I trust, or I should perhaps rather say I hope, that I was as much struck
by the conversation, the aspect, and the deportment of my new
acquaintance, as entirely convinced of the value of the acquisition I had
just made, and as deeply impressed with surprise and admiration as became
a young student not insensible of excellence, to whom a character so
extraordinary, and indeed almost preternatural, had been suddenly
unfolded. During his animated and eloquent discourses I felt a due
reverence for his zeal and talent, but the human mind is capable of a
certain amount of attention only. I had listened and discussed for seven
or eight hours, and my spirits were totally exhausted. I went to bed as
soon as Shelley had quitted my rooms, and fell instantly into a profound
sleep; and I shook off with a painful effort, at the accustomed signal,
the complete oblivion which then appeared to have been but momentary. Many
of the wholesome usages of antiquity had ceased at Oxford; that of early
rising, however, still lingered.
As soon as I got up, I applied myself sedulously to my academical duties
and my accustomed studies. The power of habitual occupation is great and
engrossing, and it is possible that my mind had not yet fully recovered
from the agreeable fatigue of the preceding evening, for I had entirely
forgotten my engagement, nor did the thought of my young guest once cross
my fancy. It was strange that a person so remarkable and attractive should
have thus disappeared for several hours from my memory; but such in truth
was the fact, although I am unable to account for it in a satisfactory
manner.
At one o'clock I put away my books and papers, and prepared myself for my
daily walk; the weather was frosty, with fog, and whilst I lingered over
the fire with that reluctance to venture forth into the cold air common to
those who have chilled themselves by protracted sedentary pursuits, the
recollection of the scenes of yesterday flashed suddenly and vividly
across my mind, and I quickly repaired to a spot that I may perhaps
venture to predict many of our posterity will hereafter reverently
visit--to the rooms in the corner next the hall of the principal
quadrangle of University College. They are on the first floor, and on the
right of the entrance, but by reason of the turn in the stairs, when you
reach them they will be upon your left hand. I remember the direction
given at parting, and I soon found the door. It stood ajar. I tapped
gently, and the discordant voice cried shrilly,--
"Come in!"
It was now nearly two. I began to apologise for my delay, but I was
interrupted by a loud exclamation of surprise.
"What! is it one? I had no notion it was so late. I thought it was about
ten or eleven."
"It is on the stroke of two, sir," said the scout, who was engaged in the
vain attempt of setting the apartment in order.
"Of two!" Shelley cried with increased wonder, and presently the clock
struck, and the servant noticed it, retired and shut the door.
I perceived at once that the young chemist took no note of time. He
measured duration, not by minutes and hours, like watchmakers and their
customers, but by the successive trains of ideas and sensations;
consequently, if there was a virtue of which he was utterly incapable, it
was that homely but pleasing and useful one--punctuality. He could not
tear himself from his incessant abstractions to observe at intervals the
growth and decline of the day; nor was he ever able to set apart even a
small portion of his mental powers for a duty so simple as that of
watching the course of the pointers on the dial.
I found him cowering over the fire, his chair planted in the middle of the
rug, and his feet resting upon the fender; his whole appearance was
dejected. His astonishment at the unexpected lapse of time roused him. As
soon as the hour of the day was ascertained he welcomed me, and seizing
one of my arms with both his hands, he shook it with some force, and very
cordially expressed his satisfaction at my visit. Then, resuming his seat
and his former posture, he gazed fixedly at the fire, and his limbs
trembled and his teeth chattered with cold. I cleared the fireplace with
the poker and stirred the fire, and when it blazed up, he drew back, and,
looking askance towards the door, he exclaimed with a deep sigh,--
"Thank God, that fellow is gone at last!"
The assiduity of the scout had annoyed him, and he presently added,--
"If you had not come, he would have stayed until he had put everything in
my rooms into some place where I should never have found it again!"
He then complained of his health, and said that he was very unwell; but he
did not appear to be affected by any disorder more serious than a slight
aguish cold. I remarked the same contradiction in his rooms which I had
already observed in his person and dress. They had just been papered and
painted; the carpet, curtains, and furniture were quite new, and had not
passed through several academical generations, after the established
custom of transferring the whole of the movables to the successor on
payments of thirds, that is, of two-thirds of the price last given. The
general air of freshness was greatly obscured, however, by the
indescribable confusion in which the various objects were mixed.
