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

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Speaker 1: Chapter fourteen, Part one 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 fourteen, Part one,
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Speaker 1: August to November eighteen twenty one. From Bologna, Shelley wrote
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Speaker 1: to Mary an amusing account of his journey so far.
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Speaker 1: But this letter was speedily followed by another, written within
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Speaker 1: a few hours of his arrival at Ravenna. A letter,
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Speaker 1: this second one, to make Mary's blood run cold, although
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Speaker 1: it is expressed with all the calmness and temperance that
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Speaker 1: Shelley could command. Ravenna, seventh of August eighteen twenty one,
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Speaker 1: My dearest Mary, I arrived last night at ten o'clock
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Speaker 1: and stayed up talking with Lord Byron until five this morning.
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Speaker 1: I then went to sleep, and now awake at eleven, and,
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Speaker 1: having dispatched my breakfast as quick as possible, mean to
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Speaker 1: devote the interval until twelve, when the post departs to you.
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Speaker 1: Lord Byron is very well and was delighted to see me.
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Speaker 1: He has in fact completely recovered his health and lives
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Speaker 1: a life totally the reverse of that which he led
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Speaker 1: at Venice. He has a permanent sort of laisson with
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Speaker 1: Contessa Guiccioli, who is now at Florence and seems from
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Speaker 1: her letters to be a very amiable woman. She is
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Speaker 1: waiting there until something shall be decided as to their
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Speaker 1: emigration to Switzerland or stay in Italy, which is yet
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Speaker 1: undetermined on either side. She was compelled to escape from
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Speaker 1: the papal territory in great haste, as measures had already
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Speaker 1: been taken to place her in a convent where she
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Speaker 1: would have been unrelentingly confined for life. The oppression of
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Speaker 1: the marriage contract, as existing in the laws and opinions
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Speaker 1: of Italy, though less frequently exercised, is far severer than
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Speaker 1: that of England. I tremble to think of what poor
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Speaker 1: Amelia is destined to. Lord Byron had almost destroyed himself
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Speaker 1: in Venice. His state of debility was such that he
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Speaker 1: was unable to digest any food. He was consumed by
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Speaker 1: hectic fever, and would speedily have perished but for this attachment,
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Speaker 1: which has reclaimed him from the excesses into which he
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Speaker 1: threw himself from carelessness. Rather than taste poor fellow, he
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Speaker 1: is now quite well and immersed in politics and literature.
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Speaker 1: He has given me a number of the most interesting
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Speaker 1: details on the former subject, but we will not speak
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Speaker 1: of them in a letter. Fletcher is here, and as
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Speaker 1: if like a shadow, he waxed and waned with the
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Speaker 1: substance of his master. Fletcher also has recovered his good looks,
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Speaker 1: and from amidst the unseasonable gray hairs, a fresh harvest
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Speaker 1: of flex and locks has put forth. We talked a
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Speaker 1: great deal of poetry in such matters last night, and
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Speaker 1: as usual differed, and I think more than ever he
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Speaker 1: affects to patronize a system of criticism fit for the
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Speaker 1: production of mediocrity. And although all his fine poems and
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Speaker 1: passages have been produced in defiance of this system, yet
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Speaker 1: I recognize the pernicious effects of it in the Doge
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Speaker 1: of Venice, and it will cramp and limit his future efforts,
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Speaker 1: however great they may be, unless he gets rid of it.
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Speaker 1: I have read only parts of it, or rather he
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Speaker 1: himself read them to me and gave me the plan
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Speaker 1: of the whole. Allegra. He says is grown very beautiful,
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Speaker 1: but he complains that her temper is violent and imperious.
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Speaker 1: He has no intention of leaving her in Italy. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: the thing is too improper in itself not to carry
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Speaker 1: condemnation along with it. Contessa Guicciole, he says, is very
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Speaker 1: fond of her. Indeed, I cannot see why she should
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Speaker 1: not take care of it if she is to live
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Speaker 1: as his ostensible mistress. All this I shall know more
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Speaker 1: of soon. Lord Byron has also told me of a
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Speaker 1: circumstance that shocks me exceedingly because it exhibits a degree
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Speaker 1: of desperate and wicked malice for which I am at
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Speaker 1: a loss to account. When I hear such things, my
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Speaker 1: patience and my philosophy are put to a severe proof,
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Speaker 1: whilst I refrain from seeking out some obscure hiding place
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Speaker 1: where the countenance of man may never meet me more.
