To give the shortest definition of sensibility, replied the sage, I should say that it is the result of acute senses, finely fashioned nerves, which vibrate at the slightest touch, and convey such clear intelligence to the brain, that it does not require to be arranged by the judgment. Such persons instantly enter into the character of others, and instinctively discern what will give pain to every 158 FAILURE OF SCHOOL-KEEPING human being; their own feelings are so varied that they seem to contain in themselves, not only all the passions of the species, but their various modifica- tions. Exquisite pain and pleasure is their portion; nature wears for them a different aspect than is displayed to common mortals. One moment it is a paradise; all is beautiful; a cloud arises, an emotion receives a sudden damp; darkness invades the sky, and the world is an unweeded garden.
When she reached England once more Mary found that the affairs of the school were at low ebb. She wrote to George Blood, Fanny’s brother, from Newington Green, shortly after her return from Lisbon: Feb. 4th [1786].
I write to you, my dear George, lest my silence should make you uneasy, yet what have I to say that will not have the same effect? Things do not go well with me, and my spirits seem for ever flown. I was a month on my passage, and the weather was so tempestuous, we were several times in imminent danger. If it had pleased Heaven to have called me hence, what a world of care I should have pissed. ees The school dwindles to nothing, and we shall soon lose our last boarder, Mrs. Disney...* In the face of such unfavourable conditions Mary did not hesitate to give up the school, and soon after she ‘ spent some time’ at Eton (probably from March or April to October 1786), where she lodged with an assistant master named Prior and his wife. It was here that she received those impressions which she 3 Kegan Paul: William Godwin, i. 179.
159 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS afterwards recorded in The Vindication of the Rights — of Woman: I think schools, as they are now regulated, are hot-beds of vice and folly, and the knowledge of. human nature, supposed to be attained there, — merely cunning selfishness. ' At schools boys become gluttons and slovens, — and, instead of cultivating domestic affections, very _ early rush into the libertinism which destroys the — constitution before it is formed; hardening the ~ heart as it weakens the understanding...What: boy ever recollected with pleasure the years he ~ spent in close confinement, at an academy near © London? unless, indeed, he should, by chance, — remember the poor scarecrow of an usher, whom he tormented; or, the tartman, from whom he caught a cake, to devour it with the catish appetite of selfishness. At boarding-schools of every descrip- tion, the relaxation of the junior boys is mischief; and of the senior, vice. Besides, in great schools, what can be more prejudicial to the moral character than the system of tyranny and abject slavery which is established among the boys, to say nothing of the slavery to forms which miakes religion worse thanafarce? For what good can be expected from the youth who receives the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, to avoid forfeiting half a guinea, which he probably spends in some sensual manner? 4 While Mary was at Eton and at the age of twenty- seven she wrote, at the suggestion of her friend, the Rev. John Hewlett, her first book, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. Hewlett took the MS. to Joseph Johnson, publisher, St. Paul’s Churchyard, who accepted it at the price of ten guineas, which 4A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, chap. xii. ‘ On National Education,’ p. 366. 160 4 Sa - 4 PerOMVERNESS IN.-IREEAND Mary at once applied towards the transportation of the Blood family to Ireland. The book received its first review in April 1787, and was probably published in February or March of that year, when Mary was still in Dublin.
It is a solid, sensible little book, and met with a unanimously favourable reception from its reviewers. It contains many characteristic passages, precursors of her later, more mature opinions, and is, like all her work, intensely self-revealing.
Through the influence of the Priors Mary obtained the position of governess, at forty pounds a year, to the daughters of Lady Kingsborough in Ireland, and in October 1786 she sailed with the Priors, who were crossing to Dublin. Kegan Paul, in his account of Mary’s sojourn in Ireland, is a year too late in all his dates from the time that Mary left Eton to her return to London. I contributed a letter on this subject to Notes and Queries,® giving sufficient evidence for this statement. Another obvious instance of this error occurs in his book cited above, where on p. 191 of the first volume he quotes a letter from Mary to Everina, dated without brackets, ‘London, Nov. 7th, 1788,’ referring to her recent arrival in London. Two pages later he quotes Johnson’s memorandum stating that ‘she entered upon her house in George St. at Michaelmass 1787.’