Notwithstanding the unwelcome exertions of the officious scout, scarcely a
single article was in its proper position.
Books, boots, papers, shoes, philosophical instruments, clothes, pistols,
linen, crockery, ammunition and phials innumerable, with money, stockings,
prints, crucibles, bags and boxes were scattered on the floor and in
every place, as if the young chemist, in order to analyse the mystery of
creation, had endeavoured first to re-construct the primeval chaos. The
tables, and especially the carpet, were already stained with large spots
of various hues, which frequently proclaimed the agency of fire. An
electrical machine, an air-pump, the galvanic trough, a solar microscope
and large glass jars and receivers, were conspicuous amidst the mass of
matter. Upon the table by his side were some books lying open, several
letters, a bundle of new pens and a bottle of japan ink that served as an
inkstand; a piece of deal, lately part of the lid of a box, with many
chips, and a handsome razor that had been used as a knife. There were
bottles of soda water, sugar, pieces of lemon, and the traces of an
effervescent beverage. Two piles of books supported the tongs, and these
upheld a small glass retort above an argand lamp. I had not been seated
many minutes before the liquor in the vessel boiled over, adding fresh
stains to the table, and rising in fumes with a most disagreeable odour.
Shelley snatched the glass quickly, and dashing it in pieces among the
ashes under the grate, increased the unpleasant and penetrating effluvium.
He then proceeded with much eagerness and enthusiasm to show me the
various instruments, especially the electrical apparatus, turning round
the handle very rapidly, so that the fierce, crackling sparks flew forth;
and presently, standing upon the stool with glass feet, he begged me to
work the machine until he was filled with the fluid, so that his long wild
locks bristled and stood on end. Afterwards he charged a powerful battery
of several large jars; labouring with vast energy, and discoursing with
increasing vehemence of the marvellous powers of electricity, of thunder
and lightning; describing an electrical kite that he had made at home, and
projecting another and an enormous one, or rather a combination of many
kites, that would draw down from the sky an immense volume of
electricity, the whole ammunition of a mighty thunderstorm; and this being
directed to some point would there produce the most stupendous results.
In these exhibitions and in such conversation the time passed away
rapidly, and the hour of dinner approached. Having pricked _aeger_ that
day, or, in other words, having caused his name to be entered as an
invalid, he was not required or permitted to dine in hall, or to appear in
public within the college or without the walls, until a night's rest
should have restored the sick man to health.
He requested me to spend the evening at his rooms; I consented, nor did I
fail to attend immediately after dinner. We conversed until a late hour on
miscellaneous topics. I remember that he spoke frequently of poetry, and
that there was the same animation, the same glowing zeal, which had
characterised his former discourses, and was so opposite to the listless
languor, the monstrous indifference, if not the absolute antipathy to
learning, that so strangely darkened the collegiate atmosphere. It would
seem, indeed, to one who rightly considered the final cause of the
institution of a university, that all the rewards, all the honours the
most opulent foundation could accumulate, would be inadequate to
remunerate an individual, whose thirst for knowledge was so intense, and
his activity in the pursuit of it so wonderful and so unwearied. I
participated in his enthusiasm, and soon forgot the shrill and unmusical
voice that had at first seemed intolerable to my ear.
He was, indeed, a whole university in himself to me, in respect of the
stimulus and incitement which his example afforded to my love of study,
and he amply atoned for the disappointment I had felt on my arrival at
Oxford. In one respect alone could I pretend to resemble him--in an ardent
desire to gain knowledge, and, as our tastes were the same in many
particulars, we immediately became, through sympathy, most intimate and
altogether inseparable companions. We almost invariably passed the
afternoon and evening together; at first, alternately at our respective
rooms, through a certain punctiliousness, but afterwards, when we became
more familiar, most frequently by far at his. Sometimes one or two good
and harmless men of our acquaintance were present, but we were usually
alone. His rooms were preferred to mine, because there his philosophical
apparatus was at hand; and at that period he was not perfectly satisfied
with the condition and circumstances of his existence, unless he was able
to start from his seat at any moment, and seizing the air-pump, some
magnets, the electrical machine, or the bottles containing those noxious
and nauseous fluids wherewith he incessantly besmeared and disfigured
himself and his goods, to ascertain by actual experiment the value of some
new idea that rushed into his brain. He spent much time in working by fits
and starts and in an irregular manner with his instruments, and especially
consumed his hours and his money in the assiduous cultivation of
chemistry.
