He appears to have commenced his acquaintance with Plato at Eton, though Mr. Hogg tells us, "that at Oxford he only read his dialogues in an English translation from the French of Dacier; for taking Dr. Lind to be the original of Zonoras, he must have read with him the Symposium, which is not contained in the English translations from Dacier; he says: 'Then Plato's words of light in thee and me From death and dark forgetfulness released.' In the intervals of study, Shelley's great delight was in boating, which the near neighbourhood of the Thames enabled him to gratify. Mr. Amos was mostly his companion in these water excursions, until their separate studies so far divided them that they seldom met, and their friendship seems to have been discontinued. He very early acquired a taste for this kind of amusement, and more than once played truant at Brentford to indulge in his favourite pastime. A wherry was his ideal of happiness, and leaving his boat to drift, he could indulge his fancy without any interruption. His taste for the water grew with him as he grew, and on that fatal element were composed or conceived some of his noblest pieces. Statements are a little contradictory as to his removal from Eton. According to Mr. Leigh Hunt, it was before the regular period, since his unconventional spirit, penetrating, sincere, and demanding the reason and justice of things, was found to be inconvenient; but according to Medwin, from whose loose narrative we gather that he remained there about four years, he was removed because his school education was thought to be completed, and from what follows we may suppose this to have taken place towards the winter of 1809, when Shelley would have commenced his eighteenth year; and notwithstanding what has been said of his life at Eton, it is clear that he quitted that College on very good terms with his fellows, for an unusual number of books, Greek or Latin classics, each inscribed with the donor's name, were presented to him on that occasion; and the parting break fast cost him fifty pounds-a fact which will sufficiently vindicate him from the charge of unsociability. He now returned to Castle Goring, where he remained some time prior to his matriculation at Oxford. CHAPTER VI. Characteristics of genius-And longing for authorship -Wanderings in St. Leonard's forest-Readings at Castle Goring-Pliny the Elder-French philosophy -Early poetic readings-The Wandering Jew. SHELLEY is again under the paternal roof, to enjoy the innocent society of his sisters, or to roam about his father's grounds, and indulge the wanderings of his boyish fancy; but he has brought with him this time a world of experience, and his mind is stored with a variety of knowledge which has served, however, rather to excite than to gratify his curiosity. In the development of his character, they have imparted to it vigour and strength, and the better prepared him for the great battle which all have to fight, more especially those who are determined to rely on the integrity of their conduct, and to worship truth for its own sake, rather than to square their actions by the conventional rules of society. One of Shelley's great delights at this period, was wandering about in St. Leonard's forest, the wild legends of which place excited his busy imagination. An intense love of nature is the peculiar characteristic of the child of genius. The lonely sea-shore, the quiet beauty of sylvan solitudes, the charms of the varied landscape, or the mystic grandeur of forest scenery, were at all times his favourite haunts, and perhaps it may not be incorrect to say that there is a season when the sublime spirit of song casts about its favoured child the shadow of its awful loveliness, investing him with its strange power as Elijah covered Elisha with his mantle; but we are told, at this time, that with the dim presentiment of his future greatness came also a longing for authorship. Of the active qualities of his mind and its |