[68] Rossetti, in _Ency. Britannica_, says, “in Christ Church, Newark”--as to which item (repeated by Dowden) there has been some American wonderment! [69] July, 1804, to July, 1810; _Athenæum_, No. 3,006, June, 1885. [70] William Godwin, b. 1756; d. 1836. _Political Justice_, 1793; _Caleb Williams_, 1794. William Austen (author of _Peter Rugg_), in his _Letters from London_, 1802-3, describes a visit to Godwin at his cottage--Somerston; notices a portrait of “Mary” (Mrs. Shelley) hanging over the mantel. [71] Miss Martineau (p. 304, vol. ii., _Autobiography_) says that Godwin told her he wrote the first half of _Caleb Williams_ in three months, and then stopped for six--finishing it in three more. “This pause,” she says, “in the middle of a work so intense, seems to me a remarkable incident.” [72] Separation took place about the middle of June, 1814; she destroyed herself, November 10, 1816. At one time there had been ugly rumors that she was untrue to him; and there is some reason to believe that Shelley once entertained this belief, but there is no adequate testimony to that end; Godwin’s _dixit_ should not count for very much. Dowden leaves the matter in doubt. [73] I am reminded that Macready’s impersonation of Werner was a noted and successful one. _Sardanapalus_ and the _Two Foscari_ enlisted also the fervor of this actor’s dramatic indorsement. But these all--needed a Macready. [74] Very full account of the Chancery proceedings in respect to children of Shelley may be found in Professor Dowden’s biography. By this it would appear that by decision of Lord Eldon (July 25, 1818) Shelley was allowed to see his children twelve times a year--if in the presence of their regularly appointed guardians (Dr. and Mrs. Hume). [75] John Keats, b. 1795; d. 1821. First “collected” _Poems_, 1817; _Endymion_, 1818; second volume of collected _Poems_, 1820; _Life and Letters_--Lord Houghton (Milnes), 1848. [76] “Ode to a Nightingale,” vi. [77] In letter 573, to Murray (Halleck Col., date of Genoa, November, 1822), Byron says: “I see somebody represents the Hunts and Mrs. Shelley as living in my house; it is a falsehood.… I do not see them twice a month.” [78] Professor Hoppin, in his honest and entertaining _Old England_, speaks of it (p. 258) as “a dull, dirty village,” and--of the church--as “most forlorn.” [79] _Gray Days and Gold_; chapter viii. Macmillan, 1896. [80] This relates, of course, to the condition of the Abbey in the days of Byron’s childhood. Colonel Wildman, a distinguished officer in the Peninsular War, who succeeded to the ownership (by purchase) about 1817, expended very large sums upon such judicious improvements as took away its old look of desolation. [81] _Croker Papers_, chapter xviii. Closing of Session of 1833. Croker would have spoken more gently of him in those latter days, when the king turned his back on Reformers. [82] The _Penny Magazine_ appeared first in 1832; the _Cyclopædia_ in the following year.