We have heard that one of the most distinguished of modern discoverers was
abrupt, hasty, and to appearance disorderly, in the conduct of his
manipulations. The variety of the habits of great men is indeed infinite.
It is impossible, therefore, to decide peremptorily as to the capabilities
of individuals from their course of proceeding, yet it certainly seemed
highly improbable that Shelley was qualified to succeed in a science
wherein a scrupulous minuteness and a mechanical accuracy are
indispensable. His chemical operations seemed to an unskilful observer to
promise nothing but disasters. His hands, his clothes, his books and his
furniture were stained and corroded by mineral acids. More than one hole
in the carpet could elucidate the ultimate phenomenon of combustion;
especially a formidable aperture in the middle of the room, where the
floor also had been burnt by the spontaneous ignition, caused by mixing
ether with some other fluid in a crucible; and the honourable wound was
speedily enlarged by rents, for the philosopher, as he hastily crossed the
room in pursuit of truth, was frequently caught in it by the foot. Many
times a day, but always in vain, would the sedulous scout say, pointing to
the scorched boards with a significant look,--
"Would it not be better, sir, for us to get this place mended?"
It seemed but too probable that in the rash ardour of experiment he would
some day set the college on fire, or that he would blind, maim or kill
himself by the explosion of combustibles. It was still more likely,
indeed, that he would poison himself, for plates and glasses and every
part of his tea equipage were used indiscriminately with crucibles,
retorts, and recipients, to contain the most deleterious ingredients. To
his infinite diversion I used always to examine every drinking vessel
narrowly, and often to rinse it carefully, after that evening when we were
taking tea by firelight, and my attention being attracted by the sound of
something in the cup into which I was about to pour tea, I was induced to
look into it. I found a seven-shilling piece partly dissolved by the _aqua
regia_ in which it was immersed. Although he laughed at my caution, he
used to speak with horror of the consequences of having inadvertently
swallowed, through a similar accident, some mineral poison--I think
arsenic--at Eton, which he declared had not only seriously injured his
health, but that he feared he should never entirely recover from the shock
it had inflicted on his constitution. It seemed improbable,
notwithstanding his positive assertions, that his lively fancy exaggerated
the recollection of the unpleasant and permanent taste, of the sickness
and disorder of the stomach, which might arise from taking a minute
portion of some poisonous substance by the like chance, for there was no
vestige of a more serious and lasting injury in his youthful and healthy,
although somewhat delicate aspect.
I knew little of the physical sciences, and I felt, therefore, but a
slight degree of interest in them. I looked upon his philosophical
apparatus merely as toys and playthings, like a chess-board or a billiard
table. Through lack of sympathy, his zeal, which was at first so ardent,
gradually cooled; and he applied himself to these pursuits, after a short
time, less frequently and with less earnestness. The true value of them
was often the subject of animated discussion; and I remember one evening
at my own rooms, when we had sought refuge against the intense cold in the
little inner apartment, or study, I referred, in the course of our debate,
to a passage in Xenophon's _Memorabilia_, where Socrates speaks in
disparagement of Physics. He read it several times very attentively, and
more than once aloud, slowly and with emphasis, and it appeared to make a
strong impression on him.
