Editing William Godwin (section)

==Marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft==
[[File:WilliamGodwin.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Half-length profile portrait of a man. His dark clothing blends into the background and his white face is in stark contrast.|[[James Northcote (painter)|James Northcote]], ''William Godwin,'' oil on canvas, 1802, the [[National Portrait Gallery (London)|National Portrait Gallery]]]]
Godwin first met [[Mary Wollstonecraft]] at the home of their mutual publisher. [[Joseph Johnson (publisher)|Joseph Johnson]] was hosting a dinner for another of his authors, [[Thomas Paine]], and Godwin remarked years later that on that evening he heard too little of Paine and too much of Wollstonecraft; he did not see her again for some years. In the interim, Wollstonecraft went to live in France to witness the Revolution for herself, and had a child, [[Fanny Imlay]], with an American adventurer named Gilbert Imlay. In pursuit of [[Gilbert Imlay]]'s business affairs, Wollstonecraft travelled to Scandinavia, and soon afterwards published [[Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark|a book based on the voyage]]. Godwin read it, and later wrote that "If ever there was a book calculated to make a man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book."<ref>{{cite book|title=Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman|page=95}}</ref>

When Godwin and Wollstonecraft were reintroduced in 1796, their respect for each other soon grew into friendship, sexual attraction, and love.{{Sfnm|1a1=St. Clair|1y=1989|1pp=164–169|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2p=196|3a1=Sunstein|3y=1975|3pp=314–320|4a1=Thomas|4y=2019|4pp=55–58|5a1=Tomalin|5y=1992a|5pp=245–270|6a1=Wardle|6y=1951|6pp=268ff}} Once Wollstonecraft became pregnant, they decided to marry so that their child would be considered legitimate by society. Their marriage revealed the fact that Wollstonecraft had never been married to Imlay, and as a result she and Godwin lost many friends. Godwin received further criticism because he had advocated the abolition of marriage in ''Political Justice''.{{Sfnm|1a1=St. Clair|1y=1989|1pp=172–174|2a1=Marshall|2y=2008|2pp=196–197|3a1=Sunstein|3y=1975|3pp=330–335|4a1=Tomalin|4y=1992a|4pp=271–273}} After their marriage at [[St Pancras Old Church|St. Pancras]] on 29 March 1797, they moved into two adjoining houses in [[Somers Town, London|Somers Town]] so that they could both still retain their independence; they often communicated by notes delivered by servants.<ref>Sunstein has printed several of these letters in order so that the reader can follow Wollstonecraft and Godwin's conversation (321ff.)</ref>

[[Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin]] was born in Somers Town on 30 August 1797, the couple's only child.<ref name=TheLifeandLettersofMWS>Marshall, Julian. The Life and Letters of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. London: R. Bentley and Son, 1889. PDF.</ref> {{rp|5}} Godwin had hoped for a son and had been planning on naming the child "William".<ref name="Godwin 2011">Godwin, William The Letters of William Godwin. Ed. Pamela Clemit. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2011. PDF.</ref> On 10 September 1797 Wollstonecraft died of complications following the birth. By all accounts, it had been a happy and stable, though brief, relationship.{{Sfnm|1a1=St. Clair|1y=1989|1p=173|2a1=Sunstein|2y=1975|2pp=335–340|3a1=Wardle|3y=1951|3pp=286–292}} Now Godwin, who had been a bachelor until a few months before, was distraught at the loss of the love of his life. Simultaneously, he became responsible for the care of these two young girls, the new-born Mary and toddler Fanny.

When Mary was three years old, Godwin left his daughters in the care of James Marshall while he travelled to Ireland. Godwin's tone in his letters demonstrates how much he cared about them. His letters show the stress he placed on giving his two daughters a sense of security. "And now what shall I say for my poor little girls? I hope they have not forgot me. I think of them every day, and should be glad, if the wind was more favourable, to blow them a kiss a-piece from Dublin to the Polygon.. but I have seen none that I love so well or think half so good as my own."<ref name="Godwin 2011"/>

In December 1800 his play ''[[Antonio (play)|Antonio, or the Soldier's Return]]'' was put on at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]] without success.<ref>{{cite book|title= The History of Wisbech and the Fens|author= Walker & Craddock|year= 1849|publisher= Richard Walker|page= 480}}</ref>