Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1881-05-11
WHOLE NO eOls
THEIR SENIORS.
DInNoUisHaB MN w1iOd MARRIED.
WOMEN OLDER THAN TiiKMssLyss,

WOMLN pibtH THAN ihthshLNhh'
Speaking of oblivion, Il IL surprls-
Ing how rapidly even tho great fall
out Of notice, Carlyle aad George
Eliot were literary wonders, and they
are already dropping ifp@ observa'
ton. The latter was buried At High.
gate, which h already known rs the
resllng place Of Coleridge, The fact
that her husband gohn Walter cross)
was much younger twenty years.
than hcraelf oooasioped much com
men,, This, however, Ia not without
precedent IN literary and social life.
One Of tho leading clergy ID this city
Is married TO q woman ten years hs
senior, and the union appears con-
genial, Mohammeds wife was twenty
years older than her husband, and Il
Is much 10 the credit ot the latter that
he honored her TO the last, He as
cribed much OF his success TO her AZ
sistance and influence. John Howard,
the philanthropist, married out Of
gratitude woman who was equally
his senior. She died in a few years,
however, and his second union was
ono Of love. It,. was, however also
dissolved by the death Of his wife, and
then ho devoted himself 70 philan'
thropy, Napoleon's first wife, Joseph
inc, was his senior by six Years, being
80 at The time Of their marriage, while
he was 25. II would have been we'll
for him had he valued her oonjugal
love, whose violation was the cegin.
ming OF his ruin. Aaron Burr also
married u widow, who, like Joseph
inc, had two children, Mrs. Burr was
l
ten years older than, her husband, bnt
the union was very harmonious. She
probably allowed him that large lib
erty with the fair sex to which he had
been accustomed, and thus avoided
domestic quarrels. John Wilkes, the
famous London asitator OF the last
century, married a lady who was ten
years his senior, but she was not will.
ing to overlook his irregularities, and
hence obtained q divorce. ,,'' |
Johnson, the lexicograpber, married
the Widow Porter, who had u small
property. He was acquainted with
the family before the death of her
husband, and this helped IN 'hs matter
of courtship, Mrs. Porter was 49,
while her husband was. only .2l at the
time of tho wedding. 81 The parties
started horseback for the place where
the ceremony was to- be performed,
and Johnson thus described the jour-
ney to Boswell: "Sir she has got
into her head from old romances that
woman of spirit should use her
lover like dog. AT first she told me
l rode too fast and she could not keep
up with me, but when s1ackened my
pace she passed me and complained
that Jagged. l was MOTTO be made
the slave of caprice, and therefore
pushed on till was out oflsight.-
When she got to the destination l
observed that she was ia tears
johnson always mourned the loss Of
his wife, and though he .gwaalonly 4S
at the time of her death he never mai
RED again. How often ianhis SUBJ
sequent writings he refers to his lost
companion in the most affscfionate
manner. .... Altlaj
When only IS Shakespeare was
married to Annie Hathswayy whose
age was rs. Six months from the
wedding day the first sou ,w1sas born to
this il-mated pair. The husband and
father had no means of.supportinga
family, and when the latter had in
creased to the number o. son and
two daughters he fled to london. The
deserted wife supported her children
as best she could, and twenty years
afterward her husband returned, and
by his subsequent conduct' strove to
atone for his early error. Such facts
as these prove that John Walter Gross,
in marrying Marion Evans, had some
striking precedents. n New York Let.
ter to Cincinnati Gazette ,n.
=