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GODWIN, WILLIAM

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 179 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GODWIN, See also:WILLIAM , (1756-1836), See also:English See also:political and See also:miscellaneous writer, son of a See also:Nonconformist See also:minister, was See also:born on the 3rd of See also:March 1756, at Wisbeach in See also:Cambridgeshire. His See also:family came on both sides of See also:middle-class See also:people, and it was probably only as a joke that Godwin, a stern political reformer and philosophical See also:radical, attempted to trace his See also:pedigree to a See also:time before the See also:Norman See also:conquest and the See also:great See also:earl _Godwine. Both parents were strict Calvinists. The See also:father died See also:young, and never inspired love or much regret in his son; but in spite of' wide See also:differences of See also:opinion, See also:tender See also:affection always subsisted between William Godwin and his See also:mother, until her See also:death at an advanced See also:age. William Godwin was educated for his father's profession at Hoxton See also:Academy, where he was under See also:Andrew See also:Kippis the biographer and Dr See also:Abraham See also:Rees of the Cyclopaedia, and was at first more Calvinistic than his teachers, becoming a Sande-manian, or follower of See also:John See also:Glas (q.v.), whom he describes as " a celebrated See also:north-See also:country apostle who, after See also:Calvin had damned ninety-nine in a See also:hundred of mankind, has contrived a See also:scheme for damning ninety-nine in a hundred of the followers of Calvin." He then acted as a minister at See also:Ware, See also:Stowmarket and See also:Beaconsfield. At Stowmarket the teachings of the See also:French philosophers were brought before him by a friend, See also:Joseph Fawcet, who held strong republican opinions. He came to See also:London in 1782, still nominally a minister, to regenerate society with his See also:pen—a real enthusiast, who shrank theoretically from no conclusions from the premises which he laid down. He adopted the principles of the Encyclopaedists, and his own aim was the See also:complete overthrow of all existing institutions, political, social and religious. He believed, however, that See also:calm discussion was the only thing needful to carry every See also:change, and from the beginning to the end of his career he deprecated every approach to violence. He was a philosophic radical in the strictest sense of the See also:term. His first published See also:work was an See also:anonymous See also:Life of See also:Lord See also:Chatham (1783). Under the inappropriate See also:title Sketches of See also:History (1784) he published under his own name six sermons on the characters of See also:Aaron, Hazael and Jesus, in which, though See also:writing in the See also:character of an orthodox Calvinist, he enunciates the proposition " See also:God Himself has no right to be a See also:tyrant." Introduced by Andrew Kippis, he began to write in 1785 for the See also:Annual See also:Register and other See also:periodicals, producing also three novels now forgotten.

The " Sketches of English History " written for the Annual Register from 1785 onward still deserve study. He joined a See also:

club called the " Revolutionists," and associated much with Lord See also:Stanhope, See also:Horne See also:Tooke and See also:Holcroft. His clerical character was now completely dropped. In 1793 Godwin published his great work on political See also:science, The Inquiry concerning Political See also:Justice, and its See also:Influence on See also:General Virtue and Happiness. Although this work is little known and less read now, it marks a phase in English thought. Godwin could never have been himself a worker on the active See also:stage of life. But he was none the less a See also:power behind the workers, and for its political effect, Political Justice takes its See also:place with See also:Milton's Areopagitica, with See also:Locke's See also:Essay on See also:Education and with See also:Rousseau's Emile. By the words " political justice " the author meant " the See also:adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community," and the work was therefore an inquiry into the principles of society, of See also:government and of morals. For many years Godwin had been " satisfied that See also:monarchy was a See also:species of government unavoidably corrupt," and from desiring a government of the simplest construction, he gradually came to consider that "government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of See also:original mind." Believing in the perfectibility of the See also:race, that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil, he considered that " our virtues and our vices may be traced to the incidents which make the history of our lives, and if these incidents could be divested of every improper tendency, See also:vice would be extirpated from the See also:world." All See also:control of See also:man by man was more or less intolerable, and the See also:day would come when each man, doing what seems right in his own eyes, would also be doing what is in fact best for the community, because all will be guided by principles of pure See also:reason. But all was to be done by discussion, and matured change resulting from discussion. Hence, while Godwin thoroughly approved of the philosophic schemes of the precursors of the Revolution, he was as far removed as See also:Burke himself from agreeing with the way in which they were carried out. So logical and uncompromising a thinker as Godwin could not go far in the discussion of abstract questions without exciting the most lively opposition in matters of detailed opinion.

