PREFACE. xix 



filled sixteen*?" But surely this loitering of the poet, over 

 his meadows and crocuses, conveys a fit sense of the plea- 

 sure enjoyed by Proserpine and her nymphs ; a pleasure, 

 too, for which they expressly came forth, and by the too 

 great pursuit of which the latter were separated from their 

 mistress. 



In our own time, we may instance the late Mr. Shelley. 

 Of a strong and powerful intellect, his manners were gentle 

 as a summer's evening : his tastes were pure and simple : it 

 was his delight to ramble out into the fields and woods, 

 where he would take his book, or sometimes his pen, and 

 having employed some hours in study, and in speculations 

 on his favourite theme the advancement of human hap- 

 piness, would return home with his hat wreathed with 

 briony, or wild convolvulus ; his hand filled with bunches 

 of wild-flowers plucked from the hedges as he passed, and 

 his eyes, indeed every feature, beaming with the bene- 

 volence of his heart. He loved to stroll in his garden, 

 chatting with a friend, or accompanied by his Homer or 

 his Bible (of both which he was a frequent reader) : but 

 one of his chief enjoyments was in sailing, rowing, or float- 

 ing in his little boat, upon the river : often he would lie 

 down flat in the boat and read, with his face upwards to 

 the sunshine. In this taste for the water he was too ven- 

 turesome, or perhaps inconsiderate; for it was rather a 

 thoughtlessness of danger, than a braving of it. In the 

 end, as it is well known, it was fatal to him : never will 

 his friends cease to feel, or to mourn his loss; though 

 their mourning will be softened by the contemplation of 

 his amiable nature, and by the memory of that gentle and 

 spiritual countenance, " which seemed not like an inha- 

 bitant of the earth" while it was on it. 



* Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, vol. iv. page 356. 



