"… For his second wife he chose a second Mary, this the widow of one John Prynn, a former West Indian, who was said to have made a business of breeding slaves in Stratford. This lady 'proved a perfect curse to poor old Mr. Gold.' For one thing, she was a high Episcopalian and insisted that the poor old parson wait on her at the door of Johnson's church before and after his own services. … His widow, having borne him no children, returned to the West Indies."