mmunicate upon the subject. Her faith in him and in his wisdom was
entire. "He is the kindest, best man in the world," were among the very
last words she uttered before she lost consciousness. Her survival from
day to day seemed almost miraculous to the physicians who attended her.
Mr. Carlisle refused, until the very end, to lose all hope. "Perhaps one
in a million of persons in her state might possibly recover," he said.
But his hopes were vain. At six o'clock on Sunday morning, the 10th, he
was obliged to summon Godwin, who had retired for a few hours' sleep, to
his wife's bedside. At twenty minutes before eight the same morning, Mary
died.

A somewhat different version of Mary's last hours and of the immediate
cause of her death is given in some manuscript "Notes and Observations on
the Shelley Memorials," written by Mr. H. W. Reveley, son of the Mrs.
Reveley who was Godwin's great friend. His account is as follows:--

"When Mrs. Godwin was confined of her daughter, the late Mary
Shelley, she was very ill; and my mother, then Mrs. Reveley, was
constantly visiting her until her death, eight days after her
confinement. I was often there with my mother, and I saw Mrs.
Godwin the day before her death, when she was considered much
better and quite out of danger. Her death was occasioned by a
dreadful fright, in this manner. At the time of her confinement a
gentleman and lady lodged in the first floor, whether as visitors
or otherwise I cannot say, but that they were intruders in some way
I am certain. The husband was continually beating his wife, and at
last there was a violent contest between them, owing to his
endeavoring to throw his wife over the balcony into the street. Her
screams of course attracted a crowd in front of the house. Mrs.
Godwin heard the lady's shrieks and the shouts of the crowd that a
man was throwing his wife out of the window, and the next day Mrs.
Godwin died. What became of that miscreant and his wife I never
knew."

There may have been some foundation for this story. An ill-tempered
husband may have had lodgings in the same house; but it is extremely
doubtful that his ill-temper had so fatal an effect on Mary. Godwin
would certainly have recorded the fact had it been true, for his Memoir
gives the minutest details of his wife's illness. The very day on which
Mr. Reveley says Mary was out of danger was that o