The Project Gutenberg EBook of Peter Bell the Third, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org


Title: Peter Bell the Third

Author: Percy Bysshe Shelley

Release Date: January 20, 2010 [EBook #4697]
Last Updated: February 6, 2013

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER BELL THE THIRD ***




Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger








PETER BELL THE THIRD.


By Percy Bysshe Shelley
(Miching Mallecho)






 Is it a party in a parlour,
 Crammed just as they on earth were crammed,
 Some sipping punch—some sipping tea;
 But, as you by their faces see,
 All silent, and all—damned!
 "Peter Bell", by W. WORDSWORTH.

 OPHELIA.—What means this, my lord?
 HAMLET.—Marry, this is Miching Mallecho; it means mischief.
 SHAKESPEARE.






Contents

DEDICATION.

PROLOGUE.


PART 1. DEATH.

PART 2. THE DEVIL.

PART 3. HELL.

PART 4. SIN.

PART 5. GRACE.

PART 6. DAMNATION.

PART 7. DOUBLE DAMNATION.










DEDICATION.

TO THOMAS BROWN, ESQ., THE YOUNGER, H.F.

DEAR TOM—Allow me to request you to introduce Mr. Peter Bell to the respectable family of the Fudges. Although he may fall short of those very considerable personages in the more active properties which characterize the Rat and the Apostate, I suspect that even you, their historian, will confess that he surpasses them in the more peculiarly legitimate qualification of intolerable dulness.

You know Mr. Examiner Hunt; well—it was he who presented me to two of the Mr. Bells. My intimacy with the younger Mr. Bell naturally sprung from this introduction to his brothers. And in presenting him to you, I have the satisfaction of being able to assure you that he is considerably the dullest of the three.

There is this particular advantage in an acquaintance with any one of the Peter Bells, that if you know one Peter Bell, you know three Peter Bells; they are not one, but three; not three, but one. An awful mystery, which, after having caused torrents of blood, and having been hymned by groans enough to deafen the music of the spheres, is at length illustrated to the satisfaction of all parties in the theological world, by the nature of Mr. Peter Bell.

Peter is a polyhedric Peter, or a Peter with many sides. He changes colours like a chameleon, and his coat like a snake. He is a Proteus of a Peter. He was at first sublime, pathetic, impressive, profound; then dull; then prosy and dull; and now dull—oh so very dull! it is an ultra-legitimate dulness.

You will perceive that it is not necessary to consider Hell and the Devil as supernatural machinery. The whole scene of my epic is in 'this world which is'—so Peter informed us before his conversion to "White Obi"—

     'The world of all of us, AND WHERE
     WE FIND OUR HAPPINESS, OR NOT AT ALL.'

Let me observe that I have spent six or seven days in composing this sublime piece; the orb of my moonlike genius has made the fourth part of its revolution round the dull earth which you inhabit, driving you mad, while it has retained its calmness and its splendour, and I have been fitting this its last phase 'to occupy a permanent station in the literature of my country.'

Your works, indeed, dear Tom, sell better; but mine are far superior. The public is no judge; posterity sets all to rights.

Allow me to observe that so much has been written of Peter Bell, that the present history can be considered only, like the Iliad, as a continuation of that series of cyclic poems, which have already been candidates for bestowing immortality upon, at the same time that they receive it from, his character and adventures. In this point of view I have violated no rule of syntax in beginning my composition with a conjunction; the full stop which closes the poem continued by me being, like the full stops at the end of the Iliad and Odyssey, a full stop of a very qualified import.

Hoping that the immortality which you have given to the Fudges, you will receive from them; and in the firm expectation, that when London shall be an habitation of bitterns; when St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey shall stand, shapeless and nameless ruins, in the midst of an unpeopled marsh; when the piers of Waterloo Bridge shall become the nuclei of islets of reeds and osiers, and cast the jagged shadows of their broken arches on the solitary stream, some transatlantic commentator will be weighing in the scales of some new and now unimagined system of criticism, the respective merits of the Bells and the Fudges, and their historians. I remain, dear Tom, yours sincerely,

MICHING MALLECHO.

December 1, 1819.

P.S.—Pray excuse the date of place; so soon as the profits of the publication come in, I mean to hire lodgings in a more respectable street.






PROLOGUE.

 Peter Bells, one, two and three,
 O'er the wide world wandering be.—
 First, the antenatal Peter,
 Wrapped in weeds of the same metre,
 The so-long-predestined raiment                                 5
 Clothed in which to walk his way meant
 The second Peter; whose ambition
 Is to link the proposition,
 As the mean of two extremes—
 (This was learned from Aldric's themes)                         10
 Shielding from the guilt of schism
 The orthodoxal syllogism;
 The First Peter—he who was
 Like the shadow in the glass
 Of the second, yet unripe,                                      15
 His substantial antitype.—

 Then came Peter Bell the Second,
 Who henceforward must be reckoned
 The body of a double soul,
 And that portion of the whole                                   20
 Without which the rest would seem
 Ends of a disjointed dream.—
 And the Third is he who has
 O'er the grave been forced to pass
 To the other side, which is,—                                  25
 Go and try else,—just like this.