Notwithstanding our difference of opinion as to the importance of
chemistry and on some other questions, our intimacy rapidly increased, and
we soon formed the habit of passing the greater part of our time
together; nor did this constant intercourse interfere with my usual
studies. I never visited his rooms until one o'clock, by which hour, as I
rose very early, I had not only attended the college lectures, but had
read in private for several hours. I was enabled, moreover, to continue my
studies afterwards in the evening, in consequence of a very remarkable
peculiarity. My young and energetic friend was then overcome by extreme
drowsiness, which speedily and completely vanquished him; he would sleep
from two to four hours, often so soundly that his slumbers resembled a
deep lethargy; he lay occasionally upon the sofa, but more commonly
stretched upon the rug before a large fire, like a cat; and his little
round head was exposed to such a fierce heat, that I used to wonder how he
was able to bear it. Sometimes I have interposed some shelter, but rarely
with any permanent effect; for the sleeper usually contrived to turn
himself and to roll again into the spot where the fire glowed the
brightest. His torpor was generally profound, but he would sometimes
discourse incoherently for a long while in his sleep. At six he would
suddenly compose himself, even in the midst of a most animated narrative
or of earnest discussion; and he would lie buried in entire forgetfulness,
in a sweet and mighty oblivion, until ten, when he would suddenly start
up, and rubbing his eyes with great violence, and passing his fingers
swiftly through his long hair, would enter at once into a vehement
argument, or begin to recite verses, either of his own composition or from
the works of others, with a rapidity and an energy that were often quite
painful. During the period of his occultation I took tea, and read or
wrote without interruption. He would sometimes sleep for a shorter time,
for about two hours, postponing for the like period the commencement of
his retreat to the rug, and rising with tolerable punctuality at ten; and
sometimes, although rarely, he was able entirely to forego the accustomed
refreshment.
We did not consume the whole of our time, when he was awake, in
conversation; we often read apart, and more frequently together. Our joint
studies were occasionally interrupted by long discussions--nevertheless, I
could enumerate many works, and several of them are extensive and
important, which we perused completely and very carefully in this manner.
At ten, when he awoke, he was always ready for his supper, which he took
with a peculiar relish. After that social meal his mind was clear and
penetrating, and his discourse eminently brilliant. He was unwilling to
separate, but when the college clock struck two, I used to rise and retire
to my room. Our conversations were sometimes considerably prolonged, but
they seldom terminated before that chilly hour of the early morning; nor
did I feel any inconvenience from thus reducing the period of rest to
scarcely five hours.
A disquisition on some difficult question in the open air was not less
agreeable to him than by the fireside; if the weather was fine, or rather
not altogether intolerable, we used to sally forth, when we met at one.
I have already pointed out several contradictions in his appearance and
character. His ordinary preparation for a rural walk formed a very
remarkable contrast with his mild aspect and pacific habits. He furnished
himself with a pair of duelling pistols and a good store of powder and
ball, and when he came to a solitary spot, he pinned a card, or fixed some
other mark upon a tree or a bank, and amused himself by firing at it: he
was a pretty good shot, and was much delighted at his success. He often
urged me to try my hand and eye, assuring me that I was not aware of the
pleasure of a good hit. One day, when he was peculiarly pressing, I took
up a pistol and asked him what I should aim at? And observing a slab of
wood, about as big as a hearthrug, standing against a wall, I named it as
being a proper object. He said that it was much too far off; it was
better to wait until we came nearer. But I answered--"I may as well fire
here as anywhere," and instantly discharged my pistol. To my infinite
surprise the ball struck the elm target most accurately in the very
centre. Shelley was delighted. He ran to the board, placed his chin close
to it, gazed at the hole where the bullet was lodged, examined it
attentively on all sides many times, and more than once measured the
distance to the spot where I had stood.
I never knew anyone so prone to admire as he was, in whom the principle of
veneration was so strong. He extolled my skill, urged me repeatedly to
display it again, and begged that I would give him instructions in an art
in which I so much excelled. I suffered him to enjoy his wonder for a few
days, and then I told him, and with difficulty persuaded him, that my
success was purely accidental; for I had seldom fired a pistol before, and
never with ball, but with shot only, as a schoolboy, in clandestine and
bloodless expeditions against blackbirds and yellowhammers.
