This picture was purchased for the National Gallery at the sale of the
late Mr. William Russell. The reason for supposing that it represents Mary
Wollstonecraft rests solely on testimony of the engraving in the _Monthly
Mirror_ (published during her lifetime), from which this reproduction was
made. Mrs. Merritt made an etching of the picture for Mr. Kegan Paul's
edition of the "Letters to Imlay."
_To face p. xvi_]
It is probable that in March 1793 Mary Wollstonecraft first saw Gilbert
Imlay. The meeting occurred at Mr. Christie's house, and her immediate
impression was one of dislike, so that on subsequent occasions she avoided
him. However, her regard for him rapidly changed into friendship, and
later into love. Gilbert Imlay was born in New Jersey about 1755. He
served as a captain in the American army during the Revolutionary war, and
was the author of "A Topographical Description of the Western Territory of
North America," 1792, and a novel entitled "The Emigrants," 1793. In the
latter work, as an American, he proposes to "place a mirror to the view of
Englishmen, that they may behold the decay of these features that were
once so lovely," and further "to prevent the sacrilege which the present
practice of matrimonial engagements necessarily produce." It is not known
whether these views regarding marriage preceded, or were the result of,
his connexion with Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1793 he was engaged in
business, probably in the timber trade with Sweden and Norway.
In deciding to devote herself to Imlay, Mary sought no advice and took no
one into her confidence. She was evidently deeply in love with him, and
felt that their mutual confidence shared by no one else gave a sacredness
to their union. Godwin, who is our chief authority on the Imlay episode,
states that "the origin of the connexion was about the middle of April
1793, and it was carried on in a private manner for about three months."
Imlay had no property whatever, and Mary had objected to marry him,
because she would not burden him with her own debts, or "involve him in
certain family embarrassments," for which she believed herself
responsible. She looked upon her connexion with Imlay, however, "as of the
most inviolable nature." Then the French Government passed a decree that
all British subjects resident in France should go to prison until a
general declaration of peace. It therefore became expedient, not that a
marriage should take place, for that would necessitate Mary declaring her
nationality, but that she should take the name of Imlay, "which," says
Godwin, "from the nature of their connexion (formed on her part at least,
with no capricious or fickle design), she conceived herself entitled to
do, and obtain a certificate from the American Ambassador, as the wife of
a native of that country. Their engagement being thus avowed, they thought
proper to reside under the same roof, and for that purpose removed to
Paris."
In a letter from Mary Wollstonecraft to her sister Everina, dated from
Havre, March 10, 1794, she describes the climate of France as "uncommonly
fine," and praises the common people for their manners; but she is also
saddened by the scenes that she had witnessed and adds that "death and
misery, in every shape of terror, haunt this devoted country.... If any of
the many letters I have written have come to your hands or Eliza's, you
know that I am safe, through the protection of an American, a most worthy
man who joins to uncommon tenderness of heart and quickness of feeling, a
soundness of understanding, and reasonableness of temper rarely to be met
with. Having been brought up in the interior parts of America, he is a
most natural, unaffected creature."
Mary has expressed in the "Rights of Woman" her ideal of the relations
between man and wife; she now looked forward to such a life of domestic
happiness as she had cherished for some time. She had known much
unhappiness in the past. Godwin says: "She brought in the present
instance, a wounded and sick heart, to take refuge in the attachment of a
chosen friend. Let it not, however, be imagined, that she brought a heart,
querulous, and ruined in its taste for pleasure. No; her whole character
seemed to change with a change of fortune. Her sorrows, the depression of
her spirits, were forgotten, and she assumed all the simplicity and the
vivacity of a youthful mind. She was playful, full of confidence,
kindness, and sympathy. Her eyes assumed new lustre, and her cheeks new
colour and smoothness. Her voice became cheerful; her temper overflowing
with universal kindness; and that smile of bewitching tenderness from day
to day illuminated her countenance, which all who knew her will so well
recollect, and which won, both heart and soul, the affections of almost
every one that beheld it." She had now met the man to whom she earnestly
believed she could surrender herself with entire devotion. Naturally of an
affectionate nature, for the first time in her life, with her impulsive
Irish spirit, as Godwin says, "she gave way to all the sensibilities of
her nature."