An affectionate son, and ever ready to give of his hard-earned income to more than one ne'er-do-well See also:

brother, he maintained that natural relationship had no claim on man, nor was gratitude to parents or benefactors any See also:part of justice or virtue. In a day when the penal See also:code was still extremely severe, he argued gravely against all punishments, not only that of death. See also:Property was to belong to him who most wanted it; accumulated property was a monstrous injustice. Hence See also:marriage, which is See also:law, is the worst of all See also:laws, and as property the worst of all properties. A man so passionless as Godwin could venture thus to argue without suspicion that he did so only to gratify his wayward desires. Portions of this See also:treatise, and only portions, found ready See also:acceptance in those minds which were prepared to receive them. Perhaps no one received the whole teaching of the See also:book. But it gave cohesion and See also:voice to philosophic radicalism; it was the manifesto of a school without which liberalism of the See also:present day had not been. Godwin himself in after days modified his communistic views, but his strong feeling for See also:individualism, his hatred of all restrictions on See also:liberty, his See also:trust in man, his faith in the power of reason remained; it was a manifesto which enunciated principles modifying See also:action, even when not wholly ruling it. In May 1794 Godwin published the novel of See also:Caleb See also:Williams, or Things as they are, a book of which the political See also:object is overlooked by many readers in the strong See also:interest of the See also:story. The book was dramatized by the younger See also:Colman as The See also:Iron See also:Chest. It is one of the few novels of that time which may be said still to live.' A theorist who lived mainly in his study, Godwin yet came forward boldly to stand by prisoners arraigned of high See also:treason in that same See also:year—1794.

The danger to persons so charged was then great, and he deliberately put himself into this same danger for his See also:

friends. But when his own trial was discussed in the privy See also:council, See also:Pitt sensibly held that Political Justice, the work on which the See also:charge could best have been founded, was priced at three guineas, and could never do much harm among those who had not three shillings to spare. From this time Godwin became a notable figure in London society, and there was scarcely an important See also:person in politics, on the Liberal See also:side, in literature, See also:art or science, who does not appear familiarly in the pages of Godwin's singular See also:diary. For See also:forty-eight years,. beginning in 1788, and continuing to the very end of his life, Godwin kept a See also:record of every day, of the work he did, the books he read, the friends he saw. Condensed in the highest degree, the diary is yet easy to read when the See also:style is once mastered, and it is a great help to the understanding of his See also:cold, methodical, unimpassioned character. He carried his method into every detail of life, and lived on his earnings with extreme frugality. Until he made a large sum by the publication of Political Justice, he lived on an See also:average of £120 a year. In 1797, the intervening years having been spent in strenuous See also:literary labour, Godwin married See also:Mary Wollstonecraft (see GODWIN, MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT). Since both held the same views regarding the See also:slavery of marriage, and since they only married at all for the See also:sake of possible offspring, the marriage was concealed for some time, and the happiness of the avowed married life was very brief; his wife's death on the loth of See also:September See also:left Godwin prostrated by affliction, and with a charge for which he was wholly unfit—his See also:infant daughter Mary, and her stepsister, Fanny Imlay, who from that time See also:bore the name of Godwin. His unfitness for the cares of a family, far more than love, led him to See also:contract a second marriage with Mary Jane Clairmont in 18o1. She was a widow with two See also:children, one of whom, See also:Clara Mary Jane Clairmont, became the See also:mistress of Lord See also:Byron. The second Mrs Godwin was energetic and painstaking, but a harsh stepmother; and it may be doubted whether the children were not worse off under her care than they would have been under Godwin's neglect.

