The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 28

NOTE BY MRS. Sh.e.l.lEY.

"Rosalind and Helen" was begun at Marlow, and thrown aside--till I found it; and, at my request, it was completed. Sh.e.l.ley had no care for any of his poems that did not emanate from the depths of his mind, and develop some high or abstruse truth. When he does touch on human life and the human heart, no pictures can be more faithful, more delicate, more subtle, or more pathetic. He never mentioned Love but he shed a grace borrowed from his own nature, that scarcely any other poet has bestowed on that pa.s.sion. When he spoke of it as the law of life, which inasmuch as we rebel against we err and injure ourselves and others, he promulgated that which he considered an irrefragable truth. In his eyes it was the essence of our being, and all woe and pain arose from the war made against it by selfishness, or insensibility, or mistake. By reverting in his mind to this first principle, he discovered the source of many emotions, and could disclose the secrets of all hearts, and his delineations of pa.s.sion and emotion touch the finest chords of our nature.

"Rosalind and Helen" was finished during the summer of 1818, while we were at the Baths of Lucca.

JULIAN AND MADDALO.

A CONVERSATION.

[Composed at Este after Sh.e.l.ley's first visit to Venice, 1818 (Autumn); first published in the "Posthumous Poems", London, 1824 (edition Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley). Sh.e.l.ley's original intention had been to print the poem in Leigh Hunt's "Examiner"; but he changed his mind and, on August 15, 1819, sent the ma.n.u.script to Hunt to be published anonymously by Ollier. This ma.n.u.script, found by Mr. Townshend Mayer, and by him placed in the hands of Mr. H. Buxton Forman, C.B., is described at length in Mr. Forman's Library Edition of the poems (volume 3 page 107). The date, 'May, 1819,' affixed to "Julian and Maddalo" in the "Posthumous Poems", 1824, indicates the time when the text was finally revised by Sh.e.l.ley. Sources of the text are (1) "Posthumous Poems", 1824; (2) the Hunt ma.n.u.script; (3) a fair draft of the poem amongst the Bos...o...b.. ma.n.u.scripts; (4) "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st and 2nd editions (Mrs. Sh.e.l.ley). Our text is that of the Hunt ma.n.u.script, as printed in Forman's Library Edition of the Poems, 1876, volume 3, pages 103-30; variants of 1824 are indicated in the footnotes; questions of punctuation are dealt with in the notes at the end of the volume.]

PREFACE.

The meadows with fresh streams, the bees with thyme, The goats with the green leaves of budding Spring, Are saturated not--nor Love with tears.--VIRGIL'S "Gallus".

Count Maddalo is a Venetian n.o.bleman of ancient family and of great fortune, who, without mixing much in the society of his countrymen, resides chiefly at his magnificent palace in that city. He is a person of the most consummate genius, and capable, if he would direct his energies to such an end, of becoming the redeemer of his degraded country. But it is his weakness to be proud: he derives, from a comparison of his own extraordinary mind with the dwarfish intellects that surround him, an intense apprehension of the nothingness of human life. His pa.s.sions and his powers are incomparably greater than those of other men; and, instead of the latter having been employed in curbing the former, they have mutually lent each other strength. His ambition preys upon itself, for want of objects which it can consider worthy of exertion. I say that Maddalo is proud, because I can find no other word to express the concentred and impatient feelings which consume him; but it is on his own hopes and affections only that he seems to trample, for in social life no human being can be more gentle, patient and una.s.suming than Maddalo. He is cheerful, frank and witty. His more serious conversation is a sort of intoxication; men are held by it as by a spell. He has travelled much; and there is an inexpressible charm in his relation of his adventures in different countries.

Julian is an Englishman of good family, pa.s.sionately attached to those philosophical notions which a.s.sert the power of man over his own mind, and the immense improvements of which, by the extinction of certain moral superst.i.tions, human society may be yet susceptible. Without concealing the evil in the world he is for ever speculating how good may be made superior. He is a complete infidel, and a scoffer at all things reputed holy; and Maddalo takes a wicked pleasure in drawing out his taunts against religion. What Maddalo thinks on these matters is not exactly known. Julian, in spite of his heterodox opinions, is conjectured by his friends to possess some good qualities. How far this is possible the pious reader will determine. Julian is rather serious.

