Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-09-19
AUTHORS, UNHAPPY WIVES.
The Married Lives Of Dickens and Car.
lyle

lyle
From the New York Star
correspondent, who has read with interest
Mrs. Caird's article on Marriage" and the inter-
view with that lady published in our columns last
week, sends us the subjoined communication. 1t
viii be observed that he makes no attempt TO prove
anything either one way or the other, but con-
tents himself with briefly setting forth few facts
concerning the married life OF Dickens and Carlyle,
merely pointing out that, as it seems TO him, In
the one case mutually agreed upon separation
resulted in disaster, while in the other the mar
rage bond, though strained, remained unbroken,
as it was best foy both that 1t should. We print
his note without rurther Introduction.
The marriage OF the future, as understand 1t
from mrs. Cards famous article and the interview
published In the Pail Mall Gazette, is to be con-
tract which shall, in the event OF certain contin-
gencies happening be dissoluble at the Instance
OF either party. Mrs. Card protests-and rightly
what will happen when q new relation is legalized
from the occurrences which take place when that
same s ne, relation Is under ban; Yeti think may
able opposite cases in the literary history OF the
last nifty years or 50, In each OF which have no
doubt Mrs. Card would have advocated voluntary
separation. In the one case--and here there were
several children-such q separation dia actually
take place; In the other-a chidless marriage
ing, lived together "till death them did partn 1t
Is not my Intention to generalize upon these two
cases; whatever weight they may possess will,
make no doubt, be ultimately accorded to them.
Charles Dickens married at the age OF twenty
four. His wife was the sister OF q brother Jour-
nallst, for at the time OF his marriage Dickens
Chronicle. The young couple appear to have lived
very happily together for some years; she bore
references TO her are always OF an afiectionate
character. Years rolled on, ana the reporter be-
came Q rich and famous novelist. He amassed
considerable wealth; his books were IN every
body's hands and his name became q household
word. Dickens and his wife lived together for
twenty years. How the estrangemenL which
eventually ended In their separation arose 1t is
very difficult 10 discover. Mr.. Forster, as becomes
an experienced and discreet Diographer, touches
the epsoues as lightly as possible But, 1t seems
TO me, there is every reason to accept
the statements OF Dickens latest biographer (Mr.
FRANK Marzials) that for some time previous to
1868 Dickens was in an "OvereXcited, nervous,
morbid state" He was feveriSn and could not be
quiet. AS Harriet Marttneau remarked, at must
have been terribly wearing 10 his wife" And. on
the Other hand, Mrs. Dickens dissatisfaction must
nave reacted upon her husbands peculiar frame OF
mind. Things could not 90 on like this for long.
and are not made Tor each other, and there Is no
help for 1t. 1t is not only that she makes me I'M
easy and unhappy, but that / make her So too,
in the way OF being amiaDle and complying, but
we are strangely i-asSorted for the bond there Is
between n US hsr win not 60
Ioreshadowed the end, and they parted
soon afterward She was not present
one does not know whether he was sent for or not;
one only knows that 1t was the arm Of his wile'S
sister and not that OF his wife which supported
him as he rose dying from his dinner table. Dick
ems reference to his wife In his Will made year
before his death, Is anything but affecuOnate.
There Is no mention OF second best bed with
wire; but instead OF IL we ind self-gratulatOry
sentence, which reads almost like q reprOach.
"And desire here simply to record the fact that
my wife since our separation by consent has been
In the receipt from me OF an annual income of
f6OO, while all the great charges OF a numerous
anu expensive family nave developed wholly upon
myself" In this wise the mOurntul chapter Is
brought TO a close.
We pass from the consideration Of the married
HE o. charles Dickens TO contemplate that OF
Thomas Carlyle
My soul. turn from them; turn we to survey
Where rougher chimes nObier race display.
When Carlyle married he had still to win position
and independence from that sternest OF taskmas-
ters-Lterature. No kindly fate smiled upon him,
rendering his lrst book successful that lie might
command small fortune for every thing he wrote
afterward. For years ne and his brave little wife
could scarcely make ends meet A solitary farm
house like CraigenputtOck, with a taciturn hus-
band Tor company,ls not a thing exactly calculated
to promote sweetness OF disposition In woman.
Nor, on the other hand do years Of unremittlng
unremunerative and unrecOgnized literary labor
cOnduce to suavity OF demean0r in man. Mrs
Carlyle was remarkably clever woman, un-
eQualed In the art OF saying bitter and NOR
dant things. Charming, witty, brilliant,
and af1ecuonately playful as she naturally
was, remarks MI. FrOude, "sne had a hot temper
and tongue, when she was angry, like a cats,
which would take the skin on at O touch" She
and Carlyle often misunderstood one another
Possibly they may not have been altogether well
matched; they certainly quarreled. Rising from
the perusai OF Mrs. Carlyle's Memorials" and
Froude's life Of Carlyle" one is almost tempted
to believe that 1t might have been well IL they
could have separated. Ana yet, would 1t have
been well? Assurediy not. For, In spite OF all
vain surface shows; In spite OF Carlyles everast-
Ing grumblng and frequent neglect OF his wife:
In spite OF Mrs. Carlyle'S "heart-cutting words;"
in spite even OF Lady AshDurton, the pair loved