PROLOGUE.

Peter Bells, one, two and three,
O’er the wide world wandering be.—­
First, the antenatal Peter,
Wrapped in weeds of the same metre,
The so-long-predestined raiment 5
Clothed in which to walk his way meant
The second Peter; whose ambition
Is to link the proposition,
As the mean of two extremes—­
(This was learned from Aldric’s themes) 10
Shielding from the guilt of schism
The orthodoxal syllogism;
The First Peter—­he who was
Like the shadow in the glass
Of the second, yet unripe, 15
His substantial antitype.—­

Then came Peter Bell the Second,
Who henceforward must be reckoned
The body of a double soul,
And that portion of the whole 20
Without which the rest would seem
Ends of a disjointed dream.—­
And the Third is he who has
O’er the grave been forced to pass
To the other side, which is,—­ 25
Go and try else,—­just like this.

Peter Bell the First was Peter
Smugger, milder, softer, neater,
Like the soul before it is
Born from THAT world into THIS. 30
The next Peter Bell was he,
Predevote, like you and me,
To good or evil as may come;
His was the severer doom,—­
For he was an evil Cotter, 35
And a polygamic Potter. 
And the last is Peter Bell,
Damned since our first parents fell,
Damned eternally to Hell—­
Surely he deserves it well! 40

NOTES: 
10 Aldric’s] i.e.  Aldrich’s—­a spelling adopted here by Woodberry.

(36 The oldest scholiasts read—­ A dodecagamic Potter.  This is at once more descriptive and more megalophonous,—­but the alliteration of the text had captivated the vulgar ear of the herd of later commentators.—­[SHELLEY’S NOTE.])

PART 1.

DEATH.

1. 
And Peter Bell, when he had been
With fresh-imported Hell-fire warmed,
Grew serious—­from his dress and mien
’Twas very plainly to be seen
Peter was quite reformed. 5

2. 
His eyes turned up, his mouth turned down;
His accent caught a nasal twang;
He oiled his hair; there might be heard
The grace of God in every word
Which Peter said or sang. 10

3. 
But Peter now grew old, and had
An ill no doctor could unravel: 
His torments almost drove him mad;—­
Some said it was a fever bad—­
Some swore it was the gravel. 15