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Mrs Shelley (Rossetti 1890)

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Mrs. Shelley (1890)
by Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti
2349701Mrs. Shelley1890Lucy Madox Brown Rossetti

Eminent Women Series

EDITED BY JOHN H. INGRAM.

MRS. SHELLEY.

MRS. SHELLEY

BY

LUCY MADOX ROSSETTI.

LONDON:
W. H. ALLEN & CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE. S.W.


1890.

LONDON:
PRINTED BY W. H. ALLEN AND CO., 13 WATERLOO PLACE,
PALL MALL. S.W.

PREFACE.


I have to thank all the previous students of Shelley as poet and man—not last nor least among whom is my husband—for their loving and truthful research on all the subjects surrounding the life of Mrs. Shelley. Every aspect has been presented, and of known material it only remained to compare, sift, and use with judgment. Concerning facts subsequent to Shelley's death, many valuable papers have been placed at my service, and I have made no new statement which there are not existing documents to vouch for.

This book was in the publishers' hands before the appearance of Mrs. Marshall's Life of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, and I have had neither to omit, add to, nor alter anything in this work, in consequence of the publication of hers. The passages from letters of Mrs. Shelley to Mr. Trelawny were kindly placed at my disposal by his son-in-law and daughter, Colonel and Mrs. Call, as early as the summer of 1888.

Among authorities used are Prof. Dowden's Life of Shelley, Mr. W. M. Rossetti's Memoir and other writings, Mr. Jeaffreson's Real Shelley, Mr. Kegan Paul's Life of William Godwin, Godwin's Memoir of Mary Wollstonecraft, Mrs. Pennell's Mary Wolstonecraft Godwin, &c. &c.

Among those to whom my special thanks are due for original information and the use of documents, &c., are, foremost, Mr. H. Buxton Forman, Mr. Cordy Jeaffreson, Mrs. Call, Mr. Alexander Ireland, Mr. Charles C. Pilfold, Mr. J. H. Ingram, Mrs. Cox, and Mr. Silsbee, and, for friendly counsel, Prof. Dowden; and I must particularly thank Lady Shelley for conveying to me her husband's courteous message and permission to use passages of letters by Mrs. Shelley, interspersed in this biography.

LUCY MADOX ROSSETTI.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Parentage 1
CHAPTER II.
Girlhood of Mary—Paternal Troubles 22
CHAPTER III.
Shelley 35
CHAPTER IV.
Mary and Shelley 60
CHAPTER V.
Life in England 74
CHAPTER VI.
Death of Shelley's Grandfather, and Birth of a Child 85
CHAPTER VII.
"Frankenstein" 101
CHAPTER VIII.
Return to England 112

CHAPTER IX.
Life in Italy 126
CHAPTER X.
Mary's Despondency and Birth of a Son 139
CHAPTER XI.
Godwin and "Valperga" 143
CHAPTER XII.
Last Months with Shelley 155
CHAPTER XIII.
Widowhood 174
CHAPTER XIV.
Literary Work 186
CHAPTER XV.
Later Works 205
CHAPTER XVI.
Italy Revisited 214
CHAPTER XVII.
Last Years 231

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Political History of the World.

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Crown 8vo., 2s. 6d. each.

Volumes already Issued:—

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This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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