tle
up from Easedale, nearly as far as the ruined cottage. He said, when he
and his sister wandered there so much, that cottage was inhabited by a
man of the name of Benson, a waller, its last inhabitant. He said on the
terrace, 'This is a striking anniversary to me; for this day forty-four
years ago, my sister and I took up our abode at Grasmere, and three days
after we found out this walk, which long remained our favourite haunt.'
There is always something very touching in his way of speaking of his
sister; the tones of his voice become more gentle and solemn, and he
ceases to have that flow of expression which is so remarkable in him on
all other subjects. It is as if the sadness connected with her present
condition was too much for him to dwell upon in connection with the
past, although habit and the 'omnipotence of circumstance' have made its
daily presence less oppressive to his spirits. He said that his sister
spoke constantly of their early days, but more of the years they spent
together in other parts of England than those at Grasmere. As we
proceeded on our walk he happened to speak of the frequent unhappiness
of married persons, and the low and wretched principles on which the
greater number of marriages were formed. He said that unless there was a
strong foundation of love and respect, the 'unavoidable breaks and
cataracts' of domestic life must soon end in mutual aversion, for that
married life ought not to be in theory, and assuredly it never was in
practice, a system of mere submission on either side, but it should be a
system of mutual cooperation for the good of each. If the wife is always
expected to conceal her difference of opinion from her husband, she
ceases to be an equal, and the man loses the advantage which the
marriage tie is intended to provide for him in a civilised and
Christian country. He then went on to say, that, although he never saw
an amiable single woman without wishing that she were married, from his
strong feeling of the happiness of a well-assorted marriage, yet he was
far from thinking that marriage always improved people. It certainly did
not, unless it was a congenial marriage.[247]

(IV.) Mrs. DAVY.

'The Oaks, Ambleside, Monday, Jan. 22. 1844.

While Mrs. Quillinan was sitting with us to-day, Henry Fletcher ran in
to say that he had reserved his summons for Oxford (he had been in
suspense about rooms as an exhibitioner at Balliol), and must be off
within an hour. His yo