Romantic Outlaws: The Extraordinary Lives of Mary Wollstonecraft and Her Daughter Mary Shelley

by Charlotte Gordon

  15 “the most rational” MW to Jane Arden, ?early 1780, Letters MW, 25.

  16 the ill-tempered and arrogant Sarah Dawson Godwin described Mrs. Dawson as having a “great peculiarity of temper.” He was struck by Mary’s ability to persevere despite her unpleasant employer. “Mary was not discouraged,” Godwin wrote; she applied herself to “making her situation tolerable.” Memoirs, 26.

  17 “Pain and disappointment” MW to Jane Arden, ?early 1780, Letters MW, 22.

  18 “the unmeaning civilities” MW to Jane Arden, ?April 1781, ibid., 28.

  19 Society ladies For a discussion of women’s fashion during the era, see Gordon, VAL, 24.

  20 “teaze” it Ibid.

  21 “I wish to retire” MW to Jane Arden, ?April 1781, ibid.

  22 Men were drawn to her Todd, MW:ARL, 34.

  23 worried about the poor These details are from Mary’s description of her fictional character “Mary,” which she explicitly based on her own life. See Wollstonecraft, Mary, 11.

  24 “I am just going to sup” MW to Jane Arden, late summer ?1781, Letters MW, 35.

  25 “I think it murder” MW to Jane Arden, ?late summer 1781, ibid., 34.

  26 enough “regard” for her family MW to Eliza Wollstonecraft, 8/17/?1781, ibid., 32. Mary complains, “of late [my mother] has not even desired to be remembered to me.—Some time or the other, in this world or a better she may be convinced of my regard—and then may think I deserve not to be thought harshly of—.”

  27 The letters they exchanged were angry Ibid., 31–32. For example, see MW to Eliza Wollstonecraft, 8/17/?1781. MW wrote, “there is an air of irony through your whole epistle that hurts me exceedingly.”

  28 Mary termed it dropsy MW to Jane Arden, c. mid–late 1782, ibid., 36.

  29 “A little patience” Godwin, Memoirs, 28.

  30 “Alas my daughter” Wollstonecraft, Mary, 15.

  31 she was “fatigued” MW to Jane Arden, c. mid–late 1782, Letters MW, 36.

  32 Eliza and Everina, on the other hand Wollstonecraft, Vindication of Woman, 88. Wollstonecraft reflects on this situation, saying that when sisters live with brothers, it may go smoothly, until he marries, whereupon the sister “is viewed with averted looks as an intruder, an unnecessary burden.”

  33 “done well, and married a worthy man” MW to Jane Arden, c. late 1782, Letters MW, 38.

  CHAPTER FIVE: MARY GODWIN: SCOTLAND, AN “EYRY OF FREEDOM” (1810–1814)

  1 Mary-Jane had scraped together Anne K. Mellor, Mary Shelley, 13.

  2 “torpor” that she could not Quoted in Gordon, VAL, 418.

  3 depression as “indolence” Paul, Friends, 2:214.

  4 “bold” ways Ibid.

  5 “imperious” Ibid.

  6 “Godwin…extended” Paul, Friends,1:36–38.

  7 Even Godwin admitted Too often, Godwin wrote, he would “proclaim his wishes and commands in a way somewhat sententious and authoritative, and occasionally…utter his censures with seriousness and emphasis.” Mrs. Julian Marshall, The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 2 vols. (London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1889), 28.

  8 “I believe she has nothing” Ibid., 29.

  9 “a thousand anxieties” Ibid.

  10 The streams in Scotland Dorothy Wordsworth makes repeated references to the children’s bare feet, comparing their “freedom” to the restrictions endured by English children. “[The Scottish children] were all without shoes and stockings, which, making them fearless of hurting or being hurt, gave a freedom to the action of their limbs which I never saw in England children.” Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland, 1803, ed. Carol Kyros Walker (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1997), 127.

  11 “Scotland is the country” Ibid, 55.

  12 “blank and dreary” Mary Shelley, introduction to Frankenstein (New York: Collier, 1978), 7–8.

  13 her quiet manner Godwin wrote a long letter to William Baxter to explain his daughter’s faults. He found her incomprehensible, he admitted, because she was often so silent. Godwin to W. Baxter, August 6, 1812, Marshall, The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, 1:27–29.

  14 She revered Charlotte Corday Seymour, MS, 74.

  15 “the devil” Ibid., 76.

  16 Isabella even dreamed See Seymour for a more detailed description of David Booth and Isabella Baxter, Booth’s house, and Broughty Ferry. Ibid., 77.

  17 her wobbly Ibid., 76.

