thousand times; and that Thickhead was a stupid, ignorant dolt. But that was Uncle's ill-nature; and even he must have allowed that if my preceptor wanted power to attack the gospel or the government, he did not want good will. Under Mr. Thickhead I did not learn much of Latin or Greek, for a very plain reason, that he knew very little of either himself. But to make up for that, I profited so well by his precept and example, that I became a complete Deist and Republican.

I was afterwards sent to Hackney College. There I had the good fortune to become acquainted with the first of men, the Philosopher Godwin, who was then preparing his glorious system of Political Justice. He communicated to me the manuscript, and by impressing me with his notions of promises, and property, and marriage, and monarchy, and necessity, and concubinage, he compleated what Mr. Thickhead had so happily begun. Indeed I am convinced that the whole secret of the New Philosophy is simply this: Whatever bas been established is bad; that not only no learning is necessary to apprehend so compendious a doctrine, but is very hurtful, as it fills the mind with prejudice. I think, therefore, that what, in the old language, is called a stupid and ignorant schoolmaster, is the best preparer of a youth for the philosophy of Godwin ; and IN THAT VIEW private academies are extremely useful.

When I was nineteen years of age, I became acquainted with a young lady about seventeen, and sister to my most intimate friend. The philosopher had taught me that it was lawful to gratify natural appetite that tended to the propagation of the species. But as Eliza, for such was the name she received by the ridiculous institution of baptism, had the old absurd notions about marriage, I thought it best, upon the whole, to promise to submit to that contemptuous ceremony. She was so little acquainted with philosophy, that she believed a promise to imply an intention of performance; not having learned from Godwin that all promises are in themselves bad, and to be performed no farther than suits the convenience and inclination of the promiser. Having yielded to natural love, she acknowledged that this was a connection for which her heart had long secretly panted. Her brother was luckily abroad, otherwise Eliza might have been prevented from following her inclinations: but as she lived with her mother, we were obliged to use concealment, the only circum

• Eliza's feelings were not singular. Mary Wollstonecraft, according to the testimony of the philosopher Godwin, her husband, having been long affected in the same way, previous to an illegitimate intercourse; particularly recorded and praised by the said philosopher and husband.

stance, as the great Godwin observes, that can attach shame to commerce between the sexes.

In a few months we found, that besides the gratification of two individuals, we were in a fair way of increasing the species. The mother, on discovering this likelihood,. instead of rejoicing at the additional good to the whole, in the narrow spirit of prejudice, grieved at what she called evil to a part. She broke her heart,

ceased to be, and sunk to eternal rest.

The daughter had not sufficiently studied philosophy to expel, as she ought to have done, all private affections; she loved this woman more, because her parent, than if she had been a stranger, and was extremely afflicted. In vain I endeavoured to convince her that her mother would now be resolved into the great mass of matter, and might probably, in some other form, produce equal good to the whole. She could not comprehend my arguments; but to her unphilosophical mind a new source of affliction arose. I found my affection decline towards her, and my inclination impel me to another object. This was the wife of a gentleman who had saved me from drowning. The confidence of the husband allowed me frequent access to the company of his wife. As I was young and athletic, and he elderly and feeble, and I concluded she might be happier with me than with him, I made my proposals, which she accepted. We eloped together, and I did not again visit Eliza.

Some addition had by this time been made to the human race. Eliza wrote me, what in the language of weakness would be called a very pathetic letter, begging me, in the name of Heaven (fool that she was to suppose that a disciple of Godwin minded Heaven!) not to leave her to ruin, and supplicating me to take care of the children. I replied, that I continued constant to her as long as inclination prompted me, and that longer was totally unphilosophical to expect, as she might see, by consulting what the philosopher himself said in his chapter upon the advantages to be derived from the abolition of marriage, and from the free intercourse of the sexes. The infant 1 sent to an hospital, as prescribed and practised by Rousseau.

My

An event took place at this time which gave me uneasiness. mother ceased to live. That I considered as immaterial: but on inspecting her affairs, it was found that she had made great practical advances in the levelling scheme; her friends, the Dissenting preachers and teachers, having given her very great assistance towards the equalization of property. Though thoroughly convinced with Godwin, that in an improved state of society there must be a destruction of all property, in the present depraved state of mankind, I was convinced that it was more convenient to have than to want pro

perty. The gentleman, with whose wife I had eloped, prosecuted me for seduction, as they ca'l it; and those that talked according to the notions of old fashioned institutions, said the case was highly aggravated by the husband's benefits to me. I knew that the Judge, before whom it was to come, had all the absurdity of old systems and institutions: the Lord Chief Justice was not initiated in the philosophy of Godwin. The case was tried. I instructed my Counsel not to palliate, but to justify my conduct: but he retained so much of the old prejudices, that he would not comply.

As I found that my Counsellor would not justify my conduct, I spoke in my own justification. I represented to the Judge and Jury the absurdity of all existing institutions, more particularly marriage and property that the lady and I having had an inclination to each other, we were right in gratifying it: that the restraints on the natural desires of the sexes was one of the greatest violations of the rights of man and the rights of woman, which Thomas Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft so ably and successfully vindicated. I cited to them the opinions of that light to the world, the Philosopher Godwin. He, in describing the manifold benefits arising from the perfect establishment of bis Political Justice, mentions unlimited concubinage to be one of the highest. I would have gone on; but the Lord Chief Justice, who has all the old fashioned, foolish chimeras about religion, (I am told the man is so very extravagant as to believe our souls to be immortal) morality, and law, stopped me short; and said, such doctrines were, in wickedness, fit for Newgate; and in insanity, for Bedlam. He hoped, he said, as I was but young, that maturer sense and more enlarged experience might effect my cure. He then addressed the Jury upon the heinousness of my crime (for so he called obedience to a natural impulse) aggravated by what he termed ingratitude. The Jury had as little of the new philosophy as the Judge. I was cast in three thousand pounds damages. I should have been much distressed to have raised this sum, had not a friend, to use the language of old absurdity, assisted me, my own property falling five hundred pounds short of the damages and costs. This friend, as they called him, became security for the payment of the whole, in order to allow time for the disposal of my property to advantage. He read me a very severe lecture on what he called my profligate courses, and exhorted me to cease intercourse with the abandoned woman, as he called her. With this I could comply without reluctance. The philosopher is not clear whether an intercourse wholly promiscuous, or an occasional temporary selection of a partner be preferable; but thinks either of them may do in a perfect state of society. I therefore accustomed myself to both.

