Shelley and Bacon

Abstract

There is abundant evidence for the assertion that Shelley at one time thought of devoting all his talents to the study of metaphysics. On August 1, 1811, in a letter to Stockdale, Shelley writes: My studies have been, since my writing it [ St. Irvyne ], of a more serious nature. I am at present engaged in completing a series of moral and metaphysical essays.