he go in his present plight?" It
scarcely seems possible that such misery should have befallen a
gentleman's family. Mr. Wollstonecraft's one cry, through it all, was for
money. He threatened to go to London in his rags, and compel the obdurate
Edward to comply with his demands. When Eliza told him of the sacrifices
Mary made in order to help him, he only flew into a rage.

It was not long before Mary had brought Charles to London. The first
thing to be done for him was much what Mr. Dick had advised in the case
of ragged David Copperfield, and her initiatory act in his behalf was to
clothe him. She took him to her house, where he lived, if not elegantly
and extravagantly, at least decently, a new experience for the poor lad.
She then had him articled to Edward, the attorney; but this experiment,
as might have been expected, proved a failure. Mary next consulted with
Mr. Barlow about the chances of settling him advantageously on a farm in
America; and to prepare him for this life, which seemed full of promise,
she sent him to serve a sort of apprenticeship with an English farmer.
About this time James, the second son, who had been at sea, came home,
and for him also Mary found room in her lodgings until, through her
influence, he went to Woolwich, where for a few months he was under the
instruction of Mr. Bonnycastle, the mathematician, as a preparation to
enter the Royal Navy. He eventually went on Lord Hood's fleet as a
midshipman, and was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant, after which
he appears to have been able to shift for himself.

Mary, as if this were not enough, also undertook the care of her father's
estate, or rather of the little left of it. Mr. Wollstonecraft had long
since been incapable of managing his own affairs, and had intrusted them
to some relations, with whose management Mary was not satisfied. She
consequently took matters into her own hands, though she could ill afford
to spare the time for this new duty. She did all that was possible to
disembarrass the estate so that it might produce sufficient for her
father's maintenance. She was ably assisted by Mr. Johnson. "During a
part of this period," he wrote of her residence in George Street, "which
certainly was the most active part of her life, she had the care of her
father's estate, which was attended with no little trouble to both of us.
She could not," he adds, "during this time, I think, expend less than
L200 on her brothers and sisters