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There is no further information on this text.
This refers to the fourth edition of Caleb Williams and the third edition of St Leon (both published January 1816) by W. Simpkin and R. Marshal.
This seems very likely to refer to the composition of an advertisment published in the Morning Chronicle a week later: 'JUVENILE LIBRARY, No. 41, SKINNER-STREET. PRESENTS FOR CHRISTMAS, AND THE NEW YEAR. M.J. GODWIN begs leave to inform the Nobility, Gentry and Public in general, that she continues her large assortment of Books for the purposes of Education, and the amusement of Young Persons, at all prices, and in the various Ancient and Modern Languages. Her Library will be found particularly worthy of the attention of the Conductors of Seminaries of Education, as well as of Parents, and Tutors and Governesses in Families in general, whose future orders she solicits, and whose past favours she is desirous to acknowledge. The Publications issued from the Juvenile Library in Skinner-street, have long been noticed for their exemplary moral tendency, and not less for a pure English style of composition, and the clear and prepossessing manner in which information is conveyed by them. The most vigilant attention has been exercised on these points; and all persons interested in them, may rest assured that this establishment will never forfeit the high recommendations it has received'. The advert includes a list of some of the new editions published by the Juvenile Library (Morning Chronicle, 25 December 1812).
This might match a curious notice which appeared in the Morning Chronicle on 10 March 1814: 'A lady residing at Brighton, and having the charge of three little Girls, is desirous of increasing her number to Six. The most particular care will be given to Health and Education.- For address apply to M.J. Godwin, Juvenile Library, Skinner-street.'
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An anonymous review of Thomas Holcroft's translation of the Posthumous Works of Frederic II.
Charles James Fox died on 13 September 1806 and the following month Godwin wrote a short essay on his life, praising Fox as 'the most illustrious model of a Parliamentary Leader on the side of liberty that this Country has produced. This character is the appropriate glory of England, and Fox is the proper example of this character.'
The antiquary Joseph Ritson died on 23 September 1803 and Godwin wrote four and a half pages on his life on 26 October. The piece was first published in the Monthly Magazine that November, republished in the Monthly Mirror for May 1805 and was later included in Marken and Pollin eds, Uncollected Writings.
Godwin praises his friend's antiquarian research, regrets that Ritson presented his discoveries in a 'harsh, rugged, and barren' style, describes the 'rudeness, bitterness, and insult' that characterised his part in controversies, praises his character and describes his peculiar diet ('a potatoe, a biscuit, or an egg, generally constituted his whole support during the day, and his beverage was either lemonade or tea') and his attachment 'to the principles of republicanism'.
Godwin wrote 2 1/2 pages on John Philpot Curran, Irish politician and lawyer, the day after his death, which was published a day later in the Morning Chronicle. It was republished in William Henry Curran's life of his father (1819) and Marken and Pollin eds, Uncollected Writings. Godwin describes his friend as 'almost the last of that brilliant phalanx, the contemporaries and fellow-labourers of Mr. Fox, in the cause of general liberty' and praises his oratory, wit and patriotism.
Godwin protested against the declartion of war against France largely on the grounds of cost and babarity. The essay was first published in Political and Philosophical Writings, vol. 2 from MS. Abinger c. 27, fols. 33-52 where it is suggested that Godwin may have planned to publish it before seeing the essay was overtaken by events, ie the beginnings of hostilities proper.
This letter was apparently sent to the Morning Chronicle but not published. It protests at the treatment of Thomas Muir and the Rev. Thomas Fyshe Palmer who were found guilty of sedition in Perth, Scotland in August and September 1793 and sentenced to transportation for 14 and 7 years respectively. It was first published in Political and Philosophical Writings, vol. 2.
This letter has not been identified but is likely to have been on the subject of Smithfield market, which Godwin wrote to the Morning Post on a few days later. No letter published in the Morning Chronicle over the next few weeks seems likely to have been written by Godwin.
Godwin's entries on 23 March, 31 March and 4 April 1810 allow the identification of the previously unattributed letter which appears in the Morning Post on 6 April 1810, signed 'A LOVER OF TRANQUIL IMPROVEMENTS'. The letter argues for the removal of Smithfield market, a subject 'deeply interesting to the quiet and beauty of the metropolis' - and especially so for Godwin as the livestock market was located very near to the Juvenile Library on Skinner Street. Godwin argues that Parliament should help to remove it: 'If there is any thing in a great metropolis which renders the air pestilential, which tends to destroy the bodies or corrupt the morals of its inhabitants, a genuine legislature will .... apply itself to correct the mischief'. However, the House of Commons threw out the Bill for the Removal of Smithfield Market later that month (see Morning Chronicle, 13 April 1810).
Letters to the Editor of the Morning Chronicle, under the pseudonym of 'Verax', arguing against further war with Napoleon. The first was published on 25 May, the day that the Commons voted to support the war. The Morning Chronicle turned the second one down and so Godwin published both as a pamphlet under his own name. Once again his timing was unfortunate: the pamphlet appeared on 22 June, four days after Waterloo and the same day Napoleon abdicated, and it was quickly withdrawn by Godwin.