Two letters (hitherto uncollected) that Mary wrote to Mr. Johnson during her residence with the Kings- boroughs are here given: 5 William Godwin: His Friends and Contemporaries.
SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS Addressed to ‘ Mr. Johnson, bookseller, London.’ - Mitchelstown, Dec. 5th [1786].
Srr,—When I had the pleasure of seeing you, if I mistake not, you mentioned to me, that Mrs. Barbauld intended undertaking a new plan of education. I wish to hear some particulars about it, and know not any person, whom I could apply to, for the necessary information, but yourself. Mrs. Fitzgerald, Lady Kingsborough’s stepmother, has an only son, of course a great favourite. She has deliberated so long about the method she should adopt for his education that the season is almost passed away. Some place must then be deter- — mined on immediately; and she had requested me to make some enquiries for her. A public school is objected to—nor would she wish him to reside in London, on account of the air, which country people lay great stress on. Money is not an object as he has an independent fortune. She would give a hundred, or even more, a year, if he could be placed in a respectable family, a Clergyman’s would be preferred. I will just describe the kind of situation she wishes for. A well regulated family, and a few other pupils; but above all that her son might frequently be in company with his tutor, as his temper is violent and his mind not cultivated. She is a good sort of woman, and more anxious about his heart than head—and particularly de- sirous that sentiments of religion should be fixed in his mind. Mr. Hewlett I know had some intention of undertaking a similar plan; but I have not heard any thing of it. I should be much obliged to you, if you would inform me directly, if Mrs. Barbauld or Mr. Hewlett have actually carried out their plan into execution, and I should be very glad if you would, as soon as convenient, send me a dozen of Mr. Hewlett’s spelling-books for Lady F.
162 eye a ee ee ee ee LETTERS TO ¥OHNSON His sermons, and Charlotte Smith’s poems,’ and a few copies of my little book if itis published.§ Let them be directed to me at Viscount Kingsborough’s, Dublin.
As I mentioned to you, previous to my departure, that I entered on my new way of life with extreme regret—I am vain enough to imagine that you wish to hear how I like my situation. A state of depen- dance must ever be irksome to me, and I have many vexations to encounter, which some persons would term trifling. I have most of the negative comforts of life, yet when weighed with liberty they are of little value. In a christian sense I am resigned— and contented; but it is with pleasure that I observe my declining health, and cherish the hope that I am hastening to the land where all these cares will be forgotten.
I am, Sir, Yours Respectfully, Mary WOLLSTONECRAFT.® The Same to the Same: Dublin, April 14 [1787].
I am still an invalid—and begin to believe that I ought never to expect to enjoy health. My mind preys on my body—and, when I endeavour to be useful, I grow too much interested for my own peace. Confined almost entirely to the society of children, I am anxiously solicitous for their future wel- fare, and mortified beyond measure when counter- acted in my endeavours to improve them. I feel all of a mother’s fears for the swarm of little ones?
7 Elegaic Sonnets, and other Essays. London, 1784. 3rd edition, London, 1786.
8 Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. The ‘ little book ’ was not published until early the next year.
® Original in possession of Mr. Richard H. Thornton, Portland, Oregon. Above text transcribed from Notes and Queries, 12 S. XII., April 28, 1923.
1Seven children made up this ‘swarm of little ones’: George, b. 1771; Robert Edward, b. 1773; Margaret 163 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS which surround me, and observe disorders, with- out having power to apply the proper remedies. — How can I be reconciled to life, when it is always a painful warfare, and when I am deprived of all the pleasures I relish?—I allude to rational conversa- tions, and domestic affections. Here, alone, a poor solitary individual in a strange land, tied to one spot, and subject to the caprice of another can I be contented? I am desirous to convince you that I have some cause for sorrow—and am not without reason detached from life. I shall hope to hear that you are well, and am yours sincerely Mary WOLLSTONECRAFT.”
