The novel of ' St. Leon' was published in 1799. In the course of the next year Godwin paid a visit to Ireland, residing, while in that conntry, principally with Curran. In 1801 he married a second time. His 'Life of Chaucer,' a work of little research and of no value, appeared in 1803, and was followed the next year by a third novel, bearing the name of ' Fleetwood, or the New Man of Feeling.' It was about this period of life that Godwin entered into business as a bookseller, and leaving the nobler and more pleasant paths of literature, employed himself for some time in the composition of school-books, which were published under the assumed name of Bald win. lie came forward however in 1808 with his 'Essay on Sepulchres, or a Proposal for Erecting some Memorial of the Illustrious Dead in all ages on the spot where their Remains have been Interred.' In 1816 he published his fourth novel, 'Mandeville,' In 1820 appeared his Treatise on Population,' in reply to Mr. Malthus, whose own 'Essay on Population' had been suggested by Godwin's views of the perfectibility of man, as expounded in the Political Justice' and the ' Enquirer.' He afterwards devoted himself for some time to his ' History of the Commonwealth of England,' the four volumes of which appeared successively between the years 1824 and 1823. In
1830, when now seventy-four years old, he published his fifth and last novel, entitled ' Cloudesley.' In 1831 he published a volume of essays under the title of Thoughts on Man,' and in 1834 his last work, the 'Lives of the Necromancere: Shortly after the accession of Lord Grey to power, Godwin was appointed to a situation in one of the public offices, which, in his declining years, supplied him with an assistance and a comfort that he needed. He died on the 7th of April 1836, in the eighty-first year of his age.
The name of Godwin, as a writer, is chiefly known in connection with the ' Treatise on Political Justice ; ' but his best title to fame is derived from his novels. He had neither reach nor precision of thought sufficient to form a good philosophical writer. But though deficient in power of reflection, he possessed a singular skill in observing, and in describing what be observed, which fitted him to portray character. The characters of Falkland, in ' Caleb Williams,' and of Mandeville, are great examples of his skill in this respect; and there are few novae which interest so much as those of Godwin.