The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 62

Allow me to observe that so much has been written of Peter Bell, that the present history can be considered only, like the Iliad, as a continuation of that series of cyclic poems, which have already been candidates for bestowing immortality upon, at the same time that they receive it from, his character and adventures. In this point of view I have violated no rule of syntax in beginning my composition with a conjunction; the full stop which closes the poem continued by me being, like the full stops at the end of the Iliad and Odyssey, a full stop of a very qualified import.

Hoping that the immortality which you have given to the Fudges, you will receive from them; and in the firm expectation, that when London shall be an habitation of bitterns; when St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey shall stand, shapeless and nameless ruins, in the midst of an unpeopled marsh; when the piers of Waterloo Bridge shall become the nuclei of islets of reeds and osiers, and cast the jagged shadows of their broken arches on the solitary stream, some transatlantic commentator will be weighing in the scales of some new and now unimagined system of criticism, the respective merits of the Bells and the Fudges, and their historians. I remain, dear Tom, yours sincerely,

MICHING MALLECHO.

December 1, 1819.

P.S.--Pray excuse the date of place; so soon as the profits of the publication come in, I mean to hire lodgings in a more respectable street.

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 s.h.i.+elding from the guilt of schism The orthodoxal syllogism; The First Peter--he who was Like the shadow in the gla.s.s Of the second, yet unripe, _15 His substantial ant.i.type.--

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 pa.s.s 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, d.a.m.ned since our first parents fell, d.a.m.ned eternally to h.e.l.l-- 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.--[Sh.e.l.lEY'S NOTE.])

PART 1.

DEATH.

1.

And Peter Bell, when he had been With fresh-imported h.e.l.l-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 tw.a.n.g; He oiled his hair; there might be heard The grace of G.o.d 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

4.

His holy friends then came about, And with long preaching and persuasion Convinced the patient that, without The smallest shadow of a doubt, He was predestined to d.a.m.nation. _20

5.

They said--'Thy name is Peter Bell; Thy skin is of a brimstone hue; Alive or dead--ay, sick or well-- The one G.o.d made to rhyme with h.e.l.l; The other, I think, rhymes with you. _25

6.

Then Peter set up such a yell!-- The nurse, who with some water gruel Was climbing up the stairs, as well As her old legs could climb them--fell, And broke them both--the fall was cruel. _30

7.

The Parson from the cas.e.m.e.nt lept Into the lake of Windermere-- And many an eel--though no adept In G.o.d's right reason for it--kept Gnawing his kidneys half a year. _35

8.

And all the rest rushed through the door And tumbled over one another, And broke their skulls.--Upon the floor Meanwhile sat Peter Bell, and swore, And cursed his father and his mother; _40

9.

And raved of G.o.d, and sin, and death, Blaspheming like an infidel; And said, that with his clenched teeth He'd seize the earth from underneath, And drag it with him down to h.e.l.l. _45

10.

As he was speaking came a spasm, And wrenched his gnas.h.i.+ng teeth asunder; Like one who sees a strange phantasm He lay,--there was a silent chasm Between his upper jaw and under. _50

11.

And yellow death lay on his face; And a fixed smile that was not human Told, as I understand the case, That he was gone to the wrong place:-- I heard all this from the old woman. _55

12.

Then there came down from Langdale Pike A cloud, with lightning, wind and hail; It swept over the mountains like An ocean,--and I heard it strike The woods and crags of Grasmere vale. _60

13.

And I saw the black storm come Nearer, minute after minute; Its thunder made the cataracts dumb; With hiss, and clash, and hollow hum, It neared as if the Devil was in it. _65

14.

The Devil WAS in it:--he had bought Peter for half-a-crown; and when The storm which bore him vanished, nought That in the house that storm had caught Was ever seen again. _70

15.

The gaping neighbours came next day-- They found all vanished from the sh.o.r.e: The Bible, whence he used to pray, Half scorched under a hen-coop lay; Smashed gla.s.s--and nothing more! _75

PART 2.

THE DEVIL.

1.

The Devil, I safely can aver, Has neither hoof, nor tail, nor sting; Nor is he, as some sages swear, A spirit, neither here nor there, In nothing--yet in everything. _80

2.

He is--what we are; for sometimes The Devil is a gentleman; At others a bard bartering rhymes For sack; a statesman spinning crimes; A swindler, living as he can; _85

3.

A thief, who cometh in the night, With whole boots and net pantaloons, Like some one whom it were not right To mention;--or the luckless wight From whom he steals nine silver spoons. _90

4.

But in this case he did appear Like a slop-merchant from Wapping, And with smug face, and eye severe, On every side did perk and peer Till he saw Peter dead or napping. _95

5.

He had on an upper Benjamin (For he was of the driving schism) In the which he wrapped his skin From the storm he travelled in, For fear of rheumatism. _100

6.

He called the ghost out of the corse;-- It was exceedingly like Peter,-- Only its voice was hollow and hoa.r.s.e-- It had a queerish look of course-- Its dress too was a little neater. _105

7.

The Devil knew not his name and lot; Peter knew not that he was Bell: Each had an upper stream of thought, Which made all seem as it was not; Fitting itself to all things well. _110