X. And these obscure remembrances XI. For though it was without a sense He knew something of heath, and fell. XII. He had also dim recollections Of pedlars tramping on their rounds; Milk-pans and pails; and odd collections Of saws, and proverbs; and reflections Old parsons make in burying-grounds. XIII. But Peter's verse was clear, and came It augured to the Earth. XIV. Like gentle rains, on the dry plains, XV. For language was in Peter's hand, Gave twenty pounds for some;-then scorning A footman's yellow coat to wear, Peter, too proud of heart, I fear, Instantly gave the Devil warning. XVII. Whereat the Devil took offence, And swore in his soul a great oath then, "That for his damned impertinence, He'd bring him to a proper sense 1 Mr. Rossetti suggests the substitution of for for to, so as to bring for mountain Cotter "in apposition with for all the land; but I am convinced that no such change should be made, and that no such apposition is meant : the signification seems to me to be that Peter made songs, not that were sweet to all the land, but that were simply sweet,-sweet to the heart and understanding, sweet as late pipkins to a mountain Cotter,-and that these songs were for all the land. I should have thought it impossible to misunderstand the phrase as an inversion of " songs as sweet for all the land, both to feel and to understand, as late pipkins to a mountain Cotter"; and in no other way can there be any question of such an apposition as Mr. Rossetti suggests. 2 Wordsworth's publishers at that time were the Longman firm,- then Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown. I think with Mr. Rossetti that the missing name if any was a monosyllable; and it may have been one of the monosyllabic names of that firm. It is, however, quite conceivable that Shelley meant us to read "Mr. Dash, the bookseller." PART THE SIXTH. DAMNATION. I. "O THAT mine enemy had written A book!"-cried Job:- 'Twas galling to be critic-bitten:- The Devil to Peter wished no worse. II. When Peter's next new book found vent, A copy of it slily sent, With five-pound note as compliment, III. Then seriatim, month and quarter, IV. Another-" Let him shave his head!1 Mr. Rossetti says there is "no rhyme" to head, and suggests top or crop as an emendation. I protest against such a change. It is rather an VOL. III. P agreeable variation that head rhymes with bed in the last line of the preceding stanza. Similarly I should strongly object to the introduction of What does the rascal mean or hope, No longer imitating Pope, In that barbarian Shakespeare1 poking?" V. One more," Is incest not enough? And must there be adultery too? VI. "By that last book of yours we think VII. All these Reviews the Devil made Safely to Peter's house conveyed. For carriage, ten-pence Peter paid— Untied them-read them-went half mad. VIII. "What!" cried he, "this is my reward For nights of thought, and days of toil? By men of whom they never heard, Consume their spirits' oil? enow instead of enough, in the next stanza, in order to get a bad rhyme for too and you. I do not imagine Shelley would have dreamed of perfecting in these details a composition of which he thought so slightly. In deed in the letter to Leigh Hunt of which an extract is given at p. 179, Shelley says "the verses and language I have let come as they would.” 1 Shakspeare (without the central e) in Mrs. Shelley's editions. IX. "What have I done to them ?-and who X. 'Or," cried he, a grave look collecting, XI. For Peter did not know the town, But thought, as country readers do, For half a guinea or a crown, He bought oblivion or renown From God's own voice2 in a review. XII. All Peter did on this occasion Was, writing some sad stuff in prose. It is a dangerous invasion When poets criticize; their station Is to delight, not pose. Vox populi, vox dei. As Mr. Godwin truly observes of a more famous saying, of some merit as a popular maxim, but totally destitute of philosophical accuracy. [SHELLEY'S NOTE.] 1 In editions earlier than Mr. Rossetti's we read Emma for Betty; but in Shelley's letter to Mr. Ollier, dated May 14th, 1820 (Shelley Memorials, Pp. 138-9) there is an instruction on the subject," for Emma read Betty, as the name of Peter's sister-Emma, I recollect, is the real name of the sister of a great poet who might be mistaken for Peter." |