222 FRESH FIELDS 



to her genius, the husband toiling like Hercules at 

 his tasks and groaning much louder; both flouting 

 at happiness; both magnifying the petty ills of life 

 into harrowing tragedies; both gifted with "preter- 

 natural intensity of sensation ; " Mrs. C. nearly 

 killed by the sting of a wasp; Mr. C. driven nearly 

 distracted by the crowing of a cock or the baying 

 of a dog; the wife hot-tempered, the husband atra- 

 bilarious; one caustic, the other arrogant; marrying 

 from admiration rather than from love could one 

 reasonably predict, beforehand, a very high state 

 of domestic felicity for such a couple? and would 

 it be just to lay the blame all on the husband, as 

 has generally been done in this case? Man and 

 wife were too much alike; the marriage was in no 

 sense a union of opposites; at no point did the two 

 sufficiently offset and complement each other; hence, 

 though deeply devoted, they never seemed to find 

 the repose and the soothing acquiescence in the 

 society of one another that marriage should bring. 

 They both had the great virtues, nobleness, gen- 

 erosity, courage, deep kindliness, etc. , but nei- 

 ther of them had the small virtues. Both gave 

 way under small annoyances, paltry cares, petty 

 interruptions, bugs, cocks, donkeys, street noises, 

 etc. To great emergencies, to great occasions, they 

 could oppose great qualities; there can be no doubt 

 of that, but the ordinary every-day hindrances and 

 petty burdens of life fretted their spirits into tat- 

 ters. Mrs. C. used frequently to return from her 

 trips to the country with her "mind all churned 



