ess of his future life;
she was a Roman Catholic; but, however unfortunate dissenting creeds are
in many instances, in this it never disturbed the harmony of their
affection.

She was a woman exactly calculated to create happiness; possessing
accomplishments, goodness of heart, sweetness of disposition and
manners, veneration for talent, a hopeful spirit to allay her husband's
anxieties, wisdom and love to meet his ruffled temper, and tenderness to
subdue it--qualities which made him frequently declare "that every care
vanished the moment he sheltered beneath his own roof."

Edmund Burke became a husband, and also continued a lover--and once
presented to his ladylove, on the anniversary of their marriage, his
idea of "a perfect wife."[2]

For a considerable time after his marriage Burke toiled as a literary
man, living at Battersea or in town, now writing, it is believed,
jointly with his brother Richard and his cousin William a work on the
"European Settlements in America," in two volumes, which, according to
tradition, brought him, or them, only fifty pounds! then planning and
commencing an abridgment of the "History of England."

Struggling, it may be with difficulties brought on by his generous
nature, and which his father's allowance of two hundred a year, and his
own industry and perseverance could hardly overcome, the birth of a son
was an additional stimulant to exertion, and, in conjunction with
Dodsley, he established the _Annual Register_. This work he never
acknowledged, but his best biographers have no doubt of his having
brought forth and nurtured this useful publication. A hundred pounds a
volume seems to have been the sum paid for this labor; and Burke's
receipts for the money were at one time in the possession of Mr. Upcott.

Long before he obtained a seat in Parliament he won the esteem of Doctor
Johnson, who bore noble testimony to his virtue and talent, and what he
especially admired, and called, his "affluence of conversation."

For a time he went to Ireland as private secretary to Mr. Hamilton,
distinguished from all others of his name as "single-speech Hamilton;"
but disagreeing with this person, he nobly threw up a pension of three
hundred a year, because of the unreasonable and derogatory claims made
upon his gratitude by Hamilton, who had procured it for him.

While in Dublin he made acquaintance with the genius of the painter
Barry, and though his own means were limited, he persuaded hi