perhaps difficult to give you an idea of the petty cares which obscured
the morning of my life," Mary declares through her heroine,--"continual
restraint in the most trivial matters, unconditional submission to
orders, which as a mere child I soon discovered to be unreasonable,
because inconsistent and contradictory. Thus are we destined to
experience a mixture of bitterness with the recollection of our most
innocent enjoyment." Edward, as the mother's favorite, escaped her
severity; but it fell upon Mary with double force, and was with her
carried out with a thoroughness that laid its shortcomings bare, and
consequently forced Mrs. Wollstonecraft to modify her treatment of her
younger children. This concession on her part shows that she must have
had their well-being at heart, even when her policy in their regard was
most misguided, and that her unkindness was not, like her husband's
cruelty, born of caprice. But it was sad for Mary that her mother did not
discover her mistake sooner.

When Mary was five years old, and before she had had time to form any
strong impressions of her earliest home, her father moved to another part
of Epping Forest near the Chelmsford Road. Then, at the end of a year, he
carried his family to Barking in Essex, where he established them in a
comfortable home, a little way out of the town. Many of the London
markets were then supplied from the farms around Barking, so that the
chance for his success here was promising.

This place was the scene of Mary's principal childish recollections and
associations. Natural surroundings were with her of much more importance
than they usually are to the very young, because she depended upon them
for her pleasures. She cared nothing for dolls and the ordinary
amusements of girls. Having received few caresses and little tender
nursing, she did not know how to play the part of mother. Her recreation
led her out of doors with her brothers. That she lived much in the open
air and became thoroughly acquainted with the town and the neighborhood,
seems certain from the eagerness with which she visited it years
afterwards with Godwin. This was in 1796, and Mary with enthusiasm sought
out the old house in which she had lived. It was unoccupied, and the
garden around it was a wild and tangled mass. Then she went through the
town itself; to the market-place, which had perhaps been the Mecca of
frequent pilgrimages in the old times; to the wharves, the bustle and
exc