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and the Irish people from the calamities with which I see your mode of proceeding to be fraught. In the commencement of this letter you profess to acquiesce in my decisions,' and you go on with those measures which, with no sparing and equivocal voice, I have condemned. I smile, with a bitter smile, a smile of much pain, at the impotence of my expostulations on so momentous a topic, when I observe these inconsistencies. . . .

"You say, 'What has been done within these last twenty years?' Oh, that I could place you upon the pinnacle of ages, from which these twenty years would shrink to an invisible point! It is not after this fashion that moral causes work in the eye of him who looks profoundly through the vast and-allow me to add-venerable machine of human society. But so reasoned the French Revolutionists. Auspicious and admirable materials were working in the general mind of France; but these men said, as you say, 'When we look on the last twenty years, we are seized with a sort of moral scepticism; we must own we are eager that something should be done.' And see what has been the result of their doings. He that would benefit mankind on a comprehensive scale, by changing the principles and elements of society, must learn the hard lesson, to put off self, and to contribute by a quiet but incessant activity, like a rill of water, to irrigate and fertilise the intellectual evil. . .

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"I wish to my heart you would come immediately to London. I have a friend who has contrived a tube to convey passengers sixty miles an hour: be youth your tube. I have a thousand things I could say, really more than I could say in a letter on this important subject. You cannot imagine how much all the females of my family, Mrs Godwin and three daughters, are interested in your letters and your history."

The Same to the Same.

"March 30, 1812.

"I received your last letter on the 24th inst., and the perusal

of it gave me a high degree of pleasure.

you as a friend.

I can now look upon

Before, I knew not what might happen. It was

like making an acquaintance with Robert Emmet, who, I believe, like yourself, was a man of a very pure mind, but respecting whom I could not have told from day to day what calamities he might bring upon his country; how effectually (like the bear in the fable) he might smash the nose of his mother to pieces, when he intended only to remove the noxious insect that tormented her; and what premature and tragical fate he might bring upon himself. Now, I can look on you, not as a meteoric ephemeral, but as a lasting friend, who, according to the course of nature, may contribute to the comforts of my closing days. Now, I can look on you as a friend like myself, but I hope more effectually and actively useful, who is prone to study the good of his fellow men, but with no propensities threatening to do them extensive mischief, under the form and intention of benefit. . .

"You say, 'I will look to events in which it will be impossible I can share, and make myself the cause of an effect which will take place ages after I shall have mouldered into dust.' In saying this you run from one extreme to another. I have often had occasion to apply a principle on the subject of education, which is equally applicable here-Be not easily discouraged; sow the seed, and after a season, and when you least look for it, it will germinate and produce a crop.' I have again and again been hopeless concerning the children with whom I have voluntarily, or by the laws of society, been concerned. Seeds of intellect and knowledge, seeds of moral judgment and conduct, I have sown; but the soil for a long while seemed ungrateful to the tiller's care. It was not so; the happiest operations were going on quietly and unobserved, and at the moment when it was of the most importance, they unfolded themselves to the delight of every beholder.

"These instances of surprise are owing solely to the bluntness of our senses. You find little difference between the men of these islands of Europe now and twenty years ago. If you looked more into these things you would perceive that the alteration is immense. The human race has made larger strides to escape from a state of childhood in these twenty years than perhaps in any hundred years preceding...

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When arranging his usual short summer excersite in 1812, Godwin determined to combine this with a visit to the Shelleys. They had asked him to visit them, but no time had been fixed for his arrival: indeed the invitation had not been pressed when Godwin first thought of making his tour westward, for the Shelleys feared they could scarcely make him quite comfortable in the limited accommodation they could offer him. But on his arrival at Lynmouth, the Shelleys were gone, and had taken up their abode at Tanyr-alt in North Wales. The diary illustrates the difficulties of a pleasure tour sixty years since, and the perseverance of the tourist in spite of ill-health.

"Sep. 9, W. Twice to Bagley's banker: coach Gerards Hall: sup at Slough. Write to Place.

“10, Th. Breakfast at Thatcham : lunch Beckhampton: cyder, Bath: sleep at Bristol, Bush. Fellow travellers; Mrs Major Wms (Picton) rev. Gibbs, spouter, and Mrs Harwood. Write to M. J. [Mrs Godwin.]

“11, F. Call on Gutch: New Passage to Chepstow : Black Rock Inn, Mr and Mrs Griffiths: dine w. Vivian,

II.

