Daniel Nugent
Catherine Nugent was the landlady with whom Percy Bysshe Shelley and his
first wife Harriet resided during
their short visit to Dublin in the
spring of 1812. Both the
Shelleys maintained a correspondence with her thereafter. The fact that
Harriet, not Percy Shelley, informed Catherine Nugent of the rupture of
their marriage suggests, perhaps, that of the two she felt the closer
ties. Mary Shelley, however,
never met Catherine Nugent, and there is no
reference to her anywhere in her writings or in her husband's
correspondence with her. Thus, the presence of the surname Nugent in this
novel comes as something of a surprise that has never been explained.
