The Liberator

MISCELLANEOUS.

A PERFECT WIFE

Burke's portrait of his lady is thus introduced by Prior, in his life of that statesman:
'Added to the affectionate admiration of his talents, Mrs. Burke possessed accomplishments, good sense, goodness of heart and a sweetness of manners and disposition, which served to allay many of the anxieties of his future career, the labor to obtain fame and independence, the fretful moments attendant on severe duty, the irritations produced by party and political zeal, the tempestuous passions engendered by constant contention in parliamentary life. He repeatedly declared that "every care vanished the moment he entered under his own roof." He wrote the following beautiful descriptive paper—the idea of a perfect wife—which he presented to her one morning on the anniversary of their marriage, delicately headed thus:
The character of
leaving her to fill up the blank. It is as follows:
"I intended to give the idea of a woman, if it at all answers any original I shall be pleased; for if such a person as I would describe really exists, she must be far superior to my description, and such as I might love too well to be able to paint as I ought.
"She is handsome, but it is not a beauty arising from features, from complexion, or from shape: she has all three in a high degree, but it is not by these that she touches my heart: it is all that sweetness of temper, benevolence, innocence and sensibility, which a face can express that forms her beauty.
"She has a face that just raises your attention at first sight—it grows on you every moment, and you wonder that it did not more raise your attention at first.
"Her eyes have a mild light, but they awe you when she pleases; they command like a good man out of office, not by authority, but by virtue.
"Her features are not perfectly regular: that sort of exactness is more to be praised than to be loved, for it is never animated. Her stature is not tall; she is made to be the admiration of every person; but the happiness of one.
"She has all the firmness that does not exclude delicacy: she has all the softness that does not imply weakness.
"There is often more of the coquette shown in an affected plainness than a tawdry fineness; she is always clean without precision or affectation. Her gravity is a gentle thoughtfulness, that softens the features without discomposing them; she is usually grave.
"Her smiles are inexpressible.
"Her voice is a low, soft music, not formed to rule in public assemblies, but to charm those who can distinguish a companion from a crowd; it has this advantage, you must come very close to her to hear it.
"To describe her body describes her mind: one is the transcript of the other. Her understanding is not shown in the variety of matters it exerts itself on; but in the goodness of the choice she makes.
"She does not display it so much in saying or doing striking things, as in avoiding such as she ought not to say or do.
"She discovers the right and wrong of things, not by reasoning but sagacity; most women, and many good ones, have a closeness and something selfish in their dispositions: she has a true generosity of temper; the most extravagant cannot be more unbounded in their liberality, the most covetous not more cautious in their disposition.
"No person of so few years can know the world better: no person was ever less corrupted by that knowledge.
"Her politeness seems to flow rather from a natural disposition to oblige, than from any rules on that subject; and therefore never fails to strike those who understand good breeding, and those who do not.
"She does not run with girlish eagerness into new friendships, which, as they have no foundation in reason, serve only to multiply and embitter disputes; it is long before she chooses, but then it is fixed forever, and the first hours of romantic friendships are not warmer than hers after the lapse of years.
"And as she never disgraces her good nature by severe reflections on any body, so she never degrades her judgment by immoderate or ill placed praises, for every thing quiet is contrary to her gentleness of disposition, and the evenness of her virtue; she has a steady and firm mind, which takes no more from the female character, than the solidity of marble does from its polish and lustre.
"She has such virtues as make us value the truly great of our own sex; she has all the winning graces that make us love even the faults we see in the weak and beautiful of hers."