WIVES OF FAMOUS MEN.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXII, Issue 4308, 24 August 1921, Page 4

WIVES OF FAMOUS MEN.

Nero kicked his wife, Pcppaea, io death. Fielding, the novelist, married his maidservant', and was "miserable. at the age of forty, married an actress of seventeen, and soon separated from her. . Goethe married an estimable frau, who made him quite content with his home. -Milton’s wives gave him so much trouble that he wrote a treatise advocating (Jivorce. Van Dyke married a lady for her money, and was .disappointed on finding she had none. Abraham’s married life was rendered miserable by the jealousy, his wife Sarah had for Hagar. Alexander and Julius Caesar were both accustomed to whip their wives on the slightest provocation. The wife of Burns was -'.s affection; ate as he was inconstant, and readily .forgave ail his shortcomings. Fausta; the wife of Constantine the Great, was so bad that the Emperor had her smothered in a hot bath. Ben Jonson had a shrew who used to go to the ale-room after him and bring him home, scolding ail the way. ■ Cato married a poor girl that she might be completely dependent on him, and found her as troublesome as as though she were an heiress, Shakespeare’s wife was eight years older than himself, a fact that perhaps explains his willingness to spend so much time in London. Landor married a young girl, fpr her beauty, and when the charms were eff they quarrelled, separated, and he vowed he would never see her again. „ . Luther at first opposed the marriage of the clergy, but changed his mind and married Catherine Von Boro, an ex-nun, and lived happily. Shelley’s first wife was the daughter of an inn-keeper. She was uncongenial, and he deserted her for. Mary Godwin. The forsaken wife committed suicide.

Mrs Batter,ton, the first great “Lady Macbeth,” was so devoted to her husband that she became insane at his death, never recovered, and died in less than three months. Sidney Smith’s wife was .such, a good cook that he calculated that during the course of his life he had eaten forty-eight four-horse .waggon loads more than was good for him. Garrick married an Austrian dancer named ViegelA During his whole married life the twain were never separated for a single day, and when he died she retained an idolatrpus affection for his memory.