GODWIN
The lodging-house servant brought up a letter from a lady who was
waiting on the opposite pavement. It was from Fanny, to warn Shelley
that his creditors were plotting to have him arrested. He and Mary ran
down to the street, but, on seeing them, Fanny hastened away. She was in
terror of Godwin who had forbidden all communication with the outcasts,
and she, perhaps, had cared too much for Percy to wish to see him again
now that he belonged to her sister. But, being a swift runner, he soon
caught up with her. She told him the bailiffs were looking for him, that
it was his publisher who had given them his address, and that Godwin
wouldn’t lift a finger to save him.
Not having money to free himself, the only thing he could do was to
disappear. He decided to find another lodging while Mary and Claire
should remain quietly where they were, so as to trick the enemy. Thus,
for the first time, the lovers had to separate, a separation which
seemed terrible to both. They were forced to make appointments in
out-of-the-way taverns, to take a few stealthy kisses, and to part
immediately, lest Mary might be followed. On Sundays, when arrests are
illegal, they remained together till midnight.
One evening the courage to separate failed them, and Mary followed
Shelley into a miserable hotel. The landlord looked with a suspicious
eye on this couple who had no luggage, and refused to serve them with a
meal unless they paid him in advance. Shelley sent round to Peacock, and
while waiting for the money took out the pocket Shakespeare he always
carried, and read aloud to Mary _Troilus and Cressida_. It made them
forget their hunger a whole day through. Next morning at breakfast-time
Peacock, penniless himself, sent them some cakes. If life was difficult
there was joy in suffering together. Love and misfortune made a happy
pair.
When they were apart, waiting for night-time, they sent each other by a
confidential messenger, tender little notes, scribbled in haste.
“Oh! my dearest love,” wrote Shelley, “why are our pleasures so short
and so interrupted? How long is this to last? . . . Meet me to-morrow at
three o’clock in St. Paul’s if you do not hear before. Adieu: remember
love at vespers before sleep. I do not omit _my_ prayers.”
“Good night, my love,” replied Mary, “to-morrow I will seal this
blessing on your lips. Dear good creature, press me to you, and hug your
own Mary to your heart. Perhaps she will one day have a father: till
then be everything to me, love, and indeed I will be a good girl and
never vex you. I will learn Greek and—but when shall we meet when I may
tell you all this, and you will so sweetly reward me?”
In January, 1815, this trying existence was brought to an end by an
event they had long expected without desiring it, but which they also
accepted without any hypocritical regret. Old Sir Bysshe died at the age
of eighty-three. Timothy Shelley became second baronet, and Percy the
direct heir.
He set out for his father’s house, accompanied by Claire, who was in a
state of great excitement and eager curiosity. Sir Timothy, puffed up
with his new title, and more indignant than ever that a baronet should
have such a son, refused him admission to Field Place by the footman. He
sat down on the doorstep and read _Comus_ from Mary’s pocket-copy of
Milton.
Presently the doctor came out to tell him his father was greatly
incensed with him. Then, his cousin, Shelley Sidney, stealthily appeared
to give the Prodigal Grandson details of the Will.
A most extraordinary Will. The fixed idea of old Sir Bysshe had been to
found an enormous hereditary fortune, and for that purpose to increase
the entailed estates as much as possible. He left in real and personal
property, possessions which probably did not fall short of £200,000. One
portion of this, valued at £80,000, formed the estate entail which must
necessarily pass to Percy on his father’s death. But Sir Bysshe desired
that this accumulation of his long life should be kept together by his
descendants, and should pass from eldest son to eldest son through
future generations of Shelleys. For this purpose, the consent and
signature of his grandson were necessary, and he had hoped to obtain
them in the following manner. If Percy would concur in prolonging the
entail, and further, would agree to entail the unsettled estates, he
should, after his father’s death, enjoy the usufruct of the entire
fortune. If he should refuse, then he would only inherit, always after
the death of Sir Timothy, the £80,000 of which it was impossible to
deprive him.
