,note3 ,images of the original pages are
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,archive_/,canadian ,libraries4 ,see    
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eyandthema#jjtodhuoft      ,,shelley    
,,and ,,marriage4  ,of this ,book       
,twenty-,five ,copies only have been    
printed4   ,,shelley ,,and ,,the        
,,marriage ,,question4  by  ,,john      
,,todhunter1 ,m4,d41  ,author of ,notes 
on ,the ,triumph of ,life1 ,a ,study of 
,shelley1 etc4        ,london3 ,printed 
for ,private ,circulation ,only4 #ahhi4 
,,shelley ,,and ,,the ,,marriage        
,,question4   ,now that marriage1 like  
most other time-honoured institutions1  
has come to stand1 a thing accused1 at  
the bar of public opinion1 it may be    
interesting to see what ,shelley has to 
say about it4 ,the marriage problem is a
 complex one1 involving many questions  
not very easy to answer offhand or even 
after much consideration4 ,what is      
marriage8 ,of divine or human           
institution8 ,for what ends was it      

instituted8 ,how far does it attain     
these ends8 ,and a dozen others involved
 in these4  ,the very idea of marriage  
implies some kind of bond imposed by    
society upon the sexual relations of its
 members1 male and female2 some kind of 
restriction upon the absolute           
promiscuity and absolute instability of 
these relations--such restriction taking
 the form of a contract between         
individuals1 endorsed by society1 and   
enforced with more or less stringency by
 public opinion4 ,its object at first   
was probably simply to ensure to each   
male member of the tribe the quiet      
enjoyment of his wife or wives1 and the 
free exploitation of the children she or
 they produced4 ,the patriarchal tyranny
 was established1 and through the       
sanction of primitive religion and law  
became a divine institution4 ,then1 as  
civilization progressed1 the wife and   
children became less and less the mere  
slaves1 more and more the respected     
subjects1 of the patriarch4 ,the        

paternal instinct 7like the maternal7   
became developed1 and family affection  
came into existence4 ,at present the    
whirligig of time is bringing its       
revenges4 ,the patriarchal tyranny      
begins to totter2 parents are often more
 the slaves than the masters of their   
children4 ,and even wives begin to rebel
 against wifedom1 and threaten to       
revolutionize marriage in their own     
interest4 ,woman1 like everybody else1  
is beginning to strike for higher wages4
 ,there are more than the first         
mutterings of that revolution in the    
,golden ,city of ,divine institutions   
prophesied of by ,shelley in ,laon and  
,cythna4 ,there are a good many ,cythnas
 ready to rush about on their black     
,tartarian hobbies1 of whom ,mrs4 ,mona 
,caird is the one who has recently made 
most noise4  ,there is a little design  
of ,blake's in ,the ,gates of ,paradise1
 which represents a man standing on the 
earth who leans a ladder against the    
moon and prepares to mount2 the motto   

underneath being3 ,i want6 ,i want6     
,this is a type of our own age4 ,never  
was such an age of discontent1 never    
such a ,babel of voices crying3 ,i want6
 ,i want6 ,we have become very conscious
 of our pain1 and are not ashamed to cry
 out and proclaim it on the house-tops  
in these hysterical times--simply       
because the ancient sanctions and       
anodynes have lost their sanctity and   
comfort for us4 ,the very priests in    
black gowns who used to walk their      
rounds and bind with briers our joys and
 desires1 have been themselves corrupted
 with a longing for a little present    
happiness1 and that ,old ,woman in the  
shoe1 ,mrs4 ,grundy herself1 instead of 
whipping us all round and putting us to 
bed in the old summary fashion1 when we 
venture to complain that the shoe       
pinches here and there1 has herself     
become lachrymose4 ,we cry out because1 
having neither the old repressions nor  
the old opiates to restrain us1 there is
 no valid reason why we should hold our 

