William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. VII. 1791-1796
Mary Wollstonecraft to Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Esq, 25 January 1796
“London, 26th
Jany., 1796.
“My dear Sir,—Though I have
not heard from you, I should have written to you, convinced of your friendship,
could I have told you anything of myself that could have afforded you pleasure.
I am unhappy. I have been treated with unkindness, and even ![]()
![]()
cruelty, by the person from whom I had every reason to
expect affection. I write to you with an agitated hand. I cannot be more
explicit. I value your good opinion, and you know how to feel for me. I looked
for something like happiness in the discharge of my relative duties, and the
heart on which I leaned has pierced mine to the quick. I have not been used
well, and I live but for my child; for I am weary of myself. I still think of
settling in France, because I wish to leave my little girl there. I have been
very ill, have taken some desperate steps; but I am now writing for
independence. I wish I had no other evil to complain of than the necessity of
providing for myself and my child. Do not mistake me. Mr Imlay would be glad to supply all my
pecuniary wants; but unless he returns to himself, I would perish first. Pardon
the incoherence of my style. I have put off writing to you from time to time,
because I could not write calmly. Pray write to me. I will not fail, I was
going to say, when I have anything good to tell you. But for me there is
nothing good in store—my heart is broken!—I am yours, &c.
Gilbert Imlay (1754-1828)
American writer, speculator, and radical who fathered a child, Fanny Imlay, with Mary
Wollstonecraft.
