LITERATURE AND MATRIMONY.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 641, 19 October 1909, Page 4

LITERATURE AND MATRIMONY.

; The,,theory that, literary ''men.'pught. .never, to marry, if only ■for; , the': sake, of 'their .wives, recoiycs.powerful support from.an'article' in qno,of:the-Septembor reviews. '.Mr. , Sidney Lee is of opinion, that the personal"history : of; ! men of genius should, be investigated in a scientific' fnsnion,< ."and the, results ■ tabulated ■ with : as much .precision as'the available khbwledgp , admits.. This, is. a very wide, field,, of■:course. .Mr.aeo has begun'with''a littlo modest spadework, ln.ono corner. .He has brought 'together ttionames.of.6B authentic men of-iotters; most of. them pf'recognised.genius;' The life-history ■ of' each-, in-' relation to' .marriage—or•' celibacyhas; been summarised. , - Occasionally ;the >aldness.bf.this chronido accentuates unfavourably the marital■■•history.-.'-"Burns. v ;MaiTied to , a woman-/syliO' had; been- his- mistres's.'"-"Occasioh- ; te'iher-arterwards." But 1 perhaps summary justice; or injuriice, is inevitable in tins kind of:'precis-.writing.'.'rho'-iirst' remarkable fact discloeed' is 'that'of the.oß eminent writers, men of tho highest'' gifts,' no' fe*cr than 25 never. married.; We'may cito them, .both because the names aro of interest m themselves and'' because they are an' index of the: literary grade -which Mr.- Leeihas choEen for, investigation. • The'celibates arc 'Hobb'cs; Aewton, Locke;. Congreve, Otway,'.Pope,' Prior, 1 Eichardson, • James ■' Thomson, GraV;. Hume, Adorn. Smith,,.Gbldsmith, Gibbon, r Cowper, Ben-' tham, Charles Lamb, -Macaiilay, Newman; 1. S, Mill, ..Herbert;Spencer, Charles Eeade; James 1 Thomson' ("8.V."), and-Walter Pater; That is certainly-an.astonishing list; and: tho 'an- , ;alysis- of the. remainins' 43' literary.' men Bug-' gests that: these.2s celibates were probably happier single, than they: would have been, in-mar-riage.,, Eather. loss than' half .of 'tho'43 made marriages which wore, satisfactory;-., Less than ; a, third.of tlio. ; whole-,lißt'Wcdded'aiid lived 'in ordinary.fcontentand comfprt.with their wives: Conc'erning..-thoso who- were unfortunate ? 'we' need not enter into .details. .Tho literary man' who '.marries 'seems to. make a' chaotib'mess bf: the % business; and .also to be -, peculiarly : ' ill- : starred. Coleridge, became almost.; completely 1 ' alienated. from.' his - wife and , , lived apart from her. * Swift;never Eaw his.-'wife'excopt , in preserico .of. a. third party.. Southey'e first' wife' becamo; iiLsane, nnd thon he "married, his second wifa at tho age of 06, just,before , complcto fail--ure of:his montal ; faculties,":.' ,(.■ ■ ■.■;

-Mr; -Leo does not Beotri to'iiitend .a sarcasm Lheroj.but.the result of his bwn resoarchos into this subject would. excuse even ono . 'that is somewhat threadbare. His data 6upport ,what ■ has come to be-a.: very genoral belief,-founded to .no small extent upon' tho widespread-.dis-somination- of the; history of' tho ■infolicitles of Carlylc and' his-,wife,-- .iln Lee ; does not 'think that -:.they. ; evor : rose .{-to -.the level., of■/ tragedy. If .Mrs, ■ Carlylo, could-.. havo- joinodv-the' Primrose,Loag\ie:or..ovcn'.the:Suffrttßists,; and if .-her Husband had been compelled to attend •. an- office from; tea.'to four, both .would'have been much happier. They, might oven havn - been' labelled satisfactory" in: this • list. Mr. Lee goes : to tho root cause when he. suggests , that I the literary man is- unhappy, ns a 'husband, I because ho is sentenced for life to a, daily over■doso. of domesticity, , . He is always aboutthe l.hoase, and he is -always liable to;interruptio" ;;in an'epic'byitho news that the cook.has given .; warning., This annoys him, i and ho is apt to ;be still more annoyed by his wife's evident bolief that tho cooks departuro is of more importance than his epic.. The first, if not also tho.last word of wisdom, was spoken by the lady who laid down one strict condition when she accepted the proposal-of o , literary man. "I.have only one thing to ask you.. You must promise not to be in to lunch."., But behind this obvious cause of marital dispeaco, Mr. Leo thinks .that he can trace the' working of a deeper principle The celibacy, the homo discord, and tho childlessness of men,of gonius may be n provision of Naturo to prevent the pramature. production of, a race of supermen. A. -rabe ! of geniuses might-be a race of moral and intellectual monsters. This is a sciotliing theory, and must bo particularly grateful to Mr. Bornord Shaw, for if tho literary noniuses of: the.-past 300 years had reproduced their species, Mr. Chesttrton .would nover have written a book aboutrhim. and that fortwo reasons.; Mr.- Shaw would have been: an obscure and quite comrapn-placo person, condemned to pain a living by society journalism;-and Mr. Chesterton .would havebcen a brewer's traveller, . his 'writing strictly, confined. to. an ■ order-• i tiqok.TT"Glasgow Herald." : ,' . 1