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Shelley and Jane Williams SHELLEY AND JANE WILLIAMS By G. M. MATTHEWS HE lyric known as 'Lines written in the Bay of Lerici' was recovered Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/res/article/XII/45/40/1540645 by guest on 25 September 2021 Tfrom manuscript, and given its title, by Richard Garnett, who pub- lished his discovery twice in 1862, first in the June issue of Macmillaris Magazine and again the same year in his own Relics of Shelley. Later editors, naturally supposing the Relics text to be a revision of the Mac- millaris, have always followed the former, although in fact this is a cor- rupted and not an emended version. The manuscript of the 'Lines' is among the loose sheets of The Triumph of Life in the Bodleian Library,1 where it fills all four pages of its own separate sheet—a folio folded into quarto—of the same paper used for most of the Triumph, a material resem- bling a poor-quality typing-paper. A short name at line 28 of the full text, heavily and decoratively obliterated except for its initial, 'J', confirms what most readers have already agreed, that the poem is about Jane Williams.2 Nor is there reason to question the aptness of Garnett's title: the 'Lines' were evidently composed on the west coast of Italy in the spring or early summer of 1822, and the symbolic use of the rock-fisher in lines 51-54 recalls the entries in Williams's journal for 2 May and 4 May, and for 11 June ('Sailed in the evening and fished on the rocks till 10—no sport').3 There is, however, another likely reason for Garnett's choice of the word 'Lines' in his title for the poem. Also in Relics of Shelley, as no. XL of 'Miscellaneous Fragments', appeared the following five and a half lines, dated 1822 (reprinted as 'Fragment: to the Moon' on p. 675 of Hutchin- son's Oxford text): Bright wanderer, fair coquette of heaven, To whom alone it has been given To change and be adored for ever, Envy not this dim world, for never But once within its shadow grew One fair as . The manuscript shows that this fragment is really the opening of 'Lines written in the Bay of Lerici', prefixed by cramping into a narrow space at the head of the page, so that its last line all but runs into the first line of the 1 Bodl. MS. Shelley adds. c. 4, ff. 35-36". 2 F. 3SV: And I was happy J[ane\ 3 Maria Gisborne and Edward E. Williams: Their Journals and Letters, ed. F. L. Jones (Norman, Oklahoma, 1951), pp. 146-7, 154. R.E.S. New Series, Vol. XII, No. 45 (1961) MATTHEWS: SHELLEY AND JANE WILLIAMS 41 main poem. Clearly, the fragment and the 'Lines' were composed separ- ately; but equally clearly they belong together. Unless Shelley had meant the fragment to begin the 'Lines' there could have been no point in so com- pressing it, since even if the rest of the draft was already complete he could have found comfortable space for it on the bottom half of f. 36"". The same ink is used for fragment and poem. Moreover, the last three lines of the main poem on f. 36V are widely spaced in order to accommodate what was Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/res/article/XII/45/40/1540645 by guest on 25 September 2021 evidently an original cancelled opening, written the other way up: She left me when the moon was The moon was so that he was undecided from the outset which to begin with, Jane Williams or the moon. In any case, the fair but changeable and vanishing moon, the fair, unchanging but vanished Jane, and the 'delusive flame' of the fisherman's lamp make an imaginative whole that is alone sufficient to establish the unity of the two pieces. Garnett probably recognized this, but being uncertain of the concluding words of the fragment, and un- willing to spoil a prize, began his version at line 7 and tacitly admitted its incompleteness by calling the poem 'Lines' and printing the fragment separately. No doubt it was for the same reason that he added a plausible verb, 'leaves', to the penultimate line of the main poem for which there is no authority in the holograph. (Locock commented: 'The rhyming of the final couplet is a license, even for Shelley'.1) The complete poem, reproduced by courtesy of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, is given below exactly as Shelley wrote it. Altogether it differs in 62 instances from the text of Macmillan's Magazine, and in 68 from the text of Relics of Shelley—the source of all subsequent texts. Every significant verbal difference from Garnett's two texts (referred to as MM and R respectively) is recorded, together with the more interesting can- cellations in italics; but the numerous minor variations of pointing, capi- talization, &c, are not noticed. f. 35r Bright wanderer, fair coquette of Heaven, 1 To whom alone it has been given To change & be adored for ever . Envy not this dim world, for never But once within its shadow grew 5 One fair as you, but far more true She left me at the silent time When the moon had ceased to climb The azure dome of Heaven's steep And like an albatross asleep 10 1 The Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. C. D. Locock (London, 1911), ii. 530. 