YORKSHIRE BARRISTER'S ROMANCE

Evening Star, Issue 14514, 4 November 1910, Page 8

YORKSHIRE BARRISTER'S ROMANCE

In a recent issue we mentioned the trill of the late Mr Joseph Munby, the Yorkshire barrister, who, dying at the age of eighty-one, left estate valued at over £25,000, and who in that document paid tribute to the virtues of Ins wife, who for forty-five years acted as his sen-ant, and was "beloved by me with a pure and honorable love, and not otherwise . . - and during all • that time has been as faithful and loving and devoted to me as ever woman was to man." , , ~ , To the British Museum he bequeathed two deed boxes with contents (Al». and photographs), labelled ''British Museum MSS. Box No. * and British Museum MSS. Box No. 2-3," if the trustees will accept the same, but neither is to be examined or opened until the Ist January in tho vear 19 °,; To Trinity College, Cambridge, his old college, his collection (chiefly of contemporary editions) of works of English poets and translations of some foreign poets, twenty volumes of 16th and 17th centurv romances, chiefly in folio (Sidney's ' Arcadia ' and Sheldon's 'Don Quixote'), and also other folio works of his, such as North's ' Plutarch ' and Florio's ' Montaigne,' and all his books in prose or verse presented to him by their authors, editors, or publishers, or eminent English and American friends, requesting that all of these books bo kept together as one collection. Should the trustees of the British Museum not accept the bequest of the deed boxes and their contents upon tho condition laid down, this bequest is to revert to Trinity College, Cambridge. The bulk of his estate he loft to his brother, who is clerk to the York magistrates, and £I,OOO to each of the latter's children.

—Personal Characteristics. —

Discussing the affair with a representative of the ' Daily Mirror,' Mr Cole, a I'yri'ord farmer, said Mr Munbv came to l'yrford about 1573, and took over the tenancy of a house and called it Buttercup Cottage. He, Mr Munby, continued to reside there until his death, when the furniture was disposed of. "He was really a most charming man, and his one idea seemed to bo to make people happy. Frequently ho spoke sympathetically about Wjoplo who had to work for their living, and when walking along the lanes, ho would, if he saw a working girl, stop and speak words of good cheer to her. He never mentioned his wife to anybody, nor did she live at Pyrford. He had two servants, a cook (who was also aousekeeper), and a maid, but they are i>oth well-known here, and neither was ais wife. Apparently, his wife always ived at Hadley, hi Salop." Mr Jas. Culhvick, of Hadley, said: " I remember hi in very well at the time lie was married to Hannah, when he was forty-four and she was forty. They married for love, and they were lovers all their lives. He was a great scholar, and, though she was not what you could call an ignorant woman, she could take no interest in his lawyer's work. She was very fond of cooking, and he used to like her cakes above everything, and- sometimes he would read to her. They used to walk in the fields together, and he would talk to her about the trees and the birds and the flowers." —Refusing a Servant.— Mrs Munby's eldest brother, in an interview, said: "Mr Munb.v engaged a servant for her once, but Hannah would not keep her. preferring to do her own work. She simply worshipped her husband, and lie did her. There was never a cross word between them. But for a watch, Mr Munby never made her any presents. She would not have them, and she wore no rings or jewellery ex-i-ept her wedding ring. He was much distressed at her death." —Poem to "Maid Margery.— Mr Munby, who was a frequent contributor, to the 'Spectator,'' the ' Athenaeum,' and other leading periodicals, did a lot of writing up to the time of his illness three years ago. One of 1; is poems was entitled 'Maid Margery,' Ritd gains additional point from the revelations that have just been made : They say you are to mean and low; Your gown is but a cotton print: You wear a cap that hides your hair: You are too homely to be fair — Maid Margery! Your hand, they say, is large: they traco Broad lines of labor on the palm; And if a hand be thus, of course. A ring of gold but makes ii worse. Maid Margery! " Unletter'd wind, unlovely heart. A soulless drudge, a pearl-fed swine, Who cannot understand a word Of all the mots she ever heard!"' Maid Margery. Tis thus they speak of you : you lack The reticence of cornine il faut, The skill to meet opposing wits; You, a mere girl that sits and knits— Maid Margery!

WtU, poor men's sweethearts should be poor. SiDce you and I must work, who knowj Bus wc might work together: I The brain and you the hand and eye, .Maid Margery?