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46 - 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 two of the Life in 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 two.
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Speaker 1: Godwin to Mary Skinner Street, third of May eighteen twenty two.
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Speaker 1: Dear Mary, I wrote to you a fortnight ago and
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Speaker 1: professed my intention of not writing again. I certainly will
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Speaker 1: not write when the result shall be to give pure
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Speaker 1: unmitigated pain. It is the questionable shape of what I
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Speaker 1: have to communicate that still thrusts the pen into my hand.
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Speaker 1: This day we are compelled by summary process to leave
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Speaker 1: the house we live in and to hide our heads
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Speaker 1: in whatever elly will receive us. If we can come
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Speaker 1: pound with our creditor, and he seems not unwilling to
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Speaker 1: accept four hundred pounds, I have talked with him on
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Speaker 1: the subject, we may emerge again. Our business, if freed
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Speaker 1: from this intolerable burthen, is more than ever worth keeping.
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Speaker 1: But all this would perhaps have failed in inducing me
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Speaker 1: to resume the pen, but for one extraordinary accident. Wednesday
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Speaker 1: May first was the day when the last legal step
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Speaker 1: was taken against me, and Wednesday morning, a few hours
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Speaker 1: before this catastrophe. Willits the man who three or four
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Speaker 1: years before lent Shelley two thousand pounds at two for one,
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Speaker 1: called on me to ask whether Shelley wanted any more
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Speaker 1: money on the same terms. What does this mean? In
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Speaker 1: the contemplation of such a coincidence, I could almost grow superstitious,
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Speaker 1: But alas I fear, I fear I am a drowning
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Speaker 1: man catching at a straw. Ever, most affectionately, your father
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Speaker 1: William Godwin, please to direct your letters till you hear
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Speaker 1: further to the care of mister Monroe, number sixty Skinner Street.
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Speaker 1: Missus Mason to Shelley, May eighteen twenty two. I send
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Speaker 1: you in return for Godwin's letter one still worse because
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Speaker 1: I think it has more the appearance of truth. I
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Speaker 1: was desired to convey it to Mary, but that I
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Speaker 1: should not think right. At the same time, I don't
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Speaker 1: well know know how you can conceal all this affair
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Speaker 1: from her. They really seem to want assistance at present
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Speaker 1: for their being turned out of the house as a
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Speaker 1: serious evil. I rejoice in your good health, to which
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Speaker 1: I have no doubt. The boat and the Williams much
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Speaker 1: contribute and wish there may be no prospect of its
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Speaker 1: being disturbed. Mary ought to know what is said of
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Speaker 1: the novel, and how can she know that without all
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Speaker 1: the rest, you will contrive what is best. In the
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Speaker 1: part of the letter which I do send, she Missus
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Speaker 1: Godwin adds that at this moment, mister Godwin does not
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Speaker 1: offer the novel to any bookseller, lest tis actual situation
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Speaker 1: might make it suppose that it would be sold cheap.
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Speaker 1: Missus Godwin also wishes to correspond directly with Missus Shelley,
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Speaker 1: but this I shall not permit, she says. Godwin's health
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Speaker 1: is much the worse for all this affair. I was
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Speaker 1: astonished at seeing Claire walk in on Tuesday evening, and
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Speaker 1: I have not a spare bed now in the house,
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Speaker 1: the children having outgrown theirs, and been obliged to occupy
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Speaker 1: that which I had formerly. She proposed going to an inn,
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Speaker 1: but preferred sleeping on a sofa, where I made her
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Speaker 1: as comfortable as I could, which is but little so. However,
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Speaker 1: she is satisfied. I rejoice to see that she has
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Speaker 1: not suffered so much as you expected, and understand now
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Speaker 1: her former feelings better than at first, When there is
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Speaker 1: nothing to hope or fear, it is natural to be calm.
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Speaker 1: I wish she had some determined project, but her plans
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Speaker 1: seem as unsettled as ever, and she does not see
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Speaker 1: half the reasons for separating herself from your society that
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Speaker 1: really exist. I regret to perceive her great repugnance to Paris,
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Speaker 1: which I believe to be the place best adapted to her,
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Speaker 1: if she had but the temptation of good letters of introduction,
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Speaker 1: but I have no means of obtaining them for her.