One of the persons Mary met in Ireland, of whom Godwin tells us ‘ she always spoke as the most perfect gentleman she had ever known,’ was ‘ Mr. George Ogle, member of parliament for the county of Wex- ford.’ She mentions him again in her letter of November 5, soon to follow. This gentleman (1742- 1814) was a talented Irish statesman and, although he declined to publish his poems, a considerable poet. He was Irish M.P. for Wexford for nearly thirty years, Irish Privy Councillor 1783, and Governor of Wexford in 1796. The poems for which he is best known are ‘Molly Asthore’ and ‘The Banks of Banna.’ Burns spoke of the latter as being ‘ heavenly, and certainly Irish.’ It is not too long to quote: Shepherds, I have lost my love,— Have you seen my Anna? Pride of every shady grove On the banks of Banna. Jane, Caroline, Mary Elizabeth, Jane Diana, and Louisa Eleanora. 2 Posthumous Works, iv. 61, 2. 164 GEORGE OGLE I for her my home forsook, Near yon misty mountain, Left my flocks, my pipe, my crook, Greenwood shade and fountain.
Never shall I see them more Until her returning; All the joys of life are o’er— From gladness changed to mourning.
Whither is my charmer flown? Shepherds, tell me whither?
Ah! woe for me, perhaps she’s gone For ever and for ever?
A scandalous event, in which Mary Elizabeth King, one of Mary’s Irish pupils, was involved, occurred more than ten years after Mary had left the Kings- borough family. I mention it here, however, since it was later seized upon by two malicious reviewers of Godwin’s Memoirs and attributed by them to Mary’s system of education.?
These reviews were in The European Magazine, April 1798, and The British Critic, September of the same year.
A few more quotations from letters written by Mary from Ireland will not be out of place. Very soon after her arrival she wrote to Everina: The Castle, Mitchelstown, Oct. 30 (1786). Well, my dear girl, I am at length arrived at my journey’s end...I have been so very low- spirited for some days past, I could not write..
2 Any reader desiring the details of this unfortunate affair may refer to my letter of inquiry in Notes and Queries, 12 S. IX. Dec. 17, 1921, p. 409; and to the comprehensive reply by Mr. R. S. Pengelly in [bid. 12 S. X. Jan. 7, 1922, pp. 10, 11.
165 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS There was such a solemn kind of stupidity about this place as froze my very blood. I entered the great gates with the same kind of feeling I should have if I was going into the Bastille...I found I was to encounter a host of females—My Lady, her stepmother, and three sisters, and Mrses. and_ Misses without number, who of course would examine me with the most minute attention. I have not seen much of her as she is confined to her room by a sore throat, but I have seen half a dozen of her companions, I mean not her children, but her dogs. To see a woman without any softness in her manners caressing animals, and using infantile expressions is, you may conceive, very absurd and ridiculous, but a fine lady is a new species to me of animal. I am, however, treated as a gentlewoman by every part of the family, but the forms and parades of high life suit not my ieaT Ly Le songs; | The children are, literally speaking, wild Irish, unformed and not very pleasing...Mary to Mrs. Bishop. Mitchelstown, Nov. 5th (1786). The castle is very pleasantly situated, and commands the kind of prospect I most admire. Near the house, literally speaking, is a cloud-capped hill, and altogether the country is pleasant, and would please me when anything of the kind could rouse my attention. But my spirits have been in continual agitation, and when they will be at rest, heaven only knows. I fear I am not equal to the task I have been persuaded to undertake, and this fear worries me. Lady K. is a clever woman, and a well-meaning one, but not of the order of being that I could love. With his Lordship I have had little conversation, but his countenance does not promise more than 166 LETTERS TO EVERINA good humour, and a little fum not refined. Another | face in the house appears to me more interesting, a pale one, not other than the author of ‘ Shepherds I have lost my love.’* His wife is with him—a gentle pleasing creature, and her sister, a beauty and a sensible woman into the bargain. Besides them and several visitors, we have resident here Lady K.’s stepmother, and her three daughters, fine girls, just going to market, as their brother says. I have committed to my care three girls, the eldest fourteen, by no means handsome, yet a sweet girl. She has a wonderful capacity, but she has such a multiplicity of employment it has not room to expand itself, and in all probability will be lost in a heap of rubbish, miscalled accom- plishments. I am grieved at being obliged to continue so wrong a system. She is very much afraid of her mother—that such a creature should be ruled with a rod of iron, when tenderness would lead her anywhere! I have just promised to send her love to my sister, so please receive it. Lady K. is very civil, nay kind, yet I cannot help fearing her...You have a sneaking kindness, you say, for people of quality, and I almost forgot to tell you I was in company with a Lord Fingal in the packet...Lintend visiting the poor cabins...Mary to Everina.
