Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/72

 Godwin length against her religious scruples, saying that she acted in the style of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. His philosophy, however, was thrown away. When Mrs. Reveley became a widow in 1799, Godwin endeavoured to persuade her to marry him, with the same want of success. In December 1801 he was at last married by Mrs. Clairmont, a widow with a son, Charles, and a daughter, Clara Mary Jane Clairmont [q. v.] Mrs. Clairmont had come to live in the next house to him in the Polygon, and introduced herself by ‘Is it possible that I behold the immortal Godwin?’ She was ‘a querulous’ wife and a harsh stepmother, and the marriage was far from happy. She ruled her husband severely and was not favourable to his friendships. Godwin was meanwhile becoming embarrassed. In 1799 he wrote ‘St. Leon,’ a novel which succeeded, though not so well as ‘Caleb Williams,’ and a tragedy which has vanished. He had some literary quarrels, especially with Mackintosh, who had attacked the moral theories of the ‘Political Justice’ in his lectures at Lincoln's Inn, and afterwards admitted that he had been too harsh (Life, i. 134), and with Dr. Parr, who had been his political ally, but had criticised the ‘Political Justice’ in a ‘Spital Sermon’ (15 April 1800). The friendship was extinguished by an exchange of bitter reproaches. A pamphlet called ‘Thoughts on Dr. Parr's Spital Sermon’ replies with much vigour to Parr, Mackintosh, and Malthus, and shows that at this time Godwin considered Napoleon to be a saviour of society. A copy in the British Museum has some admiring annotations by Coleridge.

He was now becoming known to Wordsworth, Lamb, and Coleridge. To Coleridge's influence he attributes a return to a sufficiently vague theism, having been, he says, converted to unbelief by his conversations with Holcroft about 1787, and having become an atheist about 1792, that is during the composition of the ‘Political Justice.’ He now too expanded his course of reading and took to history and the English dramatists. A result of this was his ‘Tragedy of Antonio,’ which was carefully criticised by Lamb, refused by Colman for the Haymarket, but produced by Kemble at Drury Lane 13 Dec. 1800 and hopelessly damned. Lamb described the catastrophe with his usual humour in ‘The Old Actors’ (London Magazine, April 1822, reprinted in Essays of Elia as ‘Artificial Comedy of the Last Century’). In September 1801 Godwin finished another tragedy called ‘Abbas, King of Persia,’ but could not persuade Kemble to make a fresh experiment. The failures were serious for Godwin, whose difficulties were not diminished by his marriage, and who still helped his brother.

Two volumes of his first antiquarian work, the ‘Life of Chaucer,’ upon which he had been employed for two or three years, appeared in October 1803, bringing him 300l., and he received the same sum for the two concluding volumes. He then completed ‘Fleetwood,’ a novel, published in 1805, which was a falling off from its predecessors, and ‘Faulkener,’ a play, which after some disappointments was acted at Drury Lane in December 1807 and ran for some nights. Godwin's want of success had forced him to become a borrower. Thomas Wedgwood, a previous benefactor, lent him 100l. in 1804. He had now five children to support (the two Clairmonts, Mary Wollstonecraft's two children, and his son William by his second wife, born 1804), and though his wife had worked at translations, their position was precarious. He now (1805) took a small house in Hanway Street, in which Mrs. Godwin carried on a publishing business. He wrote for it some fables and histories for children, under the name of Baldwin, his own having an odour of heterodoxy. They had much success. Mrs. Godwin translated some children's books from the French, and the Lambs gave them some books, especially the ‘Tales from Shakespeare.’ The business struggled on with many difficulties. Godwin had also undertaken a history of England. In 1807 the business had improved, and a larger shop was taken in Skinner Street, Holborn, with a dwelling-house, to which the family moved. A subscription was started, to which Godwin's political friends contributed handsomely in order to improve his chances. Godwin's health was suffering from frequent fainting fits, though not so as to diminish his industry. In 1809 he produced the lives of Edward and John Philips. Embarrassments still increased, and he had difficulties with his wife. In January 1811 he was addressed by Shelley. From his early life Godwin had many disciples among young men of promise attracted by his philosophical reputation. His correspondence with them is creditable to his good feeling, and shows that he could administer judicious advice with real kindness (see notices of Arnot, Cooke, Patrickson, and Rosser in Godwin). Shelley's is the only case still memorable. Godwin endeavoured to calm his impetuosity during the Irish tour of 1812, and in the autumn went to visit his disciple at Lynmouth, only to find that the Shelleys had gone to Wales. In October they met him in London. In the following July Shelley eloped with Mary God