[309] Correspondence, I, p. 123; August 4, 1818.
“You will see Hunt—one of those happy souls
Which are the salt of the earth, and without whom
This world would smell like what it is—a tomb;
Who is what others seem; his room no doubt
Is still adorned by many a cast from Shout,
With graceful flowers tastefully placed about,
And coronals of bay from ribbons hung,
And brighter wreaths in neat disorder flung,—
The gifts of the most learned among some dozens
Of female friends, sisters-in-law and cousins.
And there he is with his eternal puns,
Which beat the dullest brain for smiles, like duns
Thundering for money at a poet’s door;
Alas! it is no use to say ‘I’m poor!’”
[311] Mr. Forman thinks that it may be part of the original draft of Rosalind and Helen; if so, it is still a very close approximation of Shelley’s opinion of Hunt (Works of Shelley, III, p. 403). William Rossetti and Felix Rabbe think that it was addressed to Hunt.
[312] Wise’s edition of Adonais, p. 2. London, 1887.
[313] To his wife. Works of Shelley, VIII, p. 288; July 4, 1822.
[314] Nicoll and Wise, Literary Anecdotes, p. 350; April 5, 1820.
[315] Hunt, Correspondence, I, p. 136. Professor George Edward Woodberry says that Shelley had the “kindest feeling of gratitude and respect ... but nothing more” towards Hunt. (Studies in Letters and Life, p. 153.)
[316] Ibid., I, p. 158. November 11, 1820. Works of Shelley, VIII, p. 150; November 23, 1819.
[317] Sir Walter Scott has given a good estimate of them: “Our sentiments agreed a good deal, except on the subject of religion and politics, upon neither of which I was inclined to believe that Lord Byron entertained very fixed principles.... On Politics he used sometimes to express a high strain of what is now called Liberalism; but it appeared to me that the pleasure that it afforded him as a vehicle of displaying his wit and satire against individuals in office was at the bottom of his habit of thinking. At heart I would have termed Byron a patrician on principle.” (Moore, Letters and Journals of Lord Byron, I, p. 616.)