Year: 1868

As general rule, clever men marry badly.
In one sense, this is equivalent to saying that
all men marry badly; tor there is no man who
does not believe himself to be clever. We
speak Just now, however, of men who are ac-
knowlcdgcd by the public, or even by their
friends and acqualntances, to be men OF eXcep-
tiona faculty, of great attalnments, or of dis
tinguishGd social powers. The rarCst thing in


life is to find a married couple possessing the
same marked characteristics, unless, indeed,
they are bound together by common link of
dullness. We seldom find a husband and wife
who are both of them equally celebrated for
their winning address, or their conversational
ability, or their acquaintance with AuguSte
Comte, or their facility in verse writing or pri-


vate theatricals. Still more seldom do we find
a man who is possessed of brilliant intellectual
| faculties married to a woman who comes near
his level. We do not speak ofliterary men ex-
clusvey, although their marital misfortunes


too often make up the bulk of their biographies,
| The general experience of any man who mixes
| freely with various grades of people, and keeps
| his eyes open the while, is that clever man is
| almost sure to have a dull WIFE Further, if


the man have exceptionally fastidious tastes,


the woman is frequently marked out by the vul-


garity of her dress, or manners, or coHversa-
! tIpn.


The reason is Obvious. Clever men marry
DauIS because tIlCE tHink Jnty cdu HOdC IL SIuplu


woman in society by their own intellectual


vigor. They consider they have enough brains


for two. OF course, no man actually goes into


marriage for the purpose OF trying such an ex


pertinent; but the consciousness of having sucf


a power is predlspOSlng cause towards the re
suit. Nor does it necessarily argue vanity. or


the part of a clever man that he should b.
aware of his own intellectual value.


The clever man does not marry a stupiC
woman out of an illogical preference for stu
pidity. But in looking out for a wife he AFRO
gates to himself certain liberty of chOic'
] which men OF smaller parts would scarcely dar
to assume. a man who stands five feet six
7 has an upturned nose, an irascible temper
and no brains to speak of, is generally Dlesse


by Providence with some dim desire of marry
( ing wife who will lend to his househol
the charms of grace and amiability which h
/ could never give it, He wishes to stand wei
y with his friends he wishes to be thought dc
4 sirable addition to their dinner tables, an
r, doubtless is anxious that he should be able
u ask them to hlspwn house without regardln
a their coming as too great favor.


st eff could only get wife who would do a
K this for me |" he sighs. Naturally he takes ev


erv precaution in choosing his mate, that sf
'Tr shall possess those cOmpensating qualities.
N would be absurd to say that this man sacrifice


his freedom of choice on the altar OF society. 81
y. clety does not care a rush whom ne OF anyDOO


else marries But the attitude of society tt
nd wards the lady after she is married is very i'm
+. portant to him and it is for his own comfor
ty that he marries a woman whom society
er likely to admire andlove. Again and again v
.; visit houses which would be unbearable but f
en- the mistress of them and quite as often Y
Or meet with men whom everybody would shun
III they had not dexterous wives to smooth dow
nd nd their offensive angles, and give charm to tn!
t- not very desirable company. The men wi


thus marry generally forget their dependen
sS' on their wives. They get accustomed to Il
ID good grades of society, and look upon them.
ven a tribute to their individual worth. SometiI
A.. ago there appeared in Punch witty picture
i've, we think it was Du Maurier' 's-of a small G
ea- rilla-looking man who had escorted his Wife
red very handsome woman, down to the seaslG
and He confides to his friend, if we rememt
red rightly the embarrassing circumstance that


people ofthe watering place call him and hisw
,ne ana Beauty and the Beast and adds that he ca
,as understand it, for poor .Jemima is not so "


bad d-looking, you know. The picture and
"nG tDI legend-which, it is quite probable, we h;
oaadd mangled in translation-giye happy not
Ut of the modest assumption of good many h
sary TlJ


d dTed Now. man of intellectual ability is apt


nut society altogether out Of the question