William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. IV. 1801-1803
William Godwin, Journal, 20-22 December 1801
“1801. Decr. 20.—Su: write to David Webster. Tobin and Fenwick call:
M[arshall] and C[lairmon]ts dine: call on Philips adv[ens], Surrs, and Fenwick.
“21. M. Shoreditch Church, &c., with
C[lairmon]t and Marshall]: dine at Snaresbrook: sleep.
“22. Call at the Red Cow: adv[enæ]
farmers, K of Bohemia’s table: dine chez moi: Tuthil calls.”
John Fenwick (d. 1823)
Radical author, improvident newspaper editor, and close friend of William Godwin. His
The Indian: A Farce (1800) was produced at Drury Lane.
Mary Jane Godwin [née Vial] (1768-1841)
The second wife of William Godwin, whom she married in 1801 after a previous relationship
in which was born her daughter Claire Clairmont (1798-1879). With her husband she was a
London bookseller.
James Marshall (d. 1832)
Translator and literary jobber; he was a schoolmate and bosom friend of William Godwin, a
drinking companion of Charles Lamb, and associate of Mary Shelley.
Sir Richard Phillips (1767-1840)
London bookseller, vegetarian, and political reformer; he published
The
Monthly Magazine, originally edited by John Aikin (1747-1822). John Wolcot was a
friend and neighbor.
Thomas Skinner Surr (1770-1847)
Student at Christ's Hospital and clerk at the Bank of England who published society
novels containing portraits of notable persons, including
A Winter in
London (1806) satirizing the Duchess of Devonshire.
John Tobin (1770-1804)
English playwright whose posthumous
The Honey Moon was performed
with success at Drury Lane in 1805. The poet's brother, James Webbe Tobin (1767-1814), was
an associate of Coleridge and Southey.
Sir George Leman Tuthill (1772-1835)
Educated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, he was detained in France before
completing his medical education; he was physician to Westminster, Bridewell and Bethlem
hospitals. He was a friend of Thomas Manning and Charles Lamb; Mary Lamb was among his
patients.
David Webster (1825 fl.)
Scottish bookseller and antiquary; Sir Walter Scott was among his clients. In Pitcairn's
Criminal Trials (1833) he is referred to as “The late
eccentric David Webster.”