Of the Maniac I can give no information. He seems, by his own account, to have been disappointed in love. He was evidently a very cultivated and amiable person when in his right senses. His story, told at length, might be like many other stories of the same kind: the unconnected exclamations of his agony will perhaps be found a sufficient comment for the text of every heart.

I rode one evening with Count Maddalo Upon the bank of land which breaks the flow Of Adria towards Venice: a bare strand Of hillocks, heaped from ever-s.h.i.+fting sand, Matted with thistles and amphibious weeds, _5 Such as from earth's embrace the salt ooze breeds, Is this; an uninhabited sea-side, Which the lone fisher, when his nets are dried, Abandons; and no other object breaks The waste, but one dwarf tree and some few stakes _10 Broken and unrepaired, and the tide makes A narrow s.p.a.ce of level sand thereon, Where 'twas our wont to ride while day went down.

This ride was my delight. I love all waste And solitary places; where we taste _15 The pleasure of believing what we see Is boundless, as we wish our souls to be: And such was this wide ocean, and this sh.o.r.e More barren than its billows; and yet more Than all, with a remembered friend I love _20 To ride as then I rode;--for the winds drove The living spray along the sunny air Into our faces; the blue heavens were bare, Stripped to their depths by the awakening north; And, from the waves, sound like delight broke forth _25 Harmonising with solitude, and sent Into our hearts aereal merriment.

So, as we rode, we talked; and the swift thought, Winging itself with laughter, lingered not, But flew from brain to brain,--such glee was ours, _30 Charged with light memories of remembered hours, None slow enough for sadness: till we came Homeward, which always makes the spirit tame.

This day had been cheerful but cold, and now The sun was sinking, and the wind also. _35 Our talk grew somewhat serious, as may be Talk interrupted with such raillery As mocks itself, because it cannot scorn The thoughts it would extinguish: --'twas forlorn, Yet pleasing, such as once, so poets tell, _40 The devils held within the dales of h.e.l.l Concerning G.o.d, freewill and destiny: Of all that earth has been or yet may be, All that vain men imagine or believe, Or hope can paint or suffering may achieve, _45 We descanted; and I (for ever still Is it not wise to make the best of ill?) Argued against despondency, but pride Made my companion take the darker side.

The sense that he was greater than his kind _50 Had struck, methinks, his eagle spirit blind By gazing on its own exceeding light.

Meanwhile the sun paused ere it should alight, Over the horizon of the mountains;--Oh, How beautiful is sunset, when the glow _55 Of Heaven descends upon a land like thee, Thou Paradise of exiles, Italy!

Thy mountains, seas and vineyards, and the towers Of cities they encircle!--it was ours To stand on thee, beholding it: and then, _60 Just where we had dismounted, the Count's men Were waiting for us with the gondola.-- As those who pause on some delightful way Though bent on pleasant pilgrimage, we stood Looking upon the evening, and the flood _65 Which lay between the city and the sh.o.r.e, Paved with the image of the sky...the h.o.a.r And aery Alps towards the North appeared Through mist, an heaven-sustaining bulwark reared Between the East and West; and half the sky _70 Was roofed with clouds of rich emblazonry Dark purple at the zenith, which still grew Down the steep West into a wondrous hue Brighter than burning gold, even to the rent Where the swift sun yet paused in his descent _75 Among the many-folded hills: they were Those famous Euganean hills, which bear, As seen from Lido thro' the harbour piles, The likeness of a clump of peaked isles-- And then--as if the Earth and Sea had been _80 Dissolved into one lake of fire, were seen Those mountains towering as from waves of flame Around the vaporous sun, from which there came The inmost purple spirit of light, and made Their very peaks transparent. 'Ere it fade,' _85 Said my companion, 'I will show you soon A better station'--so, o'er the lagune We glided; and from that funereal bark I leaned, and saw the city, and could mark How from their many isles, in evening's gleam, _90 Its temples and its palaces did seem Like fabrics of enchantment piled to Heaven.

