Shelley was not surprised when Smith replied to his earlier letter saying that he was unable to loan Godwin any money. ‘I have been long firmly persuaded that all the money advanced to Godwin so long as he stands engaged in business is absolutely thrown away’, he writes. He then informs Smith that Leigh Hunt had arrived in Genoa to work with Byron and himself on a new journal, The Liberal. Knowing how different Byron and Hunt were, Shelley had his reservations about this: ‘Between ourselves I greatly fear that this alliance will not succeed, for I, who could never have been regarded as more than the link of the two thunderbolts, cannot now consent to be even that – & how long the alliance between the wren & the eagle may continue I will not prophesy.’