Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1868-11-11
naispellamp,
The Bnrial Of Shelly.

I y
Till death like sleep. should steal DER me-,
And should feel in the calm arr
Ny check grow pale, and hear the sea
Breathe er my dying BRAIN its last monotony.
A few summers hence, aud the stormy va
tiers of the Mediterranean engulphcd his Wilt
ering body, aud breathed their last monotouy
over his dying BRAIN
He was disappointed man, seeking sollco
in travel and by gratifying his aesthetic tas os.
But the amenities of social life, the sweet
habitudes of domestic affection, the loyel est
of italian cities, had failed to dispcl he
gloon that overcast his mind. He was m
bilious to undermine the popular conlide nee
in Christianity, and to place in its stead an
airy philosophy of his own. His opinions
separated him from the world he found his
philosophy unsatisfying and without hui ian
sympaty without God aud the hopes md
consultations of religion, there was in his
heart perpetual signing, a longing for so ne
thing unattained
His had been checkcrcd life His ahe-
ism had caused him an expulsion from ;ol-
lege his infdelity to the wife OF his earlier
years had brought her to a suicides grave
and his impeties, as expressed in his poems,
had made him a hapess wanderer onong
mankind. His beautiful chld--the idol Of
his heart, the fair-haired Willie--had pi ned
away and died, and been laid away from lot
ing eyes forever amid the Wondering ruins
of Rome. Although not yet thirty years Of
age, accommodating sorrows had silvered his
locks and stolen the freshness from his youth
full beauty; and the impression must lave
crept over him at times that his life was in
the sere and yellow leaf lie had won a
sudden and respondent fame, and been laz-
zled for time by its glare but tho charms
of poetry and the fascinations of literary So
cety had lost much of the early attraction
lie once wrote to his wife 10 the follow ing
2 despoudent manner in these altered days:
My greatest comfort would be utterlY to
desert all human society | would retire
with you and our children to a solitary island
in the sea ; would build boat, and shut
upon my retreat the 6oodgatos of the world.
L would read no reviews; | would talk With
no authors If ! dared trust my imag ma
ton, it would tell me that there are ON or
two chosen companions besides yourself whom
should desire. But to this would not
listen. Where two or three are gathered to-
Bttnef, lue ueNli u among lhtln.
His last days were passed chiefly at ' lila
Magn, on the desolate beach of the mag lif-
cent Gulf of Spezzia. 1t was the sum ner
of 1922. His mind was much occupied in
the project of publishing periodical dew ted
to liberal politics and to atheism. He left
Villa Magn in July, to join his old friend
Leigh Hunt, at Lcghorn; and, in the deli hts
of restored friendship, these two suscept BILE
and sympathetic spirits journeyed together
to Pisa Here they met Lord Byron 5 iel-
ley, unconscious that the wheels Of his desi my
were so soon and SO suddenly to be arres ed,
spent some felcitious hours with these che sen
companions. He took leave of his brother
poets, to return over the waters of the VI d.
tcrranean to Villa Maghi. A violent storm
arose, and the shallop in which he embar led
was lost. ne
Pi,, body was cast on shore near Via Reg
e;e, OF the Mediterranean 1t was unsigl tly
nd d,compose1 and, as the quarantine
regulations demanded that everything diff
ing ashore should be burned, his friends re-
solved to reduce his body to ashes before re.
moving it to Rome. Byron and Leigh II INT
gathered with few friends around the lis
torted remains, feeling the hopelessnes Of
worldly hope and the uncertainty of hun IAN
schemes. Here, on tho wild beach of the
Mediterranean, with their dead companion in
view, the cherries philosophy of these wo
speculative poets was put to the seyerest st.
They must have felt the hollovness of those
hayward reasonings that rob the soul Of its
virtue, of It's spiritual reunion with God, md
of its eternal hope. But this disquiet ng
providence while it awakened their fears, on
~ steeled their hearts and led them to s elk
for solace in reveling and hilarity--the oily
consultations that Atheism extends to he
stricken soul A funeral-pie was cree ed
after the manner of the ancieiits, and he
body of Shelly laid thereon. The wood was
kindled, frankiDcense was poured upon he
pile and the fame curled up, and perlu ne
filled the air. 1t was a serene summer
day. The winds were hushed, and the bosom
of the sea scarce revealed its pulses. The
Mediterranean lay in front resplendent tn
sunny islands Behind, the clify Apprentices
rosa IN baavan their IL irtz dark with fra 10