Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman
ceremony; and a plain monument is now erecting on the spot, by some of
her friends, with the following inscription:
+------------------------------+
| MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT GODWIN, |
| AUTHOR OF |
| A VINDICATION |
| OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMAN. |
| BORN, XXVII APRIL MDCCLIX. |
| DIED, X SEPTEMBER MDCCXCVII. |
+------------------------------+
* * * * *
The loss of the world in this admirable woman, I leave to other men to
collect; my own I well know, nor can it be improper to describe it. I do
not here allude to the personal pleasures I enjoyed in her
conversation: these increased every day, in proportion as we knew each
other better, and as our mutual confidence increased. They can be
measured only by the treasures of her mind, and the virtues of her
heart. But this is a subject for meditation, not for words. What I
purposed alluding to, was the improvement that I have for ever lost.
We had cultivated our powers (if I may venture to use this sort of
language) in different directions; I chiefly an attempt at logical and
metaphysical distinction, she a taste for the picturesque. One of the
leading passions of my mind has been an anxious desire not to be
deceived. This has led me to view the topics of my reflection on all
sides; and to examine and re-examine without end, the questions that
interest me.
But it was not merely (to judge at least from all the reports of my
memory in this respect) the difference of propensities, that made the
difference in our intellectual habits. I have been stimulated, as long
as I can remember, by an ambition for intellectual distinction; but, as
long as I can remember, I have been discouraged, when I have endeavoured
to cast the sum of my intellectual value, by finding that I did not
possess, in the degree of some other men, an intuitive perception of
intellectual beauty. I have perhaps a strong and lively sense of the
pleasures of the imagination; but I have seldom been right in aligning
to them their proportionate value, but by dint of persevering
examination, and the change and correction of my first opinions.
What I wanted in this respect, Mary possessed, in a degree superior to
any other person I ever knew. The strength of her mind lay in intuition.
She was often right, by this means only, in matters of mere speculation.
Her religion, her philosophy, (in both of which the errors were
comparatively few, and the strain dignified and generous) were, as I
have already said, the pure result of feeling and taste. She adopted one
opinion, and rejected another, spontaneously, by a sort of tact, and the
force of a cultivated imagination; and yet, though perhaps, in the
strict sense of the term, she reasoned little, it is surprising what a
degree of soundness is to be found in her determinations. But, if this
quality was of use to her in topics that seem the proper province of
reasoning, it was much more so in matters directly appealing to the
intellectual taste. In a robust and unwavering judgment of this sort,
there is a kind of witchcraft; when it decides justly, it produces a
responsive vibration in every ingenuous mind. In this sense, my
oscillation and scepticism were fixed by her boldness. When a true
opinion emanated in this way from another mind, the conviction produced
in my own assumed a similar character, instantaneous and firm. This
species of intellect probably differs from the other, chiefly in the
relation of earlier and later. What the one perceives instantaneously
(circumstances having produced in it, either a premature attention to
objects of this sort, or a greater boldness of decision) the other
receives only by degrees. What it wants, seems to be nothing more than a
minute attention to first impressions, and a just appreciation of them;
habits that are never so effectually generated, as by the daily
recurrence of a striking example.
This light was lent to me for a very short period, and is now
extinguished for ever!
While I have described the improvement I was in the act of receiving, I
believe I have put down the leading traits of her intellectual
character.
THE END.