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> [!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
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