that he could better fashion her to his own ways. He had
her taught literature and made her skilled in all kinds of music; and he
had really almost made her such as he would have cared to spend all his
life with, had not an untimely death carried her off while still a girl,
but after she had borne him several children: of whom there survive
three girls, Margaret, Alice[85] and Cecily, and one boy, John. He would
not endure to live long a widower, although his friends counselled
otherwise. Within a few months of his wife's death he married a
widow,[86] more for the care of the household than for his pleasure, as
she was not precisely beautiful nor, as he jokingly says himself, a
girl, but a keen and watchful housewife;[87] with whom he yet lives as
pleasantly and agreeably as if she were a most charming young girl.
Hardly any husband gets so much obedience from his wife by stern orders
as he does by jests and cajolery. How could he fail to do so, after
having induced a woman on the verge of old age, also by no means a
docile character, and lastly most attentive to her business, to learn to
play the cithern, the lute, the monochord and the recorders, and perform
a daily prescribed exercise in this at her husband's wish?

[Illustration: XXIX. SIR THOMAS MORE AND HIS FAMILY, 1527]

He rules his whole household as agreeably, no quarrels or disturbances
arise there. If any quarrel does arise he at once heals or settles the
difference; and he has never let anyone leave his house in anger. His
house seems blest indeed with a lucky fate, for none has lived there
without rising to better fortune, and none has ever acquired a stain on
his reputation there. One would be hard put to it to find any agree as
well with their mothers as he with his stepmother--his father had
already given him two, and he loved both of them as truly as he loved
his mother. Recently his father gave him a third stepmother: More swears
his Bible oath he has never seen a better. Moreover, he is so disposed
towards his parents and children as to be neither tiresomely
affectionate nor ever failing in any family duty.

He has a mind altogether opposed to sordid gain. He has put aside from
his fortune for his children an amount which he considers sufficient for
them; the rest he gives away lavishly. While he still made his living at
the Bar he gave sincere and friendly counsel to all, considering his
clients' interests rather than his own; he would persuade mos