Proserpine and Midas
----
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Proserpine and Midas, by Mary Shelley #3 in our series by Mary Shelley
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**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: Proserpine and Midas
Author: Mary Shelley
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6447] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 14, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PROSERPINE AND MIDAS ***
----
Produced by S Goodman and David Starner
----
PROSERPINE
&
MIDAS
Two unpublished Mythological Dramas
by
MARY SHELLEY
Edited with Introduction
by
A. KOSZUL
----
PREFATORY NOTE.
The editor came across the unpublished texts included in this volume as early as 1905. Perhaps he ought to apologize for delaying their appearance in print. The fact is he has long been afraid of overrating their intrinsic value. But as the great Shelley centenary year has come, perhaps this little monument of his wife's collaboration may take its modest place among the tributes which will be paid to his memory. For Mary Shelley's mythological dramas can at least claim to be the proper setting for some of the most beautiful lyrics of the poet, which so far have been read in undue isolation. And even as a literary sign of those times, as an example of that classical renaissance which the romantic period fostered, they may not be altogether negligible.
These biographical and literary points have been dealt with in an introduction for which the kindest help was long ago received from the late Dr. Garnett and the late Lord Abinger. Sir Walter Raleigh was also among the first to give both encouragement and guidance. My friends M. Emile Pons and Mr. Roger Ingpen have read the book in manuscript. The authorities of the Bodleian Library and of the Clarendon Press have been as generously helpful as is their well-known wont. To all the editor wishes to record his acknowledgements and thanks.
STRASBOURG.
----
INTRODUCTION.
----
I.
'The compositions published in Mrs. Shelley's lifetime afford but an inadequate conception of the intense sensibility and mental vigour of this extraordinary woman.'
Thus wrote Dr. Garnett, in 1862 (Preface to his
Relics of Shelley
). The words of praise may have sounded unexpectedly warm at that date. Perhaps the present volume will make the reader more willing to subscribe, or less inclined to demur.
Mary Godwin in her younger days certainly possessed a fair share of that nimbleness of invention which generally characterizes women of letters. Her favourite pastime as a child, she herself testifies, [Footnote: Preface to the 1831 edition of
Frankenstein
.] had been to write stories. And a dearer pleasure had been--to use her own characteristic abstract and elongated way of putting it--'the following up trains of thought which had for their subject the formation of a succession of imaginary incidents'. All readers of Shelley's life remember how later on, as a girl of nineteen--and a two years' wife--she was present, 'a devout but nearly silent listener', at the long symposia held by her husband and Byron
----
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Proserpine and Midas, by Mary Shelley #3 in our series by Mary Shelley
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****
Title: Proserpine and Midas
Author: Mary Shelley
Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6447] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 14, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PROSERPINE AND MIDAS ***
----
Produced by S Goodman and David Starner
----
PROSERPINE
&
MIDAS
Two unpublished Mythological Dramas
by
MARY SHELLEY
Edited with Introduction
by
A. KOSZUL
----
PREFATORY NOTE.
The editor came across the unpublished texts included in this volume as early as 1905. Perhaps he ought to apologize for delaying their appearance in print. The fact is he has long been afraid of overrating their intrinsic value. But as the great Shelley centenary year has come, perhaps this little monument of his wife's collaboration may take its modest place among the tributes which will be paid to his memory. For Mary Shelley's mythological dramas can at least claim to be the proper setting for some of the most beautiful lyrics of the poet, which so far have been read in undue isolation. And even as a literary sign of those times, as an example of that classical renaissance which the romantic period fostered, they may not be altogether negligible.
These biographical and literary points have been dealt with in an introduction for which the kindest help was long ago received from the late Dr. Garnett and the late Lord Abinger. Sir Walter Raleigh was also among the first to give both encouragement and guidance. My friends M. Emile Pons and Mr. Roger Ingpen have read the book in manuscript. The authorities of the Bodleian Library and of the Clarendon Press have been as generously helpful as is their well-known wont. To all the editor wishes to record his acknowledgements and thanks.
STRASBOURG.
----
INTRODUCTION.
----
I.
'The compositions published in Mrs. Shelley's lifetime afford but an inadequate conception of the intense sensibility and mental vigour of this extraordinary woman.'
Thus wrote Dr. Garnett, in 1862 (Preface to his
Relics of Shelley
). The words of praise may have sounded unexpectedly warm at that date. Perhaps the present volume will make the reader more willing to subscribe, or less inclined to demur.
Mary Godwin in her younger days certainly possessed a fair share of that nimbleness of invention which generally characterizes women of letters. Her favourite pastime as a child, she herself testifies, [Footnote: Preface to the 1831 edition of
Frankenstein
.] had been to write stories. And a dearer pleasure had been--to use her own characteristic abstract and elongated way of putting it--'the following up trains of thought which had for their subject the formation of a succession of imaginary incidents'. All readers of Shelley's life remember how later on, as a girl of nineteen--and a two years' wife--she was present, 'a devout but nearly silent listener', at the long symposia held by her husband and Byron
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