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of French, and then, persistently, in Laon and Cythna, which could not have been written without considerable study of French literature. Two instances in which desert, unquestionably an adjective, is to be found with an e are at pages 175 and 230: one instance of desart with an a, when presumably an adjective, is at page 262, line 1.

Etherial-Etherial-Ethereal.-The spelling adopted for this word in Alastor is etherial: see line 352 and footnote, page 33. Throughout Laon and Cythna it is spelt atherial (though etherial occurs in the preface); and I do not think there is any room for doubting that each printed book fulfils the general intention of the poet. In Mont Blanc and Rosalind and Helen the more usual orthography ethereal occurs: see line 26, page 74, and line 1060, page 349; but that book is less authoritative than either of the others in such details, not having been revised by Shelley. Assuming, therefore, that the change made in Laon and Cythna was deliberate, we must seek a reason; and we may find one in connexion with the copious renewal of Greek studies in 1817, indicated by the list of books read by Shelley and Mary in that year, printed at pages 88 and 89 of the Shelley Memorials. The reason surmised is of course a sound etymological one, approximating the word as it does to the Greek original αιθήρ whence it derives. This strikes me as an unmistakeable sign that Shelley really thought about his words, as words,— fitfully it may be, but still to some result; and we ought to give his text the benefit of such result, when there is any benefit. This particular change of orthography, I value more on account of its bearings on other words than for itself. For example, the word ecstasy in Shelley's editions, though rightly spelt in The Dæmon of the World (line 253, page 69), is sometimes spelt ecstacy and sometimes extacy, two almost equally vicious modes of spelling it, much in vogue in Shelley's day; and as it is inconceivable that he

could have meant to adopt both modes in one poem, I see no security in either, but assume that it was not a word he had given any particular attention to, and that he let the printers spell it according to their varying tastes. That he did think about it once, I judge from its being rightly spelt in The Dæmon, while in the corresponding passage of Queen Mab it is spelt extacy. For these reasons, and because the Hellenism which alone can account for the deliberate adoption of the diphthong in ætherial, would certainly have induced Shelley to give his preference to ecstasy, I have not wittingly let the word pass in any other form, but have simply recorded in foot-notes any instances I have observed of either ecstacy or extacy,-to serve as they may in enabling those who have the will and the wit to discover by induction the several substitutes who revised Shelley's poems: such a discovery would have a considerable textual value. I may point out here to those who have not followed the foot-notes, that ecstacy occurs in line 236 of Rosalind and Helen, page 323, and extacy in line 1124 of the same poem, page 351. I do not of course overlook that the word desart is etymologically bad, and may be put in evidence against the hypothesis of etymological selection by Shelley; but there was a good practical reason forthcoming in that case, -the distinction between noun and adjective, and that might outweigh the etymological consideration.

Uprest. This curious word which occurs in Laon and Cythna, Canto III, stanza XXI, is not altogether difficult to account for; and I have very little doubt that Shelley invented it as deliberately as Chatterton invented some of his words,-only with a nearer approach to authority than the Bristol bard often had to shew. Mr. Rossetti says uprest "is evidently to be accepted for 'Uprising,'" and he adds, "on no warrant-so far as I know-better than the exigency of rhyme. A very calm proceeding on Shelley's part." The poet elsewhere uses uprise as a noun,-in

this very poem, as in Canto VII, stanzas II and XXXVII (pages 217 and 229), and Canto XII, stanza XVI (page 291), as well as in the Lines written among the Euganean Hills, line 73 (page 360); and he uses it, I think, legitimately enough, there being no argument against its use that is not equally valid against the use of the very common noun rise. As regards authority for uprest, he certainly had, even in modern literature, as Mr. Leicester Warren has pointed out to me, authority for a very near approach to his word,—that, namely, of a great poet contemporary with and senior to himself. In Coleridge's Ancient Mariner (Part II, stanza 4) we have "The glorious Sun uprist"; Mr. J. W. Hales points out to me that Chaucer has uprist for uprises, and upriste for uprising; and uprist might easily pass, in Shelley's mind, to the noun uprest, even if he did not know the Chaucerian noun. His enthusiasm for The Ancient Mariner is well known; and Mrs. Shelley, in her Note on Poems of 1817, refers to his "repeating with wild energy" that noble poem.