42 MATTHEWS: SHELLEY AND JANE WILLIAMS Balanced on her wings of light Hovered in the purple night— Ere she sought her Ocean nest, In the chambers of the west.— She left me, and I staid alone 15 Thinking over every tone, Which though now silent to the ear Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/res/article/XII/45/40/1540645 by guest on 25 September 2021 The enchanted heart could hear Like notes which die when born, but still Haunt the echoes of the hill: 20 And feeling ever—o too much The soft vibrations of her touch As if her gentle hand even now Lightly trembled on my brow f. 3sv And thus although she absent were 25 Memory gave me all of her That even fancy dares to claim.— Her presence had made weak & tame All passions, and I lived alone In the time which is our own; 30 The past & future were forgot As they had been, & would be, not.— But soon, the guardian angel gone The demon reassumed his throne f. 36r In my faint heart... I dare not speak 35 My thoughts; but thus disturbed & weak I sate and watched the vessels glide Along the Ocean bright & wide Like spirit winged chariots sent Oer some serenest element 40 For ministrations strange & far; As if to some Elysian star They sailed for drink to medecine Such sweet & bitter pain as mine.— And the wind that winged their flight 45 From the land came fresh & light f. 36V And the scent of sleeping flowers And the coolness of the hours Of dew, & the sweet warmth of day Was scattered oer the twinkling bay 50 And the fisher with his lamp And spear, about the low rocks damp Crept, and struck the fish who came To worship the delusive flame Too happy, they whose pleasure sought 55 MATTHEWS: SHELLEY AND JANE WILLIAMS 43 Extinguishes all sense & thought Of the regret that pleasure Seeking Life alone not peace. 1-6 Omitted MM; printed as no. XL of 'Miscellaneous Fragments' R. These lines were evidently drafted apart from the rest, and had to be squeezed in later at the head of the page. 6 One fair as R. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/res/article/XII/45/40/1540645 by guest on 25 September 2021 9 dome] path MM, R. 17 Which, though silent to the ear, R. 22 vibrations] vibration MM, R. 25-26 First written: And thus contented with a lot Which others, who have suffered not, 29 These 'passions' were specified before cancellation as Desire & fear. 33 First written: But now I desired,—/ dare not 37 sate and watched] sat and watched MM sat and saw R. 38 Over the ocean bright and wide, MM; so also R, without comma. 43 Sailed for drink to medicine MM, R. 46 Between 46 and 47 these cancelled lines were drafted: So that on the sifted sand Which divided sea & land Like a thread of moonlight lay On the disentangled spray 47 sleeping flowers] winged flowers R. 49 & the sweet warmth of day] and sweet warmth left by day MM; so also R, with final comma. 50 Was] Were MM, R. The verb was unnecessarily emended through neglect of Shelley's punctuation. 53 who] which MM, R. 54 worship is cancelled in MS., and the first letter, 'g' ('g[aze on?]') of a substitute written above. 55 Too happy they, whose pleasure sought MM; so also R, with final comma. 57 that pleasure leaves, MM, R. This incomplete line is written in a different ink from the rest of the poem. 58 Destroying life alone, not peace! MM, R. Destroying is firmly cancelled in MS., with a space before the next word, and probably had no connexion with the rest of the line as it stands: 'destroying' would go with 'regret' and the fisher, 'seeking' goes with 'pleasure' and the fish. I take the primary meaning to be: 'They are enviably happy who, in exchanging mere placid existence ('peace') for active 44 MATTHEWS: SHELLEY AND JANE WILLIAMS sensuous enjoyment ('Life'), can remain blind to the price they must pay for it (the spear)'.
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