A COPY of "Stockdale's Budget," containing the letters by Shelley now republished, was purchased by the British Museum in 1859, and came under my notice in the autumn of that year. Struck by the interesting nature of this correspondence, and especially by the discovery of an early work by Shelley, previously unknown to all his biographers, I lost no time in communicating the circumstance to his family, whose acquaintance it was already my privilege to possess. It was at first hoped that these letters might have appeared in the second edition of the " Shelley Memorials," but it was found that the printing of that work was already too far advanced to allow of their being inserted in their proper place. They were accordingly reserved for the third edition; but the prospect of this being required appearing as yet somewhat remote, it has been finally determined to publish them in a separate form. I have accordingly copied them from the obscure periodical in which they originally appeared, and added such explanations as seemed needful to render the connexion of the whole intelligible.

Much has been written about Shelley during the last three or four years, and the store of materials for his biography has been augmented by many particulars, some authentic and valuable, others trivial or mythical, or founded on mistakes or misrepresentations. It does not strictly fall within the scope of this paper to notice any of these, but some of the latter class are calculated to modify so injuriously what has hitherto been the prevalent estimate of Shelley's character, and, while entirely unfounded, are yet open to correction from the better knowledge of so few, that it would be inexcusable to omit an opportunity of comment which only chance has presented, and which may not speedily recur. It will be readily per

ceived that the allusion is to the statements respecting Shelley's separation from his first wife, published by Mr. T. L. Peacock in Fraser's Magazine for January last. According to these, the transaction was not preceded by longcontinued unhappiness, neither was it an amicable agreement effected in virtue of a mutual understanding. The time cannot be distant when these assertions must be refuted by the publication of documents hitherto withheld, and Shelley's family have doubted whether it be worth while to anticipate it. Pending their decision, I may be allowed to state most explicitly that the evidence to which they would in such a case appeal, and to the nature of which I feel fully competent to speak, most decidedly contradicts the allegations of Mr. Peacock.

So extensive is the miscellaneous bibliographic and literary lore lying safely hidden away in unsuspected quarters, that a line of inquiry in Notes and Queries would almost certainly elicit some one able to tell us all about the ancient publishing-house of the Stockdales, father and son-to inform us when they commenced business, and where and what were the principal books they published, and in what years, and how these speculations respectively turned out-and so trace the Pall Mall chameleon through all its changes from original whiteness to the undeniable sable of the publication we are about to notice.

It is even possible that a moderate amount of laudable industry might have enabled us to do all this ourselves, and thus to present the grateful or ungrateful reader with a complete bibliopolic monography. Feeling, however, for our own parts, a very decided distaste to the minute investigation of unimportant matters, and interested in John Joseph Stockdale as far as, and no further than,

he was concerned in the affairs of Percy Bysshe Shelley, we have chosen to assume that the reader's feelings are the same, and that he will be content with knowing just as much about the publisher as is absolutely necessary to explain his connexion with the poet, and the circumstances under which he came to print the notes written to him by the latter. During, then, the last twenty years of the eighteenth and the first twenty of the nineteenth century, the Stockdales' publishing-house (located for part of the time in Pall Mall, and part, if we mistake not, in Piccadilly) was resorted to by novelists, poets, and more particularly dramatists. It was the chief, almost the sole orthodox and accredited medium for perpetuating the transient applause which the play-going public vouchsafes to the dramatist.

It pur

veyed the patrons of circulating libraries with a mental diet as light as Indiarubber, and no less wholesome and digestible; and facilitated the ambition of all young poets willing to be immortalised at their own costs and charges. As universally known, the author of the "Cenci" never had a chance of immortality on easier terms; the conditions on which "Paradise Lost" was disposed of were princely compared to any which any publisher ever thought of tendering to him; and as his first aspirations after literary renown began to stir within him in the younger Stockdale's palmy days, and lay altogether within the scope of the latter's publishing business, it might almost have been predicted that these two most dissimilar men would not pass away without some slight contact or mutual influence. In fact, Shelley's second novel bears the name of Stockdale as the publisher; and the singular discovery of a portion of the business correspondence that passed between the two respecting this publication now enables us not merely to write the history of the connexion, which might probably be acceptable to none but a thorough-going hero-worshipper, but perhaps to throw some light on the feelings which possessed, and the influences which contributed to mould one

of the most original of human spirits, at the most momentous, if not the most eventful period of its earthly existence.