tongues4 ,by crying loud enough and long
 enough we may get some help4 ,we may   
even find some good-natured person to   
stop crying himself and help us2 and    
then for very shame we may go and do    
likewise4 ,in this lies the age's hope4 
,it is really in its best aspect an     
unselfish age1 an age in which sympathy 
and justice are vital forces1 in which  
the miseries of others are felt as our  
own4 ,there are thousands now who feel  
themselves as nerves o'er which do creep
 the else unfelt oppressions of the     
earth4 ,we are not wise enough yet to   
conceive and organize those vital       
adjustments between conflicting wants1  
interests1 and principles1 which shall  
be of deeper efficiency than mere       
superficial compromises2 but this wisdom
 will come in due time1 if we do not    
rush into anarchy through that          
licentious impatience which is the curse
 of revolutionary periods4  ,now1 of all
 the bitter cries ringing in the air at 
the present time1 about the bitterest   

and most persistent is that not merely  
of women1 but of woman with a capital   
,w4 ,it is the most appalling note of   
change that can pierce the ear of       
self-satisfied ,conservatism4 ,the      
patient ,griselda has begun to protest  
against the tyranny of her lord and     
master4 ,love's martyr has at last begun
 to think that her martyrdom must have  
its limits4 ,it is as if the ,lamb1     
whose function we thought was to be dumb
 before its shearers and even           
sacrificers1 had found a voice of       
protestation4 ,it is a portent4 ,and    
even men are constrained to listen to   
the cry2 for it sounds like the         
birth-cry of regenerated ,love4 ,not now
 ,love self-slain in some sweet shameful
 way1 but ,love the winged angel who    
shall finally cast out ,lust1 the       
adversary4 ,but many things must come to
 pass before this triumph of love can be
 brought about2 and in many respects the
 horoscope looks unpropitious enough4   
,the first effect of the birth1 or      

coming to the surface of a higher ideal1
 gradually evolved by the progress of   
society1 is apparently to make confusion
 worse confounded4 ,not peace but a     
sword is the first gift of the ,prince  
of ,peace4 ,liberty comes masked like   
,tyranny1 and cries ,fraternity or      
death6 ,love goes wantonly about with   
the ,maenads of licentiousness at his   
heels4 ,but the divine ,logos1 incarnate
 as the ,son of man1 always comes not to
 destroy but to fulfil4  ,just now that 
highly moral being1 ,man in the         
masculine gender1 is much shocked at the
 strangely immoral conduct of his       
feminine counterpart4 ,in the first     
place1 she has dared to look at the     
realities of things with her own eyes1  
not through the rose-coloured spectacles
 with which he has been at pains to     
provide her2 and not only that1 but to  
peep behind the sacred veil which man   
has modestly cast over many ugly things4
 ,secondly1 she has begun to talk openly
 about these ugly things1 and to call   

them by non-euphemistic1 ugly names1 in 
a manner quite unprecedented4 ,thirdly1 
she has dared to attempt her own        
solution of things insoluble1 her own   
achievement of things impossible4 ,and  
fourthly1 she has dared to formulate a  
demand for liberty1 equality1 fraternity
 on her own account--a demand which     
every day comes more and more within the
 sphere of practical politics4 ,here are
 pure women making common cause with    
prostitutes1 married women crying out   
against the holy institution of         
matrimony1 mothers rebelling against the
 tyranny of the beatific baby--nay1     
absolutely on strike against            
child-bearing1 or at least demanding    
limited liability as regards that       
important function4 ,finally1 here is   
,woman1 whether as virgin1 wife1 or     
widow1 demanding independence as to     
property and a fair share of the world's
 goods in return for a fair share of the
 general work of the world outside of   
her special womanly functions4 ,d----n  