Dated 29 December 1821, printed 11 January 1822, signed 'L'ami des hommes' and referring to himself in the third person ('Mr. Godwin, a name of some account among our livng literati' , 'has produced an elaborate work in refutation of Mr. Malthus'). Godwin is replying specifically to a paragraph in the Morning Chronicle on 25 December 1821, which he read as endorsing Malthus's theory of population. The Morning Chronicle preface denies that this is what they had meant and hopes that the letter is not from the same source as one 'written with an asperity quite uncalled for' that had been published in the Examiner the previous Sunday. The Examiner letter is signed 'C', does not read as Godwin's style and might instead be from William Cobbett, whose style it more closely matches and who endorsed Godwin's intervention in the population debate in his Political Register ('I have hunted Malthus out of vogue, and almost out of existence: Mr. Godwin has done the same, and in a much more elaborate manner, with much greater patience, and with a vast deal more of research', 11.2.1832). This is contrary to the decision of Macken and Pollin, who in their Uncollected Writings thought the Examiner piece was likely to be by Godwin.
Open letters protesting at the erosion of civil liberties and free speech, occasioned in particular by the trial of Daniel Crichton at the Quarter Sessions, Clerkenwell on 8 January 1793, who was heard to say at the Tower of London, while drunk, 'Damn the King; we have no King in Scotland, and we will soon have no King in England.' Crichton was sentenced to three months imprisonment and Godwin protested at a 'reign of despotism', The second letter is an attack on John Reeves, chairman of the Society for protecting Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers, for his role in helping to ferment popular hatred of Thomas Paine, whose trial Godwin had attended. The third letter is addressed to the attorney general, Sir Archibald Macdonald, and the fourth to jurors. They are all republished in Political and Philosophical Writings, vol. 2.
This may be a letter to or an article for the Monthly Magazine.
Godwin's obituary was published in the Morning Chronicle. He described Johnson as 'an ornament to the profession in which he was engaged, and would have been an ornament to any profession'.
Probably a review of Sarah Trimmer's A Concise History of England: comprised in a set of easy lessons; illustrated by engravings: being a continuation of a series of historical books for children. In two volumes (1808). Printed for J Harris. It is not known if the review was published.
Godwin's review claims that Inchbald's play 'rises above any of her former theatrical essays. The outline of the piece is excellent, and is capable of impressive and exquisite effect'. However, he judges the 'tragic tale' interwoven with the main comic plot to have ''not been equally successful' and accuses Inchbald 'of not obstinately and perseveringly unfolding one idea, till she has placed it in its strongest lights, and suffered it to produce its full effects'. Godwin is also highly critical of the way the piece was acted at Covent Garden: 'the actors, by some fatality, seem not to understand their parts .... we would give to every one that wishes fully to enjoy this comedy, this piece of advice, "Take it with you to your closet."'
Identified by Burton R Pollin in Marken and Pollin eds, Uncollected Writings (Gainesville, Florida, 1968): 'This unsuspected piece of dramatic analysis by Godwin came to my attention through a scrap of writing in the Abinger Microfilm: "The paper on Wolsley was written, Apr. 3 1809 and appeared in the Morning Chronicle a few days after". This corresponds to the diary, where Godwin records writing the piece on 3 April after seeing Kemble act in Henry VIII on 28 February.
The article is signed 'Aristarchus' and argues that 'my friend Kemble' misinterprets Wolsley, failing to represent the 'mangnanimous collectedness of soul' that Wolsley achieves after his fall from Henry's favour. Kemble plays Wolsley as 'a poor, broken-hearted wretch, robbed of office and spirit at the same time, and whimpering and wailing in the most pitiful strain', Godwin argues that he should appear as a 'a great man sustaining himself with dignity amidst the storm of his fortune'.
Robinson began publishing the New Annual Register in 1781, with up to 7,000 copies published annually at £1 each (DNB). Godwin's contribution involved compiling a detailed annual record of public events in Britain and abroad, from the mid-1780s through the early years of the French Revolution.
The following items were unpublished in Godwin's lifetime. Some have since been published (including two tragedies listed under 'Plays'), some are extant in the Abinger Collection or elsewhere, and some have been lost.
Probably the beginnings of a response to William Robertson's The History and Conquest of America (1835) which he read through most of January.1836.
Described in the diary as 'Hints of Character' and first published in Novels and Memoirs, vol. 1 from MS. Abinger c. 32, fols. 37-40. Godwin examines his abilities, his sensibility and various relationships, including his happiness with Wollstonecraft.
Godwin responds to John Thelwall's preface to The Tribune, vol. 2 where Thelwall attacks Godwin for his criticisms of him in his Considerations.
There are many occasions when Godwin notes in the diary that he is writing on his own life. It is never pursued in a systematic fashion, he returns to it periodically. Much of this material is published in Novels and Memoirs, vol. 1 from MS. Abinger c. 32, fols. 1-31, 34, 35-6, 41-68, 69, 70-9, and MS. Abinger c. 31, fols. 80-9, 90-110, 115-16. It focuses on Godwin's family, his education and his first career as a dissenting minister and goes on to cover in less detail the early 1790s. However, this code also has been used for MS. Abinger c. 32, fol. 33 containing reflections by Godwin on his life and works, 10 October 1824 (2 Leaves) not included in Novels and Memoirs, vol. 1. The Abinger finding aid in the Bodleian Library states that the manuscripts are variously watermarked 1796, 1798, 1807, 1819, suggesting it may be possible to distinguish the dates that he wrote different sections of his autobiography.
