In  walking,  riding,  and  studying,  some  months  passed
pleasantly  away.  When  evening  had  set  in,  Shelley,
according  to  his  usual  custom,  would  read  aloud.  A  few
weeks  in  the  spring  were  spent  at  Leghorn,  in  a  villa
lent  to  them  by  their  friends  the  Gisbornes,  who  were
then  absent  in  England.  From  this  house  Shelley  ad-
dressed his  letter  in  verse  to  Mrs.  Gisborne  —  a  com-
position of  interwoven  grace  and  humor,  uttered  in  free


THE   POET'S    LIFE   AT   PISA   AND    LEGHORN.      145

and  fluent  heroic  couplet,  and  containing  a  lovely  picture
of  the  scenery  and  influences  by  which  the  writer  was
surrounded :  —

"  I  see  a  chaos  of  green  leaves  and  fruit
Built  round  dark  caverns,  even  to  the  root
Of  the  living  stems  who  feed  them ;  in  whose  bowers
There  sleep  in  their  dark  dew  the  folded  flowers.
Beyond,  the  surface  of  the  unsickled  corn
Trembles  not  in  the  slumbering  air,  and,  borne
In  circles  quaint  and  ever- changing  dance,
Like  winged  stars  the  fire-flies  flash  and  glance,
Pale  in  the  open  moonshine;  but  each'bne
Under  the  dark  trees  seems  a  little  sun,  —
A  meteor  tamed,  —  a  fix'd  star  gone  astray
From  the  silver  regions  of  the  Milky  Way.
