“My Dear Mary,—I have this moment received a copy of Sir Timothy Shelley’s letter to Lord Byron, dated February 6, and which, therefore, you will have seen long before this reaches you. You will easily imagine how anxious I am to hear from you, and to know the state of your feelings under this, which seems like the last blow of fate.
“I need not, of course, attempt to assist your judgment upon the vile proposition of taking the child from you. I am sure your feelings would never allow you to entertain such a proposition. But were it otherwise, even worldly prudence would forbid your taking such a step. While you retain the child you are, in spite of all they can do, a member of your husband’s family. But the moment you give it up, you appear to surrender all relationship to them or to him. Your child is still, in case of Charles Shelley dying before him without issue, heir to the whole estate. . . .
“Do not, I entreat you, be cast down about your
worldly circumstances. You certainly contain within yourself the means of
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“If it shall ever happen to you to be placed in sudden and urgent need of a small sum, I intreat you to let me know immediately. We must see what I can do. . . . We must help one another. . . . . Your affectionate father,