The actress and author Mary Robinson ('Perdita') died on 26 December 1800 and three days later Godwin recorded writing 'Character of M Rn'.
This writing is probably material that ended up in Godwin's Of Population which discusses China. It has been kept separate as Godwin recorded it in his diary with a distinct pagination.
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Godwin's sale catalogue lists: Pope’s (Alex.) Works, with notes by Bp. Warburton, plates, 6 vol. 1764 (item 607). Pope’s Works, with notes and illustrations by W. Roscoe, port. 10 vol. 1824 (item 608).
Essay of History and Romance and Essay of Scepticism were first published in Political and Philosophical Writings, vol. 5 from MS. Abinger c. 86, fols. 23-8, 29, 30-3, 34-5. They are annotated: ‘These Essays were written while the Enquirer was in the press, under the impression that the favour of the public might have demanded another volume’.
Godwin's pagination is 225-37 for Essay of History and Romance and 237-46 for Essay on Scepticism, with one essay finishing and the other beginning on the same page (Index to Literary Manuscripts). This allows the essays to be dated with some confidence, beginning with 'Essays, p. 225, 226, 227/2' on 7 January 1797 ('The Enquirer' was published on 27 February 1797). However, it is less clear when they finish: Godwin records 'Essays, p. 240-244/2' on 16 January 1797 but the pagination of subsequent days of essay-writing do not follow on. Therefore, 16 January 1797 has been treated as the last day of writing Essay on Scepticism and later references to writing or revising essays have been coded as relating to revisions or other continuations of The Enquirer.
Essay of History and Romance and Essay of Scepticism were first published in Political and Philosophical Writings, vol. 5 from MS. Abinger c. 86, fols. 23-8, 29, 30-3, 34-5. They are annotated: ‘These Essays were written while the Enquirer was in the press, under the impression that the favour of the public might have demanded another volume’.
Godwin's pagination is 225-37 for Essay of History and Romance and 237-46 for Essay on Scepticism, with one essay finishing and the other beginning on the same page (Index to Literary Manuscripts). This allows the essays to be dated with some confidence, beginning with 'Essays, p. 225, 226, 227/2' on 7 January 1797 ('The Enquirer' was published on 27 February 1797). However, it is less clear when they finish: Godwin records 'Essays, p. 240-244/2' on 16 January 1797 but the pagination of subsequent days of essay-writing do not follow on. Therefore, 16 January 1797 has been treated as the last day of writing Essay on Scepticism and later references to writing or revising essays have been coded as relating to revisions or other continuations of The Enquirer.
The bookseller Joseph Johnson died on 20 December 1809 and Godwin wrote five and a half pages on him on 22 and 23 December.
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Godwin's closest friend Thomas Holcroft died on 23 March 1809. After a four year estrangement, they had been reconciled as Holcroft lay dying and Godwin wrote five pages on Holcroft's life between 6th and 12th of the following month.
It is likely that Godwin revised some writing by Holcroft. who called the day before and after this entry. Holcroft may have been working on a translation of Diderot's comedy Le Pere de Famille (1758).
See MS. Abinger c. 24, fols. 20-31; 23 September 1806 in Godwin's hand written to a child recalling their walk in a farm. Locke refers to the 'possibly unpublished' 'Rural Walks, or First Impressions of Religion' (p. 213). St Clair notes that Godwin refers in a list of his works to 'Rural Walks', published 1806', and which might correspond to the anonymous Rustic Excursions published by Phillips, although the only known copy is from 1811. (p. 545).
This corresponds to MS. Abinger c. 29, fol. 54.
There is evidence to suggest that Godwin may have written up his diary in large batches from time to time. He may have done this from rough notes which he then transferred en masse to his diary. This would account for occasional dating errors (such as events which appear in the wrong year and are then crossed out) which creep in from time to time and perhaps also explain the consistency of the handwriting.
This matches MS. Abinger c. 27, fols. 1-2, ‘Hints for an Essay on Leisure. Sep. 30, 1824’, paper watermarked 1824, 2 leaves, with one discrepancy: in the diary it is dated 4 October 1824. Godwin argues that three or four hours a day should be fixed for labour and the rest of the time spent with family (to 'cherish the domestic affections'), in the public house ('a theatre of eager and earnest discussion') and in becoming a good and active citizen.
It appears from the diary that Marshall goes away on business on the 10 October 1811 after Godwin wrote some instructions for him. He returns and dines with Godwin on 7 November. The purpose of his travel is unknown..
James Scarlett (1769-1844;DNB) was the prosecutor of the radicals on the platform at Peterloo. Godwin called on him three days after writing this.
First published in Political and Philosophical Writings, vol. 2, from MS. Abinger c. 86, fols. 1-4 and setting out Godwin's lasting admiration for Charles James Fox.
Godwin simply enters 'Legend', going up to p. 13. Possibly a review of Mary Tighe's ''Psyche or the Legend of Love', which was re-published, following Tighe's death, in the same year.
Godwin wrote to the French National Convention, probably to announce the forthcoming publication of Political Justice. He sent a copy to France with John Fenwick immediately after publication in February. See St Clair, p. 103.
