Neither,  on  the  other  hand,  did  he  trust  to  mere  legislative
changes,  still  less  to  any  violence  or  force,  being  of  opinion
that  all  reform  is  useless  unless  accompanied  by  a  correspond-
ing self -improvement. "  Reform  yourselves,"  is  the  keynote
of  the  Address  to  the  Irish  People,  and  the  same  warning  is
enforced  in  the  Essay  on  Christianity,  where  the  failure  of
the  early  Chrietian  socialism  is  attributed  to  the  fact  that  it
preceded  that  moral  improvement  from  which  it  ought  rather
to  have  resulted. For  this  reason  simplicity  of  life  is  fre-
quently inculcated  by  Shelley ;  to  decrease  his  own  physical
wants  is  the  duty  of  every  earnest  man,  for  he  "  who  has
fewest  bodily  wants  approaches  nearest  to  the  divine  nature."
The  world  has  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  of  science  and
inventions  and  mechanical  skill ;  but  it  is  sadly  deficient  in
generous  impulse,  unselfishness,  and  the  poetry  of  life  ;  hence
has  resulted  "  the  abuse  of  all  invention  for  abridging  and
combining  labour,  to  the  exasperation  of  the  inequality  of  man-
kind." (The  passages  where  Shelley's  social  views  are  most
clearly  stated  are  in  Notes  to  Queen  Mah,  Address  to  the  Irish
People,  Declaration  of  Bights,  On  Christianity,  On  the  Death
of  the  Princess  Charlotte,  Letters  from  Italy,  and  the  unpub-
lished Philosophical  Vieiv  of  Reform.)

The  Emancipation  of  Woman  is  another  of  Shelley's  great
social  themes. He  painted  in  glowing  colours  the  happiness
that  might  result  if  women  could  burst  the  bonds  of  restraint
imposed  on  them  by  ignorance  and  custom,  and  stand  forth
as  the  free  and  equal  companions  of  men. In  Laon  and
Cythna  this  vision  is  presented  in  its  fullest  form ;  Cythna
being  the  type  of  the  perfect  woman,  at  once  the  tender  and
gentle  comforter,  and  the  swift  and  fearless  liberator. In
The  Cenci  we  note  the  same  spirit  in  Beatrice,  though,  warped
and  repressed  by  the  pitiless  conditions  of  her  life. In  Rosa-
lind and  Helen  he  deals  with  the  subject  of  the  social  degra-
dation of  woman,  though  in  a  less  direct  and  powerful  manner
than  in  Laon  and  Cythna. Shelley's  views  on  the  marriage-


SHELLEY'S  OPINIONS. ^^

laws  are  well-known  from  the  famous  Note  to  Queen  Mob
{vide  p. 103),  and  a  passage  in  JEpipsychidzon. 