It has already been stated that this correspondence originally appeared in "Stockdale's Budget;" it now remains to be explained what Stockdale's Budget was. It was a periodical, issued in 1827; a sort of appendix to the more celebrated "Memoirs of Harriet Wilson," published by Stockdale some years previously, and well known to the amateurs of disreputable literature. The present writer has never seen this work, and for actual purposes it will be quite sufficient to state that it proved the source of infinite trouble to the unlucky publisher, not on account of its immorality, which seems to have been unquestionable, but from its attacks on private character. Owing to these, Stockdale became the object of a succession of legal proceedings, which speedily exhausted his purse, while his business vanished, and left not a wreck behind. Such a result could have surprised no man of ordinary understanding, but the united tongues of men and of angels would fail in conveying any adequate notion of the publisher's stolidity and obtuseness. He really considered himself an injured man, and the " Budget" was established as the means of impressing the same idea on others. Stockdale's method of ratiocination was certainly somewhat peculiar. Peers, he argued, do not always live happily with their wives. There is a baronet in custody in the midland counties, charged with assault; have they not just taken the Hon. Wellesley Pole's children from him? and what can be more shocking than that abduction case of the Wakefields? Argal, I, Stockdale, was quite justified in publishing those disagreeable particulars about Mr.

and the seizure of my furniture in consequence was an act of worse than Russian oppression.

In strict conformity with the principles of the Baconian philosophy, this conclusion was based on a wide induction, derived from all the instances of aristocratic frailty on which the publisher could possibly lay his hands,

accompanied by appropriate comments, and, when the supply failed to meet the demand, eked out by a compilation from the ordinary reports of the police courts. It cannot be said that there is anything positively immoral or libellous in the publication, but a duller or more uninviting accumulation of garbage it has never been our lot to see, and the only circumstance which could tempt any one to examine it, is the fact that Stockdale, searching among his MS. stores for letters from public characters, calculated to lend interest to his publication, stumbled on the notes, or rather some of them, addressed to him by Shelley during their brief business connexion. These he proceeded to publish, accompanied by a highly characteristic commentary, from which some particulars of real interest may be gleaned. The style of these letters sufficiently attests their genuineness; nor can we peruse Stockdale's acknowledged compositions without perceiving that the writer was in every sense incapable of a forgery, even if, in 1827, it had been worth any one's while to vilify the poet in a periodical.

Shelley's first introduction to Stockdale was verbal, and occurred under singularly characteristic circumstances. In the autumn of 1810 he presented himself at the publisher's place of business, and requested his aid in extricating him from a dilemma in which he had involved himself by commissioning a printer at Horsham to strike off fourteen hundred and eighty copies of a volume of poems, without having the wherewithal to discharge his account. He could hardly have expected Stockdale to do it for him, and the latter's silence is conclusive testimony that he contributed no pecuniary assistance, liberal as he doubtless was with good advice. By some means, however, the mute inglorious Aldus of Horsham was appeased, and the copies of the work transferred to Stockdale, who proceeded to advertise them, and take the other usual steps to promote their sale. advertisement of "Original Poetry, by Victor and Cazire," will be found in

An

the Morning Chronicle of September 18, 1810, and the assumed duality of authorship was not, like the particular names employed, fictitious. The poems were principally-Shelley thought entirely-the production of himself and a friend, and it becomes a matter of no small interest to ascertain who this

friend was. It was not Mr. Hogg, whose acquaintance Shelley had not yet made, nor Captain Medwin, or the circumstance would have been long since made public.

A more likely coadjutor would be Harriet Grove, Shelley's cousin, and the object of his first attachment, who is said to have aided him in the composition of his first romance, Zastrozzi." Indeed, "Cazire" seems to be intended for a female name; perhaps it was adopted from some novel. However this may be, the little book had evidently been ushered into the world under an unlucky star; few and evil were its days. It had hardly been published a week when Stockdale, inspecting it with more attention than he had previously had leisure to bestow, recognised one of the pieces as an old acquaintance in the pages of M. G. Lewis, author of "The Monk." It was but too clear that Shelley's colleague, doubtless under the compulsion of the poet's impetuous solicitations for more verses, had appropriated whatever came first to hand, with slight respect for pedantic considerations of meum and tuum. Stockdale lost no time in communicating his discovery to his employer, whose mortification may be imagined, and his directions for the instant suppression of the edition anticipated. By this time, however, nearly a hundred copies had been put into circulation, so that we will not altogether resign the hope of yet recovering this interesting volume, hitherto totally unknown to, or at least unnoticed by all Shelley's biographers. Only one of the letters relating to it remains;1 with the exception of the childish note printed

1 We have not scrupled to occasionally correct an obvious clerical error in these

letters, generally the result of haste, sometimes of a misprint.

by Medwin, the earliest letter of Shelley that has been preserved :

"FIELD PLACE, September 6th, 1810.

"SIR,-I have to return you my thankful acknowledgments for the receipt of the books, which arrived as soon as I had any reason to expect: the superfluity shall be balanced as soon as I pay for some books which I shall trouble you to bind for me.

"I enclose you the title-page of the Poems, which, as you see, you have mistaken on account of the illegibility of my handwriting. I have had the last proof impression from the printer this morning, and I suppose the execution of the work will not be long delayed. As soon as it possibly can, it shall reach you, and believe me, sir, grateful for the interest you take in it. "I am, sir,

"Your obedient humble servant,

"PERCY B. SHELLEY."