 Peter Bell the First was Peter
 Smugger, milder, softer, neater,
 Like the soul before it is
 Born from THAT world into THIS.                                 30
 The next Peter Bell was he,
 Predevote, like you and me,
 To good or evil as may come;
 His was the severer doom,—
 For he was an evil Cotter,                                      35
 And a polygamic Potter.
 And the last is Peter Bell,
 Damned since our first parents fell,
 Damned eternally to Hell—
 Surely he deserves it well!                                     40





PART 1. DEATH.

 1.
 And Peter Bell, when he had been
 With fresh-imported Hell-fire warmed,
 Grew serious—from his dress and mien
 'Twas very plainly to be seen
 Peter was quite reformed.                                       5

 2.
 His eyes turned up, his mouth turned down;
 His accent caught a nasal twang;
 He oiled his hair; there might be heard
 The grace of God in every word
 Which Peter said or sang.                                       10

 3.
 But Peter now grew old, and had
 An ill no doctor could unravel:
 His torments almost drove him mad;—
 Some said it was a fever bad—
 Some swore it was the gravel.                                   15

 4.
 His holy friends then came about,
 And with long preaching and persuasion
 Convinced the patient that, without
 The smallest shadow of a doubt,
 He was predestined to damnation.                                20

 5.
 They said—'Thy name is Peter Bell;
 Thy skin is of a brimstone hue;
 Alive or dead—ay, sick or well—
 The one God made to rhyme with hell;
 The other, I think, rhymes with you.                            25

 6.
 Then Peter set up such a yell!—
 The nurse, who with some water gruel
 Was climbing up the stairs, as well
 As her old legs could climb them—fell,
 And broke them both—the fall was cruel.                        30

 7.
 The Parson from the casement lept
 Into the lake of Windermere—
 And many an eel—though no adept
 In God's right reason for it—kept
 Gnawing his kidneys half a year.                                35

 8.
 And all the rest rushed through the door
 And tumbled over one another,
 And broke their skulls.—Upon the floor
 Meanwhile sat Peter Bell, and swore,
 And cursed his father and his mother;                           40

 9.
 And raved of God, and sin, and death,
 Blaspheming like an infidel;
 And said, that with his clenched teeth
 He'd seize the earth from underneath,
 And drag it with him down to hell.                              45

 10.
 As he was speaking came a spasm,
 And wrenched his gnashing teeth asunder;
 Like one who sees a strange phantasm
 He lay,—there was a silent chasm
 Between his upper jaw and under.                                50

 11.
 And yellow death lay on his face;
 And a fixed smile that was not human
 Told, as I understand the case,
 That he was gone to the wrong place:—
 I heard all this from the old woman.                            55

 12.
 Then there came down from Langdale Pike
 A cloud, with lightning, wind and hail;
 It swept over the mountains like
 An ocean,—and I heard it strike
 The woods and crags of Grasmere vale.                           60

 13.
 And I saw the black storm come
 Nearer, minute after minute;
 Its thunder made the cataracts dumb;
 With hiss, and clash, and hollow hum,
 It neared as if the Devil was in it.                            65

 14.
 The Devil WAS in it:—he had bought
 Peter for half-a-crown; and when
 The storm which bore him vanished, nought
 That in the house that storm had caught
 Was ever seen again.                                            70

 15.
 The gaping neighbours came next day—
 They found all vanished from the shore:
 The Bible, whence he used to pray,
 Half scorched under a hen-coop lay;
 Smashed glass—and nothing more!                                75





PART 2. THE DEVIL.

 1.
 The Devil, I safely can aver,
 Has neither hoof, nor tail, nor sting;
 Nor is he, as some sages swear,
 A spirit, neither here nor there,
 In nothing—yet in everything.                                  80

 2.
 He is—what we are; for sometimes
 The Devil is a gentleman;
 At others a bard bartering rhymes
 For sack; a statesman spinning crimes;
 A swindler, living as he can;                                   85

 3.
 A thief, who cometh in the night,
 With whole boots and net pantaloons,
 Like some one whom it were not right
 To mention;—or the luckless wight
 From whom he steals nine silver spoons.                         90

 4.
 But in this case he did appear
 Like a slop-merchant from Wapping,
 And with smug face, and eye severe,
 On every side did perk and peer
 Till he saw Peter dead or napping.                              95