Mary to Everina.
Mitchelstown, Nov. 17 (1786). Confined to the society of a set of silly females, I have no social converse, and their boisterous spirits and unmeaning laughter exhaust me, not forgetting hourly domestic bickerings. The topics of matrimony and dress take their turn, not in a 3 George Ogle. 4This was Margaret Jane King, afterwards Countess Mountcashel.
167 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS very sentimental style—alas, poor sentiment! it has no residence here. I almost wish the girls were novel readers and romantic; I declare false refinement is better than none at all, but these girls understand several languages, and have read cartloads of history, for their mother was a prudent woman. Lady K.’s passion for animals fills up the hours which are not spent in dressing. All her children have been ill—very disagreeable fevers. Her ladyship visited them in a formal way, though the situation called forth my tenderness, and I endeavoured to amuse them, while she lavished awkward fondness on her dogs. I think now I hear her infantile lisp. She rouges—and in short is a fine lady, without fancy or sensibility. 1 am almost tormented to death by dogs...I am drinking asses’ milk, but do not find it of any service. Iam very ill, and so low-spirited my tears flow in torrents almost insensibly. I struggle with myself, but I hope my Heavenly Father will not be extreme to mark my weakness, and that He will have compassion on a poor bruised reed, and pity a miserable wretch, whose sorrows He only knows...® It is, of course, matter for regret.to those who, like myself, would never ignore one scrap of Mary’s hand-. writing, that Kegan Paul should have selected certain of her letters for reprinting and should have allowed those that he omitted to be scattered once again and with no record taken. Here and there in his book he summarises a period of her letter-writing, leaving the reader full of baffled longing after the autograph manuscripts. For example, he says: The letters after this date show some improve- ment, both in health and spirits, though Mary was 5 Kegan Paul: William Godwin, i. 185-7. 168 LETTERS TO EVERINA much troubled about family matters, which it is not very easy to understand in full from the allusions in the letters. It would appear, however, that Edward Wollstonecraft...not only refused to contribute anything to the support of his father, which fell almost entirely on Mary, but declined to afford a home any longer to Everina, who had been with him for some time. He also retained in _ his hands a sum of money, apparently a legacy, which the sisters conceived should have been divided between them all. He seems to have been selfish and extravagant, though doing a fair business as an attorney. The letters which passed between the sisters are either of no special interest or harp on the same string as those already quoted. In the winter of 1786 (1787 says Kegan Paul) the Kingsborough family went to Dublin, and the letters thence again afford suitable extracts.
Mary to Everina.
Dublin, March 24 (1787).
I believe I told you that as a nation, I do not admire the Irish, and as to the great world and its frivolous ceremonies I cannot away with them. They fatigue one; I thank Heaven that I was not so unfortunate as to be born a lady of quality. I am now reading Rousseau’s Emile and love his paradoxes. He chooses a common capacity to educate, and gives as a reason that genius will educate itself. However he rambles into that chimerical world in which I have too often wandered, and draws the usual conclusion that all is vanity and vexation of spirit. He was a strange, incon- sistent, unhappy, clever creature, yet he possessed an uncommon portion of sensibility and pene- tration. ’...> 169 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS Mary to either Eliza or Everina.