it1 sir1 ,i say that women are unsexing 
themselves--unsexing themselves1 by     
,jove6 as ,major ,pendennis might       
exclaim4 ,and the worst of it is that   
there are so many men1 traitors to their
 sex1 who are casting in their lot with 
women in this terrible ,women's ,rights 
movement--unsexing themselves1 too1 no  
doubt--so that we shall all soon become 
either a-sexual or hermaphrodite beings6
 ,and here let us leave for a moment the
 more or less limited and prosaic       
,cythnas of the day1 the terrible women 
who ride about upon ,tartarian          
hobby-horses in novels and magazine     
articles1 who spout on platforms and    
practise medicine and other dreadful    
trades--the scientific ,mrs4            
,somervilles1 and medical ,mrs4 ,garrett
 ,andersons1 and pious ,mrs4 ,josephine 
,butlers1 and impious ,mrs4 ,mona       
,cairds1 and get back to ,shelley       
himself1 the poet of this shocking      
social aberration4  ,shelley1 as ,mr4   
,cordy ,jeafferson has taken great pains

 to demonstrate1 was an exceedingly     
immoral young man4 ,he outraged the     
conventional morality of his day by his 
actions as well as in his writings in   
the most shameless manner2 but this     
shamelessness was due to his intense    
conviction that he thus outraged        
conventional in the interests of ideal  
morality4 ,his life and writings are so 
full of the paradoxical character which 
,i have ascribed to the social agitation
 of the present day1 and some of his    
utterances are so prophetic of it1 that 
we may fairly regard him as its         
precursor4  ,shelley1 as we know1       
started rather as an anarchist than as a
 mere reformer4 ,his ideas were         
cataclysmal rather than evolutional4    
,but he was an optimistic not a         
pessimistic anarchist1 and he           
endeavoured to destroy in order to      
rebuild with all possible expedition4   
,the kingdom of heaven was1 for him1 at 
the very doors1 ready to take shape as  
soon as man willed it2 and man would    

will it as soon as the mind-forged      
fetters of his mind were loosed4        
,accordingly he endeavoured to loose    
them4 ,he dethroned ,god that the       
,spirit of ,nature might be enthroned2  
and then he proceeded to abolish        
marriage that free love might regenerate
 mankind4 ,he believed in regeneration  
by incantation--a few words murmured in 
men's ears would make them as obedient  
to the ideas those sacred words         
represented as spirits to the spells of 
a magician4 ,abolish marriage 7and what 
could be easier871 and love1 being set  
free1 prostitution would cease4 ,we may 
pass by such puerilities of             
inexperienced idealism1 to be found by  
the score in ,queen ,mab1 and pass on to
 ,shelley's more mature utterances1     
always remembering that he died1 as the 
,triumph of ,life shows1 in the very    
process of maturation4 ,his whole       
history is that of an idealist1 who     
first seeks his ideal in the actual1 and
 not finding it endeavours to bring the 

actual into harmony with his ideal4 ,his
 imagination hacks at the rude block of 
the world with the divine fury of a     
,pygmalion2 thinking at first that he   
has but to remove the dull superfluous  
husks of custom to find the living idea 
in the centre2 but gradually perceiving 
it was but created an inanimate image1  
which can only come to life by the      
invocation of ,venus ,urania4 ,all the  
weaknesses1 faults1 and follies of his  
life and his writings1 as well as that  
power in weakness veiled which he felt  
himself to be1 come from this4 ,he is   
driven to reform society by attacking   
the conventional morality of marriage1  
because he is first a transcendental    
lover2 just as ,mr4 ,william ,morris is 
driven into socialism1 because he is    
first a very practical decorative       
artist4 ,to speak irreverently1 both men
 want elbow-room for their fads4 ,but   
,shelley's fad is of even more          
importance to us than ,morris's4 ,it is 
better to have a beautiful love1 than to

 have a beautiful house to put him in4  
,shelley is1 above all things1 the poet 
of modern love4 ,dante's love1 fantastic
 and supersensuous1 was not modern love4
 ,we do not want angels1 either in      
heaven or in the house1 to condescend to
 our depravity and lead us upward4 ,we  
do not want the divine school-mistress  
to bring us to something not ourselves  
which may or may not make for           
righteousness1 but the divine mistress1 
passionate as well as pure1 to bring us 
to our best selves1 and live with us in 
perfect union4 ,shakespeare showed us   
glimpses of this love defeated by       
circumstances in ,romeo and ,juliet1    
triumphant over circumstances in        
,posthumus and ,imogen2 but ,shelley has
 had a fuller vision of it4 ,since      
,shakespeare's time both manhood and    
womanhood1 and especially womanhood1    
have by pressure of circumstances become
 more self-conscious1 and the conditions
 of their union through love more       
complex4  ,and what is this modern ideal

