her inevitable doom did she now marry, she will remain firm in her purpose to the last.

Marriage is regarded too often as a business transaction. It is entered upon for prudential reasons alone; the heart is not interested, nor, of course, given at the altar, in such cases it would be idle to expect happiness to be the result. "Marriage is a covenant, the very being whereof consists not in a forced cohabitation, and counterfeit performance of duties, but in unfeigned love and peace; and where love cannot be, there can be left of wedlock nothing but the empty husk of an outside matrimony, as undelightful and unpleasing to God as any other kind of hypocrisy." Let prudence have her office in this matter, but let it always be subordinate to a higher principle. Affection should prompt and impel; discretion ought only to act as a guide, a light, and counsellor, never as an originator and master, in matrimonial concerns. There is a wide chasm between imprudence and rashness in this case, and a stoical sale of the hand, while the heart is kept back.

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CHAPTER IX.

CONDITIONS OF TRUE MARRIAGE.

Those that propose happiness to themselves in the conjugal state, must be sure to lay the foundation thereof in love.

Stackhouse.

BEFORE forming any connexion in life, we should consider well its objects, and the means by which they promise to be accomplished, and then ask ourselves if these be placed within our particular reach. Now what is marriage? We have already seen that it is the union of two individual souls in one. This is its essence, that without which it loses all claim to the sacred name it bears.

It is a golden chain let down from heaven,
Whose links are bright and even,

That falls like sleep on lovers, and combines

The soft and sweetest minds

In equal knots; this bears no brands, nor darts,

But in a calm and godlike unity

Preserves community.

Richer than time, and as time's value rare,

Sober as saddest care.

But what will secure this union of souls between

husband and wife?

There is but one divine cement, LovE. No substitute can atone for its absence; no talisman can produce consequences that belong only to this holy principle.

Many joys are inherent in a true marriage. It has sympathies, the most intimate of which mortals are capable; and it calls forth affections, such as pertain to no other voluntary relation of life. But these sentiments are the fruits of love alone. Disgust and aversion cannot produce them, nor are they the growth of indifference. If there be not a peculiar interest in the society of another, and a pain in his absence, no foundation is yet laid for a genuine marriage between him and yourself.

Again, there are evils incident to this life, which lose much of their bitterness, when shared with another. There is a sorrow of spirit, which none but a near friend can soothe. Peculiar trials belong also to the marriage condition. How can these evils and trials be mitigated to the wife, or the husband? Only by the power of love. If you dislike your companion, you cannot minister cordially to his griefs, nor will he participate in yours. Marriage is an arch: if love be its key-stone, it will stand firmly; it will grow stronger with time. That wanting, it will crumble in a day. Never should this relation be formed, except with such sentiments as give reasonable hope of an ever-growing love.

Our natural emotions, on witnessing a marriage

without apparent affection, are painful. If a lady be compelled so to marry, we pity her doom; if she do it voluntarily, we cannot but feel a disgust at the connexion. Yet how often, could we unveil human hearts, should we see at the altar, nothing deeper than stratagem, expediency, fancy, or at best, friendship, as the chief attractive cause. Is it right to complain ourselves, or should we wonder, at the spectacle of miserable matches in others, if the temple of marriage rest on such frail foundation, instead of having gold, silver, and precious stones at its base?

They who join hands with cold hearts often cease even to respect one another. They become, in truth, like the pith-ball, in its approach to the electrified cylinder, the more fiercely repelled, the nearer the contact. If you do not love the individual you wed, above all his sex; if nothing more than fancy and friendship draw you toward him, then marriage will be indeed a "lottery," and yours must be a blank. Let there be genuine love, and if alienation afterward occur, it may be overcome by time and circumstances. Enter this condition in coldness, and strange will be the exception, if that chill ever be exchanged for a glow.

A true marriage must be free, contracted by the preference and choice of both parties. To marry only to please a third person, even though it be a father or mother, is never a duty, and can be the result only of a misled judgment, or a mistaken kind of filial piety.

Yet we would by no means recommend the disregard of parental advice, in this sacred transaction. Perhaps the dangers of this age lie chiefly in that direction. There is often a false independence in this matter, an idea that a certain individual must be a lady's companion for life. She may believe that "the match was made in heaven," and that it is a sin, in parents and friends, to oppose it. Or she may determine that, let what will be the consequences, she will accept the overtures the gentleman has made her. The tendencies of the times induce many parents to keep silent, and take no part, and give no advice, when their daughters receive proposals for marriage. It is thought that, let them advise as they may, their children are resolved to do just as they please, and to preserve peace, they forbear to interfere in the least.

This state of things cannot be too deeply deplored. When a young woman receives an offer of marriage, it presents a solemn occasion, one which demands of her great deliberation, thoughtfulness, and discretion. Counsel and assistance are never more needed, than in this important exigency. And to whom should she go in preference to those who best understand her character, and what traits are needed in another to render her happy and useful to him; and who feel also the deepest interest in her welfare? The daughter shoud seek advice from this quarter, and the parent ought promptly to give it. In the other extreme, where parental partiality would coerce the feelings of