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47 - Life and Letters of Mary Shelley by Mrs. Julian Marshall · Life and Letters of Mary Shelley

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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen, Part three of the Life and Letters of
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Speaker 1: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Volume one by Julian Missus Marshall. This
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Speaker 1: LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Chapter sixteen, Part three.
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Speaker 1: Claire returned to the Casamanni on the sixth of July.
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Speaker 1: The weather had now become intensely hot, and Mary was
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Speaker 1: again prostrated by it. Alarming symptoms appeared, and after a
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Speaker 1: wretched week of ill health, these came to a crisis
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Speaker 1: in a dangerous miscarriage. She was destitute of medical aid
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Speaker 1: or appliances, and weakened as she already was, they feared
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Speaker 1: for her life. She had lain ill for several hours
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Speaker 1: before some ice could be procured, and Shelley then took
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Speaker 1: upon himself the responsibility of its immediate use. The event
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Speaker 1: proved him right, and when at last a doctor came,
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Speaker 1: he found her doing well. Her strength, however, was reduced
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Speaker 1: to the lowest ebb. Her spirits also, and within a
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Speaker 1: week of this misfortune her recovery was retarded by a
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Speaker 1: dreadful nervous shock she received through Shelley's walking in his sleep.
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Speaker 1: While Mary was enduring a time of physical and mental suffering,
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Speaker 1: beyond what can be told, and such as no man
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Speaker 1: can wholly understand. Shelley, for his part, was enjoying unwonted
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Speaker 1: health and good spirits, and such creatures are we all
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Speaker 1: that unwonted health in ourself is even a stronger power
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Speaker 1: for happiness than is the sickness of another for depression.
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Speaker 1: He was sorry for Mary's gloom, but he could not
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Speaker 1: lighten it, and he was persistently content in spite of it.
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Speaker 1: This has led to the supposition that there was at
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Speaker 1: this time a serious want of sympathy between Shelley and Mary.
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Speaker 1: His only want, he said in an often quoted letter,
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Speaker 1: was the presence of those who could feel and understand him.
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Speaker 1: Then he added, whether from proximity and the continuity of
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Speaker 1: domestic intercourse, Mary does not, it would have been almost
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Speaker 1: miraculous had it been otherwise. Perhaps nothing in the world
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Speaker 1: is harder than for a person suffering from exhausting illness
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Speaker 1: and from the extreme of nervous and mental depression, to
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Speaker 1: enter into the mood of temporary elation of another person,
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Speaker 1: whose spirits, as a rule are uneven and in need
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Speaker 1: of constant support from others. But the context of this
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Speaker 1: very letter of Shelley's shows clearly enough that he meant
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Speaker 1: nothing desperate, no shipwreck of the heart, for as the
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Speaker 1: people who could feel and understand him. He instances his correspondents,
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Speaker 1: mister and Missus Gisborne, saying that his satisfaction would be
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Speaker 1: complete if only they were of the party. Although were
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Speaker 1: his wishes not limited by his hopes, Hogg would also
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Speaker 1: be included. He would have liked a little intellectual stimulus
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Speaker 1: in comradeship. As it was, he was well satisfied with
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Speaker 1: an intercourse of which words were not the instruments. I
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Speaker 1: like Jane more and more, and I find Williams the
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Speaker 1: most amiable of companions. Jane's guitar and her sweet singing
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Speaker 1: were a new and perpetual delight to him, and she
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Speaker 1: herself supplied him with just as much suggestion of an
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Speaker 1: unrealized ideal as was necessary to keep his imagination alive. She,
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Speaker 1: on her side, understood him and knew how to manage
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Speaker 1: him perfectly, as a great man may be understood by
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Speaker 1: a clever woman who was so far from having an
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Speaker 1: intellectual comprehension of him that she is not distressed by
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Speaker 1: the consciousness of its imperfection or its absence, but succeeds
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Speaker 1: by dint of delicate social intuition, guided by just so
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Speaker 1: so much sense of humor, as saves her from exaggeration
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Speaker 1: or from blunders, and who understands her great man on
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Speaker 1: his human side, so much better than the poor creature
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Speaker 1: understands himself, as to wind him at will easily, gracefully
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Speaker 1: and insensibly round her little finger. And so, without sacrificing
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Speaker 1: a moment's peace of mind, Jane Williams won over Shelley
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Speaker 1: an ascendancy which was pleasing to both and convenient to
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Speaker 1: every one. No better instance could be given of her
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Speaker 1: method than the well known episode of his sudden proposal
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Speaker 1: to her to overturn the boat and together to solve
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Speaker 1: the great mystery inimitably told by Trelawney. And so the
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Speaker 1: month of June sped away. I have a boat here,
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Speaker 1: wrote Shelley to John Gisborne. It cost me eighty pounds
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Speaker 1: and reduced me to some difficulty in point of money. However,
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Speaker 1: it is swift and beautiful and appears quite a vessel.