The second novel which proceeded from Godwin's pen was called St See also:

Leon, and published in 1799. It is chiefly remarkable for the beautiful portrait of See also:Marguerite, the heroine, See also:drawn from the character of his own wife. His opinions underwent a change in the direction of See also:theism, influenced, he says, by his acquaintance with See also:Coleridge. He also became known to See also:Wordsworth and See also:Lamb. Study of the Elizabethan dramatists led to the See also:production in 'Soo of the Tragedy of See also:Antonio. See also:Kemble brought it out at See also:Drury See also:Lane, but the failure of this See also:attempt made him refuse For an See also:analysis of Caleb Williams see the See also:chapter on " Theorists of Revolution " in See also:Professor E. See also:Dowden's The French Revolution and English Literature (1897). Abbas, See also:King of See also:Persia, which Godwin offered him in the next year. He was more successful with his Life of See also:Chaucer, for which he received £600. The events of Godwin's life were few. Under the See also:advice of the second Mrs Godwin, and with her active co-operation, he carried on business as a bookseller under the See also:pseudonym of See also:Edward See also:Baldwin, See also:publishing several useful school books and books for children, among them See also:Charles and Mary Lamb's Tales from See also:Shakespeare. But the See also:speculation was unsuccessful, and for many years Godwin struggled with See also:constant pecuniary difficulties, for which more than one subscription was raised by the leaders of the Liberal party and by literary men.

He became bankrupt in 1822, but during the following years he accomplished one of his best pieces of work, The History of the See also:

Commonwealth, founded on See also:pamphlets and original documents, which still retains considerable value. In 1833 the government of Earl See also:Grey conferred upon him the See also:office known as See also:yeoman See also:usher of the See also:exchequer, to which were attached apartments in See also:Palace Yard, where he died on the 7th of See also:April 1836. In his own time, by his writings and by his conversation, Godwin had a great power of influencing men, and especially young men. Though his character would seem, from much which is found in his writings, and from anecdotes told by those who still remember him, to have been unsympathetic, it was not so understood by enthusiastic young people, who hung on his words as those of a See also:prophet. The most remarkable of these was See also:Percy Bysshe See also:Shelley, who in the glowing See also:dawn of his See also:genius turned to Godwin as his teacher and See also:guide. The last of the See also:long See also:series of young men who sat at Godwin's feet was Edward See also:Lytton Bulwer, afterwards Lord Lytton, whose See also:early romances were formed after those of Godwin, and who, in See also:Eugene See also:Aram, succeeded to the story as arranged, and the See also:plan to a considerable extent sketched out, by Godwin, whose age and failing See also:health prevented him from completing it. Godwin's character appears in the worst See also:light in connexion with Shelley. His early See also:correspondence with Shelley, which began in 1811, is remarkable for its genuine See also:good sense and kindness; but when Shelley carried out the principles of the author of Political Justice in eloping with Mary Godwin, Godwin assumed a hostile attitude that would have been unjustifiable in a man of See also:ordinary views, and was ridiculous in the light of his professions. He was not, more-over, too proud to accept £r000 from his son-in-law, and after the reconciliation following on Shelley's marriage in 1816, he continued to demand See also:money until Shelley's death. His character had no doubt suffered under his long embarrassments and his unhappy marriage. Godwin's more important See also:works are—The Inquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness (1793); Things as they are, or the Adventures of Caleb Williams (1794); The Inquirer, a series of Essays (1797); See also:Memoirs of the Author of the Rights of Woman (1798) ; St Leon, a See also:Tale of the Sixteenth See also:Century (1799) ; Antonio, a Tragedy Moo); The Life of Chaucer (1803); See also:Fleetwood, a Novel (1805); Faulkner, a Tragedy (1807); Essay on Sepulchres (18o9); Lives of Edward and John See also:Philips, the Nephews of Milton (18,5) ; See also:Mandeville, a Tale of the Times of See also:Cromwell (1817) ; Of See also:Population, an See also:answer to See also:Malthus (182o) ; History of the Commonwealth (1824-1828); Cloudesley, a Novel (183o); Thoughts on Man, a series of Essays (1831) ; Lives of the Necromancers (1834). A See also:volume of essays was also collected from his papers and published in 1873, as left for publication by his daughter Mrs Shelley.

