The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-08-07 00:00:00

THE DEED OF SEPARATION.

EMMA WILMOT, a blooming sprightly girl of
eighteen, was reading the newspaper to her mother
and uncle in the boudoir of the former, and had
finished the account of an alarming fire in London.
" Uncle," she said, " I think there are very few
sights that you have not seen ; pray were you ever at
a tremendous fire ?"

" Yes, Emma," replied Major Harvey ; " I was
once at a fire tremendous enough to gratify a young
lady's taste for horrors. About twenty years ago, I
went to pay a visit to a young married couple, for wom
I had a sincere regard. They had decided on a sepa-
ration, and the purpose of my journey was to inspect
and witness a deed of separate maintenance. I think
the faults were as nearly as possible equal on each
side. The lady complained of the want of the atten-
tions of a lover in her husband ; and the gentleman
complained that his wife would not condescend to
dress, sing, or smile for his gratification alone, as she
was wont to do in the days of courtship. They be-
came contradictory, peevish and sullen, and fatal want
of confidence, ensued in every affair of life, whether
trifling or important."
" How different from my dear father and mother,"
said Emma, " who can never keep anything a moment
from each other !"

" The confidence which they withheld from each
other," pursued Major Harvey, " they reposed in
various quarters, and several of the friends thus inju-
dieipusly distinguished, made use of the idle and
common-place phrase, When married people 'cannot
live happily together, it is best for them to separate.'
This advice had an effect which sounder advice often
fails in having. It was accepted by each of the parties
and carried into execution. My friends, as you may
imagine, were not sitting together. I was shown into
the study of Sir Edgar, and 'spared no pains or argu-
ments to prevail on him to reconsider his determina-
tion, and to endeavour to bear with the little imperfec-
tions of his wife, and to persuade her to bear with his
own. He would not, however, admit that he had
given her any provocation ; he seemed thoroughly
convinced of her coldness and want of attachment to
him. After some cross-questioning, I succeeded in
getting him to allow that he was occasionally a little
irritable ; but such irritability, he said, would soon
disappear, were it not kept alive by the provoking
and taunting remarks of his wife. When I found,"
continued Major Hervey, " that all my persuasions
were in vain, I was obliged tacitly to consent to the
introduction of Mr. Chambers, the lawyer, with the
deed of separation ; he produced this document out of
a tin box, which appeared to me more fatal than the
box of Pandora, since hope could not be supposed to
repose at the bottom of it. When the deed, however,
was read to me, I could not but do justice to the
liberality of Sir Edgar; the fortune brought to him
by his wife was small, and had been settled on herself
for pin-money, but the allowance he proposed making
to her was large, even in proportion to his extensive
income. He expressed every wish for her comfort
and happiness. Her father and mother were to come
to the hall on the following day to witness the deed of
separation, and to take their daughter to their home.
He asked me whether I thought they would be satis-
fied with the liberality of his provision for her, and I
unhesitatingly answered in the affirmative; although,
knowing their kind, tender, and feeling natures, My
heart was wrung at the anticipation of their visit.
" I proceeded from Sir Edgar's apartment to that of
Lady Falkland, and vainly hoped that I might be
more successful with her than I had been with her
husband. I had known and loved her from her
earliest youth ; I had stood by the altar when her
hand was joined to that of Sir Edgar, and deep was
my sorrow to think that aught but death should
dissolve that holy union. I could not, however, bend
or soften her haughty spirit. 'She was undervalued,'
she said ; ' she was despised by her husband ; she had
always met with fondness and affection under the roof
of her parents, and thither she should return.' I-
wished her to request a private interview with Sir