 of love1 of which ,shelley is the      
exponent8 ,what is this strange         
affection1 love1 whether ancient or     
modern8 ,it is that most paradoxical of 
passions1 that compound of selfishness  
and self-renunciation1 that forlorn     
desire which strives to reconcile all   
things1 and found an eternal home on the
 shifting sands of time1 of which we all
 know something4 ,blake has expressed   
this paradoxical character of love once 
for all in his little poem ,the ,clod   
and the ,pebble4    ,love seeketh not   
itself to please1     ,nor for itself   
hath any care1   ,but for another gives 
its ease1     ,and builds a heaven in   
hell's despair4    ,love seeketh only   
self to please1     ,to bind another to 
its delight1   ,joys in another's loss  
of ease1     ,and builds a hell in      
heaven's despite4  ,we may call these   
the masculine and feminine elements in  
love2 though of course both exist in all
 love1 whether of man to woman or woman 
to man4 ,both sexes give more than they 

receive1 and receive more than they     
give4 ,in all love1 from the first step 
beyond mere physical appetite1 to the   
most transcendental ,platonism1 there   
are these two antagonistic elements4 ,if
 the merely self-indulgent element      
prevails1 we tend in the direction of   
lust1 one of the most cruel diseases    
that plague humanity1 which ,milton     
rightly places hard by hate4 ,if the    
merely self-renouncing1 we tend in the  
direction of monastic chastity1 which   
though not so distinctly an evil thing1 
may become cruel and inhuman1 and a bar 
to human progress4 ,asceticism is not1  
like lust1 a disease1 physical and      
spiritual1 but it may lead to disease1  
spiritual if not physical4 ,there is an 
asceticism1 the ,greek ,greek3 aschesis1
 a training of the lower faculties to   
act in subordination to the higher1     
which is the strait gate by which we    
enter upon the arduous ascent toward    
noble passion and noble action4 ,there  
is another asceticism which if not truly

 ,christian1 came in the wake of        
,christianity1 which1 denying the rights
 of the body1 was less a training than a
 mortification4 ,both unrestrained      
sensuality and monastic chastity1 in    
their injustice to the body outrage the 
sexual principle1 the former by         
regarding it as a toy to be polluted by 
base pleasure1 the latter by regarding  
it as a thing unclean in itself to be   
cast out and killed1 or at best         
tolerated and cleansed by the ,church's 
holy water4 ,to the present day the     
average man's1 or at least the average  
,englishman's great temptation is to sin
 against love1 through dull             
unimaginative lust1 the average         
,englishwoman's through dull            
unimaginative chastity4 ,men live too   
much in the sensuous1 and women in the  
supersensuous1 to meet fairly4 ,love1   
the reconciler1 himself is too weak     
fully to reconcile them and to bring    
them together in that perfect ecstasy1  
body to body1 spirit to spirit1 soul to 

soul1 that unreserve of mingled being1  
which ,shelley1 giving a voice to the   
desire of all ages1 but especially to   
modern desire1 sighed for4 ,to          
understand ,shelley's protest against   
marriage1 we must understand his ideal  
of love--the unconstrained rush together
 of two personalities of opposite sexes1
 in whom the body is but the vehicle of 
the spirit4 ,this love is not born      
merely of the flickering fire of the    
senses4 ,it is a divine flame1 kindled  
alike in body1 soul1 and spirit1 and    
fusing them into unity4 ,of course1 if  
this love is to be the great end of     
life1 marriage is somewhat of an        
impertinence4 ,while the divine fire    
burns1 what need of artificial ties to  
keep the two lovers together8 ,if it    
goes out why should they be kept        
together8 ,to which the prosaic moralist
 replies3 ,your ideal of love is very   
beautiful1 no doubt4 ,get as much as you
 can of this divine flame into your     
,hymen's torch2 and after all1 every    