I was about to speak, when--'We are even Now at the point I meant,' said Maddalo, And bade the gondolieri cease to row. _95 'Look, Julian, on the west, and listen well If you hear not a deep and heavy bell.'

I looked, and saw between us and the sun A building on an island; such a one As age to age might add, for uses vile, _100 A windowless, deformed and dreary pile; And on the top an open tower, where hung A bell, which in the radiance swayed and swung; We could just hear its hoa.r.s.e and iron tongue: The broad sun sunk behind it, and it tolled _105 In strong and black relief.--'What we behold Shall be the madhouse and its belfry tower,'

Said Maddalo, 'and ever at this hour Those who may cross the water, hear that bell Which calls the maniacs, each one from his cell, _110 To vespers.'--'As much skill as need to pray In thanks or hope for their dark lot have they To their stern maker,' I replied. 'O ho!

You talk as in years past,' said Maddalo.

''Tis strange men change not. You were ever still _115 Among Christ's flock a perilous infidel, A wolf for the meek lambs--if you can't swim Beware of Providence.' I looked on him, But the gay smile had faded in his eye.

'And such,'--he cried, 'is our mortality, _120 And this must be the emblem and the sign Of what should be eternal and divine!-- And like that black and dreary bell, the soul, Hung in a heaven-illumined tower, must toll Our thoughts and our desires to meet below _125 Round the rent heart and pray--as madmen do For what? they know not,--till the night of death As sunset that strange vision, severeth Our memory from itself, and us from all We sought and yet were baffled.' I recall _130 The sense of what he said, although I mar The force of his expressions. The broad star Of day meanwhile had sunk behind the hill, And the black bell became invisible, And the red tower looked gray, and all between _135 The churches, s.h.i.+ps and palaces were seen Huddled in gloom;--into the purple sea The orange hues of heaven sunk silently.

We hardly spoke, and soon the gondola Conveyed me to my lodging by the way. _140 The following morn was rainy, cold, and dim: Ere Maddalo arose, I called on him, And whilst I waited with his child I played; A lovelier toy sweet Nature never made; A serious, subtle, wild, yet gentle being, _145 Graceful without design and unforeseeing, With eyes--Oh speak not of her eyes!--which seem Twin mirrors of Italian Heaven, yet gleam With such deep meaning, as we never see But in the human countenance: with me _150 She was a special favourite: I had nursed Her fine and feeble limbs when she came first To this bleak world; and she yet seemed to know On second sight her ancient playfellow, Less changed than she was by six months or so; _155 For after her first shyness was worn out We sate there, rolling billiard b.a.l.l.s about, When the Count entered. Salutations past-- 'The word you spoke last night might well have cast A darkness on my spirit--if man be _160 The pa.s.sive thing you say, I should not see Much harm in the religions and old saws (Tho' I may never own such leaden laws) Which break a teachless nature to the yoke: Mine is another faith.'--thus much I spoke _165 And noting he replied not, added: 'See This lovely child, blithe, innocent and free; She spends a happy time with little care, While we to such sick thoughts subjected are As came on you last night. It is our will _170 That thus enchains us to permitted ill-- We might be otherwise--we might be all We dream of happy, high, majestical.

Where is the love, beauty, and truth we seek, But in our mind? and if we were not weak _175 Should we be less in deed than in desire?'

'Ay, if we were not weak--and we aspire How vainly to be strong!' said Maddalo: 'You talk Utopia.' 'It remains to know,'

I then rejoined, 'and those who try may find _180 How strong the chains are which our spirit bind; Brittle perchance as straw...We are a.s.sured Much may be conquered, much may be endured, Of what degrades and crushes us. We know That we have power over ourselves to do _185 And suffer--what, we know not till we try; But something n.o.bler than to live and die-- So taught those kings of old philosophy Who reigned, before Religion made men blind; And those who suffer with their suffering kind _190 Yet feel their faith, religion.' 'My dear friend,'

Said Maddalo, 'my judgement will not bend To your opinion, though I think you might Make such a system refutation-tight As far as words go. I knew one like you _195 Who to this city came some months ago, With whom I argued in this sort, and he Is now gone mad,--and so he answered me,-- Poor fellow! but if you would like to go, We'll visit him, and his wild talk will show _200 How vain are such aspiring theories.'

