Part 21 (1/2)
The children are both well, the infant in particular It is the finest baby I ever saw Wishi+ng you peace and prosperity, I remain your humble servant,
ELIZA FENWICK
Mr Godwin requests you will make Mrs Bishop acquainted with the particulars of this afflicting event He tells me that Mrs Godwin entertained a sincere and earnest affection for Mrs Bishop
The funeral was arranged by Mr Basil Montague and Mr Marshal for Friday, the 15th All Godwin's and Mary's inti these was Mr Tuthil, whose vieere identical with Godwin's This invitation gave rise to another short correspondence, unfortunate at such a time Mr Tuthil considered it inconsistent with his principles, if not iious ceremonies; and Godhile he respected his scruples, disapproved of his coldness, which made such a decision possible But he was the only one who refused to show this mark of respect to Mary's memory Godwin himself was too exhausted mentally and physically to appear at the funeral When Fridaycame he shut himself up in Marshal's roo to Mr
Carlisle At the same hour Mary Wollstonecraft was buried at old Saint Pancras, the church where but a few short months before she had been married A rave It bore this inscription:--
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GodWIN,
AUTHOR OF
A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN
BORN XVII APRIL, MDCCLIX
DIED X SEPTEMBER, MDCCXCVII
Many years later, when Godwin's body lay by her side, the quiet old churchyard was ruined by the building of the Metropolitan and Midland Railways But there were those living who loved their raves to be so ruthlessly disturbed The remains of both were removed by Sir Percy Shelley to Bournemouth where his mother, Mary Godwin Shelley, was already laid ”There,” Kegan Paul writes, ”on a sunny bank sloping to the west, a the rose-wreathed crosses of many who have died in ht each of them have said,--
'Write me as one who loves his fellow-men'”
Mary Wollstonecraft's death was followed by exhaustive discussion not only of her work but of her character The result was, as Dr Beloe affirms, ”not very honorable to her fair faht be to her reputation as an author” The following passage written at this time shows the estimation in which she was held by a number of her conte intellect and of ungovernable passions
To the latter, when once she had given the reins, she seems to have yielded on all occasions with little scruple, and as little delicacy She appears in the strongest sense a voluptuary and sensualist, but without refinement We compassionate her errors, and respect her talents; but our compassion is lessened by the mischievous tendency of her doctrines and example; and our respect is certainly not extended or iainst prejudices of soerous of which she was herself perpetually the victim, by her praises of virtue, the sanctity of which she habitually violated, and by her pretences to philosophy, whose real nity of which, in various instances, she sullied and disgraced”
It was to silence such base calumnies that Godrote his Memoirs This was undoubtedly the wisest way to answer Mary's critics As he says of Marguerite in ”St Leon,” ”The story of her life is the best record of her virtues Her defects, if defects she had, drew their pedigree froenerous sensibility, from a heart pervaded and leavened with tenderness” That truth is s is shown by this story to have been her creed By it she regulated her feelings, her thoughts, and her deeds
Whether her principles and conduct be applauded or conderity of motive, her fearlessness of action, and her faithful devotion to the cause of humanity Like Heine, she deserves to have a sword laid upon her grave, for she was a brave soldier in the battle of freedom for e
_Messrs Roberts Brothers' Publications_
_Famous Women Series_
MRS SIDDONS
By NINA H KENNARD
The latest contribution to the ”Faives the life of Mrs Siddons, carefully and appreciatively compiled by Nina H
Kennard Previous lives of Mrs Siddons have failed to present theher more exclusively in her dramatic capacity Mrs Kennard presents the main facts in the lives previously written by Careat actress's history appearing in Percy Fitzgerald's ”Lives of the Keives the more tender and domestic side of her nature, particularly as shown in her hitherto unpublished letters
The story of the early dramatic endeavors of the little Sarah Ke part of the narrative, and it is with a distinct huains the sureatest public triuiven of the idol of brilliant and intellectual London sitting doith her husband and father to a frugal hohts--_Co comparatively little space to criticis special attention to her personal traits and history Hers was an extre life, remarkable no less for its private virtues than for its public triuenius deserved was heroic in its persistence and dignity Her relations with the authors, wits, and notables of her day give occasion foranecdotical literature Herself free from humor, she was herself often the occasion of fun in others The stories of her tragic manner in private life are many and ludicrous The book abounds in anecdotes, bits of criticise and of society in a very interesting transitional period--_Christian Union_
A fitting addition to this so well and so favorably known series is the life of the wonderful actress, Sarah Siddons, by Mrs Nina Kennard To reat woh she lived until 1831; but the present volules, triuive to such a picture that is most lifelike A particularly pleasant feature of the book is the way in which the author quotes so copiously from Mrs Siddons's correspondence
These extracts froht of their ever appearing in print, give theon the part of the writer, as well as her own account of many events of her life They furnish, therefore, better data upon which to base an opinion of her real personality and character than anything else could possibly give The volu to end, and one rises from its perusal with the warenius, her real goodness, and her true wohter, wife, and mother Modern actresses, a the stage,”