This is a probable match for the 'Brief biography of Shakespeare' located at MS. Abinger c. 29, fols.17-20. No dated watermarks. 4 leaves.
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Samuel Johnson Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1779–81)
It is possible that this note was to be incorporated into his planned autobiography as the entry for 'Life, p. 12' on the same day suggests. The colon between the two phrases may connect them.
Godwin is possibly preparing a proposal for publisher Joseph Johnson
Atholl is a name of Scottish derivation but it is unclear what Godwin is writing.
This entry corresponds to MS. Abinger c. 19, fols. 55-6. Draft of a letter to a newspaper editor, 18 April 1815, concerning Napoleon. 2 leaves. Godwin quotes a declaration by the Allies which had been carried in an unidentified newspaper from the previous day. The first phrase of Godwin's quotation matches an article in the previous days's Morning Chronicle, only to diverge from it (although it is possible that Godwin is paraphrasing). The letter argues that it is unjust for the Allies at Vienna to grant France liberty as long as they do not choose to restore Napoleon, claiming that 'an infinite majority of the French people are eager to adhere to him'. The letter appears not to have been published at the time and was later included in Kegan Paul, vol. 2.
.This corrsponds to MS. Abinger c. 37, fols. 8-22, Contemporary politics: William Godwin, miscelleaneous items, including notes on his suitability to be an M.P. written c. 1796, notes for ‘Verax, Part II’ dated 8 Dec. 1816, and notes on Edmund Burke, John Horne Tooke and Charles James Fox. 20 leaves. On one sheet of paper Godwin has simply written, across the middle of the page, 'I could write excellent characters of Edmund Burke and John Horne Tooke'. He had been reading a life of Burke in the days before 18 October, when he entered 'Notes on Burke' in his diary, followed the next day by 'Notes on Horne Tooke'. The single page of notes on Burke read, 'Edmund Burke. asperity intermperance These are qualities which it is particularly painful to discover in the man we especially desire to love and admire It was said of Priestley, that he was never ill-tempered and harsh, but with his pen - may not something analogous to this be predicated of Burke? Meanwhile, it is an infirmity greatly to be lamented - it stops the career of our love, and it greatly detracts from the authority and weight of him in whom it is discovered.' The notes go on to discuss the Burkean sublime: 'the loftiest species of the sublime, especially where moral agents are concerned, is in cases to which sympathy enters .... There must, perhaps always, be the idea of mind included in the sublime - suffering - or triumphant .... B's radical fault is his propensity to divide sublimity fr. sentiment, to reduce it to sensation Music (Handel) is a fine source of it.' Another page of notes discusses Burke's relationship with Fox: 'Offended with Mr. Fox for panegyrising democracy at a very improper moment - resolves to check this panegyric .... Accused by Mr. Fox of adopting a conduct calculated to injure him - of contradicting the principles upon which he had formerly acted - of drawing a bill of indictment against a whole people - his pamphlet condemned Indignation of Burke - tears of Fox Withdraws himself from parliament'.
William Hazlitt published The Plain Speaker in 1826. The volume included a disparaging account of Godwin's conversational skills which provoked Godwin to sit down and list evidence to the contrary (for example, 'How did I win the hearts of the cleverest women I knew? By the effect of my talk'). A sample of the notes are published in Duncan Wu's William Hazlitt: The First Modern Man, p. 384 from manuscripts held in the Houghton Library, Harvard.
This could be: Raphael Holinshed, The firste volume of the chronicles of England, Scotlande, and Irelande: conteyning the description and chronicles of England, from the first inhabiting unto the Conquest: the description and chronicles of Scotland, from the first originall of the Scottes nation, till the yeare of our Lorde 1571: the description and chronicles of Yreland, likewise from the first originall of that nation, untill the yeare 1547, 2 volumes (1577).
or
Raphael Holinshed, The chronicles of England, from William the Conqueror (who began his reigne over this land, in the yeare after Christes natiuitie 1066) untill the yeare 1577. Faithfullie gathered and compiled, And continued from the year 1577, untill this present yeare of grace 1585 (1587).
Godwin cites the following in his biography of Chaucer: Hollinshed, apud Warton, Vol. I, Sect. vi. (1:89) and his library's sale catalogue lists: 'Holinshed’s (Raph.) Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, imperfect 1577 (item 845)' and 'Holinshed’s Chronicles of England (no title) 1598 (item 846)'.
This corresponds to MS. Abinger c. 37, fols. 8-22, Contemporary politics: William Godwin, miscelleaneous items, including notes on his suitability to be an M.P. written c. 1796, notes for ‘Verax, Part II’ dated 8 Dec. 1816, and notes on Edmund Burke, John Horne Tooke and Charles James Fox. 20 leaves. On one sheet of paper Godwin has simply written, across the middle of the page, 'I could write excellent characters of Edmund Burke and John Horne Tooke'. He had been reading a life of Burke in the days before 18 October, when he entered 'Notes on Burke' in his diary, followed the next day by 'Notes on Horne Tooke'. The notes on Tooke claim that 'H Tooke was certainly no friend to generous, swelling sentiments of liberty .... He was an avowed advocate for the slave- trade. His scheme of parliamentary reform was, that the rich man should have liberty to buy as many votes as he pleased, for a certain sum to be added to the public revenue. He was hostile to the abolition of trial for libel .... His ideas of right and wrong were very crude .... he had considerable asperity of character, and loved to think that a time would come when public delinquents would expiate their offences.'
