and not with the rest, would thus be stripped of every member.

"I soon perceived that arguments were thown away upon a man possessing no more intellect or ambition, far less renown, than that famous ram, since translated to the stars, through grasping whose tail less firmly than was expedient, the sister of Phryxus formerly found a watery grave, and gave her name to the broad Hellespont.

"The other persons present took no part in the conversation. They presumed not to speak, scarcely to breathe, but looked utter subserviency. The few resident fellows, indeed, were but so many incarnations of the spirit of the master, whatever that spirit might be.

"When I was silent, the master told me to retire, and consider whether I was resolved to persist in my refusal. I had scarcely passed the door, however, when I was recalled.

"The master again showed me the book, and hastily demanded whether I admitted or denied that I was the author of it.

"I answered that I was fully sensible of the many, and great inconveniences of being dismissed with disgrace from the University; and

expressed a humble hope that they would not impose such a mark of discredit on me without any cause.

"I lamented it was impossible, either to admit or to deny the publication, no man of spirit could submit to do so; and that a sense of duty compelled me, respectfully, to refuse to answer the question that had been proposed.

"Then you are expelled,' said the master, angrily, in a loud voice. A formal sentence, duly signed and sealed, was instantly put into my hand; in what interval it had been drawn up, I cannot imagine.

"The alleged offence was a contumacious refusal to disavow the imputed publication. My eye glanced over it, and observing the word contumaciously, I said, calmly, that I did not think that term was justified by my behaviour. Before I had concluded the remark, the master, lifting up the little syllabus, and then dashing it on the table, and looking sternly at me, said—

'Am I to understand, sir, that you adopt the principles contained in this work?' or some such words, for like one red with the suffusion of college port and college ale, the intense heat

of anger seemed to deprive him of the power of articulation, by reason of a rude provincial dialect and thickness of utterance-his speech being at all times indistinct.

"The last question is still more improper than the former,' I replied, for I felt that the imputation was an insult; and since, by your own act, you have renounced all authority over me, our communication is at an end.'

"I command you to quit my college tomorrow, at an early hour.'

"I bowed and withdrew.

I thank God, I

have never seen that man since; he is gone to

his bed, and there let him sleep. Whilst he lived, he ate freely of the scholar's bread, and drank from his cup; and he was sustained throughout the whole term of his existence by those sacred funds that were consecrated by our pious forefathers, to the advancement of learning."

*New Monthly.

CHAPTER XV.

Shelley's creed considered-Its imaginative beauty— Culpability of his tutors-Departure from OxfordHarriette Grove-Shelley's first love-Vision of female perfection-Joint literary labours-Successful courtship-Abrupt termination-Effect of his expulsionAnger and harshness of his father-his motherShelley an outcast-His Oxford treatment considered -Shelley and Byron compared-Youthful enthusiasm -Arrival in London.

THUS were the future prospects of Shelley's life blasted. He had set about, with deep religious enthusiasm, to discover for himself the one supreme God, firmly believing in the truth of his existence, but unable to reconcile his attributes of infinite perfection, with the received notions and principles adopted in the world.

In interrogating nature, as he stood with

her, spirit with spirit, she seemed every where to point to the eternal laws, which in their perpetual progress of good, produced the harmony of the spheres, and in contemplating the wonders of creation from the atoms of the earth, to the rolling orbs of heaven, he witnessed the infinitely varied chain, which made up the glorious fabric of the universe; and the splendid vision that at once dazzled and oppressed him, of the divine Architect, was that of an all-pervading spirit of love, whose bright presence interpenetrates and surrounds all existence, as with a halo of glory, declaring itself at the same time both the body and the soul of nature.

It was a glorions vision which represented God as the invisible essence of which the universe was but the sign, the outward garment with which he clothed himself, but one which to trace out in all its ramifications, might well weigh down an older and more experienced head than his.

He discovered the grasp of his intellect, in so grand a conception, and the spirituality of his own nature, in soaring thus above all material