r beauty and genius, but he liked health
and good temper, and a certain proportion of useful understanding. He
chose a wife from his reason, not his heart, and a very good choice he
made. Mrs. Mervale was an excellent young woman,--bustling, managing,
economical, but affectionate and good. She had a will of her own, but
was no shrew. She had a great notion of the rights of a wife, and a
strong perception of the qualities that insure comfort. She would never
have forgiven her husband, had she found him guilty of the most passing
fancy for another; but, in return, she had the most admirable sense of
propriety herself. She held in abhorrence all levity, all flirtation,
all coquetry,--small vices which often ruin domestic happiness, but
which a giddy nature incurs without consideration. But she did not think
it right to love a husband over much. She left a surplus of affection,
for all her relations, all her friends, some of her acquaintances, and
the possibility of a second marriage, should any accident happen to Mr.
M. She kept a good table, for it suited their station; and her temper
was considered even, though firm; but she could say a sharp thing
or two, if Mr. Mervale was not punctual to a moment. She was very
particular that he should change his shoes on coming home,--the carpets
were new and expensive. She was not sulky, nor passionate,--Heaven
bless her for that!--but when displeased she showed it, administered a
dignified rebuke, alluded to her own virtues, to her uncle who was an
admiral, and to the thirty thousand pounds which she had brought to the
object of her choice. But as Mr. Mervale was a good-humoured man, owned
his faults, and subscribed to her excellence, the displeasure was soon
over.

Every household has its little disagreements, none fewer than that of
Mr. and Mrs. Mervale. Mrs. Mervale, without being improperly fond of
dress, paid due attention to it. She was never seen out of her chamber
with papers in her hair, nor in that worst of dis-illusions,--a morning
wrapper. At half-past eight every morning Mrs. Mervale was dressed
for the day,--that is, till she re-dressed for dinner,--her stays well
laced, her cap prim, her gowns, winter and summer, of a thick, handsome
silk. Ladies at that time wore very short waists; so did Mrs. Mervale.
Her morning ornaments were a thick, gold chain, to which was suspended
a gold watch,--none of those fragile dwarfs of mechanism that look so
pretty and go so ill, but