In the first agony of disappointed love, he allowed his mind to be overclouded with morbid misanthropy, making mankind answerable for his own rejected suit. He took a strange delight in regarding himself as a wronged and injured being, exaggerating his own despair, till with the haughty pride of a fallen archangel, he affected to look upon the world with contempt, as though the world were his enemy, and not himself; he mistook the brooding of his own native melancholy for depth of sorrow, and a querulous dissatisfaction with the world, for a noble disdain.

He sought by dissipation and the excitement of society to dispel his thoughts, and the friends and admirers who stood round him, affected to believe that this was the natural channel into which a highly-gifted, and highly sensitive mind would be cast, as the proper means of destroying the sorrow that was gnawing at his heart.

On the other hand, Shelley, with the true goodness of a noble nature, but with far greater provocation, determined to bear his misfortunes with becoming fortitude; conscious of having done nothing to justify the treatment he re

ceived, he regarded himself as a martyr to the cause of truth, which he had dared boldly to inquire after; and with this conviction, felt much of the pride of martyrdom in the wrongs he

suffered.

He sought relief for his individual sorrow, by extending his sympathies to his race. He looked out upon the world with an enlarged philosophy; and in the miseries of the downtrodden hearts he saw around him, half forgot the sufferings of his own. To befriend the poor and needy, in everything to ameliorate the condition of the helpless or the oppressed, became his solace.

To break down the flimsy conventionalisms of society, by exposing the smooth hypocrisies, the varnished falsehoods, the garbled truths, as well as all the ills that wait on them, in the most sacred name of virtue; but above all things, to establish liberty on a firmer basis, and tear off the shackles that enslave the mind.

To carry out these enlarged views for the advancement of his race, he was prepared to brave all obloquy, all danger, to give up all worldly considerations, whether of friends or fortune, and

even to devote himself, if need be, a willing sacrifice. But to proceed :

"I remember as if it occurred yesterday," says Medwin, "his knocking at my door in the 'Temple, at four o'clock in the morning, the second day after his expulsion. I think I hear his cracked voice with his well-known pipe.

"Medwin, let me in, I am expelled, (here followed a loud hysterical laugh ;) I am expelled for Atheism.'"

The young outcast, together with his friend and fellow sufferer, on arriving in London, took a lodging, and lived as best he could on the means at his disposal.

CHAPTER XVI.

Shelley's forlorn condition-His desire to do good-Disinterestedness of character-Anecdote of his generosity -A pawnbroker's shop-Seeks the acquaintance of Leigh Hunt-Letter addressed to him from OxfordShelley's ambition to proclaim reform-Proposal to Rowland Hill Character of Rowland Hill Quincey-Shelley's egotism pardonable.

· De

CAST thus rudely upon the world, when he had no better knowledge of its usages than the treatment he had received, without friends, without home, abandoned by his natural protectors as if he were an abortion, at an age when he needed most their guidance and affection; with his first dream of love cruelly destroyed, and a stigma attached to his name; it is not difficult to imagine with what feelings a being so delicately organized, first sat down in the heart of

this great metropolis, to mark out his own career and to pursue it as best he could.

Dazzled by his own interpretation of the divine nature of God, making the universe a presence-chamber for the great spirit of love, and burning under a keen sense of injustice, he began to form visions of happiness, and golden schemes for human perfectibility.

"The usual motives that rule men," says Mrs. Shelley, "prospects of present or future advantages, the rank and fortune of those around, the taunts, censures, or praises of those who were hostile to him-had no influence whatever over his actions, and apparently none thoughts."*

over his

However acceptable the brave, bold manner with which he was eager to pursue, and ready to utter his opinions, might be to the Muses and Philosophy, he had yet to learn that the world, which mostly proves but a harsh step-dame to the children of genius, required wooing of a different stamp.

The following anecdote will serve to illustrate

*Note to Queen Mab.