![[Header#^header-embed]] > [!SUMMARY] > [[Henry Thrale|Henry]] and [[Hester Thrale née Salusbury|Hester Thrale]] celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary on 11 October 1776. > > [Baronet Sir William Weller Pepys](http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp56974/sir-william-weller-pepys-1st-bt) (1740-1825) wrote these verses to mark the occasion. > [!QUOTE] Verses by Sir William Weller Pepys, December 1762. [[Thraliana]] entry dated June 1777… > Give me to bless Domestick Life > With sweet Repose secure from Strife; > (Cries every Pedant in a College) > A Wife not over-stockt with Knowlege; > This—every Fool who loves to quote > What Parrot-like he learn’d by rote; > And every [Coxcomb](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coxcomb) whose Pretence > To Wisdom marks his want of Sense, > And all good Huswives skill’d in Darning > Who rail with much Contempt at Larning: > > And all who place their Sovreign Good in > The Composition of a Pudding > Repeat with such Triumphant Air > Such deep Sagacity—you’d swear > That Knowledge among Woman kind > Was deadliest Poyson to the Mind; > A Crime—which venial if conceal’d > Like Theft at [Sparta](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sparta),—if reveal’d, > The Guilty stamps with such disgrace, > No Culprit dares to Show her Face. > > But tell me You, who dar’d despise > These vulgar Maxims—who from Eyes > Which well might grace the loveliest Fair, > Turn’d not because bright Sense beam’d there; > But—vent’rous Deed!—in Marriage sought > A Mind with Stores of Knowledge fraught; > Tell me through all these thirteen Years, > Through varying Scenes of hopes and Fears; > Could Ignorance more faithful prove? > Could Folly’s Self more warmly love? > Then long may this Auspicious Morn > At each still happier Year’s Return > Tell—what thy Sweet Experience shews, > That Head and Heart are friend—not Foes. ## See also ![[hester-lynch-thrale-1741-1821🔎#^hester-lynch-thrale-infoblock]]![[henry-thrale-1724-1781🔎#^henry-thrale-infoblock]] #history/person/SALUSBURY/hester-lynch-born-1741 ![[Footer#^footer-embed]]