Many other See also:

short and anonymous works proceeded from his ever busy pen, but many are irrecoverable, and all are forgotten. Godwin's life was published in 1876 in two volumes, under the title William Godwin, his Friends and Contemporaries, by C. Kegan See also:Paul. The best estimate of his literary position is that given by See also:Sir See also:Leslie See also:Stephen in his English Thought in the 18th Century (ii. 264-281; ed., 1902). See also the See also:article on William Godwin in W. See also:Hazlitt's The Spirit of the Age (1825), and " Godwin and Shelley " in Sir L. Stephen's See also:Hours in a Library (vol. iii., ed. 1892). GODWIN-See also:AUSTEN, See also:ROBERT See also:ALFRED See also:CLOYNE (18o8-1884), English geologist, the eldest son of Sir See also:Henry E. Austen, was born on the 17th of March 18o8. He was educated at See also:Oriel See also:College, See also:Oxford, of which he became a See also:fellow in 1830.

He afterwards entered See also:

Lincoln's See also:Inn. In 1833 he married the only daughter and heiress of General Sir Henry T. Godwin, K.C.B., and he took the additional name of Godwin by Royal See also:licence in 1854. At Oxford as a See also:pupil of William See also:Buckland he became deeply interested in See also:geology, and soon afterwards becoming acquainted with De la Beche, he was inspired by that great See also:master, and assisted him by making a See also:geological See also:map of the neighbourhood of See also:Newton See also:Abbot, which was embodied in the Geological Survey map. He also published an elaborate memoir " On the Geology of the See also:South-See also:East of See also:Devonshire " (Trans. Geol. See also:Soc. See also:ser. 2, vol. viii.). His See also:attention was next directed to the Cretaceous rocks of See also:Surrey, his See also:home-See also:county, his estates being situated at Chilworth and Shalford near See also:Guildford. Later he dealt with the superficial accumulations bordering the English Channel, and with the erratic boulders of Selsea. In 1855 he brought before the Geological Society of London his celebrated See also:paper " On the possible See also:Extension of the See also:Coal-See also:Measures beneath the South-Eastern part of See also:England," in which he pointed out on well-considered theoretical grounds the likelihood of coal-measures being some day reached in that See also:area. In this article he also advocated the See also:freshwater origin of the Old Red See also:Sand-See also:stone, and discussed the relations of that formation, and of the Devonian, to the See also:Silurian and Carboniferous.

He was elected F.R.S. in 1849, and in 1862 he was awarded the See also:

Wollaston See also:medal by the Geological Society of London, on which occasion he was styled by Sir R. L See also:Murchison " pre-eminently the See also:physical geographer of bygone periods." He died at Shalford See also:House near Guildford on the 25th of See also:November 1884..' His son, Lieut.-See also:Colonel HENRY HAVERSHAM GODWIN-AUSTEN (b. 1834), entered the See also:army in 1851, and served for many years on the Trigonometrical Survey of See also:India, retiring in 1877. He gave much attention to geology, but is more especially distinguished for his researches on the natural history of India and as the author of The See also:Land and Freshwater See also:Mollusca of India (1882-1887).

End of Article: GODWIN, WILLIAM

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