496 



GODWINGOLD-FISH. 



happiness he had enjoyed, colours and adorns the 

 scenes of this book. In 1800 he visited Ireland. 

 He resided while there principally with Curran, 

 and associated intimately with Grattan, and all the 

 other illustrious Irish patriots. In 1801 he again 

 married a widow lady of considerable personal at. 

 tractions and accomplishments. The sole offspring 

 of this marriage was a son, born in 1803. In the 

 same year he published the "Life of Chaucer;" a 

 work presenting a correct and animated picture of 

 the times of the poet. This was followed in 1804 

 by a third novel, entitled " Fleetwood," character- 

 ised by elegance of style and force of passion, less 

 striking perhaps than his former works of imagina- 

 tion, yet not less full of beauty and interest. In 

 1808, he published an " Essay on Sepulchres." In 

 181(5 he visited Edinburgh, where he formed an ac- 

 quaintance with Walter Scott and other celebrated 

 Scottish writers ; and here also he entered into a 

 treaty with Mr Constable, the bookseller, for the 

 composition of a new novel. "Mandeville," pub- 

 lished in 1817, was the result. We here trace the 

 mellowness of ripened years; the reading, the study, 

 the careful polish of maturity, adorning, but not di- 

 minishing, the untamed energy and eloquence of his 

 earlier works. In 1820 his work in opposition to 

 the opinions of Malthus appeared. Fervently at- 

 tached to all that is lofty, independent, and elevat- 

 ing in his speculations on human society, Godwin 

 strenuously controverted the degrading, hard, and 

 demoralizing tenets of the author of the Essay on 

 Population. After this, he was occupied several 

 years in writing " The History of the Common- 

 wealth of England." The four volumes of which 

 this work is composed were published in the years 

 1824, 1826, 1827, and 1828. In 1830 he published 

 " Cloudesley,'' his last novel. 



In addition to the above works Mr Godwin pub- 

 lished, in 1784, a series of six sermons, called, 

 " Sketches of History." Soon after, he was en- 

 gaged as a principal conductor of the " New 

 Annual Register," a situation from which he de- 

 rived a small but certain income. The year after 

 the death of his first wife, he published a life of 

 her, under the title of " Memoirs of Mary Woll- 

 stonecraft." He also edited her posthumous works. 

 In 1800, a tragedy of Mr Godwin's called " An- 

 tonio, or the Soldier's Return,'' was brought out 

 at Drury Lane Theatre; but was performed only 

 one night. In 1801 appeared " Thoughts on Dr 

 Parr's Spital Sermon," being a reply to some at- 

 tacks which had been made upon him by Dr Parr, 

 Sir James Mackintosh, and others. After the 

 publication of his " Fleetwood," (in 1804), Mr 

 Godwin was for some time little to be seen or 

 heard of in general society. He had, as it were, 

 departed from the busy and the bustling scene of 

 life. He was, however, still in London ; and in 

 one of its most populous parts, Skinner Street ; 

 had opened a bookseller's shop, where, under the 

 assumed name of Edward Baldwin, he was peace- 

 ably ushering forth little works for the instruction 

 and entertainment of young people: many of these 

 were written by himself, under the name already 

 mentioned, and bear the following titles: "Pan- 

 theon, or the History of the Gods of Greece and 

 Rome ;" " A History of England ;" " Outlines of 

 English History, for very young Children ;" " His- 

 tory of Rome ;" " History of Greece ;" "Outlines 

 of English Grammar; and Fables, Ancient and 

 Modern ;" &c. These little books are still on sale, 

 and some of them have passed through several edi- 



tions. In this employment Mr Godwin lived for 

 many years, unknown but to his friends, in strait- 

 ened circumstances, yet too proud to own it. In 

 1807 he made another unfortunate dramatic at- 

 tempt in producing " Faulkner," a tragedy, at 

 Drury Lane Theatre. In 1815 appeared " The 

 Lives of Edward and John Philips," Milton's 

 nephews and pupils. This work is written in a 

 pleasing style, and is a valuable acquisition to lite- 

 rary history. Mr Godwin also communicated some 

 letters to the Morning Chronicle newspaper, under 

 the signature Edax, " on the assumed grounds of 

 the War," which were collected and republishcd in 

 the same year. His last work, " The Necroman- 

 cers," appeared in 1834. From an interesting and 

 valuable catalogue of Mr Upcott's MS. treasures, 

 it appears, that he received for his great work on 

 " Political Justice," 700; for " Caleb Williams" 

 84; and for " St Leon," 400 guineas. This is a 

 curious illustration to his history, showing the com- 

 parative consequence of Godwin's name at differ- 

 ent periods of his life. 



In person, Mr Godwin was rather under the 

 middle stature, and compactly built ; his counte- 

 nance was of a particularly mild and pleasing cast, 

 and when not excited, few would believe him to 

 be the violent politician and astounding novelist 

 who could make thousands tremble at his name. He 

 always enjoyed good health, which may be consi- 

 dered a reason that the power and faculties of his 

 mind were preserved so fully and so clearly to the 

 last ; he could not have been happy had he laid 

 aside his pen, nor would he willingly have deprived 

 his fellow-creatures of what he himself considered 

 to be the advantages arising from his labours. His 

 last few years were rendered comfortable to him by 

 an appointment, which he received during the ad- 

 ministration of Earl Grey, to the sinecure office of 

 Yeoman Usher of the Exchequer. He resided lat- 

 terly in the residence attached to this office adjoin- 

 ing the speaker's gateway in New Palace Yard, 

 and which was pulled down in 1837. The death 

 of Mr Goodwin took place on the 7th of April, 

 1836. 



Mr Godwin's son, William, died Sept. 8, 1832, 

 of cholera, after a very short illness, in the 29th 

 year of his age. He had been connected for some 

 years with the press, and was one of the parliamen- 

 tary reporters of the Morning Chronicle. He pos- 

 sessed, as a writer, much of the literary power of 

 his family. His Essays, in the periodicals, to which 

 he contributed, were marked by more than ordi- 

 nary liveliness and good tact, and showed at the 

 same time an extent of observation much beyond 

 what could have been expected from his years and 

 experience. 



GOLD-FISH, (a.) OR GOLD-CARP, (Cypre- 

 nus Auratus,~) vvere first introduced into this coun- 

 try from China, about the year 1691, but were not 

 generally known till 1728, when a great number 

 were presented to Sir Matthew Dekker, and have 

 gradually been distributed to most parts of the 

 country. They breed in ponds and small portions 

 of water, but are not to be found in any of our 

 rivers. A flow of water, even through a pond, is 

 almost sure of destroying them, the water, by such 

 a change, proving too cold for them : but in stag- 

 nant water, and even in fetid ditches, they appear 

 to do well. Their spawning time in England varies 

 according to the season, being seldom earlier than 

 May, or later than July, and, under very favourable 

 circumstances, they will spawn even more than 



