Year: 1877

lHttll IL II aware VI, pIoDdDlN certainly
more than it has ever acknowledged. To
say nothing Of the fact that men have
undoubtedlyma the same use of a scold-
ing wife which has been suggested might
be made of dull and common place ser
mon-as a means of cultvating the viz
tue of patience--it is beyond question
that many of the greatest men who have
ever lived have found a shreWish wife a
fine .Stmulant to humor, Il source Of no
little amusement. and, what is Of far
more Importance to the world at large,
an incentive to labor.


No man but Socrates it has been said,
could have lived with Nantippe, but even
Socrates would hardly have been the man
he was but for his sprightly wife. He
took Aantppe, he was wont to say, after
the example Of jockeys, who that they
may learn to break all sorts Of horses,
take first in hand the most skittish and
mettleSOme they can meet with. Having
learned to put up with the humors Of his
first spouse, he felt convinced that the
female sex could have no telrors for him,
and that be could under all circumstances
get along comfortably with all the world
besides. Socrates was undoubtedly the
greater philosopher for having met with
Aantippe, and the worlu to he end Of
time will hold him in greater estimation
as a wit and humOrist. That good old
joke of his about the thunder-cl and
the rain would never have been made
had Aantppc been DesdemOna or a
Blanca. The lady. twill be remembered,
gave vent to d yolley Of abuse and then
threw a pot of water over him. Whereat
the philosopher chuckled and remarked
that after such a thunder-clap it was
bound to rain. And many another good
thing Socrates has been credited with all
through his shrewish wife 1t has been
remarked as 4 somewhat surprising thing
that such Il domestic scold as Nantippe
in no way intcricred with the philosophers
studies and public services But the sur
prising thing would hay" been if she had
done 50.


Many man has been driven to his
books and his business by nagging wife
fui more effectively than by his stusc ot
duty OF the pressure of necessity. 1t Was
said that the unWearied devotion Of bust
ness displayed by Lord Chief Justice Holt
OF England was to be attributed entirely
to his aversion to his wite's conversation
al peculiarities, and another eminent
iudgc-Judge Gilbert gave to the world
a good many tirst-rate laWbooks while
shut up in Serjeant's Inn, where he was
wont to take refuge from a scolding wife.
Probably the labors of the interchangeable
John Wesley would have been less inces-
SAINT and energetic but for virago Of Il
wife, who made his home about the least
pleasant of places for him.


1t is true that the repelling power of a
scolding wife does not invariably drive Il
man to books or business or itinerant
preaching. Occasionally it happens that
the shrill tongue and terlnagant bland
ishment Of Fulvia drive Antony to find
his pleasure II the East" 1t will hap
pen. too, occasionally, that in other ways
the Tartar, to Use a hOmely phrase, is
found to make a mess Of it. The spttire
Lady Macbeth may by her vehement
powers Of tongue drive her husband to
seek safety abroad i'll the world, but She
may also drive the poor man into enter
prise for which he has neither relish nor
capacity. Possibly there are other ways
in which lady Tartars, or Tartalic ladies,
exert Influences not altogether beneficial.
Curiously enough, the legal profession ap-
pears to have been peculiarly Liable to the
Establishments of the too spirited fair ones


the prelnatIimonial establishments, that
is lU say. Lord Justice Clerk BraXticld
was Il notable instance. "Ne'Vt micke
to complain O, mon," snapped out his
lordship when his butler came to say he
really could not stand his mistress tenn
,,f
his intention to leave, YOU may be
Thankful y'rc not married to her" 1t
was, we believe, this same unlucky law
Nrr who chanced To- he on the bench in Il
Scotch court in which the judges who are
not present when they should he or do
not forward a valid excuse are fined, and
when Lord Stonelicld sent to say he should
he unable to attend "What excuse can
Il stout fellow like him hayr?" demanded
the Justice ..IIc has lost his Wife," WAS
the answer. Has he ~ exclaimed BraX-
field. ''That's Il good excuse indeed. |
wish we had the same.


Unfortunately for the lady of spirit u
little too pronounced. the world, while it
has usually been ready enough to be
amused at her little ehulltions, has never
theless generally enjoyed and has been
prompt to place on record, amy notable
instance Of her humiliations, whether by
the high handed treatment Of a petruchio,
or by the gemtIcr but equally et1cctual
plain speaking Of a Dr. Ayscough. The
story goes that the doctor was once con
ducting a party Of ladies and gentlemen
through the British Museum, and in the
course of their round he was very much
struck by the handsome face and shrcW
ish disposition displayed by certain lady
Of the company. AS Il susceptible Old
bachelor he was at first inclined to ad-
dress his observations more particularly
to this charming little Tartar, but he got
in return nothing but curt and diSparag-
ing remarks about everything to which
he drew her attention. At length the
learned doctor gave up the attempt to
interest his cantankerlOuS visitor. "My
sweet young lady" he remarked, ''What
pains you kindly take to prevent that
handsome face of yours from killing half
the Young beauX in London" and with
that he paid her no further attention. At
the conclusion OF the tour, which the little
shreW contrived to render very unplcas-
ant to everybody, the guide once more

turned to her, and, i'll Il manner charac-
terized by kindly pleasantly, he admin
istered Il formal little address. ''Why.
what a cross little puss you are he said
to her, 'nothing pleases you. Here are
ten thousand curious and valuable things,
brought at Il vast expense from all parts
of the world, and you turn up your nose
at the whole of them. DO you think that
with these airs that pretty face Of yours
will ever get a husband Not if he knew
YOU half an hour first Almost every day
of my life, and especially when attending
ladies through these rooms, regret being
an Old bachelor, for see 50 many charm
ing, goodtempered women that | re-
proach myself for not trying to persuade
one of them to bless me with her company.
But | can't fall in love with you, and Tll
tell you that | shall pity the man who
does for Pm sure you'll plague him out
of his life For all her flashing eyes and
flushing cheeks, it is said that this very
plain speaking had its effect, and that
sometime after a gentleman who had
listened to the rebuke with considerable