He was a lover of the wonderful and wild in literature, but had not fostered these tastes at their genuine sources—­the romances and chivalry of the middle ages—­but in the perusal of such German works as were current in those days.  Under the influence of these he, at the age of fifteen, wrote two short prose romances of slender merit.  The sentiments and language were exaggerated, the composition imitative and poor.  He wrote also a poem on the subject of Ahasuerus—­being led to it by a German fragment he picked up, dirty and torn, in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.  This fell afterwards into other hands, and was considerably altered before it was printed.  Our earlier English poetry was almost unknown to him.  The love and knowledge of Nature developed by Wordsworth—­the lofty melody and mysterious beauty of Coleridge’s poetry—­and the wild fantastic machinery and gorgeous scenery adopted by Southey—­composed his favourite reading; the rhythm of “Queen Mab” was founded on that of “Thalaba”, and the first few lines bear a striking resemblance in spirit, though not in idea, to the opening of that poem.  His fertile imagination, and ear tuned to the finest sense of harmony, preserved him from imitation.  Another of his favourite books was the poem of “Gebir” by Walter Savage Landor.  From his boyhood he had a wonderful facility of versification, which he carried into another language; and his Latin school-verses were composed with an ease and correctness that procured for him prizes, and caused him to be resorted to by all his friends for help.  He was, at the period of writing “Queen Mab”, a great traveller within the limits of England, Scotland, and Ireland.  His time was spent among the loveliest scenes of these countries.  Mountain and lake and forest were his home; the phenomena of Nature were his favourite study.  He loved to inquire into their causes, and was addicted to pursuits of natural philosophy and chemistry, as far as they could be carried on as an amusement.  These tastes gave truth and vivacity to his descriptions, and warmed his soul with that deep admiration for the wonders of Nature which constant association with her inspired.

He never intended to publish “Queen Mab” as it stands; but a few years after, when printing “Alastor”, he extracted a small portion which he entitled “The Daemon of the World”.  In this he changed somewhat the versification, and made other alterations scarcely to be called improvements.

Some years after, when in Italy, a bookseller published an edition of “Queen Mab” as it originally stood.  Shelley was hastily written to by his friends, under the idea that, deeply injurious as the mere distribution of the poem had proved, the publication might awaken fresh persecutions.  At the suggestion of these friends he wrote a letter on the subject, printed in the “Examiner” newspaper—­with which I close this history of his earliest work.

To the editor of the ‘examiner.’