C. KEGAN PAUL: _Prefatory Memoir_ to ‘Mary Wollstonecraft’s Letters to Imlay.’ * * * * * Mr. Kegan Paul, in the spring of 1884, showed the author of this life a lock of Mary Wollstonecraft’s hair. It is wonderfully soft in texture, and in color a rich auburn, turning to gold in the sunlight. ELIZABETH ROBINS PENNELL: ‘Life of Mary Wollstonecraft.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Her conscientiousness.] I return you the Italian manuscript; but do not hastily imagine that I am indolent. I would not spare any labor to do my duty; that single thought would solace me more than any pleasures the senses could enjoy. I find I could not translate the manuscript well.... I cannot bear to do anything I cannot do well; and I should lose time in the vain attempt. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: _Letter to Mr. Johnson_, in ‘Posthumous Works of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.’ London: Printed for J. Johnson, No. 72 St. Paul’s Churchyard; and G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster Row, 1798. * * * * * [Sidenote: Independent spirit.] I long for a little peace and _independence_! Every obligation we receive from our fellow-creatures is a new shackle, takes from our native freedom and debases the mind, makes us mere earth-worms. I am not fond of grovelling! MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: _Letter to Mr. Johnson_, 1788, in ‘Posthumous Works.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Craving for love.] I have dearly paid for one conviction. Love, in some minds, is an affair of sentiment, arising from the same delicacy of perception (or taste) as renders them alive to the beauties of nature, poetry, etc., alive to the charms of those evanescent graces that are, as it were, impalpable--they must be felt, they cannot be described. Love is a want of my heart. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: ‘Letters to Imlay.’ * * * * * I can not live without loving my fellow-creatures; nor can I love them without discovering some merit. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: _Letter to Mr. Johnson_, in ‘Posthumous Works.’ * * * * * It is ... an affection for the whole human race that makes my pen dart rapidly along to support what I believe to be the cause of virtue. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: _Dedication_ of ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Tenderness.] I will own to you that, feeling extreme tenderness for my little girl, I grow sad very often when I am playing with her, that you are not here to observe with me how her mind unfolds, and her little heart becomes attached! These appear to me to be true pleasures, and still you suffer them to escape you. MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT: ‘Letters to Imlay.’ * * * * * [Sidenote: Inconsistency.]