CHAPTER VII. LONDON AND BRACKNELL 164

Imprint of _Queen Mab_--The Poem’s Notes--The Author’s Views touching Marriage--Places of Abode in London--Presentation Copies--Shelley ‘a Lion’--Half-Moon Street--Diet and Discomfort--Quacks and Crotchet-Mongers--‘Nakedized Children’--Cornelia Newton--Maimuna and her Salon-- Elephantiasis--‘The Hampstead Stage’--Dinner Party at Norfolk House--The Duke’s Mediation between the Father and Son-- Failure of the Negotiations--Shelley declines to be ‘a miserable Slave’--At the Pimlico Lodgings--Correspondence with Mr. Medwin, of Horsham--Birth of Ianthe Eliza--Shelley as a Father--Conflict of Evidence respecting his Parental Character--Shelley’s Kindness to Children--The Poet sets up his Carriage--His Prodigality in London--His Life at Bracknell--Maimuna at her Country-House--Last Visits to Field Place--Captain Kennedy’s Reminiscences--Medwin’s Gossip--The Trip to Scotland--Dissensions and Estrangements--Shelley and Harriett drifting apart--_Queen Mab’s_ Vegetarian Note--_Refutation of Deism_.