We soon shall dwell by the azure sea
Of serene and golden Italy,

Or Greece, the Mother of the free;

And I will teach thine infant tongue
To call upon those1 heroes old

In their own language, and will mould
Thy growing spirit in the flame

Of Grecian lore, that by such name

A patriot's birthright thou mayst claim!

CANCELLED PASSAGES OF THE POEM

TO WILLIAM SHELLEY.2

I.

THE world is now our dwelling-place;
Where'er the earth one fading trace

Of what was great and free does keep,
That is our home!

Mild thoughts of man's ungentle race
Shall our contented exile reap;
For who that in some happy place
His own free thoughts can freely chase
By woods and waves can clothe his face
In cynic smiles? Child! we shall weep.

ON FANNY GODWIN.1

HER voice did quiver as we parted,

Yet knew I not that heart was broken
From which it came, and I departed
Heeding not the words then spoken.
Misery-O Misery,

This world is all too wide for thee.

OTHO.2

I.

THOU wert not, Cassius, and thou couldst not be,
Last of the Romans, though thy memory claim
From Brutus his own glory-and on thee

Rests the full splendour of his sacred fame;
Nor he who dared make the foul tyrant quail
Amid his cowering senate with thy name,
Though thou and he were great-it will avail
To thine own fame that Otho's should not fail.

II.

'Twill wrong thee not-thou wouldst, if thou couldst feel, Abjure such envious fame-great Otho died

1 This stanza was first given by Mrs. Shelley in the first edition of 1839, among Poems of 1817, and headed "On F. G." Mr. Rossetti supplied the name "Fanny Godwin," which, as shewn by Peacock in Fraser's Magazine for June 1858, unquestionably points to the right person, whether we give her the name of Wollstonecraft, Imlay, or Godwin. "Fanny Godwin," the half-sister of Mary Shelley, poisoned herself on the 9th of October, 1816; and it was that event that gave rise to this stanza.

2 The first two stanzas of this fragment were first given by Mrs. Shelley in her note on the Poems of 1817, in the first edition of 1839. She VOL. III.

says the poet "projected [in 1817] a poem on the subject of Otho, inspired by the pages of Tacitus," and adds that these two stanzas "were to open the subject." The third stanza and the two fragments are from Relics of Shelley, wherein only the two lines numbered IV are assigned to Otho. The complete stanza, however, is in Otho metre, and reads as if it belonged to stanzas I and II. I have asked Mr. Garnett's opinion; and he thinks it very likely indeed" that this stanza belongs to Otho. I feel strongly convinced that both this and the fragment numbered V, which seems to be an unfinished stanza of the same metre, belong to the same poem.

2 C

Like thee-he sanctified his country's steel,

At once the tyrant and tyrannicide,

In his own blood-a deed it was to bring1

Tears from all men-though full of gentle pride, Such pride as from impetuous love may spring, That will not be refused its offering.

III.

Those whom nor power, nor lying faith, nor toil,
Nor custom, queen of many slaves, makes blind,
Have ever grieved that man should be the spoil
Of his own weakness, and with earnest mind
Fed hopes of its redemption, these recur

Chastened by deathful victory now, and find
Foundations in this foulest age, and stir
Me whom they cheer to be their minister.

IV.

Dark is the realm of grief: but human things
Those may not know who cannot weep for them.

V.

Once more descend

The shadows of my soul upon mankind,

For to those hearts with which they never blend,

Thoughts are but shadows which the flashing mind From the swift clouds which track its flight of fire, Casts on the gloomy world it leaves behind.

1 In Mrs. Shelley's editions, buy. Mr. Rossetti substituted wring. from Miss Blind's article in The

But

Westminster Review it seems that the word in the MS. is bring.

FRAGMENT OF A SONG.1

O THAT a chariot of cloud were mine!

Of cloud which the wild tempest weaves in air, When the moon over the ocean's line

Is spreading the locks of her bright grey hair.
O that a chariot of cloud were mine!

I would sail on the waves of the billowy wind
To the mountain peak and the rocky lake,
And the....

FRAGMENT:

TO A FRIEND LEAVING PRISON.2

FOR me, my friend, if not that tears did tremble
In my faint eyes, and that my heart beat fast
With feelings which make rapture pain resemble,
Yet, from thy voice that falsehood starts aghast,
I thank thee-let the tyrant keep

His chains and tears, yea let him weep
With rage to see thee freshly risen,

Like strength from slumber, from the prison,
In which he vainly hoped the soul to bind
Which on the chains must prey that fetter humankind.

1 From Relics of Shelley (p. 76), where the date 1817 is given.

2 From Relics of Shelley (p. 75). Mr. Garnett assigns the fragment to 1817. If that be the true date, the lines may possibly have been rejected

Mr. Ros

from Rosalind and Helen.
setti says "This might be supposed
to be an address to Leigh Hunt on
his release from prison ",-which took
place in February, 1815; but it seems
to me more like the work of 1817.

FRAGMENT: SATAN LOOSE.1

A GOLDEN-WINGED Angel stood

Before the Eternal Judgment-seat:

His looks were wild, and Devils' blood.
Stained his dainty hands and feet.

The 2 Father and the Son

Knew that strife was now begun.

They knew that Satan had broken his chain,

And with millions of dæmons in his train,

Was ranging over the world again.

Before the Angel had told his tale,

A sweet and a creeping sound

Like the rushing of wings was heard around;

And suddenly the lamps grew pale

The lamps, before the Archangels seven,

That burn continually in heaven.

5

10

15

TWO FRAGMENTS TO MUSIC.3

I.

SILVER key of the fountain of tears,

Where the spirit drinks till the brain is wild;
Softest grave of a thousand fears,

Where their mother, Care, like a drowsy child,
Is laid asleep in flowers.

1 Deciphered by Mr. Garnett from the rough draft in Sir Percy Shelley's possession, and first published by Mr. Rossetti, undated, but among fragments dated 1817.

2 Mr. Rossetti indicates a hiatus before this word.

3 First given by Mrs. Shelley in the first edition of 1839, in a note, as are also the three following. See ante,

note 1, p. 394. Fragment I is introduced, in Mrs. Shelley's note, with the words "In another fragment he calls it-" and the stanza begins with the word The. In the transcript, however, there is no The; and I have no doubt that the lines are really an apos trophe, the The being introduced accidentally into the quotation instead of coming into the prose of the note.