nthusiasms; and by Hogg, who, though slightly eccentric, was a Tory
eccentric. The fact is that, with all his defects, he had two qualities
which, combined, are so attractive that there is scarcely anything they
will not redeem--perfect sincerity without a thought of self, and vivid
emotional force. All his faults as well as his virtues were, moreover,
derived from a certain strong feeling, coloured in a peculiar way
which will be explained in what follows--a sort of ardour of universal
benevolence. One of his letters ends with these words: "Affectionate
love to and from all. This ought to be not only the vale of a letter,
but a superscription over the gate of life"--words which, expressing not
merely Shelley's opinion of what ought to be, but what he actually felt,
reveal the ultimate reason why he is still loved, and the reason, too,
why he has so often been idealised. For this universal benevolence is
a thing which appeals to men almost with the force of divinity, still
carrying, even when mutilated and obscured by frailties, some suggestion
of St. Francis or of Christ.

The object of these pages is not to idealise either his life, his
character, or his works. The three are inseparably connected, and to
understand one we must understand all. The reason is that Shelley is one
of the most subjective of writers. It would be hard to name a poet who
has kept his art more free from all taint of representation of the real,
making it nor an instrument for creating something life-like, but a more
and more intimate echo or emanation of his own spirit. In studying his
writings we shall see how they flow from his dominating emotion of love
for his fellow-men; and the drama of his life, displayed against the
background of the time, will in turn throw light on that emotion.
His benevolence took many forms--none perfect, some admirable, some
ridiculous. It was too universal. He never had a clear enough perception
of the real qualities of real men and women; hence his loves for
individuals, as capricious as they were violent, always seem to lack
something which is perhaps the most valuable element in human affection.
If in this way we can analyse his temperament successfully, the process
should help us to a more critical understanding, and so to a fuller
enjoyment, of the poems.

This greatest of our lyric poets, the culmination of the Romantic
Movement in English literature, appeared in an age which, following on
the series of suc