Wollstonecraft & Godwin  March 29: Mary Wollstonecraft and
William Godwin, two of the 18th century's most radical and
prominent thinkers, married on this day in 1797. Many
contemporaries reacted to news of the event with a raised
eyebrow or smile, given that both bride and groom had been
famously outspoken against contemporary marriage habits and
laws. A rationalist-anarchist, Godwin had also condemned the
monarchy, private property, the legal system, and just about
every other pillar of British society. In his Enquiry Concerning
Political Justice and its Influence on Modern Morals and Manners
(1793), he had argued that a principled form of free love was
preferable to marriage, which was "evil" and illogical:
Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792),
regarded as the first major feminist essay, addresses the gender
issues from various angles, but her penultimate paragraph
presents a simple choice to all those pondering either marriage
or the ideal wedding gift:   Wollstonecraft was five m