The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-03-14

would probably accept as an historical doc
ument, written by that noble character,
the first Lord Cowper, to his sweetheart
when young Templar. 1t is in statelier
phrase than the present familiar style,
beginning Dearest madam and ending
"your very humble and affectionate ser
want He tells her, - wish my thoughts,
that are so often with you when | am not,
were not invisible; then you might save
yourself the trouble of reading such like
notes, and see at one view how discomfort
ed and vexed they are when | cannot wait
on you. You would see how forward and
impatient they grow under any other busl-
ness, and I'm sure, without further apol-
ogy, would excuse me, and forgive my
absence for their very looks" This is
certainly very prettily expressed by the
young Tempar. This is the chancellor of
whom Noltaire used absurdly to say that
he defended and practised polygamy.-
Cowper's letters to his wife, and the jour
nails he kept for her, show him to have
been most excellent husband. So far as
we are acquainted with legal biography, it
must be said that marriage generally an
swers very well for the lawyers. They
seem to become keenly alive to their re-
sponsibilities, and settle down steadily to
their business.
The men of science do not appear, on
the whole, to have been equally happy.
eb 10 70 hn,, -. Lot
tiers to his Clotilde, but, as rule, it is i'll
for man of science to fall in love with a
woman of science. Sir Humphrey Davy
tells his mother, 60 am the happiest eff
men in the hope of union with woman
equally distinguished for virtue, talents
and accomplishments" He ijoyously tells
his brother, " Mrs. Appreece has consent
ed to marry me, and when the event takes
place, l shall not envy kings princes, or
potentates.'' Sir Henry Holland describes
the sensation which Mrs. Appreece made
in Edinburgh society," when even regius
professor went down. on his knees in the
street to fasten her shoe. Nevertheless
the marriage turned out to be altogether
unsuitable and unfortunate. Count Rum
ford, philosopher, if ever there was one,
married Madam Lavoisier, a philosopher
herself and the widow of philosopher
Almost the first passage in a youthful note
book was, Glove is noble passion of the
mind" He was four years in counting the
clever French woman. We do not know
yhafh o fo hafp hnt
this is the way in which he wrote about
her afterwards 81 have the misfortune
to be married to one of the most imperi-
Gus, tyranhical, unfeeling women that ever
existed, and whose perseverance is pursu-
ing an object is equal to her profound cum
ming and wickedness in framing it." He
explains one of his troubles" She goes
and pours boiling wafer on my beautiful
flowers" which, we admit, was, at least,
eccentric conduct on the part of the lady.
Yet two very eminent living men, NJ.
Guizot and Sir Henry Holland, knew her,
and, indeed speak very kindly of her
under sufficiently remarkable circum-
stances. He gained his wife's heart by
writing anonymous articles in periodical
for her, when she was laid up, and these
litter of papers might be regarded as
novel species of love letters.
We have no love letters of Pascars, but
we strongly think the author of i" Provin-
cial Letters must have written the best
1otfo Df oil P,,t &c ipto tn
find that this Incompatible logic!an and
philosopher had given the subject his most
serious consideration. NJ. Meteor Copsird
discovered among the MSS. of the Abbey
of St. German de Pres, manuscript of
Pascal's called GA Discourse on the Pas
sions of Love- The work leaves no
doubt that Pascal was very much in love,
and his biographers have spun very
lively romance out of the discovery of this
manuscript. But unless it was the sister of
his friend the Due de Rohan, whose story
is the most tragic of all the stories of Port
Royal, conjecture must otherwise be silent.
Pascal has lust one remark which looks
autobiographical:-" When one loves a
lady of unequal rank, ambition may ac-
company the beginning of love; but in
little while the latter becomes the master.
He is tyrant who endures no compassion;
he will be alone; all the passions must
bend and obey him. Man by
/ himself is an imperfect thing, to be happy
he needs to find second. He often search
es for this in condition Of life equal to
| his own, because the liberty and oppor
tunity of declaring himself are there most
easily to be met with. Nevertheless, we
sometimes look far above ourselves and
! feel the fire increase, although we dare not
/ confess it to her who is its cause =
high friendship fills the heart of man
much more completely than common or
equal one." So Pascal seems to have felt:
"The desire of the moth to the star,
Of the day to the morrow;
The devotion to something afar
From the sphere of our sorrow"
1t is something not uncommon in the
history of eminent men. An Addison
woes countess for fifteen years, and then
discovers that she was not worth the WOO
ing. 1t is to be wished that we knew
more of the love affairs of our great men.
The knowledge would explain the lives,
and would explain history to greater ex-
tent than even Lord Macaulay could con-
ceive possible. Now and then we obtain
the glimpses of love letters, but as rule,
we seldom obtain access to those deeper
founts of feeling and far concealed springs
of action.-From London Society.
NOT THE MAN HE THOUGHT.
Some years ago young naval officer
was dispatched with a message to Commo-
dore Stewart then at his home in New