The duelling pistols were a most discordant interruption of the repose of
a quiet country walk; besides, he handled them with such inconceivable
carelessness, that I had perpetually reason to apprehend that, as a
trifling episode in the grand and heroic work of drilling a hole through
the back of a card or the front of one of his father's franks, he would
shoot himself, or me, or both of us. How often have I lamented that
Nature, which so rarely bestows upon the world a creature endowed with
such marvellous talents, ungraciously rendered the gift less precious by
implanting a fatal taste for perilous recreations, and a thoughtlessness
in the pursuit of them, that often caused his existence from one day to
another to seem in itself miraculous. I opposed the practice of walking
armed, and I at last succeeded in inducing him to leave the pistols at
home, and to forbear the use of them. I prevailed, I believe, not so much
by argument or persuasion, as by secretly abstracting, when he equipped
himself for the field, and it was not difficult with him, the
powder-flask, the flints or some other indispensable article. One day, I
remember, he was grievously discomposed and seriously offended to find, on
producing his pistols, after descending rapidly into a quarry, where he
proposed to take a few shots, that not only had the flints been removed,
but the screws and the bits of steel at the top of the cocks which hold
the flints were also wanting. He determined to return to college for
them--I accompanied him. I tempted him, however, by the way, to try to
define anger, and to discuss the nature of that affection of the mind, to
which, as the discussion waxed warm, he grew exceedingly hostile in
theory, and could not be brought to admit that it could possibly be
excusable in any case. In the course of conversation, moreover, he
suffered himself to be insensibly turned away from his original path and
purpose. I have heard that, some years after he left Oxford, he resumed
the practice of pistol-shooting, and attained to a very unusual degree of
skill in an accomplishment so entirely incongruous with his nature.
Of rural excursions he was at all times fond. He loved to walk in the
woods, to stroll on the banks of the Thames, but especially to wander
about Shotover Hill. There was a pond at the foot of the hill, before
ascending it and on the left of the road; it was formed by the water which
had filled an old quarry. Whenever he was permitted to shape his course as
he would, he proceeded to the edge of this pool, although the scene had no
other attractions than a certain wildness and barrenness. Here he would
linger until dusk, gazing in silence on the water, repeating verses aloud,
or earnestly discussing themes that had no connection with surrounding
objects. Sometimes he would raise a stone as large as he could lift,
deliberately throw it into the water as far as his strength enabled him,
then he would loudly exult at the splash, and would quietly watch the
decreasing agitation, until the last faint ring and almost imperceptible
ripple disappeared on the still surface. "Such are the effects of an
impulse on the air," he would say; and he complained of our ignorance of
the theory of sound--that the subject was obscure and mysterious, and many
of the phenomena were contradictory and inexplicable. He asserted that the
science of acoustics ought to be cultivated, and that by well-devised
experiments valuable discoveries would undoubtedly be made, and he related
many remarkable stories connected with the subject that he had heard or
read. Sometimes he would busy himself in splitting slaty stones, in
selecting thin and flat pieces and in giving them a round form, and when
he had collected a sufficient number, he would gravely make ducks and
drakes with them, counting, with the utmost glee, the number of bounds as
they flew along, skimming the surface of the pond. He was a devoted
worshipper of the water-nymphs, for, whenever he found a pool, or even a
small puddle, he would loiter near it, and it was no easy task to get him
to quit it. He had not yet learned that art from which he afterwards
derived so much pleasure--the construction of paper boats. He twisted a
morsel of paper into a form that a lively fancy might consider a likeness
of a boat, and, committing it to the water, he anxiously watched the
fortunes of the frail bark, which, if it was not soon swamped by the faint
winds and miniature waves, gradually imbibed water through its porous
sides, and sank. Sometimes, however, the fairy vessel performed its little
voyage, and reached the opposite shore of the puny ocean in safety. It is
astonishing with what keen delight he engaged in this singular pursuit. It
was not easy for an uninitiated spectator to bear with tolerable patience
the vast delay on the brink of a wretched pond upon a bleak common and in
the face of a cutting north-east wind, on returning to dinner from a long
walk at sunset on a cold winter's day; nor was it easy to be so harsh as
to interfere with a harmless gratification that was evidently exquisite.