The affair was nevertheless doomed to failure from the first. Mary had
taken her step without much forethought. She attributed to Imlay
"uncommon tenderness of heart," but she did not detect his instability of
character. He certainly fascinated her, as he fascinated other women, both
before and after his attachment to Mary. He was not the man to be
satisfied with one woman as his life-companion. A typical American, he was
deeply immersed in business, but his affairs may not have claimed as much
of his time as he represented. In the September after he set up house with
Mary, that is in '93, the year of the Terror, he left her in Paris while
he went to Havre, formerly known as Havre de Grace, but then altered to
Havre Marat. It is awful to think what must have been the life of this
lonely stranger in Paris at such a time. Yet her letters to Imlay contain
hardly a reference to the events of the Revolution.
Mary, tired of waiting for Imlay's return to Paris, and sickened with the
"growing cruelties of Robespierre," joined him at Havre in January 1794,
and on May 14 she gave birth to a girl, whom she named Frances in memory
of Fanny Blood, the friend of her youth. There is every evidence
throughout her letters to Imlay of how tenderly she loved the little one.
In a letter to Everina, dated from Paris on September 20, she speaks thus
of little Fanny:
"I want you to see my little girl, who is more like a boy. She is ready to
fly away with spirits, and has eloquent health in her cheeks and eyes. She
does not promise to be a beauty, but appears wonderfully intelligent, and
though I am sure she has her father's quick temper and feelings, her good
humour runs away with all the credit of my good nursing."
In September Imlay left Havre for London, and now that the Terror had
subsided Mary returned to Paris. This separation really meant the end of
their camaraderie. They were to meet again, but never on the old footing.
The journey proved the most fatiguing that she ever made, the carriage in
which she travelled breaking down four times between Havre and Paris.
Imlay promised to come to Paris in the course of two months, and she
expected him till the end of the year with cheerfulness. With the press of
business and other distractions his feelings for her and the child had
cooled, as the tone of his letters betrayed. For three months longer Imlay
put her off with unsatisfactory explanations, but her suspense came to an
end in April, when she went to London at his request. Her gravest
forebodings proved too true. Imlay was already living with a young actress
belonging to a company of strolling players; and it was evident, though at
first he protested to the contrary, that Mary was only a second
consideration in his life. He provided her, however, with a furnished
house, and she did not at once abandon hope of a reconciliation: but when
she realised that hope was useless, in her despair she resolved to take
her life. Whether she actually attempted suicide, or whether Imlay learnt
of her intention in time to prevent her, is not actually known. Imlay was
at this time engaged in trade with Norway, and requiring a trustworthy
representative to transact some confidential business, it was thought that
the journey would restore Mary's health and spirits. She therefore
consented to take the voyage, and set out early in April 1795, with a
document drawn up by Imlay appointing her as his representative, and
describing her as "Mary Imlay, my best friend, and wife," and concluding:
"Thus, confiding in the talent, zeal, and earnestness of my dearly beloved
friend and companion; I submit the management of these affairs entirely
and implicitly to her discretion: Remaining most sincerely and
affectionately hers truly, G. Imlay."
The letters describing her travels, excluding any personal matters, were
issued in 1796, as "Letters from Sweden and Norway," one of her most
readable books. The portions eliminated from these letters were printed by
Godwin in his wife's posthumous works, and are given in the present
volume. She returned to England early in October with a heavy heart. Imlay
had promised to meet her on the homeward journey, possibly at Hamburg, and
to take her to Switzerland, but she hastened to London to find her
suspicions confirmed. He provided her with a lodging, but entirely
neglected her for some woman with whom he was living. On first making the
discovery of his fresh intrigue, and in her agony of mind, she sought
Imlay at the house he had furnished for his new companion. The conference
resulted in her utter despair, and she decided to drown herself. She
first went to Battersea Bridge, but found too many people there; and
therefore walked on to Putney. It was night and raining when she arrived
there, and after wandering up and down the bridge for half-an-hour until
her clothing was thoroughly drenched she threw herself into the river. She
was, however, rescued from the water and, although unconscious, her life
was saved.
Mary met Imlay casually on two or three other occasions; probably her last
sight of him was in the New Road (now Marylebone Road), when "he alighted
from his horse, and walked with her some time; and the re-encounter
passed," she assured Godwin, "without producing in her any oppressive
emotion." Mary refused to accept any pecuniary assistance for herself from
Imlay, but he gave a bond for a sum to be settled on her, the interest to
be devoted to the maintenance of their child; neither principal nor
interest, however, was ever paid. What ultimately became of Imlay is not
known.
