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216 beloved husband, her expansion of mind might have been considerable. Called from him under circumstances the most painful and interesting, Mrs. Melbourne assured me, his resignation only to the Divine will, enabled him to surmount such a trial. Nevertheless, from the remarks I gathered as to the general character of her protégée, I do not think she was a partner altogether suited to Douglas. The understanding of her husband could have been but imperfectly appreciated by her, since in many respects their tastes differed. A man who wishes to enjoy the conjugal state in its perfect bliss, should select for his partner (if haply amidst the crowd he should find such a one,) the female whose capacity is best suited to admire, exalt, and take delight in his attainments, to whatever branch of learning, literature, art, or science they are directed; not that it is necessary she herself should be skilled in such, but that her tastes should so incline as to afford her a strong relish for her husband's acquirements. Nothing can induce me to imagine that it is in the bright scenes of prosperity affection is proved, in those circles where the attention of each is divided by a thousand splendid trifles, by a succession of events as unimportant as they are useless. It is in the quiet and more social scenes of life that the lovely and affectionate wife clings to her partner, and he becomes her prop; the distracting cares of the world, indeed, may have robbed her, for a season, of those domestic joys she had been ever seeking to