The Jersey City news., 1892-03-15
LITERARY HUSBANDS.
=
They Ale Neither Worse
Nor Better Than
Other Men.
INSTANCES O. VERT HAPPY MARRIAGES.
Helpmates of Dante, Milton, Sir
Walter Scott, Shelly and
Others.

The great Dante was married to a noto-
lious scold, and when he was in exile be
had no desire to see her, although she
was the mother of his six children,
Shakespeare lost the sympathies of the
world by marrying Anne hathaway, a
woman eight years his senior, who was
coarse and ignorant.
1t is told of Lord Bacon that he enjoyed
but little domestic bliss, and loved not
to be with his partner"
Milton was not great in the character
of husband and father. We read of him
that his first wife was disgusted with his
gloomy house, and soon run away from
him, and his daughters were left TO grow
up utterly neglected.
OF the great artist, Domenichino, it is
told that he married lady of high birth
and great beauty, who was such virago
that it is believed she poisoned him.
Montaigne, when = widower, said he
would not marry again, Though IL were
to wisdom itself"
Moliere was married to a wife who
made him miserable. and Rousseau lived
Il most wretched life with his wife, who
was low and illiterate.
DRYDEN married discord in noble
Wife" and Addison sold himself to a
cross grained old countess, VINO made
him pay dearly for all she gave him.:
Steele, Sterne, Churchill, Coleridge,
Byron and Shelley were all married un-
happily, and Bulwer and Dickens have
been known by all the world as ind1fer-
enG husbands.
The younger Pliny thus speaks of his
wife, Calphurnia:-"H Her affection for me
has given her a turn for books; her pas
/, an Inv
not my youth nor my person that she
loves, but my reputation and my glory
of which she is euamored."
Sir Walter Raleigh married beauti-
full girl eighteen years his junior, and
she adored him with increasing ardor to
the very last.
DR.. Johnson,s wife was old enough to
be his mother, but ''he continued to be
under the illusions of the wedding day
until she died at the age OF siXty-four,"
he being only fortv-three.
Button told his friend that his wife had
a great influence over his composition.
Il am always refreshed and aided by her
advice"
Sir Walter Scott was a genius of the
very first order He succeeded in every
department of letters, but his greatest
happiness was in his wife. He married
her after short acquaintance. and 1t was
a genuine love match, lasting until the
day of her death.
Moore's wife was one of the noblest
creatures. and he never tired OF singing
her praises.
Shelley's first marriage was unfortu-
nate, but his second was model OF happi-
ness.
Wordsworth made o love match, and
was a lover through life.
The wife of Christopher North had
more influence over HIM than any other
person in the world, and her death was
his greatest of misfortnnes.
Lamartine. the great French poet. was
happily married. and received great aid
from mis- wife in all his undertakings.
1t would be impossible anywhere to find
more domestic felicity than among the
great circle of our modern men and wom-
en- of letters Mr.. and Mrs. S. q. Hall,
the two Brownings, the Two Hewftts.
Teuuyson and his wife. and many others
less noted. might be mentioned. while the
Englishmen of prominence in other fields
have the same good fortune.
Beaconsfie1d married Il lively young
widow, who made him perfectly happy.
and he never lost an occasion of singing
her praises DR.. Arnold. of Rugby. is
cited as having an almost ideal home life,
and also the late Dean Stanley. All the
world knows how happy the Gladsrones
are in their family circle, and so 1t is with
many others.
On this side of the ocean we are proud
of the domestic purity and happiness Of
most of our noted men. Longfellow.
Emerson, Alcott, Holmes, Lowell, Haw-
thorne--all down the long and glorious
list, we can proudly point to genius
sanctified by domestic love, and none the
less happy because they were literary
people.