But

"And what say the worldly to this? the worldly to this? Use Spartan coin; pay away iron and lead alone; and store up your precious metal. But, alas! from nothing, nothing comes; or, as all things seem to degenerate, give lead, and you will receive clay. The most contemptible of all lives is when you live in the world, and none of your passions or affections are called into action. I am convinced I could not live thus; and, as Sterne says that in solitude he would worship a tree,-so, in the world, I should attach myself to those who bore the semblance of those qualities which I admire. it is not this that I want. Let me love the trees, the skies, and the ocean, and that all-encompassing Spirit of which I may soon become a part. Let me, in my fellow-creature, love that which is, and not fix my affection on a fair form endued with imaginary attributes. Where goodness, kindness, and talent are, let me love and admire them at their just rate, neither adding nor diminishing; and, above all, let me fearlessly descend into the remotest caverns of my own mind, carry the torch of self-knowledge into its dimmest recesses-but too happy if I dislodge any evil spirit, or enshrine a new deity in some hitherto uninhabited nook." An amusing anecdote is related by Mrs. Shelley in a letter to Mrs. Gisborne, dated March 7th. " So," she exclaims, "H. is shocked that, for good neighbourhood's sake, I visited the piano di sotto. Let him reassure himself: instead of a weekly, it was only a monthly, visit. In fact, after going three times, I stayed away. He preached against Atheism, and, they said,

against Shelley. As he invited me himself to come, this appeared to me very impertinent: so I wrote to him, to ask him whether he intended any personal allusion. He denied the charge most entirely. This affair, as you may guess, among the English at Pisa made a great noise. Gossip here is of course out of all bounds. Some people have given them something to talk about. I have seen little of it all; but that which I have seen makes me long most eagerly for some sea-girt isle where, with Shelley, my babe, my books and horses, we might give the rest to the winds. This we shall not have. For the present, Shelley is entangled with Lord Byron, who is in a terrible fright lest he should desert him. We shall have boats, and go somewhere on the sea-coast, where, I dare say, we shall spend our time agreeably enough."

An exciting, and even perilous, event occurred to Shelley about this time. Together with Lord Byron, Trelawny, Count Gamba the younger, a Captain Hay, and a Mr. Taaffe, he was riding home outside the gates of Pisa, on horseback, with the ladies following in a carriage. Suddenly "a mounted dragoon"-to quote the account given by Williams in his diary-" dashed through their party, and touched Taaffe's horse as they passed in an insolent and defying manner. Lord Byron put spurs to his horse, saying that he should give some account of such insolence. Shelley's horse, however, was the fleetest, and, coming up to the dragoon, he crossed and stopped him, till the party arrived; but they had now reached the gate where a guard was

stationed, and, finding himself so well supported, he drew his sword, and, after abusing them all as maladetti Inglesi,' began to cut and slash to the right and left (and what signified it to him whether he had the blood of all the English here?), saying that he arrested them all. Do that if you can,' said Lord Byron, and dashed through the guard with young Count Gamba, and reached home to bring arms for what he expected would turn out a serious scuffle. The dragoon, finding the rest of the party intended to force their way, made a desperate cut at Shelley, who took off his cap, and, warding the blow from the sharp part of the sabre, the hilt struck his head and knocked him off his horse. The fellow was repeating his cut at Shelley while down, when Captain Hay parried it with a cane he had in his hand; but the sword cut it in two, and struck Captain Hay's face across the nose. A violent scene now took place, and the dragoon tried to get into the town and escape, when Lord B. arrived, and, half drawing a sword-stick to show that he was armed, the fellow put up his sword, and begged Lord Byron to do the same. It was now dark, and, after walking a few paces with Lord Byron, he put his horse into a gallop, and endeavoured to get off; but, on passing Lord Byron's house, a servant had armed himself with a pitchfork, and speared him as he passed. He fell from his horse, and was carried to the hospital.

"Trelawny had finished his story* when Lord Byron

* The foregoing facts were related to Williams by Trelawny, who was the first to arrive at Shelley's house.-ED.

came in the Countess fainting on his arm, Shelley sick from the blow, Lord Byron and the young Count foaming with rage, Mrs. Shelley looking philosophically upon this interesting scene, and Jane and I wondering what the devil was to come next. Taaffe, after having given his deposition at the police-office, returned to us with a long face, saying that the dragoon could not live out the night. All now again sallied forth to be the first to accuse, and, according to Italian policy, not wait to be accused.

6

"9 o'clock. The report already in circulation about Pisa is that a party of peasants, having risen in insurrection, made an attack upon the guard, headed by some Englishmen; and that the guard maintained their ground manfully against an awful number of armed insurgents. One Englishman, whose name was Trelawny, left dead at the gate, and Lord Byron mortally wounded,' who is now telling me the tale, and Trelawny drinking brandy-and-water by his side.

"10 o'clock.-How the attack ought to have been conducted is now agitating: all appear to me to be

wrong.

"11 o'clock.-Disperse to our separate homes.

"March 25th.-At seven this morning, an officer from the police called here, demanding my name, country, profession, and requesting to have an account of my actions between the hours of six and eight yesterday evening. My servants told him I was asleep, but that they could inform him that I was engaged in a very

*

bloody scene between those hours.

Then he must

come to the police-office.' Ask him,' said I, if I am to bring the scene with me, or the whole play as far as I have written.'

"12 o'clock.-Shelley comes.

The wounded dragoon

much worse. Hear that the soldiers are confined to their barracks, but they swear to be revenged on some of us. A report is abroad that Taaffe is the assassin, and is now confined in Lord B.'s house, guarded by bull-dogs, &c., to avoid the police. This he himself overheard while walking down the Lung Arno. Shelley and Trelawny think it necessary to go armed. A skatestrap is therefore substituted for a pistol-belt, and my pistols so slung to Trelawny's waist.

"2 o'clock.-Sallied forth. Very much stared and pointed at. Called on Lord B. Heard that extreme unction had been administered to the dragoon, whose wound is considered mortal. A deposition is drawn up, and sent, with all the signatures concerned, to the police. The Grand Duke is expected to-night."

Notwithstanding the severity of his wound, the dragoon recovered, and there is no account of the servant being banished, as some writers have stated. But Lord Byron shortly afterwards left Pisa, which he probably found it necessary to do, in consequence of the fray.

Shelley exhibited great activity in this affair; and on another occasion, when a man at Lucca had been condemned to be burnt alive for sacrilege, he proposed

* Williams here jocosely alludes to a play which he was writing at the time.-ED.