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Speaker 1: Williams is captain, and we glide along this delightful bay
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Speaker 1: in the evening wind under the summer moon, until Earth
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Speaker 1: appears another world. Jane brings her guitar, and if the
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Speaker 1: past and the future could be obliterated, the present would
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Speaker 1: content me so well that I could say, with Faust,
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Speaker 1: to the present moment, remain thou art so beautiful, and
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Speaker 1: now like Faust. Having said this, like Faust's, his hour
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Speaker 1: had come. He heard from Genoa of the Lee Hunt's
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Speaker 1: arrival so far on their journey, and wrote at once
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Speaker 1: to Hunt a letter of warmest welcome to Italy, promising
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Speaker 1: to start for Leghorn the instant he should hear of
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Speaker 1: the Hunt's vessel having sailed for that port. Poor Mary,
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Speaker 1: who sends you a thousand Loves, has been seriously ill,
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Speaker 1: having suffered a most debilitating miscarriage. She is still too
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Speaker 1: unwell to rise from the sofa, and must take great
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Speaker 1: care of herself, or some time or she would come
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Speaker 1: with us to Leghorn. Lord Byron is in the Villi
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Speaker 1: Giatura near Laycorn, and you will meet, besides with a
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Speaker 1: mister Trelawney, a wild but kind hearted seaman. The Hunts
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Speaker 1: sail then on the first of July Shelley and Williams
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Speaker 1: with Charles Earls Vivian, the sailor lad who looked after
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Speaker 1: their boat started in the Ariel for Layhorn, where they
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Speaker 1: arrived safely. Thence Shelley with Lee Hunt proceeded to Pisa.
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Speaker 1: It had not been their intention to stay long, but
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Speaker 1: Shelley found much to detain him. Matters with respect to
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Speaker 1: Byron and the projected magazine wore a most unsatisfactory appearance.
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Speaker 1: Byron's eagerness had cooled, and his reception of the Hunts
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Speaker 1: was chilling in the extreme. Poor missus Hunt was very
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Speaker 1: seriously ill, and the letter which Mary received from her
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Speaker 1: husband was mainly to explain his prolonged absence. She had
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Speaker 1: let him go from her side with the greatest unwillingness.
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Speaker 1: She was haunted by the gloomiest forebodings and a sense
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Speaker 1: of unexplained misery, which they all ascribed to her illness,
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Speaker 1: and her letters were written in a tone of depression,
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Speaker 1: which made Shelley anxious on her account, and Edward Williams
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Speaker 1: on that of his wife, who he feared might be
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Speaker 1: unhappy during his absence from her. But Jane wrote brightly
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Speaker 1: and gave an improved account of Mary Shelley to Mary Pisa,
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Speaker 1: fourth of July eighteen twenty two. My dearest Mary. I
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Speaker 1: have received both your letters and shall attend to the
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Speaker 1: instructions they convey. I did not think of buying thee boulevar.