This probably refers to notes Godwin made on John Thelwall's essay An Essay toward a Definition of Animal Vitality. Thelwall had delivered the lecture to the Physical Society at Guy's Hospital on 26 January 1793.
After the death of his friend Coleridge, Godwin wrote a brief essay on the subject of his diary-keeping. It can be found in MS. Abinger e. 32, fol. 45.
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Possibly some notes on Robert Harley, first earl of Oxford and Mortimer (1661-1724).
Samuel Jones (1681/2-1719; DNB) was a nonconformist tutor whose widow married Godwin's grandfather.
Godwin may have been planning a biography of politician and dissenter William Smith with whom he had a lot of contact in 1808-9.
This may refer to the material in MS. Abinger c. 35, fols. 1-7 which contains some notes reflecting on Shakespearean character.
In 1797 the Bank Restriction Act was passed which allowed the Bank of England the right to refuse to convert banknotes into gold. The Bank had previously overprinted in order to finance war with France.
First published in Political and Philosophical Writings, vol. 7, from dep. b 227/1(f). It can be distinguished from other fragments on religion in the Abinger papers by Godwin's dating of the manuscript, 7 May 1818. Godwin asserts that his 'conversion from Christianity was one of the soberest, most impartial and conscientious changes of opinion that has ever occurred in the history of a human mind'.
As part of his research for his play Abbas, Godwin translated 5 pages of Adam Olearius's Voyages and Travells of the Ambassadors Sent by Frederick Duke of Holstein to the Great Duke of Muscovy and the King of Persia … Containing a Complete History of Muscovy, Tartary, Persia, and Other Adjacent Countries…. (1656) from the French.
This appears to match MS. Abinger c. 86, fols. 36-9 'Essay on Death', dated 6 October 1810. Watermarks not dated. 6 leaves (paginated 1-8, with 2 additional unpaginated leaves).
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This might correspond to MS. Abinger c. 29, fols. 5-16 – ‘On the Composition of History; An Occasional Reflection’, unfinished, with two further leaves of alternative continuations. Paper watermarked 1808. 9 (paginated 1-(18)) + 2 leaves. The pagination is close but slightly off - in the diary Godwin records writing 17 pages and the Abinger folder contains 18, plus an extra 2 (added later?).
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Published in vol 1 of Collected Novels and Memoirs, ed. Philp, from MS. Abinger c. 86, fols. 50-2, 54-5. Reflection on different periods of his own life, before and after fame, and stoical contemplation of the future.
Unidentified and never completed, but likely to refer to a petition against the Treasonable and Seditious Practices and the Seditious Meetings Acts ('the Gagging Acts') of November 1795. It was written the day after the Considerations on Lord Grenville's and Mr Pitt's Bills was published.
This corresponds to MS. Abinger c. 29, fols. 86-9, ‘Prospectus of a History of the Protestant Reformation in England. Sep. 22, 1832’. No dated watermarks. 4 leaves (paginated 1-8). Godwin describes the Protestant Reformation as 'the dawn of intellectual liberty to man' and the document appears to have been a proposal to publishers for a history of the period: 'no topic can more irresistibly come home to the bosom of almost every reader, than the History of the Protestant Reformation'. In the days before writing the prospectus Godwin had re-read William Cobbett'sHistory of the Protestant Reformation, a popular polemic for Catholic Emancipation.
This corresponds to MS. Abinger c. 30, fols. 87-91. Draft(?) of a ‘Representation to the K[ing]’, as from the House of Commons, on the subject of the Reform Bill, late 1831 or early 1832. Paper watermarked 1830. 5 leaves. The manuscript is partly in note form and styled as a petition from the House of Commons to William IV. Begun two days after the Lords had rejected the Bill for parliamentary reform, it insists that the Commons have been given a popular mandate for reform and that the Bill must be passed.
This corresponds to MS. Abinger c. 86, fols. 7-16, Opening section of a work on King Richard III and the Princes in the Tower. Paper watermarked 1822. 10 leaves (paginated (1)-20). Godwin proposes a more balanced account of Richard III, commenting on the polarised historiography on the subject and trying to evaluate the truth of More and Bacon's accounts, paying particular attention to the fate of the princes in the Tower. The unpublished manuscript does not read as part of a children's history or as a prospectus for publishers of a larger work and may simply be an individual piece of private research, motivated by historical curiosity. It is ends mid-sentence, while narrating the beginning of the pretender Perkin Warbeck's attempts to lay claim to the throne during Henry VII's reign, and the diary confirms that it was not continued beyond page 20.
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This corresponds to Godwin's 'Essay on The Sublime' found in MS. Abinger c. 27, fols. 25-32. It begins ‘Burke’s Treatise on the Sublime and Beautiful is undoubtedly a great and original work…’, with a further sheet containing a draft outline of the essay. Paper watermarked 1828. 7 (paginated (1)-(14)) + 1 leaves.
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Possibly the beginnings of a planned children's book on the legend of William Tell.