'I hope to prove the induction otherwise, And that a want of that true theory, still, Which seeks a "soul of goodness" in things ill Or in himself or others, has thus bowed _205 His being--there are some by nature proud, Who patient in all else demand but this-- To love and be beloved with gentleness; And being scorned, what wonder if they die Some living death? this is not destiny _210 But man's own wilful ill.'

As thus I spoke Servants announced the gondola, and we Through the fast-falling rain and high-wrought sea Sailed to the island where the madhouse stands.

We disembarked. The clap of tortured hands, _215 Fierce yells and howlings and lamentings keen, And laughter where complaint had merrier been, Moans, shrieks, and curses, and blaspheming prayers Accosted us. We climbed the oozy stairs Into an old courtyard. I heard on high, _220 Then, fragments of most touching melody, But looking up saw not the singer there-- Through the black bars in the tempestuous air I saw, like weeds on a wrecked palace growing, Long tangled locks flung wildly forth, and flowing, _225 Of those who on a sudden were beguiled Into strange silence, and looked forth and smiled Hearing sweet sounds. Then I: 'Methinks there were A cure of these with patience and kind care, If music can thus move...but what is he _230 Whom we seek here?' 'Of his sad history I know but this,' said Maddalo: 'he came To Venice a dejected man, and fame Said he was wealthy, or he had been so; Some thought the loss of fortune wrought him woe; _235 But he was ever talking in such sort As you do--far more sadly--he seemed hurt, Even as a man with his peculiar wrong, To hear but of the oppression of the strong, Or those absurd deceits (I think with you _240 In some respects, you know) which carry through The excellent impostors of this earth When they outface detection--he had worth, Poor fellow! but a humorist in his way'-- 'Alas, what drove him mad?' 'I cannot say: _245 A lady came with him from France, and when She left him and returned, he wandered then About yon lonely isles of desert sand Till he grew wild--he had no cash or land Remaining,--the police had brought him here-- _250 Some fancy took him and he would not bear Removal; so I fitted up for him Those rooms beside the sea, to please his whim, And sent him busts and books and urns for flowers, Which had adorned his life in happier hours, _255 And instruments of music--you may guess A stranger could do little more or less For one so gentle and unfortunate: And those are his sweet strains which charm the weight From madmen's chains, and make this h.e.l.l appear _260 A heaven of sacred silence, hushed to hear.'-- 'Nay, this was kind of you--he had no claim, As the world says'--'None--but the very same Which I on all mankind were I as he Fallen to such deep reverse;--his melody _265 Is interrupted--now we hear the din Of madmen, shriek on shriek, again begin; Let us now visit him; after this strain He ever communes with himself again, And sees nor hears not any.' Having said _270 These words, we called the keeper, and he led To an apartment opening on the sea-- There the poor wretch was sitting mournfully Near a piano, his pale fingers twined One with the other, and the ooze and wind _275 Rushed through an open cas.e.m.e.nt, and did sway His hair, and starred it with the brackish spray; His head was leaning on a music book, And he was muttering, and his lean limbs shook; His lips were pressed against a folded leaf _280 In hue too beautiful for health, and grief Smiled in their motions as they lay apart-- As one who wrought from his own fervid heart The eloquence of pa.s.sion, soon he raised His sad meek face and eyes l.u.s.trous and glazed _285 And spoke--sometimes as one who wrote, and thought His words might move some heart that heeded not, If sent to distant lands: and then as one Reproaching deeds never to be undone With wondering self-compa.s.sion; then his speech _290 Was lost in grief, and then his words came each Unmodulated, cold, expressionless,-- But that from one jarred accent you might guess It was despair made them so uniform: And all the while the loud and gusty storm _295 Hissed through the window, and we stood behind Stealing his accents from the envious wind Unseen. I yet remember what he said Distinctly: such impression his words made.

