The title of the rough draft, The Fields of Fancy, and the setting and framework undoubtedly stem from Mary Wollstonecraft’s unfinished tale, The Cave of Fancy, in which one of the souls confined in the center of the earth to purify themselves from the dross of their earthly existence tells to Sagesta (who may be compared with Diotima) the story of her ill-fated love for a man whom she hopes to rejoin after her purgation is completed.[v] Mary was completely familiar with her mother’s works.  This title was, of course, abandoned when the framework was abandoned, and the name of the heroine was substituted.  Though it is worth noticing that Mary chose a name with the same initial letter as her own, it was probably taken from Dante.  There are several references in the story to the cantos of the Purgatorio in which Mathilda appears.  Mathilda’s father is never named, nor is Mathilda’s surname given.  The name of the poet went through several changes:  Welford, Lovel, Herbert, and finally Woodville.

The evidence for dating Mathilda in the late summer and autumn of 1819 comes partly from the manuscript, partly from Mary’s journal.  On the pages succeeding the portions of The Fields of Fancy in the Bodleian notebook are some of Shelley’s drafts of verse and prose, including parts of Prometheus Unbound and of Epipsychidion, both in Italian, and of the preface to the latter in English, some prose fragments, and extended portions of the Defence of Poetry.  Written from the other end of the book are the Ode to Naples and The Witch of Atlas.  Since these all belong to the years 1819, 1820, and 1821, it is probable that Mary finished her rough draft some time in 1819, and that when she had copied her story, Shelley took over the notebook.  Chapter 1 of Mathilda in Lord Abinger’s notebook is headed, “Florence Nov. 9th. 1819.”  Since the whole of Mathilda’s story takes place in England and Scotland, the date must be that of the manuscript.  Mary was in Florence at that time.

These dates are supported by entries in Mary’s journal which indicate that she began writing Mathilda, early in August, while the Shelleys were living in the Villa Valosano, near Leghorn.  On August 4, 1819, after a gap of two months from the time of her little son’s death, she resumed her diary.  Almost every day thereafter for a month she recorded, “Write,” and by September 4, she was saying, “Copy.”  On September 12 she wrote, “Finish copying my Tale.”  The next entry to indicate literary activity is the one word, “write,” on November 8.  On the 12th Percy Florence was born, and Mary did no more writing until March, when she was working on Valperga.  It is probable, therefore, that Mary wrote and copied Mathilda between August 5 and September 12, 1819, that she did some revision on November 8 and finally dated the manuscript November 9.