by Robert Reed
wish to participate in that cultivation which graced his own intellect .
My active mind, when once it seized upon this new idea, fastened on
it with extreme avidity. At first it was the great object of my ambi-
tion to rival the merits of my father, and render myself worthy of the
friendship of Adrian . But curiosity soon awoke, and an earnest love
of knowledge, which caused me to pass days and nights in reading
and study . I was already well acquainted with what I may term the
panorama of nature, the change of seasons, and the various appear-
ances of heaven and earth . But I was at once startled and enchanted
by my sudden extension of vision, when the curtain, which had been
drawn before the intellectual world, was withdrawn, and I saw the
universe, not only as it presented itself to my outward senses, but as
it had appeared to the wisest among men . Poetry and its creations,
philosophy and its researches and classifications, alike awoke the
sleeping ideas in my mind, and gave me new ones .
I felt as the sailor, who from the topmast first discovered the
shore of America; and like him I hastened to tell my companions
of my discoveries in unknown regions . But I was unable to excite
in any breast the same craving appetite for knowledge that existed
in mine . Even Perdita was unable to understand me . I had lived in
what is generally called the world of reality, and it was awakening
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 844
to a new country to find that there was a deeper meaning in all I saw,
besides that which my eyes conveyed to me . The visionary Perdita
beheld in all this only a new gloss upon an old reading, and her own
was sufficiently inexhaustible to content her. She listened to me as
she had done to the narration of my adventures, and sometimes took
an interest in this species of information; but she did not, as I did,
look on it as an integral part of her being, which having obtained, I
could no more put off than the universal sense of touch .
We both agreed in loving Adrian: although she not having yet
escaped from childhood could not appreciate as I did the extent of
his merits, or feel the same sympathy in his pursuits and opinions . I
was for ever with him . There was a sensibility and sweetness in his
disposition, that gave a tender and unearthly tone to our converse .
Then he was gay as a lark carolling from its skiey tower, soaring
in thought as an eagle, innocent as the mild-eyed dove . He could
dispel the seriousness of Perdita, and take the sting from the tortur-
ing activity of my nature . I looked back to my restless desires and
painful struggles with my fellow beings as to a troubled dream, and
felt myself as much changed as if I had transmigrated into another
form, whose fresh sensorium and mechanism of nerves had altered
the reflection of the apparent universe in the mirror of mind. But it
was not so; I was the same in strength, in earnest craving for sym-
pathy, in my yearning for active exertion . My manly virtues did not
desert me, for the witch Urania spared the locks of Sampson, while
he reposed at her feet; but all was softened and humanized . Nor did
Adrian instruct me only in the cold truths of history and philosophy .
At the same time that he taught me by their means to subdue my
own reckless and uncultured spirit, he opened to my view the liv-
ing page of his own heart, and gave me to feel and understand its
wondrous character .
The ex-queen of England had, even during infancy, endeavoured
to implant daring and ambitious designs in the mind of her son . She
saw that he was endowed with genius and surpassing talent; these
she cultivated for the sake of afterwards using them for the further-
ance of her own views . She encouraged his craving for knowledge
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 845
and his impetuous courage; she even tolerated his tameless love of
freedom, under the hope that this would, as is too often the case,
lead to a passion for command . She endeavoured to bring him up in
a sense of resentment towards, and a desire to revenge himself upon,
those who had been instrumental in bringing about his father’s ab-
dication . In this she did not succeed . The accounts furnished him,
however distorted, of a great and wise nation asserting its right to
govern itself, excited his admiration: in early days he became a re-
publican from principle . Still his mother did not despair . To the love
of rule and haughty pride of birth she added determined ambition,
patience, and self-control . She devoted herself to the study of her
son’s disposition . By the application of praise, censure, and exhorta-
tion, she tried to seek and strike the fitting chords; and though the
melody that followed her touch seemed discord to her, she built her
hopes on his talents, and felt sure that she would at last win him . The
kind of banishment he now experienced arose from other causes .
The ex-queen had also a daughter, now twelve years of age; his
fairy sister, Adrian was wont to call her; a lovely, animated, little
thing, all sensibility and truth . With these, her children, the noble
widow constantly resided at Windsor; and admitted no visitors, ex-
cept her own partizans, travellers from her native Germany, and a
few of the foreign ministers . Among these, and highly distinguished
by her, was Prince Zaimi, ambassador to England from the free
States of Greece; and his daughter, the young Princess Evadne,
passed much of her time at Windsor Castle . In company with this
sprightly and clever Greek girl, the Countess would relax from her
usual state . Her views with regard to her own children, placed all her
words and actions relative to them under restraint: but Evadne was a
plaything she could in no way fear; nor were her talents and vivacity
slight alleviations to the monotony of the Countess’s life .
