,— Sadder than orphans, yet not fatherless! X. By the false cant which on their innocent lips XI. By thy most impious Hell, and all its terror;2 XII. By thy complicity with lust and hate Thy thirst for tears-thy hunger after gold- 1 So in both transcripts, but a in Mrs. Shelley's editions. 2 So in both transcripts, and error in the next line but one; but in Mrs. Shelley's editions terrors and errors. 3 In one transcript, art,-in the other and in Mrs. Shelley's edition, hast. XIII. By thy most killing sneer, and by thy smile- XIV. By all the hate which checks a father's love— XV. Yes, the despair which bids a father groan, And cry2-my children are no longer mineThe blood within those veins may be mine own, But-Tyrant-their polluted souls are thine ; XVI. I curse thee though I hate thee not-O slave! This curse should be a blessing. Fare thee well! 1 In one transcript this line is as in the text in the other we read By all the snares and nets of thy false den, but in Mrs. Shelley's and Mr. Rossetti's editions acts is misprinted for arts. * In one transcript we read say for cry. 3 So in one transcript, but their in the other. So in Mrs. Shelley's editions; but soul is in both transcripts. TO WILLIAM SHELLEY.1 I. THE billows on the beach are leaping around it, The sea looks black, and the clouds that bound it Darkly strew the gale. Come with me, thou3 delightful child, Come with me, though the wave is wild, And the winds are loose, we must not stay, Or the slaves of the law may rend thee away. II. They have taken thy brother and sister dear, III. Come thou, beloved as thou art; Another sleepeth still Near thy sweet mother's anxious heart, 1 The first, fifth, and sixth of these stanzas were given by Mrs. Shelley in the note containing the last poem, in the first edition of 1839, and in the second the whole poem appeared. Mr. Charles Cowden Clarke has a transcript of it in Mrs. Shelley's writing. 2 The words on the beach, are omitted from the first edition of 1839, but appear in the second and in the transcript. 3 The word thou, which is in Mrs. Shelley's editions, is not in the transcript. So in the transcript and the first edition; but in the second the is omitted. 5 So in the transcript, but time in Mrs. Shelley's edition. 6 So in the transcript, but fearless are in Mrs. Shelley's edition. 7 So in the transcript, but wilt in previous editions. |