You may have read the review of Pamela Clemit’s edition of William Godwin’s letters (recently published by OUP) in last month’s LRB. The reviewer, John Barrell, refers to an online resource provided by the Bodleian Library, which I have just added to this blog’s favourite links.
From the digital edition of Godwin’s diary, we know that, between 1800 and 1834, Godwin and Douce occasionally met and corresponded. In 1833-4, Godwin called on Douce four times and they had tea together at least once.
Thomas Lawrence, Portrait of William Godwin, 1795 (photo: The British Museum)
Douce and Godwin had, however, met before 1800, probably through Richard Twiss, whose younger brother Francis is often mentioned by Godwin in the same years. In September 1795, the elder Twiss suggested that Douce paid Godwin a visit on his way to Pentonville, where he was running errands on his behalf:
Godwin lives at Nº 25 Charles St. Sommertown; you might see him en passant.
In another letter to Douce dated April 1797, Twiss announced that ‘Caleb Williams is married to the Rights of Woman for certain’, thus referring to Godwin’s recent wedding to Mary Wollstonecraft.