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The Three Stages of Mary Wollstonecraft's Ten-Year Writing Career University of Calgary PRISM: University of Calgary's Digital Repository Graduate Studies The Vault: Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2017 The Three Stages of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Ten-Year Writing Career (1787-1797) Bell, Janet Clarke Bell, J. C. (2017). The Three Stages of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Ten-Year Writing Career (1787-1797) (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, AB. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28402 http://hdl.handle.net/11023/3917 master thesis University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission. Downloaded from PRISM: https://prism.ucalgary.ca UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY The Three Stages of Mary Wollstonecraft’s Ten-Year Writing Career (1787-1797) by Janet Clarke Bell A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS GRADUATE PROGRAM IN RELIGIOUS STUDIES CALGARY, ALBERTA June, 2017 © Janet Clarke Bell, 2017 Abstract This thesis argues that Wollstonecraft’s ten-year writing career can be divided into three distinct periods of time. In the (1787-1788), when she was a regular attendant at the Church of England and influenced by Anglican Trinitarianism, she published a book on education and a novel while living and teaching in Newington Green, London. The middle period (1789-1992) details her career as a professional writer in London and a member of Joseph Johnson’s circle of political and religious Dissenting radicals. Wollstonecraft became a celebrated figure in history as a result of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792). During late stage of Wollstonecraft’s writing career (1793-1797), she became disillusioned with rational Dissenters, after she witnessed the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, had a failed relationship and an illegitimate daughter, and travelled to Scandinavia, where she expressed her religious beliefs through a more distant and abstract Romantic Deism. I will examine the changing religious influences that impacted her writing: from Anglicanism, to Radical Dissent, and Romantic Deism. ii Table of Contents Dedication v Acknowledgements vi Mary Wollstonecraft: Timeline vii List of Illustrations: Portrait of Mary Wollstonecraft. 1 Wollstonecraft’s School for Girls at Newington Green, London. 28 George Cruickshank, Dr. Price indulged with his favorite scene. 40 Thomas Rowlandson, Repeal of the Test Act. 48 James Gillray, “Smelling out a rat.” 49 Frederick Byron, Contrasted Opinions of Tom Paine’s The Rights of Man 64 George Cruickshank, The Age of Reason 65 Portrait of William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft 83 Introduction 2 Chapter One: Methodology, Sources, and Review of the Literature. 7 1. Methodology. 2. Sources. 3. Review of the Literature. iii 4. Historiography of Rational Dissent. 5. Historiography of Deism. 6. Historiography of Mary Wollstonecraft. Chapter Two: The Early Stage of Wollstonecraft’s Writing Career: (1787-1788). 22 1. Wollstonecraft’s Early Life. 2. Newington Green: Center of Radical Dissent and Rev. Richard Price. 3. Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787). Chapter Three: The Middle Stage of Wollstonecraft’s Career (1789-1792) 35 1. Wollstonecraft and the Analytical Review (1789). 2. The French Revolution Controversy (1789-1795). 3. The Revolution Society and English Jacobism. 4. Edmund Burke’s Reflection on the Revolution in France (1790). 5. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792): Enlightenment’s Influence. 6. The Dissenting circle around publisher Joseph Johnson. 7. Anti-Slavery and Women. 8. Mary Wollstonecraft’s Theory of Human Rights for Children. Chapter Four: The Late Period of MW’s Writing Career (1793-1797). 71 1. Wollstonecraft in Paris. 2. Gilbert Imlay Affair. 3. Travels in Scandinavia. iv 4. Wollstonecraft Reunites with William Godwin. Conclusion. 91 Bibliography 100 Dedication v I dedicate my thesis to my dear husband and my son, both named Robert Bell, for providing me with unfailing support and continuous encouragement throughout my years of study and through the process of researching and writing this thesis. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. Thank you so much. vi Acknowledgements I would like to thank my thesis advisors, Drs. Warren Elofson of the History Department, and Dr. Douglas Shantz in the Religious Studies Departments at University of Calgary. The door to both their offices were always open whenever I ran into a trouble spot or had a question about my research or writing. They consistently allowed this paper to be my own work, but steered me in the right the direction whenever they thought I needed it. