the weather was fine, instead of the vigorous and continuous readings of previous years. The walk commonly conducted us to some fashionable bonnet shop." And then there was Miss Westbrook. Shelley writes to Hogg, under date of March 16, 1814: "Eliza is still with us not here! but will be with me when the infinite malice of destiny forces me to depart [from the Boinville's, where he had been staying]. I am now little inclined to contest this point. I certainly hate her with all my heart and soul. It is a sight which awakens an inexpressible sensation of disgust and horror to see her caress my poor little Ianthe, in whom I may hereafter find the consolation of sympathy. I sometimes feel faint with the fatigue of checking the overflowings of my unbounded abhorrence for this miserable wretch." Whatever may have been the state of his feelings, he certainly appears, in the spring of 1814, to have had no idea of the step which he was to take in two or three months, — that of abandoning his marital relations with Harriet. This may be inferred, for example, from the fact that towards the end of March he, a second time, went through the ceremony of marriage with her. Professor Dowden suggests that the cause of this act may have been some doubts cast upon the validity of the Scotch rite in the course of negotiations with money-lenders in which he was at this time engaged. During the early part of the following summer Harriet was for a somewhat long period absent from her husband. The latter was, meanwhile, engaged in helping Godwin out of money difficulties, in which that sage was continually involved; and was in consequence repeatedly at Godwin's house. It was now that Mary Godwin first attracted his attention. She was in her seventeenth year, "with shapely golden head, a face very pale and pure, great forehead, earnest hazel eyes, and an expression at once of sensibility and firmness about her delicately curved lips." Her father describes her at fifteen as "singularly bold, somewhat imperious, and active in mind; her desire of knowledge is great and her perseverance in everything she undertakes almost invincible." Between Shelley and her, a friendship sprang up, which quickly developed into mutual passion. Early in June, Shelley and Hogg called at Godwin's house. Godwin did not appear; but presently, Hogg narrates, "the door was partially and softly opened. A thrilling voice called 'Shelley!' A thrilling voice answered 'Mary!' And he darted out of the room like an arrow from the bow of the 1 far-shooting king. A very young female, fair and fairhaired, pale indeed, and with a piercing look, wearing a frock of tartan, an unusual dress in London at that time, had called him out of the room. He was absent a very short time, a minute or two, and then returned.... 'Who was that, pray?' I asked; a daughter?' Yes.' 'A daughter of William Godwin?' 'The daughter of William and Mary.' This was the first time that I beheld a very distinguished lady, of whom I have much to say hereafter." A month later, Harriet, who was still absent, became alarmed at the cessation, during four days, of Shelley's letters. She wrote to Hookham, the publisher, a friend of Shelley; he in turn communicated with Shelley and Godwin, and the suspicions of the latter seem to have been aroused. In response to a letter from Shelley, Harriet returned to London, July 14th. Shelley proposed a separation, and Harriet had a fit of illness in consequence. About this time occurred an interview between Shelley and Peacock, of which the latter 1 That is, Mary Wollstonecraft, the writer, the vindicator of the rights of women, and Godwin's first wife. The Godwin household was curiously complicated; besides Mary, there were an elder daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, by an American named Imlay, commonly known as Fanny Godwin; Jane Clairmont (usually called Claire) and her brother Charles, children of the second Mrs. Godwin by a former mar. riage; as well as children of Godwin and his second wife. 66 gives the following account: 'Nothing that I ever read in tale or history could present a more striking image of sudden, irresistible, uncontrollable passion than that under which I found him laboring when, at his request, I went up from the country to call upon him in London. Between his old feelings towards Harriet, from whom he was not then separated, and his new passion for Mary, he showed in his looks, in his gestures, in his speech, the state of mind 'suffering, like a little kingdom, the nature of an insurrection.' His eyes were bloodshot, his hair and dress disordered. He caught up a bottle of laudanum and said: 'I never part from this.' He added, 'I am always repeating to myself your lines from Sophocles: Man's happiest lot is not to be, And when we tread life's thorny steep, Most blest are they who, earliest free, Descend to death's eternal sleep.' Again he said more calmly: 'Every one who knows me must know that the partner of my life should be one who can feel poetry and understand philosophy. Harriet is a noble animal, but she can do neither.' I said: 'It always appeared to me that you were very fond of Harriet.' Without affirming or denying this, he answered: But you did not know how I hated her sister.'" 