  18 post-death payments For a more thorough explanation of this financial practice, see ibid., 88, and Richard Holmes, Shelley: The Pursuit (1974; New York: New York Review of Books, 1994), 219, 223–25. Citations are to the New York Review of Books edition.

  19 “Marriage, as now understood” Godwin, Political Justice, 2:507.

  20 But everything changed For a more complete description of Shelley’s relationship with Harriet, see Holmes, Shelley, 222–29.

  21 “a rash and heartless union” PBS to Thomas Hogg, October 1814, The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley, ed. Frederick Jones (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964), 1:402.

  22 a hawk, an eclipse PBS to Hogg, October, 1814, ibid. This account is based on Shelley’s version of events in which he was awaiting a “change.”

  23 As her mother had observed Wollstonecraft discusses this issue in the chapter entitled “Unfortunate Situation of Females, Fashionably Educated, and Left Without a Fortune” in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (London: 1788), 69–78.

  CHAPTER SIX: MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: INDEPENDENCE (1783–1785)

  1 “fits of phrensy” MW to Everina, c. late 1783, Letters MW, 39.

  2 “Her ideas” Ibid.

  3 “lion or a spannial” Ibid., 41.

  4 “I don’t know” Ibid., 40.

  5 “a wife being as much a man’s property” Wollstonecraft, Maria, 118.

  6 she had been “ill-used” MW to Everina, [January 5, 1784], Letters MW, 43.

  7 “I can’t help” MW to Everina, c. late 1783, ibid., 41.

  8 “even tho’ the contrary is clear” Ibid.

  9 reassuring herself Mary wrote Everina, “The poor brat it had got hold of my affections, some time or other I hope we shall get it.” MW to Everina, [January 11, 18, or 25, 1784], ibid., 45.

  10 “Those who would save Bess” MW to Everina, c. late 1783, ibid., 41.

  11 gnawing her wedding ring MW to Everina, c. January 1784, ibid., 43.

  12 “I hope Bishop will not discover us” MW to Everina, [c. January 1784], ibid., 43–44.

  13 “endeavor to make Mrs. B. happy” MW to Everina, Tuesday night [c. January, 1784], ibid., 49.

  14 interring them in asylums Gordon cites the historian Lawrence Stone, who writes, “One of the most terrible fates that could be inflicted on a wife by a husband was to be confined…in a private madhouse…where she might linger for…years.” VAL, 33–34.

  15 “the shameful incendiary” MW to Everina, [c. January 1784], Letters MW, 47.

  16 food and wine Mrs. Claire brought “pye and a bottle.” MW to Everina, [c. January 1784], ibid., 50.

  17 “Let not some small difficulties” MW to Jane Arden, ?April 1781, ibid., 29–30.

  18 Hannah Burgh offered Mary Gordon calls Mrs. Burgh a “fairy godmother.” VAL, 40.

  19 a shady green See Gordon’s description, Ibid., 42.

  20 to think for themselves Wollstonecraft first outlines her educational philosophy in Daughters, 22.

  21 “I am sick” Ibid., 52.

  22 “a different mode of treatment” Mary Wollstonecraft, Original Stories (London: 1906), xviii.

  23 a tragedy for all humankind Price argued, “The American Revolution may prove the most important step in the progressive course of human improvement.” Richard Price, Observations on the Importance of the American Revolution (Bedford, MA: Applewood Books; reprint, 2009), 50–52, 6.

  24 healthy eating habits Wollstonecraft wrote, “A moderate quantity of proper food recruits our exhausted spirits.” Original Stories from Real Life (London: 1796), 39.


  25 Instead of shaming According to Godwin, “It was kindness and sympathy alone” that guided her teaching. He said, “She never was concerned in the education of one child, who was not personally attached to her, and earnestly concerned not to incur her displeasure.” Godwin, Memoirs, 35, 45.

  26 compose their own stories Wollstonecraft, Daughters, 34. Wollstonecraft despised what she termed “exterior accomplishments.” Daughters, 29.

  27 “Let there be no disguise” Ibid., 45–46.

  28 “the beaten track” Ibid., 25.

  29 trifling mistakes Wollstonecraft wrote, “Accidents or giddy mistakes are too frequently punished.” Ibid., 15.

  30 Eliza and Everina disliked the long days MW to George Blood, July 20 [1785], Letters MW, 56.

  31 They did not like being left This summary is based on Todd’s description of the sisters in MW:ARL, 62.

  32 smoothing feathers For a more complete explanation of Fanny’s role in the school and the Wollstonecraft sisters’ behavior, see Gordon, VAL, 61.

