ABSTRACT
After P. B. Shelley drowned on 8 July 1822, Mary Shelley intended to remain on the Continent, to raise her surviving son, Percy Florence, to pursue her own writing, and to gain for P. B. Shelley the wide audience he longed for, but never achieved, in his lifetime. Although she was left with almost no funds, she believed she could support herself and her two-and-a half-year-old son through her writing. But she also expected this income to be supplemented by support from Sir Timothy Shelley, her father-in-law. Sir Timothy, however, first tried to gain full custody of the child. When that failed, he refused to discuss supporting her unless the child were in England. In August 1823, a reluctant Mary Shelley, together with Percy Florence, made the journey to that country in which she would always feel ‘in exile.’ 7 The only pleasures she anticipated were the company of her father and, almost as important, of the friend who had become dear to her in the aftermath of the 8 July tragedy: Jane Williams, whose common-law-husband, Edward Williams, 8 had also drowned that day. Mary Shelley, emotionally dependent on Williams’s friendship after their husbands died, introduced her into her own circle, unaware until 1827 that Williams was spreading injurious gossip about the Shelleys’ relationship. Mary Shelley and Williams, who had returned to England the year before, spent much of their time together, attending theatre and visiting friends. 9