Dublin, March 14 (1787).
The day before yesterday there was a masquerade...We went to a great number, and were a toler- able, nay, a much admired group. Lady K. went in a domino with a smart cockade; Miss Moore dressed in the habit of one of the females of the new discovered islands;* Betty D. as a forsaken shepherdess, and your sister Mary in a black domino...From Dublin Lord and Lady Kingsborough and their family went to Bristol Hotwells (sic), and Bath, and from these places again the letters complain bitterly of the tone of society in which Mary found herself. She speaks of the ‘ dissipated lives led by the women of quality,’ and finds that ‘in many respects the great and little vulgar resemble each other, and in none more than in the motives which induce them to marry.’ ” In Bristol Hot-Wells Mary wrote her novel Mary. She was asked to leave the Kingsborough’s service on account of Lady Kingsborough’s jealousy of the affection her own children had for Mary. In a letter she wrote Everina from London, Nov. 7, 1787, she says: ‘The regret Margaret showed, when I left her for a short time, was Lady K.’s pretext for parting with me.’
* The Queen Charlotte Islands: discovered and named by George Dixon in 1787.
7 Kegan Paul: William Godwin, i. 188-90.
170 ioe. a SS “ How delighted the old bird will be!”
From the original drawing by William Blake (cf; below, pp. 207-10) Ill 1787-1790 RETURN TO LONDON—THE ANALYTICAL MAGAZINE—CORRESPONDENCE WITH JOHNSON—RELATIONS WITH FUSELI.
Gopwin dates Mary’s return to London, August 1787, and says she went immediately to the house of Johnson the publisher, who ‘ invited her to make his house her home, till she should have suited herself with a fixed residence. She accordingly resided at this time two or three weeks under his roof.’ Joseph Johnson was Mary’s life-long friend and patron: his imprint appears on every book she published.
The ‘ visit or two’ she paid ‘ at the same period’ of ‘similar duration to some friends at no great distance from the metropolis,’ reference to which Godwin omits in his second edition, undoubtedly gave the opportunity for her to write the two following letters to Johnson: Henley, Thursday, Sept. 13 [1787]. My DEAR Sir, Since I saw you, I have, literally speaking, enjoyed solitude. My sister * could not accompany 2 Eliza Bishop, who taught in schools at Market Har- borough and Henley. 171 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS me in my rambles; I therefore wandered alone, by the side of the Thames, and in the neighbouring beautiful fields and pleasure grounds: the prospects were of such a placid kind, I caught tranquillity while I surveyed them—my mind was still, though active. Were I to give you an account of how I have spent my time, you would smile.—I found an old French bible here, and amused myself with comparing it with our English translation; then I would listen to the falling leaves, or observe the various tints the autumn gave to them.—At other times, the singing of a robin, or the noise of a water-mill, engaged my attention—partial attention —for I was, at the same time, perhaps discussing some knotty point, or straying from this tiny world to new systems. After these excursions, I returned to the family meals, told the children stories (they think me vastly agreeable), and my sister was amused.—Well, will you allow me to call this was of passing my days pleasant?
I was just going to mend my pen; but I believe it will enable me to say all I have to add to this epistle. Have you yet heard of a habitation for me? I often think of my new plan of life; and, lest my sister should try to prevail on me to alter it, I have avoided mentioning it to her. I am determined!—Your sex generally laugh at female determinations; but let me tell you, I never yet resolved to do anything of consequence, that I did not adhere resolutely to it, till I had accom- plished my purpose, improbable as it might have appeared to a more timid mind. In the course of near nine and twenty years I have gathered some experience, and felt many severe disappointments— and what is the amount? I long for a little peace and independence! Every obligation we receive from our fellow-creatures is a new shackle, takes from our native freedom, and debases the mind, 172 RETURN TO LONDON makes us mere earthworms—I am not fond of grovelling! I am, Sir, yours, ete: Mary WOLLSTONECRAFT.
Market Harborough.
