he did not think so. Moreover, her opinions
to the contrary were very decided. When she gave herself to Imlay without
waiting for a minister's blessing or a legal permit, she acted in strict
adherence to her moral ideals; and this at once places her in a far
different rank from that of the Mrs. Robinsons and Mrs. Jordans, with
whom men have been too ready to class her. Neither can she be compared to
a woman like George Sand, who also believed that love was a more sacred
bond of union than the marriage tie, and who acted accordingly. But to
George Sand, as masculine by nature as by dress, love was of her life a
thing apart, and a change of lovers a matter of secondary importance. To
Mary love was literally her whole existence, and fidelity a virtue to be
cultivated above all others. Since she in her conduct in this instance
stands alone, she can be justly judged by no other standard than her own.

Whether marriage does or does not represent the ideal relation which can
exist between a man and woman is without the compass of the present work.
But since it is and has been for ages held to be so, the woman who bids
defiance to this law must abide by the consequences. Custom has
inconsistently pardoned freedom in such matters to men, but never to
women. Mary Wollstonecraft might rely upon her friends and acquaintances
for recognition of her virtue, but she should have remembered that to the
world at large her conduct would appear immoral; that by it she would
become a pariah in society, and her work lose much of its efficacy; while
she would be giving to her children, if she had any, an inheritance of
shame that would cling to them forever.

She may probably have realized this drawback and determined to avoid the
evil consequences of her defiance to social usages. For the first few
months it seems that she kept her intimacy with Imlay secret, and she may
have intended concealing it until such time as she could make it legal in
the eyes of the world. Godwin dates its beginning in April, 1793. The
only information in this respect is to be had from her published letters
to Imlay, the first of which was written in June of the same year,
though, it must be added, Kegan Paul queries the date. This and the
following note, dated August, prove the secrecy she for a time
maintained. The latter seems to have been written after she had
determined to live openly with Imlay in Paris, but just before she
carried her determination into prac