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AFTER these events, it was long before we were able
to attain any degree of composure. A moral tempest had wrecked our richly
freighted vessel, and we, remnants of the diminished crew, were aghast at
the losses and changes which we had undergone. Idris passionately loved her
brother, and could ill brook an absence whose duration was uncertain; his
society was dear and necessary to me--I had followed up my chosen literary
occupations with delight under his tutorship and assistance; his mild
philosophy, unerring reason, and enthusiastic friendship
I could not see her thus lost, without exerting myself to remedy the
evil--remediless I knew, if I could not in the end bring her to reconcile
herself to Raymond. Before he went I used every argument, every persuasion
to induce her to stop his journey. She answered the one with a gush of
tears--telling me that to be persuaded--life and the goods of life were a
cheap exchange. It was not will that she wanted, but the capacity; again and
again she declared, it were as easy to enchain the sea, to put reins on the
wind's viewless courses, as for her to take truth for falsehood, deceit for
honesty, heartless communion for sincere, confiding love. She answered my
reasonings more briefly, declaring with disdain, that the reason was hers;
and, until I could persuade her that the past could be unacted, that
maturity could go back to the
To change the scene for her, and even for ourselves, all unhinged by the
cloud that had come over us, I persuaded my two remaining companions that it
were better that we should absent ourselves for a time from Windsor. In the introduction to the 1831 edition of
I lived principally in the country as a girl, and passed a considerable time in Scotland. I made occasional visits to the more picturesque parts; but my habitual residence was on the blank and dreary northern shors of the Tay, near Dundee. Blank and dreary on retrospection I call them; they were not so to me then. They were the eyry of freedom.that we might see Loch Katrine and Loch Lomond; thence we crossed to Ireland, and passed several weeks in the neighbourhood of Killarney. The change of scene operated to a great degree as I expected; after a year's absence, Perdita returned in gentler and more docile mood to Windsor. The first sight of this place for a
But my essay towards bringing her to a saner view of her own situation, did
not end here. Perdita was still to a great degree uneducated. When first she
left her peasant life, and resided with the elegant and cultivated Evadne,
the only accomplishment she brought to any perfection was that of painting,
for which she had a taste almost amounting to genius. This had occupied her
in her lonely cottage, when she quitted her Greek friend's protection. Her
pallet and easel were now thrown aside; did she try to paint, thronging
recollections made her hand tremble, her eyes fill with tears. With
For my own part, since Adrian had first withdrawn me from my selvatic
wilderness to his own paradise of order and beauty, I had been wedded to
literature. I felt convinced that however it might have been in former
times, in the present stage of the world, no man's faculties could be
developed, no man's moral principle be enlarged and liberal, without an
extensive acquaintance with books. To me they stood in the place of an
active career, of ambition, and those palpable excitements necessary to the
multitude. The collation of philosophical opinions, the study of historical
facts, the acquirement of languages, were at once my recreation, and the
serious aim of my life. I turned author myself. My productions however were
sufficiently unpretending; they were confined to the biography of favourite
historical
As my authorship increased, I acquired new sympathies and pleasures. I found
another and a valuable link to enchain me to my fellow-creatures; my point
of sight was extended, and the inclinations and capacities of all human
beings became deeply interesting to me. Kings have been called the fathers
of their people. Suddenly I became as it were the father of all mankind.
Posterity became my heirs. My thoughts were gems to enrich the treasure
house of man's intellectual possessions; each sentiment was a precious gift
I bestowed on them. Let not these aspirations be attributed to vanity. They
were not expressed in words, nor even reduced to form in my own mind; but
they filled my soul, exalting my thoughts, raising a glow of enthusiasm, and
led me out of the obscure path in which I before walked, into the bright
noon-enlightened highway of mankind,
No one certainly ever enjoyed the pleasures of composition more intensely
than I. If I left the woods, the solemn music of the waving branches, and
the majestic temple of nature, I sought the vast halls of the Castle, Music in
Among critics of Mary Shelley, Jean de Palacio has most thoroughly examined the importance of music in the novel, beginning with the role of Vincent Novello's music organ music in inspiring its composition.
Within the narrative, Lionel Verney claims musical inspiration for his own writing (I.10), and implicitly, therefore, for the narrative we are reading. In addition, allusions to composers and works form a kind of imaginary score for the action. As Palacio charts it (p. 329), we move from simple melodies and songs at Windsor (I.6), to the more sophisticated operas of Mozart--
But this account, which might as properly belong to a former period of my life as to the present moment, leads me far afield. It was the pleasure I took in literature, the discipline of mind I found arise from it, that made me eager to lead Perdita to the same pursuits. I began with light hand and gentle allurement; first exciting her curiosity, and then satisfying it in such a way as might occasion her, at the same time that she half forgot her sorrows in occupation, to find in the hours that succeeded a reaction of benevolence and toleration.
Intellectual activity, though not directed towards books, had always been my
sister's characteristic. It had been displayed early in life, leading her
out to solitary musing among her native mountains, causing her to form
innumerous combinations from common objects, giving strength to her
perceptions, and swiftness
The acquisition of unknown languages was too tedious an occupation, for one
who referred every expression to the universe within, and read not, as many
do, for the mere sake of filling up time; but who was still questioning
herself and her author, moulding every idea in a thousand ways, ardently
desirous for the discovery of truth in every sentence. She sought to improve
her understanding; mechanically her heart and dispositions became soft and
gentle under this benign discipline. After awhile she discovered, that
amidst all her newly acquired knowledge, her own character, which formerly
she fancied that she thoroughly understood, became the first in rank among
the terrae incognitae, the pathless wilds of a country that had no chart.