This corresponds to MS. Abinger c. 26, fols. 1-117, entrusted to Mary Shelley for publication after Godwin's death. She did not publish it and it first appeared as Essays Never Before Published, edited by C. Kegan Paul and published by H.S. King, in 1873.
Godwin maintained a lifelong interest in the writings of Rousseau. However, he never completed - or indeed, did much work at all - on the proposed translation.
At various points in this life, Godwin wrote some notes on religious topics that cannot be directly matched to his more established works. One example may be found in MS. Abinger c. 36, fols. 46-7 'Fragment on religion'. No dated watermarks. 2 leaves.
One entry, single word, but it comes when Godwin is embarking on another bout of memoir-writing, perhaps lending credence to the possibility that he is at work on his will.
Godwin commented on Thomas Holcroft's unpublished play The Old Cloathesman. This comic opera afterpiece was performed in Covent Garden in April 1799.
Godwin's fifth and penultimate novel, set throughout Europe, has a plot that revolves around themes of inheritance, guilt and benevolence. Published in three post octavo volumes.
Godwin's sixth and final novel hinges on the second marriage of the aristocrat Deloraine to the much younger Margaret Borradale. Published in three volumes and sold at 28s 6d.
Written under the pseudonym Edward Baldwin and published in two volumes, duodecimo, 8s.
Godwin's third novel shows the diastrous consequences of Casimir Fleetwood's marriage to the much younger Mary MacNeill, revealing the influence of the contemporary novel of sensibility and the writings of Rousseau. Godwin also appropriated the plot of Shakespeare's Othello. Published in three volumes and sold at 15 s. in boards or 16 s. in half-binding. A second edition was published in 1832 in a single volume by Richard Bentley.
Set at the time of the English Civil War, Godwin's fourth novel features a protagonist rendered misanthropic by his early experiences, who develops a deep hatred for the virtuous Clifford. Sold in three volumes at £1 1s. The novel was published by A Constable and Co. in Edinburgh and by Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown in London.
Godwin's second novel features a sixteenth-century French nobleman, Count Reginald de St Leon, who is given the philosopher's stone and the elixir of life and attempts to put them to philanthropic ends. It includes a portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft as St Leon's wife, Marguerite de Damville. Published in four duodecimo volumes and sold at 16s. A second edition was issued in four volumes by the same publisher in 1800, a third edition in four volumes by W. Simpkin and R. Marshal in 1816 and a fourth in a single volume by H. Colburn and R. Bentley in 1831. It also inspired Bethlem Gabor (1807), a play by United Irishman John Daly Burk.
Godwin's first novel, depicting the struggle between the aristocratic Falkland and his servant, Caleb Williams, who discovers the dark secret of Falkland's history. A study of pursuit and obsession, designed to expose the injustice of 'things as they are'. Three volumes, 10s 6d.
A second edition was published in three volumes by G.G.J. and J. Robinson in 1796, who then published a third edition in 1797, a fourth edition in three volumes was published by W Simpkin and R Marshal in 1816 and a fifth, single-volume edition by H Colburn and R Bentley in 1831.
George III's carriage was attacked during the opening of Parliament on 29 October 1795 and the following month the government brought before Parliament the Treasonable and Seditious Practices and the Seditious Meetings Acts ('the Gagging Acts'). Godwin responded with Considerations, protesting at the restriction of civil liberties, but also at the incendiary mass meetings convened by reformers, including his friend John Thelwall, a criticism which precipitated a falling out with his fellow reformer.
Written and published following the arrest of radicals including Thomas Holcroft, Thomas Hardy, John Thelwall and John Horne Tooke, who were then charged with high treason. Godwin's intervention argues against the broad definition of treason outlined by Lord Chief Justice Eyre and had a significant impact on the trial. No convictions were secured and all those arrested were released. Cursory Strictures was first published anonymously in the Morning Chronicle of 21 October 1794, reprinted by several newspapers and issued as a pamphlet by Kearsley. Kearsley discontinued it after a warning from the ministry and Daniel Issac Eaton then republished it in an extended form.
Written to Joseph V. Bevan, an American student from Georgia, who visited Godwin in London on 11 June 1817 at the beginning of a British tour and asked him for guidance in his reading. Godwin's answer was first published by M.J. Godwin and Co. for private distribution and reprinted in the Edinburgh Magazine for March 1818. In America, it was reprinted in the Analectic Magazine for August 1818 and various other journals. Further letters of advice from Godwin to Bevan were first published, in partial form, in the Analectic Magazine for September 1819.
Written in response to an Answer to Cursory Strictures, thought to be wirtten by Sir Francis Buller, Godwin drafted and published the Reply to an Answer during the treason trials of October 1794. The Morning Chronicle refused to publish it and it was issued by Daniel Issac Eaton.
A reply to Samuel Parr's Spital Sermon before the Lord Mayor of London at Easter 1800, in which Parr had attacked Godwin's early views on the domestic affections. Sold at 2s 6d.
A five act tragedy but acts 4 and 5 are missing. There does exist a synopsis of the entire play in Godwin’s hand. Although there are only three acts of this tragedy remaining, Abbas reveals a strong Shakespearean influence as well as being an excellent example of the London audience’s taste for Orientalism. Godwin chose the play’s topic at Coleridge’s suggestion and there exists a correspondence between the two aspiring dramatists on the play. The play is published in The Plays of William Godwin, ed. O'Shaughnessy.
