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A man of study, he neither loved to obey nor command; he was

perfectly willing that his wife should be mistress in all things

pertaining to household affairs, but not that he should be her

slave; and if, at her request, he lent upon occasion the services

of his pen, it was because he had a particular taste for such

employments. And, moreover, he could refuse to do it, when not

convinced of the propriety of her demand. "Well," he would say,

"do it yourself, since the matter appears so plain to you." Donna

Prassede, after vainly trying to induce him to submission, took

refuge in grumbling against him as an original, a man who would

have his own way, a mere scholar; which latter title, however,

she never gave him without a degree of complacency, mingling

itself with her displeasure.