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Percy Bysshe Shelley - Peter Bell The Third
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`It happens fortunately, dear Sir,
  I can. I hope I need require
No pledge from you, that he will stir
In our affairs;—like Oliver,
  That he`ll be worthy of his hire.`


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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