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Speaker 1: It seems that a lease, actuated either by some income
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Speaker 1: conceivable malice for our dismissing her, or bribed by my enemies,
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Speaker 1: has persuaded the Hopners of a story so monstrous and
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Speaker 1: incredible that they must have been prone to believe any
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Speaker 1: evil to have believed such assertions upon such evidence. Mister
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Speaker 1: Hopner wrote to Lord Byron to state this story as
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Speaker 1: the reason why he declined any future communications with us,
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Speaker 1: and why he advised him to do the same. Elise
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Speaker 1: says that Claire was my mistress. That is very well,
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Speaker 1: and so far there is nothing new. All the world
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Speaker 1: has heard so much, and people may believe or not
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Speaker 1: believe as they think good. She then proceeds further to
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Speaker 1: say that Claire was with child by me, that I
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Speaker 1: gave her the most violent medicine to procure abortion, that
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Speaker 1: this not succeeding, she was brought to bed, and that
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Speaker 1: I immediately tore the child from her and sent it
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Speaker 1: to the Foundling Hospital. I quote mister Hopner's words, and
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Speaker 1: this is stated to have taken place in the winter
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Speaker 1: after we left Este. In addition, she says that both
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Speaker 1: Claire and I treated you in the most shameful manner,
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Speaker 1: that I neglected and beat you, and that Claire never
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Speaker 1: let a day pass without offering you insults of the
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Speaker 1: most violent kind in which she was abetted by me.
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Speaker 1: As to what reviews and the world say, I do
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Speaker 1: not care a job, but when persons who have known
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Speaker 1: me are capable of conceiving of me, not that I
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Speaker 1: have fallen into a great error, as would have been
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Speaker 1: the living with Claire as my mistress, but that I
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Speaker 1: have committed such unutterable crimes as destroying or abandoning a child,
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Speaker 1: and that my own. Imagine my despair of good. Imagine
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Speaker 1: how it is possible that one of so weak and
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Speaker 1: sensitive a nature as mine can run further the gauntlet
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Speaker 1: through this hellish society of men. You should write to
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Speaker 1: the Hopners a letter refuting the charge, in case you
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Speaker 1: believe and know and can prove that it is false,
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Speaker 1: stating the grounds and proof of your belief. I need
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Speaker 1: not dictate what you should say, nor I hope inspire
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Speaker 1: you with warmth to rebut a charge which you only
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Speaker 1: can effectually rebot. If you will send the letter to
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Speaker 1: me here, I will forward it to the Hopner's Lord
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Speaker 1: Byron is not up. I do not know the Hopner's address,
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Speaker 1: and I am anxious not to lose a post p. B. S.
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Speaker 1: Mary's feelings on the perusal of this letter may be
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Speaker 1: faintly imagined by those who read it now, and who
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Speaker 1: know what manner of woman she actually was. They are
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Speaker 1: expressed as far as they could be expressed in the letter, which,
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Speaker 1: in accordance with Shelley's desire, and while still smarting under
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Speaker 1: the first shock of grief and profound indignation, she wrote
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Speaker 1: off to missus Hopner and enclosed in a note to
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Speaker 1: Shelley himself. Mary to Shelley, my dear Shelley, shocked beyond
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Speaker 1: all measure as I was, I instantly wrote the enclosed.
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Speaker 1: If the task be not too dreadful, pray copy it
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Speaker 1: for me. I cannot read that part of your letter
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Speaker 1: that contains the accusation. I tried, but I could not
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Speaker 1: write it. I think I could as soon have died.
