ABSTRACT
Maria Gisborne, James (1770–1836), was one of Godwin’s closest women friends during the 1790s. She was born in England but brought up in Constantinople, where her father was in business. Maria gave up painting for marriage with Willey Reveley. When the couple visited England in the summer of 1820, they called several times on Godwin. During this trip, Maria Gisborne kept a journal intended for the perusal of the Shelleys, which was first published in 1951. In contrast to Sir G. S. Mackenzies characterisation of Godwin in 1820 as a public man in prosperous mid-career, Maria Gisborne focuses on his family situation and his financial worries, hinting at his private sense of abandonment by the Shelleys. At the same time, her careful documentation of Godwin’s frank opinions of acquaintances such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Byron, suggests that she is still fascinated by the intellectual vitality of her early friend.
