, 1870-08-07
POETS WIVES,
Fpsn Rel17urh.

9HeSa ~ no N{lun cQuSlotatBy, &nd the l
.lyes Of celebrated poets have been 30 persist-
'ntiy dragged from their seclusion aud pre-
lerted to tho public gazo, that It may be vol
o hFang to light few Of the qualifications,
Intellectual and domestic, Of some Of these
[a1r ladies': Nor oon1d II well be otherHise.
us snsp,ration; tud il his mlstress be not
oeAugiul, no IL necessarily silent. And here
10 Will ask, where would some OF our finest
poena b II the fair beings who inspired
!hrm had been Possessed OF teser charms:
aave been written. Would catullus lave sung,
y Let US live and love, Lesbia; and taSthing
[or the talk OF morose old sa6es," Il Lcahia
horrible thonght!) Ind squinted? woul1
haye written the oae to pyuha," il
1oman, with locks Of red hair clustering round
her temples7 Would Dsnto bare committed 70 !
paper one aingle liDe about Beatrice, il Ba4trice
had been strong-mfnded female, with cork
screw ringlets, and nolt me kangere manner?
Would Petrarch hare spost1uphized Laura II
Lsura had been pale-faced, weak-syea young
lady, suffering from chronic cata17h7 Would
but why puteua such paiuful subject:
Such contingencies Ire too dreadful to con-
template; and We can hardly conceive the
probability Ct such men as Catullus, Horace,
Dante. and Petrarch, or our own Shakespeare,
Spenser, Byron, or Shelley inditing love-poems
to yet Of decidedly paasea young ladies'.
Anne Hathaway has been > very Inuch-abrsed |
lady; but, depend upou it, although she Was
years older than Shakespeare, abe must have
been an extremely eha1mipe snd attractive
cottage at 6hotteT would never have been |
made. Tho fact Of shAlspeare'a having
left her only his eecond-beat bed argues
nothing; perhaps sho had l psncaaht
for the sceond'best bed: perhaps it was an
The had stipulated for its preservation aud
identification, which could oniy be gecurel by
her own careful guardianship. The feelings
of the wife were consulted. We think anl
hence the legacy, Besides it would have been
a supc1Euity for Shakespeare to havo made
further mention Of her IA lis viii, as ale was,
BY Law, entitled TO fair sha1e OF bis estate.
But to return to our subject. Hafo1a wo
proceed, however, let uA briefly touch upon a
natter tllAt We shall haye 70 refer to again
further on IN this article, that although
beauty Of face aud fo!m u an es~
genital and necessary qualification for the
wife OF q poet, it is not the only one;
for, np1eea the woman to whom \ poet
il welded possesses certsin intellectual quail
| ties, and Is, moreover. Of II tender, loving,
1t 10 be, nor will she be happy ~, bis vile.
Que word III to the intellectual qualities; II is
| not necessary, we think, that The wife OF q
poet should 10 m exceedingly clever womAn-
Most men Of genius, although thoy expect
more than ordinary intelligence With theu
1
their ability 10 practical use that il, in tho
outside world; IN fact, they only desire that
they shall be beings who can sufficiently un-
derstand them md their particular IkinGs
and dis]ikiDge. II . poets wife be =
Of Hsk NTH ss1oms
erally, abe is much litter companion for him,
even Il the utterances Of her soul remain un-
h.own and unsupported by the world At large,
than matron Of astonishing culture, who is
continually assisting 1t what may bS called dis
plsys Of intellectual Fireworks. = Blue stock.
and men hut intelligent, suggestive, loyablG
women are treasures 10 be mado much OF and
carefully priced and cherished. The gentle
won,an,. il Blo b1cssed with goot
,aaf is ever il ip s Ordinary fra ,h, hfa
loud, demonstrative, ahowy woman would DO
Clever men arc not generally very exactilil
with their wives; but they wisl and expect Il
. he. to a certain extent. understood. L7urenc
, Ste1pe, although he Was not poet, felt this
and perhaps more ac1tely than many poet
] ! Shandy" and his letters arc to be found ampl
, ! proofs that his relations with Mrs. Stern
! were not Of the most harmonious character
Take the following passage from "Tfistat
shanly," for instance:
II wish, said my father, raising his voice
"tho whole science Of fottidcation at III
devil, with ali its trumpery OF saps, tninet
! blinds, gabions, fausso-bags, and cuvet.es."
' They arc fooli1h things," said my mothe
. "Sow she bad way, which, by-the-by,
Il would at this moment give away my purp'
= jcrlin. aud my yellow slippers into the ba
! gain, il CONC Of your rerercnces would in
taie; and that was, never to refuse her asse,
:. aud consent to any proposition my father III
before her, merely bcCaLno Hhe did not undo
u stand il, or had no idea Of the principal wol
= or term OF art upon which the tenet Or prop.
> sitiou rested. She contented herself with ii
y promised for her-hut no more, and 10 wou
. so on using hard word for twenty years +
gcther-and replying to it, too, il it wAA
| verb, in all ita moods and lenses, without 81
Ing herself the trouble to inquire about it.
'.This WIS an eternal source OF misery to
father, and broke the neck, At the first eel
ing out, Of more good dialogues between the
than could layo done the most pctulant co
trAdiction; the few which survived were Il
better for the cuvettes-
- "'Thoy are foolsh things,' said my motht
Particularly tho cuvettas,' replied Z
father.
":Tis enough; he tasted tue sweets
triumph, and went On.
MOT that thoy are, properly epeskiu
Mrs: Wadmans pfemtses. said my fats,'
partly correcting himself, because she is
n | tenant for IIe.'
".That makes great difference, said ,
mother.
".In 4 FOOLS head, replied my fathcs."
The iley. Laurence Ste.nc and Mrs. Eter
had many such dialogues, We imagine; a
the latter, VIC make bold to say, was occasic
ally disconnected There was one thing: ho
was, that eccentric dtvinc's inceesant gala
rios with women -; and like Nil true and vir
or1s w1ves. size was extremely sensitive up
this point, II is not an easy matter to qut
Sternc, or We could make our rcaders mt
readily understand what We mean Poor NJ
~ use Of the common phrate). a
nt must have heayed many sigh as Z
nr thought Of the Marias, Ei.zas, gr1settes, a
In f1e%de-ehantbre OF her clever but vagabo
ia husband. She wAs hardly The wife for L.
I'd renee Sterne, though. Even in ordinary Ii
Ia indlderently understood? A husband tax
NJ We will cay, some favorite author. aud res
IL alnud to his wife, and expAtiates on the be:
.ra ties Of cartain passages His vito, being
he aud unapprehensive, merely asscnta or
~. melf and, II he puts the matter to lcr M
~, directly, very speedily shows BY her answ'
~. to his questions, that rhe is totally inca
u.s. bio Of comprebending the ihons
for Of the author. II the husband
nt1 1 her until he has made her understand; II
III. te what is commonly called In matrinol
to circles :. brute" he would close his b
icL pitch 1t into the tartheet corner Of the -
~ nEd mutter ineoherently for come few
W. ments. grand and impressive tableau
ird lows As matter OF course. 10th nre,
ip" from very different cauees. indignant; nu
ncn res1irnination ensueth; and il tho wife |
ed. wossted in the encounter (which. We sht
ii. imagine, is not invariably the case). she c
he tue TN with food OF tears. And here lc
= of declare thst the finest piece Of conedE eve
ave be behcld il. when Il baftled woman takes
ins h.stsnes and tears. Tho acting
nv iuimitable; and the greater the p
~ OF tho woman. the more acute are