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Religious Studies Department at the University of Calgary, in particular PhD candidate Jenna Ferry. Without her passionate participation and input on my writing, my project could not have been successfully completed. Janet Clarke Bell vii Timeline: Mary Wollstonecraft 1759 -Mary Wollstonecraft was born in Spitalfields, London. She was the second of seven children. 1766 -Rousseau published Emile. 1774 -MW met Fanny Blood through Mr. and Mrs. Clare. 1775 -American Revolution begins. 1778 -As father’s fortunes deteriorated, MW’s found first job was in Bath as companion to a widow. 1781 -She returned home to nurse her dying mother. 1782 -MW lived with best friend Fanny Blood. viii 1783 -Treaty of Versailles signed ending the American Revolution. -William Pitt became Prime Minister. 1784 -Wollstonecraft established School for Girls in Newington Green with her two sisters and best friend Fanny Blood. -She became friends with mentor Dr. Richard Price. -Introduced to celebrated author Samuel Johnson. 1785 - Fanny got married and because of failing health, moved to Portugal with her husband. -Wollstonecraft travelled alone to Lisbon to nurse her dear friend Fanny, who dies in childbirth. 1786 - Newington Green School closed due to finances. -MW’s third job, governess in Ireland for Anglo-Irish aristocratic family. -She began work on Thoughts on the Education of Daughters. 1787 -Thoughts on the Education published by Joseph Johnson. - MW wrote her first novel, Mary a Fiction, based on life of Fanny Blood, and a children’s story, The Cave of Fancy. -August - MW returned to London from Ireland and began her fourth job as a reader and translator with Joseph Johnson. ix -September MW joined Johnson’s circle of progressive writers and authors, including celebrated artist Henry Fuseli.1 1788 -Wollstonecraft began reviewing books for Joseph Johnson’s Analytic Review. -Johnson published MW’s Mary: A Fiction, Original Stories From Real Life (for children), and her translation of Jacques Necker’s Of the Importance of Religious Opinions, from French to English. 1789 -Johnson published MW’s anthology The Female Reader, and her review of a former slave’s memoir The Interesting Narrative Life of Olaudah Equiano. - July 14- Storming of the Bastille. French Revolution began. -On November 4 Richard Price gave his sermon A Discourse on the Love of Our Country at a meeting of the Revolution Society. 1790 -Publication of MW's translation from Dutch to English of Maria Geertruida van de Werken de Cambon's Young Grandison, and her translation of Christian Gotthilf Salzmann's Elements of Morality, for the Use of Children, from German to English and illustrated by William Blake. -29 November MW's treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Men is published anonymously in response to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France. -18 December Publication of the second edition of The Rights of Men, with MW's name on the title page, which established her as a partisan reformer. 1791 -April –The British parliament rejected William Wilberforce's bill to abolish the slave trade. 1 Claudia Johnson, ed. Chronology, The Cambridge Companion to Mary Wollstonecraft, p. xvii. x -April 19 - Dr. Richard Price died at Newington Green, London. --July The Priestley Riots; “church and king” rioting aimed at religious Dissenters in Birmingham. - MW falls in love with Henry Fuseli. -September – MW began writing A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. -November – She first met William Godwin at one of Johnson's famous dinners. 1792 -January: Johnson published MW’s treatise A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. -MW met Charles Talleyrand, French bishop, politician and diplomat, to whom she dedicated The Rights of Woman, but whose proposals regarding women’s education disappointed her. - MW, Fuseli and his wife come to an emotional crisis. -8 December – Paine was found guilty of seditious libel for the Rights of Man and sentenced to death in Britain. He left London for Paris. -Late December – Wollstonecraft departed London alone to observe the unfolding of the French Revolution first-hand. -December - In Paris, MW met and supported the Girondins. 1793 -January - MW met with English friends of the Revolution in Paris including Thomas Paine. -21 January – Execution of Louis XVI -MW met American fellow radical Gilbert Imlay and began an affair with him. -The Girondins fell from power in late May. -The Jacobins, under Robespierre, began the Reign of Terror. -May, MW left Paris for Neuilly to escape the revolutionary violence. -September. Pregnant, MW returned to Paris and registered at the American Embassy as xi Imlay’s wife (although they were not married). -October, Marie Antoinette is executed. 1794 -January – MW moved to Le Havre, France and began writing An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution. -May- Fanny (named after MW’s dear Fanny Blood) Imlay was born. - Late July- The Fall of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror ends. -- --- -December, Johnson published MW’s History of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution.
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