 5.
 He had on an upper Benjamin
 (For he was of the driving schism)
 In the which he wrapped his skin
 From the storm he travelled in,
 For fear of rheumatism.                                         100

 6.
 He called the ghost out of the corse;—
 It was exceedingly like Peter,—
 Only its voice was hollow and hoarse—
 It had a queerish look of course—
 Its dress too was a little neater.                              105

 7.
 The Devil knew not his name and lot;
 Peter knew not that he was Bell:
 Each had an upper stream of thought,
 Which made all seem as it was not;
 Fitting itself to all things well.                              110

 8.
 Peter thought he had parents dear,
 Brothers, sisters, cousins, cronies,
 In the fens of Lincolnshire;
 He perhaps had found them there
 Had he gone and boldly shown his                                115

 9.
 Solemn phiz in his own village;
 Where he thought oft when a boy
 He'd clomb the orchard walls to pillage
 The produce of his neighbour's tillage,
 With marvellous pride and joy.                                  120

 10.
 And the Devil thought he had,
 'Mid the misery and confusion
 Of an unjust war, just made
 A fortune by the gainful trade
 Of giving soldiers rations bad—                                125
 The world is full of strange delusion—

 11.
 That he had a mansion planned
 In a square like Grosvenor Square,
 That he was aping fashion, and
 That he now came to Westmoreland                                130
 To see what was romantic there.

 12.
 And all this, though quite ideal,—
 Ready at a breath to vanish,—
 Was a state not more unreal
 Than the peace he could not feel,                               135
 Or the care he could not banish.

 13.
 After a little conversation,
 The Devil told Peter, if he chose,
 He'd bring him to the world of fashion
 By giving him a situation                                       140
 In his own service—and new clothes.

 14.
 And Peter bowed, quite pleased and proud,
 And after waiting some few days
 For a new livery—dirty yellow
 Turned up with black—the wretched fellow                       145
 Was bowled to Hell in the Devil's chaise.





PART 3. HELL.

 1.
 Hell is a city much like London—
 A populous and a smoky city;
 There are all sorts of people undone,
 And there is little or no fun done;                             150
 Small justice shown, and still less pity.

 2.
 There is a Castles, and a Canning,
 A Cobbett, and a Castlereagh;
 All sorts of caitiff corpses planning
 All sorts of cozening for trepanning                            155
 Corpses less corrupt than they.

 3.
 There is a ***, who has lost
 His wits, or sold them, none knows which;
 He walks about a double ghost,
 And though as thin as Fraud almost—                            160
 Ever grows more grim and rich.

 4.
 There is a Chancery Court; a King;
 A manufacturing mob; a set
 Of thieves who by themselves are sent
 Similar thieves to represent;                                   165
 An army; and a public debt.

 5.
 Which last is a scheme of paper money,
 And means—being interpreted—
 'Bees, keep your wax—give us the honey,
 And we will plant, while skies are sunny,                       170
 Flowers, which in winter serve instead.'

 6.
 There is a great talk of revolution—
 And a great chance of despotism—
 German soldiers—camps—confusion—
 Tumults—lotteries—rage—delusion—                            175
 Gin—suicide—and methodism;

 7.
 Taxes too, on wine and bread,
 And meat, and beer, and tea, and cheese,
 From which those patriots pure are fed,
 Who gorge before they reel to bed                               180
 The tenfold essence of all these.

 8.
 There are mincing women, mewing,
 (Like cats, who amant misere,)
 Of their own virtue, and pursuing
 Their gentler sisters to that ruin,                             185
 Without which—what were chastity?

 9.
 Lawyers—judges—old hobnobbers
 Are there—bailiffs—chancellors—
 Bishops—great and little robbers—
 Rhymesters—pamphleteers—stock-jobbers—                       190
 Men of glory in the wars,—

 10.
 Things whose trade is, over ladies
 To lean, and flirt, and stare, and simper,
 Till all that is divine in woman
 Grows cruel, courteous, smooth, inhuman,                        195
 Crucified 'twixt a smile and whimper.

 11.
 Thrusting, toiling, wailing, moiling,
 Frowning, preaching—such a riot!
 Each with never-ceasing labour,
 Whilst he thinks he cheats his neighbour,                       200
 Cheating his own heart of quiet.

 12.
 And all these meet at levees;—
 Dinners convivial and political;—
 Suppers of epic poets;—teas,
 Where small talk dies in agonies;—                             205
 Breakfasts professional and critical;

 13.
 Lunches and snacks so aldermanic
 That one would furnish forth ten dinners,
 Where reigns a Cretan-tongued panic,
 Lest news Russ, Dutch, or Alemannic                             210
 Should make some losers, and some winners—

 45.
 At conversazioni—balls—
 Conventicles—and drawing-rooms—
 Courts of law—committees—calls
 Of a morning—clubs—book-stalls—                              215
 Churches—masquerades—and tombs.
 15.
 And this is Hell—and in this smother
 All are damnable and damned;
 Each one damning, damns the other;
 They are damned by one another,                                 220
 By none other are they damned.

