The Washington times., 1903-12-20
HAPPY MARRIAGES OF
NOTED men OF LETTERS
Some of the Worlds Noted Authors
Found Loving Wives.

Although it is declared that literary
mems marriages often turn out I'll. and
examples in proof thereof are not. in
deed, wanting. 1t is a fact that when an
author espouses a wife who herself
yields the pen the result is. as a rule,
most felicitous.
An ideal union was that OF Robert
Browning. the poet, with Elizabeth Bar
rett, whose acquaintance he first made
in consequence of a graceful reference
to himself in the lady's poem, Lady
Geraldine's Courtship." In the spring
of 1888 they first met, and in the au-
tumn of the following year were mar
ried, to pass together fifteen years happy
and fun of hope as lovers on a honey.
moon
Equally happy in their choice were
Sir Richard Burton and Isabel Arun-
dell. 1t was a case OF love at first
sight. and. although the womans pa
rents opposed the match, subsequent
events proved that in this case love
was clear sighted. Into Burtons adj
venturous life did his wife fully en-
ter. Not only was she his amanuen-
sis. but his aide-de-camp as well. She
rode with him. and when he died the
gears of her widowhood were dedi-
Gated to his memory.
Eccentric Mrs. Grote undoubtedly was.
but her Life" of her husband and
other works place her on an intellectual
level with the celebrated historian OF
Greece. who unquestionabIy owes much
of his success to her strict solicitude.
Masterful she was. and apt at time APP
parent1y to treat her husband as though
he was only a school boy; but this dis
ii.
ever accepted in that spirit in which it
was exercised. Between George Grote,
therefore, and his wife harmony
reigned.
1t mas been the custom to cite as
an unhappy literary marriage that be-
: tween Thomas Carlyle and his wife.
| whose published letters. repIete with
satire. sparkle. and wit, alone justify
her admission to the ranks Of lttera-
tours. Judged, however. by the light
OF the recently published New Letters
and Memorials of Jane Welsh Carlyle, "
the couple, so far from being iii mated,
were eminently suited to each other
/ Their wit combats. often taken By
those present for genuine disagree
ments. were for the most part humorous
! banter. and Tennyson justly summed
UP the situation when he said: Mr.
and Mrs. Carlyle on the whole enjoyed
| life together. else they would not have
chaffed one another so heartily"
] In g. II. Lewes. the author of Phys
4 iology of Common Life" and other
works. that brilliant novelist, George
( Eliot. found one who spared no labor
to insure happiness and success. Theii
/ life was peaceful and methodical. Lit
erary work in the morning-he i'm his
! ground floor study. she in her room
above-was followed in the afternoon
by drive or walk in the park by thai
I strange looking couple. swinging theil
arms ms they hurried along at pace
as rapid as their talk"
When. in 1877, ]. r. Green, the his
torian. espoused Alice Stopford, the au
thor of Henry H. and Town Life in
the Fifteenth Century" he gained 2
wife who not only entered whole
heartedly into all his pursuits and en-,
courage him in whatever task hf
might have in hand. but by watching
over his health enabled him to accom-
plish what in one of his delicate franz
I seemed almost Chicago
! Tribune.