Part 20 (2/2)

When her attendants recoh her disease entle even in her complaints Expostulation and contradiction were peculiarly irritating to her in her then nervous condition, but one night when a servant heedlessly expostulated with her, all she said was, ”Pray, pray do not let her reason with ion was not once, to use Godwin's expression, a torious views hadpast when she had sere Blood She had never, however, despite Godwin's atheism, lost her belief in God nor her reliance upon Him But, at no time an adherent to mere form, she was not disturbed in her last ion was at this crisis, as it had always been, a source of comfort and not of worry She had invariably preferred virtue to vice, and she was not now afraid of reaping the reward of her actions The probability of her approaching death did not occur to her until the last two days, and then she was so enfeebled that she was not harassed by the thought as she had been at first On Saturday, the 9th, Godho had been warned by Mr Carlisle that her hours were numbered, and ished to ascertain if she had any directions to leave, consulted her about the future of the two children The physician had particularly charged him not to startle her, for she was too weak to bear any excitee for the time of her illness and convalescence But she understood his realof,” she told hi to communicate upon the subject Her faith in him and in his wisdom was entire ”He is the kindest, bestthe very last words she uttered before she lost consciousness Her survival from day to day seemed almost miraculous to the physicians who attended her

Mr Carlisle refused, until the very end, to lose all hope ”Perhaps one in a ht possibly recover,” he said

But his hopes were vain At six o'clock on Sunday ed to summon Godho had retired for a few hours' sleep, to his wife's bedside At twenty , Mary died

A somewhat different version of Mary's last hours and of the iiven in some manuscript ”Notes and Observations on the Shelley Memorials,” written by Mr H W Reveley, son of the Mrs

Reveley as Godwin's great friend His account is as follows:--

”When Mrs Godas confined of her daughter, the late Mary Shelley, she was very ill; andher until her death, eight days after her confinement I was often there with my mother, and I saw Mrs

Godwin the day before her death, when she was considered er Her death was occasioned by a dreadful fright, in this entleed in the first floor, whether as visitors or otherwise I cannot say, but that they were intruders in so his wife, and at last there was a violent contest between the to throw his wife over the balcony into the street Her screams of course attracted a crowd in front of the house Mrs

Godwin heard the lady's shrieks and the shouts of the crowd that ahis wife out of the , and the next day Mrs

Godwin died What became of that miscreant and his wife I never knew”

There may have been some foundation for this story An ill-tes in the same house; but it is extremely doubtful that his ill-temper had so fatal an effect on Mary Godould certainly have recorded the fact had it been true, for his Meives the minutest details of his wife's illness The very day on which Mr Reveley says Mary was out of danger was that on which Godas asking her for final instructions about her children, so sure were the physicians that her end was near Mr Reveley was very young at the time

His observations were not written until he was quite an old man It would not be unlikely, then, that his memory played hiht years of age, in the full prime of her powers Her best work probably remained to be done, for her talents, like her beauty, were late in reatly ian to write Constant communication with Godould no doubt have developed her intellect, and the calm created by her more happy circumstances would have lessened her pessimistic tendencies Moreover, life, just as she lost it, prohter than it had ever been before Godwin's after career shows that he would not have proved unworthy of her love Domestic pleasures were dear to her as intellectual pursuits In her own house, surrounded by husband and children, she would have been not only a great but a happy woman It is at least a satisfaction to know that her last year was content and peaceful Few have needed happiness iven to suffer the hardshi+ps that fell to her share

The very same day, Godwin himself wrote to announce his wife's death to several of his friends It was characteristic of the rief, which was sincere He recorded in his diary the details of each day during Mary's illness, and it was not until the last that he shrank froic The only dashes which occur in his diary follow the date of Sunday, Sept 10, 1797 Kegan Paul says that his writing to his friends ”was probably an atteence in the luxury of woe” To Holcroft, who, he knew, could appreciate his sorrow, he said, ”I firmly believe that there does not exist her equal in the world I know from experience ere formed to make each other happy I have not the least expectation that I can now ever know happiness again” Mrs Inchbald was another to whoht you used her ill, but I forgive you,” he told her in his note Now that Mary was dead he felt the insult that had been shown her even more keenly than at the ti, and, with a singular want of consideration, she sent with her condolences an elaborate explanation of her own conduct Two or three --he told his correspondent very clearly what he thought of her--is excusable But her arguments in self-justification and her want of respect for the dead are unpardonable

Basil Montague, Mrs Fenwick, and Miss Hayes continued their friendly help, and wrote several of the necessary letters for hih Skeys, the husband of Mary's friend It is valuable because written by one ith her in her last moments:--

SIR,--Myself and Mrs Fenere the only two fe her last illness Mrs Fenwick attended her fro of her confinement with scarcely any intermission I ith her for the four last days of her life, and though I have had but little experience in scenes of this sort, yet I can confidently affirination could never have pictured to reat

She was all kindness and attention, and cheerfully co that was recommended to her by her friends In acity on the subject of her illness than any of the persons about her Her whole soul seemed to dith anxious fondness on her friends; and her affections, which were at all ti, see occasion The attachret of those who surrounded her appeared to increase every hour, and if her principles are to be judged of by what I saw of her death, I should say no principles could be more conducive to cal

Mrs Fenas intrusted with the duty of inforh Everina, of Mary's death Her letter is as interesting as that of Miss Hayes:--

Sept 12, 1797

I areatly enfeebled both in mind and body; but when Mr Godwin desired that I would inform you of the death of histo undertake the task, because it is sohtest service, and because hts perpetually dwell upon her virtues and her loss Mr

Godwin himself cannot, upon this occasion, write to you

Mrs Godwin died on Sunday, Septe I ith her at the time of her delivery, and with very little intermission until the moe of the highest class could make was exerted to save her It is not possible to describe the unre and devoted attentions of her husband Nor is it easy to give you an adequate idea of the affectionate zeal of ht and day to seize on an opportunity of contributing towards her recovery, and to lessen her sufferings

No woe than Mrs Godwin Who ever endured uish than Mr Godwin endures? Her description of him, in the very last moments of her recollection was, ”He is the kindest, best man in the world”

I know of no consolations forhow happy she had lately been, and how much she was admired and almost idolized by sos