The Real Shelley. New Views of the Poet's Life. Vol. 2 (of 2)Jeaffreson, John Cordy
History
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
In the spring of ’92 she and the Fuselis had planned a six weeks’ trip to
Paris. Through incidents, of which enough has been already said, this plan
for a summer’s trip came to nothing. It remained for Mary Wollstonecraft
to relinquish her scheme of going to Paris, to make it with other
companions, or to go to France by herself. To relinquish the scheme she
could not; for the course of events made her more and more desirous to go
to Paris. Possibly she tried and failed to find other companions of the
voyage. Anyhow she started for France alone on the 8th of December, 1792,
going thither alone, and arriving at the capital, in the midst of the
series of exciting incidents that closed with the King’s execution.
Going thither openly and in her own name (a name of notoriety in Paris),
she made her abode first under the roof of Madame Fillietaz, _née_
Bregantz, a lady in whose school at Putney, Eliza Wollstonecraft (Mrs.
Bishop), and Everina Wollstonecraft, had been assistant-governesses. Thus
suitably placed in the house of her sisters’ former employer, she remained
there for awhile, working hard at the language in whose accent she was
greatly deficient. On getting a sufficient command of the French tongue,
she went into Parisian society, and was so engrossed by its excitements
that, instead of staying for only a few weeks, she remained at Paris for
months, staying over February, though she had received ample warning that,
if she would return to England, she should leave France promptly, before
the declaration of war. Safe for the moment alike from danger, and the
dread of it, Mary stayed on, congratulating herself on being the
eye-witness of events of which she meant to be the historian. Entering
France for a brief stay she remained in the country for two years and four
months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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