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Speaker 1: I send also Elise's last letter. Enclose it or not,
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Speaker 1: as you think best. I wrote to you with far
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Speaker 1: different feelings last night, beloved friend, our bark is indeed
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Speaker 1: tempest toast. But love me as you have ever done,
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Speaker 1: and God preserve my child to me and our enemies
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Speaker 1: shall not be too much for us. Consider well, if
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Speaker 1: Florence be a fit residence for us. I love I
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Speaker 1: own to face danger, but I would not be imprudent.
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Speaker 1: Pray get my letter to missus Hopner copied for a
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Speaker 1: thousand reasons, Adie dearest, take care of yourself. All yet
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Speaker 1: is well. The shock for me is over, and I
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Speaker 1: now despise the slander. But it must not pass uncontradicted.
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Speaker 1: I sincerely thank Lord Byron for his kind unbelief. Affectionately yours,
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Speaker 1: m w S. Do not think me imprudent in mentioning
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Speaker 1: ease illness at Naples. It is well to meet facts.
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Speaker 1: They are as cunning as wicked. I have read over
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Speaker 1: my letter. It is written in haste, but it were
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Speaker 1: as well that the first burst of feeling should be
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Speaker 1: expressed Pisa, tenth of August eighteen twenty one. My dear
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Speaker 1: missus Hopner, after a silence of nearly two years, I
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Speaker 1: address you again, and most bitterly do I regret the
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Speaker 1: occasion on which I now write. Pardon me that I
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Speaker 1: do not write in French. You understand English well, and
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Speaker 1: I am too much impressed to shackle myself in a
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Speaker 1: foreign language. Even in my own. My thoughts far outrun
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Speaker 1: my pen, so that I can hardly form the letters
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Speaker 1: I write to defend him, to whom I have the
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Speaker 1: happiness to be united, whom I love and esteem beyond
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Speaker 1: all living creatures from the foulest calumnies. And to you
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Speaker 1: I write this, who were so kind, And to mister Hopner,
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Speaker 1: to both of whom I indulged the pleasing idea that
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Speaker 1: I have every reason to feel gratitude. This is indeed
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Speaker 1: a painful task. Shelley is at present on a visit
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Speaker 1: to Lord Byron at Ravenna, and I received a letter
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Speaker 1: from him to day containing accounts that make my hand
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Speaker 1: tremble so much that I can hardly hold the pen.
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Speaker 1: It tells me that Elise wrote to you relating the
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Speaker 1: most hideous stories against him, and that you have believed
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Speaker 1: them before I speak of these falsehoods. Permit me to
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Speaker 1: say a few words concerning this miserable girl. You well
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Speaker 1: know that she formed an attachment with Paolo. When we
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Speaker 1: proceeded to Rome, and at Naples, their marriage was talked of.
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Speaker 1: We all tried to dissuade her. We knew Paolo to
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Speaker 1: be a rascal, and we thought so well of her.
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Speaker 1: An accident led me to the knowledge that without marrying,
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Speaker 1: they had formed a connection. She was ill. We sent
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Speaker 1: for a doctor who said there was danger of a miscarriage.
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Speaker 1: I would not throw the girl on the world without
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Speaker 1: in some degree binding her to this man. We had
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Speaker 1: them married at Sir r A Court's. She left us,
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Speaker 1: turned Catholic at Rome, married him, and then went to Florence.
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Speaker 1: After the disastrous death of my child. We came to Tuscany.
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Speaker 1: We have seen little of them, but we have had
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Speaker 1: knowledge that Paolo has formed a scheme of extorting money
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Speaker 1: from Shelley by false accusations. He has written him threatening
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Speaker 1: letters saying that he would be the ruin of him,
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Speaker 1: et cetera. We placed them in the hands of a
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Speaker 1: celebrated lawyer here, who has done what he can to
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Speaker 1: silence him. Elise has never interfered in this, and indeed,
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Speaker 1: the other day I received a letter from her, entreating,
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Speaker 1: with great professions of love, that I would send her money.
