enabled her to prepare the
young for the struggle with the world for which she had been so ill
qualified. Because so little attention had been given to her in her early
youth, she keenly appreciated the advantage of a good practical
education. But her merits were not recognized in Islington. Like the man
in the parable, she set out a banquet of which the bidden guests refused
to partake. No scholars were sent to her. Therefore, at the end of a few
months, she was glad to move to Newington Green, where better prospects
seemed to await her. There she had relatives and influential friends, and
the encouragement she received from them induced her to begin work on a
large scale. She rented a house, and opened a regular school. Her efforts
met with success. Twenty children became her pupils, while a Mrs.
Campbell, a relative, and her son, and another lady, with three children,
came to board with her. Mary was now more comfortable than she had
heretofore been. She was, comparatively speaking, prosperous. She had
much work to do, but by it she was supporting herself, and at the same
time advancing towards her "clear-purposed goal" of self-renunciation.
Then she had cause for pleasure in the fact that Eliza was now really
free, Bishop having finally agreed to the separation. Mary
Wollstonecraft, at the head of a house, and mistress of a school, was a
very different person from Mary Wollstonecraft, simple companion to Mrs.
Dawson or dependent friend of Fanny Blood. Her position was one to
attract attention, and it was sufficient for her to be known, to be loved
and admired. Her social sphere was enlarged. No one could care more for
society than she did, when that society was congenial. At Newington Green
she already began to show the preference for men and women of
intellectual tastes and abilities that she manifested so strongly in her
life in London. Foremost among her intimate acquaintances at this time
was Dr. Richard Price, a clergyman, a Dissenter, then well known because
of his political and mathematical speculations. He was an honest,
upright, simple-hearted man, who commanded the respect and love of all
who knew him, and whose benevolence was great enough to realize even
Mary's ideals. She became deeply attached to him personally, and was a
warm admirer of his religious and moral principles. His sermons gave her
great delight, and she often went to listen to them. He in return seems
to have felt great interest in her, and