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Speaker 1: She intends, I believe, to go to Florence tomorrow and
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Speaker 1: to return to your habitation in a week, but talks
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Speaker 1: of not staying the whole summer. I regret the loss
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Speaker 1: of Mary's good health and spirits, but hope it is
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Speaker 1: only the consequence of her present situation, and therefore merely temporary.
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Speaker 1: But I dread Clare's being in the same house for
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Speaker 1: a month or two, and wish the Williams were half
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Speaker 1: a mile from you. I must write a few lines
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Speaker 1: to Mary, but will say nothing of having heard from
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Speaker 1: missus Godwin. You will tell her what you think, right.
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Speaker 1: You know my opinion that things which cannot be concealed
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Speaker 1: are better told at once. I should suppose a bankruptcy
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Speaker 1: would be best, but the Godwins do not seem to
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Speaker 1: think so. If all the world valued obscure tranquility as
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Speaker 1: much as I do, it would be a happier, though
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Speaker 1: possibly a much duller world than it is. But the
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Speaker 1: loss of wealth is quite an epidemic disease in England,
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Speaker 1: and it disturbs their rest more than the dot dot dot.
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Speaker 1: I should have a thousand things to say, but that
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Speaker 1: I have a thousand other things to do, and you
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Speaker 1: give me hope of conversing with you before long ever,
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Speaker 1: Yours very sincerely, M. M. Shelley to Missus Godwin Leddicchi,
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Speaker 1: twenty ninth of May eighteen twenty two. Dear Madame, Missus
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Speaker 1: Mason has sent me an extract from your last letter
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Speaker 1: to show to Mary, and I have received that of
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Speaker 1: mister Godwin, in which he mentions your having left Skinner Street.
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Speaker 1: In Mary's present state of health and spirits, much caution
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Speaker 1: is requisite with regard to communications which must agitate her
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Speaker 1: in the highest degree, and the object of my present
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Speaker 1: letter is simply to inform you that I thought it
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Speaker 1: right to exercise this caution on the present occasion. Mary
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Speaker 1: is at present about three months advanced in pregnancy, and
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Speaker 1: the irritability and languor which accompany this state are always
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Speaker 1: distressing and sometimes alarming. I do not know even how
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Speaker 1: soon I can permit her to receive such communications, or
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Speaker 1: even how soon you or mister Godwin, would wish they
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Speaker 1: should be conveyed to her, if you could have any
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Speaker 1: idea of the effect. Do not, however, let me be misunderstood.
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Speaker 1: It is not my intention or my wish that the
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Speaker 1: circumstances in which your family is involved should be concealed
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Speaker 1: from her, but that the detail of them should be
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Speaker 1: suspended until they assume a more prosperous character, or at
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Speaker 1: least till letters addressed to her or intended for her
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Speaker 1: perusal on that subject should not convey a supposition that
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Speaker 1: she could do more than she does, thus exasperating the
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Speaker 1: sympathy which she already feels too intensely for her father's distress,
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Speaker 1: which she would sacrifice all she possesses to remedy, but
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Speaker 1: the remedy of which is beyond her power. She imagined
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Speaker 1: that her novel might be turned to immediate advantage for him.
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Speaker 1: I am greatly interested in the fate of this production,
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Speaker 1: which appears to me to possess a high degree of merit,
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Speaker 1: and I regret that it is not mister Godwin's intention
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Speaker 1: to publish it immediately. I am sure that Mary would
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Speaker 1: be delighted to amend anything that her father thought imperfect
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Speaker 1: in it, though I confess that if his objection relates
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Speaker 1: to the character of Beatrice, I shall lament the deference
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Speaker 1: which would be shown by the sacrifice of any portion
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Speaker 1: of it to feelings and ideas which are but for
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Speaker 1: a day. I wish mister Godwin would write to her
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Speaker 1: on that subject. He might advert to the letter, for
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Speaker 1: it is only the last one which I have suppressed,
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Speaker 1: or not, as he thought proper. I have written to
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Speaker 1: mister Smith to solicit the loan of four hundred pounds, which,
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Speaker 1: if I can obtain in that manner, is very much
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Speaker 1: at mister Godwin's service. The views which I now entertain
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Speaker 1: of my affairs forbid me to enter and to any
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Speaker 1: further reversionary transactions. Nor do I think mister Godwin would
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Speaker 1: be a gainer by the contrary determination, as it would
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Speaker 1: be next to impossible to effectuate any such bargain at
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Speaker 1: this distance. Nor could I burthen my income which is
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Speaker 1: only sufficient to meet its various claims and the system
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Speaker 1: of life in which it seems necessary I should live.