It was not easy, at least, to induce the shipbuilder to desist from
launching his tiny fleets, so long as any timber remained in the
dock-yard. I prevailed once and once only. It was one of those bitter
Sundays that commonly receive the new year; the sun had set, and it had
almost begun to snow. I had exhorted him long in vain, with the eloquence
of a frozen and famished man, to proceed. At last I said in
despair--alluding to his never-ending creations, for a paper navy that was
to be set afloat simultaneously lay at his feet, and he was busily
constructing more, with blue and swollen hands--"Shelley, there is no use
in talking to you; you are the Demiurgus of Plato!" He instantly caught up
the whole flotilla, and, bounding homeward with mighty strides, laughed
aloud--laughed like a giant as he used to say. So long as his paper
lasted, he remained riveted to the spot, fascinated by this peculiar
amusement. All waste paper was rapidly consumed, then the covers of
letters; next, letters of little value; the most precious contributions of
the most esteemed correspondent, although eyed wistfully many times and
often returned to the pocket, were sure to be sent at last in pursuit of
the former squadrons. Of the portable volumes which were the companions of
his rambles, and he seldom went out without a book, the fly-leaves were
commonly wanting--he had applied them as our ancestor Noah applied Gopher
wood. But learning was so sacred in his eyes, that he never trespassed
farther upon the integrity of the copy; the work itself was always
respected. It has been said that he once found himself on the north bank
of the Serpentine river without the materials for indulging those
inclinations which the sight of water invariably inspired, for he had
exhausted his supplies on the round pond in Kensington Gardens. Not a
single scrap of paper could be found, save only a bank-post bill for fifty
pounds. He hesitated long, but yielded at last. He twisted it into a boat
with the extreme refinement of his skill, and committed it with the utmost
dexterity to fortune, watching its progress, if possible, with a still
more intense anxiety than usual. Fortune often favours those who frankly
and fully trust her; the north-east wind gently wafted the costly skiff to
the south bank, where, during the latter part of the voyage, the venturous
owner had waited its arrival with patient solicitude. The story, of
course, is a mythic fable, but it aptly pourtrays the dominion of a
singular and most unaccountable passion over the mind of an enthusiast.
But to return to Oxford. Shelley disliked exceedingly all college
meetings, and especially one which was the most popular with others--the
public dinner in the hall. He used often to absent himself, and he was
greatly delighted whenever I agreed to partake with him in a slight
luncheon at one, to take a long walk into the country and to return after
dark to tea and supper in his rooms. On one of these expeditions we
wandered farther than usual without regarding the distance or the lapse of
time; but we had no difficulty in finding our way home, for the night was
clear and frosty, and the moon at the full; and most glorious was the
spectacle as we approached the City of Colleges, and passed through the
silent streets. It was near ten when we entered our college; not only was
it too late for tea, but supper was ready, the cloth laid, and the table
spread. A large dish of scalloped oysters had been set within the fender
to be kept hot for the famished wanderers.
Among the innumerable contradictions in the character and deportment of
the youthful poet was a strange mixture of singular grace, which
manifested itself in his actions and gestures, with an occasional
awkwardness almost as remarkable. As soon as we entered the room, he
placed his chair as usual directly in front of the fire, and eagerly
pressed forward to warm himself, for the frost was severe and he was very
sensible of cold. Whilst cowering over the fire and rubbing his hands, he
abruptly set both his feet at once upon the edge of the fender; it
immediately flew up, threw under the grate the dish, which was broken into
two pieces, and the whole of the delicious mess was mingled with the
cinders and ashes, that had accumulated for several hours. It was
impossible that a hungry and frozen pedestrian should restrain a strong
expression of indignation, or that he should forbear, notwithstanding the
exasperation of cold and hunger, from smiling and forgiving the accident
at seeing the whimsical air and aspect of the offender, as he held up with
the shovel the long-anticipated food, deformed by ashes, coals and
cinders, with a ludicrous expression of exaggerated surprise,
disappointment, and contrition.
It would be easy to fill many volumes with reminiscences characteristic of
my young friend, and of these the most trifling would perhaps best
illustrate his innumerable peculiarities. With the discerning, trifles,
although they are accounted such, have their value. A familiarity with the
daily habits of Shelley, and the knowledge of his demeanour in private,
will greatly facilitate, and they are perhaps even essential to, the full
comprehension of his views and opinions. Traits that unfold an infantine
simplicity--the genuine simplicity of true genius--will be slighted by
those who are ignorant of the qualities that constitute greatness of soul.
The philosophical observer knows well that, to have shown a mind to be
original and perfectly natural, is no inconsiderable step in demonstrating
that it is also great.
Our supper had disappeared under the grate, but we were able to silence
the importunity of hunger. As the supply of cheese was scanty, Shelley
pretended, in order to atone for his carelessness, that he never ate it;
but I refused to take more than my share, and, notwithstanding his
reiterated declarations that it was offensive to his palate and hurtful to
his stomach, as I was inexorable, he devoured the remainder, greedily
swallowing, not merely the cheese, but the rind also, after scraping it
cursorily, and with a certain tenderness. A tankard of the stout brown ale
of our college aided us greatly in removing the sense of cold, and in
supplying the deficiency of food, so that we turned our chairs towards the
fire, and began to brew our negus as cheerfully as if the bounty of the
hospitable gods had not been intercepted.