A five act tragedy which was performed at Drury Lane in 1800 and subsequently published by Robinson. Godwin spent more time on this work than any other of his literary endeavours which indicates its importance to his oeuvre. Biographer Kegan Paul states that he considered it his most important work. The play itself is a reaction against the garish spectacles of the London theatre which Godwin felt denigrated the function of theatre and it is closely associated with the politics of his collection of essays The Enquirer (1797). Sold at 2s 6d.
A five act tragedy which was published by Richard Phillips in 1808. Faulkener represents Godwin’s greatest success on the stage and in its conformity to the structure and themes of contemporary plays represents a growing pragmatism on Godwin’s part of what was politically and artistically possible on the Georgian stage.
A five act historical tragedy, St Dunstan represents Godwin’s proposed intervention into the debate on the repeal of the Test & Corporation acts. It was revised in late 1795 but was declined for performance by Covent Garden theatre in early 1796, probably due to its political content. It is published in The Plays of William Godwin, ed. O'Shaughnessy.
This was first advertised on 22 January 1821. Godwin's original reply to Malthus, On Population was also republished on 30 January 1821.
Godwin proposed 'Political Principles' to Robinson on 30 June 1791 and persuaded the publisher to support the project financially on 10 July. He relinquished his role on the New Annual Register in September and began a work which would take sixteen months to write and was eventually published, in two quarto volumes, on 14 February 1793, priced £1 16s. Three thousand copies were sold, an octavo edition in two volumes was published by Luke White in Dublin the same year and to satisfy demand Robinson had to purchase pirated octavo sheets from the Dublin printer to sell under his own imprint in London.
Robinson published a second edition under the title An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and Happiness. This edition, including Godwin's revisions and sold in two octavo volumes for fourteen shillings, gives the date 1797 on its title page but actually appeared on 26 November 1796. Similarly, a third, revised edition, in two octavo volumes, is dated 1798 on its title page but appeared in December 1797. Godwin planned a fourth edition but this never materialised. Political Justice was translated into French by Benjamin Constant but withheld from publication. G.M. Weber's German translation was published in Würzburg in 1803 and a pirated second edition was published in Philadelphia by Bioren and Madan in 1796 and in New York in 1804.
Has been taken to correspond to the diary entries specifying 'Jewish History', which begin at the end of 1801. Written under the pseudonym William Schofield and published by R. Phillips in two volumes. Phillips went on to publish a second edition in 1803 and republished the work as Sacred Histories; or, Insulated Bible Stories, also two volumes, in 1806.
Godwin's proposal of a subscription society which would mark the graves of the deserving dead with plain wooden crosses. Published in one Crown Octavo volume at 4s.
Written under the pseudonym Edward Baldwin and published in one duodecimo volume, priced at 7s, with a slightly amended version available for schools at 5s. Godwin had started writing begun the work as far back as 1809, but its eventual date of publication seemed auspicious, as the Morning Chronicle advertisement proclaimed: 'now that the Greeks are engaged in the most strenuous efforts to recover their liberty, it cannot be uninteresting to any class of readers, to learn, or to recollect, what sort of men the Ancient Greeks were; for whose sake our sympathy is so strongly excited to their posterity' (16 January 1822).
Written under the pseudonym Edward Baldwin. Published in one duodecimo volume, priced at 4s.
Sympathetic history of the Commonwealth, based on several years of research in the reading room of the British Museum and published in four volumes over a period of almost five years. The first volume was a 14s octavo.
Researched and written between 1801 and 1803, Godwin's biography of Chaucer is also a study of Chaucer's time and suggests that poets can be 'the legislator of generations and the moral instructor of the world'. Published in two quarto volumes and sold at three and a half guineas.
The last of Godwin's works to be published within his lifetime, its admirers included Edgar Allen Poe, who wrote an enthusiastic review.
This appears to refer to an agreement to produce a translation of or commentary on Livy. There is no indication of any further work done on the project.
Written in the months following Mary Wollstonecraft's death in September 1797, Godwin's frankness about Wollstonecraft's sexual history attracted fierce hostility from the conservative press, damaging both of their reputations. Sold in one small octavo volume at 3s 6d, illustrated with an engraving of John Opie's portrait of Wollstonecraft. It was published alongside The Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (four small octavo volumes, 14s), which Godwin had edited.
Godwin began this work on 29 July 1809, entering in his diary that 'I think I have made an entirely new discovery as to the way of teaching ye Eng. lange'. It was published under the pseudonym Edward Baldwin as a preface to William Frederick Mylius's 'School Dictionary', sold at 2s 6d on fine and 2s on common paper.
Godwin's Answer to Malthus, as he describes it in the diary on the day of publication, challenging Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798), which had argued that as population increases in a 'geometric ratio' (1, 2, 4, 8...) and food supply can only increase in an 'arithmetic ratio' (1, 2, 3, 4...), population must be kept in check by 'misery and vice'. Published in one octavo volume and priced at 18s.
'An abridged and simplified' version of Hazlitt's New and Improved Grammar of the English Tongue and his own New Guide to the English Tongue, brought out 'to Hazlitt's mild annoyance' (Locke, p. 226) and sold under the pseudonym Edward Baldwin for 1s.