Falshood. This orthography of the word falsehood occurs in the Preface to Laon and Cythna (see page 87), and in several other instances; but I do not think it is one of Shelley's deliberate adoption, though I have seen it in his writing, and though Baily's dictionary would have authorized him in the use of it. I have therefore corrected it whenever I have observed it, and noted the correction. It is a word which occurs so constantly in its orthodox form, and which has so little to recommend it in its heterodox form, that I have no hesitation in ranking falshood among the words concerning which Shelley had an habitual weakness. We all, I believe, have certain habits of writing that we know to be incorrect, and always set right when we observe them, certain words from which we constantly drop a letter, though we know perfectly well how to spell them; and I suspect this word was one of

Shelley's. If that be so, we are of course authorized in correcting it whenever we find it spelt wrongly, or rather in an inferior way not infrequently adopted by writers of his time.

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Sted fast. Very nearly the same remarks apply to this clipped word. It occurs frequently in Laon and Cythna, is authorized by Baily, and has, one would think, nothing to recommend it to Shelley. That he had not adopted this orthography as a matter of choice, I think is indicated by the manuscript referred to at page 251, which gives steadfast; but the frequency of stedfast makes it probable that he had some difficulty in giving the unpronounced a when he wrote hurriedly.

Befal and Recal.-These are two more words of the same class, authorized by Baily and occurring exceptionally, but much less often than the other two. Befal is to be found in Laon and Cythna, Canto V, stanza XXVIII (page 183), and recal in stanza XXXVII of the same Canto (page 186). I have unhesitatingly corrected both words when I have met with them, because everything is against the probability of this orthography having been Shelley's deliberate choice. We even get, exceptionally, the past tense befel, with one l, in Shelley's edition of Rosalind and Helen, namely in line 610 (page 335) and line 732 (page 339).

Weets. Although this obsolete word, occurring in Laon and Cythna, Canto IV, stanza XIV, page 166, was in all probability used simply for rhyming purposes, the whole phrase "he inly weets" has a curious and cunning antiquatedness suggestive of loving studies in old English; and it is even possible that the poet may have been as glad of an opportunity to introduce the phrase for the nonce, as of the convenience which it afforded him in finishing his stanza. In a poem which is expressly "a vision of the nineteenth century ", it has no great appropriateness, and it does not, to my mind, enrich the poet's vocabulary.

Blosmy. This beautiful old word, on the other hand, with no rhyming value to commend it, seems to me to be a great addition to Shelley's vocabulary, and one which might be restored, with much advantage, to its place in our language. As far as I am aware it has not been given, until Mr. Rossetti restored it, in any edition since the original issue of Laon and Cythna, where it will be found in two places, namely in Canto I, stanza LI, page 126, and in Canto IV, stanza XXXII, page 173. See note on this word at page 126.

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Eyne. I suspect this obsolete plural, used in Laon and Cythna, Canto XII, stanza XI, page 288, was adopted purely for the sake of the rhyme, as it only occurs once in the poem, and is unconnected with any remarkable phrase. may of course have commended itself to Shelley as an eligible word to adopt from the vocabulary of the early English poets, and thus have been taken on its own merits in the same way as the beautiful word blosmy; but I do not think this is very likely. In A Vision of the Sea, which will be found in Vol. II of this edition, the plural eyne occurs again under similar circumstances, namely as a convenient rhyme. In line 86 of that poem we have the ordinary plural, eyes,—

Not to touch those sweet hands? Not to look at those eyes, the last word of line 87 being disguise; but lines 92 and 93 are

The tygers leap up when they feel the slow brine

Crawling inch by inch on them, hair, ears, limbs, and eyne, and I can see no reason for the variation here except the exigencies of rhyme. Professor Baynes, from whose admirable article in The Edinburgh Review, quoted in the preface, I am enabled to add a store of notes on words, thinks it probable that Shelley derived eyne, as well as treen, which he elsewhere uses, from Spenser; and this is quite likely; but as there is abundant evidence of

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