CHAPTER II. THE SHELLEYS OF SUSSEX 13

Medwin's Blunders--Lady Shelley's Statement of the Case--The Michelgrove Shelleys--Sir William Shelley, Justice of The Common Pleas--The Castle Goring Shelleys--Their Pedigree at the Heralds' College--Evidences of the Connexion of the Two Families--John Shelley, 'Esquire and Lunatic'--Timothy Shelley, the Yankee Apothecary--Bysshe Shelley's Career--His Runaway Match with Catherine Michell--His Marriage with the Heiress of Penshurst--His Great Wealth--The Poet's Alleged Pride in his Connexion with the Sidneys--His Gentle, but not Aristocratic, Lineage.