Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
MEMOIRS
AND
POSTHUMOUS WORKS
OF
MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GODWIN,
AUTHOR
OF A
VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.
CONTENTS
OF VOL. I.
MEMOIRS.
CHAP. I.
1759–1775.
It has always appeared to me, that to give tothe public some account of the life of a personof eminent merit deceased, is a duty incumbenton survivors. It seldom happens that such a personpasses through life, without being the subjectof thoughtless calumny, or malignant misrepresentation.It cannot happen that the public atlarge should be on a footing with their intimateacquaintance, and be the observer of those virtueswhich discover themselves principally in personalintercourse. Every benefactor of mankindis more or less influenced by a liberal passionfor fame; and survivors only pay a debt due tothese benefactors, when they assert and establishon their part, the honour they loved. The justicewhich is thus done to the illustrious dead,converts into the fairest source of animation andencouragement to those who would follow themin the same career. The human species at large2is interested in this justice, as it teaches them toplace their respect and affection, upon those qualitieswhich best deserve to be esteemed and loved.I cannot easily prevail on myself to doubt, thatthe more fully we are presented with the pictureand story of such persons as are the subject of thefollowing narrative, the more generally shall wefeel in ourselves an attachment to their fate, anda sympathy in their excellencies. There are notmany individuals with whose character the publicwelfare and improvement are more intimatelyconnected, than the author of A Vindication ofthe Rights of Woman.
The facts detailed in the following pages, areprincipally ta