find a hint of any imputation upon what is usually called her “fidelity”; but the relative manifestly desired to show her power over both.  It is probable that at an early day Shelley’s disposition to see “sermons in stones and good in everything” made him think better of that interloping lady than she deserved,—­and that consequently he not only gave her encouragement, but committed himself to something which, to Harriet’s mind, justified her deference for ill-considered advice.  It is very likely that she was counselled to extend her power over Shelley in a manner which her own simple nature would not have suggested; but, being as foolish as it was cunning and vulgar, such conduct could no result but that of repelling a man like Shelley.  That he acquired a detestation of the relative is a certain fact.  He must have been expecting a second child when he formally remarried Harriet in England on the twenty-fourth of March, 1814; and that ceremony has been mentioned by several writers to prove the most opposite conclusions,—­that Shelley was devoted to his first wife, and that he behaved to her with the basest hypocrisy.  It proves nothing but his desire to place the hereditary rights of the second child, who might be a boy, beyond doubt; and the precaution was justified by the event.  Before the close of the same year Harriet returned to her father’s house, and there she gave birth to a son, Charles, who would have inherited the baronetcy, if he had not died in 1826, after his father’s death.  The parting took place about the twenty-fourth of June, 1814; and at the same time Shelley wrote a poem, of which fragments are given in the recently published “Relics.”  The verse shows, first, that Shelley was suffering severely from the chronic conflict which he had undergone, and, secondly, that he had found some novel comfort in the intercourse with Mary.

  “To sit and curb the soul’s mute rage,
  Which preys upon itself alone;
  To curse the life which is the cage
  Of fettered grief that dares not groan,
  Hiding from many a careless eye
  The scorned load of agony.

  “Upon my heart thy accents sweet
  Of peace and pity fell like dew
  On flowers half dead....

  “We are not happy, sweet! our state
  Is strange and full of doubt and fear;
  More need of words that ills abate;—­
  Reserve or censure come not near
  Our sacred friendship, lest there be
  No solace left for thee and me.”

It is obvious that considerably after the date of this poem, Harriet remained in amicable correspondence with Shelley; and not only so, but, while she altogether abstained from opposing his new connection, she was actually on friendly terms with Mary.  It is easy to understand how a limited nature like Harriet’s should be worn out by the exaction and impracticability of one like Shelley; for to her most impracticable would seem his lofty and ideal requirements.  On the other hand, it is evident that Shelley regarded