The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1882-12-31

ton. and was too. in equal danger OF having her
head turned by the devotion Of the other sex.
Attic age Of 15 she tells u.s. she received " the
addresses OF an officer" and was wrctched'
when her stern father put veto on the match.
for " I never doubted" she explains. " that the
gallant Captain would. rs he said. forthwith
die OF grief and distraction IL did not return
a favorable answerto his suit" There has un-
questionaby been marked diminution In tho
scope OF feminine crodulty during the last hun
dred years. 1t may. as Mrs. Fletcher observes in
this autobiography, be doubted whether there
now exists In the British Islands girl OF the
age mentioned. provided. OF course. her ca
paoity can DO ranked above an idiots who
would not laugh at the notion Of q mans
dying OF love. To return to Miss Dawson. we
observe that u succession OF admirers all as
much in earnest as the Captain. furnished her
for tho next two or three years with serious
occupation 1t is gratifying to hear that this
young woman. unlike. 1t is TO be feared. too
many OF her frivolous contem poraries. could
never make light Of the sorrows OF the heart"
My sutors" she informs us. were dismissed
without the self-love OF any being hurt by scorn
or tmpertnencc." The truth Is that!the York
shire 'Squirearchy OF the period were not pre-
cisely calculated to answer tho ideal OF young
woman endowed with an active intellect and
o lively Imagination. 1t seems to have been
otherwise with young Cambridge man, as to
whom she acknowledges that =" allowed him
to ask my fathers permission to pay his ad
dresses to me "a permission which was some
what Indignantly refused. for the Yorkshire
yeoman WAS perfectly alive to his daughters
attractions. and looked much higher for her
than young man Just beginning to eat his
terms at the Inner Temple. That he was justi-
fed In doing so was attested by the
fact that there came In Miss Daw-
sons life a crisis whom the splendid but
dissipated peer Of oldfashioncd English nov
els paid her particular attention, and would
unqucstionably have honorod her with pro-
posal for her hand had not her affections been
too palpaby engaged by the poor and elderly
admirer whom. in spite of her fathers strenu-
GUS opposition. she persisted in marrying 1t
| is clear that her heart was set on u cultivated
| husband a prize not easily obtained in the ru
| raj districts of Yorkshire at the epoch.
| Il never" she says. was gratined by compli-
mentary observations on my personal attrac-
tons vanity lay in another corner of my heart.
| anbitiously desired to be distinguished for
mental superiority" Such being her predilec-
tons. and having lost. through paternal inter-
ference, the chance OF marrying man who was
at once educated and young. Miss Dawson res
| c,utey declined to forego second opportunity.
| though it was presented in the shape OF II gem
]
withstandng the circumstances and re-
pronches OF her father. who refused to sane
ton tho marriage by his presence. she
became in 1891 the wife OF Mr.. Archi-
bald Fletcher. she being then 81 and he As
years old. What made this union the more ey-
aspcratns to her father was the fact that Mr..
| Fletcher. although an accomplished pleadcr
| and famous as the champion of burgh reform.
was earning but very slender income. which
A. 1.
In Edinburgh was likely to diminish. From @
| pecuniary point of view Mr. Dawsons appre-
| tensions were justified for it was very many
| years before Mr. Fletcher's income was equal
| to maintaining his family in comfort But all
| shortcomings on that score were more than
| made up by the considerable landed estate
beuueathed to his wife by a friend Of her
mothers. AS it turned out. therefore the
grave and unprepossessing Scotch advocate Of
As carried Off from his young. good looking and
aIluent rivals one of the greatest beauties in
the north of England and fortune to boot.
This wooded pair. which at the first glance
might appear iil-assorted lived together as
the present autobiography demonstrates. in
| harmony and happiness for nearly forty years.
Looking back on her married life. Mrs.
| Fletcher wrote that during all that time
never experienced an unkind word or deed
from my husband; l never knew him to do Il
thing that was not strictly honorable and high
principled. Considering the great disparity OF
| our years there was unusual sympathy be-
tween us" Elsewhere she tells Us that he
! WAS in the best sense of the word most indul-
gent husband. for he literally admitted his wife
to II participation of his Intellectual stores. and
exalted her aims by cultivating her sympathy
| in his own extensive views And again: 1t
might be supposed that having; lived bachelor
fortyilve years. and with n character formed
by long habits OF professional life, As well as n
! mind directed to political and abstract specu-
| lation. Mr. Fletcher might have had little in
| diligence for one whose age and pursuits
were so different from his own but the con-
trary was remarkably the case" Beside this
generous recognition OF husbands merits
lctuS place n quaint passage from u letter in
| which Mr.. Fletcher explains the grounds on
! which Miss Dawson seemed to him the most
| lovablc Of women. He had been reading. IL
seems the novel OF Tom Jones'" and he
thought he had discovered in Yorkshire a
counterpart of Fielding's heroine. H." he
writes i had found brilliants on the wide and
rugged mountains on which first drew my
breath could not have been more surprised
and delighted than was by meeting; such a
person as Eliza. soon discovered in
II beautiful form an elegance OF mind ana
sentiment, and an easy gracefuness of man
ner which thought We're not natural to tho
little village Of ONton. began to be interested
in Eliza: felt n very particular desire to sit
beside her at supper and think contrlved TO
do it. . When the ladies retired after
supper; experienced an uneasy sensation, as
irlbmted "ytremaly to the pi"as,ire Of the com
pany. Fielding said |, you have
drawn your heroine, it must be CON
iesscd, with line pencil, but here is
IN real life, at u little country viii
laGe. n character every way equal in some
respects far superior. Without saying any
thing of eAternpl form, the mental accomplish
mcnts OF Eliza Dawson are above those of the
aminble and Intelligent sophia Western. You
seem to think. Fielding, that knowledge Of
books IL no ornament In u woman, but ha! you
known Eliza Dawson YOU would have altered
your opinion. She would have taught you how
compatible literary requirements are with the
most engaging feminine manners ana when so
blended YOU would have seen now much they
must contribute. both TO the ornament and the
hapnlness Of life such We're my sentiments
OF Eliza Dawson. early adopted and since con-
hrmea by indubit4blr ,cXpcricncc."
We have said that this autobiography
will be found useful and entertaining to
those who desire To learn something
al L, Il.