[Gutenberg 41747] • The Real Shelley. New Views of the Poet's Life. Vol. 1 (of 2)

Excerpt from The Real Shelley, Vol. 1 of 2: New Views of the Poet's Life

From a time considerably anterior to the day on which Hogg undertook to write the Life of his college friend, three separate forces,

(a) Field Place,

(b) The Shelley an Enthusiasts,

(c) The Shelleyan Socialists,

have been steadily working to withdraw the Real Shelley from the world's view, and to replace him with a Shelley, altogether unlike the poet, who carried Mary Godwin off to the Continent, and wrote Laon and Cythna.

By 'Field Place, ' I mean those members of the poet's family (living or dead), who in their pious devotion to his memory, and laudable concern for the honour of their house, have busied themselves in creating this fanciful and romantic Shelley, and substituting him for the Real Shelley. By designating these members of the Shelley family by the name of the house that is Shelley's shrine, even as the Stratford birthplace is Shakespeare's shrine, and Newstead Abbey is Byron's shrine, I shall be able to refer with the least possible offensiveness to excellent individuals, from whom I am constrained to differ on a large number of Shelleyan questions.

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