Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/742

Rh 716 G O D that monarchy was a species of government unavoidably corrupt,"and from desiring a govermnent of the simplest con- struction, he gradually came to consider that "government by its very nature counteracts the improvenient of original mind.” Believing in the perfectibility of the race, that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil, he considered that “our virtues and our viccs m 1y be traced to the incidents which make the history of our lives, and if these incidents could be divested of every improper tendency, vice would be extirpated from the world." -111 control of man by man was n1ore or less in- tolerable, and the day would come when each man, doing what seems right in his own eyes, would also be doing what is in fact best for the community, because all will be guided by principles of pure reason. But all was to be done by discussion, and matured change resulting from dis- cussion. Hence, while Godwin thoroughly approved of the philosophic schemes of the precursors of the ltevolution, he was as far removed as Burke himself from agreeing with the way in which they were carried out. So logical and inicompromising a thinker as Godwin could not go far in the discussion of abstract questions without exciting the most lively opposition in matters of detailed opinion An affectionate son, and ever ready to give of his l1ard—earned income to more than one ne'er-do-well brother, he main- tained that natural relationship had no claim on man, nor was gratitude to parents or benefactors any part of justice ; or virtue. In a day when the penal code was still extremely severe, he argued gravely against all punishments, not only that of death. Property was to belong to him who most wants it ; accumulated property was a monstrous injustice. Hence marriage, which is law, is the worst of all laws, and property the worst of all properties. A man so passionless as Godwin could venture thus to argue without suspicion that he did so only to gratify his wayward desires. Portions of this treatise, and only portions, found ready acceptance in those minds which were prepared to receive them. Perhaps no one received the whole teaching of the book. But it gave cohesion and voice to philosophic radi- calism; it was the manifesto of a school without which the milder and more creedless liberalism of the present day had not been. Godwin himself in after days modiﬁed his com- munistic views, but his strong feeling for individualism, his hate of all restrictions on liberty, his trust in man, his faith in the power of reason remained ; it was a manifesto which enunciated principles modifying action, even when not wholly ruling it. In May 1791 Godwin published the novel of Caleb ll'ill¢'ams, or T/mags as they are, a book of which the politi- C.tl object is overlooked by many readers in the strong interest of the story. It is one of the few novels of that time which may be said still to live. A theorist who lived mainly in his study, Godwin yet came forward boldly to stand by prisoners arraigned of high treason in that same year—179l. The danger to persons so charged was then great, and he deliberately put himself into this same danger for his friends. But when his own trial was dis- cussed in the Privy Council, Pitt sensibly held that Political Juslzl-e, the work on which the charge could best have been founded, was priced at three guineas, and could never do much harm among those who had not three shillings to spare. From this time Godwin became a notable ﬁgure in London society, and there was scarcely an important person in poli- ties, on the liberal side, in literature, art, or science, who does not appear familiarly in the pages of Godwin’s singular diary. For forty-eight years, beginning in 1788, and con- tinuing to the very end of his life, Godwin kept a record of every day, of the work he did, the books he read, the friends he saw. Condensed in the highest degree, the diary is yet ‘V I N easy to read when the style is once mastered, and it is a great help to the underst-.n1ding of his cold, methodical, unimpas- sioned characters. lle carried his method into every detail of life, and lived on his earnings with extreme frugality. Until he made a large sum by the publication of 1’ulz'1z'«'ul Justice, he lived on an average of £1230 a year. In l7£)7, the intervening years having been spent in strenuous literary labour‘, Godwin married Mary Wollstonecraft (see last article). Since both held the same views regard- ing the slavery of marriage, and since they only married at all for the sake of possible ottspring, the marriage was con- cealed for some time, and the happiness of the avowed married life was very brief. Mrs Godwin died in giving birth to a daughter, afterwards the second wife of Percy Bysshe Shelley, on September 10, 1797, leaving Godwin, prostrated by aflliction, and with a charge for which he was wholly unﬁt——his own little daughter .Iary, and her step- sister, Fanny Imlay, who ever afterwards bore the name of Godwin. His untitness for the cares of a family, far more than love, led him to contract a second marriage with .[rs Clairmont, in 1800. She was a widow with two children, energetic and painstaking, but a harsh stepmother; and it may be doubted whether the children were not worse off under her care than they would have been under Godwin's neglect. The second fiction which proceeded from Godwin's pen was called St Leon, a11d published in 1799. It is chiefly remarkable for the beautiful portrait of ill-arguerite, the heroine, which was drawn from the character of his own wife. The events of Go;lwin’s life were few. ‘Under the advice of the second Mrs Godwin, and with her active co-operation, he carried on business as a bookseller under the pseudonym of Edward Baldwin, under which name he published seve- ral useful school-books and books for children, some by Charles and Mary Lamb. But the speculation was unsuc- cessful, and for many years Godwin struggled with constant pecuniary difficulties, for which more than one subscription was raised by the leaders of the Liberal party, and by literary men. In his later years the Govermnent of Earl Grey conferred upon him the otlice known as “Yeoman I'sher of the Exchequer, ” to which were attached apart. mcnts in Palace Yard, where he died in the full posses- sion of his faculties, April 7, 1836, having completed his eightieth year. In his own time, by his writings and by his conversation, Godwin had a great power of influencing men, and especially young men. Though his character would seem, from much which is found in his writings, and from anecdotes told by those who still remember him, to have been unsympathetic, it was not so understood by enthusiastic young people, who lnmg on his words as those of a prophet. The most remark- able of these was Percy Bysshe Shelley, who in the glowing dawn of his genius turned to Godwin as his teacher and guide. The last of the long series of young men who sat at Godwin’s feet was Edward Lytton Bulwer, afterwards Lord Lytton, whose early romances were formed after those of Godwin, and who, in ]s'u_r/enc Arum, succeeded to the story as arranged, and the plan to a considerable extent sketched out, by Godwin, whose age and failing health prevented him from completing it. Godwin's more important works are— TIM I’nqu.'._u rnazcm-m'u_q Political J usticc, mid its I n./luc/Ice on General Virtue marl 1[appz':I¢'ss, 1793; Things as they arc, or the Aclccnturrs Q/' Caleb Williams, 1794; The Inquirer, a series of Essa _7/.s-, 1796 ; _'|Ir'moz'r.s of [lac Author . qf tlzr: I.’f_q7z(9 of IVomm1, 1798; SI Lrml, (I Tn/n qftI1rSz'a'Icnzlh Cm- I1I4‘.'/, 1799; /lnt0m'o, a T7'n_r/I’!/_I/, 180]: The Life of (-'/muccr, 1803; F lcctwood, to Novcl,1805; Faulkner, to T2-n.gc(l_:/,1807; E.s'sa_1/ on Sr*_m(l- chrcs, 1809; Lites qf I;llu'cLr¢l and Julia Plailfps, tlw Ncphcws of ilfilton, 1815; .'|I(m.(lcI:z'llc, (L Talc If [/10 Times of Crmml-cll, 1817; If:'stor_1/ of the Commomrcalth, 1824 -1828; Clomlcslcy, cl. Norcl, 1830; .7’/un/_(//7l's on ﬁlnn, a so’;-ics Q/' E5903/.9, 1831; L2'1-cs qf /I16 1’r:’cromm2. ccrs, 1834. A volume of essays was also collected from lns papers