We reposed ourselves after the fatigue of an unusually long walk, and
silence was broken by short remarks only, and at considerable intervals,
respecting the beauty of moonlight scenes, and especially of that we had
just enjoyed. The serenity and clearness of the night exceeded any we had
before witnessed; the light was so strong it would have been easy to read
or write. "How strange was it that light, proceeding from the sun, which
was at such a prodigious distance, and at that time entirely out of sight,
should be reflected from the moon, and that was no trifling journey, and
sent back to the earth in such abundance, and with so great force!"
Languid expressions of admiration dropped from our lips as we stretched
our stiff and wearied limbs towards the genial warmth of a blazing fire.
On a sudden Shelley started from his seat, seized one of the candles, and
began to walk about the room on tiptoe in profound silence, often stooping
low, and evidently engaged in some mysterious search. I asked him what he
wanted, but he returned no answer, and continued his whimsical and secret
inquisition, which he prosecuted in the same extraordinary manner in the
bedroom and the little study. It had occurred to him that a dessert had
possibly been sent to his rooms whilst we were absent, and had been put
away. He found the object of his pursuit at last, and produced some small
dishes from the study--apples, oranges, almonds and raisins and a little
cake. These he set close together at my side of the table, without
speaking, but with a triumphant look, yet with the air of a penitent
making restitution and reparation, and then resumed his seat. The
unexpected succour was very seasonable; this light fare, a few glasses of
negus, warmth, and especially rest, restored our lost vigour and our
spirits. We spoke of our happy life, of universities, of what they might
be, of what they were. How powerfully they might stimulate the student,
how much valuable instruction they might impart. We agreed that, although
the least possible benefit was conferred upon us in this respect at
Oxford, we were deeply indebted, nevertheless, to the great and good men
of former days, who founded those glorious institutions, for devising a
scheme of life, which, however deflected from its original direction,
still tended to study, and especially for creating establishments that
called young men together from all parts of the empire, and for endowing
them with a celebrity that was able to induce so many to congregate.
Without such an opportunity of meeting we should never have been
acquainted with each other. In so large a body there must doubtless be
many at that time who were equally thankful for the occasion of the like
intimacy, and in former generations how many friendships, that had endured
through all the various trials of a long and eventful life, had arisen
here from accidental communion, as in our case.
If there was little positive encouragement, there were various negative
inducements to acquire learning; there were no interruptions, no secular
cares; our wants were well supplied without the slightest exertion on our
part, and the exact regularity of academical existence cut off that
dissipation of the hours and the thoughts which so often prevails where
the daily course is not pre-arranged. The necessity of early rising was
beneficial. Like the Pythagoreans of old, we began with the gods; the
salutary attendance in chapel every morning not only compelled us to quit
our bed betimes, but imposed additional duties conducive to habits of
industry. It was requisite not merely to rise, but to leave our rooms, to
appear in public and to remain long enough to destroy the disposition to
indolence which might still linger if we were permitted to remain by the
fireside. To pass some minutes in society, yet in solemn silence, is like
the Pythagorean initiation, and we auspicate the day happily by commencing
with sacred things. I scarcely ever visited Shelley before one o'clock;
when I met him in the morning at chapel, he used studiously to avoid all
communication, and, as soon as the doors were opened, to effect a
ludicrously precipitate retreat to his rooms.
"The country near Oxford," he continued, as we reposed after our meagre
supper, "has no pretensions to peculiar beauty, but it is quiet, and
pleasant, and rural, and purely agricultural after the good old fashion.
It is not only unpolluted by manufactures and commerce, but it is exempt
from the desecration of the modern husbandry, of a system which accounts
the farmer a manufacturer of hay and corn. I delight to wander over it."
He enlarged upon the pleasure of our pedestrian excursions, and added, "I
can imagine few things that would annoy me more severely than to be
disturbed in our tranquil course. It would be a cruel calamity to be
interrupted by some untoward accident, to be compelled to quit our calm
and agreeable retreat. Not only would it be a sad mortification, but a
real misfortune, for if I remain here I shall study more closely and with
greater advantage than I could in any other situation that I can conceive.