'Month after month,' he cried, 'to bear this load _300 And as a jade urged by the whip and goad To drag life on, which like a heavy chain Lengthens behind with many a link of pain!-- And not to speak my grief--O, not to dare To give a human voice to my despair, _305 But live, and move, and, wretched thing! smile on As if I never went aside to groan, And wear this mask of falsehood even to those Who are most dear--not for my own repose-- Alas! no scorn or pain or hate could be _310 So heavy as that falsehood is to me-- But that I cannot bear more altered faces Than needs must be, more changed and cold embraces, More misery, disappointment, and mistrust To own me for their father...Would the dust _315 Were covered in upon my body now!

That the life ceased to toil within my brow!

And then these thoughts would at the least be fled; Let us not fear such pain can vex the dead.

'What Power delights to torture us? I know _320 That to myself I do not wholly owe What now I suffer, though in part I may.

Alas! none strewed sweet flowers upon the way Where wandering heedlessly, I met pale Pain My shadow, which will leave me not again-- _325 If I have erred, there was no joy in error, But pain and insult and unrest and terror; I have not as some do, bought penitence With pleasure, and a dark yet sweet offence, For then,--if love and tenderness and truth _330 Had overlived hope's momentary youth, My creed should have redeemed me from repenting; But loathed scorn and outrage unrelenting Met love excited by far other seeming Until the end was gained...as one from dreaming _335 Of sweetest peace, I woke, and found my state Such as it is.-- 'O Thou, my spirit's mate Who, for thou art compa.s.sionate and wise, Wouldst pity me from thy most gentle eyes If this sad writing thou shouldst ever see-- _340 My secret groans must be unheard by thee, Thou wouldst weep tears bitter as blood to know Thy lost friend's incommunicable woe.

'Ye few by whom my nature has been weighed In friends.h.i.+p, let me not that name degrade _345 By placing on your hearts the secret load Which crushes mine to dust. There is one road To peace and that is truth, which follow ye!

Love sometimes leads astray to misery.

Yet think not though subdued--and I may well _350 Say that I am subdued--that the full h.e.l.l Within me would infect the untainted breast Of sacred nature with its own unrest; As some perverted beings think to find In scorn or hate a medicine for the mind _355 Which scorn or hate have wounded--O how vain!

The dagger heals not but may rend again...

Believe that I am ever still the same In creed as in resolve, and what may tame My heart, must leave the understanding free, _360 Or all would sink in this keen agony-- Nor dream that I will join the vulgar cry; Or with my silence sanction tyranny; Or seek a moment's shelter from my pain In any madness which the world calls gain, _365 Ambition or revenge or thoughts as stern As those which make me what I am; or turn To avarice or misanthropy or l.u.s.t...

Heap on me soon, O grave, thy welcome dust!

Till then the dungeon may demand its prey, _370 And Poverty and Shame may meet and say-- Halting beside me on the public way-- "That love-devoted youth is ours--let's sit Beside him--he may live some six months yet."

Or the red scaffold, as our country bends, _375 May ask some willing victim; or ye friends May fall under some sorrow which this heart Or hand may share or vanquish or avert; I am prepared--in truth, with no proud joy-- To do or suffer aught, as when a boy _380 I did devote to justice and to love My nature, worthless now!...

'I must remove A veil from my pent mind. 'Tis torn aside!

O, pallid as Death's dedicated bride, Thou mockery which art sitting by my side, _385 Am I not wan like thee? at the grave's call I haste, invited to thy wedding-ball To greet the ghastly paramour, for whom Thou hast deserted me...and made the tomb Thy bridal bed...But I beside your feet _390 Will lie and watch ye from my winding-sheet-- Thus...wide awake tho' dead...yet stay, O stay!

Go not so soon--I know not what I say-- Hear but my reasons...I am mad, I fear, My fancy is o'erwrought...thou art not here... _395 Pale art thou, 'tis most true...but thou art gone, Thy work is finished...I am left alone!-- ...

