Evening star., 1925-05-16
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY THE BoOKLOVER

Shelley as a spirit OF air and nre,
loving freedom above all things, like
| Shakespeare's Ariel, is the, conception
of Andre Maurois in his romantic
biography of Shelley, which he calls
Ariel. But Shelley had no wise
| Prospero to guide his life and per-
haps to whisper to him that life is
far less complex if one follows the
rules of the game instead Of playing
| the part Of a revolutionist. After all
such an argument of expediency
would never have appealed to the
boyish creature who from his school
days had been called Mad Shelley.
For time he thought he had found
Prospero in William Goodwin, phi
losopher OF life. "the destroyer OF mar
riage, the enemy of the divinity, the
atheist, republican and revolutionary,
author of Political Justice. Sheiley
considered him Virtues own high
prophet" and wrote him letter OF ad'
mfration and devotion, begging Tor
| acquaintance with the regulator ana
! former" of his mind. Godwin's van
ity was tickled, he Immediately as,
sumed toward Shelley paternal, Oh
| dactic attitude and soon began 10
borrow money Of him, a habit he kept
up with increasing frequency all OF
| Shelley's short life. Shelley was such
complete idealist that 1t was LONG
| before he discovered the hypocrisy OF
| Goodwin and his entire lack of deli
cacy. When Shelley, following the
| teachings of his "venerated friend,
deserted his wife Harriet and eloped
4 IT, 1o,1
win was as infuriated as would have
| been any conventional parent. He
| refused to have any communication
with Shelley and Mary, except to con.
tinue borrowing money. He pointed
| out that the principles OF his Ponu-
cal Justice" would be excellent In
some ideal Utopian society, but were
| not applicable to London and his own
daughter. Shelley could not under
stand such distinctions. Goodwin also
I pointed out that, since he expected to
keep on receiving money from Shei'
| lev. il would not do for him to forgive
the eloping couple, because that would
| look like selling his daughter for
money. Shelley was finally disguised
by this reasoning. After the suicide
of poor Harriet and the marriage i'm
mediately after of Shelley and Mary
| Goodwin magnanimously consented to
1 IL.
Shelley had by this time ceased to
worship and did not care whether he
was forgiven or not.
* y X
Lord Byron, who figures as Don
| Juan plays almost as important a
part in this biography as Ariel him.
self. Byron was as affected and insin.
| cere as Shelley was passionately sin
| cere. Shelley, a mystic, managed to
scandalize Byron. a dissipated hber-
tine. Shelley, without belief in God,
acted in accordance with his own high
est beliefs; Byron, believing in a God,
defed Him. Shelley. dtsbelieving' in
i marriage, nevertheless held women al
most in reverence and found in them a
| source of poetic exaltation; Byron, be
| lieving in marriage as an institution,
| insulted his own wife al the church
| door and treated all women as toys or
! slaves. 1T is the plague Of these wOm-
| en-" said he, that you cannot live
with them or without them
cannot make up my mind whether or
| not women have souls. My beau ideal
| would be woman with talent enough
to understand and value mine, but not
| sufficient to be able to shine herself
| In their association in Switzerland and
/ later in Italy, Shelley and Byron got
| on well together. Each admired the
| others genius. and Shelley tried to
| elevate ByrOn's moral ideal and to win
him to less futile conception of life.
Shelley had read to know, Byron had
read to dazzle, and Byron was per-
fectly well aware of the difference. He
felt, too. the instant conviction that
| Shelley's will was force, bent bow
! while his own fioated loose on the cur.
| rent at the mercy of his passions and
! of his mistresses He -tShelley)
had expected a Titan in revolt, and he
| found a wounded aristocrat fully alive
to the pleasures and pains of vanity
/ which seemed to Shelley so puerile
j Byron had outraged convention, but
all the same he believed in it. 1t had
stood in the path of his desires, and he
had flung it aside, but with regret"
When Shelley's body was burned on
the seashore near Via Reggie, where
1t had been washed up by the sea after
| the wreck of his little bark. the Ariel,
i Byron was present. Full of affection.
as always, he at first assumed an air
| of Indifference, but was unable to keep
| 1t up. He exclaimed How brutally
mistaken men have been about him,
He was without exception the best and
least selfish man 1 ever knew. and
as perfect gentleman as ever crossed
drawing ROOM &.
| x x
Impressions of Great Naturalists.'
| by DR.. Henry Fairfield Osborn is not
! designed to give complete accounts OF
the scientists treated, but does give
| interesting personal "reminiscences OF
Darwin, Huxley, Wallace, Pasteur
| James Bryce, Roosevelt, John Bur.
roughs, John Muir, Howard Crosby
! Butler and others. In each case the
| author. who is himself one of Ameri.
cas- most distinguished scientists
manages to give many biographical
data and critical estimates of the men
| included. In the case Of Darwin the
author. at the age of %, had the rare
privilege of meeting and looking stead
lily in his face during a few minutes
conversation The impression OF
Darwin's bluish-gray eyes, deep-set un
der the over hanging brows, was that
they were the eyes of a man who
| could survey all nature" His high es
innate of Roosevelt as a naturalist Is
| particularly interesting. OF him DIR
Osborn says: What Roosevelt die
know in history and in natural history
| he knew thoroughly; he went to the
very bottom of things, if possible, and
no one was more conscientious thar
he where his knowledge was limited
| or merely that of the intelligent lay
man. His thorough research in prepar
| ing for the African and South Ameri
| can expeditions was not that of ar
amateur or of the sportsman, but OF
the trained naturalist who desires tc
earn as much as possible from previ
GUS students and explorers" Dr. Os
born pronounces Roosevelt's African
Game Trails" to be one of the finest
! books we have volume replete
| from cover to cover with accurate
original information-in fact, a rea,
] contribution"
! x X X