 16.
 'Tis a lie to say, 'God damns'!
 Where was Heaven's Attorney General
 When they first gave out such flams?
 Let there be an end of shams,                                   225
 They are mines of poisonous mineral.

 17.
 Statesmen damn themselves to be
 Cursed; and lawyers damn their souls
 To the auction of a fee;
 Churchmen damn themselves to see                                230
 God's sweet love in burning coals.

 18.
 The rich are damned, beyond all cure,
 To taunt, and starve, and trample on
 The weak and wretched; and the poor
 Damn their broken hearts to endure                              235
 Stripe on stripe, with groan on groan.

 19.
 Sometimes the poor are damned indeed
 To take,—not means for being blessed,—
 But Cobbett's snuff, revenge; that weed
 From which the worms that it doth feed                          240
 Squeeze less than they before possessed.

 20.
 And some few, like we know who,
 Damned—but God alone knows why—
 To believe their minds are given
 To make this ugly Hell a Heaven;                                245
 In which faith they live and die.

 21.
 Thus, as in a town, plague-stricken,
 Each man be he sound or no
 Must indifferently sicken;
 As when day begins to thicken,                                  250
 None knows a pigeon from a crow,—

 22.
 So good and bad, sane and mad,
 The oppressor and the oppressed;
 Those who weep to see what others
 Smile to inflict upon their brothers;                           255
 Lovers, haters, worst and best;

 23.
 All are damned—they breathe an air,
 Thick, infected, joy-dispelling:
 Each pursues what seems most fair,
 Mining like moles, through mind, and there                      260
 Scoop palace-caverns vast, where Care
 In throned state is ever dwelling.





PART 4. SIN.

 1.
 Lo. Peter in Hell's Grosvenor Square,
 A footman in the Devil's service!
 And the misjudging world would swear                            265
 That every man in service there
 To virtue would prefer vice.

 2.
 But Peter, though now damned, was not
 What Peter was before damnation.
 Men oftentimes prepare a lot                                    270
 Which ere it finds them, is not what
 Suits with their genuine station.

 3.
 All things that Peter saw and felt
 Had a peculiar aspect to him;
 And when they came within the belt                              275
 Of his own nature, seemed to melt,
 Like cloud to cloud, into him.

 4.
 And so the outward world uniting
 To that within him, he became
 Considerably uninviting                                         280
 To those who, meditation slighting,
 Were moulded in a different frame.

 5.
 And he scorned them, and they scorned him;
 And he scorned all they did; and they
 Did all that men of their own trim                              285
 Are wont to do to please their whim,
 Drinking, lying, swearing, play.

 6.
 Such were his fellow-servants; thus
 His virtue, like our own, was built
 Too much on that indignant fuss                                 290
 Hypocrite Pride stirs up in us
 To bully one another's guilt.

 7.
 He had a mind which was somehow
 At once circumference and centre
 Of all he might or feel or know;                                295
 Nothing went ever out, although
 Something did ever enter.

 8.
 He had as much imagination
 As a pint-pot;—he never could
 Fancy another situation,                                        300
 From which to dart his contemplation,
 Than that wherein he stood.

 9.
 Yet his was individual mind,
 And new created all he saw
 In a new manner, and refined                                    305
 Those new creations, and combined
 Them, by a master-spirit's law.

 10.
 Thus—though unimaginative—
 An apprehension clear, intense,
 Of his mind's work, had made alive                              310
 The things it wrought on; I believe
 Wakening a sort of thought in sense.

 11.
 But from the first 'twas Peter's drift
 To be a kind of moral eunuch,
 He touched the hem of Nature's shift,                           315
 Felt faint—and never dared uplift
 The closest, all-concealing tunic.

 12.
 She laughed the while, with an arch smile,
 And kissed him with a sister's kiss,
 And said—My best Diogenes,                                     320
 I love you well—but, if you please,
 Tempt not again my deepest bliss.

 13.
 ''Tis you are cold—for I, not coy,
 Yield love for love, frank, warm, and true;
 And Burns, a Scottish peasant boy—                             325
 His errors prove it—knew my joy
 More, learned friend, than you.

 14.
 'Boeca bacciata non perde ventura,
 Anzi rinnuova come fa la luna:—
 So thought Boccaccio, whose sweet words might cure a              330
 Male prude, like you, from what you now endure, a
 Low-tide in soul, like a stagnant laguna.