Are you not of the same opinion?"
"Entirely."
"I regret only that the period of our residence is limited to four years.
I wish they would revive, for our sake, the old term of six or seven
years. If we consider how much there is for us to learn," here he paused
and sighed deeply through that despondency which sometimes comes over the
unwearied and zealous student, "we shall allow that the longer period
would still be far too short!"
I assented, and we discoursed concerning the abridgement of the ancient
term of residence, and the diminution of the academical year by frequent,
protracted, and most inconvenient vacations.
"To quit Oxford," he said, "would be still more unpleasant to you than to
myself, for you aim at objects that I do not seek to compass, and you
cannot fail, since you are resolved to place your success beyond the reach
of chance."
He enumerated with extreme rapidity, and in his enthusiastic strain, some
of the benefits and comforts of a college life.
"Then the _oak_ is such a blessing," he exclaimed, with peculiar fervour,
clasping his hands, and repeating often, "The oak is such a blessing!"
slowly and in a solemn tone. "The oak alone goes far towards making this
place a paradise. In what other spot in the world, surely in none that I
have hitherto visited, can you say confidently, it is perfectly
impossible, physically impossible, that I should be disturbed? Whether a
man desire solitary study, or to enjoy the society of a friend or two, he
is secure against interruption. It is not so in a house, not by any means;
there is not the same protection in a house, even in the best-contrived
house. The servant is bound to answer the door; he must appear and give
some excuse; he may betray by hesitation and confusion that he utters a
falsehood; he must expose himself to be questioned; he must open the door
and violate your privacy in some degree; besides, there are other doors,
there are windows, at least, through which a prying eye can detect some
indication that betrays the mystery. How different is it here! The bore
arrives; the outer door is shut; it is black and solemn, and perfectly
impenetrable, as is your secret; the doors are all alike; he can
distinguish mine from yours by the geographical position only. He may
knock; he may call; he may kick, if he will; he may inquire of a
neighbour, but he can inform him of nothing; he can only say, the door is
shut, and this he knows already. He may leave his card, that you may
rejoice over it, and at your escape; he may write upon it the hour when he
proposes to call again, to put you upon your guard, and that he may be
quite sure of seeing the back of your door once more. When the bore meets
you and says, I called at your house at such a time, you are required to
explain your absence, to prove an _alibi_, in short, and perhaps to
undergo a rigid cross-examination; but if he tells you, 'I called at your
rooms yesterday at three, and the door was shut,' you have only to say,
'Did you? Was it?' and there the matter ends."
"Were you not charmed with your oak? Did it not instantly captivate you?"
"My introduction to it was somewhat unpleasant and unpropitious. The
morning after my arrival I was sitting at breakfast; my scout, the
Arimaspian, apprehending that the singleness of his eye may impeach his
character for officiousness, in order to escape the reproach of seeing
half as much only as other men, is always striving to prove that he sees
at least twice as far as the most sharp-sighted. After many demonstrations
of superabundant activity, he inquired if I wanted anything more; I
answered in the negative. He had already opened the door: 'Shall I sport,
sir?' he asked briskly, as he stood upon the threshold. He seemed so
unlike a sporting character that I was curious to learn in what sport he
proposed to indulge. I answered, 'Yes, by all means,' and anxiously
watched him, but, to my surprise and disappointment he instantly vanished.
As soon as I had finished my breakfast, I sallied forth to survey Oxford.
I opened one door quickly and, not suspecting that there was a second, I
struck my head against it with some violence. The blow taught me to
observe that every set of rooms has two doors, and I soon learned that the
outer door, which is thick and solid, is called the oak, and to shut it is
termed, to sport. I derived so much benefit from my oak that I soon
pardoned this slight inconvenience. It is surely the tree of knowledge."
"Who invented the oak?"
"The inventors of the science of living in rooms or chambers--the Monks."
"Ah! they were sly fellows. None but men who were reputed to devote
themselves for many hours to prayers, to religious meditations and holy
abstractions, would ever have been permitted quietly to place at pleasure
such a barrier between themselves and the world. We now reap the advantage
of their reputation for sanctity. I shall revere my oak more than ever,
since its origin is so sacred."