Mary at length resigned herself to the inevitable. Her old friend and
publisher, Mr. Johnson, came to her aid, and she resolved to resume her
literary work for the support of herself and her child. She was once more
seen in literary society. Among the people whom she met at this time was
William Godwin. Three years her senior, he was one of the most advanced
republicans of the time, the author of "Political Justice" and the novel
"Caleb Williams." They had met before, for the first time in November
1791, but she displeased Godwin, because her vivacious gossip silenced the
naturally quiet Thomas Paine, whom he was anxious to hear talk. Although
they met occasionally afterwards, it was not until 1796 that they became
friendly. There must have been something about Godwin that made him
extremely attractive to his friends, for he numbered among them some of
the most charming women of the day, and such men as Wordsworth, Lamb,
Hazlitt, and Shelley were proud to be of his circle. To the members of his
family he was of a kind, even affectionate, disposition. Unfortunately, he
appears to the worst advantage--a kind of early Pecksniff--in his later
correspondence and relations with Shelley, and it is by this
correspondence at the present day that he is best known. The fine
side-face portrait of Godwin by Northcote, in the National Portrait
Gallery, preserves for us all the beauty of his intellectual brow and
eyes. Another portrait of Godwin, full-face, with a long sad nose, by
Pickersgill, once to be seen in the National Portrait Gallery, is not so
pleasing. In a letter to Cottle, Southey gives an unflattering portrait of
Godwin at the time of his marriage, which seems to suggest the full-face
portrait of the philosopher--"he has large noble eyes, and a _nose_--oh,
most abominable nose! Language is not vituperatious enough to describe the
effect of its downward elongation."
Godwin describes his courtship with Mary as "friendship melting into
love." They agreed to live together, but Godwin took rooms about twenty
doors from their home in the Polygon, Somers Town, as it was one of his
theories that living together under the same roof is destructive of family
happiness. Godwin went to his rooms as soon as he rose in the morning,
generally without taking breakfast with Mary, and he sometimes slept at
his lodgings. They rarely met again until dinner-time, unless to take a
walk together. During the day this extraordinary couple would communicate
with each other by means of short letters or notes. Mr. Kegan Paul prints
some of these; such as Godwin's:
"I will have the honour to dine with you. You ask me whether I can get you
four orders. I do not know, but I do not think the thing impossible. How
do you do?"
And Mary's: "Fanny is delighted with the thought of dining with you. But I
wish you to eat your meat first, and let her come up with the pudding. I
shall probably knock at your door on my way to Opie's; but should I not
find you, let me request you not to be too late this evening. Do not give
Fanny butter with her pudding." This note is dated April 20, 1797, and
probably fixes the time when Mary was sitting for her portrait to Opie.
On the whole, Godwin and Mary lived happily together, with very occasional
clouds, mainly due to her over-sensitive nature, and his confirmed
bachelor habits.
Although both were opposed to matrimony on principle, they were married at
Old St. Pancras Church on March 29, 1797, the clerk of the church being
witness. Godwin does not mention the event in his carefully registered
diary. The reason for the marriage was that Mary was about to become a
mother, and it was for the sake of the child that they deemed it prudent
to go through the ceremony. But it was not made public at once, chiefly
for fear that Johnson should cease to help Mary. Mrs. Inchbald and Mrs.
Reveley, two of Godwin's admirers, were so upset at the announcement of
his marriage that they shed tears.
An interesting description of Mary at this time is given in Southey's
letter to Cottle, quoted above, dated March 13, 1797. He says, "Of all the
lions or _literati_ I have seen here, Mary Imlay's countenance is the
best, infinitely the best: the only fault in it is an expression somewhat
similar to what the prints of Horne Tooke display--an expression
indicating superiority; not haughtiness, not sarcasm, in Mary Imlay, but
still it is unpleasant. Her eyes are light brown, and although the lid of
one of them is affected by a little paralysis, they are the most meaning I
ever saw."
Mary busied herself with literary work; otherwise her short married life
was uneventful. Godwin made a journey with his friend Basil Montagu to
Staffordshire from June 3 to 20, and the correspondence between husband
and wife during this time, which Mr. Paul prints, is most delightful
reading, and shows how entirely in sympathy they were.
[Illustration: From a photo by Emery, Walker after the picture by Opie
(probably painted in April, 1797) in the National Portrait Gallery.