A to — [the Lord Chancellor]

This poem has already appeared in the present edition of The Poems of Shelley as no. 131 in Volume 1. There it is dated ‘soon after 27 March 1817’ on the basis of an indication given by Mary in 1839 (see below). Here it is re-dated to summer 1820 following the conclusion of Paul Dawson and Timothy Webb in BSM xiv which provides a facsimile and transcription of the draft; see especially pp. xviii–xix. Dawson and Webb show that Nbk 15 is of Italian manufacture and argue that the draft, entitled ‘To the C.—’, was probably written after 14 July 1820 because it closely follows the draft of Hymn to Mercury (no. 336) which was completed on that date. That S.’s much-corrected transcription of the poem in Harvard Nbk 1 immediately follows his fair copy of Hymn to Mercury in the same nbk tends to confirm a date of composition after mid-July 1820. Similarities to I had two babes—a sister and a brother (no. 334; see headnote), composed late June to mid-August 1820, also support a date for the draft within that range. Further revisions were made between then and 10 November 1820 when S. appears to have sent to England a fair copy of To — [the Lord Chancellor] in Mary's hand, corrected by himself, but whether for publication is uncertain (see below).