LETTER VI.

To MR. J. J. STOCKDALE.

MY DEAR SIR,

University Coll., Monday, 19 November, 1810.

I did not think it possible that the romance would make but one small volume, it will at all events be larger than Zastrozzi. What I mean as "Rosicrucian is the elixir of eternal life which Ginotti had obtained, Mr. Godwin's romance of St. Leon turns upon that superstition; I enveloped it in mystery for the greater excitement of interest, and on a re-examination, you will perceive that Mountfort physically did kill Ginotti, which must appear from the latter's paleness.

Will you have the goodness to send me Mr. Godwin's Political Justice?

When do you suppose "St. Irvyne" will be out? If you have not yet got the Wandering Jew from Mr. B., I will send you a MS. copy which I possess.'

Yours sincerely,

1 Mr. Garnett notes-"It appears from the next note that this copy

P. B. SHELLEY.

was sent, but it miscarried."

LETTER VII.

To MR. J. J. STOCKDALE.

Oxford, December 2nd, 1810.

DEAR SIR,

Will you, if you have got two copies of the Wandering Jew send one of them to me, as I have thought of some corrections which I wish to make,-your opinion on it will likewise much oblige me.

When do you suppose that Southey's Curse of Kehama will come out? I am curious to see it, and

When does St. Irvyne come out?

I shall be in London, the middle of this month, when I will do myself the pleasure of calling on you.

I saw your advertisement of the Romance, and approve of it highly; it is likely to excite curiosity.—I would thank you to send copies directed as follows:

Miss Marshall, Horsham, Sussex.

T. Medwin, Esq., Horsham, Sussex.

T. J. Hogg, Esq., Rev.-Dayrell's, Lynnington Dayrell, Buckingham,

and six copies to myself. In case the Curse of Kehama' has yet appeared, I would thank you for that

1 Field Place.

likewise. I have in preparation a novel; it is principally constructed to convey metaphysical and political opinions by way of conversation, it shall be sent to you as soon as completed, but it shall receive more correction than I trouble myself to give to wild Romance and Poetry.

Mr. Munday of Oxford will take some Romances; I do not know whether he sends directly to you, or through the medium of some other Bookseller. I will inclose the Printer's account for your inspection in a future letter.

Dear sir,

Yours sincerely,

PERCY B. SHELLEY.

LETTER IX.

To MR. J. J. STOCKDALE.

January 11th, 1811.

DEAR SIR,

I would thank you to send a copy of St. Irvyne, to Miss Harriet Westbrook, 10, Chapel Street, Grosvenor Square. In the course of a fortnight I shall do myself the pleasure of calling on you: with respect to the printer's bill, I made him explain the distinction of the costs, which I hope are intelligible.

Do you find that the public are captivated by the title-page of St. Irvyne ?1

1 Mr. Garnett's note on this letter is particularly valuable:

"This is interesting, in so far as it assists us in determining the PROSE. VOL. III.

Your sincere

P. B. SHELLEY.

date of Shelley's first acquaintance with Harriet Westbrook. Had he known her on December 18th, he would probably have included

Ꮓ

SIR,

LETTER X.

To MR. J. J. STOCKDALE.

Oxford, 28th of January, 1811.

On my arrival at Oxford my friend Mr. Hogg communicated to me the letters which passed in consequence of your misrepresentations of his character, the abuse of that confidence which he invariably reposed in you. I now, Sir, desire to know whether you mean the evasions in your first letter to Mr. Hogg, your insulting attempt at coolness in your second, as a method of escaping safely from the opprobrium naturally attached to so ungentlemanlike an abuse of confidence (to say nothing of misrepresentations) as that which my father communicated

her among those to whom he on that day desired that copies of his novel should be sent. It may then be inferred with confidence, that he first became interested in her between December 18th, and January 11th, and as there appears no trace of his having visited town during that period, his knowledge of her, when he wrote the second of these letters, was most likely merely derived from the accounts of his sisters, her schoolfellows. This accords with the assertion, made in an interesting but unpublished document in the writer's possession, that he first saw her in January, 1811. Whenever this and similar MSS. are made public, it will for the first time be clearly understood how slight was the acquaintance of Shelley with Harriet, previous to their marriage; what advantage was taken of his chivalry of sentiment, and her compliant disposition, and the inex

perience of both; and how little entitled or disposed she felt herself to complain of his behaviour.

"This was the last friendly communication between Shelley and his publisher. Three days later we find him writing thus to his friend Hogg (Hogg's 'Life of Shelley,' vol. I. page 171):

:

"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 on S- on my way [to Oxford], that he may explain.'

"The work alluded to was either the unlucky pamphlet which occasioned Shelley's expulsion from Oxford, or something of a very similar description."

Sir Timothy's letters to Stockdale as well as those of Hogg, will be found in the Appendix.

to me; or as a denial of the fact of having acted in this unprecedented, this scandalous manner. If the former be your intention I will compassionate your cowardice, and my friend pitying your weakness will take no further notice of your contemptible attempts at calumny. If the latter is your intention, I feel it my duty to declare, as my veracity and that of my father is thereby called in question, that I will never be satisfied, despicable as I may consider the author of that affront, until my friend has ample apology for the injury which you have attempted to do him. I expect an immediate, and demand a satisfactory letter.

Permit me, although a stranger, to offer my sincerest congratulations on the occasion of that triumph so highly to be prized by men of liberality; permit me also to submit to your consideration, as one of the most fearless

This letter was originally published in Mr. Lewes's article in The Westminster Review (No. LXIX, April, 1841), together with the letter to Keats dated the 27th of July, 1820. Like that, it was afterwards made the basis of a forgery see note on the letter to

Keats. In this case the letter had appeared meanwhile in Hogg's Life, and was too well known to be simply copied. The forgery was therefore not identical throughout, and was addressed to another Editor-the Editor of The Statesman. It appears in the spurious