'Nay, was it I who wooed thee to this breast Which, like a serpent, thou envenomest As in repayment of the warmth it lent? _400 Didst thou not seek me for thine own content?

Did not thy love awaken mine? I thought That thou wert she who said, "You kiss me not Ever, I fear you do not love me now"-- In truth I loved even to my overthrow _405 Her, who would fain forget these words: but they Cling to her mind, and cannot pa.s.s away.

'You say that I am proud--that when I speak My lip is tortured with the wrongs which break The spirit it expresses...Never one _410 Humbled himself before, as I have done!

Even the instinctive worm on which we tread Turns, though it wound not--then with prostrate head Sinks in the dusk and writhes like me--and dies?

No: wears a living death of agonies! _415 As the slow shadows of the pointed gra.s.s Mark the eternal periods, his pangs pa.s.s, Slow, ever-moving,--making moments be As mine seem--each an immortality!

'That you had never seen me--never heard _420 My voice, and more than all had ne'er endured The deep pollution of my loathed embrace-- That your eyes ne'er had lied love in my face-- That, like some maniac monk, I had torn out The nerves of manhood by their bleeding root _425 With mine own quivering fingers, so that ne'er Our hearts had for a moment mingled there To disunite in horror--these were not With thee, like some suppressed and hideous thought Which flits athwart our musings, but can find _430 No rest within a pure and gentle mind...

Thou sealedst them with many a bare broad word, And searedst my memory o'er them,--for I heard And can forget not...they were ministered One after one, those curses. Mix them up _435 Like self-destroying poisons in one cup, And they will make one blessing which thou ne'er Didst imprecate for, on me,--death.

'It were A cruel punishment for one most cruel, If such can love, to make that love the fuel _440 Of the mind's h.e.l.l; hate, scorn, remorse, despair: But ME--whose heart a stranger's tear might wear As water-drops the sandy fountain-stone, Who loved and pitied all things, and could moan For woes which others hear not, and could see _445 The absent with the glance of phantasy, And with the poor and trampled sit and weep, Following the captive to his dungeon deep; ME--who am as a nerve o'er which do creep The else unfelt oppressions of this earth, _450 And was to thee the flame upon thy hearth, When all beside was cold--that thou on me Shouldst rain these plagues of blistering agony-- Such curses are from lips once eloquent With love's too partial praise--let none relent _455 Who intend deeds too dreadful for a name Henceforth, if an example for the same They seek...for thou on me lookedst so, and so-- And didst speak thus...and thus...I live to show How much men bear and die not!

'Thou wilt tell _460 With the grimace of hate, how horrible It was to meet my love when thine grew less; Thou wilt admire how I could e'er address Such features to love's work...this taunt, though true, (For indeed Nature nor in form nor hue _465 Bestowed on me her choicest workmans.h.i.+p) Shall not be thy defence...for since thy lip Met mine first, years long past, since thine eye kindled With soft fire under mine, I have not dwindled Nor changed in mind or body, or in aught _470 But as love changes what it loveth not After long years and many trials.

'How vain Are words! I thought never to speak again, Not even in secret,--not to mine own heart-- But from my lips the unwilling accents start, _475 And from my pen the words flow as I write, Dazzling my eyes with scalding tears...my sight Is dim to see that charactered in vain On this unfeeling leaf which burns the brain And eats into it...blotting all things fair _480 And wise and good which time had written there.

'Those who inflict must suffer, for they see The work of their own hearts, and this must be Our chastis.e.m.e.nt or recompense--O child!

I would that thine were like to be more mild _485 For both our wretched sakes...for thine the most Who feelest already all that thou hast lost Without the power to wish it thine again; And as slow years pa.s.s, a funereal train Each with the ghost of some lost hope or friend _490 Following it like its shadow, wilt thou bend No thought on my dead memory?

'Alas, love!

Fear me not...against thee I would not move A finger in despite. Do I not live That thou mayst have less bitter cause to grieve? _495 I give thee tears for scorn and love for hate; And that thy lot may be less desolate Than his on whom thou tramplest, I refrain From that sweet sleep which medicines all pain.

