dies, making Richard Baron Alton and Earl Danvers. Having formed a close bond with the chief bandit, St. Elmo, Julian returns to them. Borromeo writers to Lord Danvers to tell him of Cloudesley's death and of Julian's disappearance. Danvers sends Meadows to find Julian, who is now 21. Julian is about to be executed with the rest of the bandits. Meadows asks the consul-general to intervene, but he is only prevailed upon to do so when Lord Danvers arrives to confess his guilt. Danvers is dangerously ill and has recently lost his last child. St. Elmo, Francesco, and the rest of the gang are executed and Julian is released. Lord Danvers is buried according to his wishes in an unmarked grave in Naples. Witnesses are produced in England to corroborate the truth of Julian's birth for the English courts, and Meadows writes to Borromeo to inform him of what has happened. Borromeo learns that “The true key of the universe is love” (289). He renounces his misanthropy and proclaims that the most important human trait is “disinterested affection” (289). Themes According to the literary scholar Graham Allen, "Cloudesley is a story of deceit and usurpation, fraud and prolonged guilt; but, far more importantly, it is the story of how a man raises himself from crime to transcend not only his own past but the apparently inexorable laws of blood-relations and class divisions." He argues that Cloudesley "is the greatest example of a theme frequently returned to in Godwin’s work, a theme obviously close to his heart: the ability of human beings to transcend the apparent logic of consanguinity and to form parental and filial relations with those to whom they are not related by blood." Notes Bibliography Allen, Graham. "Cloudesley; A Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia. 27 September 2004. Retrieved on 22 April 2008. Godwin, William. The Collected Novels and Memoirs of William Godwin. Cloudesley. Vol. 7. Ed. Maurice Hindle. London: William Pickering, 1992. 1830 British novels Novels by William Godwin