excursion to Marlow with the express view of etching this plate for the present volume, containing the main produce of Shelley's stay there; and while on the spot, Dr. Evershed copied for me the inscription placed upon the house by direction of Sir William Robert Clayton, Bart. It is as follows: THIS TABLET WAS PLACED A.D. 1867 DEATH FEEDS ON HIS MUTE VOICE, AND LAUGHS AT OUR DESPAIR. ADONAIS. It should be noted that the reference to Byron is necessarily apocryphal, inasmuch as his Lordship had finally left England before Shelley took the house at Marlow,―a misapprehension which doubtless, to be promptly corrected, only needs to be pointed out. H. BUXTON FORMAN. 38, Marlborough Hill, St. John's Wood, 14 August, 1876. [In a letter from Mrs. Shelley to Mrs. Leigh Hunt, dated the 27th of Novem ber, 1823, and printed in Mr. Garnett's Relics of Shelley, occurs the following passage:- "When he [Leigh Hunt] does send a packet over (let it be directed to his brother), will he also be so good as to send me a copy of my 'Choice,' beginning after the line 'Entrenched sad lines, or blotted with its might.' Perhaps, dear Marianne, you would have the kindness to copy them for me, and send them soon." Mr. Garnett explains in a foot-note that the reference is to "a poem by Mrs. Shelley." Whether any copy was made and sent, I know not; but the original manuscript has remained among the Shelley papers of Leigh Hunt till now; and by the kindness of Mr. S. R. Townshend Mayer, who has placed these invaluable papers at my disposal, I am enabled to give to the world this most interesting and remarkable composition. The manuscript consists of six foolscap leaves, very clearly written: it had evidently been submitted to Leigh Hunt for revision or suggestion; and it bears several markings by him, and words in his handwriting, which have some claim to be considered part and parcel of the text, inasmuch as Mrs. Shelley has evidently been over the manuscript after him,—one word of his being struck out and another substituted in her writing.-H. B. F.] THE CHOICE. My Choice-My Choice, alas! was had and gone Yet as some days a pilgrim I remain, Linked to my orphan child 2 by love's strong chain; And since I have a faith that I must earn, 1 Shelley was drowned, it will be remembered, on the 8th of July, 1822. In the autumn of 1823, Mrs. Shelley arrived in London from Italy, where, 5 10 15 from the letter already quoted, she seems to have left this poem. 2 Percy Florence, now Sir Percy Florence Shelley. How meet with fewest tears the morning's ray, First let me call on thee ! 3 Lost as thou art, It was not anger,-while thy earthly dress Caress or tear, that spoke the softened mind.- Which gaping lies, nor may unite again.1 Of soft repentance and regret most true;— 1 No hyphen in the MS. 2 There is no note of interrogation in the MS.; but the sense obviously needs one. There was originally a comma at thee. The note of exclamation was an afterthought. I presume it was meant to separate this sentence from the next, and have therefore printed lost with a capital. 4 I cannot regard this passage as indicating anything more than a natural feeling of remorse in the noble heart of a woman who has suddenly lost an idolized husband, and fancies all kinds of deficiencies in her conduct to him. |