Dublin
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| In February 1812, Shelley, his wife
Harriet, and her sister Eliza Westbrook
arrived in Dublin, bent on radical activity.
They initially stayed at a woolen-draper's
lodgings on Sackville Street, a busy road
that was later destroyed to make way for
O’Connell Street’s even busier
grand boulevard. Today, the original
address's location can only be guessed at.
Shelley immediately began circulating his
letters of introduction, making arrangements
to publish his revolutionary An Address to
the Irish People, and writing republican
verse dedicated to what he perceived as a
worldwide move toward freedom. Within days,
he began circulating the hot-off-the-press
Address, sending some copies to pubs
and having his servant sell or give away
others. Shelley, frequently accompanied by
Harriet and Eliza, walked the streets of
Dublin and tossed copies into carriages,
windows—even the hood of a lady's
cloak. |
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| He also made his first public speech at
the Fishamble Theatre, now a modern building
given over to offices, toney shops, and
upscale housing. Additional new construction
was in progress in 1999. |
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| Later, the Shelleys moved south of the
River Liffey to 17 Grafton Street, a building
which still exists, now a fashionable grey
and white Marks and Spencer department store.
No. 17 was the notorious "Cave of Abdullah,"
so called because of the wild-eyed,
wild-haired radical Romantics who called on
Shelley there. A useful history of the
Grafton Street building and surrounding area
can be found in Anne Haverty’s
Elegant Times: A Dublin Story (Dublin:
Sonas, 1995). |
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