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[graphic][subsumed]

MARY

ΤΟ

1.

So now my summer-task is ended, Mary,
And I return to thee, mine own heart's home;
As to his Queen some victor Knight of Faëry,
Earning, bright spoils for her inchanted dome;
Nor thou disdain, that ere my fame become
A star among the stars of mortal night,
If it indeed may cleave its natal gloom,
Its doubtful promise thus I would unite

With thy belovèd name, thou Child of love and light.

The toil which stole from thee so many an hour,

Is ended, and the fruit is at thy feet!

No longer where the woods to frame a bower
With interlaced branches mix and meet,

Or where with sound like many voices sweet,
Water-falls leap among wild islands green,
Which framed for my lone boat a lone retreat
Of moss-grown trees and weeds, shall I be seen :
But beside thee, where still my heart has ever been.

1 Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. I leave the blanks as Shelley left them,

presuming we are meant to read simply "To Mary."

3.

Thoughts of great deeds were mine, dear Friend, when first The clouds which wrap this world from youth did pass. I do remember well the hour which burst My spirit's sleep: a fresh May-dawn it was, When I walked forth upon the glittering grass, And wept, I knew not why; until there rose From the near school-room,2 voices, that, alas! Were but one echo from a world of woesThe harsh and grating strife of tyrants and of foes.

4.

And then I clasped my hands and looked around—
-But none was near to mock my streaming eyes,
Which poured their warm drops on the sunny ground-
So without shame, I spake :-"I will be wise,

And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies
Such power, for I grow weary to behold

The selfish and the strong still tyrannise

Without reproach or check." I then controuled My tears, my heart grew calm, and I was meek and bold.

5.

And from that hour did I with earnest thought
Heap knowledge from forbidden mines of lore,

1 In Shelley's edition we read spirits' instead of spirit's; but it is almost inconceivable that he can have meant the sleep of his spirits and not the sleep of his spirit.

2 Lady Shelley connects this passage with Shelley's experience at Eton (Memorials, p. 7); but according to Medwin (Shelley Papers, pp. 3 and 4), the reference is to school-life of an earlier date, at Sion House, Brentford. I am disposed to think, with Mr. Rossetti, that Medwin, not always trustworthy, is veracious on this point; and Shelley's version of his school-life, as given

in the text, agrees with certain expressions in Sir John Rennie's Autobio graphy. Referring to his own experience at Sion House, he relates how Shelley behaved "when irritated by other boys, which they, knowing his infirmity, frequently did by way of teasing him"; and he adds that Shelley's imagination was always roving upon something romantic and extraordinary, such as spirits, fairies, fighting, volcanoes, &c." This is certainly like the "knowledge from forbidden mines of lore" referred to in stanza 5. See also note 3, p. 374.

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