1.  The mine, big with destructive power, burst under me, etc. (Note on 7 67.) This is the reading of the “Poetical Works” of 1839 (2nd edition).  The editio princeps (1813) reads burst upon me.  Doubtless under was intended by Shelley:  the occurrence, thrice over, of upon in the ten lines preceding would account for the unconscious substitution of the word here, either by the printer, or perhaps by Shelley himself in his transcript for the press.

2. ...it cannot arise from reasoning, etc. (Note on 7 135.) The editio princeps (1813) has conviction for reasoning here—­an obvious error of the press, overlooked by Mrs. Shelley in 1839, and perpetuated in his several editions of the poems by Mr. H. Buxton Forman.  Reasoning, Mr. W.M.  Rossetti’s conjectural emendation, is manifestly the right word here, and has been adopted by Dowden and Woodberry.

3.  Him, still from hope to hope, etc. (Note on 8 203-207.) See editor’s note 10 on “Queen Mab” above.

1.  A DIALOGUE.—­The titles of this poem, of the stanzas “On an Icicle”, etc., and of the lines “To Death”, were first given by Professor Dowden ("Poetical Works of P. B. S.”, 1890) from the Esdaile manuscript book.  The textual corrections from the same quarter (see footnotes passim) are also owing to Professor Dowden.

2.  ORIGINAL POETRY BY VICTOR AND CAZIRE.—­Dr. Garnett, who in 1898 edited for Mr. John Lane a reprint of these long-lost verses, identifies “Victor’s” coadjutrix, “Cazire”, with Elizabeth Shelley, the poet’s sister.  ’The two initial pieces are the only two which can be attributed to Elizabeth Shelley with absolute certainty, though others in the volume may possibly belong to her’ (Garnett).

3.  SAINT EDMOND’S EVE.  This ballad-tale was “conveyed” in its entirety by “Cazire” from Matthew Gregory Lewis’s “Tales of Terror”, 1801, where it appears under the title of “The Black Canon of Elmham; or, Saint Edmond’s Eve”.  Stockdale, the publisher of “Victor and Cazire”, detected the imposition, and communicated his discovery to Shelley—­when ’with all the ardour natural to his character he [Shelley] expressed the warmest resentment at the imposition practised upon him by his coadjutor, and entreated me to destroy all the copies, of which about one hundred had been put into circulation.’

4.  TO MARY WHO DIED IN THIS OPINION.—­From a letter addressed by Shelley to Miss Hitchener, dated November 23, 1811.

5.  A TALE OF SOCIETY.—­The titles of this and the following piece were first given by Professor Dowden from the Esdaile manuscript, from which also one or two corrections in the text of both poems, made in Macmillan’s edition of 1890, were derived.

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A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL EDITIONS OF SHELLEY’S POETICAL WORKS,

SHOWING THE VARIOUS PRINTED SOURCES OF THE CONTENTS OF THIS EDITION.

1. (1) Original Poetry; :  By :  Victor and Cazire. :  Call it not vain:—­they do not err, :  Who say, that, when the poet dies, :  Mute Nature mourns her worshipper. :  “Lay of the Last Minstrel.” :  Worthing :  Printed by C. and W. Phillips, :  for the Authors; :  And sold by J. J. Stockdale, 41, Pall-Mall, :  And all other Booksellers. 1810.