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These two paragraphs are not in F of F B; portions of them are in S-R fr. There are no corresponding S-R fr to show the process of revision. With the ideas expressed here cf. See also White, Shelley, II, 378. This solecism, copied from F of F B, is not characteristic of Mary Shelley. This paragraph prepares for the eventual softening of Mathilda's feeling.
The name there is Welford; on the next page it becomes Lovel, which is thereafter used throughout The Fields of Fancy and appears twice, probably inadvertently, in Mathilda, where it is crossed out. In a few of the S-R fr it is Herbert. On the final pages Woodville alone is used. The passage on Woodville's endowment by fortune, for example, is much more concise and effective than that in S-R fr.
Shelley's response is in the six introductory stanzas of the poem. The preceding paragraphs about Elinor and Woodville are the result of considerable revision for the better of F of F A and S-R fr. The death scene is elaborated from F of F A and made more melodramatic by the addition of Woodville's plea and of his vigil by the death-bed. F of F A ends here and F of F B resumes.
There is nothing in F of F A and only one scored-out sentence in S-R fr. None of the rough drafts tells of her plans to join her father. The account of the return of Mathilda's father is very slightly revised from that in F of F A. F of F B has only a few fragmentary sentences, scored out. It resumes with the paragraph beginning, "My father was very little changed."
The remainder of this chapter, which describes the crucial scene between Mathilda and her father, is the result of much revision from F of F A. Some of the revisions are in S-R fr. In general the text of Mathilda is improved in style.
The passage "I should fear ... I must despair" is in S-R fr but not in F of F A. There, in the margin, is the following: "Is it not the prerogative of superior virtue to pardon the erring and to weigh with mercy their offenses?" This sentence does not appear in Mathilda. Also in the margin of F of F A is the number , the number of the S-R fr.
Alas!... you hate me!" which prepares for the father's reply. Almost all the final paragraph of the chapter is added to F of F A. Three brief S-R fr are much revised and simplified. Decameron, 4th day, 1st story. Mary had read the Decameron in May, 1819. See Journal, p. 121.
The passage "air, & to suffer ... my compassionate friend" is on a slip of paper pasted across the page. This phrase sustains the metaphor better than that in F of F B: "puts in a word." This entire paragraph is added to F of F B; it is in rough draft in S-R fr. This is changed in the MS of Mathilda from "a violent thunderstorm."
The reference to Diana, with the father's rationalization of his love for Mathilda, is in S-R fr but not in F of F A. In F of F A this is followed by a series of other gloomy concessive clauses which have been scored out to the advantage of the text. This paragraph about the Steward is added in Mathilda. In F of F A he is called a servant and his name is Harry. See note 29.
This passage beginning "Day after day" and closing with the quotation is not in F of F A, but it is in S-R fr. The quotation is from The Captain by John Fletcher and a collaborator, possibly Massinger. These lines from Act I, Sc. 3 are part of a speech by Lelia addressed to her lover. Later in the play Lelia attempts to seduce her father possibly a reason for Mary's selection of the lines.
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