1 1 Shelley subsequently believed that, before the separation, Harriet had been guilty of such heinous misconduct as would amply justify his abandonment of her, even in the judgment of those who hold most strongly the inviolability of the marriage bond. (See Dowden's Life, I, pp. 425-428.) Professor Dowden further maintains that Shelley believed this at the time of his elopement, and that it was a factor in his conduct towards his wife. Existing evidence on the point is not absolutely conclusive; but, in the present writer's opinion, the evidence unmistakably points to the fact that no such idea with regard to Harriet was present in his mind when he deserted her. It was developed after the catas trophe, and was almost certainly not warranted by facts. On July 28, unknown to Godwin and his wife, Shelley and Mary, accompanied by Jane Clairmont, set out for the Continent. According to Shelley's conviction, the obligations of marriage were no longer binding when love had ceased. Similar views he may have pointed out to Mary in the writings both of her father and of her mother. That Mary was, both by intellect and character, better suited to be Shelley's wife than was Harriet, cannot be doubted. Their union seems to have been very happy in its earlier years; and to the end genuine affection and esteem bound them together. But in course of time insufficiencies in Mary disclosed themselves to Shelley. Constancy in love, as his writings abundantly show, was no virtue in his eyes; from time to time, he thought he had discovered in the women he met incarnations of the feminine ideal; and Mary was not unnaturally jealous. Epipsychidion and other later poems, as well as Trelawny's Records, testify that he suffered under the sense of her imperfect sympathy. She was a woman of force and very considerable mental endowments, and had opinions of her own which did not always coincide with those of her husband. Among other things, she regarded the judgment of the world with more reverence than became the wife of the poet, and was anxious to mingle with it. "Poor Mary," said Shelley to Trelawny, "hers is a sad fate. She can't bear solitude, nor I society- the quick coupled with the dead." After some stay in Paris the three travellers began, on foot, a tour through France to Switzerland. An account of it is given in The History of a Six Weeks Tour, published by Shelley in 1817. Before leaving England, he had made provision for the payment of an allowance to Harriet. The following letter, written by him soon after the beginning of the tour, reveals his extraordinary way of viewing the situation and his utter incapacity for comprehending the very different feelings of another in regard to the same facts: Troyes, 120 miles from Paris, on the way to Switzerland, MY DEAREST HARRIET, I write to you from this detestable town. I write to show that I do not forget you; I write to urge you to come to Switzerland, where you will at least find one firm and constant friend, to whom your interests will be always dear - by whom your feelings will never wilfully be injured. From none can you expect this but me — all else are either unfeeling or selfish, or have beloved friends of their own, as Mrs. Boinville, to whom their attention and affection is confined. [Here follows a matter-of-fact account of the journey.] You shall know our adventures more detailed if I do not hear at Neufchatel that I am soon to have the pleasure of communicating with you in person, and of welcoming you to some sweet retreat I will procure for you among the mountains. I have written to Peacock to superintend your money affairs; he is expensive, inconsiderate, and cold, but surely not utterly perfidious and unfriendly and unmindful of our kindness to him; besides, interest will secure his attention to these things. I wish you to bring with you the two deeds which Tahourdin has to prepare for you, as also a copy of the settlement. Do not part with any of your money. But what shall be done about the books? consult on the spot. With love to my sweet little Ianthe, Ever affectionately yours, You can S. The travellers did not remain in Switzerland, but sailed down the Rhine, and arrived in England on September 13th. The remainder of the year 1814 was filled with embarrassments connected with money matters. Shelley had not only his own debts upon his shoulders, but also those of Godwin ; the latter, while refusing to pardon or have any direct intercourse with Shelley and Mary, condescended to receive pecuniary aid through lawyers. Shelley was in continual hiding from the bailiffs and separated from Mary; hence much unhappiness and the pouring out of fervent love in multitudinous notes. He continued to maintain communications with |