ABSTRACT
Lucy Aikin (1781–1864) was bom into a distinguished Unitarian family at Warrington. She was the daughter of John Aikin (1747–1822), a physician and accomplished author, who wrote pamphlets protesting against the Test and Corporation Acts, as well as works of topography and natural history. This chapter presents a passage from Lucy Aikin’s letter of 28 June 1831. In the passage, prompted by a reading of Godwin’s latest collection of essays, Thoughts on Man, Lucy Aikin reflects on the development of his private character and philosophical principles over the course of thirty years. The passage may be usefully compared with Fenwick’s public memoir, which reviews the first ten years of Godwin’s career as a public intellectual. For Lucy Aikin, writing towards the end of Godwin’s long career, the tenacious character of his optimism is all the more remarkable in the face of the domestic problems of his later life.