My Dear Sir, Sept. 20 [1787]. You left me with three opulent tradesmen; their conversation was not calculated to beguile the way, when the sable curtain concealed the beauties of nature. I listened to the tricks of the trade—and shrunk away, without wishing to grow rich; even the novelty of the subjects did not render them pleasing; fond as 1 am of tracing the passions in all their different forms—I was not surprised by any glimpse of the sublime, or beautiful —though one of them imagined I should be a useful partner in a good firm. Iwas very much fatigued, and have scarcely recovered myself. I do not expect to enjoy the same tranquil pleasures Henley afforded; I meet with new objects to employ my mind; but many painful emotions are complicated with the reflections they give rise to.
I do not intend to enter on the old topic, yet hope to hear from you—and am yours etc.
Mary WOLLSTONECRAFT.?® After making these visits, Mary returned to London. ‘At Michaelmas 1787, she entered upon a house in George Street on the Surrey side of Black Friar’s Bridge, which Mr. Johnson had provided for her during her excursion into the country.’
Two months after Mary had ‘ entered upon’ this house, she wrote her sister Everina: [Mr. Johnson] has now settled me in a little house in a street near Blackfriar’s Bridge...I 173 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS have given him Mary, and before your vacation I shall finish another book for young people, which I think has some merit...Whenever I am tired of solitude I go to Mr. Johnson’s, and there I meet the kind of company I find most pleasure in...I spent a day at Mrs. Trimmer’s, and found her a truly respectable woman...I have a room but not furniture...If you pay any visits, you will comply with my whim, and not mention my place of abode or mode of life.
In 1788 Mary published three different books: two original, one a translation from the French. The first was entitled: Original Stories from Real Life. No plates were included in this, its first edition.
There followed Mary, A Fiction, published almost simultaneously.
Both of these were published during the first half of the year, and were favourably received by the reviewers.
Mary’s translation of Necker, entitled: Of the Importance of Religious Opinions, was issued late in the year; the earliest review it got was The Analytical Review in January 1789, written by Mary herself!
In May 1788 was started The Analytical Review. The first two volumes run from May to December. Four months go to the volume; three volumes to the year. The magazine continued in this form through twenty volumes, z.e. until December 1794. Starting with 1795 there were only six months to the volume and two volumesayear. The original series continued in this manner through Vol. XXVIII. to December 1798; a new series carried it from January to June 1799, at which date the magazine expired.
Besides being an early and continuous contributor 174 LETTER TO MARY HAYS to this paper, and writing and translating many books for Johnson, Mary also acted, according to Kegan Paul, ‘ as Mr. Johnson’s literary adviser or ‘‘ reader,’’’ and he prints a letter she wrote, in this capacity, to Mary Hays ‘in regard to the preface of a volume of Essays...Her honest plainness of speech on this occasion led to a long friendship, which had...memorable influence on her after life.’
I yesterday mentioned to Mr. Johnson your request, and he assented, desiring that the title page might be sent to him. I therefore can say nothing more, for trifles of this kind I have always left to him to settle; and, you must be aware, madam, that the honour of publishing, the phrase on which you have laid a stress, is the cant of both trade and sex; for if really equality should ever take place in society, the man who is employed and gives a just equivalent for the money he receives will not behave with the servile obsequiousness of a servant.