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Speaker 1: We hear you hear Jane's Claire's news for missus Mason.
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Speaker 1: Since the late melancholy event, she has become far more tranquil.
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Speaker 1: Nor should I have anything to desire with regard to her.
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Speaker 1: Did not the uncertainty of my own life and prospects
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Speaker 1: render it prudent for her to attempt to establish some
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Speaker 1: sort of independence as a security against an event which
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Speaker 1: would deprive her of that which she at present enjoys.
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Speaker 1: She is well in health, and usually resides at Florence,
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Speaker 1: where she has formed a little society for herself among
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Speaker 1: the Italians, with whom she is a great favorite. She
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Speaker 1: was here for a week or two, and although she
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Speaker 1: has at present returned to Florence, we expect her on
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Speaker 1: a visit to us for the summer months in the winter,
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Speaker 1: unless some of her various plans succeed, for she may
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Speaker 1: be called la fiolo mis proget she will return to Florence.
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Speaker 1: Mister Godwin may depend upon receiving immediate notice of the
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Speaker 1: result of my application to mister Smith. I hope soon
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Speaker 1: to have an account of your situation and prospects, and
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Speaker 1: remain dear Madam, yours very sincerely, P. B. Shelley, Missus Godwin,
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Speaker 1: we will speak another time of what is deeply interesting,
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Speaker 1: both to Mary and to myself of my dear William.
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Speaker 1: The knowledge of all this Unshelley's mind. The consciousness that
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Speaker 1: he was hiding it from Mary, and that she was
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Speaker 1: probably more than half aware of his doing so, gave
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Speaker 1: him a feeling of constraint in his daily intercourse with her.
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Speaker 1: To talk with her, even about her father was difficult,
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Speaker 1: for he could neither help nor hide his feeling of
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Speaker 1: irritation and indignation at the way in which Godwin persecuted
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Speaker 1: his daughter after the efforts she had made in his behalf,
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Speaker 1: for which he had hardly thanked her. It would have
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Speaker 1: to come the explanation, but for the present, as Shelley
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Speaker 1: wrote to Claire, he was content to put off the
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Speaker 1: evil day. Towards the end of the month, Mary's health
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Speaker 1: had somewhat improved, and the letter she then wrote to
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Speaker 1: Missus Gisborne gives a connected account of all the past incidents.
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Speaker 1: Mary Shelley to Missus Gisborne, Casimagni presso a Leedici, second
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Speaker 1: of June eighteen twenty two. My dear missus Gisborne. We
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Speaker 1: received a letter from mister Gisborne the other day which
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Speaker 1: promised one from you. It is not yet common, although
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Speaker 1: I think that you are two or three in my debt.
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Speaker 1: Yet I am good enough to write to you again,
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Speaker 1: and thus to increase your debt. Nor will I allow you,
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Speaker 1: with one letter to take advantage of the Insolvent Act,
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Speaker 1: and thus to free yourself from all claims at once.
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Speaker 1: When I last wrote, I said that I hoped our
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Speaker 1: spring visitation had come and was gone. But this year
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Speaker 1: we were not quit so easily. However, before I mention
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Speaker 1: anything else, I will finish the story of the Zufa,
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Speaker 1: as far as it is yet gone. I think that
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Speaker 1: in my last I left the sergeant recovering one of
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Speaker 1: Lord Byron's and one of Guiccioli's servants in prison on suspicion,
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Speaker 1: though both were innocent. The judge or advocate called a Cancalieri,
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Speaker 1: sent from Florence to determine the affair, dislikes the peasants
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Speaker 1: and having Pocapaga expected a present from Milordo, and so
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Speaker 1: favored our part of the affair was very civil, and
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Speaker 1: came to our houses to take depositions against the law.
