1756-1836
[Sidenote: S. C. Hall’s _Memories of Great Men_.]
“In person he was remarkably sedate and solemn, resembling in dress and
manner a Dissenting minister rather than the advocate of ‘free-thought’
in all things--religious, moral, social, and intellectual; he was short
and stout, his clothes loosely and carelessly put on, and usually old
and worn; his hands were generally in his pockets; he had a remarkably
large, bald head, and a weak voice; seeming generally half asleep
when he walked, and even when he talked. Few who saw this man of
calm exterior, quiet manners, and inexpressive features, could have
believed him to have originated three romances--_Falkland_, _Caleb
Williams_, and _St. Leon_,--not yet forgotten because of their terrible
excitements; and the work, _Political Justice_, which for a time
created a sensation that was a fear in every state of Europe.... Lamb
called him ‘a good-natured heathen’; Southey said of him, in 1797, ‘He
has large noble eyes, and a nose--oh! most abominable nose.’”
[Sidenote: George Ticknor’s _Life_.]
“Godwin is as far removed from everything feverish and exciting as if
his head had never been filled with anything but geometry. He is now
about sixty-five, stout, well-built, and unbroken by age, with a cool,
dogged manner, exactly opposite to everything I had imagined of the
author of _St. Leon_ and _Caleb Williams_.”--1819.
[Sidenote: H. Martineau’s _Autobiography_.]
“The mention of Coleridge reminds me, I hardly know why, of Godwin,
who was an occasional morning visitor of mine. I looked upon him as a
curious monument of a bygone state of society; and there was still a
good deal that was interesting in him. His fine head was striking, and
his countenance remarkable. It must not be judged of by the pretended
likeness put forth in _Fraser’s Magazine_ about that time, and
attributed, with the whole set, to Maclise.... The high Tory favourites
of the Magazine were exhibited to the best advantage; while Liberals
were represented as Godwin was. Because the finest thing about him was
his noble head, they put on a hat; and they represented him in profile
because he had lost his teeth, and his lips fell in. No notion of
Godwin’s face could have been formed from that caricature.”--1833.