daily destroyed by diseases that it is dangerous to palliate and impossible to cure by medicine. How much longer will man continue to pimp for the gluttony of death, his most insidious, implacable and eternal foe ? ̓Αλλὰ δράκοντας ἀγρίους καλεῖτε καὶ παρδάλεις καὶ λέοντας, αὐτ τοὶ δέ μιαιφονεῖτε εἰς ὠμότητα καταλιπόντες ἐκείνοις οὐδέν. ἐκείνοις μὲν ὁ φόνος τροφὴ, ὑμῖν δ ̓ ὄψον ἐστίν. Ὅτι γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν ἀνθρώπῳ κατὰ φύσιν τὸ σαρκοφαγεῖν, πρῶτον μὲν ἀπὸ τῶν σωμάτων δηλοῦται τῆς κατασκευῆς. Οὐδενὶ γὰρ ἔοικε τὸ ἀνθρώπου σῶμα τῶν επὶ σαρκοφαγίᾳ γεγονότων, οὐ γρυπότης χεί. λους, οὐκ ὀξύτης, ὄνυχος, οὐ τραχύτης ὀδόντων πρόσεστιν, οὐ κοιλίας εὐτονία καὶ πνέυματος θερμότης, τρέψα· καὶ κατεργάσασθαι δυνατὴ τὸ βαρὺ καὶ κρεῶδες. ἀλλ ̓ αὐτόθεν ἡ φύσις τῇ λειότητι τῶν ὀδόντων, καὶ τῇ σμικρότητι τοῦ στόματος, καὶ τῇ μαλακότητι τῆς γλώσσης, καὶ τῇ πρὸς πέψιν ἀμβλύτητι τοῦ πνέυματος, ἐξόμνυται τὴν σαρκοφαγίαν. Εἰ δὲ λέγεις, πεφυκέναι σεαυτὸν ἐπὶ τοιαύτην ἐδωδὴν, ὃ βούλει φαγεῖν, πρῶτον αὐτὸς ἀπόκτεινον. ἀλλ ̓ αὐτὸς διὰ σεαυτοῦ, μὴ χρησάμενος κοπίδι μηδὲ τυμπάνῳ τινὶ, μηδὲ πελέκει. ἀλλὰ, ὡς λύκοι καὶ ἄρκτοι καὶ λέοντες αὐτοὶ ὅσα ἐσθίουσι φονεύουσιν, ἄνελε δήγματι βοῦν, ἢ στόματι σῦν, ἢ ἄρνα ἢ λαγωὸν διάῤῥηξον, καὶ φάγε προσπεσὼν ἔτι ξῶντος ὡς ἐκεῖνα. Ἡμεῖς δὲ οὕτως ἐν τῷ μιαιφόνῳ τρυφῶμεν, ὥστ ̓ ὄψον τὸ κρέας προσαγορεύομεν, εἶτ ̓ ὄψων πρὸς αὐτὸ τὸ κρέας δεόμεθα, ἀναμιγνύνα τες ἔλαιον, οἶνον, μέλι, γάρον, ὄξος, ἡδύσμασι Συριακοῖς, ̓Αῤῥαβι. κοῖς, ὥσπερ ὄντως νεκρὸν, ἐνταφιάζοντες. Καὶ γὰρ οὕτως αὐτῶν διαλυθέντων καὶ μαλαχθέντων καὶ τρόπον τινὰ κρεοσαπέντων ἔργον ἐστὶ τὴν πέψιν κρατῆσαι, καὶ διακρατηθείσης δὲ δεινὰς βαρύτητας, ἐμποιεῖ καὶ νοσώδεις ἀπεψίας. Οὕτω τὸ πρῶτον ἄγριόν τι ξῶον ἐβρώθη καὶ κακοῦργον εἶτ ̓ ὄρνις τις ἢ ἰχθὺς εἵλκυστο· καὶ γευόμενον, οὕτο καὶ προμελετῆσαν ἐν ἐκείνοις τὸ φονικὸν, ἐπὶ βοῦν ἐργάτην ἦλθε, καὶ τὸ κόσμιον πρόβατον καὶ τὸν οἰκουρὸν ἀλεκτρυόνα· καὶ κατὰ μικρὸν οὕτω τὴν ἀπληστίαν τονώσαντες, ἐπὶ σφαγὰς ἀνθρώπων καὶ φόνους καὶ πολέμους προῆλθον. Πλουτ. περὶ σαρκοφαγίας. land, where no vegetables are to be got, the children invariably die of tetanus before they are three weeks old, and the population is supplied from the main land. -Sir G. Mackenzie's History of Iceland. See, also, Emile, chap. i. pp. 53, 54, 56. QUEEN MAB; PHILOSOPHICAL POEM: WITH NOTES. BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY. ECRASEZ L'INFAME! Correspondance de Voltaire. Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante * * * * * Unde prius nulli velarint tempora musæ: Lucret. lib. iv. Facsimile Title-page of Shelley's "Queen Mab." See page 34. NOTES BY THE EDITOR Queen Mab; /a/ Philosophical Poem: / with Notes. / By / Percy Bysshe Shelley. / Ecrasez l'Infame! / Correspondance de Voltaire. / Avia Pieridum peragro loca, nullius ante / Trita solo ; juvat integros accedere fonteis ; / Atque haurire : juratque novos decerpere flores. / Unde prius nulli velarint tempora musæ. / Primum quod magnis doceo de rebus ; et arctis / Religionum animos nodis exsolvere pergo. / Lucret. lib. iv. / Δος που στῶ, καὶ κοσμον κινήσω. / Archimedes. / London / Printed by P. B. Shelley, / 23, Chapel Street, Grosvenor Square. / 1813. : Collation: Octavo. Title (with blank verso), pp. i. ii. ; Dedication (with blank verso), pp. iii. iv.; Queen Mab, pp. 1-122; Fly-title to Notes (with blank verso), pp. 123, 124; Notes, pp. 125–240 (with imprint repeated, in one line, at foot of page). Issued in boards. No MS. is known. NOTES showing the state of other editions and including minor variations beyond what has been already noted. Dedication. To Harriet * * * * * Shelley's wife (see below). The number of asterisks suggests an earlier love, Harriet Grove, to whom Medwin (Life, i. 68) assigns the stanzas. I. 78 sleeping maid 18392. IV. 155 a 18391,2, Rossetti. 269 slightest 18391. 7 has 18392, Rossetti. 140 element: Tutin conj., Dowden. 141 remained Tutin conj., Dowden. The emendation is rather a conjecture. 176 secure 18392, Rossetti, Forman, Dowden. The change of construction in Shelley's text, though awkward, is perfectly natural, and is no more than an instance of careless writing, like many others left unaltered. 203-220 omit, 18391. V. 9 promise. 18391,2, Forman. 90 pelf Dobbin conj. VI. 54-VII. 275 omit, 18391. 116 offsprings Shelley, 1813. The word is probably a misprint. 137 thy 18392. VII. 180 reillumed Rossetti. 192 ghastly 18392, ghastlily Rossetti. 244 dares Rossetti. VIII. 28 sprang Rossetti. 61 nor 18391,2. 81 While 18391,2. 165 omit 18391. 232, 233 extends Its IX. 48 omit 18391,2. ... and wields 18392, Rossetti. 67 nor 18392, Rossetti, Dowden. [The text of Shelley's notes on Queen Mab has been revised in this edition so as not to reproduce obvious errors, and Shelley's references and extracts, except where he may have meant to paraphrase, have been corrected. The note, "There is no God," embodies Shelley's Oxford tract, The Necessity of Atheism, published at Worthing in 1811; the note, "I will beget a Son," embodies portions of the Letter to Lord Ellenborough, printed at Barnstable, 1812, and the note, "No longer now he slays," etc., was published slightly revised as A Vindication of Natural Diet, London, 1813. The fragment of Ahasuerus, referred to in the note, "Ahasuerus, rise," was picked up by Medwin (Life, i. 57), and is a modified translation of Schubart's Der Ewige Jude, which appeared in The German Museum, vol. iii. 1802. The note appeared, as a translation by Shelley (an obvious error), in The Talisman, 1831.] CONTEMPORARY RECORDS: Mrs. Shelley's Notes, 18392, pp. 37-40: “Shelley was eighteen when he wrote Queen Mab: he never published it. When it was written, he had come to the decision that he |