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MRS. SHELLEY

BY LUCY MADOX ROSSETTI.

1890.

PREFACE.

I have to thank all the previous students of Shelley as poet andman—not last nor least among whom is my husband—for their loving andtruthful research on all the subjects surrounding the life of Mrs.Shelley. Every aspect has been presented, and of known material itonly remained to compare, sift, and use with judgment. Concerningfacts subsequent to Shelley's death, many valuable papers have beenplaced at my service, and I have made no new statement which there arenot existing documents to vouch for.

This book was in the publishers' hands before the appearance of Mrs.Marshall's Life of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and I have hadneither to omit, add to, nor alter anything in this work, inconsequence of the publication of hers. The passages from letters ofMrs. Shelley to Mr. Trelawny were kindly placed at my disposal by hisson-in-law and daughter, Colonel and Mrs. Call, as early as the summerof 1888.

Among authorities used are Prof. Dowden's Life of Shelley, Mr.W. M. Rossetti's Memoir and other writings, Mr. Jeaffreson'sReal Shelley, Mr. Kegan Paul's Life of William Godwin,Godwin's Memoir of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mrs. Pennell'sMary Wollstonecraft Godwin, &c. &c.

Among those to whom my special thanks are due for original informationand the use of documents, &c., are, foremost, Mr. H. Buxton Forman,Mr. Cordy Jeaffreson, Mrs. Call, Mr. Alexander Ireland, Mr. Charles C.Pilfold, Mr. J. H. Ingram, Mrs. Cox, and Mr. Silsbee, and, forfriendly counsel, Prof. Dowden; and I must particularly thank LadyShelley for conveying to me her husband's courteous message andpermission to use passages of letters by Mrs. Shelley, interspersed inthis biography.

LUCY MADOX ROSSETTI.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. PARENTAGE.

CHAPTER II. GIRLHOOD OF MARY—PATERNAL TROUBLES.

CHAPTER III. SHELLEY.

CHAPTER IV. MARY AND SHELLEY.

CHAPTER V. LIFE IN ENGLAND.

CHAPTER VI. DEATH OF SHELLEY'S GRANDFATHER, AND BIRTH OF A CHILD.

CHAPTER VII. "FRANKENSTEIN".

CHAPTER VIII. RETURN TO ENGLAND.

CHAPTER IX. LIFE IN ITALY.

CHAPTER X. MARY'S DESPONDENCY AND BIRTH OF A SON.

CHAPTER XI. GODWIN AND "VALPERGA".

CHAPTER XII. LAST MONTHS WITH SHELLEY.

CHAPTER XIII. WIDOWHOOD.

CHAPTER XIV. LITERARY WORK.

CHAPTER XV. LATER WORKS.

CHAPTER XVI. ITALY REVISITED.

CHAPTER XVII. LAST YEARS.

CHAPTER I.

PARENTAGE.

The daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft and Godwin, the wife of Shelley:here, surely, is eminence by position, for those who care for theprogress of humanity and the intellectual development of the race.Whether this combination conferred eminence on the daughter and wifeas an individual is what we have to enquire. Born as she was at a timeof great social and political disturbance, the child, by inheritance,

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