"I wish you to recollect that my intercourse with the family of Mountcashel was courted; that I was pressed to suffer Fanny to undertake this charge; that there is nothing in the letter I send for publication that ought to wound the feelings of the family, after I had been so courted and pressed, unless it be the reason given by them for breaking off intercourse; and that it is absolutely necessary I should defend myself, as well against the attempts to exclude me from society, as the wicked charge of being a spy. Your conviction, therefore, must certainly be very strong, if it should induce you to suspend the publication."

Lady Mountcashel to William Godwin.

"PARIS, February 21, 1802.

"DEAR SIR, I am very much concerned at being obliged to trouble you on a subject which has lately occasioned me some uneasiness, and on which I must request your kind assistance. Before I left London, you were so good as to give me letters of introduction to two persons here with whom you thought I should like to be acquainted. In a very few days after my arrival I sent that which was addressed to Mr Holcroft, who immediately called on me, and has been since that time (till within this last fortnight) one of our constant visitors. I met him with prejudices in his favour, the result of his political opinions, his literary pursuits, and your friendship for him. His conversation at first pleased me, as it appeared to be rational and moral, and the great affection which he expressed for his wife and children interested me in regard to both him and them. I am too apt to form favourable opinions precipitately, and it was unfortunately the case in this instance. I thought so well of Mr Holcroft after a fortnight's acquaintance, that I asked his advice respecting a governess for my daughters, thinking it probable that he might know of some English or French woman in Paris who might be qualified for such a situation. He said he knew of but one person whom he could recommend as being perfectly calculated for such a trust; that this person was his daughter, but that he did not believe that it would be possible for her to undertake it. However, he gave me some hopes; in

short, in about a month after Miss Holcroft (whom I had only seen about four times) came here on trial (the agreement being that if either party found reason to disapprove of the arrangement, she was immediately to return home) as governess to my daughters, with a salary of £60 a-year.

"She had been represented to me as being extremely well educated and highly accomplished, deficient in nothing except those exterior trifles respecting manner which proceed from knowledge of the world, and an intercourse with polished society. Imagine my disappointment at finding her a frivolous, romantic girl, with an uncultivated mind, a character devoid of delicacy, a total want of method, order, and discretion; in short, with nothing to recommend her but a clumsy goodness of heart, a sweet temper, and her accomplishments, which consist of music, and of some of the modern languages. Of all persons I have ever met with, she is the most unfit to be entrusted with the education of youth; and had my daughters been a very few days older than they are, I could not have suffered them to remain with her for even so short a time as three weeks. In a very few days after the arrival of Miss Holcroft, Lord Mountcashel was informed by some officious persons who had seen Mr Holcroft here that he had been tried for high treason, and that he and some other of my acquaintance were notorious English democrats, whom it would be prudent for loyal British subjects to avoid. This was about the 23d or 24th of January.

"Lord Mountcashel informed me of it some days afterwards as a thing very disagreeable to him, saying that he was extremely sorry I had brought Miss Holcroft into the house, and wished her to be removed from it as soon as possible; and on finding that the more I knew of her the less I approved of her as a governess for my children, I determined to avail myself of this prejudice of Lord Mountcashel to dismiss her in a delicate manner, without hurting the feelings of either father or daughter. I therefore wrote Mr Holcroft a letter (a copy of which I will send you), in which I suppressed a part of the truth, and only mentioned one of the causes of her dismission. Mr H. immediately sent for his

daughter, declared that her removal was occasioned by a paragraph in a newspaper, and informed me in a long letter that he should publish it to the world. I called at his house to explain his mistake, to assure him that Lord Mountcashel had never heard that there was such a paragraph until he mentioned it, to tell him that I thought he would act imprudently in publishing the circumstance of his daughter's residence (of not quite three weeks) in my family, and to request that he would not obtrude a private transaction, which concerned me, on the public eye. I was much surprised at discovering in this interview, that the man whom I had supposed to be mild, moderate, and rational, was selfish, violent, and self-sufficient: beyond the power of cool argument, and utterly regardless of the feelings of any person but himself. He, however, promised to reconsider the matter, and inform me of his determination. The next day I received a letter, in which he declared the intention of adhering to his resolution, and I was thus laid under the disagreeable necessity of acquainting him with all the causes which occasioned the removal of his daughter. The copies of his answer and all other letters concerning this affair shall be conveyed to you by a friend of yours, who leaves Paris in a few days, and who can inform you of all the circumstances relative to this business; which (however I may dislike having my name absurdly forced on public notice) would give me very little uneasiness, were it not on account of the displeasure of Lord Mountcashel, who barely tolerated Mr Holcroft's visits, and latterly had taken a complete dislike to the man, totally distinct from any political prejudice. The favour I have to request from you is, that if Mr Holcroft has sent any paper on this subject to you for publication, you will have the goodness to defer obtruding on the world what I positively assert to be an absolute falsehood, until you have heard the circumstances related by a very rational friend of yours, who will see you in a few days.

