In the summer of 1997—that’s
right, 1997—a previously unknown work
by Mary Shelley was discovered among some old family papers in Italy. A year
later it was published (edited by the noted literary scholar Claire Tomalin) as
Maurice, or the Fisher’s Cot. (Cot is an abbreviation for cottage.)
Shelley scholars think Mary wrote
the story in the early days of August 1820, a story for Laurette Mason, one of
the young daughters of a family friend who had known Mary virtually her entire
life. Known now as “Mrs. Mason,” she had once been Margaret King, one of the
Irish daughters of the enormously wealthy Robert and Caroline King (Lord and
Lady Kingsborough), a daughter for whom Mary’s mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, had
served as governess back in 1786.
She later married the 2nd
Earl Mount Cashell (thus becoming Countess of Mount Cashell), had more than a
half-dozen children, then, on a European holiday in 1802, met George William
Tighe, fell in love, left her family for him, and they stayed in Pisa, living
with the names “Mr. and Mrs. Mason,” a surname she had lifted from a little children’s
book by Mary Wollstonecraft, Original
Stories from Real Life (1788), a book, as I’ve said, that was illustrated
by William Blake when a second edition appeared in 1791. (Link to Blake's illustrations for the book.)
 |
| one of Blake's illustrations |
Whew!
Anyway, in late September 1819, Mary and
Bysshe Shelley had met in Pisa with Mrs. Mason, who was thrilled to meet the daughter
of the woman—the tutor—who had meant so much to her as a young girl. They would
stay in touch throughout the Shelleys’ Italian sojourn. And not quite a year
later, Mary wrote Maurice for
Laurette’s eleventh birthday on July 19, 1820 (though the gift came a little
bit late). And then the story lay, forgotten, for nearly 180 years.
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