Shelley: The Pursuit by Richard Holmes

conscience; while the various ills of poverty and loss of friends brought home to him the sad realities of life. Physical suffering had also considerable influence in causing him to turn his eyes inward; inclining him rather to brood over the thoughts and emotions of his own soul than to glance abroad, and to make, as in Queen Mab , the whole universe the object and subject of his song.’ 32
    Alastor was finished by the end of autumn, and Shelley did not attempt to pursue his introspection any further. He turned instead to concentrate on his Greek reading, which now widened to include his introduction to Homer, thehistorians Thucydides and Herodotus, and several Greek lyric poets. He was also teaching Mary, and his book-lists to Lackington, Allen and Co., include Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding , Bacon’s Essays and Lemprière’s Classical Dictionary .
    Outside events were pressing once again, mainly in the shape of Godwin, who began to write to him directly once more on 11 November about a £250 debt to a certain Hogan who threatened to sue him. 33 Claire almost certainly came back from Ireland before Christmas, and she seems to have shuttled rapidly between the Godwins at Skinner Street, Shelley’s old flat in Arabella Road and Bishopsgate. We know from Godwin’s diary that she spent the New Year, 1816, with Shelley and Mary, and it is clear from the cheques which he paid out to her that Shelley regarded her as his own responsibility. In March alone he drew her three cheques totalling £41. 34 In the six months between October 1815 and March 1816, Claire had received cash equivalent to one-third of the money Shelley was paying his wife Harriet annually. Harriet herself had applied for an increase in Shelley’s annuity, but he had turned her down, and demanded custody of his daughter Ianthe by way of reply. In return the Westbrooks threatened to bring him to court on settlement proceedings and expose his atheism. On both sides these seem to have been strategic moves in the hope of obtaining more funds from Sir Timothy, rather than genuinely intended threats. At any rate, there was no reaction from Field Place, stalemate was reached, and no further advances were made on either side. There is no evidence that Shelley attempted to visit his children, or make any special provision for them. Nor is there anything on record at this time to show he had any particular feeling or attachment for either Ianthe or Charles. This is significant in the light of Shelley’s subsequent actions in the winter of 1816-17.
    Encouraged by Mary and Peacock, Shelley decided to publish his first volume of poetry, consisting largely of the title poem, Alastor , with its preface, and the other introspective poems of the previous summer. His sonnets to Wordsworth, and on the fall of Bonaparte were also included. The opening lyric section to Queen Mab — ‘How wonderful is Death, Death and his brother Sleep!’ — in prudently edited form, filled out the end of the collection, together with a shorter but rather more daring statement of atheism, also taken from Queen Mab , and re-entitled ‘Superstition’. Finally there were two charming pieces of translation which hinted at the increasingly serious and agile scholarship upon which Shelley was embarked. The first was from the Greek of Moschus; and the second a sonnet from Dante. The Dante, which is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, shows how quickly Shelley recognized and assimilated what was congenial to his temper in a foreign author. The longing for a community of intimate friends, combined with the surprising and perfectly Shelleyanimage of a magic airship, is brilliantly caught in one of the few and one of the best sonnets he ever wrote: ‘Dante Alighieri to Guido Cavalcanti’ —
Guido, I would that Lapo, thou, and I,
Led by some strong enchantment, might ascend
A magic ship, whose charmèd sails should fly
With winds at will where’er our thoughts might wend,
And