The Real Shelley. New Views of the Poet's Life. Vol. 2 (of 2)Jeaffreson, John Cordy
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The Real Shelley. New Views of the Poet's Life. Vol. 2 (of 2)
Jeaffreson, John Cordy
Poets, English -- 19th century -- Biography; Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 1792-1822
During these five years Lady Kingsborough’s whilom governess changed
considerably in her views of life and society, her mental characteristics,
and her appearance. Partly due to time and natural development, these
changes were in a greater degree due to the influence of her professional
pursuits, of the books she read, of the circles in which she found
recreation, and of the friendships she formed in those circles. Strongly
disposed to liberalism before she settled in George Street, she would
probably, under any circumstances, have developed into an ultra-liberal.
It was therefore a matter of course, that the publisher’s hack, who in the
way of her profession became a translator of revolutionary pamphlets,
quickly adopted the views and conclusions of the revolutionists and
republicans. It was also a matter of course that the emotional and
sympathetic woman, who affected powerfully the sensibilities of those she
encountered, was in like manner affected by them. Nor is it surprising
that the woman who, after entering her thirtieth year, became better
looking every year she lived, was in the earlier term of middle life more
thoughtful of her appearance, and more anxious to exhibit it to the best
advantage, than she had been when she was a plain and unattractive young
person. In this last respect the change in Mary Wollstonecraft was almost
comically striking to those who, on greeting her as a former acquaintance
in Store Street, had not seen her since the opening of her second year in
George Street. During her residence in Blackfriars, dressing with severe
economy (partly in order that she might have more money to give to her
brothers and sisters, and partly because personal vanity was still foreign
to her nature), she was the veriest caricature of a philosophical sloven.
Her costume in the streets consisted of an ill-fitting habit of such
coarse cloth, as was generally worn by London milk-women of the succeeding
generation, a badly kept beaver hat, black stockings and clumsy shoes.
Indoors she wore the same coarse habit when the weather was cold. In
summer she sate at her desk in a cotton dressing-gown, or with no garment
over her stays. On changing the place of her abode she changed her
dressmaker and consulted a milliner. A slut in Blackfriars, she dressed
like a woman of fashion in Store Street. Though he was not the sole cause
of it, Fuseli was largely accountable for this in Miss Wollstonecraft’s
outward style.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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