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Speaker 1: Lord Byron wishes to sell her, but I imagine would
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Speaker 1: prefer ready money. I have as yet made no inquiries
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Speaker 1: about houses near Pugnano. I have had no moment of
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Speaker 1: time to spare from Hunt's affairs. I am detained unwillingly here,
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Speaker 1: and you will probably see Williams in the boat before me,
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Speaker 1: but that will be decided tomorrow. Things are in the
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Speaker 1: worst possible situation with respect to poor Hunt. I find
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Speaker 1: Mary Anne in a desperate state of health, and on
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Speaker 1: our arrival at Pisa, sent for Vaka, he decides that
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Speaker 1: her case is hopeless, and, although it will be lingering,
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Speaker 1: must end fatally. This decision, he thought proper to communicate
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Speaker 1: to Hunt, indicating at the same time, with great judgment
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Speaker 1: and precision, the treatment necessary to be observed for availing
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Speaker 1: himself of the chance of his being deceived. This intelligence
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Speaker 1: has extinguished the last spark of poor Hunt's spirits. Low
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Speaker 1: enough before the children are well and much improved. Lord
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Speaker 1: Byron is at this moment on the point of leaving Tuscany.
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Speaker 1: The Gambas have been exiled, and he declares his intention
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Speaker 1: of following their fortunes. His first idea was to sail
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Speaker 1: to America, which was changed to Switzerland, than to Genoa,
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Speaker 1: and last to Lucca. Everybody is in despair and everything
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Speaker 1: in confusion. Trelawney was on the point of sailing to
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Speaker 1: Genoa for the purpose of transporting the Bolivar overland to
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Speaker 1: the Lake of Geneva, and had already whispered in my
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Speaker 1: ear his desire that I should not influence Lord Byron
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Speaker 1: against this terrestrial navigation. He next received orders to weigh
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Speaker 1: Anchor and set sail for Leedici. He is now without instructions,
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Speaker 1: moody and disappointed, but it is the worse for poor
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Speaker 1: Haunt unless the present storm should blow over. He places
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Speaker 1: his whole dependence upon the scheme of the Journal, for
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Speaker 1: which every arrangement has been made. Lord Byron must of
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Speaker 1: course furnish the requisite funds at present, as I cannot.
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Speaker 1: But he seems inclined to depart without the necessary explanations
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Speaker 1: and arrangements due to such a situation as haunts. These,
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Speaker 1: in spite of delicacy, I must procure He offers him
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Speaker 1: the copyright of the Vision of Judgment for the first number.
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Speaker 1: This offer if Sincere is more than enough to set
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Speaker 1: up the journal, and if Sincere will set everything right.
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Speaker 1: How are you, my best? Mary? Write? Especially how is
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Speaker 1: your health and how your spirits are? And whether you
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Speaker 1: are not more reconciled to staying at Ladichi at least
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Speaker 1: during the summer. You have no idea how I am
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Speaker 1: hurried and occupied. I have not a moment's leisure, but
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Speaker 1: will write by next post. Ever, Dearest Mary, yours affectionately s.
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Speaker 1: I have found the translation of the Symposium Shelley to
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Speaker 1: Jane Williams, Pisa, fourth of July eighteen twenty two. You
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Speaker 1: will probably see Williams before I can disentangle myself from
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Speaker 1: the affairs with which I am now surrounded. I return
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Speaker 1: to leg Corn tonight and shall urge him to sail
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Speaker 1: with the first fair wind. Without expecting me. I have
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Speaker 1: thus the pleasure of contributing to your happiness when deprived
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Speaker 1: of every other, and of leaving you no other subject
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Speaker 1: of regret but the absence of one scarcely worth regretting.
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Speaker 1: I fear you are solitary and melancholy at the Villemigni,
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Speaker 1: and in the intervals of the greater and more serious
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Speaker 1: distress in which I am compelled to sympathize. Here I
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Speaker 1: figure to myself the countenance which has been the source
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Speaker 1: of such consolation to me, shadowed by a veil of sorrow.
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Speaker 1: How soon those hours passed, and how slowly they return
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Speaker 1: to pass so soon again, and perhaps forever, in which
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Speaker 1: we have lived together, so intimately, so happily. Adieu, my
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Speaker 1: dearest friend. I only write these lines for the pleasure
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Speaker 1: of tracing what will meet your eyes. Mary will tell
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Speaker 1: you all the news. S from Jane Williams to Shelley
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Speaker 1: sixth of July. My dearest friend, your few melancholy lines
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Speaker 1: have indeed cast your own visionary veil over a countenance
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Speaker 1: that was animated with the hope of seeing you return
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Speaker 1: with far different tidings. We heard yesterday that you had
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Speaker 1: left Leghorn in company with the Bolivar and would assuredly
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Speaker 1: be here in the morning at five o'clock. Therefore, I
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Speaker 1: got up and from the terrace saw, or I dreamt it,
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Speaker 1: the Bolivar opposite in the offing. She hoisted more sail
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Speaker 1: and went through the straits. What can this mean, hope
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Speaker 1: and uncertainty have made such a chaos in my mind
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Speaker 1: that I know not what to think my own Nedino
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Speaker 1: does not deign to lighten my darkness by a single word.
