Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 22.djvu/73

 Godwin win. Godwin's character appears in its worst aspect in the letters published by Mr. Dowden in his life of Shelley. He tried to maintain his philosophic dignity while treating Shelley as a seducer for acting on the principles of the ‘Political Justice.’ He refused to communicate with Shelley except through his solicitors, and forbade Fanny Godwin to speak to her sister. At the same time, he was not above taking 1,000l. from Shelley, and begging for more. He returns a cheque with an affectation of dignity, but asks that it may be made payable in another name. Upon Shelley's marriage, December 1816, he was reconciled, and the poet's veneration for the philosopher disappeared on the discovery that Godwin was fully sensible of the advantages of a connection with the heir to a good estate. Godwin, constantly sinking into deeper embarrassment, tried to extort money from his son-in-law until Shelley's death, and Shelley did his best to supply the venerable horseleech. Mrs. Godwin's antipathy to her stepdaughter, Mrs. Shelley, her bad temper, and general spitefulness made things worse, and Godwin had much difficulty in keeping up any pretence of self-respect (, Shelley, i. 417, 463, 488, 521, 538, ii. 72, 114, 321, &c.). H. C. Robinson says that he once introduced Godwin to a certain Rough. Next morning he received separate calls from the pair. Each expressed his admiration for the other, and then asked whether his new friend would be likely to advance 50l. (Diary, i. 372).

In October 1816 Fanny Godwin, who appears to have been an attractive girl, went to Wales to visit her mother's sisters. She poisoned herself, 11 Oct., at Swansea, for no assignable cause.

Godwin continued to work in spite of distractions. His novel ‘Mandeville’ was published in 1817, and an answer to Malthus was begun in 1818. At the end of that year he had a slight stroke of paralysis. The answer to Malthus, on which he spent much labour, appeared in 1820. It had little success. It is ably criticised in Bonar's ‘Malthus,’ 1885, pp. 360–70. Towards the end of 1819 the publishing business showed ominous symptoms. They deepened in the following years, and Godwin's title to his house in Skinner Street was successfully disputed in 1822. Godwin became bankrupt in that year. His friends again came forward to raise the arrears of rent now claimed, and to enable him to make a fresh start. His old opponent Mackintosh and his new friend Lady Caroline Lamb joined with others to help him, but they failed to set him on his legs again. He lived in the Strand, working industriously, and between 1824 and 1828 produced his ‘History of the Commonwealth.’ He was the first writer to make a thorough use of the pamphlets in the Museum and other original documents. His thoroughness and accuracy made his book superior to its predecessors, and it is useful, though in some directions superseded by later information. His ‘Thoughts on Man’ in 1830 consisted chiefly of old essays. In that year he made the acquaintance of Bulwer, to whom he gave some collections upon Eugene Aram [see ]. In 1832 he lost his son, William Godwin [q. v.] In 1833 Lord Grey, to whom Mackintosh and others had applied, made him yeoman usher of the exchequer. He had a residence in New Palace Yard, and no duties. The office was soon abolished as a sinecure, but Godwin was allowed to retain it during his life. His career as a writer ceased with the ‘Lives of the Necromancers,’ but he afterwards finished some essays, published in 1873. He gradually failed, and died 7 April 1836. He was buried in Old St. Pancras churchyard. The churchyard was destroyed by a railway, and in 1851 his remains and those of his first wife were removed to Bournemouth, where they are buried in the same grave as their daughter, Mrs. Shelley. His second wife died 17 June 1841 (Gent. Mag. 1841, pt. ii. p. 216).

The best account of Godwin's appearance is in Talfourd's ‘Final Memorials of Charles Lamb’ (, Works, 1855, ii. 347–55), and there is a good account of his philosophical reputation in Hazlitt's ‘Spirit of the Age’ (pp. 1–58). Godwin's philosophy was taken seriously by his friends till the end of his life, and produced some effect at the time as an exposition of the revolutionary creed. His first novels are curious examples of impressive fiction constructed rather from logic than poetic imagination; and in his later years he did some good work as an antiquary. Affecting the virtues of calmness and impartiality, he was yet irritable under criticism, and his friendships were interrupted by a series of quarrels. His self-respect was destroyed in later life under the pressure of debt and an unfortunate marriage; but, though his character wanted in strength and elevation, and was incapable of the loftier passions, he seems to have been mildly affectionate, and, in many cases, a judicious friend to more impulsive people.

His portrait, by Northcote, formerly in the possession of the late Sir Percy Shelley, is printed by Hazlitt. An engraving is prefixed to Mr. Paul's ‘Life.’

His works are: 1. ‘Life of Chatham,’ 1783 (anon.). 2. ‘Sketches of History, in Six Sermons,’ 1784. 3. ‘Enquiry concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and