  33 “He is much fatter” quoted in Todd, MW:ARL, 62.

  34 “I could as soon” MW to George Blood, July 20 [1785], Letters MW, 55.

  35 Londoners sneered Abigail Adams to Cotton Tufts, August 18, 1785, The Adams Family Correspondence, ed. Lyman H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, and Richard Alan Ryerson, 6 vols. (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1993), 6:283.

  36 “the whole scope” Quoted in David McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 417.

  37 “in the new code” Abigail Adams to John Adams, March 31, 1776, The Letters of John and Abigail Adams, ed. Frank Shuffleton (New York: Penguin, 2003), 91.

  38 “disciple of Wollstonecraft” John Adams to Abigail Adams, January 22, 1794, Adams Family Correspondence, 6:254.

  39 “I thank you, Miss W.” John Adams, notations on Mary Wollstonecraft, An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution, in the Boston Public Library Rare Books Department, available online at https://archive.org/details/historicalmoralv00woll.

  40 Four hours after Mary walked in the door This account is based on a longer version in Todd, MW:ARL, 68.

  41 “life seems a burden” MW to George Blood, February 4, 1786, Letters MW, 65.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: MARY GODWIN: “THE SUBLIME AND RAPTUROUS MOMENT” (1814)

  1 he had seen “manifestations” Shelley wrote, “Manifestations of my approaching change tinged my waking thoughts.…A train of visionary events arranged themselves in my imagination.…” PBS to Thomas Hogg, October 3, 1814, Letters PBS, 1:402.

  2 a flirtatious sidelong glance Sunstein, MS:R&R, 58.

  3 “wild, intellectual, unearthly” Holmes, Pursuit, 172.

  4 “thoughtful” greenish-gray eyes Percy Shelley, dedication to “The Revolt of Islam,” The Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats (Philadelphia: Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 1844), 252–53.

  5 “of sunny and burnished” The Journals of Claire Clairmont, ed. Marion Kingston Stocking (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1968), 431.

  6 “very much like her mother” Harriet Shelley to Catherine Nugent, ?October 1814, quoted in Seymour, MS, 79.

  7 “They say that thou wert lovely” Percy Shelley, dedication to “The Revolt of Islam,” Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, 253.

  8 “A lamp” Ibid.

  9 Godwin nodded According to Shelley’s friend Hogg, Godwin flattered Shelley and sought to win his favor before the poet ran away with Mary. Holmes, Pursuit, 227.

  10 “while the fair young lady” Rosalie Glynn Grylls, Claire Clairmont, Mother of Byron’s Allegra (London: John Murray, 1939), appendix D, 277.

  11 “the door was partially and softly opened” T. J. Hogg, The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley (London: 1858), 2:538.

  12 their favorite place Paul, Friends, 2:215.

  13 Here, they read aloud Holmes speculates about their conversations in Pursuit, 230.

  14 “pale ghost” Mary Shelley frequently used this phrase in her fiction to denote a child’s mourning for a dead parent. See Lodore (London: 1835), 127; Falkner (London: 1837; Google Books, 2009), 99; http://books.google.com/books?id=cZk_AAAAYAAJ&dq=Falkner&source=gbs_navlinks.

  15 “in genuine elevation” PBS to Hogg, October 3–4, 1814, Letters PBS, 1:401–3.

  16 In mid-June Holmes, Pursuit, 231. The dates were June 19–29.

  17 “by a spirit” PBS to Hogg, October 4, 1814, Letters PBS, 1:403.

  18 “full ardour” MWS, “Life of Shelley” (1823), Bodleian, facsimile and transcript ed. A. M. Weinberg, Bodleian Shelley Manuscripts, 22 pt 2 (1997), 266–67. Seymour, MS, 92.

  19 “How beautiful and calm” Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, 252.

  20 “But our church” Ibid., 403.

  21 Shelley claimed For more on Shelley’s fabrications, see Seymour, MS, 92.

  22 Certainly, Shelley felt As Seymour writes, Shelley liked to “let his imagination loose on the past.” Ibid.

  23 “Mary was determined” Harriet Shelley to Catherine Nugent, November 20, 1814, Letters PBS, 1:421. Harriet’s letters are provided in chronological notes to Shelley’s letters. For a more comprehensive explanation of the different accounts of Mary and Shelley’s love affair, see Seymour, MS, 93.

  24 In the last week of July This account is based on Mrs. Godwin’s letter to Lady Mountcashell (Margaret King), August 20, 1814, in Edward Dowden, The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley (London, 1886), 2:544. Also in Holmes, Pursuit, 233.