Evadne was eighteen years of age . Although they spent much
time together at Windsor, the extreme youth of Adrian prevented
any suspicion as to the nature of their intercourse . But he was ardent
and tender of heart beyond the common nature of man, and had al-
ready learnt to love, while the beauteous Greek smiled benignantly
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 846
on the boy . It was strange to me, who, though older than Adrian,
had never loved, to witness the whole heart’s sacrifice of my friend.
There was neither jealousy, inquietude, or mistrust in his sentiment;
it was devotion and faith . His life was swallowed up in the existence
of his beloved; and his heart beat only in unison with the pulsations
that vivified hers. This was the secret law of his life—he loved and
was beloved . The universe was to him a dwelling, to inhabit with his
chosen one; and not either a scheme of society or an enchainment of
events, that could impart to him either happiness or misery . What,
though life and the system of social intercourse were a wilderness,
a tiger-haunted jungle! Through the midst of its errors, in the depths
of its savage recesses, there
was a disentangled and flowery path-
way, through which they might journey in safety and delight . Their
track would be like the passage of the Red Sea, which they might
traverse with unwet feet, though a wall of destruction were impend-
ing on either side .
Alas! why must I record the hapless delusion of this matchless
specimen of humanity? What is there in our nature that is for ever
urging us on towards pain and misery? We are not formed for enjoy-
ment; and, however we may be attuned to the reception of plea-
sureable emotion, disappointment is the never-failing pilot of our
life’s bark, and ruthlessly carries us on to the shoals . Who was better
framed than this highly-gifted youth to love and be beloved, and
to reap unalienable joy from an unblamed passion? If his heart had
slept but a few years longer, he might have been saved; but it awoke
in its infancy; it had power, but no knowledge; and it was ruined,
even as a too early-blowing bud is nipt by the killing frost .
I did not accuse Evadne of hypocrisy or a wish to deceive her
lover; but the first letter that I saw of hers convinced me that she
did not love him; it was written with elegance, and, foreigner as she
was, with great command of language . The hand-writing itself was
exquisitely beautiful; there was something in her very paper and
its folds, which even I, who did not love, and was withal unskilled
in such matters, could discern as being tasteful . There was much
kindness, gratitude, and sweetness in her expression, but no love .
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 847
Evadne was two years older than Adrian; and who, at eighteen, ever
loved one so much their junior? I compared her placid epistles with
the burning ones of Adrian . His soul seemed to distil itself into the
words he wrote; and they breathed on the paper, bearing with them
a portion of the life of love, which was his life . The very writing
used to exhaust him; and he would weep over them, merely from the
excess of emotion they awakened in his heart .
Adrian’s soul was painted in his countenance, and concealment
or deceit were at the antipodes to the dreadless frankness of his na-
ture . Evadne made it her earnest request that the tale of their loves
should not be revealed to his mother; and after for a while contesting
the point, he yielded it to her . A vain concession; his demeanour
quickly betrayed his secret to the quick eyes of the ex-queen . With
the same wary prudence that characterized her whole conduct, she
concealed her discovery, but hastened to remove her son from the
sphere of the attractive Greek . He was sent to Cumberland; but the
plan of correspondence between the lovers, arranged by Evadne,
was effectually hidden from her . Thus the absence of Adrian, con-
certed for the purpose of separating, united them in firmer bonds
than ever . To me he discoursed ceaselessly of his beloved Ionian .
Her country, its ancient annals, its late memorable struggles, were
all made to partake in her glory and excellence . He submitted to
be away from her, because she commanded this submission; but
for her influence, he would have declared his attachment before all
England, and resisted, with unshaken constancy, his mother’s op-
position . Evadne’s feminine prudence perceived how useless any
assertion of his resolves would be, till added years gave weight to
his power . Perhaps there was besides a lurking dislike to bind herself
in the face of the world to one whom she did not love—not love, at
least, with that passionate enthusiasm which her heart told her she
might one day feel towards another . He obeyed her injunctions, and
passed a year in exile in Cumberland .
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 848
CHAPTER III.