Shelley soon forgot the mishaps of Victor and his Cazire, in fresh literary projects. He had already placed the MS. of "St. Irvyne, or the Rosicrucian," in Stockdale's hands, and on September 28th he offered him the copyright of his schoolboy epic, written in conjunction with Captain Medwin, "The Wandering Jew":

"FIELD PLACE, September 28th, 1810. "SIR,-I sent, before I had the pleasure of knowing you, the MS. of a poem to Messrs. Ballantyne and Co. Edinburgh; they declined publishing it, with the enclosed letter. I now offer it to you, and depend upon your honour as a gentleman for a fair price for the copyright. It will be sent to you from Edinburgh. The subject is, 'The Wandering Jew. As to its containing atheistical principles, I assure you I was wholly unaware of the fact hinted at. Your good sense will point out to you the impossibility of inculcating pernicious doctrines in a poem which, as you will see, is so totally abstract from any cir

cumstances which occur under the possible view of mankind.

"I am, sir,

"Your obliged and humble servant, "PERCY B. SHELLEY."

The enclosure-a curiosity-is as follows:

"EDINBURGH, September 24th, 1810. SIR,-The delay which occurred in our reply to you respecting the poem you have obligingly offered us for publication, has arisen from our literary have confidence in) being in the country friends and advisers (at least such as we they have bestowed in its perusal. at this season, as is usual, and the time

"We are extremely sorry, at length, after the most mature deliberation, to be under the necessity of declining the honour of being the publishers of the present poem ;-not that we doubt its success, but that it is, perhaps, better suited to the character and liberal feelings of the English, than the bigoted spirit which yet pervades many cultivated minds in this country. Even Walter Scott is assailed on all hands at present by our Scotch spiritual and Evangelical magazines and instructors, for having promulgated atheistical doctrines in the Lady of the Lake.'

"We beg you will have the goodness to advise us how it should be returned, and we think its being consigned to the care of some person in London would be more likely to ensure its safety than addressing it to Horsham.

“We are, sir, "Your most obedient humble servants,

"JOHN BALLANTYNE & Co."

Now, had Shelley told any of his friends that the "Lady of the Lake" had been assailed in Scotland on the ground of atheism, and professed to have derived his information from the Ballantynes, the circumstance would ere this have made its appearance in print as a proof of his irresistible tendency to "hallucinations," and his "inability to "relate anything exactly as it hap"pened." Here, however, we see that he would not have spoken without au

thority. It is, of course, quite possible that the Ballantynes may themselves have been mystified or mystificatorsotherwise it would appear that it had, in that fortunate age, been vouchsafed to certain Scotch clergymen to attain the ne plus ultra of absurdity

"Topmost stars of unascended heaven, Pinnacled dim in the intense inane "___

or insane, whichever may be the correct reading. It is needless to add that the "Wandering Jew" is quite guiltless of atheism, or any "ism" but an occasional solecism. Whatever precautions may have been taken to ensure the safety of the MS., they failed to bring it into Stockdale's hands. He never received it, and it seems to have remained peaceably at Edinburgh till its discovery in 1831, when a portion of it appeared in Fraser's Magazine, and has since been reprinted in one of the many unauthorised editions of Shelley's works. According to Captain Medwin, indeed, Shelley left it at his lodgings in Edinburgh in 1811. But the Captain evidently knew nothing of the negotiation with the Ballantynes, which affords a much more plausible explanation of the discovery of the MS. in the Scotch metropolis. He adds, indeed, that the young authors were induced to lay aside all thoughts of publication by the adverse judgment of Campbell, who returned the MS. submitted for his inspection with the remark that there were only two good lines in the whole, naming a pair of exceedingly commonplace ones. Whatever the effect on his coadjutor, it is now clear that Shelley was not to be daunted by the condemnation even of a poet he admired, though, doubtless, he would have himself admitted in after life that the quest after tolerable lines in the "Wandering Jew" might scarcely be more hopeful than that undertaken of old after righteous men in the Cities of the Plain.

Poetry like Shelley's is not to be produced except under the immediate impulse of lively emotion, or without a long preliminary epoch of mental excite

ment and fermentation. The ordinary interchange of sunshine and shower suffices for the production of mustard, cress, and such-like useful vegetables; but Nature must have been disturbed to her centre ere there can be a Stromboli for Byron to moor his bark by for a long summer's night, and meditate a new canto of "Childe Harold." Shelley's mind was never in a more excited condition than during the autumn of 1810, and, at that time, like Donna Inez, "his favourite science was the metaphysical"-he reasoned of matters abstruse and difficult, "of fate, free-will, "foreknowledge absolute," of

"Names, deeds, grey legends, dire events, rebellions,

Majesties, sovran voices, agonies,
Creations and destroyings."