 15.
 Then Peter rubbed his eyes severe.
 And smoothed his spacious forehead down
 With his broad palm;—'twixt love and fear,                     335
 He looked, as he no doubt felt, queer,
 And in his dream sate down.

 16.
 The Devil was no uncommon creature;
 A leaden-witted thief—just huddled
 Out of the dross and scum of nature;                            340
 A toad-like lump of limb and feature,
 With mind, and heart, and fancy muddled.

 17.
 He was that heavy, dull, cold thing,
 The spirit of evil well may be:
 A drone too base to have a sting;                               345
 Who gluts, and grimes his lazy wing,
 And calls lust, luxury.

 18.
 Now he was quite the kind of wight
 Round whom collect, at a fixed aera,
 Venison, turtle, hock, and claret,—                            350
 Good cheer—and those who come to share it—
 And best East Indian madeira!

 19.
 It was his fancy to invite
 Men of science, wit, and learning,
 Who came to lend each other light;                              355
 He proudly thought that his gold's might
 Had set those spirits burning.

 20.
 And men of learning, science, wit,
 Considered him as you and I
 Think of some rotten tree, and sit                              360
 Lounging and dining under it,
 Exposed to the wide sky.

 21.
 And all the while with loose fat smile,
 The willing wretch sat winking there,
 Believing 'twas his power that made                             365
 That jovial scene—and that all paid
 Homage to his unnoticed chair.

 22.
 Though to be sure this place was Hell;
 He was the Devil—and all they—
 What though the claret circled well,                            370
 And wit, like ocean, rose and fell?—
 Were damned eternally.





PART 5. GRACE.

 1.
 Among the guests who often stayed
 Till the Devil's petits-soupers,
 A man there came, fair as a maid,                               375
 And Peter noted what he said,
 Standing behind his master's chair.

 2.
 He was a mighty poet—and
 A subtle-souled psychologist;
 All things he seemed to understand,                             380
 Of old or new—of sea or land—
 But his own mind—which was a mist.

 3.
 This was a man who might have turned
 Hell into Heaven—and so in gladness
 A Heaven unto himself have earned;                              385
 But he in shadows undiscerned
 Trusted.—and damned himself to madness.

 4.
 He spoke of poetry, and how
 'Divine it was—a light—a love—
 A spirit which like wind doth blow                              390
 As it listeth, to and fro;
 A dew rained down from God above;

 5.
 'A power which comes and goes like dream,
 And which none can ever trace—
 Heaven's light on earth—Truth's brightest beam.'               395
 And when he ceased there lay the gleam
 Of those words upon his face.

 6.
 Now Peter, when he heard such talk,
 Would, heedless of a broken pate,
 Stand like a man asleep, or balk                                400
 Some wishing guest of knife or fork,
 Or drop and break his master's plate.

 7.
 At night he oft would start and wake
 Like a lover, and began
 In a wild measure songs to make                                 405
 On moor, and glen, and rocky lake,
 And on the heart of man—

 8.
 And on the universal sky—
 And the wide earth's bosom green,—
 And the sweet, strange mystery                                  410
 Of what beyond these things may lie,
 And yet remain unseen.

 9.
 For in his thought he visited
 The spots in which, ere dead and damned,
 He his wayward life had led;                                    415
 Yet knew not whence the thoughts were fed
 Which thus his fancy crammed.

 10.
 And these obscure remembrances
 Stirred such harmony in Peter,
 That, whensoever he should please,                              420
 He could speak of rocks and trees
 In poetic metre.

 11.
 For though it was without a sense
 Of memory, yet he remembered well
 Many a ditch and quick-set fence;                               425
 Of lakes he had intelligence,
 He knew something of heath and fell.

 12.
 He had also dim recollections
 Of pedlars tramping on their rounds;
 Milk-pans and pails; and odd collections                        430
 Of saws, and proverbs; and reflections
 Old parsons make in burying-grounds.

 13.
 But Peter's verse was clear, and came
 Announcing from the frozen hearth
 Of a cold age, that none might tame                             435
 The soul of that diviner flame
 It augured to the Earth:

 14.
 Like gentle rains, on the dry plains,
 Making that green which late was gray,
 Or like the sudden moon, that stains                            440
 Some gloomy chamber's window-panes
 With a broad light like day.

 15.
 For language was in Peter's hand
 Like clay while he was yet a potter;
 And he made songs for all the land,                             445
 Sweet both to feel and understand,
 As pipkins late to mountain Cotter.

 16.
 And Mr. —, the bookseller,
 Gave twenty pounds for some;—then scorning
 A footman's yellow coat to wear,                                450
 Peter, too proud of heart, I fear,
 Instantly gave the Devil warning.

 17.
 Whereat the Devil took offence,
 And swore in his soul a great oath then,
 'That for his damned impertinence                               455
 He'd bring him to a proper sense
 Of what was due to gentlemen!'