"With a thousand good wishes for your little girls, and all the rest of your family, I remain, dear Sir, with great respect and esteem, yours very sincerely, M. J. MOUNTCASHEL.”

Thomas Holcroft to William Godwin.

"PARIS, March 1, 1802. "Your last was dated Jan. 29. I have since written February 2d and 16th, and am anxious for your answer. S. will deliver you the Marmot. No price (for I offered any that should be asked) I could obtain the Loir. In two months I suppose it may be had for five shillings. I sent, and went again and again, but all in vain. A bird man told me he had one, but that it disappeared on the approach of winter, having previously done him much mischief by killing his birds. Assure Mr Carlisle that my zeal to oblige him was great, and that I am heartily vexed at my failure. "T. HOLCROFT."

The Same to the Same.

"PARIS, March 20, 1802. "I have seen Madame de Stael, and she has promised me her novel, volume by volume, but she is anxious to be well translated, and asks more questions than I can answer concerning the former translations of Mr Marshal. I dare not cite the Ruins, because Volney complains much of his English dress. Recapitulate to me what Mr Marshal has translated. . . . I hope that the Marmot, and the voyage dans le Crimée with their bringer are all safe, of which I am anxious to hear. T. HOLCROFT.”

The Same to the Same.

"PARIS, May 2, 1802. "A few days ago I a second time dined with Madame de Stael, who told me it will still be some months before her novel will appear, and that I should have it for my friend, volume by volume, on the strict and absolute condition (to which I pledged myself) that no person except the translator should read it in this partial manner. I interceded for you and myself, but she positively refused: alleging, and, indeed, very justly, that the effect intended to be produced in any work was spoiled by such partial reading. Having entered into this engagement with her, Mr Marshal will, of course, think himself bound to its strict obserT. HOLCROFT."

vance.

LETTER FROM DR WOLCOT.

117

Dr Wolcot, from whom is the next letter, was better known as Peter Pindar. He was a Devonshire physician and artist, born in 1738, and in this latter capacity was the instructor of Opie, through whom, no doubt, began his intimacy with Godwin. Some years before the present date, he had given up the practice of medicine, and become a poetical critic of Royal Academicians, under his assumed name. His satirical Poems, of various degrees of power and scurrility, were much read in their day, and are now not quite deservedly forgotten. Dr Wolcot became blind, and died in 1819

7. Wolcot to William Godwin.

"CAMDEN TOWN, Jan. 8, 1802.

“MY DEAR SIR,—Most willingly would I join your philosophic party at the Polygon, but Death on Sunday last sent one of his damned young brats to attack me in bed at Lord Nelson's at Merton. Inspired with a little of his Lordship's courage, I fired away at him flannel, brandy, hot bricks, and red-hot coals, which, by the blessing of God (on whom you most devoutly believe), overcame him, and I am now at Camden Town, singing Te Deum for the victory. Though I have not gained the laurels of Aboukir, I have (as Marshal Boufflers said of his troops, performed wonders.' "To descend from lofty metaphor to humble prose, I have been plagued with my asthma for nearly a week past, and have flown to Camden Town to recover. Here I am at Delaney Place, No. 7, with a fiddle and a good fire, the one a balm for the mind, and the other for the body.-I am, truly yours, J. WOLLOT.

“P.S.—The instant I can with safety crawl forth, I will peep in upon you. Report says you are married again. Fortunate man! Forty years have I been trying to get my tail into the trap and have not succeeded. What a monkey!"

The letter to Mr Cole, which follows, is one of a large number written by Godwin in answer to questions on every