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Speaker 1: Surely I shall see him to night. Perhaps too, you
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Speaker 1: are with him well, Patsienza Mary, I am happy to
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Speaker 1: tell you goes on well. She talks of going to Pisa,
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Speaker 1: and indeed your poor friends seem to require all her
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Speaker 1: assistance for me alas, I can only offer sympathy and
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Speaker 1: my fervent wishes that a brighter cloud may soon dispel
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Speaker 1: the present gloom. I hope much from the air of
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Speaker 1: Pisa for missus Hunt. Lord B's departure gives me pleasure.
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Speaker 1: For whatever may be the present difficulties and disappointments, they
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Speaker 1: are small to what you would have suffered had he
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Speaker 1: remained with you. This I say in the spirit of prophecy,
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Speaker 1: so gather consolation from it. I have only time left
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Speaker 1: to scrawl you a hasty adiou and m affectionately yours.
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Speaker 1: J W. Why do you talk of never enjoying moments
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Speaker 1: like the past? Are you going to join your friend
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Speaker 1: Plato or do you expect I shall do so soon? Buonone.
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Speaker 1: Mary was slowly getting better and hoping to feel brighter.
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Speaker 1: By the time Shelley came back on the seventh of July.
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Speaker 1: She wrote a few lines in her journal, summing up
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Speaker 1: the month during which she had left it untouched. Sunday,
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Speaker 1: July seventh, I am ill most of this time ill
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Speaker 1: and then convalescent. Roberts and Trelawney arrive with the Bolivar
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Speaker 1: on Monday, sixteenth of June. Trelawny goes on to Leghorn
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Speaker 1: with her. Roberts remains here until first of July, when
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Speaker 1: the Hants, being arrived, Shelley goes in the boat with
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Speaker 1: him and Edward to Leghorn. They are still there. Read
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Speaker 1: jacopo Orties, second volume of Geographica Fisica et cetera, et cetera.
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Speaker 1: Next day, Monday the eighth, when the voyagers were expected
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Speaker 1: to return, it was so stormy all day at Ladichi
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Speaker 1: that their having sailed was considered out of the question,
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Speaker 1: and their non arrival excited no surprise in Mary or Jane.
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Speaker 1: So many possibilities and probabilities might detain them at Leghorn
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Speaker 1: or Pisa that their wives did not get anxious for
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Speaker 1: three or four days, and even then what the two
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Speaker 1: women dreaded was not calamity at sea, but illness or
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Speaker 1: disagreeable business on shore. On Thursday, however, getting no letters,
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Speaker 1: they did become uneasy, and but for the rough weather,
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Speaker 1: Jane Williams would have started in a row boat for Leghorn.
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Speaker 1: On Friday, they watched with feverish anxiety for the post.
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Speaker 1: There was but one letter, and it turned them to stone.
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Speaker 1: It was to Shelley from lee Hunt, begging him to
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Speaker 1: write and say how he had got home in the
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Speaker 1: bad weather of the previous Monday. And then it dawned
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Speaker 1: upon them a dawn of darkness. There was no news.
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Speaker 1: There would be no news any more. One minute had
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Speaker 1: untied the knot and solved the great mystery. The Ariel
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Speaker 1: had gone down in the storm with all hands on board,
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Speaker 1: and for four days past, though they had not known it,
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Speaker 1: Mary Shelley and Jane Williams had been widows. End of
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Speaker 1: Volume one, end of chapter sixteen read by Phyllis Vincellie
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Speaker 1: and of the Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley,
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Speaker 1: Volume one by Julian Missus Marshall