172
Bellew s dispraise of Women
gether till past midnight. When two men, on
friendly relations with each other, are thus situated,
they naturally become confidential; the more certain-
ly so if one of them be miserable. So, very soon,
I obtained an indirect confession of Bellew s
domestic wretchedness. It began by his suggesting
the compilation of a book on marriage, to include
all that of excellence that has been written upon men
and women in their conjugal relations. He spoke,
as he always does, disparagingly of the sex. The
worst man, he said, was better than the best of wo-
men! He believed his mother-in-law was one of
the worst of women the most unjust, cruel, un-
charitable, merciless, exacting. The only way to
rule a woman was to tyrannize over her; to make
your will a sovereign, despite law; to be selfish
and unjust, to do things that revolted you. There
was Beckett his brother (whom I characterized as
a healthy animal ) always a self-willed fellow
hs father had to give him up in despair could make
nothing of him Beckett who was partial to poachers,
to pugilists, dogs, rats and low company whom
nobody had any restraining influence over, except
himself, F. B. well, Beckett had one of the best
wives in the world, and at first he treated her
brutally. When he married her she would have
$12,000 some day not soon, but certain
| Page |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eighteen: page one hundred and eighty-nine |
| Description: | Regarding Frank Bellew's opinions on women and marriage. |
| Date: | 1862-01-26 |
| Subject: | Bellew, Francis-John; Bellew, Frank; Bellew, Patrick Beckett; Bellew, Patrick Beckett, Mrs.; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Marriage; Wheeler, Mrs.; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | [New York, New York] |
| Scan Date: | 2010-06-14 |
| Volume |
| Title: | Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries, Volume Eighteen |
| Description: | Includes Gunn's descriptions of the scene in New York at the commencement of the Civil War, his visits to military camps in and around New York City as a reporter for ""The New York Evening Post,"" boarding house life, the shooting of Sergeant Davenport by Captain Fitz James O'Brien for insubordination, and Frank Bellew's marital troubles. |
| Subject: | Boardinghouses; Bohemians; Civil War; Gunn, Thomas Butler; Journalism; Marriage; Military; Publishers and publishing; Women |
| Coverage (City/State): | New York, New York |
| Note: | Thomas Butler Gunn was born February 15, 1826, in Banbury, England, and came to New York in 1849. During the Civil War he worked as a correspondent for the New York Tribune and the New York Evening Post. He returned to England in 1863, and died in Birmingham in April 1903. The collection includes twenty-one volumes of his diaries, including newspaper clippings, letters, photographs, sketches, and various other items inserted by Gunn. Diary entries date from July 7, 1849, to April 7, 1863, and include his experiences with the New York publishing and literary world, his descriptions of boarding houses, his travels throughout the United States, and his experiences traveling with the Federal army as a Civil War correspondent. |
| Publisher: | Missouri History Museum |
| Rights: | Copyright 2010 Missouri History Museum. |
| Source: | Page images, transcriptions, and metadata of the Thomas Butler Gunn diaries have been provided by the Missouri History Museum. |
