This was almost certainly the case with "Epipsychidion." So much at any rate had to be said upon this subject; for careful readers of Shelley's minor poems are forced to the conviction that during the last year of his life he often found relief from a wretchedness, which, however real, can hardly be defined, in the sympathy of this true-hearted woman.

The affection he felt for Jane was beyond question pure and honourable.

All the verses he addressed to her passed through her husband's hands without the slightest interruption to their intercourse; and Mrs.Shelley, who was not unpardonably jealous of her Ariel, continued to be Mrs.Williams's warm friend.

A passage from Shelley's letter of June 18, 1822, expresses the plain prose of his relation to the Williamses:--"They are people who are very pleasing to me.

But words are not the instruments of our intercourse.