Nor, in depicting the peculiar tenets and characteristics of the people whose pure state of existence he attempts to shadow forth, does he give us a less faithful picture of himself and the spiritual aspirations of his own heart.

He describes them as men who idolized nature and the God of nature; to whom love and lofty thoughts, and the apprehensions of an uncorrupted spirit, were sustenance and life.

"They were already disembodied spirits; they were already the inhabitants of paradise.

"To live, to breathe, to move, was itself a sensation of immeasurable transport. Every new contemplation of the condition of his nature brought to the happy enthusiast an added measure of delight, and impelled to every organ where mind is united with external things, a keener and more exquisite perception of all that they contain of lovely and divine.

"To love, to be beloved, suddenly became an insatiable famine of his nature, which the wide circle of the universe, comprehending beings of such inexhaustible variety, and stupendous magnitude of excellence, appeared too narrow and confined to satiate."

But circumstances soon interrupted these sublime imaginings. They were totally denuded of all domestic comfort in their new abode, and being quite unable to understand the barbarous language spoken by the people, found much difficulty in getting their most ordinary wants supplied; added to these, their stock of cash had dwindled to £28, and they were without the slightest means in the world of obtaining more.

To proceed farther was impossible, or even to stay where they were. The journey from Paris to Neufchâtel alone had cost £60, and how they were to get back to England with only £28, was a matter of great perplexity to the otherwise comprehensive mind of the poet.

Water conveyance being at all times the cheapest, and as they could proceed nearly the whole route by water, they at once determined upon that mode of travelling, and as no time was to be lost, they proceeded at once back to Lucerne.

Here they took the diligence par eau, and proceeded along the rapid waters of the Reuss to Loffenberg, descending its many and sometimes dangerous falls with great glee. An un

romantic incident happened on this voyage, which sufficiently exhibited Shelley's poetic irritability.

Their fellow travellers were of the meanest class, and their uncouth manners and excessive rudeness to the ladies in trying to take possession of their seats, so provoked him, that he knocked one of them down. The man did not return the blow, but talked abusively, in language which fortunately they could not understand, till the boatman interfered and supplied them with other seats.

Hiring at Loffenberg an ill-constructed boat, consisting merely of straight pieces of deal board, unpainted, and nailed together with so little care that the water constantly poured in at the crevices, they continued their dangerous voyage along the rapids of the Rhine, winding among the eddies of the rocks which it was death to touch, and when the slightest inclination on one side would have upset their frail boat.

At length, arriving at Basle, they bade adieu to Switzerland, and continued their delightful voyage, amidst various changes, down the whole length of the Rhine, the poet sometimes reading

aloud to his companions, in an open boat, Mary Wolstonecraft's "Letters from Norway," or passages from some favourite poet, enjoying the while the varied and beautiful scenery through which they passed. After some little delay in Holland, the tourists at last arrived at Gravesend, by packet from Rotterdam, on the 13th of September.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Shelley again in distress--His simple diet-His benevolence-Walks a hospital-Declining state of his health -Prospect of death-" Mutability"-Death of Shelley's grandfather-Improved circumstances of the poet -His simple habits and tastes-His self-denial-Generosity to his friends-Return of health-Tranquillity of mind.

THIS river navigation was to Shelley a source of exquisite delight. It seemed to realise the voyage described in Thalaba," which had so often excited his imagination. Long afterwards, he would dilate upon it with an enthusiasm that was infectious, describing, in his vehement manner, the descent of the falls, the rushing onward of the boat, the glorious scenery, the grandeur and the sublimity of nature, that had served to elevate his ideas and to store his mind with