Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-05-18

pooh, tlht sne mlBnt ENJOY more Ol ner
husbands society, the poet replied "Be
an almanac, then, my dear, that / may
change YOU once year |" This was Sc
we're /; but he did not like her, and re-
venqed himself for his marital disappoint-
ment by abusing matrimony in general.
The poet and landscape gardener Shen-
stone, not considering his circumstances
good enough to warrant marriage with
the lady of his affections, seems to have
contemplated union with his maid-ser-
want. who served him for years with fem
inine TACT and gentleness.
The novelist Fielding accomplished the
fact which the poet hesitated at, and ac-
tually made his maid-servant his wife.
Goldoni, the lively Italian writer Of
Comedies showed singular prudence in
refusing to marry charming girl with
whom he had fallen in love, because after
somewhat exhausting pleasure trip she
showed serious signs of fatigue and
threatened to lose her bloom and elasti-
city early in life. He therefore relin-
quished his claim to her hand it would
never do to have an ugly wife.
The German poet jean Paul Richter
married II fnirlp sensible woman, a de-
voted Uausfrdu, who, as we are told,
could, when the occasion required, rip n
dress apart, dye it herself put it together
again, and wear it with grace and dignity
the next evening to large party. Yet
Caroline could read Plato in the Greek as
we'll With the exception of an occasional
attack of jealousy on her part, decidedly
inconvenient in the wife of German sen
timcntalist, the union appears to have
been harmonious one.
Another literary man who seems to
have been fairly happy in the choice of n
wife is Dick Steele, who by following his
friend Ad,lison's advice and combining
''lovc and interest in the marriage tie,
made two successful unions-the good
natured, conscienceless spendthrift. His
first wife died soon after their marriage,
and his second was wooed so diligently
that months courtship brought abou,
the wedding day. In spite Of occasional
contentious, which were often caused by
Sir Richards little pecuuiary irregulari'
ties, the marriage was n harmonious
one.
Wordsworth was as happy in his do
nestle circle as poet should be-excep-
tionally so, perhops-his serene and pros
porous life reminding us of the lives o.
our own two poets, Bryant and Long
fellow
Southey and Coleridge married sisters
the Misses Fricker-"both milliners," as
Byron scornfully termed them. Excel
lent in every way, it would have beer
strange indeed if Southcy had not PROVED
tho best of husbands and there is NJ
reason to doubt the harmony of his mar
ried life. Naturally, when the differ
| "a, al, o,t, 80 81, f,,,, Il,
considered, such was not the case will
Coleridge. Putting aside his unfortu
nate Indulgence i'll opium, it must b,
granted that few women could have born,
patiently the peculiaiitics of the poet
nature. Who shall blame Mrs. Coleridgt
that she did not, or could not, accompany
her husband in his intellectual wander
i1gs? Isolation must always he the pen
atty of genius.
Lord Byron's iconjugal difficulties hav,
interested thousands who perhaps neve
read five lines of his poetry. He did no
inherit a tendency toward domestic aiiec
ton or marital happiness. His mother
his fathers second wife, was an heiress
whose fortune very conveniently paid he
husbands debts, but did not purchase Iii
liking. His grand-uncle, in fit of pas
sion, threw his wife into the pond a
Newstead on one occasion.
The poet Shellcy's first marriage was
miserable example of hasty and ill-as
sorted union. That the simple, unculti
waited, uuintellectual girl should hav
quickly palled on the mind and taste q
! such a man, is not strange. But no ad
miration for Shelley's genius should blin
us to the fact that his desertion of wifi
and child was, considering all the circum
stances, singularly brutal and dastardly
Leigh Hunt was apparently happy i
his queer household, where the proven
of Giving from hand to mouth" seems
have been practically the mode Of exis
ence. HIS wife was perhaps more dii
tinctly an example Of the "Skimpolo
type than he himself, aud the glimpse "
get of the lady's style of Housekeeping
, some of Mrs. Carlyles letters is sufi
ciently..amusing. Mrs. Hunt borrowe
, continuously, and forgot to lreturn wit
l as much fluency, the list of articles il
: cluding teacups, glasses, spoons, litt
porridge, n pinch Of tea, and, strangel
of all, n brass fender which Mrs. Ca
lyle had great difficulty in getting bac
: again.
Thackeray's domestic life, otherwise
1 perfectly happy one probably, was owe
clouded by one of the worst misfortun'
/, that can befall man, in the insanity
4 his wife. Perhaps his writings, beside
e yielding him fame and fortune, served I
the happiest of distractions from gri
: whose intensity was increased rather this
: diminished by time.
4 1t is well known that toward the latt,
!, part of his married life Dickens rel
u tions with his wife were far from happ
Preiudiced admirers of the great novel;
Z and merely dispassionato observers w
j not be likely 10 agree as to the rights al
h wrongs OF the subject Perhaps it is t.
c soon to pass an unbiased judgment,
least with the testimony SO far offered.
A Ax. .l..s.a lx. la.ax,