the hearts . . . charity
This a sentiment born of Enlightenment optimism that Mary Shelley
would have heard echoed in her father's home as well as in the one
she established with Percy Bysshe Shelley. It is based on a sense of
the shared values of the human community. For it to be
discovered a falsehood would profoundly affect normative ethical
premises. The very blandness of this discourse testifies to our
comfortable assurances and prepares the way for a devastating
reversal of them.
