Lilla Cabot Perry: Marriage

"Thomas Perry" by Lilla Cabot Perry

"In the years preceding Lilla Cabot's marriage to Thomas Perry, the author Henry James described him thusly: ' 

[Thomas Perry] had let himself loose in the world of books, pressed and roamed through the most various literatures and the most voluminous authors, with a stride that, as it carried him beyond all view, left me dismayed and helpless at the edge of the forest, where I listened wistfully... to the far-off crash from within of his felled timber, the clearing of whole spaces or periods shelf by shelf or great tree by tree.'

A brilliant scholar and linguist, Thomas graduated from Harvard in 1866 and then embarked on the 'grand tour' of Europe. He returned to Boston in the late summer of 1868 to take teaching position at Harvard that fall. According to his biographer, he was introduced to 'Miss [Lilla] Cabot shortly thereafter. It was not until 1871, however, that their correspondence takes on a tone of courtship, which culminated three years later in a quiet wedding at Lilla's family residence in Boston on April 9, 1874. 

Although the marriage united two families of impeccable lineage and proved to be extremely close, it was not one that had joined two fortunes. After a very brief teaching career at Harvard came to an abrupt end, Thomas Perry contributed a voluminous amount of literary criticism to 'Atlantic Monthly' and other periodicals. He also edited several major anthologies of literature which were acclaimed by critics but sadly ignored by the public. 

Following her father's death in 1885, Lilla's inheritance provided a modest income for her family which then included her husband and three daughters - Margaret, Edith and Alice, born respectively in 1876, 1880 and 1884. As the years went by the inheritance dwindled. More and more the family also relied on the income from Perry's paintings."

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Lilla Cabot Perry: An American Impressionist" by Meredith Martindale.)