Beaufort Arms; walk to the Castle. Write to
M. J.

"12, Sa. Boat to Tintern; St Peter's Thumb, Twelve
Apostles, Lover's Leap: dine at Chepstow: walk

to Black Rock; adv. Griffiths.(al Lewis) and Yescomb. Write to M. J.

"13, Su. Passage, with 12 horses, &c.: return chaise to Bristol call on Dr Kentish, deceased. Write to Shelley.

"14, M. Call on Gutch, and w. him on Cottle: meet Vivian : w. him Cathedral and Redcliffe: dine at Gutch's w. Dr Pritchard. Write to M. J.

French enter Moscow.

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"Sep. 15, Tu. Breakfast at Gutch's: walk w. him to St Vincent's : tea Cottle's: Bradbury's theatre. Write to M. J., sent Wednesday.

"16, W. Call on Gutch and Shephard: Jane, Capt. Edwards, w. Lawrence and son, Capt. Cotham, Miss Fisher, Mrs Kirkby, &c.

"17, Th. Rainy morning: pass Minehead: turned back by a squall, to Penarth, one mile from Cardiff, where it was proposed by the Captain we should sleep on shore, I believe in a barn.

Deliquium.

"18, F. Lynmouth, three in afternoon: eat nothing from Wednesday's dinner: walk to the Valley of Stones. Deliquium, in bed-chamber.

"19, Sa. Call on Mrs Hooper; see Mrs Sandford: horses to Barnstaple; mall and fair.

"20, Su. Coach w. East-Indian and wife, Capt. Burke,
Major Hatherley, Lyndon cripple, &c. : South
Molton dine at Tiverton: Peverel; Wellington:
sleep at Taunton. Write to M. J.

"21, M. Breakfast at Somerton : walk and prospect at
Castle Carey Wincaunton; Mere: dine at
Hindon sleep at Salisbury: call on Dowding:
Cathedral, moonlight. Write to M. J.

"22, Tu. Del. impm. Call on Dowding, and w. Luxford on
Jeffery, picture-dealer: meet Tinney: Cathedral

and Close: dine at Luxford's sup on Welch Rabbit.

"23, W. Deliquia impa. Call on Dowding and Jeffery: Cathedral, charity-sermon, Bp. &c. : dine at Jeffery's w. Coates, Finches, Miss Noyes, Long and Luxford: adv. Bushel and Mitty. Write to M. J. Darmany calls.

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'24, Th. Call on Dowding and Luxford, Jeffery . and Coates chaise to Stonehenge and Amesbury: return do to Andover; call on Godden, tanner. Write to M. J.

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"Sep. 25, F. Coach, outside; w. postmaster, Jew, and 2 daughters, D. Hayter of Whitchurch, mechanist: dine at Staines: tea Skinner Street.”

The narrative is given in greater detail to Mrs Godwin. The letter has already been printed by Lady Shelley in her "Shelley Memorials."

William Godwin to Mrs Godwin.

"LYNMOUTH, Valley of StoNES, Sep. 19th, 1812. "MY DEAR LOVE,-The Shelleys are gone! have been gone these three weeks. I hope you hear the first from me; I dread lest every day may have brought you a letter from them, conveying this strange intelligence. I know you would conjure up a thousand frightful ideas of my situation under this disappointment. I have myself a disposition to take quietly any evil, when it can no longer be avoided, when it ceases to be attended with uncertainty, and when I can already compute the amount of it. I heard this news instantly on my arrival at this place, and therefore walked immediately (that is, as soon as I had dined) to the Valley of Stones, that, if I could not have what was gone away, I might at least not fail to visit what remained.

"You advise me to return by sea; I thank you a thousand times for your kind and considerate motive in this, but certainly nothing more could be proposed to me at this moment than a return by sea. I left Bristol at one o'clock on Wednesday, and arrived here at four o'clock on Friday, after a passage of fifty-one hours. We had fourteen passengers, and only four berths, therefore I lay down only once for a few hours. We had very little wind, and accordingly regularly tided it for six hours, and lay at anchor for six, till we reached this place. This place is fifteen miles short of Ilfracombe. If the Captain, after a great entreaty from the mate and one of his passengers (for I cannot entreat for such things) [had not] lent me his own boat to put me ashore, I really think I should have died with ennui. We anchored, Wednesday night, somewhere within sight of the Holmes (small islands,

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