XXIV 
A FEW MEMOIRS OF 
Herbert only for her husband; and thus the aforesaid 
Joseph A. Scoville found himself in a peculiarly perplex¬ 
ing predicament, and his mind has, we believe, never 
fully recovered from this distressing shock to its original 
sensibilities. These circumstances are a subject of gossip 
down to the present day in Bangor. This is, undisputa- 
bly, a free country; our Puritan brothers in the East 
have peculiar ideas of European nobility; and the sway 
of female power is not only absolute but unquestionable 
in American society. The real motives of action in such 
cases are necessarily of a private nature, and it is not 
likely that they ever can be properly understood by out¬ 
side lookers-on. We have here stated such facts as are 
known to have occurred, and they go to show that II. W. 
Herbert was not the only odd character in his day and 
generation. As “Death loves a shining mark,” so does 
“ the reptile spirit of calumny.” 
History teaches that royal marriages, when conducted 
by proxy, sometimes lead to dangerous perils from the 
despotism ot love. The ambassador is frequently thought 
more of than the prince who sent him. But Herbert was 
not the man to play the part of Dandini to any other 
man’s Prince Felix—Cinderella or no Cinderella. Her¬ 
bert’s principal was present. 
The general consistency of Herbert’s spirit-life may be 
seen in the fact that a happy marriage made him more 
useful and more admirable in society. Domestic disquiet 
being a fatal bar to all sublimity of attainment, no man— 
however great he may be in the way of genius or of indus¬ 
try-can possibly prosper under such despotic and 
obtrusive misery. But, with a happy home, all the ordi¬ 
nary troubles of life are deprived of any serious influence, 
and the man has some chance for shining forth in his true 
character. So it was with Herbert. In 1840, the year 
his son was born, Herbert extended his literary and poet- 