young couple start with some such       
high-flown notions in their heads2 but  
,i must have some guarantee that your   
wife and children are not left as       
burdens upon the parish1 when you begin 
to feel the pinch of real life1 and the 
glamour of your imagination fades from  
your 'divine mistress4' ,marriage was   
not ordained to be the paradise of ideal
 love1 but for the sober discipline of  
the affections of men and women1 and    
above all for the production and rearing
 up of good citizens of the             
commonwealth4 ,to judge by your own     
writings1 ,mr4 ,shelley1 you seem to    
have been running after a               
will-o'-the-wisp all your life in this  
ideal love4 ,and if you did not catch   
it1 is it likely that ,tom1 ,dick1 and  
,harry will8 ,in any case the pursuit of
 it seems just as likely to make        
inconstant lovers as that sensuality you
 affect to look down upon4 ,you always  
had the word 'for ever' on your tongue2 
but how long did your for evers last8   

,no1 no1 my dear sir1 the good of       
society demands fidelity to incurred    
responsibilities1 and we find by        
practical experience that both men and  
women1 but especially men1 are inclined 
to shirk the responsibilities which     
indulgence of the sexual passion brings 
in its train4 ,hence the marriage       
contract4 ,it does not concern itself   
primarily with either love or lovers1   
but it helps to keep husbands and wives 
together1 and women and children        
maintained decently without coming upon 
the rates4 ,and1 mind you1 it does not  
by any means leave love out in the cold4
 ,it may not rise to your transcendental
 ecstasy2 but it is love all the same1  
good honest domestic affection1 when    
your young couples get well broken to   
harness4 ,did you not say yourself that 
one might as well go to a gin-shop for a
 leg of mutton as to you for anything   
human8 ,well1 give me the wholesome leg 
of mutton--none of your gin for me4     
,egad1 sir1 when ,i see some honest     

couple going to church of a ,sunday     
morning1 with half-a-dozen pretty       
children about them1 ,i call that a     
poem--ay1 and a better poem1 ,mr4       
,shelley1 than all the fantastic        
,epipsychidions you ever put upon paper4
 ,hang it all1 sir1 let a man make love 
to his own wife1 and stick to her when  
he has got her4 ,i'm a plain man1 sir1  
but ,i hope a moral man1 and them's my  
sentiments4 ,to all which1 let ,shelley 
reply as best he may4 ,the fact is that 
he has given no satisfactory reply1     
simply because it was only just before  
his death that he realised the          
complexity of the problem of life4 ,he  
did1 however1 see clearly that the      
bringing of men and women into more     
complete harmony1 by raising the ideal  
of love1 was the most important step    
towards that renewal of the world1 that 
living of the most perfect life         
attainable by man1 for which he sighed  
and after which he strove2 and he saw   
clearly that our solution of the        

marriage problem was imperfect1 not     
merely in practice1 but to some extent  
in theory4 ,as regards the subjection of
 women1 he seems to have considered this
 wholly an artificial product of        
religious dogma1 and not1 as it is1 the 
natural result of an imperfect          
civilization4 ,man protects woman       
because1 on the whole1 she adds to his  
comfort4 ,protection implies subjection1
 and subjection to a tyrant is slavery2 
and man1 if not altogether a tyrant in  
these later times1 has always the       
temptation to become one1 and the       
tyrannical traditions of bygone times   
have a strong tendency to persist4 ,laws
 and even customs lag far behind the    
highest public opinion of the day4      
,now1 men being in possession of the    
capital of the world1 the material means
 of life1 women stand to them in the    
position of what the socialists call    
wage-slaves4 ,they must do what their   
employers require of them on pain of    
starvation1 and there is no true freedom

