seen nothing in the incident, and would have supposed a mistake by the servant, who might have believed that her mistress was out. But the next moment he turned to see who was her companion—a lady whose face was towards the window. The recognition was, of course, instantaneous. The Scot’s countenance at once assumed that stern scowl which had come upon it during the interview with Lygon. He looked at Laura for a moment, and then, without a word, left the room.
REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN.
Wives.
madame lavalette, lady fanshawe, mrs. patton.
It is rather amusing, and sometimes more than amusing, to an old bachelor like me, to be reminded of the widely differing doctrines, theories, notions, or professions which have been put forward in different conditions of society in England, as to the proper characteristics of a good wife. There has been some change of view even in my time. More than once within this century, society has inclined towards this, that, or the other idea of the best sort of wife, as she would be drawn in literature. It seems to me that during the war, half a century ago, men of the middle and upper classes liked a stronger tone of mind, and more activity of habits in their wives than it has of late been the fashion to admire. Some of our literary men, at least, have been trying of late years to spread among us their taste for the wife who is always at her husband’s disposal, for his amusement in the intervals of work. This is to be the criterion of her value. She is to be at all times punctual to a moment, or in waiting for his commands: she is always to be at complete leisure—not worn or anxious about the children, for whom money can purchase attendance: she is never to be too tired or anxious for perfect brightness and comeliness: she is to do no coarse or ugly work; but is to be dressed in black velvet, or something of that kind, embroidering cambric, or nothing: to be ready to play and sing, or go to the theatre, or have a capital dinner or supper set out at short notice, without disappearing from the room, or touching the domestic burden with one of her lingers: she is to appreciate and be constantly delighted with her husband’s achievements, in whatever line they may be, from completing his stock-taking to writing his tragedy, or making his great speech of the session; and, at the same time, she must not be learned, nor fond of books, nor liable to hold any opinion which she does not know her husband to entertain. This is the ideal of a wife which has been set up before our eyes with much energy and perseverance for some years past, as other images have been adored by former generations: but it may be observed still, as at any former time, that a genuine case of supreme wifely excellence overthrows all fantastical notions and exclusive doctrines, and “makes the whole world kin” by that vital “touch of nature” upon the common heart of mankind. One writer, Lady M. Wortley Montague, or Mr. Urquhart, or Mrs. Poole, or Mr. Milnes, may write accounts of Moslem wives which set society disputing about whether women had better be shut up or live under the free heaven; a cynic may praise the Mongolian wife, who is her husband’s Jack-of-all-trades and maid-of-all work; while a saint would have women walk in long gardens, among Passionflowers, and carrying each a tall white lily: but they will feel alike, and like other people, when an incident of true conjugal heroism or devotedness occurs within their ken. There may thus be representative wives, as truly as representative soldiers, or statesmen, or adventurers; that is, there is a common agreement in regarding them as a complete exemplification of the idea of their class.
I need not spend many words on the plain fact that the good wife of one state of society is very unlike that of another, in regard to the cultivation of her mind and the employment of her time. There are Irish villages, and Scotch glens, and English towns at this day where the Mahratta or Thibetan or Red Indian wife would be regarded as the model of her sex. Such a spouse carries the tent, or rides the bullock or pony, with all her children hanging about her, while her husband rides on before, in showy trim. At the resting place she pitches the tent, or excavates an apartment in the snow; lights the fires, shampooes her husband while he smokes, and then feeds and waters and shampooes his horse; cooks the meal and serves her husband with it; and then feeds the children, collects food for the animals’ next meal, perhaps catches fish, or shoots a few wildfowl, and, long after the whole family has been asleep, lies down at her husband’s feet, or in any corner where she can find a spare bit of mat, aware that she must be the first up in the morning. This Asiatic or American wife is, in a manner, the representative of a considerable number of wives now living within the United Kingdom; but we consider that method of life a remnant of barbarism, which will disappear before the advance of education; and meantime we have no particular desire that the phase should be preserved by any express representation. Wives who do all the work for lazy husbands, and bear all humiliations from despotic ones, are not model wives in the eyes of English society, though they are regarded as inestimable conveniences by individuals of the nation.
The favourite image of the wife in the imagination of the greatest number of civilised nations is perhaps that of the mediæval matron, at the opening of the age of chivalry. When we would think of a noble woman, under our own system of morals, our minds recur to the Crusader’s wife, living in her castle or mansion for years together, without tidings of her husband, commanding the domestic garrison, and superintending the cultivation of the lands, providing for the retainers, ruling the tenants, controlling the dependents, employing the household priest to write all despatches, as no one else could do it; revising and checking the accounts of the steward; keeping the purveyors, military and civil, up to their duty, that the place may always be fit for defence; and, when necessary, standing a siege, in her husband’s name, for her husband’s sake, and often with his ability and courage. It is true such an ideal, if