HARRIET SHELLEYS letters to Catherine Nugent - CONTENTS - I, ETTEIL S II. . . . . . . , I ET- ER XI11 . . . . . l J S I i- . . . . . i . . . IJEl.. F lt XI-. . . . . . . . . r l S T - I . . . . . . . . l , TTTKI X-I I . . . . . . . II TTI I X-I 1 I. . . . . . . . - - LETTEI S IS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . LETTER SS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 E r 1 1 . . . . . . . . . . . I PREFACE. THE following letters were communicated by Mr. Alfred Webb of Dublin to the New York pzper entitled T a Ahtion, in which they appeared, in two instalments, on the 6th and 13th of June 1689. Mr. Webb mentions that Catherine Nugent, to whom the letters were addressed, was forty years old in 1 S1 2, when she was shopassistant to one Newman, a furrier, who carried on business at No. 101 Graftan Street, Dublin. During the Irish campaign of Shelley, IEarriet became intimate with Catherine Nugent and the intimacy led to the correspondellce of which olle side forms tlre present volume. Rlr. Webb s a p he copied the letters eight Fears ago from the originals iu the possession of Catherine Nugents niece, and that the death of the said Catherines only representative now renders possible their publication. They are certainly worth preserving in the form of a book, though it may not be desirable at present to do more than print a few copies for private circulatiod The book forms in fact an important body of evidence as to the kind of person that Shelleys first wife was, and the character of the relations which existed between the young couple. The letters mere spread over almost three years and they show an unbroken friendship on the part of the young wife towards the middle-aged furriers assistant, and a friendship gradually deepening into affection. The ea lierle tters convey the impression that Harriet fancied herself a republican simply because she had married one, and that her enthusiasm for Catherine Nugent arose from Shelleys but this impression gradually dies out as we find Harriet recounting to the little Iris11 The ,- ion, vol. xlviii, 1 1 . 164-466. 1 1 EFACE. is --. --seamstress and philanthropist one aftcr another of the awakenings undergone by the young married couple in regard to the various people with whom they came in contact. And at last Harriets own sad awakening from her two years dream of domestic happiness is revealed to the same friend, to whom she still clings affectionately. That she was capable of warmth and constancy is evident that she passed two years of happiness with Shelley, - she told Catherine Nugent in unmistakeable terms before the cloud had arisen and, when the storm burst that laid waste that happiness, she gave the same friend her version of the affair in equally unmistakeable terms. She thought Shelley wholly changed in character, and blamed Mary Godwin for artfully contriving the disunion. The whole series of letters, happy and unhappy, presents a pleasing portrait of Harriet, artlessly clramn by her own hand, and giving an impression of fl-anknesg and genuineness. The impression may perhaps be erroneous, or Harriet may hare been mistaken in her views about Sllelley and Bfary but it mill bo very difficult to convince those who regard Shelley as the aggressor that the young wife who mrot, e these letters had any reason to deem herself wanting in her duty and affection towards him. LETTERS.