But he was troublesome in small matters; irritable, nervous, and dyspeptic.

His books harassed him like illnesses, and he groaned under the infliction.

If he were disturbed when he was working, he lost all self-control, and his wife felt, she said, as if she were keeping a private mad-house.

It was not quite so private as it might have been, for Mrs.Carlyle found in her grievances abundant food for her sarcastic tongue.

Whatever she talked about she made interesting, and her relations with her husband became a common subject of gossip.