leled;--or such again as the
wife of Zimmermann, whose intense melancholy she strove in vain to
assuage, sympathizing with him, listening to him, and endeavouring to
understand him--and to whom, when on her deathbed, about to leave him
for ever, she addressed the touching words, "My poor Zimmermann! who
will now understand thee?"

Wives have actively helped their husbands in other ways. Before
Weinsberg surrendered to its besiegers, the women of the place asked
permission of the captors to remove their valuables. The permission was
granted, and shortly after, the women were seen issuing from the gates
carrying their husbands on their shoulders. Lord Nithsdale owed his
escape from prison to the address of his wife, who changed garments with
him, sending him forth in her stead, and herself remaining prisoner,--an
example which was successfully repeated by Madame de Lavalette.

But the most remarkable instance of the release of a husband through the
devotion of a wife, was that of the celebrated Grotius. He had lain for
nearly twenty months in the strong fortress of Loevestein, near Gorcum,
having been condemned by the government of the United Provinces to
perpetual imprisonment. His wife, having been allowed to share his cell,
greatly relieved his solitude. She was permitted to go into the town
twice a week, and bring her husband books, of which he required a large
number to enable him to prosecute his studies. At length a large chest
was required to hold them. This the sentries at first examined with
great strictness, but, finding that it only contained books [20amongst
others Arminian books] and linen, they at length gave up the search,
and it was allowed to pass out and in as a matter of course. This led
Grotius' wife to conceive the idea of releasing him; and she persuaded
him one day to deposit himself in the chest instead of the outgoing
books. When the two soldiers appointed to remove it took it up, they
felt it to be considerably heavier than usual, and one of them asked,
jestingly, "Have we got the Arminian himself here?" to which the
ready-witted wife replied, "Yes, perhaps some Arminian books." The chest
reached Gorcum in safety; the captive was released; and Grotius escaped
across the frontier into Brabant, and afterwards into France, where he
was rejoined by his wife.

Trial and suffering are the tests of married life. They bring out the
real character, and often tend to produce the closest union. They may