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Speaker 1: For the sake of the lesson, Hogg should have been
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Speaker 1: there to learn to cross question the Cansalieri. A talkative
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Speaker 1: buffoon of a Florentine with mi leescuze perlecomodo, asked dovefouleet
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Speaker 1: la sere del bente guatromazzo and ii esposso in carrozza
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Speaker 1: furi de la porto de la piaggia. A little clerk
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Speaker 1: seated beside him with a great deal of papers before him,
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Speaker 1: now dipped his pen in his inkorn and looked expectant,
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Speaker 1: while the Cansalieri, turning his eyes up to the ceiling,
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Speaker 1: repeated io fui esposso et cetera. This scene lasted two
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Speaker 1: four six hours. As it happened in the space of
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Speaker 1: two months, the depositions of fifteen people were taken, and,
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Speaker 1: finding Tita Lord Byron's servant perfectly innocent, the Cancalieri ordered
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Speaker 1: him to be liberated, but the peas On police took
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Speaker 1: fright at his beard. They called him il Barbone, and
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Speaker 1: although it was declared that on his exit from prison
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Speaker 1: he should be shaved. They could not tranquilize their mighty minds,
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Speaker 1: but banished him. We, in the meantime, were come to
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Speaker 1: this place, so he has taken refuge with us. He
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Speaker 1: is an excellent fellow, faithful, courageous and daring. How could
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Speaker 1: it happen that the peasants should be frightened at such
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Speaker 1: a mirabili mostro of an Italian, especially as the day
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Speaker 1: he was let out of Segretto and was laar gui
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Speaker 1: in prison, he gave a feast to all his fellow prisoners,
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Speaker 1: hiring chandeliers and plate. The poor Antonio, the gui Cioli's servant,
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Speaker 1: the meekest hearted fellow in the world, is kept in Segretto,
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Speaker 1: not found guilty, but punished as such Equissa when he
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Speaker 1: will be led out, so rests the affair. About a
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Speaker 1: month ago Claire came to visit us at Pisa and
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Speaker 1: went with the Williams to find a house in the
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Speaker 1: Gulf of Spezzia, when during her absence the disastrous news
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Speaker 1: came of the death of Allegra. She died of a
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Speaker 1: typhus fever which had been raging in the Romagna, but
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Speaker 1: no one wrote to say it was there. She had
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Speaker 1: no friends except the nuns of the convent, who were
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Speaker 1: kind to her. I believe, but you know Italians, if
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Speaker 1: half of the convent had died of the plague, they
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Speaker 1: would never have written to have had her removed. And
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Speaker 1: so the poor child fell a sacrifice. Lord Byron felt
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Speaker 1: the loss at first bitterly. He also felt remorse, for
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Speaker 1: he felt that he had acted against everybody's counsels and wishes,
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Speaker 1: and death had stamped with truth the many and often
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Speaker 1: urged prophecies of Claire that the air of the Romagna,
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Speaker 1: joined to the ignorance of the Italians, would prove fatal
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Speaker 1: to her. Shelley wished to conceal the fatal news from
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Speaker 1: her as long as possible, so when she returned from Sptsia,
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Speaker 1: he resolved to remove thither without delay, with so little
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Speaker 1: delay that he packed me off with Claire and Percy
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Speaker 1: the very next day. She wished to return to Florence,
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Speaker 1: but he persuaded her to accompany me. The next day,
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Speaker 1: he packed up our goods and chattels for a A
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Speaker 1: furnished house was not to be found in this part
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Speaker 1: of the world, and like a torrent, hurrying everything in
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Speaker 1: its course, he persuaded the Williams to do the same.
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Speaker 1: They came here, but one house was to be found
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Speaker 1: for us. All. It is beautifully situated on the seashore
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Speaker 1: under the woody hills. But such a place as this is,
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Speaker 1: the poverty of the people is beyond anything. Yet they
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Speaker 1: do not appear unhappy, but go on in dirty content
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Speaker 1: or contented dirt, while we find it hard work to
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Speaker 1: purvey miles around for a few eatables. We were in
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Speaker 1: wretched discomfort at first, but now are in a kind
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Speaker 1: of disorderly order, living from day to day as we can.
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Speaker 1: After the first day or two, Claire insisted on returning
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Speaker 1: to Florence, so Shelley was obliged to disclose the truth
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Speaker 1: you may judge of what was her first burst of
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Speaker 1: grief and despair. However, she reconciled herself to a fate
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Speaker 1: sooner than we expected, and although, of course, until she
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Speaker 1: formed new ties, she will always grieve. Yet she is
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Speaker 1: now tranquil, more tranquil than when prophesying her disaster. She
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Speaker 1: was forever forming plans for getting her child from a
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Speaker 1: place she judged, but too truly, would be fatal to her.