 of contract4 ,and so far men have      
almost without exception required of    
them concubinage or menial service1 or a
 mixture of both4 ,english marriage1    
while recognizing the existing fact of  
the subjection of women1 has done       
something to raise their status1 chiefly
 by making the bond between the         
contracting parties theoretically1 and  
to a great extent practically1 one of   
love and mutual service4 ,it has indeed 
been much more than ,shelley seems to   
have realized1 the nidus of a love pure 
and wholesome1 if not very passionate4  
,theoretically strictly monogamic1 it   
has been so practically to a very       
respectable extent4 ,it has put a       
perceptible curb upon the strong        
polygamous instinct of men1 and it has  
fostered the monogamous habit in women  
enormously4 ,english women are for the  
most part faithful wives4 ,even         
transitory prostitution does not kill   
the monogamous propensity in them4 ,they
 settle down into marriage1 or live     

faithfully with one man1 if they get the
 chance4  ,still1 ,englishwomen are not 
satisfied with marriage as it exists4   
,let us hear ,mrs4 ,mona ,caird on the  
subject4 ,she is much more prosaic than 
,shelley2 she looks at the subject1     
chiefly from the standpoint of practical
 comfort4 ,she sees that from this      
standpoint1 from various reasons1 which 
may be summed up in the phrase          
incompatibility of temper1 marriage does
 not induce even that amount of mutual  
toleration1 not to say happiness1       
without which it is impossible for man  
and wife to live decently together4 ,she
 therefore asks1 ,what good purpose is  
served by keeping two people together   
who are evidently unfit to live         
together8 ,why indeed8 if1 as ,mrs4     
,caird says1 ,the matter is one in which
 any interposition1 whether of law or   
society1 is an impertinence4 ,but1      
unfortunately1 law and society are the  
most impertinent things in the world1   
always binding with briers our joys and 

desires1 and poking their ugly noses    
into our private affairs in the         
interests of the ,british ratepayer4 ,we
 shall never be happy until we have got 
rid of them--if even then1 and it is    
quite impossible to get rid of them for 
some time to come4 ,now the ,british    
ratepayer cares nothing about women and 
children1 except in so far as there is a
 danger of their coming upon the rates4 
,and he is a little scared about giving 
greater liberty of divorce1 saving for  
the cause of adultery1 as he piously    
ejaculates4 ,he does not like stray     
women and children going about the      
world4 ,but after all1 adultery is only 
a particular1 perhaps even a minor1 case
 of incompatibility4 ,marriage was made 
for man1 and not man for marriage1 and  
although marriage may work well in nine 
cases out of ten1 the tenth case must be
 considered1 and relief given if        
possible4 ,the individual is right to   
demand relief1 and the mode of giving   
relief is a question for the legislator4

 ,greater facility of divorce must come1
 and will come1 now that both men and   
women demand it4  ,mrs4 ,caird's demand 
for greater laxity of the marriage bond 
ab initio1 the nature of the contract   
being left to the contracting parties1  
like a marriage settlement1 is quite    
outside the sphere of practical         
politics1 as she is herself quite aware4
 ,if men were but educated up to the    
,shelleyan ideal1 then we might try all 
sorts of delightful experiments in      
marriage1 and gradually arrive at       
absolute freedom of contract1 which     
would not mean that absolutely          
unsentimental hygienic promiscuity which
 is the ideal of the highly advanced    
physiologist4 ,but men are not yet      
harmonious creatures1 like ,wordsworth's
 cloud1 which moveth altogether if it   
move at all4 ,they are torn by their    
lusts which war in their members4 ,hence
 these bonds4 ,lust1 lust1 lust3 this is
 the most concentrated form of          
selfishness--the undying worm at the    