Erringly and strangely she began the task of self-examination with
self-condemnation. And then again she became aware of her own excellencies,
and began to balance with juster scales the shades of good and evil. I, who
longed beyond words, to restore her to the happiness
But man is a strange animal. We cannot calculate on his forces like that of
an engine; and, though an impulse draw with a forty-horse power at what
appears willing to yield to one, yet in contempt of calculation the movement
is not effected. Neither grief, philosophy, nor love could make Perdita
think with mildness of the dereliction of Raymond. She now took pleasure in
my society; towards Idris she felt and displayed a full and affectionate
sense of her worth--she restored to her child in abundant measure her
tenderness and care. But I could discover, amidst all her repinings, deep
resentment towards Raymond, and an unfading sense of injury, that plucked
from me my hope, when I appeared nearest to its fulfilment. Among other
painful restrictions, she has occasioned it to become a law among us, never
to mention Raymond's name before her. She refused to read any communications
from Greece, desiring
There is no more painful sight than that of untimely care in children, and it was particularly observable in one whose disposition had heretofore been mirthful. Yet there was so much sweetness and docility about Clara, that your admiration was excited; and if the moods of mind are calculated to paint the cheek with beauty, and endow motions with grace, surely her contemplations must have been celestial; since every lineament was moulded into loveliness, and her motions were more harmonious than the elegant boundings of the fawns of her native forest. I sometimes expostulated with Perdita on the subject of her reserve; but she rejected my counsels, while her daughter's sensibility excited in her a tenderness still more passionate.
After the lapse of more than a year, Adrian returned from Greece.
When our exiles had first arrived, a truce was in existence between the Turks
and Greeks; Mary Shelley's
Mary Shelley supported Greece in its early struggle for independence and knew personally one of its prominent leaders, Prince Mavrocordato.
Like Byron, on whom he is largely modeled, Lord Raymond goes to Greece to fight as a volunteer leader.
it rose to a man; and the women, sacrificing their costly ornaments, accoutred their sons for the war, and bade them conquer or die with the spirit of the Spartan mother. The talents and courage of Raymond were highly esteemed among the Greeks. Born at Athens, that city claimed him for her own, and by giving him the command of her peculiar division in the army, the commander-in-chief only possessed superior"It is well," said Adrian, "to prate of war in these pleasant shades, and
with much ill-spent oil make a show of joy, because many thousand of our
fellow-creatures leave with pain this sweet air and natal earth. I shall not
be suspected of being averse to the Greek cause; I know and feel its
necessity; it is beyond every other a good cause. I have defended it with my
sword, and was willing that my spirit should be breathed out in its defence;
freedom is of more worth than life, and the Greeks do well to defend their
privilege unto death. But let us not deceive ourselves. The Turks are men;
each fibre, each limb is as feeling as our own, and every spasm, be it
mental or bodily,
One of the fellows, enraged at my interference, struck me with his bayonet in the side, and I fell senseless.
"This wound will probably shorten my life, having shattered a frame, weak of
itself. But I am content to die. I have learnt in Greece that one man, more
or less, is of small import, while human bodies remain to fill up the
thinned ranks of the soldiery; and that the identity of an individual may be
overlooked, so that the muster roll contain its full numbers. All this has a
different effect upon Raymond. He is able to contemplate the ideal of war,
while I am sensible only to its realities. He is a soldier, a general. He
can influence the blood-thirsty war-dogs, while I resist their propensities
vainly. The cause is simple. Burke has
Perdita's mind was not softened by this account. He, she thought, can be
great and happy without me. Would that I also had a career! Would that I
could freight some untried bark with all my hopes, energies, and desires,
and launch it forth into the ocean of life--bound for some attainable point,
with ambition or pleasure at the helm! But adverse winds detain me on shore;
like Ulysses, I sit at the water's edge and weep. But my nerveless hands can
neither fell the trees, nor smooth the planks. Under the influence of these
melan-
Each vessel in the mean time brought exhilarating tidings from Greece. The
presence of a friend in its armies and councils made us enter into the
details with enthusiasm; and a short letter now and then from Raymond told
us how he was engrossed by the interests of his adopted country. The Greeks
were strongly attached to their commercial pursuits, and would have been
satisfied with their present ac-
At the battle of Makri he had led the charge of cavalry, and pursued the
fugitives even to the banks of the Hebrus. His favourite horse was found
grazing by the margin of the tranquil
Raymond was not forgotten in England. His abdication of the Protectorate
The effect of this intelligence upon my sister was striking. She never for a
moment credited the story of his death; she resolved instantly to go to
Greece. Reasoning and persuasion were thrown away upon her; she would endure
no hindrance, no delay. It may be advanced for a truth, that, if argument or
entreaty can turn any one from a desperate purpose, whose motive and end
depends on the strength of the affections only, then it is right so to turn
them,
END OF VOL. I.