[35] The passage “I should fear ... I must despair” is in S-R fr but not in F of F—A. There, in the margin, is the following: “Is it not the prerogative of superior virtue to pardon the erring and to weigh with mercy their offenses?” This sentence does not appear in Mathilda. Also in the margin of F of F—A is the number (9), the number of the S-R fr.
[36] The passage “enough of the world ... in unmixed delight” is on a slip pasted over the middle of the page. Some of the obscured text is visible in the margin, heavily scored out. Also in the margin is “Canto IV Vers Ult,” referring to the quotation from Dante’s Paradiso. This quotation, with the preceding passage beginning “in whose eyes,” appears in Mathilda only.
[37] The reference to Diana, with the father’s rationalization of his love for Mathilda, is in S-R fr but not in F of F—A.
[38] In F of F—A this is followed by a series of other gloomy concessive clauses which have been scored out to the advantage of the text.
[39] This paragraph has been greatly improved by the omission of elaborate over-statement; e.g., “to pray for mercy & respite from my fear” (F of F—A) becomes merely “to pray.”
[40] This paragraph about the Steward is added in Mathilda. In F of F—A he is called a servant and his name is Harry. See note 29.
[41] This sentence, not in F of F—A, recalls Mathilda’s dream.
[42] This passage is somewhat more dramatic than that in F of F—A, putting what is there merely a descriptive statement into quotation marks.
[43] A stalactite grotto on the island of Antiparos in the Aegean Sea.
[44] A good description of Mary’s own behavior in England after Shelley’s death, of the surface placidity which concealed stormy emotion. See Nitchie, Mary Shelley, pp. 8-10.