root of the ,tree of ,life4 ,this is the
 tyrant that women have at last begun to
 recognize as their deadly adversary and
 to fight against4 ,shelley1 a better   
physician than ,goethe1 laid his finger 
on this plague-spot1 and told the age   
plainly3 ,thou ailest here4 ,but he did 
not see that instead of saying1 ,abolish
 marriage and prostitution will cease1  
he ought to have said1 ,abolish         
prostitution and marriage will          
cease--marriage without love being only 
a particular form of prostitution4 ,he  
did not see that the abolition of       
marriage would no more get rid of lust  
than the abolition of private property  
would get rid of selfishness4 ,we have  
already1 in monogamic marriage1         
struggled painfully upward to the level 
of the higher animals2 let us not       
imperil this progress rashly4  ,the     
,cythnas of the present day have felt   
their burthens more directly than       
,shelley did4 ,hence their demand for   
economic independence1 that they may not

 be forced into marriage or prostitution
 by the various degrees of starvation4  
,their demand is a just one1 and must be
 satisfied somehow1 even if we have to  
put a bonus upon womanhood and pay      
women1 not merely fair wages for their  
work of all kinds1 but a tribute to them
 as women1 as potential mothers1 which  
shall fairly handicap the sexes in the  
struggle for existence1 and put men more
 on their good behaviour4  ,shelley1 the
 mystic1 who looked for a miraculous    
change in nature coincident with a      
miraculous change in man1 seems to have 
seen1 almost as little as the average   
socialist of the present day1 who       
believes in the spiritual efficacy of a 
purely material revolution1 that the    
ideals and interests of the two sexes   
are widely apart1 more so now than ever 
before probably4 ,he1 like the          
socialist1 in his impatience to arrive  
at a practical solution of the          
life-problem1 did not take the trouble  
to understand the true bearing of the   

doctrine of ,malthus4 ,he did not see   
that whether ,malthus's figures be right
 or wrong1 it is a fact that the        
population of any given district 7be it 
an ,english barony1 or the world itself7
 tends to increase up to the limits of  
its food-supply1 taking the word food in
 its very widest sense to signify all   
the means of well-being2 and that this  
tendency is a fundamental element in all
 social problems1 just as friction is in
 all mechanical problems4 ,he did not   
see that1 other things being the same1 a
 higher standard of comfort1 while1     
finally tending to diminish the rate of 
increase of population1 first increases 
its pressure4 ,he did not contemplate   
that strike against child-bearing on the
 part of women1 which is induced1 not   
merely by the desire for personal       
comfort1 but is largely due to the vague
 influence of those new ideals of which 
he was himself the prophet4 ,he1 like   
the socialist1 thought that we might go 
on increasing and multiplying ad        

libitum1 till we reached the ultimate   
limit of standing-room on the earth1 and
 of miraculous chemical food out of the 
air1 and began1 as astral bodies1 to    
emigrate to ,mars4 ,women know better   
than this2 and feel the pinch of        
population1 when what they just now     
consider their higher life is hampered  
by children4 ,the woman who has one     
child more than she wants is an         
over-populated woman2 and the advanced  
woman of the present day1 having her own
 higher culture1 and the culture of     
humanity1 on the brain1 possibly with a 
high ideal of the duties of maternity1  
and frequently a sickly and weary       
creature1 morbid in body and mind1 is   
very easily over-populated4 ,hence much 
social discomfort4 ,shelley does not    
seem to have contemplated this1 nor seen
 that the good-natured acceptance of the
 feminine ideal by man might lead him1  
like poor ,st4 ,peter in his old age1   
whither he would not4 ,how all this is  
going to end ,i confess ,i don't know4  

,i trust in more delicate adjustments1 a
 higher and more wholesome life all     
round2 but the ascent of man is always a
 painful process4 ,meanwhile it is quite
 time for this bald1 disjointed chat of 
mine to come to an end4       ,london3  
,printed by ,richard ,clay  ,sons1      
,limited1 ,bread ,street ,hill4         
,september1 #ahhi4           99      99 
99      99      99      99              
,transcriber's note3  ,text in italics  
is enclosed by underscores 7italics74   
,the original text includes ,greek      
characters4 ,for this text version these
 letters have been replaced with        
transliterations4  ,the misprint        
tempation has been corrected to         
temptation 7page #ae74