It has some intrinsic interest, as it shows that Mary as well as Shelley had been reading Plato, and especially as it reveals the close connection of the writing of _Mathilda_ with Mary's own grief and depression.

The first chapter is a fairly good rough draft.

Punctuation, to be sure, consists largely of dashes or is non-existent, and there are some corrections.

But there are not as many changes as there are in the remainder of this MS or in _F of F--B_.
[89] It was in Rome that Mary's oldest child, William, died on June 7, 1819.
[90] Cf.

two entries in Mary Shelley's journal.