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William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. VII. 1759-1791
Fanny Blood Skeys to Everina Wollstonecraft, [18 February 1784]
INTRODUCTION & INDEXES
DOCUMENT INFORMATION
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Preface
Contents Vol. I
Ch. I. 1756-1785
Ch. II. 1785-1788
Ch. III. 1788-1792
Ch. IV. 1793
Ch. V. 1783-1794
Ch. VI. 1794-1796
Ch. VII. 1759-1791
Ch. VII. 1791-1796
Ch. IX. 1797
Ch. X. 1797
Ch. XI. 1798
Ch. XII. 1799
Ch. XIII. 1800
Contents Vol. II
Ch. I. 1800
Ch. II. 1800
Ch. III. 1800
Ch. IV. 1801-1803
Ch. V. 1802-1803
Ch. VI. 1804-1806
Ch. VII. 1806-1811
Ch. VIII. 1811-1814
Ch. IX. 1812-1819
Ch. X. 1819-1824
Ch. XI. 1824-1832
Ch. XII. 1832-1836
Index
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“Walham Green, Febry. 18th, 1784.

“My dear Everina.—The situation of our two poor girls grows ever more and more desperate. My mind is tortured
172 WILLIAM GODWIN
about them because I cannot see any possible resource they have for a maintenance. The letter I last night received from Mary disturbed me so much that I never since closed my eyes, and my head is this morning almost distracted. I find she wrote to her brother informing him that it was our intention to live all together, and earn our bread by painting and needle-work, which gives me great uneasiness, as I am convinced that he will be displeased at his sister’s being connected with me, and the forfeiting his favour at this time is of the utmost consequence. I believe it was I that first proposed the plan, and in my eagerness to enjoy the society of two so dear to me, I did not give myself time to consider that it is utterly impracticable. The very utmost I could earn, one week with another, supposing I had uninterrupted health, is half-a-guinea a week, which would just pay for furnished lodgings for three people to pig together. As for needle-work, it is utterly impossible they could earn more than half-a-guinea a week between them, supposing they had constant employment, which is of all things the most uncertain. . . . I own with sincere sorrow that I was greatly to blame for ever mentioning such a plan before I had maturely considered it; but as those who know me will give me credit for a good intention I trust they will pardon my folly and inconsideration.” [She then suggests that a small haberdashery shop should be taken and stocked for the sisters, and proceeds.] “If your brother should be averse to assisting them from a notion that I should live with them. . . . I wish you would take the earliest opportunity of assuring him from me that on no account whatever will I ever live with them unless fortune should make me quite independent, which I never expect. My health is so much impaired that I should be only a burthen on them, and for my own part I don’t spend a thought on what may become of me. All I wish is to see them provided for comfortably; but I will neither add to their distress, situated as they now are, nor meanly gain a subsistence by living with them hereafter, if fortune should smile on them. This is my fixed resolve. I beseech you to let me hear from you as soon as possible, for I am impatient to know whether there is the least
FANNY BLOOD’S MARRIAGE.173
prospect of comfort for our dear girls. Believe me to be, dear Everina, yours sincerely,

F. Blood.”