I have not yet spoken of the work which occupied him at Rome—the
greatest tragedy of
344 | LIFE OF SHELLEY. |
But to be serious,—a MS. containing an ac-
LIFE OF SHELLEY. | 345 |
To return to the Cenci.—Just as I was about to speak of Shelley’s Cenci, was placed in my hand
an Indicator of July 26, 1820; and when I
had read that masterly critique, one of the noblest pieces of writing in our language, I
abandoned as hopeless the task of analysing it myself. Almost every line of that tragedy
might be quoted, and indeed very many have been, but there
346 | LIFE OF SHELLEY. |
“The third of my possessions— Aye, I have heard the nephew of the pope Had sent his architect to view the ground, Meaning to build a villa on my vines, The next time I compounded with his uncle,— I little thought he should outwit me so.” |
Leigh Hunt, the theatrical critic, Χαί έξοχην, sums up
his paper with,—“Mr. Shelley in
this work reminds us of some of the most strenuous and daring of our old
dramatists,—not by any means as an imitator, though he has studied them, but as a
bold, elemental imaginator, and a framer of mighty lines. He possesses also, moreover,
what those to whom we more particularly allude, did not possess, great sweetness of
nature, and enthusiasm for good, and his style is as it ought to be, the offspring of
the high
LIFE OF SHELLEY. | 347 |
Words written with the prophetic confidence of their truth.
Shelley had formed strong hopes of getting this play
performed at Covent Garden, and that Miss
O’Neale, whom he had seen before leaving London, and often spoke of as
his beau ideal of female actors, would take the part of Beatrice. His disappointment was therefore great, when Mr. Harris pronounced the subject so objectionable that he
could not submit the part to that gifted lady, but expressed a desire that the author
should write a tragedy on some other subject, which he would gladly accept. The manager was
right in thinking that the Cenci was
unadapted for the stage. If no one can read it without shedding abundant tears, who could
have endured the representation of the character of Beatrice
348 | LIFE OF SHELLEY. |
“Here, mother! tie This girdle for me—and bind up this hair In any simple knot. Aye! that does well— And yours I see is coming down. How often Have we done this for one another, now We shall not do it any more.” |
The play was so disfigured by the mistakes that had crept into it in the London edition, that he reprinted it at Leghorn, and sent me a copy, which I received in Switzerland.
Mrs. Shelley says, “it is to be lamented
that he did not employ himself on subjects whose interest depended on character and
incident, and leave the delineation of human passion, which he could depict in such an
able manner, for fantastic creations, or the expression of those
LIFE OF SHELLEY. | 349 |
The Shelleys suffered a severe affliction at Rome, by
the death of their son William. His love, and regret
for the loss of this child, may be seen by a fragment which he epigraphs with
“Roma, Roma, Roma, non e piu come era
prima;” and he alludes to this interesting boy in
the Cenci.—
350 | LIFE OF SHELLEY. |
“That fair blue-eyed child, Who was the loadstar of our life— All see since his most piteous death, That day and night, and heaven and earth and time, And all the things hoped for and done therein, Are changed to you through your exceeding grief.” |
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