ies' faces. Nothing very noteworthy about them; but
to Godwin they conveyed a passionate perception of all that is implied
in social superiority. Here he stood, one of the multitude, of the
herd; shoulder to shoulder with boors and pick-pockets; and within
reach of his hand reposed those two ladies, in Olympian calm, seeming
unaware even of the existence of the throng. Now they exchanged a word;
now they smiled to each other. How delicate was the moving of their
lips! How fine must be their enunciation! On the box sat an old
coachman and a young footman; they too were splendidly impassive,
scornful of the multitudinous gaze.--The block was relieved, and on the
carriage rolled.

They were his equals, those ladies, merely his equals. With such as
they he should by right of nature associate.

In his rebellion, he could not hate them. He hated the malodorous
rabble who stared insolently at them and who envied their immeasurable
remoteness. Of mere wealth he thought not; might he only be recognised
by the gentle of birth and breeding for what he really was, and be
rescued from the promiscuity of the vulgar!

Yet at this time he was drawn into connection with the movement of
popular Radicalism which revolts against religious respectability.
Inherited antipathy to all conventional forms of faith outweighed his
other prejudices so far as to induce him to write savage papers for
_The Liberator_. Personal contact with artisan freethinkers was
disgusting to him. From the meeting of emancipated workmen he went away
with scorn and detestation in his heart; but in the quiet of his
lodgings he could sit down to aid their propaganda. One explanation of
this inconsistency lay in the fact that no other channel was open to
his literary impulses. Pure science could not serve him, for he had no
original results to announce. Pure literature seemed beyond his scope,
yet he was constantly endeavouring to express himself. He burned with
the desire of fame, and saw no hope of achieving it save as an author.
_The Liberator_ would serve him as a first step. In time he might get
foothold in the monthly reviews, and see his name side by side with
those of the leaders of thought.

Occasions, of course, offered when he might have extended his
acquaintance, but they were never of a kind that he cared to use; at
best they would only have admitted him to the homes of decent,
semi-educated families, and for such society he was altogether
unfitted. Th