SHELLEY PERCY BYSSHE: (1792-1822) ´ So vanity intoxicates people; but let those few who praise my verses & in whose ...

SHELLEY PERCY BYSSHE: (1792-1822) ´ So vanity intoxicates people; but let those few who praise my verses & in whose approbation I take so much delight, answer for this sin´

SHELLEY PERCY BYSSHE: (1792-1822) British writer, one of the major English Romantic poets. An exceptional A.L.S., with his initials P. B. S., three pages, 4to, Pisa, 20th July 1820, to his cousin Thomas Medwin (´My dear Medwin´). Shelley writes an interesting letter, including references to two of his masterpieces, stating that he has received Medwin´s letter from the mountains, and remarking ´How much I envy you, or rather, how much I sympathise in the delights of your wandering. I have a passion for such expeditions, although, partly the capriciousness of my health & partly the want of the incitement of a companion, keep me at home. I see the mountains, the sky & the trees from my windows & recollect, as an old man does the mistresses of his youth, the raptures of a more familiar intercourse; but without his regrets, for their forms are yet living in my mind´, adding that he hopes his cousin will not pass by Tuscany without paying a visit (´Mrs. Shelley unites with me in assuring......that whatever else may be found deficient, a sincere welcome is at least in waiting for you´). Shelley proceeds to write at length regarding two of his verse dramas, ´I am delighted with your approbation of my ‘Cenci’, & am encouraged to wish to present you with my ‘Prometheus Unbound’, a drama also, but a composition of a totally different character. I do not know if it be wise to affect variety in compositions or whether the attempt to excel in many ways does not deter from excellence in one particular kind. ‘Prometheus Unbound’ is in the merest spirit of ideal poetry & not, as the name would indicate, a mere imitation of the Greek drama, or indeed, if I have been successful, is it an imitation of anything. But you will judge - I hear it is just printed & I probably shall receive copies from England before I see you. Your objection to the ‘Cenci’ as to the introduction of the name of God is good, in as much as the play is addressed to a Protestant people; but we Catholics speak eternally & familiarly of the 1st person of the Trinity; and amongst us religion is more interwoven with, and is less extraneous to, the system of ordinary life. As to Cenci´s curse, I know not whether I can defend it or no. I wish I may be able, since, as it often happens respecting the worst point of an author´s work, it is a particular favourite with me. I prided myself as since your approbation I hope that I had just cause to do upon the two concluding lines of the play. I confess I cannot approve of the squeamishness which excludes the exhibition of such subjects from the scene´ (at this point of the letter two-and-a-half lines of text have been struck through, seemingly by Shelley himself). The poet asks ´What think you of my boldness?´ and reflects on a future project, a drama which would remain unfinished at his death, ´I mean to write a play, in the spirit of human nature, without prejudice or passion, entitled ‘Charles the 1st’. So vanity intoxicates people; but let those few who praise my verses & in whose approbation I take so much delight, answer for this sin´ further making reference to contemporary events involving the British monarchy, ´I wonder what in the world the Queen has done. I should not wonder, after the whispers I have heard, to find that the Green Bag contained evidence that she had imitated Pasiphae, & that the Committee should recommend to Parliament a bill to exclude all minotaurs from the succession. What silly stuff is this to employ a great nation about. I wish the King & the Queen, like Punch & his wife, would fight out their disputes in person´, before closing his letter with the lines ´This warm weather agrees excellently with me; I only wish it would last all the year. many things both to say & to hear, be referred until we meet´. With integral address panel in Shelley´s hand (a couple of thin, neat strips of the remains of the guard to the edges and centre). Autograph letters of Shelley are extremely rare as a result of his tragic death at the young age of 29, and the present example is particularly rich in its literary content. Some very light, extremely minor age wear, VG

Thomas Medwin (1788-1869) English writer, poet and translator, remembered for his biography of Shelley and for published recollections of his friend, Lord Byron.

The Cenci. A Tragedy, in Five Acts (1820) was written by Shelley in the summer of 1819, and inspired by the House of Cenci, a real Roman family. The play was not considered stageable in its day owing to the themes of incest and parricide, as well as the negative depiction of the Roman Catholic Church (all subjects Shelley reflects on in the present letter), and was not performed in public in England until over a century later, in 1922.

Prometheus Unbound (1820) is a four-act lyrical drama which is concerned with the torments of the Greek mythological figure Prometheus, who defies the gods and gives fire to humanity, for which he is subjected to eternal punishment and suffering at the hands of Zeus. The play is a closet drama, not intended for stage production. In the tradition of Romantic poetry, Shelley wrote for the imagination, intending his play's stage to reside in the imaginations of his readers. Filled with suspense, mystery, and other dramatic effects, W. B. Yeats famously described the work as being ´among the sacred books of the world´.

The deleted passage of the present letter, according to the published version in Volume IV of The Prose Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley, originally read ´a squeamishness the produce, as I firmly believe, of a lower tone of the public mind, and foreign to the majestic and confident wisdom of the golden age of our country´.

One of the final parts of Shelley´s letter makes reference to the events of 1820 whereby King George IV, who had recently succeeded to the throne, attempted to divorce his long-estranged wife. Caroline of Brunswick. In order to secure his divorce, the King had a special bill moved in the House of Lords and the evidence of the Queen´s adultery was presented to parliament in two green bags. Ultimately the measure was withdrawn by the government and Caroline remained married to the King until her death a year later.