I am now going to treat you with still greater frankness. I do not approve of your preface—and I will tell you why. If your work should deserve attention, it is a blur on the very face of it. Dis- advantages of education, etc., ought, in my opinion, never to be pleaded with the public in excuse for defects of any importance, because if the writer has not sufficient strength of mind to overcome the common difficulties which lie in his way, nature seems to command him, with a very audible voice, to leave the task of instructing to those who can. This kind of vain humility has ever disgusted me— and I should say to an author who humbly sued for forbearance, If you have not a tolerably good opinion of your own production, why intrude it on the public? We have plenty of bad books already, that have just gasped for breath and died. The 175 SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS last paragraph I particularly object to—it is so full of vanity. Your male friends will treat you like a - woman—and many a man, for instance Dr. John- son, Lord Littleton, and even Dr. Priestley, have in- sensibly been led to utter warm eulogiums in private that they would be sorry openly to avow without some cooling explanatory ifs. An author, especially a woman, should be cautious lest she too hastily — swallows the crude praises which partial friend and polite acquaintance bestow thoughtlessly when the supplicating eye looks for them. In short, it requires great resolution to try rather to be useful than to please. With this remark in your head, I must beg you to pardon my freedom whilst you consider the purport of what I am going to add— rest on yourself. If your essays have merit, they will stand alone; if not, the shouldering up of Dr. this or that will not long keep them from falling to the ground. The vulgar have a pertinent proverb: ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth’; and let me remind you that when weakness claims indulgence, it seems to justify the despotism of strength. Indeed, the preface, and even the pamphlet, is too full of yourself—inquiries ought to be made before they are answered; and till a work strongly interests the public true modesty should keep the author in the background—for it is only about the character and life of a good author that curiosity is active—a blossom is but a blossom.¢ As you seemed uneasy when you wrote, contrary to my first intention, I have just now spoken to 4 This letter was printed by Kegan Paul in the ‘ Memoir ’ prefixed to his 1879 edition of Mary Wollstonecraft: Letters to Imlay, pp. xxi-xxiii; this ‘Memoir’ having been first printed under the head ‘ Mary Wollstonecraft: A Vindica- tion ’ in Fraser's Magazine, June 1878 (97: 748-62).
176 fie Bee LO TONS ON Mr. J., who desires me to tell you that he very willingly waves the privilege of seniority, though, as it is an impropriety, I should think his name might as well be omitted.
In the period 1788-90 Mary carried on quite a correspondence with Johnson, chiefly on the subject of The Analytical Review and her contributions. Godwin printed sixteen of those letters in the fourth volume of Posthumous Works, and a few extracts may be of interest here: | LETTER IV AMvepeAn Sce. Friday night (1788).
Though your remarks are generally judicious— I cannot mow concur with you, I mean with respect to the preface,®> and have not altered it. I hate the usual smooth way of exhibiting proud humility. A general rule only extends to the majority—and, believe me, the few judicious parents who may peruse my book, will not feel themselves hurt— and the weak are too vain to mind what is said in a book intended for children...
5 Preface to Original Stories from Real Life, first published 1788. The passage which probably caused Johnson’s objection runs as follows: ‘ The way to render instruction most useful cannot always be adopted; knowledge should be gradually imparted, and flow more from example than teaching: example directly addresses the senses, the first inlets to the heart; and the improvement of those instru- ments of the understanding is the object education should have constantly in view, and over which we have most power. But to wish that parents would, themselves, mould the ductile passions, is a chimerical wish, for the present generation have their own passions to combat with, and fastidious pleasures to pursue, neglecting those pointed out by nature: we must therefore pour premature know- ledge into the succeeding one; and, teaching virtue, explain the nature of vice. Cruel necessity!’ It was not deleted.
M,W, 177 M SUPPLEMENT TO MEMOIRS I had, the other day, the satisfaction of again receiving from my poor, dear Margaret. With all a mother’s fondness I could transcribe a part of it. She says, every day her affections to me, and dependence on heaven increases, &c.—I miss her innocent caresses—and sometimes indulge a pleasing hope that she may be allowed to cheer my childless age—if I am to live to be old.—At any rate, I may hear of the virtues I may not contemplate.—I now allude to——. I have received another letter from her, and her childish complaints vex me—indeed they do—As usual, goodnight.
Mary.
If parents attended to their children, I would not have written the stories; for, what are books— compared to conversations which affection inforces!
LETTER VUI You made me very low-spirited last night, by your manner of talking.—You are my only friend— the only person I am intimate with.—I never had a father, or a brother—you have been both to me, ever since I knew you—yet I have sometimes been very petulant.—I have been thinking of those instances of ill-humour and quickness, and they appear to me like crimes.
Yours sincerely, Mary.