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Speaker 1: She has now returned to Florence, and I do not
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Speaker 1: know whether she will join us again. Our colony is
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Speaker 1: much smaller than we expected, which we consider a benefit.
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Speaker 1: Lord Byron remains with his train at Montenero. Trelawney is
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Speaker 1: to be the commander of his vessel, and of course
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Speaker 1: will be at Leghorn. He is at present at Genoa,
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Speaker 1: awaiting the finishing of his boat. Shelley's boat is a
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Speaker 1: beautiful creature. Henry would admire her greatly. Though only twenty
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Speaker 1: four feet by eight feet, she is a perfect little
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Speaker 1: ship and looks twice her size. She had one fault.
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Speaker 1: She was to have been built in partnership with Williams
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Speaker 1: and Trelawney. Trelawney chose the name of the Don Juan,
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Speaker 1: and we exceeded, But when Shelley took her entirely on himself,
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Speaker 1: we changed the name to the Ariel. Lord Byron chose
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Speaker 1: to take fire at this, and determined that she should
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Speaker 1: be called after the poem. Wrote to Roberts to have
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Speaker 1: the name painted on the mainsail, and she arrived thus
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Speaker 1: disfigured for days and nights full twenty one did Jelly
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Speaker 1: and Edward ponder on her anabaptism and the washing out
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Speaker 1: the primeval stain, turpentine, spirits of wine buccata. All were tried,
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Speaker 1: and it became dappled, and no more. At length the
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Speaker 1: peace had to be taken out and reefs put so
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Speaker 1: that the sail does not look worse. I do not
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Speaker 1: know what Lord Byron will say, but lord and poet
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Speaker 1: as he is, he could not be allowed to make
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Speaker 1: a coal barge of our boat, as only one house
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Speaker 1: was to be found habitable in this gulf. The Williams
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Speaker 1: have taken up their abode with us and their servants
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Speaker 1: and mine quarrel like cats and dogs. And besides, you
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Speaker 1: may imagine how ill a large family agrees with my
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Speaker 1: laziness when it counts, and domestic concerns come to be
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Speaker 1: talked of. Ma Patsienza. After all, the place does not
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Speaker 1: suit me. The people are Rozzi and speak a detestable dialect.
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Speaker 1: And yet it is better than any other Italian seashore
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Speaker 1: north of Naples. The air is excellent, and you may
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Speaker 1: guess how much better we like it than Lakehorn, when besides,
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Speaker 1: we should have been involved in English society, a thing
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Speaker 1: we longed to get rid of at Pisa, Mister Gisborne,
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Speaker 1: talks of your going to a distant country. Pray write
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Speaker 1: to me in time before this takes place, as I
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Speaker 1: want a box from England first, but cannot now exactly
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Speaker 1: name its contents. I am sorry to hear you do
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Speaker 1: not get on, but perhaps Henry will and make up
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Speaker 1: for all. Percy is well, and Shelley singularly, so this
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Speaker 1: incessant boding does him a great deal of good. I
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Speaker 1: have been very unwell for some time past, but am
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Speaker 1: better now. I have not even heard of the arrival
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Speaker 1: of my novel, but I suppose for his own sake,
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Speaker 1: Papa will dispose of it to the best advantage. If
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Speaker 1: you see it advertised, Pray tell me also its publisher,
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Speaker 1: et cetera. We have heard from Hunt the day he
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Speaker 1: was to sail, and anxiously and daily now await his arrival.
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Speaker 1: Shelley will go over to Leghorn to him, and I also,
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Speaker 1: if I can so manage it, we shall be at
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Speaker 1: Pisa next winter. I believe fate so decrees. Of course,
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Speaker 1: you have heard that the lawsuit went against my father.
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Speaker 1: This was the summit and crown of our spring misfortunes.
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Speaker 1: But he writes in so few words and in such
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Speaker 1: a manner that any information that I could get through
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Speaker 1: any one would be a great benefit to me. Adieu,
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Speaker 1: pray right now and at length remember both Shelley and
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Speaker 1: me to hog did you get Matilda from Papa Yours? Ever?
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Speaker 1: Mary W. Shelley continue to direct to Pisa. End of
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Speaker 1: Chapter sixteen, Part two,