nt of this marriage was received in Norfolk by the Godwin
family with pleasure. Mrs. Godwin, poor old lady, thought that if her son
could thus alter his moral code, there was a greater chance of his being
converted from his spiritual backslidings. She wrote one of her long
letters, so curious because of their medley of pious sentiment and
prosaic realism, and wished Godwin and his wife happiness in her own name
and that of all his friends in her part of the country. Her good will to
Mary was practically expressed by an invitation to her house and a
present of eggs, together with an offer of a feather-bed. Her motherly
warning and advice to them was:--

"My dears, whatever you do, do not make invitations and
entertainments. That was what hurt Jo. Live comfortable with one
another. The Hart of her husband safely trusts in her. I cannot
give you no better advice than out of Proverbs, the Prophets, and
New Testament. My best affections attend you both."

Mary's family were not so cordial. Everina and Mrs. Bishop apparently
never quite forgave her for the letter she wrote after her return to
England with Imlay, and they disapproved of her marriage. They complained
that her strange course of conduct made it doubly difficult for them, as
her sisters, to find situations. When, shortly after the marriage, Godwin
went to stay a day or two at Etruria, Everina, who was then governess in
the Wedgwood household, would not at first come down to see him, and, as
far as can be judged from his letters, treated him very coolly throughout
his visit.

Godwin and Mary now made their joint home in the Polygon, Somer's Town.
But the former had his separate lodgings in the Evesham Buildings, where
he went every morning to work, and where he sometimes spent the night.
They saw little, if any, more of each other than they had before, and
were as independent in their goings-out and comings-in. On the 8th of
April, when the news was just being spread, Mary wrote to Godwin, as if
to assure him that she, for her part, intended to discourage the least
change in their habits. She says:--

"I have just thought that it would be very pretty in you to call on
Johnson to-day. It would spare me some awkwardness, and please him;
and I want you to visit him often on a Tuesday. This is quite
disinterested, as I shall never be of the party. Do, you would
oblige me. But when I press anything, it is always with