retribution
This long passage, almost a tirade, was omitted from the third and later
editions (see the textual variants).
It is one of the clear occasions where Mary Shelley reveals herself as her
father's daughter, justifying the Quarterly Review's
attack on her novel for its Godwinian politics. For Godwin's treatment of retribution, see Political Justice, Book VII ("Of
Crimes and Punishments"), particularly Chapter 4, "Of the Application of
Coercion."