  25 Shelley left From Mrs. Godwin’s account. See also Seymour, MS, 97–98.

  26 “after the decay” Poetical Works of Coleridge, Shelley, and Keats, 374.

  27 “Love is free” Ibid.

  28 “This book is sacred to me” St. Clair, Godwins and the Shelleys, 366.

  29 “I remember your words” Ibid., 358.

  30 chopped down his father’s precious fir trees Holmes, Pursuit, 23.

  31 poked holes Ibid., 3.

  32 used gunpowder to blow up Ibid., 13, 24.

  33 set the butler Ibid., 3.

  34 “collect” his little sisters Hellen Shelley to Jane [Williams] Hogg in Hogg, Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley, 9.

  35 he ignited his parents’ baronial estate Holmes, Pursuit, 18.

  36 solar microscope Ibid., 17.

  37 One night, he sneaked into a church Ibid., 24–25.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: ON THE EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS (1785–1787)

  1 “I can scarcely find” MW to George Blood, June 18, [1786], Letters MW, 72.

  2 “My hopes of happiness” MW to George Blood, May 1, [1786], ibid., 68.

  3 like “furies” Ibid., 69.

  4 One night she had a dream Ibid., 72.

  5 “the diligent improvement” John Hewlett, Sermons on Various Subjects, 4th ed., 2 vols. (London: Johnson, 1798), 1:22.

  6 this is what God was Ibid., 10.

  7 “Few are the modes” Wollstonecraft, Daughters, 70–71.

  8 For the time As Kirstin Hanley argues, “Wollstonecraft appropriates and revises the work of eighteenth-century writers on the subject of women’s education such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Dr. John Gregory, epitomizing a feminist didactic approach later (re)deployed by Jane Austen and Charlotte Brontë.” Redefining Didactic Traditions: Mary Wollstonecraft and Feminist Discourses of Appropriation, 1749–1847 (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 2007). However, some scholars have declared there is little of interest to be found in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. “There is really little originality in its contents or striking merit in the method of treating them,” says Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Wollstonecraft’s first biographer, setting the tone for future critics. Mary Wollstonecraft (1884; Fairford, UK: Echo Library, 2008), 68.

  9 girls too “delicate” William McCarthy and Elizabeth Kraft, eds., The Poems of Anna Letitia Barbauld (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994), 77.

  10 “bold, in
dependent” Hannah More, The Complete Works of Hannah More, 2 vols. (New York: 1856), 2:568.

  11 the flowery style Wollstonecraft, Vindication of Woman, 26.

  12 Mary felt she had entered a prison To Everina, she wrote that she was “going into the Bastille.” October 30 [1786], Letters MW, 84.

  13 This was precisely the kind of excess She wrote Everina that Mitchelstown “had a solemn kind of stupidity.” Ibid.

  14 the rape of Proserpina Gordon discusses the implications of this painting in VAL, 84.

  15 Mary had heard whispers Ibid., 93.

  16 “a host of females” MW to Everina, October 30, 1786, Letters MW, 84–85.

  17 “Wild,” she thought Ibid.

  18 “no softness in her manners” MW to Everina, October 30, [1786], ibid., 86.

  19 in baby talk MW wrote Everina that Lady Kingsborough “us[ed] infantine expression” when speaking to her dogs, October 30, [1786], ibid., 85.

  20 Mary, appalled at her ladyship’s cold heart She wrote Everina, “Her ladyship visited [the girls] in a formal way—though their situation called forth my tenderness—and I endeavored to amuse them.” November 17, [1786], ibid., 91.

  21 “very much afraid” MW to Eliza Bishop, November 5, [1786], ibid., 88.

  22 Margaret was intelligent MW wrote Eliza that the girl had a “wonderful capacity.” Ibid.

  23 “heap of rubbish” MW to Eliza Bishop, November 5, [1786], Letters MW, 88.

  24 “haughti[ness]” and “condescension” MW to Everina, March 3, [1787], ibid., 108.

  25 “betwixt and between” MW to Eliza Bishop, November 5, [1786], ibid., 88.

  26 “between forty and fifty” MW to Everina, March 25, [1787], ibid., 116.

  27 “disgust to the follies of dress” Margaret King’s unpublished autobiography, quoted in ibid., 124 n286.

  28 “I fell into…a violent fit” MW to Everina, February 12, [1787], ibid., 104.

  29 “Rousseau declares that a woman should never” Wollstonecraft, Vindication of Woman, 43.

  30 “the mind of a woman” “Advertisement” in Wollstonecraft, Mary, 3.

  31 her heroine would not be a “Sophie” Ibid.