VOL. I.
PREFACE.
The public are here preſented with the laſt literary attempt of an author, whoſe fame has been uncommonly extenſive, and whoſe talents have probably been moſt admired, by the perſons by whom talents are eſtimated with the greateſt accuracy and diſcrimination. There are few, to whom her writings could in any caſe have given pleaſure, that would have wiſhed that this fragment ſhould have been ſuppreſſed, becauſe it is a fragment. There is a ſentiment, very dear to minds of taſte and imagination, that finds a melancholy delight in contemplating theſe unfiniſhed productions of genius, theſe ſketches of what, if they had been filled up in a manner adequate to the writer's conception, would perhaps have given a new impulſe to the manners of a world.
The purpoſe and ſtructure of the following work, had long formed a favourite ſubject of meditation with its author, and ſhe judged them capable of producing an important effect. The compoſition had been in progreſs for a period of twelve months. She was anxious to do juſtice to her conception, and recommenced and reviſed the manuſcript ſeveral different times. So much of it as is here given to the public, ſhe was far from conſidering as finiſhed, and, in a letter to a friend directly written on this ſubject, ſhe ſays, "I am perfectly aware that ſome of the incidents ought to be tranſpoſed, and heightened by more harmonious ſhading; and I wiſhed in ſome degree to avail myſelf of criticiſm, before I began to adjuſt my events into a ſtory, the outline of which I had ſketched in my mind[x-A]." The only friends to whom the author communicated her manuſcript, were Mr. Dyſon, the tranſlator of the Sorcerer, and the preſent editor; and it was impoſſible for the moſt inexperienced author to diſplay a ſtronger deſire of profiting by the cenſures and ſentiments that might be ſuggeſted[x-B].
In reviſing theſe ſheets for the preſs, it was neceſſary for the editor, in ſome places, to connect the more finiſhed parts with the pages of an older copy, and a line or two in addition ſometimes appeared requiſite for that purpoſe. Wherever ſuch a liberty has been taken, the additional phraſes will be found incloſed in brackets; it being the editor's moſt earneſt deſire, to intrude nothing of himſelf into the work, but to give to the public the words, as well as ideas, of the real author.
What follows in the enſuing pages, is not a preface regularly drawn out by the author, but merely hints for a preface, which, though never filled up in the manner the writer intended, appeared to be worth preſerving.
W. GODWIN.
AUTHOR's PREFACE.
The Wrongs of Woman, like the wrongs of the oppreſſed part of mankind, may be deemed neceſſary by their oppreſſors: but ſurely there are a few, who will dare to advance before the improvement of the age, and grant that my ſketches are not the abortion of a diſtempered fancy, or the ſtrong delineations of a wounded heart.
In writing this novel, I have rather endeavoured to pourtray paſſions than manners.
In many inſtances I could have made the incidents more dramatic, would I have ſacrificed my main object, the deſire of exhibiting the miſery and oppreſſion, peculiar to women, that ariſe out of the partial laws and cuſtoms of ſociety.
In the invention of the ſtory, this view reſtrained my fancy; and the hiſtory ought rather to be conſidered, as of woman, than of an individual.
The ſentiments I have embodied.
In many works of this ſpecies, the hero is allowed to be mortal, and to become wiſe and virtuous as well as happy, by a train of events and circumſtances. The heroines, on the contrary, are to be born immaculate; and to act like goddeſſes of wiſdom, juſt come forth highly finiſhed Minervas from the head of Jove.
[The following is an extract of a letter from the author to a friend, to whom ſhe communicated her manuſcript.]
For my part, I cannot ſuppoſe any ſituation more diſtreſſing, than for a woman of ſenſibility, with an improving mind, to be bound to ſuch a man as I have deſcribed for life; obliged to renounce all the humanizing affections, and to avoid cultivating her taſte, leſt her perception of grace and refinement of ſentiment, ſhould ſharpen to agony the pangs of diſappointment. Love, in which the imagination mingles its bewitching colouring, muſt be foſtered by delicacy. I ſhould deſpiſe, or rather call her an ordinary woman, who could endure ſuch a huſband as I have ſketched.
Theſe appear to me (matrimonial deſpotiſm of heart and conduct) to be the peculiar Wrongs of Woman, becauſe they degrade the mind. What are termed great miſfortunes, may more forcibly impreſs the mind of common readers; they have more of what may juſtly be termed ſtage-effect; but it is the delineation of finer ſenſations, which, in my opinion, conſtitutes the merit of our beſt novels. This is what I have in view; and to ſhow the wrongs of different claſſes of women, equally oppreſſive, though, from the difference of education, neceſſarily various.
FOOTNOTES:
[x-A] A more copious extract of this letter is ſubjoined to the author's preface.
[x-B] The part communicated conſiſted of the firſt fourteen chapters.
ERRATA.
Page 3, line 2, dele half.
P. 81 and 118, for brackets [—], read inverted commas " thus "
CONTENTS.
The Wrongs of Woman, or Maria; a Fragment: to which is added, the Firſt Book of a Series of Leſſons for Children.
[VOL. III.] and [IV.]
Letters and Miſcellaneous Pieces.