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Speaker 1: I took no notice of this, but although I know
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Speaker 1: her to be in evil hands, I would not believe
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Speaker 1: that she was wicked enough to join in his plans
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Speaker 1: without proof. And now I come to her accusations, and
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Speaker 1: I must indeed summon all my courage whilst I transcribe them,
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Speaker 1: for tears will force their way. And how can it
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Speaker 1: be otherwise? You know, Shelley, you saw his face, and
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Speaker 1: could you believe them? Believe them only on the testimony
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Speaker 1: of a girl whom you despise. I had hoped that
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Speaker 1: such a thing was impossible, and that although strangers might
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Speaker 1: believe the calumnies that this man propagated. None who had
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Speaker 1: ever seen my husband could for a moment credit them.
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Speaker 1: He says Claire was Shelley's mistress. That upon my word,
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Speaker 1: I solemnly assure you that I cannot write the words.
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Speaker 1: I send you a part of Shelley's letter, that you
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Speaker 1: may see what I am now about to refute. But
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Speaker 1: I had rather die than copy anything so vilely, so
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Speaker 1: wickedly false, so beyond all imagination fiendish. But that you
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Speaker 1: should believe it, that my beloved Shelley should stand thus
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Speaker 1: slandered in your minds. He the gentlest and most humane
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Speaker 1: of creatures, is more painful to me, oh, far more
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Speaker 1: painful than words can express. Need. I say that the
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Speaker 1: union between my husband and myself has ever been undisturbed.
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Speaker 1: Love caused our first imprudence, love which improved by esteem,
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Speaker 1: a perfect trust one in the other, A confidence and
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Speaker 1: affection which visited as we have been by severe calamities,
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Speaker 1: have we not lost two children, has increased daily and
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Speaker 1: knows no bounds. I will add that Claire has been
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Speaker 1: separated from us for about a year. She lives with
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Speaker 1: a respectable German family at Florence. The reasons for this
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Speaker 1: were obvious. Her connection with us made her manifest as
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Speaker 1: the miss Claremont, the mother of Allegra. Besides, we live
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Speaker 1: much alone, she enters much into society there and solely
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Speaker 1: occupied with the idea of the welfare of her child.
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Speaker 1: She wished to appear such that she may not be
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Speaker 1: thought in after times to be unworthy of fulfilling the
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Speaker 1: maternal duties. You ought to have paused before you tried
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Speaker 1: to convince the father of her child of such unheard
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Speaker 1: of atrocities on her part. If his generosity and knowledge
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Speaker 1: of the world had not made him reject the slander
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Speaker 1: with the ridicule it deserved, what irretrievable mischief you would
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Speaker 1: have occasioned her. Those who know me well believe my
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Speaker 1: simple word. It is not long ago that my father
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Speaker 1: said in a letter to me that he had never
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Speaker 1: known me utter a falsehood. But you, easy as you
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Speaker 1: have been to credit evil, who may be more deaf
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Speaker 1: to truth? To you? I swear by all that I
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Speaker 1: hold sacred upon heaven and earth, by a vow which
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Speaker 1: I should die to write if I infirmed a falsehood.
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Speaker 1: I swear by the life of my child, by my
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Speaker 1: blessed beloved child, that I know the accusations to be false,
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Speaker 1: but I have said enough to convince you. And are
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Speaker 1: you not convinced? Are not my words the words of truth? Repair?
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Speaker 1: I conjure you the evil you have done by retracting
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Speaker 1: your confidence in one so vile as Elease, and by
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Speaker 1: writing to me that you now reject as false every
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Speaker 1: circumstance of her infamous tale. You were kind to us,
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Speaker 1: and I will never forget it. Now I require justice.
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Speaker 1: You must believe me and do me. I solemnly entreat
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Speaker 1: you the justice to confess you do so, Mary W. Shelley.
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Speaker 1: I send this letter to Shelley at Ravenna that he
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Speaker 1: may see it, For although I ought the subject is
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Speaker 1: too odious to me to copy it, I wish also
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Speaker 1: that Lord Byron should see it. He gave no credit
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Speaker 1: to the tale, but it is as well that he
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Speaker 1: should see how entirely fabulous it is. End of Chapter fourteen,
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Speaker 1: Part one,