The Argosy — page 252: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Percy Bysshe Shelley. 235 The most prolific period of Shelley’s genius was after his marriage with Mary Wollstonecraft. It was then that all his master-pieces sprang, one after another, in radiant strength from his brain. No doubt the depth of calm which there was in his love for Mary, and her discerning influence in making him turn all his powers in their right direction, and her judicious criticisms, had something to do with the rich development of his poetic gift during these years. When Shelley gave up his house at Marlow, he went with his wife and children to Italy, where the rest of his life was spent, residing now at one Italian city, now at another. An especially bright and interesting picture flashes before us of the period he spent at Pisa. We see a face of wondrous, manly beauty—yet a face that tells a terrible tale of glorious gifts misused, of evil passions given their evil way—close to that of Shelley, and we know it is that of Byron, who met him at Pisa and became his intimate friend. We see most lustrous, dark, Italian eyes shining graciously on him, and we know they are the eyes of the Countess Guiccioli. We see a lovely Italian girl looking up into Shelley’s face with rapt devotion in her gaze, and we know that this is the Countess Emilia Viviani, a young Italian lady whom our English poet most chivalrously aided in her escape from imprisonment in a convent and in other troubles. We see a man, with singularly kindly intelligence written on his brow, holding close communion with Shelley, and we know that he is Leigh Hunt. But the closing scene is at hand, and we must glance at it. In 1822, Mr. and Mrs. Shelley took a house on the Riviera with a Lieutenant Williams and his wife, congenial friends whom they had learned to know and love in Italy. The Casa Magna, the name of the house thus jointly inhabited, was situated between Lerica and sant Arenzo. Part of the time of their residence there was employed at Genoa by the two gentlemen in superintending the building of a little schooner which was destined to be a yacht for cruising in the Mediterranean. ‘The vessel was, no doubt, an object of pleasant interest to the amateur ship-builders, but they had far better have kept it as a mere toy model than have thought of using it as a sea- worthy craft. In this schooner Shelley sailed to Leghorn to visit Leigh Hunt and discuss with him a project for starting a magazine. The journey to Leghorn was accomplished in safety, but on the voyage back, a sudden squall came on and the vessel sank with all on board. Such is the story of Shelley, a great genius whom we love in spite of all his many errors. ALICE KING. comicoookKks (SO)