'
_I have employed my poetical compositions and publications simply as the
instruments of that sympathy between myself and others which the ardent
and unbounded love I cherished for my kind incited me to acquire._ This
is an important indication of the spirit in which Shelley wrote, and
consequently of that in which his reader should construe his writings.
He poured out his full heart, craving for 'sympathy.' Loving mankind, he
wished to find some love in response.
_Domestic conspiracy and legal oppression_, &c. The direct reference
here is to the action taken by Shelley's father-in-law and
sister-in-law, Mr. and Miss Westbrook, which resulted in the decree of
Lord Chancellor Eldon whereby Shelley was deprived of the custody of the
two children of his first marriage. See p. 12. _As a bankrupt thief
turns thief-taker in despair, so an unsuccessful author turns critic._
Various writers have said something of this kind. I am not sure how far
back the sentiment can be traced; but I presume that Shelley was not the
first. Some readers will remember a passage in the dedication to his
_Peter Bell the Third_ (1819), which forestalled Macaulay's famous
phrase about the 'New Zealander on the ruins of London Bridge.
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