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thankful." At her suggestion the poet and Mrs. Unwin removed to Weston, a neighbouring village, where the locality was more healthy than Olney.

It will be noticed in the extract just given that Cowper still had his doubts about Divine mercy, and speaks of his former and happier days. This shadow of religious melancholy remained to the close of his life, occasionally giving place to faint hopes, at other times settling into black despair. Shortly after the publication of The Task he commenced a translation of Homer, and speaking of the interest he took in this work, he again refers to his unhappy spiritual condition: "Let my friends, therefore, who wish me some little measure of tranquillity in the performance of the most turbulent voyage that ever Christian mariner made, be contented, that having Homer's mountains and forests to windward, I escape, under their shelter, from the force of many a gust that would almost overset me, especially when they consider that, not by choice, but by necessity I made them my refuge. As to fame, and honour, and glory, that may be acquired by poetical feats of any sort; God knows, that if I could lay me down in my grave, with hope at my side, or sit with hope at my side in a dungeon all the residue of my days, I would cheerfully wave them all." It is sad to think that one who was in every way so amiable, innocent, and pious, and who by his genius could charm and delight others, was himself, owing to mental disease, so very wretched.

The translation of Homer was published by subscription, and appeared in 1791. In the interval he had had a second attack of his old malady, which lasted for about six months. The health of Mrs. Unwin now began to break up, and Cowper repaid her kindness to him by nursing her with unremitting tenderness and devotion, under which his own mind became enfeebled. A change of scene being considered desirable, both for himself and Mrs. Unwin, they paid a visit to Mr. Hayley at his residence near Chichester, where Cowper's portrait was painted by Rumney. In 1794, a pension of £300 was

granted him by the Crown. In the following year he was induced with Mrs. Unwin to pay a visit to some relations in Norfolk, and there Mrs. Unwin died in Dec. 1796.

Cowper would not at first believe that his long tried friend was taken from him. He went to see the body, and on witnessing the placid rigidity of death, he flung himself away in a passionate outburst of sorrow, and from that time never mentioned her name, or spoke of her again. He lingered for more than three years in a state of religious despondency, occasionally writing, and listening attentively to works read to him by his friends. His last poem was The Castaway, written on the 20th March 1800, a remarkable evidence of the undecayed vigour of his genius, but painful from the indication of the dark shadow still brooding on his mind. The incident is taken from the narrative of Anson's voyage, and the poet finds a parallel between the lost seaman and his own condition: "No voice divine the storm allayed,

No light propitious shone;

When, snatched from all effectual aid,
We perished, each alone;

But I beneath a rougher sea,

And whelmed in deeper gulfs than he."

The poet died on the 25th April 1800. He is buried in St. Edmund's Chapel, in the church of East Dereham, Norfolk; and his grave is marked by a simple marble tablet.

The popularity of Cowper's Task was owing to the contrast which it presented to the artificial character of Pope's style. His manner is easy, graceful, and natural. The subject-matter of the poem is also interesting by its variety. It contains charming descriptions of domestic scenes and rural scenery, and abounds in passages of playful satire, lofty patriotism, and earnest devotion. His translation of Homer, though not so brilliant as Pope's, is more true to the original; and, taken as a whole, is considered the best which we possess.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY.-1792-1822.

THE history of Shelley-one of the most remarkable poets of the present century-is a very melancholy one. He was the son of a Timothy Shelley, Esq., afterwards Sir Timothy Shelley, of Castle Goring, in Sussex, and was born at Field Place, near Horsham, on Aug. 4, 1792. He was brought up with his sisters until ten years of age, being instructed in Greek and Latin by the clergyman of the parish. He was next sent to school at Sion House, near Brentford, and being a shy delicate boy, he suffered much from the harshness of his teachers and the tyranny of the elder boys. At thirteen he was removed to Eton, where his refusal to fag drew down upon him the anger of the other boys, and the reprehension of his masters. This roused his spirit, and in spite of threats and punishment, he refused to submit to what he considered gross injustice. Naturally, he was a lad of good impulses, warm hearted and affectionate, unselfish and kind to all around. Neither mentally nor physically, however, was he fitted to struggle with the evils incident to society. He longed for an ideal state of things where all would be peace and happiness, and instead of recognising that the evils around him existed in spite of Christianity and civilization, he thought that religion, as it was professed and practised, was hostile to human happiness. His thoughts and feelings, while still at school, are thus described in the Revolt of Islam, which he wrote at a subsequent period:

"Thoughts of great deeds were mine, dear friend, when first
The clouds which wrap this world from youth did pass.
I do remember well the hour which burst

My spirit's sleep: a fresh May-dawn it was,
When I walked forth upon the glittering grass
And wept, I knew not why: until there rose
From the near school-room voices that, alas!
Were but one echo from a world of woes-
The harsh and grating strife of tyrants and of foes.

"And then I clasped my hands and looked around,
But none was near to mock my streaming eyes,
Which poured their warm drops on the sunny ground;
So, without shame, I spake-'I will be wise,
And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies
Such power, for I grow weary to behold
The selfish and the strong still tyrannise
Without reproach or check.' I then controlled

My tears, my heart grew calm, and I was meek and bold.

"And from that hour did I with earnest thought
Heap knowledge from forbidden mines of lore;
Yet nothing that my tyrants knew or taught
I cared to learn, but from that sacred store
Wrought linked armour for my soul, before
It might walk forth to war among mankind;

Thus power and hope were strengthened more and more
Within me, till there came upon my mind

A sense of loneliness, a thirst with which I pined."

In 1809, Shelley left Eton and returned home, where he occupied himself in writing two prose romances of no great merit, and a portion of a poem called Ahasuerus, or the Wandering Jew. At the Michaelmas term, in 1810, he went to Oxford and entered University College. Here he studied hard but irregularly, and spent much of his time in chemical experiments. He also studied logic with great ardour, but his application of it to theology brought him into trouble. He wrote a short pamphlet, consisting of two pages only, in which he pointed out what he considered the weakness of the usual arguments brought forward to prove the existence of a God. This he circulated among the authorities and members of his college, his object being, apparently, to excite discussion. For this offence he was summoned before the heads of the university and expelled, March 1811. His father was naturally much displeased at conduct which brought with it so severe a punishment, and for a time refused to see him. Subsequently, however, he made him an allowance of £200 a year, and he was at liberty to live where he pleased.

Scarcely had the breach thus been healed when Shelley gave new offence to his friends by eloping with the

daughter of a retired hotel-keeper. The young couple, whose united ages only amounted to thirty-five, scarcely knew their own minds at the period of their marriage; but for a time things went on smoothly. They moved about from place to place, and among other towns resided for a time at Keswick, where Shelley made the acquaintance of Southey. He afterwards resided for a time at Lynmouth, in North Devon, and then hired a cottage at Tanyralt, in Carnarvonshire. Here he gave proof of his benevolent and munificent character. In the neighbourhood where he lived, several thousand acres of land had been reclaimed from the sea. But the embankment proved insufficient during an unusually high tide, and the consequent floods caused great distress to numbers of poor cottagers. Shelley personally solicited subscriptions from the gentlemen of the neighbourhood in order to have the embankment repaired, and he headed the list with a donation of £500, though his means at this time were very limited. He also made a special journey to London in order to obtain further succour, and he had the satisfaction of seeing the embankment permanently strengthened and the inhabitants secured from future risk.

Towards the close of 1813, an estrangement which had for some time been growing up between Shelley and his wife came to a crisis, and they agreed to separate. What was the precise nature of this estrangement is not known; probably Mrs. Shelley was not able to sympathise with the imaginative and metaphysical character of her husband, and domestic harmony was not increased by the presence of an elder sister of Mrs. Shelley's who lived with them constantly, and whom Shelley very much disliked. At any rate, a separation took place in the summer of 1814, and Mrs. Shelley returned to her father's house. About two years and a half later, Mrs. Shelley committed suicide by drowning herself in the Serpentine. Her tragic end, it is said, was not in any way connected with her husband, though it was a permanent source of the deepest sorrow to him.

Some time before the separation from his first wife,

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