The publication of the letters before us sets at rest the disputed point as to the date of Shelley’s first acquaintance with Harriet Westbrook, whom he subsequently married.  Writing to Stockdale December 18, 1810, he requests him to send copies of the new romance to Miss Marshall, Horsham, Sussex, T. Medwin, Esq., Horsham, Sussex, T.J.  Hogg, Esq., Rev. Dayrells Lynnington, Dayrell, Bucks; and Jan. 11, 1811, writing to the same person, he asks him to send a copy of St. Irvyne to Miss Harriet Westbrook, 10 Chapel street, Grosvenor Square.  It is pretty certain, therefore, that the acquaintance began between the dates of these two letters, for if he had known Harriet when he ordered his book to be sent to Miss Marshall, he would certainly have coupled the two names together and added them to the little list of his friends already given.  Our English friend suggests here that Shelley may not have known Harriet personally at this time, but merely through the reports of his sisters, who were always talking about her, as reported in the Shelley Memorials.  We think this is likely to be the case, as during that period Shelley does not seem to have journeyed to London.  The aforesaid friend says also that he possessed a manuscript (unpublished) in which somebody who knows states that Shelley first saw her in January, 1811, and that whenever this manuscript is published it will be seen how very slight was Shelley’s acquaintance with Harriet before their marriage, and “what advantage was taken of his chivalry of sentiment and her complacent disposition, and the inexperience of both, and how little entitled or disposed she felt herself to complain of his behavior.”  “Shelley and his girl-wife visited Windermere,” we think are the words of De Quincey in alluding to their sudden apparition in the Lake district just after their union.  And two more discordant natures could hardly have been bound together till death.

The last friendly communication which passed between Shelley and his publisher was dated January 11, 1811, as we have seen; and he must immediately afterward have discovered the treachery of Stockdale, for only three days later he writes a vituperative letter against him to Hogg, in that he had been traducing Hogg’s character; and informs him that he will, while on his way to Oxford, compel the publisher to explain not only why he “dared to make so free with the character of a gentleman about whom he knew nothing,” but why he had been treacherous enough to inform Sir Timothy that he (Shelley) had sent him “a work” which had been submitted to him in the strictest confidence and honor.