In October of 1812, Percy met William Godwin, the father of Mary
Wollstonecraft Godwin; he and the old man got on well, since Percy
flattered Godwin's rhetoric in Godwin's publications reasoning that
marriage is a travesty and that love should be free. Percy already had
a wife, but encountering the charms of the lovely teenager Mary made
him agree with Godwin's philosophy. Godwin was not pleased to discover
that his prescriptions for the betterment of England were to take place
at once, here, in his own home -- had in fact led to Percy and Mary
deciding to elope. If Percy's ex-wife wanted to live in a bigamist
home, that was her foolish business, but Godwin did not intend his own
beautiful, bright darling girl to become ensnared by a man - a poet! -
who believed in love and parties more than he believed in
responsibility.