I one day, coming in unexpectedly, found my charmer in the arms of an Irish adventurer: he run out of the room, and she was very much confused. I told her there was no evil in her conduct unless she intended to conceal it. For, as my favourite and adored philosopher says, in the commerce between the sexes, there is no harm in inconstancy, unless you make a secret of it.

This doctrine, Mr. Editor, you will find in the chapter that contains the essence of his arguments for abolishing marriage, and every individual following the impulse of the time, in the free and unrestrained mode which quadrupeds practise, and indeed other animals, though not so much within the sphere of our observation.

I still, however, continued my intercourse, as did the Irishman also. Eliza, my former mistress, had now gone upon the town; a situation which must be agreeable to the philosopher, as it is a profession which excludes secrecy; besides, as Mary Wollstonecraft herself informs us, the occupation of a prostitute sharpens and invigorates the faculties; especially, as may very easily be the case, should it happen to be joined with that of a thief.†

We should apprehend that the system of the Philosopher Godwin, here praised by his panegyrist, has been formed more from a contemplation of other animals than of man; being much more applicable to the brute creation than to the human species. Those powerful animals, lions and tygers, respect property as little as the philosopher can inculcate. Dogs and monkies are as free from restraint as either Mary Wollstoncraft or Mr. Godwin could teach, either by precept or example. As to gratitude, so reprobated in the Political Justice, though we cannot again bring in dogs to support the philosopher's position, yet we have not perceived much of it in cats, and have heard that vipers are totally exempt from the weakness. Were the Political Justice, therefore, intended for the brute creation, the system inculcated would be justified by the experience of what brutes practise, and what is perfectly consistent and compatible with the well being and happiness of the said brutes. The error of Mr. Godwin's doctrines appears to have arisen from one single conclusion, too hastily formed. Having probably observed a striking resemblance between the propensities and practices of some men, especially philosophers of the new school, and the brute creation, he has concluded the resemblance to hold much more generally than it does, and indeed even to extend to identity. But this is not altogether the case, and as all men are not brutes, his Political Justice, admirably as it is calculated for the character and circumstances of geese, asses, swine, and bears, is not so proper for all men. Regard to truth, indeed, compels us to allow, that Godwin's Political Justice, improved and illustrated by his history of Mary, his concubine and wife, if as universally adopted as he wishes, would make man a very perfect imitator of the character and conduct of the brute creation.

We suppose the writer here alludes to Jemima, in the Wrongs of Woman, the friend and confidante of Maria, the heroine, who had much improved her understanding by the practice of prostitution and theft. Probably she intended this as a compliment to Mr. Godwin, by displaying the advantages to result from this regard to property, and from the unrestrained commerce of the sexes,

As I was frequently with my bondsman, I became acquainted with his daughter; and after promising marriage, it being lawful to deceive a woman to gratify a natural appetite, and propagate the species, I succeeded. Eliza had been what Charlotte was now, in the way of being a mother. As in the present bad state of society there is no doing without money, I went to the hazard table, but not without the precaution of loaded dice. If others had what I wanted, the new philosophy taught me that I had a right to be supplied; and I was supplied for some time; but meeting with a more expert loader than myself, in one night lost all my winnings. Charlotte was so little of a philosopher as to insist on marriage. I began to be very uneasy, and thought it was best, on the whole, to leave the scene. I bethought myself of the means, and knowing that my bondsman had the day before received three thousand five hundred pounds to pay my damages and costs, I judged it expedient to possess myself of this sum. I procured an opiate, which I administered to him; and entered his chamber when he was asleep, forced open his bureau, secured the money, also a gold repeater, some rings, candlesticks, and other articles, which I deliberately put into a box that I had prepared for the purpose. It was now midnight. I betook myself to a gaming-house, with a view to increase my store; but having drank to intoxication from joy at my success, I lost all my money but fifty pounds. Having a pair of loaded pistols, a precaution I had been of late accustomed to take, to give effect to my exertions for the more equal distribution of property, I presented one to the principal winner; threatened that if he did not immediately refund, he should sink to eternal sleep.

On his not complying I drew the trigger; but it, unfortunately, snapped, so that he still continued awake. Others rushing on me, I endeavoured to escape, and at last was allowed to go away, as the gamesters had no desire of attending me to a magistrate. I immediately disposed of the contents of my box at less than half price.

Having now only about one hundred pounds, and being obliged to leave London, to avoid the punishment that the absurdity of positive institution would inflict, I set off for Yarmouth, on my way to the continent. I chose to travel on horseback, as being less expensive than a chaise, equally expeditious, and was a more convenient mode for the exertion of my endeavours to equalize property and supply my wants. I had got within twenty miles of Yarmouth without any opportunity of lessening the surplus of monopolizing capitalists, when I saw, across a heath, a post chaise at a considerable distance, coming towards me. I turned short into a lane, and waited