HAPPY, thrice happy, were the months, and weeks, and hours of
that year . Friendship, hand in hand with admiration, tenderness and
respect, built a bower of delight in my heart, late rough as an untrod
wild in America, as the homeless wind or herbless sea . Insatiate
thirst for knowledge, and boundless affection for Adrian, combined
to keep both my heart and understanding occupied, and I was con-
sequently happy . What happiness is so true and unclouded, as the
overflowing and talkative delight of young people. In our boat, upon
my native lake, beside the streams and the pale bordering poplars—
in valley and over hill, my crook thrown aside, a nobler flock to tend
than silly sheep, even a flock of new-born ideas, I read or listened to
Adrian; and his discourse, whether it concerned his love or his theo-
ries for the improvement of man, alike entranced me . Sometimes
my lawless mood would return, my love of peril, my resistance to
authority; but this was in his absence; under the mild sway of his
dear eyes, I was obedient and good as a boy of five years old, who
does his mother’s bidding .
After a residence of about a year at Ulswater, Adrian visited Lon-
don, and came back full of plans for our benefit. You must begin
life, he said: you are seventeen, and longer delay would render the
necessary apprenticeship more and more irksome . He foresaw that
his own life would be one of struggle, and I must partake his labours
with him. The better to fit me for this task, we must now separate.
He found my name a good passport to preferment, and he had pro-
cured for me the situation of private secretary to the Ambassador at
Vienna, where I should enter on my career under the best auspices .
In two years, I should return to my country, with a name well known
and a reputation already founded .
And Perdita?—Perdita was to become the pupil, friend and
younger sister of Evadne . With his usual thoughtfulness, he had
provided for her independence in this situation . How refuse the of-
fers of this generous friend?—I did not wish to refuse them; but in
my heart of hearts, I made a vow to devote life, knowledge, and
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 849
power, all of which, in as much as they were of any value, he had
bestowed on me—all, all my capacities and hopes, to him alone I
would devote .
Thus I promised myself, as I journied towards my destination
with roused and ardent expectation: expectation of the fulfilment of
all that in boyhood we promise ourselves of power and enjoyment in
maturity . Methought the time was now arrived, when, childish occu-
pations laid aside, I should enter into life. Even in the Elysian fields,
Virgil describes the souls of the happy as eager to drink of the wave
which was to restore them to this mortal coil . The young are seldom
in Elysium, for their desires, outstripping possibility, leave them as
poor as a moneyless debtor . We are told by the wisest philosophers
of the dangers of the world, the deceits of men, and the treason of
our own hearts: but not the less fearlessly does each put off his frail
bark from the port, spread the sail, and strain his oar, to attain the
multitudinous streams of the sea of life . How few in youth’s prime,
moor their vessels on the “golden sands,” and collect the painted
shells that strew them . But all at close of day, with riven planks and
rent canvas make for shore, and are either wrecked ere they reach
it, or find some wave-beaten haven, some desart strand, whereon to
cast themselves and die unmourned .
A truce to philosophy!—Life is before me, and I rush into posses-
sion . Hope, glory, love, and blameless ambition are my guides, and
my soul knows no dread . What has been, though sweet, is gone; the
present is good only because it is about to change, and the to come
is all my own . Do I fear, that my heart palpitates? high aspirations
cause the flow of my blood; my eyes seem to penetrate the cloudy
midnight of time, and to discern within the depths of its darkness,
the fruition of all my soul desires .
Now pause!—During my journey I might dream, and with buoy-
ant wings reach the summit of life’s high edifice. Now that I am
arrived at its base, my pinions are furled, the mighty stairs are before
me, and step by step I must ascend the wondrous fane—
Speak!—What door is opened?
THE LAST MAN, by Mary Shelley | 850
Behold me in a new capacity . A diplomatist: one among the
pleasure-seeking society of a gay city; a youth of promise; favourite
of the Ambassador . All was strange and admirable to the shepherd
of Cumberland . With breathless amaze I entered on the gay scene,
whose actors were
—the lilies glorious as Solomon, Who toil not, neither do they
spin .
Soon, too soon, I entered the giddy whirl; forgetting my studious
hours, and the companionship of Adrian . Passionate desire of sym-
pathy, and ardent pursuit for a wished-for object still characterized
me . The sight of beauty entranced me, and attractive manners in
man or woman won my entire confidence. I called it rapture, when
a smile made my heart beat; and I felt the life’s blood tingle in my
frame, when I approached the idol which for awhile I worshipped .
The mere flow of animal spirits was Paradise, and at night’s close
I only desired a renewal of the intoxicating delusion . The dazzling
light of ornamented rooms; lovely forms arrayed in splendid dress-
es; the motions of a dance, the voluptuous tones of exquisite music,