St Clair identifies this as the eleventh book Godwin had written since arriving in London, published by Robinson in three quarto volumes and sold at five guineas (p. 41). However, St Clair is wrong to describe it as an attempt to capture some of the market created by John Debrett's Baronetage of England: it pre-dates both Debrett's Peerage (1803) and Baronetage (1808), as well as John Burke's Peerage (1826).
Collection of essays written after the second edition of Political Justice, attempting to present some of the same principles in a new form. The first part concentrates on education, the second discusses more varied subjects and then concludes with a long historical overview of English style.
Sold in one octavo volume for 7s 6d. A second edition was published in 1823, by John Anderson, Junior in Edinburgh and by Simkin and Marshall in London.
Written under the pseudonym Edward Baldwin and published in duodecimo, sold at 4s ('adorned with 32 Heads of the Kings, engraved on copper plate, and a striking Representation of an ancient Tournament ... handsomely bound in coloured paper'; advertisement in the Morning Chronicle for 19 July 1806). Godwin may have been working on a planned second edition later in the year.
Written under the pseudonym Theophilus Marcliffe.
A biography of Milton's nephews and at the same time a biography of Milton himself, based on original archival research completed over two years, including on a visit to Oxford's Ashmoleum Museum and Bodleian Library in June 1813. Published in one quarto volume at 2l 2s.
Based on the early life of the artist William Mulready, a friend of Godwin's. Written under the pseudonym Theophilus Marcliffe. Sold at 1s.
Written under the pseudonym Edward Baldwin. Published in one duodecimo volume at 6s. There were some revisions made in March 1810, possibly for a second edition.
A collection of essays, Godwin's first for over thirty years which he considered 'the most faultless book I ever printed .... It contains some egotism, but kept perhaps within proper bounds'. 'On Time' has been included, written mostly in January and February 1830, and begun before any of the essays in the volume. It does not directly match any of the titles in the collection, but may correspond to 'Of the Durability of Human Achievements and Productions' or 'Of the Duration of Human Life'. Published in one octavo volume and sold at 14s.
Thomas Holcroft's sixteen-year-old son William ran away from home on 8 November 1789, taking with him forty pounds and a pair of his father's pistols. He planned to travel to the West Indies but on 15 November his father and Godwin arrived at Deal and boarded the 'Fame' where he was hidden. On hearing them board the ship, William shot himself. Godwin wrote an account of the affair on 27 November. It was published as Tragical consequences, or, A disaster at Deal: being an unpublished letter of William Godwin dated Wednesday, November 18th, 1789, ed. Edward Blunden (London: Fytton Armstrong, 1931).
Tobin's play was unpublished but was performed in Covent Garden, April 1803.
Godwin may have been attempting a children's version of Defoe's novel.
Satiric verse by Voltaire.
William Godwin junior died from cholera on 9 September 1832. Godwin arranged for the posthumous publication of his son's novel and wrote a biographical preface, which is re-published in Collected Novels and Memoirs, vol 1.
This may be a letter by James Graham, third duke of Montrose (1755-1836). According to the DNB, Graham became an 'eloquent commentator on Scottish issues'.
This play opened on 4 February 1791 at Covent Garden; Godwin was in attendance.
Possibly Godwin looked over someone's translation or reworking of Diderot's play.
This is probably a working title for Holcroft's 1792 hit The Road to Ruin. Godwin had been reading and discussing this with Holcroft since November.
Godwin is correcting an exercise he set Thomas Cooper, his cousin under his tutelage. Genlis probably refers to Madame de Genlis (1746-1830), a French writer on education among other topics.
This play opened on 29 January 1793 at Covent Garden; Godwin was in attendance.
The Morning Chronicle of 1 December 1810 advertised this publication from M.J. Godwin, price 5s. bound. It contains 'several hundred Extracts' of poetry for use by students. It is possible that Godwin was working on this in late 1808.
Godwin was evidently not correcting Common Sense (1776) for Paine; rather it seems likely that he was writing his on legislative and executive power in Book 5 of Political Justice where he references Paine. He also references Paine and Common Sense in Book 3.
Godwin read and made notes on this tragedy, first performed in 1775 and published in 1782.
Godwin planned and made some notes on a work which may be related to this art history text which examined Counter-Reformation painting.
Godwin read and then revised some of the passages written by Holcroft in his unfinished biography. The work was passed over to Hazlitt who completed the book.
Although this was published in 1809, it appears that Godwin worked on a revision up to 1813.
It is not clear to which text Godwin is referring but there is a possibility that it might be The Class Book; or, three hundred and sixty-five reading lessons adapted to the use of schools (RIchard Phillips, 1806) or any one of a number of books by David Blair (Phillips's pseudonym under which Fenwick wrote). Alternatively, it may refer to something that Godwin wrote to/for her husband, John Fenwick, who had given himself up to creditors by returning to London in January 1806.
Translated from Voltaire.
Published by Joseph Johnson in 4 volumes.
Children's book.
The Morning Chronicle advertised this book on 30 December 1808. It included the stories 'The King and Queen of Hearts' and 'The Little Woman and the Pedlar'.
Translated from Sylvain Meinrad Xavier de Golbéry.
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