Shelley went back to London musing over this strange news, and called on
his solicitor to discuss it with him. He did not feel he could consent
to the extension of the entail, since he disapproved of all such
plutocratic legislation: nor did he desire, either for himself or his
children, the ownership of so huge a fortune. What he wanted was an
immediate income sufficient to live on, according to his inclinations,
and a certain sum down, so as to settle his debts. To secure these
moneys, he proposed, through his lawyer, to sell to his father the
reversion of the settled estates. The proposal pleased Sir Timothy who
had abandoned all hope of ever bringing Percy to heel, and who now
thought only of his second son, John. Unfortunately the lawyers were not
sure that the arrangement was legally possible under the terms of the
Will. These only authorized the re-sale by Percy to his father of the
estate of a grand-uncle, valued at £18,000. This transaction took place
and Shelley received in exchange an income of one thousand pounds a year
during the joint lives of Sir Timothy and himself, and in addition three
thousand pounds were advanced by Sir Timothy towards the payment of his
son’s debts. If this was not a big fortune, it was at least the end of
straitened means, of furnished lodgings, and of duns.
His first thought was to make Harriet an allowance. He promised her £200
a year, which in addition to the £200 which her father allowed her,
should be sufficient for all her wants. Next he undertook to pay off
Godwin’s debts, and set apart for that purpose the whole of his first
year’s annuity.
The “venerated friend” found the offer of one thousand pounds far below
his expectations. To hear him talk, nothing was easier than to borrow,
on an inheritance now soon to fall in, the many thousands of pounds of
which the Skinner Street book-shop stood so much in need.
Shelley, exasperated but courteous, informed Godwin, with an indignation
which he restrained, of his surprise that Mary’s father should think it
proper to write to the seducer of his daughter to ask him for money, and
at the same time to refuse to enter into any relations with that
daughter herself, who was foolish enough to suffer from it. Godwin
replied that it was precisely because he was borrowing money from the
seducer that he could not receive Mary: his dignity would not allow it!
He could not risk having it said that he had bartered his daughter’s
honour for the payment of his debts. His scruples were so exaggerated
that he returned a cheque drawn by Shelley in his favour, with the
remark that the names of Shelley and of Godwin must not figure on the
same cheque. Shelley could make it payable to Joseph Hume or James
Martin, and then he, Godwin, might consent to cash it. On which the
following letters were exchanged:
_Shelley to Godwin._
“I confess that I do not understand how the pecuniary
engagements subsisting between us in any degree impose
restrictions on your conduct towards me. They did not, at least
to your knowledge or with your consent, exist at the period of
my return from France, and yet your conduct towards me and your
daughter was then precisely such as it is at present. . . .
“In my judgment neither I nor your daughter nor her offspring
ought to receive the treatment which we encounter on every side.
It has perpetually appeared to me to have been your especial
duty to see that, so far as mankind value your good opinion, we
were dealt justly by, and that a young family, innocent and
benevolent and united, should not be confounded with prostitutes
and seducers. My astonishment, and I will confess when I have
been treated with most harshness and cruelty by you, my
indignation has been extreme, that, knowing as you do my nature,
any considerations should have prevailed on you to have been
thus harsh and cruel. Do not talk of forgiveness again to me,
for my blood boils in my veins, and my gall rises against all
that bears the human form, when I think of what I, their
benefactor and ardent lover, have endured of enmity and contempt
from you and from all mankind.”
_Godwin to Shelley._
“I am sorry to say that your letter—this moment received—is
written in a style the very opposite of conciliation, so that if
I were to answer it in the same style we should be involved in a
controversy of inextinguishable bitterness. As long as
understanding and sentiment shall exist in this frame, I shall
never cease from my disapprobation of that act of yours which I
regard as the great calamity of my life.”
_Shelley to Godwin._
“We will confine our communications to business. . . .
“I plainly see how necessary immediate advances are to your
concerns, and will take care that I shall fail in nothing which
I can do to procure them.”
The cold contempt of this letter did not discourage the borrower.