The evidence against Harriet Shelley is all in;there is no more.Upon these six counts she stands indicted of the crime of driving her husband into that sty at Bracknell;and this crime,by these helps,the biographical prosecuting attorney has set himself the task of proving upon her.
Does the biographer call himself the attorney for the prosecution?
No,only to himself,privately;publicly he is the passionless,disinterested,impartial judge on the bench.He holds up his judicial scales before the world,that all may see;and it all tries to look so fair that a blind person would sometimes fail to see him slip the false weights in.
Shelley's happiness in his home had been wounded and bruised almost to death,first,because Harriet had persuaded him to set up a carriage.
I cannot discover that any evidence is offered that she asked him to set up a carriage.Still,if she did,was it a heavy offence?Was it unique?Other young wives had committed it before,others have committed it since.Shelley had dearly loved her in those London days;possibly he set up the carriage gladly to please her;affectionate young husbands do such things.When Shelley ran away with another girl,by-and-by,this girl persuaded him to pour the price of many carriages and many horses down the bottomless well of her father's debts,but this impartial judge finds no fault with that.Once she appeals to Shelley to raise money--necessarily by borrowing,there was no other way--to pay her father's debts with at a time when Shelley was in danger of being arrested and imprisoned for his own debts;yet the good judge finds no fault with her even for this.
First and last,Shelley emptied into that rapacious mendicant's lap a sum which cost him--for he borrowed it at ruinous rates--from eighty to one hundred thousand dollars.But it was Mary Godwin's papa,the supplications were often sent through Mary,the good judge is Mary's strenuous friend,so Mary gets no censures.On the Continent Mary rode in her private carriage,built,as Shelley boasts,"by one of the best makers in Bond Street,"yet the good judge makes not even a passing comment on this iniquity.Let us throw out Count No.1against Harriet Shelley as being far-fetched,and frivolous.
Shelley's happiness in his home had been wounded and bruised almost to death,secondly,because Harriet's studies "had dwindled away to nothing,Bysshe had ceased to express any interest in them."At what time was this?It was when Harriet "had fully recovered from the fatigue of her first effort of maternity,.and was now in full force,vigor,and effect."Very well,the baby was born two days before the close of June.
It took the mother a month to get back her full force,vigor,and effect;this brings us to July 27th and the deadly Cornelia.If a wife of eighteen is studying with her husband and he gets smitten with another woman,isn't he likely to lose interest in his wife's studies for that reason,and is not his wife's interest in her studies likely to languish for the same reason?Would not the mere sight of those books of hers sharpen the pain that is in her heart?This sudden breaking down of a mutual intellectual interest of two years'standing is coincident with Shelley's re-encounter with Cornelia;and we are allowed to gather from that time forth for nearly two months he did all his studying in that person's society.We feel at liberty to rule out Count No.2from the indictment against Harriet.
Shelley's happiness in his home had been wounded and bruised almost to death,thirdly,because Harriet's walks with Hogg commonly led to some fashionable bonnet-shop.I offer no palliation;I only ask why the dispassionate,impartial judge did not offer one himself--merely,I mean,to offset his leniency in a similar case or two where the girl who ran away with Harriet's husband was the shopper.There are several occasions where she interested herself with shopping--among them being walks which ended at the bonnet-shop--yet in none of these cases does she get a word of blame from the good judge,while in one of them he covers the deed with a justifying remark,she doing the shopping that time to find easement for her mind,her child having died.
Shelley's happiness in his home had been wounded and bruised almost to death,fourthly,by the introduction there of a wet-nurse.The wet-nurse was introduced at the time of the Edinburgh sojourn,immediately after Shelley had been enjoying the two months of study with Cornelia which broke up his wife's studies and destroyed his personal interest in them.
Why,by this time,nothing that Shelley's wife could do would have been satisfactory to him,for he was in love with another woman,and was never going to be contented again until he got back to her.If he had been still in love with his wife it is not easily conceivable that he would care much who nursed the baby,provided the baby was well nursed.
Harriet's jealousy was assuredly voicing itself now,Shelley's conscience was assuredly nagging him,pestering him,persecuting him.Shelley needed excuses for his altered attitude towards his wife;Providence pitied him and sent the wet-nurse.If Providence had sent him a cotton doughnut it would have answered just as well;all he wanted was something to find fault with.
Shelley's happiness in his home had been wounded and bruised almost to death,fifthly,because Harriet narrowly watched a surgical operation which was being performed upon her child,and,"to the astonishment of the operator,"who was watching Harriet instead of attending to his operation,she betrayed "not the smallest sign of emotion."The author of this biography was not ashamed to set down that exultant slander.
