ith another who can think." Thus Rousseau confesses
the fatal error, and indicates the right principle.

[Footnote A: See "Curiosities of Literature," for anecdotes of "Literary
Wives."]

Yet it seems not absolutely necessary for the domestic happiness of the
literary character, that his wife should be a literary woman. TYCHO BRAHE,
noble by birth as well as genius, married the daughter of a peasant. By
which means that great man obtained two points essential for his abstract
pursuits; he acquired an obedient wife, and freed himself of his noble
relatives, who would no longer hold an intercourse with the man who was
spreading their family honours into more ages than perhaps they could have
traced them backwards. The lady of WIELAND was a pleasing domestic person,
who, without reading her husband's works, knew he was a great poet.
Wieland was apt to exercise his imagination in declamatory invectives and
bitter amplifications; and the writer of this account, in perfect German
taste, assures us, "that many of his felicities of diction were thus
struck out at a heat." During this frequent operation of his genius, the
placable temper of Mrs. Wieland overcame the orgasm of the German bard,
merely by persisting in her admiration and her patience. When the burst
was over, Wieland himself was so charmed by her docility, that he usually
closed with giving up all his opinions.

There is another sort of homely happiness, aptly described in the plain
words of Bishop NEWTON. He found "the study of sacred and classic authors
ill agreed with butchers' and bakers' bills;" and when the prospect of a
bishopric opened on him, "more servants, more entertainments, a better
table, &c.," it became necessary to look out for "some clever, sensible
woman to be his wife, who would lay out his money to the best advantage,
and be careful and tender of his health; a friend and companion at all
hours, and who would be happier in staying at home than be perpetually
gadding abroad." Such are the wives not adapted to be the votaries, but
who may be the faithful companions through life, even of a man of genius.

But in the character of the higher female we may discover a constitutional
faculty of docility and enthusiasm which has varied with the genius of
different ages. It is the opinion of an elegant metaphysician, that the
mind of the female adopts and familiarises itself with ideas more easily
than that of man, and hence the facility with which the