Claire and Byron (1814—1816)

Abstract The first question was how the Godwins would receive the returned runaways. Their attitude obviously meant a great deal to Jane. Many years later, when she and Mary were both middle-aged, and the Godwins both dead, Jane wrote to Mary recalling their rejection. ‘You must recollect what a coldness Papa and Mama took to Shelley … they fell into a most violent state of disapproval of him.’ Even after that space of time, she remembered the distinct attitudes of Godwin and Mrs Godwin: ‘Papa took to being very chilling, haughty and stern, and Mama to being lively and furibonde,’ that is, in an animated state of fury. It is typical of Jane to find a French expression for her mother’s anger. She added, ‘They quite overawed me.’ The return was also dominated by what had brought the runaways back so ignominiously from their impulsive adventure and its joys: lack of money.