[17] I follow Dowden, in assigning this passage to a letter written in December 1812 to Hogg. Hogg prints it without date, as a fragment of a novel.
[18] See Life of Michelangelo, by J. A. Symonds.
[19] See Shelley’s Prose Works, ed. Buxton Forman.
[20] Compare this with his reminiscence of his Sion House friend.
[21] Shelley’s other delusions, which may have been variations on the original one, are as follows:
At York (1811). That Hogg had made overtures to Harriet? If this was a delusion, then the content of jealousy, as often happens, has replaced that of persecution, and the father has been replaced by the older friend.
At Keswick (1812). That he was attacked by a robber outside his lodgings.
At Tanyrallt (February 1813). The attempted assassination in his house, with threats of rape of his sister by the imaginary intruder.
In 1813 that he had contracted Elephantiasis.
At Pisa (1820). That he was attacked by a stranger in the Post Office. There is also recorded a nightmare of his, in which he dreamed that he was strangling his own wife, but this might be interpreted in many ways.