The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1889-01-05

'O'' Ni J
was not tremulous with love lore" The
Ettrick Shepherd says that he "always
liked women better than men," and his
sweetest songs echo his own experience
He gave happy and playful turn tc
his admiration when he wrote:
| Could this i'll world haze been ntrived
To stand without mischievOus woman,
How peaceful bodies might haze lived,
Released irae u the arts common!
| But since it is the woeiu' case
| That maun must haze this Teasing crony,
| Why sic IA sweet, bewtching face:
| Oh had she mo- been made sac bonny!''
He himself was fortunate in drawing
prize in the matrimonial lottery, his
wife being handsome and estimable
woman, much above his original rank
and life, and he showed his apprecia-
ton of happy fireside by being a
| faithful and devoted husband. If it
was his ambition to rival Burns as a
bard, he had fewer of the greater poets
failings to reproach himself with.
One Sunday young Walter Scott Of
fered his umbrella to young lady OF
much beauty who was coming out of
church during a shower. The umbrella
was graciously accepted, and Scott tell
in love with the borrower, who turned
out to be Margaret, daughter of Sir
John Belches. His attentions to the
lady continued for about six years, when
she married banker, who proved to
be one of Scott's most generous friends
| when his time of troubles came. The
story of this, his first and only deep
passion, is recorded in the diary that
Scott kept in 1927, from which it
would seem that there may have been
some misunderstanding between the
young people. Probably it was pride
which led him to engage himself, within
year, to Mademoiselle Charpentier, or
Miss Carpenter, as she was usually
called, the daughter of French Royal
ist who had died early in the revolu.
ton. She made, on the whole, a very
| good wife, only one to be protected
by Scott from every care, and not one
to share his deeper anxieties or to par
ucipate in his dreams. Yet Mrs. Scott
was not devoid of spirit and selt-control.
For instance, when Jeffrey, having re-
viewed "Marmon" in the Edinburgh
in that depreciating and omniscient
tone which was then considered the evi
dence of critical acumen, dined with
Scott on tie very day on which the review
had appeared, Lady, then Mrs. Scott,
behaved to him through the whole even
ing with the greatest politeness, but
fired this parting shot in her broken
English as he took his leave: "Well,
good night, MIR. Jeffrey-dey tell me
you have abused Scott in de Review
and l hope Mr.. Constable has paid
you very well for writing it."
Though Lady Scott's character was
not very deep one, she had kind
and true heart. Ten days before her
death Scott entered in his diary "Stil
welcoming me with smile, and assert
ing she is better" In her last illness
she would always approach her hus-
band and children for their melancholy
faces, even when that melancholy was
as she knew well, due to the approach.
ing shadow of her own death.
A detailed account of the love affair:
of some of the poets, such as Goethe
Shelley and Byron, would not be ex
actly suitable or profitable, so we shal
pass them by to speak of Longfellow'
marriage in 1881, in his 24th year, to {
beautiful girl, named Mary Storer Pot
ter. Two years before, after an ex
tended sojourn in Europe, Bowdoir
College had, on his return to America
appointed him Professor of Moderr
Languages, and now he was to emo,
four perfect years-years of scholarly
labor in congenial position, carried
forward in happy home, with refined
and affectionate wife always watching
beside him. In 1884 the authorities o.
Harvard University offered him the po
sition of Smith Professor OF Moderr
Languages, as successor to Mr.. Ticknor
suggesting that he might take year il
Europe to make himself still more init
mately acquainted with German though
and books. Longfellow gratefully &C
cepted this chance and set out imme
diately with his wife on his travels.
delightful six months were spent, anc
then in Rotterdam, Mrs. Longfellow fel
ill and died there peacefully, but afte
much suffering. This bereavement wa
one of the two great shocks which made
ravages in the poets inner happiness
and the extent of which he concealed
even from his most intimate friends, BY
a resolute reticence. We all know
however, how he endeared the memor,
of his wife, Mary, to all the world il
Footsteps OF Angels"
"Oh, though oft depressed and lonely,
| All my fears are laid aside,
| If but remember only,
| Such as these have lived and died"
After enduring the loneliness of min,
years of widowerhood, the poet married
Miss Appleton, who is supposed to have
been the original OF his sketch of Mar,
Ashburton in the prose romance, oily
perion."
"Her face had wonderful fascina
ton in it. 1t was such calm, quie
face, with the light of the rising sou
shining so peacefully through it. Ant
what soul A temple dedicated tt
heaven, and, like the Pantheon a
Rome, lighted only from above" MI
Nathan Appleton did not allow hi
love lydaughter to pass from him un
lowered, and from this time Longfel