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 



