We have been looking over the catalogue of Coventry Patmore’s library,
issued by Everard Meynell at “The Serendipity Shop,” London. The
following note interested us; some of our vigorous readers, now that
the wooing season is toward, may find in it a gentle technical hint:
Patmore told Dr. Garnett that during his courtship, wishing to
be sure that a congeniality of taste existed between himself
and Emily Andrews, he lent her Emerson’s Essays, asking her to
mark the passages that most struck her, and on getting the book
back was delighted to find that the marks were those which he
would have made for himself.
According to Mr. Meynell’s catalogue, the copy of Emerson referred
to is inscribed, in Patmore’s hand: “Emily Andrews, June 24, 1847.”
Emerson’s efficacy in the rôle of Cupid may be judged from the fact
that the two were married September 11, 1847.
One wonders if Patmore applied the same test before his two subsequent
marriages (1864, 1881).
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