Percy Bysshe Shelley October. On 10December 1816 the body of Shelley's estranged wife Harriet was found in an advanced state of pregnancy, drowned in the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London. Shelley had made generous provision for Harriet and their children in his will and had paid her a monthly allowance as had her father. It is thought that Harriet, who had left her children with her sister Eliza and had been living alone under the name of Harriet Smith, mistakenly believed herself to have been abandoned by her new lover, 36-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Maxwell, who had been deployed abroad, after a landlady
The Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley to read the depictions of the young Percy Shelley and some of the accounts greatly upset them. A few of Mary Shelley's friends and relatives believed that felt that the positive description of Harriet caused Mary to look bad for drawing Percy Shelley away from her. Leigh Hunt was particularly critical of the book, but some have suggested that his critical tone may have been because of his portrayal in the book. Edward John Trelawny, however, spoke very positively of the book. Thomas Love Peacock also enjoyed the book, but thought it should have been described as Hogg's autobiography. Some