40. 
The torrent of that wide and raging river
Is passed, and our aereal speed suspended. 
We look behind; a golden mist did quiver
When its wild surges with the lake were blended,—­
Our bark hung there, as on a line suspended 4805
Between two heavens,—­that windless waveless lake
Which four great cataracts from four vales, attended
By mists, aye feed; from rocks and clouds they break,
And of that azure sea a silent refuge make.

41. 
Motionless resting on the lake awhile, 4810
I saw its marge of snow-bright mountains rear
Their peaks aloft, I saw each radiant isle,
And in the midst, afar, even like a sphere
Hung in one hollow sky, did there appear
The Temple of the Spirit; on the sound 4815
Which issued thence, drawn nearer and more near,
Like the swift moon this glorious earth around,
The charmed boat approached, and there its haven found.

NOTES:  4577 there]then edition 1818. 4699 there]then edition 1818. 4749 When]Where edition 1818. 4804 Where]When edition 1818. 4805 on a line]one line edition 1818.

NOTE ON THE “REVOLT OF ISLAM”, BY MRS. SHELLEY.

Shelley possessed two remarkable qualities of intellect—­a brilliant imagination, and a logical exactness of reason.  His inclinations led him (he fancied) almost alike to poetry and metaphysical discussions.  I say ‘he fancied,’ because I believe the former to have been paramount, and that it would have gained the mastery even had he struggled against it.  However, he said that he deliberated at one time whether he should dedicate himself to poetry or metaphysics; and, resolving on the former, he educated himself for it, discarding in a great measure his philosophical pursuits, and engaging himself in the study of the poets of Greece, Italy, and England.  To these may be added a constant perusal of portions of the old Testament—­the Psalms, the Book of Job, the Prophet Isaiah, and others, the sublime poetry of which filled him with delight.

As a poet, his intellect and compositions were powerfully influenced by exterior circumstances, and especially by his place of abode.  He was very fond of travelling, and ill-health increased this restlessness.  The sufferings occasioned by a cold English winter made him pine, especially when our colder spring arrived, for a more genial climate.  In 1816 he again visited Switzerland, and rented a house on the banks of the Lake of Geneva; and many a day, in cloud or sunshine, was passed alone in his boat—­sailing as the wind listed, or weltering on the calm waters.  The majestic aspect of Nature ministered such thoughts as he afterwards enwove in verse.  His lines on the Bridge of the Arve, and his “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty”, were written at this time.  Perhaps during this summer his genius was checked by association