separacion between a man and wiefe, I thinck fewe men in Englande would keepe their wives longe; for it is a common jeste, yet trewe in some sence, that there is but one shrewe in all the worlde, and everee man hath her; and so evere man must be ridd of his wiefe that wolde be ridd of a shrewe."

It is wonderful this good bishop did not use another argument as cogent, and which would in those times be allowed as something; the name of his lordship would have afforded a consolatory pun!

The entertaining Marville says that the generality of ladies married to literary men are so vain of the abilities and merit of their husbands that they are frequently unsufferable. He illustrates his observation by several anecdotes.

The wife of Barclay, author of "The Argenis," considered herself as the wife of a demi-god. This appeared glaringly after his death: for Cardinal Barberini having erected a monument to the memory of his tutor, next to the tomb of Barclay, Mrs. Barclay was so irritated at this that she demolished his monument, brought home his bust, and declared that the ashes of so great a genius as her husband should never be placed beside so villainous a pedagogue.

Salmasius's wife was a termagant; and Christina said she admired his patience more than his erudition, married to such a shrew. Mrs. Salmasius indeed considered herself as the queen of science,

because her husband was acknowledged as sovereign among the critics. She boasted she had for her husband the most learned of all the nobles, and the most noble of all the learned. Our good lady always joined the learned conferences which he held in his study. She spoke loud, and decided with a tone of majesty. Salmasius was mild in conversation, but the reverse in his writings, as our proud Xantippe considered him as acting beneath himself if he did not pour out his abuse, and call every one names!

The wife of Rohault, when her husband gave lectures on the philosophy of Descartes, used to seat herself on these days at the door, and refused admittance to every one shabbily dressed, or who did not discover a genteel air. So convinced was she that to be worthy of hearing the lectures of her husband, it was proper to appear fashionable. In vain our good lecturer exhausted himself in telling her that fortune does not always give fine cloaths to philosophers.

The ladies of Albert Durer and Berghem were both shrews, and the former compelled that great genius to the hourly drudgery of his profession, merely to gratify her own sordid passion. At length in despair, Albert ran away from his Tisiphone; she wheedled him back, and not long afterwards he fell a victim to her furious disposi

tion. He died of a broken heart! It is told of Berghem's wife that she would never allow that excellent artist to quit his occupations; and she contrived an odd expedient to detect his indolence. The artist worked in a room above her; ever and anon she roused him by thumping a long stick against the cieling, while the obedient Berghem answered by stamping his foot, to satisfy Mrs. Berghem that he was not napping!

Ælian had an aversion to the marriage state. Sigonius, a learned and well known scholar, would never marry, and alledged no inelegant reason; that "Minerva and Venus could not live together."

Matrimony has been considered by some writers as a condition not so well suited to the circumstances of philosophers and men of learning. I transcribe from the General Dictionary. "There is a little tract which professes to examine the question. It has for title, De Matrimonio Literati, an cœlibem esse, an verò nubere conveniat, i. e. of the Marriage of a Man of Letters, with an enquiry whether it is most proper for him to continue a Bachelor, or to marry.

"The author alledges the great merit of some women, and particularly that of Gonzaga the consort of Montefeltro, duke of Urbino; a lady of such distinguished accomplishments, that Peter

Bembus said, none but a stupid man would not prefer one of her conversations to all the formal meetings and disputations of the philosophers."

"The ladies perhaps will be surprised to find that it is a question among the Learned, Whether they ought to marry; and will think it an unaccountable property of learning that it should lay the professors of it under an obligation to disregard the sex. But whatever opinion these gentlemen may have of that amiable part of the species, it is very questionable whether, in return for this want of complaisance in them, the generality of ladies would not prefer the beau and the man of fashion to the man of sense and learning. However, if the latter be considered as valuable in the eyes of any of them, let there be Gonzagas, and I dare pronounce that this question will be soon determined in their favour, and they will find converts enough to their charms."

The sentiments of Sir Thomas Browne on the eonsequences of marriage, are very curious, in the second part of his Religio Medici, Sect. 9. When he wrote that work, he said "I was never yet once, and commend their resolutions, who never marry twice."-He calls woman" the rib, and crooked piece of man." He adds, "I could be content that we might procreate like trees, without conjunction, or that there were any way to procreate the world without this trivial and vulgar

way" He means the union of sexes, which he declares" is the foolishest act a wise man commits in all his life, nor is there any thing that will more deject his cooled imagination, when he shall consider what an odd and unworthy piece of folly he hath committed." He afterwards declares he is not averse to that sweet sex, but naturally amorous of all that is beautiful; I could look a whole day with delight upon a handsome picture, though it be but of a horse." He afterwards disserts very profoundly on the musick there is in beauty," and the silent note. which Cupid strikes is far sweeter than the sound of an instrument."

Such were his sentiments when yet youthful, and residing at Leyden; Dutch philosophy had at first chilled his passion; it is probable that the latter afterwards inflamed his philosophy, for he married and had four daughters!

Dr. Cocchi a modern Italian writer, but apparently a cynic as old as Diogenes, has taken the pains of composing a treatise on the present subject-enough to terrify the boldest Bachelor of Arts! He has conjured up every chimera against the marriage of a literary man. He seems however to have drawn his disgusting portrait from his own country; and Mr. Twiss who has so painfully translated his work in his "Miscellanies" might have left his Italian wife at Florence, and not have introduced her to the chaster beauties of