A Biographical Sketch 



dissolute fellow. The brother was gravely alarmed, and paying a 

 visit to Morland, upraided him bitterly and broke off the match, 

 little guessing that the artist rejoiced in his abuse and was pro- 

 foundly relieved at the conclusion of the scene. 



After another foolish flirtation with a certain young servant- 

 maid, which did not, however, lead to any serious consequences, 

 George Morland then lived in the same house for a time with 

 William Ward, the engraver, and in Anne Ward, his friend's 

 sister, he met the woman who was to be the faithful companion of 

 his life. William Ward at the same time fell in love with iVlorland's 

 sister Maria. There were two weddings within a month of each 

 other, and the two young couples set up housekeeping together in 

 High Street, Marylebone. 



At first it seemed an idyllic arrangement, and we can imagine 

 the merry scenes and mutual affection which made the life of the 

 young married people, for a few months at least, a dream of roses 

 and delight. George's high spirits, and the charming grace and 

 beauty of his young wife ; William Ward's artistic talent, which 

 gave him common interests with his brother-in-law, and the sisterly 

 affection of Maria, would seem to have promised the most perfect 

 harmony and felicity in the little household. But it has been 

 proved — alas, how many times ! — that close relatives may love each 

 other best at a moderate distance, and that for young married 

 people especially it is a fatal mistake to live in the same house with 

 their kith and kin. After the first month or so the strain of the 

 matrimonial yoke begins to be felt. The bachelor begins to 

 feel the loss of his liberty ; the young wife begins to find out her 

 husband's failings ; and in order that they may get over this trying 

 period of probation the situation must not be complicated by the 

 intrusion of other parties, whose relationship allows them the 

 licence of criticism and interference. We do not know the details 

 of the domestic storms which began to rage in the household of the 

 Wards and Morlands, but with such a passionate and unbridled 

 temperament as that of George Morland we can imagine their 

 violence. There seems to have been jealousy between the two 

 young wives, and fretful suspicion between the husbands. The 

 crisis came when the two young men went out into the sandpit 



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