PART 6. DAMNATION.

 1.
 'O that mine enemy had written
 A book!'—cried Job:—a fearful curse,
 If to the Arab, as the Briton,                                  460
 'Twas galling to be critic-bitten:—
 The Devil to Peter wished no worse.

 2.
 When Peter's next new book found vent,
 The Devil to all the first Reviews
 A copy of it slyly sent,                                        465
 With five-pound note as compliment,
 And this short notice—'Pray abuse.'

 3.
 Then seriatim, month and quarter,
 Appeared such mad tirades.—One said—
 'Peter seduced Mrs. Foy's daughter,                             470
 Then drowned the mother in Ullswater,
 The last thing as he went to bed.'

 4.
 Another—'Let him shave his head!
 Where's Dr. Willis?—Or is he joking?
 What does the rascal mean or hope,                              475
 No longer imitating Pope,
 In that barbarian Shakespeare poking?'

 5.
 One more, 'Is incest not enough?
 And must there be adultery too?
 Grace after meat? Miscreant and Liar!                           480
 Thief! Blackguard! Scoundrel! Fool! hell-fire
 Is twenty times too good for you.

 6.
 'By that last book of yours WE think
 You've double damned yourself to scorn;
 We warned you whilst yet on the brink                           485
 You stood. From your black name will shrink
 The babe that is unborn.'

 7.
 All these Reviews the Devil made
 Up in a parcel, which he had
 Safely to Peter's house conveyed.                               490
 For carriage, tenpence Peter paid—
 Untied them—read them—went half mad.

 8.
 'What!' cried he, 'this is my reward
 For nights of thought, and days, of toil?
 Do poets, but to be abhorred                                    495
 By men of whom they never heard,
 Consume their spirits' oil?

 9.
 'What have I done to them?—and who
 IS Mrs. Foy? 'Tis very cruel
 To speak of me and Betty so!                                    500
 Adultery! God defend me! Oh!
 I've half a mind to fight a duel.

 10.
 'Or,' cried he, a grave look collecting,
 'Is it my genius, like the moon,
 Sets those who stand her face inspecting,                       505
 That face within their brain reflecting,
 Like a crazed bell-chime, out of tune?'

 11.
 For Peter did not know the town,
 But thought, as country readers do,
 For half a guinea or a crown,                                   510
 He bought oblivion or renown
 From God's own voice in a review.

 12.
 All Peter did on this occasion
 Was, writing some sad stuff in prose.
 It is a dangerous invasion                                      515
 When poets criticize; their station
 Is to delight, not pose.

 13.
 The Devil then sent to Leipsic fair
 For Born's translation of Kant's book;
 A world of words, tail foremost, where                          520
 Right—wrong—false—true—and foul—and fair
 As in a lottery-wheel are shook.

 14.
 Five thousand crammed octavo pages
 Of German psychologics,—he
 Who his furor verborum assuages                                 525
 Thereon, deserves just seven months' wages
 More than will e'er be due to me.

 15.
 I looked on them nine several days,
 And then I saw that they were bad;
 A friend, too, spoke in their dispraise,—                      530
 He never read them;—with amaze
 I found Sir William Drummond had.

 16.
 When the book came, the Devil sent
 It to P. Verbovale, Esquire,
 With a brief note of compliment,                                535
 By that night's Carlisle mail. It went,
 And set his soul on fire.

 17.
 Fire, which ex luce praebens fumum,
 Made him beyond the bottom see
 Of truth's clear well—when I and you, Ma'am,                   540
 Go, as we shall do, subter humum,
 We may know more than he.

 18.
 Now Peter ran to seed in soul
 Into a walking paradox;
 For he was neither part nor whole,                              545
 Nor good, nor bad—nor knave nor fool;
 —Among the woods and rocks

 19.
 Furious he rode, where late he ran,
 Lashing and spurring his tame hobby;
 Turned to a formal puritan,                                     550
 A solemn and unsexual man,—
 He half believed "White Obi".

 20.
 This steed in vision he would ride,
 High trotting over nine-inch bridges,
 With Flibbertigibbet, imp of pride,                             555
 Mocking and mowing by his side—
 A mad-brained goblin for a guide—
 Over corn-fields, gates, and hedges.

 21.
 After these ghastly rides, he came
 Home to his heart, and found from thence                        560
 Much stolen of its accustomed flame;
 His thoughts grew weak, drowsy, and lame
 Of their intelligence.

 22.
 To Peter's view, all seemed one hue;
 He was no Whig, he was no Tory;                                 565
 No Deist and no Christian he;—
 He got so subtle, that to be
 Nothing, was all his glory.

