in the beam, schooner rigged, with gaft topsails, &c., and drawing four feet water; and in her appearance is said very much to have resembled an English pleasure yacht.

She was built on a model taken from one of the royal dock yards, though it appears there was a great defect in that model, and that she was never seaworthy.*

In this frail bark, however, the poet's life was now principally spent; and the weather being fine and the sea calm, the whole party frequently passed their evenings on the water; evenings that sometimes advanced far into the night.

Many long excursions were made by the two friends, when unaccompanied by the ladies, down the coast of Italy, and on these occasions Shelley always took with him pens and paper.

They had contrived a small boat or canoe, of reeds and canvas, such as they had contrived on a former occasion to navigate the Serchio, for the purpose of landing in shallow water, and in this way they explored much of the coast scenery they passed. Massa was a favourite resort; but on one occasion they projected a voyage down

* Mrs. Shelley's Notes.

as far as Via Reggio; but the wind and weather were unpropitious, and after beating about all day, at length, by stress of weather, were compelled to put in at Massa, where their landing was on this occasion opposed by the guard, who stated that as the head person of the fort (of two rusty guns) was at Testa, and as he was himself unable to read, they must wait till the former arrived.

Not willing to put up with such treatment, Shelley told him at his peril to detain them, whereupon the fellow brought down two old. muskets, and they prepared their pistols, which he no sooner saw they were determined to use, than he called their servant to the beach, and desiring him to hold their passport about a yard from him, he suffered two gentlemen who were bathing near the place, to explain who and what they were. Upon this the fellow's tone changed from presumption to the most cowardly fawning, and they proceeded to Massa unmolested, and passing the night at an hotel, about three miles inland, returned to Casa Magni the next day.

CHAPTER XXV.

The Bolivar-Improved state of Shelley's health— The Triumph of Life-The "Liberal" again— Shelley's translations-His comparisons of Goethe and Calderon-Shelley a Somnambulist again-A strange

vision.

A FEW days after this adventure, when putting out for a sail, Shelley and his companion saw a strange vessel between the straits of Porto Venere, like a man of-war brig; which proved to be the Bolivar, with Captain Roberts and Trelawny on board, who were taking her round to Livorno, where Lord Byron was then residing.

The Bolivar had been built at a cost of £750, and Williams pronounced her the most beautiful craft he ever saw. After receiving a salute

of six guns, they sailed some distance with her to try their respective powers, but soon found that in speed they had no chance.

Thus both poets were at length furnished with their ocean plaything, and it may be presumed that much mutual delight was anticipated in consequence. These anticipations were still farther enhanced by the long-expected, longdelayed, arrival of Leigh Hunt, whose presence in Italy was now looked forward to from day to day.

Everything therefore seemed to contribute to the poet's happiness, and Mrs. Shelley expresses her conviction that the two months, dating from his arrival at Spezia, was the happiest period of his life.

Shut out, in his mountain solitude, from the anxieties of the world that so little understood the rare qualities of his heart and mind, and that had so often, either from ignorance or malice, grossly misrepresented them, he seemed at last to have found that repose and peace he so often pined after; and loving as he did the ocean, he may be said never during the whole of this time to have been separated from his favourite pas

time, for the very house he inhabited was sometimes rocked by the storms and sudden squalls peculiar to that beautiful but treacherous bay, the waves beating against its walls, and the unremitting roar of the sea, presenting to the minds of its inmates all the semblance of being on board ship.

Moreover this repose and perpetual intercourse with the sublimities of Nature were conducive alike to study and contemplation, and accordingly his Muse began to revive under the divine influence which alone seemed capable of prompting her.

At night, Mrs. Shelley tells us, when the unclouded moon shone on the calm sea, he often went alone in his little shallop to the rocky caves that bordered it, and sitting beneath their shelter wrote "The Triumph of Life," the last, as well as one of the most mystical of his productions. But much of his time was employed at this period with translations.

The projected establishment of "The Liberal," prompted him to this kind of occupation as a means of contributing to its pages; and the earnestness with which he entered into this