Wollstonecraft Chronology 313tion of marriage as a kind of legal prostitution. Because
Godwin was even more radical in his public critique of
marriage than Wollstonecraft, he faced a distinct charge of
hypocrisy.
On September 10, Wollstonecraft dies from an infection
soon after giving birth to their daughter, Mary Wollstone-
craft Godwin (later Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin Shelley).
1798 Godwin publishes Memoirs of the Author of “A Vindica-
tion of the Rights of Woman” and the Posthumous Works of
Mary Wollstonecraft in London.
These two volumes, including Wollstonecraft’s passion-
ate love letters to Imlay, are soon issued across the United
States and continental Europe.
Godwin’s editorial transparency about Wollstonecraft’s
love life before their marriage unfortunately coincides with
the apex of anti-Jacobin politics in Britain and the United
States. Anti-revolutionary thinkers, with particular fervor
in Britain, seize upon the chance to use her life as a moral-
ity tale that illustrates the dangers of radical political ideas
such as women’s rights.
1799 Napoleon overthrows the Directory.
1800 Napoleon becomes the First Consul, and then Emperor, of
France.
The French Civil Code is established, limiting
women’s rights to divorce, property, and public speech
and association.
1803 The Napoleonic Wars commence, with Britain declaring
war with France.
1815 The states that defeated Napoleon hold the Congress of
Vienna, redrawing the borders of Europe and condemning
the slave trade. Talleyrand-Périgord represents France.
1816 Fanny Imlay Godwin commits suicide, feeling abandoned
in the wake of her sister Mary’s elopement to Europe with
the poet Percy Shelley.
1817 Soon after their marriage, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
Shelley and Percy Shelley publish their Romantic travel
memoir of their elopement, History of a Six Weeks’ Tour,
which alludes to the Letters Written during a Short Resi-
dence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark as an inspiration.