Then, when thou speakest of me, never say _500 "He could forgive not." Here I cast away All human pa.s.sions, all revenge, all pride; I think, speak, act no ill; I do but hide Under these words, like embers, every spark Of that which has consumed me--quick and dark _505 The grave is yawning...as its roof shall cover My limbs with dust and worms under and over So let Oblivion hide this grief...the air Closes upon my accents, as despair Upon my heart--let death upon despair!' _510

He ceased, and overcome leant back awhile, Then rising, with a melancholy smile Went to a sofa, and lay down, and slept A heavy sleep, and in his dreams he wept And muttered some familiar name, and we _515 Wept without shame in his society.

I think I never was impressed so much; The man who were not, must have lacked a touch Of human nature...then we lingered not, Although our argument was quite forgot, _520 But calling the attendants, went to dine At Maddalo's; yet neither cheer nor wine Could give us spirits, for we talked of him And nothing else, till daylight made stars dim; And we agreed his was some dreadful ill _525 Wrought on him boldly, yet unspeakable, By a dear friend; some deadly change in love Of one vowed deeply which he dreamed not of; For whose sake he, it seemed, had fixed a blot Of falsehood on his mind which flourished not _530 But in the light of all-beholding truth; And having stamped this canker on his youth She had abandoned him--and how much more Might be his woe, we guessed not--he had store Of friends and fortune once, as we could guess _535 From his nice habits and his gentleness; These were now lost...it were a grief indeed If he had changed one unsustaining reed For all that such a man might else adorn.

The colours of his mind seemed yet unworn; _540 For the wild language of his grief was high, Such as in measure were called poetry; And I remember one remark which then Maddalo made. He said: 'Most wretched men Are cradled into poetry by wrong, _545 They learn in suffering what they teach in song.'

If I had been an unconnected man, I, from this moment, should have formed some plan Never to leave sweet Venice,--for to me It was delight to ride by the lone sea; _550 And then, the town is silent--one may write Or read in gondolas by day or night, Having the little brazen lamp alight, Unseen, uninterrupted; books are there, Pictures, and casts from all those statues fair _555 Which were twin-born with poetry, and all We seek in towns, with little to recall Regrets for the green country. I might sit In Maddalo's great palace, and his wit And subtle talk would cheer the winter night _560 And make me know myself, and the firelight Would flash upon our faces, till the day Might dawn and make me wonder at my stay: But I had friends in London too: the chief Attraction here, was that I sought relief _565 From the deep tenderness that maniac wrought Within me--'twas perhaps an idle thought-- But I imagined that if day by day I watched him, and but seldom went away, And studied all the beatings of his heart _570 With zeal, as men study some stubborn art For their own good, and could by patience find An entrance to the caverns of his mind, I might reclaim him from this dark estate: In friends.h.i.+ps I had been most fortunate-- _575 Yet never saw I one whom I would call More willingly my friend; and this was all Accomplished not; such dreams of baseless good Oft come and go in crowds or solitude And leave no trace--but what I now designed _580 Made for long years impression on my mind.

The following morning, urged by my affairs, I left bright Venice.

After many years And many changes I returned; the name Of Venice, and its aspect, was the same; _585 But Maddalo was travelling far away Among the mountains of Armenia.

His dog was dead. His child had now become A woman; such as it has been my doom To meet with few,--a wonder of this earth, _590 Where there is little of transcendent worth, Like one of Shakespeare's women: kindly she, And, with a manner beyond courtesy, Received her father's friend; and when I asked Of the lorn maniac, she her memory tasked, _595 And told as she had heard the mournful tale: 'That the poor sufferer's health began to fail Two years from my departure, but that then The lady who had left him, came again.

Her mien had been imperious, but she now _600 Looked meek--perhaps remorse had brought her low.

Her coming made him better, and they stayed Together at my father's--for I played, As I remember, with the lady's shawl-- I might be six years old--but after all _605 She left him.'...'Why, her heart must have been tough: How did it end?' 'And was not this enough?