In the preceding generation we have the well-known instances of Shelley, Byron, and Goethe, all of whom sought companionship outside of social rule, and enjoyed a sort of happiness probably not unembittered by the false position in which it placed them. The sad story of Shelley's first marriage, that with Harriett Westbrook, is one of the best instances of a deplorable but most natural mistake. She is said to have been a charming person in many ways. "Harriett," says Mr. Rossetti, "was not only delightful to look at but altogether most agreeable. She dressed with exquisite neatness and propriety; her voice was pleasant and her speech cordial; her spirits were cheerful and her manners good. She was well educated, a constant and agreeable reader; adequately accomplished in music." But in spite of these qualities and talents, and even of Harriett's willingness to learn, Shelley did not find her to be companionable for him; and he unfortunately did discover that another young lady, Mary Godwin, was companionable in the supreme degree. That this latter idea was not illusory is proved by his happy life afterwards with Mary so far as a life could be happy that was poisoned by a tragic recollection.[3] Before that miserable ending, before the waters of the Serpentine had closed over the wretched existence of Harriett, Shelley said, "Every one who knows me must know that the partner of my life should be one who can feel poetry and understand philosophy. Harriett is a noble animal, but she can do neither." Here we have a plain statement of that great need for companionship which was a part of Shelley's nature. It is often connected with its apparent opposite, the love of solitude. Shelley was a lover of solitude, which means that he liked full and adequate human intercourse so much that the insufficient imitation of it was intolerable to him. Even that sweetest solitude of all, when he wrote the "Revolt of Islam" in summer shades, to the sound of rippling waters, was willingly exchanged for the society of the one dearest and best companion:-- "So now my summer-task is ended, Mary, And I return to thee, mine own heart's home; As to his Queen some victor Knight of Faëry, Earning bright spoils for her enchanted dome. Nor thou disdain that, ere my fame become A star among the stars of mortal night (If it indeed may cleave its native gloom), Its doubtful promise thus I would unite With thy beloved name, thou child of love and light. "The toil which stole from thee so many an hour Is ended, and the fruit is at thy feet. No longer where the woods to frame a bower With interlaced branches mix and meet, Or where, with sound like many voices sweet, Waterfalls leap among wild islands green Which framed for my lone boat a lone retreat Of moss-grown trees and weeds, shall I be seen: But beside thee, where still my heart has ever been."