 23.
 One single point in his belief
 From his organization sprung,                                   570
 The heart-enrooted faith, the chief
 Ear in his doctrines' blighted sheaf,
 That 'Happiness is wrong';

 24.
 So thought Calvin and Dominic;
 So think their fierce successors, who                           575
 Even now would neither stint nor stick
 Our flesh from off our bones to pick,
 If they might 'do their do.'

 25.
 His morals thus were undermined:—
 The old Peter—the hard, old Potter—                           580
 Was born anew within his mind;
 He grew dull, harsh, sly, unrefined,
 As when he tramped beside the Otter.

 26.
 In the death hues of agony
 Lambently flashing from a fish,                                 585
 Now Peter felt amused to see
 Shades like a rainbow's rise and flee,
 Mixed with a certain hungry wish.

 27.
 So in his Country's dying face
 He looked—and, lovely as she lay,                              590
 Seeking in vain his last embrace,
 Wailing her own abandoned case,
 With hardened sneer he turned away:

 28.
 And coolly to his own soul said;—
 'Do you not think that we might make                            595
 A poem on her when she's dead:—
 Or, no—a thought is in my head—
 Her shroud for a new sheet I'll take:

 29.
 'My wife wants one.—Let who will bury
 This mangled corpse! And I and you,                             600
 My dearest Soul, will then make merry,
 As the Prince Regent did with Sherry,—'
 'Ay—and at last desert me too.'

 30.
 And so his Soul would not be gay,
 But moaned within him; like a fawn                              605
 Moaning within a cave, it lay
 Wounded and wasting, day by day,
 Till all its life of life was gone.

 31.
 As troubled skies stain waters clear,
 The storm in Peter's heart and mind                             610
 Now made his verses dark and queer:
 They were the ghosts of what they were,
 Shaking dim grave-clothes in the wind.

 32.
 For he now raved enormous folly,
 Of Baptisms, Sunday-schools, and Graves,                        615
 'Twould make George Colman melancholy
 To have heard him, like a male Molly,
 Chanting those stupid staves.

 33.
 Yet the Reviews, who heaped abuse
 On Peter while he wrote for freedom,                            620
 So soon as in his song they spy
 The folly which soothes tyranny,
 Praise him, for those who feed 'em.

 34.
 'He was a man, too great to scan;—
 A planet lost in truth's keen rays:—                           625
 His virtue, awful and prodigious;—
 He was the most sublime, religious,
 Pure-minded Poet of these days.'

 35.
 As soon as he read that, cried Peter,
 'Eureka! I have found the way                                   630
 To make a better thing of metre
 Than e'er was made by living creature
 Up to this blessed day.'

 36.
 Then Peter wrote odes to the Devil;—
 In one of which he meekly said:                                 635
 'May Carnage and Slaughter,
 Thy niece and thy daughter,
 May Rapine and Famine,
 Thy gorge ever cramming,
 Glut thee with living and dead!                                 640

 37.
 'May Death and Damnation,
 And Consternation,
 Flit up from Hell with pure intent!
 Slash them at Manchester,
 Glasgow, Leeds, and Chester;                                    645
 Drench all with blood from Avon to Trent.

 38.
 'Let thy body-guard yeomen
 Hew down babes and women,
 And laugh with bold triumph till Heaven be rent!
 When Moloch in Jewry                                            650
 Munched children with fury,
 It was thou, Devil, dining with pure intent.





PART 7. DOUBLE DAMNATION.

 1.
 The Devil now knew his proper cue.—
 Soon as he read the ode, he drove
 To his friend Lord MacMurderchouse's,                           655
 A man of interest in both houses,
 And said:—'For money or for love,

 2.
 'Pray find some cure or sinecure;
 To feed from the superfluous taxes
 A friend of ours—a poet—fewer                                 660
 Have fluttered tamer to the lure
 Than he.' His lordship stands and racks his

 3.
 Stupid brains, while one might count
 As many beads as he had boroughs,—
 At length replies; from his mean front,                         665
 Like one who rubs out an account,
 Smoothing away the unmeaning furrows:

 4.
 'It happens fortunately, dear Sir,
 I can. I hope I need require
 No pledge from you, that he will stir                           670
 In our affairs;—like Oliver.
 That he'll be worthy of his hire.'

 5.
 These words exchanged, the news sent off
 To Peter, home the Devil hied,—
 Took to his bed; he had no cough,                               675
 No doctor,—meat and drink enough.—
 Yet that same night he died.

 6.
 The Devil's corpse was leaded down;
 His decent heirs enjoyed his pelf,
 Mourning-coaches, many a one,                                   680
 Followed his hearse along the town:—
 Where was the Devil himself?

 7.
 When Peter heard of his promotion,
 His eyes grew like two stars for bliss:
 There was a bow of sleek devotion                               685
 Engendering in his back; each motion
 Seemed a Lord's shoe to kiss.

 8.
 He hired a house, bought plate, and made
 A genteel drive up to his door,
 With sifted gravel neatly laid,—                               690
 As if defying all who said,
 Peter was ever poor.

 9.
 But a disease soon struck into
 The very life and soul of Peter—
 He walked about—slept—had the hue                             695
 Of health upon his cheeks—and few
 Dug better—none a heartier eater.

 10.
 And yet a strange and horrid curse
 Clung upon Peter, night and day;
 Month after month the thing grew worse,                         700
 And deadlier than in this my verse
 I can find strength to say.

 11.
 Peter was dull—he was at first
 Dull—oh, so dull—so very dull!
 Whether he talked, wrote, or rehearsed—                        705
 Still with this dulness was he cursed—
 Dull—beyond all conception—dull.

 12.
 No one could read his books—no mortal,
 But a few natural friends, would hear him;
 The parson came not near his portal;                            710
 His state was like that of the immortal
 Described by Swift—no man could bear him.

 13.
 His sister, wife, and children yawned,
 With a long, slow, and drear ennui,
 All human patience far beyond;                                  715
 Their hopes of Heaven each would have pawned,
 Anywhere else to be.

 14.
 But in his verse, and in his prose,
 The essence of his dulness was
 Concentred and compressed so close,                             720
 'Twould have made Guatimozin doze
 On his red gridiron of brass.

 15.
 A printer's boy, folding those pages,
 Fell slumbrously upon one side;
 Like those famed Seven who slept three ages.                    725
 To wakeful frenzy's vigil—rages,
 As opiates, were the same applied.

 16.
 Even the Reviewers who were hired
 To do the work of his reviewing,
 With adamantine nerves, grew tired;—                           730
 Gaping and torpid they retired,
 To dream of what they should be doing.

 17.
 And worse and worse, the drowsy curse
 Yawned in him, till it grew a pest—
 A wide contagious atmosphere,                                   735
 Creeping like cold through all things near;
 A power to infect and to infest.

 18.
 His servant-maids and dogs grew dull;
 His kitten, late a sportive elf;
 The woods and lakes, so beautiful,                              740
 Of dim stupidity were full.
 All grew dull as Peter's self.

 19.
 The earth under his feet—the springs,
 Which lived within it a quick life,
 The air, the winds of many wings,                               745
 That fan it with new murmurings,
 Were dead to their harmonious strife.

 20.
 The birds and beasts within the wood,
 The insects, and each creeping thing,
 Were now a silent multitude;                                    750
 Love's work was left unwrought—no brood
 Near Peter's house took wing.

 21.
 And every neighbouring cottager
 Stupidly yawned upon the other:
 No jackass brayed; no little cur                                755
 Cocked up his ears;—no man would stir
 To save a dying mother.

 22.
 Yet all from that charmed district went
 But some half-idiot and half-knave,
 Who rather than pay any rent,                                   760
 Would live with marvellous content,
 Over his father's grave.

 23.
 No bailiff dared within that space,
 For fear of the dull charm, to enter;
 A man would bear upon his face,                                 765
 For fifteen months in any case,
 The yawn of such a venture.

 24.
 Seven miles above—below—around—
 This pest of dulness holds its sway;
 A ghastly life without a sound;                                 770
 To Peter's soul the spell is bound—
 How should it ever pass away?











End of Project Gutenberg's Peter Bell the Third, by Percy Bysshe Shelley

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PETER BELL THE THIRD ***

***** This file should be named 4697-h.htm or 4697-h.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
        http://www.gutenberg.org/4/6/9/4697/

Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger


Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.



*** START: FULL LICENSE ***

THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK

To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).


Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works

1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.

1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.  See paragraph 1.E below.

1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.

1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.

1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:

1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org

1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.

1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.

1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.

1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.

1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.

1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.

1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that

- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."

- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
     License.  You must require such a user to return or
     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
     Project Gutenberg-tm works.

- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
     of receipt of the work.

- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.

1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.

1.F.

1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
your equipment.

1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGE.

1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
opportunities to fix the problem.

1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER
WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.

1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.

1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.


Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm

Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
people in all walks of life.

Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org.


Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation

The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
number is 64-6221541.  Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at
http://pglaf.org/fundraising.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.

The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at
809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email
business@pglaf.org.  Email contact links and up to date contact
information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official
page at http://pglaf.org

For additional contact information:
     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
     Chief Executive and Director
     gbnewby@pglaf.org


Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
Literary Archive Foundation

Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
status with the IRS.

The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
particular state visit http://pglaf.org

While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
approach us with offers to donate.

International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.

Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate


Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works.

Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
with anyone.  For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project
Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.


Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.


Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:

     http://www.gutenberg.org

This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.